Chapter 10: A Hidden Refuge

March 15th, 2314 – 11:00 PM –Carlboron, Zeraw

For several minutes, the truck drove along without anyone saying much. Most of the sound came from the squeaking and rattling as the truck bounced over imperfections in the road, not to mention the rumble of the engine at the front of the truck. Sonic took this time to glance across the faces of the people he was riding with. Most of the cops looked dogged tired, like they hadn't had a decent night's sleep in days. Lines were forming under their eyes. A lot of them were just barely clutching to their weapons with one hand, letting their barrels rattle on the floor as the vehicle bounced up and down.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by a beeping noise from Zack's motion detector. He pressed some buttons on the side of it, and gazed intently at the screen. He smiled a little.

"What is it?" Sonic asked.

"It might be another survivor," Zack said. "It looks like he's in the Carlboron General Hospital right now."

He turned on his radio and spoke into it.

"Jeremy...head for the hospital. We've got a potential survivor there."

"Roger that," the voice on the other end said, through a haze of static.

The van they were in gave a sudden lurch as the weight shifted to the right side of the vehicle. Sonic reached out to hold onto the edge of the bench, to keep from slipping off. The vehicle then shot down the road. A few minutes later, the vehicle screeched to a halt. In a flash, the back doors opened up and the policemen leaped outside.

Sonic looked out through the open doors and he could see the hospital itself. It seemed to be in about as good a shape as the rest of the city, which was to say it was quite ransacked. A lot of windows had been broken open, and even a car had crashed through the wall in one place. That didn't really interest Sonic though, because he could see the survivor standing outside the front entrance.

"Hey! Over here!" the survivor shouted.

He looked like a doctor, because he was wearing a white lab coat over a blue doctor's uniform. The clothes were filthy though. It looked like he'd fallen into a mud puddle or something. As for his species, he looked like a gray bat, with his oversized ears and the large wings fanning out behind him as he waved at the policemen. He rushed towards them frantically as they jumped out of the truck.

"Hey! Pick me up!" he yelled.

The officers hurriedly ran over to him as well, lowering their weapons as they saw he wasn't a threat. One of them took him by the hand and helped him into the truck. Meanwhile, Zack directed the others to search the building and see if there was anyone else in there.

"Thank you so much!" he said enthusiastically as he climbed into the truck. He was rattling so much from being happy it looked like he'd break into pieces. "It's been days since the last time I've seen any other people. Thank God for you!"

He took a seat next to Tails and was about to say something to him, when Zack started asking him questions.

"Hey...Mr. Doctor. What's your name?"

"John Skeleck," he said, as he reached out a hand to shake Zack's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Lieutenant Zack Marlborosso," the bobcat said as he gave Dr. Skeleck a firm handshake. "Anyway, why were you still in the hospital? We moved everyone in there to the police station two days ago. Is there anyone else still in there besides you?"

"I wouldn't know. I just got back in town today."

Zack looked him up and down in his muddy clothes and asked, "Where were you before? Going swimming in a swamp?"

Dr. Skeleck shook his head.

"No no... It's been much worse than that. I've been out in the woods for days, trying to keep from getting caught again by Robotnik's army."

Zack's eyebrows arced up.

"Caught again? Robotnik had you caught before?"

"Yes, that's right."

"How'd you escape?"

"Well it's kind of a long story..." he said, as he removed his glasses and rubbed them with a clean part of his lab coat. "Are you willing to hear it?"

"Of course…after all, part of my job is listening to what others have to say," Zack said. "Go right ahead."

Dr. Skeleck slid his clean glasses onto his face again, looking Zack square in the face.

"Well, it started about nine days ago, I think. I had just gotten home from work, and had gotten out of the car. When I was looking for my keys to unlock the front door though, I felt someone stab me in the back with a syringe. I turned around, but I saw nobody."

"What?" Zack asked, dumbfounded. "What do you mean nobody? What're you talking about?"

"Come to think of it, there was a weird shimmering right behind me, like something was there but it was invisible."

"A robot with optic camouflage maybe? I don't like the sound of that... Thank goodness we haven't met any of those yet."

"Anyway, whatever I was injected with knocked me to sleep before I could take a closer look. When I came to, I was in the cargo hold of a battleship owned by Robotnik. Inside the ship with me were several other doctors, plus some surgical equipment taken from the hospital."

"What happened next?"

"As soon as we were all awake, a robotic soldier walked in. He said that Robotnik had ordered us to be kidnapped. We were taken directly to his headquarters, and escorted to Dr. Robotnik's private chambers at the top of his base. He'd been badly mangled in a grenade attack, he said. He told us that war hero Kyle Prower did it to him right before he died. We were told to heal him and reconstruct his body with plastic surgery, or we would be executed."

"So that's why he kidnapped you and the other doctors."

"You helped heal Dr. Robotnik?" Tails said, looking up at the older bat.

"Yes I did," Skeleck said.

"You helped the guy who killed my daddy!" Tails screamed, tears coming out of his eyes.

He jumped up and tried to grab at Dr. Skeleck's face.

"Tails!" Sonic shouted. "What're you doing! Stop it!"

He started to reach over to restrain Tails. Tails began grabbing for Dr. Skeleck's large bat ears. He looked like he was trying to rip them off.

"You helped him! You helped him!" Tails screamed over and over.

"Damn it Tails!" Zack said. "Stop!"

Zack reached over and grabbed the little boy. It was easy for him, since the bobcat was many times larger than Tails. Tails kicked and screamed as he tried to break free from Zack's grip.

"Let me go!" he yelled.

"Tails! Calm down!" Sonic yelled. "He didn't have a choice!"

This time, Tails looked at Sonic, and he seemed to listen. Tears still streamed from his eyes, but he seemed to have come to his senses. He stopped struggling, and allowed Zack to set him down on a nearby bench.

"Sorry..." he said, bowing down to face the ground.

After a little pause, Sonic broke the silence as he spoke to Dr. Skeleck.

"Can you tell us more?"

After Dr. Skeleck recovered from the surprise attack, and took his eyes off of Tails, he started talking again.

"Well, after we were done...Robotnik did let us go. He told us it didn't matter if we lived or died anyway, so he didn't bother having us executed. He thought it might be more fun to watch his robots hunt us down as we left, I bet. Most of us got gunned down later as he let his soldiers out of his base, or got lost in the woods."

He let out a sigh, and closed his eyes.

"I was such a fool...why did I have to be so selfish? So weak?"

"What're you talking about?" Sonic asked.

He slammed a fist on the bench next to him.

"Why'd we have to just do as he asked!" Dr. Skeleck bellowed. "We could have killed him right there with our surgical tools, and probably ended the war if we weren't so worried about saving our own lives! A lot of us died later anyway! Now I can't help but hate myself being such a coward!"

He turned his head down and continued beating his fist on the metal. His wing flapped behind him, threatening to hit the people sitting beside him.

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" he screamed.

"Jeez, calm down!" Zack said, reaching out to hold him.

"Sorry about that," the bat said. "I've been through a lot lately."

"I understand," Zack said, moving back.

Then the bobcat's head suddenly shot up, as if he'd realized something important.

"Hey…" Zack started again. "So you were at the base? Can you tell me where it is?"

"I think so," Dr. Skeleck said. "Robotnik's base actually isn't too far away from this place. After I winded through the woods, I came to West 37, and followed the road here, because I live in this city. Too bad that there was nothing but what you probably saw out there waiting for me."

"Hmm... That's the same way we got here," Sonic said.

"I'd guess his base is about thirty miles from here, give or take. I was a lot closer to home than I thought."

Sonic's ears perked up at that.

"That's interesting," Zack said, with a hint of excitement. "After we get back to headquarters, I'd like to get a full account of all that you know. This could be useful information."

Zack wasn't the only one who was happy about this new development. Sonic was busy scheming, thinking of how he was going to take down Robotnik now and avenge Kyle. His opportunity for revenge had finally come. Then he remembered his leg, and looked down at it. That would need to be healed first. Sonic turned to face Zack.

"Umm...Zack," Sonic said.

Zack turned to face him.

"Yes?"

"Is it okay if Dr. Skeleck heals my leg first?"

Zack looked back to the doctor.

"Do you mind doing it?"

Then the bat looked at Sonic and smiled, and then he looked back at Zack.

"Not at all...it's the least I can do for you all picking me up. Do you have equipment at the police station?"

"Yes, we have an emergency medical ward set up. We could really use your help in there too."

"Excellent, then I shall get started as soon as we arrive."

"Thanks a lot, Dr. Skeleck," Sonic said.

"It's no problem at all."

---

A few minutes later, the other cops returned to the truck. No other survivors had been found inside the hospital. They didn't find any other survivors for the rest of the day either, but Sonic hardly noticed. Very soon, he would be back in tip top shape, and ready to go fight Robotnik once again. He would do it for everyone. For his dad, for Tails' dad, for all these cops, for everyone Robotnik killed, and so on. He'd especially do it for Tails, with the way he'd made the fox act like this.

At the end of the day, the police truck pulled into the underground garage of the station, and jerked to a halt in a parking space near the entrance doors to the station itself. With some help from the tiger cop, Sonic got down out of the van. Tails followed close behind, as did Dr. Skeleck. The parking garage was largely dark, with most of the lights turned off. It looked like they were trying to save power, same with how Tex had left most of his lights off at the gas station. Only the lights around the exit door were on. Beyond the exit door, they stepped into a hallway. Most of the corridors here had the lights off too. Just enough lights had been left on to let people see where they were going, but otherwise the place was almost completely black.

It felt like the forest had been before they had made it to this city. If there weren't a ton of cops following them around, Sonic would probably have never gone inside this place. He felt very vulnerable in the dark, even though he knew this place was supposed to be a safe haven. While the other cops dispersed around the building, the two of them were escorted down various corridors by Zack. Eventually, they came to a door that had a sign that said "Break Room" over it. However, a cardboard sign taped to the door had "Medical Ward" scrawled across it in black marker. Zack stopped in front of the door, and turned to face Sonic, Tails, and Dr. Skeleck.

"Go on in," Zack said. "We've got doctors and surgeons in there treating people, and we could really use Dr. Skeleck's help too. Sonic, you should be healed soon too."

"Thanks a lot!" Sonic said. "You have no idea how terrible it is to have to walk everywhere like this."

"Oh yeah..." Zack said with a smile. He looked down at his own legs, seeming to try to visualize one of them being banged up like Sonic's. He then looked back up. "I can imagine. Anyway, I have other things to take care of right now. I'll see you later."

He gave them a small wave, and started walking down the corridor.

"Bye!" Tails said, waving back to him.

Sonic waved with him, although he was thinking more about getting his leg back in working order. He desperately wanted to go running again.

Once Zack was out of sight, Sonic pushed the doors open into the Break Room/Medical Ward. A welcome flash of light greeted his eyes. All of the lights were on in this area. As Sonic's eyes readjusted to the burst of light, the room came into focus. The place was extremely busy. Many cots had been scattered around the room, with what looked like dozens of wounded people on them. The injuries ranged from minor things like cuts and bruises, to full amputations of arms and legs. A bull was missing all of his limbs, save for his right arm. Sonic winced at the sight of that. He briefly wondered what could have caused something like that...then he realized he probably didn't want to know. However, it sure did make his own wounds seem a lot more minor.

Doctors in hospital jumpsuits ran around, hurrying to treat people. There looked to be a makeshift surgical bay in the back of the room, surrounded by curtains. Also, the pool tables and pinball machines that would normally be entertaining off duty cops had been put to use instead as tables to hold the doctors' various tools and medicines. The whole room seemed chaotic, with the patients vastly outnumbering the medical staff.

Suddenly, a pink female kangaroo screeched to a halt in front of the trio. She was wearing a nurse's uniform, and she looked totally flustered.

However, after she managed to catch her breath, she said, "Hey there! My name's Joy! Are you new here?"

"Yeah," Sonic said.

She looked down at the bandage on his leg.

"I'm guessing you want that fixed up, right?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," Sonic said. "If you fixed my leg, I would be eternally grateful."

The kangaroo gave a smile, and then she looked at Dr. Skeleck.

"Hey…who're you? I haven't seen you around here."

"My name is Dr. Skeleck," the bat started. "I only just got back in town today, only to find all this mess. Can you help me with this boy? I want to treat him first."

"Sure, I can do that," she said with a bright smile.

"Thanks a lot," the bat said, and then he turned to Sonic. "First we better have a look at it though, before we administer any treatment."

Nurse Joy walked towards a nearby cot, which was empty.

"Lie down over here," she said.

Sonic obeyed, and hobbled over before lying down on the bed.

"This may hurt a little..." Joy said. "I'm gonna take off this bandage."

"Okay," Sonic said.

She slowly unfurled the bandage, exposing the wound Sonic had been walking around with for the last few days. It didn't look all that good. There was a big red gash where Robotnik's laser had scorched his skin. It was inflamed and blistery, not to mention it was oozing slightly.

"Wow...what is that?"

"I got shot with a laser... It's been terrible trying to walk on it. It hurts every time I take a step."

"How long have you had that?" Dr. Skeleck asked. "It looks like it's been infected."

"I dunno exactly, but it's at least a couple days old. We haven't been able to find a hospital for days, with how Robotnik's been running around."

"You poor things!" Joy said with dismay, clasping her arms together.

She had said it with such a flourish that Sonic almost thought she was being sarcastic.

"Goodness...calm down Joy," Dr. Skeleck said, moving over. "Lemme get a closer look first."

The doctor sat down on the cot and held up Sonic's leg, Sonic wincing at the pain a little.

"Does it hurt a lot?"

"Oh yeah," Sonic said.

"Where'd you get it anyway?" he asked, looking through his glasses at him.

"Robotnik shot me," Sonic said darkly.

The doctor hardened his gaze. "Dr. Robotnik himself took time out of his busy schedule of taking over the world just to shoot you, a little kid?"

Sonic growled a bit, because Robotnik had called him a little kid too.

"I'm not a little kid! And he did shoot me!"

"Fine, fine..." the doctor said with a sigh. "I'll take your word for it. I suppose it's not all that unbelievable anyways, since I've had a run-in with him myself."

He turned to Joy.

"Where do you keep the medicines and those sorts of things?"

Joy pointed to a curtain covering the other side of the room. After saying thanks, he helped Sonic up off of the bed and escorted him behind the curtains at the end of the room. Back there was another bed and another pool table that had medicines of all sorts stacked on top of it. Dr. Skeleck motioned to the bed, and Sonic sat down. As the doctor rifled through the bottles, a devilish grin crossed Sonic's face, as he plotted his next move.

Soon as this leg is healed, I'm gonna slip out of here, run down to Robotnik's base, and kill him. Then I'll have my revenge, and the war will be over. I'm not gonna make stupid mistakes like I did the last time I fought him.

Suddenly, someone poked him in the arm. He looked up and saw that it was Dr. Skeleck. He was holding a tube of some kind of ointment, and he had a puzzled look on his face.

"What is it?" Sonic asked him.

"You..." he said. "Why've you got that devilish grin on your face all of a sudden? I was busy telling you how I'm gonna treat your injury."

Sonic's face formed into a frown.

"Oh...it's nothing," Sonic lied. "Sorry about that. What did you say about my leg again?"

"Well Sonic...after I do some work to the area of your tissue that was burned by the laser blast, you're going to have to apply this cream to the area twice a day for a few days, to help the damaged area heal."

He held out the tube in his hands to Sonic. Sonic took it from him and looked at it. On it was written "Lazengamiza."

"Laaa...zeeeeeeen...gameeeeezaaaaaa…?" Sonic mumbled.

"Yes...all medicines seem to have odd names, don't they?" the bat said with a laugh. "Anyway, this cream was specially prepared to treat injuries from lasers. It became very popular during Robotnik War I among Freedomian and human medics alike, from all the laser wounds that our soldiers got from Robotnik's forces. I think it should do just fine for treating that wound."

"Thanks a lot," Sonic said with a smile towards Skeleck. "I owe you one."

"Just doing my job," he said with a smile. "Anyway, lets get started on fixing that wound up of yours first. It shouldn't take long."