A/N: This chapter will focus on a few OC's but don't worry there just here to set up the Flood landing and beginning its infection of the inhabitants of remnant. The following chapters will deal with the cast of RWBY. The story is set toward the end of volume 2 but I'll be drastically altering the course of the events after it. And finally the Flood will be the only characters from Halo canon that appear.

The world of Remnant is a perilous place, full of bewitching sights, heartless monsters, and horrific evil, yet even with darkness looming, the world continues to turn and its inhabitants go about their day. Be they farmers, merchants, soldiers, or adventurers, their lives can take several interesting turns. The four Kingdoms protected by Huntsmen and Huntresses, Vale, Vacuo, Mistral, and Atlas, exist as the light in a sea of darkness that wants to engulf Remnant, its Grimm, and the treacherous bandit clans, seeking the destruction of civilization. Yet even as this global battle of good and evil plays out, unknown to both sides a threat from the stars above grows ever closer to descending upon Remnant, seeking only its own nourishment.

A purplish-black hole ripped through the very fabric of space and time, creating a gateway from one realm to another. From within the tear in reality, emerged a twisted being's last resort at salvation, an asteroid containing its last shred of hope for survival. It fell through the portal, carrying a myriad of nightmares and terrors from beyond the stars. One filled with hunger and hate. A parasite that would soon infect the very beings that were unfortunate enough to be near it, taking over their very mind and soul as its vessel and tool of destruction. A flood would soon wash over the lands.

Lorenz Satterfield sat in his dining room, the blinds drawn to keep out the night air, as he relaxed after a long day in the dust mines. A warm meal was before him as he waited for his wife, Melanie, to join him at the table. Their two children were already at their places, eagerly awaiting to dig into their plates as they chatted excitedly with each other.

While the work was hard the small mining town was a nice place to live, even if he'd had to move from his home in Vacuo and away from his friends and family, especially since he couldn't afford the airfare to continue visiting them. But Vale was a far better place to make a living as a dust miner, even if he didn't make the big bucks the miners that worked in the Atlas mines did, as Atlas had much more Dust than Vale to begin with.

Making her way to the table Melanie finally came down, their infant in her arms as he cried and fussed, his cheeks flushed as he kicked. "He's still a little feverish," his wife said worriedly as she cradled her youngest son.

Lorenz nodded as he took a sip of his water before turning his attention to their children. "Why don't you two start on your plates?"

Their eldest, a girl with her hair tied back in a braid and her shirt on backward, smiled happily. "Sure, Dad." She wasted no time and eagerly dug in as Lorenz gave his son, the latter looking just like Lorenz, a reassuring look as he tried to get him to stop crying.

As Melanie fed their infant son, a boy named after his father, Lorenz sat and ate while their daughter talked about her day at school, Melanie listening intently. It was peaceful, it was simple. This is all Lorenz ever wanted for his family, for them to be safe, healthy, and happy, with nothing more to worry about other than day-to-day life.

Oh course nothing could last

Suddenly the entire house began to shake violently as a low roar was heard in the distance, and before they could react, or even understand what was happening, a loud bang rang through the house, making Lorenz's ears ring as he covered them, along with his children's. The lights flickered wildly as they all sat at the table in fright and confusion as the sounds of car alarms filled the air.

As Lorenz fought to clear the ringing from his ears his wife was the first to her feet and moved to the window, peeking past the curtain as the baby cried louder and louder.

"I think something crashed up in the mountains..." she said as she looked up at the dark sky, a low cloud of dust in the distance. "Maybe some kind of aircraft."

Looking at his meal, Lorenz huffed. He knew he would have to check it out. Even if it was just to call the police about a plane crash and nothing more he would need to be certain, especially if it had to do with the mines.

As he stood Lorenz turned to Melanie and sighed, "I should check it out."

His wife's eyes widened with worry as she shook her head, "What if it's dangerous? What if there was a bomb on the plane and it blew up? What if it's the Grimm?!"

"I won't be the only one to check it out, but I still need to look. We'll all be fine the Grimm don't go crashing from the skies or exploding," Lorenz said with a chuckle to reassure her as he headed to the door to grab his boots, Melanie close behind.

As she helped him get his boots on he turned to look up at her, the fear evident in her eyes even if he did know that she trusted him and knew that he knew what he was doing. He'd fought off the Grimm before, this was no different.

Once he was ready he gave his children and her a quick kiss as he moved out the door to the garage, "I'll call if anything happens, and if I'm not back by sunrise I'll send someone over, or come myself, so don't worry if you don't hear anything right away."

His wife nodded as Lorenz pulled open the door and hopped into his truck, waving as he pulled out and started to drive down the street. A figure waving him down caught his eye as he slowed the vehicle down and rolled down his window, "Jake need a lift?" he called out as the figure neared.

A fellow miner by the name of Jake turned as he called out and nodded. "Yeah if you don't mind. I figure there's safety in numbers, you know."

"Hop on in," Lorenz called as the other man reached the passenger side and quickly opened the door, stepping into the truck before closing it back behind him.

Jake looked nervous, more than Lorenz had ever seen the man.

"So...you see what crashed up there?" Lorenz asked as he started back down the street as Jake buckled in and shrugged, his head nodding up to the mountain.

"It looked like a bug ol' rock."

Lorenz hummed and nodded. "A meteor then."

"What you think the mines are okay? Nothing damaged or hit?" Jake asked.

Lorenz gave a nod. "Should be fine. Even if it hit close by it'll take more than a falling rock to cause a cave-in."

"Oh good," Jake breathed a sigh of relief, his face seeming to light up at that fact as they continued to drive in silence until Lorenz reached the main road.

Turning up towards the mountains they kept their eyes peeled as the road started to slope and turn upwards as the forest gave way to rocky cliffs.

Lorenz's grip tightened on the wheel as he eyed the sky and road for anything.

As they turned the final corner they were greeted with the sight of several more of their coworkers gathered, most of the group talking, but some already looking up at the mountain that housed the mine as the town sat below, one pointing to the top of it.

Slowing Lorenz rolled to a stop before they exited, walking over to join the group as the driver of the lead truck turned and waved as Lorenz and Jake approached.

"It crashed into the mountain at the top," the man said. "We're gonna have to make sure the mine's not damaged. I got the boss on the horn and he wants us up there."

Lorenz gave a nod before he was handed a hardhat with a headlamp on it, slipping it onto his head as a few others started to enter the mine, the rest staying out to survey the outside and see if they could get a good look at the impact from outside.

"Crazy ain't it? Never had a meteor hit here before," one miner said to Lorenz as the latter followed a group into the mine.

Lorenz nodded in agreement. "Very weird."

"The impact must have been something if it burrowed into the mountain."

Lorenz agreed but also kept in mind that he still hadn't a clue what the thing even looked like, and could very well not be a meteor at all, and could just have been something like a crashed cargo ship.

The walk up through the mine seemed to take a lifetime, and for every step, Lorenz felt the nerves and worry in the pit of his stomach grow as the voices and banter from his coworkers and the workers slowly died, leaving only the sound of footsteps on concrete and the whirling of fans from the vents that pumped fresh air into the mineshaft.

"Cool it, people. We don't need to attract any Grimm," a miner at the head of the line said, making Lorenz give a small snort. He was right everyone was needlessly on edge. They'd go, check out the damage, then go home and back to work. It was as simple as that, no need to let fear rule your emotions when there was nothing to worry about.

However as if on cue the lights flickered once, twice, three times before shutting off completely, casting the whole mine in complete darkness as Lorenz stood there stunned. "What the hell...?" he mumbled to himself as he quickly got his scroll out. He had enough light on the damn thing to light up the mine if he wanted to, so he hit the flashlight on his scroll and held it out before him, a few others around him doing the same.

"Didn't a few guys go to the main generator room?" A miner asked in a worried voice as the others around Lorenz murmured in agreement and worry.

"Yeah I think so..." Lorenz agreed. If the generator had failed it could be that the impact caused a cave-in in one of the deeper levels.

Bringing a walkie-talkie to his mouth the lead miner called down, "Hey anyone down at the generator?"

"Yeah, it just failed...no reason," a voice responded on the other end as the miner repeated the information back to the group.

Lorenz bit his lip at the news. This was getting really strange.

"Well, do you think you can fix it, or do I need to send a few guys down there to see what the problem is?" the miner asked the one on the other end of the walkie-talkie.

"..." The sound of static answered them, the voice on the other end seeming to have simply vanished, which only made the workers around Lorenz grow more panicked, and worried, which was something Lorenz knew was bad in a dust mine. The more scared people were, the more likely the Grimm would be drawn in and cause an infestation.

"Hello?! Do I need to send help?! What's going on down there?" The lead miner shouted into his radio before repeating his questions again. "What is going on?!"

No answer.

"Geez...rookies," Lorenz heard the miner mutter in an annoyed voice under his breath. "Can't trust anyone these days. Jake, Gregory you go see what happened to them, okay?"

A man at the head of the group nodded, and Jake turned to follow, both disappearing into the darkness behind the group, heading back towards the mine entrance.

As Lorenz's group continued onwards the hairs on the back of the former's neck began to stand, his instincts screaming that something wasn't right. Something was very wrong, but he didn't know what.

Finally reaching the site of impact Lorenz whisted at the hole that was drilled into the ceiling. A beam of moonlight streamed in, casting light on the meteor as a few workers began to gather around and examine it.

It was massive, the size of a car, with a jagged surface, and embers burning on its rocky body. It was split in half, one side completely destroyed while the other was almost completely intact.

It was almost as if something had tried to tear its way out from the inside...

"This thing has gotta weigh tons, wonder if we can mine it and use it as material for dust..." One of the workers said, eyeing the meteor carefully.

"Don't worry about that, any damage to the mine?" The lead miner asked the ones around the impact, each giving a negative response as Lorenz looked over the meteor with worry. He still hadn't shaken the feeling that something was wrong...

A flash of movement from inside the meteor caught Lorenz's eye and he blinked in surprise.

It had looked like...like something was moving. But that was impossible...He must have been imagining things. But Lorenz wasn't taking chances. He'd seen enough horror movies to know not to just go up to some weird alien space rock and investigate it, only for it to be alive."Did any of you see that...?" Lorenz asked as the men continued to discuss the impact as if he had said nothing at all. "...guys? Did anyone-"

A low gurgling moan cut Lorenz off as everyone froze in terror, their eyes locked on the meteor.

Slowly a group of tendrils broke their way out from the still intact part of the rock, and strange popcorn-shaped creatures emerged, their skin a light grey, and their bodies seeming to be a mix between a tadpole and a popcorn kernel.

Lorenz couldn't believe it, as the group stood in awe of what they were seeing, watching the strange alien creatures scurry their way out of the meteor as if they had been hibernating inside of it.

"What the fuck..." Someone breathed behind him as Lorenz backed away from the meteor. This was not what he was expecting at all, nor did he even know how to deal with the situation as the workers around him backed away too.

"Okay people don't panic..." the miner leading them said as he swallowed and took a step back from the alien life that was slowly spreading out before them.

"Easy for you to say! This ain't a Grimm! What do we even do?!"

"Run like hell," another said as he turned and started to do just that, as everyone seemed to get the idea and started running back to the exit.

Lorenz felt his heart hammer in his chest as the sounds of feet running, and the creatures chirping and gurgling filled the air behind him as if they were giving chase.

He saw through his peripheral vision one of the tadpole-like creatures suddenly jumped through the air and it landed on the man in front of Lorenz.

The worker gave a startled shout as he was brought to the floor and a scream followed. Lorenz felt his stomach turn as the creature burrowed its way through the worker's skin and under his clothes. He screamed in agony, writhing on the ground as everyone ran, tripping and stumbling to get away.

More and more workers were pounced on and taken down as the creatures burrowed their bodies into their skin, blood spilling on the floor of the mine. Lorenz felt himself run faster and faster, his lungs burning as his legs started to give way to the pain that filled them.

Running he missed the fact that once the creatures finished burrowing their bodies into their victims' flesh the corpses seemed to reanimate, their flesh paling as their bodies twisted and changed, barbs and tendrils sprouting from their flesh.

As they did one such victim suddenly lashed out, its tendrils latching around the ankle of one of Lorenz's coworkers, as he was suddenly pulled back towards the growing army of twisted, pale bodies.

"Go.Go.Go.Go!," another miner shouted, grabbing Lorenz and pushing him forward, the pair stumbling over themselves as the screams of agony behind them died down, only to be replaced by the gargles, hisses, and low gurgling moans from the aliens that were quickly closing in behind them.

Lorenz could see the entrance ahead, and as they grew close Jake and Gregory appeared, both deformed, heads twisted back on their shoulders, tendrils sprouting from their limbs.

The two jumped, landing before the entrance, blocking it and screeching.

Lorenz skidded to a halt as he stumbled and tripped over his own feet, crashing to the ground with a yell as Jake lunged, tendrils shooting towards the group as another of his coworkers screamed, only for the noise to be cut off with a loud crack.

Lorenz didn't bother to look back, he didn't need to to know his fellow workers were dead, scrambling to his feet Lorenz felt his heart pounding as he ran towards the main door of the mine barely making it past the infected Gregory, the sound of his co-workers being slaughtered behind him ringing in his ears.

Pushing on the heavy iron door Lorenz struggled, a scream of effort leaving his lips as he managed to slide out just as one of the tendrils managed to latch itself around his ankle, Lorenz stumbling outside.

Struggling Lorenz quickly tried to scramble back to his feet only for Gregory, Jake, and a small swarm of the aliens to pour out of the mine as Jake latched onto the former.

Lorenz screamed, the tendrils burrowing into his flesh and digging into him as he scrambled to get away. Nails dug into the dirt as Lorenz desperately fought against his infected co-worker. He couldn't die, he couldn't let this happen, he had to get to his family! Screaming he felt the tendrils digging deeper into his ankle and calf, a scream leaving him as he lost his grip and slid across the dirt ground. With a cry Lorenz disappeared into the dark, the sounds of screams and pain, followed by gurgling filling the air.