• Shadow the Hedgehog: No Mercy

    All he could see was nothing. He felt weak, mortal, like he wasn’t the ultimate life form. “Hey old man,” Shadow heard a voice say. “He’s waking up.” Shadow opened his eyes to see 4 humans circling him. “What the? Were the hell am I?” he thought. “He’s a lucky one, the virus didn’t get him.” “Virus?” Shadow asked, “What virus??” “You don’t know?” he heard a females voice ask, “The virus that turns you into….just go look over the edge of the roof.” “Shadow was shocked at what he saw. Decaying zombies had taken stronghold of the city. They must be the last survivors. How he got on the rooftop or even in this part of the Earth was unknown to him. He thought about his friends. Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy, had they made it out alive? “I’m sorry, we haven’t introduced ourselves” he heard another male voice say. “My name is Louis.” Louis was an African American. He wore a suit and tie. “Why would he wear THAT in this situation??” Shadow pondered. “I’m Bill, nice to meet ‘ya” Bill was old, maybe in his 60’s; he wore a green jacket and was an avid smoker. “I’m Zoey, I found you on the ground and brought you here, although we barley made it ourselves…” Zoey was white or half white half Mexican. Shadow wasn’t sure, but she was pretty, wore a pink jacket and that reminded him of Amy. “Here, catch.” Shadow looked as a health kit and Uzi flew straight towards him. “THAT’S Francis. He’s stuck up.” Shadow chuckled. He thought Francis was pretty funny. “I should introduce myself as well, I’m Shadow, The Worlds ULTIMATE Life Form,” “Heh! Ultimate, wait ‘till you meet a Tank.” Francis spat out. “I shall prove it to you.” He searched himself for his Chaos Emerald “WHAT!? Where could it be!?” “No time for a search party for that rock of yours!! Here comes the horde!!!” Louis yelled.

    Shadow turned and saw zombies racing at him. All infected. He shot ones head off and quickly turned as one tried to kill him from behind. After the first wave, he heard a coughing noise. “What the hell was that?” No sooner than he spoke a tongue circled him rendering him helpless. “Smoker!” Bill yelled as Francis shot it do death. “Merry Christmas Shadow.” Francis said. Shadow knew that was his way of saying your welcome. Know he knew a couple things. 1: There were only 5 survivors in the city, 2: Zombies most seen were common infected; no special attributes whatsoever and 3: A “Smoker” was a special infected that grabbed you by its long tongue and either choked you or brought you close and clawed you to death. It also left a blast of smoke when you killed it. Shadow and the rest of the survivors then walked along. He saw many dead bodies and tossed up cars. There was graffiti around describing the effects of the virus. They soon reached near the safe room. “Thank god.” Louis said in praise. But no sooner than he said that Shadow tripped over a dead zombie and accidentally shot a car. The alarm blared and Shadow got up like it was nothing “Oh god...” Zoey muttered. A huge wave of zombies rushed toward them Shadow slammed in a fresh clip into his Uzi and fired away. Headshots, chest shots, his mind was on autopilot. Only one thing was on his mind….kill. After the wave the survivors started toward the safe room. Bill stopped. “Wait…I hear a Hunter…” as he said that a loud scream has heard and Zoey was attacked from behind. A Hunter had jumped on her and was beating the giving hard blows. “Damn!” Shadow yelled. He dashed over to where Zoey was and rammed the zombie off with his gun. He turned and looked at it with much hate in his eyes. His body glowed red. It was time to unleash some chaos power. “EVERYONE STEP BACK!!” he yelled. When they were at least 50 ft. away, he turned to the Hunter. It screamed and lunged toward him “CHAOS BLAST!” Shadow yelled as he released his rage. A huge explosion of energy was felt. Destroying all that was in the radius. Windows burst open, doors flew back. It left a wake after he was done. Unknowingly he set off another car alarm…..

    Shadow was done with the blast, but for a few moments he was invincible and had unlimited ammo…no reload required. The alarm didn’t attract a horde this time, it attracted the strongest zombie there was. A tank. A huge roar was heard and the tank rushed in. It attacked Shadow and didn’t phase him. He turned around and pointed the gun at the monsters chest. It didn’t do too much good, but he had and unlimited supply so far. He saw an M16 gun nearby and dashed for it. The Tank followed and as soon as he picked it up he blasted the rounds into the enemy. The Tank bellowed in pain as Shadow put the chaotic bullets into it. He then calmed down and saw his chance to end the battle. He saw 1 of the 7 Chaos Emeralds. He ran to it only to be blocked by the Tank. He decided to save ammo and go hand to hand. The monster lifted a massive arm and slammed Shadow. He went flying and flipped in the air and ran again. He spin dashed and cut the overpowered zombie in half. Shadow had no need to turn around, knowing the zombie had seen its last. He calmly picked up the Emerald and thought to himself. “I need to heal up, that thing took the hell out of me.”

    The Survivors stared in disbelief seeing Shadow was still alive. “Lets go” Shadow said. They walked into the safe room where there were extra ammunition and Health Packs. “That was hell wasn’t it?” Francis said as a joke. Shadow chuckled once more. He knew Francis meant well, but his sarcasm was mistaken for arrogance. No sooner than his thought started, he felt someone touch his back. “Stop moving, Im’a patch you up.” He heard Francis say. “Thank you.” Shadow replied. They picked up different weapons from the table. Shadow sticked with the M16, Francis traded his standard shotgun for the Benelli Super 90, Zoey manned a Sniper and Dual Pistols, Bill grabbed another M16 and Louis took another Benelli. “Ready for round 2 guys?”

    Shadow had healed up. The others looked ok as well. They grabbed the spare health packs and strapped them to their backs. Shadow picked up an extra pistol. Now he had the M16, and the Dual Pistols. They busted down the door and executed some zombies to the left of them. They were careful to take down the ones under them before they went down. Shadow and Francis made short work of the monsters. Shadow jumped down and scanned the area. With an M16 in hand he felt no fear. But then saw something that shocked him, Tails was infected. His old ally rushed towards him. Shadow didn’t want to shoot. He knew there had to be another way. “Tails stop! I can help you!” Shadow yelled, but the infected paid no mind, it jumped on him and started to slash away, he became incapacitated and was losing resistance to the blows. He started to black out and before he almost did he heard 2 things, a gunshot, and the moan of a zombie. Bill picked him up. “You sure can take one hell of a beating Shadow.” Bill said. Shadow then heard something, a faint voice. “Hey!!! Let me outta here!!!” Could it be? He only knew person that always complained about the slower things. “Come on get me out already!!!” It was Sonic! Somehow he had survived the infection. His friend must have been trapped in here somewhere. He scouted out and found a locked door. “Hey!!! Anyone out there???” Yes! He had found him. Shadow opened the door and saw his ally face to face. Sonic was a little battered up, but he was good enough to go. “Guys, we have another survivor!” Shadow exclaimed. He was actually glad to see the hedgehog. “Well you must be either lucky or damn stubborn.” “He he, I don’t know what’s goin on, but I managed to take this before I locked myself in.” Sonic pulled out the Blue Chaos Emerald. “Wait a minute….” Shadow thought. “Sonic come with me” Shadow commanded. The two rushed back to the body of Tails. They searched until they found what they were looking for, the Yellow Chaos Emerald. “I knew it!” Shadow yelled. As they walked back Sonic explained he doesn’t want a gun. “Sonic! It’s the only way you will be able to fight back! Don’t be so damn stubborn about weaponry and take the gun!” “Shadow, you know I hate guns, it’s not good to use them. Since you really think I need one ill take the pistol, but I won’t use it unless it’s an emergency.” Shadow handed him the gun and Sonic stashed it. He instead pulled out Caliburn. “Sonic what is the meaning of this?” Caliburn inquired. “Sorry man, but it’s the only way to survive here. So Shadow, where are we headed?” “Mercy Hospital” Shadow said bluntly. “Come on, we’re wasting time. Sonic and Shadow met up with the other survivors just in time to assist with the horde. Sonic dashed through slashing all in his way. He jumped back and charged his Soul Gauge. When it reached its peak he let out the burst. Every zombie in the room was gone, but that was just the weak ones. Another Tank rushed into the room. Sonic stepped forward. “Ready Shadow?” “Ready…” “Bill groaned. “Don’t these things ever take a break?” The Tank roared and bolted towards Sonic. “Damn!” Sonic spat out. He drew Caliburn and started to hack and cut at the monster. It was powerful, but it kept coming. It landed a punch on Sonic and made him drop his sword. Just as he was about to get smashed in the face, Shadow combined fire with the survivors and lured the tank away. Francis saw his chance. He picked up a Molotov and set the beast on fire. “Hell yeah! Take that!” Francis yelled in overconfidence. Louis reloaded the shotgun and continued fire while Shadow helped Sonic up. “Doesn’t look too bad, you’ll survive. Just heal up later got it?” “Sure thing Shadow” Sonic exclaimed. This tank wasn’t going down to easily. It kept coming stronger than before. “Shadow! It’s not normal! He must be harnessing the power of an Emerald!” Sonic yelled. He was cornered by the tank and remembered what he said. “Shadow, you know I hate guns, it’s not good to use them. Since you really think I need one ill take the pistol, but I won’t use it unless it’s an emergency.” “Its time for the emergency” Sonic unhappily admitted. He drew the Pistol and fired. Each shot hit its mark. He located the Emerald and fired a hole through the Tank. Before he got up he snatched the gem and left. He re-loaded the gun and picked up his sword. “I’m sure it won’t happen again” he told Shadow. “Sonic, you’re tough for a hedgehog” Francis complemented.

    “Ok, we have 4 emeralds, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Gray. There are 7 in total. That means we have 3 more to hunt down” Shadow announced. They 4 human survivors wondered if Shadow had any other surprises, First the Chaos Emeralds, then the Chaos Blast, Now a 6th survivor? Sonic groaned as he stepped over dead bodies. “Man, this is pointless...” Sonic unhappily said. “Shut it Sonic, We’re looking for Knuckles or a Chaos Emerald. “Sure we….” Sonic started but never finished. Zoey suddenly said “Someone else is still alive.”
    Everyone went silent as they heard the crying. Shadow took two steps forward until Bill held him back. “It my not be who you think it is…” Shadow’s eyes widened as the words left Bill’s mouth. Sonic announced that he would go first. Since the sword bared no light it was presumably safe to enter with little chance of startling the entity if it so happened to be a Witch. “Hello?” Sonic asked, “Anyone in here?” Sonic took two steps and his blood ran cold. It was Amy, or what had been Amy. He could tell by her tattered red dress. “Shadow…” Sonic whispered, “Come here…” Shadow followed the sound of Sonic’s voice. He had forgotten to shut off the light on his pistol. “SHADOW NO!!” Sonic yelled, but it was too late. His light had startled Amy. Shadow dashed backwards as Sonic lifted Caliburn to block her blows. He jumped in the air and used a spinning sword strike. Amy was knocked back and was put down for a while. Sonic’s ears perked up as he heard shouting. “Get me the hell outta here or I’ll bust the door down!!” It could be no one else except Knuckles. Sonic saw Amy get up for another round but before Sonic lifted his sword, Bill and Francis gunned her down. To make sure she was dead, Shadow shot her once between the eyes.

    “Knux is still alive Shadow.” Sonic declared. They picked up a spare med kit for the First Aid box on the wall and looked at the door, it was steel. A cardkey was needed to open it, but first things first, The Chaos Emerald. They searched Amy but found no trace of it. Far-off Sonic spotted her hammer. Under it were two things, The Light Blue Chaos Emerald and a cardkey for the door. They rushed forward and unlocked the steel door. Sonic was greeted with a punch in the face. “What the hell was that for!?!?!” Sonic yelled. Shadow and Francis looked at each other and laughed. “Oh sorry” Knuckles said. “I thought I was going to have to break the door down.” “Take this Knuckles” Zoey said. She handed the crimson echidna a Handgun. “You’ll need it…” Sonic quickly responded before Knuckles could say his unfondness of weaponry.

    They finally found the safe room. Knuckles explained how he got trapped. “Amy and I were walking along. We both fought off the zombies, me with my Fists of course and her with the Hammer.” Knuckles continued as they walked though the door of the room. “Out of no-where a horde attacks us from behind. None of us had been touched before then. I was immune it seemed, but after we killed them off Amy started to cry. Her skin went pale as her quills did. She locked me in the door. She grabbed my emerald and the card key and locked me in the room.” The others stared in disbelief. Knuckles had been able to survive a witch attack. They 7 survivors walked through the sewers. They encountered a small group of zombies and engaged in combat. Knuckles whipped out the handgun and fired away. The air cracked as the bullets were sent flying into the bodies of the enemies. After the last one was dead a scream pierced the silence. A Hunter attacked Sonic from Behind. With out thinking, Knuckles rushed up to the zombie and punched it off. It reared up and leaped towards Knuckles. To finish it off, Knuckles punched the monster in the chest. “Thanks Knucklehead…” Sonic said gratefully but at the same time sourly.

    “There it is… the manhole leading to a street near Mercy Hospital.” Bill mentioned as they all stared at the manhole. “I’ll go first.” Sonic said. “Shadow, you follow and Knuckles comes next. After all three of us are up we’ll distract the zombies with this Pipe Bomb I picked up. There’s bound to be a Tank so Francis get that Molotov ready. After we kill the main horde Francis and the others come up. The Tank should be rushing in by now. Shadow and I will pull frontal damage while Knuckles sneaks from behind. Knucklehead, then you punch the monster and while it’s turned around Francis will throw the grenade. Zoey and Bill, you two take these Emeralds. They should boost the power of your weapons. Let Shadow charge up his Chaos Blast while I charge the Soul Gauge with Caliburn. If necessary I’ll go Excalibur Mode. When we’re ready I want you 4 to pull back at least 50ft. I will be able to take the hits since ill be in Soul Gauge mode.” Sonic commanded. “Ok…let’s do this …” Louis said.

    Sonic dashed up the ladder as did Shadow. As expected the zombies were there. Knuckles got up just in time to join the fight. Spent M16 shells flew threw the air as did bloody heads. Sonic threw his bomb and distracted the rest. After the boom was heard Francis primed his Molotov. “Time to give that Tank hell…” He mumbled in anger. The 4 humans climbed the rusty ladder in time to see the expected Tank rush at them. Sonic and Shadow did their best to hold it off while Knuckles got altitude to glide and attack from the rear. “Knuckles hurry! We can’t hold much longer!” Sonic shouted in fear and desperation. Knux then jumped and glided over the Tank and gave it his hardest punch, with Emerald in hand. It turned to face him and Francis then threw the fire grenade and shouted in hate, “Take this you son of a b***h!” It hit its mark and turned the monster into a towering inferno, but the fight wasn’t over. Zoey and Bill took their marks putting the Emeralds near the gun as instructed. True to their word, the bullets were super-powered. They cut right through the Tank. A huge bellow was heard as the beast went down. Something wasn’t right. The Tank was still breathing. He must be imbued with Chaos Emerald as well! “Shadow! That blast ready?!” Sonic shouted charging the Soul Gauge to its peak. Shadow grinned in an evil way. “Damn straight blue hedgehog.” “GUYS GET BACK!!” Sonic yelled as the Tank got on its feet.

    Sonic and Shadow screamed at the same time “SOUL SURGE!” “CHAOS BLAST!” a huge dark energy field surrounded them both. Sonic hacked and slashed with Caliburn, but the beast wasn’t going down that easily. “Shadow back off, I’ll finish this…” Shadow did what he was told and stopped back with the other survivors. Sonic stared at Caliburn. “Ready?” he asked. “Of course Sir Sonic.” The sword replied. Sonic looked up as the Tank started towards him. “GRRWA!” Sonic yelled. A bright golden light surrounded his person. He felt the legendary armor being attached to him. His royal red cape flew with the wind and finally his faceplate was added. The once Caliburn transformed into the much more powerful Excalibur, a sword that could cut through anything. Excalibur Sonic let out a burst of power through Excalibur. Sonic stared the Tank in the hideous face. “You’re going down…” Sonic said in anger and desperation. The Tank lifted its massive powerful arms as Sonic lifted Excalibur. “THIS IS IT!!!” Sonic growled as he slashed away. Each time slicing the Tank until the Emerald could be seen. Sonic slashed a bit too hastily. He hit the Emerald onto a Boomer waiting to unleash its goopy mess onto Sonic. The Boomer absorbed the gem and began a transformation. Sonic turned around just in time to see it. The fat, bulbous body was replaced by a tall, lean, masculine figure. The stubby arms stretched out into powerful arms with sharp razor claws. The horribly mutated face got a complete makeover as the head stretched out much larger and grew giant fangs. The back had a carrying tank of some kind with greenish liquid. The short legs grew long and the feet was made up of three claws. “Aw s**t!” Louis spat out. Sonic flew to his comrades. “The green tank of goo must be its weak point; we all need to heal up, I’m invincible so I’ll attack first. After that we alternate to heal and strike.” They nodded in agreement. While Shadow and the others healed up, Excalibur Sonic was ready for round two.

    Sonic air-dashed forward and started to attack the sac of liquid on the creatures back. The thing wouldn’t just let Sonic kill it; it swatted its massive claw onto him and knocked him back. Sonic flew back to the monstrosity and fought hard once more. He was welcomed with a spray of acidic goop Sonic felt some power drain. “Shadow, take shift, ill charge the Final Gauge!” Sonic yelled from afar. “Got it.” Shadow replied. The black hedgehog shot the rounds of the M16 into the legs of the creature. Doing whatever it took to take it down and allow a bullet to the face. It once again used the acid to attack. Shadow was burned, but could survive. Sonic continued to charge his power, the Final Slash would kill whatever that thing was. Shadow returned to the survivor clan to heal while Louis took his place. This time the rounds hit the stomach of the creature, one swat of the claw sent him back and in need of First Aid, but he wouldn’t give up. He bravely took pills and continued his assault. They could tell the monster was losing health fast. The other survivors rushed out and attacked annihilating the creatures’ knees and bring it down. Sonic was now ready. He dashed forward surrounded by mythical energy. The slash killed the ex-Boomer. They now claimed the 6th Emerald. Sonic powered down and met up with the others.

    “Got the Emerald…” Sonic announced, “Just one more.” The 7 survivors then went through the hospital maze. They shot and slashed the zombies down, burned the Hunters just for fun and luckily didn’t encounter any Tanks. “Oh no…” Louis mumbled. Shadow saw what he meant. The elevator was the only way to the safe room. They may have made it this far but ammo was dangerously low and the health packs were all gone. “We have to scout for supplies. Fresh guns and ammunition are necessary and some pain pills may be needed.” Bill planned. “Shadow, Sonic, Knuckles, you guys search for guns and ammo. Francis and Zoey, look for Molotov’s and Pipe bombs. Louis and I will locate health packs and maybe scrounge up some pills.” The plan sounded good. So each team went looking for the items assigned. Shadow only found spent shells meaning some other survivors were here. Then they also found something unexpected. “It can’t be…” Sonic sounded frightened. “It is!!” Sonic screamed, attracting a small group of infected.

    Amazingly Mecha Sonic, Metal Sonic, and Neo Metal Sonic were all in a group. Mecha pulled out its gun and fired. Not at Sonic, Shadow, or Knuckles, but at the infected. The bullets whizzed by Sonic. Neo Metal Sonic charged up some energy and sent it flying towards the group. Metal used his shield and bowled over the remaining. “You usually try to kill me,” Sonic explained to the metallic clones of him, “What’s up?” Neo explained. “Desperate times make enemies allies. All we are trying to do is survive. We have been here fifteen hours and in need of repair. All our shields are low.” “So those spent casings... are from Mecha Sonic?” Shadow inquired. “Correct Ultimate Life Form.” Knuckles thought. These 3 were never trustworthy. Back on Angel Island he fought Mecha Sonic. Then Eggman stole his Master Emerald and Super Sonic had to hunt them down. “Sonic, it could be another trick; they might be trying to get the Chaos Emeralds.” Knuckles told Sonic. “Maybe, but even they don’t deserve to die like this.” Metal Sonic reached behind his back. Knuckles primed his fists in case of an ambush. Instead it motioned for Sonic to follow. Sonic did as he was told. Mecha showed him a galore of supplies. Guns, ammo, bombs, even a Medical Shelf. “This must be another safe room, but even this has a lot of supplies.” Shadow thought. Sonic sat down on a crate of pills. “Okay you three, I know what you want, we aren’t giving you the Emeralds. Instead we are letting you charge off them. We only have 6 so don’t expect a Super Transformation.” Sonic said. “Very well Sonic… Very well…” Neo retorted. The 3 machines crowded around Sonic, who held the 6 Emeralds. A bright radiance attracted the rest of the survivors, and the zombies. “Hold them off Shadow!!” Sonic yelled above the screams of infected. “Shadow lifted the M16 and fired. He shot and killed, shot and killed and repeated the process. A Smoker grabbed hold of him but before he blacked out, a gunshot saved him. The human crew was back. “Let’s give them hell…” Shadow told everyone else.

    Sonic and the Metals were ready. “CHARGE!!” Sonic growled in rage. Mecha started the assault. He fired into the decaying brains of the zombies. A Hunter leaped from behind and hit Sonic, but Neo finished the job with an energy pulse. “Thanks…”, but that was short lived. A Smoker attacked Neo and drained his power. They had lost their first survivor. “No…” Sonic said unbelievably. Mecha covered Sonic as he grieved for a temporary ally. Shadow went to Sonic just in time to save him from a Boomer. “Sonic get up! We have to fight! The other Emerald is close by and the elevator is almost here!” “Alright Shadow, let’s do this.” Sonic lifted Caliburn and spin dashed into the heat of battle. The infected were ripped to shreds by Sonic’s spin. He then put down Caliburn and used the same ring he used to fight Erazor Djin. The fire immediately returned and Sonic used every technique available. Sonic then removed the ring and motioned to Shadow. Now it was time for the black hedgehog to show them what he was made of. Shadow used his Chaos Spear in order to save some bullets. The monsters kept coming and coming.