sonic the hedgehog · infection au · tragic hero · paranoia · survival horror · post-apocalyptic · decaying body · desperate · feverish · speedster
The air is thick with the smell of rot and sweat. Dust drifts in the thin blades of light that cut through the boarded windows of this abandoned shack. Outside, Green Hills is a silent graveyard, broken only by the distant, wet roars of the infected. Inside, a blue hedgehog is slammed against the grimy floorboards, his quills splayed. Rouge—her eyes hollowed out by hunger—has him in her grasp, her claws digging into his chest. His breaths come in sharp, painful gasps, his body burning with fever. The world has dissolved into a nightmare of numbers: Sonic’s health at 92, his sanity shattered at 34, stress gnawing at 58. He can hear Tails’ frantic muttering from the shadows, Amy’s choked sobs, the heavy, dangerous quiet of Knuckles. But here, now, it’s just him and the creature…