I'm back! And I'm proud to say this story has gotten over 1,000 views! Thank you to all of you awesome people, especially Ember the Flame Guardian, Nate the Werehog, jazzybizzle, OptimisticQueenRandom, and spottedfire-star. OK, I've had my moment. To Chapter 7!

Chapter 7

Amy looked around. They were trapped. Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, and Rouge had encircled them and were closing in. Amy did the math. It had never been her strong suit, but she was smart enough to see they weren't going to make it out of this.

Then a thought struck her. "Tails, which side of the lab is the door on?" she whispered to the fox propping himself up on the wall beside her.

Tails pointed to their right. "It's on that side. Why?"

"You and Cream pick Eggman up; he's hurt pretty bad. The minute the distraction comes, take off for the door." Amy commanded.

Tails nodded and beckoned to Cream. As the two of them hoisted Eggman off the ground (a feat easier said than done), Tails thought about what Amy said. What distraction? We've all lost our guns, we don't have any other long-range weapons to keep a safe distance, heck, we don't even have close-range weapons- Tails stopped mid-thought. Amy's hammer.

Before Tails could stop her, Amy took out her and charged the werehog to the right of them, which was Shadow.

Amy bashed him hard, squarely in the head. "Go!" she yelled over her shoulder. Tails and Cream rounded the corner of the lab, still carrying Eggman.

Amy held her hammer high, trying to distract the beasts from her escaping friends. Shadow, who finally stopped seeing stars, swiped at her in retaliation. Amy dodged, the razor-sharp claws missing her by inches.

From her new position, Amy saw the path to the lab door was clear. The others were already inside. She took a final swing, which connected with Rouge's jaw, and made a break for the door. She had almost made it, when suddenly, something seemed to drop from the sky, blocking the door.

And that something had radiant, green eyes.

Amy let out a small gasp. "Sonic..."

Sonic the Werehog looked at the scared pink hedgehog he'd been about to bite. Something made him hesitate.

Amy looked lovingly at the werehog. "Sonic... it's me... don't you remember?"

Sonic looked visibly conflicted.

"Sonic, please! Remember!" she begged.

A howl pierced the air. Amy looked over her shoulder to see Silver, holding the unconscious Blaze close to him. Tears were streaming down his cheeks.

Amy turned back to Sonic. Any flashes of understanding had left the werehog. Amy shut her eyes tight as Sonic lunged at her.

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Tails slammed the lab door shut behind them and locked it.

Cream whimpered, "Tails, what about Miss Amy?" Tears glistened in her eyes.

Tails felt his heart sink. He hated to see Cream cry. "She knew what would happen, Cream." His voice cracked. "We can't worry about them. We have to make that antidote."

Tears continued flowing from Cream's eyes, but she wiped them away and nodded.

The two of them turned to Eggman, who was in pretty bad shape. The cuts on his chest had reopened, and his face was a ghastly gray color. Still, he spoke. "We don't have much time. That door won't hold any better than the last," he said, motioning towards the lab door.

"What do we need?" Tails asked, a slight edge in his voice.

Cream helped the Dr. into a chair and began cleaning his wounds. Eggman pulled out the syringe that contained the antidote. He recited the ingredients that he'd used in it. "I don't know the amount of each material you need," Eggman said after he told Tails the ingredients. "And we don't have much time so figure it out quickly!"

Tails found the ingredients Eggman had listed, which he fortunately had all of.

He tried various combinations, none of which yielded any kind of result.

The were-animals were pounding on the door again, Amy undoubtably among them.

Cream tried to help Tails whenever she could, handing him various tool and other equipment when he needed them.

Eggman tried to be helpful by throwing out ideas and combinations of the chemicals the antidote might be.

Tails wiped his forehead. They were getting nowhere. They had tried almost every combination he could think of, and none of the resulting in the bright blue-green color of the antidote.

"Wait!" Eggman shouted, remembering, "The antidote, after I'd finished mixing it, it was a dull orange color! Then, I had to add hydrogen-peroxide to the mix, and that's what made it the blue-green!"

Tails was so frustrated with the whole situation, he couldn't recall if any of the combinations they'd tried had resembled what the Dr. described.

Then, Cream quietly spoke up. "Tails..."

Tails turned to her. "Yeah, Cream?" He tried to suppress his frustration, but the words still came out strained.

Cream continued softly. "I remember... the second combination you tried was orange. I don't know if it was the same, but it's worth a try." She hugged Tails, who blushed at her touch. Any tension he'd felt melted away in Cream's arms. "I know you can do it," she whispered softly in his ear.

Tails broke the embrace, with new determination in his eyes. He recalled the second mixture he'd done: a pint of lithium nitrogen, two cups of cobalt-iron powder, an ounce of uranium ore, ten ounces of phenodexorin-oxide, and only a spoonful of zinc-plutonium compound.

He quickly stirred these materials together, and sure enough, the resulting mixture was a dull orange.

Cream squealed with happiness and hugged Tails. Tails grinned as he reached over to the cabinet which contained the hydrogen-peroxide, and opened it.

Tails grin fell from his face. Cream noticed this and looked in the cabinet. It was completely empty.

Tails fell to his knees, on the verge of breaking down. They had come so far... they were the only ones that knew what was happening, the only ones who knew the only cure... but they would never get the chance to tell anyone. Tails realized tears were streaming down his face. He smacked the floor with his fist.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. "Tails, there's still hope."

"How can you say that, Cream? Any minute, the werehogs are going to break in and turn us into one of them! We don't have the antidote! Face it, there is no hope!" Tails didn't mean to shout, but he was so upset, he couldn't hold it in.

Cream was hurt by this, but said anyway "Earlier tonight, I had gotten frosting from your cupcakes all over my hands. When I went to wash them, the cabinet under the sink was slightly open, and I saw a bottle of hydrogen-peroxide in it."

Tails looked up, deeply regretting the things he'd said to her. It wasn't her fault (his eyes darted briefly towards Eggman) and she had done everything she could to help.

"Cream... I'm sorry..." He didn't know what he could say, to show her how sorry he truly was.

Suddenly, without warning, the door gave way.

The vicious were-forms of their friends charged in.

Tails grabbed the unfinished antidote and Cream's hand, and took off towards one of the lab windows. He didn't bother with Eggman; the windows in the were small, barely two feet by two feet.

Disregarding his personal safety, Tails flew straight into the window, shattering it.

Just as he pulled Cream through the window, a huge arm that took up the whole window space shot out and grabbed Cream in an iron grip.

"Cream!" Tails shouted, trying to tug her free.

Cream didn't seem scared. She gave Tails a small sad smile. "I'm counting on you, Tails. I believe in you."

"Cream, no!"

He was too late. Cream let go of Tails' hand, and was pulled into the lab.

Tails, cursing the hot tears that fell down his cheeks, turned and flew towards his house as fast as he could. The beasts were coming for him.

Simply ignoring the door completely, he flew into the gaping hole Knuckles had made on the second floor. He turned right, then left as he navigated the house. Tails could hear the howls of his friends as they persued their prey: him.

Tails turned the final corner into the bathroom. He slammed the door shut and went to lock it. Damn! He swore in his mind, Why didn't I install an electronic lock on this door?!

Sure enough, there was nothing but the average doorknob lock on the bathroom door. Even though he knew it would do little to nothing, Tails locked the door.

Tails turned and threw open the cabinet under the sink. He heard the pounding of paws as they got closer. Cream had been right, there was a new bottle of hydrogen-peroxide right in the front of the cabinet.

The thumping grew louder. Tails tore off the wrapping and unscrewed the cap.

They were so close, he could hear their panting as they closed in on him. Tails poured a decent amount of peroxide into the antidote. It swirled and changed colors.

He could hear them right outside the door. Tails pulled out the syringe Eggman had given him. It had barely any antidote in it. If that was enough for one werehog, the whole syringe must be good enough for his eight friends (and Eggman).

The door bashed once, barely staying on its hinges. Tails filled the syringe to the brim and closed it.

The door smashed open in a shower of splinters.

Tails closed his eyes and stabbed.

I'm evil, aren't I? Did any of them make it? Did Tails save the day? Did he even have the right antidote (I never said it changed to the blue-green color...)? Keep an eye out for the eighth and final chapter of A Sonic Howl-oween to find out the epic ending!