Chapter 3

The cool air of night nipped at Jaune's body as he stepped from his front yard to the street. In the distance, sirens and the occasional pop of gunfire could be heard.

Looking towards downtown lay he could see the glow of what were probably multiple unchecked fires.

Taking a deep breath he could detect the faint aroma of smoke. Turning around he looked over his house, not a single ray of light could be seen inside, and he had unscrewed the front porch light on his way out.

Along with keeping the entranceway light off, Ren held the door open with a bat in hand watching the street for any sign of trouble.

Nodding to himself, Jaune quickly jogged back inside the house, Ren closing and locking the door behind him.

"We're all clear; I didn't see any light from outside." Jaune said as he turned to look at his friend.

"That's good; I've set out some of those extra blankets out in the living room to reinforce any of the windows." Jaune nodded, after the power had returned Ren had come into the kitchen to tell Jaune of an interesting idea.

He thought it would be wise to use any spare blankets they could find to cover the windows. He stated that it would help keep anyone or anything from noticing any lights in the house. Jaune thought it was a wise idea so he had helped him by duct taping blankets on all the windows.

"I think we should also have someone keep watch, just in case." Jaune said as he and Ren both walked into the living room.

"What?" Blake asked as her, Nora, and Sun turned too looked at them.

"I'm saying we should keep an eye out for any trouble that might brew in the neighborhood." Sun stood up to face him.

"What sort of trouble?" Jaune eyed Sun, standing at an even six feet, he was a decent athlete from what Jaune could tell. He heard that he did a lot of parkour on his free time, even having Blake tag along with him sometimes.

Which Jaune found surprising since he reckoned Blake preferred to spend her time drinking tea while reading or something. Ultimately he knew that Sun could be trusted in a physical altercation.

"I honestly can't say for sure what kind of trouble; we might encounter looters or more of those things." Sun nodded, though Jaune could see that he was looking out the corner of his eye towards the window.

"So what do we call them?" Nora asked as Ren made his way over to sit next to her, Jaune shrugged.

"I was thinking zombies." Blake looked up at him.

"We don't even know if they are zombies." Jaune shrugged again.

"I don't know what you wanna call them but from what I can tell, if you get attacked then you turn into them."

"Maybe but that still wouldn't mean that they're zombies, it would mean they're infected." Blake argued.

"Why does it matter what we call them? Zombies, Infected, doesn't matter, they're trying to hurt or kill us." Blake shook her head slowly.

"It's important how we see them Jaune; a zombie is something that was dead and had come back to life. Nothing can be done about that; however an Infected would imply that there's a way to stop it before they turn." Jaune sighed a little.

"But that wouldn't be right either; we don't actually know anything about them. Maybe Zombie is going too far in what they are for now but suggesting calling them Infected on the basis that we might somehow help someone from turning sounds like giving false hope when we have none to give." Blake just rolled her eyes as she stood up to head up the stairs.

Jaune looked towards Sun who just shrugged, with a face that suggested he'd get used to it. Jaune walked around to sit on a couch; it felt nice to just relax after today.

"So, who's taking first watch?" Nora asked, Jaune opened his mouth to answer but Ren beat him to it.

"I'll take the first watch." Jaune blinked as he looked towards his close friend.

"You sure Ren?" The magenta eyed teen nodded, Nora stood up abruptly with her fists clenched on her hips.

"I'll join you! Four eyes are better than two!" Ren and Jaune both laughed softly at her energy. Despite Nora's enthusiasm they both knew she tends to fall asleep easy at night. Jaune heard someone coming down the stairs and looked over his shoulder to see Ruby.

"Hey Rubes."

"Hey Jaune!" She called back; she hopped down onto the couch next to him.

"How'd you like the food?" Jaune asked and she looked at him.

"It was amazing, much better than anything Yang could ever make." She said, shuddering at some ill-founded memory, Jaune chuckled at that and patted the top of her head.

"Thanks Rubes."

"How's your baking?" She asked and Jaune looked at her puzzled.

"I suppose its fine, why?"

"Oh, nothing really, I was just wondering if you could make some chocolate chip cookies." Before Jaune could answer Yang stormed into the room.

"Ruby no." She said bluntly, crossing her arms, her face resolute in this matter. Ruby gripped Jaune's arm causing him to look back at her as she flashed a puppy look at him. Jaune's brother mode kicked in but he forced himself not to give in.

"Jaune, pleeeease." She whimpered and Jaune turned away to look at Yang.

"Ruby no, Jaune's already done enough for us as it is. Don't make him into your personal cook or whatever. Jaune you can just ignore her." Yang said but Jaune stood up.

"Ah, it's fine Yang. Besides I think a fresh cookie with a glass of milk sounds nice right about now, don't you?" Yang looked at Jaune for a moment, she had a strange look on her face but Jaune couldn't make it out what it was. Before he knew it, something tackled him from behind. He looked down to see the tiny arms of Ruby around his torso.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She was repeating as he pried her killer grip from him. He looked up at Yang but now she was simply grinning.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Jaune shrugged as he finally free himself from Rubys arms.

"If I knew what I was doing half the time, I probably wouldn't do anything." Yang just laughed as she shook her head, the giant mane of hair waving back and forth.

Jaune walked back into the kitchen to see Pyrrha standing at the sink still. He frowned at that, had she just stayed there the entire time, they finished the dishes a while ago. On the far side Coco and Velvet sat at the main table talking quietly. Coco looked up when she saw him enter.

"Hey Chef, what are you up too?" She called out, Velvet and Pyrrha both turned to him. Velvet had a haunted but curious look in her eyes. Jaune wasn't sure what to do with her; she seemed to look more and more haggard every time he saw her.

"Sup Coco. Velvet." He addressed the two of them, Coco grinned while Velvet just nodded in return.

"So what are you two up too?" Jaune asked folding his arms in front of his chest; Coco waved her hand in an ambiguous motion.

"Nothing much really, we're just talking about the day's events." Jaune frowned a little at that.

"Yea, it's been…something, hasn't it?" Coco's grinned faded as well.

"Yup." Jaune looked at Velvet.

"So what did ya'll think of the food? I didn't mess it up did I?" This brought a smile to Coco's face and a brief one on Velvet's.

"It was really good." Velvet said softly, Jaune smiled and nodded.

"Anyways, I'm gonna make some cookies, so if you're still up when I'm done. Feel free to have some." The two girls nodded and Jaune turned away only to turn back again.

"Actually, I have a question." Coco looked at Jaune puzzled.

"What is it?"

"Have you two picked a spot to sleep for the night? I know my sisters share a room together so it might get crowded in there. I've already told Ren that he and Nora could take my room if need be."

"Actually we were wondering if we could stay in the room to the right of your sisters. It's not terrible big but we could make it work." Jaune nodded.

"That's Sepherinas room. She moved out a while ago so it's free for you to use. If you need more blankets and pillows just find me, Ren or Nora. The two of them know my house pretty well so they can help you." Coco and Velvet nodded.

"Thanks Jaune." Velvet said and he nodded in return.

"No problem Velvet." Jaune turned away and headed back towards the kitchen area to begin baking.

Three Hours Later…

---

Jaune turned the lights off in the kitchen; he was reluctant at first but decided it would be best to keep them off. As he entered the living room he could see Nora wrapped in a blanket resting her head on Ren's shoulder. The magenta eye teen was still awake watching another News broadcast of the fighting going on in downtown Vale.

"Ren." Jaune said softly, doing his best not to wake up the orange hair girl.

"Hm?" Ren looked up towards him, Jaune pointed a finger upwards.

"I'll be in my room if you need me." Ren nodded and turned back to the television screen. Jaune could also see two bats propped up against the table just in case.

The thought of weapons drew Jaune's mind back to what was in his desk. He climbed up the stairs; most of the house was dark with the lights being turned off and everyone asleep.

Blake and Sun had taken residence in Katherine's room. Neptune and Weiss had apparently taken Mina's room. Coco and Velvet were in Sepherinas room. Helena, Miriya, Claire were in their room, Yang and Ruby were hold up in his parent's room.

Jaune opened the door to Nessa's room and peeked in; there was no one in there. He frowned, where was Pyrrha?

He looked down the hall towards the bathroom but there wasn't any light coming out from it. She so wasn't in there, was she downstairs? Jaune was about to go downstairs when he remember the last time he found her up here.

Looking down the hall he could see the faint light of his lamp coming from underneath the door. He turned and walked down the hall till he stood outside his door. Leaning close he pressed his ear against the door, he wasn't sure why but he felt like that was the smart idea.

He didn't hear anything at first but took a deep breath and held it. Still there was no sound, was she asleep? He gripped the door handle and twisted it slowly, pushing the door inward.

Pyrrha was sitting at his desk staring blankly at the Glock that was on the table. Jaune felt a cold sweat break out on his neck and swiftly stepped forward.

Pyrrha jerked back in surprise as Jaune picked up the pistol before stepping back. She looked up at his face, seeing the controlled rage in his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry! I just never seen a gun up close so I got curious" Pyrrha said instinctually but Jaune silenced her with a wave of his hand.

"What the fuck is wrong with you Pyrrha? Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" Jaune demanded Pyrrha could feel her hands go cold.

"I wasn't holding it or anything." Jaune walked to the other side of the room and set it on his window sill before turning back to Pyrrha.

"Doesn't matter, what if you accidentally set it off when you took it out of my desk drawer and set it on top? You could have been hurt or killed Pyrrha or you could have hurt or killed someone else." Pyrrha looked away, shame clearly on her face. Jaune took a deep breath, forcefully calming himself down.

"Look Pyrrha, I know you weren't trying anything but please don't touch it again." Pyrrha nodded as she got up and sat on his bed. Jaune ran a hand through his hair as he picked up the handgun and carried it over to the desk. He sat down in his chair; he pulled the magazine out of the handgun and pulled the slide back.

A single round was ejected, bouncing on the floor. Jaune set the handgun on the desk before turning around to scoop up the stray round and set it back into the magazine. As he set the magazine down on the desk, he turned to Pyrrha. For what it was worth he could see that she was incredible ashamed about what she had done.

"Look Pyrrha, I know you didn't mean to do something bad but please, until me, my dad or someone teaches you how to handle a firearm, don't go near them." Pyrrha understood, still looking ashamed before brightening up for a second and looked at him.

"Can you teach me?" Jaune blinked in surprise.

"Me?" She nodded enthusiastically.

"Yea, if you teach me I would feel a lot better at knowing how to use one plus you wouldn't have to worry." Jaune pondered it over for a little before nodding.

"Alright, I'll teach you but not now. It isn't a good time to teach you how to handle it, so later." Pyrrha smiled but it vanished as she looked past him. Jaune spun around in his chair to come face to chest with Yang who had her hands resting on her hips. He looked up and could see that she wasn't really looking at him as well but at Pyrrha.

"Sup Yang." He said simply, confused by the weird look she had on her face. However it quickly changed into a beaming smile.

"Hey Jaune, thanks again for making those cookies, they were really good." Jaune waved one hand in front of his face.

"Its fine Yang, I like cooking. Besides, I kind of ate more than a few cookies myself." Yang laughed, Jaune stood up and offered the chair for her to sit. Yang shook her head and moved towards the bed to sit next to Pyrrha, who had a smile plastered on her face.

Though for some reason her smile felt off to Jaune he wasn't sure why. As Yang took a seat on the bed her eyes flickered over to the desk and widened then looked at Jaune.

"Jaune!? What the hell is that?" She said looking at the unloaded handgun, Jaune shrugged.

"It's my gun." Yang looked at him as he took his seat again.

"What do you mean by your gun?" Jaune tilted his head a little confused at the question.

"It's my gun; my dad helped me buy it." Pyrrha looked slightly confused but Yang nodded.

"Have you used it?" Jaune nodded.

"By use it, do you mean fire it? Yea I got lessons from my old man how to use guns, plus I've got my license with the help of my old man as well." Pyrrha frowned at that.

"Why?" Jaune shrugged.

"Maybe because he knew of my goal to join the Army like he did when he was around my age. Though he also told me that it was a tool to protect the family and those that are close to me with, so who knows?" Yang took her giant mane of hair in hand, running her fingers through it slowly.

"Do you think he knew what was going to happen?" Jaune thought about it but shook his head.

"I'm not sure any of us could have truly predicted what would happen." They sat there for a little, no one said anything, Jaune wasn't sure what to really say next but thankfully Yang broke the silence again.

"Ruby and I know how to use guns as well." Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"Really? She nodded.

"My uncle Qrow, the guy with your dad, is a police officer. He convinced my dad to take me out to learn how to use a gun. When Ruby was old enough, our dad let her go with me and my uncle. Surprisingly enough she's a pretty good shot. Qrow's got this old Remington .223 rifle which Ruby wanted to use so he taught her the basics on how to fire it and I swear I've never seen anyone as good with a rifle as her. She was hitting targets at a thousand yards out, ten out of ten times." Jaune blinked in surprise to hear that.

"What about you?" Jaune asked Yang held her hand out, palm down and shook it a little.

"I think I'm an okay shot, nothing compared to Ruby but personally I've always preferred to be up close and personal with a shotgun. I mean if someone's got the range on me though, I'd hope Ruby would be there because she'd have my back while being safe in some hidden area." Jaune chuckled slightly and looked at the handgun, his smile fading again.

"While I can't relate to you two about the guns, are you going to be able to use it to kill?" Pyrrha asked suddenly, the mood in the room plummeted. Jaune turned to face the two women in front of him and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"I don't think that's going to be a problem." Pyrrha and Yang exchanged looks but Pyrrha had a look of revelation. She looked at Jaune, sorrow written all over her face.

"You mean earlier when we were heading to the main building." Jaune nodded, his face darkened as he thought about.

"Even now it feels like a dream, I can imagine that girl's head deforming as I bashed it with the bat. It's nothing like in the movies, I felt exhausted afterwards, probably because my heart was beating a million times a second both during and after." Pyrrha was about to reach out but Yang stepped off the bed, kneeling next to Jaune. She placed one hand on his right knee and her left hand on his forearm.

"It's alright Jaune, we understand. Sure maybe not to the full extent but we understand that it wasn't an easy task for you to do but I trust my life in your hands to be able to do what you need to do with that." She said looking over at the desk, Jaune nodded.

"Thanks Yang." He said before looking up at Pyrrha.

"You as well Pyrrha, thank you." She smiled.

"It's not a problem Jaune, we're friends. We have to have each other's back." Jaune sat up straighter, Yang took her hands off him.

"Well I suppose we should all get some sleep, I've gotta take over for Ren on watch soon." The two girls nodded and stood up but Jaune stopped Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha you can just use my bed, I can just use my chair." She looked surprised to hear him say that.

"Jaune, I can't it's your bed." Jaune shook his head.

"Nonsense, I already found you in my bed before." Yang seemed to make a weird sound that was like a mix between screaming and choking.

"Wow Pyrrha, already in a guy's bed eh?" Pyrrha looked down but Jaune could see her face was slightly red though he was pretty sure his was as well.

"Yang, it wasn't like that." She stepped forward to stand next to Jaune.

"Whatever you say, anyways I was wondering if I could just crash here as well?" Jaune looked at her confused at the request.

"Why? You and Ruby already are in my parent's room, the bed should be big enough for the two of you to share." Yang shrugged.

"True, but I'm sure Ruby is already fast asleep and considering how our day went I wouldn't want to disturb her now." Jaune scratched his cheek, oblivious to the look Pyrrha was giving both him and Yang.

"I guess why not, though Ren and Nora are also gonna stop by here so I'll need to set something out for them." Pyrrha nodded, turning to head towards the window and peek around the blanket to look outside. Yang on the other hand leaned closer to Jaune.

"Say, you've known those two the longest. What's up between them, are they together?" Jaune grinned and gave a wink.

"That depends, do you mean together or together-together?" Yang just looked puzzled as Jaune left the room, closing the door behind him.

As he closed his door and turned around in the hallway to see that a single light was on, he was also greeted by the sight of Weiss's face up close with his.

"Jesus Arc, be careful." Weiss said as she backed away, Jaune just chuckled, earning an irritated glance from Weiss.

"I'm sorry I didn't expect to see you up and about." Weiss straightened up.

"I was just returning from downstairs, looking for you. Ren said you'd be in your room." Jaune nodded, a little confused why she would be looking for him.

"So what's up?" He watched as Weiss closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Look, I know I've been, abrasive, but I just wanted to say thank you." Jaune tilted his head a little.

"What for?" Weiss gave another annoyed look at him.

"Come on now, don't be dense. I was as the others said, a bit bitchy earlier. It was unfair of me when you were going out of your way to help me and Neptune." Jaune raised his hand stopping her.

"Look Weiss, what happened earlier between us is more my fault than yours. I haven't been the best person to you these last few years. Constantly annoying you with flirts and attempts to get you to go out with me, it wasn't until recently that I realized how much of an asshole I've been. So I don't blame you for being as you say abrasive. If it was a reverse position, I wouldn't be the mostly friendly person as well whenever they come up." Even in the dimly lighted hallway he could see Weiss looking surprised at what he said.

"So you're not mad?" Jaune shrugged.

"Why would I be? If anything all I want is for us to at least start over and possibly be friends, though I understand if you wouldn't want to even go that far but realize this Weiss, you're here and the others like you thus I'll have your back like I would anyone else here." Jaune said rapidly before taking a deep breath and exhaling, it felt good to finally say that.

"Alright." She said and Jaune looked up, to see a small smile grazing her features.

"Alright?" This time she nodded.

"Friends it is then." Jaune smiled.

"Alright then, now if you excuse me, I need to find some blankets and bedding for Yang." Weiss looked confused.

"She's in my room and wants to stay in there instead of disturbing Ruby." Weiss still looked confused but nodded before turning around to head back to Mina's room. Jaune walked past her to another door in the hallway, opening it to reveal a dozen blankets and pillows.

"Oh by the way Jaune." He turned to look at Weiss who was holding Mina's door open.

"Yea?"

"Thanks for the food." She said and entered the room, closing the door behind her. Jaune smiled and shook his head a little before scooping up half a dozen pillows and whatever blanket he could carry.

He returned to his room, opening the door to see that Yang and Pyrrha were just sitting on his bed at opposite ends. They both saw him and immediately stood up and went to him.

"Here let me help you with that." Pyrrha said, reaching out to take some of the pillows and blankets away.

"Didn't you and Ren cover most of the windows with blankets already? How many do you have?" Yang asked, Jaune shrugged as he picked up a thick blanket and spread it out before laying it on the floor.

"A lot, I asked my mom before why she insisted on buying new blankets but she always said there was no such thing as too many blankets, never understood her logic in that." Pyrrha smiled as she watched Jaune layer more blankets on the ground before setting four pillows at one end. He turned back around, handing her and Yang a blanket as well.

"I guess it worked out in the end." Jaune chuckled as he sat in his chair again and leaned back. Looking over at his clock, he realized that it was nearly one in the morning.

"Well, I guess we should get some sleep." Pyrrha frowned as she took a seat at the head of his bed.

"Are you going to sleep in a chair?" Jaune covered his mouth with one hand as he yawned then clasped them behind his head, leaning back in the chair and resting his feet on the desk.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've slept in my chair, heck sometimes I prefer sleeping in it than my bed." Yang and Pyrrha exchanged looks before shaking their heads but as the two girls turned back to look at Jaune. They could see that his eyes were already closed and it seemed like he was already asleep.

Slowly the two girls got into comfortable positions of their own on each respective side of the bed. Before long all three teens were deep in sleep.

Meanwhile…

---

Ren leaned forward watching the television broadcast flicker before the News station was cut off. The steady tone of the Emergency broadcast station came on and words appeared on the screen.

Telling of how the nation was now in a National Emergency and Martial Law was in effect. He scoffed at seeing that, it was a little late to be issuing that.

There was to be a curfew from seven to seven, anyone seeking passage to leave Vale must go through a Military checkpoint to get certified before leaving the city. Ren scoffed, the message was far too late he feared, the things were growing in numbers far too fast to handle without lethal military means.

Of which he suspected that the only ones to go straight to those means and beyond was the nation of Atlas.

Being both the world's superpower in both technology and military might, they would have logically restricted international travel when Vacuo was afflicted.

Now they would have no doubt closed down their borders completely. Though they weren't heartless, they would probably still look and gladly accept any uninfected they could find. If only to bolster their own nation's military to combat this growing threat.

Ren looked at the ceiling; he would have to have a talk with Jaune and his parents when they came home about what to do.

However Ren also had a faint idea that something had gone terribly wrong with Alexander and Qrow. No one had made any contact with them since they had left, nor had they returned.

Ren checked his phone; he narrowed his eyes to see that there was no cell service. He tried sending a message to Alexander but it wouldn't go through. He set the phone aside and cursed silently to himself.

If something happened, that would mostly mean that they were on their own. If that's the case, Jaune would end up having to not only keep his sisters safe but the rest of the group as well. Sure it didn't have to be him but it seemed they just naturally gravitated to him for a plan.

Jaune however has been mostly busy cooking; cleaning and taking stock of what supplies they did have in the house. So he never had any time to try and contact his father or come up with a plan of his own. If Ren had to speculate, he felt that Jaune subconsciously didn't want to have to worry about it.

For as long as Ren known Jaune, he could see the lack of self-confidence he had in himself. Sure there were some things he enjoyed doing with confidence such as cooking.

Which he was really good in; Ren had no qualms about saying that. However he would hesitate to point out that Jaune had a habit of asking repeatedly to those he fed if they liked his food. Even here he needed to constantly affirmed about his food being good.

Even when he started to heavily workout, Ren saw how much it affected him. While he did become more confident in himself, he always downplayed the amount of work he put in.

Some would say it was just modesty but Ren felt it was Jaune's way of telling himself that he needed to work much harder.

Ren picked up the remote and turned off the television, the room darkened and he could see nothing. Slowing his breathing, Ren listened; there was no abnormal sound in the house.

Outside he could hear the faint popping and cracking of what sounded like fireworks but he knew that it was actually gunfire. Occasionally the sound of a helicopter could be heard but there was no pointing in trying to signal one of those down.

Ren stood up slowly and navigated his way out of the living room, making sure to go slow as he felt the surrounding area. He slowly made his way to the front door, his vision was adjusting to the darkness and he felt for the peephole in the door.

When his fingertips brushed it, he leaned forward to look through it. The outside was illuminated slightly; it seemed that the street lights were working.

Backing away, he made his way over to the dining room where a giant thick blanket covered the window there. Lifting it up slightly, Ren slipped under it to look outside, he could see that all the street lights were in fact working.

However he couldn't see light coming from any of the nearby houses. The best case scenario would mean that whoever was inside had turned them off or did something like them to block the light from escaping. The worst case being that the occupants never made it home or were dead inside.

That brought to Ren, what Jaune told him about his mother. He could feel his heart wrenching at it, a lump starting to form in his throat as he held back the threat of tears. Taking a shaky breath Ren lowered himself back down under the blanket, careful not to pull it down or make it any obvious movement for a potential observer.

A pair of arms closed in around his chest, they were warm and so very familiar. He smiled in the dark and reached up, placing his hand over them.

"Hello Nora." He said softly, he could imagine the sleepy smile that would be on her face at the moment.

"What are you doing up?" The sleepy muffled voice of Nora came from behind him as she buried her face into his back. She lowered her arms and Ren turned around only for her to hug him again, for most people the guy would carry the sleepy girl back to get her rest. That wasn't the case for him and Nora.

The shorter girl was much stronger than she looked. She easily lifted Ren up and carried him, bridal style, back to the couch.

"Nora, I've got to keep watch for a little longer, and then I can wake Jaune up so he can take over while we get some sleep." He said as Nora set him down on the couch, only to crawl on top to lay on him. He could feel the warmth of her body against his; she leaned up towards his face.

Though he couldn't really see her, Ren could feel the warmth of her breath against his neck, crawling up the side of his head till it reached his ear.

"I can think of something that'll make time go by real quick." At that moment Ren knew, shit was about to get real.

Nora's face centered itself with his; he could feel the softness of her lips press against his. As they were locked kissing each other, Ren placed one hand on the small of her back with the other one resting on her ass. Giving it a small squeeze Nora jumped a little, a giggle escaping from her mouth as they broke away slightly to breath.

As they locked lips with each other, Ren could feel Nora's hands drift lower and lower till she was rubbing his crotch from the outside of his pants. He could feel his member stiffen at the friction of her rubbing; a mischievous giggle escaped her lips.

"It seems someone isn't sleepy as well." She whispered in his ear before going back to kiss him, he could feel her hands reaching up and deftly undoing his pants.

Nora lifted herself off Ren and kneeled down next to him, quickly removing her top then reaching behind her to undo her bra, letting it fall to the floor. She took his right hand in hers, kissing it before putting it on her exposed breasts.

She felt a tingle of pleasure travel up and down her spine as Ren started to rub her breasts with one hand, his thumb circling the outside of her nipple. A smoldering heat started to take hold of her entire body, her breathing increased and she could feel the dampness between her legs start to grow.

Nora reached out with her right hand, feeling for Ren till she found where she had left off after undoing his pants. His dick was stiff but constrained by his underwear. Nora felt a smile split her face as her fingers hooked on the waistband of his underwear, pulling it down.

As his dick cleared the edge of his underwear, Ren could feel it sticking up, smacking against Nora's hand. His own hand was experiencing the bliss of feeling Nora's breast, as always he thoroughly enjoyed the feel of her skin in his hands.

"I love you Ren." Nora whispered Ren felt a smile spread across his face at hearing that.

"I love you too Nora." He could practically taste the happiness that radiated off her at that. Then he felt Nora shift to the right. Ren felt the familiar feeling of something warm and wet sliding up the side of his dick; it didn't even take a moment to realize that it was Nora's tongue. As she reached his head, he felt her actually kissed it before erupting in a barely contained giggle.

"Boop." Ren couldn't help but smile at her silliness but it evolved to joy as he felt his dick enveloped by the warmth and wetness of her mouth. He pressed his fist against his mouth to keep him from making any noise as Nora sucked his dick, her tongue pressing against and rubbing his dick it was nothing but pure ecstasy from there.

Nora enjoyed the feeling of Ren's dick in her mouth, the mere presence of it was enough to make her wet. However as she lowered her head feeling his dick hit the back of her throat, she could feel the thin trails of wetness travel down the inside of her legs.

She rubbed her legs together as she bobbed her head up and down his dick. Her tongue pressed and massaged around his cock, she lowered her left hand. Having it snake down past her own pants and panties to begin fingering herself slowly.

She raised her right hand to gently grasp Ren's balls and began to slowly massage them. She leaned down forward as taking as much of Ren's dick into her mouth till she started to gag a little then lifted her head up slightly.

Then she lowered it again until her face was pressed against his body, Nora made sure to make a swallow motion with Ren's cock balls deep in her mouth.

After a while since they started Ren could feel a tension building in him with Nora's mouth around his dick. He tapped Nora's shoulder causing her to stop her head bobbing though she ended have his dick be balls deep in her mouth.

"I'm almost there." He whispered, feeling Nora nod her head slightly in acknowledgement then proceed to pick up the speed of her deep throating his dick. Ren leaned back as trying to savor the sensation of Nora's mouth around his dick but it was too much.

Her hand was slick from fingering herself when Ren told her he was close, so she doubled her efforts. She could tell Ren was trying to hold on but she wanted him to cum, oh how much she wanted to feel it in her mouth.

Soon enough she heard Ren give a slight startled gasp at the same time as he shot his load in her mouth. The pulsing of Ren's cock as he shot his load down her throat was an experience of pleasure that few things in her life that can beat. When she was sure that she had taken every drop of his warm cum, she finally lifted her head, feeling incredible satisfied with her work.

"It's a shame you can't do that on my pancakes anymore." She said as she crawled onto Ren again, one of his arms snaked around her waist as she rested her head on his chest.

"Yea, I don't think Jaune would be very happy if I did that, especially when his sisters are around." Nora hummed her agreement.

"How long do you think it'll take before he's gonna tap Pyrrha?" Nora asked out of the blue and Ren was surprised to hear her ask that.

"I don't know, but if you ask me I think the real question isn't when is he going to tap her but when Pyrrha or Yang is going to tap him."

"Yang?"

"Yea, haven't you noticed the way she looks or acts around him?"

"Not really."

"Well, it seems our dear oblivious friend has a war for his heart going on."

"Or a war for his dick."

"My sounds more epic."

"It was lame."

"You say that but we both know it's true."

"If I ride your face, will you stop talking?"

"We'll see after we switch with Jaune on the watch rotation."

"Sweet."

Later…

---

Jaune swore that he had just closed his eyes when someone had already started to jostle him awake. Blearily opening his eyes, he looked up to see Ren and a smirking Nora standing over him.

Though Nora wasn't smirking at him, she was actually looking at Ren the entire time, strange. Though to be fair this was Nora, she was in general a very strange girl, but his friend nonetheless.

"Time to switch Jaune." Ren said evenly, though Jaune narrowed his eyes at the magenta eyed teen. Something was off about him as well, for some reason Jaune thought he could detect the faint whiff of stale sweat.

"Alright, what time is it?" Jaune said as he sat forward.

"About half past two." Ren replied, Jaune nodded as he stood up and stretched his back, a loud yawn escaping his mouth. He looked towards Ren who was staring at his desk; Jaune followed his gaze and saw that he never did put the handgun away.

"Your dad gave you that?" Ren asked.

"Yea and before you ask, I am certified to use it." Ren held his hands up in surrender.

"Hey man, I wasn't going to say that. Though I was wondering if you think you actually could use it." Jaune scoffed as he leaned down under his bed and pulled out the shoulder rig. He slipped it over his body then opened his desk to take out the remaining magazines in there. He picked them up and began to stuff them in the three pouches on the right side of the holster.

Picking up the Glock Jaune turned the mounted flashlight on and off before taking the full magazine from the table then slotting it into the magazine well. The Glock which had been slide locked indicating that it was empty snapped into place. Tucking it into the holster Jaune made sure he had everything then nodded to himself.

"Alright then, Ren I've laid some bedding for you and Nora. You two can use it; sorry that you couldn't use the bed but Yang and Pyrrha seemed to have divided the bed." Jaune said, thrusting his thumb backwards at the two dozing girls.

As Jaune looked over his shoulder at him he was surprised to see that they both seem to have fallen asleep sitting across from each other.

The pillows were stacked up in a straight line between them. It almost looked like they were constructing a wall.

"That's just weird." Jaune muttered as he patted both Ren and Nora's shoulders as he walked past them. He closed the door behind them and closed his eyes, the hallway was still dark and it seemed that Ren had turned the television off downstairs as well.

After waiting a few more minutes, Jaune's eye sight adjusted enough that he could navigate the hallway and down the stairs. Fishing out his cell, he turned on the flashlight app on it and looked around the rooms, careful not to flash any of the windows in case someone or something noticed it.

He proceeded to sit down on one of the lounge chairs, he was going to sit on the main sofa but something told him not too.

As he was about to turn off his light, he realized that there was a waiting text message for him. He opened it and saw that it was from his mom, the time stamp stating that it was at least six hours old.

-I'm sorry- Jaune felt his blood run cold at that and immediately sent a response.

-Mom?- He waited a few minutes but the message failed to send. He looked at his signal, but there was none, which was weird. He sent it again and waited but once again it failed to send.

Either she wasn't getting it or his phone was being weird. He pulled up his dad's number and sent him a message as well but it failed to go through.

Jaune stood up and paced around the living room to think. He came to the conclusion that the service provider was faulty so he or his parents weren't able to message each other.

Jaune stopped as he realized that they hadn't come home yet.

Nessa's school wasn't that far away, they should have been back now. Even if they had to take an alternate route they would have been here by now.

Were they dead?

He shook his head, he didn't have all the facts he couldn't make any assumptions. He needed to stay calm for the sake of his friends and family. He walked slowly towards the kitchen and turned on one set of lights. It was enough to at least see where he was going and what he was looking at.

He continued to pace around the kitchen thinking. What would dad tell him to do? Aside from staying calm and maintaining what security they had. Thinking back to what he said before he left, he needed to take stock of both the supplies in the house and the bags that he brought with Qrow.

Jaune spent the next ten minutes looking through the kitchen to take stock of what they had before heading into the garage. In there was where they had stored the supplies his dad had brought from the store. After bringing and setting them out on the kitchen table, Jaune began to take in what his dad brought.

He had about sixty four bags of emergency water pouches that held five fluid ounces in each one. While not a lot in the long there it was enough to stave off any serious dehydration risk for a group their size.

Then there were forty packaged meals and another thirty MREs. While great for compact storage they had the unfortunate drawback of mostly requiring water to bring their full nutritional value. Thankfully the MREs come with heating packs while the packaged meals required hot water.

There was also twenty single serving flat breads along with the MREs, Jaune figured they must be some sort of snack for them to use.

After that there were three multi-tools, a hatchet, a folding saw knife, along with the Ka-bar that his dad gave him there was four more similar knives in sheathes as well.

To top it all off was an eighteen inch machete in a black sheath. Pulling the machete out of the sheath Jaune could see that it looked like a tanto blade; Jaune just shook his head as he put it back in the sheath and set it aside.

Next there was also a box of water proof matches, a magnesium fire starter, road flares, binoculars, rope. Jaune wasn't sure what they would do with the rope but then again he wasn't an expert. There were two first aid kits, a lock pit set for some reason, flashlights, and extra batteries.

There were also portable hand warmers; they were tiny bags that activated by simply being removed from their package. There was also a portable butane camping stove with an extra tank of gas for it, along with Chlorine tablets.

Lastly there were the weapons. Jaune found multiple empty magazines for Glocks and a Sig Sauer. There were a dozen thirty round bricks of nine and forty-five caliber rounds. Along with at least sixty twelve gauge shotgun shells and a couple hundred rounds for a five point five six millimeter rifle with empty magazines in the bag.

If Jaune recalled correctly, he dad used a Stag rifle which were using these. This also meant that the spare Glock magazines in here needed to be split between the nine and forty five rounds.

He sighed, which ultimately meant that he needed to load these magazines by hand. Sitting down with a brick of rounds in one hand and an empty magazine in the other he set to work.

Four Hours Later…

---

Pyrrha realized that she was sitting before she even opened her eyes, suppressing a yawn she looked around the room. However she couldn't see anything as the room was pitch black from a blanket covering the window.

Which probably was a good thing since her eyes felt like they were gonna close again at any moment in an attempt to get back to sleep.

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she pressed her feet against the cool hardwood floor of Jaune's room. Looking as her eyes started to adjust she patted herself for her phone and brought it out. Turning it on, the bright LED screen momentarily blinded her.

It was a half past six, far past her normal wake up time but she had been dead tired from yesterday. Mixed in with the fact that she went to sleep late, she wasn't surprised to have a break in her normal routine.

Everyday had been wake up early, stretch, do some weight lifting and calisthenics then run. Long ago it had been an exhilarating task to push her daily. The sweat and burn of a good workout was to her like coffee to others when it came to the morning.

However it wasn't long till that thrill was no longer there for her. Her routine had in a sense became duller and duller but she was trapped by it.

She had become embroiled in so many sports at her old school, winning fame far and wide from it that easing up on the training was no longer a question. Instead she had to increase it to match the expectations of both her parents and others.

It wasn't long after the school year ended that her parents had told her that they would be moving to Vale. At first Pyrrha had been so excited, to go to a new place and experience a new culture with new people, ones that she hoped to be friends with.

Her athletic fame had another unforeseen downside. Due to how well she managed in every sport she was involved in, her teammates no longer tried. Instead relying on her to pull through and lead them to victory.

Sure at first she had been friends with all of them, they would hangout during school and eat lunch together all the time. After school or during practice they would come to her for help or tips but as she started attaining win after win, it soon became apparent that some of them were resentful.

As Pyrrha stepped out into the hallway to look for Jaune, she could still remember overhearing how some of her teammates talking about how she was really just a glory hound. Though surprisingly it wasn't that which led her to be more resented by them, it was the perceived difference in skill and talent.

They felt that for all their hard work that they could never attain the level of talent that she had apparently been born with according to them. No one knew about the countless hours she put in to practice each and every sport. To them she only got to where she was by some genetic fluke or luck.

She smiled bitterly at the memory; it had been a while since she had thought about that time. Summer had been a time to unwind and forgot those memories, then comes the new school year where she met Jaune.

Pyrrha remembered seeing him work so hard that first morning; she had followed him for over a mile. She was surprised to see the speed he was going. When she overtook him, he didn't hold any hard feelings when they miraculously met at school later that same day.

One thing led to another she had made three new friends and ones that she'll forever cherish, Jaune in particular. Not only was he nice but he had come to her aid when Cardin and his cronies had her cornered, she was still incredibly grateful for him doing that.

However when he asked if she wanted to hangout, going so far as to pick her up himself, she became enthralled. She wasn't an expert in matters of emotional ties and the like but she felt confident that she indeed liked Jaune a lot.

To the point that even she was surprised at how defensive she is whenever she sees Yang around him. Pyrrha didn't dislike Yang but something about the way she talked or interacted with him rubbed her the wrong way.

As Pyrrha reached downstairs, she was welcomed by the smell of cooking. Her stomached rumbled slightly and she made her way to the kitchen. The first thing she noticed was the half a dozen bags lying in the far corner.

She wasn't sure what they were but that thought was pushed out of her mind when she saw Jaune setting a four stack high plate of freshly made pancakes. Jaune looked up at Pyrrha and smiled. Pyrrha felt her heart flutter slightly and smiled brightly back.

"Good morning Pyrrha, sleep well?" Jaune said before turning back to the stove top.

"Good morning to you as well Jaune and I did, thank you for asking. So, what are you doing?" She asked, as much as she liked a good breakfast, she was worried that Jaune was forgetting what was happening outside.

Though that thought was shut down as she realized that he was wearing some sort of holster around his chest. It looked like he was now openly walking around with the handgun on him.

"I figured why not make food for everyone to start the day." She nodded slowly as she took a seat.

"That's nice Jaune." He sighed, setting aside his spatula.

"Look Pyrrha, I know that this seems like I'm just ignoring what's going on but trust me I haven't forgotten." Pyrrha was about to speak up when a new voice spoke from behind her.

"Dad hasn't returned as he." Pyrrha looked over her shoulder to see Helena standing with her arms crossed, leaning against the wall.

"Yea." Jaune said simply, not turning to face his sister.

"But we're going to wait for a little while for him and during that time we need to have talk, and by that I mean everyone." Jaune said as he flipped a pancake. He turned around to face Pyrrha and Helena who stood there watching him.

"Helena, if you or Claire or Miriya have any spare clothes that can fit Pyrrha and the other girls, go ahead and set them out for them to try. Remember to be practical about the clothes though, nothing too fancy, light and durable for extended use is preferable." Helena nodded and turned to leave the room. Pyrrha stepped forward as Jaune turned to grab a plate.

"Pyrrha, since you're up do me a favor and start checking outside for any signs of those things. Remember to not be too obvious when looking, I wouldn't want them attacking the house before everyone's up and ready." Pyrrha nodded and left the kitchen. Jaune set his spatula to the side, he wasn't ready for this. He had no idea what he was going to tell everyone later nor did he have a good plan to get them all out of the city.

Jaune took a deep breath to steady his nerves and went back to the pancakes, while making breakfast did in fact seem a bit silly. Jaune needed to do it to calm his nerves; he had no doubt in his mind if he didn't do this he'd be twitching violently from anxiety.

One by one, everyone started to come downstairs. Jaune had already set out blueberries, sliced strawberries, maple syrup, whip cream, scrambled eggs, along with bacon and of course pancakes. The first person to grab a plate was Weiss. Who took a little of everything, Jaune was surprised and she must have seen the look on his face.

"What? I'm hungry and you've shown that you make really good food." Jaune laughed as he turned back around to tend to the next batch of pancakes.

Next came a cheery Sun and Blake who looked like she was going to be sick. Sun grabbed plates for both of them, piling on whatever Blake murmured to him.

"Rough morning Blake?" Jaune asked, she just gave him a deaden look before showing her middle finger to him.

"I'll take that as a yes." Jaune said as Sun laugh, leading Blake to the table. As Jaune turned off the stove he turned to see Ren standing next to him, a serious look on his face.

"Any news?" He asked Jaune shook his head.

"No news from my Dad but VNN as a live broadcast advising people to stay indoors or if they can to leave Vale. The military has apparently been setting up camps along most of the freeways out of Vale. Though now they've just got some random scientist and a Police Captain debating what they should do. Plus it seems cell service is no longer an option to use." Ren nodded then looked towards the window that overlooked the backyard.

"What about outside?" Jaune shook his head.

"No big movements but I did see some of those things about an hour and a half ago but they were heading away from us." Ren nodded and was about to walk away when Jaune grabbed his arm. Ren looked back at his friend and could see the tension in his body.

"Keep everyone here when they're done eating, we've got to have a talk." Ren nodded as Jaune let go of his arm to start cleaning up the kitchen. Pyrrha returned from the front of the house. Jaune looked towards her as she stepped closer to him.

"See anything out there?" Jaune asked as he put away the pan he had been using.

"No it's all clear from what I saw." Jaune nodded and gestured towards the remaining food.

"Grab yourself a plate; I've got to talk to everyone about some stuff." Pyrrha looked a little puzzled but grabbed a plate anyways, loading it with food before sitting next to Nora. As everyone was about done with their food, Jaune cleared his throat. Drawing the attention of everyone there, he winced to see that they really were giving their undivided attention to him.

"So, uh, how'd everyone sleep?" They looked confused at the question.

"Uh, it was good, all things considering." Ruby said, the others nodding along with her. Jaune sighed, he knew it would be hard but this was ridiculous.

"Alright, I'm going to cut to the chase. First I'm going to say that my dad hasn't returned, nor have I been able to get in contact with him or my mom. Yang, Ruby the same goes for your uncle." The two girls exchanged looks before looking back at him.

"What happened?" Yang asked, she didn't look super upset but Jaune could see both curiosity and fear in her lilac eyes.

"I don't know what happened but I do know that Nessa's elementary school isn't a very far trip. This would mean either they were cut off on any route to come back here or something happened. In addition to that the cell service seems to be down so messages and calls aren't going through." Jaune could see his sisters were starting to get upset by this but it needed to be done.

"So I'm going to go through with the idea that my dad mentioned to me before he left." This drew them forward, intently listening.

"Well first really, we're going to stay here for a few more hours to wait for them. However in that time we're going to need to prepare to leave Vale." This brought a murmur amongst them.

"Leave Vale?" Sun asked.

"Yea, the city isn't safe anymore for us to stay here. So the plan is we're going to either head south or east to the country side. There the population is a lot less dense so the danger of running into anymore of those things along with hostile people with hopefully decreases." Jaune said, making eye contact with both Ren and Nora. An Ren was a testament that people were maybe just as bad as cannibalistic lunatics, zombies or whatever was going on.

"Why not head north? Isn't that where the police and the Valean army is holding out against this things?" Neptune asked, he hadn't really said much. Mostly sticking by Weiss's side the entire time they've been in the group.

"Chances are that going straight towards them will only have us run into more of those things or get shot by the Authorities. I reckon that they're not going to take any chance from people that come through the heart of Vale especially considering how fast this spread."

"How long are we going to be out there?" Weiss asked Jaune simply shrugged.

"I honestly don't know, it can be days, weeks, maybe even months till the World Governments can get this under control. Considering that no one had heard anything from Vacuo for a while I think we're going to be in this for the long run."

"How exactly are we gonna get out of Vale?" Coco asked.

"Well we do have vehicles; I've got my bike and so does Yang. If we head south on Glenmore then take a left heading eastbound on Peterson, it'll only be about twelve or so miles before we reach Cider Avenue which has two on ramps that connect to highway 480, which goes out of Vale."

"That goes to Palmwood; it's got a much lower population than Vale." Yang said.

"Yea, but eighty thousand people are still a lot of people Yang. Not to mention we don't know if this hasn't spread there as well." Weiss pointed out.

"True but I rather take my chances on the open road then a crowded city." Yang said as she leaned back crossing her arms.

"Wait a minute, before we even talk about going anywhere we need to know how much supplies we actually have." Blake cut in before Weiss could reply to Yang; Blake looked at Jaune as she pointed at the six bags in the corner.

"I assume those are the bags your dad had with him when he picked us up yesterday." He nodded.

"There are a number of items in those bags that are beneficial to us but I don't think we've got enough to last us in the long term. That's one of the reasons why I'm talking to you all now, we've got to find anything that can be useful to travel with and take it with us. The top of the list will be food and water; next any first aid material that is in the house, batteries, any hard copy road atlas or map will be nice as well." Jaune could see everyone looking at amongst themselves as he said that.

"Look, I know that none of you want to go out there again but we need to do this. The longer we stay here the more likely we'll run into something that we can't fight off. If that happens we'll have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. If we tried to cut across houses, it'll be a maze of unknown dangers around every corner. If we can get to the outside we'll have a fighting chance." Jaune said but he could still see that no one wanted to go out there. He stood there watching them yet not a single person spoke up, he sighed.

"Jaune, I'm with you." Ren said as he stood up, quickly followed by Nora then his sisters.

"You're our brother Jaune; we'll go where you need us." Claire said Yang and Ruby stood up next.

"I'm with you Jaune and so is Ruby."

"Yay!" The shorter girl cried out with a fist raised, though she put it down as she realized what she did. Her face tinted red from embarrassment, Jaune chuckled as Sun stood up followed by Blake.

"You're a cool guy Jaune, I'm with you." He said matching Jaune's gaze, Blake simply nodded. Coco and Velvet both stood up, Jaune nodded to them. Weiss stood up with Neptune she gave Jaune a brief smile and nod. Lastly Pyrrha stood up, with a wide smile on her face.

"We're all with you Jaune." He nodded.

"Alright, let's get started."

Two Hours Later…

---

Jaune was counting the last of the food that was assembled on the table before him.

Fourteen cans of baked beans, seven cans of soup, a dozen packets of dehydrated mass potatoes, nine cans of chili and a pack of twenty four, twelve fluid ounce bottles of water. Though there were also six cans of Spam, much to his abhorrence.

"Tell me again why we have Spam?" Jaune asked as he looked at Claire who was double checking the supplies.

"I don't know Dad always ate it so mom bought it whenever she went out."

"Well, as soon as we pack this up we should have everything we need to last us a while." Jaune said as he brought up a black duffel bag that he had found in the garage. There were four more bags that were already filled as well sitting on the floor with the stuff his dad brought.

One of them was already filled with extra canned food, water, two can openers, paper towels, and plastic utensils.

The next one was filled with every bit of medical item they could find. Band-Aids, surgical tape, sterilized gauze, curved operating scissors, four thirty-four ounce bottles of Hydrogen peroxide. Why they had that much was a mystery to Jaune but he didn't complain.

There were also two bottles of ibuprofen with a hundred tablets, two tubes of antibiotic ointment, a dozen tiny hand sanitizer containers, a bag of cotton balls, several instant cold packs and two roles of elastic wrap bandages. Jaune had also tossed in two extra paper towel rolls and a box of disinfectant wipes into the pile.

Helena and Claire had helped the others in the house find spare clothes that they would no doubt need on their trip. So the next two bags had spare clothes that anyone could wear along with socks and underwear for both men and women.

Though Yang was very loud and clear in her complaint that none of the bras his sisters had were big enough for her. He wasn't sure if he should gag or not at the conversation.

So he pulled out the speaker system that Katherine had kept in the garage to plug his phone in to listen to music. While it wasn't the best idea he needed the music to help save his sanity.

As Jaune zipped up the last of the bags, he picked up a few more and started to stack them by the front door. Claire was behind him, struggling with both hands to drag the second food bag with her. Jaune chuckled as he took it out of her hands, to which she replied by frowning and kicking the back of his leg.

He continued to chuckle as he set it down by the front door. However as he stood next to it, he could hear something outside. It sounded like a car.

Jaune spun around and ran into the living room to grab his shoulder rig with the Glock still in the holster. Slipping it around him, he made sure that it was secured before pulling the Glock out.

Ren came thundering down the steps with Nora right behind him, both of them carried bats. The others started to crowd around the base of the steps as they came to investigate the flurry of activity.

"Sun get everyone to the back of the house and stay quiet. Ren you're with me, Nora watch the door. If any of those things get past us, close the door." Nora shook her head vigorously.

"But you'll be trapped out there." Jaune glared at her.

"I know but if they break past you, everyone is dead then." Yang stepped forward.

"Jaune I'll watch the door, Nora can help you instead." Jaune looked at her.

"Are you sure? Because you'll need to do the same thing if that happens to us." She nodded her face set with determination.

"You can count on me Jaune." He clicked his tongue in annoyance, before waving away Sun who guided the rest of them to the kitchen. Jaune gripped the handgun with two hands, as Yang gripped the door handle he placed his finger on the trigger.

Yang opened the door, Jaune walked forward, as he cleared the doorframe; he quickly checked his left and right for anyone. Seeing that both directions were clear, he whistled loudly behind him Ren and Nora stepped out from the house.

Jaune proceeded to make his way down the lawn towards the street, the sound of a car could be heard and he looked both ways for any sign of it.

"Look." Ren said from behind him and he turned to see Ren point, following the direction he saw a red truck coming down from the far side. It was his dad's truck, he felt joy fill his stomach but it quickly changed to dread as several figures came out of the nearby houses.

"Ren, Nora, stay back and cover me, don't if one of them gets past me. Kill them." Jaune said simply as he turned his sights to the nearest one.

It was Mr. Pazdel; his once white shirt was torn up on the right side, revealing his mauled right arm. Blood had soaked into his shirt and for a second it reminded the time his dad spilled wine on his shirt.

Though that illusion was shattered as he looked at his face, Pazdel's face was torn up with marks covering his forehead. Lowering his gaze he could that his jaw was missing with his tongue hanging loosely down, flopping to either side as he ran.

Jaune centered the sights on Mr. Pazdel and calm pulled the trigger. Time seemed to slow down to the point Jaune could see the bullet hole appear in his chest followed quickly by a ripple of fabric and flesh, a small puff of red erupting from the wound.

It was only then that Jaune realized that he wasn't stopping; he pulled the trigger three more times, the kinetic force of the impacts making Mr. Pazdel jerk each time. It was on the fourth round that he finally faltered, the momentum of him running at a full sprint cause him to slam face first into the curb.

Jaune switched to the next person, an older woman and quickly put another four rounds into her. The truck was much closer as Jaune switched again.

A younger man sprinted at Jaune, probably only four or five years old than him. Though it was a little hard to tell since most of the skin and hair was missing revealing bloody red visage of muscle. Jaune fired at him as well; he grimaced as he started to back up.

He fired at the next closing person but as Jaune put a bullet into the person's head, he could see a cloud of dark red blood erupt from the back as they fell to the ground. However he also saw his gun was slide locked, with his right thumb, he pushed the magazine release inward.

The now empty Glock magazine fell out, normally Jaune would have used his other hand to catch the empty magazine but he didn't have to do that. His left hand had already pulled out a fresh magazine from the magazine pouches on his right side. He quickly slotted the new magazine in, and pressed the slide release to chamber a round.

A mauled woman was closing in on him, less than a dozen feet. Jaune brought the gun around as he backpedalled and fired three rounds in quick succession into her sternum. She flopped to the ground, unmoving but Jaune still kept his distance as he turned scanning for new targets.

He was surprised to see Nora and Ren beating down two of those things on their own. Jaune turned back to see the red truck coming to a rough stop in front of the house. Jaune watched only to see Qrow come out from the driver side, his shotgun slung over his shoulder with the Stag rifle in his hands.

"Come on kid!" He said as he ran up to the front door. Jaune gestured for Ren and Nora to move as he turned around to watch the street for any more of those things. His gaze lingered on the dead bodies that now littered the lawn and street.

Jaune shook his head as he turned back around to see Ren and Nora already inside with Qrow standing on the step aiming the rifle towards the street.

"Come on." He growled as Jaune ran inside, Qrow following shortly behind, closing the door.

"Fucking hell, why were you outside?" He asked, after taking a second to breath, Jaune who was leaning his forehead against the wall turned to face him.

"Well, we were already getting ready to leave when we heard you coming. So I decided to go out and cover you in case those things attacked, which they did, as for Nora and Ren here, they decided to watch my back while we did that." Qrow looked at Jaune; he wasn't sure what to tell the kid. Part of him wanted to lecture him about how stupid the idea was but another part thought at least he had the guts to take action. Plus he now knows that he indeed was capable of handling himself with a gun.

He set the rifle aside and unslung the shotgun, setting it next to it. The moment his hand left the gun, something slammed into him looking down he could see Ruby hugging him.

"I missed you." She said, her voice muffled by the vest and clothes. Qrow patted her back softly.

"Hey kiddo." Looking up he could see the rest of the group had come from somewhere, he saw Jaune in the corner of his eye leaning against the wall. Qrow swallowed a lump that was forming, the kid knew.

"Where are our parents?" The oldest of the three Arc girls asked, the roomed seemed to stiffen as everyone began to realize that Qrow came alone.

"Ah, yea about that…" Qrow began but words failed to come out, it wasn't the first time he had to talk to the family members of a fallen friend when it came to police work. However this wasn't that, this was the unnecessary death of a good man who had to take the life of his wife and youngest daughter.

"They're dead aren't they?" Jaune rasped out, everyone turned to see him with his tilted back, his hands covering his eyes.

"Yes." Qrow said simply, unable to think of anything else to say.

"How?" Qrow hesitated before answering.

"Do you really want to know?" Jaune nodded, Qrow sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Well, we made it to the school and at first it seemed like everything was clear but we didn't know where they were so Alexander said that we should split up. It wasn't until later that I heard gunshots and Alexander calling me to come to the faculty room. He had found your mother and sister there…" Qrow wasn't sure where to continue from there so he just tried to recall what he remembered.

"I found him cradling Arabella in his lap; he had put her out of her misery. The young one was there as well; he had taken care of her as well…" Qrow watched in an almost slow motion fashion the changing of the three Arc girls expression from extreme pain to utter heartbreak. He also noticed the orange hair girl being comforted by the magenta eyed boy.

"It seemed she had been bitten at some point and didn't tell Arabella until it was too late, Arabella hid in a utility closest. When Alexander entered it seemed she got the drop on him as well, so things happened and he told me to get out of there and meet up with all of you." He said one of the Arc girls looked at him with utter disgust.

"And you abandoned him! You're a fucking piece of shit!" She screamed as tears streamed down her face as the others held her. Jaune stepped forward, placing his hands on her shoulders; she embraced him and sobbed loudly into his shirt.

"It's alright Claire, it's not his fault. He did what Dad told him to do." He said, stroking her hair softly. Pyrrha felt her heart squeezing as she saw the pain that was done to Jaune and his family. She didn't know his family that well but nonetheless it hurt her anyways.

Yang draped one arm over Ruby as she hugged her. Yang felt sympathy at the scene before them; she had lost two mothers in her life.

One who didn't want her and another who may not have been her biological mother was a woman whom Yang cherished and loved. Sadly a few years after Ruby was born she was killed in an accident with a drunk driver.

It was also one of the reasons that led to Uncle Qrow to mostly stop drinking. He still had certain days of the year in which he would drink but not often.

However while her and Ruby both still had their dad and uncle. Jaune had lost both of his parents along with his youngest sister in one event. She blinked a few times as the telltale sign of tears came forth. Jaune cleared his throat loudly, drawing everyone's attention.

"I-uh- Look we've got to continue with the plan." Helena looked shocked at Jaune.

"Continue?! Jaune, Dad, Mom and Nessa are dead!" Jaune pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I know Helena but they wouldn't want us to sit around moping, they would want us to go to safety." Helena didn't seem to like that response.

"Safety!? How can you fucking say this plan is safe!? We're gonna drive through a fucking city with the fucking undead trying to eat us! Then we're going to try and survive in the countryside until this all fucking blows over, when we don't even know when the fuck that fucking will happen!" Jaune had apparently reached the end of his patience.

"ENOUGH!" He screamed, Pyrrha jerked her head back in surprise at both the sheer volume and looked of utter rage in his face as he stared down his sister. Helena went silent, looking downed as Jaune stepped towards her.

"I fucking know Helena, don't fucking lecture me about how fucking dangerous this is. I don't want to fucking do this; I wanna go find Mom, Dad, and Nessa bodies so I can bring them home and bury them properly. But I can't fucking do that right now, I've got to fucking try to keep everyone alive because that's what Mom and fucking Dad would want me to do." Jaune stepped back, inhaling and exhaling slowly to calm himself. No one said anything; they stood there silent as Jaune stood there.

It seemed like forever before Helena finally looked up, they could see tears brimming her eyes. She looked remorseful and Jaune finally broke down tears of his own breaking out as he reached out drawing her into a hug. They were all so quiet as the two siblings embraced that Pyrrha could hear that they were both saying something but it was too low for them to hear. He let go of her and turned to Qrow.

"How's the truck?" Qrow who had been silent as the rest of them responded.

"It's in decent condition, did have to run over a few of them and some slammed into the sides but no major damage. Fuel is also relatively fine that it should be a while before it needs to be refueled." Jaune nodded before he looked towards Coco and Sun.

"How about you two, are your cars good to go?" Sun shrugged.

"Probably? I didn't exactly check it when I got out last time."

"I'm good but mine isn't exactly the best for long range trips, it'll probably be the first to go dry." Jaune nodded as he scratched his cheek.

"That's fine; as long as we can make it a safe distance out from Vale it'll be fine. After that we'll see about finding a new vehicle for you to use."

"What about weapons? How are we going to defend ourselves?" Neptune called out; Jaune still wasn't sure what to think of the guy. They hadn't really talked much, he seemed like a nice guy but he didn't know much about him.

"Well, I've got my Glock. Qrow you've got the Stag rifle, give Yang the shotgun." Yang grinned fiercely at that.

"Ooooh come to mama Yang." Qrow looked a little hesitant about giving it to her but he picked it back up and handed it over to her. Yang grasped it by the stock and the receiver; she looked down to check the slide lock.

She pressed a small button behind the trigger to lock the slide then pulled the safety on the top, backhand side of the receiver into the on position. Then slung it over her shoulder and gave a grin with a mock salute to Jaune.

"We've also got a machete and a hatchet, along with a few bats still left." Sun raised his hand, waving it eccentrically like a school boy who had the answer to a question that no one else had.

"Dibs on the machete!" Blake put her hand on his arm while she shook her head, and he slumped forward a little as he put his arm down. Jaune chuckled as he shook his head at the display.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you on this Sun but a machete is a terrible weapon to use. They're primarily meant for slashing or cutting thick vegetation. However the hatchet is a good choice, it's weighty and capable of doing some damage but the biggest issue here is the fact that it seems these things are fast and with the short range of the hatchet it means you'll have one good shot before they're on you." Sun nodded at that thought he did look a little disappointed at not getting the machete.

"Jaune is right about this, these zombies only go down when inflicted with heavy damage. So a machete wouldn't work unless you get it in the throat or head and a hatchet is better at breaking bone and dealing heavy hits it's not very cost effective in terms of reach." Qrow said as he looked through the ammunition bag for spare Stag rifle magazines and slipping them into the pouches on his vest.

"So the best choice is guns?" Coco asked Qrow shrugged.

"From what I can tell, yes guns seem to be a good route in dealing with them."

"But we only have a few guns, Jaune's pistol, your rifle, and the shotgun you just gave Yang." Velvet pointed out.

"I mean, instead of directly leaving Vale we can always try to go back to my dad's store and gather more supplies there. I'm sure he's got more of that freeze dry food stuff, MREs, water, guns and other gear." Jaune said, rubbing his chin in thought.

If they headed that way it'll add another twenty or so minutes in a round trip till they get back to the plan. There was also the matter of whether or not the area was safe for that matter.

Along with the possibility of running into looters or a looted store, just too many factors that could go wrong. Though, the rewards were equally as high as the risks.

"Do you think that's wise? We should just get out of Vale now and just wait in the country side till we get a better idea of what's going on." Weiss spoke up, Blake rolled her eyes.

"Yea but what if things don't get better and we ended up having to fend for ourselves we'll need the gear. Hell we're practically fending for ourselves now cause we already know that things have gone to hell so why not top ourselves off with as much supplies as we can."

"So you're suggesting we go to the store in hopes that no one's already looted it and pile as much food, guns, bullets and whatever else would be in there?" Blake nodded.

"Pretty much." Weiss sighed as she rubbed her temples as if trying to ease an encroaching headache.

"Well that seems like an idea but I guess now how are we going to go about it? Do we all go?" Pyrrha asked, Jaune scratched his head as he looked at Qrow.

"What do you think Qrow? I think it might be best to stick together." He nodded.

"I agree, the current radios we have are only good for a set distance of about eight or ten miles maybe even less." Nora looked confused at that.

"That doesn't seem like a lot." Weiss shook her head.

"Radios such as these falls into lower frequency ranges than some of the more, advanced or pricey ones on the market, because of that lower frequency they travel more in line of sight paths. Though they can still travel through nonmetallic objects like walls or buildings but another issue that comes up is due to the curvature of Remnant. For instance if the horizon is about six miles out from where you were with the radio, you can only reach anyone within that six mile since past that horizon the signal would just go straight to space but that also relies on the height of the receiving antenna. So if an antenna was at a higher altitude past the horizon with no obstruction then it could receive a signal farther out. Which comes in the next fact of how strong the radio is, this is where some physics comes into play, let's take a ball, if you roll it, it will eventually slow down to a number factors such as the power behind it. If I rolled a ball and Jaune rolled a ball, his will go much further because he's able to put more power into it. Going back to radios, this is applied in the same manner, handheld radios can only produce anywhere from 1 to 5 watts of power which also limits the range." Nora, Yang, Sun, Ruby and Miriya held their hands to their ears as if they were in pain.

"Oh god! Make her stop!" Yang cried out.

"I'm in a nightmare!" Miriya called out as she hugged Claire, giving a noticeable fake sob as she held her.

"Nerd!" Sun also yelled and everyone save Weiss started to laugh.

"What?! I'm not a nerd, take that back!" She said, stomping towards Sun who jumped behind Blake for protection. Blake bowed and stepped to the side as Weiss weakly tried to pummel the other blond boy in the room. Qrow clapped his hands together drawing everyone's attention to him.

"Alright it's decided, we're going to go to Alexander's store and gather whatever supplies we can carry with us. Now there are some things we need to discuss first." Jaune stepped forward at this.

"First, vehicle roster time, Coco it's going to be you, Velvet, Miriya and Claire." Coco nodded as Jaune turned to Sun.

"Sun, it's you Blake, Weiss, Neptune, Nora and Ren. Qrow's got the truck so he can take Pyrrha, Helena, and Ruby. Yang, think you can drive the Mustang?" Hey eyes practically burst into flames.

"Can I!?" She asked looking at her Uncle to see him twirling his eyes around his finger.

"Make sure to have it home by midnight." He winked as he flung the keys at her; she caught them in her left hand and stared down at them.

"Alright, when we get there, we'll need to work fast. Top of the list will be guns, ammo, water and food." Qrow said before looking at the group.

"Do you guys understand what you'll need to look for?" Ren nodded.

"Freeze dried food packets, MREs and water bottles or those water packets." Qrow nodded then turned to Yang.

"Yang you're going to be watching the outside until we're done getting the supplies we need. Afterwards you can rotate with inside and get a vest." Yang looked slightly confused.

"Vest?" Qrow gestured to what he was wearing, a grey Condor Cross draw vest that's when Qrow realized something and turned to the group.

"Aside from Jaune, Yang and Ruby, who here has fired a gun before?" Sun and Neptune raised their hand, shockingly enough so did Velvet. Coco turned to her friend an obvious look of surprise on her face.

"Vel? You've fired a gun before." She nodded.

"Yup, my aunt actually bought me a Walther P22, so I'm okay with a .22. After that, well, I'm kind of wimpy so I never really went further." Qrow waved a dismissive hand.

"That's fine, a .22 can do some serious harm even at a hundred yards but if we find a .22 pistol or rifle you're going to need to find a lot of ammunition of it because you'll probably burn through a lot of it." She nodded as Qrow turned to Jaune.

"You ready?" Jaune stepped past him and towards the stairs.

"Actually I need to get my stuff. I've got a cleaning kit for the Glock already plus my bag." He said before disappearing around the corner. Pyrrha frowned at that and turned to the others.

"Wait a minute, which car did he say he was riding in?" Everyone but Ren and Qrow shrugged.

"I think he intends on riding his bike." Ren said.

"What? Why?" Sun asked but Ren simply shrugged.

"I don't know but if I had to hazard a guess I figure he's probably planning on scouting ahead for us."

"That doesn't seem like a bad idea, we don't know the road conditions at the moment so if he can find the best route for us instead of us getting delayed by having to back track all the time." Yang crossed her arms at that.

"Still founds pretty dangerous to me, I should probably go with him if anything."

"No, it's already been decided the driving arrangement. Beside it seems he knows what he's doing." Yang and Pyrrha looked like they both wanted to argue with that but they heard a thud from above them.

Turning around Pyrrha could see that Jaune had his riding gear strapped on, with a flannel shirt underneath. He had taken his holster off to put the shirt on then put it back on before strapping his protective gear over it. On his back was the large black travel backpack she had seen him with before. He held his helmet in his gloved left hand.

"So everyone ready?" He asked as he stepped towards the door, everyone nodded but didn't say anything.

"Alright so here's the plan, we've got a lot of stuff to take so Yang, Qrow and I will be covering you. Remember to be careful but keep in mind that this isn't going to be a picnic, keep an eye on your surroundings. Qrow, anything else you wanna add?" He asked, directing the last part to the older man. Qrow opened a bag and started to pull out walkie talkies, he set eight of them on a nearby table.

"Yang, Ren, Weiss, Sun, Coco, Helena, Neptune and Velvet, these are for you. They've already got batteries in them; all you need to do is switch to channel 20. Jaune and I already have ones of our own." Neptune looked confused as he picked it up.

"So are we calling them zombies now?"

"I guess?" Jaune said as he patted himself down once again to double check all the straps, he also had the Ka-Bar knife hooked on the right side of his waist. He jostled himself a little make sure the bag was snug on him. He leaned down and was about to lift the two food bags with his left hand but Sun beat him to it.

"Don't worry Jaune, I've got this. You just make sure nothing comes to bite me, literally." Jaune chuckled as he straightened up. Qrow and Yang were next to him, Qrow pulled back the charging handle on the Stag rifle. While Yang turned the safety off and unlocked the pump action of the shotgun, she looked up and nodded at Jaune.

"Alright, we'll move first. If it looks clear, Qrow and Yang will both then unlock the truck and Mustang then return to covering everyone. Load the bags evenly in all the vehicles and whoever's done with the Mustang last close the trunk then tell Yang to displace to get in the car then Qrow you're next once she's in. Finally when you're all in and ready to go I'll get on my bike, if things are getting heated, just follow Qrow's lead and I'll catch up. Any questions?" Jaune asked as he looked over his shoulder at everyone but no one said or looked to have anything to say.

Jaune took a deep breath before exhaling then slipped the helmet on. He stepped to the left hand side of the door and gripped the handle with his left hand.

He raised his right hand with his index, middle and ring finger up to signify a countdown. Qrow stood in front of Yang with the Stag rifle held at ready, Yang was behind him, holding the shotgun but pointed it down towards the ground.

As the countdown ended, Jaune turned the door knob and flung open the front door. Qrow quickly stepped out followed by Yang with Jaune trailing behind them, pulling his Glock out. He looked to his left and right but didn't see anyone.

In the corner of his vision he could see Qrow moving towards the right side of the lawn to look down the street and rows of houses. Jaune looked to his left, Yang was standing at the end of the driveway; she held her shotgun at ready as she watched for any threats.

Jaune turned his head back to Qrow to see him staring at him; Jaune gave him thumbs up. Qrow took out the keys to the truck and unlocked it.

Yang turned to head towards the Mustang and unlocked the trunk quickly. From inside the house Sun, Ren, Nora and the rest of the group came out, holding the bags they made their way over to the cars. Jaune made his way down to the street looking down both ways. He made sure to avoid stepping near any of the bodies of their last incursion outside.

As he looked up again he spotted something in the distance, it looked to be a group of people wandering aimlessly around the street towards them. He felt a cold sweat break out on the back of his neck; he turned to see Yang and Qrow moving back towards him. Jaune waved his hand at them, signaling them to come over.

"What's up?" Yang asked as the first to reach him, Qrow right behind her, he pointed down the street.

"There's a bunch of them coming this way, they haven't spotted us yet but we're going to need to speed things up. Yang, go and tell everyone to finish as fast as they can, Qrow and I will watch them for now. Whistle when they're done, so we can get out of here." She nodded and jogged back up the yard towards the group. Jaune turned to see Qrow watching him; he couldn't help but get the feeling that he was impressed at him.

Qrow turned to the oncoming horde; they stretched from one side of the street to the other. Stumbling over the lawns, cars and each other as they made their way over here, but they still haven't noticed them. He could feel a compulsion in him to aim the rifle and start firing but that would be a terrible idea.

There was far too many of them for a single rifle to make a difference. Looking over his shoulder, he could see that the last of the bags were being loaded into the cars. He turned towards Jaune who had also noticed that and nodded to him. Jaune stayed put as both he and Yang made their ways back to the cars.

"We're cutting it close aren't we?" Yang asked him as she passed by him.

"Just focus on the task at hand and you'll be fine." He replied as he opened the door to the driver seat of the truck and climbed in.

Jaune stayed on the street watching the incoming group; his looked down at the Glock. The sound of car engines turning on snapped his head up in time to see the lead zombies stiffen as well.

"Fuck." Remembering the last time he saw that, he turned to sprint towards his motorcycle, holstering his handgun as he sprinted towards it. He hopped on the bike, kicking up the kickstand and slotting his key into the ignition then turning it on.

He could see that no one had started to move yet, were they all fucking blind now? He shook his head, kicking off with the bike and switching in first gear as he spun around. That's when he realized why everyone hadn't moved yet.

In front of them was at least three dozen more of them, Jaune gritted his teeth. Nevertheless there was still far less than the ones coming on the other side. Jaune hit the throttle as he leaned forward racing towards them.

As he passed the first one, he could see that their reaction times seemed to vary as a few bloodied hands and stumps reached out trying to stop him.

Every time a hand came into his vision or the bike bounced as it hit something Jaune's heart would freeze in absolute terror. Sweat was trailing down his face ever as he miraculously cleared the smaller group.

Looking over his shoulder he could see that more than a dozen were still chasing him down as Qrow and the others drove through them.

Jaune turned around as he shifted into second then third gear, taking off down the road. Everywhere he looked the damages had gotten a lot worse and the number of dead roaming the streets had increased as well.

The further he made it towards the main streets, the more pile ups and zombies he'd encounter. So instead he'd figure that the best way was to try and take the backstreets until he got to the shop. There was a crackle from below Jaune and Qrow's voice appeared.

"Jaune!? Can you hear me!?" Jaune slowed down, shifting back down to first gear as he went down another street. He fished into his jeans front pockets, pulling out a walkie talkie and clicked the send button.

"I hear you Qrow, what is it?" He had to speak up as loud as he could without actually yelling to be heard, due to both the helmet that muffled him slightly and the wind.

"You know where you're going!?" Qrow asked.

"Of course I do! We need to reach Tennyson and Whipple then take a left there; it'll lead us onto Trimble which happens to be the street behind the shops, there we can get in from the back." Jaune said as he leaned right, to avoid an abandoned car in the middle of the road. He could see that two of the windows were shattered from someone or something breaking it.

"Who's bringing up the rear?" Jaune asked as he clicked the send button again, he released it and waited for a moment.

"I am but color me surprised Jaune; I didn't know you were an ass man." Yang replied then Ruby's voice immediately responded.

"Ewww Yang, that's gross."

"No it's not; Jaune likes a good rear when he sees one."

"Alright that's enough, Yang is there anything trailing us?" Jaune said, exasperated at the conversation.

"Nothing behind us, we outran any of those zombies that came after us."

"Alright but keep an eye out, we don't know if they actual gave up."

"Actually I think we already know that if they lose sight of us or fall behind a great distance that they'll give up since nothing came after us when we arrived at your house." Weiss pointed out, Jaune rolled his eyes.

"Look, just be aware of your surroundings." Jaune said as he turned another corner and slowing down to look at an SUV that was parked in some poor sods living room.

"Yea guys keep any eye out; we already know Jaune's got his eye on the rear." Coco sniggered over the channel; he swore he heard Miriya and Claire cackling in the background. He sighed and tucked the walkie talkie back into his pocket and gripped the motorcycle handles with both hands.

As Jaune passed through the neighborhoods, he could see ruined homes, cars and the mangled forms of dead people strewn across the ground. However despite of all this, the more unnerving sight was the lack of activity.

Houses empty with not a single car or sign of activity from the living or the dead. It was as if everyone and everything had just vanished.

Ten Minutes Later…

---

Jaune eased the bike to a stop, turning off the engine as he looked around him for any sign of movement. To his left was a back alley entrance to the plaza where delivery and garbage trucks go through to get to the shops.

Putting the kickstand down, and pulling his keys from the bike. He hopped off the bike, he pulled his Glock out. He reached up with his left hand and pulled the helmet off, as soon as the helmet cleared his head, he felt so relieved to have it off.

He took a deep breath and coughed a little, there was rather noticeable trace of smoke in the air.

The sound of car engines made him move into the center of the street, his Glock held at head as he looked around. In the distance the red truck, followed by Coco's car, Suns Jeep and the Mustang appeared. He slipped the helmet back on his head.

As they pulled to a stop in the middle of the road, the truck's engine was immediately cut and Qrow hopped out. The Stag rifle was already in his hands as he looked around as well.

The chances of them running into more zombies were high. The last time he was here there were dozens of people still trapped in the neighboring stores when they made their escape.

"So I assume we're not going to taking the cars in there?" Pyrrha asked as she hopped out of the truck. Jaune nodded as he saw that Ruby and Claire were still in the truck. He sighed a little in relief to see that, he really didn't want them to be outside the vehicles at the moment.

"Would it be wise to leave the vehicles like this in the middle of the road?" Ren asked as he, Yang, Sun, Coco, Neptune and Weiss joined them.

"No, but it'd be better if we didn't try to maneuver all the vehicles down the alley. There were zombies still around the area when Alexander and I had escaped." Qrow said as he looked towards the sky.

"Why not just move the cars around the entrance to act as a barrier while we send the truck in. You can use it to carry all the supplies to the other cars. Plus it'll be less taxing on us to carry the bags." Weiss suggested.

"That sounds like a plan." Sun said, as the other nodded. Qrow looked towards Jaune, who hadn't said anything. He was looking down the street; Qrow followed his gaze but could see nothing in the direction.

"Jaune, do you see anything?" Qrow asked he turned around and shook his head.

"Nothing so far, I'll go on ahead and open up the back entrance to the shop." Qrow nodded as Jaune started to jog towards the alleyway entrance. Jaune heard footsteps behind him and he looked over his shoulder to see Pyrrha, holding a bat.

"What? It's best if we work in pairs." Jaune nodded.

"Alright, but keep your eyes open. You see anything you call it out alright?" She nodded and the two continued down the alleyway. Jaune scanned either side of them, there wasn't any sign of movement but it paid to be cautious.

As they reached the other side, Jaune motioned Pyrrha to stop as he hugged the right side of the wall. Moving up to the edge he poked his head around the corner, aside from a few parked cars there was nothing. Looking in the other direction was the same situation.

He stepped forward with the Glock slightly raised as he double checked both directions. He motioned Pyrrha to follow him as they headed to the right, after passing several steel doors he finally stopped.

Pyrrha couldn't help but feel uneasy at being there. She'd imagine the place being empty like this at night but in the middle of broad daylight, it was even more eerie. Looking back at Jaune she could see him studying a digital lock next to a door.

"Jaune, you do know the password right?" Pyrrha asked.

"Of course, I'm just trying to remember how to use this device, was I supposed to hit the green button first or after I put in the password." He mused aloud to himself.

"What happens if you get it wrong?" Pyrrha asked.

"Oh, well a really loud alarm goes off and the Police are notified. Though they probably aren't going to care about this at the moment, but the sound will probably draw a bunch of zombies to us." Pyrrha snapped her head around at Jaune in time to see him punch in four digits and hit the green button. There was a chirped and he opened the door.

"Well lucky us." Jaune said, though Pyrrha couldn't see his face, she got the impression that he was toying with her. So she punched him in the arm, hard.

"Ow, what was that for?" Jaune asked as Pyrrha walked past him.

"Dick." Jaune sighed as he put down the door stop to leave it open for the others. Pyrrha waited for him to enter and take the lead. They were in the storage room of shop; Jaune immediately turned the flashlight attachment on the Glock on. He scanned the boxes till he saw the logo for freeze dried food and pointed at it.

"That's food, take it and leave it by the door for the others." He said Pyrrha set the bat down as she picked it up. Jaune reached out with his left arm and pulled a second box towards him but Pyrrha grabbed it from him.

"It's alright Jaune, I've got this just point out what I need to get." Jaune nodded.

"Alright, continue getting these and there are boxes with emergency water bags over there, and what looks to be boxes of MREs over there. The boxes with the water bags will be the most important one because we can't use half of this stuff without water." Jaune said, pointing out each item for Pyrrha to see with the flashlight.

"You guys in here?" Yang's voice called out as she, Sun and Blake appeared in the doorway.

"We're here Yang, where are the others?"

"Qrow's backing the truck up as we speak, he's gonna stick with the cars with Ren and Nora. Neptune's with Weiss, Ruby and your sister. They're going to watch the truck." Jaune nodded as he pointed at Pyrrha.

"Help Pyrrha with these boxes, she'll show you what we'll need. I'm going to go check the front of the store. Yang, Sun, I'll call you over when I'm done." Jaune didn't see their response as he already turned around and walked deeper into the building. Everywhere he looked he saw boxes labeled, clothes, bags, tools, utensils, books and a plethora of other things.

He saw a set of three doors at the far end of the storage room, one on the right, the other door on the left with the final door straight in front of him. The door on the right was marked with the word bathroom on it so he ignored it.

Instead he opened the door right in front of him, he stepped back as the door swung open. Nothing came charging out which was a good thing. Looking in he could see was that it was some kind of office room. Jaune turned to the door on his left; he gripped the handle and took a deep breath before opening it.

It revealed the main section of the store, he was behind the counter. The lights were also on; looking out into the room he didn't see anyone.

"The truck's in place." Qrow's voice came over the walkie talkie in Jaune's pocket. He winced at the sound, raising his Glock ready for anything to come charging him but there was nothing. He pulled the walkie talkie out of his pocket as Yang was telling Qrow that they've got supplies already waiting for him.

Jaune took off his helmet along with his travel backpack and set it on the counter then laid the walkie talkie next to them. He walked over to the racks in the middle of the store and spotted a bunch of tactical vests.

Looking down at his chest guard, he reckoned that he probably wouldn't need this anymore. Part of him thought it would be a good idea to keep it but another part felt that if he did keep it then it would be too bulky with the vest on. So he unbuckled it and set it on the ground.

Looking around he didn't see a lot of things that seemed good, so he settled on picking up a black Leaper tactical vest.

It already had a sidearm holster on it though, so it meant that he probably would have to abandon the shoulder holster he had on.

He sighed, no need to complicate thing, so he walked back to the counter and slipped the shoulder holster off. He picked the vest back up and pulled it over his head.

As soon as if was on his torso he patted the sides for any straps and found three straps on both sides. He pulled them until the vest was nice and snug but not too constraining or loose on him. He took the remaining Glock magazines from the shoulder holster and put them into the handgun magazine pouches.

Looking to his left he headed towards the main reason why he came to the front of the store. Across from him was the rack of shotgun and rifles, moving over to them he picked up two more Mossberg shotguns and was going to get a Remington.

However he noticed something on the lower shelves, it was another shotgun that was being held by two metal hooks. Jaune kneeled down and inspected it; it looked to be a cut down Mossberg shotgun. There was a sticky note on the wall next to it.

"Note to self; make room for new stock." Jaune muttered aloud, he noticed a tag at the end of the bird head stock. Lifting the tag up, he could see that it was a Mossberg 590 Shockwave.

"Fuck it, I call dibs." He lifted it off the hooks and stood up, taking off the tag, he set it next to the other shotguns. He reached into his jeans and picked up the walkie talkie.

"How are the supplies going?" He asked as he walked back to the middle of the store and started looking for more of those bags his father had used.

"We've got four boxes of freeze dried goodies, four boxes of MREs and six boxes of these emergency water bags." Weiss replied.

"Do we need anymore?" Coco's voice came over the channel.

"I think it's better to be over stocked than under stocked to be honest." Jaune replied.

"Fair enough."

"Jaune, how's the store looking?" Yang asked.

"It's seems safe, I'm going to start stocking up on ammo and guns. Neptune, Sun you both said you can use guns so I'm going to need you to come over here one at a time to pick a gun and take supplies with you. First will be Neptune, Sun you can continue to help Pyrrha while Yang sticks with Weiss by the truck." Jaune said before releasing the send button.

Jaune quickly jogged back towards the middle of the store looking for more of those bags his father had used. He finally spotted them and grabbed an arm full of bags and carried them back to the counter.

He started picking up boxes of twelve gauge and slug rounds and tossing them into one bag. He got tired of doing that so instead he picked the bag up and held it open on one end then with his other arm he scoop the entire pile of shells into it. Looking into the bag he reckoned there must be at least eight or nine dozen boxes containing twelve shotgun shells.

Closing the bag he set it on the counter next to the shotguns and opened the clear plastic case that held the handguns. He picked up two more Glocks, another Sig Sauer P226, and three Berettas 92FS.

Like before he held the bag up and just piled as many boxes of nine millimeter rounds. Jaune only stopped pulling down stacks of ammunition boxes when they wouldn't fit into the bag without force.

"Jaune? You in here? Please tell me you're not a zombie." Neptune voice called out and a blue hair teen's head peered out of the doorway.

"Yes Neptune, I am a zombie, though you'll be safe since you don't have any brains to eat."

"Ha. Ha. You should be a comedian." Neptune said as he stepped into the room and looked around in awe.

"Holy crap, this is amazing." Jaune pointed with his thumb back towards the racks where he got his vest from.

"Grab something from there then pick a shotgun only because there aren't any magazines already prepped for use."

"Damn, that's gonna be a problem isn't it?" He called out as he headed towards the racks.

"Yup, that pretty much means until we get the chance to start loading the magazines, none of the rifles or handguns or rifles are going to be useful. Though the bolt action rifles might still be used because we can just chamber a round manually but that isn't going to be much use since we're on the move." Neptune walked out with a grey seven pouch chest rig and walked over to the assembled shotguns.

"Whoa dude what's this?" Neptune asked and Jaune turned to see him holding the Mossberg Shockwave.

"Dibs."

"Dibs?"

"Yea dibs, I'm going to use that one." Neptune made a face but Jaune ignored it, instead turning back to the assembled rifles in front of him.

"Aw man, come on. Look at this thing! It's so cool."

"I know hence why I'm taking it."

"Fine, I'm taking that then." Jaune saw in the corner of his eye, Neptune coming around the counter and picking up a Spas-12 shotgun.

"Alright fine but make sure to put some shotgun shells into your chest rig." He gave a mock salute to Jaune.

"Yes fearless leader." Jaune sighed.

"Please don't call me that." Neptune laughed as he picked up another shotgun shell box from the counter and dumped it into the pouches. After he was done loading both his chest rig and shotgun with ammo he picked up the handgun bag and the shotgun ammunition.

"Don't forget to send Sun in when you're out there." Jaune called out, he didn't know if Neptune heard him or not. Shaking his head he turned back to the racks and picked up three M40 rifles. Thankfully they already came with Vortex Optic Viper rifle scope so he didn't need to worry about finding a scope for it.

Jaune picked up another bag and went to the hardware section of the store and to the best of his memory of what his father taught him, he grab three all-purpose cleaning kits for firearms.

As he set the bag on the counter he looked towards the plastic cabinet on the wall. There were the Stag Model 3s and 10s along with the Adaptive Combat Rifles.

"Sup dude." Sun called out from behind, Jaune felt ice go down his back. He didn't even hear him come in, if it was a zombie or a bandit he'd be dead.

"You okay Jaune? You look a little pale." Jaune turned and flashed a forced smile.

"I'm fine, I was just thinking is all." Sun didn't look wholly convinced but shrugged.

"Well, Nep says I should get a vest or something then pick a gun?"

"Yea, pick a shotgun specifically since we don't have any magazines ready for us."

"Cool." He said and wandered off towards the center of the store. Jaune stepped over to the cabinet and opened it. Normally it would be locked but it seemed his dad forgot to lock it when he left. He reached out, grabbing two Model 3 rifles and set them aside, followed by another Model 10 rifle.

He went back to the counter and grabbed an empty bag. He placed the rifles inside of the bag then scooped every box of five point five six millimeter rounds he could see along with the empty magazines for both models.

Sun came out from behind the rack wearing a similar vest like his. Looking at the assembled shotguns he picked up a Remington 870 shotgun.

"Load up on shells, then do me a favor and put those bolt action rifles in a bag then look for all the .308 Winchester rounds you can find and dump them in as well. After that I think I'm done here, now we can have Yang and Pyrrha come and pick what they want." Sun nodded then looked confused.

"Wait, why not Velvet also?" Jaune grimaced.

"I mean sure she says she knows how to use a .22 but we don't have anything that's like that. Plus she doesn't actually look that strong, so until I can see that she can handle herself I think I'll refrain from letting her have a gun."

"Then why are you letting Pyrrha come and get geared up?" Jaune waved his hand dismissively.

"Because I know she's got the strength to carry the load so she gets the gear plus she already asked me to help her shoot."

"So you're gonna give her lessons now?" Sun asked incredulously.

"I mean just a dry run exercise really." Sun just stared at him.

"Shut up and stuff that bag." Sun chuckled as he shook his head. The two of them filled their bags up, there were more empty bags on the counter but Jaune left them for the girls as he put on his travel backpack. Though he quickly filled three of the pouches on his vest with some twelve gauge shells and loaded Mossberg Shockwave.

Picking up his helmet, he slipped it back on before grabbing the bag with the Stag rifles. Just as he was about to leave he heard something, it was a thumping sound from somewhere. He stopped and listened but there was nothing, was he imagining it?

Shaking his head he walked into the storage area, there he could see that they had taken quite a few boxes with them.

As they stepped out Jaune could see Yang, Pyrrha and Weiss standing by the truck.

"You can go in now. Though we've got handguns and rifles along with plenty of ammo, however you should just get a shotgun with a chest rig or vest."

"I've already got this though." Yang said as she held onto the Mossberg.

"Well then you just need a vest or rig set then to load up on some extra ammo." Pyrrha looked confused.

"Wait, what should I do?" Jaune looked at her as he placed his bag into the truck bed.

"Alright Pyrrha, look for a section with things that look like this." He gestured to what he wore and what Neptune wore.

"Make sure it's not too big or small and fits snug on you. Then go over to the counter and find a shotgun that you want to learn how to use; Yang can help you pick one out. After that take whatever 12 gauge box you can find, open it and put it in whatever the pouches of your chest rig or vest." She looked confused, Jaune sighed.

"Just listen to Yang." Yang simply laughed at Jaune, patting him on the back before leading Pyrrha to the store. He turned to look at the truck; there were now six boxes labeled freeze dried food, six MRE boxes and eight boxes of water bags. Along with the bags of handguns, shotguns, M40 rifles, Stag rifles and cleaning kits.

"So now we've got to spread out all this stuff into the other cars but I don't think we'll be able to move around the boxes a lot." Weiss said as they looked over the truck bed.

"She's right; I can probably fit three maybe four boxes into my jeep before it gets too cramped." Sun said, Neptune scratched his head in thought.

"Why not just tie it down." Everyone looked at him.

"That's not a bad idea actually, do we have any rope?" Jaune jumped a little as he recalled that he saw rope in the supplies that his dad and Qrow had brought.

"We've got some rope actually. Where are the supplies that Qrow brought with my dad?" Jaune said turning to Weiss.

"I think we put them Coco's car." Jaune nodded as he stepped past her then turned around.

"Oh yea, someone go back inside and see if you can find duct tape or more rope." Jaune called out before jogging down the alleyway. He could see Qrow standing at the far side with the Stag rifle in his hands. He turned towards him as Jaune got closer to him.

"Something wrong?" Qrow asked raising the rifle slightly and looking over his shoulder. Jaune shook his head.

"No, I just need some rope." Qrow looked confused.

"We need it to tie down the boxes in the truck, we've got a lot of them and they're too big to be spread out in the other cars properly." Qrow nodded and turned away to go back to watching their surroundings. Jaune walked up to Coco and Velvet who were sitting on the hood of Coco's car.

"Hey Coco." Jaune called out, making sure not to speak too loud since they were in the street, she turned to face him.

"Sup Jaune, you guys almost done?" Jaune nodded.

"Can you open the trunk of your car; I need to find something from the supplies Qrow and my dad brought." She nodded and hopped off the hood.

"Sure, what is it that you need?" She asked as she popped open the trunk of the car, Jaune reached in opening each bag and rummaging through quickly. He stood up straight holding a bundle of rope.

"This, we need it to tie down the boxes in the truck." Coco just shrugged.

"So how long are we gonna be here?" Jaune thought about it for a moment.

"Probably a little while more, Yang and Pyrrha are getting some gear out of the shop then we've got to spread what supplies we've gathered amongst the cars." Coco nodded as she walked back to sit with Velvet. Jaune turned around and headed back down the alley.

As he reached the truck he saw that Yang and Pyrrha were back as well. Yang was wearing an Omega cross draw vest and interestingly enough around her torso was a shotgun bandoleer filled with shells.

"Sup Jaune." Yang said as he joined reached, he didn't say anything as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. He handed Sun the rope so he and Neptune can begin tying down the boxes in the truck.

"Like what you see?" She asked.

"Confused would probably be a better word." He said.

"That's not nice."

"Yang, why do you have a bandoleer when you've got a vest on?" She shrugged.

"Cause it looks cool." Jaune didn't say anything as he turned to Pyrrha who wore a similar vest to his. Resting on one of the boxes was a Mossberg 500, he beckoned her over.

"Alright Pyrrha I'mma teach you some basics rules about using this shotgun." He said as he took up the shotgun, he showed her the top of the shotgun where there was a switch.

"Alright this is the safety, right now it's on but if you push it forward the safety will be off and you can fire. If you see the red dot, which means it's hot, as in it will fire whatever is in the chamber." He demonstrated by pushing the switch forward showing the red dot on the back before pressing it back down.

As Jaune was busy giving Pyrrha a run down on the features and how to fire the shotgun, Qrow was standing in the street with most of the group. Ren and Nora stood to either side while the Arc girls were chatting with Coco in Sun's jeep when he heard the loud whirl of a helicopter in the distance.

He looked around to see if anything was coming out of hiding but there was nothing.

"Anyone who can hear this, this is the National Guard. By order of the Vale Council the city is to be evacuated. Do not stay in your home, no matter how safe, evacuate immediately." Some voice blared out, the helicopter continued circling the area at a low altitude, before flying over them once move to the west.

"What was that?" Ruby called out from the jeep.

"Don't worry it was just the National Guard stating the obvious." Qrow answered back when he looked at Ruby he saw something that made his blood run cold.

He could see past Ruby the mauled body of woman. Qrow raised his rifle in his hands and sidestepped to the right of the jeep. An older woman in sweatpants and a sweater on top stood on the opposite side of the street.

The skin on her left cheek was missing and blood stained her right arm chewed up. Qrow gestured with one hand for Ruby to get inside. He could hear Coco and Velvet scrambling back into their car. Ren and Nora took up position to either side of him.

He lined up the sights on the zombie. In the corner of his eye he could see more of them appearing in the street.

To make it worse was the fact they were running in their direction. At least he thought they were running until someone used the radio.

"Did anyone see where that went?" Weiss voice came over the radio; Qrow felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead when the woman snapped her head towards him. A loud guttural sound came from her as she opened her mouth and started to run at him.

Qrow did the only thing he could think of and fired three rounds into her chest. She flopped onto the ground and as the echoes died down, he could hear a much louder sound, similar to that the woman made. It was the oncoming group, they knew they were there. Qrow pulled the walkie talkie out with his left hand.

"Get the truck out here, we got to go now!" He didn't bother waiting for a reply as he stepped out into the street and started firing in short bursts. He emptied the magazine and quickly exchanged it for another one before pulling the charging handle back then resumed firing.

He could hear the truck coming closer and voices calling out for him to get to the truck. Jaune, Yang, and Sun stepped out to his left. Jaune had a cut down shotgun strapped to the side of his backpack; he was firing with his Glock.

While Yang and Sun were firing with the shotguns, though they were much less effect at the current range that Qrow doubt they actually hit anything.

"Get ready to move!" Jaune shouted as he ejected a magazine from his handgun and quickly slammed home a new one. Yang and Sun immediately stopped firing and returned to their respective cars, while he made his way over to Qrow. The two of them firing their weapons at the oncoming mass of undead, Jaune get see that they were less than two hundred yards away.

"Qrow! Get in the truck! We're moving on with the plan!" He yelled, Qrow stopped firing and stepped behind Jaune as he ran towards the truck. Coco, Sun, and Yang had already moved their cars out of the way.

"Jaune! Get on your bike Jaune!" He thought he heard Pyrrha screaming, whoever said it though had a good idea as he finally stopped firing. Running to his bike, he hopped on and fumbled for his keys to get into the ignition.

Glancing up he could see dozens of them zeroing in on him, he turned the key and the bike started. He frantically put up the kickstand and hit the throttle in first gear. Revving the bike as he spun around he could see the others were already disappearing around a corner.

Jaune could hear the thunderous footsteps closing behind him as he shot down the street shifting gears as he picked up speed. Though it wasn't over as he could see dozens of more zombies coming out onto the streets where there had been none.

"Where the fuck did all of you come from!?" Jaune shouted aloud as he leaned left and right to avoid hitting the zombies.

Everywhere he looked he briefly could see nothing but the faces of the damned seeming to stare at him with glazed over eyes or no eyes at all for a few. Looking ahead he could barely see the others as they sped off ahead of him.

That would require more speed but that hampers his ability to make tight turns to avoid hitting abandoned cars or the dead. Thankfully he knew where they were going.

Jaune's knuckles ached as he gripped the handlebar of his bike, leaning heavily to his left he finally made the turn onto Peterson. He almost regretted suggesting taking this road, on both sides of the road abandoned cars dotted the landscape.

However some of the cars still had their occupants in them, their broken fingers or ravaged hands reaching out from their windows in vain attempts to get any living creature nearby. Looking around he couldn't see the others, nor did he have a chance to raise them on his walkie talkie as more zombies noticed him.

"Fuck me." Jaune said through gritted teeth as he sped down the road between cars a few hands reached out for him but none were able to grab hold of him. Sweat beaded his face as he looked around for any of the others but he couldn't see any of them.

Another helicopter passed over heard as Jaune made his way down road causing his heart to stop as he expected more Zombies to come chasing after it. However that didn't happen this time, which made him think, was it not low enough to the ground to gain their attention or was it because no one was talking?

Answers for another time he supposed, quickly looking up at the sky, he could see that the sun was past its zenith. How long have they been out here? He honestly didn't know at this point as he focused back on navigating the road.

After what seemed like forever Jaune finally stopped at the bridge that was over the highway, he could see the onramp to the highway was clear. It was then that he realized that the others hadn't come this way.

He reached into his front pocket and pulled out the radio. Looking around quickly to make sure nothing was nearby to him, he pressed the send button.

"Hello?" There was nothing, he pressed it again.

"Guys, it's me, Jaune, can anyone hear me?" Again there was nothing. Did this mean they were out of range? If they were out of range where did they go? He knew that they had gone somewhat in this direction; he looked over his shoulder back towards the city.

Then again, they could have either gone to the left or right at some point to find a better path to the highway. Speaking of which he looked at the highway and saw that it was surprisingly empty all things considering. He'd figure that it would be packed bumper to bumper with cars.

As he looked over the highway he finally saw why it was so empty. Looking to the west where the highway curved to the right into Vale Jaune could see a massive pile up on the road. Dozens of cars were smashed together or into a large eighteen wheeler that had apparently flipped sideways blocking the road.

Jaune put the kickstand down and stepped off it. There wasn't as many cars on the bridge like the road so he felt somewhat more comfortable being on his feet. Looking down he made sure that he had easy reach to the Glock in case something did charge him.

He wasn't sure what to do; he looked around at some of the empty cars with their doors left open as whoever was in them abandoned them. He looked into a few to see if anything was useful either there was nothing in them or just useless items like a brief case or purse. These people must have been morning commuters heading to work.

He tested the radio again but there was no response. Jaune climbed onto the roof of a nearby SUV to see if he could help the signal range.

"Hello?" Jaune asked into the walkie talkie but once again there was nothing. He sighed; he hoped nothing bad had happened to them. Sliding off the SUV he walked back towards his bike, turning it off and pulling the keys out. He sat down next to his bike and waited.

Sometime Later…

---

Jaune was inspecting how much fuel he had left when he heard something. Looking around he didn't see anything but pulled out his Glock anyways. Looking down at the highway, he saw a small group of cars heading away from the bridge.

"That must be them." He muttered to himself, he didn't actually know if it really was them but any reason not to stay on that bridge was a welcome one. He quickly hopped on his bike, turning it on and pushed forward, taking the ramp onto the highway.

He smiled inside his helmet at being on the open highway because there weren't a lot of obstacles to get in his way. Leaning forward he hit the throttle and shot forward, shifting to fifth gear. The wind roared in his face as he drove down the highway. He could see the rear car and it looked like Qrow's Mustang.

As Jaune closed in on it, he felt elation to know that it was indeed Qrow's car, pulling up next to it, Jaune shifted back to third gear to keep pace. Looking to the left he frowned as he saw Velvet sitting next to Yang, she was supposed to be with Coco.

Jaune dropped off a little to get behind the Mustang and pulled up to the driver side to see Yang focusing intently on the road. As he leveled off with her, she turned to look at him with a mixture of emotions was on her face when she looked at him.

Jaune frowned as she looked away from him and focused on driving. Jaune wasn't sure what to think as he sped up to look for Coco's car. However she wasn't there, there was only the truck, Sun's jeep and the Mustang.

They continued down the highway for a little while, until they finally started reaching the outskirts of Vale. Walled off communities could be seen on either side, though it must not have helped since Jaune could see more than a few clouds of black smoke rolling into the sky.

Jaune looked back at the three cars and finally decided to pull ahead of Qrow, using his signals to get the man to start pulling over. Jaune slowed down his bike and eased it to the side of the road where the paved ground turned to a dirt path.

He finally stopped, looking down he winced to see that he barely had any fuel left. Putting the kickstand down, he stepped off his bike and pulled his helmet off, setting it on the seat. Turning to the other cars he stood patiently as they all came to a stop.

Jaune felt that what he was about to hear was not something he would like. As the doors on the cars opened up and everyone started to step out, Jaune made his way over to them

"Good to see you're still alive Jaune." Qrow said as Jaune approached him but Jaune wasn't up for small chat really.

"Where are they?" Jaune asked Qrow could see his face was set in knowing. Qrow opened and closed his mouth a few times before coughing softly.

"They're gone." As much as Jaune expected to hear that it still hurt his heart to hear it confirmed. A lump formed in his throat and he found it difficult to talk.

"How did it happen?" Nora and Ren appeared on Jaune's left, he could see that they weren't fairing so well. Ren stepped towards Jaune, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Jaune, you're gonna wanna sit down." Jaune screwed his eyes shut, trying to control himself.

"Please Ren, what happened." Ren hesitated a little before answering.

"When we made it to Peterson, we found out that the beginning section was too packed with cars for us to get through. So it was decided on the fly that we would find a different path. We tried to tell you but apparently the walkie talkies couldn't reach you to let you know what we were doing. Pyrrha wanted to stay put and wait for you but the zombies were starting to swarm us so we decided to get out of there to not only draw them off but to prevent them from breaking into the vehicles. The problem however was that Coco took a sharp turn with too much speed and she rolled her car hard. Yang who was bringing up the rear was the first to respond, she found Coco and your sisters dead. Velvet was still alive, barely though, she's pretty banged up." Jaune tuned out the rest of what Ren said, everything seemed to be spinning and he wasn't sure if he was still standing, moving or sitting.

The next thing he knew was Ren and Nora were propping him up by the shoulders. Pyrrha was also now standing in front of him, her hands on his cheeks. He couldn't help but notice how cool her hands were on his face. He blinked as he stood up straight under his own power, Ren and Nora stepping back but still close by just in case.

"Thanks." He said simply as he scratched the back of his head. Everything was so messed up; just a few days ago he would be either in school trying to stay awake during class or at home relaxing without a care in the world.

Now almost half of his family was dead with another three missing, he didn't how Katherine, Mina, or Sepherina were holding up.

Blake appeared from the other side of the truck; they turned to look at her and could see the worry evident on her face.

"What's a matter Blake?" Jaune asked as Blake took a shaky breath.

"It's Velvet, she's not waking up." Jaune looked at Pyrrha, Ren and Nora before jogging after Blake. The four of them came up on the group. Jaune could see Qrow kneeling over Velvet who was lying on the ground. When Jaune saw how banged up Velvet was he was surprised that she even made it this far.

The right side of her face was black and blue from bruises with her eye swollen shut. There was a noticeable red stained bandage that was wrapped around her forehead. Her right hand was bound up but Jaune could see that even more bruises were covered her arm.

On top of he could see several lacerations that probably came from glass shards of their crash covering her face and arms. He had no doubt that there was probably more going on than he could see. Qrow stood up, running a hand through his hair; he looked at the assembled group and shook his head.

"She's done for." Qrow said simply Weiss looked up at him. Ruby grabbed hold of Yang and Sun placed his arm around Blake drawing her into a hug. Nora grabbed Ren's hand while Neptune put a hand on Weiss shoulder as she struggled to understand what he meant.

"What do you mean?" Qrow pointed to her head.

"Well for one she stopped breathing a while ago. Something tells me that bruising that bad on her is a good indicator for head trauma and from that internal bleeding. In which case none of us are medically trained doctors to be able to have noticed it in the first place nor did we have the means to treat something like that." Jaune however stopped paying attention and was looking around for Helena but she wasn't with them.

"Where's Helena?" Pyrrha pointed back to the truck.

"In there she hasn't responded to any of us." Jaune nodded as he left the group to go to the truck. He opened the back door to see Helena staring blankly at the floor.

"Helena?" Jaune said softly but she didn't respond.

"Helena it's me, Jaune."

"Jaune?" She croaked softly as if she didn't have to will to truly believe it.

"Yes, it's me, I'm here."

"Jaune…" She said again but she didn't lift her head, instead she continued to stare down to the floor. Jaune wasn't sure what to say at this point so he closed the door and backed away turning only to see Pyrrha standing in front of him.

"How is she?" Pyrrha asked but Jaune just shook his head.

"She's been through a lot; let's just not talk about it for now." Jaune said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her.

"We're here for you Jaune."

"Thanks Pyrrha." He said before turning to the others and walking over to join them. When they joined the others he could see everyone standing around staring at Velvet's still body.

"How is she?" Ruby asked as she looked at Jaune he shook his head.

"She's not responding to me either, I think it's probably best if we leave her alone for now to get it sorted out." Jaune said as Qrow looked at him now.

"So now that you're here again, what's the plan?" Jaune was staring at Velvet's body a jacket was draped over her head when he realized that everyone was looking at him.

"Why's everyone looking at me?"

"Cause you're the man with the plan." Sun said Jaune blinked at that.

"I'm pretty sure everyone here is a capable of coming up with a plan as well." This time Neptune shook his head.

"Sure but we trust yours more." Jaune just looked at him confused till Weiss sighed in irritation.

"Jaune, we voted to make you leader, now pick a plan already you oaf." There was a collectively chuckle at that which thoroughly confused Jaune. He looked at everyone to see them looking at him, he sighed.

"We'll continue with the plan as before. Along the way keep an eye out for any gas stations, something tells me we're gonna need extra fuel on hand. Also now would be the time to split up the weapons and ammo. Neptune takes the bag with the Stag rifles, I'll take the handgun bag and Ruby gets the bag with the M40 rifles." Ruby looked up at him in surprise.

"Me?" Jaune nodded.

"Yea, Yang talked about how good you are with a rifle so you'll be in charge of loading their magazines. Plus one of the rifles is yours to use, though make sure to hand a couple of the .308 boxes to Neptune. The Stag Model 10 uses those same rounds." Ruby beamed a smile of pure joy as she jumped him.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She repeated over and over again as she squeezed him.

"Ack! Ruby! Let go!" Jaune said as he tried to maintain his balance. The younger girl let go of him and looked a little abashed but Jaune had the feeling she didn't regret that. There was a faint rumble like thunder in the distance however no one paid it any attention.

Jaune looked around the group to see them smiling or looking contently at him, even Weiss looked somewhat less stern. Or at least he thought so; he wasn't sure nor was he crazy enough to bring it up. Qrow however was looking at Vale; Jaune frowned as he followed his gaze

In the distance he could see dozens of oily black smoke clouds polluting the sky above Vale. The occasional helicopter could be seen doing a low sweep of the city, no doubt relaying the message they heard earlier.

Which brought the thought of who thought it was necessary for that message to be relayed now? Had something changed in the grand scheme of things that made the Government feel the need to tell people to evacuate Vale?

Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he turned to see Yang holding one of the bags they used from his dad's shop.

"You said you wanted the handgun bag right?" She held it up to him.

"Yea I'd figured I'd start loading some magazines while you drive." It was slightly cathartic for Jaune to see surprise on someone else's face when something unexpected happens to them.

"Excuse me?" Jaune shrugged as a smile spread across his face.

"What? My bike doesn't have enough fuel to make it anywhere so I figured I would just hitch a ride with you." Yang just nodded slowly.

"Is there a problem?" He asked, a little more curious to see what was going on in her mind.

"Oh, uh, nothing I was just thinking you'd would want to ride with your sister or something." Jaune nodded as it was a valid point.

"I suppose it would be a good idea." He mused aloud but Yang ended that thought quickly.

"Ah, no never mind what I said, you can ride shotgun with me." She said with a grin as she patted the Mossberg that was slung over her. Then quickly grabbed him by the arm and started to pull him towards the Mustang while Jaune blanched.

"God help me."

Pyrrha watched as Jaune got into the Mustang with Yang and for some reason felt a pang of regret reverberate through her at seeing that. It wasn't an unreasonable seating arrangement, the Mustang had room for another person while the other two vehicles were either packed or close to packed.

Yet it felt odd to see him of all people go to her for that, Yang could have easily just had Ruby come and sit with her. No, she wanted Jaune to come and ride in a car alone for who knows how long they were gonna be traveling.

"Pyrrha? You coming?" Neptune asked as he helped Weiss into Sun's jeep. She didn't look directly at him, instead simply got wordlessly into the jeep.

---

Fuck this took me forever to get out, so I'm incredibly sorry about that.

You may proceed to tear me a new one on the wait time.

Anyways, I hope you liked that little moment between Ren and Nora. That was my first attempt at a scene like that, well, at least in a story that is.

I honestly don't have much to say at the moment, cause I'm rushing this as I type since I gotta head down to L.A. which is gonna be a bitch of a road trip.

So as always feel free to leave a comment on what you thought of the chapter, whether it was good or bad or you just want me to start writing nothing but lemon next chapter or no lemon at all.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed it, till next time.

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Note: Any Pancakes that were harmed in the making of this Chapter were thoroughly compensated...