The Day After

by Dark Industries

A serial murderer known as The Vampire is loose in Station Square. Its blood-drained victims seem to be part of a complex pattern: one which suggests that this monster may be closer than Tails or Amy or even Sonic ever imagined. Sequel to The Final Step.

25. Fault

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THE DAY AFTER

25. Fault.

[SONIC, Stephen Zacharus]

I don't even bother screaming again as another cascade of ice-cold water explodes into the cell.  Lucky me.  I get to stay in this place for another twelve hours.

"Take that hose and shove it up your fucking ASS," I manage to choke out, just before the nozzle withdraws through the little window in the steel door and vanishes.  Well, for the time being, anyway.

As punishment for our little scuffle in the cafeteria, you see, Vector and I were each placed in little cramped confines which are known around here as Wet Rooms.  By now you can probably guess why.  I'd love to report these bastards for inhumane treatment of prisoners, but it's unlikely that I'll ever get the chance.  Yeah, like anybody would really *believe* me, anyway.  God, how I'd love to kick some security guard ass…

My thoughts are suddenly interrupted by a sharp crackling in my ear, followed by a voice.  "Sonic?  Sonic, do you read me?"

It's Tails.

"Loud and clear, li'l bro," I whisper, taking care that nobody outside my cell hears this.

"Here's the plan," Tails says.  "I've frozen the monitors in the security room, so the guard in there shouldn't see any of this.  There's a few guards patrolling the hallways, but none of them are in your immediate vicinity.  I'm hacked into the security system already; I'm gonna open up your cell as soon as I crack this code…"

"Wait," I say.  "I'm not in my regular cell anymore."

"You're not?  Where are you?"

"The Wet Room."

"Huh?"

"It's… um… I don't know, a little cell where they hose us down when they're pissed off at us.  I don't know what they call it."

"That bug in your ear has a tracking device.  Hold on while I try to find you…"  A pause.  Faint typing.  Does this kid really know what he's doing?

"Okay, I see you on the blueprint.  This should only take a few seconds."

He didn't lie.  As if on cue, I hear the door unlatch.

"Tails, you're a genius."

I open the door and step outside my cell quietly, peering to either side of the hallway to make sure the coast is clear. 

"There shouldn't be any guards nearby; I've already checked."

"Hey, just making sure, bro."

"Okay, now once you're outside, turn to your right and…"

"One sec, kid," I say, stopping.  "Where do they keep their guns?"

A long, awkward pause, and then: "*What*?"

I grate my teeth, growing impatient.  "Where do the security guards keep their extra *guns*?  I'm going to need one to get out of here."

"They're in a locked room somewhere on the south end of the compound.  But Sonic…"

"Tell me how to get there."

"Sonic, you won't *need* any weapons to get out of there.  The guard that's on-duty right now on your floor is three hallways east of you; it'll take him at least ten minutes to make his way to your cell.  The escape route that I've planned will…"

"Fuck your escape route, Tails.  If something goes wrong, I don't want to be caught unarmed.  Now TELL ME where to find that fucking weapons room."

Another, longer pause.  "I… I can't crack the security code for that room.  It's too complex.  Just follow my directions and…"

Somehow, I'm not in the mood for the kid's soft side right now.  "Tails, you and I both know that you're lying," I whisper coolly into the receiver.  "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me where to find that room."

___________________

[TAILS, David Macintyre]

Kays climbs back into the car.

"Nice 'n big, just the way you like 'em," he says, pulling off his gloves.

I look over to the fence bordering the prison. He's just used this invention of his, a sort of portable blowtorch attached to a glove, to melt large holes in the three layers of fence lining the complex. Now he's just gotten back in, and turns on the radio.

"Good… ready for him, then?"

"Yeah."

To make a long story short, it didn't take long to set up the laptop and get onto the prison's security mainframe after Kays had parked the car. A few hundred feet from the fence—walking distance, but too far away to be seen in the dark, or for anyone to give a shit. Currently I'm talking to Sonic, typing away, and listening to him tell me he needs guns. I probably look like Luther Stickell, or Tank. You've seen those movies, I'll take it.

God. I can just IMAGINE him in a white space telling me to get him guns.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me where to find that room."

Well, maybe this is a LITTLE different.

My fingers tremble.

I don't want him to go anywhere near that room. It's too risky…

I put my hand on the mouthpiece so he can't hear me talking to Kays.

"He's insisting on guns," I say.

"Then give them to him."

"No, you don't understand, I've planned out--"

"Tails, if he wants guns, let him have them," he says. Normally I'd listen to him, but I know what a firearms freak he is. He's just saying yes because the mere mention of something that fires and kills things probably gives him a hard-on.

"Kays--really, he doesn't need them."

"Hell, it could be interesting."

"I don't WANT it to be interesting!"

"Tails, man, just give him the guns. If he insists, then he probably isn't going to move until he gets his way, like the stubborn child he is. Why do you think he's in there?"

I'll admit he does have some good qualities.

I take my hand off the mouthpiece and sigh. Kays is right. Guns it is.

"Alright," I finally say.

___________________

[SONIC, Stephen Zacharus]

I can hear Tails give a frustrated sigh.  "Alright," he says.  "Which way are you facing?"

"Away from my cell."

"Then go down the hallway to your left.  At the end of the hallway, there should be two doors; go through the one that leads to the stairwell.

"Now," he says as soon as I'm through the door, "go to ground-level--three floors down.  I don't see any guards near the door at that level on the cameras, but be careful just in case."

I find the ground-level door and look through the small, rectangular window just above the doorknob.  Not a guard in sight.

"This is almost too easy,"  I laugh, reaching for the doorknob.

"WAIT!!!" Tails screams into the receiver.

I jump back, putting my hand to my ear.  "Holy shit, Tails, that fucking HURT…"

"Sorry, but that door would've triggered an alarm.  Hold on…"  I hear faint typing, and then: "Okay, you're safe.  Go ahead."

I step through the door.  Damn, it's quiet.  Something about this doesn't sit well with me…

"To your right is a door with a keypad on it."

"Is that the room?"

"Yes.  Hold on while I try to crack the code…"

I watch as the little keypad lights up; random numbers are highlighted, blinking on and off in busy, irregular patterns…

That is, until suddenly the door hisses and slides into the wall.

"Bingo," says Tails.  "Open sesame."

The room isn't much bigger than, say, a closet, but I don't give a shit.  It's filled wall-to-wall with handguns, so who's complaining?  I grab a couple, check 'em--no clips.  I start looking for some ammo.

"Hurry up, Sonic.  I see a guard at the end of the hall…"

"Stuff it, Tails.  These guns are useless without some fucking bullets."

"He's COMING, Sonic.  Hurry up!"

Hot damn--jackpot.  I find a whole binfull of clips.  I grab two and shove them into the guns and I'm out of there.

"WAIT!" Tails says.  "That guard is still…"

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!!!" I hear from down the hall. 

Fuck.

Without thinking, I spin around and fire from both guns.  I watch as the distant guard convulses twice--eyes glazed, slumping face-forward to the marble floor.  Blood is everywhere. 

I'm silent, realizing that I've never killed anybody before now. 

It's all very sobering, actually.

Tails' voice was frantic.  "Sonic?!!  Sonic, what's going on?  Are you alright?  Sonic, talk to me…"

"I'm good," I say, stepping over to the guard's body, kicking it over.  He has an unused clip on his belt.  How convenient…

"Sonic, you've gotta get out of there.  There's a door to your left that…"

But I'm not listening to him.  I grab the guard's clip and run back to the stairwell.  People to see, debts to pay...

"Sonic, what are you DOING?!!"  The kid must be able to see me over one of the security cameras.

"I'm going to visit a friend of mine.  I won't be long."

Up three floors… down the hall…

There.

A thick, steel door with a tiny window--identical to the door to my own little Wet Room.  I peek inside and see Vector curled up against the wall, sleeping.  His face looks like hell.  I smile briefly at my own handiwork before spitting on him.

"Hey asshole.  Wake up."

The crocodile groans and blinks and looks up at me.  "Wha…"

"Just wanted to tell you that I'm getting the hell out of here.  I hope you enjoy prison…"  I point one of the guns through the window.  "…'cause you're never gonna leave.  Ever."

And then I empty an entire clip into the fucker. 

___________________

[TAILS, David Macintyre]

"Oh… oh god."

I did not just see that. Tell me I didn't see that.

Too late. I did. And even if I didn't, the gory imagery was vivid enough. White and yellow guts, red blood everywhere, intestinal fluids. Add that to the fact that I sometimes hyperventilate when nervous, and get sick.

"Tails? What's wrong?"

I feel an uneasy burble welling up in the bottom of my stomach. An all too familiar feeling. I can't hold this one in, either.

"He just… he just… that alligator…!"

No more fighting it.

"Oh, god. Take over." I half throw the laptop at him, scrambling to undo my jacket and unlock the door. Air. I need air.

"Crocodile," he says, looking at the security camera on the monitor.

"What?"

"Not alligator. He's a crocodile. It's in the snout."

"How can you fucking tell?! He doesn't have a nose anymore!"

"I suppose not…"

I keep grabbing at the lock, putting my hand over my mouth and trying to fight the queasy urge.

"Shit-FLARGH."

There it was. Tacos, corn chips and whatever other spicy Mexican delights Kays brought with him for snack fare buckets onto the pavement and trickles down into the grass, almost invisible in the darkness. The taste sure doesn't go away, though.

I'm sure if he had a piece of paper that I could see in the dim moonlight, he'd have written 8.5 or some number on it and held it up.

"FUCK! I *told* you to lay off that sour cream!"

___________________

[SONIC, Stephen Zacharus]

Nothing seems real at this point.  I hear the distant echoing of running footsteps… the blurry image of three security guards coming at me, guns drawn… the faraway orders to freeze and put my hands on my head.

Yeah.  Like FUCKING HELL.

Surprisingly, I'm able to ground all three guards with exactly three shots.  Afterwards, though, I put a couple bullets in each of their heads--just in case.

I wonder why I haven't heard Tails objecting yet...

Suddenly I hear some kid's sarcastic voice over the receiver.  "Well, if it isn't the infamous Sonic the Hedgehog.  It's an honor, man."  Whoever it is, it's not Tails.

"Who the fuck is THIS?"

"Chill, Sonic--it's Kays."  Ah.  Tails' cousin.  "I'll be your tour guide for the remainder of the evening."

"Thrilling.  What happened to Tails?"

"He couldn't stay.  He had to…"  Awkward pause.  "Nevermind, it's not important, just pay attention.  I want you to go down the hall in the opposite direction of the stairwell.  At the end of the hall is a large ventilation grate.  See it?"

"Yeah, I'm headed towards it now.  So what if it's bolted to the wall, genius?"

"It's not.  We've planned all this out, man, just trust us.  You should be able to just pry the thing off the wall."

He's right.  It takes a bit of tugging, but the grate comes off sooner or later.  "Great security in this place," I snort into the microphone.

"Yeah, well, you're not out yet.  Just do what I tell you."

Goddamn smartass kid.  "Fuck you, too."

"Okay, Mister Congeniality, after you've pulled that grate back into place, just keep crawling until you get to a split in the shaft.  When you get there, go left and--"

"HOLD ON!  One thing at a time.  Fucking Christ."

Now, I know you've got better things to do with your time than to sit here while I tell you about how I carefully pull the grate back into place (which is trickier than I would like it to be) and follow Kays' sarcastic instructions ("What do you know?  He *can* multitask after all!") to the split in the shaft and then directly left until I get to the vent that leads to the yard just outside the complex, so I'll skip this part to keep from boring you.

Ha ha.  Fooled you, didn't I?

Anyway, here I am at the end of the shaft, staring through the grate into the nighttime prisonscape.  Prisonscape, he he he, I'm so damn poetic.  Then again, you probably would be too if you were this close to freedom after months of being locked up in a claustrophobic acidhouse. 

"Now here's the tricky part, Hedgehog."

"Yeah, no shit.  How the hell am I gonna get by those turret guards?"  (For the those of you who know nothing about prison security, I'm

reffering to a total of four watchtowers--one on each corner of the complex--complete with nice big turret guns.  Lucky me).  "This is fucking

crazy.  They see me, they shoot me, they win."

"Well, that's the thing.  You may or may not know that they're running short on staff this time of year, so for the now they're only securing one side of the complex at a given time.  In other words, there's no one guarding this side of the prison until about maybe twenty, twenty-five minutes from now."

"So… what's the tricky part, then?"

"There are a total of three fences that border the prison.  I've taken the liberty of melting a big-ass hole in each of them for you; should be big enough for you to fit through, anyway."

"Why can't I just climb over?"

"Two reasons: one, because that'd take too long; and two, because I'm sure you don't want to shred yourself on that yummy barbed wire."

"Oh.  Right."

"Anyway, the point is that you're gonna have to speed your way through hella fast, 'cause otherwise they might see you."

"For shit's sake, who the hell do you think you're talking to?  Billy Bob Thorton?"

"It's just, you know, dangerous.  And with that orange jumpsuit on, you're at an even bigger risk of being seen.  Not to mention how hard it's gonna be to see those holes in the fence at this time of night."

"Well, where are they?"

"What?"

"The HOLES."

"Ahead of you, roughly.  A bit to the left, I think.  You'd better hurry up, Hedgehog, 'cause it won't be long before the other guards find out what you did back there, and then you'll be fucked for sure."

Placing my fingers into the slots of the ventilation grate, I carefully push and sort of lift it out of place, taking it with me as I hop to the smooth cement that's waiting for me below the duct.  I set it down, squint at the fence that stretches before me.  I think I see a break in the chainlink.  Pretty sure.  Kays was right, though, as much as I hate to admit it; it's fucking hard to see this shit in the dark.

What the hell, I decide.  I go for it.  I break into a sprint, building momentum, and then charge full-speed at the hole--yes, it *is* a hole, I can see for sure now--ducking underneath, dropping into a summersault and rolling to the next fence, spinning through that one, getting to my feet, onto the third fence…

I feel a split-second of pain in my shoulder as I'm charging through the third hole in the fence; probably scraped it on some raw chainlink or something.  It's not enough to stop me, though.

Hoo boy.  What a rush.

I'm OUT.

HOLY FUCK I CAN'T BELIEVE IT I'M FINALLY *OUT* HOT DAMN!!!

"Across the street," says Kays over the intercom, "and about a block or so to the right of you, you'll find a little alley with a dumpster.  Underneath it you'll find a duffel bag; there's a change of clothes in there for you."

Nice.

"And hurry the fuck up, will you?  We haven't got all night."

I strip out of my orange jumpsuit, stuffing it into the dumpster, and proceed to dress.  Tails' little "disguise" consists of a hooded sweater, jeans, a baseball cap, sneakers and a pair of sunglasses.  I look like a fag now, but I guess it's better than nothing.  It's a little less suspicious-looking than a trench coat and fedora, anyway.

"Alright, Sonic--past the dumpster, the alley leads to 5th Street.  Look casual.  We're waiting for you in the car about four blocks west of you, just past the traffic light…"

I drop my guns in a gutter as I leave the alley. 

___________________

The passenger seat is occupied by somebody's laptop computer, so I hop in the back seat of the car with Tails.  For some reason or another, he looks sick.  I notice that he's not even looking at me.

"Hey, li'l bro," I say, grinning, slugging him in the shoulder.  "We did it!  We're *outta* here!"

"Yeah," Tails says, barely acknowledging me.  "Great."

"Hey, let's go, kid," I say to Kays, hitting the back of his seat.  "If I never come back to *this* place, it'll be too soon."

The car pulls out, accelerates.  Tails is still staring out the window.

"Hey, what's wrong, bro?  Somethin' the matter?"

He doesn't say anything for some time.

And then:  "Yeah.  Somethin's the matter, alright.  His name is Sonic the Hedgehog, and he used to be my best friend."

Silence.  I wasn't expecting that.  I'm not quite sure how to react.

"What the f... aw, shit, man, stop kidding around!  What the hell are you talking about?"

"You heard me."  Tails is practically trembling.  His arms are folded and he won't look away from the window.  His voice is small and hurt.  "You're a *murderer* now, Sonic."

No.

NO.

Tails, don't start this shit with me now, for god's sake PLEASE...

"Hey look, kid, I did what I had to do to get outta there…"

"No," he says, looking at me for the first time.  His eyes are burning into mine, red and wet.  "I had everything planned perfectly.  You didn't need those guns.  You would have gotten out of that building in less than five minutes without having to kill fucking ANYBODY.  I should have never let you talk me into unlocking that room.  Why the fuck did you have to DO that?"

Because prison made me want to kill something because I fucking hate my life because I'm so damn bored because I like killing people because I like POWER because I don't have enough of it anymore because somebody fucking took it away from me because I made one goddamn mistake and everybody hates me for it and because I needed to take it out on somebody because I guess I'm just that way BECAUSE I FUCKING *FELT* LIKE IT, OKAY?!!!

A million things are going through my head now, but I still can't think of anything to say--at least nothing that would make him understand.  I just watch Tails as he turns from me, breath heaving.

"It's my fault," he sobs.  "My fault… my fault…"

No.  Oh, fuck no.  Not this.  Anything but this.  I'm no good at being a comfort object. 

"It's not your fault," I say, putting my hand on his shoulder, trying my best to sound confident.  "It's just… one of those things, you know?  There's nothing we…"

Tails draws away, recoils.  "Don't touch me.  Don't pull that 'we' shit on me.  Don't try to rationalize this.  I don't believe anything you say anymore.  Isn't it bad enough that you RAPED one of my closest friends?  Now you have to turn ME into a MURDERER too?!"  He's practically foaming at the mouth, convulsing, tearful.  There's hate in those eyes right now.

I look at Kays.

"Pull over," I say, "NOW."  And he does.

I lose it right there.

"Fine," I say to Tails.  "Fuck you, then.  Fuck everybody.  After all, it was YOU and everybody else who put me into that fucking shithole in the first place, right?"  I kick open the car door and step outside.  "I guess I'm on my own now.  Who fucking needs YOU, anyway?  All your life you've always been the little goddamn tag-along--just a worthless little fucking PUPPY.  I can get rid of Eggman by myself."

"You're right," Tails says quietly, unmoving.  "You're on your own now.  As long as I live, I'll *never* help you again."

"Here."  I pull out the Walkman that I've somehow managed to keep on me this whole time and I chuck it at him.  "You can have that back; it's only been causing me problems, anyway."

The kid says something else, but I'm not paying attention.  I just slam the door on him and walk away.

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To be continued.  Reviews are appreciated.  Oh, and visit our site: http://tdaproject.tripod.com.

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