I truly apologize for the very short length of this chapter. I hope you enjoy chapter Thirteen, Kuraudo.

Zack looked into the black before him. A void of darkness, yawning as far as the eye could see. He felt oddly sleepy, his mind drifting as it usually did before he fell into a deep slumber. He

felt as if floating, his body suspended on a bed of cloud- or what he imagined clouds to feel like.

Soft and warm. A comfort among the cold darkness that surrounded him.

I could stay here forever.

He thought, feeling himself beginning to slip into slumber's hold. Zack. Zack! 'Go away. Trying to sleep.' Zack murmured, trying to ignore the urgent voice. Zack, wake up, I can't carry both of

you out of here.

Zack groaned. 'Fine. What do you want.' C'mon Zack, wake up. He felt a hand on his shoulder, gently shaking it. A bolt of pain lanced down his arm and ripped him out of the

darkness.

Zack opened his eyes, looking into the face of Flint who was leaning over him. "That hurt." Zack pouted, holding his shoulder. Flint rolled his eyes. "Not even a thank you?" Zack suddenly

realised where he was. "Cloud!" Zack jumped to his feet, immediately falling to his knees, the room spinning. "Hey, careful Zack. You lost a lot of blood." Flint scolded, helping Zack to his

feet. Flint led Zack over to where Cloud lay. It looked like Flint had removed most of the tubing and wires, and had put clean bandages around Cloud's chest and stomach. The only things

that Cloud remained attached to were the florescent green tube connected to his wrist, and a machine that monitored the balance of Mako in his bloodstream. "I wasn't sure what would

happen, if I removed those. You've had more experience with this than me. What happened when he had you and Sephiroth?" Zack turned towards Flint. "How did you know?" Flint

flushed, having the air of a scolded puppy, "When I was on Hojo's side, he told me all about the Black Mako, and his previous experiments. He told me what he planned to do with Cloud,

but I never imagined this." He looked down at Cloud guiltily. "But that's why I decided to help you." Zack took a glance around the room. "Where is Hojo?" "He fled when he saw me. He

had just gone over to your body, looking at you like a vulture would a dying animal. That guy is such a creep." He said, glancing at Zack's shoulder. "You should get those bullets removed.

If you leave them in much longer, you could get permanent damage to the muscle tissue." "We need to help Cloud first." "We've done all we can for now. Hojo will have people looking for

us, so we need to be prepared. Who knows the next time you'll have a chance to remove them. It's at least a week's ride back to Midgar, and another two days on the boat, not to

mention any detours we may be forced to make." "Why Midgar?" Zack asked, removing his shirt to look at the damage. "Midgar is a large city. Hojo won't find us there, he'll expect us to

stay in a small town, near here- North Corel, Costa Del Sol, Rocket Town or Cosmo Canyon to name a couple. He won't expect us to get far on foot with a wounded man. But luckily we've

got the Chocobos." Zack nodded, keeping his eyes on Cloud. "We'll have to get provisions in North Corel. It'll be expensive, but it's the closest place from here on the way to the coast."

Flint nodded. "Until then, you'll have to find some food. I'll clean myself up." "There's only one problem." Zack looked up. "Once we get out Midgar, we'll need a safe place to stay until

Cloud gets better and this whole thing blows over. Do you have any friends or family that have a safe place?" Zack thought for a minute. "Yes, I do."

"Good. I'll go find some food."

I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter, Kuraudo. Sorry it was so short, and really didn't get anywhere, but I don't have much time. Anyways, Thankyou for taking the time to read it,

Lucifer