He knew the exact moment that the Ahriman copies had lost contact with Angeal.
For several hours that night, Zack drove southeast on dark, deserted backroads through the Wastes toward the mountains. He came to the cluster of boulders and scraggly trees that marked the turnoff to Rally Point Alpha. He drove the truck off the crumbling road and onto hard, rocky terrain, steering in erratic patterns to disguise his passage in the foothills. He did his best to traverse the hardest surfaces that would leave the fewest tracks, and in the process his teeth rattled at every bump, scrubby bush, and pothole the truck hit. At last he came to his destination.
Sephiroth had designated a series of large caves in the mountain range between the Midgar and Junon Areas as their first rally point. The location had been selected because of its isolation, its lack of nearby civilization, and its lack of monsters. As expected, Zack found the mouth of one of the caves to be large enough for the truck to enter. He counted his blessings that Sephiroth had been right about that, because he had dreaded trying to hide the truck outside. There simply wasn't much cover outside the caves.
He drove in slowly, following a passage just wide enough to accommodate the vehicle. The surface was rugged and the truck scraped the walls and bounced a number of times, but the tunnel eventually ended in a decent-sized cavern. It had enough room for the truck to turn around to prepare to leave, though just barely. It took some jockeying. Zack had to move the truck back, forward, and back again an aggravating number of times to get the vehicle into an acceptable orientation. After parking, he shut off the engine but left the headlights on, and got out.
It was pitch black inside the cave, like an enclosed tomb, and smelled of mineral dust. No light enlivened his new, underground living quarters. The truck's headlights barely pierced the darkness within. He felt weirdly suffocated and claustrophobic. Even his enhanced eyes couldn't penetrate the opaque black environment. He dug around in the truck's covered cargo bed and located some battery-powered lanterns. He set one up, and the darkness receded slightly around him. Only after he lit his second lantern did he shut off the headlights.
There were some small stalactites hanging from the ceiling and a few large, flat-surfaced rocks nearby that might do for crude seating. The rest of the cavern was barren and empty, uninteresting, and brutish. It loomed over him, and he swore he could feel the mountains overhead bearing down on him to crush him.
Shadows flickered in his peripheral vision, and once or twice he startled at them. "Look at me, jumping at shadows," he scoffed at himself. There was nothing here, nothing at all. He and Sephiroth had both agreed it would be a good, safe place to hunker down.
But after the night Zack had experienced, he couldn't help his twitchy nerves.
He quickly changed into civilian clothes. There was no sense wearing a uniform that proclaimed his former allegiance to Shin-Ra and SOLDIER should he be spotted.
He then collected a flashlight and spent some of his time obliterating his truck's tracks for about a mile outside the cave entrance. The ground was hard-packed, dry clay and rock, so the tracks were few and it was quick work. The entire time, he kept a wary eye out in case someone saw him. Then, after he was satisfied he'd eliminated enough traces of his passage, he returned to his chosen cavern.
In the unwelcoming gloom, Zack finally took the time to locate one of the first aid kits. He cleaned his cuts, applied some antiseptic, and bandaged a handful of wounds large enough to require extra protection. Most had already healed, but some were more serious, and he even had to extract some glass fragments from a few.
His injuries treated, he got some rations then moved to a position near the cave entrance to keep watch on the landscape. He had some time to kill while he waited for Sephiroth to join him, assuming the location wasn't found by his new enemies sooner.
As he tore open his meal's packaging, he reflected on his escape. He had known the exact moment that the Ahriman copies had lost contact with Angeal. They'd taken him to the non-descript, beat-up truck and even followed it for about ten or fifteen minutes of driving, but then they'd flown away in different directions. No longer instructed by their master to guard Zack, they simply had dispersed on their own.
Zack tried to tell himself that Angeal had directed them to scatter as a distraction. Angeal's copies were distinctive with silver and gold armor. They were noticeable, and if anyone was following surely they'd track the copies, allowing Zack the freedom to move undetected.
He didn't really believe it, though. Not after seeing the way Ifrit and Bahamut had blown up the labs in the Shin-Ra headquarters.
"It was for the best," he muttered.
It was. It really was. Angeal must have been in agony. It was best that he had died in that inferno. Zack still blamed himself for bringing his mentor back alive from Modeoheim. It would have been better to kill him. He was better off dead.
But Sephiroth...
A small, choked sob escaped Zack's lips. He was alone now. His girlfriend, Aerith, would have no idea what had happened to him. He doubted Tseng would inform her that her boyfriend had turned traitor.
His friends—Kunsel, Luxiere, Cloud—they were all back in Midgar, all still blindly loyal to Shin-Ra. They might even be assigned to hunt him down. Based on his own experiences, Zack knew it was Shin-Ra's style to send friends to murder friends. Just as Shin-Ra had kept sending him out after Angeal, his friends would be sent after him. It would be unbearable. Zack didn't think he could kill them, even in self-defense.
Fortunately, so far no one had come looking for him. Probably the entire military currently stationed at Midgar was busy at the headquarters. It would be a mess there. He wondered if Hojo had managed to escape. He'd been in an observation room, and he must have noticed Sephiroth calling Bahamut and Ifrit. But could Hojo have gotten far enough away to avoid the devastation?
Zack hoped not. He fervently wished Hojo was dead. He'd never hated anyone so much in his entire life.
He scooped up a spoonful of the cold, processed salmon and shoved it into his mouth. The rations SOLDIER got were better than most. His own contained a meal of salmon, apple sauce, cheese and bread, vegetables and fried rice, a fruit-flavored electrolyte drink, and even a sweet dessert. Normally he'd have chowed down enthusiastically, but not now, not when he was so alone.
"Follow the plan," Sephiroth had said.
When the allotted time ran out here in the Junon Mountains, Zack would move on, try to get to Rally Point Beta on the Western Continent. After that, he'd make his way to Rally Point Gamma in Wutai. Hide and gather resources.
Sephiroth had planned to gather men there, too. The remaining SOLDIERs deployed in Wutai would surely follow him anywhere. Perhaps much of the Infantry, as well.
But would they follow Zack alone? He hoped he wouldn't need to find out.
Despondently, he finished his meal and washed it down with the electrolyte drink. He trudged back to the truck to stow the wrappers and containers, then returned to the mouth of the cave to continue his watch.
The sun rose, bathing the landscape in lovely shades of pink and gold. It was quiet and peaceful. Such a difference from the night before, full of horror and chaos and terror and a frantic escape. He should get a nap, he knew. He'd been awake all night, but he had to wait for Sephiroth.
He didn't really believe that Sephiroth would join him, though. Not anymore.