The Blair Witch Project
Chapter 2: Into the Woods
"Hello, everybody!" cheered Amy with a high amount of enthusiasm as they ventured further into the quiet woods. She was holding her camera up and filming ahead of her, Sonic and Shadow walking up ahead. "We are now entering the deep Mystic Ruins and officially starting our wonderful journey about the Blair Witch! It's so very exciting!"
Shadow snorted from where he was. "Exciting? More like a complete waste of time!"
A gasp escaped Amy's mouth and she walked faster until she was trotting alongside the Ultimate Life Form. "You better take that back, Shadow!" Amy whined, pushing the camera in the male's face. "You agreed to come, remember? I really appreciate you doing that for me!"
"Get that thing out of my face!" Shadow seethed, lifting his gloved hand and pushing the camera out of his face. Amy fumbled with the device for a few seconds before correcting herself and letting out a huge huff.
"You're a meanie head, Shadow!" Amy stuck her tongue out at the black hedgehog.
Shadow waved a hand at her, dismissive.
"Guys, cut it out," groaned Sonic as he walked. "All this walking is so…disturbing. I'd rather be running. Buuuuut, if I did that, you'd guys be eating dust."
Shadow whipped around to face his blue counterpart, walking backwards so that he was giving him a piercing glare. "Is that a challenge, faker?" he demanded to know, raising an eyebrow and looking prepared.
A smirk appeared on the blue hedgehog's muzzle. "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't."
"You want to race or something?"
"Heh! Sure!"
Amy stepped between the two of them, shaking her head vigorously. "NO! There shall be no racing whatsoever, you guys! This is about my project! Stay focused!" Amy screeched, totally fed up with the two males. "Gosh! What did you two agree to this for if you were just going to banter like little children?"
"Banter? Like children?" Shadow bristled.
"I really didn't have a choice…" muttered Sonic quietly.
Huffing, Amy started walking ahead of them, still filming with her camera. "So, we're on track now. I know exactly where we are!" she input, trying to be happy again as the two male hedgehogs followed her from behind.
And that's how most of their time went. Eventually, the pink hedgehog stopped filming and they all just walked together through the wilderness without saying a word to each other. Suddenly, Amy found a small creek and became very interested. Unknowingly, Sonic started to film her as she attempted to cross it.
"Look at me!" Amy squealed like a piglet, putting on a very bright smile as she jumped across, getting her red boots smeared with mud. She glanced down at the mess on her shoes and her expression morphed into a disgusted look. "Ugh! Sonic! Shadow! Why didn't you stop me from doing that?!"
"I'm filming your filthy shoes!" Sonic cackled, obviously thinking that it was hilarious.
Shadow just stared blankly. "I honestly couldn't bring myself to care, Rose…"
"YOU GUYS ARE JERKS!"
Rolling his green eyes, the blue hedgehog jumped over the creek with complete ease, not letting his sneakers get dirty at all. While he did that, he had been filming the entire time. As Amy desperately tried to clean her red boots, the speedster turned back around to videotape his black counterpart.
Without much effort, Shadow made it across the creek, dusting off his arms afterwards and walking up ahead. "Good job," Sonic told Shadow, giving him a thumbs-up.
"Hmph."
Sonic shut off the camera after that and the three of them trekked onward, not sure where they were going. Well, Amy knew, but Sonic and Shadow didn't. After about thirty minutes of walking through the woods, Amy told them to stop and she snatched her camera away from Sonic and took a seat upon a large log, removing her pink backpack and taking out a worn out book about the Blair Witch. Grinning from ear to ear, she beckoned for Sonic to come forward and he did with some hesitation.
"Sonic, I need you to film me!" Amy told him, urgent. "I'm going to read from this book about the Blair Witch!"
"Why?" Sonic stared at her as if she had grown a second head. Seriously.
Amy looked miffed. "Just do it!"
"Fine…!" The speedster took the camera away from her and instantly started recording her.
The pink hedgehog ecstatically positioned herself and opened her book, smiling from ear to ear and getting ready to read from it. "They went into the woods prepared to find death," she started reading from the book. "What they found was a desecration of humanity of the sight, which was often referred to as Coffin Rock."
On cue, Sonic moved the camera over to where Amy was talking about.
"On top of the rock formation the story of the torture inflicted upon these brave five men unfolded. Each was bound to the other. Each man's hand bound to the next man's feet, forming a solid structure out of the men."
As Amy went on, Sonic became increasingly disturbed by what she was speaking about. Shadow, who was standing off to the side and peering around with his red eyes, was listening too and there was a frown crawling around his facial features.
"Blood at the edge of the, uh, something, indicate that this act had been committed while each was alive and able to struggle. In the torso of each man, intestines had been torn out crudely…"
Sonic put the camera back on the pink hedgehog.
"On each man's sun-bleached face was strange writings that could not be deciphered, cut into their flesh with an eerie precision. The man, still entranced by the horror of what happened, left the scene to find the sheriff and did not sketch the writing and did not remove the bodies from the rock."
"Uh, Ames…?" Sonic was beginning to get uncomfortable, but Amy seemed all into it as she continued reading. There was mild shock in her eyes as she read though.
"Upon return, vultures were seen at the rock, but upon inspection, the bodies had been removed by persons unknown. The search party claims that the stench of death was still thick, and whomever had taken the bodies had done so in a matter of hours."
Amy removed her eyes from the book that she had been immersed with, putting her green eyes on the camera, a very serious expression decorating her facial features as she stared straight ahead. "That happened here," she said quietly, glancing around her. "At Coffin Rock."
"And cut…" Sonic muttered, shutting off the camera and staring at the pink hedgehog. "Um…Ames? Where'd you get that creepy book at? That was so disturbing? Is that all real?"
Shadow snorted, walking over. "Of course it's not! What are you? A fool?!"
"No!" Sonic shot back, irked.
Amy giggled at the two of them and took her camera away from her hero, putting the book away. "I don't think it's real, but…eh, I don't know!" The pink hedgehog shrugged her shoulders and started walking, struggling to put her backpack back on. "Come on, let's keep moving!"
Sonic released a huff and started following the female. Shadow the Hedgehog was right behind him, staring up at the sky and noticing that he saw no birds. There were no animals of any kind, he noticed. It was like the whole place had become silent. The only sound was coming from the creek nearby. That was it. This disturbed Shadow a little bit, but he didn't voice his opinion on the matter.
Amy hummed as she started filming again after a while. "I think it sounded kind of rushed," commented the pink hedgehog, sounding a little bit disappointed.
"Why's that?" asked Sonic.
"Because…I was talking way too fast!" Amy answered, turning around to film the blue hedgehog. "What do you think, my darling Sonic?"
Sonic narrowed his eyes. "It was alright."
"Are you sure?"
"Sure."
"YAY!" Amy hugged him tightly.
Sonic groaned.
"Hey!" Shadow barked from behind them. "It's four fifty-two, we're going to be losing light soon. We better look for somewhere to set up camp. Plus, I'm hungry and I'm irritated and tired of walking."
"Stop whining like a little baby!" Amy squawked, turning the camera on him now as she released the blue hedgehog. "You sound like an infant!"
Shadow bristled at her words. "I'd keep your mouth shut if I were you, Rose!"
"Make me!"
Shadow was about to march right over and do just that, but Sonic blocked his path and shook his head at the Ultimate Life Form. "Calm down, Shads," Sonic told him, smiling in amusement. "You're right though. We'll be losing light soon. We should probably set up camp somewhere, like you said."
"Hmph! Fine!"
Later…
The three hedgehogs found a spot within the woods to set up camp and that's when they felt the first few droplets of cold rain coming from the cloudy sky above. "Great," Amy drawled, clearly upset by this as she put up her pink tent by herself. Sonic was sitting on a log and Shadow was currently holding the camera, forced to film their actions.
"I hate water!" Sonic complained, looking bummed out.
Amy finished getting the tent set up and she peered into it. "It's kind of cramped in there. You guys didn't bring tents, did you?"
"Nope!" Sonic responded.
Shadow growled loudly and put the camera on the blue hedgehog. "What?! I thought you had the two other tents, faker!"
"I don't! Geez Louise!"
Amy put her hands on her hips and stared at the two of them. "Well, I think we'll all be able to fit in there. Just so you know, I've never been squished up in a tent with two guys before."
"So?" Sonic pursed his lips.
Amy threw a fist into the air. "So this is going to be fun! I get to cuddle and snuggle with my darling Sonic!"
Sonic introduced his face to his palm.
"This trip just keeps getting worse and worse!" Shadow howled as rain soaked his black fur.
Amy snatched the camera from him and peered up at the sky. "It is pouring rain right now, we can't even get a fire going! Phooey!"
"Like I stated before, this day just keep getting worse and worse!"
"Be quiet, Shadow!" Amy sneered, shutting off her camera and quickly getting into the pink tent, gathering some flashlights while she was at it. "Come on, guys, before you get too wet!"
Sonic rapidly dashed into the tent, sitting next to the pink hedgehog and Shadow got in on Amy's other side, zipping the tent up after that. The rain continuously pattered down upon the tent and nobody said anything for a long while.
"Well, I'm going to take a nap…" Sonic spoke, scratching his cheek. Then, he leaned back and curled up into a ball, shutting his eyes and letting the sound of the rain put him to sleep. "Amy, don't you dare try to cuddle with me or kiss me while I'm sleeping. I won't appreciate that. At all. Period."
Amy pouted. "Yes, Sonic."
"Good." Then he was out like a light.
Shadow stayed up, staring straight ahead with his red eyes, glaring at nothing. His knees were drawn up to his chest as he was squished in a tent with an overly happy pink hedgehog and a snoring blue one. Could his life get any worse?
The evening transfigured into night and Amy was busy reading a magazine while Shadow was still sitting in the same position, staring straight ahead at nothing. Amy was humming a silly tune while she read her fashion magazine and Sonic's snoring had intensified.
It was annoying.
It got even more annoying when Amy decided to take out her camera again and started filming him for no reason, turning on one of the flashlights.
"So, Shadow," Amy started talking, grinning from ear to ear. "Having a good time?"
"No."
The pink hedgehog pursed her lips. "And why not?"
"I hate this! Sonic's snoring like there's no tomorrow and you're…you're filming me! Get that thing out of my face! Now, Rose!"
Amy turned off her camera and stuck her tongue out at the black hedgehog, throwing her magazine to the side and putting her camera away. She got comfortable on the ground and then closed her eyes, giving Shadow her back. "Goodnight, you grumpy hedgehog!"
Shadow snorted.
After the female was asleep, Shadow couldn't help but notice some weird and eerie sounds coming from outside. Yes, the rain was still coming down, but he managed to hear those sounds. He wasn't scared. It was probably just some animal or something. Then again, he had seen no animals since they had arrived in the Mystic Ruins. So…what was it?
The next day, Shadow informed Amy and Sonic of the sounds he heard last night and Amy wasted no time in whipping out her camera and filming the black hedgehog inside of the tent. "So, you heard some sounds last night, correct?"
"It was like two separate noises come from two directions," Shadow replied, yawning heavily afterwards as he climbed out of the tent wearily. "One of them could have possibly been an owl, but the other one was like a…cackling?"
Sonic looked over his shoulder from munching on a sandwich. "Cackling?"
"You cannot be serious, Shadow!" Amy squeaked, eyes going wide with disbelief. "Cackling? Really?"
Shadow sent her an aggravated look. "It was definitely cackling. I know what I heard."
"If I heard something like that, I would freak out!" Amy exclaimed, mouth opening in a shocked gape.
Sonic trekked over to them, quickly finishing his sandwich and looking slightly disturbed. "It was…probably some kind of animal or something, guys. No big deal."
"Or it could have been the Blair Witch…!" Amy wagged a finger at her hero.
Shadow snorted loudly, rummaging through his backpack and pulling out a can of beans. He got a can opener and opened it with ease, grabbing a spoon and quickly wolfing down his breakfast. "Please! Like Sonic said, it was probably some kind of animal." Even though he said that, he didn't quite believe it himself, but he wasn't about to believe that there was a witch out there somewhere, cackling in the night!
Amy pouted at Shadow's statement.
Sonic pulled the map out of his backpack and scanned it with his green eyes. Amy hurriedly rushed over and peered over his shoulder with her camera, filming the map. "Where did we start out yesterday?" questioned the blue hedgehog, sounding a little flummoxed.
"Uh, off the map," replied Amy quickly, eyes surveying the map with intensity.
Sonic frowned. "Off the map?"
"'Cause I knew where we were going."
Handing Amy the map, Sonic took the camera from her and started filming her face, giving her a mild incredulous expression. "Oh, really?"
"Mhm!" Amy nodded her head, simpering brightly at the camera. "Though…I know there was some confusion."
Perplexity jumped onto the blue hedgehog's face and he continued to videotape the pink hedgehog. "Wait, wait, wait…say that again."
Amy sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "I said I knew where we were going," she responded.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." Sonic held up a hand, shaking his head.
"Would that be a full of trash statement?" Shadow scowled, coming over to the two hedgehogs. He looked unconvinced as he gazed at Amy in accusation.
Amy looked offended. "No-"
Shadow quickly grabbed the camera from Sonic and trained it on his face. "Would that be a full of trash statement?" he demanded to know from the male.
"Uh…yeah?" Sonic answered, agreeing with Shadow. Both of them thought Amy was lying.
"YOU GUYS ARE BEING JERKS!" Amy screamed, choleric. She stomped over to the black hedgehog and snatched the camera from him, shutting it off and putting it away. After that, she packed up the tent and the other stuff and threw her backpack on. "You guys are so mean to me!"
Sonic sputtered. "Mean to you?!"
"She's got a lot of nerve saying that…" Shadow trailed off, vexed.
Amy stomped past them, nose in the air. "Yeah! You're both mean!"
"Mean to you? We came out here FOR YOU!" Sonic blared, upset by the female's words as they walked along the woods, going deeper and deeper into Mystic Ruins.
"So?!"
Shadow quickened his pace until he was trekking alongside the pink hedgehog. He looked very annoyed. "Look, all I'm saying is that you got us lost, Miss I-Want-To-Film-A-Project-In-The-Woods-For-No-Freaking-Reason!"
"I only got us lost for a very brief amount of time!" Amy screamed at the Ultimate Life Form, very fed up with him and her blue hero. "Stop BLAMING ME!"
"You were in charge of the map, Amy!" bellowed Sonic, taking the camera from Shadow and looking quite miffed about it. The blue hedgehog did not appreciate that.
Amy took out the map again and waved it in his face, upset. "We aren't lost! I know where we are, okay?! Stop yelling at me, okay?!" The pink hedgehog whirled around and blinked back tears as she continued to march away.
"Okay!" Shadow sneered at her. "Just don't get us lost again, you hear me?!"
Amy ignored him.
Sonic sped ahead to the pink hedgehog, turning off the camera and walking next to her. He could see her fighting back tears and he reached over, using his thumb to wipe away the tears. "Come on, Ames, you know I don't like tears."
Amy sniffled. "You were yelling at me…you and Shadow."
"And I'm sorry about that," Sonic apologized, sighing. "I just don't want to get lost out here, you know?"
The pink hedgehog smiled a little bit. "I promise I won't get us lost again, Sonic. I know where we are. Don't worry."
Sonic gave her a thumbs-up. "Right!"
Amy felt tremendously better.
Later that day, a day full of walking and mild chattering, Sonic took out the camera and started filming Amy as they stopped for a break. Shadow leaned against a nearby tree, arms crossed over his chest with a sour look occupying his facial features. The black hedgehog hadn't said anything for quite some time now.
"So, what's up, Ames? You happy with the way the documentary's going?" Sonic questioned the female hedgehog, still having the camera on her.
Amy beamed at him. "Yup!"
"Yeah?" Sonic grinned.
"Yeah!" Amy nodded her head. "Definitely!"
Sonic chuckled at her happiness and bobbed his head in a nod. "Good. So, what's up? What's your take on the Blair Witch so far? Do you think she exists?"
Grinning, Amy responded, "I don't know."
"Oh…"
"Well, Shadow did hear some cackling last night!" Amy pointed at the black hedgehog. Sonic spun around and put the camera on him.
Shadow lifted a hand and covered his face, shielding himself from the camera. A growl rumbled dangerously within his throat and his annoyance intensified. "Like Sonic said before, It was probably an ANIMAL! Now get that THING out of my FACE!" he roared.
Snickering in amusement, the blue hedgehog shut the camera off and tucked it away safely. After that, he crossed his arms and stared at Shadow. "Shads, are you going to be grumpy throughout this whole thing?"
"…hmph!"
"I guess that means yes!"
"Onward we go!" Amy cheered, throwing a fist into the air and walking ahead while Sonic followed. Shadow eventually followed too.
Anyway, later on, the trio of hedgehogs found themselves struggling to get up a steep hill of twigs, dirt, rocks, and other stuff. Shadow looked grimly annoyed because of it and Sonic's feet kept getting stuck on something. Amy was behind them, huffing and puffing as she filmed the back of their heads.
"I really wish you would find us a trail or something, Amy!" exclaimed Sonic, glaring at the ground in disdain.
"There's a trail on top of this hill, don't worry!" the pink hedgehog replied, waving a hand at him as they continued up the hill.
"Lies," Shadow input bitterly.
Amy glowered at him. "There IS a trail!"
After a while of climbing the infuriating hill, the three hedgehogs moved on until Amy spotted a dead mouse on the ground. Immediately, she had the camera on it, crouching down on the ground and examining it sadly. "What killed this dead mouse?" she asked, her tone laced with forlornness. "Poor little mouse."
Sonic stood next to her, peering down at it, disturbed. "I don't know, Ames…"
"Witchcraft?" Amy looked up at the speedster.
The blue hedgehog rolled his eyes. "Come on, Amy. Witchcraft did not kill this mouse!"
"It's a possibility!"
Shadow shook his head at the rose hedgehog. "You're an idiot, Rose."
"HEY!"
"Knock it off, you two," Sonic said, huffing.
Amy jumped to her feet and positioned the camera in front of her, walking once more and expecting the two males to follow her, which they did. The sun was beginning to set in the distance, but it would take some time. "Anyway, we are hot on the cemetery trail!"
"Says who?" snorted Shadow rudely.
"Says me, you jerk!" shot back Amy, miffed. "We should be there in about ninety minutes!"
Shadow threw his hands up into the air. "Why did I even agree to doing something so stupid?"
"You guys cool with that?" queried the pink hedgehog, ignoring Shadow's outburst.
Sonic shrugged. "As long as you know where we're going. I don't want to get lost out here, Amy."
"I know exactly where we're going, my darling Sonic!" Amy giggled, watching as Sonic took the map out again. The pink hedgehog slowed to a stop and stood next to him, looking down at the map in his hands. "You don't have to look at the map, Sonic!"
"Just want to make sure…" muttered the blue hedgehog.
Shadow bounded over to them, rage written across his face. "If you knew where we were going then we wouldn't be hiking up hills like this!" The black hedgehog gestured around them.
"We're in the middle of the woods," stated Sonic, frowning in concern. "I don't see a trail anywhere."
"Some of it is off trail hiking!" Amy protested, defending herself.
Shadow was not having any of it. "Oh, cease your incompetent babbling!" he growled at her. "We're lost, admit that first, Rose! Because- "
"I know we're not lost!" Amy cut him off, frustrated. "I know where we're going!"
Shadow snorted. "Oh, you knew that yesterday and you knew that twice today too, huh?"
"Yeah!"
"Right!" Shadow said, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"We have not been lost today at all!" Amy screamed back at him, her breathing increasing due to her fury.
Shadow stood right in front of her and got in her face. "Let me tell you what you said to us today," he began venomously. "You said it's like two miles away, and then it's like two hours away, three hours away! Maybe it's four hours away, how could you have known?!" he shouted at her crazily.
"Well, didn't you agree to do this project with me?!" Amy screeched at him, her blood boiling.
Shadow backed away from her, disgust written all over his face. "I really didn't have a choice! You'd have begged me otherwise!"
"You still agreed, you jerk!"
"I agreed to do this damn project!" Shadow snarled at the petite hedgehog. "I didn't agree to frolic around the woods like a mindless puppet!"
Amy looked about ready to cry again and she itched to take out her hammer and bash Shadow's brains in. "I told you, we're getting to where we're going! You just have to trust me, Shadow, and you have to stop being such a jerk!"
Sonic held up his hands after putting the map away. "Okay! OKAY! Guys! Calm down! Sheesh!" The blue hedgehog yelled at them, fed up with their senseless bickering. "It's cool. Everything's cool, alright? You're both acting like children right now. We're looking at the map right now." Sonic took out the map once more, pointing at it with his index finger. "I can totally find this. This is where we were. We're going more or less this way." Sonic pointed behind him in a foreign direction.
"How the hell do you know that, faker?" Shadow demanded to know, beyond furious.
"I just do," sighed Sonic, shaking his head and sitting down on a tree stump, placing the map upon his lap as Amy continued to film with her camera. "Shadow, come over here and look at the map. You tell me where you think we're going."
Reluctantly, the Ultimate Life Form walked over and peered down at the map wordlessly. He studied the piece of paper for a long moment before frowning in contempt. "I'll tell you the truth, this is completely useless. I didn't even look at the map before we even entered the Mystic Ruins, so I wouldn't even know where we were on the map to begin with!"
"Well, good," talked Amy, glaring at him. "Like I said, you should just trust me!"
Shadow glowered at her darkly. "Fine!" he hissed. "Although, I've got to tell you, I don't fully trust you, Rose. You've been leading us blindly through the woods so far."
"No, I haven't, you jerk!" Amy retorted nastily.
Shadow bristled. "Shut your trap! And why do you have to videotape every single conversation? Go videotape the trees or something!"
"No. This is a documentary."
Shadow growled loudly and shielded his face with his hand, not wanting to be filmed anymore. "This is not a documentary about us getting lost! This is a documentary about some stupid witch that you believe to be true!"
"I know that, jerk!"
Sonic sighed dramatically to get their attention. "Can you guys please stop? Please? You're giving me a terrible headache and I hate it!"
Quieting, Amy whipped around and shut off the camera, marching away from the two of them. Sonic stared at Shadow for a long time before eventually following the pink hedgehog. Shadow stayed there for a while, and then decided to catch up with them, extremely irritated.