Hey everyone! I'm happy to write this chapter, I feel a little bit stronger and I'm optimistic that my health will get even better, and I hope you'll excuse if there are any flaws in my writing. I believe I am getting better at it, but I fear it is still quite amateur. I hope everyone is doing well and that their holidays have been good!
"You survived, lad. That's what we do, some of us aren't lucky though. Never apologize for your fortune, you did what you thought is best, and those men died to ensure their families could get to the shelter. Now tell your story." He spoke as he released me and I could see the anguish in the man's eyes, he was felling the loss, but he was a soldier. To be a soldier is to give up your humanity when the situation requires it.
"First things first then..." I said starting the story.
Barren Lake Settlement, Valean Wilds, Two weeks ago.
I stared at the stars above him, my cerulean eyes gazing and wondering the secrets of the universe. Then I blinked and tried my best to sleep. My breathing leveled, and my nervousness began to subside.
Then a stick deeper in the forest cracked and my eyes snapped open as I could hear the noises approaching. The sounds of something stalking through the forest. In a blink I jumped up and began packing my few items that I had packed, then in a second I was racing through the forest as the cold bit my skin.
I could see the light from a village, my heartbeat matched the pace of my feet slamming into the dirt road that I was racing on. Blood pumped like battery acid and my muscles burned, I felt like I was slowing right as I got close to the far edge of the village.
"Who are you!?" I heard a guard yell, my eyes flew to the top of the wall that surrounded the village, then I spoke.
"I'm a drifter! Something is chasing me, please let me in!" I yelled quickly as he descended the wall and opened the gate, then what had chased me burst through the tree line, but I could see that something was preventing it from advancing.
"Fuck me, Drifter. The hell was that thing?" The guard spoke as he drew a rifle from a sling and aimed at the tree line, then as his reticle crossed the monster, a single branch ripped from a tree ripped through his body and embedded itself in the dirt behind him.
His eyes went wide, and he collapsed immediately, his blood pooling quickly as I slammed the gate shut and ripped the rifle he had from his hands, the weapon shaking in my hand as I yelled.
"Grimm attack! Everyone get ready!" I screamed as loudly as I could as a long writhing arm reached over the wall and pulled itself up and I came face to face with the stuff of nightmares.
A massive humanoid that towered over humans climbed over the 10-meter wall, then it smiled at me and rushed, its body blurred and slammed into me. I could feel my ribs crack as it hit and I was sent flying against the wall of a house.
As I stared up at the beast my hands reached out for the rifle and didn't find it, but there I found a hand axe, my knuckles went white as I gripped it and stood shakily. Gunfire crossed the center of town that I now stood in and the bullets slammed into the monster, its skin gushing a disgusting dark red blood that coated the ground and killed all plant life that it came in contact with.
"Get out of there, kid!" A man from the distance called, as the words hit me, I began sprinting to the rest of the town. The people were amassing a resistance, their weapons were old and rusted, their guns were from two major conflicts ago, some were even old dust powder weapons from before most modern weapons.
I jumped over the barricade line that the village guards had formed, my knees landing as I slid and spun around and raced to an unmanned gun, an old dust powder shotgun. The weapon was a Armington 1893, it was a good kept weapon, no rust but some holster scratches.
I cocked the hammer, the weapon made a single click, then a second click as I drew the hammer back as far as it could go. I aimed down the sights just as Ruby had taught me, the weapon shook in my frightened hands as I tried to force down my fears. The monster suddenly looked up at us and rushed.
All of our weapons aimed and fired and the skin of the monster was flayed as the dozens of bullets hit it, one of its legs was torn from its body as everyone kept firing and the monster crawled, desperate to reach us.
Then just as it collapsed, two more forced their way through the opening in the wall, I watched as their human eyes met mine and then they dashed just like before, but we didn't have time to reload, I watched as everything happened and slung the shotgun across and reached for a weapon an old wood axe that had seen better days. My knuckles went white as I roared and swung, the head of the axe slamming into the flesh of one of the monsters, and blood gushed and spattered around me. The blood that got on me sizzled and burned my flesh and I could feel it seep in and rot my wounds.
"Kid, we need to go!" Someone had yelled to me as I took one last swing and killed the Wendigo. I turned to see dozens flooding the town, my body turned, and I was racing away from the village, hoping that the villagers would get out safely, but I knew that almost none of us would survive.
Back To Present...
I looked at them as I explained my story and drew the shotgun from my back, the gun thudded as I put it on the ground and fell back.
My whole body was wracked with aches and pains, deep down I knew what it was, but I didn't have time to deal with it yet.
"We need to get everyone out of here and get you to Vale. But it will be bloody, and honestly, I don't even know if it is possible." I said and the men's faces were downcast. Bloody bandages fell from my body as I climbed out of the cot, my wounds were around half healed, and I could feel the damage my body had taken.
"First, we need to take account of who and what we have; I need to know how much food and water, supplies and weaponry we have." I said and the men nodded at me and my bloodied hands rose as I examined them.
I had no idea where my confidence had come from, it was like I was possessed. My eyes examined my hands, looking for any major problems, then I gave them a few squeezes and felt the soreness but no other problems.
A single tear fell down my cheek and I pushed away the emotions and the thoughts that followed them. I coughed and gripped a nearby barrel for support as I made my way through the bunker tunnels. Inside I saw men, women, and children, all huddled from the cold. All of them hanging by a thread. Days like these were ones that will never make the history books, days of darkness and pain, were evil prevailed. And that was because the Grimm, so drawn to the suffering of man, were be attracted in a massive way. So people forget moments like these.
The few lights that illuminated the shelter were starting to fade and more people were crying, like when the light went out, the darkness would consume them. As I looked in thought the two men returned to me.
"What do we have?" I asked and they looked to me and shook their heads, I knew what that meant. Nothing good had been found, no weapons other than the ones we had carried in, and very little food. We could roughly last three days.
"Okay, we can last around three days, shit. Alright, round up everyone that can and will fight. Get them all together, and we need to figure a way to distract those things and get everyone to safety." They nodded and I grabbed a map of the town that I had seen and laid it flat on a table.
"Alright, gather up, we need to figure out a plan." I said and gazed around the room, the ash and soot covered men of the village looked at me, their eyes hollow yet somehow focused. I put down pieces of stone and wood that were meant to symbolize important factors in the village.
"Those things bleed, that means we can kill them, yes they can take a hit, but they will die all the same. Right here, we need to decide. I can't make the choice for you, this is your home, but ultimately, the village is gone. So, our priority is getting everyone to safely, but we need to focus on women and children." I said and they nodded, their eyes following my hands on the map as I drew our battle lines and then as the meeting came to a close, we made a choice.
"We attack at dawn..." I said in a stern voice and my eyes shined ever so slightly, something that I hadn't noticed. The men sharpened their axes and swords and pitchforks, all of them keeping that same hollow gaze. We all knew that tomorrow could be our last day, but despite that, they resolved to fight.
"We're all soldiers now. Best we act like we're going to war, kid." An older man said and leaned back going to sleep quickly and I followed soon.
Sadly, the dawn would come far too quickly.
Hey everyone! Thanks for reading my story! I'm pretty proud of my work here and I'm sorry if the chapter is a little short, but I am taking my time to make the story as good as I can make it. Also, if you look at the tags then you'll see that Winter is no longer the primary ship and I made the decision based off the premise that Jaune has changed, and Winter feels too much like Weiss so it's too close to cannon to me. I decided that Cinder would be interesting as Jaune and her seem like weird opposites that could match.
Anyways, thank you all and the next chapter will be out before next Saturday! - PLZnostabby