Sonic didn't sleep for the rest of the night. In fact, he couldn't sleep. Even if he was tired, he wouldn't allow his mind to rest. If he shutdown now, he'd miss out on something else new. Though, any current information now could never make up for the amount that was loss during his ten year absence.

Since he didn't slumber, the hedgehog stared at the clouds while he lied in the dirt. With every minute, the cottony quilt became lighter and lighter as dawn approached. "This would be much more entertaining if the sun was out," Sonic reflected, still watching the heavens. It was upsetting to consider that in this time and place, he'd never see the sun again. He could never welcome it as it raised, departure with it as it set, or hope to see it after heavy rainfall. All the years the hero spent racing through the rays of the gleaming orb were now memories. There was a bit of a bright side to this problem. "At least I won't get sunburned," the hedgehog chuckled to himself. He didn't know how much time past by, but it certainly was morning. A nearby patch of grass was drowned in dew. The air was cool and blew lightly through the trees. The dead silence was very peaceful despite how horrendous the environment looked. Unexpectedly, a voice called out his name. "Sonic?" it gently spoke from a fair distance that the hedgehog almost didn't hear it. Sonic sat up and made eye contact with the blond fox. Miles stood in the hole leading to shelter. The blue rodent could only dream of what it was like in there. "I brought you food," Miles said as he stepped out the hole. He held a wooden bowl and spoon in his hands. "Awesome, I'm starved," Sonic grinned widely as his friend joined him on the ground. He honestly would've begun eating dirt if the fox hadn't arrived sooner. Before anything else, he snatched the bowl from Miles grasp. The dish contained warm, creamy soup. The hedgehog greedily brought the bowl to his lips, ignoring the spoon completely. In seconds, the dish was no more. "That was pretty good!" he exclaimed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "When'd you learn to cook?"

"I didn't make it. It was actually leftover from last night," Miles replied. He then scratched the back of his head. "Were you all right during the night? Nothing happened right?"

"Nope. It's pretty quiet around here. You made it seem like there was rabid bear waiting for me in the dark."

"Well it's never been this tranquil before. It just seems like something horrible is bound to happen."

"God Tai--Miles. You're so pessimistic now..."

"There's no room for optimism here," the fox gloomily stared Sonic in the eyes. Miles then diverted his eyes to the hedgehog's injured leg. Sonic sighed. "Yeah, it still hurts, if that's what you were about to ask," the hedgehog announced with a smile. However, the fox wasn't laughing. He got to his feet and glanced at his friend who was still sitting. "Can you get up?"

"I guess. Why?"

"I'm bringing you inside," The fox answered and turned around. As he walked towards the whole, Sonic made his best attempt to stand up. When he didn't fall on his face, he quickly limped after Miles. "What about Knuckles?"

"What about him? He doesn't care about you. And he obviously won't reason with us, so now it's time for plan B."

"....Alright." Sonic genuinely didn't mind. Miles put up a good point, and he was beginning to fear his leg would get infected anyway. Together, they ventured into the hole. As the gap above them closed, Sonic found himself standing in a narrow tunnel. It was poorly lit with a few dying lanterns plus there was a funny smell. Luckily, the passageway was warmer than the outside. He didn't have time to comment given that Miles was still moving. Just a few steps away was a door at the end of the tunnel. As he approached the door, the fox pulled his gun from its holster. "I really don't think this is a good time for that," Sonic started. "It's the only way to get in," the blond countered. He raised the butt of his gun up to a small glass screen on the door. A green beam of light scanned the fox's gun. Afterwards, a soft beeping went off and the door slid open. "What happened to a simple doorknob and key?" the hedgehog thought while he limped along behind Miles.

Upon walking indoors, Sonic was thoroughly surprised. What he believed to be a comfortable, cozy place was almost the complete opposite. The two were in a medium-sized room. The same dim lanterns from the tunnel also dotted the walls of the space. A small entryway laid in the wall to the left. Sheets of metal made up the ceiling and wooden rafters and columns kept everything from caving in. The ashes of burned wood lied in the middle of the dirt floor while even more sheets and scraps of metal stood up against earth walls. "What the hell!?" Sonic loudly expressed his disappointment. "What did you expect? A penthouse with a view of Emerald Coast?" Miles retorted. "Well I just...thought it was different."

"We don't live in luxury, Sonic. Get used to it." The fox then made his way towards the doorway on the left. "Come on, everyone is still sleeping so try to be quiet." Sonic followed the blond through the room. The entryway was a snug fit; both boys had to bend over to get through. "Hey, what time is it anyway?" the hedgehog inquired.

"Seven in the morning."

"You're sure up early."

"I try to get out of this hell hole as much as possible."

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone here might be "friends" or whatever you want to call it, but sometimes it's good to leave your friends. That's impossible, since we're all under the same roof. Everyday, somebody slams a door in anger. It's like a horrible reality show with people you know too much information about."

"I guess that is asking for trouble..." Sonic mumbled. At this point, the pair stood in a kitchen. Sonic's mood lightened; this area was much more inviting. Instead of mostly metal components, nearly everything was wooden. A wooden ceiling, flooring, walls, cabinets, counters, and even a wood table and set of chairs. The lumber may have been old, and was oddly missing a sink, but it was much better than cold, hard steel to the hedgehog. Seeing that he had stopped, Miles grabbed his friend by the arm, and they stepped through another doorway. They walked through a short hall. The passage contained four doors. The door farthest to the right was sealed shut with heavy locks. Finally, the fox stopped at the door closet to the kitchen. "I'll stay with you for as long as I can," the blond glanced at Sonic. "But once the others get up, I'll have to leave. You just have to be as quiet as possible when that time comes."

"Okay then," Sonic said, but his eyes were fixated on the door with the heavy locks. It was the strangest sight he had seen so far. "Seriously Sonic, just the sound of your voice might send someone into cardiac arrest." Miles then opened the door in front of them, exposing the interior of a small, rectangular room. There was a little amount of furniture; just a bed, desk, and chair. A round lamp sat on the desk along with a pile of wrinkled papers. The bed in corner was mainly a chunk of wood with a mattress on top. Sitting next to desk was an old, weathered box labeled in dark red letters "DO NOT TOUCH". The two stepped inside and made themselves at home. "Snazzy place you got here," Sonic sarcastically claimed as he flopped onto the mattress. It was so soft; he almost passed out upon touching it. "It's the best I can do. I obviously can't get paint," Miles added and sat down at the desk. He took his black cap off, releasing short, shaggy locks of hair. "You know there's always wallpaper!"

"Sonic..."

"I'm just kidding, geez." The hedgehog chuckled to himself and rolled over onto his back. As soon as Miles left, he'd go right to sleep. Before that though, he wanted to know more about his surroundings. "So, uh, did you make this place from scratch?" Sonic asked. "Yes, and no," the blond answered. "Knuckles initially dug out the first room. Then I "assisted" him with everything else."

"Dude's on an ego trip, huh?"

"You're one to talk," Miles quickly smirked as the hedgehog frowned. The fox waved his hand playfully and continued: "I could care less really. I know what I contributed in, that's all that matters to me." After a few seconds of twiddling his thumbs, Sonic presented another question: "How long have you been living here?"

"A while I guess. Six or seven years at most."

"Okay. Why exactly did you choose to live, well, here?"

"There was nowhere else to go and no forms of transportation to find a new place to call home. Once the war started hitting the cities, Knuckles said he heard of others going underground. It was worth a shot then since we had no other choices."

"So you're gonna stay here forever?!"

"Sonic. There is nowhere else to go. The world is on its last strings; the chances of finding a civilization still intact are close to nothing." With a weary sigh, the hedgehog closed his eyes. He didn't like what he was hearing. Unfortunately, he still had more things to ask. Sonic sat up and stared the fox in the eyes. "What happened to everyone else we know?" he solemnly asked. The question was enough to make Miles exhale a troubled sigh. His hand automatically reached up to his head, letting his fingers run through his bangs. "Who do you want to start with?" Miles prompted. "Uh, I don't know...Amy?"

"Ooh, bad choice..." the fox cringed as his hand covered his eyes. "What? Why?" the hedgehog panicked. His friend's reaction was quite disheartening. Miles slowly uncovered his face and gave Sonic a sad glance. "I told you about her coma, right?"

"...Y-yes."

"Well, she did wake up. And honestly, that's the only good thing you'll be getting from me."

"Just tell me what happened, man."

"She lost it. Waking up and hearing that you were gone was too much for her. She wouldn't believe anybody. It was a classic case of denial. And the next thing you know, she went and tried to kill her self with pain-killers the doctors prescribed to her." Miles words were met with silence. He looked at the hedgehog sitting on the bed, with his horrified gaze staring back at him. Despite this he kept talking: "Luckily, she was found half-conscious and was rushed to the nearest hospital."

"Who found her?"

"Cream," Miles paused to scratch his head. "Now that I think about it, if it weren't for the fire, Amy wouldn't be here..."

"The what?!"

"Cream's home was burned down during a rebel outbreak. She lost her chao, her mother, everything, even her happiness. Amy had taken her in seeing that there was no one else to care for her."

"But they're both okay now?"

"I wouldn't use that word. I mean, they are living. Amy went to rehab and Cream had a new home, but they never really were the same again. Cream became bitter and Amy turned into a nervous wreck." Once he stopped again, Sonic hunched over and held his head in hands. He wondered if they should continue the conversation. "We can stop if you've had enough," Miles calmly stated. The hedgehog acknowledged the fox's worry. "No, it's alright. I, er..." Another question instantly popped into his head. Sonic sat up and stared the blond in the eyes. "Knuckles. I mean his arm. What happened there?" he curiously questioned. Miles responded with a quick flash of a frown. "That's what happens when...you don't look out for one another."

"Huh?"

"The war was at its peak when we were busy digging out this place. Robots, of course, where everywhere so it was hard to get around without being shot at. Even with that, Knuckles dragged me around to get more building materials and tools. We'd be out in the woods all day and night, sometimes for more than a week trying to turn a ditch in the ground into a usable shelter."

"I think you guys did a good job," Sonic butted in. His remark made Miles smile, but only for so long. His serious demeanor quickly returned. "It was dusk when it happened. We were nearly done with everything; I just needed to install the security system--"

"You mean that thing you with your gun and the front door?"

"Yeah, the idea was that each of us would have an item with a bar code on it, and the scanner on the door would read it. The scanner would only accept the codes we had; nothing else could get it to open."

"That's pretty cool actually."

"Well it nearly cost us a life," fox suddenly spat out. "The system kept rejecting the codes I had entered in it for it to recognize. Apparently some of the fuses in the inner core had blown out. Since there was no space in the tunnel, we left most of the tools outside. I asked Knuckles to get me new fuses. He left..." The fox abruptly ended as he seemed to freeze up. Finally, he shook his head and filtered his fingers through his hair again. "...And he never came back."

"He abandoned you there?"

"That's what I thought at first. But as the light from outside started to fade, I started thinking differently. I finally left to see where he went a-and....there was just blood everywhere. And in right in front of me, he was there, lying in a pool of his own blood. I thought he was dead. His entire left arm was split open with shreds of flesh hanging on for dear life. My first reaction was to get help, but I couldn't leave him there, not like that. I tired to move him, but he was alive, and I guess the pain from my attempts woke him up. His screams are still stuck in my to this day. The only thing I could do then was light a fire and hope someone noticed the smoke. It wasn't until late in the night that help finally came."

A blank expression had planted itself on Sonic's face. He was so disturbed he could hardly speak. "W-what happened next?" he finally choked out. Miles was affected by his own tale, and had a hard time continuing what he started. "We got to the hospital. The minute the doctors saw him, they wanted to amputate his arm. I spent most of that night giving them reasons not to. It was so refreshing when they listened to me. After that, all they did was clean the wound and sutured it up. The end result was a nearly useless arm and Knuckles didn't like that one bit. Once the pain went away, he did heavy training....and steroids."

"....Please repeat that last bit."

"You heard me," the fox smiled slightly. Sonic wanted to smile with him, but he was still shaken by what he had just endured. The hedgehog let out a loud sigh and threw himself backwards. The mattress he sat on was still so soft. "You've had enough?" Miles asked. "Yes. In fact, I've probably had too much," Sonic replied dryly. He tried to relax, but the next sound sent shivers up his spine. Someone knocked on the door to the room. Immediately, both boys stood up. They exchanged quiet glances. A single finger rose up to Miles lips, signaling to the hedgehog to be his quietest. The fox then made his way to the door. "Yes?" Miles voice rang as he talked through the door. "D-do you...do you want breakfast, Miles?" a frail voice answered. Of all the voices Sonic knew, he couldn't tell who it was. It sounded so sad, so lifeless. "No, I make my own breakfast. You know that Amy," the fox spoke again through the door, but quickly bit his lip. The utterance of the girl's name made Sonic nearly shriek. The hedgehog caught himself by covering his hands with his mouth. "Oh. Y-yes, you're right. I'm sorry to bother you."

"It's alright Amy..." The voice made no other reply, confirming the girl had left. Miles turned around. He watched a grief-stricken Sonic slowly sit himself back on the bed. "You guys have all changed so much," the hedgehog began. His saddened eyes met with the fox's. "I don't think I can handle this."

"I don't know what to say Sonic," Miles tried to reassure, but to no avail. Sonic lied on the bed again, too sleepy and distressed to do anything else.