Bump in the Night Who: Zania and Justin Where: The streets When: Evening Warning: Violence, Language
Once Justin realized the power wasn’t going to be returning anytime soon, he did his best to salvage the perishable food he had remaining in the deep freezer near the back of the diner. The food inside would eventually spoil as well if the power didn’t return soon, and that fact alone had Justin stewing as he packed the freezer as tightly as he could before locking it up. It pissed him off that he was losing money with each passing hour, but there was nothing he could do about it short of trying to get a generator, and with the dome locked, that wasn’t happening anytime soon.
It was evening by the time Justin finished, locked up the diner and headed out. The power outage made the streets darker than usual, but given Zania’s new place was barely a block from the diner, it didn’t bother him. He didn’t know much about her roommate, or if Zania had filled her in on her blood cravings,and Justin was already thinking he’d invite Zania back to his place so they could talk a bit.
Pulling out a cigarette from his nearly empty pack, Justin knocked on Zania’s door before lighting up and glancing around the street.
After Mickey had left her place, Zania had done little more than go back to bed and listen to music. She wasn’t in the best mood for company, still stewing about the fact that Mickey had hooked up with December, even if she knew it was bound to happen eventually. He’d never really been interested in her, she told herself. All he’d wanted was a distraction, maybe a fuck or a friend, but not anything more. At least not from her. They texted a bit back and forth as the afternoon dragged on and before she knew it it was night. The knock on the door had her rolling out of bed to answer the door, barefoot in jeans and a sweatshirt.
“Hey,” she said, smiling when she saw it was her brother. That was a pleasant surprise. He didn’t often come to visit. She was about to invite him in when she noticed he’d just lit up. “Come to visit me?”
When Zania opened the door, Justin looked her over quickly, just to assess that she wasn't hurt. He had no idea why, because he wasn't a protective person by nature, and he knew Zania was capable of taking care of herself. But knowing what had happened to her, and the fact that they were blood, brought out a protective side of him. One he rarely acknowledged. Pulling the cigarette from his lips, Justin exhaled and then cocked a brow. "Nah, came to fuck your roommate." Then he gave her a dry look before his lips twitched. "C'mon, obviously I've come to visit you. You want to get out for a bit and walk me home? You know how scared I get of the dark."
“You’re such an ass,” she said, laughing softly as she slipped her shoes on, then stepped outside with him. “You should meet her. You might like her. Not that I’m suggesting you fuck her, and if you do, please do it at your place. I don’t wanna hear it.” She couldn’t recall Justin ever having a girlfriend, which meant he hadn’t been meeting the right girls or just wasn’t interested in anything remotely serious. They were different like that. “So you’re afraid now of all the things that go bump in the night?” she asked, shutting the door behind her. “Apparently I go bump in the night too, you know.”
Shrugging, Justin stepped back so make room for Zania, though he did give a cursory glance inside to see if her roommate was home. He had no interest in anything serious, no. Just thinking about being with a woman for more than a couple days tended to make him feel claustrophobic. But it was rare to find an interesting woman who felt the same way he did. Which was a shame. Zania's roommate was forgotten as Zania closed the door, and he took another pull from his cigarette before smiling at her. "Nah, my fear stems from one of my many scorned lovers from the past comin' at me through the dark with a machete. Things that go bump in the night are easier to handle. And nah, you don't go bump anywhere, Zan. You're not scary enough."
“I can be scary,” Zania grinned. “You haven’t seen me with a machete.” Which was weird, considering they’d both survived. They’d just done it without each other. Zania had been with Nic, he with his gun and her with the machete, and they’d only found out that Justin had survived later. It didn’t surprise her as much as it could have; they were both survivors in their own way, and Justin had always known how to defend himself. “You got any scorned lovers in town we should be watching out for? Or are you just talkin’ about the past?”
"That's okay, I'm fine with not seeing my sister wielding a machete," Justin said dryly. It didn't surprise him to know Zania had made it through with Nic. They weren't the closest siblings, but Justin rarely doubted her ability to survive. He waited until he exhaled a steady stream of smoke before answering her question. "Not naming names," he said simply. "But there may be a couple around who avoid Eatzy's all together because they know I'm there. Thankfully I haven't dealt with any crazy bitches yet. What about you, Z? How many hearts you been breaking?"
“You’re running them off from the only diner in town?” she asked with a smile. It really wouldn’t surprise her if that was the case. If a girl thought Justin was going to be boyfriend material, then she’d gotten her wires crossed. “Me? None,” she answered, looking out ahead of them, rather than at him. It was so dark out, yet she could see so much better than she used to. “Someone’s gotta be interested for me to break their hearts.” Hers, on the other hand, wasn’t all that happy. Finding out Mickey and finally gotten together with December wasn’t exactly the highlight of her day.
Justin didn’t think he was running women away from the diner. He was always pretty upfront about his feelings whenever there was the potential to bring a girl home. Unfortunately there hadn’t been all that many. He was currently in what he considered to be a dry spell, but he had been too focused on the diner to really care much. It helped that no one had really piqued his interest lately. Brow cocked skeptically, Justin glanced at his sister. “Hard to believe there’s no one sniffin’ around your door,” he said simply.
“I thought maybe Mickey, but... he’s got someone else,” Zania said, giving a rock in the road a kick. It bounced ahead of her, something to kick again when she got there. “I think I need to get out more.” Which she’d been trying to do, but nothing had come of it lately. She felt a lot like a shut in, unable to go outside during the day. It took away hours that she might have otherwise had.
Justin watched as the rock Zania kicked skipped across the road. "Mickey, the handyman?" He knew that's who she met, since he had spoken to the guy a few days prior. "What happened there? Do I need to pay him a visit?" Honestly, it felt odd asking, because Justin had never been overly invested in Zania's personal life, nor she with his. But that didn't mean he wanted some moron hurting his sister, and maybe now that they were both living inside Delphi, he needed to be more aware of what was going on with her. Just in case.
“You gonna beat him up for me?” she asked, smiling a little. That would be a riot to watch. Zania wasn’t even confident Mickey would fight back, but if he did then it would be amusing. “Nothing happened there. That’s the problem. I wanted it to, but... he’s just not interested. He’s got his heart set on someone else.” And she was happy for him in some regards, because she knew December was what he wanted. It had never been her. She wasn’t sure why she cared so much, seeing as how she barely knew him, but it still bothered her.
"I'd break his nose for you," Justin said, and while his lips twitched faintly, he was dead serious. He had learned to fight at a young age, and it had come in handy when he was dealing back in New Orleans. Justin didn't mind getting a little bloody if he had to. It had been necessary then. And he kind of missed it."Then he's not worth your time, if he's wanting someone else. I know you think it's my job to say that to you, 'cause I'm your brother, but it's the damn truth." Justin shook his head and lifted the cigarette to his lips again. "Honestly, far as I could tell, he didn't seem like he'd be able to handle you anyway."
“Don’t break his nose,” she laughed. “Sometimes I think he deserves a swift kick to the balls, but if anyone’s going to do that, it’s me, not you.” Most of the time Mickey was great, but sometimes he said things that just rubbed her the wrong way. Like he couldn’t make up his mind. It was infuriating to know she wasn’t good enough in some capacity, while still catching his attention in others. “Thanks,” she said, smiling back at Justin. “I don’t know if he could. I wouldn’t have minded finding out, but...” She shrugged, deciding it wasn’t worth the effort to figure out things that didn’t exist. “Sometimes this town feels really small.”
He didn’t really like hearing that, simply because it told Justin that Zania had a reason to occasionally think Mickey needed a kick to the nuts. “This town is really small,” Justin said after a moment. “It can get a bit claustrophobic from time to time, huh? Not like you can up and leave to another city anymore, start over.” That drove him crazy sometimes, but Justin had learned to adapt to this new way of life years ago. He was about to say something more when he heard a howl somewhere in the distance. “Hear that? Doesn’t sound like a dog, does it?”
“I’m just used to there being more people,” Zania said, thinking of home. There’d never been a shortage when it came to New Orleans, and everyone didn’t know each other. That had also been a plus. “A dog?” she asked, instinctively sniffing the air, though all she could smell was the smoke of his cigarette at the moment. Her ears, though, picked up on something and she spun, looking into the darkness. “Something’s out there,” she said quietly.
Justin followed her gaze, trying to see if he could make out any movement in the shadows of the street. He dropped his cigarette to the ground, snuffing it out with his shoe before glancing over his shoulder. “Nearby?” he asked her, because he couldn’t see anything himself. He had no idea what being a vampire had done to Zania’s senses, but if she could smell or hear something he couldn’t, he wanted to know. His house wasn’t too far now and he reached for her wrist to tug her along. If there were fucking vampires out there, who knew what else was lurking. “We need to get inside.”
There was movement in the dark and Zania tried to focus on what it was, her sense of smell telling her that it was a dog just moments before Justin tugged at her wrist. “It’s a dog or something,” she said, hurrying along beside him. “Close.” There was a low growl then that would have set her heart racing if it was still able to beat. “Too close,” she added, moving to a run that jerked her out of Justin’s grasp. It felt like she’d only taken a few steps, but she was a good twenty feet ahead of him. She spun towards her brother, not willing to leave him behind no matter how fast she could apparently move. “Hurry!” she urged him, feeling an urgency now to get him to safety.
Justin blinked in surprise, momentarily stunned at how quickly his sister could move. That wasn’t normal. Then again, she wasn’t normal any longer, was she? “Jesus, Zania. You didn’t tell me you could move that fast.” He started toward her, and then became very aware of the dog that was racing across the lawn toward the both of them. It was a damn large dog, and Justin tried to recall if he had known anyone in the dome with that kind of pet. Not that it should have mattered, because he should have been running with Zania the last few yards to his house instead of staring at the thing in surprise.
“Last time I saw you, I didn’t know,” she explained, though her focus was elsewhere. Out of the shadows came a dog, no a wolf, bigger than any she’d ever seen. Not that she’d seen a lot of wolves, but this one was huge. “Run!” she screamed to Justin, darting to the house so quickly that she was there when he hadn’t even moved. She flung open the door and tried to rush inside, only to find herself up against a wall. “Invite me in!” she yelled back at him.
Once Zania was on his doorstep, Justin snapped out of his awe and finally got his feet to move. He ran after her, confused as to what she was yelling at him. Invite her in? What the fuck did that even mean? He wasn’t considering the fact that she was a vampire. At least not until he was nearly to the door and it occurred to him that she couldn’t enter his house yet. “Go inside,” he managed to yell. Smoking since he turned thirteen had done shit to his lungs and they were burning by the time he caught up to her. That was all he could really do, because he felt teeth in his calf seconds later and Justin fell forward, pain wracking his body as his hand came up in a punch against the wolf’s face. Why he thought punching a damn animal in the face would do anything, Justin didn’t know, but it was more instinct to try and get the beast off of him.
Zania was inside in a flash, frantically looking for something to fight off the wolf that was after them. She heard her brother fall, smelled the blood in the air, and grabbed the first weapon-like thing she could find. Rushing back outside, she was beside her brother in seconds, beating at the wolf with a fire poker as if she could smash it’s head in. She might not have been strong, but her movements came so quickly that she’d begun to beat it bloody before it even had a chance to turn on her. Zania wasn’t sure where her fear had gone. All she knew was that she couldn’t let her brother die, and she was almost certain the wolf couldn’t hurt her like it could him.
All Justin could feel was sharp teeth ripping through his flesh, matted fur and hot, animal breath against the exposed skin. The adrenaline kept him from giving up quickly, though Justin was quickly realizing there wasn't much he could do. The wolf was heavy, and strong and he hadn't even thought about grabbing his gun from the desk in the back of the diner. Choking on the smell of blood, Justin was suddenly distracted by a flash of red hair. It took him several seconds to figure out what was going on, and while his first instinct was to grab Zania and scream at her to get inside the house, Justin realized he didn't need to. She was beating the damn thing with what looked like a fire poker. The teeth that had been embedded in his leg pulled free and Justin rolled his way out from under the wolf, his leg screaming in pain.
“Get in the house!” Zania yelled to her brother as the wolf rounded on her, attempting to attack the biggest threat. It snapped at her arms, teeth tearing flesh, and Zania screamed as her own blood trickled down her arms, over her fingers. There was pain, but second later there were no wounds, the advantage she had over her brother in this fight. He was in danger of dying, whereas she... she just had to bear through the pain. She kicked the wolf as her grip on the fire poker shifted, and when it came at her again, she brought it down hard, stabbing it through the eye. When that didn’t seem to be enough, she pushed the poker on through, the squish of it’s brain sending a wave of nausea through her. That seemed to do the trick.
He wasn't listening. Justin was too stunned to move, let alone get to his feet and try to stumble his way into his house. He didn't want to leave his sister behind, though he couldn't move very well to even help her. Not that she needed it. All he could do as she shoved the fire poker through the thing's eye was stare, his jaw slack and his heart pounding like a jackhammer in his chest. The wolf fell to the grass and Justin watched it before looking up at Zania again. "Jesus fucking Christ, Zania."
At the sound of her brother’s voice, Zania spun to face her brother, panting softly, her eyes wide. It had been a while since she’d felt that kind of rush, since killing zombies, but this time there’d been no fear to hold her back. She looked from Justin down to the dead wolf, then pressed her boot against it’s skull, pulling the fire poker back out. “Are you okay?” she asked, licking the blood off her lips. Her own blood, maybe, but she couldn’t be sure. It smelled like there was blood everywhere. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”
Justin couldn't answer that question just yet, because he had no fucking idea what he needed. All he knew was that his sister had just stabbed a wolf through it's fucking eye like a woman possessed. He had no idea if having to kill zombies in the past had hardened her a bit, or if this was just something new that came with being a vampire. And he tried hard not to show his disgust when she licked blood from her lips. God, he hoped it was her own, which was a horrible thing to think as he didn't want her to be hurt. His leg began to throb painfully again, now that the initial adrenaline from the attack was wearing off. He sat up with a grimace and reached down to examine the bite mark through his calf. Most of it was covered with blood, but he could see bits of flesh torn apart. "Maybe." Grunting with pain, Justin pulled his t-shirt off and quickly wrapped it around the wound tightly to try and stop the bleeding. "Fuck," he muttered, determined to grit his teeth through the agony. Then Justin looked at Zania again. "You okay? Are you hurt?"
Zania’s hands were slick with blood and she wiped them on her jeans. It was a bad habit, one she’d picked up on the outside, when she’d gone so long without showering that her hair became a rat’s nest. That was when she’d let it dread, when she’d stopped caring that her clothes were stained with blood. It was after Dorian had died, when it was just she and Nic and he was barely there. That was when killing dead things had become easy. It surprised her to find the wolf was no different. “Me?” she asked, then ran her fingers over her arm, where the wolf had bitten her. The skin had already healed. “I’m fine. Super vampire powers, remember?” Her eyes ticked down to his leg where blood was seeping through the tie. “We need to get you to the hospital.”
Super vampire powers. Of course. Justin stared at the way her clothes were stained with blood. Not unlike his own. But it was worse seeing Zania covered in it. She was obviously fine, but what if she hadn't been a vampire? Things could have ended very differently. They weren't close, and never had been, but she was the only family Justin had left. With his stomach churning now, Justin tightened the knot around his leg, his jaw clenched with the effort to keep the noises of discomfort at bay. He didn't want Zania to see him weak. While a stubborn part of him wanted to insist he was fine, Justin knew from the look of the wound before wrapping it up that he needed stitches. A lot of them. It was that, or bleed to death. "Shit," he breathed before pushing against the grass to get slowly to his feet. "Think you can take some of my weight?" Justin asked, aware that he would need her to lean on if he planned on getting to the hospital without face planting into the ground.
It was hard for Zania to see Justin in pain. He was her big brother, her only sibling, and she’d always looked up to him. He’d always seemed invincible, especially when he’d shown up at Delphi, alive when everyone else turned out to be dead. A wolf should be the last thing to take him down. “Of course,” she said, rushing to his side and sliding an arm around him. She wasn’t strong, but she could be the crutch he needed. Zania turned them in the direction of the hospital and started off, the fire poker still in her free hand. “I’ve never seen a wolf do that,” she said once they were moving. “They usually don’t go after prey that are larger than them, not unless they’re feeling threatened or in a pack... Right?”
Slipping an arm around her shoulders, Justin tried not to lean too heavily against her. Just enough to be able to walk without applying too much weight on his bloody leg. It hurt like a bitch, and the only real thing keeping him from continuing to move was the mild fear that he could lose his leg if it didn't get treated. He wasn't sure how deep the wolf's teeth actually got, but it felt like it could have torn his whole calf off. "Don't know much...'bout wolves, Z." Justin huffed out a breath, though it had more to do with trying to keep the discomfort level down than being exasperated with her. "Unless... it saw you as a threat... but it didn't go after you." Zania had moved far too fast for that animal to have been able to catch up.
“I saw them sometimes outside the dome,” Zania said, keeping her pace slow as her brother limped along beside her. “They never came too close.” And that was when they’d been perfect prey, not like in here, where she might smell different to them. She’d always suspected they stayed away from the zombies due to the scent, but she didn’t smell like a zombie, thank God. Her flesh wasn’t rotting off. “It wasn’t interested in me until I started hitting it,” she said, then gave a short little laugh. “Maybe it liked the scent of cigarette smoke.”
"Yeah well, getting beaten bloody by a fire poker would probably draw any animal's attention," he said dryly, slowing for a moment to reach down and hold his thigh as the pain shot through his leg again. He cursed and then inhaled sharply before straightening and continuing toward the hospital beside his sister. Despite the agony, Justin managed a faint, lopsided grin. "Doubt it was the cigarette smoke. Though that'd be a brilliant way to get me to quit, huh?"
“It was the first thing I could find,” Zania said. It seemed she’d be back to carrying a weapon on her at all times. It wasn’t safe without one. If she’d had her machete, maybe Justin wouldn’t have gotten bitten at all. She could have run at the animal instead of away from it. “Now there’s a silver lining,” she said, smiling back at him. She’d never been a smoker, but he and Nic were. She’d have to warn Nic that wolves were attacking, if he didn’t already know. “Want me to call the ambulance?” she asked, remembering that her cousin drove it. In all the chaos, she seemed to have forgotten.
Despite the shock of watching his own sister stab a wolf through the eye, Justin was thankful she had been quick enough to find a weapon and used it. Death by mauling was pretty damn unappealing, especially after everything he had gone through to survive before the domes opened. “No,” Justin said, trying to straighten a bit to show her he didn’t need anyone else’s help. Except maybe hers. “It’s only a couple blocks. And I’m not bleeding out on the sidewalk yet.” He still felt nauseous, but Justin supposed that was to be expected. “By the time it got here, we’d probably already be to the hospital anyway.” If there are other wolves roaming around, it was possible someone else would need the ambulance more than he did.
“Yet,” she replies with a little glare. The last thing she needs is her brother bleeding out on the sidewalk. “What were we going to your place for anyways? I can’t even remember.” It seems stupid now, wandering about in the dark, except that’s the only time of day she can be out. They should have been safe. She should have been more prepared. What kind of a vampire was she if she couldn’t protect the people she cared about? Vampires might not be protectors, but they should be capable enough.
"Wanted to talk to you," Justin explained in between deep breaths to ease some of the pain. "Without your roommate around. Hadn't heard from you... in a couple days so I wanted to check on how things were." At least when it came to her... eating? Feeding? Whatever she had to call it. "Stupid to leave my gun behind," he muttered, irritated with himself for thinking he wouldn't need it.
“Oh, that, yes,” Zania said, biting her bottom lip. She still hadn’t told Clementine about what she was, so she appreciated the care he was taking. She just wished it hadn’t gotten them attacked. “Things are okay. I’ve still got some blood from December. I think we should probably hold off on you donating, though, considering the amount you’re losing tonight.” She wasn’t worried about herself at the moment. There were others she could get blood from, if necessary. “It’s not stupid. You felt safe. So did I.”
"Don't know who that is," Justin said, referring to December, "but hopefully her blood's clean." He hadn't put a lot of thought into that until recently, when it really hit him that Zania would have to drink blood to survive. "You know... tats and shit. Diseases..." Justin stopped for another moment, gritting his teeth before he started to walk again. Every kind of obscenity started flooding his brain, but he managed to hold back from saying them out loud. "Just... be safe... about it." She was a vampire and it briefly occurred to him that maybe stuff that affected humans wouldn’t affect her, but he didn’t know for sure. Better safe than sorry.
“She’s the town coroner,” Zania said by way of explanation. “I think she knows what she’s doing. And I’m not sure diseases are something I need to worry about, but... I’ll be careful.” If tattoos were an issue, she was already screwed, but she couldn’t imagine that being a problem. What kind of vampire got sick from drinking blood from a tattoo artist? That just seemed wrong, but so did everything else. “Come on, we’re almost there,” she said, glad when the doors were finally within reach. Her first thought on seeing them was that the hospital was closed, but then she remembered that the power was out. It was dark in there, just like it was dark everywhere else.
Justin might have said more about it, but all he could really focus on was getting inside the hospital to a chair so he could get the weight off of his leg. "You able to go inside?" Justin asked, once they reached the doors. He knew she had to be invited into private homes, but seeing as how she had walked into Eatzy's after becoming a vampire, he was thinking public buildings were allowed.
At first she thought he might be concerned with her appearance, that the blood on her and the iron in her hand wouldn’t be allowed. But that didn’t make sense. When she realized he was thinking of her inability to enter houses, she smiled. “I only have trouble with homes,” she said, then pushed the door open so they could enter the hospital. Apparently they weren’t the first to arrive, as there was a swirl of activity around them. Zania took a second to let her eyes adjust to the darkness, then called out into it. “Can someone please help? My brother’s been bitten by a wolf!”
It sounded crazy, coming from Zania's lips, even though Justin knew it wasn't. People got bit by animals all the time. But wolves inside the dome? That's what made it seem crazy. A couple of men rushed over to help him, and Justin looked back at Zania. "Don't wait. Just go home, okay? I'll text you when I can." That was all he could really say before he was nudged into a wheelchair and quickly taken down the hall to a room.