Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY
Beacon Of The Dead – Chapter 3 – Scarlet Emerald
"You sure this is the right way? It feels like we've been walking for hours."
Weiss huffed angrily as she pushed through the thick, lush vegetation of the Emerald Forest, swinging Myrtenaster through the foliage in front of her. This deep in the forest, the greenery was suffocating, the large thick trees that towered over them blocked out most of the sunlight, with what little illumination having to come through several layers of leaves, casting the area in a greenish hue.
"Of course this is the right way!"
Yang shouted from the front of the group.
"Like seventy percent sure."
Blake rolled her eyes as her two teammate continued to go back and forth. Turning behind she realized Ruby had failed to speak even a word since leaving Beacon. Slowing down to walk beside the downcast scythe-wielder, The Faunus gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, you alright?"
Ruby let out a small yelp and with a small shake of her head, looked up to Blake.
"I-I-um yeah, yeah I'm ok."
Blake looked on in concern. No doubt she was still whirling from the attack at the Academy, all of them were but Ruby seemed a lot more affected by it. Blake didn't blame her, she was only fifteen. Even in a place full of things that wanted nothing more than to end their lives, nobody was prepared for what they saw. As they continued trekking aimlessly through the Forest the frustration of the group increased.
"Alright. We may have taken a wrong turn a few minutes back….."
Yang said as she placed her index on her chin and began pacing forward slowly, her head swivelling around. Weiss threw her palm up to her forehead with a loud smack and a frustrated groan. Ruby and Blake quickly brought up the rear. Scratching her head the blonde walked forward.
"It should be in this directi-."
Yang suddenly disappeared from sight. Instinctively, the rest of the team leapt forward, Ruby, who threw herself further found herself diving off a side of a cliff, her sister a few inches below her. Time slowed down as the scythe wielder reached down and grabbed on to Yang's wrist, they both fell for a couple milliseconds before they were jerked to a halt, dangling upside down from a dizzying fall. Ruby looked up to see Weiss, chest on the edge of the cliff, a vice grip on one of her boots.
"I don't think it's this way."
Blake pointed out as Weiss and herself pulled their teammates up. After getting everyone back on solid ground they all quickly noticed something off in the distance, a large, billowing cloud of black smoke could be seen some distance away from their position.
"It could be a smoke signal, probably from people that were able to escape Beacon."
Yang optimistically stated, pointing at the thick smoke ahead. After finding a far less treacherous route down the cliff they found themselves in even denser forest, their sights set on reaching the source of the smoke. Vines had completely overtaken the forest floor, noises from various animals echoed through the area. The whole group panted breathlessly as they continued to plough through the wall of shrubs and vines, their legs and lungs burned as they continued. With sweat dripping from their brows they decided to catch their breath on a fallen tree.
"We-can't-be-far-now…"
Ruby said between pants. As they rested, there was rustling in the bushes nearby, they exchanged nervous glances, they knew it could have simply been an animal but considering what has been happened, none of them wanted to take any chances. They hunkered down and stealthily made their way to the source of the disturbance. Inching ahead they spot a silhouette in front of them, it looked like a person. Ruby clicked a round into Crescent Rose before taking aim at the figure, her finger already wrapped around the trigger
"Wait what are doing? Could be one of us."
Weiss scolded as she pushed her younger teammate's weapon down.
"I don't know…."
Ruby expressed her scepticism as the group continued to silently observe the figure. Going slightly closer, it could be seen that the figure was holding on to a blade of some sort.
"Look he's holding a sword, he has to be one of us."
Yang reasoned as she stood up and began walking towards the figure.
"No wait!"
The rest of her group hissed as Yang went right up behind the person.
"Hey! Hey! You need our help?!"
The blonde called out, waving at the figure to get their attention. In a sudden movement the figure turned around and swung the blade downwards, stabbing into the ground centimetres from the startled blonde. With a growl the corpse slowly advanced upon the blonde, swinging the sword in its hands wildly. Yang quickly clicked Ember Celica into placed and readied them to fire.
'Click'
Yang cursed angrily as the fumbled about to unjam her weapon, the undead still moving up on her. Yang paced back a few more steps, she felt her shoe catch against a vine and she fell to the ground. The glowing red eyes of the walking corpse stared down menacingly at the petrified Blonde. It raised its blade into the air, preparing to strike. Yang shut her eyes.
'Slash'
Yang expected to feel pain, her vital signs fading out of existence. None of that happened. She opened her eyes. She looked up at the dead before her. The crimson light in its eyes flickered out and left two blackened, empty holes where the eyes would have been. Gargling, the entire upper portion of its body fell backwards and hit the ground with a thud before its legs fell to its knees before going limp as blood poured from the perfect slice made straight through its body.
"Just how many times are you going to try to get yourself killed today?"
Weiss spoke as she sheathed Myrtenaster before helping up Yang.
"I don't understand. How did it know how to wield a sword?"
Ruby asked as she observed the recently dispatched undead, its blood staining the grass around it.
"Whoever this person was, must have gotten bit and died holding on to his blade. Whatever it is, it knows the last thing their victims were doing and makes use of them."
Blake tried to give the most realistic answer as she tried to pry the blade from the corpse's cold, stiff hands.
"But how would one they be able to reach this deep into the forest, these things aren't exactly the most the agile creatures in the world."
Yang asked, having dust herself off after getting back up. Ruby pointed towards the direction of the smoke cloud.
"He must have been with the group at the smoke signal, he knew he was bitten and tried to get as far away from the rest as quickly as possible, so he would kill anyone else there."
Ruby stated coldly. Blake eventually was able to dislodge the sword from the deceased hand and planted the blade into the dirt between the owner's two separated sections as a form of honour and respect and they continued moving.
The group could tell they were getting closer to the source of the smoke as the choking smell of smoke got stronger.
"This doesn't feel right, there is way too much smoke."
Ruby spoke up in concern as they moved.
"Well, it makes sense, the more the amount of smoke, the more likely someone is going to notice it and go rescue them."
Yang pointed out, Ruby agreed to what Yang said and remained quite as she let out a small cough. After a while it was clear the source of the smoke signal right ahead of them as the crackling of the flames could be heard.
"Wait, wait, wait. Something definitely isn't right about this."
Weiss said suddenly.
"Aw c'mon Weiss not you too. Look, the place in pretty much right in front of us, we'll just go there and meet the other survivors and get-."
Yang was abruptly cut off by Weiss.
"No, wait. Can't you smell it? It isn't wood that's burning, its fuel."
The rest of the group paused to look at the heiress before they all sprinted to the smoke. Finally they found themselves in a clearing and at the end of the clearing lay a large burning wreck, a wreck of an airship. It had split in two, and burst into flames after crashing, destroying the forestation in the area as it did. The wreckage was turned sideways, splitting in its middle with the bow and stern sections entirely apart.
"This isn't a signal fire."
Yang uttered as she stared at the devastation.
"It's a crash sight."
Blake pointed to the other end of the clearing.
"The ship must've crashed coming from that direction, from Beacon. All it took was one of them to turn…."
The group walked towards the crash site, hoping to find survivors the air was filled with the choking smell of fuel and burnt flesh. As they walked between the two halves of the ship, they say what was left of the ones that didn't make it, partially burnt and dismembered bodies lay tangled in the mess of twisted metal.
"You think anyone got out?"
Yang asked grimly.
"There has to be."
Ruby tried to assure her sister, rather unconvincingly. As they continued to examine the wreckage, a loud snarl came from behind a piece of debris, halting, the team hastily drew their blades, poised to strike. The source of the outburst soon crawled into view, a legless undead, clawing its way to the team, its bloodied jaws snapping violently at the air, it's skin had appeared to been burnt off, leaving portions of exposed, charred flesh. Several, more mobile zombies stumbled towards them, their charcoaled skin hanging loosely off their bodies.
"Well, what do we do now?"
Weiss questioned, checking that the cylinders of Myrtenaster were loaded.
"We put them out of their misery."
Blake answered as she opened fire on the corpses. Everyone else quickly followed. In a short burst of fire that rang through the forest. The undead tumbled to the floor, twitching as the last signs of movement drained from them. Ruby spoke up.
"We should probably keep moving no way none of them heard that."
And as if on cue, a loud roar resonated around them, followed by rustling of leaves that came from every direction.
"Run!"
Blake shouted as the group bolted into the woods, brushing aside branches and leaves as they did. The growls only seemed to get louder as they ran, closing in on them. The group had become near non-traversable, the group become slippery and uneven, trees more resembled walls than columns. However the group did not slow down, dropping their heads they went into a full tilt sprint their feet occasional slipping out from under them.
After what seemed like an eternity, the aggressive roars had finally subsided. The girls all heaved as they came to a stop.
"Everybody okay?"
Yang asked. There was no response. Looking up she scanned around frantically for her teammates.
"G-Girls!?"
Yang called out for them, nothing.
"Blake!? Weiss!? R-Ruby!?"
No one replied. Yang was alone. Lost.
A.N: So I am keeping the at least one chapter a fortnight. Sorry about this chapter being short, I'll try to buff up the subsequent chapters. Thanks for the reviews and continue doing so :D
