With Every Step Forward (Neglected/Abused Boosted Gear Reader x RWBY)

Chapter 68: Heightened Emotions

Farmhouse

As the group's walking through the settlement, it's almost as if the place was just abandoned. The other towns in Mistral that they've walked through were either damaged or unfinished, but this looks like people just haven't been taking care of the place. No destroyed buildings. No farm equipment is haphazardly strewn about. With the exception of the lack of people, it just looks like a normal settlement where people live.

Weiss: "Maybe everyone left in a hurry? Before things took a turn?"

Qrow tries the doorknob, but it's locked. 

Qrow: "Stay on guard." he tells the rest.

He kicks open the door and grabs Harbinger, with RWBY and Neo quickly funneling in to find any potential danger before it finds them. Once inside, they look around, but they don't see or hear anything except for the cold blizzard picking up outside.

Maria: "Close the door already!" she yells as she and Luna walk in. "It's cold enough in here as it is!"

The others look at her brazen attitude and decide that there's no danger, at least for now. Any Grimm that were inside the house would have attacked or at least made a noise by now and judging by the condition of the foyer they're in, no people have been here for a while, either. 

Weiss closes the now busted door while Blake and Neo push a table against it to keep it closed and the weather out.

Blake: "I saw a chimney from the outside. Maybe we could get a fire going?"

Weiss: "Please. I'll look for some blankets."

Qrow: "Yang, go with her."

The others go to their tasks while Ruby looks at the end of the room, where she sees several pictures on the wall. She goes up to examine them, seeing a picture of a few families in front of the "Brunswick Farms" sign that they passed on the way up here. Everyone seems like they're happy.

Blake: "What do you think?" she asks.

Ruby: "Something doesn't feel right."

Blake: "Let's look for some-"

Weiss: "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Ruby: "WEISS!"

Her shriek spurs Blake and Ruby to go upstairs, where Weiss was looking for blankets, rushing up the stairs and to the first open room. Yang and Weiss are on the ground, staring away from the center of the room, at a closet. Ruby's eyes scan the floor, seeing dried blood, and inside the closet, the decaying corpse of a young boy.

A Few Minutes Later

Weiss is curled up in front of the roaring fire downstairs, the image of what they found unable to escape her mind. Blake comes over and puts a blanket on her, an action that causes Weiss to tense up when she feels something around her, but she calms down as soon as she realizes what and who it is. Blake sits over by Yang on the couch.

The front door opens and Uncle Qrow steps through it, wiping the snow off himself as he enters the living room.

Qrow: "...it's the same in every house."

Yang: "What!?"

Qrow: "Bodies." he answers. "In every home, killed. The cold preserved them somewhat, so I'm not sure how long it's been, but they all seemed to happen around the same time. They had wounds like curve marks, but there was also a lack of a struggle, indicating whatever or whoever attacked did so in the night, stealthily. Grimm don't do that, so..."

He goes to the fire, warming himself up.

Luna: "People..."

That's not something any of them liked to think out. Being in a world filled with Grimm is bad enough, but other people who kill others? That's just...