The Bloodstained Rose

A Reason To Fall

Yang looked around too, feeling the same odd sensation. All of them felt dread and the horrible feeling that something was wrong in the place. 

Houses were all boarded up at the doors and windows, many were burned down and brought down form a fight that happened a long time ago, the lingering cold was unnatural for a town that was close to a city by the sea, and the whole place simply had no sign of activity or life from when they came. Not even townsfolk that were trying to get supplies for themselves or people fending off Grimm. Usually, there would be huntsmen and huntresses around such places to get bounty off killing many Grimm in an area but there was no one. Not a single soul. 

"We should split up and check if there is anyone alive around here." Ruby suggested. 

Yang gave her a bitter look. "Are you serious? Grimm are everywhere and if we split up now, it might mean serious trouble if these all decide to swarm." She gestured to a large number of boarbatusks and beowolves around. Not to mention a few manticores flying around at the distance.

"How about pairs then? I'll take Blake. Weiss and Yang, you two can look around the other half of the town." Ruby suggested again, drawing out a layout of the town and where their areas would be. "Maybe we can also look for a place to camp. It's getting dark."

Weiss bit her lip. "Something feels wrong here." She spoke up. "I think we should just stick together and scout around? Maybe clear off the population of the Grimm too?" The white-haired girl added. 

Ruby sighed. "How about this. We split into pairs and we'll rendezvous here? If there would be a swarm, we can take them here where we know the place and we can escape easily. Alright?" She finalized, looking at the three other girls of the team. 

"Sounds good to me." Yang answered, fixing and calibrating her arm and weapon. Blake simply nodded and so did Weiss, although she looked most nervous of all fo them.

They all split up to their pairs and headed the opposite directions, a pair scanning the north side of the town, their other on the south. Ruby and Weiss got paired off together whereas Blake and Yang went off on their own. 

It wasn't long when they heard gunshots, blades clashing and fighting from each side, thinning out the Grimm population little by little. Unfortunately, the Grimm in the area was more than what they thought. 

Both pairs were soon dealing with Grimm that formed crowds around them, Manticore flying in the sky trying to swoop down on them while Boarbatusks, beowolves, and ursai try to move in on them and try to overwhelm them from the ground.

Ruby and Weiss were holding off well on their own as they went around the town but the swarm followed them around and not a single breath of life was found in the houses and buildings around. 

Weiss was quick to dial-up Yang in her scroll to inform them of their situation that might be getting out of hand. "Yang, we don't know where and how but there is a swarm that's been following and trying to kill us off." It was a miracle someone answered her call. 

"Same here! We have to rendezvous to fix this." She told them, Ruby hearing their conversation as Weiss was using her rapier and her powers to keep the Grimm off her as she tried to get across the other half of the team. 

Ruby sped through next to her when a manticore tried to swoop and get her by its claws, quickly shielding Weiss off of it. "Watch your head!"

Weiss ducked under Ruby's arms and kept her scroll, ending the call. "We have to go back. I don't know where this swarm came from!" 

Without hesitation, they both rushed back to their meeting point as they fought their way around and through the horde that was following them. 

From afar, you would think they were heralding sheep, like shepherds at a farm. It was the complete opposite. The herd was the one trying to attack and kill them.