Chapter Twenty-Seven:
A/N: Finally, the Resident Evil part of this little tale takes place. Yes, I mean zombies. However, since there is already a "zombie" status effect in FFVIII, I've decided to go with another name, which will be revealed in the next chapter. I swear, it's getting more and more out of hand, just like the games! Still, the story finally begins to settle into place, which isn't as bad as it sounds.
And I know, three chapter in one update, all of which are important to the fic. WOO HOO! Anyway, read on, read on. (PS, you finally understand why I chose this particular pen name...)
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The walk to Galbadia City took longer than anyone had thought. The group had to stop and rest often because of their injuries, but it was Adette who was having the most trouble.
"My neck hurts," she whined as she rubbed the inflamed sore where the sun had begun to cook her long laceration. They had stopped for their seventh break, and the whole troupe was tired.
When no one responded Adette groaned and flopped backward onto the ground. Tessa felt oddly guilty, as though there was something she could do that she hadn't. She had used her only Curaga on Zell, using her last White Magic spell in the process, and somehow her entire supply of non-magical medicines had disappeared from her pack. Still, she considered a miracle she had even been able to find it, since none of the others had been able to find any possessions of their own, with the exception of Adette. The brunette-haired girl had found two of her smaller guns among the wreckage, but that was all.
"If I could do something I would," Tessa whispered to herself as she threw a small pebble into a larger group of rocks. No one had mentioned Tessa's outburst, so Zell was clueless as to why she was being given the cold shoulder. However, he joined them immediately since he barely knew the redhead. Adette was the only one that said anything her, and even then the conversation was forced.
"Break's over," Xu said as she stood up from her perch on a large rock. Xu and Rinoa had received the least of the injuries from the crash, and as a result, they were the first to say when the rests were over. Groaning and brimming with complaint, Zell and the three SeeD candidates stood up and stumbled after the other two.
They reached Galbadia City by nightfall, and everyone was tired. Tessa, exhausted, plopped down in the middle of the street and tossed head back, sweat covering her face. She unzipped Adette's jacket slightly, allowing the night air to cool off her body.
While she was doing this, Zell and Xu walked away to see if they could rent a car to drive to first destination, Caraway Mansion. Tessa had figured out that Rinoa was going to see her father, but hadn't figured out why she was being so secretive. Still, when it came down to it, Tessa didn't care.
It's quiet, Tessa thought as she stretched her aching legs, trying to reduce the lactic acid build-up in her muscles. I always thought a big city like this would be louder, busier. Junon was always loud when I went there, but, to be honest, Balamb Garden was much louder than that. It's weird, though. This city is almost like a ghost town.
Then, as if to confirm her suspicions, the sound of a woman screaming filled the street. Tessa looked around and saw a woman at the window of a nearby building. She was hanging out, yelling at Tessa. "Are you kids insane? Get inside before the killers get you!"
Whatever, Tessa thought as she closed her eyes. Weirdo.
Soon, though, another woman screamed. This time Tessa opened her eyes and saw Phelan, Adette, and Rinoa running to the rental agency. Tessa painfully scrambled to her feet and followed, her muscles tensing up again.
Lying on the ground, with terror etched across her face, was Xu. She was screaming at the top of her lungs and pointing at the entrance to the agency where Zell was clearly fighting another man. It wasn't the fight that was causing Xu's meltdown, though; it was the man Zell was fighting.
He was stooped over, half-hidden by shadow. However, when Zell punched him under a streetlight, Tessa went into shock. She wasn't grossed out like Phelan and Adette behind her, whom could be heard vomiting. Tessa recognized something about the man, something that made her skin crawl.
Half of his face and his left arm were missing in gory, bloody realism. His skin was grey and peeling back from his body, revealing darkened muscles and dried-out organs. Tessa recognized the symptoms of death immediately, having sat in on several autopsies before transferring to Balamb Garden. However, what caught her by surprise the most were his red eyes.
"Help!" Zell yelled as he punched the man again. Tessa heard the sickening CRACK of his neck breaking, and the man crumpled to the ground even as his face continued to contort and make biting motions. Zell raised his hands and jumped in triumph. "Never mind!"
Suddenly another man stumbled out of the darkness and latched onto Zell. He bit down and pulled off a long strip of Zell's forearm, chewing on it as his meal screamed. Zell pushed the man away and grabbed his arm where it was bitten, trying to stop the flow of blood seeping between his fingers.
Xu continued to scream as more people, in various stages of decay, poured around them. Rinoa helped Xu up and aimed her right hand at a large mass of the people, all of whom had red eyes. A large river of lava shot out of her hand and hit the people, instantly melting away large portions of their bodies. It did no good, however, as the people merely fell to the ground and began crawling instead of walking.
"We've got to get out of here!" Tessa whispered as she looked around. The exit out of the city was closed off, with hundreds of the rotting people pouring in from outside. There was no escape that she could see. Tessa suddenly felt she should have listened to the woman in the window.
"Let's go! Move it people!" Xu yelled, in control of her senses once again. "Head to the Gate!"
"Those things are in the way," Tessa heard Rinoa say. "We're surrounded."
"Then we fight our way through," Xu responded. "We're not SeeDs for nothing."
"We're not all SeeDs," Tessa reminded Xu as a woman with her neck town out lunged at her. Tessa, adrenaline pumping through her body, reached out and grabbed the woman's arm. She was about to throw her into another of the people when the woman's arm broke off. Tessa dropped the arm and kicked the woman in the head, knocking it off. She stumbled back in shock and ran into another person. She whirled around ready to fight, and she saw it was only Rinoa. "What do we do?"
"You heard Xu, Rinoa said as she raised her hand again, "we fight."
Another jet of lava flew out of Rinoa's hand and melted away even more part of people, and the ones that remained untouched tripped over their comrades. Four fighters clashed with the people, with Adette and Phelan relying on the strength of the others to get through. Tessa used a Fire spell and set a man, with half of his torso ripped off, on fire. The flames spread from person to person, catching each one on fire.
"We need to get inside somewhere!" Xu yelled. "We'll never make it to the Gate at this rate!"
"Make up your mind!" Tessa yelled back angrily. She grabbed a man that had come up behind her and threw him to the ground.
"Wait, I have an idea!" Rinoa hollered. She raised her right hand and it began to glow a bright white. Tessa had to turn away from it and punched a blonde woman in the face, her glove ripping off a piece of cheek. "Everyone, hold on!"
The light emanating from Rinoa's hand grew so bright that Tessa dropped to the ground and covered her head to escape it. When she looked up the attackers had been blown away about fifty metres in all directions.
"What happened?" Adette yelled when she too got up. She was holding her neck with one hand and a gun in the other.
"It's called Holy," Rinoa said calmly. "I picked it up awhile back. Never thought I'd find the occasion to use it again, though."
"Shut up and move it!" Xu yelled. Tessa jumped to her feet and looked around. Xu saw the confused looks on everyone's faces and clarified the direction. "East, head east!"
Tessa ran after Xu, but the others soon passed her. She jumped over a man missing his legs and elbowed a woman in the face. A man reached out and grabbed her, jerking her to the ground. He fell on top of her and was trying to bite her face when their eyes met. He stopped moving and she pushed him off. She kicked him away and pushed herself back up.
By this time, everyone else but Phelan had reached the Gate. He was trying, and failing, to keep a woman missing her jaw away. Tessa ran over and kicked the woman knocking her down. She grabbed Phelan's hand and pulled him toward the Gate.
"Come on guys!" Adette yelled as Zell and Rinoa ran through a door in the side of the Gate. Adette and Xu were standing in the centre of the Gate's arch, which had large sets of bars with pointed edges poised just above reach. It was obvious that they were planning on dropping them to keep the people away.
They were twenty decimetres away when Tessa saw the bars start to shake, which had bits of rust falling to the pavement. They were ten decimetres when it started to fall. When they were five decimetres away it had slid halfway down and Tessa let go of Phelan and jumped. She rolled under the bars just before they hit the ground.
"Phelan!" Adette shouted. Tessa saw her cover her face and look away, and Rinoa did the same. Then she looked back and saw that he had tried to get under the bars too, but he didn't make it all the way. Two large bars had pierced Phelan's right arm and leg, pinning him to the pavement.
Jumping into action, Tessa reached down and pulled her right pant leg up, revealing a knife holster strapped to her ankle. She pulled the knife out, a sharp Mythril dagger, and ran to Phelan. Tessa cut away the fabric around his elbow and pushed the blade into the joint, cutting through the cartilage.
"What are you doing?" he yelled out in pain.
"Saving your life," Tessa said as Phelan's arm shot a spray of blood into her face. She wiped it away and finished cutting off his arm. Looking at Adette and Xu, she asked, "Either of you master Fira?"
When both shook their heads, she shoved her right hand to Phelan's stump and cast Fire. She burned half of his arm closed and cast the spell again to seal it shut, so that he wouldn't lose more blood. Tessa then began to cut into Phelan's leg when the people arrived. A man grabbed Phelan's amputated arm, tore a large piece off, and began to bite into it. A woman was reaching though the bars and grabbing Tessa's hair when a CRACK rang out and the woman stopped.
Tessa knew that it was Adette, and she took the chance to finish severing Phelan's leg and burn it shut like she had his arm. Xu helped her drag him away from the bars, where the people where feasting on his leftover body parts.