It is decided that we'll wear down one cell phone per group at a time. Mine is the first, since it has the least amount of charge, but mostly we don't use the flashlight. Vincent and Nanaki have excellent night vision, and if I keep one of them in sight at all times, I will avoid most of the dangers.
"First order of business is to find me a weapon of some kind," I tell them. "A chair leg or something I can hit with."
The crash of furniture comes from right in front of me, causing me to jump backward, but it is only Vincent dismantling a chair with violent kicks to the base. The leg splits free, but retains the nail at one end.
"Reminds me of Cloud's Nail Bat," Nanaki says.
"Both are inelegant weapons," Vincent replies, handing me the makeshift rod.
"Thank you. It'll have to do for now, but at least two of us are armed, sort of."
"I'm far from helpless," Vincent says.
"Never said you were, but even your gauntlet is gone. If you want to kick someone to death in your new sabatons, don't let me stop you."
"My Limit Breaks are different from the norm."
"Oh, yeah, duh! Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
"If it does, focus only on low-level healing spells to keep me from K'O and once I transform, my HP will be restored. That way we can conserve your MP for when we really need it."
"Um, ok, thanks."
"Of course. This way," he says, and I put a hand on his shoulder as we creep farther into the darkness.
The Gondola Ride spans most of the park, so it is only thanks to Nanaki's nose that we are able to locate the one car that is lit from inside by a weak cell phone light. It is six cars away from the closest support beam. I look up at it in the dark and sigh. Vincent puts one foot on the lowest rung of the ladder running up the beam and it bends like butter under a hot knife.
"I think you're too heavy," I say, stupidly.
"I can't climb without the sabatons."
"How about jumping then? You've always been good at that?" Nanaki suggests. Vincent turns around in circles. He picks a direction and launches toward it. He disappears into the darkness and swears.
"No good?" I ask.
"It has to be two hundred feet high," he says when he slinks out of the darkness, rubbing his arm. "The best I could do was reach a higher rung that also broke out from under me. There's nothing to bounce off in this area. We could find one of the ends and see if I can get up from there and leap over." The little light goes out above us and the car begins to sway.
I turn to Nanaki. "Don't look at me, I don't have opposable thumbs, and I'm no lighter than Vincent."
"I guess it's a good thing I lost all that weight, yo." I put my hand on the rung right above my head and test the strength. It doesn't even groan under me. I blow out through my lips and retrieve my inhaler. I take a deep breath as I depress the plunger. I gag as it hits the back of my tongue, but I can breathe a little better already. I hand Vincent the chair leg.
"Reno…"
"I know, it's a stupid idea to have the gimp climb, but it's gotta get done."
He grabs me by the back of my head and kisses me. "Be careful," he growls into my mouth.
"I will."
Vertical ladders have always been my least favorite mode of getting from one place to another and barely twenty feet in the air, I remember why. "I hate heights," I moan, and close my eyes.
"You're a pilot, Reno, that's ridiculous," Vincent snarks.
"It's different when there's a floor beneath you."
"Just hurry up."
At fifty rungs there is a small platform. I rest there and use the inhaler again. That means I'm gonna have to make it another two hours before I can use it again – doctor's orders. The cars are swaying above me, but the sixth one is moving more than the others and it creaks as it rocks. I can't waste any more time, so I climb one rung after another, always making sure to keep three points of contact.
Every twenty-five feet or so, there is another landing and I use them to catch my breath. My watch glows in the dark, and it says I've been at this for almost fifteen minutes. My legs ache and my hands are sweaty, but I keep going up and up.
My foot slips on the rung Vincent bent with his jump attempt, probably because of the sweat left behind by my hands, and as I reach to grab for the bar below, I slip again a little further and smash my chin on the rung in front of me. I see little Chocobos dancing before my eyes. I loop my arm around the ladder and hold completely still as the world sways around me.
Vincent and Nanaki are lost to me in the darkness, but I hear them moving. When I finally clear my head, I look up. The last platform is right above me. Once I settle at the top, I'm so sick to my stomach that I want to puke.
"Heads up guys, I'm gonna vomit," I say, and then I wait until I hear them scamper back. I lean over so that I'm as far out as I can get, then I upchuck into the darkness.
"Thanks for the warning," Nanaki says.
"Yeah, no problem. I'm at the top now. There's a thick girder above me. I'm gonna go for it, try to walk across to the cars," I call out as loudly as I can.
"Alright, give us a heads up if you're going to fall. We'll try to catch you."
I pull up to the beam like I'm doing pull-ups, only this time I have to scramble over the edge. I try to stand, but there's just nothing left in my appendages, instead I wrap my legs around it and shimmy across. It's not dignified, nor cool, but it gets the job done. I used to be so good at this kinda shit...
"What's that?" Nanaki shouts.
"Incoming at twelve o'clock and two," Vincent says.
"What's going on guys?" I call down.
"There are monsters closing in on us, hurry up, so we can get out of here," Nanaki response. Vincent grunts.
"Let me know if I need to cast Cure on anyone," I say, but no one answers me. Nanaki is busy tearing something apart and Vincent is running this way and that. I focus on the car ahead of me and pick up the pace.
The walkie-talkie clipped to my back pocket squawks and the distraction makes me slip. I hold my breath as I find my balance again, but someone says my name in the static of the next call. I steady myself and pull it from my back pocket.
"Hello?"
"Reno?"
"Yes."
"It's Cloud. We need you at the electrical junction. This is way beyond us."
"I'm balanced on a beam two hundred feet in the air trying to get to the manager while Vincent and Nanaki fight off monsters below me. It's gonna be a while."
"Rude and I are holding back waves of them. Barrett says the Battle Arena cages are empty."
"Fuck."
"Come in Cloud," Tseng calls, joining the conversation.
"Yes, Tseng?"
"We've arrived at the emergency exit – without weapons this is a no-go. There are three, I repeat three, Malboros at the door. They're grouped together like a party, their tentacles waving viciously."
"Are you safe?" Cloud asks.
"We're in the air ducts, they haven't seen us. We'll keep an eye on things here, but I don't even have a ribbon – none of the ex-Turks do."
"I have one," I butt in.
"Yes, so hurry and get that damned key or code, or whatever the fuck it is, and get to the Haunted Hotel as fast as you can. The electrical room is in the sub-basement. We'll hold them off as long as we can, but I'm running out of MP," Cloud grunts.
"Got it, we'll be there as soon as we can."
Fuck it, I think. I stand and run along the girder for the last ten feet. I trip, and sprawl on the top of the car, but I'm there as it rocks wildly. There's no movement from inside, so I knock, again nothing. I look back the way I came and count again. Yes, I'm in the right place. I lower my upper body over the edge and look in. There is a form huddled in the corner.
"Watch yourself, I'm gonna break a window and get in there to help you," I warn. I switch around so that my legs dangle over the edge and I kick at the window with all my strength. The safety glass doesn't shatter, but the whole window pops in and with my momentum, I barely manage to fall through the window, instead of to my death.
Nothing moves when I enter the car, but it rocks wildly, something rolls side to side. I snap open my phone and collide with a severed arm. The manager is way dead, if all the limbs are any indication.
I paw through his mangled remains and the congealed bodily fluids. He's been dead for at least an hour, by the smell alone. I find another walkie-talkie and clip it to my belt and there, in his blood-soaked pocket, I find a magnetic card. I look everywhere, searching through the remains until I find a thick wad of keys grasped in his stiff fingers. Nope, rewind, he's been dead for at least two hours, if not more, judging by the amount of rigor mortis. I have to break the fingers to get the keys.
Getting down is worse than coming up. I can't look down, but I move as quickly as I can toward the sounds of the battles going on below me, until suddenly there's no more noise.
"Vincent? Nanaki?"
"We're on our feet, Reno. What's your status?" Nanaki calls.
"The manager is dead, but I've got his passcard and his keys. Something… ate him."
"Fabulous," Vincent says. His voice is hoarse.
"I'm moving as fast as I can."
"We know, Reno, but be careful. The field is cleared."
"Cloud called," I say as I continue to climb down. "He needs us at the hotel."
"Oh," Vincent says.
"Are you both alright?" I ask.
"We've been better," Nanaki says and that makes my blood grow cold. I get down the ladder in less than ten minutes.