IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT LAST CHAPTER
Last chapter I accidentally- in my excitement to write- wrote that Blake still had her cloning ability. I just got caught up in writing the story the character don't have their semblance's in this story.
~§~
Ruby took a deep breath as she steadied the scope. Her childhood had been spent at the shooting range, it was one of her favourite pastimes. She centred the scope onto a Grimm's head and pulled the trigger. The sound echoed out and made it hard to locate her in the church tower, the Grimm's head sending up a spurt of black blood as it collapse to the ground and began to dissolve.
The other Grimm stumbled round and looked about as they looked for the source of the noise.
"How many is that now Rubes?" Asked Yang over the radio set next to her.
"Twenty three" Said Ruby proudly as she stood up and stretched.
"That's enough for today then, soups ready and we need to conserve our ammo" Said Yang
Considering the world had come to a collapse she was actually coping quite well. That was what she told herself. Yang had been a comforting presence to have, even if she was acting strangely.
She walked to the stairs and descended down the corkscrew, entering the main building of the church.
Over the last seventeen days Yang had gone out a few times and brought in items to make it into a proper base of sorts. The alter now had a white board with two written columns with notes in it.
What we know:
Attracted to noise
Can see, not very well
Can't climb, Can lunge
Strong and slow
Crawlers fast
Don't eat, only one bite
One bite turns you
Headshot = death
Called 'Grimm'
What we don't:
Where did they come from?
Do they care about animals?
What is purpose?
Curable?
Hivemind or communication?
Another factor in attraction?
Next to the board was a stool and a radio receiver that Yang had found in a destroyed military outpost a few blocks away. Occasionally it would pick up messages of other survivors and even more rare were broadcasts from Atlas, which had gone into a state of martial law and had started an all out war against the Grimm.
Several pews had been put together with blankets in them to make makeshift beds that they took turns in. Yang talked about their goal being to escape the metropolis, but they would need many supplies to do so.
Yang said they could cover ten to fifteen miles a day, further if none of the Grimm were in their path. The problem was that Vale was a metropolis and very, very big. Usually just to make it from one side to another you needed to take a cruiser and even then it took an hour by flight to cross the large city.
Yang turned to look at her from the can of soup she was eating.
"You did a great job on this rifle Yang" Said Ruby as she set the rifle down on one of the pews.
"Awesome, glad I haven't lost my skills" Said Yang, ruffling her hair as she sat down and grabbed the other can of food.
"I miss moms cooking" lamented Ruby sadly as she looked at the pale brown liquid in the can, then winced when she realised what she just said. Yang didn't react well to her talking about mom.
"Yeah" said Yang, not looking at her as she focused in the can in front of her, her smile falling.
They ate in silence for a while, Yang clearly thinking about something until she threw the can across the church. It flew away and clattered against the stone wall and bouncing in the floor. Ruby tried to make herself look as small as possible as Yang stared after the can.
"You'll be alright while I'm out?" Asked Yang as is nothing had happened, stretching and beginning to gather things together.
"Y-Yeah" nodded Ruby, her eyes wide in fear
"Okay" nodded Yang as she picked up an empty duffel bag and slipped it onto her shoulder, her baseball bat on her back and the shotgun in a compact form inside a holster on her hip. She walked over to Ruby and kissed her on the forehead "see ya soon sis" she said as she pulled her yellow bandanna over her mouth and put her sunglasses over her eyes.
"See you soon" Said Ruby sadly as she watched Yang walk up to the roof.
And Ruby found herself alone in the church, cold and hungry. And now that her sister wasn't there to keep an eye on her she let the tears she held back whenever Yang was around fall.
~§~
Weiss sneaked down the street. She had been in Vale for seventeen days now by her count, having woken up in the wreckage of the cruiser. She had managed to get out but found herself in unfamiliar territory.
She had been traversing the city, looking for something, anything she could use to get out. At this point she would be happy to see another person.
She glanced around and upon seeing that none of the freaks- as she called them- were about, removed the surgical mask from her mouth and to her neck, breathing in cold air. She had discovered that the liquid in the sewers seemed to have a mind of its own and kept trying to get into her body, to counter that she had covered her mouth and nose under a surgical mask she had found in an abandoned ambulance.
She looked around again and opened up her bag, pulling out an almost empty bottle of water. She frowned at it and quickly swallowed the last few drops.
She heard footsteps shuffling behind her and quickly turned, throwing the bottle at the freak. The bottle simply bounced off harmlessly but Weiss didn't care as she pulled out Myrtenaster and quickly gave a jab forward. The freak's head was skewered on the end of the sword and it fell limp, she kicked it off with her boot and took a few steps back. She hastily pulled her mask back on as the body began to dissolve.
She heard more shuffling footsteps and looked up to see several of freaks crawling out of alleys and from under cars and she scrambled back as one lunged at her, smashing through a car window and setting off the cars alarm.
She began to back away as she saw even more of the freaks crawl from hidden crevices, soon a large pack of the freaks had formed and were shambling slowly in her direction. From the crowd crawled a freak on all fours that was faster then the shambles of the other freaks.
She turned and ran as she heard the crawler chase after her snarling and growling. She could feel her legs burning from the the lack of energy in her body, but she continued to run, her feet pounding against the concrete as she ran down the empty street and dodged around abandoned cars. She gasped as she saw a freak come into her path, it's mouth lolling open as it turned its red soulless eyes to her.
She quickly changed direction and entered an alley, running down the dark alley as she heard the crawler following her. A corner was coming up and she prepared to turn it and her foot caught on something and she fell, her head connected to the ground an-
~§~
Yang crept down the alley, she was nearing a convenience store, it was just down this alley and on the street to the right. She stopped when she heard running footsteps as her hand went to her baseball bat.
She had only seen the crawlers move fast but whatever was running down the alley had two feet, she could hear a snarling and growling along with the quick litter patter of a crawler. She pulled out the baseball bat and waited as the footsteps got closer and closer.
Then a girl in white came round the corner and tripped, falling to the ground and bashing her head. She lay unmoving as the crawler got closer and closer and Yang moved forward. The crawler came round the corner and she swung her baseball bat, smashing it directly in its face and sending it flying back.
It scrabbled about and got back up, giving a little screech as it ran directly at Yang. Yang readied her baseball bat only to see that it was broken in half and was now useless. Her eyes widened as she went for her gun, knowing she wouldn't make it.
Suddenly just as the crawler lunged at her there was the swish of a bald and the crawler fell to the ground, it's head rolling away from its body. Yang looked at it in shock before looking at her saviour to see a girl dressed in black and covered in knives, two cat ears on top of her head and a gas mask covering her nose and mouth.
Yang found herself entranced by the piercing amber eyes that stared at her.
"Thanks" she finally croaked out
The girl nodded and sheathed her katana before disappearing into the shadows of the alley.
"Wait! What's your name?" Called Yang, but she received no answer. She looked down at the unconscious girl on the floor.
"The fuck am I supposed to do with you?"
~§~
Weiss groaned as she felt pain in her head and she felt déjà vu from the cruiser crash. She felt not the concrete of the ally but instead she was lying on something made of wood. Thoughts of the ally made her sit up quickly, her hand going to Myrtenaster but finding nothing.
"Your awake" said a high pitch voice beside her.
She turned quickly to see a girl, at least fourteen or fifteen years of age, she had silver eyes and red tipped black hair.
"Hey, it's okay. Your safe" assured the girl quickly holding her hands up placatingly.
"Where is my weapon?" She demanded of the small girl.
The girl flinched under her harsh voice "Yang took it away, and I'm not supposed to let you out of my sight" said the girl
Weiss didn't know who Yang was but she scoffed "like you can stop me"
"She can't" agreed a voice behind her "but I can"
Weiss turned to see a girl her age wearing denim overalls and a layered shirt, blonde hair falling down her back with lilac eyes that were watching her carefully. In her hands was Myrtenaster which she was fingering delicately.
"I'm not scared of you" lied Weiss frowning at the girl who could clearly beat her in a fight.
"Good, cause we're not scared by you. So let's drop the hostility" said the girl-Yang she presumed- calmly as she placed Myrtenaster delicately on a table and turned, she turned back with a hot bowl of soup in her hands which she held out with raised eyebrows.
Weiss narrowed her eyes suspiciously but couldn't deny her hunger that was trying to take control. Eventually the hunger won and she carefully took it, after one careful spoonful of the soup she began to demolish it ravenously.
"See? We don't want to hurt you, so you don't hurt us?" Said Yang pointing between them "I'm Yang and that's Ruby. What's your name?"
"Weiss" she said quickly causing Yang to raise her eyebrows.
"Weiss? Well Ruby, may I introduce you to Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee dust company" said Yang
Weiss again narrowed her eyes at Yang suspiciously, she knew she was a well known figure but with the world going to shit she wouldn't put it last people to enact 'revenge' against her.
"Relax, relax" waved off Yang "I ain't gonna try nothin'" she said "ain't like there's a Schnee dust company left"
"What?" Asked Weiss shocked as she went paler.
"We get the occasional Atlas broadcast on that radio over there" said Yang idly waving a hand at the radio set and Weiss finally took in the church they were in. "Atlas is in a state of martial law and the Schnee mansion was completely overrun" said Yang "and then the Schnee family was reported missing. But here you are in Vale" said Yang curious.
"What about the other kingdoms?" Asked Weiss trying to divert the conversation.
"Vacuo is gone, wiped, completely destroyed" said Yang quickly and having a lot fun describing a major metropolis being wiped out "and Mistral is in the same state as here"
Weiss felt her breathing picking up as she rubbed her arms "the whole world is fucked" she muttered
"No" waved off Yang before she trailed off and bobbed her head from side to side "Well yeah but Atlas is alright. Personally we're setting our sights on Patch" Said Yang "radio says it's a safe haven. Turns out that the liquid state of the Grimm doesn't like salt water"
"Grimm?"
"That's what Atlas calls them" said Ruby as she cleaned a disassembled rifle next to her.
"Do you even know how to use that?" Asked Weiss demeaningly
"Yup" Said Ruby smiling happily "I have 23 confirmed kills with my Rose" she said patting it affectionately.
Weiss decided not to question the girl further, from what she could tell both girls were not in the best states of mind and that was only after talking to them for five minutes.
"So you've just been hiding out in this church for the last 17 days?" Asked Weiss as she looked around.
"Yeah, our eventual plan is to start heading toward the docks. Problem is that will require supplies and me and Ruby don't know this city, admittedly we can pick supplies and a map or something on the way. Problem is with all the Grimm crawling around we won't be getting far" said Yang.
"Why are you telling me this? Why did you help me?" Asked Weiss
"Cause who the fuck are you gonna tell? Where are you gonna go? We helped you because we aren't dicks" Said Yang "like, you don't have to stay with us but I want to point out that you don't have anywhere to go"
Weiss chose to stay silent and eat the soup at the correct point.
~§~
Blake had been watching the church for several minutes, but when nothing happened she decided that it was pointless, the darkening sky telling her she should get back to her hideout soon. She turned and ran towards the buildings edge. Jumping upon reaching it and running over the next roof, she did this for several miles, hopping and traversing rooftops as she got closer to the building that stood taller amongst the rest.
Blake landed on a roof and climbed up the collapsed radio tower, thinking back fondly to her childhood when she would climb trees and balance on railings growing up. She finished climbing and pulled herself onto the roof walking across the roof of the destroyed Schnee building. It's roof mostly being caved in due to the bullhead crashed on its roof that she had been using as a home for the past 13 days.
She carefully walked over a steel beam and climbed up the side of the crashed bullhead, then she froze as she heard voices.
"See, this place is awesome! It's even got supplies and everything!" Said an excited male voice
"Yeah, this is awesome" Said another calmer male voice.
Blake slowly climbed in and moved through the shadows, peeking round the cockpits entrance to see two men going through the supplies she had gathered over several days.
"Dude! Bottled water!" Said one with sandy blonde hair and a swishing monkey tale.
"It's weird that a few days ago I'd think you'd be crazy to get that excited over bottled water" laughed the one with blue hair.
Hey both laughed as the blonde one went to open the bottle. Blake chose that exact moment to act, dashing forward and drawing her katana and placing it seamlessly at the blond ones neck.
"Who are you?" She asked as she held the katana to the man's neck.
"Woah Woah Woah Woah!" Said the blonde one quickly "we're friendly!" he said holding his hands up placatingly
"Yeah, we didn't know this place was already taken" Said the blue haired one staring wide eyed in fear.
"Names" pressed Blake, putting her katana slightly closer to the blond ones neck.
"Sun!" Shouted the blond one "Sun Wukong, pleasure to meet you!"
"Neptune Versailles" Said the blue haired one
"Alright, why are you here?" She asked
"We just saw it! We thought we could get supplies!" Said Sun quickly
"Are there more of you?" She asked
"No! It's just us" Said Neptune
Blake thought, the two had so far been honest as much as she could tell and they both didn't look like threats. She lowered her katana and backed away several steps, keeping her katana ready as she kept her other hand close to her pistol.
"Sheesh lady" said Sun, rubbing his neck as he turned "was that really neces-" he trailed off as he stared at her.
"What?" She asked, scared he might know her identity.
"Ugh… nothing!" He said quickly grinning awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head "I'm fine"
"Alright then. Well you two can go now" she said, pointing at the exit with her katana.
Both their eyes widened "we dot have any supplies!" Protested Neptune
"We don't even have weapons!" Said Sun "we've only survived this long by running!"
Blake felt her self soften at that bit of information, ironically similar to her own situation. They didn't seem inherently bad, and she would admit that she missed at least some company even if she was an introverted person.
"Alright" she groaned as she took off her gas mask "you can stay. But you are gone tomorrow, got it?" She said pointing her katana loosely at them.
"But where should we go?" Asked Neptune distressed
Blake smiled, an idea coming to her.
"I actually know the perfect place"
~§~
Jaune buckled under the weight being put on his shield. The chomper on the other side snarling as it tried to reach around it. He winced and closed his eyes as the pressure increased.
"Not like this" he muttered "please, whoever's up there, not like this"
The creature gave a loud chomp of its teeth then froze, its head jerking, before it slumped down and slid to the floor. Behind it stood a girl with red hair and green eyes, her mouth and nose covered by a red bandanna and over her clothes seemed to be some sort of armour.
"Are you bitten?" Asked the girl, her eyes flashing dangerously as she held the spear up and pointed at his face.
"No no no no!" He cried out scrambling away, shield forgotten "I'm clean! I'm clean!" He said holding up his hands.
The girl lowered her spear and pulled down her bandanna, an apologetic smile on her face "I'm sorry" she said apologetically "just can't be too careful these days"
Jaune continued to breathe heavily but slowly nodded, he swore he recognised her vaguely.
"Are you injured?" Asked the girl
"No, no I'm fine" he said flashing a reassuring smile
"Alright then, my name's Pyrrha" said Pyrrha holding out a hand
"Jaune" replied Jaune taking the had and Pyrrha pulling him up.
"It's nice to meet you Jaune, now we must move quickly" said Pyrrha as she looked around at the abandoned mall "the creatures are attracted to noise"
"Yeah, found that out the hard way" Said Jaune rubbing the back of his head.
"Come, they're not great climbers" said Pyrrha as she walked away, Jaune picking up the shield and quickly following after her. They quickly walked through the mall and ascended the still running escalators, going up several floors with Pyrrha easily taking out any chompers that got in their way.
They made a stop in a camping shop and took sleeping bags and a tarp along with some other supplies, Jaune was confused as to where they were going until they got to the roof access door.
Pyrrha tried to open the door and after finding it was locked brought her spear down upon the handle, a loud crack sounding out which was met with snarls and the shuffling of feet from all over the mall. They rushed out onto the roof and quickly shut the door, and after waiting for several minutes, determined that the noise had echoed too much for the creatures to locate.
"We should be safe up here" said Pyrrha as she began to place down all the camping equipment, Jaune following.
The sky began to darken and they set up a small camp fire, setting out their sleeping bags and Pyrrha produced two cans of food which she began to cook over the fire.
"So Jaune, are you from around this area?" Asked Pyrrha.
"Ugh, n-no" Said Jaune, surprised by the sudden conversation topic "I was here to attend Beacon"
"You were? So was I" said Pyrrha tilting her head "what were you taking?"
"Ugh… economics and science" Said Jaune "What about you?"
"Sports" Said Pyrrha smiling "I wonder if we would have met if we had gone?" She mused
"Hopefully it would be under better circumstances" Said Jaune and they both chuckled
"Yes, definitely under better circumstances" agreed Pyrrha
"Are you from here Pyrrha?" Asked Jaune
Pyrrha looked surprised before she put on an eager smile "I'm from Mistral, I got into Beacon for my accomplishments"
"Ah, Yeah… I got in the boring way" Said Jaune uneasily
"There is nothing wrong with that, you worked hard for it" encouraged Pyrrha
Jaune simply nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
"So, what was your plan?" Asked Pyrrha
"I just wanted to make my family proud with something, anything" he lamented.
Pyrrha shook her head "no, I mean now?"
"Oh" Jaune scratched his head "I didn't really have one, just survive" he shrugged
Pyrrha nodded "that's been my plan mostly. Though I would like to get out of Vale, but I guess Mistral is like here" Said Pyrrha, giving a quick wipe at her eyes "Sorry"
"No no! It's fine, I've cried a fair bit too" admitted Jaune "I have seven sisters, three of them are younger" he gave a sniffle "I don't know what happened to them"
Pyrrha gave a sympathetic smile "I never had any siblings, so I don't know how horrible that must feel" she said
They sat in silence as the fire burned and the sky turned darker around them.
"So… are we going to stick together?" Asked Jaune, voicing the question he was thinking for a while
"I see no reason not too, we'd have safety in number" Said Pyrrha "I was planning on heading to the docks, or somewhere with transportation" Said Pyrrha
"I can get behind that" nodded Jaune
"Partners?" Asked Pyrrha, holding out her hand
Jaune smiled and took it "partners" he said.
~§~
Ren sighed as he sliced a walkers neck cleanly, the body falling to the floor and beginning to dissolve. He looked around and saw Nora grinning as she slammed her sledgehammer into a walkers head repeatedly, the head now jut a mushy black pile as the rest of the body dissolved.
"Nora" he chided
Nora's manic grin disappeared and she stopped mid swing, looking at him in curiosity.
"I think it's dead" Said Ren, smiling slightly
"Ya never know!" She said, giving one final slam before cheerily skipping over to him.
Ren simply gave a chuckled as he shook his head. "What am I going to do with you?" He asked as Nora stood next to him, her body wriggling in excitement.
"Make me pancakes?" She asked innocently
"Hmm, I don't think that's likely" Said Ren "But I'll see what I can do" he added at her quivering pout.
"Okay!" She said happily before she focused on a walker shuffling toward them and bounced away toward it.
Ren sighed as he watched her. The night when the walkers had attacked had changed her. She had always been energetic when they had grown up, it was something he had grown to love about her.
But then after that night, she had been different. Eager, naïve, childlike but also incredibly violent toward the walkers. He had always suspected she might have had some sort of mental problems, but they had always been able to manage her outbursts.
Now however, she was in a permanent outburst. He still loved her and had adapted quickly, but now Nora was dependant on him. Without him she'd likely go fully psycho.
He was dragged form his thoughts by a wet smack and watched as the walker fell to the ground, its head half caved in as Nora watched it, bouncing on her tip toes. Then without warning she slammed the sledgehammer onto the creature's head, once, twice, three times. She paused, like an artist examining their work before again slamming the sledgehammer onto the creature's skull.
He watched on, unflinching to the violence.
"Nora" he said
Nora stopped slamming her sledgehammer and skipped and over to him.
"What am I going to do with you?" He whispered to himself as Nora tilted her head.
Then she reached up and pressed a finger to his nose "boop" she said before giggling and twirling away, humming a song to herself as she twirled on the spot and looked up at the afternoon sky.
Ren sighed as he looked around the park they were walking through, they were at the base of a large oak tree and the sky was beginning to darken.
"Nora? Remember that time we climbed that tree?" Asked Ren.
Nora stopped her spinning and turned to him nodding eagerly "Yeah! That was super fun!" Said Nora "we ran around, we played with water pistols, we ran around, we ate ice cream, we ran around-"
"I remember you asking if we could stay out and sleep in the tree for the night?" Asked Ren
"Yeah! That would be awesome! I was so sad when my parents said no" Said Nora pouting.
"Nora" said Ren "I think we should sleep in this tree" Said Ren, nodding to the tree
Nora's eyes went wide and she grinned manically as she jumped up and down in excitement. "Yes! Yes yes yes!" She said clapping her hands.
"Do you remember how to-" Ren was interrupted as Nora launched at the tree and climbing up easily.
"Beat you!" She said happily, throwing up her arms
Ren chuckled and began to climb as well "I didn't realise we were racing"
"That's how they get ya" Said Nora, giving him a kiss on the nose when he got close enough. Ren rolled his eyes and got into the branch next to her.
The park was silent as they sat in the branches, the only sound the rustling of leaves as wind blew through the park. Ren felt a hand wrap around his and he smiled as he watched the sun set, giving the hand a squeeze. Eventually he shifted so his back was against the trunk of the oak, Nora nestled in his lap as he pulled out a blanket from the bag he had hung on a branch next to them.
"Night Ren" sang Nora
"Goodnight Nora" he said, giving her hair a kiss.
He looked up to the sky and closed his eyes, listening to Nora's breathing as he felt sleep pull him away.
~§~
The black quagmire that had once been the facility that housed her bubbled as Salem rose from the black liquid. She no longer walked on two legs, instead everything below her abdomen was replaced with a long black snake like body that was made of the liquid.
She moved toward the land and stopped several feet away from the shore. A Grimm crawled out of the ooze and stared at her with its soulless red eyes. She gave a wave of her hand and the creature contorted, its back and limbs snapping as it fell to the floor. After several seconds it stopped convulsing and stared up at her in its four legged position.
"Good" She Said "But could be better"
More Grimm crawled out of the quagmire and shambled up to the crawler, when they reached it they began to dog pile it. Their skins bulged and rippled as they joined together, the mass now growing in size as more Grimm walked up to it.
Eventually the mass grew two arms and two legs and the transformations was complete. Before her stood a creature that was clearly an imitation of a wolf. It's flaw being that the skin was not smooth as it bulged and the occasional eye or claw sprouted form odd places. It looked terrifying, it looked like an improvement.
"Much better" she said as she lowered herself and stroked the creatures black jaw "are you ready to cause some fear?" She asked with a malicious smile.
~§~
Sorry this took so long. Just a lot of shit going down and a lack of motivation to write.
But I had a fuck ton of fun writing Nora and Ren though, I don't know how long this story will actually be though.
See ya!