DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters, places, names, or anything of Final Fantasy VII. This story was inspired by the game Red Dead Redemption. This story is purely fan made and made for the enjoyment of writing.

Author's Note: I was quite hesitant to post this since I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested in reading. But I thought it might be something fun to try. Feel free to review if it interests you. Thanks & happy reading!

Chapter I

"Yo, so…this is the new kid then, eh?"

"Yeah. He doesn't say much, but he's cool. I'm curious to see what he's got."

"Ehhh…Spikes here looks like a total loser."

A lanky man with black goggles over his eyes looked over at the blonde man sitting across from him, studying his face with a doubtful look. He shifted his weight uncomfortably on the raggedy and old wooden bench and ran his long fingers through his long, fiery red hair that was tied back into a ponytail. He adjusted his loose hanging black tie and tried to brush some of the dust off his filth covered dark blue, pinned striped suit jacket. He leaned over to his friend next to him to whisper.

"Zack, look at this schmuck…he's trembling likes a little school girl. Can this kid even shoot straight, yo? And Gaia, he smells like horse shit too."

The man next to the red head rolled his Mako infused eyes as he inspected the syringe in his hand. He whispered back lowly, "Reno, the kid has a name. It's Cloud Strife, I think. And he's is pretty built. He's no small dude. Plus we're about to shoot him up with a second dose of some heavy 1st Class Blue Jet, so he'll be fine. Also…everyone smells, in case you haven't noticed. Jez, I mean I haven't showered in…" The gentleman lifted up his bulky left arm and took a good whiff of his armpit. His face twisted in distaste at the vulgar smell. "Yeahhh, I would say in a good week or two."

The blonde man was sitting on the other wooden bench in the horse drawn wagon by himself. A fresh coat of perspiration coated his sun kissed skin and his spiky, yellow hair. The sleeve of his timeworn, blue button up shirt was rolled up passed his elbow to expose his arm vein. His Mako blue eyes watched as the man with a notable 'x' shaped scar his left cheek flicked the needle of the syringe he was holding. Inside of it was a strange looking mixture and it glowed with Mako. His chiseled chest heaved a little as he tried to settle himself down. He hated needles.

After readying the syringe, the onyx haired man then handed him a cloth wrap. "Here, take this and wrap it just above your elbow. Make sure it's tight enough so that you can get a vein to pop up."

Cloud nodded and took the white cloth from him. He wrapped it tightly around his arm until he could see his median cubital vein rise. He could feel the trepidation creep up his spine and drop down to the pit of his stomach. He let his hand tug at the silver necklace around his neck. The chain and the two metal wolf rings dangling from it felt like ice against his burning skin. He could hear his heart pounding in his chest.

Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub…

"All right. You ready?" Zack asked him as he brushed back a lock of his lengthy, wild hair out of his face.

"Yeah," Cloud nodded. He took the glowing syringe and hesitated. "Why do they call it Blue Jet again?"

What am I doing?

Is this what I want to do?

"Because it fucking glows blue and it hits you like a fucking jet engine. What, you gonna pussy out now?" Reno questioned.

Paying no heed to the lanky man, the blonde jabbed his visible vein with the thick needle and injected the fluid into his system.

The Jet hit him fast and hard just like it did the first time. His lean body was hunched over with his head hanging low to look down at his open, callused palm. He could feel his hands shake a little, and he could feel the muscles in his arms tighten with new strength. His striking and scarred visage had a mixture of both awe and terror at the new, electrifying feeling running through his body. His breathing became labored and sporadic. His heart rate was alarmingly irregular, and his muscles felt like they were going to explode. The veins in his circulatory system felt like they were on fire, and he could feel his sensory system work in overload. It felt like he was working his body to death or something. For a split second, he could feel an extraordinary sensation of euphoria settle in his chest.

THUMP!

One of the wagon wheels the group was on had apparently hit a large rock on the desert ground, and it had caused the passengers to rock out of their seats.

"Fucking hell, Rude! Yo, don't you know how to drive?!" Reno grumbled as he tried to stable himself back into his crappy seat. "My ass is already bruised from riding in his piece of shit!" The bald headed driver grunted at Reno's remark, and refused to look at him.

The commotion had caused Cloud to snap out of his euphoric state. He adjusted himself back into his seat and moved his Mako blue eyes up to look up at the starry, plum and black colored sky. It was a beauteous desert night with no moon and the air was crisp and cool. Nothing but the sounds of trotting horses, whining wagon wheels, clanging of guns and ammo, and the rough voices of men filled the live night.

He, along with the plentiful men of Shinra were heading to the town of Kalm, where their objective was to take control over and steal one of the town's main energy source…their Mako reactor. What for? Hell, Cloud didn't know. He had just joined the terrorist group only five days ago. All he knew was as long as he got the job done right with the crew he was with, he would get a nice and hefty salary. And decent pay was definitely hard to come by in the desert shitland of Gaia. He just really didn't like the fact that all Shinra employees were injected and bathed in freaking Mako energy.

His hand ran over the flesh of his arm, where his median cubital vein was injected.

Gaia, what the hell did they do to me?

My body…my body feels so different.

He inhaled, trying to suck some air into his disordered body.

"Hey…your name's Cloud, right?"

Cloud looked up at the man who spoke to him. He had the same blue tainted eyes like himself…like everyone did in Shinra's group but his appeared to have more Mako in them than usual. He looked like he was just a little older than Cloud, at about 27. He wore a black buttoned up pocket shirt and suspenders to help keep his blue vertical striped pants on. Wrapped over his right shoulder and torso was a bullet belt that held his rifle ammo. On his neck, he wore a sweat stained red bandana that was tied in a knot, like he tried to pull it off as a tie. His left ear was pierced with a silver stud and hidden underneath his bandana was golden locket necklace that looked quite valuable. In his lap, he held a beautiful rifle that had a scope mounted on the top of it. It looked like he took more care of the rifle than he did of himself.

What do you want?

"Yeah," Cloud replied flatly.

The dark haired man flashed him a toothy grin. "I'm Zack Fair. I'm gonna be your backup for the raid. How's the Mako feeling?"

Cloud winced.

"Not good…"

"Eh, yeah. I felt like that too when I first had it. The stuff you got is really strong. Don't worry too much about it though. The feeling wears off in about another week or so. And then…" Zack's smile widened. "Then you'll start feeling preeetty good."

Pretty good?

Cloud suddenly got an uncomfortable feeling. He wondered what he meant by that.

"Yo, so don't fuck up, 'kay Spikey? We don't wanna see good 1st Class Blue get wasted away." Reno chimed in as he played a slimy grin. "'Cause if you do, I'll be the first one to rip you another hole right in your pretty face."

Thanks, asshole…

Zack opened his mouth to say something, but was immediately cut off by a thunderous voice that shattered through the night.

"Alllllriiiiight, boys! Wake up, and smell the Mako! And get yer fuckin' shit together! We're ridin' into Kalm!"

Heidegger.

"Let's show these peasant folks who's boss! Gya haa haa haa!"

"Gaia, I fuckin' hate that guy's laugh…he sounds like a fuckin'–Whoa! Oh ohhh heyyy, Heidegger! Hey man, yeah we were just…you know…hehehe…" Reno drifted off as Heidegger approached on his horse next to the group of men on the wagon.

Heidegger was a large man with a long graying black beard. His short black hair was cleanly cut and slicked back in a neat fashion. He looked like he was a top Shinra official as he had on a military styled red and green double breasted jacket that had was detailed and tripped in gold and had metals hanging on off of it. His green trousers were styled with the same gold trim and his brown leather boots looked polished and clean. He was probably the cleanest man Cloud had seen all day.

"This the fresh meat?" Heidegger's gruff voice asked as he completely disregarded Reno's initial greeting.

Cloud blankly looked at him.

"That's the guy," Reno replied.

Heidegger took a revolver from his holster and threw it at him. Cloud reflexively caught it.

"Better shoot well, kid. If I see you dead first, I'll be sure to take your body and feed you to my hounds. Gya haa haa haa!" The fat man laughed as he rode away.

Cloud sighed in frustration as he looked at the gun in his hands before placing it securely into his leather gun holster around his waist.

I'm not dying today.

Cloud and the rest of the fifty Shinra minions entered the sleepy town of Kalm as softly as they could. Most of the men had split up with half swarming around the outskirts of the town to head to the reactor while others snaked directly through Kalm in a calm fashion to scout out for lawmen. It looked like pulling the raid off would be difficult, since the small reactor was set up in the middle of town. They were forced to do their work in plain sight in front of the shops, homes, and inns all looking uniform in their white color with brown wood trim and blue roofing.

Cloud was on foot with Zack just behind the main shops closing in on the reactor. They stealthily hung to the darkness of the shadows while being keenly aware of their surroundings. They stopped behind a saloon in left view of the reactor. It was a small reactor, which was normal for a town like Kalm. It was the tallest building and looked the most modernized in its metallic style. At the stairway entrance was Heidegger and his two men Reno and Rude.

The two boys watched impatiently as Heidegger spoke to Reno. He had a strange look on his face. He had pulled his reigns on his horse for the creature to take a few steps away from the reactor.

"The town is so quiet…" Zack stated as stood behind Cloud, who was knelt down with a knee into the dirt behind the building. Cloud noticed it too. Even though it was about four in the morning, there were usually at least a few townspeople out at the saloons or at least a sheriff and some lawmen doing night patrol. The town just seemed too eerily dead.

Maybe everyone was too scared and left?

"What's going on with Heidegger?" Cloud asked as he peered out with his hand gun drawn. He could barely see what was going on it was so dark. Zack's eyes narrowed.

"Something is wrong…"

Cloud scanned each of the buildings, seeing nothing but darkness. He leaned his head over to the wall of the saloon to listen for anyone inside, but still nothing. It was so quiet he could hear his pulse. Then, he saw a flicker of movement across the town at the top of one of the buildings facing the reactor. His eyes stayed fixated on the figure until the shape of a man formed, and he was holding something in his hand.

"Zack–"

"Go back to hell you Shinra scumbags!"

BOOOOM!

Abruptly the night was lit up in colors of yellow, orange, and smog. There was an explosion at the stairway of the reactor, and it was large enough to throw Heidegger, Reno, and Rude of their horses. Noise and chaos erupted in the night and the gun fire went off.

Zack aggressively grabbed Cloud's shoulder and brought him off the ground from his kneeling position.

"Cloud! We need to–"

BOOM! BANG!

Cloud was airborne for about half a second before crashing back to the dirt ground on his stomach. He slowly raised his body up from the ground with his knees and hands. He sat there for a moment to try to reorient himself again. His vision was blurry and all he could hear were annoying sirens and fire burning. He could smell the building burn behind him and the blood dripping from his nose. His head was throbbing, but he gutted through the pain to look up to try and find Zack.

"Zack!" He called out in a groggily voice.

Suddenly he could feel a hand grasp the collar of his shirt behind pull him to his feet. He whipped his head around to find his friend covered in black smog and dirt. It looked like he took most of the blast as he had numerous cuts and burns on his face and body. He could see some wood particles still lodged in his masculine face. Behind him, he saw that only part of the saloon was caught in the explosion and most of the building was still standing, but quickly getting consumed by fire.

"Hey are you alright?"

PING!

They both instinctively ducked as they heard a bullet bounce off close by.

"Cloud, you need to get out of here and head back to the camp grounds! We need backup!" Zack yelled over the roar of the flames and gunfire. "I saw a horse still tied to a hitching post just down there on the side of the building!"

Zack pointed and looked behind him over towards Kalm's general merchandise store. It was still standing and had only minor damage from the rather small explosion.

"What about you?" Cloud questioned back. Zack shook his head.

"I have to clean up and make sure Heidegger gets his fat self out of here alive!" The dark haired sharpshooter held up his rifle in his hands. "Now get going! I'll cover you!"

"Wait, I can–"

I can fight!

But in a flash, Zack had already bolted off in the direction of gunfire before Cloud could get another word in. Cloud grunted in dissatisfaction. He came here to fight, not run away like a coward. He shrugged it off though. Right now, he needed to get Zack and the rest of the boys help.

The blonde marksman rushed off towards the next building in his hunched position. His his brown, mud crusted boots moved swiftly as he dashed across what was left of the saloon and the open gun fire and made it behind the general store building. He could feel the heat of the flames as he moved and the salty sweat soaking his ugly clothes. He could hear the horse cry uncontrollably. He snaked his way with his back against the white wooden walls towards the edge of the building to peer out where the horse was when he heard footsteps above him. He looked up.

"I got you now, you piece of shit!" A lawman shouted. He pointed his double barreled hand gun at Cloud's face and placed his finger on the trigger to shoot.

BANG BANG!

Cloud, however, was faster.

The lawman shuddered violently and plummeted down the building. He fell on the dry soil just a few inches next to Cloud dead with two bullet holes through his forehead. Cloud waited for a second to see if anyone else was on the roof, but no one else came. He wasted no time and went around the corner, still in the same hunched position and found a spooked buckskin mare. She had a beautiful buttermilk colored coat and had a leather saddle strapped on her back. The poor creature was tugging hard at its reigns that were tied against the wooden hitching post, in an effort to free itself.

The young man crawled his way towards the hitching post to get a hold of the leather straps. As he was untying the reigns, he gazed out into the open shooting grounds. Several dead men littered the dirt and gun fire was coming from all directions and heights. Most of the town's law force was coming from the rooftops while Heidegger's men were scattered across the town behind whatever cover they could find.

Kalm knew. They knew we were coming.

Cloud fumbled around a bit with the straps before he was finally able to unknot it. The loose reigns seemed to relax the horse just enough so that he could mount it. He was about to ride off when–

"H–HEY! HEY YOU!"

He jerked his head around and found a woman lying flat on her stomach on the general store's porch with a gun pointed straight at him. Her wide, brown eyes bored into his blue ones with fearlessness. Her long, dark brown hair fell down messily down her back and her parted bangs were damp with her sweat. Her porcelain visage was untouched by scars or scratches and held a grim look. She was dressed in white long sleeved blouse with a mahogany colored vest and a dark, sienna brown long skirt and brown boots. At her neck was a cerulean blue scarf with brown leather gloves over her delicate hands, and she wore a dirty black cattleman styled western hat. She propped herself up with her elbows while still staying close to the ground to have a better hold on her pistol. It looked like she had crawled out from the general store once she heard him messing with the reigns.

"You're not stealing my Stella, you stupid jerk!"

Cloud stared blankly back at her for a good long minute, wondering what a fancy lady like her was in a doing in a place like this.

"Stella?!" He asked stupidly. It was all that could come out of his mouth.

He then watched her thumb pulled back the hammer on her silver pistol.

Fuck!

Cloud pulled the horses reigns to ride when she shot the gun off into the wood ceiling covering her from above. The horse released a deathly shriek and immediately threw him off. He fell backwards on his back with a hard thunk and the back of his head smashed into the desert earth.

He rolled on his side as his body scrunched up, and his hands automatically grabbed the pain site on his head. His eyes shut in pain as the dust settled around him from his fall.

"Ahhh my head…" He moaned.

I guess that's what I get for staring at a lady too long…

As he opened his deep blue eyes, he found a pair of black cowboy boots in his face. He looked up and found a rather large man staring down at him holding Zack's rifle with both of his hands. Cloud saw the shiny gold sheriff badge gleam on the man's chest as the fire continued to light up the night.

I guess I really am gonna die today…

The short, chubby man bent down a little to speak to him.

"Well, son. Looks like it's your lucky day!"

WHACK!