Unfortunately school is really coming up, so there may be a lack of updates.
SunSera: The creature was just one specimen of the Project. There's much more to it. As for the numbering, that honestly didn't come to mind. Think you misunderstood some details in the chapter is all, and what did your sister think of the past few chapters? Just asking out of curiosity.
Unknown Location, 3rd person POV
"Do you know why I've called you here?" An old voice asked.
"Yes, I know." A jackal replied. It was Klondyke.
"You will always refer to me as 'sir'." The old man replied.
"Sorry, sir." He apologized profusely.
"Anyway, I've called you up here for a special... assignment that you and your teams will go on. As you can see, this is quite important seeing as your dictator is giving you this rather than one of your superiors." Dragovich said with open arms.
"And what's the assignment exactly? Whatever it is, consider it done." The jackal replied. The old man got out of his chair and looked out the window of his office.
"You will go find that jackal, Infinite and bring him to me either dead or alive. Obviously there willl be a greater reward if brought in alive." He stated. "I am not impressed with the stunts he had pulled with his friend. He refused my deal by escaping his institution and killing several of our soldiers. Not to mention he assisted the enemy before his capture."
"Infinite? Huh! This'll be easy." Klondyke said to himself, smirking evilly.
"Don't be full of yourself." The dictator replied and turned to face the anthropomorphic individual. "He is capable of much more than we originally thought. He was able to take out thousands himself and let alone assisted in the mass genocide with that damned Ruby he carried around. Even without it, he seems to still be very formidable." Dragovich explained.
"Hence he escaped out of the lab just a few hours ago."
"I'm not happy about that incident, Klondyke. You're lucky the specimen was contained within the base, or else we would be facing greater problems." He paused. "Moving on from that, I've heard you had history with Infinite before you graciously came to us. Mind explaining this... history?" He asked, sitting back down in the chair. Klondyke gulped.
"That's right... sir. We used to be in a mercenary group together before I tried to have him killed on two occasions. First time I called the authorities about some run-and-gun thing in a town they were planning on doing and managed to have the leader die, but not Infinite. Second time well, as you know I hired an assassin group to kill off the squad when I met your associates. Second time also failed, but I managed to kill most of them in the end." The brooding jackal explained.
"Interesting. What about the last time you met him? I can already make assumptions based on that scar of yours." He asked, pointing at the missing half of Klondyke's ear.
"Oh, this?" He ran a hand down on his disfigured ear. "I got this from Infinite when he tried to kill me after a formal party I had in Station Square. He blew up my helicopter as I tried to escape. Thankfully I jumped out in time just as it blew up, only to have a piece of helicopter rotor take half my ear." He explained.
"Some say scars indeed make you stronger, and that saying is clearly proven with you. Your completed operations within Test Site #62 and even your survival proves that, yes?" The human asked, lighting a cigar.
"I suppose, sir. Before I go, can I ask something?" The jackal asked.
"You may."
"Why is this task being handed to the CBRN unit? Shouldn't this be carried out by standard military forces?" He asked carefully. The dictator took back a drag of the cigar.
"He may be infected, or his friend for that matter. If he indeed is, he'll need to be taken care of immediately. We can't risk creating another quarantine zone, or our public will start to become suspicious. Our true motives of Site #62 was almost leaked outside the Blackout Zone, as you already know." Dragovich explained throughly.
"I see, well, I'll get on mission now. Nice meeting with you, sir." Klondyke said, and gave a quick salute. He quickly left the room in a hurry.
Elsewhere
"It's fucking cold out here." Infinite growled with his arms crossed. "I don't see how people are used to living in these conditions." He shivered as he trudged through the snow.
"People adapt to certain conditions in their area. Like how you're used to hot, desert weather most of the time." Gadget explained, also very cold.
"I get that, but having to deal with snow all the time's probably a pain." He said under cold breath. Both canines were shivering and very cold, since their makeshift GUN uniforms that they still had on from Redherden City wasn't made specifically for warmth.
The duo continued to trudge through the snow, having their helicopter run out of fuel about thirty miles from the military base. They had to land in the middle of nowhere and away from civilization.
Infinite's different coloured eyes looked up ahead towards the top of a nearby hill on the right, and he stopped. Up top, was a small wood building amongst the pine trees. He put a hand in front of Gadget and pointed.
"Look, there's a house or something up there. Maybe we should check it out, might be a good place to stay if there's no one living inside." Infinite pointed out. Gadget let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh, thank goodness. Yeah, let's go see what's up because if I stay out here any longer, my toes will freeze off." The red one complained, and both made the trek up the snow covered hill.
About half way up the hill, Infinite suddenly slipped and slid down the hill. Gadget looked back and laughed as he got back up, covered in fluffy snow.
"Ha-ha, very funny." The jackal growled angrily and began walking back up the hill. He was too exhausted to jump up the hill or use any of his abilities. He walked up the hill with an annoyed stare, this time being careful where he stepped so he wouldn't fall back down again.
"You okay?" The wolf asked as they both made it to the top of the hill.
"Aside from falling down a hill and getting even more snow on me, I'm fine. Let's check it out." He pointed at the log cabin, which was only one storey and small. It was reminiscent of the cabins back at his squad's hideout in the desert. It seemed vacant of human and anthro life.
They peered through the windoes, and couldn't see anything because of the blinds over the windows, so they went to the front door. There were no footprints signalling that someone had been there recently, either. Yet, Gadget was skeptical.
"Y'know, it's a bit rude if we go in someone's property without their permission." He stated. Infinite looked back at him.
"Would you rather stay out here in the freezing cold? You were literally complaining a minute ago about it." He said.
"Touché. Still..." Infinite trailer his look to one of the trees. "What are you looking at?"
"Like it or not, we're staying the night here. Over there is wolf piss." He pointed out.
"What, mine?" Gadget asked confused.
"No, it's feral wolf piss, they do that to mark territory, which means we're in a wolf pack's territory. If we go along in their territory, also occasionally having to leave our markings as we go, they won't take kindly to that and we'll be fresh food for them by nightfall." He looked back at Gadget. "Don't know about you, but I'm too exhausted to fight them off."
"Well, you've got a point. Let's go inside." He motioned to the door. Infinite tried the door handle, and to his surprise the door was unlocked. He slowly opened it, and peeked inside with his lover doing the same.
Inside the cabin, was just one room with a fire stove with wood next to it, a bear pelt on the ceiling, rug, and a small desk. There was also a closet.
"Seems like a hunting cabin that's been sitting here for a while." Gadget described.
"Seems so. It'll do." Infinite said and walked inside with the other following suit. They took off their snow-filled combat boots on the rug and shut the door.
Infinite immediately took off his soaking wet clothes and dumped them on the floor. Gadget did the same, but found themselves even colder due to the poor insulation of the building in doing so.
"Let's put a fire on." Gadget said and loaded wood into the stove. Infinite passed him a lighter and paper and he lit the fire. He stood back up.
"That should keep us warm for a bit. Any food in here? I'm starving." The jackal checked the desk for anything, and he grabbed two cans of non-perishable soup.
"Found these. Mind having soup?" He asked.
"I'll take anything at this point." He replied and they put the soup cans on the stove to boil.
"So, let's relax for a bit." Infinite said and jumped up on the bed and laid down, and Gadget sat down on the floor next to the bed.
"We should plan what we do next, when we get out of this new forest. I think we should figure out whatever the heck that demented thing was back in that chamber. That was definitely not a regular animal that I've ever seen." He explained, looking down at the floor.
"I agree. Definitely wasn't normal. Maybe that was something that was captured from Eggman during the war?" The red wolf shook his head and took off his glasses to clean them.
"Couldn't be. Doesn't fit Eggman's style at all. He was a complete sociopath, sure, but he never went far enough to create things like that monster. If he did, I would've known about it so that's out of the loop." He explained. Infinite stroked his chin.
"Must be something that the Shamarian are doing in the shadows. I've never heard of these types of tests before. What pisses me off though, is that Klon is involved in whatever it is. Shame I couldn't kill him right there." He thought aloud.
"I wonder if it has anything to do with the Blackout Zone." Gadget wondered, but Infinite raised an eye ridge.
"Blackout Zone?"
"You don't know what it is?" He asked, looking up at the black jackal.
"I don't really care about what happens in this part of the world all that much, so I never hear what happens." He explained.
"Well, the Blackout Zone is some sort of military circular exclusion zone that formed in the summer of 2016 that spans a 150 mile diameter in all directions, and it's centered right at the island city of Vlan. Nobody's allowed in the zone, and all images and satellite imagery of the area is taken down and censored. Not to mention Vlan was wiped off maps too, so no one knows what happened. Some believe a major accident happened there that was deemed too shocking for the public to see." The nerdy wolf explained.
"What kind of accident?" He asked, getting off the bed to grab the soup cans which were finished boiling. He opened both up and gave one to Gadget.
"Nobody knows if it's an accident, it's just a guess of what happened. We're not all that sure yet." He said, eating the soup from the can with a spoon.
"So you think that's connected with the test chamber?" Infinite asked, also eating soup. He nodded.
"I have a strong gut feeling it is, and we'll find out eventually."
The two quietly ate their food, and were much warmer and relaxed. They soon finished up, and for once in days, they actually had a full meal in their stomachs.
"I think I'm gonna nap for a bit." The jackal finally said. "We can share the bed, I suppose."
"Fair enough." Gadget replied and they both jumped on the bed and got covered up in the blankets, thankful to be out of the dreadful cold.
Gadget fell asleep very quickly. Infinite couldn't help but find it odd to be feeling the warmth of someone else next to him for once. He felt comfortable and right to him. He shut his eyes, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
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