The Virus
Chapter 4: Fearful
A/N: Wahoo, chapter 4! In all my writings, I have rarely gottent his far in such a short amount of time. I think the reviews are going to my head, but, then again, if I have people who enjoy reading what I write then... Why shouldn't it go to my head? As long as I don't start acting like Seifer, we'll all be fine... ^.^
"Can you handle those boxes, Rin?" Squall asked, looking concerned as Rinoa struggled to keep her grip on the two boxes of food.
"I'm not weak, I'll be fine."
"I never said that yo-" Squall started, but Zell interrupted him.
"Can we just focus on getting the hell away from here? Whatever that thing was, it looked mad, and I'm sure it still knows where we are."
Squall fell silent and finished taking down the destroyed tent.
Zell, who seemed to be feeling a bit better, was standing up almost on his own, aided only slightly by Irvine. He still had a fever, but it wasn't all that high.
Quistis was busy looking through a box for one of the three bottles of medicine Dr. K had sent for Zell's fever. "Look, I have to find these. Zell's fever is almost gone, and if he takes two then it might go away completely. We want what's best for Zell, right?"
"What's best for Zell is for us all to get moving. It's what's best for all of us in case that thing comes back."
"We're junctioned, and we have our best weapons equipped." Irvine said, his voice taking a defensive edge. "We can take whatever it dishes out."
"How do you know it doesn't havce Ultima spells? Or maybe it can use something we have never been able to use? Instead of just the smaller spells, maybe it uses something bigger. Remember Maelstrom? I've only seen Ultimecia, Matron, and Rinoa use that."
"No way a little thing like that could cast such a big spell." Irvine argued, but he didn't sound so sure. "But to avoid arguing, fine, we'll get going."
"Found them!" Quistis joyusly exclaimed, taking out a small yellowish bottle. She opened the top and dumped two pills into her palm, then handed them to Zell.
He made a face, then took them without water or any form of drink. "I hate taking medicine."
"Can we get going now?" Rinoa asked, shifting the weight of the boxes, then blowing a strand of hair out of her face.
Thunder cracked in the distance, and Selphie shivered.
"I'm getting the feeling it's going to rain tonight."
"You'll jinx us saying it." Zell told her, as they all started forwards. At least he was able to walk without tiring himself out too quickly.
Selphie covered her mouth. "Oopsies... Oh well, at least we'll be set up when it starts... I hope."
In front of them, a bush began to rustle, and Squall stopped, one hand on the hilt of Lionheart. "Guys... Stop and get ready for a battle..."
Irvine saw it too, so he drew Exeter from 'her' holster and kissed the gun once before getting into his attack stance.
Out of the bushes tumbled a sweet-looking fuzzy creature, somewhat resembling a kitten.
"It's so cute!" Rinoa gushed, stepping forwards and crouching down. "Hey there little guy, aren't you sweet?"
Squall went to pull her back, but the little thing started to gurgle and rub it's face on Rinoa's hand.
She rubbed it's fur and cooed at it, then as she was about to stand up, a horrible monster jumped from the bushes after it, knocking Rinoa backwards. It bit into the fuzzy thing and Rinoa was sprayed with blood.
She screamed and crawled around behind Squall, who was ready to attack.
It looked at them, blood dripping off it's fangs. It was about the size of a Grand Mantis, and it looked a bit like one as well, except instead of the needle claws the Grand Mantis was famous for, this had pincer type things. In one pincer, it was holding half the fuzzy creature.
"What the hell is that thing?" Irvine asked, aiming Exeter for it's head.
"You think I know?" Squall replied, getting ready to attack.
Before either of them had the chance, Zell let loose with a stream of furious kicks and punches on it, beating it right to the ground.
"Zell stop!" Selphie called, trying to grab him and pull him back. There was the possiblity of Zell fainting and falling victim to one of the pincers.
Zell, however, didn't listen. But as he was attacking, the thing saw it's chance and when Zell was open to a counter attack, it smashed him hard with one of the pincers, knocking him sideways and right into a tree.
"Zell!" Selphie and Rinoa both cried out, and both of them sent a barrage of spells at the creeping monster.
It deflected all of the magic with nothing injured and started to pounce on Zell's unconcious body.
Squall charged it, knocking it back down to the ground with a swipe of Lionheart, and then continuing to attack it over and over, never forgetting once to pull the trigger of Lionheart.
After that, it laid still on the ground, not even breathing.
"Zell!" Selphie ran over to Zell and shook his shoulder softly. "Zell, wake up!"
He slowly opened his eyes and then tried to get up, but winced the second he started. "Ow..."
Squall came over and crouched down. "Ow what?"
"My back hurts a bit..."
Squall put a hand on his forehead and was surprised to find that, even after that, Zell still had a low fever. "Can you walk?"
"I think so."
With Squall's help, Zell slowly got to his feet, and was able to stand unassisted.
"That's good. Now, we have to get going."
As soon as the words had left Squall's mouth, the pincer thing got up and attacked Zell again, this time as feircly as Zell, himself, had done only moments earlier.
Irvine emptied four clips of ammo into it before it finally was still again, this time chunks of it blown off by the shotgun shells.
Zell was having some sort of a panic attack, frantically trying to shove the body off of himself. His face was pale, and he was screaming bloody murder the whole time.
Squall put one foot on the moster and rolled it off, then sat down next to Zell. "What's wrong?"
"Damn it!" Zell screamed, rubbing at his arms, which had blood on them. "It burns!"
"Quistis, quick, I need one of the bottles of water." Squall held out his hand and recieved it, then washed the blood off Zell's bare arms, revealing burn marks, like it had been some sort of acid.
"It hurts..." Zell complained, tenderly touching the red spots. "What the hell was that?"
"I don't know, but it's blood must have had some sort of acitic compound. Get up, we have to keep going."
*****
"This is a good spot to set up." Quistis told them, motioning to the plants that surrounded them. "It says in my book that these plants are highly toxic to anything that touches them, so if we sleep around them in the tents, nothing would dare come close enough to hurt us."
"And what if someone touches them?" Squall asked, but started to set up the tent anyhow.
"Then whoever touches them will need to cast esuna on themselves right away."
Squall nodded, and started running the metal bars through the top of the tent.
Zell was still complaining at the red marks his arms bore, they were now very angry and sore-looking. "Of course, it would just make sense for the stupid thing to have acid blood. That just adds to the overall hopelessness of this place!"
"It's not hopeless!" Selphie cut in, a frown on her face. "Don't say that!"
"We'll be dead before we find the cure." Zell sulked, crossing his arms before thinking. He winced and uncrossed them.
"Don't, Zell! You have to think happy! 'Cause if you don't, then we'll all be in trouble!"
"You wouldn't be so happy if you were in my place." Zell told her, and she fell silent.
"Zell, don't be so mean." Rinoa said, looking pouty. "Selphie's just trying to cheer you up."
"Yeah... Sorry."
"It's ok!" Selphie smiled and patted Zell on the shoulder. "I don't mind! You're right though, I don't know how I'd act if I was sick..."
Irvine pointed to the tent he had just set up as he stopped in front of the three lounging people. "Selphie, we're all set up. If you want to relax inside now, you can go right ahead."
"Ok!" She cheerily got to her feet, then waved a sort of goodnight/goodbye wave before disappearing into the tent.
Irvine sat down with Rinoa and Zell, and took off his hat. "How are you, Zell?"
"Um, feeling better. But it won't last long. I'm starting to feel all tired again."
"Selphie's right though. Don't give up on us, understand?"
Zell looked at Irvine with a smile. "Don't have to worry about that. I'm a fighter, remember? There's no way this disease is taking me without a good long battle first."
Irvine laughed, and got up. "Good to know. Well, I'm going to join Selphie in the tent..." He walked off, and Quistis stopped him before he could go inside the tent.
"Don't you even think about doing anything in that tent!"
Zell and Rinoa both laughed at the look on Irvine's face, and his innocent 'I-wouldn't-dream-of-it' shrug.
Over to the right of them, Squall let out a frustrated sigh and started setting up the tent for the fifth time.
"At least we know there's something he can't do right." Zell said to Rinoa, who nodded.
"Usually he's perfect at everything. Except dancing. He can waltz, but that's it."
"I can't dance either." Zell admitted. "That's why no one saw me dancing at the Inauguration."
"I'll have to teach you sometime." Rinoa said, then rolled her eyes. "I'm going to help Squall set the tent up. You can get some sleep if you want."
Zell nodded and watched her go over to Squall, who happily accepted her help. And, before he knew it, he had fallen asleep again.
*****
Squall was flipping pages in the book Quistis had brought when it started.
There was a low rumble in the distance, and then a flash of lightning, and almost directly after that, Squall could hear the sound of raindrops falling on the canvas of the tent.
"At least we're set up." He mumbled, then went back to reading.
To the left of him, Zell rolled onto his side and sighed in his sleep. His fever had gone up since he had fallen asleep, and it seemed he was getting increasingly uncomfortable.
Squall had already read about the rainstorms here. Since it was a tropical sort of island, the storms were usually very big. And apparently when it was muddy, there was a plant that carried Zell's disease. And this plant could be fround in Trabia. Squall finally understood what happened. It hadn't just been chance that Zell had gotten this.
*Flashback*
Zell rubbed the back of his neck again with a grimace. "What the hell bit me?"
Rinoa stood on her tip-toes and looked the back of his neck over. "Possibly a spider? Maybe a grat in the training center poked you."
Zell shrugged. "I guess so. It's not a big deal anyhow."
*End of flashback*
"So it was the plant..." Squall mumbled to himself, and jumped when thunder roared directly overhead now. The rain had increased, and it sounded like a waterfall was hitting the tent. There was two flashes of lightning, and Squall put the book down on the box he had in the tent so no creature would go through it when they were sleeping.
He noticed as he put it down that there was already wetness on the floor of the tent. He reached down and touched it, then made a face.
As he lifted his hand, trails of slime stuck to it, which made no sense. Why was the rain goopy?
There was another crash of thunder, and then he heard it.
There was a low growling coming from behind the tent.
Something was out there.
Chapter 4: Fearful
A/N: Wahoo, chapter 4! In all my writings, I have rarely gottent his far in such a short amount of time. I think the reviews are going to my head, but, then again, if I have people who enjoy reading what I write then... Why shouldn't it go to my head? As long as I don't start acting like Seifer, we'll all be fine... ^.^
"Can you handle those boxes, Rin?" Squall asked, looking concerned as Rinoa struggled to keep her grip on the two boxes of food.
"I'm not weak, I'll be fine."
"I never said that yo-" Squall started, but Zell interrupted him.
"Can we just focus on getting the hell away from here? Whatever that thing was, it looked mad, and I'm sure it still knows where we are."
Squall fell silent and finished taking down the destroyed tent.
Zell, who seemed to be feeling a bit better, was standing up almost on his own, aided only slightly by Irvine. He still had a fever, but it wasn't all that high.
Quistis was busy looking through a box for one of the three bottles of medicine Dr. K had sent for Zell's fever. "Look, I have to find these. Zell's fever is almost gone, and if he takes two then it might go away completely. We want what's best for Zell, right?"
"What's best for Zell is for us all to get moving. It's what's best for all of us in case that thing comes back."
"We're junctioned, and we have our best weapons equipped." Irvine said, his voice taking a defensive edge. "We can take whatever it dishes out."
"How do you know it doesn't havce Ultima spells? Or maybe it can use something we have never been able to use? Instead of just the smaller spells, maybe it uses something bigger. Remember Maelstrom? I've only seen Ultimecia, Matron, and Rinoa use that."
"No way a little thing like that could cast such a big spell." Irvine argued, but he didn't sound so sure. "But to avoid arguing, fine, we'll get going."
"Found them!" Quistis joyusly exclaimed, taking out a small yellowish bottle. She opened the top and dumped two pills into her palm, then handed them to Zell.
He made a face, then took them without water or any form of drink. "I hate taking medicine."
"Can we get going now?" Rinoa asked, shifting the weight of the boxes, then blowing a strand of hair out of her face.
Thunder cracked in the distance, and Selphie shivered.
"I'm getting the feeling it's going to rain tonight."
"You'll jinx us saying it." Zell told her, as they all started forwards. At least he was able to walk without tiring himself out too quickly.
Selphie covered her mouth. "Oopsies... Oh well, at least we'll be set up when it starts... I hope."
In front of them, a bush began to rustle, and Squall stopped, one hand on the hilt of Lionheart. "Guys... Stop and get ready for a battle..."
Irvine saw it too, so he drew Exeter from 'her' holster and kissed the gun once before getting into his attack stance.
Out of the bushes tumbled a sweet-looking fuzzy creature, somewhat resembling a kitten.
"It's so cute!" Rinoa gushed, stepping forwards and crouching down. "Hey there little guy, aren't you sweet?"
Squall went to pull her back, but the little thing started to gurgle and rub it's face on Rinoa's hand.
She rubbed it's fur and cooed at it, then as she was about to stand up, a horrible monster jumped from the bushes after it, knocking Rinoa backwards. It bit into the fuzzy thing and Rinoa was sprayed with blood.
She screamed and crawled around behind Squall, who was ready to attack.
It looked at them, blood dripping off it's fangs. It was about the size of a Grand Mantis, and it looked a bit like one as well, except instead of the needle claws the Grand Mantis was famous for, this had pincer type things. In one pincer, it was holding half the fuzzy creature.
"What the hell is that thing?" Irvine asked, aiming Exeter for it's head.
"You think I know?" Squall replied, getting ready to attack.
Before either of them had the chance, Zell let loose with a stream of furious kicks and punches on it, beating it right to the ground.
"Zell stop!" Selphie called, trying to grab him and pull him back. There was the possiblity of Zell fainting and falling victim to one of the pincers.
Zell, however, didn't listen. But as he was attacking, the thing saw it's chance and when Zell was open to a counter attack, it smashed him hard with one of the pincers, knocking him sideways and right into a tree.
"Zell!" Selphie and Rinoa both cried out, and both of them sent a barrage of spells at the creeping monster.
It deflected all of the magic with nothing injured and started to pounce on Zell's unconcious body.
Squall charged it, knocking it back down to the ground with a swipe of Lionheart, and then continuing to attack it over and over, never forgetting once to pull the trigger of Lionheart.
After that, it laid still on the ground, not even breathing.
"Zell!" Selphie ran over to Zell and shook his shoulder softly. "Zell, wake up!"
He slowly opened his eyes and then tried to get up, but winced the second he started. "Ow..."
Squall came over and crouched down. "Ow what?"
"My back hurts a bit..."
Squall put a hand on his forehead and was surprised to find that, even after that, Zell still had a low fever. "Can you walk?"
"I think so."
With Squall's help, Zell slowly got to his feet, and was able to stand unassisted.
"That's good. Now, we have to get going."
As soon as the words had left Squall's mouth, the pincer thing got up and attacked Zell again, this time as feircly as Zell, himself, had done only moments earlier.
Irvine emptied four clips of ammo into it before it finally was still again, this time chunks of it blown off by the shotgun shells.
Zell was having some sort of a panic attack, frantically trying to shove the body off of himself. His face was pale, and he was screaming bloody murder the whole time.
Squall put one foot on the moster and rolled it off, then sat down next to Zell. "What's wrong?"
"Damn it!" Zell screamed, rubbing at his arms, which had blood on them. "It burns!"
"Quistis, quick, I need one of the bottles of water." Squall held out his hand and recieved it, then washed the blood off Zell's bare arms, revealing burn marks, like it had been some sort of acid.
"It hurts..." Zell complained, tenderly touching the red spots. "What the hell was that?"
"I don't know, but it's blood must have had some sort of acitic compound. Get up, we have to keep going."
*****
"This is a good spot to set up." Quistis told them, motioning to the plants that surrounded them. "It says in my book that these plants are highly toxic to anything that touches them, so if we sleep around them in the tents, nothing would dare come close enough to hurt us."
"And what if someone touches them?" Squall asked, but started to set up the tent anyhow.
"Then whoever touches them will need to cast esuna on themselves right away."
Squall nodded, and started running the metal bars through the top of the tent.
Zell was still complaining at the red marks his arms bore, they were now very angry and sore-looking. "Of course, it would just make sense for the stupid thing to have acid blood. That just adds to the overall hopelessness of this place!"
"It's not hopeless!" Selphie cut in, a frown on her face. "Don't say that!"
"We'll be dead before we find the cure." Zell sulked, crossing his arms before thinking. He winced and uncrossed them.
"Don't, Zell! You have to think happy! 'Cause if you don't, then we'll all be in trouble!"
"You wouldn't be so happy if you were in my place." Zell told her, and she fell silent.
"Zell, don't be so mean." Rinoa said, looking pouty. "Selphie's just trying to cheer you up."
"Yeah... Sorry."
"It's ok!" Selphie smiled and patted Zell on the shoulder. "I don't mind! You're right though, I don't know how I'd act if I was sick..."
Irvine pointed to the tent he had just set up as he stopped in front of the three lounging people. "Selphie, we're all set up. If you want to relax inside now, you can go right ahead."
"Ok!" She cheerily got to her feet, then waved a sort of goodnight/goodbye wave before disappearing into the tent.
Irvine sat down with Rinoa and Zell, and took off his hat. "How are you, Zell?"
"Um, feeling better. But it won't last long. I'm starting to feel all tired again."
"Selphie's right though. Don't give up on us, understand?"
Zell looked at Irvine with a smile. "Don't have to worry about that. I'm a fighter, remember? There's no way this disease is taking me without a good long battle first."
Irvine laughed, and got up. "Good to know. Well, I'm going to join Selphie in the tent..." He walked off, and Quistis stopped him before he could go inside the tent.
"Don't you even think about doing anything in that tent!"
Zell and Rinoa both laughed at the look on Irvine's face, and his innocent 'I-wouldn't-dream-of-it' shrug.
Over to the right of them, Squall let out a frustrated sigh and started setting up the tent for the fifth time.
"At least we know there's something he can't do right." Zell said to Rinoa, who nodded.
"Usually he's perfect at everything. Except dancing. He can waltz, but that's it."
"I can't dance either." Zell admitted. "That's why no one saw me dancing at the Inauguration."
"I'll have to teach you sometime." Rinoa said, then rolled her eyes. "I'm going to help Squall set the tent up. You can get some sleep if you want."
Zell nodded and watched her go over to Squall, who happily accepted her help. And, before he knew it, he had fallen asleep again.
*****
Squall was flipping pages in the book Quistis had brought when it started.
There was a low rumble in the distance, and then a flash of lightning, and almost directly after that, Squall could hear the sound of raindrops falling on the canvas of the tent.
"At least we're set up." He mumbled, then went back to reading.
To the left of him, Zell rolled onto his side and sighed in his sleep. His fever had gone up since he had fallen asleep, and it seemed he was getting increasingly uncomfortable.
Squall had already read about the rainstorms here. Since it was a tropical sort of island, the storms were usually very big. And apparently when it was muddy, there was a plant that carried Zell's disease. And this plant could be fround in Trabia. Squall finally understood what happened. It hadn't just been chance that Zell had gotten this.
*Flashback*
Zell rubbed the back of his neck again with a grimace. "What the hell bit me?"
Rinoa stood on her tip-toes and looked the back of his neck over. "Possibly a spider? Maybe a grat in the training center poked you."
Zell shrugged. "I guess so. It's not a big deal anyhow."
*End of flashback*
"So it was the plant..." Squall mumbled to himself, and jumped when thunder roared directly overhead now. The rain had increased, and it sounded like a waterfall was hitting the tent. There was two flashes of lightning, and Squall put the book down on the box he had in the tent so no creature would go through it when they were sleeping.
He noticed as he put it down that there was already wetness on the floor of the tent. He reached down and touched it, then made a face.
As he lifted his hand, trails of slime stuck to it, which made no sense. Why was the rain goopy?
There was another crash of thunder, and then he heard it.
There was a low growling coming from behind the tent.
Something was out there.
