"Dad!"
There was no answer because he was nowhere to be seen. Knuckles heard a noise.
"Dad?"
But it was only a stray buffalo who was running to catch up with the rest of the herd of buffalos. It went past the broken dead tree where Locke was laying on his side.
Knuckles looked on in horror as he ran up to his dead father. He gently approached the dead body.
"Dad?"
Nothing.
"Dad, come on." He gently nudged Locke's head.
"You gotta get up."
There was still no response.
"Dad." Knuckles voice cracked from sadness. He gently pushed his father.
"We gotta go home!" He then tugged at his father's dreadlocks, but it was all in vain.
Knuckles started to get very scared as he began to hyperventilate and ran off a little.
"HEEEEELP!"
His voice echoed off the sides of the gorge.
"Somebody! Anybody." He then started choking on his sadness as tears started falling down his face.
"Help."
He started crying, and he looked at his dead father as he walked up to him. He nuzzled up under the limp arm, so that his father is embracing him one last time..., and he laid down on the floor as he continued to cry.
As Knuckles continued to cry his eyes out, Finitevus approached him through the dust.
"Knuckles...what have you done?"
Knuckles jumped back as tears ran down his face. "There were buffalos, and he tried to save me! It was an accident; I-I didn't mean for it to happen!"
Finitevus embraced the young echidna.
"Of course, of course you didn't. No one...ever means for these things to happen."
His tone slowly shifted though. "But the guardian is dead. And if it weren't for you, he'd still be alive."
Knuckles became crushed as he began to feel guilty.
"Oh! What will the rest of the family think?"
"What am I gonna do?" Knuckles sniffled.
"Run away, Knuckles." Finitevus said quietly. "Run. Run away, and never return."
Knuckles obeyed, and ran off.
Then, Wave, Jet, and Storm appeared behind Finitevus, waiting for another command.
"Kill him."
The Babylon Rogues took off after Knuckles who reached the end. He gasped when he saw the Babylon Rogues coming after him.
He climbed up, and ran to the lip, only to see a sheer drop on the other side. Seeing that the Babylon rogues were closing in on him, he had no choice, but to jump. He jumped down, and he took a tumble as the rogues chased after him.
He landed in the patch of briars, and he went through the holes to get away.
When Jet saw that he was running to the briar patch, he slowed down.
"Whoa!" He skidded extensively, and he managed to stop just above the brambles.
He let out a sigh of relief, but Wave and Storm bumped into him, propelling him into the briar patch.
"Yeow!"
Wave and Storm laughed very hard as Jet crawled back to the top while flinching in pain.
After they finished laughing, Wave saw Knuckles emerging from the far side, and running into the desert.
"Hey, there he goes! There he goes!"
As Jet picked the thorns off of his body, he glared at his 'companions'.
"So, go get him!"
"There ain't no way I'm going in there!" Wave smirked. "What, you want me to come out there looking like you? Cactus butt?!"
"Ha!" Storm also laughed. Jet glared at him, and threw the spikes into his face.
"Ouch!" Storm then removed them and rubbed his face to make the pain go away.
"But we gotta finish the job!" Jet pointed out.
"Well, he's as good as dead out there, anyway." Wave just shot a look at Knuckles running off. "And IF he comes back, we'll kill him."
Jet smirked and looked at the fleeting Knuckles. "Yeah! You hear that?! If you ever come back, we'll kill ya!"
The rogues laughed, and walked away.
Knuckles kept running nonstop while still crying inconsolably.
He could not believe that his father had died. And he was quite sure that when the rest of his family and friends knew that everyone would blame him because he felt that everything was his fault.
He remembered all the good times he had spent with his family and friends.
The time where Tikal and Julie-Su went for a walk to a field where they ignored a group of snakes. He remembered on that occasion he had to rescue them.
Or the time he and Ralph found the eggs of the 6 flickys, which became the adopted children of Ralph. And with great effort, both managed to teach them to fly.
The times he and Shade did challenges with Remington. Most of the time Remington was who touched him the most difficult challenges, sometimes even looked funny to try to carry them out. But in the end all three much fun.
The times when he cared for Gabor, Jon and Kneecaps. Although he liked them coming on their adventures, sometimes they left the youngsters fatigued, and he, Tikal and one of their other friends had to carry them the rest of the way.
And most importantly, the family time he spent with his father, mother, aunts, uncles and cousins.
All those memories made him feel bad, because he knew he would never see his friends or family again. So he ran away into the horizon.