CHAPTER 2

All that was two years ago. Shadow had a new job as an undercover detective. Espio had bent the rules a lot with giving him that job, but he needed an undercover detective rather badly. Shadow had healed rather fast from that fateful night in the jewelry shop and he had hardly any side effects other than slight restraint from movement and stiffness. Espio's objective for him was simple: find the kid in the jewelry shop and place him under arrest. Shadow was only too happy to take the mission.

The kid would have to be at least twenty two at this point in time, old enough to go into bars. That was where some officers have said they've spotted him.

Shadow was, at this moment, sitting at the counter of a bar in town. He was more or less waiting for someone besides the kid, but in the meantime he kept a weary eye out for the kid who was hardly a kid anymore. But that's what he had been called for who knows how long. The Kid. Some of the newer officers often called him Billy the Kid.

"So what'll you have?"

Shadow looked up from where he had been looking out the door. "Nothing yet."

The bartender, a green hawk, sighed impatiently. "Well, you'd better order or leave the counter here. Others actually want to get something."

Shadow walked from the counter to a booth over by the window and continued to stare out into the night, looking for one or both of the mysterious people. He unconsciously rubbed the scars on his chest from The Kid. If he would just show his ugly face once….just once…

"Hey, mind if I sit here?"

Shadow nearly jumped at the voice. "Sure." He muttered.

"Thanks. You won't believe the day I had." Said the newcomer, a rather bright blue hedgehog. "College. Yuck. You won't believe the drama these days. Hey, I've never seen you around before. Who're you? I'm Sonic. I'm just here so I can get away from it all."

Shadow gave him a sideways look. "Do you drink often?" he asked flatly.

"Nah, only once in a blue moon." Sonic hiccupped rather loudly. "Heh, blue moon. I'm blue. Ha, ha."

Shadow ignored him and continued to look out the window. No one was approaching the door to the bar.

"What are you looking for?" Sonic asked, looking where Shadow was looking. "Are you looking for someone? Oh, if you see a purple swallow, tell her I'm not here and she should go look in a snake pit."

"You should skip the happy hour next time, buddy." Shadow said.

"It's called happy hour for a reason!"

"Yeah, but you don't go and order fifteen drinks."

"I only did that one time!"

Shadow gave him a concerned look. "Now I'm concerned on a number of levels…"

Sonic began humming the Happy Birthday song.

"Yeah... You know what? I'm going to leave now. You can-"

"Hey, Sonic!"

Shadow glanced at the newcomer, a red echidna. "What are you doing here, Knuckles?" Sonic muttered.

"Well, it's pouring rain out there, and I managed to duck in here just in time." Knuckles said. "Who's your new friend?"

"I don't know." Sonic shrugged. "What is your name?"

"I'm…Knight." Shadow said.

"Nice to meet ya, Knight." Knuckles held out his hand.

Shadow didn't shake his hand once he saw the huge spikes on his knuckles.

"Ha, I almost got ya." Knuckles laughed. "I once got someone to do that. It was funny, but then he had scars."

Shadow nodded slowly, wondering why he had chosen a bar as a meeting place. "Yeah. That was rather cruel. Do you drink often too?"

"Not anymore." Knuckles said. "After seeing what booze does to him…" He motioned to Sonic, who was picking his nose. "…I haven't had a drink sense."

Shadow nodded thoughtfully. "Well, I think you and me aughta get him out of here."

"To tell you the truth, I think we should. See those guys at the counter over there? Sonic once got into a fight with them."

Shadow glanced at the counter where a crocodile and a purple swallow were sitting. "Who's that?" Shadow asked.

"Vector and Wave." Knuckles said. "Don't underestimate Wave. She can beat you to a pulp."

"Right. Come on. Let's get him out of here." Shadow turned to Sonic, who was making his fingers dance across the table. "Hey, Sonic, let's leave now, ok?"

"Why? I want to stay! It's so dark outside! I don't like the dark." Sonic muttered.

"Well, too bad, buddy. Come on." Knuckles grabbed his arm. "Stand up."

That was about when the door to the bar opened and someone walked in.

"There you are." Shadow said. "What took so long?"

"Sorry. I had to find that dress you gave me. And it's pouring rain." Amy Rose said, putting her umbrella away and walking over to him. "I like it, by the way."

"Tonight, my name is Knight." Shadow whispered. "Don't forget it."

"Right." Amy whispered back.

"Is this who you were waiting for? Wow, she's hot. Hi, can I get you a drink?" Sonic started slurring his words. "I like this place…"

Amy's concerned look matched Shadow's. "Is he ok?" She asked slowly.

"I don't know." Shadow said. "Um, on a different note, you like the dress?"

"Yeah. It's really soft." Amy twirled around in the pitch black floor-length dress.

"Good." Shadow turned back to Sonic who was humming some other weird song. "Hey, you with the face. Yes, you. Come on, we're getting out of here."

"Whyyyy…?" Sonic muttered.

"Wait here. I'll be back." Shadow said to Amy.

Together, Shadow and Knuckles managed to drag Sonic outside under the canopy over the door.

"SNAP OUT OF IT!" Knuckles slapped Sonic. "PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, MAN!"

"OW!"

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Shadow asked.

"Uh….twenty three? Counting your thumbs?" Sonic asked.

Knuckles sighed heavily. "So help me, Sonic, I will take my fist and shove it in your ear."

"That would hurt a lot." Sonic said thoughtfully.

"I give up." Shadow threw open the door and walked back inside.

"So…is he all right?" Amy asked, looking concerned. "I mean, was he drunk, or was he just nuts?"

"Hard telling." Shadow said. "Have you seen any sign of The Kid?"

"Not at all. But could you describe him again?" Amy asked. "I almost got his features memorized, but I'm not quite sure."

"The Kid is classified as highly dangerous and armed. Dark gray hedgehog with dark blue stripes; about 5'3, bright green eyes, possibly 100 pounds or so. Last seen wearing a camo vest and cowboy boots. Sort of a deep voice."

"Right. I knew that." Amy said. "I haven't seen him or anyone that looks like him. It's like he just vanished…"

That was when Knuckles literally fell through the door, scrambled up, and dragged Sonic into the bar. "I don't know what the hell kids these days do, but these look like they've escaped from a hospital!"

Everyone in the bar turned to stare towards the door. A small gray fox stumbled through the door, closely followed by a raccoon. Both of them had eyes that matched Amy's dress and the black of night, and there were open sores along their arms and back. The fox was openly bleeding from a terrible cut in his arm.

"Hey, you all right?" the bartender shouted across the room. "Do you need me to call anyone for you?"

The raccoon suddenly lunged with amazing speed at the person nearest the door and firmly sunk his teeth into his victim's neck.

Wave screamed as the horror unfolded. Vector grabbed a nearby chair and threw it at the raccoon, but it hardly noticed the wood splinter and break along with its bones.

"What are they?" Amy's voice was shrill. "What do they want?"

"Everyone back!" the bartender suddenly held up two handheld guns. He began to shoot at the raccoon and fox.

After five shots each they both didn't move. Blood was splattered on the walls and windows. The raccoon's victim was surely dead.

"There's a door in the back. Everyone out there now." The bartender leaped over the counter and lead everyone back.

"Shadow, what were those things?" Amy demanded. Shadow only then realized she had a death grip on his arm. He began to lose all feeling in it. "I don't know, Amy, but I can't feel my arm!"

They quickly followed the crowd to the back door. Along the way they caught up with Knuckles and Sonic, who looked quite a bit less drunk.

"That scare you enough to make you come back to your senses?" Shadow asked.

"Hell, yeah." Sonic muttered.

The back door lead to an alley. Rain was still pouring down like mad, but the bartender and everyone in the bar who had witnessed the horror didn't mind. Anyplace was better than the place they just were in.

"Do you know what that was about?" Wave shouted over the rain. "Who were those freaks?"

"I don't know." The bartender sighed. "But we need to tell someone about this, right now."

"The police station is down that street." Shadow spoke up. "We can get there in a matter of minuets."

"Ok. What's your name? I'm Jet." The bartender said. "And don't ask why I kept two guns behind the counter there."

"I won't." Shadow said. "My name is Knight. And if you ask me, you did the right thing. But for now we'd better let the police handle this."

Someone screamed from the back of the small crowd. "There's more!"

Shadow, Jet, Amy, and pretty much everyone else spun around to see two more people infected with the strange bloodthirst. One of them was the raccoon's victim. His throat was more or less torn out, but his eyes and fur matched the raccoon's.

"Go on! I'll hold them off!" Jet drew the two guns and aimed at the oncoming attackers. "Go on!"

"Come on! Run for it!" Amy shouted. Everyone began to run.

"Come and get me, you bastards!" Jet screamed at the infected. There were multiple bangs as he shot.

Everyone in the small crowd didn't stop running until they began to see the soft lights of the police station.

"Safe!" Knuckles sighed. "Good job, everyone. Now quickly! You never know if there's more of them!"

Once everyone had entered the police station's glass doors Shadow grabbed a nearby bench and dragged it in front of them. "Is everyone ok?"

"Yeah. Just drenched, freezing, and scared out of our wits." Sonic muttered.

"Ok then. Wait here. I'll get the chief of police." Shadow ran off towards the rooms in the back.

Everyone else took up guard positions at the windows and door and watched for either Jet or the infected. Or possibly both…

"Those poor people! What…what happened to them?" Asked Vector. "What made them act like that?"

"They just…attacked." Someone else muttered. "Without any warning…"

That was when Shadow came bolting back with an armload of guns and ammo. "Take this. You're gonna need it." He said. "We need to get out of here. Now!"

"Why? What happened?" Knuckles demanded.

"The chief of police? Dead. Something cut right through him. No way he could have survived it." Shadow hissed in pain. "Damn ribs…"

"Are you ok?" Sonic asked.

"I'm fine. It was just a long ago wound." Shadow grabbed an AK-47 and three packets of ammo. "Here, Amy, can you put these in your purse?"

"Yeah. Can you hand me that pistol?" Amy asked, wringing out the end of her black dress.

"Everyone grab some guns, or something to defend yourselves with. Then leave. I'm going to make sure this place isn't crawling with those psychos." Shadow loaded the gun and stepped towards a wooden door nearby.

Everyone left in a huge group. Everyone except Sonic, Amy and Knuckles.

"Amy, I want you to leave too. I can't let anything happen to you." Shadow said.

"No way. I can take care of myself." Amy hissed. "And besides, I'm coming with you, and you know it."

"You could use the extra pairs of eyes to watch out for those guys." Knuckles added. 'Even if one pair is still a bit drunk."

"I really hope this turns out to all be a dream…" Sonic muttered.

"Me too, Sonic." Shadow grabbed the door handle. "Me too."