If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.
- Murphy's Forth Law

It was then that Irvine realized something important. He hated the quiet.

It was too nerve racking compared to the normal hustle and bustle that the halls would be filled with during the day and, sometimes, during the night. Something could jump out of nowhere and you wouldn't see it coming.

Of course, he still preferred the silence to the sound of those zombies moaning.

As they passed by a window, Irvine could plainly see that it was night. The sun had finished falling beneath the horizon, but there was no moon. According to the moon's cycle, they were supposed to have a new moon that night, where the sky seemingly did not have one. Normally, he wouldn't think much of it, but now, he thought it was damned creepy.

He wondered vaguely what time it was as everyone turned the corridor, looking for another set of stairs that weren't infested with the walking undead. He hoped that they'd be able to head down the stairs rather than up this time. He felt like he was in a cliché horror flick where the damsel in distress made the dumbass move of running up the stairs.

Zell had been obsessed with horror movies while he had been alive. Any horror movie that was named, Irvine would confidently bet money that Zell had watched it. While not being that into the movies, Irvine did love to watch them once in a while. Sometimes the plot interested him, other times he would rather fall asleep. The only thing that made them worth the while was the women who had conveniently forgotten to put on a bra, or if he were watching one with a lady sitting next to him.

Zombie flicks hadn't actually caught his attention. He preferred mummies or vampires to walking undead any day, saying that they were definitely scarier. Now, he could say without any doubt in his mind that Zombies ranked a higher level of ferocity in his head.

He was currently at the very back, just in case he needed to turn around and start shooting, while Laguna had taken point. Since he was the only short ranged fighter left, Squall was positioned in the very center, with Rinoa and Selphie behind and in front of him respectively. Ward was closely following Laguna and Quistis was in front of Irvine.

As much as Irvine hoped against it, he had to admit that the chances of Kiros returning to them alive were slim at best. He didn't want to say anything though, for Ward and Laguna's sake. The three of them had been friends for far longer than most people ever were, and he wanted the remaining two to have some hope of their friend coming back to them, even if it was false hope.

"Irvine…"

The voice startled the sharpshooter out of his thoughts before he realized that it had been Quistis who had spoken. Looking around, he noticed that no one else seemed to have heard her, and figured that it was because she hadn't wanted them to.

This thought intrigued him. Quistis didn't normally talk to him, mainly because of all the flirting he had done with her in the past. Out of all the girls he had known, Quistis had been the first to ignore his advances. Rinoa was the second, but at the time he had already known she wanted to get Squall's attention and, although Quistis had felt the same, he doubted that she would have given him the time of day even if she hadn't been. Knowing that she was trying to talk to him now stood out in his head and he figured he'd catalogue it under 'one of the things that will most likely only happen if there was threat of imminent death'.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he lowered his voice so that the others wouldn't hear him. "What is it? Finally decided to give the stud the time of day?"

Normally, Quistis would have said something along the lines of 'Knock it off, Irvine'. However, Quistis didn't comment on his flirting, and this had the sharpshooter worried. Instead, she slowed down so that they were walking side by side, both to keep an eye on the rest just in case they heard her as well as to make sure Irvine did hear her. "How long ago did you get scratched?"

Irvine blinked. No one had actually even asked him that. Selphie had appeared as though she wanted to , especially after Zell had mentioned the psycho babble theory of becoming one of them, but he wondered why Quistis was so anxious to know. Shrugging, he decided to answer her. "Durin' the dinner rush. One of those things attacked me." He decided to leave out the part where he had tried to flirt with her first. "You'd think that someone who works in the Estharian Residence would shorten her nails, wouldn't ya?"

She took no humour to the comment, which wasn't surprising at all. Instead, Quistis simply nodded. Silence fell between the pair before Irvine decided he wanted to know why she had asked in the first place.

Quistis beat him to the punch before he could form syllables. "I was bitten during sunset."

He stared at her agape before giving her a once over. She was dressed casually for a change, in a pair of black kakis, a pink tank top and an off-white sweater. The only thing that she was wearing that was constant was her black boots that reached up to the knee. Her hair was in a dishevelled ponytail, but it didn't even look like she cared.

There didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary on the eighteen year old, but he suddenly took notices of a white bandage sitting just below the sleeve of the sweater.

Quistis, however, didn't notice his visual inspection as she continued her explanation. "I was studying for the Instructor's Examination when one of the Presidential Aids came into my room. At first, I thought he was being rude when he didn't answer me, then I thought he might have gotten sick. The next thing I know, he bites me on the arm and then tries to bite me on my neck. I broke his neck in self defence.

"I figured that I would go to the infirmary to get it looked at, since the bite was so big, but then I ran into more of them, and Rinoa. By the time we'd left to warn Squall, the bite had slipped my mind."

Irvine nodded in understanding. At that time, they hadn't known what was happening, so there was no real reason for her to suspect that they were zombies.

The former instructor sighed before speaking once again. "Do you think that Zell was wrong before? When he told us what those things could do? That if we got scratched or bitten, that we'd…"

"Quistis, I'm amazed at you," Irvine said, shaking his head. "You actually believe Zell Dincht, of all people? He's just been watching way too many horror flicks. It ain't healthy."

"But a lot of what's happened is from that movie we watched, isn't it?" Quistis asked. "A virus that restores cellular structure, and re-animates the dead? The people who are infected – the ones who died – coming back to life and suddenly biting and scratching everything within sight, only moving forward on the simplest of instincts? Not even stopping or feeling any pain when it's been inflicted upon them?"

"Look Quistis," Irvine said, even though a lot of what she was saying did make sense. "Zell believed me when I told him that a mass murderer was hiding in his closet, getting ready to kill SeeDs, and that was when I was drunk. I probably didn't sound too convincing, and he still believed me. Like I said, he watched too many horror movies and it rotted his brain. I don't mean to talk disrespectfully of the dead," a pang of guilt hit him when he reminded himself of this fact. "but those are the facts. Zell was gullible. He'd believe anything anyone'd say, just so long as it wasn't coming from Seifer. We'll be fine. Just need to get it checked out is all."

Quistis nodded, however she didn't appear to be all that convinced. Still, he could see that her spirits had been lifted, and that made him feel a lot better. "Glad to see you're feeling better, darlin'. It always pains me to see a damsel who's depressed."

"Knock it off, Irvine," Quistis said flatly as she moved back to her position, ahead of the sharpshooter, rolling her eyes as she did.

Irvine grinned. Yep, she's definitely back to normal

After nearly an hour of walking through the desolate hallway of the third floor, they finally managed to secure a vacant stairwell. The only problem was that there were no stairs leading to the lower level, so the only option was to head up the stairs once again. Selphie had suggested that, once they reached a higher floor, they could circle back to a stairwell that did lead to the first floor and everyone had agreed, since there weren't any better suggestions.

Unfortunately, as they scaled the stairs leading up, their path was blocked by a roaming zombie, mindlessly drifting by. Rather than kill it and divert attention towards them, the group figured that it would be better to slink past, forcing them to scale higher than they wanted to. After three flights of stairs, they found a clear pathway through the door leading out onto the sixth floor and passed through it.

After Quistis had spoken to him, Irvine had begun to wonder whether or not Zell's warning was, in fact, verified. He knew that there was only one way to find out, but he didn't revel in the idea of dying just so the question would be answered, nor did he feel it fair for Quistis to die for the same reason. Instead, he tried not to think about what could happen in the event the brawler had been right.

The formation had not changed since they had begun moving from the original stairwell, and no one spoke for the duration of the trip. Weapons were held at the ready, despite their depleting ammunition, as they kept an eye out for their undead attackers.

Finally, having had enough of the silence, Irvine heard Selphie take a breath before speaking. "You know, I just thought of something."

"What is it?" Squall asked.

"Well, do you remember in the movie that there were other things besides the zombie people to worry about?"

"Like what?" Laguna asked from his position. The echo resounding through the hallway, it was easy to hear what the Trabian SeeD had said.

"Well, there were these large monster things that Zell had called Lickers," Selphie explained. "They were almost human like, but they didn't have any eyes, and their tongues stretched to approximately three to four feet ahead of them. According to Zell, they were also razor sharp. They crawled on the walls and ceilings and everything."

"Great…" Quistis muttered. "I definitely don't want to run into one of those things."

"Me neither," Irvine commented, shivering as he did. He had also recalled that, in the sequel, a group of people had been attacked by three of those suckers.

"We can't forget about the dogs either," Selphie said.

"Dogs?" Rinoa whimpered, with Angelo walking closely beside her.

"Yeah, don't you remember? They were dogs that had been tested in the laboratories, but because of the virus in the movie, they ended up dying and their skin was falling off and everything. It looked really gross." Selphie shivered at the reminder. "They're faster than the people zombies are, but not as fast as the Lickers."

"Well you'll be happy to know that we don't allow animal testing in the facility, or anywhere in Esthar," Laguna stated, somewhat proud of this fact.

"Thank Hyne…" Squall muttered under his breath.

"Although there are places where the soldiers used to train…" Laguna trailed off as he paled. Even Irvine could tell from where he was positioned the change in the elder man's colouring.

There was silence following that remark before Laguna gulped audibly and finished his sentence. "…Dogs."

"Why not?" Quistis said, throwing her arms up into the air. "We've been through everything else, why not zombie dogs?" Folding her arms across her chest, she frowned deeply. "Like this day…"

"Don't say it," Rinoa suddenly burst out, stopping and stalking towards the blonde SeeD.

Quistis blinked, startled by the action as everyone else stopped walking. "Don't say what?"

"Don't say 'This day can't get any worse'!" Rinoa clarified. "If you do, then things won't get anything but worse."

Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Quistis sighed loudly. "Rinoa, that's just a silly superstition."

"Oh yeah?" Rinoa asked, getting into the former Instructor's face. "When we were in Deling City, just before we got arrested, we were losing the fight against the Sorceress. We didn't think things could get any worse then, and what happen? Squall got skewered by an ice spear and nearly died! So don't tell me that it's nothing but a silly superstition!"

Once again silence enveloped the group in its grasp before it was finally broken. "Squall got what?" Laguna asked, sounding completely lost.

Allowing his face to drop into his hand, Squall rubbed the bridge of his nose before looking back up at the others. "Nothing is going to come out of arguing, so I suggest we keep moving."

Everyone exchanged glances with one another but dared not to argue. They knew that he was right, and that the noise would undoubtedly attract unwanted attention.

Just before they made a move however, they heard something up ahead. Something that sounded distinctively like paws hitting the solid ground beneath an animal's feet. All eyes turned to Angelo, who stood staring at the group, her tail wagging as she stared back at them.

"If that's not coming from Angelo…" Quistis started.

"Then where's it coming from?" Selphie finished.

No one answered the question. Irvine figured that it was because no one wanted to.

"Here's a thought, Selphie," Laguna said. "If you have any more thoughts that may turn the situation worse for us, kindly keep them to yourself."

Selphie gulped and nodded timidly.

The padding footsteps suddenly grew in sound, and soon it sounded as though more were joining in its wake. Slowly, Squall turned to look to Laguna. "What floor did you say those training exercises took place?"

"A couple of floors above where we are now."

Everyone turned to stare at Laguna. Even Ward was staring at him, despite the fact that he should have known this information as well.

"Well, you never asked," Laguna defended himself.

Before anyone could move however, the sound was finally matched by a distinct creature turning the corner and no one could hold back their shocked expressions. Irvine couldn't blame them.

You didn't need to be a brain surgeon to know that the dog was dead.

It had been a Doberman while it had been alive, and still sort of resembled one. The only problem was that blood was caked all around it, making its normally black coat appear dark red. Half of its throat was missing and it had an abnormally large gash on its side.

It stared at them, and they stared at it.

Then it charged.

As soon as the dog got within leaping distance, everyone dodged to the side in a frozen sense of panic and shock. The dog gracefully landed on its feet before whirling around, growling and baring its darkened teeth at them before charging again.

At this point, all shock had disappeared and was replaced with the logic that told them to run.

As they darted down the hallway, Irvine looked back to see the dog gaining momentum, catching up to them as if it were nothing. Selphie had been right; those fuckers were fast.

Once again, everyone dodged, the dog skidding to a halt before leering at each and every one of them, growling as it did.

Angelo growled back and charged towards the other canine, despite Rinoa's protests, biting her enemy in the side. The monster dog didn't even register the pain as it backed up and spun towards the still living dog. Angelo wisely chose to back up, her teeth still bared, even as the zombie advanced, licking its lips as it did.

Laguna had barely enough time to scoop the dog up and jump out of the pathway, barely avoiding being bitten on the leg, returning the breathing animal to her owner.

Just as the zombie dog was about to attack once again, two shots stopped it in its tracks, having been aimed in front of the animal. Irvine fired another round from his 45 LDA, directing his attention towards the others. "It's just one dog! I can take him!"

"We're not leaving anyone else behind," Squall shouted back.

"It's just one dog! I'll be there in a sec! Just go already!"

"The hell we are!" Selphie stated, holding her ground.

Irvine was about to protest when the dog suddenly lunged at him, tackling him just as he was able to twist his body and forcing him to fall onto his back. The Galbadian Sharpshooter grabbed a hold of the dogs mouth and held it wide open, to prevent his face from being torn off. "Dammit, I said I'll be okay! Now move it!"

"He's right!" Laguna said. "We need to hurry before all of this racket attracts more attention!"

"NO!" Selphie shouted stubbornly. "I won't leave him."

"Selphie, just go!" Irvine said as he fought off the dog. "I love you too much to let anything happen to you."

Selphie was about to retort but she was struck shocked by the admission. Ward took this opportunity to easily pluck the tiny SeeD up and carry her, firefighter style, over his shoulder as he and Laguna darted off towards the left. Quistis and Rinoa headed through another entranceway with Angelo in toe, probably locating a secret stairwell as Squall, albeit hesitantly darted straight down the hallway in front of them.

Irvine cursed as he lost sight of the others. The last thing anyone wanted to do was to split up, and yet that was just what everyone else did. They probably hadn't thought much of it, but in the end it was going to do them far more harm than good.

Finally, Irvine managed to break the hell-beasts neck and pushed the corpse off him as he rose to his feet. Feeling pain in his chest, he suddenly realized that the dog had managed to scratch him further during the struggle, but that was the least of his problems. Looking at his reflecting through the windowed door that Quistis and Rinoa had gone through he noted his paling features. His hair had also fallen out of the ponytail he had set up, and was sitting in his face along with his bangs that stuck to his forehead, some of the long strands sitting in a tangled heap over his shoulders as the rest of it fell down onto his back. He also wasn't feeling all that great.

Cursing his luck, he refused to admit that there was a possibility that Zell had been right. There was no way that he was turning into one of those flesh eating monsters, and there was definitely no way that he was going to join those said monsters in making a feast out of the rest of his friends.

He was just about to follow the path that Squall had taken in order to catch up to him when growling from behind caught his attention. As he turned around to look, he lost all control of his body to the fear and panic that had been building up for hours now.

There was a whole pack of dogs staring back at him.

One was missing an ear.

Two had lost half their faces.

One was missing its tail.

One had at least two broken bones.

"Oh shit."

He knew then and there that he wasn't going to make it.

Even as he pulled out the USP and his remaining 45 LDA still sitting in his pockets and began firing at the creatures, he knew that he was going to die where he stood. But he would be damned if he didn't go down fighting.

The last thoughts that ran through Irvine's head as the five dogs attacked was that Rinoa had been right. If you say something can't get any worse, it usually does.