Chapter 4: The Better Angels
Beta Read by: Trusty McGoodGuy
Disclaimer: Slight Gore and lotsa swearing
America. The technologically driven Titan of Earth. A nation that arguably had the strongest military of all Terran nations. America, despite its sheer might, had been surprisingly xenophobic and reclusive in the first day following The Combine.
Few Valean airships went near America, as they were focused on their closer neighbour, England. The ships that did venture into American airspace were met with surprising, in some cases overkill, amounts of force.
A lone bullhead strayed too close to American Airspace? Send a squad of our top-of-the-line F-22's to shoo it away.
A fishing trawler or cargo transport somewhere it shouldn't belong? Get the nearest missile cruiser.
The Remnatians were quite alarmed at first, but when they had returned to international waters, they quickly dismissed it as paranoia from that countries government. The Americans maintained a strict perimeter to their Western and Eastern coasts, even going so far as to go to DEFCON 3 in the effort to create an impenetrable line on their coasts.
A shame then, that their real enemy wouldn't attack them from either coast. The first assault in the Siege of America...
...would come from within.
Two Days Post-Combine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
It was a fairly monotonous day for the city of steel.
Rain storms had swept in from the north, soaking the inhabitants of the industrial centre, and making it near impossible for its citizens to enjoy themselves outside that day. People worked in their day in, day out jobs.
Before they knew it, the workday had ended. Time to go home, as per usual. People loaded up onto buses, school and commercial. The ones that could afford it, started up their cars and headed out. Soon, the gridlock of rush hour consumed the streets. Cars honked, buses blared.
Tempers rose.
GGGGRRRRRRRRRAAAAWWWW
From the city, you could hear it. A low growl. Guttural, primeval, but loud enough that it had to be far more than just one creature. It was quite distant and faint, however, so few in the city paid it attention to it. Those that did assumed it was something far enough away that it would have no effect on their lives.
Or so they thought.
Fog swept through Pittsburgh, like a blanket of grey mist. Stare into it, and you could see a pair of red eyes staring back. Soon the one pair was joined by another, then another, then another.
Screams pierced the dull, evening sky. Gunshots and the sounds of crashing cars quickly followed. Many got out of their own cars and attempted to peer into the mist, despite the fact that they could see no more than 20 feet in front of them. A few pulled out cameras and began recording.
On the corner, a homeless man had been standing, waving his "the end is near" sign for all to see. When he heard the gunshots, he took off running, screaming bloody murder about "the end being here" the whole way.
In a sick, twisted sense, he was right.
Where a doomsday preacher had ran away from the shots, a pair of officers sprinted towards them. Traffic was too thick to get their police cruiser through, so they ditched it and began running instead. More gunshots filled the air, more screams, a police officer cried for backup. The guttural growl had now turned into a raging war-cry.
Then...all fell silent.
Slowly, ever so slowly, bony black abominations crawled towards its bemused audience. The creatures were enormous, most easily towering over the average person. Slowly, the denizens of Pittsburgh backed away cautiously, hoping not to anger or startle these beasts.
But the creatures paid no mind of these attempts to escape. Instead, they charged the defenceless populous and began tearing into the unfortunate souls that were within range of claw, jaw and tusk.
And it was at that point that any semblance of peace and order fell apart. This would mark the beginning of what would later be known infamously as "The Pittsburgh Massacre."
Jim Caulier was nothing out of the ordinary. He was a tall brute of a man who had been working away in his local steel mill since he was old enough to legally work. Finding a job in a metal plant wasn't too hard a proposition in the city of steel.
He had been heading home when it first happened. The gunshots echoed from skyscraper to skyscraper, quickly reaching earshot of Caulier. He tensed at the sound for a second. Gunshots in the city was never a good thing, but it was far enough away that he assumed police would handle it. He kept walking to his nearby apartment.
Soon, Caulier was at the door to his apartment before he heard more and more rounds going off. They started as distant, occasional popping to a close-by, fully automatic cacophony of bullets. Shouts of terror could be heard, and they were anything but faint.
The large man stopped in his tracks and looked around. Was there a terrorist attack happening right here in Pittsburgh? Jim turned a nearby street corner and looked down the road to find that it was something far worse.
A hideous black creature resembling a giant deformed wolf was skulking down the street. Fresh blood spilled down from its cracked lips. It paused, then sniffed the air before spinning to face Caulier directly. It stared him down as if he were a prize just waiting to be taken.
He froze up for a brief moment. Fear filled his mind until there was almost nothing left.
After what seemed like an eternity, the...monster roared at the top of its lungs before running headlong, straight towards Caulier.
Wasting no time, he began to run out of pure survival instinct. He turned back down the street corner he had come from, only to spot a pair of mutated grizzly bears at the other end.
So, he did the only thing he could think of, he ran into his apartment building, and locked the door behind him. Despite being an American, Caulier owned no firearms. He knew no one else did since guns weren't allowed in his apartment complex.
CRUNK
CRUNK
The mutated wolf-creature was bashing its head against the large glass double doors to the apartment complex, and slowly starting to break the wood and metal frame. Jim was quickly running out time. The fearful American elected to run for the stairs.
Just as he did, the monster burst in, its jaws chomping at Caulier, lunging at the opportunity for its next meal. Jim sprinted up the staircase, as high as it would go before that thing caught up to him.
He made his way to the roof of the apartment complex, and squeezed through the undersized door. Not a moment too soon, for just as he did, the abomination rammed its frame through the door, but failed to get through, for it was simply too big to fit.
It lunged, snapped, and roared at the steelworker, but failed to bypass the concrete of the building. Jim breathed a small sigh of relief before turning to take in the situation around him.
Smoke rose from multiple parts of the city. The gunshots had been an overpowering symphony of noise a few minutes before was now a shadow of its former self, only being dull pops that were few and far in between. In the distance, half a dozen oily columns of smoke had risen to the edge of the sky.
Caulier put his hands to his forehead, his mouth hanging agape and his eyes wide as the full reality of the situation in Pittsburgh began to sink in. This was no minor event, this wasn't even a terrorist attack, it was far too big. It was in that moment that Jim Caulier realized he just survived a full-scale invasion of Grimm.
Or at least, he would have, had it not been for the nevermore that swooped in a moment later, ripping the unfortunate steelworker to crimson hued shreds.
Jim Caulier, along with nearly 60,000 other people, were casualties of the Pittsburgh Massacre, the first major Grimm incursion into a main American city. When they learned what was happening, military commanders all around the country scrambled their forces towards the desperate plight of Pittsburgh.
The SWAT of Pittsburgh was well trained and well prepared, but their fault was that there just wasn't enough of them. For every rifleman, there were twenty Beowolves. For every shield, ten Ursi. Despite the valiant efforts of police teams, sector after sector was overrun.
Surprisingly enough, a cluster of doomsday preppers managed to band together amidst the chaos. Armed with sandbags, armored vehicles, and questionably legal weapons, they formed an impromptu outpost at the edge of the city as a beacon to survivors.
And in turn, to Grimm as well.
When the remaining police teams heard of the outpost through radio, they decided it was time to retreat. The PPD, as well as the remaining civilian survivors that they had managed to round up, headed for what was simply known as "The Outpost," Grimm hot on their tail.
"Alright, Outpost should be just a few more blocks down." Sergeant Contreras commented.
"What's the plan when we get there, sir?" One of his officers asked.
Contreras looked over the group of scared survivors he had under his care until they reached the outpost. They were of all different backgrounds. Young, old, religious, non-religious, poor, slightly less poor.
He glanced for a second at the skeleton crew of police officers remaining to defend them. He only had six officers to defend roughly thirty people through an urban jungle teeming with predators.
Out of the six, only Contreras himself, vulgar as he was, and one other had any combat experience at all. Most of the PPD's best had been killed or went missing in the opening hour of...whatever the fuck this shitstorm was.
"Alright everybody, this is the deal. We're gonna get to the outpost. Anyone who needs it can get meds, food, and water. After that..."
.
.
.
"After that what?" One of the civilians asked.
"I don't fucking know. Hole up and hope the military shows up in time to save our asses, I guess."
Worried glances and murmurs spread throughout the church. The survivors had been lucky enough to find a building that was made primarily of concrete and steel to fortify them against the onslaught of the Grimm.
"These things are drawn to noise, so if we keep quiet and move through the back alleys, we can slip past them." Contreras planned out.
"What's the plan B if they spot us?" Marko, the only other officer there with combat experience, asked.
"Follow me, and run like hell." Contreras advised. Donning his helmet and readying his standard issue assault rifle, he began to walk to the back entrance of the church. The other quickly followed.
The group made its way from alley to alley, tension filled the air like gas. No one dared make a sound, they just hurried along and prayed that they could make it before those creatures found them.
Now only a few hundred feet from the Outpost, the group upped its pace, hoping to make it there before the abominations.
No such luck.
GGGGRRAAAWWWWW
"RUN!" Contreras commanded.
Three police officers stayed behind to cover the civilian's escape, the other three stuck with the civilians themselves in case the Grimm tried to flank them. With quick feet and quicker minds, the civilians managed to make it to the frontline surrounding the Outpost. Contreras quickly followed.
Just as they made it through, Contreras sprinted for the line himself. Under a hail of gunfire and shrapnel, he ran as fast his legs could carry him. He looked back.
A creep was hot on his tail, gnawing at the heel of the sergeant's boot. One more lunge, and the abomination would have a grasp on him. Once more, the creature lunged towards the running officer.
THUNK
Just before it could bite down on Contreras, a tank slammed into the side of the creep, crushing the Grimm. Contreras looked back to see a man with a bushy beard and a baseball cap pop his head out the top of the tank hatch, grinning from ear to ear.
"Talk about a Deus Ex, amiright?" The tank man said.
"Where in the god damn did you get a tank legally?" Contreras asked in disbelief,
"What? The Albatross? You're seriously asking if this thing's legal in the middle of the god damn apocalypse?"
"Touche." Contreras said as he headed in with the rest of his group.
This was just one case of many where survivors flocked to the outpost from all parts of the city. Thankfully, the citizens, as well as all of the officers managed to escape the harrowing parts of the occupied city.
In the days to come, the US military would arrive on station to retake the city of steel. The Valeans, experts on Grimm combat, would volunteer to assist the US in wiping out the Grimm incursion, which despite the US's previous xenophobia, they would quickly accept.
Vale would quickly re-mobilize its fighting force once more. This time to help out what could possibly be a very powerful ally for them to have.
The first huntsmen had come to America.
If you aren't a fan of long AN's, start scrolling.
FAQ (And Review responses):
Q: Why aren't you updating at a steady pace?
A: Because this is a side story. It's just a little something to occupy me while I wait for RT to do something with Locus so I can get back to ASNL. Also, I may have sold my soul to Fallout: New Vegas, shut up.
Q: Do you have a long-term plan for this story?
A: Nope. I don't expect this story to go one for longer than 20 chapters, and once ASNL starts back up I fully expect this story to die and fade away into obscurity, and I'm totally OK with that.
Q: What's with the unnecessary last part of the story involving Contreras?
A: Honestly, the only reason I put that there was so I could hit the 2,000-word mark I set for myself for each chapter because I was short 150 words. Also, because ASNL cameo lololololol.
Q: Why do you keep misspelling Faunus?
A: Cuz I'm from the south, and I'm really fuckin stupid.
Q: What about the brewing Austra-Menagerie war?
A: I'm gonna get back to that in the next 2 or 3 chapters.
Q: Can you send team RWBY to the Fort Worth Gun Show?
A: Ok, first of all, this story takes place 20 years prior to canon RWBY so that it's more original and doesn't mess up canon events too badly. It's team STRQ, not RWBY. Second of all...I dunno, maybe I'll do that. I live like 30 miles from Fort Worth and I didn't even know it was the biggest gun show on Earth. Jeez.
Q: Why did you name Blake's mom Alcea? I thought it was Kali?
A: Again, this takes place 20 years pre-canon. (Pssst, it's Blake's grandma, not Blake's mom.)
Q: Where are all the Kingdoms in comparison to the Terran nations?
A: Good question. In the canon show Vale and Vacuo are connected by land, but I decided to change that in this story to spice it up. Vale is in the Atlantic Ocean between Britain and America, Atlas is between the Artic and Russia, Vacuo is in the Indian Ocean, and Mistral is in the Pacific, off the coast of Japan.
Q: It usually says "Bet Read By: Trusty McGoodGuy" at the top but now it doesn't. Why?
A: First off, I want to see how good I can do on a chapter without GoodGuy to hold my hand. This is a side story, so if I mess up on some parts, it's OK. Second of all, he is really REALLY busy with his university stuff, so even when I finish my chapters I have to wait somewhere between 3 days to a week before he gets back to me, depending on how many mistakes I made and how long the chapter is.
Anyways, Reviews are very appreciated. Please review...yeah.
-Writen