CHAPTER THREE - A Shot in the Dark
Several hours later, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles found a spot to camp. They already set up the tent, and they had a campfire going. They were roasting marshmallows and hotdogs.
Sonic slid over to Knuckles and said, "Man, you were right, I just needed to relax. Now, I feel great! I feel like nothing bad could ever happen again."
"Told ya," said Knuckles as he slid his marshmallow off of his stick.
Tails was enjoying himself as well. He had eaten six hotdogs already, and was starting on number seven.
"Be careful you don't overeat, Tails," said Sonic with a grin, "you could get sick and we'd have to cut back our trip early. You don't want that, do you?"
"Nope," said Tails as he stuffed his face, "but I'm so hungry. That was a really long hike!"
They continued talking on and eating.
Nail, meanwhile, trundled through the forest nearby in his dune buggy. He had the thermal imager turned up at its maximum range, but it didn't show him much. He nearly took off and search another area when he picked up a significant amount of heat on the edge of the imager's ranged area. He saw three life forms, with a large amount of heat in the middle of them. Perhaps they had set up a camp fire. He turned his vehicle in the direction of the heat signature.
If that's Sonic and his friends, this is perfect. They're all sitting around a campfire while it's starting to get dark, so that probably means they're tired and resting for the night. I can get in range, eliminate Sonic with my sniper rifle while he's sitting still by the fire, and then slip out in the dark before they find me.
But... another voice in his head said ...you don't really want to do this, do you? Do you really want to be the person who killed Sonic? Just for the sake of getting money?
Hey though, that's a lot of money, the first voice said. Nobody in their right mind would turn down that sort of cash.
But are you willing to bear the guilt of killing off the leader of the freedom fighters going against Robotnik? Not to mention, what if Robotnik is able to win the war because of you, and then he turns everyone on Mobius, including you, into robots? ...the second voice said.
Shutupshutupshutup! I still have my reputation to maintain. No questions asked no matter what the client's job. Do whatever the client tells you to do, no matter who he is as long as he pays up. I haven't failed any mission given to me yet, and I'm not about to start now. Anyway, maybe he'll let me stay un-roboticized for helping him win the war. Better to be the devil's servant than in his path... Okay...I guess it's decided then what I'm gonna do...
While Nail was thinking to himself, the campfire became visible as a golden sparkle in the distance. He turned off the dune buggy's headlights and pressed a button on the side of his sunglasses. They were now in their night-vision goggle mode. He didn't want to alert his target with the headlights before he could get to him. A few minutes later, Nail found a suitable sniper's nest, and set up for his shot.
First, Nail placed the dune buggy close at hand, so that after he made the hit he could quickly escape. He pulled a sniper rifle out of the back of the buggy. It was one of his favorite rifles. After checking the rifle, he turned on a small video camera attached to his shoulder so that he would have evidence of Sonic's death. Nail attached the camera to the rifle scope with a cord, and pressed some switches on the camera. Now, whatever he saw through the scope, the camera would record. He then faced the fire in the distance, and laid down on the grass with the rifle aimed towards the fire. Everything was set.
He looked through the scope, and saw Sonic sitting next to the fire laughing, probably because of a joke one of his friends had told. His two friends were a young two-tailed fox, and an echidna that looked about Sonic's age. The sight of them laughing together and having a good time made him feel sick with guilt that he'd be ruining everything for them shortly.
Just do it quick before you feel anything more and can't bear to pull that trigger. It's time to put aside emotion and get down to business. Nail placed the crosshairs between Sonic's eyes, and slowly squeezed the trigger.
I'm sorry...Sonic... he thought to himself, just before the loud BLAM from his rifle echoed through the night.