He was wandering through the forests back at District 12. Firmly in his hand he held makeshift spear made from a carved tree branch with a sharpened kitchen knife crudely attached with rope.

He crouched low to the ground, his left hand hovering over the tracks that had been made fresh in mess of fallen leaves and grass. It was as if he could see his prey. He could visualize their path, how they had stumbled through here. Saw how their left foot had dug into the earth as they walked. He smirked coldly at the prospect of the hunt. It was a glorious art in its own brutal way. The art of killing, of tracking and then finally skinning and stripping the kill of all it had.

He ran now. He knew he was close. If he were lucky he would have the element of surprise if he burst into the clearing up ahead. All he needed was a clear line of sight and he could send the spear in his hands flying into the flesh of his prey. He ducked and weaved through the foliage, swatting branches out of his way, leaping over roots that emerged from the soil and ducking under the bodies of fallen trees.

"You must protect that girl." A voice spoke in his head, an old one, old and past it's time. But it was like he was ignoring it. He heard it as clear as day and yet he didn't acknowledge it at all.

"If she's hurt, in any way, I will not hesitate to hurt you back or worse." Another voice spoke. This one young, full of life and anger.

He leaped over another log, rolling to the ground as he landed and kept on running.

"I never expected to see you flustered, especially from a from girl." Another elder voice, but one filled with life and malice tempered with kindness.

The clearing was just ahead of him now. The kill was here. The kill that he had hunted for so long. The kill that would make his day complete. The kill that would put food on his family's table for weeks.

With a final push he leaped through the foliage blocking his path, his spear raised behind his head, the muscles in his arm ready to make the kill. His eyes hunting for his quarry.

And then he saw it. It was standing right there. Only it wasn't caught completely by surprise. It had been waiting for him. It's sky blue eyes washing over him. It's peach coloured quills blowing in the breeze. Wait… quills?

Red met blue as hunter met prey, as darkness met light, as lover's eyes came together.

"Wake up." She said, a voice that enchanted him.

"Wake up and live"

Shadow's eyes snapped open, expecting to see the echidna standing before him. But alas, it was a dream. And dreams sadly had to end when the waking world called. He sighed to himself, regret hitting him when his mind wondered to think of what would have happened if he remained asleep.

It was still dark, the embers of the fire giving off only a faint glow. There

It was then he heard the stick break. It was feint. He almost missed it. But it was there, and he heard it.

His eyes wandered left and right, refusing to move and give himself away to his ambushers. He scanned as far as he could without moving. Nothing. But it was more than that, he was certain of it.

It was then he heard footsteps approaching. Not from his left or his right but from behind him. He closed his eyes to a point where only a thin line of vision was left, allowing him to see but a small portion of the sky above him as he waited.

Who could it have been? One of the careers? Another team entirely? Tikal? Who it was didn't matter, what mattered is how he would respond to the situation. He knew that if he didn't do something he was risking his life and his promise to the echidna girl.

The footsteps became louder and he could here that they were slow and paced, indicating that their owner was trying to remain quite. Regardless of what the intruder was trying to achieve, Shadow had heard them, and that would be their undoing.

In but a few moments what little of the sky above he could see was obscured by a silhouette. The form it took was large and muscular, too large for Tikal, and far too large for Knuckles either. It was then he saw what he knew made the stranger hostile, the short blade glowing red from the fire. And in that moment Shadow acted, his claws ejecting from his knuckles as he swung his fist around.

A cold satisfaction filled him as the blade cut right through the strangers leg, causing him to send out a loud and deep cry of pain as he fell to the ground, the blood spurting onto shadows quills. In that same movement the hedgehog rolled onto his feet and stood ready.

His vision adjusted and his eyes widened as he recognised the figure beneath him, who now clutched at the stump where his foot once was. Storm. Team two. He looked to the other members of eleven, who were slowly waking up, half awake and disorientated by the scream that now filled the night.

"We're under attack!" he shouted at them.

In almost an instant the three of them were up, grabbing for their weapons. Silver was the first up, his stance strong, his sword ready. His eyes scanning the vicinity. He could hear the screams of the bird dying nearby, it was chalk across a board. Not in the sense that it hurt your ears, but in the way that you were almost begging for it to stop. And stop it did. Not instantly, but it was slowly replaced by a gurgling, a last attempt for air with a throat full of blood. He slowly turned to see Shadow, standing up from the body of Storm, blood staining his claws, face and quills.

It wasn't the blood that bothered him. It was how Shadow just kept on watching. As if what he had just done was a chore, a casual way of starting the morning.

"Keep an eye out." He said, and Silver's eyes snapped back to in front of him, scanning the tree line. By now Julie-Su and Arashi were up, both of them with weapons, Julie-Su with her spear and Arashi with a set of throwing knives.

For so long they just stood there. The silence was almost enough to Silver just his finger, just so his body knew something was happening. The only thing they could hear were the sounds of the night. Insects. A few birds. A canon booming in the distance. If Storm's body wasn't lying on the ground next to them they would have assumed that all was calm and well.

"Where are you?" Shadow asked the cool night air. Storm had been a test. If they truly thing they could have taken the team in their sleep, they would have slit all of their throats without a moments hesitation. A chill graced up Shadows back at the realization that if it hadn't been for the dream he had awoken from, he may very well have been lying dead in the dirt now.

'I don't plan on dying' he thought to himself. 'Not yet anyway.'

"Oh Shadow!" a voice rang out from the surrounding darkness, sending a chill up their spines. "Oh Shaddy!"

"It's Scourge," Julie-Su muttered, the sound of fear dripping from her voice, "He's got that gun, we're screwed!"

"Keep it together!" Silver growled, refusing to let fear take them now, though there was no hiding his own fear.

"I'll tell you what Shadow," the voice called out again, impossible to pin point, "You come to me, and I promise that the girl can have a quick death."

Shadow refused to give him the satisfaction of a response. He knew that the green hedgehog was watching them. He had heard about the gun that he had. Supposedly it was a 'gift' from a sponsor. The only reason he was allowed it was because it came in parts, even so he couldn't believe that whoever was in charge of the games didn't do anything to stop it. Made for good entertainment he guessed.

"What're you thinking?" Silver whispered, his eyes not moving from his scan of the surroundings.

"If he wanted to shoot us by now he would have." Shadow replied, "I'd say he's waiting for us to split up, or to get closer to him."

"I can hear at least six of them out there," Arashi said, her long ears rotating on her head like radar dishes. "I'm willing to bet that just about all of them are careers."

"So we are screwed!" Julie-Su stated again.

At this Silver turned his back from the surrounding darkness, striding up to the echidna and slapped her across the face. The sound echoed around them, and Arashi could have sworn that she heard a snigger coming from one of their hidden opponents.

"We don't have time for your pessimism!" he growled, his yellow eyes staring into hers.

"Silver, get back here." Shadow quietly urged.

"You've done nothing but whine, complain and talk about how 'screwed' we all are. Well I've got news for you Julie-Su, I'm not going to die, not tomorrow night or-"

He was interrupted by a whoosh of air, and a eruption of laughter from the shadows around them. From the corner of his eyes Silver could see what the problem now was. An arrow, the tip, the shaft and the fletching all one piece of lightweight metal. And it was protruding through his shoulder which was now becoming soaked in his blood.

Silver looked up to Julie-Su one more time, seeing the horror on her face, before the world started to spin around him, and he found himself staring at the sky.

"Silver!" he could hear Shadow's voice echo around him, but he couldn't stop staring up at the sky. His body feeling numb at the moment, but then it all hit him. He had been shot, he had a now broken arrow in his shoulder. And it hurt.

He screamed out into the night sky. A scream that ehoced for miles around, causing their unseen attackers to cackle with laughter. Causing Arashi and Julie-Su to rush to his side. Shadow's teeth were bared in anger, and barely a mile away, it almost caused Blaze's heart to snap in twain.

Hey guys, just wanting to put this out there, just so I have something to show for the unmentionable amount of time I've been away. I don't worry I plan to finish this story, no doubts about it, I just gotta know that I'm still writing for an audience to give me some inspiration. So hopefully if all goes well I'll have another chapter out by this Friday, and I promise that it will be a LONG one to make up for the time I've been away, I'd like to thank Epicsonicfan and the unknown guests who left comments that made me think about this story nearly every time I opened up my computer.

Get back to you all soon. I promise.

-xcaliber234