Mako Tidings - A Final Fantasy VII Halloween fic.
WARNINGS: Language, for one thing, and gore. A lot of it. Don't read this if you're squeamish about dead bodies/body parts/organs/blood. If you do, know that I'll laugh if you flame me.
Pairings: None that I'm making apparent, though if you have faves, feel free to pair them up.
DISCLAIMER: I am not the owner of the Final Fantasy franchises. That's Squeenix. I do, however, own the cause of the infection in this particular story, because I designed the nanobots to mimic the parasite. At least for the story's purposes.
Vincent, once the first shock had passed, said it best out of the lot of them.
"Are you fucking INSANE?" He bellowed, his lanky body flying up out of the chair, fist clenched, claw poised to strike. Rufus stared up at him, blue eyes pained and distant from the drugs still required to ease the agony from his shattered hip and legs. He was still pinned to a wheelchair, but not even the infamous Vincent Valentine, his eyes flashing yellow, scared the President of Shin-ra Inc...though, the warm sunlight shining through the window in Cid's over-sized kitchen seemed to make the situation all the more unreal. Shera had left for the day to visit her aunt; in her absence, the old pilot had invited AVALANCHE's former team over for rum cake and tea, only to have their quiet remembrance of the events four years ago shattered by the beat of a helicopter's blades, and the arrival of the man before them. Small wonder Vincent was angry; he wanted no part of the past anymore, only talking to Cid and Tifa these days.
"Sadly, despite the world's attempts to drive me to that place, I've not yet fallen to such depths. You all should be damned thankful that we even came out here to tell you the news; if I'd still had the resources of even a year ago, I would have firebombed the remains of the Tower and Midgar. Unfortunately, due to the WRO's acquistition of everything that Shin-ra owned after the Deepground incidents, and Reeve's insistance that he had no need for the Turks to investigate farther...we have ended up in this predicament. Please sit down, Vincent; there's no need for you to threaten me further bodily harm, I am suitably convinced of your prowess with that claw." The gunman glared at his former employer's son for a moment more, then flung himself back into his seat, red eyes aglow. Cloud ran his hands through his hair, already feeling a huge migraine coming on.
"Rufus, who started the experimentations?" He asked quietly, drawing his teammates attention. Tifa looked concerned across from him, Yuffie outright scared. Barret and Cid were unreadable, though with Cid, it was due to the cloud of smoke circling his head and shoulders. Nanaki had sandwiched himself between the girls, while Reeve looked distinctly guilty, his hands toying with Cait's ears and crown. Vincent, of course, had picked the chair farthest from Rufus and Tseng; his distaste and anger were almost as palpable as the cigerette smoke. The swordsman himself was feeling horribly nauseus, his stomach churning as memories arose unbidden to the forefront of his thoughts. He took a long drink from his now cold tea; the bitter leaves seemed to stifle the nausea a little.
"Originally? Someone who I suspect it would be unwise to speak of in present company, but who had had the best intentions for those with brain traumas from the war and the construction of the mako reactors. It was furthered by several other scientists...and then it fell into Lucrecia Crescent's hands. From there, after her exile, Hojo took over. And I'm sure you're all aware of how much that monster perverted the name of science for generations to come. However, when you destroyed him, Vincent...he had arranged for a monster of his own to be unleashed, one that could destroy the entire world, in less than a year's time." Reeve looked green, and rather kindly, Barret gave him a cup of his own, this one of the strong coffee the big man had forced Cid to brew.
"But, it's been almost over a year since Vincent took down Omega...surely that delayed this...virus?" Tifa's voice was wavering, but Cloud had to smile a bit; she might have been afraid, but she knew too well that showing that fear would set Yuffie off, and nobody wanted sharp, pointy objects flying all over the place from a freaked-out ninja. Rufus, ever the flirt, graced her with a smile, though that faded quickly.
"It did, to some extent; it delayed the infected from reaching the surface sooner, and gave the world a little time to recuperate after the battle. But we are all woefully unprepared for what lies beneath the destruction of Midgar; recent seismic imagery show us that there is a horde slowly digging its way out of the earth," he passed around the photos, all of which showed the eerie green forms of human bodies, mindlessly digging through the shrapnel-ridden, mako-laced soil that had covered Deepground for so long. "the mako has altered the biology of some of the infected; we're not confident on how, but we suspect it's similiar to the changes seen in SOLDIER operatives. This is not something we can handle; the WRO already has its hands full evacuating Kalm, Costa, and the Gold Saucer."
"Where are they evacuating to, Reeve?" The bearded man swallowed, and he looked wretched as he looked up to meet their eyes. "To Wutai for the time being, but people are very reluctant, and we're having a great deal of trouble. No one wants to let go of yet another home..." Cid surfaced for air, and for once, his blue eyes were rather less hard than usual. He clapped Reeve lightly on the shoulder, startling the man nearly out of his robes.
"Yer alright, Reeve. Ain't yer fault that the lil' pissant got in another blow to the balls." Cid turned to lean forward and snuff out his cig, waving away the cloud and staring Rufus down. "How much time have we got?"
"About a day and a half."
"...Thanks, Rufus."
"If I had had a choice, I would have nuked the place this morning when I found out." Barret groaned aloud, his human hand mimicking Cloud's in rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Rufus, you ain't got nuthin' to kill these things, do ya?"
"...I have a shotgun, but unfortunately, I'm in a wheelchair."
"I was talkin' 'bout somethin' wit' a little more firepower."
"Tseng?" The tall Wutaiian stepped forward, one eyebrow raised as he opened the folder he'd held through the meeting, taking a small pair of reading glasses out of his pocket.
"We have access to several guns, enough ammo to survive a month, and three separate safe houses to protect a small resistance force. Unfortunately, we live in a world with more free land than cities, so food supplies are already a problem. As for 'more firepower'...we have several flamethrowers, and a slew of swords left over from the vaults of the Junon air force base. Otherwise...we're absolutely broke."
"What about the helicopters?"
"Well, only one was actually privately owned; the rest were taken by the WRO and are in use now."
"...I think I know who owned the helicopter." Cloud grumbled, glaring at the Head Turk. Tseng just sighed and nodded his head.
"You would be correct, Mr. Strife. Reno's our only good pilot, and he spent six years of his salary on that 'copter. He wouldn't give it up over his dead body." Cloud sighed and leaned back, tipping his chair up on the back two legs.
"So, we have this massive horde of former Deepground SOLDIERs digging up through the debris of Midgar, presumably out looking for a food source. Do you have any idea what this food source might be?" At that, Rufus looked distinctly ill, and Cloud felt the foreboding return.
"We believe they might be hungry for human flesh." Silence descended on the room, and it was Cid who broke it, growling out a sentiment they all felt.
"We're up against fuckin' zombies."
I had to. I'm doing a swap meet on to the tune of post-apocalyptic fashion, and FFVII always struck that sort of chord with me. The world's almost gone up in flames, had a serious government problem...it needed ZOMBIES. Yes. No worries, I consulted with for my zombie facts and the formation of the virus; I promise it to be quite satisfactory. And yes, this will be a Halloween fic; I'm going to aim for 31 chapters, one a day till Hallow's Eve comes upon us!