Best Friends – A Precursor to Cloud
By Jesse Schiff
"Damnit Cloud, they're after us!" Zack carried his nearly unconscious friend up the hill, as gunfire came from below them. Several pufts of dust spurted up at their feet.
"You stay here, I'll be back." Zack told Cloud, dropping him from his shoulder. He quickly unclipped his Buster Sword from over his back and ran down the hill toward the Shinra troops.
Cloud warily lifted his head, not knowing where he was. The world seemed to be dimming and growing brighter at the same time, like someone was messing with the lights. He could hear something like machine-gun fire from down below… wherever he was. He then let his face fall back into the dirt and rock, too nauseas and weak to keep it up. Suddenly someone was above him, shaking his shoulder.
"Hey Cloud! You alright, man? You didn't get-" Zack was cut down mid-sentence, as a single rifle bullet hit him square in the chest. It knocked him off his feet, and back about three yards from his comatose friend.
Zack was still holding his sword, though he was knocked almost unconscious. He tried to call out to Cloud, but he gurgled as blood began to flood into his lungs. He couldn't move, not even as he tried to lift up his sword, nothing. Several soldiers dressed in blue walked up and blocked the sunlight over him. Zack recognized as a man in a red cap with the Shinra insignia embroidered onto it stepped up to his feet. He painfully raised his head, trying to find his killer among the group as the one with the red cap said,
"Do it."
The blue soldiers fired their automatic rifles, two shots connecting into Zack's head and killing him instantly. They kept firing anyway, riddling his upper-body. The red-capped officer told the soldiers to stop. They lifted their smoking rifles and looked up from their dirty work. One looked down to the blonde-haired body about ten feet down the slope of the hill, and held his rifle down on him.
"What about this one?" The blue soldier asked.
The red-captain looked down to the pathetic invalid. He stepped down the slope and stopped, kicking the stretched out body right in the ribs. It gave no response.
"…Forget it. Just leave 'im."
*-*-*~*-*-*
Cloud came to with so much pain in his head. Zack was standing over him.
"Hey, man wake up already. We gotta jet out of here." The black-haired SOLDIER grabbed Cloud around the shoulder and lifted him up. Cloud's head fell down to his chest, as he could barely make out what was going on or who he was.
Zack had knocked out the security guard that was watching them in those test tubes. He'd punched the guy in the face and then walloped him across the room, spilling the plate of food the guard had been offering to the weakened Zack. At least he thought Zack was weak, which was wrong. Both he and Cloud had been trapped in two big glass chambers that glew a fluorescent green. He remembered it had taken place after all of Nibelheim had been burned to the ground by Sephiroth.
"Fuckin' bastard…" Zack muttered as he heaved Cloud up higher and began to help him out of the lab at the front of that moldy old library.
After Sephiroth had gone berserk, everything else was pretty much a haze to Zack. All he knew was Cloud was still here with him, though he seemed pretty out of it. He'd noticed when he'd let Cloud out of the test chamber, a heavy white mist had been released from his tube. It smelled strongly of some mineral, almost like lime and metal. He figured they must have been dousing Cloud in Mako and injecting him with something else, as he noticed both he and Cloud had an IV needle still taped to their arms. Zack ripped his off, and looked down to Cloud,
"Come on, man. Let's go already." And he heaved Cloud out of the mansion laboratory. They'd been kept in Nibelheim the entire time, in the basement of the Shinra mansion there… the only building that hadn't been destroyed in the fire.
As Zack nearly dragged his friend out of the mansion, he noticed something frightening. Nibelheim was perfectly normal; not a house had been damaged.
"What the hell!" Zack yelled as he looked beyond the mansion gates at the town. Everything was the same as before the fire.
He heaved Cloud through the dirt and cobble stone road going out of the town, still bewildered. Not a familiar face greeted Zack, in fact he saw no one as he carried his friend through Nibelheim. This was Cloud's hometown, but he had seen it being burned to the ground by Sephiroth! Had everything been rebuilt already? How long had he and Cloud been locked up in that lab? He brushed off the thought as he slowly carried his friend through of the old town gate's arch.
Cloud's consciousness slowly faded in, as he felt himself on a shaky surface and the sound of wind was faintly in his ears. Suddenly there was a backfire behind him and he was shook.
"Hey, man! Look here!" Zack called, seeing Cloud's head finally beginning to move again. "Put this on." Zack was pulling on old SOLDIER type uniform over Cloud's shoulders. "Don't complain though, it smells a little."
Zack slapped Cloud's back and laid him back against the door of the truck again. Cloud laid his head back, one eye closed and one half-opened. Zack smiled, standing up almost to look down at his friend.
"You look pretty good there. It fits you."
There was the sound of a backfire again from the muffler of the truck. Zack looked to the front and banged on the window,
"Old guy! Yo! My friend is trying to get some rest back here!"
"Shattap! You are lucky I even agreed to give you a ride!" The driver yelled, eyeing Zack through the rearview. He scowled and spat out his window, looking back to the road. Zack sucked his teeth and smirked, looking back down to Cloud.
"You know where we're goin', buddy?" He asked. Cloud's head slowly bobbed up and down, like he was drunk. "Midgar!" He said enthusiastically, and feebly waited for a response from Cloud.
Zack realized after a moment, and looked out to the humongous orange rock formations out across the seeming desert road they were on. The sky was blue and brilliant, white clouds stretched as far as the horizon reached. He took in a breath of the air, and sat down next to Cloud.
"It's beautiful." He said, pausing afterward. He didn't know how to reach Cloud, to get through to the guy. "What're you gonna do when we get to Midgar?" He asked his friend. Cloud's head rolled down, his chin touching his chest. He didn't respond. Zack slowly stood, looking out at the scenery again.
"I know what I'm doing, man. There's this girl I know, I can crash with her for a while. Well… except her mother lives there…" His voice seemed to trail off, but just as it did he continued again, "Guess that's out then…" He said, folding his arms and brushing his chin.
"Well then! I gotta change my plans… and no matter what I do, I need some money first." He stopped again, concentrating out at the passing landscape and the dust trail the truck was leaving behind them. "Cloud, you know we are only good for fighting…"
Suddenly the old driver banged on the window between them,
"You're still young ain't ya?" He yelled from the diver seat and over the wind. "You kids gotta try everything! Pay your debts while you're still young, that's what I'm tellin' ya to do. Go out there and look for what you really want." The old driver offered.
Zack pondered this… though he didn't really take it all seriously. He looked back down at Cloud,
"Try everything, huh? That's pretty easy for him to say." He squatted down in front of Cloud, his elbows rested on his knees. "Fighting's the only thing we're good at, man. I'm gonna do the only thing that I can, I'm gonna be a mercenary. You know what I mean, Cloud?" Zack said quietly. He turned his head back to the driver and yelled,
"Thanks, pops!"
"Did you even hear what I said?" The old driver mumbled to himself, knowing that kid would only get himself into trouble.
Zack looked back to Cloud, staring at him. "So what are you gonna do? You gonna be a mercenary too? We will make a lot of money, man."
Cloud's head raised back and against the rim of the backdoor he was leaning against. He let out a confused moan, looking about at the bright orange and patches of green of the landscape. He looked to Zack, still moaning a little under his breath, and set his chin down against his chest again. Zack sat down next to him, touching Cloud's arm,
"I understand, man. I mean… we're friends, right?" He stared at Cloud, who let out another small moan under his breath and shrugged against Zack's hand on his arm. Zack smirked at that.
"You and me. Mercenaries. You and me, Cloud. That's what we're gonna be." Zack said, nudging him. "You understand?" He asked, knowing Cloud wouldn't really answer him. "Ah, it's ok if you don't. We're gonna be alright, man. We're gonna be alright."