Whispers in the Dark (A Sonic Fanfiction)

Chapter 6: The Cruelest Game

{Recommended songs: I Will Fail You by Demon Hunter, Falling in the Black by Skillet}

It didn't take long for the footprints to lead them to an old war bunker with the doctor's face in faded red paint on the side.

They waited for the cover of darkness to actually approach the building, using the time to scope out the place from every angle. It had obviously been abandoned not long after the war. There weren't any current signs of life either.

"Maybe he's not here," Tangle suggested.

"Or he's lying in wait." Shadow glanced at Whisper to see if she agreed. She nodded, her face set seriously.

Once the sun went down, they snuck down to the building, crawling through a broken spot in the chain-link fence. The main door was propped open, the opening like a gaping hole into the building. The trio glanced at one another. Tangle took a deep breath. Whisper pulled down her mask. Shadow silently prepared himself for action. Together, they stepped into the building.

A long hallway led deep into the base, stretching beyond Shadow's field of view. It was barely lit by dimmed florescent lights, their shrill hum the only noise. Whisper's ears turned towards each one as they walked by. Her ears were probably even more sensitive to the noise than Shadow's own.

Tangle hummed anxiously to herself. Shadow shushed her. He wanted to let out some anxious energy too, but the noise was providing a bullseye to their location.

They hadn't been walking long before a dark hallway opened up on the left. Shadow paused to glance down it before he kept following the girls.

"Shadoooww."

He froze. He could have sworn he just heard his name echoing down the hallway. And not just his name.

Maria saying his name.

No. No, that wasn't possible. He was just hearing things. Why was he...? He took a deep breath, trying to keep away the flashbacks. He couldn't have an "episode" right now.

Great. Now he could add "hearing voices" to the list of issues that Rouge wanted him to go to therapy for.

"Shadoooww..."

There it was again. His heart pounded. Like a siren's song, it drew him in. Without thinking, he took a slow step into the hallway.

A wall shot up with a CLANK behind him, trapping him in the hallway. Separated from Whisper and Tangle.

"Activating anti-Resistance security measures," came a static-y automated voice.

Shadow swore to himself for being so careless. He spin dashed into the wall, but it didn't even dent it.

A loud pounding came from the other side of the door. Tangle shouted, "Yo Shadster! You okay?"

Shadow rolled his eyes at the nickname. "Yes. Just stuck in the hallway."

An explosion from the other side indicated that Whisper had tried to use her wispon on the wall. It seemed to have as much of an effect as his spin dash.

Tangle called again, "We're going to try to find another way around to you!"

"Alright. I'm going to see where this goes."

A pause. Then Tangle said, "Whisper says "Be careful!"

Shadow actually smiled at that before he turned to skate down the hallway.

He could barely see anything, even with the electric glow his high-speed skating created. He squinted into the darkness.

SLAM!