A slow breeze gently caressed the golden fields of the farmland. The sun high in the air, shining strongly with a wisp or two of clouds to be seen every so often as they pass though never lingering enough to provide sufficient shade. The only break from the steady light came in the form of a tree on top of a small hill next to a dirt road. The field basked in the symphony of singing insects lost in tranquility untouched by man.
That was until it had been interrupted by a small blonde child riding her bicycle. She had been going at her high speed only to come to a full stop under the protective shade of the lone tree in the field. She paused to take in the view in front of her which were blue from the sky above, more areas of boring yellow, the house of their neighbors the Thompson's a mile or two down the road, and the figure of someone approaching. Just another boring sunny day in Patch.
Thinking nothing of the matter, as it was not uncommon for either Dr. Thompson or Mrs. Thompson to come down for the occasional visit, she turned her back on the figure to see how far she had left her little red companion behind.
Unsurprisingly she had left her quite a bit aways. A smirk took face as she rested her arms on the handles of her bike. Her sister easy to spot, as she was wearing a blood-red hoodie vest; she had fallen in love with it and refused to take it off wearing it wherever she went. She watched as the red dot came ever closer, shaking her head the blonde would never understand her sister's obsession with try to beat her while she was still on training wheels.
"Alright, Ruby! I think you were faster this time," the blonde yelled at her sister when she came within hearing distance, "by a second. But hey it's still a personal best." Laughing out loud when she received "the glare" if it could be called that on a five-year-old.
"Yang," Ruby said heaving once she stops under the tree, "shut up." The older sister just sat grinning while waiting for Ruby to catch her breath, not noticing how close the figure behind them had come.
Ruby looked up from where she had her head rested on the handlebar of her bike when she noticed the noise, or rather lack of noise. It was as if all of Nature's sounds had silenced, except for their breathing and a scuffling noise. She had opened her mouth to comment on it, when the sight in front of her, behind Yang, confused and horrified her. "Dr. Thompson?"
Yang turned around concern as to why Ruby would have any confusion or fear over their neighbor, once taking in the sight she wished she hadn't.
Dr. Thompson was the local clinic doctor, a small woman who was kind enough to take care of Ruby and her whenever they would fall ill or when their parents were unable to care for them due to their jobs overlapping, which had been happening more often these days than Yang would care to admit.
Both their parents had busy jobs, Mom was a superhero well according to Ruby, their Mom was actually a scientist that as far as Yang understood was trying to save the world, and their Dad was a Doctor in the city. In the past, they had been able to work their magic to have their schedule work around school, daycare, nannies, and still be able to come home and play with them. Now, though something had happened, something bad.
Yang didn't understand what it was, all she knew was it was making both her Mom and Dad stress which somehow made a mysterious man come live with them. He had introduced himself as "Uncle Qrow." Ruby found him funny ever since she asked him if he could speak bird and he responded by squawking and flap his arms. Yang was cautious around him, he was strange, smelled weird, and even though he was over, they would still be watched by Dr. or Mrs. Thompson.
Dr. Thompson being a local didn't have to drive all the way to the city, she would ofter to do house calls as their town Patch was kind of small and spread out. Perhaps that was how she had ended in this state as Dr. Thompson didn't look kind at all.
There was blood all over her, spilling from her mouth, eyes, and ears. Her eyes once ocean-blue had changed to yellow-bloodshot ones. Her skin had ashen to a sickening pale gray. The was blood on her hands as she raised one, almost as if she had stuck her arms elbow deep in blood. She was dragging her feet; one bent in a direction that it shouldn't. She had come close enough that they could hear her grunts and moans.
What frightened Yang the most was that she- no that felt wrong that thing was no longer Dr. Thompson- it was entirely focused on Ruby. Pushing her bike forward, slowly pulling up next to Ruby, Yang allowed her eyes to be removed from it to assess the state of her little sister. The blonde wanted to punch that thing; Ruby looked as if she was going to cry. She reached out to barely touching Ruby's shoulder breaking her sister's staring contest.
"Ruby," Yang whispered as quietly as she could, "Were going home, start turning your bike." Yang stare down the creature that stole Dr. T's face, it had kept it's steady pace now no more than a few yards away. They had to leave now.
"Yang," Ruby said tearfully "I'm scared." Turning back to her sister she could see that she was ready, right because she wasn't enjoying any of the glory details of that thing's face.
"Me too," the blonde answered, she was terrified to find out what it will do if it caught them. "Let's race it back, and I bet we could win." Ruby gave her a short nod, "Alright, on your marks, get set," Yang could hear it snarl as if it knew that they were going to escape "GO!"
And they were off; Yang heard the growling roar before the pounding of feet. She was keeping pace with her little sister, but she wished that Ruby didn't have the training wheels, well at least they were going down hill. She could hear Ruby panting, she was getting tired, and that thing was still chasing them, they needed help. Yang yelled at the top of her lungs for her Daddy, begging and screaming for help. It had been one of the rare days that he was home. The door flew open, but the man that came out wasn't their father.
At that moment, there was a crash and yell from behind her, stopping Yang turned in fear. Ruby had hit one of the holes in the road at the wrong angle and had fallen over. With the thing only a few feet away and quickly closing the distance. Yang did the only thing she could think of; she threw her bike at it. The bike didn't cause any damage, it hadn't even reached the thing, but it had blocked its way and made it trip.
Crawling toward Ruby, the blonde scrambled to get sister first. Yang was there pulling Ruby out of the way as the thing tried it get a grip. The blonde was now using the Ruby's bike as a barrier to making sure its snapping jaws were well out of the way. She had been yelling at her sister to move and get away, but Ruby paralyzed had at some point started sobbing. Amongst all the yelling, the crying, and the growling, they hadn't noticed sounds of running; it was chaotic until the head former Dr. Thompson exploded near Yang's face. The echoing silence of the gunshot was the sound that restarted all of Nature's noise.
Yang couldn't back away fast enough; it was over the thing was dead. Ruby was safe, and she was safe. Yang turned to face the person who shot, still shellshocked, to thank him. That had been the plan until she was staring straight into the barrel.
"Did you get bitten?" Qrow said in a tone she never heard from him before. Yang started crying; she didn't understand why Uncle Qrow would do this to her, it was scary and not at all funny. "N-no."
At the answer, he exhaled the breath he been holding and threw the gun to the side bringing Yang into the biggest hug he ever gave her. "You are so brave Yang," He told her repeating how courageous and heroic she'd been in hopes to calming down both Yang and himself. Despite his actions, he didn't want to lose his niece; when noticing Ruby was still quietly sobbing he brought her into a group hug, yeah he didn't want to lose either of them.
When both Ruby and Yang had stopped crying, he declared it time to go inside. Their savior led them into the house carrying Ruby while Yang had taken hostage of his hand. Qrow got them to sit reluctantly on the couch, after promising that he would be right back. The black-haired man went into the kitchen to look for comfort food, although he may not interact with his nieces much, he did take note that a certain blonde loved her honey on gram crackers and that the little red monkey loved her strawberries and cookies.
Once they were distracted by the food he slipped out, to retrieve the gun, he left outside. That thing was stinking up the front lawn, Qrow thought, not that it would matter in a few days but still. The moment he stepped back inside with the weapon the girls stop and stare, bring them the snacks may have gotten them to cheer up a bit, but they need their father. Leaving the gun against the door, he went upstairs to find the girls father, Taiyang.
He had forced Tai to his room to catch some rest; he didn't want he want his old friend to pass out from exhaustion. Upon opening the door, he was surprised to see Tai on the phone; Qrow had been expecting to wake him up.
"Please just-" Tai was facing away from the door so Qrow could see his expression but he could hear the pain in his friend's voice, "I don't care-" There was only one person who could create such emotion from Taiyang and that was Summer. Qrow knew that she was in her lab in the city and whatever new she was telling Tai if the dead thing outside was any indication things weren't looking too good.
"It's going to be," Taiyang snuffed, "hard. And Summer I-" Qrow had just decided to wait outside the door if the couple gets lovey-dovey, well he was when Tai shouted a pain filled "NO!"
Qrow ran towards the blonde as he watched his friend fall to his knees all the while yelling 'I love yous' into a phone that had lost connection. He needed a calm Tai, but that wouldn't be happening anytime soon. Still, they needed to leave and if he knew Summer, and he was proud to say he did, she would have told Taiyang the next step. Now, to get that information out of him.
"Tai." No response or acknowledgment. "Goddammit Tai, look at me." He shook him to get some answer other than cries. Qrow then swiped the phone away. "TAI you tell me what's happening in the city?"
Tai had frozen at the words he wasn't ready, it hurt, and he didn't want to move on. The world had gone to hell, and all he wanted was to just lay there and rot. The blonde closed his eyes, it was easier to think in the dark. He may not need to move, but they did at least he could tell Qrow, his friend would protect them better, keep them safe. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes; Qrow had never seen them so void of emotion the fire that he had always seen in the blonde's eyes had been extinguished. "The city is overrun by Infected. Raven wants us to go to Beacon. Summer is... either dead or dying."
The city being taken over, he had guessed as much. Make a trip to Beacon well no surprise there; Beacon had been made by Ozpin, the man who had warned them, had warned anyone who would listen. But Summer dying? Summer, the women who was unstoppable, who he had the greatest respect for, who always wore an ever-present smile, his best friend, was dying. Qrow knew it was going to be bad, but he was not prepared for this... and neither was Yang.
Yang ran back down the steps as if she could run away from the truth she had overheard. She had rushed up after hearing her dad yell, telling Ruby to stay and guard the cookies. In her rush, she didn't notice Ruby and bumped into her almost knocking her over. Oh man, oh MAN. Who's going to tell Ruby? She idolized her, she w-was a superhero to Ruby, and now. And now-
"Yang? Yang?!" The red hooded girl shook the blonde as she tried to get her attention. "Yang, your eyes are red." Ruby stepped back as if to analyzed her sister, "Are you ok?"
Yang just stared at the smaller girl. Her eyes were starting to burn, but she wouldn't cry. The blonde won't cry she could- will be strong, just like mom, a tear escaped and rolled down her cheek, damn it. She angrily swiping away the now steady flow of tears, she could bring herself to answer Ruby. The little red girl all so started to cry, Yang almost never cried. She had once dare Yang to climb a tree, and she'd seen her fall off and not cry, in fact, she had laughed and said she alright as it had been her left arm was in a cast. Yang was the strongest person Ruby knew, and it scared her that she was crying.
Before any other words were exchanged between the two girls they heard the clopping steps of someone coming down the stairs. They both turn to see Qrow carrying their father over is shoulder and holding a large duffle bag in the other. "Ruby! Open the door! Yang!" he did a double take then said in a calmer voice, "Yang, I need you to get the truck open." After dumping Tai in the front seat and the bags in the covered back, he told Yang to stay in the car, that he need to grab some more things.
Quickly moving back inside he grabs the three other bags that had been prepacked and paused to stare at the fourth bag he knew that the person the bag was for wasn't coming to get it, but he couldn't bring himself to just leave it and picked it up to bring to the truck. He was almost out the door when a tearful little red monkey blocked his path. "We can't, Mommy's not back. We can't go just leave."
Qrow hadn't wanted to give her this talk, he had hope Tai could but now it couldn't be helped. He set the things he was holding down for a moment, and got on one knee to be at eye level to her. Just like a bandage just rip if off, right? "Your Mother is gone Ruby." He blinked, he hadn't expected it to hurt him. But saying it out loud made the whole thing too real. He tried to swallow the growing knot in his throat, "She's not coming back, need to leave now or those things that to her, that attacked you this morning, will start to come." Qrow told her slowly in a crisp, curt voice, never breaking eye contact with Ruby.
Ruby neither did nor said nothing at first. She wants to yell at him, that he was a liar and that mommy would come back they just had to wait, but the red in Qrow had been the same in her sisters, and she realized why Yang had been crying. Then slowly she pulled her hood of over to cover her face and raised her hand for Qrow to lead her out to the truck.
When the two sisters were seated in the back, and everything they needed in the haul, he pulled out and started down the road towards Beacon. Thru the rearview mirror, he could see that Yang had cried herself to sleep, and Ruby, from the movement of her shoulders, was still crying. A quick glance to his right told him Tai was still out from the punch he gave him when the blonde said that he was going to die in that house. Qrow felt his chest hurt when he remembered why they were in such a state, deciding to distract himself he looked back at the house when he saw movement from the tree on the hill. It was an Infected, the other Thompson. He knew that it was a right thing to leave as soon as possible. He could feel the growing anger towards those disgusting walking creatures.
Those things will pay, he would see to it. Looking back at the girls he made his resolution, payback would come later but for now, he hopes that his sister was taking down as many of those things that she could. He wasn't worried, he knew without a doubt that Raven would meet them in Beacon. Beacon had walls and was heavily protected, Ozpin had no qualms about throwing all of his resources in making that wall. But he hadn't stopped there he had built a wall around Vale and had helped build walls around other big cities as well. The closest safe city to them was Signal, which they will swing by to refuel. Now he just had to survive the boredom of driving for five more hours.