Sonic Hill 2: DX
Chapter 28: Remains of the Judgement
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Room 312 was coated in a light gray tint, just like many of the hotels faded out but still colorful corridors. Fog still clouded the outside world; the source of the interesting and depressing effects it had on the building's interior. The mood it set for the few within its corridors was perfect for how the fox had felt, and had been feeling.
(now you know everything you know why)
'No…'
(dont deny it anymore you know its the truth you knew all along but you couldnt believe it)
'No…'
(so you blanked it out of your mind)
'No!'
(you murdered him you murdered him you murdered)
"…Sonikku…"
'I deserved all this…worse than this…'
His dirty white gloves were soaked now, along with much of his white and orange furry face. His bushy wet tails lay limp on the sides of the chair, each missing just as much motivation to go on as he did. His head hurt again, feeling overloaded with what he'd just learned—
'Learned?' he wondered to himself. 'No…remembered…realized…I…Sonikku…'
A noise emitted from his right, the sound of a door opening and closing, followed by tiny footsteps.
"Tails?" the voice of a little girl asked; Amy's voice.
The weary fox didn't respond, he couldn't. She'd come all this way and finally began to trust him…he couldn't tell all this to a little girl…
"So there you are, I've been looking everywhere for you!" the pink hedgehog said, flashing him a very short-lived smile. "I couldn't find the letter…"
Frowning, Amy looked away for a moment, not seeming to realize how devastated the fox looked. After a long silence, she finally asked. "…did you find it? Did you find Sonic? If not…let's get going already. Okay?"
The taller and older furry did not respond. Slightly worried, Amy pushed his shoulder.
"Okay?" she repeated, sounding just as worried as she felt.
"Sonic's gone." Miles stated, taking his teary-eyed face away from his paws and looking at the girl grimly. "He's dead."
Amy's jaw dropped; seemingly surprised he even said that. The feeling her innocent green eyes gave off was not a pleasant one for the fox to view, for it told him he had thrown some of his pain onto her too. She looked heartbroken.
"Liar!" she shouted, not sounding sure of herself. "Y-you're lying!"
Miles sniffled; wishing it really was a lie. "No…I'm not…"
"Sonic…" Amy stared down at the floor. "He…he died because he was sick…?"
"No." he shook his head, looking back at the now turned off television screen and biting his lip. Part of his face was twitching a little, signifying that he was trying not to break down crying again at what he needed to say next: "I killed him…"
Shamefully, he had hid his eyes from hers, so he couldn't see the horrified expression on her young face as her 11-year-old mind took in what he'd just said. Perhaps it was better that way…but hiding, running, and lying to and from himself was something he'd been doing for too long. A few seconds of silence passed—in which Amy was completely speechless—until the fox finally looked back to her again.
"I…"
"You killer!!" the little girl screamed, tears already flowing down her face just like his had. "Why'd you do it!? I want my Sonic back! Give him back to me!!"
Hard, for a little girl, she pushed his shoulder angrily. "I knew it! No wonder you never visited! You really didn't care about him, huh!? I hate you Tails!" that shove then turned into a barrage of rapid but weak punches. Her little fist did little to hurt him physically, but emotionally it had probably scarred him forever. Each punch was filled with rage, hatred, and devastation. Something even people twice her age shouldn't have to experience in life.
"I hate you!! I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you!!!" she cried. Her array of punches ceased after one last uninspired attack. Looking back down at the floor, Amy spoke again, except only sadness could be picked up in her tone. "He was always waiting for you, Tails…why?…why…?"
"I'm sorry…" Miles whispered. There was nothing else he could say or do.
She took a step back, her face contracting into an extremely hateful and cold green gaze. With unsettling coldness, she barely whispered: "I was right about you…" And burst into tears. Turning, she charged out of the room, sobbing and crying loudly all the way out.
-SLAM!
"Amy…"
Miles felt stupid for not seeing any of the signs earlier. He had committed the crime, and so many things reminded him of that. Had he not closed his eyes and kept on thinking he was the hero of his own tragic lifetime, maybe…maybe things would have been different. He didn't know how. But that wasn't important anymore. He could no longer deny the truth from himself…
-Bzzzt!
Miles jumped when the radio suddenly went off. It hadn't so much as buzzed since he'd exited the labyrinth, and he practically forgot it was there in his side pack still. Pulling out, he wondered why it was buzzing again. There weren't any monsters in sight…
"—Tails!"
It was Sonic's voice again. Miles's jaw dropped and he gawked at the radio, shocked when he heard the hedgehog continue speaking. Except unlike the last two times, there was no longer and static.
"Tails, where are you? Why'd you kill me? I'm waiting. I'm still waiting for you. Please come to me, I want to talk. I still love you…"
"Sonikku…"
"Do you hate me? Is that why you won't come?"Sonic asked."Please hurry! Are you lost? I'm near. I'm waiting nearby, Tails. Please. I want to see you Tails! Can't you hear me!? Tails!?…Tails!?…Tails!?…Tails!?"
Sonic's cries ended when the radio shut off again, leaving Miles alone in the silence of Room 312.
"I…I don't understand…" Miles said, putting the radio back within the pack wrapped around his waste and zipping it up. "He's dead…I killed him; I saw him die…but…"
Staring at his null reflection in the black television screen, Miles wondered if maybe some of what the letter said really was true…
"You're still here waiting for me. Aren't you, Sonic…?" the stunned fox whispered to himself. "Waiting for me…" He stared at the door. "Sonikku…I've got to find him…"
Standing up, the blue-eyed kitsune felt a flash of confused hope somewhere within himself. It wasn't much…but it was still there. It wasn't over. Not yet. Shadow had said, long ago, that anything could happen in Sonic Hill. Perhaps that was true after all…Taking one last look at the tainted memories of the room 312, Miles exited via the entrance door.
Taptaptap, clink, tap tap, clink…Taptaptap, clink, tap tap, clink…
That same dark, evil drone echoed throughout the hotel as the young fox stared at the remains of the hallway in shock. Just like the hospital, it had changed. The walls were coated in brown and ash, the rotten wood flooring cracked and creaked beneath his feet like they'd break any moment, and tiny droplets of cold water fell from the ceiling, dripping onto his furry scalp. Every noise sounded muted and distant, and everything looked and felt…felt so tilted, like the building wasn't built on flat ground. Basically, it looked like the whole place had been partially burned down, and these were just the remains of what used to be the beautiful place…
'Is…is this the alternate Lakeview Hotel?' he wondered to himself. 'Or…or is it the—'
"Muuuuaaaahhhh!!!"
A loud horrible cry rung through his ears, and the dirty tired fox glanced to his left and almost jumped out of his fur when he saw what stood only about ten feet down the hall from him.
A third large, skinless gorilla. Its rheumy mouth seemed to grin maniacally as it let out another dark, breathless roar. In an instant, it was charging towards him.
"Shit!" Miles cried. He didn't have any shotgun or rifle shells, and using the handgun or katana would be suicide. So he did the only thing he could: He ran away. Ran Away. Ran Away. Ran Away. Ran Away. Ran Away.
Slamming the gate bars of the stairway he'd searched fruitlessly to find the key to into place, he fell backwards when the gorilla rammed right into them. The bars seemed to buckle as if they were to break any second from the monkey's charge. And a moment later, they did. The top and bottom of the iron bars snapped like twigs and made a terrifying plummet towards the small fox with the ape on top of them. Miles spun around and, in a blind panic, practically slid down every step. His feet hit the floor at the bottom of the stairs, and before he could even move any farther he felt the cold steep bars hit his back. Crying out in pain, he fell to the floor with the creature and gate on top of him.
He felt the gorillas sharp claws reaching through the now weak bars and onto his back, it's rheumy mouth snapping towards his neck. With a sudden shove, Miles hit the gorilla in the stomach through the bars with his elbow, and with all his might somehow pushed the gate—along with the monster—over. Scrambling to the door, he managed to run through it and shut it behind him a moment before the gorilla could get up and jump on him.
A loud thump was heard behind him once he shut the door, but nothing followed. Miles prayed that maybe it knocked itself out or something, but he didn't get a very decent amount of time to do that before he was forced into yet another fight for his life.
It looked just like the monster that had almost killed that batgirl in the labyrinth a long time ago, except a lot smaller. That did not change the obscene image they presented him though; both of the mating bodies within their backs pounded each other lustfully and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. The whole physical structure of the living mattresses didn't make sense, but that didn't stop them from moving in on the adrenaline-pumped fox. It's mating bodies let out a horrible mixed male and female scream and charged at him.
Miles grabbed for the door to his left—the door that should lead into the 2nd floor of the lobby, but it was locked tight. Looks like many of the unlocked doors had locked now, just like in the hospital. The blue-eyed one only had another moment to do something before the monster's quick charge would hit him. Sidestepping out of the way, he managed to dodge the attack just in time. Stupidly, the monster rammed headfirst into the door, letting out a low pained moan before it began to turn around again.
Breaking into a sprint, Miles ran around the corner of the T-shaped hall and stopped when he saw another mattress monster only a few feet ahead of him. Like it's twin, this one let out a roar and began to wobble towards him incredibly quickly. Instinctively, the fox broke into another sprint and dived towards the beast, landing on the floor in front of it and sliding across the wet and rotted wood.
Tiny splinters dug themselves into his chest, but the fact that the maneuver had saved him from another dive into the sea of pain more than made up for it. On second thought, he wondered if maybe he would have been better off getting pummeled to death by those things…
His chest now covered with a little gunk from the floor, the fox jumped to his feet and rushed through the door to the reading room once he'd cleared the monsters path. The reading room had undergone as much damage as the corridors – the walls were burnt and dead, and the remains of what used to be hundreds of books littered the floor and walls. Depressing gray light shined into the room from the fog outside. Unlike last time everything changed, it was still daytime in Sonic Hill. That is, if time even existed in the hopeless town at all.
On the desk—where the headphones had been earlier—was a box of shotgun shells; completely surprising the young fox as he laid eyes on it. He hadn't seen any since he'd left the hospital, but the weapon was still wedged between the sash-like belt around his torso and his back. Miles picked up the box, opening it to see seven shells inside. He pulled the weapon out from behind his back and reloaded the gun for the first time in ages, not really sure if he wanted to actually use it or not. Sonic's voice over the radio came back to his memory, and he remembered he was better off if he kept moving instead of considering the multiple uses of the defense weapon.
Grabbing the doors handle, Miles pushed it opened and jumped back into the hallway, aiming and opening fire before he even landed. The mattress monster in the corridor's three-way intersection let out an agonized roar as the bullets bombarded its male and female heads. It took a few steps back, trying to recover from the blast, but doing that only caused it to lose sight of its prey. The fox broke into a sprint, running through the small space in between the obscene beast's hulking body and the wall. He turned around the corner and ran through the only other unlocked door in the corridor – the one to the 2nd floor west guest's hall.
'Jesus, this place is infested!' the fox cried as he stared at the 200 hall.
Five straightjacket monsters and a few other mannequins littered the place, all spotting him as soon as he entered and turning his direction. Putting the shotgun away again, Miles pulled out the handgun and shot each of them down. By this point, these weak monsters were no more than just street cones, compared to the roadblocks of gorillas and mattress beasts he'd encountered so far. With a well-aimed bullet to each head, the corridor was now littered with corpses rather than it's usual slithery "life" forms.
While they were all dead now, the radio's static still had not ceased. Its constant screams had been continuing on and on since he'd left room 312, and he had the feeling it wouldn't be stopping soon. Disgusting mold covered the tilted walls, creating an even more intoxicating smell as the lonely adventurer ran down its creaky flooring. Hoping it would be unlocked like before, Miles's sweaty gloved hands wrapped around the knob to room 204 and turned.
The room looked different from before – the arrangement of the overturned furniture, and even the hole in the wall was gone. Stepping into the room, he closed the door behind him and noticed another door directly ahead of him with the words 207 written on it. Raising an eyebrow, he moved up to that door and opened it.
For a moment he thought he was imagining things—suffering from a major overdose of horrible delusions—but after blinking a few times he realized it was real: the corridor he had just exited was now in front of him. Miles glanced behind him to look at the 204 door he'd just came from and saw only ripped and cracked gray wallpaper.
'…that doesn't matter, just go!' his mind cried quickly.
The fox stepped forward into the 2nd floor west guest hall again—now entering via the room farthest from the halls entrance—and tried to decide which door to check next. Randomly, he chose the door to room 206, opening it and walking into another square room similar to the last one. A door labeled 201 was on the opposite end of the square as him, which he quickly opened back into the corridor he'd just exited – now on the complete opposite end of the hall than he was before.
Panic rising again, the two-tailed fox ran to room 206 and opened that into a third square hotel room. In the back of the room was the number 203. He opened that doorway back into the beginning of the corridor and nervously looked around, fearing that he might be stuck like this forever. He took the door to room 205, and that's when he saw a familiar looking place. On the left wall was a large hole, which lead into room 205 if he recalled. Turning around, he saw the number 204 written on the door he'd just entered…
Confused but still willing to go on, Miles walked through the hole and into the room where he'd found the Employee's Only key earlier on. The photos were still on the now broken bed, except now rather than having a picture of something in town on it, each photo had an autopsy-like shot of mutilated and mangled corpses of many different species of furry and human. Trying to ignore it, the fox looked around, spotting a very helpful set of rifle shells, conveniently wrapped in bandages on the desk. Counting them, he gave a weak smile when he found that there were fourteen shells in total, twice as much as he's had before. That meant two full loads of the weapon…that should be good enough. He picked them up, reloaded the rifle, and stored the rest of the shells in his side-pack.
The door, which should be numbered 205, was on the left wall now. But instead, the number 220 was there. Scared and aggravated, he opened that door into a completely new corridor all together – the 2nd floor east guest corridor.
Taptaptap, clink, tap tap, clink…Taptaptap, clink, tap tap, clink…
The endless array of sounds: that strange distant tapping and clinking noise, the sound of the radio's constant static, and that creaky movement across the floorboards repeated on and on over and over again. This time though, another sound joined it: a loud shrieking roar.
The fox's eyes darted down corridor, catching a glimpse of yet another skinless gorilla right before it began its mad charge in his direction. In a flash, it was only a few feet away, but Miles moved just as fast, grabbing the shotgun out from behind his back and aiming it at the incoming beast a split-second before its claws would have reached him. Its flesh-piercing claws were torn away as its screaming body flew backwards, pumped full of shells. Not giving it a second to recover, he fired again. Tens of tiny holes opened up in its skinless chest and it flew backwards even more. Blood flowing out of it's torso, it flailed its arms and legs around frantically before slowly dying.
But it wasn't over yet. Another horrible roar bounced its way into the kitsunes ears. Rapidly he looked left and right, trying to find out where it came from. He saw it just in time – the fifth gorilla he'd run into since this all began was already in mid leap towards him. Miles saved his life for the millionth time; aiming the weapon up and firing at the monster now suspended in the air. The bulk of the ammo missed it, but a few hit bullseye. Its tiny yellow eyes exploded with goo, and a second later it was on the floor off balanced in front of the fox, clutching its now forever decimated eyeballs. It screamed in angered pain and blindly swung its free hand at the fox, trying to tear away at its enemy to the bitter end.
And that end was bitter indeed. Pumping the heavy weapon, the otherwise defenseless fox squeezed the trigger and unloaded a final blast of death at the lacerated monster. The upper region of its small skull blew off, spraying gore all over the walls and the flooring behind it. Covering his mouth, Miles turned away from the now past dead creature and walked around its fresh corpse. In an attempt to keep his mind off of what he had just done—what he'd been doing—he tried all the doors in the corridor to see if there was anything of use inside. All of them were locked, but there was something of interest on the door to room 212.
Thought it was hard to see through the splintered and burnt wood, there was a strange carving of an emerald around the lock, colored a gritty green. Only one idea came to mind, so the fox pulled out the emerald green key he'd found when he entered the hotel and slid it into its home – the lock. With a turn and a click, the door was accessible.
The interior of the room was much different from that of the other hotel rooms – rather than having the usual attire but deformed and rotten, there was absolutely nothing in the room. That is, except for a single shopping cart that stood at the rooms center, wrapped in web-like chains. A soft yellow-ish aura supplied the dark square with a small amount of light.
Déjà vu of when he'd found the handgun in the shopping cart in the beginning arose, and Miles couldn't help but check it out. While the chains were strangely wrapped around it, they weren't tight enough to block him entirely from what was inside. Pushing through a few of the metal links, the fox reached sightlessly into the cart and grasped onto a large smooth object. A struggle through the chains later, he produced a large yellow emerald.
"That's the seventh one…" he whispered. "Jeez, what's up with these things?" Opening the carrying bag, he put the emerald in, noticing something very strange but not new.
The two emeralds he'd collected since he'd entered the museum were gone.
"These ones too…?"
Perhaps it was useless…but he didn't like the idea of leaving the emerald behind. While it might disappear like the others did, at least he knew he'd picked up everything of interest on his way back to the hotel's lobby, just in case. Putting the emerald in the stuffed carrying bag, he exited the room and went back into the 2nd floor east corridor.
There was only one way to go – and it seemed like the only real way to get back into the hotel's lobby. If he took the elevator down into the first floor, he had two different ways of getting into the lobby. He could either take the door that went into the T-shaped corridor by the Lakeshore Restaurant, or—in case that door was locked—take that other door in the employee's only corridor that went outside. If he went outside, he could just simply walk around the hotel and reenter through the front doors.
'So that's the plan…' he thought to himself, knowing very well that it wasn't a very fool proof one. 'Even if it works…I don't know where Sonic really is…'
(sonikku)
Shaking his head, he tried to hold bag the sudden urge to scream and sob once more. If he could do that, maybe…maybe it'd be easier…
The compact elevator was just as claustrophobic as before, and it contained the first wrench in his new war plan. The 1st floor button on the panel was missing, entirely. Only a small hole remained, meaning he couldn't enter the floor that easily. But a new idea arose – if he took the elevator into the basement and took the stairway from the basement to the first floor…that should work.
Whirring softly, the elevator slowly descended into the deepest section of the Lakeview Hotel. With a bing noise, the doors opened, and a huge wave of water came crashing into it, sending the fox reeling into the back of the small place. For a moment, his head fully went under, sending mental waves of panic through him. But once he got back to his feet, he realized that the level of the ice-cold liquid only reached about the height of his chin.
Like on the third floor, the ceiling dripped with more and more water as if it were raining. The uncomfortableness that it had given him since the place changed was nothing compared to now – this was even worse than in the labyrinth. Was the whole basement flooded like this? If it were, that would make getting across it to the other side a bit harder, but not impossible…
Slowly, the miserable fox waded through the cold water, feeling cans, bottles, and other random things float and drift past his soaking body. In an instant, he felt something land on him hard and fully fell under again. Still below the oxygen-filled surface, he spun around, the water stinging his eyes but not hiding the large black thing that was only a few feet behind him.
Gurgling, he raised his head back up to the surface, only getting a breath of air for another second before the creature rammed into him again. He jumped up and got another breath of air, shaking his furry head and splattering droplets over the already moist black walls. He realized what it was – a mattress monster was in the flooded corridor with him.
Disgusted and more than a little afraid, Miles turned around and did a quick dog paddle through the water, knowing that the shotgun wouldn't work underwater like this. The twin-headed beast let out a gurgled roar, drowning itself in its pathetic attempt to charge after him. Miles reached the middle of the corridor, where the door to the Venus Tears Bar was. He reached around for the handle, eventually finding it and turning. The door practically tore itself open as more water from the other side flooded the corridor even more. Miles had to hold on tight not to get swept away and back into the monster's grasp – if it was still alive that is. The water level now had reached his wet furry muzzle, and the poor fox had a much harder time catching his breath now.
After a few pants, he continued moving into the bar. Looks like Venus really had shed some tears, because the bar fared no better than the corridor. Closing his eyes, with his need to oxygen already beginning to grow, he dove under and swam through the bar. Broken bottles littered the room, some hitting and cutting his face as he swam through, but none of them were anywhere near fatal. That is, until what felt like a knife or something dragged across his leg. A few bits of blood attempted to escape from his aching body, but they were quickly pushed away when water flooded their place. Like it stung his eyes, it stung his leg. But still, it was nothing fatal, and he hoped it never would be.
He pushed through the opened door that went into the kitchen, half swimming half wading through it until he reached the door in the back. Brushing a thin floating pan out of the way, Miles tried to push the door open, then pull, but it didn't work. It would have opened out in the corridor, so there must be another river's worth of liquid behind it pushing it closed.
'Ugh, fuck.' He thought with distress. 'This can't be a dead end…'
An idea quickly came to mind. Unsheathing the katana he'd gotten from Eggman, he clumsily tried to stab it into the rotting wood. At first the swords strange weight only threw him off balance and dragged itself down to the floor, but after a few tried he managed to get a firm stab. Very slowly, he carved a square hole just big enough for him and his items to fit through. It took about ten minutes of concentration, but it worked, to his thankfulness. A few minutes after that he finally managed to put the sword back in its sheath and placed his hands on the jagged edges of the wood. A few splinters cut through his dirty wet gloves and into his thin fingers, but he tried and successfully ignored it for the most part.
No pain no gain. With a pull, he managed to crawl into the next water-filled corridor…