CH 7: Trial by Fire
It seemed like a normal day. Yang, Blake, Ren, and myself were just leaving our class on Grimm studies, which so happened to be our last class for the day. I was glad to be out of the braces, and things honestly couldn't get any better. In fact, Blake and I were going to go to the City of Vale for our first date. Out of nowhere, we all got the flashing red warning on our tablets, and we knew something was happening. This was almost immediately followed by a voice that I guess was Professor Goodwitch, "All students, make for the nearest dorms, a situation has erupt in hangar three, and this is not a drill!" I looked to my three friends next to me and saw the panic in their eyes, you could practically feel it.
What the hell is going on? Has there been a shooting? Are we under attack? Right on cue, we heard a large, almost air sucking explosion, which was soon followed by shaking and the breaking of the tempered windows that lined the hallway. This was soon followed by screams and gunshots synchronized in a rhythmic fashion. "We have to move quickly, if you all don't have your weapons on you, come to my room, I have plenty to go around. I think we are under attack," I barked out, almost as if I was a drill sergeant or something. They looked at me still in disbelief "We have to go now!"
They snapped out of it as I screamed this again and we started running down the halls, not even daring to look out the shattered windows into the courtyard because whatever, or whoever, was attacking us was slaughtering the students and Beacon security forces down there. The screams and sounds of agony and pain reminded me of the night my city was attacked, when I lost everything. Not again, this all can't happen again. I grab Blake's hand as the 4 of us run down the halls and make it to the block where all of our dorms were. When we arrived, we saw Weiss tending to Ruby.
"RUBY! Are you okay?" Yang screamed. I could tell she was distressed as she ran over to her sister.
"Yea Yang, I'll be fine. I think I just got cut a little by the shrapnel from the explosion. Weiss and I were about to enter when it went off," Ruby muttered in a weak voice.
"Quickly move her inside onto a bed or something. I will use so of my Aura to ease her pain." Ren ordered. Blake and I picked Ruby up and moved her into JNPR's room since Yang was in too much of an emotional wreck to do so. It must pain her so much to see her sister like this, I can't imagine how she feels.
"Wait, has anyone seen Pyrrha or Jaune?" Weiss asked almost out of nowhere.
"They were supposed to be getting food together in the cafeteria," Ren answered, "I'm pretty sure they were about to go on a date or something."
"I'll find them, and bring them back here," I practically blurted out. I'm not losing any friends tonight.
"You sure?" Ren asked. "I could ask Nora to try and find them she is on her way back from the weapons crafting room."
"No, tell Nora to get here as fast as possible, I'll go find Pyrrha and Jaune," I replied as I ran off down the corridor readying my sword, setting it ablaze with my semblance. Fuck, I left my revolver back in my room, the one time I need it. I continue running watching other students hurry the other way. Many of them telling me to run back, that there were too many, yet they didn't say who they was. Many of them looked injured and frustrated. Many were in shock. A couple of them were dragging a student who didn't even have any legs anymore. They were simply gone, reduced to a pile of shredded clothing and bone. What could have caused this? I ran past the cafeteria only to not find Pyrrha and Jaune. All of a sudden, I heard my tablet go off again.
It was a message from Ren: "Mako, they made it back safely, and Ruby is going to be just fine." Just as I finished reading this, I looked up to see what the source of all the fighting was. It was an attack droid of some kind with 4 bladed arms and stood about as tall as a grown human man. It had a matte black paint job, yet it sported red symbols that indicated who the owner of it was, the White Fang. How can this one droid cause all this trouble? I ready my sword and charge at the droid, making contact with one of its arms. Damn this armor is tough. The droid which, excluding the arms, looked humanoid in appearance, merely shrugged off the blow I dealt it and swung one of its free appendages at me, forcing myself to roll back out of its reach. This one droid still doesn't explain all this damage in the cafeteria. Also, didn't the PA say it originated in the courtyard? This all raced through my mind as I continued to fight the droid.
I slowly led it out of the cafeteria and into the narrow hallway. This hallway is too narrow for it to take full advantage of its four arms, it's best if I try and end this here. I parry its next combo of slashes almost stunning it for a moment as I attempt to run on the side of the wall and jump onto its back, driving my blazing sword into its back. The droid takes little notice of this and tries to get me off its back as I drive the sword deeper and deeper into its armor, twisting it with all my strength. Its movements turn into a frenzy as it finally realizes that I am about to subdue it. That's when out of nowhere, I hear a beeping emitting from inside the droid. A BOMB. That what's caused the explosion. The bots have a self-destruct function. This is all running through my mind as I pull my sword out of the droid, jumping pack as far away as I could until I saw a white flash and the area around me was engulfed in flame.
The force from the blast flung my body even further down the hallway, the flames singing my armor and clothes. "AHHH, oh my god this burns!" I scream feeling the skin on my legs practically melt away. Looking down at my legs, which before this were nearly healed, only to find charred bone and muscle. There was practically no blood. I guess the blast was so hot, it simply vaporize my blood. I looked at my arms which were protected by my armor as were my hands. I didn't even bother touching my face because, luckily, it was facing away from the blast. Part of my hair, however felt like it was gone. I couldn't even get up, hell I couldn't even move. I just lay there as the flames started to subside.
All of a sudden, two WF soldiers run up to me, well what was left of me. Great first the bots now actual soldiers are here. I'm all out of luck. One of the soldiers looks down at my broken and burnt body and mutter, "Why kill him? We would be putting him out of a lot of much needed pain for what his people have done to our people." He lowers his gun as the other Faunus who I guess had a monkey tail of some sorts responded, "Yeah, you are right, let's go back to the hangar, the others found what we needed." He also lowers his weapons as they run back towards the hangar. Wow my life spared out of pure hatred, is this the world I live in?
I looked to my left to see my tablet face down on the ground. Maybe I can call for help, or message Ren. I flip it over to find the screen shattered beyond use. Fuck. Nothing ever works out for me. Now unable to move, with the other pain settling in, I continue to try to move, but to no avail. All of a sudden down the hallway I see Jaune and a male student I do not recognize, who has short red hair and is brandishing a battle axe. "Mako, is that you?" Jaune screams from down the hallway, "Quick Jacob we tell the other we have found him."
"On it," the other student replies pulling out his tablet. "I think the worst is finally over." Never ever say the worst is finally over, that's what I've learned. It can always get worse. Practically right once the words leave his mouth his chest essentially explodes followed by gunfire coming through the windows, sending his body to the ground his hands still clenching his axe, his brown eyes still open. It came from a dropship that was carrying WF soldiers as they unloaded on the hallway from outside. Jaune luckily enough reacted fast enough to draw his shield and hugged the floor attempting to gain some cover from the rain of hot metal passing overhead.
"Don't move Mako! Whatever you do, don't move!" he yells.
"Trust me I can't move," I respond pointing to my legs.
"Man, your legs always get fucked up! First the crash, now this," he says jokingly, trying to lighten the mood since we were still getting shot at. It went on for another ten, long seconds. Although, to me, it felt like ten minutes. The ship started to ascend, and the shooting subsided. Jaune ran over to me, not even bothering to check on the other student, since even after he was shot through the chest, the rain of bullets struck his body. The student's body was a mangled mess, one could only recognize the battle axe he was still clenching. Jaune reached for my legs, attempting to pick me up by them, only for the charred muscle and bone on my right lef to come loose and fall apart in his own hands. He looked up at my face, in shock, still not believing what had just happened.
"Mako, don't worry. Before Jacob got shot, I think he sent a message to a first response Beacon medical team," Jaune stated, once again, trying to lighten the mood. My right leg is fucking gone. What am I supposed to do now? My life is ruined. Eventually, after a couple of minutes, a team of three EMTS came by with a stretcher, which I was soon lifted on to. Marching outside to an ambulance, I was able to take a glance of the devastation. The courtyard was reduced to, essentially, a giant crater, the windows throughout the main hall shattered, and singed furnishings were everywhere. My god, every place I have ever lived gets fucking torched. Just as I finished thinking about this, I hear one of the EMTS say that the medical center at Beacon is too full from the amount of wounded students, and then he said they were taking me to the First Union Medical Center in Vale. After hearing that, they put me on some pain medication with an IV in the ambulance. I slowly went unconscious with a nervous Jaune by my side.