08/28/08

What A Wonderful World

Having been on similar missions before, Seifer knew that hiding would only last so long. Especially if one was hiding right behind the door.

He sighed with irritation, his gun cocked and his finger ready to pull the trigger if the door so much as got pushed by a draft. Which he actually figured was likely, since he'd noticed a few open windows while checking out the house the first time.

"I hate kids," was the first thing Seifer heard from whoever was downstairs. He frowned. The owner of the voice couldn't have been much older than he was.

"He's not a kid, he's almost eighteen," a second voice responded, sounding tired.

"Like I said, I hate kids."

"You're what? Twenty?" the second voice sounded irritated with the first, who laughed without any humor.

"I happen to be twenty-three," he responded. Seifer was sure he was also holding up three fingers to emphasize that.

"Wow, a whole five years. That makes you ancient, compared to eighteen."

"Shut up."

After a few moments of silence in which the two below shuffled around, Seifer slowly lowered himself to his knees, ready to spring up if he had to. From the sounds of things, neither of the two were planning on leaving anytime soon. He'd either have to sit tight and wait, while who-knows-what happened to Hayner, or he could jump out the window and make a run for it.

He sighed and chose to stay put, hoping that neither of the two would come upstairs.

Of course, he wasn't that lucky.

"I think it's going to storm later," the second voice said, his voice closer than before, "and I left my umbrella upstairs. I'm gonna get it, then we can head back to the labs."

"Whatever you say, Demyx."

Seifer froze as heavy footsteps ran up the stairs, then paled at the click of heels in the hallway. He tensed as they got closer, stepping away from the door slightly in case that guy, Demyx, banged it open. He raised his gun, ready to fire when the man made his appearance.

As it were, apparently Demyx had left his umbrella in the bathroom, because Seifer found himself listening to mumbles about "Axel being so damn predictable" and before he could gather enough confusion as to why someone would want to leave their umbrella in the restroom, Demyx's footsteps were already heading back down the stairs and he was shouting at the other guy to get going.

A moment later, car doors slammed shut and Seifer listened to the sound of tires pulling out of the driveway.

He blinked, then scowled at the window, flipping the safety on his gun, and shoved it back into the holster on his belt.

"Damn it," he grumbled, rising from his kneeled position on the floor. Although he thought himself used to such dangerous situations, it never failed to set his nerves on edge and send his heart into overdrive. He could only be thankful that he no longer broke into cold sweats nor froze when danger was near.

He pulled open the door forcefully, ignoring the way it squeaked in protest. Judging from what he'd heard, those two were the ones who'd been watching Hayner, whether while he was still in the house or when he'd been transferred, Seifer didn't know, nor could he deduce. He did know that they were still guarding him, otherwise that guy (whom he was going to assume was Axel) wouldn't have mentioned Hayner. Or he could have been talking about little cousin Lizzy, who they'd just come back from visiting. Damn it.

With an irritated scowl, Seifer stomped down the stairs. It was careless, but he figured no one was within hearing range anyway.

He made his way toward the front door and threw it open, stalking away from the house and into the sunset. He didn't dare think about how it looked.

Two miles, it would only take about a half-hour, if he kept his pace relatively steady. He sighed and took out his compass. He glanced up at the clouds that were gathering. It had barely begun, but he was fairly sure that he wasn't going to be taking another rescue mission for a long time.

CRACK.

Seifer's head snapped up and he slowed down, frowning. He narrowed his eyes at the surrounding trees, tensing. When there wasn't another crack, he sped up again, feeling oddly nervous. He realized why a second later.

There wasn't any noise.

"Crap," he muttered under his breath. It was dead silent in the forest, except for the occasional rustle and his own footsteps.

It's almost night, there won't be any birds chirping, idiot, he thought, trying to reason out the eerie silence. 'Course, that doesn't explain why there aren't any crickets chirping, or owls, or something.

CRACK.

Ignoring his better instincts, Seifer growled and spun around, taking his gun out once again. He quickly turned the safety off and held it up, ready to fire at anything that moved.

"I know you're there," he said, voice raised. He wasn't going to shout, it would have been almost pointless.

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and he got the odd feeling that he was being watched. Annoyed, and a little frightened, Seifer tried again to call out whoever was following him.

"Get out here," he growled, his eyes darting around to catch any sign of movement.

When no one appeared, Seifer let out a breath and took off his beanie, running a hand through his hair. A bit relieved, he turned around and set off again. It was already going to be a long walk without his freaking out over every little thing.

SNAP.

"Damn it, just show your-" as he spun on his heel, he abruptly cut himself off, staring at the thing that had been behind him.

It was bigger than any dog he'd ever seen, than any wolf he'd heard of. It was black, with dilated eyes and a snarling face, drool dripping from it's sharp teeth. Seifer figured it could have been rottweiler in a past life, if it didn't come up to his chest and wasn't covered in sores. Even as he watched, the dog-thing took a step forward, despite the impossibility of it's own existence. With so many sores, the thing should have been dead- for weeks, at that.

The thing let out a growl and crazed bark, snapping Seifer out of his trance. He quickly aimed and fired at it, letting loose three bullets.

One went wide, hitting the dirt three feet away. Another hit the thing's shoulder, embedding itself into the muscle. The last one ripped off a part of the dog-thing's face.

It still let out a viscous snarl and lunged, jaws opening wide, ready to snap down on Seifer's arm.

Without thinking, he side-stepped it and let go two more rounds, then turned and ran as fast as he could, not knowing nor particularly caring whether they'd hit or not. As he tore off in the general direction of the facility, howls and barks filled the air, coming from all around him.

There's more of these? He thought frantically. There was no way in hell he had enough ammo to kill what sounded like thirty of the mutant dogs. Especially if they could get their faces ripped off and still come after him.

This is not what I signed on for, he thought angrily, his legs pumping furiously as the snarls behind him increased in volume. Oh, shit, I'm gonna die.

"In here!"

Seifer didn't care if it was an enemy or not. When he heard the voice cry out, he automatically veered towards it, spotting what looked like a small, metal outhouse, a blond guy waving at him erratically.

He did an awkward, lunging jump and ended up in a heap on the floor of the surprisingly spacious outhouse. He got to his feet quickly and by the time he managed to look and see that the dog-things had been on his heels, the blond guy slammed the door shut. A loud bang echoed through the room and Seifer heard one of the things whine as it crashed into the door.

"Help!" the blond shouted, trying to lock it. Seifer immediately reached out and pulled on the iron bar that served as the lock until it fell into place.

He and the blond both let go warily, both relieved when the door held against the dogs' attempts to get in. Satisfied that it would keep them safe for the moment, Seifer turned to the other guy and frowned.

"Not that I'm ungrateful, but who are you?" he asked, glancing around and finding that were most definitely not in an outhouse. It had wood-paneled floors and a small desk with a chair. It looked more like some sort of security office, now that he was inside.

"Roxas," the blond answered his question, smiling weakly. "You?"

He examined the man (teen, really, he had to be around Hayner's age) before answering. He was wearing shabby black jeans that covered a pair of boots and a white shirt under a black button up. He also had a weird bracelet with numbers and letters on it. "Seifer," he said shortly, putting his gun in it's holster.

Roxas blinked. "You're not a prisoner, are you?" It was more a statement than a question, but Seifer answered anyway.

"No, are you?" he asked bluntly. Roxas cringed, but nodded.

"I got away this morning, but the dogs outside found me and I've been hiding in here most of the day," he said, sighing heavily. Seifer felt a twinge of sympathy before he remembered his mission.

"I'm here looking for someone," he dug in pockets before pulling out the picture of Hayner, holding it up, "have you seen him?"

Roxas eyed it warily before sighing. "No, but I've heard of him. Hayner, right?"

Seifer nodded. "He was kidnaped a while back in Twilight Town. I'm supposed to bring him back."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Roxas asked, blinking. "With what I heard, he's due for testing tomorrow."

Seifer frowned. "Testing?" Was this some weird cult bent on academic achievement? Somehow, he didn't think so.

"Yeah, I heard he was going to be a prototype of the Alpha series, P-100 or something," Roxas said, like Seifer knew what he was talking about. "Once testing starts, I don't think you'll be able to take him anywhere but another lab."

"Why not?"

Roxas shrugged. "That's how it is for everyone. Once they're taken to a station, they aren't the same again."

Seifer had a brain flash. "Like those dogs?"

Roxas nodded. "They were regular, before they got injected with the secondary strain of P-101. Then they grew and rotted, but somehow managed to stay alive," he paused, "they also crave human flesh."

Great. That was what he needed. Giant mutant dogs chasing him around the forest, intent on eating him. His life definitely sucked at that moment.

"If you're planning on going into the cells to find Hayner, you're going to need a map," Roxas said, ignoring Seifer's glazed expression. He went over to the desk and rifled through the drawers, talking as he did so.

"This is a security office. No one's come in all day, but someone probably will later. You'll have to get out of here soon, the night watch comes when the sun's behind the mountain," he pulled out a folded paper, handing it to Seifer. "There's a trapdoor you can use in the corner to get into the tunnels, but you're on your own from there."

Seifer cocked an eyebrow. "You're not coming?"

Roxas shook his head, smiling grimly. "Worked too hard to get out of here to go back."

"How do you know so much, anyway?" Seifer asked, slapping the map against the palm of his hand. He'd found that once he got past the meekness, he liked Roxas.

"Listened," he replied simply. He then pointed to the corner behind Seifer, where an ornate rug was lying. "Trapdoor's under there. Good luck."

Seifer kicked the rug aside, yanking on the small hoop that was in the floor. Once the door was open, he saw there was no way down, he'd just have to drop.

"What're you gonna do?" he asked as he lowered himself in, glancing at Roxas, who merely shrugged.

"I'll find a way. There's no need to worry about me, I can take care of myself," he gave Seifer a half-smile, waving. "Be careful."

As soon as he said it, Seifer's hand slipped and he went careening into the tunnel, yelling. He hit his arm on the edge of the crawlspace and cursed loudly. It didn't help that the tunnel was slanted. Seifer rolled down a ways before banging into a dirt wall. He simply lie still as he shut his eyes and took deep breaths.

He was so not taking on another rescue mission for a very long time.