Knuckles followed the female Echidna out of the building they had been in. Both had put a thick fluffy coat on that they found within the building's storage cupboard and then headed out. The ice crunched beneath Knuckles' feet. He stopped walking when the girl suddenly came to a stop.
"Something wrong?" Knuckles asked her, but all he got for a response was her holding her hand up, a signal for him to be quiet. As he focused, he soon found out why she'd stopped. A was phone ringing. They both ran as fast as they could, with caution, towards the place where the noise was coming from. Knuckles kicked down the door of the E.S.T centre, groaning at the sight he saw. Due to the incredibly good insulation inside the building, the water within the building had not frozen.
"You stay here, I'll go." Knuckles ordered, took off his coat and quickly walked into the building. By the time he had finally reached the phone, he was chest deep in water. He picked it up and then put it to his ear, hoping and preying it was someone who could help.
"Hello?" He called, the sound of his voice trembling could be heard echoing down the phone.
"Knuckles? Is that you?" A voice gasped, one he knew that belonged to Shadow.
"You were expecting someone else?" Knuckles shivered.
"No, I was hoping it was you. How many people have survived Knuckles? If I can get a good enough number from you, then I might just be able to convince the rescue teams to go today." Shadow asked. Knuckles paused for a minute, trying to think of how many people there were.
"With us, there's got to be between thirty and fifty. There could be others out there too. I've gone out to look for supplies so I might find some people while I'm at it." Knuckles explained.
"You've gone out into the cold?! Knuckles you could die from hypothermia from just being out there for five minutes, the temperature is minus twenty degrees!" Shadow exclaimed.
"Then you're not going to like what I say next. To answer the phone, I had to go into chest deep water and truth be told, it's fucking freezing." Knuckles added.
"Get out of that water now! I'll go and tell the rescue teams about the numbers, just get out of that blood water right now!" Shadow snapped. Knuckles scoffed and hung up, then quickly got out.
"Well, who was it?" The girl asked and wrapped his coat around him.
"My friend Shadow, I told him how many there were with us and he's going to try and get the rescue teams to come today." Knuckles explained, shivering as he did so.
"We need to get you out of the cold and warmed up." The girl sighed.
Sonic answered the phone immediately after it rang. He held it to his ear and listened for a voice.
"Knuckles is alive and there's between thirty and fifty people with him. Bloody prick answered a phone that was only reachable if he went in chest deep freezing cold water. Anyway, I'm calling the rescue team, but, I thought I'd let you know he was safe first, at least for now." Shadow explained.
"Right, thanks for telling me Shadow. Let's just hope the rescue team think it's enough people to save in order for them to get off their butts." Sonic sighed and hung up.
Knuckles breaths were fast and short, his teeth were clenched and he had the girl's coat around him as well as his own. She'd helped him remove his shirt so he'd warm up slightly quicker, then she'd wondered off to try and find something she could burn to build a fire to keep them both warm, leaving him on his own. She'd taken him into some kind of restaurant and led him into the dining area. Soon, she returned carrying some newspaper, a match box and a small circular metal grill, one people used to cook hot dogs and burgers while camping. She put the newspapers into the grill and then set them on fire with one of the matches. She walked off again and shortly returned with some wooden blocks, then put them into the fire as well. She then sat down beside Knuckles.
"I never got your name." Knuckles pointed out as he let the fire warm up his body.
"Julie-Su." She smiled, then gently pushed her hand against his head. He was still freezing.
"I'll warm up eventually." Knuckles shrugged, noticing the concern in her eyes.
"If you don't warm up now, you'll die." She stated. She quickly removed her shirt so she was only in her bra and wrapped her arms around him, gently resting her chest against his.
"Don't flatter yourself, survival 101." She smirked, noticing his expression. He scoffed with a smile. He then began to feel his body warming up as her heat passed through into him.