Chapter 2

Shadow's first thought was "It's hot." This was followed by his mind recalling the battle at the base, and the subsequent exodus through the vortex. His eyes sprang open, meeting the harsh glare of sunlight and blue sky. He sat up, holding his hand over his eyes to shield them.

He was in a desert. A godforsaken desert. A volcano jutted up from the ground, aiming into the blue sky, and tiny shrubs defiantly eked out an existence in the hard, sandy soil. A few feet away, a battered blue sign was serving as a support for an unconscious pink hedgehog. Shadow forced himself to stand up and walk over to her. She was alive, which was good. If she'd died, Sonic would…

Shadow jerked as if stung and looked around. The blue 'hog was nowhere to be found. As a matter of fact, the only blue thing in sight was the sky. And, seeing how flat the desert was, there was plenty of that visible.

Amy stirred, looking up at Shadow. "Where are we?"

"I don't know," he said, looking around. A small part of him was worried for Sonic, although he was never going to admit it. He'd rather lick a recently vacated public toilet. "But we should look for some shelter. Dying of exposure has never been one of my top five ways to go."

Amy looked around, "How about behind the sign? Just for now? Don't deserts usually cool off after nightfall?"

Shadow squinted at the sun. "It's still a good eight hours until sunset," he muttered, "But if that's what you want to do…"

She crawled behind the sign without wasting a breath. Shadow took a few steps to follow her when he heard her cry out in surprise. He poked his head around the sign, annoyance plastered on his features. "Now what?"

"Look at this!" she said, gesturing to a brown cloth. Shadow walked up and took a good look at it. It was about a foot on each side, with an elaborate border. In the center was a handprint with a swirled palm. Shadow shrugged nonchalantly. "It's a piece of artwork. Looking at the design, I'd guess tribal or African artwork. Why?"

"Touch it," she commanded, pointing at it. "It's weird."

Shadow reached out and poked the fabric. It felt like burlap. What startled him the most was that the material lit up like a Christmas ornament – only the 'thumb' of the hand, though. "What the hell?"

He grabbed the cloth and tried to tear it free. Even with his strength, though, he couldn't budge it. It was as if the cloth had become part of the sign. Shadow gave up with a grunt, his teeth bared. "Damn thing's a bit stubborn." Amy snickered as Shadow glared at the offending piece of material.

Eight hours passed quickly. Shadow slept for most of them, and Amy sat up and stewed about Sonic's fate and whereabouts. When Shadow finally awoke, the moon was beginning to rise. The desert felt like it was a comfortable temperature, and there didn't seem to be any animals out. Perfect.

"There's a trailer over there," Amy pointed out, indicating a pill-shaped camper a quarter of a mile away, "maybe we should check it out?"

Shadow looked around. Approaching an unfamiliar area from the front usually spelled disaster – something he could attest to personally. "Not from the front," he said as he set off. If his assumptions were correct, he could loop around the back of the volcano and arrive at the trailer from the rear. That would give him an advantage if the owner was hostile. "Come on."

Twenty minutes into the walk, they found another cloth. It was pinned to some skeletal remains larger than both of them combined. Amy shuddered as her green eyes watched the teeth as if expecting them to attack. Shadow sighed and pushed on the cloth.

Again, it lit up. This time, however, the glow included part of the palm. Shadow touched it again, but got the same reaction. So the amount of light given off wasn't directly related to how many times the cloths were pressed. It looked like the more of them he touched, the more they lit up. There had to be a microchip woven into the fabric – how else could a count be kept?

"Ignore it for now," Amy said, "Can we just get to the trailer? Maybe the owner has some water-"

"-or a load of hot lead," Shadow finished darkly, "Trust me. We're better off not disturbing whoever it is."

Amy fell silent, and Shadow felt a twinge of guilt. For all he knew, the hedgehog she was in love with was dead, and she was stuck in the middle of a desert with no one but him for companionship… and here he was being pessimistic.

"Let's go," he said quietly, walking away from the remains. "Maybe you're right. Maybe whoever that is has some supplies… or a phone."

"Hey yeah!" Amy cheered, perking up instantly, "Maybe they do! We could call GUN and see if they can get us out of here."

"Get YOU out of here," Shadow thought idly, "They'd probably shoot me in the chest and leave me to die out here…"

Shadow and Amy had to pass another pile of shrapnel before they reached the trailer. Amy was the one to notice the scrap of paper near it. Stylized at the top of the page was a duo of birds. After bickering with Shadow for a moment about it, she decided to keep it. Shadow rolled his eyes and kept walking, and almost made the worst mistake of his life.

A fifty foot cleft was gouged into the earth, and surrounded by fences. Shadow, in his haste, had almost walked through a small gap in the barriers – and it was at least thirty feet to the bottom. Although not lethal, it would have left him in a lot of pain. Shadow, contrary to popular jest, was not a masochist. Pain wasn't something he enjoyed. "Watch out for the pit," Amy remarked idly as he backed away from it. If looks could kill, she would have dropped dead on the spot. However, Shadow's eyes noticed something else.

A third cloth was on the back of the silver trailer. As quietly as possible, he walked over and touched it. Now the whole palm was lit up, as well as the thumb. Three cloths down, and who knew how many to go. Shadow was betting it was either four or eight more. Either the fingers were individual cloths, or they each took two. Or he could be full of crap and not know anything at all, and the cloths were a different number entirely.

The trailer was empty, unfortunately. Not even a phone. No water, nothing. As a matter of fact, it looked as if the owner had cleared out long ago, and left very little in the camper at all. There was a weather-worn paperback outside on the ground, and a faded Hawaiian shirt hanging on one of the trailer's awning supports. In a firepit outside, they found another page (Shadow let Amy have it). Inside, cigarette butts littered the floor, and a single sock lay in a corner. Nothing interesting.

"Well damn," Shadow sighed, "I was hoping for at least a sink…" the kitchen area had been ripped free and taken out of the trailer, either by the owner or by thieves who had found the camper before them. A water pipe led to an empty tank situated beneath the floor, and a soap dispenser lay overturned on the floor. Nothing they could use, unless Shadow felt the compulsive need to wash his hands.

"Maybe there's some rainwater at the bottom of that gorge," he said after a moment, "Come on."

Amy jogged ahead of him, examining the pages they'd found. One with hawks, the other with a crescent moon-and-star design. Nothing Shadow could make any sense of in their current state. He rolled his eyes. For some reason, he got the distinct impression he was being tested.

They arrived at the top of the chasm and stared down into it. Built along the walls were small homes, much like the Anasazi cliff dwellings in the Southern U.S. – maybe that was where they were. Shadow took a deep breath, "Ladies first?" he offered, indicating the ladder.

Amy shook her head defiantly, "After you – what if there's something down there? You've got to go first in case it attacks us!"

"If I go first, you'll be above me," he pointed out.

"So?"

"You're wearing a skirt."

Amy's face flamed crimson. "Oh…" with a smirk, Shadow watched her descend into the chasm.