Zaphod Beeblebrox: Hey, Ford! How many escape capsules are there?
Ford Prefect: None.
Zaphod Beeblebrox: You counted them?
Ford Prefect: Twice.
Squall, Irvine and Kiros fell back onto the floor, while Laguna stepped out of the way just in time, watching as the door closed in Zell's face. Quistis and Ward immediately helped everyone up to their feet, and Selphie was frozen in shock, staring between the door and the corridor they had just emerged from. No one spoke for a moment, only listening to the slight sounds of moaning coming from within the elevator's confines, Zell's horrified screams accompanying them until they suddenly stopped, leaving the silence afterwards deafening.
Finally, in a shaking voice, Selphie broke this silence. "We should probably get moving. Those things are getting pretty close to us now."
Not even Squall could keep the panic out of his voice when he answered. "You're right. We shouldn't stay here for too much longer…"
"How can you say that?" Rinoa suddenly blurted out. "One of your friends just died, don't you even realize that? And you expect us to be able to just leave knowing that we're one person short of what we were?"
Squall rubbed the bridge of his nose, probably fighting off the headache that was most definitely beginning to form before he answered. "Of course I don't expect us to just forget about Zell. But it won't do us any good if we stay here and just wait for them to catch up to us."
"He's right," Kiros stated, shaking his head. "Do you think Zell would want us all to die just because we were mourning his death?"
Rinoa frowned slightly, while Irvine, Selphie and Quistis all exchanged glances. This form of situation had most likely taken place before, but they still didn't appear to be used to the sudden disagreements of the new couple. He just hoped that it didn't happen too often, or else they wouldn't be going anywhere.
Looking over towards Laguna and Ward, Kiros shrugged when their eyes fell upon him. The short ranged fighter had a talent for breaking up arguments or conflicts between other people, and displayed a form of calm that was overall impossible to maintain. Very rarely did he lose his temper and this gave him an added edge during combat.
Finally, the raven-haired Sorceress nodded her consent. "I guess he wouldn't want that. I'm guessing that we take the stairs?"
"I'd say that's a good idea," Quistis nodded in agreement.
"Then what are we standing around here for?" Laguna asked. "Let's go already."
"They're just about here," Selphie pointed towards the zombies that continued on their path towards them, shuffling slowly and lethargically.
"There's stairs to the left of our location." Squall said, and it impressed the dark skinned fighter that someone was capable of navigating the confusing corridors of the Presidential Residence so quickly. "Let's go."
Even as the group began to move towards the stairs, the zombies loomed forward, seemingly dividing the group in two sets, Irvine and Squall ahead of the rest of the group. Rinoa raised her arm in front of her and gestured outwards, two sets of Firaga spells catching four of the zombies on fire. Two more zombies, who were standing behind their comrades, suddenly became engulfed within the unstable elemental.
Quistis took the time to assume her own casting stance, thrusting her arms in front of her even as Irvine and Squall began shooting from behind the monsters. The blonde fighter's eyes were closed for a moment, and just before one of the zombies could grab the former Instructor, Laguna shot a round of ammunition into the offending creature. Quistis' eyes popped open immediately afterwards and stared down at the zombie before throwing out another spell, a wave of Blizzara catching five more zombies off guard.
"Anyone thinking of casting esuna on these guys?" Laguna asked.
"They're not affected by the zombie status spell!" Quistis replied. "They're already dead!"
"Just great!" Selphie moaned, lashing out a quartet of fire spells at the creatures. "So we can't even cure them?"
"I'm afraid not."
"DUCK!"
Everyone who was surrounded by the monsters did as they were told as a ring of fire suddenly surrounded them, blasts of molten ammunition lancing around them and hitting the creatures consecutively. Looking back up, Kiros took notice of Irvine adding more ammunition into his riffle even as Squall cast a Thundaga spell upon the zombies Irvine missed.
"C'mon!" Irvine shouted, as he prepared to fire another round. "What're ya waiting for?"
"Save your ammunition!" Kiros shouted, and even as Laguna and Ward turned to look at him, Kiros continued. "Take the opportunity to run! I'll hold them off!"
"Are you insane?" Laguna shouted. "You can't take them on all by yourself!"
"I'll be alright," Kiros assured him. "Just go! I'll meet you outside, just go!"
Another wave of Irvine's Fire Ammunition burned a circle around the group, downing another group of zombies, more coming towards them. "Don't worry, I'll be okay!"
Ward nodded in silent agreement, to which Kiros understood perfectly. He quickly grabbed a hold of Laguna before he could protest further and signalled for the others to follow him.
Kiros nodded silent thanks towards his companions before turning on the creatures. Some of the zombies were following the group, even as Squall and Irvine managed to keep them at bay, while more of them began to congregate around him.
Taking in a deep breath and praying he would keep his word, Kiros removed the Katals that were strapped to the back of the Estharian robes he wore and immediately strapped them into place, just before one of the zombies grabbed a hold of his sleeve. Kiros raised his right arm and sliced the zombie's head off, watching the decapitated body fall limply to the ground with a sickening squish. Without stopping, he manoeuvred the same arm backwards, catching another zombie in the chest. Even as he did this, his left arm was jutting upwards, slashing at an oncoming enemy, breaking the creature's neck and sending it falling on top of two other zombies.
Quick and agile, Kiros continued to slash and slice into the monsters hounding him, one by one, creating a growing pile around him. More and more of the creatures took their places however, and Kiros didn't know how much longer he would be able to fight them off.
A high-pitched dinging sound came from behind him, but Kiros couldn't turn to see what it was, simply because his attention was occupied when one of the zombies who remained charged towards him, his mouth open to reveal blackened stubs that used to be his teeth. The dark-skinned fighter cut at the undead creatures eyes, stopping the assault as the creature fell forward.
Kiros sighed in relief and was just about to follow the rest of his companions when something heavy came crashing down onto his back, forcing him towards the ground. Kiros both heard and felt a crack, resisting the urge to cry out in pain of his broken wrist. Just after he heard the sound, he felt pain jabbing at his chest and, looking down, he realized that one of his Katals had snapped in two, and a shard of metal had collided with his side. It was an injury that he would survive, but it would prove to be an inconvenience.
Finally, Kiros felt pain lapse through his shoulder and this time he couldn't hold back the scream of pain as he felt teeth digging into skin and muscle. Turning his head marginally, he was surprised to see that the one who was biting him happened to be Zell.
Zell lifted his head before turning to gaze hungrily at the fighter, and with a sinking heart, Kiros realized what had happened.
The brawler was already dead.
Zell's eyes were milky rather than the blue he had ordinarily possessed, his teeth reduced to blackened stubs and his skin was a pale white. There were bite marks cascading throughout his body, and his left arm was barely hanging on a piece of skin that it was attached to. Dried, coagulated blood lay atop of his bruised and battered form, but fresh blood sat upon his mouth from when he had bitten Kiros.
Kiros couldn't move. His own weight was on top of his right arm, and he couldn't balance his weight on his broken wrist. Zell's weight was positioned on top of him, keeping his left arm still and useless. Even as he tried to push the teenager's body off of him with his right arm only, two more zombies fell on top of Zell, adding to the weight and forcing his arm back onto the ground. He was trapped.
Another lance of pain went through him as he felt something bite his left leg, and then another as another bite was aimed at his calf. Zell bit down on his neck once again while another zombie bit through his right foot. As he fought through the haze of pain, his last thoughts before blacking out were his apologies to both Laguna and Ward for breaking his word.
Irvine and Squall were a few feet ahead of the others when they noticed Ward signal to them to keep moving. Even as the zombies continued to chase after them, shuffling closer towards them, both broke off their attacks, both magical based and long ranged, and darted down the hallway towards the stairs. The assuring footsteps that told them the others were following not too far behind was the only thing keeping them from going back to check up on them.
They finally arrived at the entrance to the stair well and Irvine blasted the door open, watching as it flew off its handles and fell a few feet before them onto the steel flooring beneath them.
"Downstairs, downstairs." He heard Squall tell him from behind. Even though he knew how blatantly obvious his friend was being, he decided to shelve the sarcasm and do with the elder boy said. He ran down the stairs as fast as his legs could move, the only sounds breaking the silence were the pounding sounds of bootclad feet hitting steel and their heavy breathing. He heard Squall's steel-toed boots following him and was especially relieved that he wasn't the only one in the stairwell as they turned the corner, heading further down towards the first floor landing.
Suddenly, he felt Squall grab him by the back of his beige trench coat and pull him backwards, shushing him when he went to protest. "Listen," he said.
Irvine frowned when he couldn't hear anything at first, but chose to listen anyway. A sudden loud moan caught his attention, causing him to tense up as he recognized the sound. A moment later, he saw shadows flickering in front of them, growing longer and larger as the seconds ticked by.
After turning around and seeing the colour drain from the SeeD's normally neutral face, he knew that Squall had seen it too.
"Upstairs, upstairs!" Irvine shouted as he and Squall both bolted back the way they had come from. Looking behind him, Irvine realized that the zombies were catching up, despite their lethargic movements, and fired a couple of rounds from the USP45, never pausing in his movements.
As they reached the floor they had been previously on, Irvine knew that the rounds he had set off caught everyone's attention. "Go upstairs!" Squall shouted.
"Are you crazy?" Selphie shouted back at him, but before she could say anything else, Irvine turned back to see the zombies turning the corner and moving towards their current location. Turning back to Selphie, he saw her gulp as she and everyone else moved up the stairs, the cowboy not far.
Irvine had to duck as the pinwheel flew over his head and decapitated a zombie before returning to Rinoa's arm. Even when this was happening, Selphie and Quistis were shooting off fire and blizzard elemental spells in hopes of slowing them down. Seeing as they were still catching up to them, Irvine figured that it was a vain attempt.
Finally, they reached another door and, unlike Irvine's previous actions, Laguna quickly turned the door handle and pushed it open, everyone following through the entrance way. Squall stayed at the door, holding it open for everyone else as they piled through it.
Irvine's hat flew off of his head, flying straight towards the zombies who cluttered the cramped space and, before he could even begin to debate whether or not he should go retrieve it, Selphie grabbed a hold of his arms and began to the task of dragging him back.
"Darlin'! My hat!"
"Forget the stupid hat!" Selphie grounded out in clenched teeth as she struggled to pull Irvine towards the door. A moment later, another pair of hands started dragging him, and Irvine looked up to see Squall, who had abandoned his position at the door in order to help the Galbadian Sharpshooter.
Taking one final glance at his trusty hat, Irvine stifled a groan as he followed his team-mates back towards the door, closing and locking it tightly behind them. Irvine slid down against the wall, panting heavily as Selphie knelt down beside him, gasping for breath. The rest of the group was in the same condition; out of breath and trying to get a gasp of oxygen before they began the process of escaping the zombie-infested building.
"Well…" Rinoa said, having been the first to catch her breath. "The stairs don't seem to work very well, either…"
"Better than the elevator, at least," Selphie said through gasps of breath, and winced as the memory of Zell's death was still fresh.
"Where's Kiros?" Squall asked, and Irvine scanned the area, noticing that the former Galbadian Soldier was nowhere to be seen.
"He stayed behind," Laguna said, his gaze resting on the floor. "He said he'd distract those things while we got out, and that he'd catch up to us."
Ward made a facial expression and Laguna, who understood what it was he was trying to say, nodded to him. "Ward says he'll be alright. And I agree with him. As much as I don't like the idea of leaving him behind, Kiros has gotten outta worse scrapes than this before."
There was silence as everyone took in the President's words. As Irvine took a look around, he noticed the disbelieving expressions on everyone's faces and knew that the words meant little to them. Not even Ultimecia had been this bad. There had been one of her, and she wasn't dead and walking around biting and scratching people.
Reaching up to his face, he traced the scratches he'd received from the monsters and wondered briefly if Zell was right about what they did. He definitely didn't revel the idea of turning into one of those biting things. Thinking back on it though, he shrugged it off as bullshit. Zell was gullible. He'd believe anything you told him just as long as you sounded serious. That was how he had been able to get to the brawler in the past. Even though he wished he had been a little nicer to the elder fighter now, he didn't believe a lot of the things that came out of his mouth at times.
"So…" Quistis asked after a moment of tense silence. "What now?"
The sudden sound of shattering glass broke everyone's attention and Irvine looked up to see a zombie arm wrapping around Squall's neck. He had been standing at the door, just in case those things tried to break it open and, while it was normally a good idea, there was a glass window near the top of the door. When the arm smashed through the glass, it had broken it as it reached to grab the first thing it could.
Immediately, Irvine raced forward, trying to pry the hand off the SeeD's neck while Selphie jumped up and, pulling out one of the backup knives she was given earlier, began the task of cutting through it. Quistis immediately fell to Irvine's side, trying to pry the fingers away from Squall's neck before any damage could be done and Rinoa quickly assisted Selphie in trying to cut the arm off.
Irvine had just removed the thumb and index finger from around Squall's neck, and gestured for Quistis to help the girls cut the arm. Ward had already made his move, immediately grabbing a shard of glass and trying to cut the arm, even as Quistis joined the fray.
The middle finger had been moved.
Squall raised his right arm and reached for one of his firearms, his left arm pinned against the door. The zombie reached it's head forward and prepared the bite the teenager when a bullet whizzed passed Squall's head and imbedded itself into the forehead of the zombie. It fell limp against the door, but barely a second later, three more arms replaced it, grabbed a hold of the SeeD's collar, as if preparing to pull him in through the window.
Irvine pried the last two fingers off of Squall's throat and pulled it back. The four who were breaking through the creature's skin halted their attempts and pulled the limb out of range as well before all of them grabbed a hold of Squall, trying to keep him away from the onslaught of monsters, with Laguna coming over to help them pull.
Irvine noticed that, once he was no longer pressed up against the door, Squall had pulled his arms into his jacket and, a moment later, all seven of them fell away from the door, while Squall's black beater jacket was pulled into the stairwell, the suddenly loss of weight forcing the zombies to fall backwards.
Everyone was gasping for breath at the close call. Squall reached up to his throat to see if anything was missing, and Irvine mentally commended Squall on his luck. There wasn't a single scratch on him from where the zombies had all grabbed a hold of him.
"Is everyone alright?" Laguna asked, over the moaning sounds of the zombies. Hands had suddenly returned to the window as more zombies began to push their way towards them.
"Shit." Squall cursed, rising to his feet. "They got my jacket…"
"Forget the stupid jacket," Irvine muttered, rising to his own feet.
Instead of simply agreeing however, Squall met Irvine with a level glare. "My throwing knives and ammunition were all in that 'stupid jacket'."
There was silence as it suddenly began to sink in. Without ammunition, it was only a matter of time before their long ranged weapons fell empty. The knives were infinite when used in close quarter fights, but they were very limited in the assortment when they were used as flying projectiles. Soon, they would end up with nothing to protect them, except their hands and feet, and given the fact that the monsters were biters and scratchers, Irvine wouldn't blame anyone for not wanting to be a martial artist.
Irvine was horrible in close ranged quarters, which was why he took up the riffle. You point, you pull, and you breathe; nothing simpler than that. Thus another reason why Irvine and Zell didn't quite see eye to eye; Zell was all for jumping into a crowd and kicking the crap out of them with his fists, while Irvine preferred the more subtle approach; shoot 'em from afar.
"We should keep moving," Squall's voice broke through the sharpshooter's thoughts. "That door won't hold for very much longer."
There was no argument as they began walking throughout the quiet corridors.