Stubborn Love: Lost In The Amazon (Sonadow)

Bitten

Day 15, Part 2

“Shadow!” Sonic cried out as he watched the ebony hedgehog in front of him fall to the ground, screaming in pain as he clutched at his now bleeding leg. “What happened?!”

“Something bit me!”

Slightly panicking, Sonic ran back to his backpack and grabbed it, rummaging through it until he found the first aid kit. Once he had it in his hands, he ran back to Shadow, kneeling down next to him.

“What bit you? Did you see it?” He asked frantically as he started treating the wound.

Shadow cringed and hissed in pain each time Sonic touched the bite with the alcohol wipe, carefully cleaning the blood away.

“No, I didn't see it.” He shook his head. “But I have a pretty good idea of what it was.”

“What?”

“For the past five days, while I was looking for you, something has been following me. I'm not sure what it is, but it's definitely hostile, if this doesn't prove it enough.”

“Definitely.” Sonic agreed, examining the bite carefully. “Strange…”

“What is it?” Shadow asked, looking down at his leg while Sonic continued to work with it.

“These bite marks almost look familiar. Like… we've seen them recently.”

At this set of news, Shadow sat up and looked at his leg, examining the bitemark himself. As he looked at it, his eyes widened in shock and fear. Sonic looked up and noticed the frightened look displayed on the ebony's face.

“Shadow? What's wrong?”

“Sonic… do you remember about a week ago… we found that pile of Mobian fox bones?”

Sonic sighed sadly, his eyes downcast with his ears pressed against his head.

“Yes. It was so horrible to look at.”

“Well, do you remember the femur bone that one of the Indians held up? How it was covered in bites?”

“Yes?”

“Sonic… that was no random Mobian.” Shadow gulped. “When I was spying on the hyena and the coyote, I overheard that the bones belonged to their companion named Trails, and that he had been bitten by the Devil Dragon.”

At these news, Sonic was silent. He had a horrible feeling that he knew where Shadow was going with this, but he didn't want to believe it.

“What are you saying, Shads?” The blue shook, tears forming at the corners of his eyes again. “That… that the Devil Dragon just bit you… without us seeing it?!”

“You said it yourself, Faker, the bite is the exact same!”

“But that can't be possible! Charles said that the Devil Dragon is supposed to be at least 23 feet long in length, with a weight of 1,370 pounds! That's HUGE Shadow! There's no way we wouldn't have seen that!”

“You forget Faker, it's a giant monitor lizard, similar to the Komodo Dragon. They are quick and stealthy. It is not unheard of for them to attack and then disappear without a trace.”

Sonic was shaking, scared all over again. He knew Shadow was right, even Sonic knew that much about Komodo Dragons, and if the Devil Dragon was anything like the modern lizards today, then it really wouldn't be that impossible.

“What do we do then?” He hiccuped, looking back up at Shadow with scared bloodshot eyes. “You said so yourself before, Shads, you're prone to the harshness of the jungle as well, and you just got bit by a giant lizard with a mouth covered in lethal bacteria that makes a perfect weapon for blood poisoning. If we don't get you to a hospital, you could die!”

“I won't die that easily, Faker.” Shadow smiled reassuringly. “I'm immortal with a crazy high immune system, remember? But you're right. I do need medical attention. The blood poisoning may not kill me, but I can still suffer from the side effects.”

“What side effects?”

“Side effects like high fevers, hallucinations, rapid breathing. Stuff like that. But don't worry, Sonic. With my immune system, it's going to take quite a long while for any of that to come up. We'll be outta here before then.”

“Promise?” Sonic whimpered, holding up that same pinky that Shadow had wrapped his own around so tightly just last week.

Shadow smiled gently, his eyes half lidded as he stared at the childish gesture he remembered so clearly. He brought up his pinky and wrapped it around Sonic's, his ruby eyes staring directly into Sonic's emerald ones.

“I promise.”

Sonic smiled and chuckled, relieved that Shadow was still willing to do this childish gesture with him. Maybe this could become their new thing. Sonic smiled at the thought, but then, it was soon quickly erased as he felt a small bite on the back of his neck.

“Ow!” He yelped, swatting the mosquito that bit him. “Not again!”

“Sonic, what's wrong?” Shadow gasped in surprise at the azure hedgehog's yelp.

“Another damn mosquito just bit me.” Sonic growled. “Honestly, they haven't stopped since I ran out of the insect repellent.”

“You ran out of the insect repellent?!” Shadow gasped, grabbing Sonic's shoulders as he quickly did a proper look over his body, noticing for the first time the many insect bites that the blue blur had all over his body, some still running with fluid. “Sonic when did this happen? And what happened to the other can?”

“Well, you see Shads.” Sonic looked a bit shameful. “On the first night I was alone, a jaguar came into my camp, and I did the only thing I could think of, which was to use the lighter and the one almost empty can of insect repellent to make a flamethrower to scare it away. It worked but the can was empty then because if it, but I knew I still had the other can. But then, in the morning, I had a very rude awakening as a huge swarm of leaf-cutter ants started attacking me. Honestly, Shads, it was like I had woken up in the red sea or something. They were eating me alive, so I panicked and grabbed the other can of repellent and started spraying, but the ants just kept coming. I didn't realize until it was too late that I had just wasted the whole can. Not only that, but the ants also chewed through the food supply, so we have no food either. I'm sorry, Shads.”

Shadow was shell shocked. He had no idea Sonic had gone through such horror! He felt incredibly guilty, ashamed that he wasn't there to protect him.

“It's ok, Sonic, it's not your fault. I probably would've done the same thing.”

Sonic sighed in relief, glad that Shadow wasn't mad at him. But now that they were both bit with a deadly disease, they needed to get out of the jungle and find help, and fast.

“So… what's the plan, Shads?”