Morning arrived too early…or Yang went to sleep too late. Either way, she woke up with the sun shining right into her eyes. "Goddammit, Weiss..." she muttered while rolling over and pulling the covers over her head. She knew there was a reason why Weiss insisted she take this room. It sounded like such an innocent suggestion at the time, but Weiss was anything but innocent.
Well, it only took several months for the sun's position to move into just the right spot to blind Yang awake. Weiss probably had a good laugh about this one, but Yang refused to let the rich girl win this game of wits. Sure, maybe Weiss knew how to chart the sun's path and determine which room would be most affected by the blinding light eventually, but Yang had...she had...she was witty too!
"Ugh."
Giving up on sleep, she threw off the covers and gave her eyes a second to adjust before hopping out of bed. Voices drifted from downstairs, informing her that she was the last one to wake up again. Not that she minded being last. Being last meant she made the best entrance.
"Ok," she muttered while opening a drawer and picking the first coordinated outfit her eyes landed upon. "Time to gear up."
Rain or shine, they spent every morning ensuring they were stocked and prepared for whatever the day threw at them. Favorite weapons, extra ammo, special tools - basically, a whole lot of crap to stick into pockets each morning only to remove at night. Gearing up was a bit of a pain, actually, but a necessary one.
Once she hid an impressive number of shotgun shells in her clothes (some in places she'd rather other people didn't find), she slung the embattled weapon over her shoulder and headed into the hall. One glance at the other open doors confirmed she was the last one up, so she jogged downstairs and found her three companions sitting around the kitchen table.
"Morning!" After grabbing a breakfast bar from a tray filled with them, she sat beside Blake and smiled when the girl turned towards her.
"Good morning," Blake greeted her with one of those fleeting smiles that still made her heart flutter. "How'd you sleep?"
The question was a little ironic coming from the girl who starred in Yang's dreams. What they couldn't accomplish during the day, due to circumstances utterly beyond Yang's control, they accomplished at night when her imagination ran wild. "Pretty good," was the PG response, combined with a small smile. "You?"
"Same." Without explanation, Blake took the granola bar from Yang's hand and easily unwrapped it. "Felt like I was missing something though," she added before nonchalantly taking a bite and just as nonchalantly returning it.
"Uh…"
Every fiber in Yang's being wanted to ask if it was her that Blake missed, but her mind was too preoccupied by the granola bar right now. Blake just took a bite of it. Her lips were right there. Her teeth too, which was...yeah, Yang was on board with either of those.
"Are you done eating?"
Sensing a hand reaching across the table, Yang jerked away just in time to avoid her breakfast being dragged into an insatiable void bent on consuming any scrap of food in its path. "I'm not," she said, holding the granola bar out of reach while Ruby pouted and retreated to the other side of the table. "Steal from Weiss, jeez."
"Just eat already," Weiss replied, handing Ruby another granola bar before sending Yang an impatient look. "We all get it - an indirect kiss. Such a big deal..."
"Indirect kisses are fun," Ruby interrupted before devouring half of her granola bar. "Remember that time we shared an ice cream cone? You were super sunburned for the rest of the night."
Suddenly, Weiss didn't want to tease anymore. Instead, she pulled over the paper they found yesterday and busied herself pretending to read it. With the ice queen running for cover, Yang snuck a look at Blake, who smiled and nodded at the granola bar. Clearly, she wanted Yang to finish the rest of it.
Raising it to her lips, Yang took a bite and felt her cheeks burn when Blake hummed and finally turned away. They'd shared food plenty of times before, but never in a way that felt as intimate as that. How did Blake make something as simple as sharing a granola bar feel so sexy?
"Once you're finished flirting, we should get going." Back from her retreat, Weiss set the paper off to the side and gathered the pile of empty wrappers accumulating around Ruby. "We don't know how long this will take."
When Blake smirked, Yang shoved the rest of breakfast in her mouth so she had an excuse not to talk. For whatever reason, that response only made Blake's pleased smirk grow while they all headed to the front door.
"Can I drive?" Ruby asked, hopping over to Yang's side and clasping her hands together.
Shaking her head, Yang swallowed the rest of her meal and said, "Maybe when you can reach the pedals." Ignoring Ruby's pout, she followed Blake outside and marveled at the sight of beauty in front of her (and she wasn't talking about the sunrise).
"But I can reach the pedals!" Ruby protested as she raced outside and blocked Yang's view. "I've tried before! Remember? You let me try."
Blake smiled and pulled herself into the passenger seat, so Yang sighed and turned her full attention to Ruby and Ruby's absurdly powerful puppy-dog eyes. "I'll tell you the same thing I told Weiss," she answered, making sure not to look directly in Ruby's eyes lest she give in. "Xander's too much truck for you to handle."
"Just like Blake's too much for you to handle."
Yang's jaw dropped at Weiss' quip, but Ruby burst into giggles.
"Ouch," Yang said before hopping into the driver's seat and glancing at Blake, who looked more than a little amused by the quasi-epic burn. "I'll have you know that I - I'm - more than capable."
That was the lamest of rebuttals she'd ever rebutted, but she didn't know what else to say. For all she knew, Blake was too much for her to handle, but she'd like to find that out firsthand.
"Ok, enough chit-chat. Let's get this show on the road!" she said, throwing the truck in drive and swinging them around the circular driveway. She then floored it down the driveway before slamming on the brakes a few seconds later, sending them skidding to a stop just before breaking the gate down. She did it because it was unnecessary, but also because it made Weiss grumble.
"Brake check," Yang offered as an explanation. Ruby ate up the innocent shrug she threw in, but Blake gave a knowing smile before opening the door.
"Be right back," she said before jumping out to unlock the gate - a repeat of the routine they went through morning and night.
Yang drummed her hands on the steering wheel while Blake expertly undid the locks. Watching her fingers work their magic was like watching a magician, and it wasn't long before Yang's thoughts drifted to what other things Blake might be exceptionally skilled at.
"Ok," Yang said before her mind ventured too far. "Not only is this unsafe, but it takes super long."
Immediately proving Yang wrong, Blake pushed open the gate and waved them through. Coaxing Xander forward, Yang waved at Blake before scanning every inch of visible space on the other side of the fence. A couple of zombies congregated at the other end of the street, but they were too far away to pose much danger.
"What's the rush?" Weiss asked.
"No rush. It's just...time consuming."
On any other day, they had all the time in the world to unlock gates. Today, however, Yang was more excited than usual. Why? Because this was the first objective they'd had in a long time that wasn't 'search for clues and/or supplies.' There was only so much looting she could do before going insane. She needed a mission.
"What do you want first - hot water or an automatic gate?"
Ruby asked the question seriously, but she had to know the answer, right? The answer should be obvious to everyone sitting in the truck right now.
"Hot water."
While Blake pulled herself back into the passenger seat, Weiss laughed. "Blake, Yang just chose fixing the hot water over saving you from unlocking gates."
"Thanks, Weiss!" Stomping on the accelerator to throw any unsuspecting persons (hopefully Weiss) back in their seat, Yang sent them sailing away from the mansion and prepared to defend her answer. It turned out, however, that a defense was unnecessary.
"I agree with that," Blake replied while buckling herself in. "I'm tired of cold water, too. Plus, she can't watch me in the shower."
When Blake winked at her, Yang gawked - then jumped when she felt and heard a loud, metal clanking sound knock off the front bumper. While Ruby giggled from the backseat, Yang returned most of her attention to the road.
"You just took out that fire hydrant!" As Ruby laughed some more, a blush rushed to Yang's cheeks.
"Meant to do that…" she mumbled while trying to regain her composure. "Anyway, where're we headed?"
"The Industrial District."
"The what now?"
Glancing in the mirror, she caught another impressive eye roll from Weiss.
"The part of the city with most of the manufacturing plants?" Weiss asked. "Where your clothes are made? We've been there several times - you made us break into your favorite brand's warehouse so you could stock up on your ridiculously revealing outfits."
Through those descriptions, Yang knew exactly where they were headed - the other side of Vale near all those big, dirty buildings. Of course, she feigned ignorance.
"Doesn't sound familiar…"
She caught Blake's smile out of the corner of her eye and heard Ruby's giggle from the backseat. Everyone knew she was messing around - everyone except Weiss, of course.
"How could you possibly forget? You drove through the warehouse door, then we grabbed more clothing than we could ever need - the entire truck was filled with shirts."
"Still doesn't ring a bell..." Yang replied before looking in the mirror and grinning at Weiss.
Finally figuring out that Yang was playing dumb, Weiss crossed her arms and grumbled something under her breath. Meanwhile, Yang drove towards the sprawling metropolis they usually avoided like...well, like it was swarming with zombies.
Vale used to be one of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the world, so a crazy amount of zombies now called it home. As great as they were at killing Zs (and they were pretty super at killing Zs), they avoided these areas as much as possible. Unless they were looking for a good firefight, of course. In that case, the claustrophobic buildings and maze of abandoned cars littering the streets made for exciting, harrowing adventures.
"But what if something happened to you and one of us had to drive?" Ruby suddenly asked, refusing to let the conversation go. "Wouldn't it be better if we had experience before then, rather than learning while we're trying to save your life?"
Squeezing between two closely parked cars, Yang grimaced at the sound of metal-on-metal. "Yeah right," she answered once they were clear. "No way I'm getting hurt. I'm an expert zombie slayer!"
"But the hero always gets hurt."
Yang closed her mouth when she didn't have an answer to that. Ruby was right - the hero usually got hurt. That was a mandatory part of any action film. But she was a different type of hero - the kind that didn't get hurt. That was a piece of cake in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. All she had to do was...be extra careful.
"Ok," she admitted once she thought of a way around that inevitability. "But normally one of my companions dies, and it won't be my love interest, so..." When she glanced at Blake and caught a knowing smile, her eyes widened. "So it could be any of you!" she concluded.
"Ruby might be your love interest?" Blake asked, one brow arching at the suggestion.
"Over my dead body," Weiss retorted.
"That can be arranged." Grinning in the mirror, Yang waited for Weiss' eyeroll before nodding towards the streets. "Someone give me directions."
"Left at that intersection," Blake answered, pointing at a gathering of zombies standing aimlessly in the center of the street.
"Got it."
Gripping the steering wheel, Yang navigated past a few cars before gunning it. Seconds later, she slammed on the brakes and spun the wheel to the left, throwing them into a powerslide around the corner and crashing into the zombies in the process. Their gnarly, decomposing bodies actually helped stop the slide and direct Xander onto the next street.
"Do you always have to do that when they're on my side?" Weiss complained not long after. Apparently, she wasn't a fan of her window being used to flatten zombies - who would've thought?
"Coincidence," Yang quipped before turning right on the next street when Blake pointed that way.
Several turns and another power slide later, their destination loomed in front of them. Actually, 'loomed' was a horrible choice of words for the single-story building squished between two massive manufacturing centers. The building, clearly marked with block letters reading 'Davis Laboratory,' stuck out like a sore thumb in terms of size. But Yang was no architect, so what did she know about sticking a tiny building between two large ones?
"Damn," she said as they stopped near the entrance. "Don't think they're working on anything anymore…"
The front doors, which used to be glass, were now empty spaces with metal edges that used to hold panes of glass. Not much further inside, garbage and overturned furniture were strewn everywhere.
"Let's check it out," Blake replied before unbuckling her seatbelt and slipping out of the truck. The rest of them weren't far behind, leaving the safety of the heavily-armored vehicle and regrouping at the oversized storage compartments. Ruby undid the lock (this crazy puzzle thing she swore no one else could crack) and opened the drawer to reveal rows upon rows of weapons.
"Think it's a double shotgun type of day..." Yang muttered while grabbing a second shotgun to go with the one already slung over her back. The weapons were heavy, but she'd gotten used to the weight by now. Plus, she'd rather carry two and reload half as often than be 'smart' and take just one.
Of course, no zombie exploration mission was undertaken with just two primary weapons - that's why she had pistols holstered at her hip and ankle. And, if her weapons jammed or she ran out of ammo, a machete hung by her side.
"Think I'll get to use this bad boy today?" she asked, pulling out the weapon with a satisfying shing of metal. The blade sparkled in the early morning sun, and - if she held it close enough - she could see her reflection.
"I don't think you'll enjoy that as much as you think you will," Blake replied while smoothly dropping a magazine out of a submachine gun, counting the bullets, and snapping it back in place.
"Why wouldn't I? It'd be fun to slice 'n dice some Zs." After taking a few practice swings, Yang grinned at Ruby. "What do you think, Ruby? Slice 'n dice time?"
"Maybe later," Weiss interrupted right as Ruby raised her fist to say 'yeah!' "Are you ready?"
After a quick double check of their gear and nods all around, Ruby shoved the drawer closed. Considering this escapade had gone smoothly up until now, there were bound to be some bumps on the way. They had zero chance of venturing into an unknown building in the middle of downtown and escaping without a hitch. If it was just Yang, it would go perfectly. Same if it was her and Blake. Or her, Blake, and Ruby. But Weiss was here, so...
"What is this place again?" Yang asked as they crept towards the entrance, keeping her voice low so as not to attract unwanted attention.
"A science lab," Weiss answered. After peering into the building and finding no immediate threats, she stepped through the shattered door frame and cringed when shards of glass crushed underfoot. "I'm not surprised you haven't seen the inside of one before," she continued in a quieter voice, stepping carefully to minimize the noise. "They only allow people with a certain intelligence to visit these places."
"Oh ha ha." Following Weiss and Ruby through the door, Yang searched both directions for any signs of life. Well, it wasn't life she was searching for. More like...movement.
"Looks like they evacuated a long time ago…" Blake whispered from beside her.
The 'lab' - basically, just a large room filled with desks, computers, and other weird contraptions - looked like it was deserted in a hurry. Papers littered the floor, cabinets were open or turned on their side, and shards of glass were everywhere, making their footsteps abhorrently loud.
Yang had seen more than her share of destroyed buildings, but this one was pretty high on her list of utter destruction. If she didn't know any better, she would guess that a tornado tore through the room. After the tornado lifted, a crew rushed through and intentionally broke every single glass object left unmarred, from beakers to expensive-looking equipment to a poor pair of spectacles that hadn't deserved such a cruel fate.
"New least favorite sound…" Blake muttered while they crept further into the room, each of them causing a weird scraping/crunching noise with every step.
"Guess we won't find a cure here." Glancing at some of the papers strewn across a nearby desk, Yang shook her head when she saw a foreign language written all over them. At least, it might as well have been a foreign language from how little she understood.
No cure, no clue what happened...she didn't know what else she expected. A welcoming party, complete with cake and a cure? A horde of zombie scientists holding clipboards...and a cure? There was none of that. It was just a big room full of broken glass, abandoned experiments, and -
"Yang."
Turning around, she found Blake staring at something off to the left - but staring in that scary, unblinking way that meant either something really terrifying or really concerning was nearby. Following Blake's gaze, Yang immediately found the cause of concern.
"That's…" Shaking her head to rid herself of the shock, she said the next thing that came to mind. "That's why you don't play with zombies, kids," she joked while pointing at the decaying arm chained to the wall. The rest of the body was gone, which was all the explanation she needed for the dried pool of blood on the floor beneath the nearest desk chair.
"Why would they ever think they could control them?" Blake asked as they moved on, spotting more evidence of undead experiments further in the lab. At least three more pairs of shackles were attached to the wall, each holding a crudely severed limb and not much else.
"Look at that," Ruby whispered, staring into a glass cube that had a dead zombie on the floor. How it died the second time was unclear, but it was obvious that the paper leading them here was right - whoever used to work here tried to develop a cure.
"We can take their research?" Ruby suggested, grabbing a random folder and flipping it open to see what was inside.
"And do what with it?" Blake asked as the four of them stopped near the center of the room. "I doubt we're smart enough to develop a cure on our own."
"Weiss is!"
Now it was Yang's turn to roll her eyes - this time at Ruby's incessant belief that Weiss walked on water. News flash, little sis - Weiss couldn't walk on water. That's why she fell into a lake several weeks ago. Then she screamed because something touched her leg. (It turned out to be a zombie standing on the bottom of the lake - they dealt with it after they stopped laughing.)
"Kinda doubt that…" Yang added with a soft chuckle.
"No, she really is," Ruby argued. "She won a whole bunch of science awards - I've seen them!"
"Bet they're from middle school -"
"They aren't," Weiss cut in, looking far too smug about winning some dumb awards. "And with Ruby's knowledge of microbiology, we could probably come up with something if we had someplace to start."
"What're you talking about? Ruby doesn't know microbiology."
"But she does." Again with that smug look, because Weiss was clearly pleased to know something about Ruby that Yang didn't. "She's actually quite advanced in all of the biological sciences."
"Are you talking about those cell games you made for me?" Ruby asked. "Because those were fun."
Opening her mouth to point out how that didn't sound like a 'game,' Yang froze when something caught her attention. Holding up one hand, she sharpened her ears and looked around. Everyone else stilled and searched for a disturbance, but...there was nothing. Yang could have sworn she heard something - something besides their footsteps - but now it was gone.
"Thought I heard something…" she eventually muttered. She hadn't found anything out of place, but something changed as soon as they walked into this section of the lab. It hadn't been more than a soft clicking sound, like something had turned on. "This place just got really creepy."
Yang was ready to laugh off the feeling, but then she looked at Blake and her concern returned full force. Still standing in place, Blake spun in a slow circle, her amber eyes scanning every inch of the room. "Does anyone else feel that?" she whispered.
"Like someone's...watching us…" Weiss added, wearing the same uneasy expression.
Sparing a glance at Ruby, whose eyes were as big as plates, Yang chuckled and tried to pick the mood up.
"Alright, let's not get paranoid. We're just not used to these science-y buildings. I'm sure it's nothing."
The reassurance worked - at least, on one of them. Skipping to the next desk, Ruby did a double take at the piece of paper lying on top of what used to be a coffee mug. "Hey look!" Picking it up, she turned it around and held it out for them to see. "It's the thing we found yesterday."
After taking the page from Ruby, Weiss looked it over. "It's an exact copy," she muttered, her brow furrowing as she flipped it over. "But why would they make multiple copies? It's an internal memo, not a flyer."
"Guys…check this out."
Turning away from the memo, they found Blake standing outside a thick metal door with a keypad on one side. The door itself was armored enough to be worth noting, but that's not what Blake was referring to. The keypad was illuminated, meaning...
"There's still power."
"Think this is where the scientists went?" Yang asked while Ruby rushed over to take a look. "Retreated behind blast doors to continue their work?"
"Potentially. But how do we get it open?"
"There has to be a code somewhere, right? One of these desks probably has it written on a note or something..." After checking the two closest desks and finding nothing, Yang looked at the room they just crossed, which was filled with at least fifty desks and even more lab tables.
"That's a lot of searching…" Blake said, speaking Yang's thoughts aloud.
"Can't you hack into it or something?" Weiss asked, but Blake shook her head.
"If the power was off, maybe. But with power, I might lock us out."
"What about -"
Before Yang finished that thought, four quick beeps were followed by the sound of a deadbolt sliding out of place.
"Got it!" Ruby called out, grinning while the rest of them stared at her. "It's written on this!" Ruby explained, holding up the piece of paper that brought them here.
"You're so smart," Weiss cooed before pressing a kiss to Ruby's lips. "What would we do without you?"
"Ugh. Cut the sap, please." Determined to see as little of that as possible, Yang pulled open the door to see what was on the other side. What she found was...a staircase lit by white lights in the ceiling. Of course, because this was the apocalypse and all, some of the lights flickered on and off, making the stairwell even more uninviting than it would typically be.
"Uh...who wants to go first?" she asked, backing away from the dungeon of doom.
"Heading down a creepy staircase in a lab experimenting on zombies sounds like a hero's job," Weiss replied while nudging Yang forward. "Especially when the code was written on a piece of paper that now seems like a lure more than anything else."
When Ruby and Blake nodded, Yang sighed and clutched her shotgun a little tighter.
"Fine. I'll go first."
Taking a deep breath (to promote proper oxygen flow, not because she was scared or anything), she stepped through the doorway and headed downstairs. She heard Blake behind her, and Weiss after that -
WHAM
Yang instantly jumped about a foot in the air, spun around, and aimed a shotgun at her sheepish little sister.
"Sorry...probably should've closed it a little quieter…"
Heart now pounding like a drum in her ears, Yang shook her head before turning around and leading them onward. From their position, they could see the floor below, but the ceiling angled in just the right way to block their view of the hallway beyond.
With every step and flicker of lights, she half expected a hand to reach out and grab her. Or a ghoul to jump onto her shoulders and try to take a bite out of her neck. Surprisingly, neither of those things happened. Instead, she reached the bottom of the steps and found a clean, white hallway in front of her - no lab-coated undead in sight.
Compared to upstairs, this hallway was astonishingly intact - no broken glass, no blood smears on the floor or walls. Besides the flickering lights, it looked like this section of the building had been untouched by the apocalypse. Regardless of the emptiness, she crept forward. Glancing through windows on either side of the hallway, she saw what looked like intense versions of hospital rooms, complete with hospital beds, monitors, and various medical equipment.
"No zombies though…" she muttered, checking every room as they moved further from the stairs. There had to be something through the double doors directly ahead of them. Otherwise, this venture was shaping up to be a waste.
"This feels like a trap," Weiss whispered from behind her.
Almost immediately, an air horn blared through the hallway, making them freeze and cover their ears. In that split second of surprise, iron bars fell from the ceiling on either side of them, trapping them in a cage in the middle of the hall. The noise stopped as abruptly as it began, but thick bars now penned them in place.
"Well, what do you know...it was a trap."