Chapter 14
Dancing at the Dawn of the Apocalypse
"Inmates all know the story of the slaves locked below deck and devoured by rats. But they also know the true horror lasted 250 years. It continues today, everywhere." RT
In the radio building Luther heard the response he been waiting for, for what felt like an eternity. When he answered the responders told him that help was on the way, but they would need the lighthouse to be working so they could see where they were going. Before he could respond however he heard something approaching the building and went into hiding and then he began to pray that he wouldn't be found by the thing approaching the building.
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Back at Beacon, James entered Ozpin's office to inform him of the news, "Ozpin we just received a transmission from Carnate!" Ozpin jumped at the news and responded, "So rescuers have been deployed?" He asked. "Yes", James responded but continued, "but now we've encountered another problem. Apparently, the lighthouse on the island is out and no one seems to be able to turn it back on." Ozpin let out a small groan of frustration and began to speak, "Then let us hope that team RWBY are able to get it working again." He then sat back in his chair and went into a deep thought, just as James was leaving his office.
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Meanwhile back on the island the group continue to move forward when they heard the sound of electricity cracking, they then began to track the source of the sound when they did, they found that it was Horace. He then began to speak to them but mostly to Torque. "Come back⦠inside. Don't fight it. You're better than this place, but you've got no choice, I'm- I'm counting on you." Then there was a bright flash of light that blinded the group for a second and when the light subsided Horace was gone. The group then moved on and as they moved, they saw the old man again as he shouted, "Fire in the hole!" And then threw a Molotov at a group of Slayer's.
The Slayer's then took notice of the group began to attack, the old man also noticed this and spoke to the group, "Watch it you fools or I'll nearly set you ablaze! Quick, come into my bunker. Over this way, hurry!" He said. As the group made their way toward him, they realized he was an inmate as they took care of the Slayer's while at the same time, Torque heard the evil voice along with his wife, yet again he ignore the evil voice and listen to his wife. When the Slayer's were gone the old man began to speak to them. "It's good to see other people still among the living. Name is Clem, folks. What are yours?" The group then introduced each other the work done Clem began to speak again. "It's good to meet all of you, I've been planning my escape from Abbott for years, and I had hope to carry out my exodus tomorrow. But these recent events have ruined everything. Here, I'll show you."
Clem then began to lead the group to some old wooden docks on the beach. And as he did Ruby spoke up, "Hey Clem I found your notebook when all this started, and I gotta say it's really come in handy." He then turned towards Ruby and said, "You're welcome very much, in fact before this all started I had been seeing these creatures for some time, I didn't know it was my imagination or if they were real, but now I see how these things are definitely real." When they reach the docks, they saw a Mainliner crawling around the sand, then a Slayer appeared and jumped from where it was and landed on the Mainliners back with its bladed legs, the creature then stepped off and stabbed the Mainliner and lifted it off the ground with its bladed arm. It then began to poke at it with its other bladed arm, but then a new creature appeared. The new creature came out of the water, it was fat and bloated and the color of its skin was gray and decayed.
The creature held a ball and chain in its right hand, the Slayer then took notice of the bigger creature and let out a hiss. The creature then slam its ball and chain on the Slayer crushing it. The group were shocked by what they saw as Clem spoke to them. "Look there, do you see! Coming out of the waves, I swear it is most hideous thing I ever laid my eyes upon!" The creature took notice of the group and began to slowly walk towards them Ruby and Blake immediately opened fired on the creature, only to discover that the rounds immediately bounced off, as if nothing had happened.
Weiss then created a glyph and froze the creature in place with ice, the creature however broke free and continue its way towards them. Yang then fired off her shotgun gauntlets at the creature the regular rounds didn't do anything, so she fired off her explosive rounds. The rounds struck the creature head on and it staggered a few steps back. Clem then threw a Molotov at the creature setting it on fire. Yang then fired off more of her explosive rounds at the creature and after a few more rounds the creature finally fell to the ground dead. But then its stomach burst open and rats sprung out and made their way towards the group. Torque immediately opened fire on the rats and upon each round that hit the rats they exploded. Once they were gone, Clem began to speak.
"These festering creatures flaunt science with their every step. And as you can just saw, most normal attacks won't harm these creatures, only explosive and fire can and if you are truly brave a bladed weapon such as a sword or fire axe. Now Ruby I think it's about time you read that entry for that creature." Ruby then took out his notebook, found the entry and began to read it.
Fester
Continually emerging from the slave ship, these are the festering creatures who foil my attempts to escape this confounded rock. Rats live within their flesh, writhing within it and then springing forth randomly. They appear to be a reincarnation, not of the slaves- for then, they would have the traits of various Faunus species - but instead of the slave traders. In this form, they are forced to live out again and again the fate they forced upon those hapless slaves.
"That's horrible, even if they were slave traders, they don't deserve that fate." Blake said. "Indeed, but it is the eternal punishment they must pay for what they've done." Clem said, then continued, "Now then, we must keep going." The group then continue to move forward, only to encounter three more Fester's. Now knowing what attacks would work and ones that wouldn't the group got ready for another fight. Yang opened fired with her shotgun gauntlets firing off explosive rounds at the creatures. Each round struck the creature's various parts of their bodies, soon Weiss added to the barrage. Switching her dust crystal in the cylinder of her weapon red Weiss began fire off flaming projectiles. The projectiles hit a Fester in its bloated stomach and immediately set it ablaze. The creature then opened its bloated stomach to release a swarm of exploding rats, however before the rats could leave, they immediately exploded when they were exposed to the flame. The detonation of the exploding rats added more damage to the Fester and soon it fell to the ground dead.
Just as the Fester Weiss had killed, the Fester Yang was fighting fell to the ground and whereupon it's death, its stomach opened up releasing a swarm of rats. Before the rats could reach Yang, Torque opened fired with his Tommy gun on the deadly little rodents. As each round hit the rats a good cluster of them exploded, taking out more of them. Ruby and Blake charged at the third Fester, Ruby swung her scythe to the right as Blake swung her sword to the left, their combined attacks going across in opposite directions on the creatures' stomach. And with that combined attack the Festers' stomach was sliced open and the exploding rats emerged. Only for Clem to throw a Molotov on the rats which immediately caused them to explode.
When the Fester's were gone, Clem began to speak. "These creatures seem to have some connection to an 18th century slave ship, wreck down the beach. This way!" He then began to lead the group to the slave ship. As they followed him, he spoke to them. "Quickly, those creatures might return without warning!" Soon he came to a stop and pointed to the wreck slave ship and began to speak. "There she is. To my understanding, few were killed in the crash itself, though the traders did not free there still living cargo. Instead they left them shackled in the ship's hull, where slowly the Faunus were consumed by rats." He said with a hint of anger in his voice. He then noticed that some Fester's were approaching them and shouted, "Damnation, the Festers are coming."
The group also took notice of this as well and got ready for another fight. Weiss began firing off flaming projectiles on the first Fester she saw, the projectiles hit the creature dead on and set it on fire. While still on fire Weiss charged at the flaming Fester and began cutting it open with her weapon to add more damage to the creature. However, while she attacked the Fester, she failed to realize that a Burrower was coming right behind her, it then popped out of the ground and swung its chains at her just as she finished off the Fester. Weiss then took a quick glance behind her and saw the chains coming at her, but before they could make contact with her, the Burrower was blown to the ground by a shotgun blast from Torque. Weiss then froze the creature to the ground and finished it off by shattering it to pieces.
Clem threw some Molotov's at a Fester lighting it on fire. Yang added more to the damage by firing off explosive rounds from her shotgun gauntlets. Soon the Fester fell to the ground dead and the rats inside its body exploded. Ruby began attacking a Fester by slashing at its stomach with her scythe, after a few slashes the creature fell to the ground but released a small swarm of exploding rats. However, Ruby quickly dealt with them by shooting them which caused them to explode. Blake did the same thing with her own Fester that she was dealing with.
But suddenly, a Burrower popped out of the ground to her left and swung its chains at her. When the chains struck her, she disappeared, it was then that the Burrower realized that it had struck a shadow clone. That was when Blake came from behind and severed the creature's head off. The Burrowers body twitched for a few seconds then fell to the ground dead. She then finished off the Fester she was dealing with. Torque took out his fire axe and began hacking at a Fester. Each swing from the axe cost the Fester to stagger a bit, the creature tried to raise its ball and chain to crush Torque, but dropped it when Torque did enough damage to the creature. The creature then fell on its back dead but its stomach opened and the rats sprang it out. Only to be destroyed when Ruby opened fired on them.
But then a Fester appeared behind her and swung its ball and chain up in the air and slammed it back down. The force of the slam was powerful enough to knock Ruby off her feet, but she quickly recovered as Yang attacked the creature with explosive rounds. There explosive rounds make quick work out of the Fester and soon it fell to the ground dead. When the area was cleared, Clem began to speak. "If it weren't for these water-logged abominations, I'd be able to set my raft a-sail. It's a tiny vessel, too small and un-seaworthy to accommodate more than a single passenger, I'll show you." He then led the group to the raft he was talking about. When he showed them his raft he began to speak, "My raft's not much, but I hope it will be enough. But watch yourselves, it will ignite if temper with." Ruby then began to speak, "Hey Clem, quick question how did you escape from Abbott?" She asked. Clem then responded by saying, "Will, I clambered out of that large sewer pipe to escape, now I wonder if we wouldn't be safer going back inside." He answered then continued, "But I will not give up on my plan." He then saw more Fester's began to emerge from the water and said, "Study, there back again."
They then saw some Fester's beginning to emerge from the water and got ready for another fight. Yang began to fire off explosive rounds at the first Fester she saw, each round she fired hit the Fester dead on, while Clem threw a Molotov at the creature lighting it on fire. The creature then fell to the ground dead and its stomach burst open to release a swarm of exploding rats, but they would quickly Dealt with, by some well-placed shots from Ruby. Blake began to attack another Fester by hacking and slashing at its stomach, however the Fester backhanded her with its left-hand sending her to the ground. It then raised its ball and chain into the air and was about to slam Blake with it, only for it to be lit on fire by Weiss. Blake quickly got back up and resumed her attack on the creature. After a few more slashes on the Fester the creature fell to the ground dead, but before it could release it swarm of rats, Weiss lit it on fire again causing the rats to explode.
Torque began to attack a third Fester with his fire axe, hacking and slashing the creature with relentless attacks. But then the creature backhanded him across his face sending him to the ground, the Fester would've continued its attack on him if Yang hadn't jumped in, unloading explosive shells onto the creature, each round hitting the creature on target causing the creature stumble back. This gave Torque a chance to get back up and to finish off the Fester with a few more strikes from his axe. The creature then fell to the ground and like the rest of its kind its stomach burst open releasing exploding rats, only for them to be destroyed when Clem threw a Molotov destroying them. Ruby charged at the fourth Fester in front of her swinging her scythe in a large arc. The blade of her weapon cut deep into the Festers rotting flesh, the creature stumbled a few steps back, only to be attacked from behind by Torque with his fire Axe. Ruby then swung her weapon downward at the Fester, cutting deep into the creatures' flesh. Weiss then lit on fire finishing it off, as the rats exploded inside it.
The fifth and final Fester began to approach the group, only to be quickly dealt with by well-aimed Molotov's thrown by Clem. When the Festers' were gone, he began to speak. "I do believe those creatures are coming from inside the wreck. If all you could get in there, you might be able to destroy them. Then I'll be able to launch. You will assist me in this matter, I will make it worth your while. They pour out of the ship thanks so much refuse. You must find a way to stem that flow." Ruby then responded by saying, "Promise us you'll send help when you get to the mainland and you got yourself a deal."
"Done." Responded Clem.
The group then went inside the ship wreck and as they went deeper, they were hit with another vision. "Leave 'en in tha hold, the rats'll finish 'em." Someone said, as the vision quickly ended. They then climbed up to the top and when they were Weiss created a glyph on the floor and immediately the ship wreck was lit on fire. They then jumped off from the wreck and back onto the ground and as soon as they got up, they saw that Clem had already set sail and as he did, he shouted at them. "My eternal thanks to you good people! I've left you a valuable map up near the store entrance. Good luck! Don't let the bastards keep you down!" And then he was gone.
The group then went to the sewer entrance and true to his word they found the map he told them about. They study the map for a while and realized that it led them back inside the prison, with no other way to go the group went back inside the prison. And it would be there that they would face Horace.
