"Yang."
Yang opened her eyes and froze when she found Blake sitting on top of her, pressing her into the bed and smirking down at her.
"Uh, good morning," she stammered, not daring to move while Blake's hand teasingly ran across her ribs, tickling her in the process.
"Good morning. Sleep well?"
"I…um…" When Yang remembered the dream she'd been having, a deep blush rushed onto her cheeks. She really hoped Blake couldn't read minds. Otherwise, this would be...embarrassing. "Yes. Yes, I did."
Blake smirked, as if she knew something Yang didn't, before leaning down and pressing her lips to Yang's ear. "Sounded like it," she whispered before pulling away with a soft laugh. "We should get ready. I heard the others get up a while ago."
Somehow remaining composed, Blake calmly slid off the bed and headed to the bathroom. Sitting up with a sigh of disbelief, Yang let her gaze follow Blake to the door. This time, however, Blake glanced over her shoulder and caught Yang watching.
"Waiting for something?"
"Uh, nope!" Feigning innocence, Yang looked out the window and tried to focus on the blue sky. She only glanced back when she heard a pleased laugh and was rewarded by a shirt crumpling to the floor while Blake once again showed off her entirely-too-sexy back.
The bathroom door closed but Yang kept staring, trying to hold onto that image for as long as possible. One of these days, the constant teasing would end. Until then, she would suffer through what felt like an eternity of sexual denial. Such was the life of a hero...forced to complete some unknown objective before being rewarded with the girl.
"Hopefully soon…" she muttered while dragging herself out of bed and throwing on the first outfit she found. Once dressed, she glanced over and smiled when Blake joined her in getting ready for the day. They didn't take zombie preparedness lightly, which was why they thoroughly inspected their weapons and tools before belting or fastening everything into place.
"Ready?" she asked after pulling on her new boots. Once Blake nodded, they left the room of torturously platonic sleep behind.
Yang's new goal was finding a room where they didn't just fall asleep after some heavy flirting and a slew of missed opportunities. Maybe that room was in her future...but she wouldn't know until she survived yet another day.
"Looks like we missed breakfast…" Blake muttered when they saw Weiss, Ruby, and Nora gathered in the entryway.
"How kind of you to finally join us," Weiss greeted them seconds later. "Guess you're tired from all the not-action you got last night."
"Or maybe I'm tired from having to put up with you," Yang teased before catching the granola bar Ruby tossed at her. After tearing it open and taking a bite, she glanced at the three early risers. "So what's the plan?"
"The same plan we discussed yesterday...go to the base and find as much firepower as we can carry."
"Oh!" Ruby added. "How about we take the chopper?" Weiss looked hesitant about the suggestion, so Ruby bounced on her feet and clasped her hands in front of her. "Please? It'll be so much faster! And fun!"
Weiss sighed, but she always caved when Ruby begged. Yang didn't want to think about what other situations that applied to - she just knew it was true. Ruby begged; Weiss gave in.
"I suppose it would be faster..." Weiss mused before Ruby squealed and kissed her cheek.
"You're the best, Weiss! This'll be so much fun!"
"You have a helicopter too?" Nora asked, already feeding off of Ruby's enthusiasm. "Can I fly?"
"Ruby flies," Weiss stipulated. "And yes, we do. Not far from here."
"Looks like you're the pilot today," Yang said, slapping Ruby's hand before they headed outside and piled into the truck.
The short drive through the woods gave Yang's thoughts little time to wander, which was fortunate considering how badly they wanted to wander to Blake. Instead, she focused on finding the small, nearly indistinguishable landmarks leading to a hanger plopped down in the middle of the trees. Surprisingly, this was one of many such buildings scattered across Vale and its outskirts. Yang had no idea how many there were, actually. All she knew was that Weiss' obsession with dropping millions on doomsday prep turned out to be useful when the world became a pile of garbage.
Sometimes, it felt like Weiss knew the apocalypse was going to happen, so she spent years collecting safehouses, weapons, vehicles, and stockpiles of supplies. Because seriously, why else would someone build dozens of safehouses and hide helicopters everywhere?
Yang would never admit it, but she was grateful. Even if Weiss created the virus and unleashed it on mankind, at least she loved Ruby enough to save her and Yang. At least, that's what Yang thought while a large, metal dome appeared through the trees in front of them.
"You got it?" she asked as they stopped in front of the sliding hanger door.
"Of course."
Without another word, Blake slipped out of the truck and unlocked the door with skill and speed suggesting more than just an apocalypse-worth of experience. Within seconds, she shoved the giant door open and motioned them through.
"Oh my god..."
That was an appropriate response to the pristine attack helicopter sitting in the middle of the hangar. As was the way Nora's jaw dropped and a small gasp slipped out.
"It's cool, right?" Excited to get up in the sky, Ruby hardly waited for Yang to park before hopping out.
"How did you even buy this?" Yang asked while following at a slower pace. "Don't you need military clearance to buy something with missiles attached to it?"
"What makes you think I don't have military clearance?"
When Yang's eyes widened, Weiss just smiled, opened one of the weapon drawers, and pulled out several extra magazines for herself and Ruby.
"How do you have military clearance?" Yang finally asked, knowing that Weiss would leave her in the dark otherwise.
"The military is an institution like any other. Anything is for sale at the right price."
Taken aback by the casual response, Yang looked at Ruby, who just giggled.
"She bought clearance for me, too! One time, I had to remember all these codes then almost used them to start a war!"
"What're we talking about?" Blake asked, rejoining them after securing the hangar door.
"Weiss and Ruby having military clearance."
"Oh." After glancing at Weiss and Ruby, Blake arched a brow at Yang. "You don't?"
Yang had no idea how to respond to that other than to stare.
Of course she didn't have military clearance! Before this started, she was just a normal girl who liked shopping, hanging out with friends, and ducking work. She wasn't running around buying weapons from the military - she didn't even know anyone in the military!
"So cool!" Drawing everyone's attention, Nora ran over to the helicopter, pressed both hands on the glass, and peered inside. "I've never been in one of these before!"
"Make sure not to fall out," Ruby joked before sliding the door open and motioning Nora inside. The girl jumped in without hesitation, leaving the rest of them to follow once they grabbed their preferred methods of defense and locked up the truck.
While Ruby strapped herself into the pilot's seat, Yang and Blake sat in the back of the aircraft and secured themselves with harnesses. The blades whirred to life not much later, gaining speed in preparation for takeoff.
Ruby and Weiss were in charge of flying, though they rarely flew due to the excessive noise and wasted fuel. Regardless, Yang enjoyed the few instances when they took to the air rather than settling for the roads; it gave her the opportunity to sit back and relax while someone else worried about logistics.
"Alright, everyone. Hold onto your seats!"
A second later, the helicopter lifted off the ground and paused for a second before soaring through the top of the hangar. The coolest part about flying was that they could see practically everything. The forest, the neighborhoods and parks...all teeming with zombies wishing they could fly. Fortunately, they could only amble pointlessly after the helicopter as it raced towards their destination.
"Excited to get your friend back?" Yang asked Nora, who turned away from the view and grinned.
"You bet! And when I do, I'm never letting him out of my sight again!" Pausing, she tapped a finger on her chin and furrowed her brow. "Maybe I'll handcuff us together...then he'll never get away from me."
Thinking (or hoping) that was a joke, Yang chuckled and shared an amused-but-slightly-terrified glance with Blake. "What do you think?" she asked, raising her voice over the noise from the swirling wind and rotors. "Wanna get cuffed together?"
"Not exactly...but I can think of a few places I'd like to cuff you."
When Blake smiled innocently with the not-so-innocent response, Yang's jaw dropped.
"Like where?"
Nora's openly curious expression put a small blush on Blake's cheeks, and Yang couldn't help but feel victorious that Blake actually felt some measure of embarrassment. "Yes, like where, Blake?" she teased and, for a second, it looked like Blake wouldn't answer. Then the helicopter banked right, and she leaned into Yang's side to whisper, "Like the bedpost."
When the cabin leveled out, she pulled away and smiled as if she hadn't just put a huge blush on Yang's cheeks.
"Where?" Nora asked again. "What'd she say?"
"Uhh…" Failing to come up with an appropriate response, Yang cleared her throat and turned toward the cockpit. "Are we almost there?" she shouted up front. At Ruby's thumbs-up, she stood and gestured at the drawers of equipment always left on board. "We should get ready."
"Smooth," Blake said, and Yang did her best to ignore the pleased smirk while grabbing an earpiece and fitting it around her ear. The next one went to Blake, who did the same.
"Ok, Nora," Yang said while handing the third to Nora. "These little guys keep us in touch. Leave it on so you can hear us, and push that button to talk. Got it?"
"Got it!" Nora wasted no time attaching the small device to her ear before tapping the button on its side. "CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
Yang cringed at the question blared directly into her ear and gave Nora a thumbs up.
"Loud and clear."
"Emphasis on loud," Blake mumbled while grabbing one of the handholds near the door and peering outside.
"We're here!" Ruby called back, pointing at the sprawling military base through the front window. Dozens of airplane hangars sat along runways that had seen better days, and planes that had seen much better days. A long row of squat buildings, probably barracks, stood around the hangars. And, tucked in the midst of all the construction, was a much larger building that looked more promising than the others.
As the helicopter flew towards the main building, the zombies roasting on the abandoned airstrips looked up and watched them pass. It would take a while for the weak-legged creatures to catch up, but that was one more thing to worry about.
A military base might sound like the perfect place to raid when the apocalypse started, but they'd stayed away from one very good reason: soldier zombies.
Soldier zombies weren't necessarily deadlier than regular zombies, but they looked scarier in their fatigues and armor. Plus, some of them still had guns strapped around their shoulders, which always made Yang think that the undead finally learned how to shoot back.
Plenty of deserted cars lined the roads, most of them civilian in nature, but there were also quite a few jeeps, burned-out humvees, and a very real, very big tank.
"Is that a tank?"
"Don't even think about it."
"But Weiss -"
"No."
Pouting at the rejection of her brilliant idea, Yang grabbed the handhold beside Blake as the helicopter descended towards the rooftop. Now that the moment was upon them, her adrenaline was kicking in, and her heart beat faster. They had no idea what awaited them inside this building, but it most likely involved some combination of dispatching Zs and running for their lives.
The helicopter set down on the landing pad with a short jolt, and the blades began to slow. After pulling off her helmet and leaving it on the seat, Ruby joined the rest of them in the back. "Love flying," she said while grabbing earpieces for herself and Weiss. "Now, we sneak in through the roof like spies!"
Yang wholeheartedly agreed with that mental image, especially when the five of them jumped out of the helicopter and hurried across the rooftop with guns drawn.
"We'd better hurry...looks like we attracted company."
Blake nodded to their right, where shapes emerged from the woods. The chainlink fence running along the perimeter of the base would slow the Zs down, but a big enough horde would hardly pause at the measly barrier. Not that it mattered since the Zs lumbering out of the barracks would reach them first.
"Ok, be quick." Jogging across the rooftop, Yang opened the roof access door and jumped backward when a hand grabbed at her face. "Shit -!"
Before she added additional expletives, a quiet pop ended the undead's life, and it crumpled to the ground with a nice, new bullet hole in its head. She turned around in shock, but Blake shrugged and put away her pistol.
"How many times is that now?" Weiss muttered while stepping over the zombie.
"At least five," Ruby answered, hopping after Weiss before Nora also jumped through the doorway.
"You mean five times this month."
"Uh...thanks," Yang told Blake, ignoring the nagging from up front. "I owe you one."
"I believe you owe me several," Blake replied before following their companions into the stairwell. "How would you like to repay me?"
This felt like the perfect time for a suggestive response, but Yang's mind drew a blank. Because of course. When the perfect moment presented itself, her mind froze. Typical hero…
One set of stairs later, they reached another door into the building. This time, Ruby put her ear to the metal and listened for several seconds before pulling it open. The staircase released them into a wide hallway extending in both directions, reminding Yang of a high school with evenly spaced doorways on either side of the hall. Posters of different military regulations covered the walls, giving simple numbered lists that were theoretically easy to follow.
"Where do we go?" Ruby asked.
Considering the hall looked the same in either direction, Yang chose one at random and pointed that way. "You three go left," she said before motioning the other way. "Blake and I will go right. That way, we'll cover more ground before that horde gets here. Grab as much as you can and get back to the roof as fast as possible."
"Got it."
With an easy agreement from Ruby, Weiss nodded and reached for Ruby's hand.
"Let's smash some zombies!" Nora added with a zealous grin.
"We're trying to get out of here before that," Weiss pointed out, and Nora's smile fell.
"Oh. Why?"
Yang chuckled at Nora's perplexed expression, but Weiss shook her head and sighed. "Guess it's better that you come with us…" she grumbled while they headed away.
"You don't think I can handle her?" Yang called after her.
"Please. You can hardly handle Blake, and Blake wants to be near you."
The comment set Yang back on her heels, and she chuckled nervously as she turned toward Blake. "I could totally handle it," she said in her defense, though she wasn't sure if Blake believed her. She wasn't even sure if she believed it. Fortunately, Blake let it go and motioned for them to get a move on - a good idea considering the number of Zs drawing closer by the second.
"I notice you paired us up again," Blake added as they hurried down unfamiliar halls covered in military jargon and 'you can do it' posters.
"Oh." When they made it to another intersection, Yang looked back and forth for danger and came up with a reason for that happy coincidence. "That's because Weiss will kill me if I try to split up her and Ruby."
"Ah. And here I thought you wanted to spend time with me..."
"That too!" Yang quickly said. "Because I don't want to die, and I want to spend time with you. You're my…"
"Love interest?" Blake suggested, and Yang instantly blushed.
"I was going to say 'partner,'" she mumbled while keeping her eyes trained on anything but Blake. "But if that's how you feel, that's fine with me…"
"Hey guys!" Nora interrupted then, still speaking at a deafening volume. "We found boxes of grenades."
"Oh god." After grimacing at Blake, Yang tapped the microphone over her ear. "That's great, Nora. That's...real great."
Imagining Nora dumping an entire box of grenades into her backpack, Yang shook her head and redoubled her efforts to find more munitions. If Weiss' group found grenades, Yang and Blake had to find something better. Not that this was a competition or anything...
"I still think she's behind this," Blake said before peeking through another window and backing away with a shake of her head.
"She was in the truck when that helicopter shot at us."
"And conveniently missed."
"Because of my awesome driving!" When Blake smiled patiently at that response, Yang shook her head. "She also shot the helicopter, remember? She got up on the roof -"
"Could you really see where she was shooting?" Blake argued. "Or did we just hear her shooting at something?"
Unfortunately, Yang didn't have an answer to those questions. She couldn't say for sure where Nora aimed. At the helicopter? Just below? She swore some bullets hit the glass, but those weren't enough to do much damage.
"Ok, maybe you're right," she finally agreed. "But also...maybe I'm right."
Smiling at the quasi-forfeit, Blake paused at the next intersection and looked down the halls. "This looks promising," she said while tapping a small sign on the wall - an arrow with 'armory' written above it.
"Now we're talking." If this place was anything like the movies, the armory was exactly where they wanted to go. "Think they'll have more explosives?" Yang asked as she and Blake followed the arrows down the hall.
"For our sake, I hope not."
Chuckling at the response, Yang turned the corner and stopped when she spotted a tiny, hardly noticeable sign hanging over an inconspicuous door.
That was a joke. The door stuck out like a sore thumb in a hallway filled with regular, normal-sized doors. It was the only one that looked about a foot thick of sturdy, impenetrable metal, and it was the only one with a lock straight out of an alien spaceship. Walking over to it, Yang looked through the tiny window (that was definitely bulletproof glass) and started drooling.
"Oh my god, Blake...this is it. This is what heaven looks like." She reached down and yanked on the door handle, but it didn't budge. "Knew it," she said, trying the handle again. "I'm destined for hell."
"Not if I can help."
Shooing Yang aside, Blake tried the handle before examining the keypad beside it. After several seconds of thoughtful analysis, she pulled a knife from her jacket and pried the panel off the wall. With the wires exposed, she poked and prodded before cutting through several, weaving others together and...honestly, Yang had no idea what Blake was doing, but she looked really good doing it. Before long, the deadbolt slid out of place.
"How -?" Yang began to ask when Blake turned the handle and the door cracked open. "How the hell did you do that?"
After pulling the door open, Blake leaned close to Yang's ear and whispered, "Ruby's not the only one with skills."
Yang's heart thumped at the comment, and she said the first thing that popped into her mind.
"Have I told you that you're the most attractive person I've ever met?" When Blake laughed and walked into the room, Yang quickly followed. "Seriously - the most attractive. That might not seem like much since everyone's dead and rotting now, but even before that!"
With Blake shaking her head at the compliment, Yang grinned at her new favorite store. The armory was appropriately named, as it was filled with everything needed to arm oneself to the teeth. The weapons lining the walls sparkled in preparation for action. Even better, the smell of freshly oiled metal and gunpowder filled the air.
Before this apocalypse crap happened, Yang loved shopping. Shopping was her skill. She could walk into a department store and smell her way to the jacket or pair of shoes she wanted. Now that the malls were infested by undead soccer moms and mall walkers (the second worst type of zombie), smelling her way around was a bit more difficult. Yet that skill remained, albeit in a different form.
Sniffing the air, she turned left and let out a sound of delight when she spotted a brand-spanking-new shotgun laying on the countertop. "You just broke us into heaven," she concluded while turning the weapon over in her hands. After grabbing a brand new assault rifle off the wall, Blake smiled back at her.
"Does that mean we should celebrate?"
Hearing the insinuation, Yang briefly imagined the celebration they could have in this room. She could take Blake right there on the huge table, surrounded by more weapons than she'd ever seen in one place...
"By taking everything we can carry?" Blake elaborated, waving a hand around the shelves and dragging Yang's mind out of the gutter.
"Yes," Yang said, responding to the first question before nodding enthusiastically. "Hell yes."
Still smiling, Blake set two big bags out on the table while Yang tapped the headset in her ear. "Guys. We found the armory - who wants a laser gun?"
"I do!" Nora called out, making Yang chuckle while tossing the futuristic weapon into one of the bags.
"We found a stockpile, too," Weiss added. "But we have company inside now. Stay quiet."
"Got it," Yang said in a quieter voice before muting her mic. "Ok, let's be quick."
In relative silence, she and Blake stuffed the bags with weapons and more than enough ammunition to go with them. Unfortunately, they were only two people, and they had to carry the bags back to the helicopter, which severely limited how much they could take.
"Think we can come back later?" Yang asked while zipping up one of the bags.
"I'll lock the door." After closing the second bag, Blake slung it over her shoulders and nodded. "Ready?"
"Ready."
The two of them were on their way a second later but hadn't even made it into the hall before something caught Yang's attention. "Oh my god...look at this." Right beside the door, Yang picked up a huge, heavy weapon that looked a lot like a rocket launcher. "I'm taking this home."
"Do you even know how to use that?"
"Sure! Can't be hard. Just point and shoot."
Blake shook her head and slung another assault rifle over her shoulder. Yang, meanwhile, lifted the rocket launcher onto her shoulder and fiddled with the scope. It was unwieldy, making it impractical as a daily weapon, but it looked awesome. If she'd learned anything from the apocalypse (besides the importance of listening before opening doors and the value of comfortable shoes), it was that sometimes looking badass was just as important as survival. And nothing looked more badass than -
Fwoosh.
That was the sound of the weapon firing when she accidentally tapped the trigger. The next second, a deafening boom shook the building as a giant hole appeared in the far wall of the room.
"What the hell was that?" Weiss immediately asked, and Yang dumped the weapon onto the table before responding.
"Uhh...so Blake was messing around with a rocket launcher..."
When Blake shook her head, something that sounded suspiciously like moans floated into the now-unsecure armory.
"They're all headed for you," Ruby informed them, somehow sounding chipper about the predicament. "You better get out of there!"
"Thanks, Captain Ruby - think we got it!"
Deciding to stick with a plain ol' shotgun, Yang followed Blake through the new, crumbled-wall doorway and sighed when she heard moans traveling through the corridors, accompanied by many, many feet shuffling across the floor. And with the way the sounds echoed off the walls, it felt like zombies were coming from everywhere. Which, realistically, they could be coming from everywhere.
"Left or right?" Yang asked, trying to figure out which direction was less infested.
"Left."
Considering Blake was usually right, Yang took off to the left. She always wondered why the fools in zombie films ran everywhere. Why run? Zombies moved slower than an old man who lost his cane. Couldn't they just walk instead?
Well, yes. Walking around one zombie in open space was easy. Shove five hundred in a building with narrow corridors, then see how well that strategy worked. Even though slow, they were more than capable of clogging hallways and blocking exits. So, unless someone had some serious wall-climbing skills or the ability to phase through solid objects, they were going to find themselves trapped in the middle of a zombie sandwich if they didn't get the heck outta dodge. Which was exactly what Blake and Yang were doing right now.
"On a scale of one to ten, how bad is this?" she asked, panting while lugging the bag of weapons and tearing back to the stairwell.
"How bad is your fear of soldier Zs?"
The instant an image of a soldier zombie popped into Yang's mind, her heart beat even crazier than all the sprinting called for. "Rational fear of soldier zombies," she said. "It's really understab-ahhh!"
Skidding to a stop, she felt her spirit leave her when she suddenly found herself staring into the lifeless eyes of an undead commando with pistols holstered at its sides and an assault rifle strapped around its chest. It looked like the child of the most muscular person alive, if that child had an unfortunate accident with a meat grinder then decided to seek revenge by growing super tall and getting shredded as lettuce.
It was her worst nightmare in the flesh. Rotten flesh, but still the flesh.
Before Yang could do something utterly heroic, however, Blake walked right up to the world's scariest mercenary, pulled a pistol from one of its own holsters, and shot it in the head. The extra-lifeless body hadn't even hit the floor before she smirked at Yang.
"You were saying?"
"You're so hot." Realizing that wasn't exactly what she was trying to express at that moment, Yang blushed and skirted around the body in the hall. "I mean, let's get out of here, shall we?"
Taking Blake's grin as a 'yes,' she started running again, but didn't fail to notice that Blake took the soldier's pistol with her. Who dared to walk right up to a soldier and take their weapon? That was some next-level fearlessness right there.
Reaching the end of the hall, Yang nearly turned right only to spin left when she saw a slightly big crowd of undead in front of her. "Uh guys," she spoke into her mic while racing the other way, noticing that the hall was increasingly loud as their pursuers closed in. "We've got a lot of company."
"If this is when you die, fine. But you better get Blake out of there."
"Thanks, Weiss, love you too!"
After way too much running, Yang spotted a familiar door up ahead - the staircase to the roof. Rather than slowing to a complete stop, she slammed into it before tearing it open and taking the stairs two at a time. By now, she huffed from lugging the heavy bag over her shoulder. Her lungs couldn't get enough air, her legs burned from the stairs, and her heart pounded so loud that she couldn't hear anything else.
They were nearly there though. Two more flights and they were home free. At least, hopefully they were home free. If zombies already made it to the helicopter, they were kind of screwed.
Finally making it to the rooftop door, she kicked it open and found a blissfully empty space in front of her. Well, blissfully empty except for the helicopter. The rotors were starting to spin, telling her that Weiss, Ruby, and Nora already made it back.
After racing across the building, Yang reached the helicopter first and grunted while tossing the bag of weapons on board. With that done, she turned around to help Blake -
But Blake was nowhere to be seen.