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Chapter 7

The only word Cloud could come up with to describe the Mideel jungle was 'soggy'. The moisture that hung heavy in the balmy air seeped into everything, and sweat just stayed on your body instead of evaporating. Surprisingly, despite the high humidity it hadn't yet rained. When one of the locals had overheard Cloud wishing it would, the man had laughed and told him that the only rain the area got was during the monsoon season.

The lush forest was so dense you couldn't see more than a few feet away, and they'd already had a couple of people get lost. So far everyone had been found again and there hadn't been any casualties, but they had strict orders to always remain in sight of at least one other person when on patrol.

Cloud was, to put it lightly, completely out of his element. Born and raised in the arid mountains of Nibelheim, he'd never seen so much greenery in one place in his life. The heat was exacerbated by the humidity, and it all combined to make Cloud feel sluggish and irritable.

Zack, on the other hand, was most definitely in his element. This jungle was apparently similar enough to the forests around Gongaga that Zack felt right at home. The older boy was a popular patrol partner, because he always seemed to be able to find the route that took the least effort and encountered the fewest stinging bugs.

Not that Cloud was reaping the benefits of his friend's experience. Things had not improved between them over the course of the voyage; if anything, they'd gotten worse. When Cloud had finally returned below decks, he'd found Zack engaged in conversation with the SOLDIERs, having wandered over and shamelessly introduced himself. Cloud didn't have nearly enough nerve to just walk up and join them, especially not when he was still in danger of throwing up all over them.

After that Zack had seemed to avoid Cloud, just as Cloud had feared he would. The only thing that confused him was that sometimes he would catch the older boy giving him soulful looks, like a puppy begging for forgiveness, but so far Cloud wasn't sure just what they were supposed to mean. Zack was the one avoiding him, not the other way around.

The end result was that Cloud was more miserable than at any other time in his life, up to and including the voyage from Costa del Sol to Junon. Slogging through humid rainforest for twelve hours a day on what seemed to be a wild goose chase did nothing to improve his mood, either. He snapped and snarled at anyone who got close to him, and eventually the rest of his platoon wisely decided to leave him alone.

Today was no exception. As he forced his way through the dense undergrowth, Cloud did his best to keep his rifle from getting tangled in the greenery. The insects were especially bad today, and he was certain he was going to end up with a bad case of anaemia by nightfall. To his left he could hear one of the sword platoon members crashing along, catching occasional glimpses of the man through the greenery. There was nothing to his right, since he'd been assigned to the flank.

Up ahead the SOLDIER in charge of their unit called for a rest stop, and Cloud staggered to a halt gratefully. Moving through the jungle was hard work, and his heavy uniform was plastered to his body with sweat. He wished he could take his helmet off, but some of the others had already gotten in trouble for doing that while on patrol earlier in the week.

Gulping water from his canteen, he rested the butt of his rifle on the ground and looked around. This area looked exactly the same as every other bit of jungle he'd seen over the last five days. There was certainly no sign of the people who had supposedly shot down a Shinra helicopter and sabotaged the efforts of the surveyors. General speculation among the troops was that whoever it was had been smart enough to pull out when they heard Shinra was sending reinforcements, but they couldn't go home until they got orders to that effect from the brass in Midgar.

"All right, we're almost at the turnaround point," the SOLDIER said, pacing up and down their ragged line. "Another hour and we'll swing around and head back to base. I know you're all tired and frustrated, but stay sharp. That could be exactly what these people are waiting for. Keep your eyes peeled, and make sure you don't lose sight of the people on either side of you. I don't want anyone getting lost. Understand?"

"Yes sir!" Cloud joined the weary chorus of acknowledgement, trying not to lean too much of his weight on his rifle. He wanted this horrible mission to be over already, and he wanted to go back to the familiar routines in Midgar. More importantly he desperately wanted things to return to normal between him and Zack, but he still had no idea how to go about setting things right.

Automatically he glanced over to the left. He knew Zack was somewhere close by, maybe even on the other side of the swordsman, because he'd heard the older boy's voice at an earlier rest stop. That marked the closest the two of them had been to each other all week, and it made Cloud's chest ache.

"Move out!" the SOLDIER declared, and Cloud hefted his rifle back to his shoulder and started walking again. He honestly didn't know what these patrols were supposed to accomplish; you'd have to be deaf not to hear them coming in plenty of time to hide, and they could walk right by the terrorists and not see them five feet from the flank.

They'd been walking for maybe fifteen minutes when there was a startled shout from the left and rear. Cloud turned, automatically squinting as if that would help him see through the trees, but he couldn't see anything. His hands tensed on his rifle as another shout came, accompanied by a burst of gunfire. The next sound was a roar that couldn't possibly have been made by any human throat.

"Close ranks!" the SOLDIER bellowed, running from the point position back to where the chaos was. "Close ranks, form a square! Don't let them draw you out or you'll be unprotected!" The distinctive sound of metal on leather reached Cloud as the man drew his sword, and then the ground-shaking roar came again.

Belatedly Cloud realized he was just standing there on the unprotected flank, and started moving. Almost immediately he encountered the swordsman who had been beside him, engaged in a fight with a red-scaled dragon that was twice his size. His sword was proving somewhat ineffective against its hard scales, but its wicked talons had no such trouble piercing his uniform.

Without thinking Cloud dropped to one knee to steady himself, braced his rifle against his shoulder and fired. His aim had improved since his time as a cadet; he wasn't a crack shot by any means, but at least he could hit a target this big. The bullet pierced the scales at the thing's shoulder, making it roar in fury. From that sound Cloud knew this was the same creature that had attacked their rearguard.

It also looked vaguely familiar. As he sighted for another shot and waited for the swordsman to get out of his line of fire, Cloud realized it was the same sort of dragon they'd encountered in the cage in Hojo's lab. Which meant it was one of the creatures that were supposedly appearing inexplicably around Midgar - except Midgar was half a world away. How had it gotten here?

This dragon didn't have a tattoo on its shoulder, but that meant very little to Cloud at the moment. All he was worried about was surviving, hopefully along with the swordsman.

"Get back!" he shouted, firing again and driving the dragon a little further back. He wasn't sure his rifle was doing more than just stinging it, but at least it was more damage than the swordsman could do. "You're not hurting it, get out of the way!"

The swordsman turned to run while the dragon was distracted, but neither of them had counted on the fact that claws and teeth weren't the creature's only weapon. Opening its mouth, the dragon breathed a wave of fire at the hapless man, who instantly burst into flames. Screaming, the swordsman thrashed and dropped to the ground, trying to roll to put out the flames, but they were too strong. The horrid stench of burning meat reached Cloud, and he gagged.

Trying not to let the screaming distract him, he fired again on the dragon, aiming at the head. If he could hit it in the eye maybe he could blind it, and it might run off. Or it might get even angrier and fry him too, but it was probably planning to do that anyway so he didn't really have much to lose.

Whatever deity watched over fools and small children was apparently guarding him as well today, and he didn't think it was because of his age. His shot entered the dragon's mouth as it opened its jaw to breathe at him, and the tissue there was unprotected by scales. It made a horrible noise, shuddered, and collapsed, shot through the brain.

Jumping to his feet, Cloud started to run over to the swordsman. The man was lying still now, not screaming any longer, but Cloud had to check and make sure it really was too late to help him.

He hadn't taken more than a few steps before a heavy, snarling weight crashed into his hip, knocking him down and sending him sprawling. Cloud screamed as vicious fangs sank into his thigh, and he looked down to see the narrow face of one of the wolves he'd mistaken for a Nibel Wolf in Hojo's lab. The creature had him by the leg and didn't seem inclined to let go, shaking its head as if trying to break the bone.

Scrabbling for the rifle he'd dropped as he fell, Cloud snatched it up and started bashing at the wolf's nose with the butt. He was too close to be able to get a good angle to shoot with the long gun, and he would have risked hitting his own leg anyway. As grateful as he'd been to be in the rifle corps when facing the dragon, now he desperately wished he had access to a sword as well. The rifle wasn't making much impact on the wolf, except to irritate it and make it clench its jaws harder.

"Cloud!" Through the roar of blood rushing in his ears, Cloud was vaguely aware of a familiar voice calling his name. "Cloud! Damn it, get off him!"

For a dizzy moment Cloud thought the command had been directed at him, and he choked down a hysterical protest that he'd be more than happy to get off the wolf if only he could. Zack grabbed the sword the other trooper had dropped when he caught fire, and started hacking at the wolf's hindquarters. "Let go, damn it!"

Snarling, the wolf finally released Cloud's leg to turn on Zack. The moment he had enough distance to be able to level his gun, Cloud buried the muzzle in the wolf's chest and pulled the trigger. At the same time Zack slashed down with the sword, catching it squarely in the side of its neck. With a gurgling whine the wolf collapsed, half draped over Cloud's legs.

"Shit, Cloud, are you okay?" Zack crouched over him, dropping the sword and using both hands to apply pressure to the wound. "Looks like it missed the artery, but I don't think you're going to be walking on that any time soon. Fuck!"

The panicked concern in the older boy's grey-violet eyes made something that had been far too tight in Cloud's chest finally relax, despite the pain that was making him light-headed. Zack did still care, even if he was avoiding Cloud. Maybe they could save their friendship yet.

Assuming they both lived through the next ten minutes. "Zack, these are the same animals we saw in the lab," Cloud said, dazed.

"Yeah, I know," Zack agreed, ripping the material of Cloud's ruined pants and using the strips to make bandages. "So much for the theory that their appearance is related to the reactors somehow. The nearest reactor is way out in the plains south of Junon."

There was a crashing noise somewhere nearby, and Zack grabbed the sword and spun around. The next monster to come through wasn't anything Cloud had seen before, though it looked like some sort of animated carnivorous plant. Right behind it was a human, though - one not dressed in the familiar Shinra uniform.

The man gave them a startled look, then swore and ran off into the undergrowth in another direction. "Shit, that must be one of the terrorists!" Zack exclaimed, hacking at the plant's reaching vines. "They must be the ones who released the monsters. Damn it, he's getting away!"

"Go!" Cloud shouted, firing at the plant's main body when Zack stepped away for a moment. "Zack, you have to follow him! If we don't catch him now he'll just do it all over again, and more people will die!"

It took all his courage to say the words, and then some. There was no way he could put weight on his leg, and he was the next thing to completely helpless as a result. If Zack left, he was probably going to die. If Zack didn't go, though, and the man got away, then many more people might die the next time a patrol was caught unaware. These monsters were way beyond their level.

"Fuck!" Frustrated, Zack slammed his sword through the head of the plant, severing it messily from the stalk. The whole thing collapsed and shrivelled up, leaving the dark-haired boy panting over it. "I don't want to just leave you here!"

"Zack." Cloud looked up at him, forcing his expression into the most determined look he could manage. "You know you have to."

Growling, Zack reached up and hastily stripped off the bandolier that held his extra ammunition. "You take this," he ordered, dropping it into Cloud's lap. When the younger boy started to object, he shook his head sharply. "I've got the sword, and I can dodge. You can't. I will come back for you, I swear!" Gripping Cloud's shoulder, he stared into the smaller boy's eyes. "Stay alive."

With that he was gone, darting and weaving his way through the underbrush in the direction the terrorist had gone, moving with considerably more ease than the strange man had managed. If he was lucky, he would be able to catch up.

Trying not to let his heart pound its way right out of his chest, Cloud hefted his rifle and set it against his shoulder. He wanted to be able to sight and fire on anything that came out of the jungle the moment he saw it, even if it was tiring to hold the rifle up like that.

He knew his chances of surviving this were slim to none. Shaking hard enough that he could hear the rifle rattling, he gritted his teeth and tried not to panic. At least, if he was going to die, it wouldn't be with Zack mad at him. Whatever awkwardness had been between them had evaporated in the face of the possibility of death, and he was grateful for that much.

Straining his ears, he tried to catch some sign of the rest of the patrol. He could hear shouting in the far distance, and the occasional burst of gunfire, but nothing near enough that they might be able to hear him if he hollered for help. He was on his own - and even if the patrol won the fight, they might never come looking for him. The only one who knew he was alive and injured out here was Zack, and there was no guarantee Zack was going to survive a headlong charge after the enemy. He swallowed, trying not to think about it. He wasn't sure which thought bothered him more - that he might be left alone to die out here, or that Zack might not survive.

Several times he heard creatures prowling in the bushes, and fired on them to scare them off. Twice he didn't succeed, and had to keep pumping bullets frantically into the attacking monsters until they dropped. One of them, a cat-like creature, made it all the way to his foot before it finally collapsed, and he had far too good a view of its gleaming fangs.

When he heard the soft shushing of wings in the trees, his heart clenched in fear. That wasn't just one creature, not unless it had multiple sets of wings. A small cloud of bats emerged from the trees around him, circling above him with what he imagined was a hungry look in their eyes. They seemed to be attracted to the blood that was seeping through his makeshift bandages, darting down to dive at his leg again and again. He swatted them off with the rifle barrel, again cursing the fact that he didn't have any other weapon. They were far too fast in the air for him to shoot them.

He tried anyway, using up the last of his loaded ammunition. When he fumbled for more, the swarm descended on him all at once and he felt half a dozen sharp stabbing pains on his extremities. Yelling, he flailed around him with the rifle, trying to bat them away and protect his face at the same time.

They pulled back to stay just out of his range, and hovered there in a flapping group. They were waiting for him to get tired, he realized in horror as he paused in his flailing to catch his breath and one of them darted at him again. They knew he couldn't hurt them or run away, and they were trying to wear him out.

Shaking, he firmed his grip on the rifle and set his mouth in a determined line. He might be facing death, but he wasn't going to go down without a fight. Shifting the rifle to his off hand, he fumbled around on the ground for something to throw at them.

They dove on him again, and he jerked his hand back to the gun, ready to beat them off once more. Instead they scattered as something large and dark charged into the middle of the cloud with a furious yell. For a moment he was certain he was dead, that it was another monster come to rend him to pieces with claw and fang.

It took Cloud's stunned brain a moment to realize what he was actually seeing. Zack swung the sword in large sweeping motions, hitting two or three of the bats on every swipe. They converged on him, trying to swarm him from behind, but he kept circling too fast for them to gang up on him.

Once his heart started again and he remembered how to breathe, Cloud brought his reloaded rifle back up and fired on the edges of the group of bats, trying to drive some of them away. He managed to distract some of them long enough for Zack to finish them off, and finally the last bat dropped to lie flapping weakly on the forest floor.

Breathing hard, Zack spiked the sword into the ground and leaned against it. "What're you looking at me like that for?" he asked the still astonished Cloud with a fierce grin. "I told you I'd come back for you, didn't I?"

"I... I thought..." Cloud swallowed hard and closed his eyes, not wanting Zack to see the shameful tears of relief that were threatening to spill over. "I thought I was dead for sure."

There was a rustle as Zack knelt beside him, and the older boy's hand brushed over his face. Cloud opened his eyes again to see Zack giving him a deadly serious look. "I will always come back for you," Zack swore. "No matter what, Cloud, I will never leave you behind. I promise."

Somehow, even though he shouldn't have been able to make a promise like that because who knew what circumstances might happen in the future, Cloud believed him. "Zack," he rasped, his voice hoarse with the fear of the last hour, and the stress of the last week. "Zack, I'm sorry. Please, please can we go back to the way things were before? I hate not being able to talk to you. Please don't avoid me any more!"

"You're sorry?" Zack looked surprised. "What the hell for? I'm the one who screwed up. You seemed so mad at me, I thought you were disgusted and I was trying to give you space. I... ah, hell, it doesn't matter whose fault it is." He shook his head. "I'll forgive you if you forgive me, okay? C'mon, let's get the hell out of here." He turned and presented his back, gesturing. "Climb on."

"What are you, nuts?" Cloud asked him in disbelief. "You can't carry me all the way back to the base, we're six hours out!"

"Well, unless you're packing a Restore materia and have a hell of a lot more energy left than I've got, it's the only way you're getting out of here because you sure as hell aren't walking," Zack replied. "Now climb on. I'm not leaving you behind again."

The fierce note in the older boy's voice convinced Cloud he was serious. Any thoughts he'd had of protesting that Zack should leave and go for help died unspoken. His vision swimming from blood loss and shock, he scrambled up onto Zack's back and wrapped his arms around the older boy's broad shoulders. Zack hooked his arms under Cloud's knees and stood carefully, grunting with the effort.

"Fuck, it's a good thing this didn't happen a couple months from now," he commented. "I don't think I could carry you if you were much heavier, and the way you've been growing it wouldn't take long. Dragging you along with one arm over my shoulder would be cumbersome as hell. You're gonna have to shoot anything that comes at us, I can't swing a sword like this."

"I'll manage," Cloud said, clinging harder with one arm so he could free the other to hold the rifle. It was an uncomfortable position for both of them, but better than getting eaten by a monster. Zack started walking, seemingly uncaring of the vines and branches that slapped him in the face because he couldn't use his arms to push them out of the way. His bulk sheltered Cloud from the worst of it, but Cloud felt guilty for every scratch and scrape Zack picked up.

It took much longer than six hours before they finally staggered back into the camp. Zack's feet were dragging, and Cloud could feel the older boy's breath rasping in his chest with each heaving pant. They'd tried having Cloud limp along beside, using Zack as a crutch, but as predicted it had been far too awkward to be practical and Zack had ended up carrying him again.

There was a shout as they were spotted by the sentries, and a rush of troops clustered around them. People babbled questions and orders, talking over each other until the words became nothing but a disorienting jumble of noise. Finally one of the SOLDIERs pushed through, followed by medics with a stretcher. "Report!"

"We encountered one of the enemy terrorists, and I followed him," Zack said, his voice hoarse with exhaustion. He didn't release Cloud, though Cloud suspected that might be because he was so tired he'd forgotten how to let go. "I lost him in the underbrush, and came back for Cloud. He's got a nasty wolf bite on his left thigh, and multiple stabbing wounds from some bats."

"Here, let us take him," one of the medics coaxed, and slowly Zack released Cloud into their arms. Cloud sucked in a pained breath as they set him on his feet for a moment, then sighed as they settled him onto the stretcher.

"Where are the stab wounds?" one of them asked him brusquely. He felt the cool energy of a low-level cure spell wash over him, and the worst of the throbbing in his leg subsided.

"Legs and arms," Cloud muttered, dizzy with even the relative relief from pain. "I managed to protect my torso."

"Really?" the medic sounded surprised. "Where did all the blood on your shirt come from, then?"

Glancing down for the first time, Cloud blinked for a confused moment. He was certain that the uniform tunic he'd put on that morning was the same vivid blue as he always wore, but his shirt front was a dark rusty colour. When he finally realized that what he was seeing was blood, he went white.

"Zack?" he gasped, jerking his eyes up to his friend's face. The older boy smiled weakly back at him.

"He gonna be okay?" Zack asked the medics, who nodded. "Good." Without another word his eyes slid closed, and he crumpled to the ground in a heap.

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