Chapter 80

The elevator opened to a dark room. A chemically-smelling mist like one would see in Chemical Plant Zone's skies covered the room. "Whoa... it sure is dark in here!" Knuckles stated.

"We need to be careful..." Sonic said. "Who knows what's lurking around in here?" He asked as he walked into the mist, becoming but a silhouette in the fog. Everyone else slowly went into the fog in Sonic's lead.

The fog made it hard to see until you were right up against an object. Everybody had to be careful as to not bump into anything, but even that plan fell through sometimes. Tables, cages... strange contraptions that the team couldn't recognize... everything felt like it was set up precisely in their way to stumble their progress. And Pico could swear he heard a sort of oozy splotching sound in the distance, but he didn't know how to talk as to alert his frustratingly oblivious family. Whenever he tried to whine he heard the splotching grow closer. And nobody paid any mind to either the splotching or the whines.

Sonic felt a sweat run down his brow. Pico wouldn't know, but Sonic's now highly aware ears were picking up on the splotching as well. He tried not to make any sudden noises, but he also didn't count on anybody else knowing sign language, not that he did at all.

Nobody else noticed the splotching until it was right up in their ears. They felt like freezing, but instead they ran deeper into the blinding mist. No words left their mouth. Any noise could attract the source of those sounds.

Sonic continued to run until he realized something. He had no idea where anybody else was. Oh no, not now. He was alone again. Something deep inside him, a sort of primal fear shot through his body. Sonic hated being alone. It reminded him of a time long ago that he could hardly remember. A time with no friends. No hope. Nobody to go to when the going got rough. Complete and total loneliness. Isolation.

"Nonononononono..." He thought, frantically running everywhere to find someone. Anyone. The splotching grew closer as Sonic continued to run, knocking objects over and hollering for his friends. He knew at any moment, he could die. But he didn't care. He wasn't about to lose the people who helped give him a reason in life.

Sonic heard no responses to his cries. Maybe they couldn't hear him. He felt he had made a fatal mistake as the splotching was right up in his ear. Sonic, without thinking, punched and kicked at thin air. Desperately trying to get this thing away from him. He heard screams amidst the beat of his own heart. Wails of pain and suffering, dead-sounding moans. It smelled like a slaughterhouse as well.

Sonic ran, with no clear direction, and leaving the thing in his dust. He still couldn't see anything. The further he ran, the thicker the fog grew. It felt like he was going insane all over again. He was terrified. And wasn't hesitant to let it show at all. That's when he bumped into something that felt very slimy. He bounced back, as if it was a spring. He stumbled, and heard more screams. He had run right into another one of these things in his blindness.

Sonic walked back, but felt something slimy against his back, which crawled up his spines. He yelled in fright, and ran to the left. But a silhouette of an unidentifiable creature appeared in front of him. He could tell that whatever these were... they were surrounding him. The silhouette looked too tall for even Sonic to jump over. There was no escape. Sonic ran around in a frenzy, trying to find anything to help him. A crack between the creatures, a Ring, a switch...

Sonic looked overhead for anything to help him. Nothing on the ground could. That's when he saw a silhouette of a bar with a chain attached to the ceiling. It was worth a shot. It may be a switch of some kind. So, Sonic jumped onto it and held onto the bar. It lowered him to the ground, and, miraculously, the fog began to clear away!

Oddly enough, the floor was covered in not wood, but instead metal tile. Everything had a clean finish to it. And while the lack of fog meant Sonic could now see, not all was well. The figures made their way closer to Sonic. And now, without the fog in the way, Sonic could see them in all of their horrible twisted form.

It was a Mobian. No. A human! No, a Mobini? Sonic couldn't tell. It was some kind of fleshy, torn mixture of all of those things. It had watery eyes patched onto it all over, mouths covering it, and an unnatural, melty, stretchy body. They reached out towards Sonic with their short and stubby arms, though they continued to slither towards him, leaving a green and red trail behind them.

"No! Stay back!" Sonic screamed. He looked everywhere, but he couldn't find any of his friends. Had they just disappeared? Did the monsters get them and add them to their mass? Sonic couldn't bear either of these possibilities.

To attack, go to Chapter 81

To call out for help, go to Chapter 82