I'll Watch Your Back

Chapter 1

May Zedong looked through the scope of her sniper rifle and scanned the terrain. From her spot on top of the hill, she had a perfect view of the surrounding area. The landscape below her was dry and nearly barren, with the only foliage being the shrubs that dotted the rocky desert. In the distance she could see the two cliffs that marked the entrance of a large canyon. Leaving her scope, May briefly looked up, shielding her eyes with her left hand. The blazing sun was high in the sky, casting an unrelenting heat across the desert. There wasn't a cloud in sight. Not a living thing was in sight either. Any animals that made their home in the region had likely taken shelter from the harsh conditions.

Which was perfect, as her targets were anything but living.

Returning to her scope, May scanned the horizon once more, keeping both eyes open. There were other snipers at Shade Academy who preferred to close one eye when shooting, but she liked to use both. That way, while her right eye was looking through the scope, her left eye could still see what was happening in front of her. It gave her better situational awareness, and made it easier to track her targets.

May searched the terrain for any signs of movement, but nothing stirred. For several minutes, May waited patiently, before her attention was drawn to movement coming from the east. She panned her scope over to a group of figures marching through the sand. Black hides with white, bony plating. Two hind legs and a tail. Red eyes and markings.

Grimm.

A buzzing sound came from the left pocket of her hoodie. She reached in and took out her Scroll. A quick look at the caller I.D. confirmed it was her team leader on the other end. She quickly accepted the call.

"May, what do you see?" asked Brawnz.

"Creeps, coming in from the east, about 600 meters away" she replied.

"How many?"

"Eight."

"Can you make the shot?"

May grinned. "Yes."

She ended the call and took aim once more. Team BRNZ was out on a training mission for the weekend. Brawnz had brought them out here to practice some battle formations. After all, they were going to be representing Shade Academy in the upcoming Vytal Festival. They needed to be at their best.

May was the sniper of the team, so she had the rear. One of her jobs was to support her teammates and provide cover fire.

The other job…

May aimed her sniper rifle and zeroed in on the Creep at the head of the pack.

…was a bit more fun.

Shoot. She pulled the trigger and the air in front of her exploded with a flash of purple. A Dust bullet leapt from her rifle's barrel and flew across the landscape.

A moment later the Creep's head rocked violently backwards as her shot found its mark. Hit.

As one of their own crumpled to the ground, the other Creeps raised their heads and roared in rage. Even from the all way over there, she could still hear their anger. It didn't matter though, as she was too far away for the Grimm to do anything about her.

Moving her scope onto her next target, May squeezed the trigger. Shoot. She repeated again, her own personal ritual. When that shot ripped through the bony head of the second Creep, she completed the ritual once more, Hit.

Either in panic or realisation, the remaining six Creeps started running towards her as their fallen pack members began to dissolve into smoke. Looking down, she could see three human figures running to meet them.

Brawnz Ni, their leader, was front and center. To his right was May's own partner, Nolan Porfirio, and to his left was Roy Stallion. The pack of Creeps were closing in fast. While stubby looking and not much bigger than the average human, the lizard-like Creeps had powerful legs and could cover large distances in short bursts. Judging from their speed, May guessed they would reach her teammates in only a minute. While the three of them had better odds fighting six Creeps than eight, they were still outnumbered. She needed to thin the pack a bit more.

As her teammates ran to meet the Creeps, May moved from target to target, squeezing ever so slightly each time her scope steadied on one of the approaching Grimm.

Shoot. Hit. Shoot Hit. She repeated to herself methodically as two of the Creeps were struck, rolling away in the sand. The remaining four Grimm, undeterred that member after member of their pack were being struck down, continued their charge. She watched as the distance between her teammates and the Creeps quickly vanished, with the leading Creep making a lunge towards them.

Brawnz, having anticipated the move, jumped up and brought his right metal claw down onto the Creep's head. The creature crashed into the ground, its momentum carrying it a few meters away. To his left, Roy was throwing his saw blades at another approaching Creep, knocking it to the side as he rolled out of the way of an attack from another. Similarly, Nolan dodged an attack coming from the fourth Creep.

After that initial clash, one of the Creeps was lying on the ground, making the odds an even 3 on 3. The remaining three Creeps began to circle around Brawnz, Roy, and Nolan, who were huddled together back to back. To the Grimm it probably seemed like they had managed to trap the three humans. But the determination on her teammates' faces made it clear who was actually being hunted.

After a moment, one of the Creeps made another charge towards Nolan, who responded by ducking and delivering a quick whack at the Grimm's legs. Roy ran forward, spinning with his arms outstretched and repeatedly slamming his saw blades into another Creep. Behind him, Brawnz was holding open the jaws of a Creep that seemingly wanted a bite out of the Huntsman-in-training.

May looked at the scene, waiting for a sign that she would need to help her teammates. A flash of light brought May's attention to Nolan, who was standing over a quivering Creep, his cattle prod crackling with electricity. As Nolan prepared to finish off his opponent, May caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of her eye; the first Creep was getting off the ground. With red eyes full of hate underneath its cracked head, the Creep jumped towards the first target in sight, her partner's unguarded back. Taking aim, May shot the Grimm mid-jump, Nolan turned quick enough to see the creature land on the ground to his right, dissolving into black smoke. Shoot. Hit.

Shifting her attention once more to the others, she saw that the two were faring quite well against their respective opponents. Brawnz had managed to throw his Creep onto the ground next to him and, before it could get up, drove his claws into its soft underbelly. Roy had also slain his target, which lay dissolving behind him as he walked towards Brawnz. Checking on her partner once more, she saw Nolan giving her the thumbs up, a big smile on his face.

May lowered her sniper rifle, closed her eyes, and smiled to herself. Five Shots. Five Hits. Five Kills.

"…For the last time Nolan, I'm not putting saw blades on my boots!" exclaimed an increasingly exasperated Roy.

"But you would have four saws, that's like twice as many saws!"

"Dude, how would I even use them?"

Nolan went silent, seemingly in deep thought. Sure enough, a moment later, he looked Roy dead in the eye with a raised finger and a deadpan expression. "What if you learn to breakdance?

"…You want me to dance my saws off?"

Nolan nodded. "That way you could launch your saws in a spinning motion," Nolan made a circle with his finger for emphasis, "and then send them at your opponent!"

Roy stared at Nolan with an incredulous look on his face as Nolan tried to explain the different ways Roy could launch, retrieve, and attack with his boot-saws. By the end of it Roy had covered his face with his hand and Brawnz was laughing loudly next to him. May tried to stifle a few giggles.

After the fight with the Creeps, the four of them had headed in the direction of the canyon she had seen earlier. When night came they decided to camp out by the entrance; they would enter it tomorrow for one more day of hunting before heading back to Shade. The four of them were huddled next to a campfire, eating their dinner and enjoying themselves.

May smiled as Nolan and Roy continued their debate on the effectiveness of "foot-held" weaponry. Her partner had his usual smirk on his face. Sometimes with Nolan it was hard to tell whether he was being serious or if he was just messing around. Even May still found it hard to distinguish between the two, despite having been his partner for a while now. Roy, however, could never tell the difference, so he was usually the one Nolan would mess with.

He also had the best reactions, she thought, as she saw Roy lifting his foot up and pointing defiantly at it.

May took another sip of her juice box and looked up at the night sky. It was clear tonight, and the stars were out. There were so many of them, sparkling together up there. And they were far away, so unbelievably far away that she couldn't even begin to judge the distance. She was a sniper, so the idea of not being able to tell how far away something was made her anxious. How would she be able to hit something if she didn't know where it was?

"Hey May, are you ok?"

May jumped at the sudden mention of her name, squeezing her juice box tightly in the process. This, however, sent the remainder of the drink down her throat, causing her to go into a coughing fit. In between the coughs, she realized that her teammates were staring at her. After a few more coughs, and a flush not entirely due to the exertion, she covered her mouth with her right sleeve and looked sheepishly at her them.

"Y-Yes?" she asked, hoping the blush on her cheeks wasn't showing.

Brawnz chuckled and smiled at her. "We were just thanking you for having our backs today."

"That was some amazing sniping back there, May. Good thing you saw that Creep before it snuck up on me." Nolan laughed as he patted her on the back.

"Well of course she saw it." Roy grinned. "She's the best sniper at Shade!"

"I-It was nothing really! Really, I just, well, umm…" May found herself increasingly flustered by the compliments. She felt her blush deepen and quickly pulled her black beanie down to cover her cheeks, which had surely gone from a light shade of pink to a scarlet red. Her teammates chuckled at her reaction.

Pulling her beanie back up just a little, May looked at her teammates again. "You guuuuysss," she whimpered with a pout. She didn't like to be in the spotlight, but she would be lying if she said the compliments didn't make her a little bit happy. Her teammates were all great fighters, but she had no combat finesse at all. What she did have was great accuracy, something she took pride in. While she couldn't be on the frontlines with her teammates, she could help them from the back.

Brawnz lightly punched her in the shoulder. "Okay team, we should get some rest, we've got a long day tomorrow. Remember the plan, we head into the canyon and take out the Grimm while May gives us cover. Sounds good?"

The three of them nodded in agreement.

Brawnz smiled and got up from his spot next to the campfire. "Great, I'll take the first watch tonight, Nolan, you mind taking the second?"

"No problem," Nolan replied.

"Alright. Get some rest guys." Brawnz walked away to begin his watch, while the rest of Team BRNZ got into their sleeping bags.

May took out her earphones and put them in, going through the song list on her Scroll before choosing one of the Achieve Men's latest singles. Her teammates always teased her about her taste in music. "Humph, so what if I listen to the Achieve Men, they like to listen to Katy Peary."

With her song playing, May moved around and got comfortable in her sleeping bag. She lay facing the campfire, which was still burning strong. May felt her eyelids becoming heavier and heavier as she watched the flames of the campfire dance in front of her. It was warm. By the time the song finished playing, she was fast asleep.

The first thing May did when she woke up in the morning was clean her weapon. The second thing she did was eat breakfast.

Like other snipers, May was superstitious. She did a ritual before and after every shot. She always wore her favorite beanie when on a mission. Most importantly though, her weapon had to be in tip-top shape every morning. May carefully disassembled her weapon, inspecting every component for damage after cleaning it. Her hands moved gracefully and meticulously, as they had a thousand times before. Her morning routine was only interrupted by the rumbling of her stomach. May quickly grabbed a granola bar from her bag before continuing.

When she was finished, May reassembled her rifle, loaded a new magazine, and admired her work. She looked the rifle over from top-to-bottom and smiled, beaming with pride. She was ready for the day. Her teammates had also finished inspecting their gear. Once everyone was packed up and ready, they headed through the entrance of the canyon.

As they made their way through, May scanned their surroundings for potential vantage spots, committing every feature to memory. The canyon was large and winding, with several narrow slide-slots along its length. Large cliffs surrounded the canyon, several of which seemed accessible enough to climb. There were several rocks that she could jump onto to get to that higher ground. Any spot she chose would need to have a clear line of sight to her teammates. A small river ran through the middle, with shrubs and small trees growing alongside it.

While May looked around the terrain, Nolan stopped abruptly.

"Wait," whispered Nolan. Brawnz raised his right hand, motioning them to stop before turning around to look at Nolan.

May looked at her partner as well, wondering what was it that her partner had noticed.

"What do you see?" Brawnz asked Nolan.

Nolan pointed forwards, towards the right side of the canyon in the distance. May looked at where her partner was pointing and saw movement between the rocks and foliage. Taking out her sniper rifle, May used her scope to get a better view.

"Beowolves, five of them in the distance," she reported to her teammates.

"Good catch, Nolan," Brawnz said. "May, have they noticed us yet?"

"Negative, they haven't noticed us. They seem to be moving towards the river."

"That means we have the advantage. Nolan, Roy, you two come with me. "

"What's the plan?" Roy asked his partner.

Brawnz grinned. "We're going to give them a little surprise." He turned towards May. "May, you get into position and wait for us to make the first move."

May nodded, "I'll watch your back."

Her teammates all looked at her and nodded back. They all trusted her. She wouldn't let them down.

Brawnz looked around and smiled. "Alright guys, let's show these Beowolves who's boss."

As the three of them moved further down the river, May ran towards the rocks she had been looking at before. As she ran, she reached towards the bottom of her sniper rifle and pulled a small handle, revealing the blade that was kept on the underside of the rifle's stock. Now holding her rifle's barrel, May jumped towards the nearest rock, using her weapon to increase her reach. After hooking onto it, May pulled herself up, before heading onto the next, higher rock. She did this several times until she reached the top of a tall rock slope. Now that she was high enough, May went over to the side of the cliff, took out her sniper rifle, and searched for her teammates.

The three of them were now hiding behind several rocks about 30 meters away from the nearest Beowolf. The Grimm had not noticed they were there, and were now about to cross the small river. May moved her scope over to the Grimm. The one at the head of the pack was larger than the rest. Its claws and teeth were larger, and it also had more bone-like armor. There were also a few bony spines across its body. She'd learned about this in her class lectures. This Beowolf was older than the rest and in that time it had grown smarter and stronger. From its appearance May wouldn't say it was an alpha yet, but with enough time it would no doubt become something similar. Unfortunately for it, the Beowolf wouldn't be getting that opportunity, not if Team BRNZ had any say in the matter.

May wanted to take a shot at the pack leader, but Brawnz had told her to wait for them to make the first move. She frowned a little. It would be so easy to take out the head Beowolf from where she was. But if Brawnz had a plan she would wait, she trusted his judgement and he had never led them astray.

The Grimm were all in the river now. The river itself was shallow, and barely reached the Beowolves' knees. As the head Beowolf was about to finish crossing the river, Brawnz, Roy, and Nolan jumped out from cover.

She heard a faint shout from Brawnz as Nolan ran towards the river, his cattle prod out. The Beowolves roared at them, but before they could strike, Nolan stuck his weapon into the water. A surge of electricity traveled through the water from Nolan towards the Beowolves, who roared in anger as thousands of volts coursed through their bodies. They were loud enough that she could hear them from where she was. Brawnz and Roy were standing on the other side of the river, no doubt waiting to finish off any Beowolf that made it out of the trap they had set. To her surprise, the head Beowolf was already standing there. There was no sign that it had been caught in the trap.

Why didn't it get shocked like the rest? Did it realise what the others were planning when they came out of cover?

The head Beowolf was joined by two others, both of which were lightly smoking from Nolan's attack. In the river were the motionless bodies of the other two Beowolves. The trap had worked, but there were still three Beowolves, one of which was dangerously intelligent. She saw Nolan join Brawnz and Roy in their standoff against the three Beowolves. Three Beowolves were normally a piece of cake, but that head Beowolf seemed much smarter than the others. It could give her teammates more trouble than they bargained for. But if she took out of the pack leader, it would make things easier for her them. She moved her scope over the head of her target, "I only need one good shot and–"

Her thoughts were interrupted by a rumbling sound behind her, followed by a loud roar. May quickly turned around, pointing her sniper rifle in the direction of the sounds. Her eyes widened as a Death Stalker started climbing up from the other side of the rocky slope. May tried to step back, but caught herself before she walked off the ledge. She swore. She had nowhere to run.

The Death Stalker was now on the side of the rocky slope opposite to her. It snapped its claws and swung its curved, glowing stinger from side to side. Its red eyes glowed with hostility. The two stood still for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, with a roar, the Death Stalker charged at May,

May began firing at the Death Stalker, but shot after shot bounced off the creature's hard shell. In moments, the Death Stalker had crossed the distance between the two and swung it's stinger. She dove to her left, rolling before kneeling upright and fired two more shots, this time at the Death Stalker's eyes. The first shot bounced off harmlessly, but the second shot hit home.

The Death Stalker roared as black ichor spurted from its damaged eye. May felt a ray of hope as she watched the Death Stalker recoil in pain. "I can hurt it. I can slow it down, long enough for the other to get here." May pointed her sniper rifle at the giant Grimm once more, firing shot after shot at the beast. She aimed for its eyes, its mouth, the chinks between its armor plating, wherever she could get through that armor. May waited for the gap between her heart beats before firing, even as her heart began to beat faster and faster. Shoot. Hit. Shoot. Hit. Shoot. Hit. Shoot. Hit. Her shoulder began to ache as her weapon's stock slammed back after every shot. The Death Stalker shrieked at May's relentless attack, slowly crawling back away from her as black ichor dripped from its wounds.

May continued firing, never giving the creature a chance to fight back. "Just a little longer," May told herself. "Just a little longer and the others will get here and then we'll kill this thing together."

But time dragged on, and the rest of her team was nowhere in sight. "Shouldn't they have noticed that she wasn't shooting at the Beowolves?" she asked herself. Counting her shots, May soon felt dread as the amount of ammo she had left in her magazine began to run out. May looked at the Death Stalker, which was standing a few meters away from her, claws covering its face. If she was fast enough, she could reload before it realised she had stopped firing.

When she had one last bullet left, May stopped firing, reaching for another magazine as fast as she could. It was at that moment that the Death Stalker spun around, swinging its tail in a wide arc.

"GAAAH," she managed to choke out as the Death Stalker's tail connected with her. She felt a jolt of pain even as her Aura tried its best to withstand the blow. The hit clouded her mind, and when she finally realised what had occurred she was already falling to the ground. The Death Stalker had knocked her off the cliff.

She yelled in pain as she landed on the hard canyon surface. Her sniper rifle had landed a few feet in front of her. She tried to stand, but fell again when she felt a sharp pain in her left ankle. "Ahhhhh!" she whimpered in pain, tears welling in her eyes. She looked at her ankle and saw that it was already starting to swell and turn red. Terror seeped into her chest. If she had sprained her ankle in the fall that could only mean one thing. Her Aura had been depleted and no longer protected her.

The next hit would be much worse.

Groaning, May tried to get up again, using the rock face for support. She limped towards her sniper rifle before picking it up. She reached into her pocket and grabbed a new magazine, reloading her weapon. She had to get away, she had to find somewhere to hide, she had to get help. Another roar from the Death Stalker chilled May to her bones. She turned her head around in a panic and saw that the Death Stalker had already begun crawling down from the rock slope, no doubt to finish her off.

Whimpering and on the verge of tears, May tried to get away. Holding her sniper rifle in her arms and again using the rock face for support, May slowly limped away. Her panic grew as the sounds of the Death Stalker became louder and louder. Closer and closer.

"Nolan! Roy! Brawnz! Anyone! Please help me!" she shouted desperately. "I'm going to die," she thought, "Oh god I'm going to die here."

As the Death Stalker's roars became even louder, May tried to move faster. But when she placed more weight on her sprained ankle, another jolt of pain caused her to trip. She fell to the ground, dropping her sniper rifle. She groaned and tried to push herself up when she sensed something coming from behind her.

May quickly rolled to the left as a stinger dug itself where her head was only a moment before. She crawled towards her sniper rifle in a panic as the Death Stalker pulled its stinger out of the ground, fiddling with the stock before swinging it wildly behind her. The Death Stalker roared as her sniper rifle's axe blade deflected another blow. Her own body screamed in protest as the full force of the blow resonated in her bones. Shaking off the attack, May got up into a kneeling stance and pointed her sniper rifle at the Death Stalker. Eight red eyes stared back, she had managed to take two out. May fired three more shots at the Death Stalker's face, but the Grimm brought its claws up just in time to protect itself. As she paused to find another weak spot, the Death Stalker charged, swinging a claw at her. May managed to roll away from the first claw, she didn't see the second one.

The swipe sent the girl crashing into the rock face. The impact knocked the wind out of her lungs, leaving May gasping for air as she crumpled to the ground. She was lying on her back now, sniper rifle still tightly gripped between her arms. A warm, crimson liquid dripped down her lips. May tried to push herself up, but a stabbing pain in her side caused her to cry and she fell back again. The Death Stalker roared in triumph and moved towards her. May looked up to see eight red eyes full of hate staring at her. The Grimm was reading her moves. She couldn't win. She was about to die. May quickly aimed her sniper rifle at the creature, even as tears spilled from her eyes and her breathing became ragged. The fear of dying had gripped her heart once more. Ready to deliver the killing blow, the Death Stalker swung its stinger down, intent on skewering the little huntress. Panicking and seeing the stinger heading for her, May aimed and shot.

The Dust bullet soared through the air and pierced through the Death Stalker's stinger. Grimm ichor and venom sprayed from the wound as the Death Stalker shrieked. May tried to turn away, but she was too late. The contents of the stinger splashed into her left eye.

"AHHHHHHHH!" May screamed and dropped her sniper rifle, clawing at her face. "It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!" She felt an unbearable burning as the Death Stalker's venom seared into her skin and flesh. May writhed violently on the ground as intense pain coursed through her. It was excruciating, like a fire was eating away her body and her mind. She clutched her wound and gritted her teeth, trying to regain control of herself. Her instincts told her get up, to run away, but they were drowned out by wave after wave of agonizing pain crashing into her small frame. May rolled around on the ground, screaming and screaming as the pain overwhelmed her.

The world was spinning now, she couldn't process anything. Her vision was cloudy, her senses dulled from the pain. She heard the Death Stalker roar, thrashing angrily against the earth. The sounds were getting closer again. She tried to get up but her muscles only spasmed in response. She was paralyzed, but she didn't know whether it was from the fear, the pain, or the venom seeping into her veins. But she was certain of one thing, she couldn't move on her own. She couldn't get away this time. The Death Stalker was going to kill her this time. She was going to die here. She was going to die alone.

May began to sob, hysterical cries wracking her broken body, but the sound was hoarse and she choked on spit.

Her throat felt bloody and raw.

Her face was covered in tears, sand, and blood.

She gulped for air. It was becoming harder to breathe.

She closed her eyes. It hurt so much. She just wanted it to end.

"MAY!" she heard a familiar voice yell.

She heard a loud crack followed by the Death Stalker roaring in pain.

She felt someone lifting her up. She felt the person struggle against her body as it contorted in shock.

"It's going to be ok, May! Oh god, May! Stay with me!" a voice shouted.

"We have to leave now!"

"Someone call the school! We need to get help!"

May felt herself being carried away as her mind began to fade. The roars of the Grimm became fainter. She could no longer hear her own screams and sobs either. The pain in her left eye began to be replaced by a cold numbness, which spread like ice throughout her body. She began to lose feeling in her arms and legs. She didn't understand what was happening, but it was a welcome relief. Embracing it, she slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

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