One day, it was Rufus’ turn to be treated by Dr. Kilmister. At the foot of caves entrance, a partitioned examination room was set up. While Kilmister changed Rufus’ plaster, the boy who had distributed the food stood behind him with a gun in his hand.

“Doctor. Is there any progress being made towards the cure for this disease?”

“Of course.”

Rufus noticed as Kilmister glanced over at the boy.

“What are you after.”

“Why, I’m a doctor. I simply want to rid the world of this disease.”

“That is commendable. But why did you bring me here?”

“Jenova.”

“What?”

Of everything Rufus had expected to hear, that name was definitely not one of them.

“Those suffering from this disease have alot of cellular similarities to those of members of the military I examined during my research for Professor Hojo. Of course, these were no ordinary troops, but the fighters of the elite SOLDIER.”

“Please explain,”

In reaction to Rufus’ words, Kilmister and the boy exchanged glances again.

“I will, in due time,”

Kilmister remained silent and continued with his treatment.

“At least tell me this – Is it contagious?”

“I will also tell you this in due time.”

It was clear for Rufus that the disease was not contagious.

Hmmm It can’t be contagious, thought Rufus.

* * *

Three months had passed. The bandages that supported Rufus’ ribs had already been removed, and finally the day had come that he could bid farewell to the cast around his leg. Kilmister solemnly handed him a walking stick.

“This pipe used to be part of the Shin-Ra Building.”

“What’s the situation in Midgar now?”

“The disease is still endemic. The number of infected is rising. But there are still a lot of people working hard on the new town to the east of Midgar. The work there is progressing feverishly.”

“Who’s leading them?”

“Well, it seems there are a number of different groups. By the way, Mr. President – Do you know anything about the Shin-Ra Company’s assassins?”

Rufus shook his head and waited for Kilmister to continue.

“All those who have gained unauthorized access to the company buildings and warehouses received a threatening letter. It said that they would lose their lives if they tried it again. Since the sender obviously knows their whereabouts, nobody dares to go there.“

*slight laugh*Those foolish Turks,

Rufus smiled to himself.

“Mr President. There is still time, but I would like some of Shin-Ra’s equipment. Could you tell your assassins for me?”

“What sort of equipment?”

Rufus spoke calmly, trying to hide his very real anxiety.

“Professor Hojo’s equipment.”

“And you’ll be using it for our treatment I presume.”

Kilmister smiled, and for moment Professor Hojos sinister grin came into Rufus’ mind.

“…Of course. Also, as I mentioned before, I still need…”

“Jenova.”

“Exactly. Where is Jenova now?”

“I don’t know. I was going to look for it after leaving this place-”

Kilmister suddenly looked at Rufus as if evaluating his worth.

“Fine, then we must find a new location. This place is not suitable for research purposes.”

Research…

“Dr. Kilmister. Are you a doctor or are you a scientist?”

Kilmister fell silent for a moment.

“Your treatment’s is over”

Kilmister took out the gun from under his lab coat and pointed it at Rufus.

* * *

Afterwards, Rufus spent some time to learn how to walk again. Due to his still ongoing whiplash injury, he sometimes felt dizzy, but after a while he was able to move freely in the cave complex. He took a look around at the other “rooms”. Some of them were no longer inhabited. The boy who had brought him food and water was now dead. There were now three men and two women left. Four of the nine patients had already died from the disease.

In one of the rooms, he saw a woman who groaning with pain. She was the woman he had spoken to on the truck. Beside her, sat a worried looking man, taking care of her. He noticed Rufus standing there.

“The doctor said there isn’t much medicine left, so he’s reducing the dose. I gave her mine too, but it looks like it’s wearing off.”

It didn’t look like there was anything Rufus could do for them. He made his way to the treatment area and called to Kilmister. The man soon appeared in his white lab coat, looking quite frustrated.

“They tell me there’s not much medicine left.”

“Yes. Practically everything I had has been used up.”

“You had medicine?”

Does that mean he’s had a cure for this disease all along?

“Wait there,”

Kilmister disappeared for a moment and came back with a ladder.

“Can you climb up?”

Rufus grabbed hold of the ladder, thinking it was his chance to escape. He climbed up carefully and finally reached the top, but he found the barrel of Kilmister’s gun pointing in his face.

“Hold it, you hear me from there.”

Now that Kilmister’s face was close, Rufus could see that his skin was pale and he was sweating heavily.

“You don’t look too well, Doctor.”

“I want medicine.”

“What medicine?”

It became clear that Kilmister had been giving the patients a slightly diluted version of the stimulant that the Shin-Ra Company had administered to members of SOLDIER.

“It can’t cure the disease, but it can at least alleviate the pain.”

“So that’s what their so called “treatment” is?”

“I haven’t been tricking them. I have to figure out the cause of the disease first. Until then, I can do nothing more than to deal with the symptoms.”

“And you’ve been infected too?”

“No,”

Kilmister explained that by taking a diluted version of the stimulant, he could work without sleep.

“But you can become dependent on the stuff,”

Rufus was speechless at first, but he quickly realized that he had found a way to control Kilmister. A satisfied smile crept across his face.

“Do you have a phone? Or a pen and some paper.”

“Who are you going to contact?”

“Shin-Ra’s assassins. They know where the stimulants are stored.”

Kilmister’s eyes lit up for a moment, but he wasn’t going to be guided by impulses. He ordered Rufus to go back down the ladder. A few moments later he threw a pen an some paper down and told Rufus to write him a letter to the Turks. Rufus wrote only about the procurement of the stimulants. He needed to earn Kilmister’s trust for now. The Turks would know what they had to do.

Kilmister had gone to Midgar with the letter, and hadn’t returned for quite a while. The Turks had not appeared either. The food rations, which Kilmister distributed before he left, were slowly running out. Rufus had instructed Kilmister to go to the Shin-Ra building, to ask for the Turks and hand over the letter to them. He was expected to return with the medicine within three days – unknowingly leading the Turks right to him. It had now been over a week.

Rufus had got into the habit of passing time by walking around the entire cave system every day. The woman’s condition was getting worse and she was drifting in and out of consciousness. The man who looked after her was now suffering from severe pain, but he still found the strength to hold her hand, hoping for a miracle.

“I’m sure Kilmister will be back soon,”

That moment, Rufus wondered why he had said that to them. He had nothing to support his statement.

Why did I say that to them?

Everything went quiet all of a sudden. The fact that it had been raining outside for quite some time hadn’t escaped Rufus, but he would never have imagined the water would penetrate into the cave. And not just at the cave entrance – water was starting to leak from the ceiling too. It seemed there were small cracks in the ceiling, and water was streaming down the walls as though they were mounted with faucets.

It had been raining outside for days and suddenly Rufus realized the water was getting into the cave too. It wasn’t just at the entrance either. The water was starting to leak through the roof where Rufus has been staying. It appeared there were many holes and water was now streaming its way in like the taps were turned on.

After so many days of rain why does this suddenly happen now? The water must have accumulated somewhere, thought Rufus. We have to evacuate somehow.

As he made his way to the cave entrance, he spoke to all of the other residents and briefly explained the situation to them.

He stood below the cave entrance and looked up, which still hurt his neck, but there were no signs of anyone around. All he could hear was the steady patter of rain. Rufus looked around carefully. If the rainwater were to flood the entire cave, they could just float for a while, until the water level had risen high enough for them to reach the exit.

“This is the least I can do…”

Rufus went back inside and told the others that they should prepare to evacuate. There was no answer. By now, the patients had gone more than a week without the stimulant, which acted as a painkiller. The were too focused on withstanding the pain to even utter a word.

“Five people huh…”

Rufus resolutely began carrying the patients, one by one, to the entrance of the cave. All had become so emaciated that even Rufus, who himself wasn’t exactly in the best physical condition, was somehow able to drag them to the entrance.

The water was already up to their ankles and was rising quickly. Rufus looking around for something that could serve as a flotation device. He noticed a couple of wooden beds. A piece floated away from them on the surface of the water. First he removed the metal fittings from the folding beds, then disassembled them, and pushed the wooden frame together with the slats toward the entrance. They moved surprisingly fast with the current. Rufus returned to the patients.

“Those of you who can swim, swim. If you can’t, then hold onto these frames. One person per frame.”

A few hours later, the water level had risen to Rufus’ chin. Some of the patients could no longer stand and were relying on the wooden frames to keep them afloat.

I’ve done all I can now –
Rufus had done everything in his power. He cleared his mind and concentrated on the ledge high above him. In the end, he too had to take one of the slats in order to stay afloat. After a few more hours, the water had risen so far that they were only a meter or so from the ledge. Suddenly the situation changed. The water had stopped rising.

Did the rain stop or did it have something to do with the geography of the cave?
Rufus bit his lower lip. We’ll just have to wait for help.

When he looked around, he noticed that two of the patients were missing. Now there were only two men and a woman. It was the young woman from the trucks. She was grasping onto two bed frames, one stacked on top of the other, the man who had looked after her held on too. As Rufus wondered if maybe she was already dead, there was a sign of life from her, she grimaced with pain. Somehow, Rufus found himself breathing a sigh of relief.

A few more hours passed, but their situation hadn’t changed. The water level had neither risen or fallen. Rufus could feel his body temperature dropping having been submerged in the water for so long. Inwardly, he had already accepted death.

We don’t have long left, he thought.

“Huh?”

He felt as if someone had called out to him, but there was no one around that had the strength left to do so. When he looked around, he thought he saw movement on the surface of the water. Something black slowly made its way toward Rufus. He narrowed his eyes in order to see more clearly. At first he assumed it was some of the black ichor coming from one of the patients. However, it moved through the water as though it had a will, as though it were moving in a specific path. Frightened, Rufus tried pushing the water away from himself in an effort to expel the approaching black liquid. But the waves Rufus created had no effect on it. It moved independent of the current.

Soon, Rufus’ white suit was covered in the viscous black substance. The suit was already dirty, so wasn’t its usual pristine white, since he had been wearing it every waking second, day in, day out – in the event that the possibility of escape should arise. He looked at his sleeves which were now dyed jet black

This is the end.

The black liquid crept up his neck and finally reached his face. Rufus felt like it was trying to get into his mouth, so he desperately kept it closed. But there was still his nose! He quickly held it with his hand. Although he would suffocate, he would much preferred this death. But when the liquid reached his ears, he could no longer stop it. He pulled himself together, because he didn’t want to cry under any circumstances. A short time later, he lost consciousness.

It tried his nose next. He covered his nose with his hand. He wasn’t going to be able to breathe now but he would rather suffocate than let the ooze win. However, the ooze soon made its way into his ears and with a cry, Rufus lost consciousness.

* * *

“Mr. President! Mr. President!”

Rufus regained consciousness with the sound of someone calling to him.

“The flood was most unfortunate. Sorry I’m so late,”

Kilmister lowered the ladder into the water. Rufus grabbed onto it, wondering how he was still alive. As he looked around, the only remaining patients were the woman and the man, who clung desperately to the bed frames.

“Hey, are you two alright?”

The man looked up.

“Help has arrived!”

At first, the man looked at Rufus apathetically, but soon his expression signaled that he had understood. Quickly, he looked over at the woman and called to her, and she weakly nodded her head in reply. Rufus wanted to help the woman and stretched out his hand to her. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out above their heads. The woman drifted away from the wooden frames, floating for a moment, and finally sank into the water.

“Pamela!”

The man let go of the frame and tried to swim toward her, but he didn’t have the strength. Rufus still grasping onto his own frame, and pushed himself off the wall with his feet to catch up with him. When he reached him, he grabbed his arm.

“Pamela…”

He cried out, but could hardly even breath. man wailed but couldn’t find the strength to cry out any louder. Rufus dragged him through the water and they reached the ladder.

“Get up.”

“But-”

“You must think of nothing but survival.”

The man stared for a while at the spot where Pamela had sunk into the water. Rufus realized that, until now, he didn’t know the woman’s name. After a while, the man looked up at Kilmister. He had hatred in his eyes.

“We couldn’t do any more for her. I was simply easing her pain. Pamela wouldn’t hate me for that.”

Somehow, Rufus doubted that Pamela would see it that way, and could understand the man’s reaction. He seemed hesitant, but soon started to climb the ladder.

Indeed, nothing can be done for her now. But what about this man?

“What’s your name?” asked Rufus.

“Judd.”

“Judd, now isn’t the time. Leave Kilmister to me.”

Judd climbed up the ladder without responding. As he reached the top, Rufus made his way up behind him. Before he could set foot on the surface, he felt a sudden surge of pain tear through his entire body. He could feel something seeping from the corner of his mouth. As he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, he saw the same sticky black liquid that had been oozing out of Pamela and Judd.

“My, my, Mr. President. Looks like you’ll also be needing the stimulant from now on,”

Kilmister had a cheerful tone to his voice.

“Ugh-”

Rufus heard Kilmister struggling above, and the next moment his rifle sailed past him, falling into the water with a loud splash. Rufus suppressed the pain and looked up. It was obvious that someone was choking him from behind.

You fool, Judd! I told you this isn’t the time!

“Argh!”

This time it was Judd who cried out in pain. Rufus was relieved and suddenly felt as though a weight had been lifted from him. He almost let go of the ladder. Finally, with all the strength he had left, he cried out,

“You’re late!”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” smiled Reno.

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