Knowledge is power.
- Thomas Hobbes
After Quistis had made her way down the stairs, she had run down the hallway of the fourth floor, turning the corner and stopping to catch her breath. Even as she took in gulps of air that her lungs had been deprived of during her sprint, the former instructor mentally vowed never to use that phrase ever again. Rinoa had been right stating that things usually got worse when you didn't think they would.
Straightening up, she looked around, expecting the rest of the group to have caught up by now, but was disappointed when there was no one around her. The last she remembered seeing of everyone had been when Irvine had been tackled by the dead dog above, but she didn't think they would have stayed behind for that, despite wanting to help the sharpshooter.
Her arm suddenly ached from where she had been bitten and the blonde SeeD gripped it in a vain attempt to stop the pain. Shutting her eyes tightly and gritting her teeth, she took in shallow breaths to control her breathing and soon, the pain subsided, leaving only a memory of its occurrence. Frowning to herself, she realized that, if she wanted to prevent the bite from becoming infected then she would have to head to the infirmary as soon as possible.
Thinking about it, she realized that if Zell had been correct then it would be pointless to treat the wound, as the damage would have been done already. Irvine had seemed sure that Zell had watched one too many movies, but Quistis wasn't completely convinced. So far, they had encountered dead people who had become reanimated as well as dogs who had suffered the same fate. The hallways were practically deserted and now everyone had split up from one another.
Besides, taking Zell's explanation out of the equation, there was no answer to what had happened to the people in the building.
Turning the corner to see if anyone else had followed her, she suddenly took in the familiar sight of a raven haired teenager dressed in black, accompanied by her collie dog. She would have never felt as much relief seeing the girl as she did at that moment.
It was true that Quistis and Rinoa both clashed at the best of times, but despite all of that, the former Instructor wished no harm on the resistance member, and was grateful to her for accomplishing something that most people could never even brush the surface of. While Squall was still very much withdrawn into himself, he was at least beginning to express himself more freely than he had ever done in his life. It was something Quistis had failed at and, despite her obvious dislike of the circumstances behind it; it was definitely an accomplishment that she would have taken in any way, even if she wasn't the one responsible for it.
Quistis approached the girl and, upon hearing footsteps coming behind her, Rinoa turned around, staring at the woman. Quistis slowed her movements as she came to stand a mere few feet away from the younger girl.
"Quistis?" Rinoa asked uncertainly and Quistis nodded in answer.
"Oh my god…" Rinoa suddenly collapsed onto the ground, her head buried in her hands, Angelo standing next to her appearing curious. Quistis bent down next to the girl as she sobbed openly. "What are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to get out of here with those things coming after us?"
Rinoa had a point. It seemed as though no matter where they went, those zombies were always in the way. It was almost as though they were herding them to a certain place within the building. But that wasn't possible. They no longer possessed the brain capacity to come up with an intricate plot like that. All they did was roam around, feeding on each other and anything that crossed their paths.
Shaking her head of such thoughts, Quistis chose not to voice her own opinions and instead comfort the girl next to her. "Rinoa, it's okay to be scared, but we'll make it out with everyone. It's going to be okay…"
"No, it's not going to be okay!" Rinoa suddenly burst out, turning baleful red eyes towards the elder girl. "We've already lost Zell, Kiros is probably gone too, and who knows if Irvine'll be alright! We left him behind! We left him behind! Everyone else just suddenly disappeared and we have no idea where they are, or whether they're okay or not!"
Before Quistis could get a word in edge wise, Rinoa continued her rant, tears suddenly streaming from her eyes. "Of course I'm not going to be scared! I'm downright terrified! And you can't tell me that you're not because you're white in the face!"
Quistis had hoped to hide her own fear and anxiety from the petrified girl, but with that exclamation she knew that her attempt had failed. Rather than lose her temper however, the blonde woman grabbed either of Rinoa's shoulders before the girl could collapse into herself again. "Rinoa, you need to calm down…"
"You fucking calm down!" Rinoa yelled, tears streaming down her face. She looked on the verge of a breakdown. "I've had enough!"
Although the pain set in almost immediately, Quistis raised her right hand and slapped Rinoa square across the face, shocking her out of her hysterical state. As soon as Rinoa quieted, Quistis forced her to look at her. "I know it's terrifying and you're right, I am scared. But we can't let panic overwhelm our senses. Those things are still out there, and we need to do our best to keep moving. We can't stay in one place for too long, or they'll catch up to us."
As if to agree with her, the sound of moaning resonated towards them, and both girls exchanged horrified glances. "By the sounds of it, they're nearly here. We need to hurry and get out of here."
Rinoa nodded numbly before rising to her feet and following after the instructor. After a second though, Quistis heard a slight whimper and something falling onto the ground before turning around to see Rinoa crouching over Angelo, who was lying on her side, tongue hanging out. Quistis turned back around, just as the moaning grew louder. "Rinoa, we don't have time! We have to go!"
"I'm not leaving Angelo." Rinoa said stubbornly, looking over the collie for any sign of what was ailing her.
"Dammit Rinoa, we need to leave."
"Too many people have died already," Rinoa continued, not even looking up at Quistis. "I'm not losing my dog either."
Running her hands through her hair, Quistis was about ready to scream in frustration. Rinoa had a stubborn streak that had a tendency to land her in trouble and now was not the time for her to execute that tendency. She was just about to point out the direty of the situation when she suddenly caught sight of something that made her lose whatever colouring she had left. Along Angelo's leg was a small scratch, and it was still bleeding lightly.
She must have been scratched by that dog… Quistis thought to herself dumbly. Which means…
Despite her disbelief of Zell's warning before he had fallen to his fate, Quistis was adamant that she was not about to take any chances and gamble with her life.
"Rinoa…" Quistis said in a shaky voice, trying to control her panic. "Get away from Angelo."
"You want me to do what?" Rinoa glared at the former instructor, her eyes ablaze in anger. "You want me to leave the only friend has been there for me? Are you insane?"
"I don't have time to explain. Just… get away from Angelo."
"I don't know what your problem is, but I'm staying with Angelo, and that's final! I can't move her, not if she broke something…"
"Angelo didn't break anything!" Quistis shouted before lowering her voice once more. "Look, we need to leave…"
"That's what you keep saying, but you don't understand! Have you ever had a parent die, only to have nothing for you to remember them by? Have you?"
The remark was a low blow, since Quistis had been raised in an orphanage. She didn't even remember what her parents looked like let alone how they had meant to her. But she understood the feelings behind the words. Rinoa believed that all she had left of her mother's memory was Angelo and, despite the possible end of the world scenario, she wasn't budging.
It didn't stop the words from stinging, however.
"Well I have!" Rinoa continued, oblivious to what it was she had just said. "My mother died when I was five years old and my father wouldn't look at me the same after that until he could barely stand to look at me at all, just because I look so Hyne-damned much like her! I had to put up with that for the next ten years before I finally got Angelo as a birthday present from Zone and Watts! So I dare you to tell me to leave my best friend behind, Quistis! I fucking dare you!"
Before Quistis could even respond, Angelo's breathing suddenly stopped and Rinoa's expression shifted from anger to excruciating pain. She clung onto Angelo tightly, her arms wrapped around the dog's middle and rested her face against the fur, sobbing hysterically.
As much as Quistis felt terrible for what had befallen the faithful collie, Angelo's death only increased her own fear. "Rinoa, I'm serious. We have to leave."
Rinoa didn't respond, only continuing to cry in the animal's fur.
Clenching and unclenching her fists, Quistis tried desperately to ignore the moaning creatures that were closing in on their location. She wanted to allow Rinoa the time she needed to grieve but their lives were in danger if they stayed any longer.
Just as she had resolved to just grab the hysterical girl and drag her with her down the hallway, she stopped in her movement as shock and fear took over.
Angelo's eyes popped open.
In the moment it took for Quistis to regain her senses, Angelo moved her head around and bit Rinoa in the throat, shocking the girl and snapping her back into reality. After a moment, Angelo pulled back, ripping out her victim's throat before releasing her grip, allowing Rinoa's body to drop roughly onto the floor beneath her.
Quistis' breathing quickened as soon as her mind registered the grisly sight. Rinoa hadn't even had a chance to scream when she'd been attacked. One second, the owner was grieving the deceased pet and the next, the owner had been killed by the deceased pet. She was positive that, had she blinked, she would have missed the entire exchange.
Angelo sniffed around her surroundings before suddenly whirling around and catching sight of Quistis.
Quistis stared at Angelo.
Angelo stared at Quistis.
As soon as Angelo's teeth were barred, the SeeD regained both her senses as well as control over her body and ran down the hallway, the opposite direction from where Angelo had been.
"Let go! Let go of me!"
Selphie continued to squirm in Ward's grasp, having finally snapped out of the trance she had fallen into. She kicked and pounded the back of the gentle giant's back in a vain attempt to escape.
If Ward had felt any of her attacks, he wasn't letting on.
The last thing she had recalled before falling into shock had been Irvine's words to her. The next thing she knew, she was being carted down a hallway, Sir Laguna in front while Ward held up the rear.
She hadn't seen anyone else with them.
"We have to go back!" Selphie shouted. "We have to help Irvy! We have to find everyone else!"
Ward didn't say a thing, but judging from the look on his face, Selphie knew he wanted to say something. Due to the injury he had sustained in his throat during his army days, Ward had lost the ability to speak. She had no idea whether or not he had learned sign language there-after, but Kiros and Sir Laguna were able to understand exactly what it was he was trying to say just by looking at him.
Selphie wondered if she would be able to do that with her friends if something like that happened.
Finally, Laguna looked behind him and, upon seeing the expression on Ward's face, Laguna nodded before directing his gaze onto Selphie. "He says 'I don't like leaving Irvine behind either, but we can't go back now, especially with those dogs up there'."
"But what if Irvy survives? What if he's in trouble and needs our help? I said let me go!"
"Ward says 'I'll let you down when I know you won't try to go back'."
Folding her arms across her chest, Selphie pouted. "Big meanie…"
It was then that Laguna had stopped walking and turned around to face the two of them. "We can't go back the way we came because of the risks. I agree with you that the others'll need our help, but how much help are we going to be if we get eaten by those zombies? None, right?"
Selphie frowned, but nodded in agreement.
"We'll find them. Nothing bad'll happen to them, we're all trained, right? They know how to survive."
Selphie wasn't the least bit convinced that they would be alright, but she knew that they did know how to fight back if necessary. She nodded her head in response. "I guess you're right. But if we split up, doesn't that make things worse?"
Laguna appeared thoughtful for a moment before answering. "From my experiences, it's bad for our side, but it's also an advantage. See, if we're all split up, then it makes it harder for the enemy to surround us, so it's near impossible to catch everyone, right?"
"But it weakens our attack and defensive power," Selphie pointed out.
"Right. It's like a double edge sword," Laguna explained. "We just have to careful, is all. And hope that we'll meet up with the others soon."
A moment of silence passed the trio before Ward made another facial expression. Laguna laughed lightly before turning to address Selphie. "Ward asks, 'can I put you down now without worrying about you running away?'"
Selphie sighed before nodding. It wasn't a good idea to go wandering off by herself anyway, especially given the circumstances.
As Ward released his grip on the tiny SeeD, Laguna returned to facing ahead of them, searching with his eyes in case the zombies jumped out in front of them before the trio continued walking. "Besides," he said, after a minute. "Irvine wouldn't have wanted you to stay behind, since you weren't infected."
"Sir Laguna, you don't actually believe that, do you?" Selphie asked. "I mean, Zell was bullshitting, like he always does."
"You didn't seem to think that when you told us about the dogs."
Selphie sighed. "It's more likely that whatever happened to these people happened to the dogs. Being scratched or bitten won't turn you into a zombie. That's something that can only be found in those movies Zell rotted his brain with."
"Well, right now, all we have to work with are those movies."
Frowning slightly, Selphie allowed the subject to drop altogether, allowing her thoughts to drift onto Irvine and the last words he had said to her. He was a flirt by nature, which could have meant anything, but he hadn't said it to Quistis or Rinoa as well. Selphie was a strong believer that, once someone was on their death bed the truth would come out by instinct.
Which meant that, if those words were true, then Irvine loved her.
But that didn't explain why he flirted with other girls all the time.
Scepticism spreading, Selphie folded her arms across her chest, trying to keep warm and resolved to get her answer when they found Irvine. It was starting to dawn on her that, despite it being summertime in Esthar, wearing a short yellow sundress wasn't exactly the smartest idea.
Their wandering led them inside of a sparse office room. Computer terminals and desks were aligned all along the edge of the room before curving around and ending on their left, forming a U shape. The window behind the terminals provided a breathtaking view and was slanted as though the ceiling were longer than the floor beneath their feet.
The desks were empty, the computers smashed and broken seemingly beyond repair, and the glowing lights in the floor that would have given them a means to contact the others were grey instead of blue, indicating that they were not operational.
"Well," Selphie said, breaking the silence. "if we wanted to make a call, that option's out the window now."
Ward nodded solemnly behind her.
Laguna stepped further into the room, Selphie and Ward following suit and, before they knew it, they were in the center of the room. Ward approached one of the terminals as Laguna stepped inside the communications booth, pressing a couple of buttons on the stand positioned in front of him and frowning when nothing happened.
Selphie followed Ward's example and positioned herself in front of another terminal, pressing the activation system that was supposed to bring the monitor online. Ward had moved onto another one, without its monitor having been destroyed and was trying the precise thing Selphie was.
Just as Selphie was about to give up and move onto the next terminal, a florescent blue light flashed on and, when Selphie turned back around, the terminal that she was just about to leave had finally booted up. "Whoo-hoo!" she shouted, forcing the elder men with her to jump in surprise. As soon as their attention was fixed onto the Trabian raised female, Selphie pointed excitedly towards the monitor, grinning as she spoke. "It works! I found one that still works!"
Immediately dropping whatever it was they were doing, both Ward and Laguna rushed towards the girl, standing behind her as she began tapping at the buttons displayed on the screen in front of her. "I'm just logging onto the network. Are there camera's installed into this computer?"
"Of course," Laguna said. "Just in case something happened to the workers and the cameras in the room got shot out."
Nodding to herself, Selphie waited patiently before the computer had finished booting itself and began searching the computers memory, the screen turning black for a moment before multitudes of images began popping up onto her screen. Frowning slightly, her fingers continued to fly up onto its surface as each image was pushed aside, the younger girl searching for something.
Finally, she hit the jackpot. Immediately, she opened the computer memory logs and widened the screen, so that it was the only object popped up in her line of view. Turning to look towards the others, she smiled and said, "You might want to sit down guys. I think we're about to find out exactly what happened here."
Pressing the enter button on the monitor, Selphie took her seat at the desk while Laguna and Ward pulled up chairs and did the same. As soon as it came on, Selphie's fingers returned to the screen, accessing the audio controls and fixing the volume settings.
At first, the screen was black, but a moment after the log had been started, static appeared across the screen before suddenly blinking out and revealing a man dressed in the Estharian garb, a purple stripe running down the front of his uniform. From what Selphie could see of his face, the man had to be no older than his late fifties, with light greying eyebrows and age lines across his face. Despite his weary appearance, however, his eyes held a fierce look of desperation.
"That's Harold Schipner," Laguna explained to Selphie. "He's the head of the communications department.
Selphie catalogued the name into her mind just as the Schipner began to speak to them. "If you are watching this, and everything is peaceful, then please feel free to destroy this message as it takes up considerable amount of memory. However, if you one of the lucky few survivors of the events that have begun to take place throughout the course of the last few days, then it means the rest of the technical support crew has been murdered.
"A little while ago, we heard a news report on a medical outbreak, one that could lead to harm if we did not report our symptoms to our medical physicians. Obviously, since this happens a lot in Esthar, people procrastinated, excusing their behaviour by explaining the consequences of dropping everything and waiting for hours and hours upon end just to be assured that everything would be alright. I myself cannot be excluded from this equation, and I severely warned those who wished to speak to their doctors, telling them that work was more important than some rumour of a new virus. If I could turn back the clock, I wouldn't have been so strict."
"Outbreak?" Selphie asked curiously. "What outbreak?"
"You didn't listen to the radio or the news this past week?" Laguna asked.
Selphie shook her head. "Nope. I've been busy hanging out with Rinoa and the others. Guess I don't really have an excuse.
"Well, let me give you the shortened version. There was some form of new virus that was discovered when someone came in complaining about symptoms. The doctors treated it, and then there were more complaints about the same thing. After that, the doctors made an announcement, warning everyone to report to their physicians if they find that they have the same symptoms."
"Which were…?"
"Nausea, pale pigmentation, lack of appetite, lethargic tendencies, light-headedness, that sort of thing. The later symptoms that were discovered after the original reports were sudden pain, and violent vomiting."
Pointing at Selphie, Laguna continued his explanation. "And you just said everything that any native Estharian would have said. No one seems to bother to listen to these kind of reports anymore, since the medical system has been looking into more and more of these cases."
"Those symptoms sound like the ones that one girl from the movie had," Selphie said, ignoring Laguna's comment. "The woman who got bitten at the beginning, remember? Her skin was slowly paling, and soon afterwards, she couldn't hold up her own weight? She was really weak and then she couldn't see and everything."
"After the outbreak became too much to deal with," Schipner continued with his explanation, oblivious to the conversation his superior and the Trabian raised brunette were having. "we sealed off a section of the city to ensure that the viral infection did not spread, before the medical staff residing in the Presidential Residence began working on an antivirus. For a little while we thought we were safe, even as the ones who were infected suddenly died. That is, until they started to get back up.
"They stormed through the quarantine equipment like it was nothing, knocking down people, scratching, biting and eating others. Even as they moved on, others who had been attacked after the fray were suddenly walking of their own accord, doing to others what had been done onto them."
"So Zell was right…" Selphie muttered. "You can turn into one of those things."
Her thoughts immediately fell upon Irvine, who had possessed scratches on his face the last time she had seen him.
There was a banging sound, and a few people's terrified screams could be heard behind Schipner. Turning around briefly, Schipner's features paled as he returned to face his unknown audience. "I don't have much time left. The Presidential Residence has been breached. People have slunk in through different exits, biting and scratching everyone and turning them into one of those things."
The banging sound became louder as more force was pressed upon the door, apparently keeping the zombies out of the room. "I don't know if the medical team has finished working on it, but there is a cure! I don't know where they would keep it either, but if you have been bitten or scratched by those things, I would say that the safest thing to do would be to kill yourself before you turn into them. From what we've gathered, damaging the top of their spinal column or massive brain trauma will kill them, but anything else will be ineffective."
Suddenly, the door behind Schipner blew open as a mass of zombies crawled into the room. In the background, the three occupants could see two other technicians trying to flee for their lives. One of the technicians, a young woman with strawberry-blonde hair managed to manoeuvre her way out of the room, however her left arm had a large chunk of skin missing, even as she pulled on the Estharian robes. Another one of the technicians, a man who appeared to be the same age as Schipner, was being pulled backwards from under his terminal, where he had been hiding and, having been surrounded, was screaming loudly as the monsters began to devour him.
The view was suddenly blocked as Schipner was grabbed by the zombies flanking him. His eyes grew more desperate as he turned his attention towards the zombies. "Help me! For the love of Hyne, Help –"
His plea for assistance was cut off when the feeds switched the static once more, shrouding everyone in its darkness. No one spoke for a moment, even as the snowy picture stared back at them.
Shakily, Selphie rose from her seat, checking her person to see if she had been bitten or scratched and was thankful to find that she had not been. If Zell had been there, watching what they had been, he would have said 'I told you so'. With no one there to say it, Selphie wished that they had all listened to his warning when he had still been alive.
"He didn't say how long it would take for someone to turn into one of those things," she said as she broke the silence, save for the static sounding nearby.
"I think it depends on our individual immune system," Laguna said. "It'd make some sense if it did."
Selphie nodded in agreement. Even with new viruses, the immune systems ability to fight back was different with each person. Deciding whether some lived and others died with its new outbreak, or how long it would take.
So if you have a really strong immune system it could take a while… Selphie thought to herself. That's got to be a real shitty way to die.
Just as Laguna was about to say something, the lights suddenly began to blink, before they shut off altogether. The white image of snow also blinked out and, when Selphie tried pressing the keys in order to get the system back up and running, did not blink back on again.
"Just what we needed," Laguna threw his hands up into the air. "A power outage. That's what Ward said, anyway."
Selphie pulled out the 5.7mm that Squall had given her earlier in the evening, raising it and holding it out, looking in different directions in case something jumped out from behind her. Because of the light of the sky shining through the windows, she was able to see the illuminated forms of Ward and Laguna, their weapons pulled out as well.
Sudden movement from her right caught her attention and, never lowering her weapon, Selphie whirled around, pointing towards whatever it was and wishing that she had junctioned her Guardian Forces for this. Normally, she would have, except that she was on vacation, so it wasn't necessary. Also, the theory that the Guardian Forces managed to make their junctioner forget important things such as childhood had been proven true through her team. Everyone excluding Irvine had forgotten that they had all been raised in the same orphanage when they were younger, until they had all been separated through adoption.
Since she didn't have the added strength the junctions would have awarded her, Selphie knew that she was on her own.
Laguna signalled to Ward and Selphie to search the room for the movement, and, nodding once, Selphie did as she was told, searching underneath terminals and behind debris and rubble that had once been technical equipment. She reached one of the closets nearby and, taking in a deep breath, she raised the gun in one hand as she reached out to open the door slowly, jumping back as soon as the task had been completed…
…and finding that the hidden room was empty.
Sighing in relief, she jumped as she suddenly heard Laguna cry out and fall onto the ground nearby, wrestling with one of the zombie workers before a sickening snap resounded throughout the room, the monster falling limp and Laguna sliding out from underneath it, with help from Ward.
"I think I've just verified Schipner's theory about the spinal column," Laguna said after a moment of checking himself for scratches, trying to fill the air.
Her gun still raised just in case the zombie tried to get back up, Selphie turned the creature over and her frown deepened. "This is Schipner."
Laguna and Ward congregated towards the body and, judging by their grim expressions, Selphie could tell that they too recognized the body. The man that they had just witnessed sending his warning was lying limply, his neck inclined in one direction with his milky eyes open, staring at one side of the office. He was still dressed in the same Estharian garb he had been wearing when making the broadcast, but there were bits of the fabric missing through bite marks, coagulated blood having soaked through the uniform.
"So much for killing himself when he became infected," Selphie muttered bitterly.
"There's still another two…" Laguna trialed off before turning to Ward, the gentle giant shaking his head dismayed. "Sorry, one left in here. Ward says that the last technician ran out of here just in time."
Selphie recalled seeing that and wondered vaguely where she had ended up.
Another sound was heard, and all three backed into each other, standing in a triangular formation, weapons raised and making sure that nothing could sneak up onto them.
They stood like that, weapons raised for a few precious moments before Selphie saw some movement from Ward's side. "Ward! Look out!"
Ward reacted, but not quickly enough.
The second zombie body they expected to see in the room jumped from its crouching form, before grabbing a hold of Ward's leg and biting through the fabric. Selphie jumped out of the formation and shot her weapon once, the bullet imbedding itself right through the skull. The zombie fell limp onto the ground, and Laguna wrenched the monster's grip free.
Ward fell backwards, landing in a sitting position on the floor, blood spilling onto the ground from the bite he had sustained. However, before they could do anything, the sound of something else scurrying around could be heard. As Ward tried tentatively to stand on his feet, Selphie and Laguna already aimed their weapons up into the air, watching for any trace of movement and listening for any sound indicating where the perpetrator was hiding.
When nothing revealed itself initially, Laguna signalled for Selphie to continue searching before moving towards Ward and helping him stand, even if it meant Ward would have to walk hunched over. Selphie watched them from the corner of her eye before concentrating and releasing a spell, never wavering from her readied stance. Having closed her eyes during the process, she slowly opened them and took in her surroundings.
Rather than the red, white and blue that normally stood out against each other despite the darkness blanketing her surroundings, the room took on different hues of grey. The fact that the power was out didn't hinder the scan spell as she searched all over, hoping to find any form of movement.
Immediately turning towards the zombies, she noted that their bodies had a blue signature, signifying that there was no heat signature and that they were dead. Looking up at Laguna and Ward, their bodies resonated red, yellow and orange tones, telling her that the two figures standing near her were alive and well.
So I have to look for a moving signature that's blue. Great.
Selphie mentally shook herself of these thoughts before scanning the room further, never pausing to close her eyes for a second, since the spell would dissipate once she did. Laguna and Ward appeared to be having a conversation but Selphie ignored it for the most part, concentrating on the task at hand.
Something moved from the girl's left and Selphie turned towards it, her weapon raised, only to watch as it skittered out of view. With the scan spell having been cast, Selphie wouldn't normally see any changes in the wall in front of her, however due to the darkness caused by the lack of power, as well as the info-red state the spell awarded her, she could tell very well what had been done.
The wall had scratches from where – whatever it was – had moved.
Blinking out of the scanned state, Selphie kept her weapon raised as she turned back towards Ward and Laguna. "We need to get outta here!"
"Is something here?"
Selphie nodded numbly. "Something we don't wanna mess with."
Laguna took the hint without asking further questions, Ward limping and trying to keep his balance and not knock Laguna over to the side at the same time. Selphie nodded and turned to follow them outside when she heard another sound coming from behind her. She raised her weapon and turned around, surprised to see that nothing was standing behind her. She had expected to see the familiar shuffling coming from the near endless number of zombies she had encountered that night alone.
Finding nothing standing behind her, Selphie turned back around in order to follow the other two—
—and screamed when she found something blocking her path.
The creature was three times the young girl's size; its skin corded and plated, no longer appearing as though it were human. It possessed opposable thumbs from what Selphie could gather, with long claws that grew from those thumbs and fingers attached to what the girl could only think to be its hands. It's spine was curved and elongated, forcing the creature to crawl unnaturally on all fours, scratching the surface with it's claws.
The worst thing about the creature was its eyes.
It didn't have any.
The head was humanoid, but the similarities ended with the bottom of the face. A brain-like tissue jutted out of the creature's skull.
Taking an instinctive step back, Selphie levelled her weapon at the creature. She had seen it once before, in the movie they had all watched seemingly years ago, when in actuality it had been earlier in the week. Zell had called it a Licker, and had explained that, apart from another creature named Nemesis, it was the single most horrifying thing anyone could ever run into.
As she looked into its eyeless gaze, the SeeD couldn't help but agree with him.
The Licker snapped open its mouth, widening its jaw line beyond proportions that shouldn't have been possible for a humanoid's ability and slashed out with it's insanely long tongue between a set of sharp teeth she wanted absolutely nothing to do with.
Selphie had the mindset to immediately duck down and roll out of the path of fire, the tongue following her closely as she moved. She had just pulled herself to her feet and was preparing to run after Ward and Laguna when the tongue ensnared her leg and pulled her, roughly, back onto the ground, the 5.7mm flying from her hand and landing near a wall of terminals.
Chancing a look behind her, Selphie screamed loudly as she saw the Licker crawling towards her, the part of its tongue that could move swerving back and forth as it moved. Before it could pull her closer towards itself, a shot sounded and Selphie saw the bullet imbed itself in the center of the tongue, forcing the creature to cry out in agony.
Taking the opportunity, Selphie pulled out a combat knife and, very quickly, sliced it through the tongue, blood spilling onto the ground nearby as she backed away from the screaming monster. A moment later, Laguna pulled Selphie up to her feet and pulled her backwards, shock having taken over and rendered her legs useless. Ward leaned behind the wall and was firing at the creature from the gun Selphie had dropped, gritting his teeth through the pain as he did.
Selphie looked behind her once again, seeing the Licker seemingly glaring at them before it suddenly jumped upwards, scaling the wall as if it were second nature. She didn't need to see the claw marks imbedded in the floor to know they were a perfect match to the ones she had seen earlier through the scan spell.
They reached Ward, who was searching aimlessly for where the creature had gone. Because the room was dark, the Licker held the advantage, being able to crawl quickly and detect its prey as if it were nothing.
Ward gave Laguna a look, and Selphie would have gladly given her left arm (had she not have a use for it at the moment) to understand what Ward was trying to say this time, but judging by the expression that quickly crossed Laguna's features, Selphie figured that it wasn't a good one. "No."
Ward gave him another look, looking up at the ceiling at the same time, as if tracking the monster.
"I said no, Ward." Laguna said firmly. "Kiros said the same thing and we haven't seen him in hours."
"What did he say?" Selphie asked and was surprised to find that her voice quivered for a second.
"Ward says," Laguna hesitated for a second, his eyes also scanning for the elusive creature. "He says that he wants us to get out before him and that he'll follow in a second."
"But all it takes is a second," Selphie said.
"He says, 'Laguna can't carry both of us and you can barely stand, let alone walk.' He says, 'I can at least limp away. It's just a bite and if we find the antidote, we can use it to treat me'."
When he was finished speaking for his long-time friend, Laguna frowned deeply. "He's right though. I really can't carry both of you. And if Ward carried you, it would overbalance you both. We can't have that."
"So it's literally a choice of who gets to survive and who doesn't?" Selphie asked indignantly.
Ward shook his head and, upon seeing the expression on his face, Laguna hesitated for a moment before nodding at his friend and translating. "It's not a choice of survival. It's simply a choice of who gets out of this room first. You guys go in front of me, and I'll be a little ways behind. Trust me. We're all getting out of here. I don't intend to stay behind any more than either one of you."
Selphie looked between Laguna and Ward, wondering what was going on in their minds at that moment. She knew that it was only a matter of time before the Licker came out of its hiding spot, but she didn't want to live just because someone else died.
Finally, Laguna nodded tersely before pulling Selphie with him towards the door, Ward pulling himself to his feet and beginning to limp behind them.
"What're you –?" Selphie questioned but was interrupted by Laguna.
"You heard him. He's coming out of here with us," Looking back, Selphie could see Ward following as closely as he could, occasionally grimacing through the pain in his leg.
Cursing herself, she wished that she hadn't gotten jelly-legged at a time like this. Her training should have prevented the panic from taking over, but instead it failed her.
Then again, she wasn't trained to stand up to creepy looking dead things that kept getting up when you shot them.
C'mon Tilmitt… she thought to herself. It's easy. Just put one foot in front of the other. You can do it. You have to. You can't become a burden to everyone else. No one needs a burden, especially not now.
Slowly, little by little, she was able to move her left foot, put it in front of her right before putting her right foot in front of her left. Smiling despite the grim circumstances, she continued this procedure, slowing the pair down as Laguna helped her balance before she was capable of walking on her own power.
"The shock's wearing off!" She grinned at Laguna, who smiled back and gave Ward the thumbs up. Ward smiled in response.
"You could go give Ward a hand now," She smiled as they reached the door. "Not that I'm not grateful for your help, Sir Laguna."
Laguna nodded once, but before he could respond, something caught his eye and he looked up. Selphie did the same, before catching sight of the same sickeningly familiar tongue that had appeared no more than a few moments ago. It was climbing down from the ceiling above them, staring at them easily despite the fact that it possessed no eyes.
Selphie gripped the 5.7mm in her hand and shot two bullets into the creature, only succeeding in puncturing its face and it crying out in fury rather than pain. Before she could fire off another round, however, she found herself pulled up from the ground and shoved out the door, a loud slamming sound resonating throughout the corridors. Upon realizing that the door had shut, she immediately rose to her feet, looking around and finding Laguna pulling himself up into a sitting position. They shared a look and realized exactly what had just happened.
Ward wasn't with them.
Both of them darted towards the door and, as Laguna tried punching in a key code, Selphie slammed her fists into the metal object, trying to pry it open with force.
"The controls aren't responding," Laguna said, sounding like he was fighting the panic from showing in his voice. "They must have been affected by the power outage." Frowning slightly, Laguna glared at the machine balefully as he walked away from it. "The back up power should have come on by now."
"We need to get him outta there!" Selphie continued to claw at the door, but she wasn't leaving any marks on its surface, let alone opening it. "We can't just leave Ward in there with that thing!"
Selphie suddenly caught Laguna's gaze falling onto the ground beneath their feet and, upon turning her attention towards the floor, she stepped back as she noticed the puddle of blood seeping through the gap under the door. Both returned their gaze to eye level before returning it towards the door before them.
"Did Ward kill that thing?" Selphie asked hopefully.
Laguna sighed in response. "As much as I'd like to think that, I doubt that that was the case."
He was suddenly interrupted by a loud pounding and a small dent appearing on the door. Another dent was formed, slightly bigger than the previous one and both took another step back. "We should keep moving."
"But what about—?"
"Ward got us out of there for a reason," Laguna interrupted her. "If we just let that thing kill us, it'd all be for nothing."