A DAY IN THE LIFE OF... - A 'ZONERUNNERS' STORY

by Rich Morgan

Zonefox sat up on his bed, and fumbled around for the light switch. He felt around with his paw for a moment, then with a click, he flicked the small toggle switch to 'on'. There was a feint humming sound, a flicker of brighness, then the room was suddenly lit up by the glaring, artificial fluorescent lighting from above.

The young fox looked at his surroundings. The blue-grey concrete walls of the room were as bleak as ever. The heavy, dirty iron door was locked, and a key poked out of the keyhole underneath the door handle. A small, rusty grate in the wall opposite his bed was the only real 'decoration' on the walls - well, that and the light switch. A shelf on the wall next to him held a few books, a computer disk, and a large, coroded green battery that had been there for as long as he could remember. Laying on the floor was a cumbersome brick-like pistol, his belt, and a runner's microputer, discarded thoughlessly in his state of tiredness the night before. Complete silence filled the room. Zonefox sighed to himself, and picked himself off the bed. Slowly he put on his belt, and then clipped the microputer to it. He picked up the pistol and threw it onto the bed. He wouldn't need it, or at least, he hoped he wouldn't. Not until he'd had something to eat, anyhow. He stepped over to the door and unlocked it. Slowly, he placed a paw on the handle, and pushed the door. It opened with a screech and a clang, into the next dark chamber. As before, the room was filled with a monotonous hum and the harsh illumination of the long tube light above. Nothing unusual, he thought. It was just another normal day for him in the Scrap Brain Zone.

Zonefox had lived in the Scrap Brain for most of his young adult life. Even his past as a 'real' Zonerunner, constantly travelling all over Mobius, seemed like ancient history. He had seen it all - the thriving, bustling Metropolis city, the peaceful heights of the Hill Top Zone, The lush jungles of Angel Island - he'd even travelled to the Miracle Planet, across it's weird and wonderful landscapes. Apart from the floating Island, Zonefox had seen most of planet Mobius. But for some reason, he ended up living here - positively the most foul, neglected, and dangerous Zone of all. Scrap Brain was notorious due to it's many hazardous traps, mountains of broken, rusted robots and machinery, and huge concrete factories that seemed to have no purpose other than to keep the skies above the zone choked with a brown haze of pollution. He wondered why he even thought about coming here, let alone to live every day of his life in this awful place. But Zonefox already knew the answer to this question. He'd come here to help others to find a safe way through the zone. It seemed that no-one knew the zone as well as he did (apart from the most famous zonerunner, Sonic, but Sonic couldn't always be around), so after responding to frequent calls of assistance, Zonefox decided that it would be easier for him to remain in the zone at all times, and be around if help was needed - it was a sacrifice on his part, in a way. He'd thought to himself that it wouldn't be for long, as the many Zonerunners travelling across the world would soon overthrow Doctor Robotnik, Mobius's evil dictator.

Zonefox walked to the kitchen area of his concrete habitat, trying to work out how long ago he'd made that decision. It must have been three years, at least. Three years! Three lonely years of day-to-day existance. His mind worked on the figures as he pulled out a small, battered tin bowl, filled it with some suspicious looking cereal from a badly crushed cardboard box on the grubby worksurface, and filled the bowl with, what he hoped, was milk. Three years. That's 36 months of evading Robotnik's badniks, deadly traps, and the horribly-loyal SBS patrols. That's over a thousand seperate days - a thousand dark, painful days that Mobius and it's people had suffered under it's ruthless dictator since he'd begun to live here. Shuffling his paws as he walked back to the main room, he thought of all the good times, before this era of oppression and hatred. He thought back to his life in the Green Hill Zone - carefree days, spent with his friends. Zonefox thought of them - Jools, a small, lively cat with a wicked sense of humour, and Dee, Zonefox's closest friend, a pretty young squirrel who had won his heart so very long ago.

Carrying the bowl with the ominous looking meal contained within, he made his way to a large stack of aging, grey metal monitors, identical to the ones found all over Mobius, but with additional wires and cables snaking around the screens, keyboards, and anything else that happened to be on the desk that they lay on. Zonefox flicked a large red switch at the side of the monitors, and one by one they all buzzed into life, searching through static but eventually finding key locations around the Scrap Brain. Good, the cameras are still working, thought Zonefox as he placed his bowl next to half a dozen unwashed coffee cups that stood gathering dust on his large metal desk. Sitting back in his chair, he half-heartedly spooned the soggy mess from the bowl into his mouth and watched the screens for any signs of activity. After ten uneventful minutes of scrutinising the isolated, deteriorating Scrap Brain through his monitor screens, his mind began to drift, once more thinking of his friends....

All three of them had become zonerunners when Sonic had mysteriously disappeared for a few months, leaving their homes with an intention of fighting for their freedom, alongside many others who thought that they could prevent Robotnik from seizing control of their homelands. However, they greatly underestimated the dictator-to-be's power, and their adventure soon turned into a struggle to survive as the tyrant took control - resisting legions of chrome-plated warriors as they saw their world change from a lush, colourful paradise to a tangled mass of metal, concrete and glass, and looked helplessly on as the sparkling, clear rivers and oceans ran brown with pollution. Suddenly they were a minority, a handful of idealistic rebels against the rest of planet Mobius. Suddenly they were outlaws, not heroes, fighting against a world that no longer cared. Suddenly they were living out their worst nightmare, with no alternative but to carry on, else they too would get swallowed with the rest of the populace, to become yet another component in the machine that was once their beloved home world.

Neither fighting nor surrendering to Robotnik's rule appealed to Zonefox, but his rebellious streak allowed him to carry on. For a while, at least. He'd reluctantly parted with Jools and Dee, to stay here in the Scrap Brain and help the rest of Mobius's freedom fighters travel through this hellish death maze, picking up information and attempting to boost the morale of the zonerunners he met as best he could. With each story he had heard of Robotnik's continuous defeats (courtesy of a certain blue hedgehog), he felt that what the tired and worn freedom fighters were struggling to acheive was actually making a difference. Even an end to the tyrannical rule of Robotnik was talked of - perhaps even possible within Zonefox's lifetime.

Pushing the now empty bowl to the side of the desk, Zonefox once more flicked his large eyes over the many monitor screens. He turned his microputer on and placed it next to the keyboard, and sat back once again. Yes, it was just another day, another day that he had to watch over the zone, possibly another day that he himself was faced with a potentially deadly situation. He almost wished that he would encounter some trouble while taking other runners through the zone - perhaps something as simple as a faulty door that they'd have to blow up, maybe even a badnik attack - anything to break the monotony. He just didn't want another day sitting at the monitors. He'd had too many of them recently. Zonefox had completed all three 'Marxio Brothers' games on his Mega Drive in the last week because of the large gaps between travellers passing through the zone, and to be honest, he wasn't prepared to sit there and play them all over again. They weren't THAT good. Besides, he had a job to do - even if that job happened to be sitting at screens all day, waiting for someone to come into the vast zone, but the young fox knew that couldn't just leave it all now - there were Runners out there who depended on him. He slumped back in his chair, looking up at the green-grey dirty ceiling, and let out another loud sigh.

Just then, the microputer on the desk started to bleep. Zonefox jumped, and grabbed the small grey box. Someone was trying to contact him. At last, an excuse to get out of this room! He quickly scanned each and every monitor for signs of activity, punched a few buttons on the keyboard in front of him, and looked again as the monitors flickered and changed to views of every entry point into the zone. Nothing anywhere. There was no-one to be seen. The microputer bleeped again, this time Zonefox answered it, holding it up to his face and speaking cautiously.

"Hello...?" "Hi, is that the zonefox?"

No clues there, he thought. Zonefox needed confirmation that this wasn't a trick by one of Robotnik's minions.

"Sorry, what's your ID code, runner.... can you identify yourself? Where are you exactly?"

"My name is Joey, ID code J139. Um... I've never been here before... er... i'm at an entrance with large iron pillars and a large, rusty generator-like thing just past the pillars. There's a metal walkway above a spike trap to the right..."

South entrance, Zonefox thought to himself. He quickly typed a short seqence of letters on the keyboard and punched the 'enter' key. An image of the previously described way into the zone flashed up on a nearby monitor. He entered the new zonerunner's ID code into his microputer, and waited as it cycled through a string of other codes.

"I'm checking your ID code now, Joey. I can't see you on the monitors."

"I'm... er.. outside the zone's walls. Hang on."

Zonefox saw a small figure walk into view on the newly-set monitor. He looked carefully at the newcomer's image upon the screen. It seemed to be a typical zonerunner, scruffy, burdened with satchels, belts and a weapon or two - possibly all this creature owns in the world - nothing to be suspicious about, but until the code checked out okay, he couldn't be too sure. The microputer bleeped and flashed the message "CODE CLEARED, HAVE A NICE DAY". That was all that he needed for now.

"I can see you now, Joey. Thanks. You are speaking to Zonefox by the way, sorry I didn't introduce myself before, I had to check your ID and add it to the computer database before anything else. Just security, you understand... I don't want a certain fat dictator finding out my location!"

"Oh yeah, no problem. I was expecting it. Thanks."

"Ok, so what can I do for you?"

"Well, first of all, I have a small food package for you, sent by Sab in the Chemical Plant Zone. Apart from that, I'm here to offer my services to you for a few days. Again, it's Sab's doing."

Zonefox leaned back into the chair, clearly surprised but at the same time pleased. He knew Sab, leader of the Chemical Plant resistance, extremely well. Looking at the now empty bowl next to him, he was thankful for the food package, and he was even more glad to hear that the newcomer wasn't just passing through.

"Excellent! Ok Joey, you just stay put, i'll come and meet you in a few minutes. Keep your microputer on, and contact me again if there's any problems."

"Gotcha. ok, see you in a bit. Joey - signing off."

The microputer bleeped again as the conversation ended. Zonefox smiled to himself. At last, some company for a few days! He went through to his room, clipping the microputer to his belt, and picked up the large pistol from the bed. He grabbed his large, brown rucksack and threw a few rounds of ammunition, a blanket, and a small packet of food substitute tablets into the bag. Then, shutting the monitors down and switching all of the other systems off, he left his home in search of the new zonerunner. Thoughts flashed through his mind as he climbed the metal ladder leading to the outside world. Joey said she was sent by Sab from the Chemical Plant Zone. That should prove interesting, he thought. Sab knew some of the best zonerunners on Mobius - maybe Joey could prove to be a very helpful partner in the zone. If nothing else, she knew Sab, and is bound to have some essential information on how the resistance front is on that part of Mobius... yes, things were definately beginning to look up!

Now lifted from his earlier state of depression, the young fox ran along the rusty walkways, jumping confidently onto platforms and ledges in the zone around him, rushing towards the south entrance as quickly as he could, his mind racing. This could prove to be a very interesting few days!

'SONIC THE HEDGEHOG', 'Dr. ROBOTNIK', 'EGGROBO', 'SCRAP BRAIN ZONE', 'CHEMICAL PLANT ZONE', 'MOBIUS' (c) SEGA ENTERPRISES.

'Sab', 'The Flock/Chemical Plant Resistance', 'Zonerunners', 'Microputer' (c) Mark Eyles, Egmont Fleetway Editions.

'Zonefox' and 'Joey' (c) Richard Morgan.