No Vacancy
"I must be seeing things, yeah, things" Matt nervously ranted to himself, his lone, crazed, broken self.
The bizarre, accident on the highway was the final straw for the young man.
Matt stuttered "First my job, then my car, now my sanity".
Police swarmed across the highway like vultures to a rotting carcass. Bright lights of red and blue lit up the dark sky with electronic fire. Ambulances were hauling car crash victims away, some alive, some not. The clothes Matt wore wreaked of sweat, rain, and pain. Trembling fingers rubbed over a young but tired old face as Matt's body ached.
Matt sighed "Well, at least you know you weren't on drugs or drunk. Ha, who am I kidding, at this rate I could down a bottle of both".
Matt's front door appeared before his weary eyes, the fading color of his bronze doorknob was like a light from heaven.
"Now all I need is a rinse, a meal, and a goodnight sleep and I'll" Matt said.
But before those comforting words could please the man's ears any further, something in the trash was attracting his eyes. A shapely figure drenched in cold rain, a creature in the trash, Matt's trash. The figure was female; the shape alone was proof of that. Hair was long and bright red, beautiful and yet powerful. The skin color was that of an eye pleasing chestnut brown. Yet as Matt's tired eyes examined the figure closer, he realized that was not skin.
Matt choked "Oh my god".
GAK!
Coughing wheezes gasp out globs of rotten sea water; white gloves relax the blue throat as it continued to empty its fowl contents. The voice of a young lad groaning could be heard as he squeezed water from his twin soaked tails. The voices had belonged to 2 furry creatures known as Sonic and Tails.
Sonic coughed "BLEACH! Oh man, that is one bad taste. Yuck, tastes worse then Rotor's cooking".
Tails squeezed his tails out "Man, I feel like I soaked up every drop of water in Mobius River".
Sonic blinked "Uh I hate to break this to you little buddy, but I don't think were in Mobius River".
Swishing steel legs splashed in the dark globs of blackened water, as Bunnie approached her friends. The rabbit winced as she rang water out of her ears.
Bunnie nodded "I'm afraid sugar hog is right hun, look around".
In all the mass confusion, the storm, the crash, and the police, the young travelers had little time to properly analyze their location. Tails, Sonic, and Bunnie examined the dark highway surrounded with flashing lights and heavily armed humans. Or as they are called on Mobius, "Overlanders". This world was vast; it was large and dark, surrounded by steel and concrete. The bright lights of the city blinded our weary heroes with shock and awe.
This world was unlike anything any of them had ever seen before. This wasn't Robotropolis, this wasn't Echnidnapolis, no, this was a place beyond all imaginations.
Tails gulped "Wow".
Bunnie added "Oh mah stars".
Sonic shook his head "I don't think were in Knothole anymore guys".
Search lights started to dawn over the water logged heroes at the end of the river, familiar voices shouted in the night.
An officer shouted "CHIEF, I see something, over there by the river's end".
The blue hedgehog looked to his friends with deep fear and concern, this didn't look well. Sonic quickly explained that it would be best for them to leave this area. Their first priority was to find Princess Sally, wherever she might have fallen to. Then to find a place where they could be safe from the police.
Bunnie pointed to the west "Sally girl got blown away like haystack in a twister top, I last saw her over in that direction".
Sonic nodded "Good then let's get juicing".
Tails protested "But Sonic, we don't have any idea where we are. We might be in another dimension, a time vortex; we could even be on another planet".
Sonic replied "No choice bud, we've got to keep moving or else those slick dressed overlanders will catch up to us. Besides, there's no telling what might have happened to Sally. The faster we go the faster we find here and find our way back home. Come on guys, let's do it to it".
Bunnie and Tails locked arms with Sonic as he broke off into a super sonic dash, vanishing in a flash of blue dust. Venturing off into the deep, dark, dreadful unknown, everything in that young hedgehog's mind kept coming back to Sally. Hoping, preying that no creep or crook found her before he did. For if they did…….
Sonic growled "Someone's gonna PAY".
Thundering clouds shatter a world of water upon the dark dreary alleyway, where a lone man lurched in his own confusion. Matt groaned as the water beaded down his sweating brow. Grey eyes flustered with frustration, the young man's mind was clearly somewhere else.
"This isn't happening, this is NOT freaking happening to me" Matt said loudly.
Shoving past trash cans and soaked newspapers, Matt was looking for something in the rainy alley. Matt's Dark wet hair dribbled drops of cold water.
"I must be insane. I'm rummaging through my own trash, stuck in the freaking rain, looking for towels for……GOD what I am doing out here?" Matt said.
TINK! A bent soda can rolled against the watery pavement. Matt gasped as he turned to see the can roll away from a pair of red shoes, followed by a pair of green eyes.
The human whispered "You got to be shitting me", his eyes widening in horror.
Three dark furry shadowy figures were standing right in the center of the dark and dreary alleyway. One was a blue hedgehog, one was a 2 tailed fox, and the other was a cyborg rabbit. Matt screamed as he stumbled backwards.
Bunnie gasped "Whoa, whoa just relax sugar, were not going to hurt you".
Sonic added "Unless you would prefer mixing it up with us".
Matt swallowed "Great, you can talk too, that's just freaking dandy".
Sonic and the others slowly took a step forward towards Matt; he immediately backed away in fear.
Tails pleaded "Look mister we know we look uh……different, but were not here to hurt you. Were just looking for a friend of ours".
A cold gulp of fear sank down Matt's pale white throat, his grey eyes trembling under the pounding blades of icy cold rain.
"Have you seen anyone that looks well, like us?" Sonic asked the man very cautiously.
But the question seemed to upset Matt more then Sonic's actual presence, Matt slowly staggered onto his shaking feet. Bunnie's eyes noticed something clutched in Matt's right hand. A piece of cloth, it was dark blue and drenched in water, it looked like a vest.
Bunnie asked "Hey now, what's that you got in yer'all paw there hun?". Matt looked at the vest and gasped as he quickly hid it.
Sonic growled "That looked like Sally's vest Bunnie".
Matt bit his lip "Now let me explain, you see I ARGH".
Sonic leapt at the man before he had a chance to finish, the young hedgehog grappled Matt's throat tightly. Sonic's soaked white gloves crushed painfully around Matt's trembling throat.
"SONIC" Tails pleaded.
The hedgehog growled "This creep's got Sally, how else do you explain her vest?".
Sonic crushed Matt's neck tighter, the man struggled as he desperately coughed for a breath of air.
"Sugar hog, calm down before you do something you'll regret" Bunnie said.
But the sorrowful thought of losing his beloved Sally was burning too brightly in Sonic's rage filled heart. Sonic didn't know this man, he didn't know his name or where he came from, but all he did know was that he knew where Sally was, and that's all that mattered. Matt pleaded "You don't ERK understand".
"ZIP it, just tell me where she is, now" Sonic said.
Crackling bones started to compact the pressured pressed muscles in Matt's shaking throat. The human pointed to a door right to the very left of Sonic, Matt nodded weakly.
Sonic frowned "Get lost overlander", he dropped Matt to the ground.
The man gasped for air, clutching his soar lungs as he sat there in the cold rain. Tails and Bunnie followed Sonic into the man's apartment, though both had a bad feeling about this.
Sonic turned to the others "Come on guys, its getting cold".
SLAM!
Sonic and the gang entered the apartment, leaving Matt to rot in the rain. But no sooner did they walk 3 steps into the apartment, did Sonic and his friends widen their eyes in shock.
"I don't believe it, Sally, is that you?" Sonic said.
OOF! Matt shouted as he was violently shoved out of the alley and onto the ice cold sidewalk.
The man groaned "Evicted by fur balls, what next?".
Two shadowy strangers appeared, one held a knife, and the other held a pistol.
One of the thugs smirked "What's next, how's about you (loads gun) empty out your pockets pal before I empty out this gun into your face".
To be continued……