Rebirth

Chapter 24 - Found

Kadj ran down the hall towards the open bulkhead door. He jumped through the door
and to the night outside. He looked around him, searching the growing darkness for the
half naked woman. He saw a small pale form stumbling in the darkness off in the
distance.

"There!" he yelled to Loz, pointing towards Tifa as she ran for her life. They both
sprinted off towards her. He stood at the edge of the plateau where he last saw her and
looked down into the black void below. A cold, hard wind blew up the face of the rock
beneath him and pushed him back from the edge.

"Shit!," Kadj screamed. He whirled on Loz and shouted at him above the howling wind.
"Go back to the house and get some flashlights. We have to find her before she freezes
out here!" Loz spun around and ran back to the house. He met Yazoo at the door and
pointed to where Kadj stood in the distance.

"She's gone. I have to find some torches. We've got to find her. Go help him." Loz
disappeared into the house and Yazoo sprinted towards Kadj.

The three brothers searched the area Tifa was last seen, thrusting their lights into every
dark corner. They didn't realize that their frantic search took them further away from
Tifa's cave, where she lay in an exhausted, dreamless sleep.

The wind had become colder, much colder. It bit into Cloud's face and froze his hands to
the handlebars of the bike. His mind had become as numb as his body. All he could see
was Tifa's face before him; the light in her eyes and the curve of her mouth. He was
concentrating so hard on his vision of Tifa that he almost missed it when Red suddenly
bolted to the left and disappeared into the dark. Cloud skidded the bike to a halt and spun
it around, his headlight catching Red's glowing tail disappear over a bump in the road
ahead. He revved the bike and hurtled after him with the SUV close behind. He caught
up to Red a few seconds later. The animal had stopped running and was standing still,
with his nose in the air. Cloud turned off the motor and kicked out the stand. He slowly
dismounted, his limbs stiff and sore from the night's ride. He walked up to Red and
stood in silence behind him. He heard the SUV doors slam and footsteps approach.

"What is it, Red?" asked Vincent

"I'm not sure. There is another trail . . ." murmured Red. He took a few tentative steps
forward toward a cliff wall, his nose in the air trying to catch the scent again.

"Is it Tifa?" asked Cloud.

"No, not Tifa, but it's something else that shouldn't be here," said Red as he dashed off
into the darkness. Cloud and the other two raced after him, leaving their vehicles behind.

"What the hell is he doing?" thought Cloud as he and the other two raced after him. Red
was running towards the dark cliff face ahead. As they approached, Cloud could see a
faint red flicker somewhere in the middle of the cliff. As they got closer, he realized
what it was.

"A campfire!" he yelled to the others. He sprinted towards the glow, passing Red.

"Cloud, wait!" yelled Vincent behind him. But he didn't hear. He needed to get to that
fire. As he approached he slowed down to a walk. He knelt down and peered at the
glowing embers behind the vines. The smoke stung his eyes as he pulled back the leafy
curtain.

"Tifa," he whispered. He could see her near naked body curled up under a pile of leaves
just beyond the dieing fire. He sat back on his haunches and breathed in a ragged sigh.
He closed his eyes and said a silent prayer of thanks.

He carefully crept into the cave past the fire and reached out to brush the leaves from her
face. He looked at her for a long time, rubbing a strand of her hair between his fingers.
He gingerly moved the leaves away from her body to expose her belly and gasped when
he saw how big she had grown. Tears fell unbidden down his face as he pulled her into
his lap, wrapping her up in his arms, and rocked her back and forth.

"You did it, baby. You did it," he whispered in her ear. Her head lay heavy on his
shoulder. She was out cold but her breathing was regular and her heart beat strong. He
looked down at her belly and saw the glow was still there. He smiled through his tears
and ran his hands over her swollen stomach. Her skin was freezing. He had to get her
warm.

He kicked out the remnants of the fire and gathered her up in his arms. He pulled her out
of the cave, careful not to let her get burned by the dieing flames. He emerged from the
cave with Tifa in his arms and struggled to his feet. She was heavier than he remembered
her being. Vincent and Barret ran up to him and tried to take her out of his arms but he
wouldn't let them touch her.

"She's freezing, Cloud. We have to get her into the SUV and get her warm," said Barret
in a quiet voice. They both saw how much Tifa's stomach had grown. "That's
impossible," thought Vincent, "not in just 48 hours." Cloud carried her back to the
vehicle and gently placed her on the back seat. He scrambled in after her and pulled her
into his arms again. The light inside the truck let him take his first good look at her. Her
hands and feet were cut and bleeding. He picked up one of her hands and saw that her
knuckles were broken and the skin covering them torn. He ran his thumb up her arm and
felt the tiny hole made by Loz's needle.

"What did they do to you, baby?" he asked her quietly.

Without being asked, Vincent walked towards the bike and mounted it.

Barret rummaged around in the back of the SUV and found a thick blanket he used when
he camped out on a job site. He spread the blanket over the unconscious body lying
cradled in Cloud's lap and slammed the door shut. Barret jumped in the truck behind the
wheel and Red leapt into the seat next to him. He started the engine and turned the heat
up to high.

"Lets go," he yelled to Vincent out of the window and gunned the truck back down the
path they had come.