CHAPTER 3
The door opened into a small hallway that split off into three rooms.
"What now, Knight?" Knuckles asked, raising a rifle dangerously.
"First of all, I think you need to know this: My name isn't Knight. I'm Shadow the Hedgehog and I'm working as an undercover agent for this police station to catch The Kid." Shadow said very fast. "And I want you to go in that room there and see if anyone's in there."
Knuckles went over to the wooden door that Shadow had motioned to.
"Amy, stay with me, and Sonic, go in that one down there." Shadow said.
"Right-O!" Sonic saluted terribly and ran into the wall. "Ow…"
"On second thought, go wait in the room back there." Shadow pointed back the way that the had come.
"Wait!" Amy suddenly shouted. "Did you hear that?"
Everyone got quiet to hear a soft tapping sound coming from the door that Knuckles was by. "Should I open it?" He asked nervously.
"Go ahead. I'll cover you." Shadow aimed the gun at the door.
Knuckles grabbed the knob and literally ripped it off its hinges.
Inside was someone Shadow thought he'd never see again. "Hey…you're the kid that…"
"You rescued me from The Kid!" the yellow fox exclaimed. "I never got a chance to thank you, especially after he shot you like that."
"What's your name?" Amy asked.
"I'm Tails." The fox said. He fingered a black flash drive he wore around his neck. "And I came here after a zombie tried to eat me."
"That makes sense." Knuckles muttered.
"The police chief was talking to me, and then there was a shout and a couple of shots. He told me to stay in here and he'd come get me when the danger was over. He locked the door and never came back. Then I heard voices, an now you're here." Tails explained.
"The chief of police is dead." Amy said softly. "He was killed by-"
From the other room, Sonic screamed and came running down the hall. "ZOMBIE! ZOMBIE!"
The all spun around to see the chief of police, Espio, come limping towards them. His eyes were dark and sores covered his body.
"Get down!" Shadow yelled, taking aim and shooting Espio's head clean off his shoulders.
Tails was visibly shaking; his blue eyes huge. "See? N…now he was a zombie…"
"How do you know this?" Shadow demanded. "What are these things and where did they come from?"
"I'll start at the beginning…" Tails shuddered. "My parents work for an organization that you probably don't know about. It's called Umbrella. They work on improving things and making everyone's life easier, or so they say…"
"So what happened? Cut to the chase." Knuckles growled impatiently.
"My parents sent me as far away from Umbrella as they could." Tails said. "So here I am."
"What's on the flash drive?" Amy asked.
"A…a school project." Tails said rather fast. "The story's not done yet. My mom said something about them creating the most powerful being in the world."
"Well, did they?" Sonic asked.
"They tried to." Tails' voice was barely more than a whisper. "But it went wrong. Horribly wrong. The thing the chief turned into? Effects of being bitten or scratched by someone infected by the concoction. They call the infection the T-virus because of the Tyrant factor."
"So it's basically the zombie plotline: get scratched or bitten and you're done for." Shadow said.
Tails nodded.
"Where is the organization of Umbrella?"
"It's six cities over. I doubt we can reach it with the T-virus being spread." Tails said.
"We have to try." Amy said.
"We'll need food, a car, and weapons." Knuckles said. "And extra ammo and extra gasoline in case we can't stop at a gas station."
"I know where we can get a car." Shadow smiled grimly. "And I know where the keys are."
There was a slight bang from the main receptionist's place with the blocked off glass doors. Everyone turned to see another victim of the T-virus bang again on the glass.
"Poor Jet…" Amy gasped. "He sacrificed himself for us…"
Shadow raised the gun he had and shot.