Chapter 56

The black faded away. Sonic was left by the door, on the ground. He instantly sprang up to his feet. He looked over to Tails and the deer. Still asleep. Sonja slowly got up, and picked up Pico. Sonic looked at her with slight disbelief. But he stayed calm. "Why'd you do it?" He asked. There was no resemblance of humor or glee on his face. He tried to keep on a mask, but sometimes, even Sonic needed to be serious.

"I..." Sonja started, she looked for the proper words as her eyes filled up with tears. "I don't..."

"Hey, hey, it's okay..." Sonic assured. "Well... it's not... but... what I'm trying to say is, you have some explaining to do."

Sonja nodded. She sat down with Sonic on the edge of the door. "What were you doing here?" Sonic asked.

"I don't know," Sonja replied.

"Do you know who Marilyssa Orglace is?" Sonic asked.

"Nope..."

"How about Baxter? Ken?"

"No..."

"Why'd you shoot Baxter?"

"I don't remember," Sonja sobbed. Sonic looked down at the ground in defeat.

"Well..." Sonic tried to look for the right words. He looked back to Sonja, who was cradling Pico in her arms. The others hadn't waken up yet. "It looked like you were saving Marilyssa's life. But what was Baxter talking about with the 'experiments'?"

Sonja shook her head no. Sonic looked down again. Then, Tails woke up. He held his head. "Sonic?" Tails asked. "What's going on?"

"Tails!" Sonic exclaimed. "You're awake. Sonja and I were just chit-chatting."

"Oh, great," Tails said, indifferently. He looked to the deer. Tails looked bothered about something. Maybe because he too saw Sonja shoot Baxter?

Tails shook the deer on the shoulder. The deer came to.

"Agh... get away from me, fox..." The deer groaned.

"Ah... okay..." Tails replied. He took a few steps away. The deer got up.

The deer looked at Sonja. He muttered something about humans being self-destructive beasts and turned away. He walked to the door, pushing Sonja and Sonic aside. Sonic didn't respond, he only eyed the deer disapprovingly.

The deer tried to open the door. But it was no use. "Hey, buddy. That's locked, meaning we have to find a key," Sonic stated. But then, the deer knocked his antlers into the door, making a sizable hole. Sonic stood corrected as the deer tore down the door. "Whoa, nice going, Buck!"

The deer turned to Sonic. "What do you mean, 'Buck'?" He asked.

"Well, I just thought you needed a name, and..." Sonic started. The deer smiled a little, catching Sonic off-guard. The deer walked through the doorway. Sonic, Sonja, and Tails followed.

Another corridor. There was an open doorway near the start of it, with an electric light coming from inside. There was the sound of static coming from inside. Sonic remembered the CD and hard drive he had found inside the mansion.

To go inside the room, go to Chapter 57

To stay away from the room, go to Chapter 58