Weiss Schnee: Airship to Vale

Prologue

Alex groaned in frustration.

He'd spent the last couple hours trying to drive to work, and now he was forced to stop at some sort of entrance to a quarantine zone, and a group of people were washing off his car. They were dressed as if they were trying to protect themselves from an outbreak.

Of course he didn't believe it. Alex had lived around here for ages. He wasn't sure what was happening, but he certainly wasn't happy.

As the men finished hosing off his car, he rolled down his window as one of the men approached his window.

"What now?" he said. "You gonna bury my livestock again?"

The man shook his head. "No, it's just a normal inspection. There's been a small leak at a site just up ahead. You go ahead and move along."

"Why are you doing this to me?!" Alex said. "Just like last time!"

"I promise, not this time," the man said. "Please, move along."

Frustrated, Alex drove off. "Tiny leak". Sure. He'd already been having a rough day. As much as he didn't want it to get worse, he figured it would somehow.

He heard his scroll ringing on the passenger seat beside him. He grumbled in frustration, leaning over to grab it.

He only took his eyes off the road for a moment, before he felt his car bash into something.

Startled, Alex stopped the truck, and climbed out to see what he'd hit. He growled in anger as he saw the dead body of a deer in the road, a trail of blood making its way to his vehicle.

Of course his day could get worse. But that didn't matter right now. Mantle was just a couple miles ahead. He could just forget this ever happened.

A frustrated Alex climbed back into his vehicle, and drove off, leaving the deer behind.

Silence fell upon the area in the road where the deer lied, as no cars passed by. However, the silence was quickly interrupted by the disturbing sound of bones cracking, as the deer started to shake. Its body contorted itself to flip around, and the deer pushed itself to its feet.

Its eyelids opened, revealing pale, white eyes...