Author's note: Well, I'm hoping that every chapter doesn't begin with the words "Sorry for the delay." But, this one does. Heh

Chapter Eight: Blast from the Past

Sonic glared at me. He opened his mouth to speak, but ended up taking a deep breath and backed away from me. I had never seen someone in such disrepair. He looked as if he hadn't eaten or slept in all three years I was gone. I shook my head. "Hey," I whispered. He took another step back. "You gonna run?" I asked. He actually nodded. "What are you so afraid of?" I asked. Sonic shook his head. "You know, no one's mad at you."

"Yeah," he whispered. "But I'm mad at you." His voice was weak and scratchy, as if he didn't use it often.

"I'm sorry!" I growled. "I didn't know what else to do!" Tails groaned and rolled over.

"Can we go for a walk?" Sonic asked, staring at the twin-tailed fox. I understood. He knew as well as I did that this conversation would get loud and he didn't want to talk to Tails. I nodded and walked toward the door. Sonic followed with his head down. Once we were outside, I noticed a slight chill. "So, you aren't dead?"

I sighed and shook my head. "Alive as ever."

"But… I saw you get stabbed. Did you and Ceaira plan this?"

I shook my head again. "I was stabbed, and it was a real stab. Ceaira and I had no plans. Two days ago was the first time I had seen her, and she wanted to kill me, so I'm not sure we wanted to do anything together."

Sonic sighed. "I don't get it, Knuckles. You ran from us," he said.

"What did you want me to do, Sonic?" I snapped. "You didn't leave me any choice!"

"This is my fault now?" Sonic growled. His voice was getting stronger with every word. "How is this my fault?"

"You lost your mind! How was I supposed to live with you?"

"This isn't about you, Knuckles!" Sonic yelled.

"This isn't about you either!" I yelled back.

"I know!" I stared at him. "This isn't about any of us!"

"Then who is it about?"

"It's about the world, Knuckles," Sonic whispered. "I'm hiding because I've been told what's going down and I don't like it."

"And hiding is going to do what?" I asked.

"He's trying to stay out of trouble, which is more than I can stay about you," a voice growled. I recognized it.

"Quiden," I growled and spun around. When I turned back, Sonic was gone.

"He does that a lot," Quiden said casually. "Always running. I could say the same thing about you." I growled and looked at her. "What, I only speak the truth. You are always running from your problems."

"Where did you come from?" I snarled.

She laughed. "Do not change the subject." I glared at her. "And besides, I cannot tell you where I come from anyhow. Your tiny brain could not comprehend such a mess." I shook my head. I didn't understand any of this. I just wanted everything to be the way it was. I turned away from Quiden. I was done with her. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"To re-find Sonic," I muttered. I walked away from the echidna, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I had a connection somehow to the echidna. She just let me go. She didn't try to stop me. I wandered around for hours, searching, but there was nothing to find. Quiden followed for the entire time. She didn't once make an attack, or mention anything. Sonic was nowhere to be found at all. The city was a mess, though. There were buildings that were torn down, half destroyed and some lots that were just a pile of wood. When the sun came up, Quiden stopped following me. I continued for another few hours, trying to find the hedgehog. After a while, I returned to Shadow's house.

Tails was waiting for me. "Talk to Sonic?" He asked. I nodded. "What did he have to say?"

"Something's going on, Tails," I muttered. "And apparently, he's too scared to stop it."

"What is it?" I shrugged.

"Where's Shadow?" Tails pointed to the kitchen. I walked in. Shadow was sitting at the table with stacks of papers. He was shaking his head. It seemed like he was just reading. No pencil or pen was in his hands or anywhere within reach, just papers and a red briefcase. I cocked my head. "Shadow, what are you doing?"

He jumped and looked at me. "You wouldn't believe it even if I tried to explain it." I grabbed at one of the papers. Shadow snatched it from my hand. "No," he snapped. "You can't look!" I glared at him. From what I saw, it was science junk.

"Where did you get the briefcase?" I had never thought of Shadow as one to carry a briefcase.

"I found it," he said, then added very softly "and I will be killed for having it." I cocked my head, but apparently I wasn't supposed to hear the last comment, so I didn't pursue it.

"Shadow, I know you said that you've never talked to Sonic when he was crashing, but did you see him?"

Shadow nodded. "He didn't want my help on that matter. He still had his pride."

"What's going on, Shadow?"

He shook his head. "Too much, Knuckles, too much."

I sighed. "Well, I wish it would just end already!" Shadow laughed and began packing the papers into the briefcase.

"Well, Knuckles, there isn't much more I can do. You need to find Quiden, she knows everything." I nodded.

"She probably followed me here," I said. "I need to go look for Sonic anyhow, so I'll see you later." Shadow shrugged. He looked at a piece of paper and gasped. I didn't think much about it. I walked outside and looked around. Quiden was waiting.

"It's about time," she growled.

"What are you trying to pull?" I asked angrily. Quiden shrugged.

"Nothing you can comprehend, Knuckles." She repeated.

"What are you doing here? Where did you come from?" She laughed and smiled.

"Actually, I'm just here to kill you," she said and lunged. The question that burned was why? It seemed that every one wanted to kill me.

"Why do you want to kill me?" I asked as I punched her away. She didn't answer. She lunged back and grabbed me around the waist. I twisted around and fell back, trying to dislodge her. She pulled out a weird dagger-like thing. I began rolling, trying to get away. There was a horrible ripping sound, followed by blinding pain. I looked down to see blood flowing on the pavement. I gasped and grabbed out for the wound, but I couldn't pinpoint the pain.

"Knuckles!" I head someone yell. I looked up and through my fading vision, I saw Shadow running towards us with the red briefcase in his hand. Quiden looked at Shadow. Her eyes dashed from me to Shadow, then to the briefcase. She apparently decided that the case was more important than me. She got up and lunged toward Shadow. The hedgehog snarled as he was hit. The briefcase flew over her. "4-5-8-1!" Shadow yelled. He gasped horribly as the dagger entered his stomach. I turned away and put in the code. I took a look at Quiden and Shadow. They were rolling around. Quiden was trying to escape from Shadow's grip. I quickly opened the case and grabbed the first piece of paper I saw.

Quiden it read. I shook my head. There was a bunch of numbers and bio-codes. I stared at the bottom. The paper fell from my hand. I heard a loud scream get cut off by a gurgle, but it all seemed distant. What I had just read bore in my brain.

Project: Echidna Re-population.

Test Subject One: Quiden Linn

Egg (Mother): Ceaira the Echihog (Hybrid: Hedgehog/Echidna)

Sperm (Father): Knuckles the Echidna

Author's note: Fear the scary cliffhanger of doom and tremble!