Chapter 7: No Rest for the Weary
March 15th, 2314 – 8:00 PM – Zerawian Countryside
Three days of walking later, there was still no city in sight. Sonic briefly wondered how far they had traveled. It had felt like they had walked a thousand miles with his leg, but thankfully Tails had been nice enough to fly him through the air a few times. It gave him a chance to let his legs rest, and it allowed the two of them to travel much faster. However, it also wore Tails out and now he was unable to fly him around anymore.
One good thing had happened though. Yesterday, the road they were on had crossed over a river on a bridge. They ran down to the muddy banks and drank deeply from the water, not caring about getting filthy and wet. The water was very good; it had been quite a while since the last time they had seen a river or a stream. Even if it was unfiltered river water, it was probably the best-tasting water Sonic had drunk in his entire life. The two of them were in high spirits for quite a while after that.
Unfortunately, there was still the problem of food. Even before Mor, the only thing they'd been eating for days was berries they'd managed to collect from bushes they saw here and there, and that did virtually nothing to tame their appetites. Sonic figured he'd collapse in a bit if he didn't get some real food soon. Sure they had managed to get money while they were in the city, but what good was it when there was nowhere to buy food with it? The road they were on was completely deserted, with nothing around it but an endless forest. No gas stations, no houses, no grocery stores, nothing.
But then, as Sonic and Tails rounded a bend full of trees, a structure rose into view over them. It was a green and blue sign on a tall pole that had "Taxago" written on it.
"Hey Tails...look!" Sonic said, pointing at the sign.
"Yeah!" Tails said enthusiastically. "Let's go!"
The two of them ran on down the road, and a large gas station appeared in the sea of trees on the left side of the road. The canopy and the building were colored blue and green, like the sign, and "Taxago" was also written on both of them. It was one of those massive stations that had a fast food restaurant built into it, and in this case it was a Burger Stop. The restaurant's trademark logo of a stop sign with a burger on it was on the side of the station building, and it had never looked better to Sonic. The cartoon burger on the logo nearly looked good enough to eat.
The station itself appeared to be deserted. There were no cars or people in sight. The place felt completely empty. However, when Sonic looked close enough, he could see that a few of the lights were on inside of the building...
"You see the lights?" Sonic said, his voice light with happiness.
"Yeah!" Tails said. "Maybe there's someone inside who can help us!"
It wasn't a hospital, but Sonic was going to take what he could get. With a sudden vigor that hadn't graced the two for days, they dashed towards the station as fast as they could, and hit the door on the front of the building. It was locked.
"Hey! Is anyone in there?" Sonic shouted. "Let us in!"
"Please help us!" Tails yelled, joining in. "We need food!"
Then the door began to swing open to the outside. Sonic started to walk in, when suddenly a dark silhouette jumped into the doorway and pointed a long black tube at him. Then there was a click. A split second later, Sonic realized he was looking down the barrel of a gun. He stumbled backwards, landing hard on his back on the concrete just outside of the entrance. Sonic looked up again and saw that the barrel was still pointed at him, so he crawled backwards along the pavement until his back collided with a gas pump, and he sat there breathing hard, looking at his aggressor.
Now that the initial shock was over, Sonic could get a better look at the gunman. He was a wolf with dark red fur, a lighter red on his muzzle. It looked like he hadn't bathed for days, because his fur was unkempt and dirty, plus his green jacket and blue jeans were covered with dirt, mud, and even some dried blood. Maybe he was hurt? Whatever his condition was, he was breathing heavily and he seemed on edge, ready to pull the trigger of his gun. Sonic now saw it was a large shotgun with a wooden pump and stock.
The hedgehog noticed some movement off to the side, and saw that Tails had hid behind the open door when it had opened up. He looked like he was about to die of fright right there, with his tails fluffed out to three times their normal size. The wolf leveled his shotgun at the fox for a moment, and then he turned it back to Sonic.
"Who are you?" the wolf said to Sonic in a menacing voice. "What do you want?"
Sonic remained speechless, frozen in terror by this wolf with a gun in his face.
"Tell me now!" he screamed.
So much for getting help... Sonic thought as he began to speak.
"Sonic..." Sonic stammered. He pointed at Tails. "His name is Tails. And we just want food. That's all."
The wolf's heavy breathing continued to permeate the air. Then he blinked a few times, and as if awakening from a trance he moved the gun away from Sonic and held it at his side.
"Sorry about that," he said, his voice changing to a more relaxed tone. "I'm...kind of on edge because of what's been going on out here. You're the first people I've seen for a while, instead of those robots."
"Really?" Tails said.
"Yeah," the wolf said. "Anyway, since you told me your names, I'll tell you mine. My name is Tex Randalph."
"Okay Tex..." Sonic said. He looked again at the dried blood on his clothes. "Are you hurt? You've got blood on you."
"I...I'm fine." Tex said, his voice shaken. "Really, don't worry about me. I just twisted my ankle trying to get myself away from the robots a few hours ago. It'll be okay in a while."
Tex didn't say anything else after a while, so Sonic decided to ask another question to maintain conversation.
"Well...what are you doing out here all by yourself? Why don't you leave this place?"
"'Cause this place is out in the middle of nowhere," he said, sitting down on a bench next to the door. He laid the shotgun across his lap. "I don't think Robotnik would bother attacking some place as unimportant as this one. Some robots and battleships go by every now and then, but they don't even give a passing glance to this place. Not to mention, this gas station isn't a bad shelter."
He then pointed his thumb at himself.
"Besides, I'm the owner of this place, and I'm not gonna let some egg-belly take it away from me. It might be just a gas station to you, but to me it's our...I mean my life."
"Do you think you have much of a life left here though?" Sonic asked, sitting down on the bench next to him. "Robotnik's taken over the whole country, it looks like. If I were you I'd just run away."
"Well, I do have another reason for staying here," he said. He turned his eyes to look at the Burger Stop sign on the side of the building. "I've got a lot of food in there, thanks to the Burger Stop connected to this place. There's also the junk food and the drinks in the shop area. I could hold out for a while here, and wait for the cavalry to show up."
"Would you mind sharing some of that food with us?" Sonic said. "Cause we haven't had a single thing to eat all day."
Tex suddenly cast a dark look at Sonic. The hedgehog wondered if he had said something wrong. Tex then shook his head, and quickly replaced the dark look though with a smile.
"Well, I'll give you some, if you've got the money."
He stood up and walked inside. Sonic felt a bit hesitant, because of that look Tex had given him, but he moved to follow him in. Meanwhile Tails pulled out the money they had collected in Mor, all four demens and thirty-nine crents of it. It wasn't much, but it would probably be enough to get them a burger, fries, and a drink. They'd have to share the meal, but Sonic didn't mind. He'd take anything with how much he was starving. It seemed that their money might actually get them something after all. Sonic did wonder though why Tex was still charging them money, with the situation they were in.
The inside of the gas station was dark, and it only had a few lights on. A TV also hung on the wall in one corner, but it was currently turned off. Tex probably wanted to conserve power and not attract attention from Robotnik's forces. Apart from that though, nothing in the station seemed amiss. All of the shelves and cabinets were still nice and orderly, waiting for customers that would probably never come. That didn't weigh down on Sonic though. Just looking at the shelves of candy bars, canned foods, potato chips, and drinks made his mouth water. He thought he was going to start slobbering all over the floor any moment, but he didn't really care.
Tex walked behind the counter and said, "Well, get what you want and bring it here."
"Could we get something from the Burger Stop?" Sonic asked.
"Sure," Tex said.
He walked out from behind the counter, and into the restaurant area of the station through a nearby doorway. The Burger Stop looked about like what the last one they had been in looked like. Plastic silverware was scattered around, as were napkins and condiment packets. It wasn't clean, but it was hardly a disaster area though.
"What do you want?" he asked as he walked behind the restaurant's counter. He laid the shotgun down next to a cash register, and leaned against the counter with both arms.
Sonic glanced around at the menu above his head, looking for something cheap. He glanced at the value deals, and saw the Number One Burger Deal included a regular burger, regular fries, and a regular soda for three demens and twenty-five crents.
"Uhm...how about a Number One Burger Deal?"
"All right," Tex said. "That will be thirty-two demens and fifty crents."
Sonic looked at Tex, and then his eyes widened a bit. Had he really said that he wanted that much money?
"Could...could you say that again?" he asked.
"Thirty-two demens and fifty crents." Tex stated this clearly and firmly. There wasn't any question this time as to whether or not Sonic had heard him wrong.
"But the price on the menu says it's just three demens and twenty-five crents," Tails said.
"I know that you stupid fox," Tex said, leaving his mouth open slightly to reveal his sharp teeth. "This food is valuable now, since we're in the middle of a war zone and food is scarce. I can't just give it up to you, or I'll starve. So, I'm bumping the price up that high, because that's how much it's worth to me now."
"But you've got an entire restaurant's worth of food, and a gas station's too," Sonic said.
"I don't care," Tex said, swiping the shotgun back up off of the counter. He walked around from behind the counter, towards Tails. "If you want this food, pay up. Otherwise, get out of here."
"This isn't fair," Sonic said.
"Life ain't fair son," the wolf said, turning to face him. "Don't like it? Too bad."
"But we need food!" Tails shouted. "And all we've got is like four and a half demens!"
"Is that it?" Tex started laughing. After he was finished laughing, he said, "I won't even sell you a pack of gum for that much! This food is mine! And I can do with it as I goddamn please."
Sonic couldn't believe it. Tex had all of this food in this station, with no chance of him running out for at least a few weeks. And yet he was still hoarding all of it to himself, like a king with his gold. Sonic was thoroughly disgusted by his wild show of selfishness.
"I hope you burn in hell for this, you greedy old bastard," Sonic said to Tex.
Tex whirled around and pointed his shotgun at Sonic.
"Say that again blue boy and I'll send you there myself. 'Sides, even if I gave you the food, you'd probably die later anyway with what it's like out there, and then it would be a waste. Everyone's gonna die sooner or later. Just like Mary did..."
Sonic caught a hint of sadness on that "Mary" sentence. However, before he could ask who Mary was, Tex started talking again, his angry tone back again.
"Like I said before, you can either pay up or get the hell out of my gas station. Take your pick!"
Sonic glanced over to Tails. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. And then he looked back at Tex, with that shotgun pointed at Sonic's face and his eyes glinting with cruelty. Sonic wanted to do something to stop him, but with his bad leg Tex would probably be able to shoot him before he could spin-dash into him or something. Sonic decided it wasn't worth the gamble.
"All right," Sonic said with a sigh, feeling defeated. "We'll go,"
"But Sonic--!" Tails started.
"No Tails," Sonic interrupted, holding up a hand to silence him. "We need food, but it's no good if we die over it."
Tex growled a little as he heard Sonic's words. He tightened his grip around the shotgun, and his finger moved closer to the trigger.
"If that be your choice, then get out of here now. You've got 'til the count of three to walk out that door before I splatter your brains across the walls."
Sonic's eyes widened. With how on edge Tex had been the whole time they were here, Sonic had absolutely no doubt that Tex meant what he said.
"One," Tex said.
Sonic started to hobble towards the door as fast as he could. Tails ran after him.
"Two."
Tails pushed the door open, stepping aside to allow Sonic to walk out first.
"Three!" Tex roared.
There was a loud boom, and a glass window shattered next to the door, spraying shards all over the place. The two scrambled underneath the gas station canopy and dashed back towards the road, nearly tripping over each other a few times. They never looked back as they ran off, in their hurry to get away from Tex.
Sonic replayed the whole incident with Tex in his head, over and over again as he ran. He got angrier and angrier at Tex every time he thought about it. All that food... They were so close to eating it...and then it was snatched away from them just as quickly as it had appeared. Sonic wished he could kill Tex, he really did, but in his current condition he couldn't do anything except hobble away from that wolf. Then Sonic started to get angry at himself for being stupid enough to try to attack Robotnik and then get shot in the leg. If he hadn't gotten shot, they'd probably be enjoying a fine meal right now.
Is this bad leg ever going to go away? I want to be able to walk without my walking stick so bad... I can't do crap like this!
"I hope Robotnik kills both of you, you stinkin' kids!" Tex yelled at them as they sprinted off into the darkness. "Don't ever come back here ever again! You hear me!"
Sonic glanced over his shoulder to look at Tex. The wolf fired another shot, this time into the air. The boom from his shotgun seemed to shake the very earth beneath their feet, urging them to run even faster. The hedgehog vowed to himself that one day, he would never run away from danger like this ever again.