The duo took the long route to Tails' lab, circumventing the city to avoid a direct confrontation. Of course, that never stopped the occasional straggler from coming across them.

"Stand back." Amy instructed. Sonic obliged. Amy shot through the creature's heart, aiming a second straight through their skull. Sonic did his best to look away, stifling vomit at the iron-tinted stench of the gore. When he composed himself enough to speak, he pointed out a discrepancy between his friend's methodology and how characters handled them in movies.

"Why'd you shoot the heart first? They're not vampires, ya know."

"Media never approached these things from a scientific point of view. The brain and heart have to work together for the body to function. Without fresh oxygen in the blood supply, we'd be vegetables, undead or not."

"Guess you learn something useful from school every once in a while."

"Come on. We have to keep moving."

"Right."

Amy's eyes drooped as she approached Tails' garage. His severed abdomen and the intestines on the floor told her everything. In a way, she wasn't much different from the things they were fighting. She trudged into the shade, closing her friend's eye and hugging his lifeless corpse.

"Rest in peace, Miles. We loved you more than anything in this world. I'm sorry things turned out this way. I wish they could've been different...I really wish they could've..."

The hedgehog did her best to hold back tears, refocusing her efforts on the mission. Sonic refused to step in, unable to bear seeing his brother in such a state. Amy looked around, honing in on the fox's research desk. Just as she suspected. A broken vial stood next to a book. Upon further examination, she discovered the topic related to genetic sequencing - a way to deconstruct and reconstruct cells. The goal was to rebuild cellular structures in a way that made them resistant to disease. When the vial ruptured, it scattered bacteria across the earth, and with the door open, it spread like wildfire...

Outside, Amy handed Sonic the vial and textbook. She explained the likely order of events leading up to the previous night.

"Tails was looking for a way to cure natural diseases when the vial overheated. The safety valve must've failed, releasing a concoction of spores through the garage. It was all a complete and total accident."

"No way..."

Sonic gazed down, eyes blurry from emotional exhaustion. All of this...The result of a simple mistake...

"Ya know, in the movies, zombies always show up 'cause guys like Eggman wanna rule the world. To think mechanical error was the real threat this whole time..."

"It should've been me! I was the one who encouraged him to take risks! It's all because of me!"

"Amy..."

"He's the only one who stopped by when I drifted way! He always showed me how much you guys cared, and I repaid him with death! What kind of monster am I!?"

The hedgehog sobbed, leaving Sonic at a loss for words.

"No one ever taught us what to do when the good guys screw up! How do I fix this! How can I!?"

"Amy, it's not your fault. Accidents happen, even cataclysmically destructive ones. All we can do now is clean up the mess and try to move on."

"I created this! How can I be the one to save humanity when I'm the one who destroyed it!? I should be the one rotting in the ground right now! This isn't right! It's unfair!"

"Life isn't fair. Anything could've happened to any one of us. Saving the others is all you can do to atone. After that, you can turn yourself in, and you won't be alone. If you go down, I'm goin' with ya. We're partners: to the bitter end, no matter what."

"Sonic!"

Amy wrapped her companion in a hug. They held each other for a while, tempering their emotions through the release of tears. It was all they could do to stay sane.

Amy dug a grave for Tails behind the fox's home. Sonic comforted her, holding her close for emotional support.

"We have to find Shadow. We need him to track down Eggman. If we don't find them soon, there won't be anyone left to save..."

"Then let's go. Right now, I'd prefer to be as far away from here as possible."

"Yeah..."

"We'll take the tornado. It'll be faster. We'll bring flowers when we can."

"Okay..."

The duo strolled away, failing to notice the apparition appear before their tombstone...

"Don't worry, guys...I'm right here..."

"The day has ended. I lie awake: the soft glow over my shoulder...I sleep to wake tomorrow, yet it's all the same! I feel the pain still deeply. It seems sometimes too much to bear. I have a core within me still. My strength is there!"

-All That Remains, A Song for the Hopeless