Chapter 14

Blake groaned and waited for the world to stop spinning. Something hard was pressing into her rib, adding to the dull pain that throbbed throughout her body. She hissed and slowly opened her eyes.

A pair of blue eyes stared back at her. They belonged to a girl from Fort Beacon, Sara. She was the teenage daughter of Dr. Jameson, an affluent single mother whose husband (also a doctor) had passed on. Sara was a lovely, intelligent girl who was supposed to be starting at an ivy league school on the other side of the country that fall. The zombie apocalypse stole that future from her.

While Blake was avoiding Yang, she had tried talking to a few of the other kids her age. She spent an evening talking to the girl and then began to avoid her. Sara was a very loved young girl. Her mother was provided for her, sent her to a good private school, and supported her dream of getting a PHD in literature. It forced Blake to think about her life on the streets and in an Eco-terrorist organization.

Sara had a good upbringing and a bright future. She was the captain of her soccer team, head editor at her school's newspaper, and a valedictorian.

Now she was dead.

Blake peeled herself from the wall of the truck, which had rolled onto its side. Sara was sprawled near the back, one hand hanging past the canvas cover that flapped in the wind, letting in a little moonlight. The air stank of blood, one of the few smells strong enough to drown out the decay of the zombies.

Bodies were everywhere, and all was still and silent. The wind died and the truck grew dark. Blake thought it was relieving to be blind to the horrors around her. But Blake, unable to restrain her need to help others, began to grope around. Thick, still warm blood coated her hands. She grabbed for necks and wrists, hoping to feel a beating heart.

The canvas billowed up and revealed Pyrrha on the other side of the truck, with Jaune's head resting on her lap.

Blake's voice was weak but pierced the silence. "Is he alive?"

Pyrrha nodded as the cover fell again. Sobs began to sound through the fresh darkness. "He's unconscious."

Blake finally found a pulse. She followed up a muscled arm and a breeze cast enough light to see that it belonged to Sun. He was out cold, bruised, and battered. Despite the dark, she glanced in Pyrrha's directions.

Another breeze brought more light into the truck. Blake saw, for the first time, the metal bracing impaled in Pyrrha's side. It was already wrapped and stabilized by bandages.

Pyrrha asked, "What happened?"

It had happened so fast and Blake was still a little disoriented, so she didn't know. They were just chugging along down the dirt road, when the truck had suddenly jerked to the side and they began to roll. She took a deep breath and tried to focus her mind. They had done a familiar fishtail.

"I think we swerved out of the way of something," Blake answered. She had avoided animals on the road a few times before, but never rolled from it.

A throaty roar boomed from outside.

With a groan, Pyrrha gently laid down Jaune's head and tried to head out of the truck. There was a determined look on her face, but she only made it a few steps before she collapsed to the ground. "Help me up," she said. Each heaving breath she took released a whistle.

Blake worried that Pyrrha might have a punctured lung. She shook her head. "You're too hurt," she said.

Whatever was outside began to beat a steady rhythm on the underside of the truck.

"I'll be fine. I can take care of it. Help me up."

Blake pushed herself from the ground and pulled the little knife from her boot. She struggled to her feet, every bone in her body crying out against the abuse. It was obvious to both of them that the knife wouldn't do anything to whatever made the noise outside. At this point, everyone knew the pounding noise of a human zombie, and whatever was outside wasn't a former human.

"Wait, take this." Pyrrha rolled on the ground and grasped at her belt. She thrust out a blood covered grenade.

Blake took it stepped out of the darkness and into the moonlit night.

Her heartbeat pounded in her ears and the unknown monster outside beat on the truck. The cool night air prickled at the back of her neck, chilling the sweat on her pale skin. She pressed her back to the truck and peered around the corner.

The silver light caught its jutting ribs and gave it the illusion of a black and white pattern like a zebra. But this was no herbivore. It was a bear, gaunt with starvation. Not a zombie– a real, living bear. Hundreds of pounds of bear railed against the undercarriage of the truck. Blake was just in time to see the axle begin to crack.

The cold sweat on Blake's neck picked up the shift in the wind that carried her scent in the bear's direction. It raised its nose to the air then turned to her.

Its eyes glowed yellow with reflected moonlight. The hunger and desperation was clear. She could see it. She could hear it. She could smell it. Blake was on the menu. So were all of her friends.

She was the only one who could save Pyrrha, Jaune, and Sun. Ruby wasn't there. Weiss wasn't there. Yang wasn't there. It was just her and a bear.

Her body froze stiff as it continued to watch her. The hunger turned to ferocity as it let out a roar that echoed in the still night. Blake's muscles were tense and painful. Her legs trembled and shivered, aching from the constant strain.

As the roar died out, her ears rang in the silence.

Blake loved animals. It wasn't imprinted on her during her stay with White Fang; she really loved them and always had. It was the one thing she claimed to herself. It was who she was– her identity.

'Me or him,' she thought.

The bear's first step was hesitant. It knew that it was weak in its hunger. Full size, he would have been a glorious creature. A true king of the forest had been turned into a beggar by the tainted flesh his brothers fed on. But he was smart. He knew better than to eat the plagued meat. This bear was a survivor. It growled.

Blake tried to make herself look bigger, but when she stretched a shooting pain ripped through her side. The bear sized her up and deemed her easy prey.

The next step was less hesitant.

Blake tightened one hand around her knife and the other around the grenade. It was obvious the tiny knife wasn't going to penetrate through the famished flesh. Her eyes still on the bear, she toyed the pin with her thumb. It fell to the ground with a soft clink.

The bear roared again and she lobbed the grenade underhand at its mouth. She wasn't very religious, but she couldn't help but pray.

It shut its jaw around the grenade, and she started to believe there was a God.

It picked up speed. Blake limped back, only making it a few steps before she stumbled and fell. She watched from the ground as it grew closer. It was going to die. Was she?

It was going to die. What she had done began to set in. There was no taking it back. For the first time in her life, a living creature was about to die by her hand.

'Maybe I deserve to be mauled,' she thought as the bear charged.

Then its head exploded. The boom echoed out into the night and a chorus of low, ghoulish growls and cries erupted. Over the ringing in her ears, Blake heard the forest come alive with the sound of uncoordinated movement in the brush.

Weiss stared blankly as Yang charged into the truck. She wrapped her arms around Ruby and squeezed tight. Ruby cried and wailed. Nora was curled up in a ball on the ground. Weiss would have said something to the girl, but Ruby was more important.

That was how Weiss was approaching everything. Ruby first. Lots of their people died? At least Ruby was alive. That was the only thing that mattered.

Weiss squeezed Ruby tighter and glanced down at Nora. Normally, Weiss thought the only way to describe her was big. She had a big personality and big energy. If she was anywhere nearby, everyone knew it. Curled on the ground and shivering and crying, Nora looked tiny. Weiss was surprised how thin the girl's legs and arms were.

She let her heart numb and focused on Ruby's warmth.

Her eyes wandered to the ground, where something had spattered blood and viscera everywhere. She followed the trails until she found a headless bear. Judging by the scratches and damage, it had been attacking the bottom of the truck.

Weiss planted a kiss to Ruby's temple and pulled away. She stepped towards it and pulled a penlight out of her bag. There were bootprints in the mud. "Ruby, someone got away," she said.

Nora and Ruby both started to calm.

"They aren't in the truck," Yang said as she stepped out. Her face was twisted, neutral in the sense that some parts were depressed and others were relieved. Many people they knew had died, but not their close friends.

"Check these out Ruby." Weiss put her light on the trail of footprints in the mud.

Ruby nodded and cleared her eyes. Weiss crouched beside Ruby, who began to examine the trail.

"Two people went this direction, with something heavy on their back, maybe other survivors; one is Blake, not sure on the other– and they're both bleeding."

Weiss darted over to the motorcycle. She started slowly and Ruby slung herself behind Weiss as it passed. Ruby's fingers gripped hard at Weiss's shoulders.

They shot down the road and kept the headlight focused on the trail. It was hard to tell in the darkness, but something had began to follow Blake.

Weiss cut the bike to the side. They stopped just before a field of bodies. At least twenty zombies lay scattered in the mud. In the darkness, they could see the outline of the last standing shadow. Its eyes glowed like a pair of fireflies in the dark.

"Hello?" Weiss called.

The figure took an uneven step, and then another. Weiss got off and held Ruby back while she drew Myrtenaster. She could tell by the outline that it was Blake. But she was growling and shambling. She– it– had already turned. She didn't want Ruby to have to free her and she knew that she had to finish this before Yang and Nora arrived.

Weiss stepped closer, took a deep breath, and shut her eyes. "Blake? I'm sorry. You were one part gross hippie, one part vegan activist, and one part social justice idiot– and you were the best friend I've ever had. Rich girls, the only people I knew before, made terrible friends. You're so smart and cultured and real. I wish we had more time together. I'm sorry I couldn't save you."

This hurt more than the others. If asked, Weiss would say that Ruby was the only one she cared about– but that would be a lie. She took a deep breath and tried to let her heart grow more numb.

Weiss raised her blade but struggled to thrust it forward.

Blake reached and grabbed it, and gently moved it aside. Then she stepped and wrapped her arms around Weiss. "I'm so glad you're here," Blake said weakly.

"You– you're alive." Weiss felt her eyes water, and she wrapped her arms around the trembling girl and felt the warmth. "You're alive. I almost stabbed you!" Weiss hissed out a long breath, then let her shoulders relax. "Was this all you?"

Ruby had began to shine her flashlight around. Each zombie had a perfect incision in its temple and a single warthog laid in the mud. Then the light settled on Pyrrha, who had collapsed on the ground with Jaune on her back. Sun was laid beside them.

"I had to," Blake said between sobs. "I was alone. I had to."

Weiss looked her up and down. "Well look who earned her woman card," she said, gripping Blake tighter.

Yang was so tired that it felt like she wasn't quite in her body. The world was weirdly clear and there was a dull soreness in the back of her eyes. Even though she had the opportunity to nap, a niggling sense of wrongness kept her from resting.

The sunrise glared harshly off the rippling water of the marina. Rows and rows of white boats and yachts spotted the blue waters. The zombie apocalypse had silenced the gulls. The escape plan was the formation of a flotilla on the water. It was safer from zombies, but not as sustainable in the long run. It was also close enough to the city proper to hear the undead choirs.

Yang tugged out her sunglasses and tossed them on. She slowly drew air in. It smelled of crisp brine and rotten fish. She'd been out to the beach a few times and it was never this horrible. Fort Beacon had smelled much better.

A mist cooled her face, sprayed up as their boat sluiced through the water. She knew the salt was going to be murder on her hair. She tamped her anger and repeated a mantra to herself. Safety over hair. Safety over good hair. But she did love her hair.

She glanced over to where Blake and Ruby were curled up together and suddenly she didn't mind a few split ends. Blake deserved a chance to sleep after her night. It was thanks to her that Pyrrha, Jaune and Sun had lived.

Yang released her breath slowly. Something tickled at the bottom of her stomach. She knew it was her intuition, and she always trusted it. But the damned thing wasn't being specific. Something was very, very wrong and she couldn't figure out what it was.

"What's the matter?" Weiss asked.

Yang had been sitting on one of the small benches that lined the deck of the boat and Weiss heaved herself onto it Weiss let her hair loose in the wind and began to rub at her neck. For the briefest of moments Yang understood why Ruby liked the girl. But she'd never tell a soul that.

"I don't know. Something's not right."

Nora and Jaune were talking on the other side of the boat, both obviously worried about Pyrrha and Sun, who both still lay unconscious.

"Hey. Saw some orange jumpsuits in the assault last night. Why exactly aren't we telling Ruby about the prison?" She waited patiently, but Yang didn't answer. "I deserve to know why I'm withholding information from my girlfriend," Weiss said. "I don't like hiding things from her. "

Yang nodded. "The guy in charge, Roman Torchwick– he– well, actually, that's a bad place to start. Ruby's mother was a cop. SWAT, actually. She…" Yang took a deep breath, "… she caught a bullet during one of Torchwick's heists. If Ruby knew that he was free now, she'd have charged right in there and tried to kill them all."

"Would have saved us some trouble," Weiss said.

Yang glared at her.

"I want Ruby to be safe just as much as you, but this is something she deserves to know. I'm telling her when she wakes up." Weiss started tapping her foot. "White Fang killed my mother. I'd want to know if they were around."

"I've seen what you do to White Fang," Yang said. "I don't want that for Ruby."

"She deserves to make that decision herself. Besides, she isn't like me. You know she wouldn't be as– cold– about it. Ruby is sweet and kind but she deserves justice."

"You mean vengeance."

"I guess I do." Weiss crossed her arms and the conversation was over.

Yang glanced around the boat, eager to look away from her sister's girlfriend. Nora was crying in Jaune's arms. Yang bit her lip, remembering what Ren had done. He was a truly noble person.

Her eyes drifted to Neptune. He was sweating and sunburned, which struck her as odd considering the sun was just rising after a cold, wet night. Yang sighed and the feeling continued to tingle in the pit of her stomach.

Then it hit her, and she knew what her stomach had been telling her. "Oh shit. I think Neptune is bitten," she said. She recognized the symptoms.

The look on Weiss's face made her wish she actually thought before she spoke. Weiss didn't even ask for an explanation. She stood calmly, drew her rapier, and marched over.

"Neptune," she called out.

Yang shot out and grabbed Weiss, lifting her clear off the ground. "How about a little delicacy?"

"You? Delicate?"

"Oh shut up."

Neptune, still steering the boat, asked, "What is it, Snow Angel?"

"Neptune, did you get bitten?" Weiss asked back.

The boy froze, then turned from the wheel. "W-What? Of course not."

"Oh you definitely did. Yang, put me down this instant, I need to deal with this."

"Promise not to kill him right away. We should at least talk things through first," Yang said. The world had grown so twisted that she had to be the calm and collected one.

Weiss took a few seconds to think, then nodded. Yang set her back on the deck.

The boat slowed, and Neptune came out from around the wheel. He had his hand clenched around a grenade, and the pin was already pulled. "If I die, this goes off and the ship sinks."

"Bet you wished I just stabbed him now."

"Yup, a little bit," Yang said, lifting her hands. "Let's all just calm down and not do anything hasty. So Neptune, what's the plan here? I guess you want to go out with a boom?"

Neptune opened his mouth, but Weiss cut him off.

"Oh shut up you," she said towards Yang. Then she turned back to Neptune. "Is this really happening? In real life?" she asked. "This is unacceptable. Hiding a bite never works for anyone, ever. You're going to turn into a zombie, you narcissist douche. You're bit, you die. Now let me stab you in the head."

"No way! No I'm– I don't know, but– I can't die. I'm too important–,"

His words were ended by a loud crack. He dropped to the ground and Weiss sprung forward. She got her hands around the grenade and prayed that his grip hadn't loosened. Neptune's fingers went limp, and Weiss carefully freed the grenade before throwing it as hard as she could over the side of the boat (which wasn't particularly far, as far as Yang was concerned).

The grenade exploded and rocked the boat. Nora, who had cracked at his words, brought her sledgehammer down again. She kept smashing it against Neptune until Yang got behind her and pulled her away. Nora's whole body went limp and her hammer fell to the ground and she began to cry and cry and cry.

Ruby walked up beside Weiss. "What happened?" she asked.

"Neptune was bitten."

Ruby's lips thinned and her face began to redden. She stepped beside Neptune, then began to kick at his ribs. "You crappy zombie cliche, are you serious? You selfish, inconsiderate, monster!"

It took Blake and Weiss working together to pull Ruby away. Weiss looked to Yang for some explanation.

"She really hates when people get bitten and don't say anything in movies. As in, she gets actually physically mad at characters who do it. She's broken a portable DVD player because of it," Yang said as she gave Nora a reassuring hug.

"He could have gotten us all killed," Ruby said, "he could have sank the ship!"

Blake and Weiss let go of Ruby, who gave Neptune's body another kick. Yang let go of Nora and then lifted the body by the collar. She unceremoniously tossed it overboard. A silence fell over the boat. Weiss groaned and rubbed at her tired eyes, then walked to the helm and started steering the boat.

"You know how to drive a boat?" Blake asked.

"You don't drive a boat– and did you really think I don't own yachts? Yeah, plural. I own yachts."

Yang sighed and sat down on a bench finally letting her shoulders slump. A few hours ago she was sleep deprived, now she felt like she hadn't slept her entire life.

Blake sat beside her and curled against her side. "Finally, a chance to rest," she said quietly.

"Yeah, it's a boat time," Yang said, earning a light sock in the arm. Yang snuggled against Blake, closed her eyes, and let sleep overcome her.