Here we go.

Cover Art: Kirire

Chapter 62

The three of them sprinted out the barn and into the open streets, with the six monsters in hot pursuit. Blake turned and opened fire, but hitting the things wasn't easy. They lacked body mass, and her shots didn't detonate with the dust as expected. Thin blood vessels were just torn, ruptured or destroyed, and the bullets passed through to hit solid objects further back. There just wasn't enough meat for the bullets to lodge into, and not enough of a solid mass to set off the dust. It was like shooting a paper bag. The holes appeared, but the things remained mostly unharmed.

In return, one of them lashed out at her and Blake ducked back behind a truck. The anomaly crashed into it, somehow piercing the veins and arteries into the door, then lifting the whole thing up and throwing it away. Little wonder villages like this struggled to deal with them. They were fast, strong, and close to impervious to bullets, and guns would be the only defence a place like this would have.

Blake unloaded more shots into the central mass, around where the spine would be on a human, and where a thicker mass of knotted blood vessels worked their way upward. Aiming for such a narrow thing on a creature that was in motion wasn't easy. The target was maybe an inch wide. Her shots punched through supporting blood vessels and tore them apart, but soon clicked empty without so much as slowing the thing down.

And there was another one of them after her. Blake left a clone behind and vaulted back and was briefly rewarded by both anomalies leaping on it and dragging it down; they even stabbed their arteries into it to try and devour it, which was when the thing disappeared. It was time enough for her to send Gambol Shroud in on the end of its ribbon, sweeping from right to left and cutting through one of them. The blade did far more than the bullets, slicing through blood vessels with ease and sending red ichor all over the dirt. Gambol Shroud sliced off what would have been an entire leg had it possessed legs. To her surprise, however, it did fall down.

"They still need their limbs!" she shouted. "Cut off the legs!"

The wounded Blood that Feeds wasn't completely out, however. Blake watched in shock as veins and arteries unwound from other parts and began to spread out and poke down, taking the form of a new leg. It didn't create anything new; rather, it used the existing network of veins and arteries in the human form and basically split the number of them in one leg into two. The result was a much thinner, and shorter, looking limb. A human could have never done that because each limb needed that many blood vessels to keep muscles oxygenated, but, to these things, the veins were their body, and they could manipulate them however they wished.

"Damn it! Never mind!"

"It still works!" shouted Jaune. "The more mass they lose, the less strong they become – but we have a bigger problem!" Jaune slashed Crocea Mors through the air, the weapon burning bright white and forcing both his anomalous foes back. They couldn't see, but they could feel it hurting them. As could Jaune, no doubt. His eyes were squinted and his skin pink and raw. "We have a far bigger problem!" he called out. "We interrupted their meal – a meal of potentially a hundred or more bodies. If we don't deal with that soon, we'll be swimming in these guys!"

"I'm sorrrrry!" yelled Qrow, ducking under an arm and cutting an entire Blood that Feeds in two. He was a clumsy idiot, but he was a huntsman, and a damn good one at that. "I can't control my damn Semblance." He parried a strike from the other, and gasped as he was launched back. The sheer strength of its attack had clearly been unexpected. Luckily, Qrow was fine, and landed after a backflip to right himself. "Damn, these things are as strong as an Ursa! They sure as hell don't look it."

"Anomaly," said Blake, rushing to his side. It was more to draw her two Blood that Feeds to him, since he was more capable of dealing with them than her. "Physics doesn't apply. Can you take mine off me? I'll free up Jaune to deal with the warehouse before we have a hundred of these bastards."

He grunted. "I can try. They go after the nearest blood, right? Break off behind me and see if they latch onto me."

Blake took his words to heart and ran past him, then back, further into the village. She made sure Qrow was directly between her and the two anomalies chasing her, one smaller than the other now, and, sure enough, they attacked Qrow. He had four to deal with – though it was closer to three for now, since the one he had cut in half was struggling to find enough blood vessels to form a new body. It was currently devouring its own bottom half, but that didn't seem to let it grow more veins. Maybe it could, in time, mimicking the natural ability of the human body to grow, but it wasn't an immediate enough think for it to get back on its feet and start fighting.

Confident the matter was dealt with, for now at least, Blake reloaded her weapon and jogged over to Jaune. He was still holding his anomalies back with Crocea Mors, but it was taking its toll on him. It was blinding to her as well. "I've got them!" she shouted, leaping in front of him and waving her arms around at them. "Hah! Rargh! Come on! Get your blood right here!"

They couldn't understand her, but they sensed a source of blood that didn't come with burning pain and chose to rush her. This time, she aimed at the ground in front of them, giving her a solid target to smash her dust rounds into and let the reaction happen. Small bursts of fire leapt up to singe their lowest blood vessels. They were so thin and delicate that it was enough to cause some to pop, and for one of them to tumble forward as its feet burned away.

"Deal with the warehouse!" she said. "Qrow and I can handle these!"

Blake wished she felt the optimism coming out her mouth, but this was for the best either way. Leaping away from the anomalies, she left behind a clone, this time with dust, but the things seemed to have learned what was and wasn't real and ignored the fire-based clone to chase after her. Leaping up onto the front steps of a house for some elevation, she took aim in front of them again and fired. Some shots ricocheted, sparking off the ground and failing to ignite, but one or two did, and again tore chunks from their body mass, slowing them down.

A quick glance over showed that Qrow was doing even better. He'd cut another in half, and now only had two more to deal with. The ones he'd downed were still trying to get back up. Neither was dead, but they weren't going anywhere, and could be dealt with after. Looking back, Blake saw hers still getting up, and rushed in for the rare chance to hack at them.

They sensed her coming and gave up standing to attack, lashing out with arms made of little strings of red blood. Staying out of reach of those, she slashed at their arms and cut through more, then hopped back as the blood spurted. It shouldn't infect her unless it got in her blood, but if humans could get it from animals they ate, then it might also infect her if she ingested any. She wasn't about to take that chance.

The whole village was going to have to go. There was blood everywhere from the fight, and it could all become fresh instances of Blood that Feeds if it found a way to re-enter the food chain. Maybe they could burn it, but the safest thing would also be to collect the tainted soil and lock it up somewhere. Maybe bury it in steel containers so worms and insects couldn't get in, drink it, then be eaten by animals that might be later caught and eaten by humans.

Blake growled and swept Gambol Shroud in again, free from grasping arms, and finally managed to get to the spinal column and cut through it. Blood spurted aggressively, but the thing flopped down. Better yet, the other anomaly turned on its ally, feeding off its spilled blood and ignoring her entirely. Clicking a fresh magazine into her weapon, Blake aimed down and unloaded, bringing about enough fire to roast the both of them.

"And done." Despite the horrible show, she felt a smile tug at her features. Success felt good. "Mine are done with. You okay, Qro-"

"Yeah, I'm good." He was already strolling toward her, his trousers bloody but the man himself fine. "They were tough, but not quite as tough as Grimm. Only problem was how resilient the buggers were. I can see why average people would have next to no hope against them." He looked down at his legs and sighed. "Ugh. At least Grimm have the good grace to vanish after you kill them. I don't see how you do this job and keep your sanity."

Blake almost laughed. She'd been in a ruined city time looping indefinitely, and inside a hospital that had turned into a womb. This was honestly nothing compared to the shitshow that had been the Twilight City. In fact, this didn't even rank on her top three most harrowing experiences. "Stay in your job as a huntsman, then. I don't think you could handle this."

"Hey, I think I handled myself just fine. Handled your share of the enemies, too. And I've been around anomalies," he added. "I've had drinks at Alistair's before."

They knew that. Alistair had been open about it, though he could never say what Qrow wanted there. Jaune was interested for sure, suspecting he was reaching out to anomalies on behalf of Ozpin for something or another. All they knew was that he would sit down and talk with anomalies, and that, according to Alistair, most of them were hesitant to accept anything that came from a human. Even if that human had been fundamentally changed by another anomaly.

Trust didn't come easily to the anomalous, and with good reason. Blake didn't believe they actually trusted her or Jaune either, but they knew he was their best shot at living peaceful lives. It was an uneasy truce that both sides wanted to keep going for as long as possible.

"RUN!" Jaune burst out the bar, fire trailing from his hands. "RUN NOW!"

There was no time to ask why – not that she'd have needed to. People stumbled from the barn behind Jaune, writhing and twitching unevenly. Their skin bulged and trembled, and some had little red wires sticking out from their eyeballs and mouths. Blood that Feeds had awoken inside new hosts, and it wanted out. Until the skin, muscle and bone could be broken out of, however, they were trapped inside their new hosts.

"GET INSIDE!"

Jaune raced past them and to the nearest multi-storey building. He slammed into the door and smashed it open, then waved them in. Qrow and Blake wasted no time, and Qrow quickly closed the door and then began dragging a bookshelf across it. Seconds later, something smacked against the outside of the door, then several somethings did the same. There was the sound of fingernails scratching on wood, and then a crashing sound as a woman, her face slick with blood, headbutted a window and reached in for Blake, cutting her arms on the sharp glass and bleeding profusely. Seconds later, she was yanked back out to be devoured by her fellow anomalies.

Jaune picked up and chair and hurled it out the window, knocking the next entrant back and giving Blake time to find a big enough dresser to move, with Qrow's help, across the living room and block it. That didn't stop the anomalies just smashing their new bodies into the wooden walls to try and batter their way in, but they'd bought time. For now.

"I'm in a zombie apocalypse movie," said Qrow, clutching his head. "How is this a thing that's happening right now!?"

"Blood that Feeds doesn't actually posses any natural sharp or blunt weaponry to break its way out the human body," explained Jaune. "Think of their birth like a chick in an egg, but without a beak to break the shell. They can still sense blood and move, but it's the blood vessels that are moving. Everything else is just dragged along for the ride until it rots naturally or is peeled off through other means. They're actually slightly less dangerous like this because their flesh acts like a boxing glove or cushion."

"Less explanation; more evacuation!" snapped Blake.

"Right." Jaune drew his scroll. "Pilot, this is Jaune Arc. We're going to need exfil. We'll make our way to the roof or an upper-floor window and signal you. Come down to hover, but don't for any reason land." Jaune ended the call. "He's waiting for us. I'll check up top for a way onto the roof. You two might want to barricade the staircase. They're going to get in soon."

That was the last thing Blake wanted to hear, but she and Qrow got to work all the same. Chairs, a table from the kitchen, even the TV itself, they stacked everything they could find at the entrance to the staircase until they heard the sound of wood splintering, which was their cue to clamber over. After that, they worked together to carry a couch out of one of the bedrooms and send that sliding down the stairs as well, then threw down every chair and other piece of furniture they could find on the second floor.

"Should we set them on fire?" asked Qrow.

"Sure. Let's burn the house down with us in it."

"It'd take time to spread, and our ride out is coming in soon. A building on fire will be a good way to signal him."

"I'd rather not risk the smoke rising up the stairs and choking us."

"Fair enough." Qrow ran a hand through his hair, then looked to the closest bedroom. "I'm going to see if the guy here has a spare change of pants." The comment had her scowling at him, but he defended himself. "Hey, I have anomalous blood all over my trousers. How about we don't take the risk of me spreading that, eh?"

Ugh. He had a point. "Okay, fine, but don't take long. They'll break-" The front door was finally battered down, toppling the shelf they'd used to barricade it. "Don't take long!" she yelled, readying her weapon. "Jaune! Status!"

"I'm breaching the attic!" he shouted back. "We might have to blow a hole in the roof!"

"Then do that!" Blake opened fire on the monsters in the living room, taking them out as they stumbled and tripped over the downed bookshelf. Like many zombies from movies, they were clumsy and uncoordinated, though she'd forgive them that since they were blind creatures that were trying to break out the bodies they were trapped in. "Bloody hell, we really are in a zombie apocalypse!" she growled.

"I told you!" Qrow's voice came through the wall. "And shit, I looked out the window. Bad idea. There are a lot of these bastards!" He came jogging back to her, and Blake stared. "Don't ask," he said, kneeling down in the flowery skirt, his hairy legs on full display. "Do. Not. Ask. How are we doing?"

"They're struggling," she said, finding her words. The zombies down below – not the technical term, but it fit – were dragging themselves over the bookshelf, and those that came behind tripped over their fellows. They all bumbled and rolled around in the living room area, flailing about and tripping over their own feet at times.

It was looking like they might actually fail to even climb the staircase, but the real problem was that their bodies were being damaged. Blake could already see one which had broken its neck and torn skin. As she watched, red veins and arteries reached out to rip the wound open wider, and slowly began to peel itself out, sliding from the wound like a snake coming out of its burrow. If the occupied bodies were clumsy, the actual anomalies were anything but, and she was sure they could not only navigate the staircases but get rid of their barricade in short order.

"I've got the roof!" shouted Jaune. "Come on!"

They abandoned their post. The attic had been accessed by a pull-down ladder, which Qrow ascended first and Blake after, grimacing as she looked up under the man's skirt and got an unfortunate view of his boxers. When they got up, the attic had a new skylight, a narrow hold that Jaune had broken open nearest the end of the attic, where the roof had sloped down to be within arm's reach.

"Up here," said Jaune, waving. "I'm- Qrow, what the hell are you wearing?"

"It's a combat skirt!"

"That's… Sure. Why not." Jaune wisely let it go. "Come on, we need to wave the Bullhead down."

Qrow helped hoist Blake up so she could reach Jaune's hand, and then transformed into a bird and flew up himself. He could have done that at any time to escape, she realised, but he'd chosen to stay and fight with them. Blake grudgingly offered him a little more respect, but not much. He'd still set this whole zombie apocalypse thing off.

Jaune was waving both hands in the air as the Bullhead came slowly down. Below, human bodies jerked and lashed about, still trying to enter the house to reach them. Blake heard thumping below that suggested some of them were ascending the ladder into the attic itself.

"I swear!" she rasped. "If your bloody Semblance makes our ticket out of here crash right now, then I will murder you, Qrow!"

"Don't tempt fate, you crazy woman!"

The Bullhead did not crash and burn, nor did a Nevermore appear out of nowhere to ruin their day. It came down to a hover less than two feet above the slate tiles, and Jaune scrambled in, followed quickly by her and finally Qrow. Once they were inside, Jaune slapped a hand on the metal wall to signal the pilot to ascend, while the three of them strapped themselves in. The speakers in the back crackled briefly, and then the pilot's voice sounded. "What's next, sir?"

"Hold in the air!" Jaune shouted. "How long can we do that?"

"Eight hours if we're landing after. Six if you want to make it back to Vale without an emergency landing on the way there."

"Then hold position for now!" Jaune turned to them, and stopped shouting to say, "We're still the nearest source of blood right now. If we leave then we unleash all this into the wilderness, and they might find their way to a new village or town."

That obviously couldn't happen. Qrow groaned and said, "Then what? We sit here? I mean, as long as we're safe, that's fine, but can't you use your powers to burn this whole place down or something?"

Jaune shook his head. "Too much of a risk. Some might escape, some might survive, and incineration in the open air will send particles up and out, carried on the wind. Give me a second." He picked up his scroll and dialled a new number. "This is Jaune Arc, of the Containments Office. Vale. I am reporting an infestation and outbreak of Blood that Feeds based on my current location. We are remaining in the air to keep them isolated. Requesting an immediate BTF Containment Unit and team. Numbers are anywhere from eighty to a hundred. Over."

Blake leaned in to hear the response from a masculine voice. "Copy that, Director. We have alerted Director Nicholas Arc, and a BTF Containments Team is being dispatched to your location. How hot is the LZ?"

"It's a damned zombie apocalypse!" howled Qrow.

"Uh. Copy that?" The man on the line sounded a little bemused. "BTF Team will expect hot landing. Are the air routes clear?"

"They're clear," said Jaune.

"Copy. ETA is 4 hours. Can you remain stable?"

"We can. We'll see you soon."

"See you soon, sir."

Blake waited for him to put the scroll away before saying, "Another division of ARC Corp?"

"Something like that. They're a specialist team we have on standby that is tasked to deal specifically with Blood that Feeds. They're veterans, nominally recruited from Atlas ex-military, but a few mercenaries here and there. Most of them are witnesses to ARC Corp or the anomalous who managed to survive on their wits and training. We tend to offer them jobs since a) they've proven themselves more than capable by that point, and b) it's a good way to ensure they stay quiet about what happened."

"And they'll be able to mop this up?"

"For sure," said Jaune. "Trust me. The BTF Task Force is not new to this kind of work."

/-/

The task force made it in three hours and forty-five minutes, saving Blake from the world's most horrendous game of "I spy". They came in four black aircraft, two of which were carrying huge steel containers the likes of which might have been seen on cargo ships. Those two hung back, while the others came to a slow stop. The doors opened on the side, and a few people in black uniforms waved their way.

Slowly, they lowered down – but not enough to land. They hovered about ten metres off the ground, with the Blood that Feeds milling around beneath them. Then, with little warning, they opened fire. Blake watched, curious at first, but the realising that they weren't using dust rounds at all. Their guns shout out long traces of light. For a second, she thought they'd made laser technology like the old sci-fi movies, but she soon realised it was actually razor technology. Specifically, they were shooting filaments of razor wire that whipped through the air and sliced the anomalies to pieces.

The humanoid figures were quickly torn to shreds, at which point the real anomalies crawled out of them. Red, stringy shapes milled about over the slashed-apart bodies, at which point the BTF teams set down their weapons and picked up new ones. They opened fire with what looked to be flamethrowers, but, instead of fire, they released a cloud of whitish gas that sank down over the Blood that Feed. It didn't take long for them to become sluggish and unresponsive, their movements creaking to a halt.

"Is that ice?" asked Qrow.

"Yep. Ice-dust, fired out in a gas. I don't know the exact temperature but it's far below zero, even several seconds after being released. Enough to make blood pump slower, and to freeze the veins and arteries. They may be tougher without human bodies slowing them down, but all that skin, flesh and muscle provides a lot of insulation. They don't have that anymore. It's why the BTF squads get rid of the human body first."

It didn't take long for the anomalies to become inert, at which point the other two aircraft came in with their containers and set them down. The first two landed as well, spilling out men, and they soon surrounded the downed anomalies and opened the cargo containers. Inside were two heavy-duty digging and scooping machines, which one of them drove out. Their own Bullhead came down to land, letting them step off at last.

"Good day, sir," saluted a man in a black uniform. It didn't have much armour, it probably being rather useless against Blood that Feeds, but it was obviously breathable and easy to move in. "Looks like you found quite the mess this time."

"I'll say," said Jaune. "Does this break the record?"

"Not even close." The man laughed. "Your sister still holds the record for when the Burns Office found that SDC mine infested with the stuff. Three hundred of the buggers. Took us a month to clear that out." He glanced back and rubbed his nose. "I give us six days here."

"Six days?" asked Blake. "Isn't that a bit much?"

"First time? It'd be under six hours if the job was as easy as killing the buggers and burning their remains, but it's not. We've got to remove the bodies, dismantle the buildings, store them all, and then excavate the top four inches of soil across the whole village and have that packed up to go as well. After that, we can finally bomb the place and call it done, but then we'll have to carry all the topsoil back to be destroyed off-site. Anything that remains will be sealed away, and whatever it's sealed in will be melted down." He finished and took a deep breath. "We're thorough here. Very thorough. Most of us have seen what happens when these fuckers are loose, so we don't dare be anything but."

"It's all safety precautions," Jaune explained. "Maybe they're not all necessary, but who wants to be the ones to leave some of it in the soil for insects to eat? Dad founded the BTF ten years ago. They've been waging their own war on Blood that Feeds the same as how we have on other anomalies."

"I'm just surprised," she said. "I didn't realise we had an outside agency."

"Some anomalies require more work than others," said the officer. "We're lucky BTF leaves wreckage like Grimm, because it makes covering this up much easier. Still, it's a constant struggle. We have another team cleaning up an instance in Mistral. Only one, luckily, and the Fist Office managed to destroy it before it could spread. Those guys will be having a much easier job than us."

The officer then paused and looked at Qrow, trailing his eyes down the man's rugged face, his utilitarian jacket and red cloak, and then to the pink and green floral skirt ending in a pair of boots. Qrow raised a single eyebrow. "Yeah? Want to make something of it?"

"No, sir. You look great."

"Damn right I do. Legs for days."

"Maybe we should take a photo for Ruby," said Blake. Qrow shot her a grim look and the middle finger. "Seriously, though. Is Blood that Feeds becoming more of a problem recently, or is it normally this active?"

"It's hard to say, ma'am. BTF strikes seemingly at random and you never know when it's going to happen or how many. There have been a few attacks recently, and we're up maybe 10% this year on last, but it's hard to say if that's because there are more, if it's a case of people settling close to them. I can't imagine some conspiracy behind it, though. These things are more mindless than the Grimm are."

"It's something we can look into," said Jaune. "But the only ones I could imagine being stupid enough to mess with them was the SDC. If there's another group, then I don't know who it'd be." He eyed Qrow. "Unless it's someone you know."

Qrow scoffed. "Are you suggesting Ozpin would do this!?"

"I was suggesting the other person who is like Ozpin."

"Ah." Qrow winced. "Yeah, well, I don't think she'd do this either in all honesty, but I'll float the idea past the old man and let you know what he says."

"Do that," said Jaune, "But Blake and I will look into it on the side."

"Look into who?" Blake asked, quietly.

"The Grimm aren't as mindless as they like to let everyone believe," he replied, equally quiet. "Or at least they're controlled by another anomaly that Ozpin regularly wars with. Bit of a psycho, but she's got good reason to be given her past. I'll fill you in later. She's a bit moody, and hyper-dangerous. And, since the Grimm are technically a Reality-Class anomaly, she's sort of out our jurisdiction normally. ARC Corp focuses on stopping more anomalies being discovered; we leave the ones that already got out, like Grimm, faunus, and dust, to other people."

Blake stared at him. "We have direct communications to the person who controls the Grimm…"

"Something like that."

"What the fuck, Jaune. They kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people!"

"It is what it is," he said. "We can't fight every war at once. We need to pick our battles, or things like this will spread across the world while we're fighting a war against the Grimm. Keep in mind they are one anomaly among millions. Even if we joined in, we wouldn't make that big a difference."

"We could kill-"

"We can't kill her. And, for the love of everything you hold dear, do not think like that if I bring you along to meet her. You'll get us both killed!"

Qrow, having had enough of their whispering, came over. They quietened quickly, and Jaune smiled. "Just discussing the clean up," he lied. "But we're good to head back to Vale now. the BTF can handle things here. Thanks for your help, Qrow. Things would have been hard without you."

"Or easier," mumbled Blake.

Qrow chose to ignore her. "Yeah, I'd say no worries but fuck you. This was awful. Next time you need a huntsman to fight the living dead, go to my bitch of a sister. I know you have her on your contacts list."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Next Chapter: 24th July

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