This is a story I had planned. I hope you like it.
Ch. 1: Good times
"It's this way" pointed a man in armored combat fatigues along with a gas mask, leading a group of three; including the guide. All three were armed with firearms along with reinforced clothing while the only woman in orange fatigues held her coat where she carried a 2 week old baby.
"How do we know this ship still works? It is possible that the emission melted the machinery" Spoke the shortest one staying behind the group while carrying a suitcase.
"This emission was category one, it would barely cause a non-severe setback in the machinery" Spoke the white-skinned, gray-haired woman as they moved forward somewhat slowly.
"Hehe. We're lucky to have an ecologist with us," she teased.
"Do you think you can go on?" asked the man with brown hair and eyes of the same color looking worriedly at the woman carrying the baby.
"...Yes, it's just hunger, but I'll be fine."
The man was not convinced, but they kept walking. It took them two hours to reach what was a boat on what used to be a dock where the group would get on and arrange their things.
"Did you hear that?" asked the shorter one pulling out his sawed-off shotgun.
"Stay back Jessica" Said the most equipped man to the woman with the name Jessica.
Everyone was silent. The atmosphere was tense, and the moonlit nights added to the nervousness. Several grunts could be heard in the distance.
"Bloodsuckers" Said the shortest one as he secured the briefcase among the things.
"I think it's a horde" Jessica said pulling a 9mm pistol from her pocket.
The bigger one would pull out an M249 machine gun "Fixer, get inside fix the boat. Topo and I will provide cover and Cientifica stay with Fixer" He said as he climbed down.
"Yes Juggernaut!" shouted Fixer heading into the cockpit of the ship to try and repair it.
"This is crazy!" shouted Topo being dragged by Juggernaut. "I didn't join this expedition for a woman who barely gave birth" He said as he pulled out an automatic shotgun.
"You did when you agreed to join" Said Juggernaut calmly standing in front on a fallen log. "Throw flares."
Topo took some flares out of his backpack and threw them over the sides to give enough illumination to the area.
The roars grew louder in the distance. As a rain began to fall on them
"They detected us and they're hungry" Juggernaut said removing the safety.
"John Is it almost there?" asked a frightened Jessica who was pointing everywhere and holding the baby tightly.
"He's almost there! The emission melted some pieces!".
"Topo this is our battle, guard the ship with your life!".
Topo looked ready to flee, but took a frustrated sigh and loaded his shotgun.
The grunts were getting closer.
Jessica held the baby tightly. "No one will go near him."
Seeing the silhouettes being doused by the creatures watching them. Juggernaut began to fire.
The battle was getting more intense. Juggernaut's machine gun managed to slow them down while Topo's shotgun gave support and although Jessica's pistol was no good, it gave head shots.
"Reload!" shouted Topo as he loaded his shotgun.
"That's it!" shouted Fixer starting Dust's engine.
"We're out of here!" shouted Juggernaut as he threw a grenade at the horde.
Juggernaut ran towards the ship, but as he felt the earth tremble he turned to see one of the stronger mutants approaching. He started to shoot, but this one's tough skin was tough and as he stood in front of him he would hit him with one of his arms throwing him into the horde of bloodsuckers.
"Noo!" shouted Jessica. Before she could go to help them, Juggernaut pulled the pin on one of his grenades and would watch as Dust's blast of fire burned several of them along with the lifeless body of the armored giant.
The larger mutant moved closer to the ship as Topo tried to reach it, but was knocked down by several bloodsuckers who began to slash him alive with their claws as he screamed in pain.
Jessica held the baby tightly, accepting his fate. But a flare light would go off. as the ship moved forward and she would see Fixer with a flare in his hand.
"Take care of our son Jessica..." Watching as the larger mutant approached, he would see Jessica who was watching him in fear that he would do what he had to do. "I love you" Jumping off the moving ship.
Jessica, even with the pain in her heart ran to the cockpit and started the engine further away from the shore.
She would turn to see the flare go out, a bang and then an explosion of a grenade and finally silence.
Jessica leaned back with a blank stare as the boat moved forward with a blank stare feeling her tears fall from her face.
It had been 1 hour since he left that place and he had to make a Menagerie stop to get supplies, luckily he had plenty of Liem to trade goods; especially baby things. Along the way she fed her son and let him sleep in a cabin inside the boat.
While driving he dried his tears long ago to concentrate on only one thing. Reaching any city and starting over. For now the trip was quiet, with no sights of aquatic Grimm and no emotions to draw them to them.
She would put a rope on the rudder to keep it straight and go down to see her baby who was sleeping peacefully through the movement of the tide. She would smile and stroke his cheeks.
"Don't worry, my little Artyom. You're safe now" She said with a smile and would go back to her work of reaching a real civilization.
3 years later
"Come on, come to mommy!" she said squatting in front of a baby with pale skin, short gray hair and brown eyes wearing green pajamas. He was taking his first steps towards his mother who was taking them with difficulty but when he had the rhythm he advanced with his arms raised towards her and when he was close to his mother he hugged her.
Jessica was wearing an orange sleeveless shirt with brown shorts and sandals with her hair tied back in a bandana. Not to mention her skin showed some scars from bites, bullet holes and scratches.
"Alright sweetie!" Winging the baby who was smiling at his mother's gesture as she turned him sideways. "I'm so proud of you!" she said to lower him to the ground as her son walked other ways.
Ring
Jessica would see a knock on the door of her apartment that she had managed to get two years ago in the poorest area of Vale, it wasn't the best but it was enough for both of them to live well.
"I have to Artyom, don't worry. Mom will just see what they need," he said as he walked out of his room towards the door.
The apartment was somewhat empty, because she was saving what she could from her job as a pharmacist. But she had a few things inside: a sofa, kitchen, table, chairs, a TV and the room that would be her son's when he grew up.
As she stood at the door she would open it to see a short plump man looking at her. "Good morning Mrs. Belinsky" Smiling at him.
"Good morning Mr. Loriga" returning the greeting. "I guess you're here for the rent, am I wrong?".
Loriga would laugh a little. "As always a very perceptive woman."
"Sure, give me a moment" Jessica said taking out her wallet to count the money and having the amount of the rent she would hand it to her.
"Thank you very much Mrs. Belinsky! Have a nice day" She said to go to another door to ask the rent to another tenant.
"Same to you Mr. Loriga" She said with a smile as she closed and turned to see her son walking towards where she was, she would laugh at that. "Hehehehe, you look like you have the looks of a scout" She would see a clock hanging on the wall indicating it was time for dinner. "Let's eat honey" She said as she would smile and take her son by the hand into the kitchen where she would sit him in a baby chair. As she prepared the porridge and her dinner she watched out of the corner of her eye the sun setting behind the city walls.
She had arrived three years ago in Vale where it was difficult to get papers, but she managed to trick them after telling them that she had fled a town ravaged by grimm so that they would take pity on her and she would obtain citizenship. With what money was left over from her fallen comrades she used it to get this home with Artyom, where mostly Fauns resided, she had no problems with them. It pained her not to share it with her husband John, but she had to move on. She recalled for a moment the Zone where she was born and raised and its dangers...
If you miss me so much, why don't you come back here? Don't you want to finish your research?
That voice had returned, it didn't matter that she was no longer in Arcadia, the Zone was calling her sons and stalkers alike to come and she wanted them both back. She turned to look at Artyom who was playing with a rattle. She wondered if he would be able to hear her or not.
Jessica shook her head sideways,
'You're not in Arcadia Jessica. You left that life behind' she thought as she went back to her homework.
As she finished her meal she watched the sun go down and remembered something.
"You know son, your father once said that when the sun went down it meant you lived another day with your loved ones. How right he was, don't you think?" She asked her son as she ate the porridge smearing her face.
She would smile as she pulled out a napkin to wipe her son.
Ten years later
"Surprise!" shouted in unison the party guests after the lights came on briefly dazzling Artyom.
"You turned on the lights all at once Jonas. You've blinded the creature" Said one of the guests, an older man with short brown hair wearing a Hawaiian shirt and gray pants along with a lizard tail.
"Happy birthday!" shouted one of the guests.
"Is it my birthday?" he asked in disbelief.
"Wow, it's my tenth birthday. If your father saw you now, he'd faint," said Jessica wearing a long sleeved shirt with blue pants. "Go have fun son, you only turn ten once" She said to talk to the adults as the kids played with each other.
The apartment had been decorated for a children's party where some children from the building were invited along with their parents.
"Happy birthday Artyom, aren't you surprised?" asked his friend Karla who had her characteristic puma ears wearing a blue dress with a party hat on her head.
"I wasn't expecting that, thank you Karla."
She would smile. "Don't thank me, tell the adults who organized all this. By the way" She said to put her hands back. "Who's your favorite hunter?" she asked with a smile.
"It's Noxshade!" he shouted excited to know what he had behind him.
"That's right!" Delivering to his hands from Artyom a comic book of a man hanging from a rope while firing a bayonet pistol at a group of grimm with the name "Noxshade, the quest for Erial Vol 7".
"It wasn't easy to get Artyom, but every Liem was worth it. happy birthday!" She said as she hugged him and Artyom hugged her back.
The rest of the party went on with games like: the game of chairs, pin the tail on the Beowolf and of course a "battle" with dart guns to be hunters. At the end the neighbors cleaned up the mess and took their children away from Artyom's party. Leaving him and his mother alone.
"Hey son, I have a surprise outside the building. Meet me there" He said with a smile.
"Yes mom!" He said to hurry to the outside of the building where it was a vacant lot.
When he was outside he noticed that outside had been designed dummies in different positions and a moving band with several target shots. "Surprise son! Your own shooting range. Do you like it?".
"Yes mom! Thank you so much!" He said to hug her warmly.
"Wait son, first. You need something to use it don't you?" she asked Artyom rhetorically as he broke away and she pulled out of a trash can an object stored in a bag and upon opening it was a brand new BB gun. "Tara! Your very own BB gun! Enjoy it son.
"Thanks mom!" he said as he took it.
Jessica would walk over to him. "There you put the BB's" Pointing to the hole in the gun. "Now show me how good you are."
"Yes mom!" he said getting into position as he has seen Noxshade use the guns in the comics or movies.
He aimed at the blank spots and dummies missing only five times at the far ones. "Good job son! Looks like we have a hunter in the family" He said as he smiled with pride at his son. "Let's get a picture to remember this by" He said to pull out his scroll and hug his son as they both smiled at the camera.
Three years later
While her son was sleeping for school she was smoking a cigarette, she didn't really like that habit. But sometimes she needed it and even more so with what she saw on the news.
"Reports suggest that the subject was turned into a beast of unknown origin by unidentified objects presumed to have come from the Exclusion Zone," the reporter said as she showed the remains of the body that was now a triangular flesh artifact. "After investigating his residence, several briefcases with various artifacts were discovered. Authorities are investigating the objects on behalf of Atlas Anomalies Investigation, we will keep you informed I'm Lisa Lavender and this was my-" She would turn off the TV leaving it in the dark.
'Another Renmantian down' She said unsurprised. A snork if she remembered correctly, it was quite common to happen and had to meet certain characteristics to become this kind of mutant.
She gave a frustrated gasp at this. The people and especially those in "AAI" knew nothing, except for the ecologists who had been dumped right there. She recalled her time in the Zone where she worked with her scientist comrades in search of the answers to the mysteries of Arcadia and especially the Exclusion Point. No one had ever been there and it was a mystery what was hidden there. If only he had a way to get there.
He had tried in his spare time to prototype brain protection with the device, but only small-scale experiments were useful; not to mention that the emissions did not go far enough to test it on a large scale.
He went back to smoking.
If he wanted to find the mysteries of The Zone he had to go back or keep hearing on the news about how another Renmantian died or died because of ignorance of them.
He saw his son's room. 'Not yet, until you can fend for yourself. My dear Artyom'
Three years later.
"I'm leaving mom!" said Artyom to his mother who was double checking what he was carrying for the Vytal Festival.
"Just...be careful son. There are people...not very trustworthy" She said unsure of letting him go.
"Heh, don't worry ma. I'll be careful."
Jessica smiled a little, to calm herself. "Just be careful and don't get separated from the Stone family."
"Yes mom" She said to put her backpack on her back.
"Wait!" He said surprised she raised her voice.
"Yes mom?" He would be greeted by a hug from his mother who was hugging him very tightly.
"Are you okay mom?" he asked his mother who looked like she wanted to cry.
"Yes son...I am. Take care son, I love you" She said as they parted.
"Me too mom" He said to walk out the door leaving her alone. She would go to the window and watch as Artyom got into the Stone's car. She just went to her room.
"It's now or never" She said to start looking for something among her things.
Three days later
Artyom returned home after a weekend away with his friend Karla who had gone to this year's Vytal Festival. In the end the Shade academy won. He had bet that Atlas would win. But no way. He had accompanied his friend home. They had moved to another place two years ago.
On that day he had had his gray hair cut short on the sides and let the top grow out and bought a new leather jacket.
As he made his way to the building and into his home he would see how everything was disheveled and disarranged. As if they were looking for something. Artyom advanced carefully seeing that on the table there was a note from his mother. When he took it he would read it and would not believe what it said.
Artyom.
If you are reading this, I will be gone by now. You are old enough to fend for yourself. I left you a good amount of Liem in my bank account.
I'd like to tell you where I'm going and how long I'll be there. When I don't know, the only thing I can tell you, is that mother had to arrange some things where I come from, as promised between me and your father.
Don't look for me, I will try to come back to you.
Atte: Jessica, your mother who loves you very much.
Artyom did the only thing he could think of, he went to the phone and called the police.
What do you think about the prologue? I know it is far from RWBY but I want to play with the elements of this world to this story with the ideas I have. As the story goes, the doubts of this Zone will be solved.
See you in the next chapter