Chapter Ten
Author's Note: Thanks everyone for the kind reviews!I originally planned this chapter and Chapter Nine to be one chapter, but I went a bit overboard with the delightful description that I'm glad you all enjoyed. :-) Now my numbering in the margins of my notes is all screwed up. X-O Anyway, where were we…
As Seifer lazily ran a comb through his short blond hair, the phone on the bedside table, that was Squall's started vibrating against the pine, above the sound of the shower.
Seifer considered not answering it for a moment, thinking it would be that bitch Rinoa, wanting to apologise, or perhaps chide Squall some more. Hyne knew he could do without having to deal with any nonsense from her. Nonetheless, he picked up the phone, and pressed the green Answer key. If there was music to be faced, he and Squall should be facing it. They had deserted the Garden after all. Besides, that rasping noise the Silent-set phone was making against the wood sure was irritating.
"Hello," he answered in a bored sort of way.
"Hello… Squall, are you there?" came a voice Seifer recognised as Xu's.
He sighed. Granted, she wasn't as bad as Rinoa, but if she'd been left in charge after Cid's demise, she'd be on Squall's back all day. "Squall ain't here, man," he sighed. "He's in the shower."
"I… beg your… wait… now, who is this?" Xu spluttered incredulously.
"Seifer," Seifer replied, with a sneer on his face. "Like I said, Squall is in the shower and can't be disturbed." That thought made him feel a little excited. "Can I take a message?"
"Er, sure," Xu said in confusion and surprise. She never had Seifer down as anyone's secretary, let alone Squall's "I just… wanted him to call me back and let me know where he is."
"We're in Timber at the moment," Seifer replied cockily, taking Xu further aback. She had been convinced Squall was working alone. He always did that. His teaming up with Seifer, of all people, was totally unnatural, by Squall standards. "Seems like the buggers are here too, the town is deserted, the old pet shop is all boarded up. Even the people at the hotel were reluctant to let us in, until we showed our SeeD ID cards." He fiddled with the model train, idling by the table lamp.
"Then… what are you doing?" Xu asked.
"I just happened to be in Squall's presence just before the current situation escalated," Seifer continued intelligently. "Plan is to rescue Ellone from Winhill, then make our way to Esthar. I mean, it's dead safe, plus Squall's got family there." He was referring to the fact that President Laguna Loire was Squall's father. Squall had been so mad when Laguna had first proclaimed this to him at the celebratory party that had marked the defeat of Ultimecia. He had refused to believe the official paperwork, such as his birth certificate and had angrily demanded a DNA test; it had been just like those early morning talk shows that had recently become fashionable. Seifer, having been cast out from the Garden at that time, wished he'd been a fly on the wall when the results had arrived in Squall's in-tray.
"That sounds like a good plan," Xu sounded impressed, "Squall through and through," she added, doing nothing for Seifer's albeit inflated sense of ego.
Seifer was about to aim a nasty retort back at Xu, claiming she had no aspirations, as she had been the same SeeD rank for the past five years (even though it was one of the higher ranks!), when she continued. "So, tell Squall that if he holds up in Timber a little longer, we will join him as extra support. He can't do something like this alone."
Who says he is alone? Seifer was about to say, but Xu rang off.
"Did you speak to him?" Zell said, worried about his friend and leader. "Is he all right?"
"He's in Timber," Xu replied, a curious note in her voice, "in the company of Seifer Almasy. He…"
"WHAT?!" Xu was loudly, and rudely interrupted by Zell. To say that he wasn't exactly Seifer's biggest fan would be a huge understatement. "Seifer? What the hell is he doing with Squall?"
"What I was about to say," Xu said, irritated, "was that he was able to relay Squall's plan to me, which leads me to believe that Almasy and Squall have resolved their differences, at least for the time being, and are working together."
"Or Seifer has kidnapped him," Zell suggested snidely.
"Oh, come on, Zell," snorted Irvine. Although united with Zell in his hatred for Seifer, he agreed with Xu that it was possible that in the face of such danger, Seifer had tagged along with Squall to cover his back. "That's ridiculous!"
Zell shrugged. "He's done it before," he argued. "Remember what he did to Rinoa in the Lunatic Pandora."
Xu grew impatient. "Now's not the time to argue," she said, sharply. "We have to head to Timber, where we shall meet with Squall and Almasy, and regroup." Deep down, she was keen to have Seifer kicked off the team; she hoped it would be safe enough for him to do so.
"All right, then, let's go," Irvine said, tipping his hat and twirling his rifle.
"Let's DO IT!" Zell shouted enthusiastically as he punched the air.
"Okay," Xu said, wiping her sweaty hands on her skirt, and loading her silver pistol. "Let's get going. Raijin, you lead the way."
"Sure thing," Raijin said, compliantly pressing the elevator's Down button.
"Hopefully, we'll have a clear path out of Garden," Xu suggested as the lift began its descent. "Then we'll make our way to the train station and on to Timber, where we'll meet…"
The lift emanated a pleasant ding, and the doors opened to reveal a less than pleasant sight. The whole of the Atrium was crowded with the things. Even those that had appeared to be drowned in the now stagnant fountain waters were pulling themselves back out and rejoining the creepy masses.
Fujin recoiled. "HUNDREDS," she muttered, drawing her pinwheel.
"Oh, jeez, not again," Raijin sighed, stepping out of the lift. "Right, how do you wanna deal with this then?"
"May I suggest getting the hell out of here?" Zell replied sarcastically.
"And how do we do that, exactly, Chicken-Wuss?" Raijin countered. "We're completely surrounded!"
"ATTACK!" Fujin barked, aiming her weapon at one of the advancing beings. The recoil pushed her back, and she went flying into Irvine, who yelled "Hey!"
The steel pinwheel went flying clean through the neck of one of the monsters, and its decapitated corpse slumped to the floor. Even Irvine, who wasn't too fond of Fujin, was impressed. His eyes widened. "Way to go," he said, genuinely.
"Hmm," Xu murmured. "Let me try something. Stand back!" She took out her pistol and aimed it at a ragged-looking monster wearing shredded dungarees. She then fired a bullet straight into the forehead of the being. The bullet ripped the top of the monster's skull off, and ricocheted into the temple of another. Both creatures fell down, apparently dead.
Irvine advanced. "Lemme try," he said, aiming his trusty Exeter at another creature's head. He made sure it looked like it had plain clothes on; he didn't like the idea of shooting a SeeD, even though they were no longer the people they had been. "Take this!" He stood firm, resisting the gun's recoil motion, and watched as the bullet whizzed from the gun, and splattered into the monster's eye. This one too, fell down and stopped moving.
"I get it!" Raijin exclaimed, beginning to swing his pole excitedly. "I've done this before!" He spun the pole above his head and rushed at a group of the things that were crowding together defensively. He hit all but one of them – the remaining monster was not too happy and snapped its abnormal, slimy jaws at him, baring its yellow teeth and black gums.
"Hey guys!" Zell yelled above the gunfire of Irvine and Xu's firearms, and the zing of Fujin's pinwheel. "I just discovered something." He Beat Rushed a few of the beasts that were too close for comfort.
"WHAT?" Fujin replied, trying not to let the spiky-haired chicken distract her.
"Watch," he said, throwing a Phoenix Down at one of the things he had just shoved backwards.
As Fujin said "NO," the thing crumbled to the ground in a dead faint. Fujin turned away; a little embarrassed to find that Chicken-Wuss had proven her wrong.
"This means they're undead!" Zell proclaimed loudly.
"DUH!" Fujin answered sarcastically, as she took the head off another of the nasty brutes.
"Well," Zell went on, louder than ever, "that explains why Selphie came back. And why…" Before he could mention the case of Quistis' bodybag being torn open from the inside, he noticed Irvine, frozen to the spot, tears welling up in his eyes.
"TACTLESS," Fujin shook her head.
Zell realised his mistake. "Sorry, man!" he said, rushing over to Irvine's side,
Irvine slowly and stiffly lowered his weapon. "It's okay," he croaked. "It's just… all this stuff is from mythology … it's not supposed to happen… not here… and not to my Selphie." He sniffed, and Zell pretended not to notice a stream of tears running down his cheeks.
Xu had stopped shooting, too "I hate to disturb you guys," she said, trying not to sound fraught, "but we really ought to advance on these guys and get the hell out of here. Irvine, I know how you feel, but… you've got to put up the fight of your life now… do it for Selphie… go on…" She patted him encouragingly on the shoulder
"Okay," Irvine quavered, avoiding Xu's eyes, trying to surreptitiously dry his eyes with his sleeve. He took a breath, reloaded his weapon, and returned to shooting the heads from the shoulders of the miscreations.
"Raijin… Fujin… great work!" Xu called. "Keep it up! At this rate, I'll appeal to let you back into Garden."
Fujin beamed, but Raijin shook his head slightly. "Not bloody likely," he murmured, so that only he and Fujin might hear. "That part of my life's over, ya know!"
Xu continued her inspection of the troops. "Zell!" she called. "It's all well and good using Phoenixes on them, but we might need some for ourselves later on." She paused for a moment in thought. "Fire! That's it! Use Fire on them! Draw some if you have to!" she yelled, remembering the course of action she had been taught. "Now where's Nida?"
Nida, weaponless, junctionless, was cowering at the back of the lift, shaking his head mournfully. Xu approached him "What the heck are you doing back here? Get out there and fight!" She was quite irritated and angry seeing her colleague like this, whilst the others were putting up a superb fight. "Hyne! What's wrong with you?" She pulled Nida to his feet
"I'm sorry, Xu," he whimpered, "but I left my weapon in the common room. Those… things… everywhere… I couldn't get to it… and I don't have anything on me… what am I supposed to do?"
Xu sighed. Ordinarily she would be hopping mad, but under these circumstances, she was willing to make an exception. "Okay," she said. "You stick by me, and once we get to Timber we will buy, or loot a new weapon for you. How's that?"
"F-fine," the posh boy answered, more frightened than he had ever been before in his life, even when he was enrolled in Garden, straight from the Orphanage boat at the age of six. "S-sorry, Miss Sukuri, I'll try harder… I'll try and fight them off, see." He rushed forward, fists clenched.
Xu opened her mouth to warn Nida not to do anything rash, but it was too late. He cut through to the forefront of the action.
"WAIT," Fujin hissed as Nida pushed past her, ready to fight the oncoming savages.
"Yeah, we gotta clear a path for your dumb ass, ya know!" Raijin tried to remind him, as Nida tried to land a few punches to the hungry adversaries.
"FOOLISH," Fujin turned away from the valiantly battling Nida.
She was right to do so, for what happened to the wretched SeeD would have nauseated her beyond belief. A female zombie, her clothes torn almost to shreds, baring cuts and gouges down her torso and thighs, grabbed Nida tightly around the neck and tore at his throat, disembodying his windpipe. She crammed it into her wide, ugly mouth and chewed on it. The remaining members of the team heard the sickening crunches, and so did the other degenerates, as they crowded round the bleeding, wide-eyed form.
Mercifully, this distraction had cleared a path for them to the gate at least, but Irvine, who had been unfortunate enough to witness the whole thing, angrily stiffened up again. Unable to comprehend the savagery and lack of respect for human life he had just seen, he lifted his rifle and carefully took aim at the neck of the once beautiful degenerate who had just done this to his comrade.
"Let's see how you like it, bitch," he snarled as he pulled the trigger, landing a perfect shot in the larynx. The monstrosity squealed as the bullet ripped through the neck and came tearing out through the nape of its neck. The spinal cord severed, it dropped to the ground. However, this disturbance made the demons turn their attention to the man with the cowboy hat and the boom-stick.
"Irvine!" Xu called. "Don't try and get their attention. Just run! They'll never catch up!"
Satisfied he had taken out the whore that had dared to rip apart an ally, Irvine turned to run.
The five remaining survivors (Xu hoped and prayed that there were more escapees in varying groups) made their way unscathed to the gates of Garden, but unfortunately found there was no escaping the threat of these disgusting savage creatures. Still, Xu's battle plan worked a treat, although it was exhausting.
Balamb Town was another fearful sight. Although there were many people who had not been affected by the virus, or whatever was causing this sudden explosion of cannibalistic humanoids, there were many properties, including Zell's former home, which had gone up in flames (Zell shielded his eyes and turned away from that sight; it was just as painful as Irvine being reminded of dear Selphie), and the hotel had been abandoned, its doors bent open by force, the windows smashed.
"Come on!" Xu ordered. "The train station is just up ahead!"
However, on approaching the station, there stood a bloodstained notice informing travellers:
THIS STATION IS CLOSED DUE TO STAFF SHORTAGES
"Oh, man!" Zell pounded the ground with his fist in utter frustration. "Don't say we're stuck in Balamb!"
"Hang on…" Irvine pointed to an engine, sitting idly at the deserted platform. "Can't we hijack that? I mean, no one's gonna care, and this is an emergency."
Xu smiled. "Good idea, Irvine," she praised. She headed to the closed barrier and leapt over it. "Come on!"
Raijin rolled his eyes. "I was gonna suggest that, ya know," he grunted to Fujin.
"COWBOY," spat Fujin. "GLORY HOG."
Nevertheless, they followed the cowboy, and Zell over the barriers, and squeezed into the engine's tiny cabin, where Xu was waiting.
"Right," she sighed, "looks like a diesel locomotive, and it was ready for travel, so unless we're really unlucky, it should have enough fuel to take us to Timber at least, perhaps even Galbadia if we get back on it…"
"Won't there be two more people, though?" Zell asked, jostling for floor space with Raijin and Fujin. "Hey – I was standing there, get off my foot, Raijin!"
"I ain't standing on your foot!" Raijin grumbled. "It's that clumsy-ass cowboy!"
Irvine looked down at his steel toe-capped boots and blushed "Er… yes it is," he said, shuffling away from Zell. "Er… sorry."
As he leaned back, he accidentally moved a lever that set the motor going with an almighty roar, which made Xu jump so much, she almost fell out of the cabin. Luckily, Fujin was there to grab her round the waist and haul her back in.
Xu exhaled sharply. "Th-thank you," she gasped, grateful to the silver-haired girl.
Fujin merely shrugged. "JOB," she replied monotonously.
Xu began fiddling with the controls, muttering as if to hear her thoughts above the incessant chug of the diesel engine. She coughed as the fumes drifted over the engine. "Now… how do we move this thing?" She pushed a lever and the train reversed hard. Her four passengers stumbled backwards, and Fujin gave a rare scream in shock.
"Okay… not that one… what about…" As she pulled another one a deafening hoot came from the engine.
Xu winced. "Shit!" she cursed. "That's going to attract their attention. Well done, Xu," she reprimanded herself. She sighed, reaching for another lever. "Third time lucky…" This time she pushed this one gently away from her, and the train glided smoothly, though slowly, forward.
An almighty cheer rose from the cabin as the engine gathered speed and pulled out of the station.
"Well done, Xu!" Irvine led the congratulations.
"Well…" Xu said modestly. "I couldn't have done it if you hadn't leant on the starting gear."
Raijin swallowed his pride and finally spoke up in praise for the woman he had always disliked; the SeeD examiner who had always failed him, had always chided him, and said that Seifer had always been a bad influence, the reason for his failure.
"That was some good strategising back there, ya know," he said. "And well done for getting this wagon-train movin'."
Xu was slightly taken aback from this high praise from one of the worst, cheekiest students she had ever led to a field exam. "Why, thank you, Raijin," she answered as the train made its way into the darkness of the trans-continental linking tunnel, away from the gloom of Balamb. "Thank you very much."
Author's Note: For the more observant of you, the boom-stick reference is from Evil Dead, continuing the undead theme. :)