Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega
Reise and Egglings © Blank the Nobody
Chapter Eleven
Survival of the Fittest
1 Month, 21 Day and 11 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon
30 Minutes before Sonic shows up
There's no hope in trying to help these people from the monsters that they've become. Besides, monsters are prone to make more monsters.
Loud police sirens wailed in the air as cop cars started to make their way to the break out points. Vector and Espio continued to fight for survival, but quickly found that the monsters were tough to kill. The two didn't care though, they only cared for the well-being of those around them, including the people still hiding within their agency. Vanilla rapidly locked the doors and windows and ran over to the kitchen area. Small beads of sweat were starting to run down her forehead, as she thought of Vector getting hurt. She shook the thought away, for she knew that she still had work to do.
Vanilla quickly scanned the kitchen table, trying to find the phone number that Vector told her to call. There, on the side of the table, a small rectangular calling card lay face down. The adult rabbit quickly grabbed the calling card and read the number. After memorizing it, she threw down to the ground and grabbed the phone which was on the counter next to her. She quickly dialed the number and waited for her call to be answered. While she was doing this, Charmy, Cream and Cheese were still in the living room trying to calm down after what they had just seen. Seconds before they had just witnessed a group of innocent people be torn into a bloody mess by a group of monsters, their screams of agony would forever haunt the children's dreams.
After thirty seconds of constant ringing, someone finally picked up the phone on the other line. "This is Captain Dacote." greeted a male voice.
Her instinct just took over, flooding out all of her manners just for the sake of surviving. "We need help over here! People are dying!" she yelled though the phone.
There was a slight thud on the other side of the phone, as if the man speaking to her had fallen out of his chair at the yelling. "Who is this? How'd you get this number?" asked the so-called captain.
"Vector! Vector gave it to me!' she yelled frantically, trying to skip the normal chatter.
"Vector eh? Okay, what's the problem?" asked Captain Dacote, in a nonchalant tone.
"People are dying! Monsters are killing everyone and Vector and Espio have their hands full!" she yelled in an irritated yet frantic tone.
Even with all of her yelling, the man other the other line didn't seem at all scared or shocked. Instead, he acted as though he had been through this before. "Alright, alright, if Vector told you to call then this number then it has to be important. I'm sending a strike team, ETA 10 minutes." said the captain before hanging up.
If the captain didn't sound any more nonchalant, Vanilla would've thought that he was only joking. But instead of thinking about the captain, or trying to decipher what ETA stands for, she had to get the kids out of there. Vanilla put the phone back on its stand and rushed over to the living room to get the kids. Without answering any of the kids' questions, she grabbed Charmy and Cream's hands and rushed out the backdoor, knowing that Cheese would fly after them no matter what.
"Where are we going? Are we just going to leave Espio and Vector behind?" asked Cream, as she fought the urge to cry.
"We need to find somewhere safe to hide, dear." answered Vanilla in an urgent tone as she ran through the city's sidewalks.
Behind them, the sound of pistol fire was heard as the cops arrived at the scene only to be greeted by blood and gore. Screaming and yelling filled the air as people either ran for their lives or died where they stood. Vanilla knew that if she looked back to see the destruction, the scenes would haunt her eternally. So she kept running and running, with three children in hand. At times like this, she wished she was as fast as Sonic.
Instead of watching the horror going on behind her, she was subjected to watch the ones happening in front of her. Even though most of the monsters were busy fighting Espio and Vector, there were still more in the city, butchering every living thing they saw. Across the street from the fleeing group, a monster jumped from the edge of a building and landed on a Mobian, tearing it to shreds with its jagged claws. On the streets, cars sped to get away from the carnage, one car had three monsters on top of it, causing the car to swerve out of control and crash into a street light. She still had to move forward, no matter what was happening, she still had to protect those dearest to her.
Vanilla could feel that Cream's legs were starting to freeze up in fear. The adult rabbit looked over her shoulder to see her terrified daughter gazing at the horror behind them. There was nothing she could do to miraculously erase those scenes from Cream's head, so Vanilla only hoped that this wouldn't affect her daughter. When she looked over at Charmy however, she found that the bee was just as scared. The boy was shivering in fear, knowing that he had just left his comrades behind. Vanilla took her eyes off of the kids to look forward, only to find that pushing on was a bit harder then it seemed.
Up ahead seemed more dangerous then going back. People ran through the streets screaming and calling for help, as a roving gang of monsters chased after them. Vanilla watched as one of the fleeing civilians tripped on the curb and get stabbed in the stomach by three monsters before finally being devoured. After finishing their feast, the group of monsters continued their hunt, without spotting Vanilla and her group. The adult rabbit was thankful that they didn't find her and she continued to run for the alleyway in front of them.
Before she could take another step, an injured Mobian limped onto the street. The civilian was covered with bruises and cuts and in his hand was his severed left arm. Vanilla watched as the man called for her help, but she was frozen in terror. She wanted to help that man, but she didn't know how much time it would take. Finally, Vanilla decided to help the man, even though the scent of blood would only lead the monsters to them. Seconds before Vanilla could rush to aid the injured man, a loud horn sounded and the Mobian was run down by a flaming bus. Vanilla stood there in shock, her one ochance of helping someone else, gone with the wind.
"Mother, can we please go now?" asked Cream as small tears streamed from her face from the sight.
No reply came from Vanilla, she was still scared. Never in her life has she seen this much carnage. No one could blame her though, it was like finally witnessing the apocalypse.
Charmy tugged on her dress, finally snapping her out of her little trance. "Ms. Vanilla, we need to find Sonic." said the bee, his sugar hype working against him and instead fuelling his fear.
He was right, only the planet's greatest hero can fix this. Vanilla looked across the street to make sure that no more out-of-control cars were around and once the streets were cleared she took the kids across the street and into the alleyway. Sonic could be anywhere, but for some odd reason, she knew that the famous blue hero would be around to save the day. The alleyway split into two directions, but instead of thinking over which one to take, Vanilla just took the one on the left.
The smell of blood mixed in with the stinky smell of garbage that radiated from the dumpsters as Vanilla ran. Loud pops and clacking noises filled the air as local gang members burst into the fight to protect themselves with their illegal weaponry. Even the rapid fire automatic rifles could stop the screaming and the battle continued. Somewhere in Vanilla's mind, she hoped that this was some nightmare, but the other half of her brain said that this was definitely real. Dream or not, she still had to survive and keep her daughter safe no matter what. She rounded around another corner to find a something that she thought she would never see.
At the end of the alley, a squad of G.U.N. soldiers were being dropped off to aid a group of cops. Once all of the soldiers were out of their transport vehicle, they lined up behind the group of cops and opened fire on the creatures trying to tackle them. Rapid gun fire filled the air as the soldiers easily filled the creature with lead, making it flop onto the ground with a bloody squelch. Most of the soldiers lowered the guns, as if knowing that the creature wouldn't get back up. Before they could even turn around to go call for more back up, a low growl emanated from the so-called dead monster. All of the guns were positioned on the monster again as it slowly got back onto its feet and shook off the pain.
"What the hell." stated one of the soldiers in a hesitant voice as he watched the monster almost fully recover from its bullet wounds.
"Open fire!" yelled the superior officer before the line of cops and soldiers was lit up with gunfire.
Bullet flew through the air but none of them hit the monster as it easily dodged all of the bullets and continued to charge the line of law enforcers. With its muscle filled legs, the beast leapt toward them and grabbed one of the cops by the shoulders. Once the creature hit the ground, he swung his clawed arms at the cop, tearing the law enforcer's face into shreds before a single bullet penetrated through the creature's skull. This time the monster was dead as it landed on its side like a ragdoll. Other cops rushed to their fallen comrade as the soldiers raced back to their vehicle to notify their superior. Finally, a safe place for Vanilla and her child. The rabbit ran toward the soldiers, Cream, Charmy and Cheese following behind her. Only a few feet away from the group, one soldier noticed them and ran to aid her.
"Finally, a civilian." said the soldier as he ran up to Vanilla. "What happened here? What are these monsters?" asked the young soldier.
Vanilla answered all of the questions, giving the army an idea of what they're dealing with. After answering all of the soldier's questions, she and the children were lead into the truck and were driven to the safety zone that the military established minutes before. They were not the only ones to get into the transport however, as the soldiers also piled into the truck. Traveling now would be much easier, since the truck did have a turret integrated into it, making it combat wise as well.
Cream nuzzled up next Charmy as they underwent a bumpy ride to the safety zone. Occasionally, the truck would stop so the gunner would assist some civilians trying to flee from the beasts or to destroy some obstructing monsters in their way. Vanilla was at ease though, at least she had some strong, armed men around her to protect her if anything bad would happen. The adult rabbit looked over to her daughter to find that she was still shaking with fear with Cheese in her lap. Vanilla was also kind of surprised to see Charmy sitting next to Cream, giving the young rabbit a reassuring hug to make her feel better.
The truck halted in its tracks and the sound of the gun turret went off again as it cut down another mob of monsters with ease. After the gun fire stopped, the squad leader went up front to talk to the driver. After a little quarrel with the driver, the squad leader and the soldiers got out of the transport vehicle, leaving Vanilla, Cream, Cheese and Charmy within its hard steel walls. The soldiers began to march out into an alleyway and shoot at another monster that just appeared out of the shadows.
Apparently, the soldiers were clearing the way for the transport vehicle to go through, but it looked much harder then it seems since the monster seem to be almost invulnerable against low caliber bullets. After taking out the first monster, the squad moved on to clear out the rest of the alleyway. Vanilla watched from one of the trucks bulletproof windows as the last soldier vanished around the corner. Before Vanilla could take her eyes away from the window, a blue blur ran up to the dead monster. To her surprise it was the exact person she was looking for, Sonic the hedgehog. Vanilla got out of her seat and went over to the driver's area.
Back to Normal Time
"Lower the ramp, I need to get out." she said, with a gentle tone.
Thankfully, the driver was nice enough to lower the ramp for Vanilla and the adult rabbit walked out of the truck.
"Where are you going Ms. Vanilla?" asked Charmy, as Vanilla took one step out the truck.
If she told them that Sonic was outside, they would definitely want to come with her. Vanilla didn't want that though, she wanted the kids to stay in the truck to be safe so she had to lie to them.
"Oh, I just want to get some fresh air, is all." she said, before finally getting out of the truck.
Vanilla ran over to Sonic, who still hadn't seen her yet.
"Sonic! Over here!" she yelled, finally making the hedgehog look up at her.
Once the hedgehog finally saw Vanilla, he ran over to her in the blink of an eye. Vanilla was relieved to finally see him, since Espio and Vector were somewhere else in the city still fighting monsters. One glance at Sonic and the adult rabbit could tell that something was wrong. She could somehow sense that the hedgehog was distressed about something other then the monsters attacking the city. She could easily start a conversation about Sonic's emotional rut, but there were more important things at hand.
"What's going on? What are these things?" asked Sonic as he kicked the dead monster.
"I don't know. One minute I'm having a pleasant talk with Vector, the next, these monsters come bursting out of some truck." She answered, without elevating her voice into a loud, or stuttering one.
Before Sonic could ask another question, two screams of terror came from behind Vanilla. The mother turned around to find that armored truck was being attacked by three monsters. Cream and Charmy's screams could be heard from all the way down the alley, making Vanilla run toward the truck even though she had no way of defeating the monsters. A blue streak of motion passed Ms. Vanilla as she ran, and Sonic jumped into the air, already curled into his Spin Dash position.
In a matter of seconds, Sonic bounced off of all three of the monsters causing them to fly backwards from the attack. Sonic then gracefully landed on his feet and smirked at the site of the fallen monsters. To him, everything was easy when it came to fighting, not anymore though. A low growl erupted from the fallen creatures as they all got back to their feet and shook the pain off. Sonic's cocky grin was wiped from his face as he watched the monsters come back to full fighting capability right before his eyes.
Sonic was frozen where he stood, as the creatures slowly walked toward him with a low growl. He knew these people, not closely, but he recognized them. The 'missing person' posters, that's where he saw them before. These grotesque creatures were once normal people to walk the streets of Station Square. Now they were turned into blood thirsty beasts with no remorse. Eggman was responsible for this, Sonic was sure of it. But why go to such lengths? Why turn into some psychotic villain after all these years of being a redundant evil genius? Maybe Sonic finally picked at that man's last nerve. Does that make all of this Sonic's fault?
"Sonic watch out!" yelled Ms. Vanilla from behind, snapping Sonic out of his little trance.
A loud roar filled the air as one of the monster's leapt toward our hero, with its claws facing outwards. Instead of burrowing into Sonic's body, the claws hit nothing but air, as Sonic dodged the attack with his super speed. Sonic faced the pack of creatures with determined eyes. He wouldn't go down without a fight, no matter what. The monsters charged Sonic at the same time, intent on tearing the hedgehog into pieces.
"Get off me you infernal creatures! I created you and I can destroy you!" yelled a familiar voice in the distance.
Before the monsters could unleash their attacks upon Sonic a large, bulking mass burst through the right wall of the alley. The huge brute held one smaller monster in its hand before throwing it to the side. A shocked expression swept upon Vanilla and Sonic's faces as they identified the figure as Doctor Eggman. The large doctor wore a tight pair of black pants, but wore no shirt, revealing his tight muscle packed body. Eggman looked to his right to find a shocked Sonic and a smile crept onto Eggman's face.
"Sonic! Great to see you again! I wish I had the time to chat, but I'm looking for someone." said the doctor happily before setting his eyes on the troop transport that held Charmy, Cream and Cheese. "Never mind, I the person I was looking for."
Monsters make monsters and sometimes . . . the creator can't control the created.