Eating
Chapter 1
Shadow re-materialised dripping infected blood from his finger tips. He lifted his head to be greeted by a large shotgun barrel being wielded by a tall figure wearing a mask.
"Speak…" they commanded through the mask.
"It's me" Shadow replied.
He kept his aim steady on Shadow as he removed his mask and let his red dreadlocks fall.
"Guys… he's here…!" the red echidna called.
A blue hedgehog followed by a white bat and the rest of Shadow faithful team entered the room that looked like an old apartment with things scattered every where.
"You look a state" the red echidna mocked.
"not looking too good yourself Knuckles" Shadow spat back.
"Hey I'm the one with the gun here, you cheeky fucker" Knuckles
"Knuckles…!" Sonic interrupted
"Someone clean check Shadow everyone else, stay quiet and gets some rest we leave early morning, not having anymore this 'moving through the night shit"
"I'll be more than happy to check Shad-…"
"No…you won't, Shadow go to the shower, I shall send someone up to check you" Sonic again interrupted knuckles.
Shadow nodded and turned to walk up the stairs in the trashed apartment. Sonic snatched the large shotgun from Knuckles's grasp and shot him a disgusted look, Knuckles stared back with a 'what?' gesture.
Sonic turned and went through into the other room where the girls and younger members of the group where getting ready to get some sleep. Rouge was helping Cream, Cheese and Tails with their sleeping blankets while Amy was moving the scattered sheets and other trash for a space for her and Blaze.
"Amy..?"
The pink hedgehog turned from what she was doing to find Sonic kneeling next to her with Knuckles's shotgun.
"Yes..." she answered.
"... I'm just checking that everyone is ok through here, how are you holding up?"
"I'm fine... sort of... Cream and Tails are having a hard time trying to understand what's happening"
"I see..." Sonic looked over to where Tails and Cream where now lying in their sleeping bags.
"To be honest I don't either, I just hope we somehow get out of this mess" Amy admitted with doubt opening her sleeping bag.
"Hey...don't worry, we will pull through this" he said comforting her with his arm around her.
She looked up at him with hope.
"Really...?"
"All of us will, I promise"
"You really are doing well with taking charge of this" she smiled.
"Thanks, I'm trying" he smiled back.
"See you in the morning" he said heading over to the other side of the room.
"You too" Amy now got in to her sleeping bag feeling just that little bit more comfortable for once.
Rouge was taking off her boots and gloves as Sonic approached her.
"How have you found today?" he asked sitting in an old arm chair next to her.
"Well none of us got torn to pieces so... success!"
Sonic's amused huff let Rouge know he was thinking the same.
"Shadow really proved he can be relied on today with his diversion idea, it was very effective"
Rouge commented as she dropped her gloves on the floor next to her.
"Hmm... speaking of which could you go clean check him before he gets to sleep, just to be sure?" Sonic asked.
"Sure, I'll see to him now" she complied and got up to go upstairs.
"Thanks I just don't want a zombie Shadow to deal with..."
"...Now there's a scary thought" she added leaving the room.
Sonic sat in the room watching the girls and children sleep as Rouge left and closed the door dividing the two rooms. He propped the shotgun up against his leg and felt the faint heat in the barrel reminding him of the journey to the apartment block. There were only a couple of close calls, nothing to worry about. He looked down at Cream and Amy then grimaced as he rubbed his forehead. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.
Upstairs Rouge followed the sound of water splashing off porcelain plastic. Walking into the small bathroom and glanced around noticing Shadow's combat knife in the blood stained sink basin and Shadow in the shower cubicle, she pulled her gaze away as he stopped the water running. Shadow stepped out of the shower now rinsed clean of blood. He reached for a towel from a rack next to the shower and looked at Rouge who was facing away from him.
"He sent you did he?" Shadow asked in his usual harsh voice while drying himself off.
"He did... so raise your arms please" she answered walking toward him.
"No need to be so formal" he complied putting his arms abreast, as if going through customs.
She analysed his arms and legs thoroughly for any bite marks or cuts.
"Still keeping your cold demeanour I see" Rouge stated going around him to check his back.
"Humph... they say during extreme situations you see the true side to someone"
"Then you are as genuine as they come, you haven't changed at all Shadow"
"Is that a bad thing?"
"Not really... from what you did today we need you just as you are, I must say, we wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you"
Shadow didn't see himself of that much value at this moment in time, he just thought he helped out.
"Well thank you Rouge but I think I could be doing more to ensure our survival"
"(sigh)... if you say so and you're clean by the way"
"Thanks" he thanked putting his arms down and turning around.
"See you tomorrow"
"You too" Rouge smiled as she left.
Alone in the bathroom, Shadow walked over to the small window overlooking the street. He looked down on the random infected scattered along the street, aimlessly wondering about in search of something to feed off. Shadow was becoming more and more curious as to why this infection had come about. He couldn't decipher whether it was deliberate, an accident or just random.
Meanwhile downstairs the girls and children were asleep, while Sonic and Knuckles were doing final checks of the doors and windows.
"Knuckles... make sure you wait for Silver before you lock the front door ok"
"Sure"
The door leading to upstairs opened as Shadow entered the living room, Sonic nodded to Shadow as a respectful greeting, Knuckles gave a half assed 'wassup' look to him as he walked past. Shadow put out his sleeping bag and put all his things next to his sleeping area, Sonic shot a 'what the hell' gesture to Knuckles about why he was acting like this. Knuckles rolled his eyes and turned to Shadow.
"Err... Shadow... just want to say thanks for what you did today and... I'm sorry for before"
"That's fine Knuckles, you're the least of my worries at the moment" replied Shadow coldly putting his combat knife under the pillow of the sleeping bag.
Knuckles smiled to Sonic to say 'are you happy?', Sonic just smiled back.
They all jumped as Silver come through the front door and locked it behind him.
"All downstairs is locked up and safe" Silver announced.
"Good work Silver, we should all get some rest now"
The three hedgehogs and echidna slept silently as the infected continued to plague the city outside.
Sonic and the others were lucky as more and more innocents fall victim to the consuming darkness throughout the night. It is going to take a miracle for them to get out of this city.
Hi again, sorry I have been away for far too long just got caught up work and other things that I'm not going to bore you with.
Anyway next chapter should get gruesome again, hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.
Yours El t0mm1e