Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of this story.

Chapter One

-6:30 A.M., Wednesday- Angel Island-

The Master Emerald cast a green hue around the shrine. The guardian stood, hands on the giant crystal, purple eyes closed. Tikal had contacted him earlier saying she had something important to show him. Blurry images and splashes of color flashed in his mind's eye. Bursts of sound echoed around the room, weaving into a crescendo of noise. This was the part of his job he hated. None of it made any sense. Finally, his arms fell to his sides and his eyes opened.

"What the hell was all that supposed to mean?" he asked the crystal. As usual, no response came. "Damn it. First I get headaches and now you won't tell me anything!"

"Troubles, Knuckles?"

At the sound of the other's voice, Knuckles turned. A white echidna clothed in a long black cloak stood at the edge of the shrine. His gold eyes seemed amused. Knuckles considered not telling him.

"Tikal said she had something to show me," he started. There couldn't be any harm in telling another echidna what was troubling him. "But nothing made any sense. All it was was a bunch of sounds and colors." He sighed and shook his head. "I still don't see why she can't just talk to me."

"I'd imagine it has something to do with not getting too involved. Being part of the Master Emerald, she should be as neutral as possible."

"If she can't get too involved, then why the- What's that?" A familiar shadow was lying across the stone floor. When he lifted his gaze to the source, no one was there. "Is there anyone but us on the island?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Finitevus said. "Why don't you get some sleep. I can look after the Master Emerald for an hour or so."

Knuckles was silent, staring into the distance. He knew Finitevus was right. He was an echidna as well. He wouldn't let something happen to the Master Emerald. With all the headaches and visits from Tikal, he hadn't gotten much sleep. A good rest would help him sleep, at least.

-7:30, Wednesday- Forest-

Weaving between the trees was Sonic the Hedgehog. No destination was in mind. Just his feet carrying him wherever they wanted. Enjoying the wind rushing by, blowing his quills and fur back... Nothing beat the sensations filling his body. It was one of the reasons he loved running. The forest simply added danger. And he loved danger almost as much as running. Leaves and dirt flew up to his knees as his shoes tore through the ground's top layer. Sunlight was pouring between a group of trees in front of him. Laughter echoed across the land as he let the world know how he was feeling. He hadn't had this much fun in a while. With a girlfriend like Sally, it was hard to get out and have fun. A meadow lay before him seconds later. Still laughing, Sonic spread his arms wide, turned, and fell back into the flowers. A smile of content came to his face as he lay there.

"And this time, I'm not going back," he said. "Sally can find someone else."

He heard a beep then and his ears twitched. Pulling his cell phone out of his quills, he looked at the text.

~Knuckles just came by. He says something bad's about to happen. -Tails~

~What kind of something bad?~

Sonic waited for the beep from Tails. It only took a few moments. Sometimes Sonic envied Tails' ability with mechanics.

~He's not sure. Just knows it's bad. There's stuff going on in Sloeanna too. It was on the news earlier. -Tails~

~Kay. See you later.~

Slipping the phone back into his quills, Sonic sat. Of course something would happen right as he regained freedom.

"What are you doing here? Don't you know this area's under investigation?"

Sonic looked at the speaker.

"Hey, Faker," Sonic said. "Someone go missing here?"

"No, and it's confidential." Shadow walked past Sonic as he spoke.

"Important G.U.N. business then... I could help!" Sonic ran in front of Shadow. A smile was lighting up his face. Shadow seemed less than thrilled.

"Civilians aren't..." Shadow sighed. "Fine. Yesterday one of their transports went missing in this vague area. I don't know what was in it. I'm supposed to find the transport and report anything missing."

"Look for something with G.U.N.'s logo then." He flashed Shadow a cocky smile. "Got it. Be back soon."

Shadow was left to stare at the spot Sonic had just been standing in. He started off in another direction with an irritated sigh. With Sonic helping, at least he'd cover ground faster.

It took half an hour to find it. The two came to the crest of the hill and stared down. The transport was open. It also had a lack of anything.

"Well whatever was being transported has been stolen."

-9:00 A.M.- Tails' House, New Mobotropolis-

"I'm telling you, something is about to happen. And soon." Knuckles was tired of arguing with Sonic. It was as if the blue hedgehog couldn't understand what he was trying to say.

"I want to know what Knuckles." Sonic stated once again. His tone was exasperated; a tone that rarely came from him. "I understand that the Master Emerald warned you of impending doom. But you said yourself that you've no idea what it was trying to say. Our only choice is to either find a specialist to help you out or wait for whatever's coming."

"For al we know, it could already be here."

"Sorry to interrupt, but I've found the business in Soleanna," Tails said from his seat in front of the computer. "Something strange has been happening in Soleanna." Knuckles and Tails came to his sides as he spoke. "It says here that people haven't been responding to anything all day. the only people from Soleanna that've been seen all day were in the forest outside town."

"So people are acting weird," Sonic said. "They're humans. For all we know, it could be some odd religious thing."

"I don't think so, Sonic. they were found covered with scratches, bites, and bruises. And whatever attacked them didn't have sharp teeth."

"What about Elise?"

Tails shook his head. "Nobody's been able to contact her about it. The media had a big thing on it earlier. The humans think Soleanna's planning something and that's why they're cutting themselves off."

"It's the start," Knuckles said. Distress filled his eyes as he looked at the others. "Don't you see? The Master Emerald warned me about this."

"You saw a bunch of colors and shapes," Sonic interrupted. "How those could ever ad up to-"

A knock at the door could be hear over Sonic's voice as Knuckles glared daggers at him. Tails was more than happy to leave the two and see who it was. It wasn't anything he had been expecting.

"Shadow... You don't usually come to see me..."

"I need to talk to you." Shadow was as grumpy as ever. Still, Tails moved out of the way so he could come in.

"Have a seat. Anything I can get for you?"

Shadow moved to an open chair and sat. Once there, he motioned for Tails to come over.

"I know what's going on. Since you're a scientist, I was hoping you could be of some assistance." Once Tails sat down, he continued. "Something... disturbing happened to G.U.N. Nobody answered when I attempted to contact them. Of course, I have to give my report, so I went to give it in person instead. When I got there, the place was covered in blood. G.U.N. Headquarters had come under attack. Bullet holes lined every wall. Some were even in the floors and ceilings. Guns were laying around all over the place. The smell was horrendous..." Shadow shook his head. "The considerable lack of dead bodies had me on edge even before I found them. The only 'living' soldiers I could find were eating one another." He looked into Tails' frightened sky-blue eyes. "We're dealing with a zombie outbreak. The exact thing humans have been scaring themselves with for years."

"Y-You think Eggman-"

"That's not really his style," Sonic said. He was standing in the doorway. "Why bother conquering something if everyone's gonna be a bunch of mindless monsters?" He was silent a few moments before adding; "What about aliens?" It wouldn't be the first time they attacked us."

"Who spread it isn't important," Shadow snapped. "What is important is deciding what to do. We can't just sit here. Otherwise-"

A crash from Tails' kitchen grabbed everyone's attention. Without a second's thought Shadow stood and went to the kitchen door.

In the room was a mess. One of the windows was shattered. Everything that had been on the counter in front of it was now lying across the floor. Glass included. The cause of the crash lay in the center of the mess. Shadow ran to the window, but there was no one to be seen.

"What happened?" Sonic had followed him into the room. "Is every- Amy!"

Sonic rushed to see if she was all right. A surprisingly small amount of blood was on the floor around her. Once vibrant lime green eyes were dull and lifeless. Sonic didn't want to believe it. Shadow came forward as Sonic began backing away. Kneeling he pressed his fingers against the side of her throat and checked her pulse. Nothing. Shadow looked at Sonic, who seemed to have already came to that conclusion. His hands were covering his mouth as he backed into the wall. Tears welled up in his large green eyes and he kept shaking his head. If Shadow didn't know any better, he'd say Sonic thought the fact would go away if he kept denying it.

"She's dead." Shadow put it as bluntly as possible. "I just don't see how she died. It obviously wasn't from the window..."

As Shadow moved to examine her body, her hand twitched. Shadow bent closer to look at something on her throat before quickly pulling away. Amy's dead body began pushing itself off the floor. A Chaos Spear through her head put a stop to it before she could fully rise.

"Shadow!" Sonic yelled. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Saving us!" Shadow yelled back. He looked into Sonic's grief-stricken eyes and calmed down. Sonic simply stood there as he stood and approached him. Taking the hero's face in his hands, he forced Sonic to look at him. "That wasn't Amy. She was dead, Sonic. The dead don't get back up. If they do, you have to kill them. You've seen zombie movies."

Sonic nodded and closed his eyes. Shadow was right. Shadow was usually right. It wasn't like it happened to Tails...

"Shadow!" he shouted in the other's face. "We need to see Sally! She has to know what's going on. If we don't tell her-"

"She'll find out soon enough. Everyone will."