Hey friends, sorry this took so long, I was out of town with my family for a few weeks, but I'm back now, so I'll try to keep the chapters coming, even though it's going to be pretty busy once I start school again. (Blech, school :P) As always, I would love it if you would favorite and follow this story! In addition to that (SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION INCOMING) I would really appreciate it if you spread the word about A Secret Sickness, through word of mouth or just in passing, I want to try and get as much exposure as possible, since I'd eventually like to start writing for a living. Love all of you! Stay frosty and enjoy.
Around the same time Yang was climbing into the low branches of the snow covered trees, Blake was preparing to hurl herself out of a chopper stalled several hundred feet over a lake. She looked behind her at the people she was supposed to be leading, the students who until a few hours ago had been her peers. She was their leader now, and they were relying on her skills to get them through 500 miles of Grimm infested mountains, find the other group, and then get them back to civilization.
She smiled humorlessly to herself as the bay doors opened, the wind wiping the hair of the passengers around their faces.
"Jump now!" Blake screamed over her shoulder, her voice cracking as she struggled to be heard.
Turning, she threw herself out, hugging her backpack to her chest as she fell. She watched the water rush up at her through her squinted eyes, straightening her body and pointing her feet the moment before she hit.
The water burned cold, and the impact knocked the air from her lungs. Some primal part of her panicked, but than her training kicked in and she kicked towards the surface, her backpack bobbing up with her. She broke the surface gasping, flailing as she got a grip on her pack, making sure that the bag it was in hadn't come loose or gotten punctured in the fall.
She looked up as the chopper departed, turning back the direction they had come. Blake kicked, pushing her head high enough to make out the forms of her group, most already paddling through the frigid water towards shore. Blake kicked after them, hating the water with every fiber of her being. The part of her that was still cat was not pleased.
When she reached shore, she assessed her team mates. 'They're not my team mates anymore.' She reminded herself, 'they're my soldiers.'
The thought sobered her. She was heading an honest to god combat operation, in charge of the lives of 15 other people who were not only relying on her, but expecting her to lead them just from the title she had been assigned. She was a little scared, but determined not to let them down.
Everyone she saw was cold, wet, and generally unhappy. Looking at the sky, Blake decided that it would be too risky to set out with so little day light left. They would depart first thing tomorrow, and use the remainder of the day to prepare themselves.
"Alright everyone, we need to get out of our wet cloths!" She called out to the sodden lot huddled before her. "I want someone to start a fire, make it big, Eli, you're gonna be cooking for all of us, I saw some deer on the flight over, Team REDM, you're on food for tonight, Eli, you'll be making the food, Rin and the rest of REDM will be on hunting, I saw some deer on the way in from the direction we came."
She paused and looked at everyone, already starting to break off to do the tasks she had assigned. "Everyone first thing, strip and get on dry cloths, you'll freeze in what your wearing."
A girl from RYCM, Mina, if Blake's memory served her correctly raised her hand. "Where should we change?" She asked, blushing a little. Blake huffed, mildly irritated.
"You'll all be changing here. It's too dangerous to separate, and I'm not going to coddle you through this. We're going to be fighting and killing our here, you're modesty needs to be left behind." Blake was expecting more of an outcry than she got. Some of the girls grumbled a little as the pulled dry clothes from their bags, but all the guys and most of the girls just shrugged and changed.
Blake had a bit of a hard time averting her eyes from all the changing girls, but the cold water helped as she rummaged through her pack for dry cloths. She glanced up and was afforded a view of the naked behind of several girls as they changed, and immediately felt terrible. She hadn't even been away from Yang for 6 hours and she had already checked someone else out. She hated herself.
Once everyone had changed and Team REDM had gotten a large buck slung over a raging fire, from which people carved slices off of it, Blake called a meeting of the other three team leaders.
They sat in a circle a little ways away from the group as they spoke. "Okay, I've checked the maps, Blake said, spreading it out in the middle of them, illuminated by the dim light the fire produced, "and as far as I can tell, were about 560 miles away from where the other group should be," She stopped and pursed her lips, "But that's as the crow flies, and all of this land is either heavily Grimm infested, or snow packed, either way we go slow."
"I say we stick to the foothills," Ricky interjected, tracing a route with his finger along the map, "The high altitude will stave off a good chunk off the Grimm species, but we'll mostly be below the snow line."
Rin nodded in agreement. "It'll add about two extra days of travel, but the reduction in danger via both Grimm and snow will make it worth it, were really not equipped for traversing snow."
Blake agreed, and steered the conversation elsewhere. "About the actual traveling, we really don't have the luxury of having everyone carry their own gear, my idea was to have the heaviest, strongest people carry all the gear, and have the remaining, say, 8ish people acting as flank guards and scouts."
Everyone agreed, and the meeting was adjourned. Blake assigned watch crews throughout the night, than retired to bed.
She woke the next morning before the sun had risen, hating the empty space next to her. There was no slepping body snuggled against her, no warm breath on her cheek, no hand cupping her breast, and she didn't like it one bit. Putting out the remains of the fire, she woke the rest of the group, than got everyone moving. Once the gear was assigned to the proper people, they set off, keeping silent as they traveled.
Even as they ran silently through the forest, Blake felt like she was missing something. The sun was just lighting the sky, turning everything pink and soft blue. Right now, if they had been at home, Yang and Blake would just now be starting their day, waking up early for some kisses and if they were lucky some heavy petting.
Blake's navel complained as she thought about Yang, begging for attention, so she tried to push the thought to the back of her mind and focus on the terrain that rolled out in front of her. She tried, but all she could think was "I'm not gonna have sex with Yang for 6 fucking weeks!" The idea frightened her, never in their entire relationship had they gone for more than a few days without sex. The regular contact kept them both content, happy, and healthy. The idea of going for so long without it honestly frightened Blake.
Her mind was snapped back to reality when the scout ahead froze, raising a fist to signal everyone to stop moving and to be quiet. Blake quietly advanced to where the scout was frozen, looking into the forest ahead, lightly dappled with melting piles of snow and slush.
There, she saw it.
A hundred yards ahead, an Ursa, 15 feet tall lumbered past them, breaking low branches as it passed, leaving an easily followed path of devastation in its wake. The entire party stood stock still, even after the giant bear was out of sight, waiting for the move order. Blake nodded to the scout, Cynthia was her name, and she moved ahead into the trees, slinking soundlessly through the brush.
Blake cursed silently. It was going to be a long 6 weeks.
The previous day.
Yang hung from a branch as she watched the fight below her, keeping her eyes peeled for any opening she could slip in to help. Velvet sat on the branch above her, hugging the tree trunk for balance and nervously going through her first aid kit with only slightly shaky fingers.
"How many do you think there are?" She asked Yang quietly, sealing her kit back up.
"I'm guessing about 50 plus, but a lot of them are dead now." She tried to make out the fight at the edge of her range of vision, but it was too dark too see now, so she relied mostly on her ears to find anyone who might be injured.
"Velvet, I got one for you!" Yang called out as she jumped from the tree, hopping from branch to branch through the foliage, making her way to Danella, who's aura had just given out and had taken a fairly deep, though by no means lethal, blow to the abdomen.
Yang landed in front of her, blocking the path of the oncoming Grimm as it charged. She easily parried the swipe from the left, and followed through with a kick that impaled the creature on Wiess's sword, who had shown up to help.
"Get her to Velvet, close up the wound." Wiess ordered before turning to rejoin the fight.
Yang helped Danella to her feet, and supported her as they made their way to where Velvet was waiting, ready with a bottle of disinfectant.
Danella lay down and pulled up her shirt, revealing het wound. Not severe, but she would surely need stiches.
"Suture." Velvet commanded, holding out her free left hand as she poured sterilizer into the wound.
Yang handed it to her, and backed off. Velvet was focused and in her element. Yang turned, keeping an eye open for danger as she watched velvet work. Her hands were calm and precise as she worked, pinching the torn flesh together with one hand and expertly threading the needle with the other.
Yang was in awe of her skill. Meek little Velvet, hands covered in blood, sewing another person back together with absolute concentration and precision. It was almost funny.
The battle ended a few minutes later, and Yang was helping to dispose of the bodies of the Grimm when Wiess came up to her, looking pissed and more than a little scared.
"Yang, you need to see this." She muttered under her breath, "Now."
Yang dropped the corpse she had been hauling and followed her into the forest a little ways. She stopped dead.
Bodies. Bodies everywhere. Heads hung from trees, rib cages ripped open and disfigured, limbs severed and tied together.
Yang blanched. "…Wiess?" She asked, flipping off the safety on her gauntlets.
"They're all Grimm," Wiess whispered, fear creeping into her voice "And these blade marks, the wounds, are from a human constructed blade." She turned to Yang, eyes wide. "Yang," She gestured to the bodies. "There's a human out here, and it was here very recently." She pointed to one of the closest bodies. "Some of these can't be more than a day old."
Yang started to panic. "Look how old some of them are though," she gestured to the rotted ones, almost completely skeletonized, even in the cold climate. "Whatever killed these, lives here."