Author's Note: Wow! This took a lot longer than I thought. (Of course I didn't anticipate my hard drive breaking down and ending up spending weeks trying to find a replacement and the proper software! I could buy a new computer all together, but too bad I don't have the money for that.)
Oh, and one more thing. In case anyone had misunderstood what happened near the end of chapter 10, Sonic did not intentionally shoot his own friends. That entire event was a freak accident. (Especially where Knuckles, Tails, and Dr. Carbana all got hit by ONE bullet). Sonic was trying to shoot himself out of desperation and yet his friends end up getting hurt instead.
Okay, enough of that. Here's the next chapter.
Chapter 11: One More Nightmare
Shadow just stared at the sight before him. The first thing he saw was Sonic lying flat on his back with a pretty good-sized lump on the forehead. Next he noticed Knuckles holding his badly bleeding right shoulder and he was shaking his head rapidly, fighting off some dizziness. Rogue was getting up and dusting herself off, while examining her bleeding wing and fighting off the pain. He also noticed Tails was tightly holding his head where his ear was and blood was seeping through between his fingers. Finally, he saw Dr. Carbana lying on his back right in front of him with a bloody chest. (I'm surprised that he didn't notice the doctor first!)
Tails was clutching his head as tightly as possible and knew that he was bleeding badly. He remembered while reading through some of Dr. Carbana's health books that one good thing to do when bleeding badly is to stay calm. (Actually, you should stay calm in any emergency!) He learned that if you tense up or panic, your heart will beat faster and your blood pressure will increase. This will cause you to bleed even faster. Because of this, Tails sat down for a minute while doing breathing exercises to calm himself down as much as possible and to avoid panic. After a few seconds his bleeding reduced. He was going to walk back into the hospital for treatment since sitting there isn't going to help much. (He didn't want to risk running or else he could bleed to death before getting any help). While walking towards the main doors, Rogue walked with him and pulled out a handkerchief to wrap his head.
Dr. Carbana quickly reached into his pockets (while he still has the energy) and pulled out a bundle of cards and a pencil. He found a certain card and started writing on it. Shadow saw this and tried to stop him.
"Doctor you've been shot. Please stay still and save your strength."
"No, I have to do this," the doctor protested, "I'm sure that the security heard that gunshot and they'll be here any second. This is the only way that I can keep Sonic from being framed for attempted murder."
The doctor finished writing and handed the card to Shadow. "Find the doctor that's on this card and give it to him, he should know what to do next. Hurry!"
Shadow nodded and ran back into the hospital with the card. Knuckles saw the whole conversation and stumbled over towards the doctor to find out what's going on. Knuckles saw the doctor and noticed his prone form. "Doctor! Are you all right? How bad is it?"
The doctor opened his coat and examined his wound. "I'm sure the bullet has missed my heart, but I think my lung has been hit."
"Do you think you'll live?" Knuckles asked with some concern, "I mean it's pretty embarrassing to have a doctor die right in front of his own hospital."
Knuckles and the doctor noticed that a crowd is starting to form around the scene. (Oh sure! NOW there are people around!)
The doctor replied, "I'm not quite sure how extensive the injury is. I doubt that the wound is fatal. But even if I live, there's a good chance that I'll be out of commission for quite a while. This is why I sent Shadow into the hospital. There's no other doctor that I would trust with Amy than the one I'm trying to contact."
"Who is that?" Knuckles asked curiously.
"His name is Dr. Renoltis," the doctor answered, "he has slightly less experience than me, but he's just as skilled."
Shadow found some doctors in the lobby area. He quickly and almost frantically asked them about the doctor on the card. The doctors recognized the name "Dr. Renoltis" right away. Shadow also asked about the other writings on the card that Dr. Carbana just wrote. One of the doctors went to an intercom to call Dr. Renoltis while another doctor explained the writings.
"What's going on outside? I heard a gunshot," one of the doctors spoke.
"A doctor has been shot outside," Shadow said, feeling a bit calmer, "and he sent me to find this doctor for him."
"This was sent by Dr. Carbana, wasn't it?" The doctor seemed pretty sure about himself.
"How do know?" Shadow was a bit surprised.
The doctor continued, "it's about this writing. I can't understand it but I can tell that it's in ancient Greek. Dr. Carbana and Dr. Renoltis are the only two doctors in this hospital that are fluent in ancient Greek.
"Hey, did anyone call me?" A doctor about the same age as Dr. Carbana showed up in the lobby.
"You're Dr. Renoltis aren't you?" Shadow quickly asked.
"That I am," the doctor simply responded.
Shadow breathed a sigh of relief and handed the card Dr. Renoltis.
"Well this is my card," Dr. Renoltis said while looking over the card. He then flipped it over, "ah, now this is interesting."
After that, a group of half a dozen security guards passed right by them and out the main doors towards the shooting scene. They were followed by four doctors who were instructed by the security to stay in the lobby until the coast is clear.
(Meanwhile)
"I'm so sorry doctor," Knuckles said almost regretfully, "I can't believe that Sonic would actually try and kill himself. I mean I know he's been depressed for a while, but I never thought that he would go this far."
"No, I don't think you should put all the blame on him. This is mostly my fault actually," the doctor replied.
"Huh!?" Knuckles seemed a bit stunned, "how could you have anything to do with all this?"
"I have reason to believe that I drove him into being like this," the doctor replied.
"What!? How do you know? Why would you say something like that?"
"Because," the doctor answered, "this isn't the first time something like this has happened in my career."
Knuckles just stared and blinked in surprise.
The doctor continued, "the one part of my job that I can never get used to is breaking the bad news to a patient's family and friends. Some of these people have gone insane after hearing all the bad news from me. In fact, it's happened six times before in my career. Two of those incidents ended in a shootout, but this is the first time that I got hit."
"Well you see, to Sonic, Amy isn't family . . . . or a friend at all," Knuckles said almost regretfully.
"That may be so," Dr. Carbana replied, "but wasn't he having nightmares? All these things that happened to Amy could be having a subconscious effect. Therefore, please don't put the blame on Sonic, I'm just getting what's coming to me."
"Please doctor, stop blaming yourself," Knuckles thought to himself, "you were just doing your job."
Just before Tails and Rogue walked into the hospital main doors, the security guards came running through and they surveyed the area. They noticed Dr. Carbana's prone form and Sonic lying on his back. They knew from the security tapes that he started this event. (A nearby security camera captured the whole situation.) They checked the place to make sure that there was no weapon around, they found the gun on the pavement. (Though it was flat as a pancake since Knuckles stomped on it and they knew that it was harmless.) Before they did anything else, Dr. Renoltis and Shadow called their attention.
Dr. Carbana managed to summon enough strength to explain Sonic's actions to the security guards and how he drove him into acting like. Dr. Renoltis used the card that Dr. Carbana wrote to vouch for him. Surprisingly the security bought the explanation, and they called the doctors that waited behind to help out Sonic and his friends.
Shadow turned to Dr. Renoltis, "hey, what exactly did that card say?" He sounded a bit curious.
"It's kind of difficult to translate into modern words," Dr. Renoltis replied, "basically it says: This is my fault. I press no charges. And knowing what just happened, I figured out what he was trying to say about the situation."
Both Sonic and Dr. Carbana were taken into the hospital on a stretcher. Both Tails and Rogue were wheeled in with a wheelchair while Knuckles preferred to walk in.
The next day (after some overnight treatment) Knuckles, Tails, and Rogue were brought into Amy's room to visit her while Shadow and Dr. Renoltis joined them. She was still asleep, so the doctor took this opportunity to give them a report. Rogue had some bandages covering her injured wing. Tails had some bandages covering the top-right part of his head including the area where his right ear used to be. Knuckles was a bit of a mess though. He had a sling on his right arm and some bandages covering his right shoulder. He also had a couple large band-aids on his forehead.
"Well thankfully, none of you sustained any life-threatening injuries," the doctor reported, "Rogue has a broken wing and had some stitches on it. Miraculously, Tails didn't receive any head injuries. Although he completely lost his right ear, it's nothing that a little reconstructive operation can't fix. Knuckles on the other hand did receive some fairly serious injuries, however despite his injuries he's a very amazing character."
Everyone including Knuckles blinked in surprise at what the doctor was trying to say.
The doctor continued, "okay Knuckles, you said that the gun barrel was right on your shoulder when it went off, right? In that case it's quite amazing that you still have your arm at all. Wow, you must have a very tough body to withstand that!"
"Well I was born with a strong body and I practice martial arts a lot," Knuckles replied.
"But that's not all," the doctor continued, "your head injury is quite peculiar."
"I guess using a head butt to knock out Sonic was a bit dumb," Knuckles replied, sounding slightly embarrassed, "but what's so strange about it?"
The doctor scratched his head a little, "you see, Sonic was the one that got KO'ed, right? Lucky for him, he didn't receive any head injuries except for a rather large lump on the forehead, but you are another story. You actually have a couple small fractures in your skull!"
"Huh! How did that happen," Knuckles and the others seemed quite puzzled including the doctor.
"I have no idea," the doctor answered, "it makes no sense. Sonic got KO'ed without any head injuries, but you sustained some skull fractures and yet you remained conscious!"
"I guess Sonic's head must be harder than I thought," Knuckles replied, "I did get a pretty big headache though, but it's nothing I can't handle."
Shadow decided to change the subject, "anyways, how's Sonic? Did he get any other injuries?"
"Nope," the simply replied, "he didn't receive any other injuries. Although he does have a very slight concussion, he should be up within an hour or two."
Rogue asked next, "how is Dr. Carbana?"
"He's actually doing surprisingly well," Dr. Renoltis answered, "and we managed to get the bullet out of his lung without any problems. Luckily his lung wasn't damaged beyond repair, so he should be up and back to work within two weeks."
"Ah, that great to hear," Knuckles replied.
"Hey Tails," the doctor said, in a slightly anxious tone, "you said that Dr. Carbana had something to tell you just before he got shot, right." Tails nodded and then the doctor continued, "I talked to Dr. Carbana on his hospital bed earlier and he told me what he tried to tell you. I knew exactly what he was talking about so I'll tell you for him. Actually I think you should all know."
Rogue spoke first, "what, is this about Amy again? Is it really serious?"
The doctor rubbed his chin a little, "uh, . . well . . um . . yes, it is about Amy. It's not exactly that serious because we've got it under control, but it is a cause for concern so I figured that you should know that way there will be no surprises. I just don't want you all to get worried for nothing."
They all seemed ready and Knuckles spoke, "okay doc, shoot." As soon as he said that, everyone's eyes stared right at Knuckles. He quickly remembered what happened yesterday, "I-I-I mean just tell us."
The doctor took a deep breath, "you all know that Amy's body has been completely messed up. Even now, many months after she was admitted to this hospital, the effects are still lingering on. Her biggest problem now is that all of her body functions, hormone levels, and even her immune system are very unstable. To counteract this, she's taking various medications that should help stabilize her health. The trouble is that we can't just give her medications at any time."
Tails interrupted, "what's wrong with that?"
The doctor continued, "have you all heard the old saying: if it isn't broken, don't fix it? If we give her any medication that she doesn't need at the moment, she could have some serious reactions or probably overdose. What's making this difficult is that her body functions are changing continuously, sometimes on an hourly basis. For example, sometimes her immune system will suddenly completely shut down, so we give her antibiotics to help her immune system, but sometimes it tricks us. Sometimes it only shuts down partially, sometimes it seems that it has completely shut down and then suddenly turns on again when were about to administer the antibiotics. This goes the same for her other systems and body functions. But don't worry we're being very cautious."
Amy finally woke up and gave a weak smile to everyone in the room. The doctor was about to call an assistant to help move Amy onto her wheelchair.
Amy looked around some more and struggled hard to speak, "w-w-wwwheeeere's S-S-Sooonnniiiiic?" (It took almost an entire lungful of air just to say that!)
Apparently she didn't know what happened yesterday and the entire group decided to keep it that way for now.
(Once again I feel obligated to warn you: The following is very disturbing. Of course that's probably a matter of opinion, I just wanted to let you know anyways).
Once again, Sonic is having another nightmare, but this one is completely different than any of the others. This one involves not just Amy, but also Rogue, Knuckles, and even Tails.
Again Sonic is chained onto a large stone slab, being forced to watch the entire gruesome display. Again he saw Amy chained down on another stone slab near him. Out of the darkness, Sonic saw something long and shiny appear. It turned out to be a very long metal spike or stake! It was about ten feet long, but only about three inches wide. There were no monsters around, but there seemed to be some invisible force maneuvering the stake.
The pointed end of the stake rested on Amy's right temple. She thrashed around desperately to avoid the it, but she was chained down very tightly and she even had a strange metal collar around her neck that somehow kept her from moving her head. Without warning, the giant metal pointed rod quickly and completely impaled her head, going into her right temple and out the top of her head near her left ear. Immediately her eyes nearly popped out of her head and red blood vessels sprung up in her eyes. Since she couldn't squirm around much, all she can do give a blood-curdling scream of mortal agony.
Normally, this is where these nightmares of his would end. But not this time, this was totally different. Sonic could still hear her screaming and he tried to fight against them. He was hoping that this nightmare would end right now and he tried to wake himself up, but the nightmare just didn't want to end. Finally after what seemed like forever, he noticed that her screams were going down. After everything fell silent, he looked towards Amy and noticed that the metal rod was still impaled through her head. Just when he thought the nightmare would finally end, what happened next completely freaked him out even further.
Suddenly, all of the chains that held her down including the metal collar were released. The metal stake floated up into the air with Amy's still stuck to it! She is now literally hanging by her head! Sonic stared in utter disbelief, he could tell that she was lifeless. Blood was seeping out of her nose and mouth and dripping all over her dress. He looked into her eyes and didn't even see the smallest sign of life. Despite that, her body was still twitching violently and having convulsions.
Sonic saw something else in the darkness. He saw three figures hanging by their arms. After his eyes adjusted some more, he noticed that they were his friends! First was Rogue and she had another set of chains that held her wings outstretched. Behind her was Tails and he was screaming for help and also had some chains wrapped around his two tails. Finally, behind him was his old rival Knuckles who had a rather brave look on his face. (Not for long!) Sonic also noticed that they all had another set of chains around their ankles, therefore they are all in a vertical sprawled position.
The metal stake rose up and positioned itself right in front of the group (with Amy's lifeless body still stuck to it!) What Sonic saw next completely horrified him. The ten-foot long stake suddenly began to lengthen at an incredible rate, yet it all seemed to happen in slow motion. The stake shot forward and stabbed right trough everyone through the chest. They were all screaming in pain and just when it couldn't get any worse, their chains unfastened and now they're hanging on it! The stake is now a good thirty feet long or so and the whole thing looked like a giant shish kabob stick! Blood started pouring out of their nose and mouth and splattered onto the metal rod that had impaled them.
Sonic finally had far more than enough. He summoned every once of will power and screamed as loud as he could. He finally snapped awake and the scream he made was heard throughout the entire building. Even his friends in Amy's room heard it including Dr. Renoltis and Dr. Carbana from his hospital bed.
Everyone (except Dr. Carbana who still has to stay in bed) rushed into his room and they found him completely soaked in sweat and breathing harder than he ever did before.
Knuckles spoke first, "another nightmare again, eh Sonic?"
Rogue nudged him hard in the ribs, "hey, don't rub it in alright? Hey Sonic, did you see what happened? Would you like to talk about it?"
Sonic finally caught his breath, "nah, it's just another nightmare. It's just all this stress around me. I'll . . I'll be fine."
Dr. Renoltis spoke next, "I've got great news. You don't have any significant head injuries of brain damage. You're healthy enough to leave now."
Over the entire week, everyone's injuries have almost healed. Tails got a new ear, and though it was made of organic plastic, it was better than nothing. Rogue's wing has almost healed while Knuckles' shoulder continued mending. Miraculously, Sonic's nightmares have mysteriously stopped. (However, this doesn't mean that the nightmares are through with him.)
Sonic visited Rogue in her room and noticed that she was feeling much better and was about to be discharged from the hospital. Rogue then made a suggestion, "let's get out of this building and get some fresh air. I know a Chinese food restaurant nearby and I think you should try it for once. Dr. Renoltis said it's okay to go out as long as we're careful since we haven't fully recovered yet. We plan on buying some of that food for Amy as well since I don't exactly like the food here."
Rogue, Knuckles, Tails, and Shadow stopped at the nearby Chinese restaurant. Sonic decided to go, even though he's more used to eating chili dogs. After finding a seat, they all had a hard time figuring out what to order. Rogue decided to order for all of them since she somehow seemed to know the food in the place very well.
As soon as their order arrived, everyone dug in, . . . . except for Sonic. He just stared at his plate in horror and quickly started turning pale.
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If it makes you all feel any better (I think), this is the last major nightmare that Sonic will have. It's almost obvious that this nightmare sequence is strongly based on the shooting scene near the end of chapter 10.
Also, about the end of chapter 10, if you think about it history has repeated itself in a way. Back in chapter 2, Sonic was so stressed out that the only thing on his mind was getting away from Amy at almost any cost. His decision nearly cost Amy her life and could of cost the lives of twelve other people that night. (Lucky for them, those other people only got scrapes and bruises).
In chapter 10, Sonic was so depressed and desperate that his decision to try and kill himself at any cost nearly cost the lives of his own friends and a doctor.