“Tseng, Reno, Rude, Elena,” Rufus turned to the four Turks the next morning, after the Lifestream had passed.
“What do you all plan to do from here?”

“I don’t remember being fired.”

The others nodded in agreement to Reno’s words.

Rufus went on to give the Turks two orders. The first was to return to Midgar and gain an overview of the situation there, and the second was to gather allies.

“Just because people maybe on our staff, doesn’t mean they’re allies. Understood?”

“I know that. But what use will it be gathering allies now? What are you going to do?”

“I want information for now, no matter how little or how much.”

Apart from a few ribs, Rufus had also broken his right heel, and was suffering from a whiplash. He was therefore in a wheelchair, but he still hadn’t lost his dignity.

“Tseng.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m sure you’ve had enough—”

“There are still many things that only Shin-Ra can accomplish.”

Rufus nodded satisfied at his response.

“I’m sure this will be fun.”

The Turks broke into two groups and immediately set off for Midgar. Tseng and Elena were responsible for gathering information, while Reno and Rude were responsible for gathering allies. Their former colleagues, who had gathered here, had already parted to gather information from places other than Midgar, and would forward it to Kalm.

„ The likes of AVALANCHE have always said, Shin-Ra is the enemy of this planet,“ Reno suddenly said as if it suddenly came to mind.

“Yeah.”

“Looks like they were right.”

“Why’s that?”

“Just look around you.”

It seemed Reno’s observation wasn’t wrong. The Lifestream had saved the Planet from Meteor, however, Midgar, the stronghold of the Shin-Ra Company, had paid an enormously price. The punishment from the planet was not the complete destruction of the city, but it would take a long time to rebuild it. Midgar was not dead, but it was far from being alive – it was as though a death sentence had been imposed, in which they had forgotten to set an execution date. And since the people were aware that it was not Shin-Ra who had saved the planet, the company now faced hostilely. The population probably needed a scapegoat, someone responsible for this global disaster, and soon the name Shin-Ra fit that bill.

Reno and Rude reached the vicinity of the Shin-Ra Building in Sector Zero. Although this part of the city had been devastated most, there were a lot of people here. They had all come here, hoping for information and assistance.

“How ironic,” Reno grunted as he listened to the conversations amongst the evacuees. It was clear that they all considered the Shin-Ra Company to be the root of all evil, yet they all hoped Shin-Ra would also be the ones to do something to improve their situation.

“I want to gag their mouths with my socks.”

“Do it. I won’t stop you.”

“I don’t have any spares.”

* * *

Tseng and Elena were in Wall Market, in the slums of sector 6. It was easy to come by information here, but it wasn’t always reliable. Even so the Turks used this resource regularly. It was now a mess; fallen rubble and girders from the upper plate lay everywhere. Though it didn’t look much better than this before the disaster. Slums were just slums. The only real difference was the smaller number of people. The rumor that Midgar would collapse had apparently led many people to leave the area immediately under the upper plate, and to look for a place to stay at a safe distance.

On their way there, Tseng and Elena had met many people who were angry at the Shin-Ra Company. There were even people who threw stones at them the moment they saw their Turks uniform.

“It’s kind of hard to go about our job. Why don’t we change our clothes?”

You walked into the first clothing store they found — Tseng chose a t-shirt that made him look like a tourist on the beach of the Costa Del Sol, while Elena opted for a chic designer one piece. Freshly changed, they found a busy looking bar. Surprisingly, there were plenty of people there. Almost every table was already taken.
No sooner had they sat down at one of the few free tables, they began observing the clientele. Tseng’s eyes were trained on a man wearing a black shirt, sitting alone at a table for four people.

“He’s sleeping, right?”

“He could be—”

“Hey, Tseng…”

“What is it?”

“…I decided to stay with the Turks, partly because of my pride in my work, but… there’s another reason…”

Elena had never tried to hide her affection for her superior, but until now, she couldn’t tell him directly to his face.

“Continue.”

“Hmm?”

“It looks unnatural if we stay silent. I don’t care if you’re just going to talk nonsense. Just talk.”

“Nonsense…?”
Elena sighed audibly and then looked at Tseng. Tseng seemed to be concerned about the sleeping man since they entered the bar.

“Strange.”

Tseng got up and went over to the man, calling out to him.

“Are you alright?”

There was no answer. Tseng put a hand on his shoulder and slightly shook him. Suddenly he felt felt something sticky on his palm. He quickly withdrew his hand. Turning it around, he found a sticky black substance. Tseng looked back at the man. His entire upper body was covered by the ichor. Tseng hadn’t noticed it at first, because he was wearing a black shirt.

“What’s wrong?”

Elena got up and walked over to the table.

“He’s dead.”

* * *

Reno and Rude were in the lobby of the Shin-Ra Building. Reno wrote a something on a large billboard, roughly the size of an adult.

“Anyone who wants to leave the city, follow the railway tracks down. No trains are in operation. No plans to resume service for now. There are no provisions here. Shin-Ra Company has ceased operation until further notice.”

* * *

The house in Kalm had two floors – On the ground floor was a living room, which was used for meetings, a dining room, a small kitchen, bathroom and a toilet. The upper floor had three bedrooms and Rufus was in one of them. He had his right foot in a cast now. Around his neck he wore a neck brace. And his torso was also heavily bandaged. So movement without the wheelchair was still very difficult. Rufus watched the hustle and bustle in the town from his window.

When he peeped through the gap in the curtains, he immediately noticed the many people on the streets. Kalm had also been affected by the Lifestream, but there weren’t many houses damaged to the point where they were uninhabitable. Many refugees had arrived from Midgar after hearing that it was safe here, which slightly intimidated Rufus. Since he could remember, he had never been around crowds without bodyguards of staff to contact. The notion that only a thin wall stood between him and the anger and discontentment of the crowds outside, made him a little anxious. And it was just a normal wall too, not the thick reinforced walls that the Shin-Ra Building had. The Shin-Ra Building was a fortress build by his father. Sooner or later, every son must leave his father’s house, and start on his own from scratch. For him, this time had now come. This was no time to fear the people out there. He had to dive in, feet first and do what he had to do. And that could be nothing less than the reconstruction of the world.

The doorbell rang. Once, and then a second time. When he ignored it, the doorbell rang twice more. He wasn’t expecting anyone. It wasn’t someone he knew. Suddenly he heard someone attempted to forcibly open the door. Rufus wheeled himself over to the bed, taking the revolver from underneath his pillow, hoping he wouldn’t have to use it. He took the gun in his hand and pulled the sleeve of his robe over it with the other hand. He dragged the chair from the window over to the door, then struggled to pull himself from his wheelchair onto it.

Rude had reinforcing the door, so after a while it seemed the uninvited guest had given up trying to open it. For a moment, calm had returned, and the person had apparently left. But soon, the sound of breaking glass could be heard. It was clear to Rufus that the intruder had changed their strategy. From the subsequent noise, it seemed more than one person had broken their way inside.

“Damn it,”

Rufus removed the safety lock on his revolver.

* * *

It was evening when Tseng and Elena set off towards Kalm. They talked mostly about the disease they had seen in the Slums. After leaving the bar, they notice many other people who had the same symptoms as the dead man.

“Did you learn anything about it while I was resting?”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen anything like that, Tseng.”

In other words, these symptoms had only started to manifest in Midgar. For Tseng, it was still too early to know anything about this disease. He wondered if there was anything different about today and yesterday. I was clear – the Lifestream. It had not only destroyed the city, but had also punished it’s inhabitants.
In other words, those symptoms have only started to become widespread today, and we don’t know much about the disease, Tseng thought to himself. Is there anything different about today and yesterday? I see — The Lifestream. So the Lifestream didn’t just destroy the city. It must be punishing the people of this Planet too.

“I hope everyone can remain calm.”

“Who knows.”

Elena remembered the panic among the customers at the bar when they had noticed the man was dead. At first they had gathered around him and gawked curiously, but someone suddenly shouted “what if it’s contagious!?”. Panic broke out. It was every man for himself as they pushed and shoved, trying to get out first.

* * *

Reno and Rude were a little ahead of Tseng and Elena, and were already in the vicinity of Kalm. In fact, they could have used the helicopter, but it was unclear at this time what the fuel situation was, so it was probably best to go easy on it for now.

“We going to Sector Five tomorrow?”

“And what are we going to do at the company residential area? Ah wait, you think there might be some allies there.”

“There’s a warehouse there. I’d like to secure some vehicles— and weapons.”

“Weapons huh. Yeah, we’ll need some.”

Reno sighed audibly when he remembered the resentment he saw in the exhausted faces of the people of Midgar. They couldn’t conceal their discontent from them.

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