Common Ground

The air smelled acidic, tainted. People were on the ground bleeding, being eaten by the monsters. I couldn't run. Running is not permitted when you join. It's basic history, you run you die. that's all there is to it. Your comrade would shoot you down on the spot. So instead I ran forward. It was my only choice. Either get a fighting chance or be shot down. I fired my gun in hopes of distracting the monster long enough for my comrades to contain it.

It jammed. My gun jammed after getting five shots out. Tossing it aside I grabbed the arm length sword at my hip. Looking back at the charging monster I realized I didn't have a chance. Not with the talons or fangs, let alone its massive size. I was doomed. My instinct said to run, the gun at my back proved more daunting. Lowering my stance I waited for the end.

I felt the breeze as the behemoth lunged at me. Stabbing my short sword out I dropped to the ground and placed my feet on its underbelly. Seemingly I had caught it off guard. Putting all my strength into it I half way launched the monster away. To be precise, the behemoth ended up about four feet away. Cursing my luck I glanced at the new wound on my right calf and right side.

Jerking my head back to the behemoth I watched as the wretched thing got back up and turned back to me.

"Simulation has ended" came the high pitched somewhat soothing voice.

Flopping back I just laid there and waited for the medics. I could feel my pulse pounding in my right side as though the wounds were still there. They weren't however I had no blood on me or any wounds what so ever. My mind however felt differently about reality. It always did during these practice simulations. The medics arrived and quickly began assessing my state of mind.

"does anything hurt? Do you feel dizzy? Do you know where you are?" every time it was the same group of questions.

"my right side still hurts." I replied looking up at the ceiling.

"that's natural Cloud." I heard the familiar voice behind me laugh.

"well what would you have done Zack?" I asked as the medics shuffled their supplies back into a box and went to the next patient.

"well in all honesty I wouldn't have gotten my ass handed to me by that monster" he laughed while holding out his hand. I grabbed it and hauled myself up, still favoring my right side.

"ya ya." I grumbled as I quick paced it out the door, Zack keeping pace easily, damn my short height.

"hey I didn't come here to mock you, well not totally anyway." he snickered. "anyway I have an assignment coming up I wont be back for a few weeks."

"fantastic." I murmured. Just thinking about the beatings that were going to take place made my side hurt slightly worse.

"Come now it wont be that bad Cloud. I'll get someone to look out for you." Zack piped while ruffling through my hair. Somehow I didn't believe it would make much of a difference. They still got at me when he was here so how could someone less vigilant do any better? The only hope I had was a surprise mission, just something that could get me out of here till Zack got back. Perhaps I could have some luck for once. Smiling to myself I hugged Zack quickly.

"I think I'll be okay this time." I said with a grin.

"see that's how my Cloud should be." after getting a light goodbye kiss he rounded the nearest corner and was gone, for a few weeks I was on my own. I prayed I could survive.

Luckily I had made it back to the barracks unscathed, heaving yet to run into trouble I knew something was going to go wrong soon. Luck doesn't last forever, at least not when I'm concerned.

"IT'S TIME TO GET UP YOU LAZY MAGGOTS!" groaning I quickly rolled out of bed and grabbed my uniform. Within ten minutes everyone was lined up for attendance. This is odd I thought. Today was our supposed day off.

"alright I'm going to need twenty of you to come with me. Let's not do this the hard way, give me some volunteers." said the general while looking the notepad in his hand.

"Cloud Strife Reporting sir." I said stepping forward. Lady luck I love you so much right now! After we had our selection of twenty cadets lined up we left. Getting a military issue backpack thrown over our shoulders we were shipped out. To where we still didn't know.

"alright ladies listen up. I'm only going to explain this once. We have a breach at a secret science facility. No you don't get to know where or why or what so don't ask. It's confidential. Everyone say it with me now, confidential. However what I can tell you is you're going to wish you had combat training. Sword, gun, hand-to-hand, anything would work up at this point" I had a sinking feeling after said mission detail. Glancing at the small container the General was passing out I felt a little secure after the definition.

"alright ladies inside that nice pretty box is something that might just save your life. According to the science tests this miniature does of mako should give you an energy boost for about thirty minutes. Use wisely. that's all I have for you." he said taking his seat at the front of our group.

Pondering the small box I quickly stuffed it inside my pocket before I lost it. After hours of flying around, no doubt in circles, we finally landed. It seemed everyone was having a hard time with cramped legs as we were shuffled off the plane.

Taking in my new surroundings I saw mostly trees. Surrounding the dark menacing building was an electric fence and barbed wire. Oh goody. When things looked so neat and nice on the outside it usually meant the breach was on the inside. Shifting my glance around I noticed the General was up front doing what he did best, shout.

"alright ladies we've arrived at your new vacation spot. I sure hope you enjoy it. We have spacious forests and plenty of behemoths for you to play with. Now lets not forget the escapees we have to hunt down. So yet again I need a sum of five volunteers. that's all I'm asking promise." he said in a chipper tone as though we really were on vacation, unbelievable. Taking a stance a few feet away from the rest of the group I volunteered.

"look we already have one guy showing his balls now where do the rest of you get off?" soon I was joined by my four new comrades. In all honesty they looked weak. Listing them off in order: Jared, Sicily, Tim and Roust. Jared seemed like he might have some muscle to him but it didn't look like he had the brawn to use it. While Sicily had all the looks of a bookworm it didn't look like he could trek in the woods for more than an hour. Tim was somewhere stuck in the middle a little bit of brawn and a little bit of brain. Roust, I'm just not going to go there. He looks as if he bought the Generals speech about being on vacation.

"alright my brilliant little maggots you get the special mission of combing the outlying vicinity for an of the aforementioned escapees or behemoths. Please keep in mind that we are on a limited supply of cadets for this mission so don't go dying." It seemed like this was his way of telling us good luck… right…

We had approximately twelve hours a day to hunt down anything worth while. I prayed we could get them all. Seeing as we had six hours before we would be called back we decided to make a scout perimeter for any evidence of tracks.

Finally getting to be alone for a bit I set to work. Ground investigation covering ten feet from the fence to the tree line seemed appropriate.

Ta Da! Second story! What do you think is going to happen now? Your guess is about as good as mine cause I'm going to bed night all! Oh and please please please leave a review! I promise I'll update faster if you do!