The Blair Witch Project
Chapter 3: Lost
That same day, Amy discovered a large creek and there was a massive log going across it, substituting a bridge. Sonic the Hedgehog decided to go along the log first while Shadow filmed. Amy stood next to her black furred companion and grinned.
"Take baby steps, faker!" Shadow snickered unmercifully, finding it amusing how Sonic carefully walked across the log, not wanting to fall into the water and get soaked. There was pure trepidation coloring his face and he stared down at the water beneath him horror, definitely not wanting to fall in and get wet. He couldn't swim!
"SHUT UP! CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I'M TERRIFIED OF WATER?!" Sonic howled as he clung to the log, now on his belly as he gripped it with his arms and legs.
Shadow cackled. "You behave like an infant!"
"I do not!"
Amy pushed Shadow away and cupped her hands around her mouth. "It's okay, Sonic! You can do it, my darling Sonic! Just don't look down, okay?!"
"…right."
Anyway, the three hedgehogs successfully made it across the creek and continued on the other side. Amy had taken her camera back from Shadow and it seemed that they were on a trail now as she filmed. "Okay! We're very, very close now!" she announced, becoming cheery once more.
"We better be…" muttered the Ultimate Life Form, following the pink hedgehog with a frown occupying his facial features. He seemed vexed.
Sonic was right behind them. The blue hedgehog was also starting to notice that he had not seen not one living animal since they had gotten there. There weren't even bugs either! It was weird and it disturbed him greatly, but he didn't say anything about it. For some reason, he felt like they were going deeper and deeper into the Mystic Ruins, which they were, but that was freaking him out a little bit. They were surrounded by nature and nothing else.
"Are you guys excited?" questioned the pink hedgehog asked her companions, sounding very happy herself. She was so pumped up about this! They were almost there to the cemetery! They were almost there! She would definitely get some great footage!
"Sure, Ames…" drawled Sonic, forcing a smile.
Shadow only grunted in response.
"Okay," sighed Amy, slowing down to a slow trot. Her eyes pierced something and she gasped, hurrying over to a tree with some kind of thing on it. The thing was a sphere and it clung to the tree, made up of twigs and other things. It looked like it was made by a human. "Whoa! Guys, look at this!"
Sonic zoomed over and inspected the thing. "Huh, that's…weird!"
"Odd…" mumbled Shadow, trekking over with his arms crossed over his chest.
Amy continued filming the thing with her camera. "What is this?"
"I don't know, Ames." Sonic brought a hand to his chin, frowning in deep thought.
"Hey, guys?" Amy spoke again, walking along once more. "Do you remember something what Vanilla said the other day?"
Shadow stared at her as if she had gone crazy. "No."
"What was the story from the Bible that she was telling us?" Amy wanted to know, stopping in front of a few rocks on the ground that were piled up purposely with twigs sticking out of the top. "I wasn't listening to her, unfortunately, but I think she said something about a pile of rocks…"
Shadow stepped past her. "You're imagining things!"
"I am not!"
Sonic shook his head at them. "Don't start, guys."
"Sonic, what was it she was telling us?" asked the pink hedgehog, rapidly going over to him and filming that strange object again. "What was it about the pile of rocks?"
The speedster gave her an apologetic expression. "I'm not sure, Ames. I don't remember Vanilla saying anything like that, you know?"
"Shadow, do you remember?" Amy put the camera on the black hedgehog next.
Shadow ignored her.
"There's about seven of them around here," remarked Amy, counting all of the piles of rocks on the ground around them. "This is so strange!"
"And disturbing," added Sonic. "Can we please go now? It's getting dark. We should start setting up camp right about now, but not here."
Amy gazed at him. "Why not here?"
"It's disturbing, Ames!" Sonic exclaimed, pointing at all of the piles of rocks on the ground. "I mean, who even did this? This is weird, okay?"
"Are you scared, Sonic?" questioned Amy, putting on an amused grin.
Sonic's cheeks colored with embarrassment and he sent a frown her way. "No, Amy, I'm not scared. I just…I just don't like this place, okay? It feels…wrong."
"I'm not walking anymore. My legs are sore," growled Shadow, walking a little bit away from the piles of rocks and then sitting down on the ground, taking off his backpack. "We'll just sit away from them and set up camp, alright?"
"Okay!" chirped Amy, running over to join him while she turned off the camera.
Sonic chewed on his lower lip, feeling very uneasy. He took one last glance at the piles of rocks before joining the other two hedgehogs. Getting comfortable on the ground, the blue hedgehog took off his backpack and sat it upon the ground, trying to ease his nerves. After a little while, Amy got the tent up while Shadow took out the marshmallows and started a fire.
"Mmmm, marshmallows! Yummy in my tummy!" Amy exclaimed happily, roasting some marshmallows over the fire, mouth almost watering.
Shadow stared at her in disgust, roasting his own marshmallow over the fire. "You're drooling, Rose…"
"Bah!"
Sonic preferred to just eat the marshmallows cold so he wasn't roasting any over the fire. The blue hedgehog was glad by just eating them straight out of the bag.
"I am so sick of the woods," Shadow remarked suddenly, bringing his roasted marshmallow to his mouth and blowing on it for a moment before devouring it in one bite. "I can't wait to just get back home when this is done."
"Me too," agreed Sonic.
Amy frowned at the two males. "Oh, stop complaining, you guys!" She shook her head at them, quickly munching on her roasted marshmallow, feeling very warm by the fire. "I think this is really awesome! I mean, it's just the three of us out here on an adventure to discover more about the Blair Witch!"
"I thought this was all about your documentary?" Shadow demanded to know, red eyes narrowing at the pink hedgehog as he tore up another marshmallow.
"It is!" replied the pink hedgehog, smiling.
Sonic was done eating marshmallows and he put the marshmallow bag away. "Well, I'm tired. I'm going to go to sleep now." The blue hedgehog waved at them and entered Amy's pink tent, getting into his bedroll and resting his head on a pillow. "Goodnight, you two!"
"Goodnight, my darling Sonic!" Amy swooned.
"It's very annoying when you do that," muttered the Ultimate Life Form, gazing at her over the fire.
Amy suddenly had her camera in her hand and she was filming Shadow from across the fire, watching the flames flicker and dance in front of his face. "You know, Shadow," she said, amusement painting her face. "You kind of look like a demon from behind those flames."
"That was a very weak comeback, Rose…"
Rolling her eyes, Amy got up from the ground and then brought her camera back over to the rock piles that were scattered across the ground. Not wanting her to go off alone, the black hedgehog climbed to his feet and angrily followed her, wanting to protest to her foolish actions. Amy started videotaping the piles again, peering around at them all.
"This certainly is odd…" she trailed off, unsure.
Shadow, as he trekked towards her, knocked down one of the rock piles and then halted, glancing down at it. He wasn't going to fix it. "I knocked this one down, unfortunately."
"Shadow, that wasn't nice!" Amy huffed, hurrying over and putting the rocks back into a pile again. "There! All better now! How can you be so careless?"
"It's not like anybody's out here…" Shadow told her, glaring in her direction.
Amy put one hand on her hip, pursing her lips. She wasn't going to say anything to that. Instead, she asked, "So, what do you think?"
"What do I think about what?" Shadow was baffled.
"About the piles!"
"I think nothing of it…"
Amy huffed once more and turned away from the black hedgehog. "Fine, Shadow! Fine!" The pink hedgehog ventured back to the fire and sat down. "You are such a jerk."
"Thanks," responded the black hedgehog sarcastically.
Amy stuck her tongue out at him and then plopped another marshmallow into her mouth. She hummed in jovialness as she enjoyed the taste in her mouth. After swallowing it, she quickly put her camera away and yawned loudly. "You know, I'm kind of tired. Maybe it's time we go to sleep too?"
"You sleep. I'm staying up," grunted Shadow.
The pink hedgehog shrugged and gathered her things, putting them away and then getting into the tent with Sonic. She curled up against her blue hero and wrapped her arms around him without his consent. He would never know. Amy smiled to herself and kissed his cheek while he slept, feeling him fidget when she did. Amy whispered goodnight to him and then slowly allowed the dreams to take her away. Eventually, after staying up for an hour or so and staring into the fire, Shadow put the fire out and decided to go to sleep too. Reluctantly, he shoved himself into the small tent and got comfortable on Amy's other side. Luckily, Sonic wasn't snoring tonight. Shadow shut his red eyes and then, with some difficulty, went into a deep slumber.
Later that night…
Panting, Amy sat up within the tent, Sonic and Shadow sleeping on either side of her. "Wh-What was that sound?!" Amy exclaimed in a whisper, looking around frantically. Scared, the pink hedgehog shook Shadow and Sonic simultaneously, wanting them to wake up so they could go investigate. "Sonic! Shadow! Wake up right now!"
"Oh my gosh…can you please stop?" Sonic whined sleepily. "I was having such a good dream."
"Sonic, I heard a noise!" Amy told him, urgency evident in her tone.
Sonic frowned at her, blinking several times. "What…?" he slurred.
"I heard a strange noise outside, Sonic!" Amy repeated, her voice quivering a little bit. She was scared and curious at the same time. "I don't know what it was, but I heard it. We should go outside and see what it is!"
Sonic was fully awake now and he sat up. "Alright, alright. I wonder what that is…?"
"You better have a good reason for waking me up, Rose," Shadow growled out, red eyes narrowed into dangerous slits as he got up, stretching out his arms. "It's still dark outside!"
Amy retrieved a flashlight and handed Shadow one too. After that, she gave Sonic her camera and turned it on so it was recording. "I heard a noise outside. We're going to go see what it is!" After that, the pink hedgehog unzipped the tent and crawled out, slipping on her boots and aiming her flashlight all around in the darkness of the woods. Sonic was right behind her, completely uneasy and unsure of what was going to happen. Shadow lazily and slowly crawled out of the tent, turning on his flashlight and shining it ahead of him.
"Was it the cackling sounds that I heard the other night?" Shadow questioned the petite hedgehog, gazing at her as she moved away from their campsite.
Amy slowly shook her head, a little nervous. "No. No, it wasn't."
"Then what was it?" Shadow was growing irritated.
"Hello?!" Amy called out into the darkness.
Sonic placed a hand upon the girl's shoulder. "Ames, I don't think there's anyone out there."
Amy shushed him and moved forward quickly, obviously hearing something. The pink hedgehog crouched low, ducking under some branches as she moved deeper into the darkness, Sonic and Shadow following close behind her. "Listen…" she whispered to them, holding a finger to her lips.
There was the loud sound of twigs snapping violently.
Sonic shivered after his ears absorbed the sound. "What…what was that?"
"Sounds like…branches snapping?" Shadow tried his hardest to decipher the noises.
"Hello?!" Amy called out once more, still walking forward, crouched a little with a look of trepidation coloring her face. She was shaking a little bit, but was determined to find out what that noise was. "Hello?!"
The sounds continued, but it was starting to intensify. It didn't just sound like twigs snapping anymore, but it was something entirely indescribable and eerie, but it was all around them, coming from every direction.
"It's all around us…" breathed the pink hedgehog, voice trembling slightly.
Shadow surveyed their surroundings, trying to see past the light that his flashlight had to offer. While he did that, Sonic continued to film Amy, deeply silent and wondering what was going to happen next. The blue hedgehog could not figure out what kind of sounds they were.
"This is so weird…" whispered Sonic, green eyes darting all over the place.
"And bizarre," threw in Shadow. The black hedgehog, unlike Amy and Sonic, was completely unafraid.
Suddenly, Amy couldn't take it anymore. She turned around to face the two males and quickly started heading back to the pink tent. "Come on. I don't know what that is, but it doesn't sound right. Let's…let's just get back to the tent, okay?"
"Alright, Ames…" Sonic said quietly, following her back to the pink tent.
Shadow stood there for a long moment, watching them go. He looked over his shoulder one last time before heading back over with them. He wasn't scared, but he was miffed that he couldn't figure out where the sounds were coming from. Anyway, the three hedgehogs piled back into the tent and Amy zipped it back up. Right after that, they all tried to get some sleep, but it was extremely difficult, especially with all that noise occurring outside of the tent.
The next morning, it was raining heavily.
Shadow sat within the tent, shoveling some bread down his throat and washing it down with some water. It was his breakfast. Amy and Sonic refused to eat breakfast because of their nerves, but Shadow wasn't bothered at all.
Amy had the camera on and she was videotaping once more. "It's raining so much right now!"
"That's great," Sonic declared, sarcasm coloring his tone. "Just great."
Hearing the blue hedgehog, Amy whipped around to face him, zooming the camera in on his face. "Sonic?"
"Yeah?"
"What do you think that was last night?"
Sonic pursed his lips and looked away from the camera, shrugging his shoulders and shaking out his fur from the wetness of the pouring rain. The blue hedgehog really didn't want to think about last night. Last night was unfathomable and it bothered him a lot for some reason. The hero just wanted to go home, but he really didn't know which way was back. He hoped Amy still knew where they were going. "Personally, I think it was someone just messing with us."
"But…nobody knows we're out here, Sonic." Amy reminded him, tilting her head to the side like a curious cat. "We're all alone out here in the wilderness."
Sonic shook his head. "Tails knows. And Big."
"But Tails wouldn't do that." Amy pointed out.
"I know…that's why I'm saying that it was probably someone else just messing with us," Sonic elaborated to the girl. "They were probably just adventuring through the Mystic Ruins and just happened to see us roaming about. They decided to give us a scare. Besides, it sounded like a bunch of people running around, Amy. It's a logical explanation."
"Sonic-"
Shadow, from the tent, cut the pink hedgehog off. "What bugs me is that we're so damn deep in these freaking woods and people are taking the chance to try and scare us, which annoys me to no end!"
Amy whirled around to face him. "But how do you know that it was people?" she countered.
"Well, even if it wasn't, I suggest that we forget about it and move the hell on!" Shadow barked, fed up with all of this nonsense.
The pink hedgehog flinched at his tone and then sighed, removing the camera from him and putting it on Sonic. Sonic looked disturbed, but then he forced a smile and gave Amy a thumbs-up. Amy couldn't help but smile back at her hero. When that was through, the three hedgehogs packed up all of their things and started moving through the rain, much to Shadow's great dismay.
Amy had the camera on and was constantly grimacing because of how wet she was becoming because of the pouring rain. Sonic and Shadow were in front of her and it was clear that they were irked too because of the rain. Sonic kept shaking out his fur, but it kept getting wet and Shadow was grumbling nasty thing under his breath about silly pink hedgehogs, stupid witches that didn't exist, and senseless documentaries.
"I am soaked!" whined Amy through the sound of the rain washing through the deep Mystic Ruins. "I didn't even know it was going to rain so much out here! This is so not cool!"
Sonic didn't look at her and continued to move his legs. "This was your idea, Amy. Maybe you should've checked the forecast or something before we came out here? That would've been helpful." By the sound of his tone, it seemed like Sonic was truly miffed. Amy understood that. She knew that her wonderful and adorable darling Sonic hated water.
Shadow peered over his shoulder, slowing down a little bit while the blue hedgehog continued onwards up ahead. "You know, I don't remember ever coming this way when we entered the woods, Rose…" he mumbled to her, wiping some rainwater from his face with his gloved hand.
"Huh?" Amy appeared confused.
"I assume we're going back to my car now, right? After what happened last night, I thought you'd be done with your documentary."
The pink hedgehog breathed out a massive sigh. "Okay. Fine. I guess we've all had enough, huh?"
"I know I did!" Sonic piped up from way up ahead.
"Okay, um…" Amy scanned the area in front of them. "Well, we'd be coming in from a different way back to the car, you know? We wouldn't be coming from the same exact way."
Shadow stared at her icily, obviously not believing a word she said. Then, without another word, the black hedgehog removed his gaze from her and started walking up ahead with Sonic. Amy hurried to catch up with them, still recording the back of their heads as they trudged through the cold and wet woods.
"Two more hours, guys! I promise!" the girl yawped, trying to sound cheery about all of this.
Sonic whirled around so he was walking backwards, facing the pink hedgehog with a frown decorating his blue face. "Um…then why are we going a different way?"
Amy was silent for a long moment and then she opened her mouth and replied, "'Cause we have to go around, we came at an angle, I believe. That was the most direct way to hit our two locations, now this is the most direct way back to the car."
"Seriously? Really?" Sonic really wanted to believe the pink hedgehog, but something was telling him that she was very uncertain about what she was talking about. "Please, Amy. Give me your word."
The pink hedgehog recorded his serious expression and swallowed heavily. "I promise, Sonic. I give you my word, okay? You and Shadow just have to trust me. Don't you trust me, Sonic?" Amy asked, sounding a little bit hurt.
Sonic stopped backpedaling and approached the wounded girl. He placed his gloved hands upon her shoulders and sighed deeply. "Of course I trust you, Ames. I'm just…well…I want to get out of here as soon as possible. I'm sick of the woods."
"So am I," caterwauled the pink female. "I think I got enough footage for my documentary now."
"Good."
Shadow was suddenly in front of them, arms folded over his chest with a cross look on his face. His red eyes pierced the little pink hedgehog and he was almost glowering at her. "Do you? You know exactly what's going on?"
"Yes!" Amy squawked.
Sonic and Shadow both gave her a look that said they were both unconvinced about what she was talking about, but they didn't voice their opinion. Sonic suggested that they do a map check and so they did. Amy turned on the camera once more and recorded her hero's face as he peered down at the map. Shadow was using a blanket to keep the map from getting wet and he looked highly irritated.
"Okay, we just did a map check and it appears that we're still on track!" Amy told the camera, giggling a little bit. "See? We're not lost. We were never lost, guys!"
Sonic put on a relieved expression. "Cool!"
Shadow watched them. "I don't think we are."
"No, we are!" Amy insisted, giving Shadow a look. "Come on, let's just keep moving!"
Shadow didn't move, and because of this, Sonic didn't move either. The speedster was staring at the black hedgehog, feeling a little bit uneasy. Why didn't Shadow think they were on the right track? Shadow surveyed the area with his red eyes, seeing nothing but bare trees each way he turned. It was like they were lost in a maze, in the middle of the woods, in the rain. It made him very irate, but he desperately tried to keep his anger down. Shadow had a huge feeling that they were lost and that Amy had no idea where they were going. None of them knew the way back to his car! Shadow looked at Sonic and he could see that Sonic was losing some hope too, resorting back to thinking that they were lost. The relief that had been occupying his face had withered away into nothingness.
"We're lost," Shadow deadpanned.
Amy shook her head violently. "We are not! We just did a map check and I have my compass!" The pink hedgehog pulled out a compass out of her pocket. "We just follow the map's instructions and the compass! We aren't lost, Shadow!"
"Then which way do we go?" Shadow demanded to know, putting the blanket away and the map as well. He folded his arms and glared at the girl. "Tell me, Amy. Which way are we supposed to go?"
Amy whirled around and gestured in that direction with her camera. "We go straight that way! We just follow what the compass says and go that way!"
"We are in the middle of nowhere!" Sonic stated loudly, grabbing their attention. He appeared to be deeply concerned.
"We've been in the middle of nowhere for two days!" Amy retorted.
"Right…"
"The car's parked in the middle of nowhere, almost…"
Shadow snatched the compass out of the pink hedgehog's hands and peered down at the device. "This is nothing! This doesn't tell us where we're going!"
"…Let's just keep going, okay?" Amy blubbered, looking about ready to cry.
Then they continued onward without speaking to each other. As they trudged through the wet woods, all they could see were trees everywhere they looked. It was like they weren't getting anywhere at all. It was beginning to get dark once more and Amy slowed down a little bit, recording with her camera.
"I think we should set up camp here," said Amy.
Shadow sent her a nasty look. "Why? Because you don't know where we're going?"
"No!" Amy growled at him, fed up with his heinous attitude. "Because I think we still got a long way to go until we reach the car, big mouth! And it's going to get dark real soon."
"We're not camping here!" Shadow barked at her like a feral and vicious animal. "We're going to move on and get to the car, Rose! And turn that damn camera off!"
Sonic stepped in. "Amy, give me the map. Turn the camera off and give me the map, Amy. Now."
The sternness in Sonic's voice made Amy's stomach drop uncomfortably and she relented, handing over the map, but not turning off the camera. "Fine. I'm not turning off the camera though. I want to record this moment…it's a part of the documentary. I know I said it was done, but…I'm still going to be filming whether you guys like it or not."
"DAMN!" Shadow howled to the sky, pacing around in a very furious manner. "DAMMIT! HOW THE HELL DID WE EVEN GET LOST IN THE FIRST PLACE!?"
Amy trembled. "Shadow, shush…"
"Calm down, Shadow," Sonic told him, giving him a frown.
"Just relax, Shadow…" Amy informed the black hedgehog, not wanting him to go on a rampage.
"DON'T FREAKING TELL ME TO RELAX!"
Sonic kept the map rolled up and he tucked it into his pocket. "Can we find a tree or something to sit under so we can check the map, please?" the blue hedgehog questioned them, appearing to be weary.
They nodded silently.
Eventually, they found a mound of massive boulders and checked the map again, and then continued on through the woods. It ended up getting dark faster than they expected, but the two males weren't ready to stop walking. Amy wanted to set up camp and she was becoming uneasy with each passing second.
"How much further?" Shadow wanted to know, obviously bothered.
"The car's not far…we're just not going to be able to find it in the dark…" Amy trailed off quietly.
Sonic let out a sigh and turned to face the pink hedgehog. "Are you absolutely positively sure?" he asked her, reading her face for honesty.
"Yes!"
"Really now? Because I have things to do!" Shadow growled at her, walking over to her and towering over her small form. "I have to freaking work tomorrow! In the damn morning, Rose! In the morning!"
Amy's eyes filled with tears. "I-I'm sorry, Shadow…I'm really sorry…"
Shadow's expression softened at the sight of her tears, but he looked away from her indifferently and folded his arms. "It's fine, Rose. It's just fine." His tone said otherwise. "Let's just go to damn sleep."
"Yeah. Let's just camp…" muttered Sonic, drained.
Sighing forlornly, Amy shut off the camera.