Corpse in the Cupboard

*****CHAPTER 1*****

Laguna gazed out of the window and sighed. He was tired. Tired of his whole existence. Nothing had turned out the way he’d wanted, the way he’d dreamed. If Raine could see him now, he wondered what she’d think. Would she be ashamed of him, or proud?

He had achieved many great things as the president of Esthar. The city was thriving and the residents lived opulent lives seldom seen anywhere on the planet. Safe within the barrier, they didn’t have to concern themselves with the immanent attack of monsters that residents of other cities faced on a daily basis. As a result, they had become a lazy and self serving people, more concerned with the latest fashions and celebrity gossip than with any issues of importance. He’d hoped the security and wealth his people enjoyed would lead to an educated, enlightened society. What a fool he was.

“Maybe Squall is right when he says I’m an embarrassment,” he muttered to the darkness.

“Squall is definitely wrong,” a soft voice whispered behind him. Laguna turned to see Kiros standing just inside the door with a small smile on his lips. He smiled back warmly.

“Kiros, you’re back already?” he questioned his best friend. “I thought you’d be stuck in Galbadia for days.”

“Well, there was no point staying and listening to Caraway whine any longer than necessary. That man is infuriating! Can you believe he expected us to pay for the damage that time flux caused to his city? It’s hardly our responsibility that it appeared in the middle of the Caraway mansion.” Kiros flopped down onto the sofa and rubbed his forehead. Laguna poured two whiskeys, sat down next to him and offered his friend one, which he gratefully accepted.

“Kiros, sometimes I wonder how the hell we got here,” Laguna muttered as he leaned back into the sofa. Kiros chuckled beside the president and put his arm around him.

“You’re the one who decided that running a city would be fun. Just think, we could be blind drunk lying in an alley somewhere right now.” Laguna laughed out loud.

“Gods, I can’t even remember the last time I got drunk.”

“Well, that I can help with,” Kiros stated as he stood to retrieve the whiskey bottle, refilling the glasses. “There’s something else I should mention too. A strange looking man came through the time flux. He wasn’t breathing though. Caraways people tried to revive him, but failed. I’ve sent the body down to Odine, thought he might be able to come up with some answers.”

“Great,” Laguna moaned, “Now the universe is throwing corpses at us. Makes you feel special, dosen’t it?” Kiros laughed and raised his glass. “Cheers my friend.”

****

Laguna moaned and rolled away from the blinding light streaming in his window. “Fuck,” he muttered into his pillow. Now he remembered why he hadn’t got drunk for so long. He slowly dragged himself upright and stumbled towards the shower.

Hours later he was propped up at his desk, staring blankly at a mountain of paperwork, when Kiros came charging through the doors of his office in a panic.

“You’ll never believe what's happened. That corpse we retrieved yesterday wasn’t dead!” he spluttered.

“What the fuck are you talking about. Kiros, are you still drunk?” Laguna deadpanned.

“Ifrit’s balls, I’m not joking Laguna! The labs been destroyed, three people are in hospital and the damn corpse has disappeared.” The president stood quickly, grabbing his coat and following Kiros down the hall as he tried to digest what the hell was going on.

“I hate Mondays,” he whispered to himself as he ran his hands through his hair.

They found Professor Odine standing outside the ruins of the lab, muttering to himself incoherently. Laguna walked past him and peered into what has left of the building. It reminded Laguna of Trabia Garden after the missile attack except for the huge claw marks that ran along the northern wall. Kiros appeared beside him.

“Are you sure that corpse you brought back yesterday was human?” he asked as he pointed to the wall.

“He looked human, apart from the large gold claw,” Kiros answered. Laguna glanced around at his friend with a worried look.

“Any indication what direction it went in?”

“Well, one of the patrols spotted a red cape flying in the direction of the city,” Kiros mumbled, as he stared at his feet.

“I take it the corpse had a red cape on too?” Laguna raised an eyebrow at Kiros and took a deep breath. “Great. I can see the news headlines now. Red caped zombie with golden claw terrorises city.”

“I’ve already mobilized the entire guard to search for him. Don’t worry Laguna, we’ll find him. I’ll go and get an update on how it’s going,” Kiros stated as he turned and hurried away.

Time for damage control, Laguna thought to himself as he made his way back to his office. Shiva’s tits, how the hell was he going to explain this one? And what if this….zombie or whatever it was decided to start killing people? At least he had a couple of hours before the story would spread and the reporters would be hounding him for answers. His head started to ache, the remnants of this mornings hangover coming back with a vengeance. As he approached his office door he decided painkillers and a shower would be needed before he could deal with it all, so he continued on to his suite. Locking the door behind him he turned and slumped against the cool wood, sighing. The bad feeling in the pit of his stomach told him this was going to be one hell of a week.