Mutten Kylegate hit Rufus three times.

“I can’t tell you something I don’t know.”

“Tell me the new passkey!”

“Someone must have changed it. I only know the emergency—”

Mutten hit him again without waiting for him to finish. He was well-trained in his punches.

“I see. So you’re from the army—”

“You’ve passed by me many times before. But to you, I’m just another one of your troops.”

“—I’m sorry,” Rufus sincerely apologised. However at the same time he thought to himself, If everything in this house belongs to him then he must be the son of a rich or famous family. In that case, he must have been born quite early and should be older than he looks. There was a rule within the company that prohibited certain kinds of people from being recruited for the army but it was often ignored. In this case— Mutten must have some problems that prevented him from being promoted. This room filled with its horrific decorations may be proof of that.

“You have lapdogs don’t you?”

Mutten suddenly changed the subject. He must have a very unrefined mind if he can refer to people as lapdogs, thought Rufus.

“Where are they?”

“I was taken away when my subordinates weren’t present. They don’t know my whereabouts.”

“I see,” Mutten said convinced but he hit out at Rufus again. Someone came in.

“What is it?”

“We have a guest,” replied one of the maids.

“A guest? Who could— Never mind. I’ll be right there.”

Just as Mutten was about to leave the room he turned back round to look at Rufus.

“The construction of the new city has started this morning. I’ve gathered plenty of volunteers and lapdogs together. You should have seen the crowd that gathered on the east side of Midgar. I’m really looking forward to it, Mr. President. They’re building my city. I’d love to show you it but you leave me no choice but to leave you here.”

He left after letting Rufus know the new city will be called, “Edge”. Not long afterwards, Rufus could hear the angry voice of a man. It was familiar voice. Gunshots could be heard and the maid screamed. He could then smell something burning and heard a lot of people screaming trying to escape.

Rufus tried to get up from the chair he was forced to sit on but his body wouldn’t obey and the slightest movement caused him to fall over. He could feel a scream surging inside his ribs but he tried to stay calm and surveyed his surroundings. I had the feeling this would be where the fight would be. He heard a vulgar voice outside.

“Mr. President, where are you!”

Rufus believed it was the voice of the man that pointed a gun at him. He didn’t know what the situation was but most likely they had some dispute amongst themselves. In any case, it didn’t seem like help had come. Now then, what should I do? I’ll crawl my way underneath the bed and hide myself there.

“—”

His fractured bones were aching and he wanted to cry out in pain but he bit his lower lip and perservered. What do I do now? If he sees the chain on my foot he’ll know where I’m hiding. Rufus rolled onto his back and looked at the bottom of the bed. There were metal hooks and a number of whips were hanging from there— Just thinking about what they were used for disgusted Rufus. He took one of them and gripped onto the handle tightly.

“Mr. President!”

The door was kicked down brutally and a man entered. Rufus could only see his boots from where he was hiding. As he walked over to the bed, his foot hit the chain that was locked to Rufus’ foot.

“Heh, hiding under the bed huh.”

Come on. Closer. Just as Rufus expected, the man was cautiously getting closer to the bed. Come on, peek down. Lets see your face.

But it was the end of a silver gun that he saw extending underneath the bed. Immediately he grabbed the gun with his left hand and pushed against the bed hard.

“What are you doing!”

A gunshot is heard. Pain ran through Rufus’ left hand. Letting go of the gun, Rufus slid out from under the bed. He couldn’t feel the pain on his flank. He rolled over and kicked the man with the cast on his foot. “Urgh!” cried the man staggering back a few steps. Getting up quickly, Rufus swung the whip hard. Fortunately for him, the gun dropped close by. He quickly rushed over to pick it up and pointed it at the man.

“I win.”

But smoke suddenly filled the room.

“You stupid President! Come on! Fire! You’ll be burned to death in the fire too anyway! How’s that gun going to help you?”

Rufus had no choice but to let the man live for now. He quickly tried to find a good reason to make the man listen to him.

“You killed Mutten?”

“Yeah, I did. He’s been treating me like s***! We grew up together damn it!”

“I see. And that’s what caused his fall.”

“Don’t try to make me one of your men. I haven’t forgotten how you made a fool out of me back in that house.”

This must be karma, thought Rufus. He never thought things would end this way. That moment, he heard another gunshot and the man fell. He thought he had unconsciously fired the gun but he found someone else had entered the room.

* * *

“Boss!”

The refugees from Midgar who had made their way to Kalm were now rushing out of the Kylegate Mansion. Four of the Turks arrived just in time to see the mansion burst out in flames and collapse before their eyes.

“Boss!”

The Turks franctically looked for Rufus amongst the refugees and finally found out what they wanted to hear.

“Someone saw a middle aged man carrying out a man in a white suit that had his head and feet in bandages,” said Elena with a worried face.

“That must be the President,” Tseng said.

“Who could the middle aged man be?” asked Reno.

“I’m sure we know him, “said Rude.

“Could be the Chief, “Reno said, eyes narrowing. “Should we do this the Turks’ way? They all hate Shinra anyway.”

“You have my permission. But do not harm the volunteers.”

“Why?”

“The plan to rebuild the city is most likely the President’s idea.”

* * *

Just moments ago underneath the burning Mutten’s mansion, a middle aged man was pointing a gun at Rufus.

“How are you Mr. Rufus Shinra?”

The man was the doctor that had inspected Rufus.

“Not very well.”

“Then you should throw away your gun. It’ll just make things worse for you.”

Rufus felt uneasy at the doctor’s words.

“Doctor. If you throw yours away then I will do the same.”

The doctor smirked and pointed the gun at Rufus’ face firmly. Rufus knew he was ready to pull the trigger. Quickly he aimed his own at the doctor’s heart and fired. The gun clicked with an empty sound.

“Mr. Shinra. You don’t know the man who possessed that gun. He hated Mutten. All Mutten did was make him do all the dirty work and take all the good stuff for himself. That’s why he used all the bullets to relieve his own hatred on Mutten. I believe the last shot was used in this room—”

Rufus let out a sigh as he watched the corpse being kicked over before him. He never did think about the consequences did he?

“I am Kilmister. I worked for the Shinra Company since I was young. I was a little lower down than Dr. Hojo’s assistant in terms of status.

He’s one of Hojo’s staff — I have a bad feeling about this.

“Now throw away that gun.”

Rufus had no choice but to obey and threw the gun at Kilmister’s feet. Kilmister took out a glass bottle from his pocket and held it out before Rufus.

“Take a sniff of this. I need you to pass out for a moment. If you don’t do it, I’ll shoot. I’m going to need some of your help so I won’t kill you but — I will make you suffer,” said Kilmister handing the bottle over. Rufus took it and opening it, he recognised the smell right away. It was the same smell he noticed that Mutten had when they were still in the house in Kalm.

* * *

Waking up, Rufus found himself on the back of a truck. There were nine others besides himself. There were five young men and four women who were around the same age. They were all bandaged. But there was one other similar thing they all had. He had thought they were all just covered in dirt but looking closely, he noticed a black liquid was flowing out of their body. Even their hair were covered by the sticky substance. He knew they were suffering judging from the occasional moans he could hear from them. One of the young woman next to Rufus lost her balance and fell on him.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“You— You don’t have the disease,” she said in a sorrowful voice. “I’m really sorry if you get infected.”

Rufus broke his bones sliding down from the top floor of the Shinra Building. Then he was locked up and tortured before being faced with a gun. Now he was facing a fatal disease. He smiled bitterly thinking about everything he’s been through. He didn’t want to get dragged into anything else but right now at the back of the truck, there was nothing he could do.

It was a rough ride. The road was bumpy and Kilmister was driving at an insane speed. Rufus had thought about pretending he fell off the truck but remembered how Kilmister said his help was needed. I doubt my life’s in danger. Wherever it is he’s taking me it will probably be better passing out in the wild here.

* * *

Kilmister stopped the truck in front of a cave by the coast in a rocky area. Just like the time Rufus was taken to Mutten’s basement, he had lost consciousness for most of the trip so he had no idea how far away he was from Kalm. Looking at the coast, Rufus tried to map out where he was and judged he was around a three to four hours car journey away. As injured as he may be, it was possible for him to walk back on foot.

Kilmister pointed his gun at the patients and gave out orders. Even if he didn’t, it didn’t look like they had the strength to fight back. Rufus got off with the help of the woman who he had talked to earlier. He didn’t have a walking stick for support so he held onto the woman’s shoulder until they reached the cave.

“I hope we both get better soon,” said the woman. Indeed I hope so too, thought Rufus.

There was a steep drop the moment they entered the cave. Rufus had a harsh time climbing down the ninety degrees ladder for five metres. He forced himself to look up, his neck cracking with pain. If they removed this ladder, it would be impossible to climb back up. As if expected, Kilmister removed the ladder.

“There’s a number of passageways further in. Each of them leads to a dead end. Go find one you like. It’ll be your room.”

“What about our treatment?” asked a young man.

“Come to me when I call you. No harm will come to you,” answered Kilmister in a calming tone and disappeared.

Surprisingly enough, some simple bedding and pyjamas were prepared for them in the cave. Each of the patients took their share and went away to the “one they liked” and claimed their beds.

Rufus chose the one furthest in as part of his habit. Not long afterwards, a boy whose symptoms had calmed down came round with his meal which was some bread and cheese.

“Was everyone threatened with a gun to come here?” asked Rufus.

“No. We’ve been Mr. Kilmister’s patients since we were children. He’s the local doctor in Kalm. That’s why when he said he could heal our disease we believed him and a number of others helped carry things to this hospital here.”

“Hospital?”

“Yeah. We have to be quarantined. He told us even if we stayed in the village we would eventually be chased out-” The boy said, suddenly looking troubled. He continued, “He says that he only decided to use a gun now to make sure you won’t try to escape.”

“I’m a patient too but… It looks like he doesn’t trust me. By the way, where are we?”

“He told us not to tell you.”

Looks like it won’t be a fun stay here either, thought Rufus.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9