𝓗𝓮𝓭𝓰𝓮𝓱𝓸𝓰𝓼 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓽

      Wakowski, Karl and Wade went back to the remaining people in the supermarket to invite them and persuade them to come with them through the tunnel in the basement left by the ants, which they managed to drive out into the street. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles at this time examined the basement again. They found the same hole in the ceiling through which Mr. T fell. In its place, an ordinary and naked human skeleton was already lying on the floor. — My God! Poor Mr. T! — the fox became worried. — Maybe we shouldn’t go there? What if there are still ants inside? Or termites? Or worse! Giant dung beetle. — Sonic suggested. — Okay, coward. Stay here with the fox and guard the passage for now. — the echidna answers and was about to walk further with a flashlight, when suddenly they heard a shot from the ceiling. — Did you hear that? — he asked them, and then they heard three more similar shots. — These are shots! — said the hedgehog. — And they are on top. — the fox guessed and all three ran from the basement to the warehouse, and from there back to the supermarket. — What's the matter? Who did it? — Here! Admire it! — said Crazy Karl, pointing to the corpse of the monster who was able to sneak into their supermarket. The monster looked like a mosquito, but was the size of a horse. — What is this? — Knuckles almost squealed. — This!... This?... A mosquito? — He is! — Wade answers. — Tom and I shot him. — How healthy he is! Where did he come from here? — Tails didn’t understand. — He flew into us right through the window. — Maddie explained. — Yes, he broke through the glass with his body and we started shooting. — Tom added. — He's not the only one. There are still many of them on the street. — a woman explained, looking through the glass doors, since it was impossible to see through the painted windows. Sonic ran up and looked. There were still a whole bunch of these huge mosquitoes in the air. For now they stood in the air, as if they were waiting for something. — Shit! There are so many of them! And how healthy they are! What do they want from us? — They probably smelled our blood and want to drink it from us. — the woman suggested. — Vampires are insatiable. — the hedgehog showed his fist to those mosquitoes. — They are not vampires. Just bloodsuckers. — that woman corrected him. — They know that we are here and they won’t just fly away until they drink our blood. They can smell us even through the walls. — They are waiting for something. — Sonic suspected, and at that moment one of the mosquitoes was the first to fly sharply towards the ram and tried to break out one of the windows. It left a crack. All the people screamed in panic. — Everyone back! — Wade commands. — They're trying to break through here! Let's quickly go to the warehouse! — Sonic commands and everyone ran to where the hedgehog pointed. All the mosquitoes swooped in at once and broke out all the painted windows with their bodies. Some of the mosquitoes were slightly injured by glass fragments. The rest flew to where everyone had fled. Tom and Wade managed to close the door to the warehouse and prop it up with one of the chairs. Due to the fact that the door was iron, they could not get through it. — Are we safe here? — asked Maria. — I don’t know, but it’s better to block this door too, just in case. — Tom suggested and began to block the door with the chair with drawers. Wade, Karl and Maddie helped him with this. — I hope the door will hold up, just like the gate. If the tentacled octopus couldn't penetrate and the ants couldn't, then what about mosquitoes? — Sonic rejoiced questioningly, looking at the gate. — Like this! In theory, this should all hold them back! — said Karl. — What do we do now? — Jerry asked. — Now we have only one way to survive. Into the basement and into the tunnel. — says Tails. — Tunnel? — everyone didn’t understand at once. — Tails and I have a theory that these ants dug tunnels from where they came from. And perhaps at the other end of the tunnel we will find answers to all questions, as well as solutions to all these problems. — Knuckles explained. — So once we get down, you follow us slowly, keep up with each other and don’t get separated from each other. This way we will all have a better chance of surviving and staying alive together. As soon as everyone had listened to the echidna, he, the fox and the hedgehog went first to the basement. The rest of the people followed them. Some were a little scared to go down there and get caught by someone else. Going down to the basement, they went to a hole in the wall and headed into a long tunnel made of earth and a pile of stones. — Let's go there! Let's all join hands! — says Knuckles. — Maybe it’s not necessary, Uncle Knuckles? — asked Catherine. — Why?... — Before the echidna had time to ask and get an answer to the question, the light bulb in the flashlight immediately burned out and the basement became dark. — A-A-A-A-A!!! I'M AFRAID OF THE DARK!!! — Wade shouted. Tails quickly changed the battery in Knuckles' flashlight and it turned on again. At this time, Wade huddled close to Tom and trembled with fear of the darkness. — Wade, can you let me go? — he asked him. — Oh, yes! Sorry! — his partner apologized and let him go. — Oh, you coward. I’m not afraid of the dark either, because I know that there’s nothing scary in the dark. — the girl boasted. — Ekaterina, don’t be rude to your uncle! — her father told her. — That's it! Shall we go! — Knuckles says and goes first. Everyone else followed him. — What if we meet someone bigger? — Tails asked. — Do not be afraid! I will protect you from him. I'm very strong. — the echidna boasted. — Yes, but what if this monster turns out to be bigger than all of us and can easily swat you like a fly? — Sonic asked out of fear. — Wade and I still have twenty rounds of pistol ammunition left in stock. True, if we meet a huge dung beetle, for example, it is unlikely that we will be able to kill it with them. — Tom explained. — It’s a shame I didn’t take the shotgun with me from the station. It would be very useful to us in such situations. — said his partner.

***

      They walked through a long, straight tunnel with no turns for about half an hour. There were sometimes turns left and right. However, fortunately there were no forks. Then they came to a very huge cave, where there were stones in the form of steps, along which they had to jump to the next tunnel above. Wade looked around himself and saw a huge tail and screamed at what he saw. Everyone else also looked there and were frightened by what they saw. Near the wall, apparently in another tunnel, stuck out the huge and scaly tail of a giant snake, whose size was equal to the size of the tunnel, which it covered with its body. — Wow! Perhaps nagas lived here before? — Sonic suggested. — Don't make things up. It's just a huge snake tail. Enlarged snake. — Tails answers. One at a time, they climbed the pillar-shaped stone steps and gradually ascended to the next tunnel. Then they walked further and there was a fork in the path into three paths. — So! And where do we go now? — Knuckles asked himself. — It's obvious, Knuckles. — Sonic began to list. — If you go to the left, you will lose your car. If you go to the right, you yourself will die. If you go straight, you won't find anything. Tails rolled his eyes and asked: — Maybe just each of us will go on reconnaissance into each tunnel and warn each of us where we can go? For now, people remained in place to wait, Tails went left, Sonic went straight, and Knuckles went right. Knuckles immediately quickly returned back. — There's a dead end there. Tails returned next. — There’s a hole on the way, and there are still ants below.” There's no point in going down there. Then Sonic returned. — Then follow me. My path goes further. Everyone went after the hedgehog. They go and go. Suddenly they heard someone rustling. The sheriff and his partner prepared to shoot if the monsters were coming towards them. Knuckles shined the light further and noticed another fork. The largest beetle slowly crawled from the right tunnel. He didn't even pay attention to the people and crawled past. — What was it? Dung beetle? — Maddie asked. — Hardly. — Tails denied. —More like an ordinary beetle, only gigantic. — Whoever it is, it’s better for us not to go where he’s going, but we shouldn’t go where he was going either. So we just go straight. — Knuckles said. — And quickly, before this giant returns. — Sonic answers. And they move on. Everyone goes and goes and goes. Some got tired along the way and wanted to stop to rest. The rest, who were not going to give up and moved on, helped the tired ones, taking them by the arms. — I see the light! — Sonic said, noticing the light that was coming from the end of the tunnel. All the people were even happy: — “Is this really the end of the road and we’ll get out now?” They climb out and notice that they came out of a larger hole in the wall. They themselves were already in some kind of warehouse with weapons and ammunition for them. — Weapon! — said Karl. — Apparently this is a military warehouse... Only abandoned. — Wade suggested. — Take everything you can take! Let's arm ourselves to the teeth to defend ourselves. — says the sheriff and each person took his own gun, which seemed cooler to him. Even Maddie took a shotgun, and Tom and Wade took machine guns. And the little girl was not left without a gun. She took herself a couple of grenades and a revolver, saying: — Oh yeah! — Why don’t you take a weapon? — the girl asked the hedgehog, taking a bazooka. — We don't need weapons. We have superpowers, but weapons are for weaklings. — Sonic answers, and then realizes that he blurted it out in vain and apologized to Tom: — Oh! No offense, dad. — All fine! — the sheriff answers. Crazy Karl takes a crowbar and hits the door with it, knocking it out. Outside there was a long corridor divided into two paths and fortunately there were no monsters. — All is clear! — he said. — Let's go!