Disclaimer: FF7 belongs to Square-Enix.

A/n: I know the idea is pretty overused, but this story is really more experimental anyway. I'm not sure at what point in time this really takes place, so bear with me here. This is a zombie Armageddon kind of story, kind of like 28 Days Later without the army. Please no flames, they're not helpful or productive. I don't want to hear how much you hate my story, if you don't like it just don't read it. If you do like it, please review!

Summary: Reno stumbles across Shin-ra's newest secret, but it's too late to stop Hojo. The dead inhabitants of Midgar are coming back to life and slaughtering each other, so Reno does the only thing he can, he takes the only survivor he finds and gets the hell out of that city! With his know-how and Yuffie's ninja skills, they're sure to make it out alright. The only problem is, the city's in lockdown, and the two former enemies are going to have to learn to get along or die trying. Reno+Yuffie, obviously.

Warnings: Violence, blood, gore, language, I'm not sure what else yet.

Chapter One: Determining the Cost of Science

"Sir! Please, have a look at these charts!" Hojo waved several papers in the president's face eagerly. "This is absolutely amazing, you have to see this!" He was as giddy as a schoolgirl and Rufus stared at him in annoyance.

"I said I'd look at it later. Didn't your test subjects die anyway?" Rude let out a snicker at the president's comment. Hojo had indeed become the company joke. He looked down at the president angrily.

"Yes! That's what I'm trying to tell you! Subjects 14 through 29 died several days ago from the injections, and this morning when I opened up the lab they were wandering around again!"

Rufus looked up from his cup of coffee and snorted. "You honestly expect me to believe that Hojo? Get out of here, go back down there and play in your lab." He sorted through a pile of documents on his desk, but Hojo refused to give up.

"Sir, please, I'm serious about this! I've never seen anything like this before, it's incredible! Just come down to the lab and look, and if I'm wrong you'll never hear from me again!" Hojo pleaded, waving his papers hopefully. Rufus slammed his hands down on the table and got to his feet.

"Sounds like a deal to me. Come on Reno, Rude, let's go see these dead test subjects." He said, motioning for his bodyguards to follow him. Hojo was ecstatic as he lead them through the building to the elevators.

Reno glanced over at his coworker as Hojo rambled on about statistics and the chemicals injected into the test subjects. A small smirk appeared on Rude's face as they reached the laboratory and the elevator doors slid open again. Rufus stepped out, quickly followed by Hojo as the excited scientist dashed ahead of him. They walked down at long white hallway to a thick security door, and Hojo's hands were shaking so badly he could hardly punch in the access code. The door opened and the two Turks waited behind as the older men barged into the research lab.

"You know, Hojo, I don't even remember granting you funding for this project." Rufus said threateningly when the scientist refused to quiet down.

"Oh, well um…" He stuttered.

"President Rufus! This is remarkable! Have you seen what this idiot has done?" Reno looked up in disgust as Scarlet rushed over to Rufus.

"Come here, let me show you." She smiled at the young president and beckoned him over. Reno gave Rude a glance that said 'what a hooker' and the older Turk stifled a laugh. Both men stared with interest, however, when Scarlet opened the door to a holding cell and pulled out a gun. They quickly walked over to stand beside their president in front of the thick glass wall and watched as Scarlet shot one of the test subjects in the chest.

"What are you-" Reno started, but Rufus shushed him, watching the subject fall to their knees inside the cell. Blood poured from his chest out across the floor and he hit the ground, the monitor about their heads showing his pulse had stopped.

"Okay, that was interesting." Rufus exclaimed, turning back around to face Hojo.

"Oh, it has barely begun!" The excited professor replied, pointing back into the cell.

Rufus turned to look again and his eyes went wide in horror as the subject climbed shakily to his feet. There was a gaping wound in his chest where the bullet had hit, but he didn't seem to notice. Reno stared into the cell in awe, glancing every so often up at the monitor to make sure the man was really dead.

"How is this possible..?" Rufus breathed, watching the corpse lurch forward toward the glass.

"It was quite simple, really, I engineered a virus that can reanimate dead flesh. I stumbled across it by accident while researching what went wrong with the Jenova Experiments." Hojo said proudly as the man in the cell reached the glass. He pressed himself against it, scraping and clawing with his twitching fingers.

Reno cringed and stepped back when one of the man's fingernails broke off against the glass. "This is horrible, why would you want something like this?" He asked, looking back to Hojo. The professor stuck his nose in the air haughtily.

"Well I hardly expect a mere Turk to understand." He turned around and Reno bristled angrily.

"This is a bad idea." he said through gritted teeth. Rufus nodded absently.

"Hmm, yes, I'll think this over and get back to you. Good work, Hojo." The president swept back out of the lab, his tow bodyguards right behind him.

The security door was closed behind them and as they stepped into the elevator Rufus turned on them.

"This is top secret, neither of you are to speak to anyone about what you've seen today. If word of this gets out Midgar could turn on the Shin-ra corporation." He said briskly, hardly casting a glance at either Turk.

"Understood." Reno replied, putting his hands in his pockets.

xXx

Reno sighed peacefully as the hot water beat down on his skin. It was just the thing to start the morning, a nice hot shower and a rendezvous in the Shin-ra kitchen with his fellow Turks. It was his basic routine every morning, and he never suspected a thing when he shut off the water and stepped out of his shower. His wet hair hung around his shoulders limp as he grabbed a towel. He glanced up at the clock and cursed, twenty minutes behind schedule today. Quickly drying himself, he wrapped the towel around his waist and walked out of the bathroom into his apartment. He entered his bedroom dug around in his dresser for a clean uniform. A sharp buzzing filled his senses and he looked around in surprise.

A red light had begun flashing in his living room and he ducked out to see what was going on. The light cats an eerie glow around his living room, and the intercom beeped as a voice came through the speakers.

"This is not a drill, please follow the emergency evacuation route out of the building. I repeat, this is not a drill, please evacuate the building." An automated female voice boomed overheard. Reno cursed and dashed back into his room to throw his clothes on. He grabbed his favorite weapon and his keys and ran out the door.

People were running everywhere in the lobby, completely panicked with no idea what to do. He spotted Elena across the room, trying to get everyone's attention through the turmoil.

"Elena! What's happening?" he cried, running over to her. Someone rammed into her and she fell, scrambling back up to her feet.

"I don't know, all I heard is that the building's been contaminated! We've got to get these people out of here!" She looked really scared and Reno felt sorry for her. He nodded quickly and jumped up on a table.

"Hey!! Knock it off and listen to me!" He bellowed. The room fell somewhat quieter, but several people still looked terrified.

"Please, everyone, try to stay calm so we can all get out of this. Now, slowly, I want you all to file down the stairs into the main lobby, please avoid the elevators, we still don't know what's going on. The power could go out at any minute, don't panic, we're working on finding out the reason for the evacuation." He said loudly. Several people nodded and began herding others toward the staircase.

"Thanks, you always were good at getting attention." Elena said nervously. She shook her head, "We'd better go up and see what's going on in the President's office." They ran towards the staircase and made their way up as hordes of employees and civilians tried to go down.

Reno shoved his way up rudely, muttering hurried excuses as people slammed into him. Eventually, the thick stream of people thinned out and they made it to the president's office, running down hallways and up another set of stairs. His office was straight ahead and they could hear angry voices on the other side. They burst inside in time to see the President finish shoving papers and documents into a briefcase.

"I don't care how it happened, fix it!" Rufus yelled. Professor Hojo drew back at the furious president's outbursts.

"I'm telling you, you can't let any of these people out of the building! We need to contain it! If you just let everyone leave like this the entire city could be contaminated by tomorrow morning!" he seemed thrilled and horrified all at the same time, and Reno's stomach lurched in disgust as he realized what must have happened.

"You're saying that virus you made got out?" He cried, rushing forward towards the scientist. Hojo turned around and huffed at him.

"Reno, Elena, get in the helicopter, we're leaving." Rufus said sternly from his place at the large window. Elena rushed forward past him but Reno faltered.

"We can't just leave it like this, we have to do something! People could die if that virus gets out into the city!" Reno said hurriedly. Rufus gave him a blank stare.

"You can try to fix things if you want, but the building's going into lockdown in ten minutes. The antidote should still be in the main lobby, it was supposed to be shipped out to Junon this afternoon. Good luck." Rufus said plainly. He stepped out the window and Reno stared after him, how could the president of Shin-ra just leave things like this? 'He must be sending in a team…' Reno thought, 'I've got to get that antidote.'

The sound of helicopter blades echoed through the room and he knew they'd left him there. Turning back to the office door in determination, he stepped out into the hall. 'I can do this.' He'd seen Shin-ra do some pretty low things, but this was by far the worst. He ran forward through the hall and burst out the doors to the staircase.

xXx

"Morning, Yuffie. Sleep well?" Tifa chirped from her seat behind the bar. Yuffie gave her a small wave and yawned again.

"Yeah, not too bad. I'd better get going, gonna be late for work." She said, grabbing the bagel Tifa offered her and rushing out the door. She waved over her shoulder as Tifa called out for her to have a good day.

The streets seemed unusually quiet as she walked along, glancing around her for the usual crowd of people. A TV billboard up ahead showed pictures of a large building under quarantine, and she stared at it in surprise. The words 'Shin-Ra' flashed across the screen and she gasped, stopping to look at it.

"Around 8:30 this morning we received word that an experiment gone wrong in the Shin-ra laboratories resulted in the entire building going under quarantine. What seems to have been released has not been confirmed, but we believe it is dangerous to the public in some way, and nearly two hundred employees of Shin-ra have not been allowed to leave the building." A fleet of Shin-ra specialists was shown descending on the enormous building, and Yuffie watched fixated as an explosion ripped through an upper floor. The reported gasped and the camera bounced awkwardly for a moment as the helicopter readjusted. The explosion reached her own ears and she realized with horror how close the building actually was to her.

"It seems something has triggered an explosion from the inside. Shin-ra has a lot of explaining to do with this one." Several dark objects fell from the floor that had exploded and Yuffie heard the reporter scream in horror. "Oh! Four people have just jumped from one of the upper floors of the Shin-ra building! I can't believe this is happening!" Her horrified voice echoed down the mostly empty street and Yuffie shivered nervously.

There was muffled shouting and the camera quickly shifted down to the ground where several bodies lay. "This is impossible! One of the people that just fell more than fifty stories just got up again! Paramedics are rushing to the scene!" The camera zoomed in and Yuffie held a hand over her mouth as the man that had just gotten up grabbed a paramedic and attacked him. The reporter was going crazy now. "The man just bit a paramedic! He's attacking him after surviving a fifty story fall!" Yuffie's blood ran cold as she watched the screen, and she glanced around her nervously. She didn't bother to stay and see what else might happen, she moved down the road quickly.

She'd been walking for several minutes when she noticed someone up ahead of her in a Shin-ra uniform. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she shuddered. He made odd choking noises and Yuffie knew something was wrong. She pressed her body up against the wall as the man lurched past, not noticing her. There was a woman walking behind her, and Yuffie watched in complete horror as the man leapt on her, digging his teeth into her shoulder.

The woman's screams echoed down the street and several people rushed to help her. Yuffie ran down the street away from them, she didn't even want to know what was happening. She stopped dead in her tracks when she looked up ahead and realized a group of people, lurching in her direction as if their legs didn't work right. She could see the Shin-ra building behind them in the distance and turned on her heel, quickly taking a side street.

Too late, however, the group had seen her and was now lurching quickly after her. She began to panic when she heard them growling and coughing behind her, and she started to run. Something horrible was happening and she had to think fast, winding around a tall building and jumping down a ledge to land in a parking lot on the other side. She saw a staircase leading downward to her left and she ran to it as the people following her appeared at the top of the ledge. She looked down and noticed a Shin-ra logo on a heavy metal door. Looking behind her, she realized she didn't have a choice anymore and ran down the stairs, throwing open the door at the bottom. She shoved hard, closing it behind her and locking it, before sinking down to her knees and resting her head against the cement wall.

xXx

Reno dashed down the staircase, nearly tripping on several occasions and slamming into walls as he took corners too fast. He reached the bottom floor in record time, bursting into the huge lobby and glancing around at the panicked people trying to get out the front doors.

"Please, help us! The soldiers won't let anyone out!" A man recognized him and grabbed his coat, pulling Reno's face up to his.

"I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do." he murmured, prying the man's hand's from his coat and running around the back of the desk. He found the secretary's keys and rushed over to the outgoing mailbox. Unlocking it, he threw it open and stared at the pile of letters. The antidote wasn't there. 'Shit…'

He turned to go back up the stairs to Hojo's laboratory, but stopped when he saw the clock. 'Lockdown in three minutes!' he cursed out loud this time and made a mad dash for the back room. He threw the door open and ran across the lounge, pulling open a service hatch. If the soldiers wouldn't let anyone out the front doors, he'd just have to find another way out that they wouldn't be monitoring. He slipped into the service hatch and closed it behind him.

The crawlspace was small and cramped, but he was just thin enough to be able to fit inside, wriggling his way along the shaft. It dipped down and opened up to reveal a series of heaters, and Reno crawled past them and let himself fall several feet again. He moved along the shaft, dipping downward every so often, until he finally came to what he'd been searching for, a grate. He turned around and brought his feet up in front of him, kicking violently at the grate until it finally gave in and broke, clattering loudly across the floor.

He scrambled out of the cramped duct and got to his feet on the cold cement floor of the service tunnel. This particular service duct could take him all the way to the number seven reactor if he wanted to go there. Brushing himself off, he dashed down the long tunnel, even here he wasn't safe from the lockdown yet. He heard a siren go off overhead and sped up, giving it his all as he ran down the tunnel. He cleared a thick doorway and fell to his knees, sitting back in exhaustion as an enormous metal door slid closed behind him. He grinned in triumph, he'd gotten out. The intercom overheard crackled and another automated message came through the speaker.

"The Shin-ra Corporation is now in lockdown, any attempt to enter or exit the building is useless. Please remain calm until the lockdown has been lifted."

Reno laughed. "Hojo, you are a complete idiot."

End of Chapter One Please review!