One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.
- Bertrand Russell

As soon as the panel door shut behind him, there was a pounding sound along the wall, nearly knocking the dust and plaster down from their surroundings. Laguna had thought he had seen Nicholas round the corner as he pulled the door closed behind him, and cursed the knowledge that it had taken him so long to find the button that led into their musty surroundings.

It was pretty dark, but light enough that he could see the others nearby. Quistis was in the middle of a hacking fit – probably from the dust and smell of plaster – and Squall was trying to help her breathe. Laguna didn't like the smell much either, but at least there was a wall between them and… whatever the hell Nicholas actually was.

He had heard of people surviving with knives in their brains but this was ridiculous.

Still, they couldn't stay where they were, not for long, and Laguna knew exactly why.

"I think Nicholas knows which part of the wall we went through." Laguna told the other two, once Quistis had stopped coughing. "If he finds the lock that opens the door, he'll catch us."

"Then we better get moving," Squall said, standing up and helping his remaining comrade up at the same time. The duct they had crawled into was high enough that they could walk upright without hitting themselves in the head. Squall took point, supporting Quistis as they walked and Laguna wasn't too far behind them. The tunnel being too narrow for three people to walk side by side.

Suddenly the tunnel started to slope in the direction opposite of where they were heading, changing the journey to an uphill trek. Laguna had a faint idea as to where they were heading, but didn't say anything, looking behind him and keeping an eye out for Nicholas, in case he did find the right button. He wouldn't have an idea as to where they were going otherwise. He just hoped there'd be a big enough time gap that Nicholas couldn't fill it.

After what felt like an eternity of walking, Quistis finally broke the silence that had fallen upon them. "Hey Squall."

"Yes?" Squall asked and, for lack of anything better to do, Laguna listened.

"Just to let you know, if the anti-virus doesn't work, and I turn and bite you, I apologize ahead of time."

The comment caught Laguna off guard, but whether it had done to same to Squall he didn't know. There was a moment's pause before Squall finally responded. "Yeah, well… in the unlikely event that the anti-virus doesn't work and you turn, I apologize in advance for shooting you in the head."

"Do you promise you'll shoot me?" She asked and Laguna couldn't help but chuckle.

"Promise."

"Hey, if she fusses, can I hold her down?" Laguna joked and he noticed Squall cracked one of those rare smiles the others had been talking about.

Dammit if he couldn't look anymore like Raine… he thought to himself as they continued walking.

A little while after the exchange had been made, Squall was the one who broke the silence. "How much longer are we supposed to make our way through here?"

"I think we're almost there," Laguna said.

"You think?"

"Let's just hope Laguna's right," Quistis asked tiredly. "No more fighting, please."

As if to emphasize her words, Laguna saw Squall stop and upon looking over his shoulder realized that they had finally made it. He manoeuvred his way past the teenagers and began the process of pushing out the plaster that blocked their exit out of the way, Squall setting Quistis down and moving to help him out. Soon afterwards, the plaster fell forward, into the room they were about to enter and Squall jumped out first, Laguna picking up Quistis and carrying her with him as he followed suit.

Upon taking in the sight of the room, Laguna realized that his sense of direction was getting better. They were in his office, located at the very top of the Estharian Presidential Residence. His desk was situated in front of a large looking map that had multi-coloured pegs positioned in different areas, mostly to colour-code exactly which route led where. Laguna still wasn't very good at navigating the streets of Esthar and wondered exactly how anyone could get from point A to point B as quickly as they did. There were a few chairs sectioned off along the walls, and even a small couch just in case Laguna got tired and didn't want to return to his suite.

Squall seemed to have realized where they were, frowning slightly before he made his way over towards Laguna's desk. Laguna didn't argue. He knew well enough that there was a communications device that could normally stay functional, even if there was a city-wide power outage. Obviously, the SeeD was looking for a way to contact the outside world, probably get them emergency Evac.

He turned to look at Laguna, who had approached him and was gently setting Quistis down against the desk, and shook his head, causing the elder man to frown. It wouldn't activate.

"There goes that plan," Laguna said. "I guess all we do now is do a sweep around the room, maybe look for a phone or something, and head back downstairs."

"Not the best plan, but it's all we've got, I guess," Squall said but, before either man could make a move, they heard scuffling coming directly from the path they had taken. Squall and Laguna exchanged glances before Squall moved towards the plaster and picked it up, placing it in the gap they had emerged from and blocking the entrance into the room. Laguna opened the panel box for the communications device, and frowned at the amount of wiring that he was presented with. Each wire was different, and he didn't even know how to start rigging it so that it would send a message to the outside world – even if it was scrambled.

"Laguna! Give me a hand over here!" Squall shouted and, when Laguna looked over, he saw the SeeD was having a great difficulty in keeping Nicholas at bay single handedly.

"How much longer can you hold him off on your own?" Laguna asked.

"You think I know?" Squall shouted and was nearly thrown off balance as Nicholas pounded at the plaster blocking his path.

"Try to hold him as long as you can! I'm gonna try and rig the COM system!"

"Laguna!" Squall shouted, but he couldn't move from his position. Laguna ignored him and turned back to the communications system, even as the banging noises got louder. From what he could see, the com system was just fine. In fact, it was telling him that all systems were operational. That wasn't even remotely possible…

…Unless someone was jamming any frequency from reaching the outside.

Cursing, Laguna resolved to find a phone and attach the working components to the device when a hand tightly gripped his shoulder, startling him. He turned around to find Quistis standing right next to him, her pale features even more pronounced in the light than they were in the dark.

"Quistis!" Laguna gasped, relieved to see that it was only the blonde SeeD. "Don't do that. You damn near scared the living shit outta –"

He immediately stopped when Quistis snarled at him, her teeth blackened with decay as she lunged forward, tightly gripping him by the neck and trying to bend down low enough to bite him in the shoulder. Laguna's back was up against the desk. Each time he pushed her back, she leaned forward with just a bit more weight and he didn't know how much longer it was going to be before she finally overpowered him.

He cursed loudly, catching teenager's attention, who took in the situation with a startled and panicked expression. He couldn't move without allowing Nicholas access into the room, but he couldn't let Laguna get killed by a zombie, even if less than a minute ago she had been a comrade.

Finally, Laguna was able to adjust his grip so that he was pushing against her forehead, just as Quistis was about to bite him in the face and, mentally apologizing to her, he pushed hard, a loud crack emitting in the room. Quistis' limp form fell onto the ground beside his desk, and it almost looked as though she was just asleep.

Wishing he could take a moment of silence out of respect, he turned towards Squall and shouted at him instead. "Squall! We need to leave! Now!"

Squall grit his teeth before removing the plaster panel from the gap in the wall and, before Nicholas could jump into the room, cast two spells one right after the other. The first resembled a set of white wings, which attached themselves onto the man's back, forcing him upwards and the other was a gust of wind protruding from the SeeD's upturned palm, forcing Nicholas back into the passage and, hopefully, further away from them.

Squall immediately put up the plaster panel and raced over towards Laguna, having to pass the body of the only other comrade who had made it this far and approached the President, who had already opened the door. As soon as they were on the opposite end, both pushed the door back into its closed state, the last sight either of them having was the prone form that had formally been Quistis Trepe.

Laguna didn't know how long they had run after that, only that time seemed to blur as they raced towards the nearest set of stairs, the darkened night time sky seemingly lighter than it had been before. Daybreak was coming. It'd be easier to manoeuvre through the Residence during the light hours. They turned another corner, not bothering to look behind them to see if anyone or anything was following them and finally stopped to catch their breath. It wouldn't be a good sign if either of them collapsed from lack of oxygen in their lungs.

He saw movement from the corner of his eye but knew it was just Squall falling into a sitting position against the wall, his left hand still gripping the leather strap of the side bag he still had. After seeing the anti-virus fail to save Quistis' life, he wondered if it was any good at all.

But we didn't account for how far gone the infected victim would be when it was administered, Laguna reasoned to himself. She had already lost her sight when she got the shot; maybe there's a time limit. If that's the case then we were just too late…

Unfortunately, there was only one way to find out whether or not the anti-virus truly worked, and he doubted either himself or Squall would be willing test subjects. Hell, he knew for a fact he didn't want to get scratched or bitten by any of those things. Laguna guessed that their best bet would be to keep the anti-virus with them, just in case one of them was unfortunate enough to get infected with the outbreak virus.

"We're pretty close to the stairwell," Laguna said. "I didn't see any of the zombies lurking around, but we shouldn't stick around any longer. Nicholas might be following our trail even now."

Squall didn't answer him, and Laguna assumed that he had gone into his own little world to think about something. From what he knew about the workaholic SeeD, that was pretty much something he did all the time.

He's probably thinking about the others, Laguna thought to himself and he understood completely. It was all he could do to distract himself from the fact that Kiros and Ward were gone, and now Squall was the lone survivor of his team, most of them consisting of people he had grown up with, according to popular discussion. But thinking about the loss made it hurt even more, and they didn't need the grief to blind them. They could think about it as much as they needed to once they got out of the Presidential Residence, but right now, they needed to actually get out of the building.

Laguna knew that they were on the top floor. There were two choices. Go to the roof, where there was probably some form of transportation left over, or head all the way back down to the first floor and head out of the building on foot. The former soldier very much doubted the possibility that any of the air-carriers positioned on the helipads upstairs were operational. They all functioned with a microchip that was proportionate to the city's power supply. Since the power was out, it was likely the crafts were grounded.

Which leaves us with option B… Laguna frowned thoughtfully. Hyne, I love options. 'Specially when there really aren't any good ones.

Laguna didn't even consider option C: staying inside of the Presidential Residence in hopes that someone would find them. It was very unlikely that anyone sane who had managed to escape unscathed was still in the city after this long a period of time, not to mention Nicholas was still at large. Who knew what he was up to, let alone what he was planning to do to them if he caught up to them.

Laguna for one didn't want to find out the hard way.

Having finished recovering from the dead sprint, he pulled out the PDA and took a good look at it before recalling that he couldn't distinguish the overlapping lines that crisscrossed in front of his vision. Sighing, he turned towards the remaining SeeD, who had yet to rise from his sitting position and, after a moment passed, he cleared his throat, hoping to get his attention.

If he had heard, he wasn't showing it.

Sighing once again, Laguna frowned, folding his arms across his chest. "It's like talking to a wall…" he muttered.

Once again, he received no response.

Allowing his arms to drop to his side, he started to worry. From what the others had told him, once any sudden movement or sound was made, it jarred the SeeD out of his mental musings, but this time it wasn't working.

"Squall?" He tried, but once again, he received no answer.

It really is like talking to a wall… Laguna thought to himself. No response whatsoever.

He closed the small distance between the two, crouching down in front of the teenager and trying to examine his facial expression, except the strands of hair that served as the younger male's bangs blocked his view. Laguna knew instantly that he had allowed the boy to brood longer than he should have. "I don't mean to sound insensitive, but we should really keep moving."

Laguna wasn't really expecting the younger boy to respond and was surprised when he did. "I can't."

Laguna's first instinctual move was to check him for any injuries, but didn't find anything out of the ordinary at first glance. There didn't appear to be anything broken or sprained, and there were no scratches or bite marks marring his skin. The former soldier raised an eyebrow in confusion. "As ironic as this may sound, you're fine."

Squall had raised his left hand and allowed his face to fall into it as the elder man had spoken to him. Laguna honestly didn't see anything physically wrong with the teenager, but when the SeeD removed his gloved hand from his face, he instantly knew what was wrong. He looked exhausted, almost defeated, sparing the elder man a despairing expression.

Survivor's guilt… Laguna realized belatedly. He should have known. He had felt it after Ward had died, but had pushed it aside in favour of convincing Selphie to keep moving. He had felt an obligation to her, to make sure she didn't end up the same way because Ward had sacrificed his life for theirs. Squall probably didn't feel that kind of obligation towards him, and had only been holding on because of the hope that maybe, just maybe, the anti-virus would work and Quistis would survive. Unfortunately, they had both been wrong in that respect and as a result he was giving into the despair that had hit him hard.

Considering how many of his comrades – his friends – there were originally, and how many have died… how long has he been carrying this guilt for?

Thinking back on each individual death they had witnessed or heard about (no matter how painful it might have been for him), he realized that it could have started as early as the previous evening. While everyone else had been frozen into immobility, Squall had been the first to react when Zell had been grabbed from behind. He had tried to help the others escape the elevator lobby, only to discover that they had left one behind and had, no less than an hour later, been forced to leave another friend behind, only to return and find him in a similar state as pretty much everyone else in the building. After running into Nicholas, he had returned to the Residence in hopes of finding the others, only to discover that two more had died, one of which was his girlfriend no less and, soon after that, another of his friends blew themselves up in order to protect them. It was a small wonder why he reacted so badly when the last of his friends had died, finally succumbing to the virus that had started this whole mess in the first place.

Each different circumstance stacked on top of the other and Laguna was convinced that nothing short of therapy was going to help him recover from this.

That is, if we survive to talk about it.

"I mean I can't." Squall repeated himself, jarring Laguna out of his thoughts. "After everything that has just happened, you expect me to just be able to pick up and proceed like nothing has happened? I know that's what SeeDs are supposed to do, but how can you tell me to do something like that? Act like nothing happened, when everyone else is dead?"

"I don't expect you to just forget about them…" Laguna started, but was interrupted.

"It's not fair. It's not fucking fair! How come I get to make mistakes and still manage to come out of this okay whereas the tiniest slip up screws everyone else over? How the fuck is that fair? I—" he cut himself off, allowing his head to fall back into his upturned palms before his shoulders began to visibly shake and his voice cracked. He was almost at breaking point. "I can't do this anymore! I… I just can't."

From everything he had been told about the teenager that sat before him, he had been absolutely astonished that he never gave up on anything important to him. Rinoa and Quistis had both told him of how Squall had jumped out of one of the escape pods from the Lunatic Pandora in order to rescue Rinoa right after Ultimecia released her from her possession. They had told him of how they both would have died in outer space if they hadn't managed to find the Ragnarok floating nearby and boarded the former Estharian Flag Ship. When he had asked them why he had done it, Quistis had told him it was because he had been so adamant to find a way to save Rinoa that he genuinely wanted to physically do something that would rescue her. Rinoa had been adamant that she would have died out there had he not actually come after her.

After meeting him in person, Laguna's first impression of the teenager had been that he was a robot in human clothing. The impression shifted from that personification to a workaholic robot in human clothing. But now he was actually seeing the real person behind Squall Leonhart for the very first time. He was seeing an actual human being with feelings and emotions, just like everyone else in the world. Right now, the person in front of him was terrified, heartbroken and depressed, having lost pretty much everyone for whom he cared and Laguna couldn't help but sympathize with him. To make matters worse, he felt guilty that he had somehow come out of this alive, where the others had fallen trying to protect him and the rest of their friends.

"I never asked to be the leader," Squall continued, regardless of whether he knew Laguna was actually listening or not. "Never asked for the recognition or the acknowledgement. I didn't want anyone looking up to me for a decision, but it happened anyway, and it's my fault the others are gone. They looked to me for a way out and I failed."

"I know how that feels." Laguna said gently, knowing he needed to calm the other survivor down. If there was a way out of the building he wanted for the both of them to get out. He didn't want anyone else to die like this. "I got put in charge of a country that I was raised to hate, and I make difficult decisions everyday. People expect me to be able to run the country efficiently everyday, and most of the time I don't even want to get up in the morning. But this isn't about any of that. I don't know why we're the ones who get to survive, but do you think the others would want to see you like this? Sitting here on the floor feeling sorry for them and for yourself? I think you're stronger than that."

"I don't think so," Squall said but this time it was him that was interrupted.

"I'm serious, and you need to stop selling yourself short. The others told me that while the battle against Ultimecia was a success, they wouldn't have been able to do anything about it without you. You inspire their courage, you inspire their will to actually fight back. True, I don't think they should depend on you all the time, but it's not because I don't think you're capable of being in a leading position. That kind of pressure is too much for a kid your age."

Sighing, he realized that he had started rambling once again, and reigned himself in before he got too far off topic. "I understand how you feel and I'm really sorry that this whole thing ever happened, but if you don't want to make their sacrifice in vain, you'll pull yourself together and do something about escaping. Now, whaddya say?"

Squall stared at him blankly and, for a moment, Laguna felt his hope dwindle, until the teenager allowed his arms to rest on his legs. "I say you're an idiot."

Despite the insult, Laguna laughed, clapping the younger boy on the shoulder as he did. "Good to see you're back to normal."

"Whatever," Squall pulled himself up onto his feet, folding his arms across his chest. "Let's just get out of here?"

"With pleasure," Laguna said, smiling still, even as both males made it down the hallway. "The stairwell we're looking for is pretty close by. We should be there in a couple of minutes."

A couple of minutes passed them by quicker than either one would have expected, and soon they were approaching the stairs that would lead them down, quite possibly to the exit of the building. However, as they neared the door at the end of the hall that led to the stairs, the familiar moaning of the zombies greeted them and, almost blocking their path was a large congregation of the flesh eaters.

Squall shouldered the MP5K, holding it into a readied position, even as Laguna readied the MP7. "It couldn't be easy, could it?"

"Nothing in life ever is," Laguna shrugged.

As soon as the words had left his mouth, one of the zombies shuffled over towards the President, moaning in hunger as he reached out to grab him. All he received for his efforts was a bullet lodged through his forehead, grey matter splattering behind him and hitting three zombies falling into line behind him.

Laguna unloaded the submachine gun, hitting all three targets, as well as a few extra in his path of fire before turning, shooting at a few more zombies that were in his direct line of vision, attempting to clear a path towards the stairs. A quick glance towards his left told him that Squall was doing the same. At least half a dozen zombies falling to the floor before he unloaded the empty clip and searched for another. Laguna provided cover fire up until Squall reloaded the weapon and both continued to unleash their fire power upon the undead creatures; some falling backwards and landing onto their brethren, only to return to an upright position, while others remained stationary.

Hearing moaning behind him, Laguna swivelled around on his heel and, upon seeing four zombies closer to him than he would have preferred, he shot them all, lodging bullets into their throats and faces, a couple of bullets hitting them in the temple and one was shot through the eye. The remaining zombie received a third eye; right above the bridge of her nose.

He heard a cry of pain and instinctively swivelled back around, shooting the offending zombie that had just attacked Squall and watching as she fell to the floor and didn't get back up. The path in front of him was clear and he immediately approached the teenager, who was staring at the body with an expression of anguish and horror. Laguna couldn't understand why until he took the time to inspect the body himself.

It was Rinoa's.

She must have joined up with the herd of zombies, and followed them up there before they were attacked.

The pack had thinned out for the moment, but Laguna could hear them quickly converging on their location; could see their shadows bouncing off the walls in front of them as they approached them.

"Head down the stairs!" Laguna shouted.

"I can't!" Squall shouted back.

Laguna almost threw his arms up into the air. Within the last five minutes, the teenager had uttered those words twice, and they were beginning to become irritating. "I thought we went over this already! It isn't you're fault that the others are dead!"

"No, that's not it!" Squall said and Laguna could see he was holding onto the right side of his neck with his right hand. Dread filled him up as he took in the appearance but before he could ask about it, the SeeD removed his hand, revealing a large bite wound between his neck and shoulder blades. It was like one of the zombies had taken a large chunk out of him, and he wouldn't have been surprised if they had. "She bit me…" he said hollowly, looking down at Rinoa's body. "She caught me by surprise and I couldn't shoot her, but she got close enough to bite me."

"The anti-virus—" Laguna began but was interrupted.

"Didn't work on Quistis. How are we supposed to know if it'll work on us?"

"We'll just have to take that risk," Laguna said, and the moaning down the hall was getting louder. Within less than a minute, both of them would be surrounded once again.

"And if it doesn't work? I'll end up attacking you."

"You need to start thinking positively," Laguna said, before he suddenly heard moaning coming from behind him. Both males turned around, only to see more zombies approaching them from the direction they had come from, most of them missing parts of their flesh from where their brethren had bitten down on them.

Laguna cursed under his breath. The new zombie threat along with the reinforcements approaching them wouldn't give them the time they needed to escape properly. If anything, the group of undead monsters that had apparently been following them was closer, cutting their time gap between firing rounds in half.

From his quick calculations, there was enough time for one of them to get through those doors, but not both.

His mind having been made up, Laguna hefted the submachine gun in his grip and aimed at the horde of zombies heading towards them from the direction leading back to his office. "Get to the stairwell!"

Squall had heard him, but was facing the opposite direction, the MP5K he held also aimed at the zombies advancing towards them. "What about you?"

"I'll provide cover fire!" Laguna answered. "It'll stall them."

Laguna's heart sank when he saw Squall shake his head. "Then I'm staying here."

"Don't be difficult!"

"We've left too many people behind already. I refuse to do it again!"

"I'll be right behind you!" Laguna said.

"Then why don't you go first," Squall shot back, "and I'll provide cover fire?"

Laguna internally cursed. Squall just gave him a hard glare, an expression that was telling him exactly what had just been said – 'I'm not leaving without you'. The former soldier knew that the teenager was standing right in front of the door. He knew that to open it you had to push instead of pull, knew that it would only take a couple of seconds for him to lock it up behind him.

But dammit if Squall had to decide to prove just how stubborn he could be at that very moment.

We don't have much time left! Laguna's inner voice screamed at him. If he doesn't get out of here within the next thirty seconds, we're both dead.

"You should go!" Squall said, breaking through Laguna's thoughts and the elder man shot the SeeD a questioning look. Squall shook his head before answering the unspoken question of 'why'. "You're not infected. If this anti-virus doesn't work, then I'm screwed, just like the others. But you're still clean. You have a better chance than I do. If you stay here, it's a one in a thousand chance that you'll make it. You're not that lucky."

"The same odds go for you," Laguna protested. "You'll die if you stay here."

"But they can't infect someone that's already been infected. You're suggesting that you stay here, regardless of the fact that we've seen this anti-virus fail—"

"Anti-virus' only work so far. You saw how far Quistis was gone. What's to say that it wasn't already too late? The Anti-virus might still work, but only if the infection hasn't spread completely."

"That's hearsay."

"It's all we've got." Laguna took a deep breath, hoping that he wasn't going to hell for what he said next. "Besides, I am infected."

"No you're—" Squall began but Laguna interrupted.

"Yes I am. It happened just before you and Nicholas found us. One of the zombies got too close, and it scratched me. I didn't realize it until later, but considering what was happening to Quistis and what had just happened to Selphie…"

Laguna paused, but knew that time was of the essence. He couldn't just stall him by making up these stories. He needed to get him out. It was the least he could do for not being there. "I just couldn't add onto that."

"Then why didn't you take the anti-virus?"

"You were holding it. I didn't want to have to just come out and say, 'oh yeah, by the way I've been infected so gimme a needle. 'Sides. I can't stand the sight of them."

It looked like Squall bought the story, but not the reasons behind not using the only known antidote they had. Just when he knew he was about to be called out for his lie, Squall whirled around, shaking his head before turning back around to face him. "Then why the hell does it have to be me?" He shouted and Laguna could hear the sounds of the moaning getting louder. "What the hell makes me so damned special? Why do you have to die and I get to—?"

Before he could stop himself, Laguna interrupted him, his vocal cords working without his accord. "Because a father shouldn't have to burry his own son!"

Squall was about to respond but stopped, and Laguna couldn't believe that proverb had just flown out there like it did, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. Squall was distracted enough that he could physically get him out of the hallway before the zombies got to them. He reared back, mentally apologizing to the youth and pushed him backwards, watching as he passed through the doors leading into the stairwell before he shot the control pad, locking the door behind him. He had hoped the door was still operational despite the power outage, and luck had been on his side.

Though he was almost positive that it wouldn't have worked had he tried to get out as well.

Thankful that the SeeD was out of harms way (at least for the moment), he moved away from the door, decidedly not wanting to fight those things with his back against it, and started shooting the closest of the bunch. He had about four clips left, and three grenades, and he knew they wouldn't be enough to take them all out, but he was willing to give it a try.

One clip ran dry and he emptied the chamber, grabbed a full clip, brought it home and started shooting again, thankful that his training hadn't let up after all those years he spend behind a desk. He heard movement from behind and swivelled around, hitting one of the offending creatures in the face and pressed the trigger down harder, the zombies that were standing behind the first falling down after him.

More movement from behind and Laguna spun around again, knocking down the zombies converging onto his position. The intervals between when he had to turn around were quickly beginning to decrease, and he didn't know how much longer it was going to take before he was completely surrounded.

Emptying another clip from the chamber, he reloaded and continued firing, hitting three zombies in the face, one in the temple, and a few others in the neck or through the eye.

Grabbing a grenade, he undid the pin and threw it past the raging zombies in front of them towards the deeper more confined gathering in the very middle and felt the explosion more than heard it. Some of the zombies shifted, losing their footing and some even fell forward as Laguna jumped back. He turned around, shooting in front of him, hoping to clear a path and move to a position where he wouldn't be nearly as vulnerable. But it seemed to him that when one of the zombies fell forward, three more moved to its place, reaching out at him with arms extended and greedy hungry moaning.

Another clip fell dry and as he began reloading it, one of the zombies tackled him from behind, nearly knocking him to the floor with a force Laguna hadn't realized they'd possessed. The Estharian President managed to pry that zombie off of him, pushing him back into its hungry comrades, but felt his shoulder stinging a bit. He traced the scratches he had just received but didn't take the time to curse or allow the panic he was beginning to feel take over. At least now he really was infected.

Even as he finished reloading the weapon in his hands, he felt another two jump him from behind, one of them grabbing the front of his shirt to stay stationary, shocking him to the point where he very barely dodged the second. A third zombie – seemingly out of nowhere – grabbed him from the side, forcing Laguna to raise his arm up and shoot at the ceiling. The elder man cursed loudly – he couldn't afford to waste the bullets – before throwing his left hand forward and knocking it into the zombie's face, the now limp body falling away and releasing his right arm.

Just as he reached for another grenade, he was pulled to the ground when another zombie jumped him from behind, joining its partner as they both bit down on either of his shoulders. Laguna loosed a curse before a third bit into his right arm, causing him to drop the MP7 out of both pain and surprise. He reached for the grenade again, only to have another of the zombies bite him in the leg, resulting in the elder man falling backwards and landing hard against the window that began just above the floor and ended at the top of the ceiling.

Even as several more of the creatures bent over him, biting and scratching him, all of them eagerly awaiting their next meal, he reached for the pin on top of the grenade, finding it harder and harder to keep his arm raised. Looking out the window, he noticed the light slowly making its way above the horizon, the beginning of the sun's rays struggling to rise from beneath the ground – to shine over a city that was probably already dead.

As his eyelids began to feel heavy, he tried reaching up to the pin of the grenade again, hoping to be able to pull it and take out the monsters that were surrounding him. He no longer felt any pain from their bites. It was as though he was merely an observer of his own fate helpless to do anything but watch as the zombies surrounding him reached to him with their greedy hands, bent over his body and taking bite after bite after bite, and he couldn't help the revulsion from taking form, knowing that he would soon be doing the same.

His arm fell mere inches of reaching its desired goal. No longer having the strength to make the strained attempt to pull the object and his gaze settled upon the increasingly lightening sky that symbolized the dawn of a new day before he finally closed them.