<<Hųśh>>

-'15'-

Shadow looked around as the flash faded. He was back at the cabin. He pulled the echidna onto a bed, having to sit by a wall to regain his breath. The infection had limited his movement severely, which had caused his strength and stamina to dwindle somewhat rapidly. Dragging around a red bafoon would have been child's play just several weeks ago. He cringed, knowing how much of a damsel in distress he was slowly but surely becomming.

"What happened!?" Amy squeaked. Her suprised shouts awoke the rest of the cabin. "Sonic shot him." He muttered. The pink hedgehog wasted no time in rushing to Knuckles' side. She delicatley placed her hand on his chest, inspecting the wound for a moment and feeling his pulse. "I don't think it hit his heart." She muttered hesitantly.

Rouge stumbled over, half asleep and recovering from bloodrush. She gently pushed Amy out of the way and inspected the echidna herself. She remained quiet as she very roughly prodded at the wound, earning several pained grunts and groans from the incapacitated echidna that layed on the bed. Shadow could only marvel at how rough and uncaring Rouge handled the probably dying echidna. He wished he could reach such pettiness. He knew morale would get in his way however.

"We need to get the bullet out. It has hit a rib and shattered it." She confirmed. Shadow froze. His blood turned to ice. The echidna had been so badly injured. Shadow, the soul reason for the entire situation, had escaped unscathed at the expense of Knuckles' wellbeing and, perhaps, his life. He shuddered at the feeling of his skin crawling. He was disgusted in himself.

Shadow could only stare at the red echidna; he watched as his chest rose and fell at uneven, shaky paces. He was struggling to breathe. Almost silent groans left his chest with each exhale, as though something heavy layed on his chest. Shadow wasn't even close to the echidna, Knuckles owed nothing to him, but he had risked his life to save Shadow. He would now possibly lose that very life for saving him.

His quills were roughly grabbed and he was dragged, stumbling at the sheer force. He scowled, looking up at Rouge. She didn't take the time to pay his response any heed, she didn't even smile. Shadow felt Rouge's hand rifle through his quills, moving around all of the junk she had stored in them until she pulled out a bag of medical supplies. Amy and Tails gaped in awe, as though the bat had just performed a magic trick.

"Shadow. Stifle the bleeding." Rouge commanded. Shadow did as told without question, the bat's tone was gravely serious and worryingly harsh. If even Rouge recognised it was a serious situation, something awful had ensued. Doubt plagued Shadow's mind in regards to Knuckles' survival.

He placed his hands on the echidna's torso and applied a gentle amount of pressure, ensuring he was careful of his ribs. The blood began to ooze at a slower pace, it wasn't enough however. Knuckles had already paled from the amount of blood he had lost. It was becomming more and more serious as the seconds dragged on.

Rouge hurriedly pulled a pair of tweasers out of her bag. "You better keep him steady." She warned the ebony hedgehog. Shadow nodded in response, focusing on the task at hand. The metallic tweasers dissapeared into the wound, only leaving Rouge's hand as a trace. She moved her hand around, going deeper into the wound and moving the tweasers around as she searched for the bullet. The echidna's pained groans turned into screams. He writhed beneath both Shadow and Rouge, desperatley trying to push them away.

Rouge retracted the tweasers after a while, revealing a bronze bullet, medium in size. Knuckles' screams slowly siezed, becoming groans once again. "Alright, Amy, patch him up. I'm not sure if he's bleeding internally." The white bat commanded and stepped away from the echidna. Shadow kept his hands on the wound, applying more pressure to stop the blood further.

Amy stepped in seconds later. She inspected the wound a little more, finding no signs of internal bleeding, and began to stitch up the wound. "I doubt that will help." Shadow remarked. The wound was far too deep to just be stitched over. "So long as it holds together." Amy paused to grunt as she pulled at a bandage. "We don't have to worry." She finished. She did her best to wrap up the echidna's upper torso and tied the bandage.