Snow. He’d never seen it before, but as he
crunch,
crunch,
crunched through it, Shadow felt its trademark chill start to creep up his black fur. It signaled something cold, something lost and buried and cast out — dead, immediately. Nothing could live in the snow. Nothing good could survive under its vast, icy blanket.
It was a damn fine thing he wasn’t ‘good.’
The frayed edges of the obnoxiously-oversized black fur coat he’d burgled from the first class car flapped in the wind as he trudged through the snow, getting a feel for their surroundings. It was a wind that carried unfortunate tidings; if you really took a sniff, you could almost smell the Man In Red’s homicidal oeuvre dripping off of it. This was no summer breeze, but a dark, foreboding gust, sweeping up the Death Game’s wayward contestants and carrying them toward a tornado of knives and gunfire and whatever other hell this place meant to unleash upon them.
It would do well to be prepared. He glanced down at the armor that lined the coat — slick and black pieces of Kevlar, occasionally patched up in weaker spots with a less glossy, charcoal gray steel. Aside from those patches, it looked altogether regal, albeit still covered with some of the remains of the train’s fiery doom. Shadow let his gaze linger for a moment on the ash diluting the shine of his armor, interrupting the red stripe painted down his chest. The weight of the crash hadn’t been lost on him, even in this new protection he’d managed to snag just in time; how hellish must it have been for the others who had nothing?
That, he knew, was none of his concern — except that it
was.
The suffering of his fellow man wasn’t something that naturally lived in the mind of the Ultimate Lifeform. After all, suffering was eternal for these mere mortals — why should they receive the notice or, even more absurd, the concern of a nearly god-like creature like him? They were undoubtedly less than him, ants to be crushed one by one as he uncovered his purpose and stepped into the Shadow the Hedgehog that he was meant to be.
But even as that was crystal clear, the reality of his situation also was not lost on him. He glanced up at the train cars that hung limply over the edge of the canyon; the likelihood that any of their compatriots from the back of the train survived wasn’t high, but if they did, he and his canyon crew certainly wouldn’t be seeing them anytime soon. No, down here in this deep pit, they were on their own — just the way Shadow liked it.
Across the snowy field maybe thirty meters, a young human woman with a shock of gray hair mixed with her otherwise brunette mess jerked the conductor towards her. Shadow smirked — a show of strength already.
Humans were so predictable.
He shoved his hands in the pockets of the fur coat and sauntered toward the woman and the conductor just in time to watch her push past the man. As she passed, his legs finally gave out from under him — fear will do that — and collapsed toward the snowy floor of the canyon. He landed with a
splat on the ground as Shadow reached him. The hedgehog might’ve only stood just over three feet, but he towered over Majima as the train’s driver curled up below him.
The look on the man’s face… helpless. Down in this hellish pit, he was exactly the type of specimen Shadow couldn’t find any sort of explanation for. He’d been built by humans — programmed by them. Surely some of them, then, must be possessed by even the slightest residue of his power? Thus far, no one could touch him.
“D-don’t you start with me too,” Majima croaked, scowling even as he shivered.
Shadow’s eyes bored into the conductor’s very soul. “You walk a lonely road,” the hedgehog scoffed. “I won’t chain myself to you by choice.”
And without another word, Shadow, too, moved past Majima and started to climb into the wreckage.
“I saved us!” Majima screamed hysterically. “You’ll all pay for your disrespect.”
Shadow, hunched inside the nearest hole in the train’s exterior, glanced over his shoulder. He turned, standing up on the edge of the hole. He lifted up a fist. “Would you like cash…” he held out that fist, then lifted up the other, “or credit?”
Majima huffed, then turned and started to crawl away.
That’s what I fucking thought, Shadow chuckled, turning and re-entering the wreckage. Across the car, the brunette from earlier was looking through the rubble. Shadow might’ve spoken to her, but something else caught his spiny mammal senses before he could interact. A hand, reaching out from the rubble, squirming and searching for purchase. Shadow hopped from chunk of debris to chunk of debris until he stood over the hand, arms crossed and glare filled with judgment.
I should leave you, he thought.
Weakling, letting yourself get buried here, like this.
He knew, though, that in a situation like this, even the Ultimate Lifeform would need — well, not necessarily
friends, but meat shields, nevertheless.
A gloved hand clasped the squirming one, and yanked.
Current Party: Shadow
Current Location: Cabin Crash Site
Activity: Pulling someone out of the rubble!