Another Author's Note Explanation: Okay, seriously, I'm gonna stop doing this… maybe… Anyway, I have to get this out there, everybody realized that this (italics) on a line by itself means that it's a thought inside someone's head, not out loud, right? Okay,thought so. And whereas usually you can tell by the way things are said who is saying them, I will be including initials at the beginning of my dialog from now on, due to the fact that there are more than two people talking… oops! Did I just give something away? Oh well... Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, blah, blah, blah, or zombies.

Chapter One: Are You Feeling Alright?

Remnants they called them, all that remained of a person after life but before complete death. The animated corpses of loved ones and enemies, all working together for one purpose; to satisfy their hunger… with human flesh.

R: "Name's Reno by the way."

Z: "Zack. And this is Cloud."

R: "What about him?"

Z: "…Red XIII? That's what I've been calling him, seems to respond."

R: "Works for me. How long we been walking?"

Z: "Dunno. Couple hours?"

R: "Where are we going?"

Z: "…Dunno. This way?"

R: "Thanks. Very helpful."

After their introductions, they'd actually found a road and had started to walk down along it, hoping someone might drive by and give them a lift. No one had come so far. They'd walked for about three more hours, talking the whole time. While Reno pointed out things that looked perverted, like misshapen rocks or plants that grew just a little too close together,and just generally talked to himself, Zack ignored him and talked to Red XIII and Cloud, both of which couldn't respond or actually even comprehend what he was saying, but none the less he continued on. Eventually they came upon what appeared to be a biker's bar called the "Green Chocobo" for some strange reason. Upon entering, they found the place deserted, but there was the foul stench of death or decaying... something... that made them, and Red XIII especially, uneasy to stay for too long. Had the Remnants made their way out this far already? They exited quickly and Zack had started heading back down the road with Red XIII and Cloud when he heard Reno, "OH YEAH! JACKPOT!" So, quickly locating Reno, he questioned, "What? What'd you find?"

R: "Look! Bikes! Idiots must have abandoned them here. Now... they're ours. Come on."

Z: "Hey, I'm not sure that's such a great idea, Red's acting kinda..."

R: "HOLY SHIIII-"

Reno jumped back just in time as one Remnant lunged at him, almost reaching his chest with its teeth. In a flash of silver, however, Zack had detached its head with his sword. He was re-fixing it to his back, via a few straps on his uniform meant for the sword as a holster of some sort, when he noticed Reno pull a .45 out of the back of his belt and fire it into the thing's head.

Z: "What'd you do that for? I already beheaded it."

R: *sighs* (rolls eyes)"They ain't dead till their brains are jelly. Beheading them only makes them mostly harmless."

Z: "…oh."

R: "Well, you want the one with the side car or what?"

After a few choice words on Reno's part and a very reasonable argument as to the importance of their furry friend, it was decided that Reno would take the motorcycle with the sidecar and Red XIII along with him while Zack would take the other with Cloud. Hot-wiring the motorcycles seemed almost impossible to Zack, but since they had no keys on them that went to the motorcycles they had no choice; however, it actually tuned out to not be an issue as Reno was an expert at hot-wiring.

...Not suspicious at all...

Admittedly, it did look kinda... funny... Zack holding onto the unconscious Cloud, (who had luckily received a new pair of clothes from the storage compartment on the sidecar motorcycle, sure they were slightly too big and they didn't really suite him, but it was better than what he'd had, because the hospital gown was not the best thing for a motorcycle ride.) but he didn't really even notice until Reno pointed it out, to which he pointed out the fact that Cloud was his little brother and couldn't well hold on for himself in his unconscious state. Reno just looked at him with an even more disbelieving look. Zack just rolled his eyes.

Idiot.

They must have been on the highway to nowhere that never ends, because they must have been riding for about an hour with nothing in sight. It was getting dark, and no matter how macho and camp-out loving they both were, sleeping out in the dark in the middle of nowhere, and especially now with Remnants running around willy-nilly, didn't seem the least bit pleasant. Even worse was their empty stomachs which growled louder than Red XIII had at the Remnant earlier with the bikes. Finally after another half hour, they spotted some lights up ahead. Reno attempted to yell to Zack and warn him to be careful, but Zack couldn't hear him and instead raced on ahead. The lights were from a convenience store/gas station. There were several cars abandoned outside it and a sign reading "No Gas" was posted onto the door, but there was no immediate stench to the air, so it seemed the Remnants hadn't actually come this far yet. When Reno pulled up he was cursing loudly, real loudly, and even in some other languages, which was impressive, but only a little.

R: "Next time you do something that stupid, I'm gonna wait longer to see if you get eaten! I can't believe you! Jeez, did you learn nothing form earlier?"

Z: "Oh, when you almost got bit by a Remnant? Yeah, maybe I should be more careful, but let's not forget who did what earlier."

R: "…whatever. Let's take a look inside shall we?"

Z: "Wait! You just said not to rush into places you don't-Reno!"

R: "What? I'm starving. If I don't eat food, like now, I'm gonna resort to cannibalism soon, and seein' as how your brother's the most defenseless around here, he'll go first."

Z: "Yeah, right. I'd kill you first. What're you-? You're just gonna break-in? What if there's a security system?"

R: "There isn't."

Z: "How do you know?"

R: "'Cause the doors're unlocked."

Z: "…oh."

Now, the reality of the situation was that there wasn't anyone here and likely they'd never return or if they did it would be after the world woke up from this nightmare, but it still felt wrong loading up on stuff, stealing it, from the place. Well, at least it did to Zack. Reno, apparently had no qualms about it. He even took stuff he didn't actually need, like a lighter but no cigarettes, what'd he need a lighter for if he didn't smoke? They finished loading up the supplies and hit the road again, 'cause Remnants or not, the place was still creepy with all those abandoned cars in front of it.

They rode through the night, stopping once or twice for a bathroom break off the roadside, but by morning both their gas tanks were nearly empty. Another half hour and they were empty, so they got the supplies out of the cargo storage's' of both bikes and loaded them in the backpack that Reno had "acquired" at the gas station. Cloud still hadn't woken up, but since he was breathing, Zack counted it as a half victory and carried him along down the road, Reno and Red XIII following along behind him.

Roughly around noon, the heat and fatigue started getting to them and every step was more tiring than the last. It was when the road started looking like it was extending that Reno drew the line.

R: "I gotta stop for a minute..."

Z: "Reno, we're out in the middle of nowhere."

R: "Exactly, so who gives a -"

Z: "Look, you see that?"

R: "…yeah, what is that?"

Z: "A… church maybe? Well, anyway, we'll rest in there, assuming there's no Remnants inside, okay?"

R: "… fine. But if there are Remnants in there, I might just let them eat me so I don't have to walk anymore."

Z: "… your choice."

When they reached the church, as yes, it was a church, the first thing they noticed was that it was very... bloodstained. It was fresher blood too, because it wasn't exactly black yet, more in between red and brown. They also noted that the doors were bolted shut as well, but not only from the outside, so it was feasible that someone had done it to keep Remnants out rather than bolting them in, which had been the first steps taken to prevent them from attacking due to the fact that no one knew how to kill them at first. So, it was decided that one of them should take a peek through the roof, removing a few shingles and digging a hole through the wood wouldn't hurt anything. So up onto the roof Zack went, Reno was sitting on the ground and had vowed not to move unless he absolutely had too. Once on the roof, Zack noticed that there was already a small hole in the roof, so he went over and pressed into the roof to look through it when...

*CRASH*

And he was down.

R: "Yo! You okay in there!"

Getting no response, he decided he'd take a look around and see if there was another way in and proceeded around the perimeter of the church.

She'd been quite shocked when he'd come crashing in through the ceiling, partly from the fact there was a person falling from the sky, partly because he almost landed on her, and partly because she thought he was one of them. She realized he couldn't be one of them though, because she heard his ...friend? partner? outside yelling something and also because the guy talked in his sleep, and they didn't talk. He rolled over onto his side and clutched his chest and abdomen in a protective manner as he muttered some unintelligible things before shouting something about a cloud? She really didn't know what to do and was thoroughly distracted for a moment before she realized it. They were here. Jumping up, she bounded toward the back of the church.

Only a second ago, he could have sworn he heard his compadre yelling. What he was yelling, however, he didn't know. (Although it was highly doubtful he'd found a pool party lined with supermodels who had nothing better to do than party and have a good time with a zombie apocalypse going on, but still, he hoped.) So, assuming it wasn't super models, Reno decided to proceed with extreme caution and carefully continued around the building. Now, if he'd been slightly more trained or observant to the sounds of nature, perhaps he would have noticed the utter absence of sound coming from the forest which lay behind the church, but he wasn't so he didn't. The first hint that something was even remotely wrong came with the swift breeze along his neck and then the sudden pain he felt to the back of his neck along with a wet sensation as he hit the dirt. Disoriented, he spun around to realize that, yes, it was one of the Remnants.

Did it bite me?

Then he heard Red XIII's barking and general ruckus and realized that, crap!, he'd left Cloud over there by himself, defenseless except for the mutt. He kicked the Remnant that was nearing him and pulled his .45 out from its place and fired a round between its eyes. He soon found that there were more than "just a few" out here, the stupid things were just flooding out of the forest. He finally rounded the corner (after emptying his clip into the Remnants that were pursuing him), he really didn't want to know what had happened to Cloud and half-expected to see the Remnants in the process of eating him or fighting over his remains as they tried to gorge themselves... instead, he turned the corner to see a girl, in what used to be a white dress, beating the brains out, quite literally, of a Remnant. She was swinging her large metal rod up and down over and over again, sending bits of brain matter, blood, and bone fragments colliding with her beautiful sundress and bare skin. He observed the fear and sadness which she portrayed in her eyes was offset by her firmly set jaw and calm, serious manner in which she dispatched the Remnant gave off an "unflinching" sort of vibe... like those from SOLDIER.

She had apparently not noticed him, because she jumped slightly when he came over and started helping her get Cloud up. He thought for a minute that she was going to pummel him like she had that Remnant, but he guessed she must have realized he wasn't a threat, or at least the "eat you now" kind of threat. She lead the way toward the back of the church, which wasn't very good positioning, because just behind it was the forest where the Remnants were pouring out of. She dropped Cloud to Reno as she undid the simple barricade of wooden beams, and it was then that Reno realized just how heavy the kid actually was.

Jeez! Kid's skinny and all, but he weighs a ton!

A short whistle from Reno brought in Red XIII to the church and letting Cloud slump over against a wall, both Reno and the girl were able to shut the door before the Remnants could storm the church. (Sure, there were a few Remnant fingers sticking out from in between the two doors, but all in all the Remnants were outside.) Reno half-dragged Cloud over to one of the pews and, well, flung him onto it in a most uncaring manner, then walking past the flower bed glared evilly at Zack, "Sure, just sleep while I'm fighting off Remnants! Some help you two are!"

And he himself proceeded over to a pew and muttering something about "see if I care" fell asleep for the first time in two days.

"Hello?... Helloo?... Hellooooooo!"

He was quite unsure as to where he was and for that matter who's voice it was that he heard, but he heard a voice which meant he was either dead or he'd woken up from the Remnant nightmare. He was guessing he'd died, so when he opened his eyes to see a girl in a white sundress, it was entirely logical to him to ask her if she was an angel. To this comment she giggled and blushed before telling him no, and that her name was Aerith.

Author's Note: Okay, don't hate on me, but yes, I did give Reno a .45, but I mean, that would so be him, y'know? I do intend to set some things right as far as character weapons go, (I mean I did give Zack his sword, okay people? … which now leaves Cloud without one…crap!) but I just didn't see the practicality of an electro-prod rod at the moment, sue me. Oh, and yeah, I made Cloud and Zack brothers, whatever. Some things I am changing just to make it more convenient for the future of my story (and I have no clue as to Reno's actual background, family and stuff, according to the game, so I'm going to invent a nonexistent one!).Oh, how did you guys like the whole Red XIII is a big wolf-dog thing? I was trying to think of a way to include him, but he's hard to peg 'cause he's a cat…dog…thing…that talks! Well, sorry but the whole mountain lion cat thing didn't look feasible (Um, hello? He would have eaten them!), and since I'm trying to use a basis of reality, he ain't gonna talk, sue me again. (Not you Square-Enix!) I think I'm done with my rant, so... Thanks again guys! R, R, and R! (Read, Review, and Rant!)