CHAPTER 5

They continued to drive through the city, looking for any signs of life and/or Umbrella's base, if it was that obvious.

"The car's just about out of gas." Shadow muttered. "I think we should leave it here and continue on foot."

"But we've got extra gas in the trunk." Sonic yawned. "I can get it."

"If there are any people here I think we need to search for them without the car's help." Knuckles agreed with Shadow. "I'm going if you aren't."

"Take these." Tails gave him a case of bullets. "You might need it."

Knuckles, Sonic and Shadow got out of the car. "Shadow, I want to come too." Amy protested.

"Someone needs to stay with Tails…and besides, this place makes me nervous." Shadow said. "Stay here, just for now."

Amy gave him an evil look, but she grabbed a gun and glanced around quickly from inside the car. "Be back soon, ok?"

"Sure."

The three of them headed down an alley.

"If anyone stayed in this city after the T-virus spread, then they're mad." Knuckles mumbled, kicking at a rock.

"Or they couldn't escape in time." Sonic said. He suddenly stopped. "What's that?"

Something moved at the end of the ally. Shadow took brief aim with the rifle he had. "Who's there?"

"Go….back…" Came a weak voice. "They'll….get you….too…"

Shadow, Sonic and Knuckles ran towards the sound of the voice. The source was a red hedgehog that was struggling to get up despite his injuries.

"What happened to you?" Sonic asked.

The red hedgehog glanced at him. One of his eyes had been torn out of his head and the other didn't look much better. He was missing three fingers on his left hand and his left leg had a deep gash in it. "Zombies…" He gasped. "Zombies…"

With that, he collapsed on the ground, unmoving. Knuckles sighed. "Do we have to shoot him? Just in case?"

Shadow just nodded and Knuckles fired.

WITH AMY AND TAILS…

"Did you hear that?" Tails asked frightfully. "Someone shot at something!"

Amy glanced around them yet again. Out her window she could spot an abandoned clothes store, with its door wide open. On the driver's side was a small market and alley.

"Tails, can you stay here for a few seconds?" Amy asked.

"Why? You're not going after them, are you?" Tails asked, his eyes wide.

"No, I'm going to get out of this dress. It's nice and all, but it's not very much use in an apocalypse." Amy quickly left the car and darted into the store, carrying a gun just in case.

Tails was left with a small handheld shaking so hard that the car shuddered.

Amy came back five minuets later with some short black jeans and a T-shirt on. She threw the black dress in the trunk before climbing back into the passenger's seat. "I left some money, in case someone comes back." She said. "Anyway, did anything happen?"

"No." Tails was glad that there was someone in the car that he could talk to again. "I guarded the car with my life."

Amy smiled. "Good."

WITH THE OTHER GUYS…

"Is there so much as a bug left alive in this city?" Knuckles nearly yelled as they discovered a nest of dead rats nestled behind a trash can.

"If there are, they're in hiding too." Sonic reminded him.

They came to a small boarded up house.

"Hey, this is the only house I've seen that's boarded up." Sonic said. "Maybe they're all in there. It looks like they were prepared."

"They were prepared, all right." Shadow muttered, walking up to the door. There was a faint symbol of four stars surrounding a halo of darkness. "I think this is Umbrella's base."

"Well, then, let's go in!" Sonic said. "We've got guns, it's not dark, and there's more than one of us."

"We would need an army to back us up." Knuckles mumbled. "They're an evil organization, remember."

"Oh. Yeah." Sonic muttered.

There was the sound of something hitting the ground and everyone spun around to see another victim of the T-virus.

"Watch out!" Knuckles shot at the zombie and blew its head off. Its headless body fell to the ground and didn't move.

"Well, should we go in or not?" Sonic asked. "Out here we might be eaten."

"We should get Amy and Tails first." Knuckles said. "that way we can have more backup and everyone's still together."

"Great." Shadow agreed. "Wait here. I'll be right back."

WITH AMY AND TAILS…

"There's a few more shots…" Amy muttered. "I hope they're ok."

"I'm sure they are…" Tails stuttered.

They sat there, hardly daring to breathe, as they listened for more shots.

Then Amy screamed as someone came up alongside the car.

"Amy! It's me! Relax!" Shadow hissed. "Sorry! And…where did you get those clothes?"

"At the store over there. I thought it'd be smart to not wear anything loose. Sorry, it's my fault…I'm really freaked out right now…" Amy gasped. "Why are you here? Was someone hurt?"

"No, but we think we found Umbrella's base." Shadow said. "We want you both with us because we're going in."

"Really?" Tails whispered. "Maybe we can find my parents…"

The three of them headed back to the boarded up house where Knuckles and Sonic were waiting lazily. "There you are. We thought you got dragged off by zombies." Knuckles said impatiently. "Come on."

Sonic walked up to the door and tried the knob. Surprisingly, the door opened into a semi-dark room. The five of them walked in.

"Anyone here?" Shadow asked, his rifle at the ready. "We're only hunting the infected…"

There was a rather loud groan from the corner of the room up ahead of them. Everyone jumped and turned towards the noise. "Who's there?"

There was a small figure slumped in the corner, blood smeared on the ground and walls around whoever it was. The figure moaned again.

"Are you all right?" Tails asked quietly, his eyes huge from the darkness and his own fear.

"T…Tails…?"

Tails' eyes got wider, if possible. "Dad?" He ran over to the slumped figure. "Oh, dad! I thought you and mom got out of here!"

"She did…." Tails' dad whispered. "We were attacked….Dr. Sinister….the G-virus…The Kid…"

"The Kid?" Shadow asked. "Is he here?"

"With Dr. Sinister…." Tails' dad gasped.

To Shadow, the name seemed right out of a bad movie. Dr. Sinister. Sounded like he meant world domination.

"Don't you mean the T-virus, dad?" Tails asked gently. "He started the T-virus, didn't he?"

"He did….and then another…" Tails' dad coughed so hard that they all thought that he'd die at any second. "Stop….him…."

"I'll do that, dad. I promise." Tails squeaked. "Dad….dad, please!"

But his dad was gone.