The Virus

Chapter 3: A New Terror

A/N: I mention Trabia in this one, and it's not the school. I mean Trabia as in the whole Northern Continent. Thanks again to the people who've reviewed me!

"Can you take that side?"

"This one?"

"Yeah, thanks." Squall tried for the third time to put up one of the tents he had been holding onto. Those things were so damn hard to set up.

Zell was weakly watching out for anymore of those spider-things, so he could warn Squall about them. No one knew exactly what kind of damage they could do.

The tent began to quiver, and Squall tried withouot hope to keep it from toppling over.

Too late.

The entire thing crashed down again in a swishy heap.

"Oh!" Rinoa sulked, and kicked the tent. "I hate these stupid things!" She sat down next to Zell with a heavy sigh. "How are you?"

"Feeling fine." Zell lied, and Rinoa could tell.

"What's bugging you? Should I cast another esuna?"

"No, Rin, I'm... Fine. I'm just tired..."

"You said it already." Squall said, trying to figure out the tent again.

"What?"

"I said, you said it already. Back in Trabia."

"Yeah, that was different." Zell muttered, crossing his arms. "I didn't know I was sick."

Squall shrugged and finally managed to set up one side of the tent. "Ah. Victory."

Rinoa hugged Zell tightly. "Don't worry. We'll find that flower soon and get the radio fixed to call for help before you know it."

Zell nodded. "I know... I just never thought something like this could happen to me! I mean, I never thought I'd have to talk to my mom on the phone and say, "Mom, I'm dying, and I'm going to Noble Island to find a cure for what I have"... It's... It's different... I don't think I'm sad about it, or scared. It just feels weird."

"I sort of understand what you mean." Rinoa nodded, her eyes on Squall slowly standing up the other side of the tent.

Zell leaned back against the tree behind him and shut his eyes. "I'm gonna get some sleep, Rinoa... Squall can get the tent on his own... Keep an eye out for those ugly critters." He was asleep before Rinoa could say something funny to cheer him up.

"Finally!" Squall joyusly cried, unzipping the front of the tent with a smile. "I can handle anything."

Rinoa grinned at him and got up, wrapping her arms around his waist. "That's your job, Commander Leonhart."

"Let's get the inside set up, and possibly find firewood for when the others get back."

Rinoa nodded and entered into the tent, which came equipped with comfy sleeping bags. Too bad the stupid things were a one-time use. She unrolled one, then stuck her head out. "Bring Zell in, he needs to lay down."

Squall nodded and crossed to Zell, then lifted him up with a bit of difficutly.

Zell mumbled something, but stayed asleep.

Squall carried him into the tent and Rinoa tucked him into the sleeping bag. Then she unrolled the other two and smoothed them out. She looked up at Squall and smiled. "All done."

"I'll go by myself for the firewood. You keep an eye on Zell and make sure he doesn't get any worse while I'm gone."

Rinoa pouted, but agreed to stay behind, and Squall left to find something easy to burn.

*****

The forest was as dark as night, but luckily Squall had a flashlight with him. He switched it on and shined it around himself.

In front of him, in a tree, was a cute looking animal with huge eyes, a pink nose, and long fur. But Squall intelligently kept his distance, and his eyes, from and on the creature. He watched a snake crawl up the tree, and then almost as quick as lightning, that fuzzy thing struck with it's tail, which was scaly, spiked, and very deadly from the looks of the mangled snake it started feeding from.

Squall ducked under a low branch, and found what he was looking for.

A very tall and dead tree with dried branches all broken and limp was waiting right there for him, so he started breaking off branches for the fire he would be having.

He didn't notice the strange thing soming up behind him.

Yellow eyes gleamed strangely in the darkness, and long, slender legs carried it quickly behind cover and out of sight.

Squall, trained in battle, heard it moving and placed a hand on Lionheart. "Who's there?"

The thing hissed as he shone the flashlight on it, and it leaped from the bush.

Squall's heart began to wildly thump when he saw it. It was about the size of a Torama, but it was UGLY. It's bottom jaw stuck way out, and jagged, dripping teeth stuck out everywhere. It's eyes were deformed and yellow, shining brightly in the light, and it's body was covered in coarse fur. Two curled horns rose from it's head, and a series of needles stuck from it's skin halfway down it's lower torso. It's tail was fluffed up like a cat's when you surprise it, and it hissed again before running deep into the forest.

Squall gulped, disliking the feeling he was having, and left quickly, forgetting the firewood on the ground where he had stood and looked that hideous thing over.

*****

Rinoa sighed and rolled over on the floor of the tent so she was facing Zell. 'Why does he always want to leave me behind? I can be just as good as he can be... I'm not a weak woman, but he still sees me as one, no matter how much combat training I have!'

Zell sighed in his sleep and turned his head to find a cooler spot on the pillow.

'I'm a sorceress, for Hyne's sake! I probably have more magic skill than anyone else! Plus, I'm carrying all the scan spells, Squall will need those...'

A pang of fear washed over her. 'Oh no! I've got scan! And all the curative magic! What if he gets hurt?' She made up her mind and unzipped the flap on the tent at the same time a very pale Squall emerged from the woods.

"Rinoa, get back in the tent!" He hissed, running right up and gently pushing her back in, then following her and zipping the front up. "Close all the windows, quickly!"

They went to work getting everything shut, and then Rinoa started to fuss.

"Squall, what's wrong? Are you hurt? What happened?" She wrapped her arms around him tightly, and got a hug back in response.

"Something followed me through the forest. Something very strange, and something dangerous."

"What was it?"

"I don't know."

Those three words scared Rinoa. Squall, with all his studiative knowledge of monsters, didn't know what followed him. What really scared her was Squall was trembling. "Squall?"

"This island is ultimately screwed up, Rinoa... I saw something kill a snake with it's tail, the most hideous thing I've ever seen to date, and a very ugly spider. I already want to leave."

"Just think of Zell, Squall... We have to stay and find the cure for him."

Squall suddenly stiffened and held a finger to Rinoa's lips. "I heard something." He whispered.

His fears proved true as a twig snapped, and a soft growling issued from in front and right of the tent. It still seemed a long distance away, but Squall knew what it was.

"That ugly little bastard followed me back to the tent... Damn it, I have no clue what that thing does!"

Rinoa shushed him, then partially unzipped a window to peek out.

Directly in front of her eyes, the thing Squall had been followed by attacked the window screen, leaving a horizontal rip right across the screen.

Rinoa screamed and zipped up the window, then backed into the middle of the tent.

Squall shook Zell lightly, and when he opened his eyes lazily, Squall held a finger to his own lips to warn Zell to keep quiet.

Zell nodded and moved the to center of the tent like Squall was motioning for him to do. Even though a thousand questions had popped into his mind, he wisely kept quiet.

At the front of the tent now, a sharp barrage of teeth was tearing through the fabric of the outer flap, making way for the screen inside.

Rinoa felt Squall's arms encircle her protectively, and she heard Zell giving his gloves a tug. He always did it when he knew there was going to be a battle.

The thing had broken through the outer flap, and now it was staring right at them. Except instead of just leaving at the first glint of Lionheart, Ehrgeiz, and the Shooting Star, the creature howled and started foaming at the mouth.

"What's wrong with it?" Rinoa cried, backing away from the front of the tent.

"It's me..." Zell realized, then shut his eyes. "It knows I'm sick."

Squall also remembered hearing something like that. "You're right. But it doesn't matter anyhow. I'm not letting it get in here."

From a little bit left of the tent, a gunshot rang out, and the creature howled and retreated, running back into the forest.

"Squall, Rinoa, Zell!" Came Selphie's scared voice as she headed towards the tent.

The relief the returning people felt when Rinoa came out of the tent could not be described in words.

"Rinoa!" Selphie called, rushing forwards and hugging the now crying girl. "What was that?!"

"I don't know!" She sobbed, gratefull for her friend's embrace. "None of us do!"

"Squall, and Zell?" Irvine questioned, looking back at the ripped up tent that no one else had emerged from.

"They're both fine..." Rinoa told him, her voice soft and sort of tired-sounding. "Thank Hyne you guys got back when you did, otherwise... We'd be dead."

"Try not to think about it." Quistis soothed, smoothing Rinoa's hair. "Let's just get a fire going, cook something for dinner, and set you guys up a new tent."

"Forget it." Squall said, emerging finally from the tent. "Whatever it was knows we're here, we have to get out of this spot."

"But... It's almost dark!" Irvine protested, but the look Squall gave him would have been enough to stop a Behemoth in it's tracks. "Geez, if looks could kill..."

"We're going to move deeper into the forest. Hopefully whatever it is won't follow us. Let's get to work, Irvine, your turn to carry Zell."

Irvine sighed. It was going to be one heck of a long night.

A/N: Hope this one was good. I don't know if chapters are getting shorter or longer, but you can't expect me to be perfect. This is my first real fic after all. Hope you all enjoyed it.