Blake

We dashed into the dark alleyway with our weapons drawn, the metallic scent of blood hanging in the air. The tall brick buildings blocked the light of the setting sun, leaving the alley in darkness. I peered around as we ran, inspecting the scene. We ran until we reached a point where the alley split into two, one going left, the other going right. We stopped, looking down both paths, straining to hear any signs of movement down them. The woman's screams had stopped only moments ago, but we still had no idea which way they were going.

"I can't see a thing," Yang said, frustrated. Weiss and Ruby muttered in agreement as they began feeling around, searching for any signs that could tell us which way they went. I couldn't tell them that I could still see; not perfectly, but it was a lot better than being blind. I peered at the walls and the ground for a few seconds before I spotted what I'd been looking for.

"Blood trail!" I exclaimed. "This way." We hurriedly made our way down the left hand path. I kept my eyes on the trail I'd found, following around corners and into side streets as we made our way through Vale. There were no other people around these smaller streets; everyone else was on the main roads, going to the festivities. This certainly made tracking the woman's attacker a lot easier, with no one around to get in the way.

I was so focussed on following the trail of blood that I didn't see Yang stop running in front of me as we came out of an alley and onto a main street and ploughed into her, sending the two of us sprawling. I jumped up as quickly as I could, pulling Yang to her feet.

"What're you doing?" I yelled.

"Look over there." she said, pointing to the side of the street. I turned and saw what had brought everyone to a halt. There was a middle-aged man lying up against the wall of a building, clutching at a large wound in his leg. We ran over to him, Ruby asking what had happened.

His eyelids fluttered as he looked up at us, struggling to focus. He groaned as we approached; a strange blend of pain and relief.

"I was closing up… my shop…" he said, fighting to get the words out. "…To go to the festival. I sent my sons on ahead… while I finished up here… When I came out I was… attacked… by a large beast."

"Did you see a woman?" Ruby asked as she knelt down beside him and began tying a bandage to his leg. He nodded, cringing in pain.

"Yes… I saw the woman… Tried to stop it… To save her…"

"Did you see where it went?" I turned my back on them as Ruby continued to ask for information. I walked a couple of steps away, retreating from the nauseating scent of blood. I hated that scent and being part cat only made my sense of smell more vulnerable to it.

I looked up and down the empty street, wondering what we were going to do next. We couldn't leave this man here to bleed out, but I didn't want to go after this 'beast' without the full team. Not until we knew what it was. I took a deep breath of fresh air, trying to clear my head. I jumped as I felt a hand grab my shoulder. I spun around to see Yang behind me, smiling reassuringly. I felt my anxiety washing away as I bathed in the light of her smile.

"Are you okay?" she asked, concern in her eyes. No pity, no judgement, just genuine care and concern. I found myself smiling back, a small smile; I'd not forgotten the severity of the situation.

"Yeah," I said, nodding. "What will we do about him?" I brought us back to the business at hand, now was not the time to be relaxing. Yang took her hand off my shoulder, crossing her arms and holding her chin in thought.

"I don't know," she said. "I know we can't just leave him here, and we don't have time to call anyone to pick him up or the trail will go cold." I nodded in agreement, looking at the light of the setting sun coming over the buildings, colouring the street a dark orange. "I don't like the idea of going after that thing at night either," Yang continued, sighing. "I don't know, we'll figure something out."

"Pa!" a voice screamed. We all swung around, searching for the source of the voice. Two young men, probably Ruby's age, were running towards us.

"My sons." the man muttered when Ruby looked at him questioningly. The boys passed by us with barely a glance as they rushed to kneel by their father's side.

"What happened to you Pa?" one of them asked, tears in his eyes. "We waited for you, but you were taking so long, so we came back… Who did this?"

"More importantly," Weiss stepped in, interrupting the boy. "Can you two get your father to a hospital?" They looked up at her, confused, as if finally realising she was there. They nodded at her, though they didn't seem very confident.

"Okay," Weiss continued. "Well first you have to make sure the bandage on his leg stays tight…" I turned away again as she continued issuing instructions. Ruby came over to join Yang and I as we waited.

"He couldn't make out what it was," she began. "But from his description it sounds like some kind of Grimm, a big one. I don't know how it slipped past the guards on the edge of the city, but I'd at least guess it came from Forever Fall; the place where it attacked first was pretty close to the forest."

"Do we have any idea where it's heading?" I asked.

"Well it seems to be heading south east, towards the industrial district."

"Why would it go there?" Yang asked.

"I doubt it's been in the city long," Weiss answered, she joined us as the two young men began carrying their father down the street. "It probably doesn't have a set destination in mind, it's just running. It doesn't matter either way; the industrial district is not a good place for that thing to go."

"It should be pretty empty for the next couple of days though," Yang said. "It's a holiday, there won't be any workers in there."

"True," Weiss replied. "But we need to find this thing and get rid of it as soon as we can, it could just as easily leave the industrial district and run rampant through the commercial district again. And what if it were to make its way into the residential district."

"So we need to find it before it leaves the industrial district." Ruby said.

"Exactly, but finding that thing in amongst the factories and warehouses will be difficult. And even if we find which one it's in, those buildings are immense. Not to mention how badly this could go wrong if we're in there with it when the sun sets."

"Well," Ruby shouted, swinging out Crescent Rose. "What're we waiting for? We need to find this thing before it can hurt any more people." She grinned at us and took off down the street, her red cape flying out behind her.

"Ruby!" Weiss called out to her. Ruby stopped and looked back questioningly. "South West is that way." She pointed behind us, away from where Ruby was running. I saw her cheeks turn red as she ran back to us. We all turned as she reached us and took off down the street, racing to hunt down our prey before the sun went down.