"And so we find ourselves, as usual, crammed into some small, dark place." This was spoken by Siro, who couldn't even see in the darkness that was the back of a covered cargo truck.

"Hey, shut up back there," said the driver in a hushed voice. "We're almost at the security check.

It had taken Siro, Aria, Ramul and Shadow nearly two hours to reach sector 4. They had spent as much time as possible slinking through the shadows and had had several close calls.

They made it, finally, to the house of a loyal friend of Ramul. His name was Sam, and he, gladly, asked few questions. He was a middle aged, balding man who made a living delivering supplies from Midgar to nearby towns. By a stroke of luck, they found him getting ready to leave with a shipment of medicine and vegetables to the town of Kalm.

He agreed to take them to Kalm hidden in the back of his cargo truck, since he owed Ramul for an earlier time when he had gotten him out of trouble with Shinra. He seemed curious about the talking Shadow, but didn't enquire about him. Within another hour the team found themselves wedged in between crates in the back of his truck, waiting in the lineup to take the Sector 4 exit out of Midgar.

Siro got the worst deal out of all of them, he had barely enough room to breathe wedged firmly between two large crates. Aria was huddled in a corner next to Shadow, who seemed to be having the time of his life rolling around a small piece of lint. Ramul had enough room to lean comfortably against another crate. As they approached the checkpoint, the trucks hidden passengers didn't even breathe (no problem for Siro) for fear of giving away their location.

"Destination?" asked a voice that was obviously the security guard at the gate.

"Kalm," responded the driver, his voice containing enough routine apathy that he didn't sound the least bit suspicious.

"Cargo?" Asked the voice, sounding even more routine then Sam's bored voice.

"Two kilos of potions, one point five kilos antidotes, one kilo hypers, two kilos of tranquilizers and a standard case of eye drops. Also got about ten pounds of mixed vegetables including-"

"So pretty much medicine and vegetables," interrupted the security guard with a hint of fatigue in his voice.

"Yeah, so..." said the driver. "Can I go?"

"Yeah-no wait!" The driver said, remembering something. "Have you seen any suspicious people around here?"

"Aw man," Siro said to himself.

"Everyone's pretty suspicious in sector 4," Sam responded flippantly.

"Well, just so you know," the guard said, importantly. "There is a terrorist group at large in the city, as well as two rebel Shinra members."

"I'll keep my eyes open," said Sam, his voice sounding a bit tenser.

"Settle down, Sam," whispered Ramul. "Just go."

"You do that," said the guard. "Safe travels."

The truck started moving again and the group all gave sighed of relief, except for Shadow, who sort of cocked his head to one side and laid back down.

"Well," Sam called back when they were far enough from the checkpoint. "You can all get comfy now, Kalm's a few hours away.

The team did just that, Ramul sat down where he was and dozed off. Shadow started roaming around and sniffing crates curiously. Siro and Aria stood looking out of the back of the truck, where the flaps had been pulled aside to allow better circulation.

They watched Midgar fade into the distance as the sky started turning pink with the morning.

"Ah," said Aria, stretching. "The air out here is so fresh!"

Siro thought back at how long ago it was when they had both left the city. It was almost a year before; they had gone out to the highlands east of Midgar when he had a week off. Aria seemed so much more alive when she was out of the city; it was like she was blooming like a beautiful flower with the sunshine and the fresh air.

"Siro," Aria had said one morning on that trip. "I don't want to stay in Midgar any longer. I want to get out and see the world."

'She needs to wander,' thought Siro, watching her in the pale light of early morning. 'It's in her blood'.

"Well," said Aria, bringing Siro back to the present. "Look's like I got my wish."

"Yeah," laughed Siro. "You're on an adventure, your old man would be proud."

"Not the best circumstances," said Aria, smiling brightly as the sunrise. "But I'm glad I'm out here."

"Veggies?" Enquired Shadow, sniffing at a small crate. He turned up his nose and padded over to Aria. "When eat?"

"Good idea!" Said Sam. "We'll stop for some breakfast in a jiffy."

"Jiffy?" Asked Siro. "Whatever...."

"Look!" Said Aria happily. She was pointing to the sky, which was now a bright orange with streaks of pink. "It's like the sky is made of gold, see it even shines a bit."

"You're a poet," said Siro, grinning and taking off his helmet again.

"Quiet you," she said, smacking him on the head.

"I was serious," Siro said. "You shouldn't be cooped up long in that city."

"FOOD!" shouted Shadow, jumping up and down.

"Alright already," said Siro. "If you want you can eat Ramul."

"Kay!"

"Kidding!"

"Oh...."

"Besides," Ramul said groggily. "Siro tastes like a hundred times better, he is Mako flavored!"

"Mako?" Shadow looked around.

"Never mind," said Ramul, dropping off again. He had been missing sleep for days; it was almost refreshing for him to escape the town like this. Siro was not far behind, having missed nearly as much sleep as his partner. He leaned lazily against Aria and the tailgate, closing his eyes.

The silence was broken only by the sound of the wheels on the roughly paved road and the whooshing as their truck passed other cars. They stopped without much warning on the side of the road near a small patch of grass under an oddly lively tree (considering that the terrain was actually a wasteland).

"Ahhh, this place is always here," Sam said, opening the tailgate. "It's an anomaly, like one of them oasises."

Shadow jumped out and stretched before promptly chasing after a small lizard into the nearby wasteland.

"Man," said Siro, looking at Shadow as he pranced. "No matter how you slice it he just doesn't seem like a savage animal."

"Maybe he's not," suggested Aria.

"For our sakes I hope he is," said Ramul. "Cause this trip won't be all happy sailing, we could use some help."

"Oh lighten up, Ram," laughed Sam, grabbing a bag of food from the front seat. "It's eatin' time!"

"What about Shadow?" asked Aria. "Wonder what he eats?"

As they would find, Shadow could easily provide for himself. Within ten minutes of everyone sitting down to their meals Shadow returned with his own picnic. It was a grayish wolf, a Kalm Fang. It was very large but Shadow carried it easily by the throat and seemed to be prancing in happy triumph.

"Oh, gods," said Aria, covering her mouth. "Is he going to eat that?"

To answer her question, Shadow pranced up and dropped the bloody wolf onto the grass and gave what had to be a smile to the team.

"Having fun?" asked Siro, blandly.

"There was more of them," said Shadow, nodding matter of factly. "Not much fight though, pansies."

Ramul and Siro started laughing, Aria still looked disgusted by the whole thing, and Sam seemed to have dozed off with a half eaten sandwich in his hand.

"See," said Ramul. "He can fight."

"Where Rufus?" asked Shadow again.

"Rufusland," said Siro, falling back onto the shady grass. "Land of the magical Rufus."

"We go to Rufusland?"

"It was a-I was just," Siro waved his hand in the air. "Never mind."

Shadow looked at him for a second and began to devour the Kalm Fang with much vigor and slobbering. Aria wretched.

"That-" she said. "Is disgusting!"

"I dunno," said Ramul, pensively. "It's almost therapeutic, watching that."

"You are a sick man," said Aria, turning away.

"No," said Siro, sitting up. "I think he's right."

"You are both going to hell..."