Sorry, two days late. Geometry and Drama are consuming my being. This may be my last update for a little while, because due to reasons that are quite frankly no one's buisness, I might be without a computer for a while. So, on with chapter three.

(This is totally a page break)

It was an hour later. News of a horrible attack in a village had began circulating, but the situation with Shinra was still the top story. Rufus had Rude fetched the helicopter, and Reno, whom they couldn't seem to free from the vending machine, had been stuffed uncomfortably in the back. They were now at the 9th Heaven bar in Kalm. Rasputin and Riou were sitting at the bar, watching the news reports about them. Cloud and Vincent were sitting on a couch in the "Darts and Billiards" section, with Rufus sitting across from them, a beer in hand. Reno (and vending machine) were standing next to them, and Rude was hitting on Tifa at the bar. Rufus took a swig of his drink and began the discussion.

"Cloud, I'm sure you know better than anyone else on the planet about Sephiroth, but, are the three of you sure he's back? Not just a mako mirage?"

Cloud nodded grimly.

"I can assure you, he's back."

Rufus sighed and shook his head.

"It's not that I didn't believe you," he said, "I was just being foolishly optimistic. It seems Hojo and my father intended to leave us with a…game, if you will."

At this, Reno perked up.

"You mean like solitaire?"

Rufus smacked him. Cloud rubbed his hand through his hair.

"I'm not sure I can handle another battle with him." he said, sighing. "What with Red and Yuffie not fighting anymore and Barret off with Marlene for her education, it leaves Vincent, Tifa and I."

Rasputin looked over at him, offended.

"Hey, don't forget Riou and I." he said. Rufus eyed him and stood up.

"Rasputin, can I speak with you alone?" he asked. Rasputin looked at him strangely and stood up, walking away from the rest of the group.

"What do you want, Shinra?" Rasputin asked harshly. Rufus went on as if talking to an old friend.

"Rasputin, you can't blame me for what Hojo did t-"

"If that's all you want, I'm leaving."

Rufus chuckled at him.

"Fine. I need you and Riou to keep an eye on Cloud. We need him as a sort of…bloodhound for Sephiroth. And for God's sake, teach Riou to use his brain."

They each glanced over at Riou, who was swatting at a fly. The fly landed on his hand and he grinned. He picked up a steak knife and stabbed the fly. Rufus and Rasputin grimaced as Riou giggled and muttered "Stupid fly."

"Riou," Rasputin decided to tell him of his stupidity, "you stabbed yourself."

Riou shrugged.

"I killed the fly."

At this, Rufus interjected.

"You're also profusely bleeding."

Riou shrugged at this as well.

"I'll just cast cure." he said. "Well, I saw the Grim Reaper today, and he had silver hair. I'm gonna go to bed after I piss myself. Night!"

Rasputin glared at him.

"We have silver hair, fucktard!"

"……Oh yeah."

Rasputin pistol whipped him in the head.

(Part Two)

A small group of people slowly walked toward the fisherman's boat that Riou had made his call next to. The captain saw them and figured they were tourists; he got extra money from sightseers every few weeks.

"Aye," he said, "Where everyone be headin'?"

One of the people groaned.

"Midgar it is, then!"

Another ran and jumped onto the boat.

"Hey, hey, fair's thirty-five gil a person!"

The man lunged and came into the moonlight. The captain saw that half of his face was gone, and his eyes were lifeless. Before the captain could utter a scream, the man was on top of him, taking a bite of his neck. The other creatures came aboard and proceeded to tear him apart.

(Part Three)

Back at the bar, Luna and Tifa were watching the news. Rasputin, Riou, and Vincent were all in bed. Cloud was leaning against the wall. Rufus was on the phone, contacting Elana and Tseng. He thought he may need all of his Turks for Sephiroth.

The newscaster was talking about an attack on a boat were the captain was left in several pieces. A picture of his attackers appeared on the screen via surveillance camera. It was a group of half a dozen. The picture was fuzzy. However, when the image was blown up, it was clear that they all had pieces of flesh missing, and their eyes were completely white.

"Jeez," Tifa muttered, "they look dead."

Luna's eyes were wide. Tifa glanced at her and saw that she was sweating madly. She put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

Luna muttered something barely audible. Tifa asked her to repeat it.

"Syndrome…"

Luna jumped up and ran behind the bar, knocking bottles of alcohol to the floor. Glass and liquid littered the ground as Luna kept throwing bottles away in a panic.

"C'mon, c'mon, gin, rum, vodka…"she growled. "Where the fu-Aha!"

She stood up from the bar, and Tifa stared at her blankly. She was holding a gun that was roughly half her height and equivalent in width. She was grinning.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tifa shrieked. "Do you have any idea how much money that-"

Luna picked up a bottle of rum and took aim. She saw Cloud, and chucked it. Cloud let out a yelp and ducked just as the alcohol hit the wall. He glanced up and was about to say "Luna, what the hell?", however when he saw her, he was silent. She was aiming the gun.

"May wanna move, Chocobo Face." she said. Cloud gulped and jumped to the side just as she fired. The rum ignited and exploded, obviously leaving a large hole in the wall.

"Luna!" Tifa cried. "What the hell have you done to my bar?"

Luna shouldered her gun and began walking to the wall, which had stopped smoking. Inside were vials full of a gray liquid.

"My parents were scientists at the secret Umbrella portion of Shinra's company," she said, grabbing one of the vials. She sounded sad.

"Luna…"

Luna cleared her throat and shook her head.

"Anyway, something they worked themselves into insanity for…"she stared at the vial again, "is right here in my hand. I took the antidote for Twin Syndrome they were developing and perfected it.

"Those things that attacked the fisherman…they were infected. They're in stage one, a zombie-like state…The only way to kill them is to-"

Cloud interjected.

"We all know about zombies, Luna, but really. Do you expect us to believe that there are zombies attacking people?"

Luna ignored him.

"This thing is the antidote," she said. "It'll cure them."

Tifa looked at it skeptically.

"Is it…you know, safe? Legal?"

"Riou helped me with it."

"And I no longer feel safe."

(Part Four)

Sephiroth had returned to the Crater as soon as Rasputin and Riou had left. He was sure that he was too weak to fight them at just that moment. However, after his cronies had sacrificed their very souls, he was back in top fighting condition. Now he was pacing, muttering to himself.

"I must kill the Chocobo Head…"

He sent out a mental feeler to the places he knew Cloud to dwell for a while; Nibleheim and Midgar. Nothing.

"Where is he?" he stopped and began stroking his chin, secretly wondering why people did that when they think. "And how does he know that…familiar man who shot me?"

Suddenly, it hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Of course!" he cried. "He and the man who now wears the mask were here before Strife and his merry band of morons."

He sent out another feeler, this time to figure out their names.

"Hm…Rasputin, Riou…" he chuckled and drew the Masamune from thin air, "So, they and Cloud have a common goal to kill me? Then I will show them what I can really do."

(Part Five)

Riou and Rasputin had left the bar along with everyone except Tifa and Cloud. They were at their small house, which they had built together two miles from the city. Riou had wanted to be in the city, but knew he would probably burn it down if Rasputin wasn't living with him to keep an eye on him, and Rasputin wanted his privacy. They were currently packing bags to take to the 9th, where they planned to live, along with everyone else, until the Sephiroth ordeal was over. The news was on. It was late in the night.

"Riou, are you almost ready?" Rasputin asked, zipping his bag. Riou slung a small bag over his shoulder and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm ready. Source of transportation?"

Crap…

Rasputin had forgot they had no vehicles. And they sure as heck didn't want to walk two miles at night weighed down by their luggage. Sephiroth may attack anywhere, anytime, anyone.

"Um…we could look for a chocobo."

Riou sighed.

"I don't think Cloud would appreciate us riding one of his relatives."

Rasputin sighed and pistol whipped him.

"Idiot."

Riou rubbed his head and muttered "ow…" and then sat down.

"Well think of something."

(Part Six)

In Midgar, at the Shinra building, Rufus, Reno, and Rude landed on the roof in the helicopter. They stepped out…well, Rude dragged Reno out, lifting the vending machine with quite a lot of effort. Reno was complaining, which didn't help.

"Why the hell can't you get me out of this damn thing? I mean, Rufus, you've got a freakin' shotgun! Shoot me the hell out! I'm bored…I'm hungry….I want a teddy bear…Mr. Snuffles! Why did you leave me?"

Rude sighed and continued walking, nodding to the guard. The guard nodded back and looked through his binoculars, with the infrared turned on, of course. You think I would forget an important detail like that? I think not. Anyway, the guard was looking at the ground around the building. He saw a very large group of people moving toward the gates of the compound. He picked up Cait Sith's HP Shout megaphone.

"Attention. This is a restricted area. Tresspassers will be shot if they ignore warnings. Please leave."

The group kept moving. The guard sighed and looked at his partner.

"Take one of 'em out, Craig."

The sniper nodded and aimed at the heart of one of the people. He fired a single shot. The bullet ripped through the man's chest and went into the stomach of a woman behind him. They both fell. The group kept moving.

"What the hell man?" Craig muttered. Then, the man and woman he shot each stood up slowly and walked toward the gates with the rest of the group. The guard turned and switched on the intercom.

"Close the gates!"

Rufus and his gang walked to the helicopter, with Tseng and Elana now in tow.

"Problem, guard?" the President asked.

The guard shook his head quickly and saluted.

"Good."

The Turks and the President walked to the helicopter (minus Reno, who was dragged, wailing about the evils of tuna fish) and boarded. They took off. The guard sighed and turned around, binoculars raised, and saw that the group was gone. He heard cries and gunshots.

"Oh no…"

He ran down the stairs and saw a gruesome scene. He only saw for a moment, however, as Craig appeared before him and ripped out his eyes.

(Part Seven)

Sephiroth had arrived in Icicle five minutes ago. He was there because he had sensed that Rasputin was there often. However, at this moment, it was completely deserted. He found this strange. Although it wasn't exactly Midgar, it wasn't a ghost town, either. He walked through the streets, feeling the effects of the temperature though not actually cold. He heard footsteps. He looked around and saw nothing.

"Hmph…" he muttered, stopping. His gut told him he would need his sword, so he took it out of nowhere, as was his custom. I'll have to ask him how he does that some day…Anyway, he held it tightly, expecting an attack at any time.

Just as he had though, a man crashed through a window behind him and lunged at him. Sephiroth whirled around and cut him in half at the stomach. The two halves each hit the ground at the same time, the half with the head face-down. Sephiroth stared at the corpse. The moonlight revealed that a large piece of the cranium was missing, exposing the gray matter betwixt everyone's ears.

'What the hell?' Sephiroth thought.

The body shuddered. Sephiroth paid this no mind. It happened every now and then. He turned around to leave. Then the torso let out a cry and began crawling toward Sephiroth. Sephiroth didn't make any noise, though this had startled him, as he turned around and impaled the man in the heart, pinning it to the ground.

"Persistent little bugger, aren't you?" he muttered. The creature (it was now obvious that it wasn't a man) was now trying in vain to crawl toward the Dark Wing. It was, inch by bloody inch, ripping itself in half. The stomach and intestines were already hanging out.

"Why won't you die?" Sephiroth shouted, and crushed it's head with his leather boot. All of the movement immediately stopped.

"There we go." Sephiroth said.

However, he was now out of the frying pan. The oven was warming up, and the chicken was soon to go in. Then, it would be marinated with an A1 sauce and served…Ahem.

Anyway, Sephiroth then heard more footsteps. He growled, expecting one, maybe two more of the creatures to come after him. However, every window in the town shattered and every door was ripped off it's hinges as a man, woman or child jumped out of them. Sephiroth gaped at this.

"Oh…Uh-oh."

(Chapter end)