Rufus was surrounded by a handful of men.

“Looks like you’ve gotten yourself in quite a mess, Mr. President, ”

An unshaven man, possibly the leader of the group, pointed his hunting rifle at Rufus.

“Indeed. But now’s the time that I fear most. There is nothing more dangerous than a foolish mob,”

Rufus looked into the bloodshot eyes of the man before him. He could see the blame in his eyes for everything that had happened, and was sure he was going to be killed. He could probably take out one or two of them with his hidden revolver, but there were three of them in his bedroom, and he could hear a few more outside. It was impossible to kill them all.

“We might be foolish, but at least we know who should be taking the responsibility for everything that’s happened.”

“Oh? Then let me ask you this. What will you do after you leave this house? Have you thought about your futures?”

“What do you mean.”

“There are two kinds of people in this world. People who give orders, and people who take orders. It is a question of one’s abilities, and has nothing to do with superiority or inferiority. Often when an incident occurs, it is the ones who give orders that are made to take responsibility. As a result, those who remain lose their direction, and panic arises. Then everything comes to a grinding halt.”

“Strange way to beg for your life,”

He had a mocking tone to his voice.

“You seem to me to be playing the leader of this mob right now, but how long will it last? What kind of future can you give them?”

“We’re just a foolish mob, remember? If we survive today, that’s all that counts, right?”

“You speak only for yourself. I wonder, how do the rest of you see things?”

“No, not “we”. It’s just you,”

Rufus was aware the others had set their sights the leader now.

“You have some sort of plan?” asked one of the other men.

Rufus turned to look at the man. He was in his thirties, and seemed to be relatively wealthier. He wore an expensive looking navy blue jacket, and had a sturdy build.

“Why of course. First I would secure my home. Kalm can’t shelter all the Midgar refugees. It looks like you’re one of the locals here—”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want this town to become like Midgar?”

“—”

The man was clearly imagining to himself what would happen. You could almost hear the clattering of cog in the man’s head.

“Surely we need to help the refugees!”

The man with the gun cut in, as though he wanted to reaffirm his status as the leader.

Rufus promptly answered him,
“Take this for example. What do you do when it rains? Where would the overwhelming number of people go? Perhaps anyone would provide them shelter out of good will, but think about how big Midgar’s population is. It may not be very big, but you can’t shelter them all. Can you lay their discontent and anxiety to rest? What can you tell them when all you care about is living for another day?”

“Shut up!”

The man raised his voice. Rufus stayed calm, it seemed he was right about the man. As the leader of a small group like this, he might me ok, but he couldn’t be entrusted with a larger group.

“Well, you maybe right, what exactly is your plan now, Mr President?”

The man in the blue jacket had an understanding tone to his voice. Rufus considered whether this man was the real leader of the group.

“If I tell you, I’m as good as dead.”

* * *

When Reno and Rude arrived back in Kalm, they immediately noticed that the town had dramatically changed since they left that morning.

“That’s a hell of a lot of people.”

When they got to the house, the whole street was crowded. And not only that, there were strangers coming in and out of the house as they pleased.

“The President!”

The two immediately rushed to the house, but didn’t go any further. The door was open. When they peered inside, they saw men and women sitting, exhausted on the floor. Even in the entrance, some of them lay on their backs, seemingly asleep.

“They’re all ill.”

Rude had quickly grasped the situation. The people had the same symptoms they saw in Midgar — their clothes and bandages were soaked in a black liquid — Many of them were gathered together.

“Rude, you check the ground floor.”

Reno made his way upstairs, trying not to step on anyone lying there. It was the same up here. Reno was perplexed at what he saw as he searched for Rufus, without success. He finally gave up and went back down to the hallway, where he met Rude.

“I can’t find him anywhere.”

“Seriously? Lets go outside, partner. If we stay here we’re gonna get—”

Reno noticed one of the sick people glaring at him and sheepishly smiling back, urging Rude outside. Tseng and Elena had just arrived.

“Chief, the house has been overtaken,” Reno tried to summarize the situation.

“We must find the President. He may have been taken away. We have to confirm if anyone knows what happened.”

“I’ll take the house. You guys can be a bit intimidating,”

Elena walked straight past them to the door.

“Elena, be careful. Watch you don’t get infected.”

“Don’t worry. If it were contagious, we would have been infected already,”

Her response seemed pretty obvious to Reno.

“Well then.”

“Go find any witnesses,” ordered Tseng.

Reno and rude nodded silently, then went off in different directions.

* * *

The two eventually returned back to the house and reported to Tseng, the hateful tirades they heard against the Shin-Ra Company, but nobody had seen Rufus.

“It’s just how it is. It’s understandable that people are angry, ”

Tseng watched the sick and injured people in the street, unable to find the strength to walk on their own, and had to be carried.

Even if there were witnesses, Tseng figured it was unlikely they would tell them anything.

* * *

Rufus estimated that it had been two weeks since he had been taken from the house in Kalm. After he was disarmed, they knocked him out with a drug. He had no idea where he had been taken. However, he assumed he had been taken to a cottage owned by the man with the dark blue jacket. He had given his name as “Mutten”, but that wasn’t necessarily his real name. Rufus figured he was probably locked in the cellar. Countless people could be heard walking around above him. If those people were refugees, then this might not be a cottage in the countryside after all, but another house in Kalm. Mutten’s companions could also be gathered here. Without a plan, it was best he patiently waited for the Turks to find him.

Rufus looked around the unusual room he had imprisoned in.

Well, thought Rufus as he looked around the strange room. The entire interior was red. The furniture looked expensive, but were decorated with eerie ornaments depicting men and women, half mutated into monsters. There was a heavy chain shackled to Rufus’ feet, which was attached firmly to a hook on the wall. Why had Mutten converted a room in his house into a dungeon? That said a great deal about his character, and gave Rufus the chills. Also, the fact that he was obviously over-cautious – chaining an already severely wounded man – did not bode well.

However, apart from the fact that Mutten had robbed Rufus of his freedom, he treated him almost like a guest. A middle-aged woman who seemed to live there, looked after his wounds and brought him food. However, it seemed she was ordered not to answer anything. She responded only with silence.

A middle aged doctor came and looked at Rufus’ injuries. After giving a quick examined , he put a few tablets on the table and left. Rufus didn’t know whether he had recognized him as the Shin-Ra president or not. He had thought about shouting as loud as he could for help the next time someone opened the door, but he couldn’t imagine what would happen afterwards.

Every few days Mutten would appear. He was trying to learn what plans Rufus had for the development of Midgar. Rufus had actually intended to draw up a detailed plan, based on the information gathered by the Turks, but it was doubtful he would be allowed to make contact with them now. Due to the lack of information at hand, Rufus could only give Mutten a rough idea of his plans.

First he would build a town on the east side of Midgar. Since the land in the East was already level, the work would be a lot easier, and would progress rapidly. They could use debris from the ruins of Midgar as a resource. All the necessary tools and machinery they needed for cutting and welding work could be retrieved from the warehouses in Sector Five.

Rufus was fully aware of the strategic importance of these conversations. If his counterpart felt he had drawn every bit of information out of him, his life would be in danger. Rufus had to laugh. He was like a court jester, who had to think up new tricks to entertain the king every night, or be sentenced to death.

“Tell me everything. I won’t kill you.”

“Then remove the shackles from me. I won’t run away.”

The day we trust each other will never come, thought Rufus to himself.

* * *

From time to time the Turks met to share information, but on closer inspection it usually turned out to be useless, and they still had no clue as to the whereabouts of the President. Nevertheless, Tseng didn’t even think about abandoning the search for Rufus.

They had said goodbye to the house in Kalm after it was taken over by the refugees, in the meantime, they occupied a house in the residential district of Midgar’s Sector 5. Following Elena’s suggestion, they spread rumors that Midgar was going to collapse soon. Consequently, many residents packed up and left the city.
Though, even without the rumors it wouldn’t be long before Midgar, now little more than a heap of rubble and a breeding ground for the disease, was deserted. For Tseng and his people, this couldn’t happen quickly enough. Many of Shin-Ra’s secrets rested in Midgar, and they wanted to avoid anyone getting their hands on them.

“We’ve got trouble,” reported Reno. “Some of the remaining army from Junon have taken over the head office. I think there are about a hundred of them. Some guy named, “Gate” something from military school is leading them.”

“What’s he after?”

“I don’t know. Looks like they’re making preparations for some kind of assembly.”

And so Tseng and Elena set off to get a better picture of the situation there, while Reno and Rude left to procure the necessary weapons.

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