Chapter 9: Relief at Last?
March 15th, 2314 – 10:30 PM – Carlboron, Zeraw
'Everything is going to be just fine,' Tails had said to Sonic.
As they had driven down the road, Tails had laid out his plan. Drive to Carlboron, look for a doctor to fix his leg, and possibly find a way that they could get their hands on some money and supplies. It did sound 'just fine', like Tails had put it. But as they got closer to the city, Sonic couldn't help but think that this wasn't as promising as it sounded.
Evidence that things were not 'just fine' was all around them, as Sonic sat up from lying down and watched what went past the car windows. The only vehicle driving on the road was the one they were riding in. There wasn't anyone walking around either. What few buildings had lights on didn't indicate there was any life inside of them. This ghost town theme continued even as they pulled onto Terahummen Expressway, which apparently was supposed to be a major street in the town. All ten lanes of the road were totally empty, save for abandoned cars and other debris.
Finally, the car rounded a bend on the expressway and the city proper emerged into view. What a horrible sight it was. The huge skyscrapers in the middle of town had all received massive collateral damage. One building had a gigantic hole in it, and it was a miracle in itself that the building hadn't collapsed yet. On another one, it looked like the top of the building had been blown completely off. What's more, another one of the giant edifices seemed to have collapsed. There was a giant plume of smoke coming forth from the bottom of the towers, probably because one had fallen down and had been caught ablaze. All the towers that were still standing were burning merrily, and the smaller buildings beneath them didn't look to be in better shape. It was quite sad, thinking about the fact that no firemen would be coming by to put out the blaze.
Well, so much for everything being 'just fine'.
"Robotnik got here before we did," Sonic said with a sigh. "Now everyone's gone."
Just how many people does he have to kill? I bet he wouldn't even be satisfied if he killed everyone on the planet.
"What should we do then, Sonic?" Tails asked, as he carefully maneuvered around an overturned semi-truck lying across the road. "Are we going to stay here?"
"Yeah...there might not be anyone to fix this leg, but at least we can try to find some food."
Tails nodded silently, not taking his eyes away from the street in front of him. He slowly pulled off of the expressway and onto a smaller side street. After about a minute, they saw a large sign towering above the roadway. This one was still lit up, and it read "Tifa's Grocery and Deli". Next to the words was what looked like a grinning female fox-dog hybrid with black fur and red hair. She had the warmest, most inviting smile Tails had ever seen. If she were a real person, Tails would have probably flown up there and hugged her. It looked like they'd finally have food after all.
"Food at last..." Sonic mumbled. "I can't believe it."
Tails had to agree with him. They'd been without any real food for days, and now they were finally going to get some. The fox quickly pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store, being careful to avoid the stray shopping carts strewn about the place. The car screeched to a halt on the sidewalk right next to the front door. Tails killed the engine, and got out of the car. Sonic opened the left rear passenger door behind him. Tails looked surprised that he was willing to get out, after what happened to his leg.
"You sure you wanna walk on that?" Tails asked, indicating his leg.
"Yeah I'm sure!" Sonic said. "I'm more worried about getting full than keeping this leg in tip top shape right now! Enough talking, let's just grab some grub!"
The automatic front door obligingly opened as they stepped past the motion sensor for it. Inside, the place was a mess. Most of the lights were off, and more shopping carts and trash were scattered around. Stray boxes of food were also splayed across the floor. Furthermore, a great deal of the shelves seemed to be empty from here. It looked like they hadn't been the only ones with the idea of looting stores when Robotnik came to town. That didn't deter the pair though as they trudged into the store, searching the place to salvage whatever they could find. They both split up, checking to see if their favorite foods were still here.
While Sonic went to the meat section (probably to look for stuff to make chilidogs with), Tails decided to go down the cereal aisle first. Back when he was still at home, he just had to have a bowl of his favorite cereal called M's Munchies every morning. Otherwise, he just wouldn't feel right for the rest of the day. Nine days was the longest he'd ever been without it, as far as he could remember. He just had to get it first, because of that.
His heart pounding in anticipation, he turned the corner into the aisle. It was completely empty...save for one box. With suspense pulsing through his body, he quickly grabbed the box and held it up in front of him to see what brand it was. The top of the box had written upon it the words "M's Munchies". He saw a blue fox wearing a red headband on the front of the box, smiling at him. Tails smiled back at the blue fox, knowing that this was his favorite cereal mascot M. M stood over a giant bowl full of red and blue marshmallow Ms, and grain Ms as well. Without further hesitation, Tails tore open the top of the container, and ripped open the bag of cereal inside.
Tails quickly began to stuff his face full of the cereal as he jammed his entire head inside the box, not really caring that the cereal was flying all over the floor as he fed himself. He then gagged, as he realized he was choking on something. Tails spit whatever it was out into his gloved hand, and looked at it. It was the cereal prize's package. The fox tore it open, and was rewarded with a red headband just like M's. He quickly put it on, out of thankfulness to his favorite cereal mascot for feeding him again, and then returned to stuffing his head inside the box. A few minutes later, the box was empty. Tails tossed it aside, satisfied now that his stomach was full. He sat down on the floor, propping himself up against one of the shelves, and laid there just resting. That was quite possibly the best box of cereal he had ever had in his entire life.
Tails heard distant footsteps approaching from the end of the aisle, and turned his head towards the sound. Sonic stepped into view, holding a pack of hotdogs. He was eating the hotdogs straight out of the package. After he finished gulping down the last hotdog inside the pack, he let the package fall to the floor.
"Looks like we both found our favorite foods, sorta," Sonic said, with a grin.
Tails grinned back. Ordinarily, Sonic would have probably tried to cook the hotdogs first, and then fix the ingredients to make chilidogs though. However, with no way to cook it here, he'd just had to rough it. Tails did wonder though...wasn't it usually a bad idea to eat undercooked meat? His mom had warned him about it a few times, and she said doing that would make you sick.
Before Tails could offer a reply though, he heard the rhythmic pounding of dozens of footsteps. They were coming from the front of the store and headed their way. Sonic heard the footsteps too, it seemed, as his eyes went wide with fear. Tails' own eyes enlarged as well. Sonic quickly hobbled over towards Tails, so he could get between whoever was coming their way and protect him.
Oh no...who is that? Robotnik's robots? A monster? Please don't let it be something bad, I don't wanna die... Sonic won't be able to fight it whatever it is, because he's still hurt.
Sonic had just managed to stand in front of him and hold his arms out to block him when the footsteps reached the end of their aisle. Several dark shapes flew around the corner and stopped in front of them. Tails had seen enough scary people for a lifetime in the last few days. First it was Robotnik, then Tex at the gas station, and now they were getting attacked by black phantoms. He ducked behind Sonic and peeked out from over his shoulder.
Even as Tails ducked behind Sonic, the hedgehog still stood his ground. He could finally see who had been making the footsteps. Sonic wasn't sure what to expect when he heard those steps, but it certainly wasn't several grown-ups dressed in what looked like black S.W.A.T. gear, holding huge assault rifles. They had all managed to move into the aisle and assume firing positions so quickly that Sonic didn't have time to blink. For a few seconds, nobody did anything. The cops simply aimed their rifles at him and Tails, while Sonic continued to hold his arms out to protect Tails.
Yeah right, like my body would suddenly be strong enough to stop bullets, when it couldn't stop Robotnik's laser before.
Finally, one of them spoke, breaking the silence.
"It's all right men," he said with a heavy tone. "They're just kids."
All of the cops lowered their weapons and stood up in relaxed positions. The one who had spoken first, a yellow and brown bobcat, walked over to them. His huge size alone would have made him look very intimidating, but that big black rifle in his hands and his black uniform made him even more terrifying looking. Even though the bobcat clearly meant them no harm, Sonic unconsciously edged backwards away from him.
"Sorry about that kid," he said, that thick husky tone again. "Didn't mean to scare you and your friend." He indicated Tails on the ground next to him. The bobcat then noticed the bandaged wound in his leg, and kneeled down to get a better look. "Whoa...where'd you get that from?"
Sonic stammered out a response. "R-R-Robotnik."
"I see..." the bobcat then looked back up at Sonic's face with a smile. "Come with us then. We've got a makeshift hospital set up at the police station. We can get you fixed up."
"Really?" Sonic said, his mood suddenly shifting from terror to relief. These must just be the local cops, nobody else.
"Yeah, we've got doctors and surgeons from the hospital there," he said. He then turned back to the others. "All right all of you; help 'em to the truck."
While a tiger cop walked past Sonic to help Tails, another one (this one a green chameleon) walked over to Sonic and said, "Need any help?"
"No...I'll be all right," Sonic said. He followed the other cops out of the grocery store. Parked next to their green car was a huge black and white truck, with Carlboron Police Department written across the side. The first officer to reach the back of the truck opened up the back door, and people started climbing inside. Sonic got inside the truck when it was his turn too. It was a bit hard getting up the steps with the leg, but he managed.
Sonic took a look around the inside of the van. At the front of this rear compartment was a gun rack full of assault rifles, shotguns, and handguns, in addition to a rack of bulletproof vests and some first aid kits. The rest of the truck was taken up by two benches, running along either side of the vehicle. Sonic took a seat on the bench on the left. A few moments later, the bobcat, apparently the leader of the cops, sat down next to him.
"Sorry for not properly introducing myself before," he said, extending his hand for a handshake. "I'm Lieutenant Zack Marlborosso."
"My name is Sonic Hedgehog," Sonic said, shaking his hand.
"My name is Miles Prower, but everyone calls me Tails," Tails said.
The cop cast a look at Tails' tails.
"Well that's really strange," he said. "I would be totally freaked out by that right now, if I wasn't already totally drained by what's happened recently. Robotnik has killed this city, just like the rest of the country."
"Yeah..." Sonic said. "We were in Mor when he destroyed it too."
"You were?" Zack said. "I'm amazed you managed to escape. Anyway, Robotnik's forces came to this city a few days ago, kidnapping or killing anyone they met. After he left, me and the rest of my fellow officers who managed to survive that decided to organize a refugee camp at the police station. We've been patrolling the city, searching for any survivors we can find."
"Then why'd you look like you were gonna attack us at first?" Tails asked.
"Because our main means of finding survivors is via motion sensors," Zack said back. He held up a small box with a handle on one end and a radio antenna on the other. There was a small display screen on the box in the middle, with dots indicating each of the people inside the truck. The area outside the truck was empty of dots though.
"This thing only tells us if something is moving in the general area, not whether they're friendly or hostile. We've been attacked by Robotnik's robots periodically during our searches, so we can't take chances on keeping our guard down."
Zack looked around the truck, at the dozen or so police officers.
"You see all these cops?" Zack said.
"Yeah?" Sonic said.
"You're looking at two thirds of what's left of the entire Carlboron police force here."
"What!" Tails said. "Where are all the other cops?"
"When Robotnik first attacked the city, the CPD launched a counter attack of our own." Zack said, and then he let out a heavy sigh. "Out of the three hundred policemen who participated in the operation, only eighteen survived and escaped capture, myself included."
Zack closed his eyes, a look of grief tracing across his face.
"Our police force just wasn't trained or equipped for something like that. We bust drunk drivers, crack houses, and gangs, but we aren't meant to fight in wars. Most of our standard issue ammunition bounced right off of the robots' armors, and there wasn't any time to go grab better firepower from the armory. This is just like the first Robotnik War that I fought in."
"You fought in the first Robotnik War?" Sonic said. "Our dads fought in there too!"
"Oh, really? I see," Zack said, as he turned away from them. He seemed to be digging for memories. "I remember my first battle being at Reppoc in Lufetsaw. That was the day that--"
He paused in mid speech, his eyes widening in surprise. His gaze fell upon Sonic and Tails again.
"You've got to be kidding," he said. "Don't tell me that your dads are...Swift Hedgehog and Kyle Prower?"
Sonic smiled. "Yeah...that's right."
"Well I'll be!" Zack said. "I knew I recognized your last names. I'm meeting the kids of the two greatest war heroes of Robotnik War I! That battle in Reppoc made them famous!"
Sonic looked back at Tails, although he noticed he had a frown on his face.
"What's wro—" Zack started, then he stopped. He then coughed and regained his composure and looked back at Tails. "Oh...sorry. I forgot. Kyle was on the news recently. Said Robotnik attacked that university lab and killed him with his wife. Is that right?"
Tails nodded a few times, as he closed his eyes. Sonic turned back to face Zack again.
"He killed his mom right in front of his eyes," Sonic said. "We didn't see Kyle die, but we found the body later..."
"That's horrible!" the green chameleon sitting across from them said.
"It almost makes what we're going through right now feel like a walk in the park," the tiger next to them. "Having your parents die at a young age must be terrible."
"I gotta ask though..." Zack said. "How'd you get all the way to Zeraw? The murders were in Forest Town, Elona, if I remember right, and that place is thousands of miles away from here."
As the truck continued to drive to the CPD, Sonic and Tails laid out their story for the last nine days before the cops. From fleeing Forest Town in the Tornado to helping Carrie Strafer find her new home. From ending up in Zeraw after taking a warp hole to having a personal encounter with Robotnik, which is what caused Sonic's leg wound. From fleeing Tex at the gas station to winding up here.
"What an incredible story," the chameleon said again. "You've been through a lot, haven't you?"
"Mmmmhmmm..." Sonic mumbled.
"Don't worry though. Once we get you to the station, we'll get that leg fixed up, and we'll give you a full meal. You both deserve it."
"Thank you sir," Tails said.
"It's no problem kid," Zack said with a smile. "It's our jobs, after all."