Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Nostalgia of the Innocent ❯ In the Wrong Place ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

For future reference (for those who care) I'll be updating once a week.

Disclaimer: (Must I really keep doing this? Ah, simple amusements...) Do I look like I bloody well own FFVII? If I did, somebody would have discovered pictures of Sephy-sama in the shower, and they would have been viewable. Hehehe...no, really. I'm not a freak. And I don't own FFVII.

Have fun, y'all...BTW, this story is not being written 'per chapter.' I'm writing it as one big story to keep it flowing, and then breaking it up at places where it wouldn't be jarring.

******

Familiar landmarks quickly came into view as Rue slipped along the alleys, as she kept to the path she knew. There had always been one place where she always managed to forget to turn, but Rue had remedied that a while ago with an old sign with a faded red arrow.

…Which wasn’t there anymore.

Rue stopped, knowing innately where to turn but still confused.

“Where’d my sign go?” she asked blankly, staring at where it was supposed to be. She shook her head. It really didn’t matter, she didn’t need it anymore anyway.

She walked off to the right.

“Probably just under the snow or something,” she muttered. She hadn’t nailed it, or anything like that. She’d just leaned it against the wall. Maybe it fell over?

As Rue trotted along, her steps crunched into the new fallen snow. The route she took was shallower than the rest of the alleys by nature; since she walked through it she made herself a path.

She stopped at an intersection where a wide alleyway crossed with her route. Some of the alleys were larger, because a small portion of the alleys had been part of the city in the distant past, and thus were wide enough for cars and that kind of thing.

The snow had been disturbed, but there had been new snow over it so it wasn’t so obvious. Rue had never heard of anyone using the back alleys before, unless she took her friends through them or they used them once they’d learned how. Every once in a while the newspapers did an expose on it and there was renewed interest to do something with them, but nothing ever came of it.

Probably just…some activist group again, she thought. Knowing the Military was in the area made Rue nervous.

No, if they were here, there’d be new tracks, she thought. She put a hand to the cold steel wall to her left, and leaned forward.

Rue glanced to the side, staring down the wide alleyway. It was mostly empty and a straight way.

Then heard a noise that made her heart almost stop.

A low rumbling, not unlike a diesel truck.

Activists don’t have diesels, she thought, her face paling considerably, and staring in shocked horror as a low, wide tank like vehicle rumbled into view far down the wide alley. It was small from where she stood.

Shit!!!

Rue jerked her head backwards.

If they see me, I’m screwed, she thought and ran back further into the narrower alleys.

The truck was slow moving.

Rue pressed herself up against the wall, just out of sight.

Should I just go back the way I came, she thought. No, it’d take too long, and I’m almost through the alleys…I’ll just wait for the truck to go by and then I’ll…

Rue wasn’t very familiar with the sounds engines made, but something seemed off…

“Alright, men! Everyone out!”

The voice was faint, but it was audible. Rue shrank back, horrified.

What am I going to do now?!

Rue knew she couldn’t just stand there, that was a guarantee she’d be caught. If I go left, they’re to the left, and if I go right, that tank thing’s gonna come that way! And I can’t just go back, ‘cause…

Rue turned around and ran back the way she came. There had been no trouble back that way…

Rue skidded to a stop when she heard the sound of voices barking orders.

Without waiting to gauge how far away the voices were, Rue took off to her left. Shit, how do I get out?!

Rue ran along the small alley, kicking through the knee-deep snow in a half-hysteric effort to get away. She passed by an alley, and out of the corner of her eye caught a hint of darkness sliding along parallel to her route. It was the dark green of the soldier’s uniform.

Rue threw herself to the left again, and struggled desperately down a dark, two-foot wide corridor.

If they catch me; if they catch me I’m dead! Rue thought, sickly realizing that, if she were caught, she’d be killed.

Without looking, Rue threw herself into the wide alley which she’d just run from.

Momentarily terrified, Rue jerked her head up and looked up and down the bright corridor. There was no sign of the diesel tank-thing, thank the gods.

And no voices to tell where the soldiers had got to, either.

Where am I?

She heard voices, though they weren’t so loud. They were pretty close.

Rue ran along the side of the wide alley, spun around a snow covered ancient dumpster, and glanced over her shoulder just in time to see a soldier step into the alley too a few hundred yards behind her.

She pressed herself up to the back of it, panting.

What am I gonna do now? She thought.

The marching was getting closer.

Out of options, scared, and with an entrance to the alleys too far away to get to, Rue spun around and squeezed herself painfully between the dumpster and the side of the wide alley. She couldn’t breathe, but that didn’t matter.

Rue pulled her self down to her side desperately, pushing and choking down any noise she might make, and then forced herself underneath the dumpster.

I’m going to die! Why did I do this? Why didn’t I just go home with Carrie? Why? Rue thought miserably, as she lay upside down, huddled and almost choking.

She flinched as the solid trotting of foot soldiers pounded into the snow covered concrete. They were patrolling this area for civilians.

Not spies, although they were a possibility as well. Civilians.

“Sector 3 is clear, sir,” said a loud and confident voice. “Permission to return?”

The quality of the radio was good enough that Rue could understand the reply.

“Negative. Sensors still indicate the presence of a civilian.”

Civilians…

Rue’s blood ran cold.

“Sir, I repeat. We searched the area thoroughly. There’s no one here.” He sounded exasperated.

“Red Three, when the sensors indicate the presence of a civilian, there’s a damn civilian somewhere. Find him!”

“Yes, sir,” the voice replied. He must have shut off the radio then because his next statement was, “Fucking asshole. I’d like to put a boot up his ass.”

There was a collective round of grunting laughter.

“Well, you heard the prick. Let’s go,” the man ordered, and after a few moments of clatter and noise his group trotted away from Rue’s hiding place.

I…have got to get out of here, she thought.

But Rue couldn’t move. She didn’t want to risk leaving her safe haven, but she also knew good and well they’d find her eventually if she stayed.

The minutes were dragging on like years, and Rue shifted a little. She didn’t want to think about what kind of slime didn’t freeze at these temperatures.

You’ve got to at least try to get out of here, she thought to herself. It’s better than being dragged out from under here and being shot!

Rue swallowed nervously as she watched the strip of light at the edges of the dumpster. There was no noise she could hear, except far off.

You have no choice, Rue! Get up and try to save your own damned life!

“…Go,” she hissed to herself.

Rue slithered backwards, and slid out from behind the dumpster. She glanced around.

There was no one in sight either way she looked.

Rue started to slip along the wall again, trying to remember where she was in this maze. She’d changed course and had gotten herself terribly lost.

Her mind was racing ahead of itself trying to work out her location, and so far she was having no luck.

Is that the…? No, I’ve never seen that before! Omigod, where am I?!

Rue’s heart nearly stopped when she heard the sound of men’s voices. She froze for half a moment to confirm that they were running, and getting closer.

She stumbled forward, throwing herself into a breakneck run.

They were getting closer - right behind her -

Rue flinched and choked down a scream as the brick just above her head seemed to explode when gunfire roared into it.

She slid around a sharp corner, sprinting blindly down dark alley lined with boarded up awnings.

They were right behind her, and Rue threw herself into a loose looking door just in time to feel the back of her coat thrown to the side by the force of a bullet.

She staggered into the dark, boarded up building, and searched wildly for a place to hide. It was ghostly and only half lit.

“Freeze!”

Rue spun around on her heel, and stumbled backwards, falling into a concrete pole. She leaned against it for support and looked up at her pursuers.

Four of them stood before her, and one stood on either side, guns trained on her head.

“I give up,” she mumbled uselessly, too tired to be hysterical. She lifted her hands in a faithless gesture of surrender. She was shivering.

“Name, number,” one of the soldiers demanded. His voice was the same clear one that argued with the man on the radio.

Rue’s eyes drifted across the men in front of her.

“Rue…Kaiser, number AQ711-62,” she replied stiffly.

The soldier who asked her reached for the radio attached to his belt, then paused. He seemed to look up at her and regard her for a few moments with cold gray eyes.

“Rue Kaiser, did you say?” he asked.

“Yes,” Rue affirmed. “My name‘s Rue Kaiser--”

“No relation to Elric Kaiser?” he interrupted.

At this Rue looked up at the soldier, shocked.

“He’s…my cousin,” she admitted. He’s not here, is he? Oh, god, I hope not…

The soldier’s fingers stalled on the buttons of his radio. Then made his decision.

“Zero this is Red Three. Target confirmed and captured.”

“Affirmative.”

“ ;Permission to return to base,” the soldier replied.

“I don’t see any other civvies, be my guest,” came the sarcastic reply.

The soldier slid the radio back into its little case.

“Face the wall. Hands behind your back,” he ordered sharply, as if he were talking to one of his own men. “Move!”

Rue turned around cautiously, and jerked spastically when she felt herself shoved against the wall, hands yanked behind her.

They weren’t gentle in tying her wrists together, nor did they particularly care if it cut off circulation.

One of the soldiers grabbed her by the arm and yanked her roughly around, so that she was standing facing the rest of the group.

The soldier with the gray eyes nodded in satisfaction.

“Let’s go,” he said sharply.

!

What the Military had transformed into a base of operations had once been a small office building that displayed a stylized shield and laurel crown logo on its lobby floor.

The old office building hadn’t been used in decades, but the building was still sound and made of reinforced concrete that had weathered exceptionally well.

A few soldiers were still standing around sneezing in the haze of dust, but they looked up when a squad of men trotted in, dragging with them a girl, whose pale face was stricken.

Colonel Pershing immediately strode out to meet them on the old marble motif, and as the men fanned out to allow the officer to stare the girl in the face, his eyes were cold and appraising.

“Explain yourself,” he commanded harshly. “What were you doing in a restricted zone?”

“I…I…”

The girl was scrabbling for an explanation.

“Well?” Pershing demanded.

“I was trying to get home,” she whispered sorrowfully, and stared at the floor at Pershing’s feet. Tears had gathered quickly in her eyes.

No hint of pity or understanding lit in the colonel’s eyes. Only irritation.

“Lock her up somewhere; I don’t have time for this right now,” he said. “Take her over to comm.”

“Sorry, sir. Why not just shoot her?” came a rather snide, flippant voice from the side. “S’what happens to all the rest anyway.”

The girl gasped, and glanced uneasily at Pershing. She gasped again, a ragged sob for breath. She staggered backwards, turning deathly pale, and one of the soldiers grabbed to catch her before she fell. Her head lolled backwards, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

“I thought words couldn’t hurt you,” the soldier commented blandly, as if he were only vaguely amused with the sight of a fainted prisoner.

“Just get the brat out of here,” Pershing snapped. He made a perfect about face, and stalked back to his command post in the large glass-enclosed office to the back of the lobby.

The gray eyed soldier, Lieutenant Gerry Weiss, didn’t linger in telling his men to pick the girl up - gently! - and three of them carried her as if she were some kind of ritual sacrifice over their heads. They went behind Lt. Weiss as he walked ahead of them, eyes locked on the far off skyline.

My God, he thought grimly. How am I going to explain this to Elric?

Weiss made up his mind then and there. He’d do what he could to keep his friend’s cousin alive, Gods willing.

Elric Kaiser had always been a good friend of Weiss'; in fact, it was Elric who Weiss had called when Weiss had received his much-loathed call-up notice, only to discover that Elric had gotten one the very same day. The both of them had spent the entire night drinking cheap alcohol and...

Well, that story was better left unsaid.

There was an old helipad that was being used to fly equipment in, and near that was a little concrete bunker with an outdated satellite dish on top that was being referred to as ‘comm.’

It was being used for random things, and it would now add prison to its repertoire of uses.

Other soldiers barely looked up as the men carried the girl into the building, and laid her down in a small, empty room. Weiss locked the door and slipped the key into his pocket. Nobody would be desperate enough to get to the girl to break the door down.

Weiss also decided not to post a guard, since the girl wasn’t going to be able to dislodge a storm-proofed door.

He needed to call Elric. Now.

*_**__***___****

Chapter two, yay. Ein his helping me with the chapter by lying on my foot and licking it. Silly doggy.

I really don't mind if this fic doesn't get any reviews, I'm writing it for my own pleasure. As usual, it looks like I won't...ah, well. I'm happy enough, and I figure no news is good news. If y'all ain't railing at me, I best be grateful.

Converting /tmp/phpsryxpp to /dev/stdout