CHAPTER 9

"We're nearly there."

Tails woke up from where he had been sleeping curled under a blanket. "What?"

"We're nearly there." Knuckles repeated. "You can see the city."

It was beginning to get darker outside. They had been driving the entire day, but Tails had only managed to doze off in the past hour or so. "Did you pass anyone on your way to get here?"

"Not one car with anyone in it." Knuckles muttered. "And if I did, it was abandoned."

"Blaze, where did you last see her?" Tails shook Blaze awake.

"Huh? Oh, your mother? She was near the last building of the city. She told us to tell you all we knew about Umbrella and the T-virus and then she ran into town."

"She must still be there." Tails said. "She has to be."

"Don't get your hopes up, kid. There might be zero survivors in this city." Knuckles muttered.

From the front seat, Shadow began to wake up. "Oh, we're there already?" He mumbled. "Great. Did I happen to just fall asleep naturally or did I get knocked out from his crazy swerving?"

"A little of both…?" Silver groaned. "Someone kill me now."

"Remind me next time we raid a store to get some painkiller or something." Blaze yawned.

"Please, please, please, please, please!" Silver begged.

Knuckles drove past a giant green sign that blared, Welcome to Emerald Town!

"It looks just like Westopolis." Amy sighed, "It's so deserted…"

Knuckles drove past a diner that still had its lights on. "Maybe there's people in there." He suggested. "Look, a few of the windows are boarded up." He stopped the car.

"Honestly?" Blaze asked, looking annoyed.

"Honestly." Knuckles got out of the car after choosing a gun from the back. "Who's coming with me?"

"I will." Sonic grabbed another gun and joined Knuckles on the sidewalk. "So you'll all wait here?"

"Take the key, just in case you have to leave." Knuckles handed the key to Shadow. "If you're outnumbered or Sinister or Mephiles show up, then get the hell out of here."

Shadow took the key. "Fine. But we won't leave the city without you."

Knuckles and Sonic, with their guns at the ready, opened the door of the diner and entered it.

"is anyone here?" Sonic whispered as loudly as he dared. Some of the tables were still covered with half-eaten food. Surprisingly, there were no flies or anything.

"Maybe someone was here recently." Knuckles said. "Look, that's still steaming! Someone was here not too long ago!"

"And they're still here."

Knuckles and Sonic jumped and spun around to see five survivors from that fateful night in the bar. "Didn't expect to see you here." Vector said. "Is the apocalypse over?"

"Far from it." Knuckles said. "Are you the only ones here?"

"We're the only ones in this entire town, as far as we know." Wave said sadly. "We haven't seen anyone that wasn't a zombie in forever!"

"We came here looking for someone." Sonic said. "Have you seen a fox recently?"

"Seen a few, but they were all zombies." Vector said. "Can you describe this fox?"

"Well…I'll be right back." Sonic ran to the door. "I'll get someone who can describe her."

He returned a few seconds later with Tails. "What does your mom look like?" Sonic asked.

"Um, she's yellow too, and she's got green eyes and she was wearing a green shirt and some jeans last time I saw her." Tails said. "Ring any bells?"

"Sort of…she was with us for a while." Wave said. "But once she realized that someone wasn't here she sort of…left."

"She was looking for me." Tails said. "Where did she go? Did she tell you?"

"She said she was going to search the city." Wave said. "Then we haven't heard of her sense."

"Oh, man! She's here!" Tails jumped up and down again. "How long ago was this?" He asked.

"Two days ago, at the least."

"We might be able to finally find her!" Tails said excitedly. "Come on! Maybe if we drive around we can find her!"

"Maybe." Knuckles said. "What about you guys? Do you need somewhere to go?"

"We've actually been doing well here." Vector said. "We've got plenty of ammo, a good cook, snipers, and even a doctor. Want some extra ammo?"

"Sure, if you can spare any. And how good is this doctor?" Knuckles asked.

"Well, more of an apprentice doctor." A small bright eyed orange cat stepped up. "Hi! I can help you if you need any help."

"Well, we have someone with a broken leg with us and we were sort of hoping you'd be skilled at that sort of thing." Sonic said.

"Well, I can make splints and things like that." The cat said.

"We did that."

"Sorry, that's all I know about that sort of stuff." The cat's ears drooped. "If I had more training before the apocalypse I might have been able to help you even more."

"It's all right." Sonic said. "You just do your job here. It looks like you've done pretty good anyway."

The cat's eyes lit up. "Really?" He asked.

"Yeah. Keep it up."

The cat scampered off looking extremely happy.

"If it wasn't for him I'd probably be dead right now." Vector said. "he saved our lives."

"You're lucky you have him." Knuckles said. "So if you're sure you don't need any help right now we'd best be heading off. Sorry for sort of invading."

"It's fine."

Wave gave them a couple extra packets of ammo and they rejoined the group in the car.

"We have a lead on Tails' mom." Sonic said. "She was seen in this city not two days ago."

"We might as well head into it a bit more, then." Amy suggested. "If she's anywhere, she'd be hidden within the place."

"Ok, then. We head into the city."

20 MINUETS LATER...

"There's a store. Silver, I'm getting you painkiller. You're driving me nuts." Blaze hissed, opening the door and hopping out with her long sword. "Who's coming?"

"I will." Amy followed her.

"We'll be here, being bored." Knuckles called from the car as they entered the store.

Their boredom didn't last. A few zombies came from alleys close by. Shadow and Sonic disposed of them within five seconds, but then five more showed up.

"Eat this!" Sonic fired a few rounds into a tiger's skull. It fell down to the ground, dead at last.

Amy and Blaze came running back a few seconds later. "What happened?" Amy demanded.

"Zombies. Don't worry, they're dead." Shadow said.

They hopped in the car and took off.

"Ok, Silver, I got you painkiller and sleeping pills. Eat them all." Blaze threw the bag at Silver.

"What are the side effects?" Silver asked after he had found the bag on the floor next to him. "Blaze, can I please take this bandage off my eyes now?"

"Loss of fur, psychic-ness, and vision." Blaze hissed, ignoring his last question. "Eat them. Eat them now."

"Not if it says that-AGH!" Silver yelled as Blaze shoved practically the whole bottle of painkiller in his mouth. Luckily, the top was still on. "What the heck was that for?"

"Everything." Blaze seemed ticked.

"Tails, how many am I suppost to take?" Silver asked.

"Um…two." Tails said.

Two minuets later Silver was fast asleep because of the pills and Blaze looked relieved. "I have never heard anyone whine like that!"

"He did break his leg." Amy reminded her.

"But he was acting like he got shot through the gut or something." Blaze hissed. "Anyway, finally some peace and quiet."

Knuckles stopped the car at the end of an alley a bit later. "We'll continue on in the morning on foot. Now, I'll get first watch."

Everyone got as comfortable as they could in the back with their limited blankets and pillows while Knuckles grabbed a gun and sat outside the car.

LATER…

They were awoken by rather loud gunshots. In a flash, Sonic and Tails had guns in their hands and were joining Knuckles outside. Amy, Shadow and Blaze backed them up. Silver was just lying there, still asleep.

"How many zombies are there?" Amy yelled, shooting one's head off. "They keep coming!"

"It's like every zombie in the city is here!" Tails squeaked, blowing two to bits. "What do we do?"

"Shut up and keep shooting." Shadow suggested.

"This isn't gonna work!" Blaze shouted. "There's more than I can count!"

"Everyone in the car! We'll run 'em over!" Knuckles stopped shooting at the oncoming zombies and hopped in the car. Everyone else joined him and held onto something, just in case Knuckles flipped the car over.

"YAAAA!"

They backed up sharply over some zombies with a sickening crunch. Sonic was staring at the back window in horror as zombies hit it, left blood splatters and got pulled under the car. "That is disgusting."

"That's why you're washing the car when we get out of this mess!" Shadow shouted. "Knuckles, you're about to hit a wall!"

The back bumper hit the wall and everyone lurched backwards. "AAAGH!" Amy yelled.

"What's going on?" Silver muttered. "Why is everyone yelling?"

"Go back to sleep, Silver." Blaze hissed.

Knuckles turned the wheel sharply to the right and roared down the street.

"That was the creepiest thing I've ever seen…ever." Tails shuddered. "If I even glance out the back window there I think I'll throw up."

Shadow stuck his head out the passenger's window and glanced at the few remaining zombies behind them. "Hasta la vista, bastards!" he flipped them off.

"That was the worst wake up call in the history of ever." Blaze yawned. "I don't know about you, But I want a nap."

"A catnap?" Sonic suggested.

"Watch it, buster. I have claws." Blaze growled, trying to go back to sleep. But when Knuckles is driving, who can?

They drove for about five minuets before Knuckles pulled the car over on the side of the road. "Ok, if we're going to start looking for your mom, Tails, then this place would be a great place to start."

Everyone piled out of the car except Silver. "I guess someone has to stay behind to guard him and/or the car." Sonic said.

"Like you? Thanks for volunteering." Knuckles patted Sonic on the back. "Here's a gun. Have fun."

Sonic began grumbling something about how he always got the boring job and everyone else got to go into dark, dangerous houses and stuff.

"Hey, you saw what happened back there. Don't complain." Amy suggested.

Sonic used the car's door handle as a foothold as he climbed up on top. "This makes a great lookout tower." He remarked. "Go into your zombie infested house or something and I'll stay here in the nice, warm sunlight."

No one bothered to mention that the high that day would be around 100 degrees…or more.

Everyone else trooped down the street, looking for any zombies or yellow foxes. "Well, if you see a boarded up house, there's a good place to start." Knuckles suggested. "That was where we seemed to find everyone."

"But I don't see any boarded up houses." Blaze said. "So that's out of the question."

Shadow glanced around a corner. "No one's there. Come on."

"No, wait!" Tails pointed to where a zombie was walking slowly down the alley towards them. "I'll get it!"

In one shot it was finally dead.

"You've gotten better with that gun." Blaze said. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Hopefully a good thing." Amy said.

"Hey, over there! That house's windows are all boarded up!" Knuckles pointed. "Come on!"

Everyone ran up to the house and threw its door open. "Is anyone in here?" Blaze whispered.

Something moved in the corner. "Is anyone there?" Blaze called softly again.

The thing in the corner got up and staggered towards them. It was another poor soul infected with the T-virus.

"I got it!" Knuckles fired at it repeatedly, but it didn't die. "What the hell? Just die already!"

Blaze sliced its head off with one flick of her sword. "And that's why I love this weapon." She said. "Never misses and doesn't need reloading."

"Good point."

They walked cautiously into the room. There were blood smears on the walls and floor and some of it looked fresh. If there had been anyone in the house at any point, they were dead by now.

"We'd better search it, then. Just in case. Also we can take out a few zombies along the way." Amy suggested.

"Might as well." Shadow agreed. "Come on. I'm going that way." He motioned to a doorway nearby.

The doorway lead to the kitchen, but no one could find any traces of anyone that had been there and alive at any point. The only thing they could find was a small butter knife stained with dried blood.

"Someone maybe was here at some point." Tails said hopefully. "And possibly killed some zombies."

"Maybe…" Knuckles glanced around the kitchen, but could find nothing other than the knife. He wondered into the living room, which connected with the kitchen. A wooden table had broke down the middle and was lying in two pieces on the floor.

"I wonder what could have done that." Knuckles wondered. He glanced around that room and gasped.

Some strange monster-like creature was hanging from the roof. When it spotted him, it let out a shriek and its mouth opened four ways, like a star. Each 'arm' of its mouth was covered in circular, saw-ish teeth that pointed inward. It had beady little black eyes and its body resembled a colossal bloated tick. It had six long, spider-ish legs that helped it cling to the roof.

Knuckles began to shoot at it. Amy, Tails, and Shadow joined in while Blaze threw her sword at it.

Her sword stuck in its bloated body and it let go of the roof and hit the floor with an unpleasant squelch.

Blaze grabbed her sword again and chopped off one of its legs. Everyone else continued shooting at it until it didn't move anymore.

"What…the…hell…was….that…?" Shadow hissed. "A mutant tick?"

"It must have drunk Sonic's blood." Tails said, shaking so hard he looked like he was about to collapse at any second.

"Nice one." Amy said. "But maybe it got ahold of someone with the T or G virus, and that's what happened to it. Well, anyway, It's dead."

"Thank heavens."

After that scare they went to another small room, but luckily there were no more mutant things hanging onto the roof.

"I doubt anyone survived that thing." Shadow said when they checked the last room in the house. "I think the only reason it didn't kill on sight was it was full from its last meal."

Tails' eyes got wide and he shuddered. "Poor guy…"

Shadow didn't bother to mention that it could just as easily be his mother. He decided to be optimistic about the whole thing(Or as optimistic as he could be) and hope that the last person to get eaten by the thing was a zombie.

"Come on. There's no one here, so we'd better head back to the car."

They made their way to the car, where Sonic was waiting on top of it looking about ready to pass out from the sun. "There you are! Where were you while I got cooked alive on top of this mobile grill?"

"I thought you said our dark, scary house was worse than your mobile grill." Blaze said.

"Well, where you were, at least it was out of the sun!"

"Blaze! I'm hungry!" Silver said loudly. "Can we get some food? Also my leg itches!"

"Go back to sleep, Silver." Amy muttered. "We can't find any food and we can't do anything about your leg."

"Except make him some crutches." Shadow said. "He's gonna have to get out of the van sooner or later, right? And we won't be able to carry him everywhere."

"You're right." Knuckles said. "So what do you need? Another couple of fat sticks?"

LATER…

Everyone except Shadow, Blaze and Silver went off to search another group of houses that looked like that may still have life in them. Shadow was hacking chunks off a huge log thing with Blaze's sword and Silver was trying to levitate himself; but eventually gave up because he hurt himself again. Blaze had Shadow's gun and was sitting on top of the car, keeping a lookout. Luckily, they were parked under some trees, so she wasn't roasted alive like Sonic was.

"I still can't believe how few zombies are here." Blaze muttered. "It's like they all left the city or something."

"Or maybe the G-virus has spread faster than we had thought and they just started attacking themselves." Shadow suggested.

"What's the G-virus again?" Silver asked. "Does it turn you into The Incredible Hulk?"

"Yes, Silver. Mephiles and Sinister turned into The Hulk." Shadow said sarcastically. "Yeah, right."

"Well, do you have any leads on how to stop the virus?"

"None." Blaze said. "Not a hint, tip or clue. Zip, zero, nada."

"What if you poured water on them?" Silver suggested.

Shadow gave him a bizarre look. "It wouldn't be that simple. The virus effects their blood too. And everyone knows everything needs water to survive."

"Oh, darn. I thought I was on to something." Silver began tugging at the bandages around his eyes. "Blaze, now my eyes itch."

"So?"

"So I'm taking these bandages off."

"It's really bright out here." Blaze warned.

"That's ok, I'm used to that kind of th-AAGHH! IT BURNS!" Silver wailed.

Blaze rolled her eyes and hopped off the car. "Wow, you've got the biggest bruise ever." She remarked when Silver's eyes got used to the light.

"That explains why my left eye won't really open." Silver said. "so can I keep that thing off?"

"If you really want to." Blaze began to climb on top of the car again.

"Hurray! Hi, Shadow. Are those crutches?" Silver asked. "I won't get splinters, will I?"

"No."

"Ok." Silver glanced around. "I like this van."

"Good. Shut up."

Silver's eyes suddenly got very wide…or as wide as they could get. "Someone's coming! Their aura is very, very strong!"

"Oh, shit." Blaze hopped off the car and landed next to Shadow. "Take your friggen' gun. I want my sword back!"

Blaze had just gotten back her sword when someone dressed in a long white lab coat came around the corner.

"That's Sinister, isn't it?" Silver squeaked. "Oh, crap, he's creepy…"

"I'll attack him. If you see any openings when you can get a shot in, then take it." Blaze hissed at Shadow.

"But what-" Shadow started, but Blaze had already rushed at Sinister with her sword held out on front of her. "HII-YAAA!"

Sinister was thrown off guard by the sudden attack but he recovered quickly. In one swift move he dodged Blaze's lunge, and struck out with his long and deadly claws. Blaze parried them and feinted to the left and struck to the right. The sword stuck into Sinister's arm. He let out a rage filled scream and tried to back up. Blaze twisted the sword and shoved it deeper into his arm until it emerged on the other side. Sinister began to slash at her dangerously but Blaze dodged every attack like a pro while Shadow shot at Sinister, trying to confuse him. Sinister grabbed the end of the sword and broke it in half with a loud, metallic snap. He escaped the sword and backed up, his arm healing as he went.

"Now that is just not damn fair." Blaze hissed. "You broke my sword."

With that, she lunged with the now shorter blade. But before she could reach Sinister…or Sinister could reach her, someone clad in black jumped from an alley and landed on Sinister's back.

Sinister bucked and tried to get the stranger off of him, but whoever it was seemed to be an expert bull rider. The mystery person took something out of a pocket and shoved it into Sinister's neck.

He went rigid and collapsed on the ground. The ninja backed away and faced Blaze, who held her sword at the ready. "Who are you?"

"Obviously not one of them." The stranger said. The voice was female. "You're some of the only survivors I've seen for a while besides some at a diner downtown."

"A diner?" Shadow asked. He still had his gun at the ready, just in case. "Do you happen to be looking for your son?"

"Did you meet them? Or better yet, did you meet him?" The ninja took off her hood, revealing two foxy ears and wide green eyes. She did look a lot like Tails.

"He's been with us almost sense the beginning of this nightmare." Blaze said. "What's your name?"

"Lilly." Tails' mom said. "Where is he?"

"He actually went on a mission to check out some houses over there. We've been looking for you or anyone who's survived to this point." Silver said. "Also we think we've found a very twisted cure to the T-virus."

Lilly's eyes got wider. "You have? I've been meaning to write it all out on the flash drive, but I was interrupted…you did read the flash drive, right?"

"Yeah." Shadow said, finally lowering the gun. "That guy that attacked us, Sinister, he was working on a cure, but it went wrong. He invented the G-virus, which is infinitely worse than the T-virus. The only thing that's good about it is that it cures victims of the T-virus."

Lilly looked at where Sinister was still lying motionless. "Well, that tranquilizer won't last forever. It was the strongest one I had. Did he have the G-virus?"

"Yeah. It gives you inhuman strength and you lose your mind." Silver said. "And you grow fangs and claws and then you go eat things. Sort of like a werewolf."

Lilly frowned. "My husband would know what to do. Have you seen him?"

There was a rather long silence. "Lilly, I don't know how to tell you this…" Shadow sighed. "But we found him on the brink of death, still in Umbrella's base. He died when Tails was talking to him."

Lilly's eyes filled with tears. "He was always so reckless…" She sobbed. "I told him one day that that would be the end of him…"

"Mom?"

Everyone turned to see the group that had been exploring the houses. They were covered in something red that looked suspiciously like blood, but they looked fine other than that. "MOM?" Tails squeaked.

"Miles! You're alive!" Lilly ran and embraced her son. "It's been so long…I thought you've been killed!"

"No, They came and helped me." Tails whispered. "if it wasn't for them, then I'd be dead."

There was a low growl from behind them all. "LOOK OUT!" Silver screamed.

Everyone spun around to see Sinister struggling to his feet. Shadow picked up his gun again and everyone else that had a weapon did the same.

"Got any more darts on ya?" Blaze hissed.

"That was the strongest one I had, and look how long it lasted!" Lilly replied in a low whisper, standing in front of Tails. "We need to get out of here, now."

Sinister attacked the closest person to him, which was Silver.

"AAAGHAAA!" Silver screamed. Sinister, who had leaped at him, suddenly hit an invisible wall and crashed to the asphalt, looking furious.

"I don't think I can do that again…" Silver groaned. "Get him away, I can't do it again like that…"

Shadow fired everything he had at Sinister.

The only thing he succeeded in doing was getting him madder than before. With a loud snarl, Sinister jumped at him and Shadow hit the ground hard. His side felt like it was being stabbed by a knife, bringing back the old pain from Mephiles. Shadow saw Sinister's bloodred eyes boring into his, and then his vision went white as the worst pain he had ever felt tore through his arm.

Blaze was screaming something. Lilly had thrown a rock at Sinister, but he didn't even react. Then someone was pulling him off the ground and into the van. The doors shut and there was a huge bump. Shadow didn't remember anything after that.