The apple doesn't fall far from the tree
Summary: Being the daughter of Frank West means she's prepared for everything. Frankie just never expected a second outbreak to happen in Willamette when she agrees to take the photography teaching position at Willamette High School. Come Black Friday, she uses what she's been taught by her father and even her mother to help her students and the survivors of Willamette...while crushing hard on the Commander of Obscuris.
Disclaimer: The Dead Rising series belongs to Capcom as does any Street Fighter references I make or rather just any Capcom game references I make. However Frankie, Her mother Rayne, her step-mother/Rayne's Wife Piper, her students and various other survivors belong to me. I have a lot at the moment but I only know of a few; Dante, Jason (he'll be mentioned but doesn't actually show up), Elise, and Kathryn.
Note: This will cover some of the six weeks that Frank wasn't in Willamette, then it'll branch into the story. Also I know in the game it's stated nobody is immune to the outbreak but that's saying Phenotrans didn't have access to Dr. Barnaby's notes which lead to Frankie being immune to the newest infection. I had to make it work somehow lol
Chapter 1
"I'm the tree the apple didn't fall far from. She's her father's daughter, with a dark side I could not have taught her." - Frank West.
Francesca West was a mixture of her father, Frank West and her mother, Rayne West. She looked exactly like her other but acted more like her father at times...depended really.
From the age of 7-8, her father's fame due to his time in the Willamette outbreak in 2006 along with his "conspiracy theories" ended up with Phenotrans kidnapping her. For an entire year she was experimented on by the Phenotrans scientists to make her immune to different zombie strains. Great.
She would have her back or sides cut into and then once healed up enough, she was thrown into a room with a zombie. She was suppose to be bitten once then the zombie was killed. By the time she was eight, Chuck Green and her father attacked the facility she was located in an escaped with her. So far she was immune to every zombie strain she had encountered, even the Los Perdidos strain. She was attending Los Perdidos University, majoring in Criminal Law and Photography. She was gonna be a lawyer and a freelance photographer.
Then the shit hit the fan, zombies everywhere, Phenotrans everywhere. She made it out with Nick Ramos and several others, Chuck and Katey Green included.
Now it was early November 27th, 2021. Eight months since she left Los Perdidos and a month and a half ago she started working at Willamette High School. Basically the Principal had come across her photography website and contacted her through her email. She agreed cause her mother didn't have clients for her yet, she had started interning at her mother's law firm and they both figured, with input from her stepmother Piper Jones, that she'd continue the internship when she was done at Willamette High.
This was also the same day she met Commander Fontana of the military group Obscuris. She had no plans for Black Friday, none at all. So her students wants to go to the Willamette Memorial Megaplex Mall, she agreed of course. It was around eight in the morning when she picked them up.
She had six students in her SUV, one up front, three in the back, and two in her open trunk. The rest where meeting her there. The other twelve students were meeting them in the food court. She was driving to the mall and barely managed to get a parking spot in the parking garage before they all climbed out. Some of the stores hadn't opened yet and people were waiting in line already. They made it to the food court where t he other nine students were hanging out.
"Miss. West!" they all said with a smile on their faces.
"You guys get your food yet?"
"No." spoke the Quarterback in her class, his name was Adam and so far he was promising given he was a jock. "We waited for you to arrive."
Frankie smiled. All eighteen of her students were precious to her, sure her senior class only had eighteen students but these guys were her favorite. The senior class by far was her favorite, she didn't care much for the freshmen class since they were still young and didn't really care about what she said. The sophomore and junior classes where okay but they still annoyed her.
A few of them had their mothers or fathers with them but that was because they most likely wanted to buy a few things. They all went in separate directions to get their food. Frankie got a breakfast burrito and a cup of coffee before turning around and smacking right into a body. She looked up and her eyes met a pair of pale blue almost green eyes.
The woman stared at her before smiling. "I apologize." she stated running her eyes up and down Frankie. "Pardon me but may I say you are very, very pretty." Frankie's cheeks turned red making the strawberry blonde woman chuckle in the back of her throat before stepping aside. "Enjoy your Black Friday."
"Y-You too." she squeaked out before walking towards where her students were
She turned back around and looked at the woman who smirked back at her. She shook her head and sat down beside some of her students who where already eating and chatting. She bit into her burrito as she listened to their over lapping conversations.
"Ma'am?" asked Amanda, she was the twin sister to Adam. "Are you ever going to tell us how you got your scars?"
Her scars. Her bite scars was what she meant wasn't it? "When the time is right." she answered before removing her jacket and rolling her shoulders, even after the vaccine had been made once leaving Los Perdidos Frankie had a problem with wearing clothing such as tank tops. She was still insecure about her bite scars that where on her shoulders and she had a problem wearing bikinis cause of the cuts on her sides and back from when Phenotrans experimented on her.
She let out a yawn as she chewed the last of her burrito, the stores had officially opened making people go crazy. The woman from before had left about ten minutes ago, making sure that Frankie watched her as she left. She rubbed at her left shoulders before everyone heard a scream. She turned and saw a man sink his teeth into another man's throat. That was when she realized what that man was.
The teacher let out a shaky breath as she stood up. Her hand grabbing her jacket and purse. "Kids." she managed. Her eyes widened as she watched the man who had been bitten turn into another zombie with in seconds. "KIDS!"
They looked at her before looking to see zombies attacking people. They all jumped up. "Miss. West, where do we go?!" asked Adam, Amanda's twin. Frankie didn't answer right away, she was in complete shock. A zombie ran at one of her students and she snapped out of it. She grabbed the chair and swung it, the chair smashing across it's face. She broke the leg off and stabbed the zombie in the head, using her right leg to kick it down.
"Hotel! To the hotel!" she shouted kicking another one back before leaping over the table and kicking one away from Ashe, one of her students. "NOW!"
All of them ran as their teacher instructed them too. Frankie skid to a stop and ran back to the table to grab at her bag, cause yes she brought her purse and bag with her, before running after them. She leaped over the bar counter they ran by, her right hand grabbing a bottle of whiskey before spinning around and smashing it across the face of another zombie. She was nearing the entrance where the kids where when one tackled her down and sank it's teeth into her making her scream as she felt it's teeth tare her skin.
Daryl and Adam both ran at their teacher, grabbing the zombie before Adam punched it across the face hard enough to stagger it. Frankie scrambled up onto her feet and grabbed a chair nearby before bashing the zombie across the face with it. She did it repeatedly while screaming before being pulled back by Adam.
"Get her upstairs!" shouted Ashe as Adam pulled their teacher with them.
The room Ashe had managed to get open was a rather large room on the second floor of the hotel, it looked out onto the food court. Frankie had scrambled her way to the bathroom and shed her shirt to look at the bleeding wound on her left shoulder. She twitched a little as all she could think was that it was a new infection, no previous infection had turned someone THAT fast.
"Please." she whispered. She ran a wet cloth across the bleeding wound. It was on the top of her shoulder. "I hate Phenotrans. I hate them for what they did but please…" she pleaded looking up towards the ceiling. "Please don't let me turn."
Her shoulder throbbed but soon enough she felt the area become numb, the same reaction that occurred every time she was bitten. She sniffled and ran the heal of her hand across her right eye as she saw the blood slowing until it stopped. A shaky exhale leave her before she smiled weakly. She opened the cabinet and saw a medkit. She opened it and pressed gauze to her shoulder before wrapping it up with bandages and tying it. She slipped her shirt back on and flinched as her shoulder hurt a bit from the angle she made it go to get back into the shirt.
"Ma'am?" asked Ashe.
"What's up?" she asked looking.
"You didn't turn."
Frankie pursed her lips before closing before looking at herself. She swore her own reflection flickered between her current to a bloodier version from Los Perdidos. "I didn't turn." she whispered. "I guess Marian Mallon did something right."
Ashe tilted her head. "Marian Mallon? Wait didn't she die during Los Perdidos?"
The 20 year old just patted Ashe's shoulder and walked out of the bathroom to see some of the kids freaking out. She threw open the curtains and ran her eyes over everywhere. "The panic room is more safe." she whispered. "Panic room, safe houses. Safe house is more preferable."
"Miss. West?" asked one of her students, Daryl it sounded like. She twitched as she watched a zombie tackle a woman down and eat at her.
"I was experimented on." she spoke a loud. "By Phenotrans. I was seven when I was taken. I remained with them until I was eight, my father and Chuck Green saved me. It gave the company an entire year to experiment on me, make me immune to the zombie outbreak. I haven't turned yet, means they did something right."
She flinched and looked away as she saw one of the fresh zombies rip into the stomach of one of the men they grabbed. She muttered to herself as she looked around. She had to get them somewhere safe, the safe house in the mall maybe. That meant getting from here to the Caribbean Cove location in the mall. With out zombies and at an average pace it took fifteen minutes to get there. She grit her teeth together as she thought.
"I'm taking you to the safe house." she spat turning around. She stuffed her jacket into her bag and throwing it onto her back. "Stay on me, keep your eyes on your surroundings. Remember, anything can be used as a weapon."
She opened the door and they followed her, first in a line but spread out as she ran down the stairs. She broke the leg off a table and spun it in her hand as she walked out of the hotel. She broke into a run and heard them follow. She kicked a table up and it slammed into three zombies before she leaped onto it to hold them down. The others ran over it before she ran after.
It wasn't just zombies and Frankie had to admit that it didn't take long before the maniacs came out of hiding. She ran up a bench before leaping off and tackling one down, she snapped their neck. They were just outside of Caribbean Cove, so close to the safe house. She ran into the area only to hear a scream from behind her, she spun around and saw Rick being pulled down by three zombies and they were tarring into him. She screamed and ran towards him but Daryl grabbed her and stopped her as they began devouring him.
She couldn't hear any of Daryl's words but when he threw her forward she realized it was too late to save Rick no matter what. She ran and used her table leg to strike any zombies in her way. Frankie opened the double doors that lead down to the safe house when she heard "Miss. West! HELP!" screamed a voice. Frankie turned to see Ashe fighting back zombies at the same time as three of her other students. She ran for Ashe and pulled her free, shoving her into Adam's arms as he ran to help. She killed zombies as she pushed her way to her students. She managed to free Leona before grabbing Gabe's hand. His hand slick with blood.
She tightened her hold but the zombies where stronger making his hand slip from her own. A scream escaping her. She snapped the necks of zombies she stood behind as she attempted to reach Gabe. She froze as she saw her student Dom biting into Gabe's arm. Her hands going into her hair as she stared in horror, her bloody hands dirtying her hair.
"They're dying." she whispered. "They're dying."
Dom looked at Frankie, Gabe's arm ripping from his body as Dom still held it in his mouth. She took a step back in fear. She let out a small sob as he stood up and ran at her. She dodged him, her body slamming against a nearby kiosk. She saw his reflection in the mirror beside her. She looked under her hands and saw a broken mirror, her hand over a broken piece. She grasped it in her hand and spun around, the mirror piece lodging in his temple before she ripped it free with a shout.
"Get to the safe house! I'll take the other way!" she shouted making Adam hesitate, Amanda having to push her brother out of the way to close the door.
Frankie used her free hand to grab another mirror piece before looking towards Gabe's reanimating body. She let out a growl before running towards Gabe, the newest piece slamming into his head as it did with Dom's. Gabe's body struck the ground as other zombies made their way to her. She ran as fast as she could to the escalators that lead to the underground parking garage. She ran down them and burst through the double doors to see men wearing the same colors as the woman she had met in the food court.
She tilted her head, it was a little too convenient they showed up and then left before the outbreak. "Commander Fontana, there's only zombies down here."
"Handle any survivors." spoke the voice she heard from the woman back at the food court.
"Yes ma'am."
The man turned towards Frankie who growled and sprinted at him. "Wait…hey!" shouted one of them before Frankie slit his throat and tackled the other man. Both of them rolling over before Frankie pinned him. Her right foot having his right wrist pinned down so he couldn't use his gun. Her eyes staring directly into the camera on his helmet.
She took the glass shard between her teeth before punching him in the face. She drew her fist back and continued to punch him. She felt the bite of his face shield against her knuckles, each punch cracking it until it shattered and allowed her to punch him in the face. She kept punching him until he was nothing but a bloody mess.
She was panting as she grabbed at the helmet and ripped it off his head. She used the same hand to take the shard out of her mouth. "I lost students!" she cried. "I lost….I lost students."
From the moment Frankie met her students, she promised them she'd protect them from zombies. She couldn't remember how or why it was brought up but when one of her students asked her, she promised them. "I survived Los Perdidos. I'll survive Willamette." She hit the power button on the camera and looked back at the men.
Crouching down, she grabbed their guns and radios. She searched their pockets and pulled out MREs and a couple granola bars. One of them had a bag which she took with out looking through it. She walked to the doors of the safe house and watched as one of the doors opened, Leona stood there with Ashe. She stepped through, the door shutting behind her and the two women looked at Frankie.
"Miss. West…"
"Frankie." she corrected.
"Frankie." spoke Ashe gently. "You're bleeding."
She looked down and saw Ashe was right. She was bleeding form using the shards of mirror as weapons. The other one wasn't as buried into her palm as the other one. She dropped the right one and slowly uncurled her left hand, allowing Leona to remove the sharp object. A small hiss escaping Frankie as she saw blood leaking from the wound.
"We…lost a lot." whispered Leona.
"Who's left?"
"Myself, Ashe, Amanda, Adam, Daryl, Vayne, Jacob, James, and Emma. We lost Mason, Wendy, Winston, Bruce, Fiona, and Kathryn after getting separated from you. They didn't wanna stay so they went into the parking garage. They didn't last longer than five minutes before the fast ones got them."
Frankie ran a hand across her mouth, smearing her blood and what was most likely Gabe's across it as she shook a little. Nine out of eighteen students alive. It didn't take long before a sob ripped through the teacher and she sank to her knees, both of her students following her. She could hear Leona shouting for someone to get a medkit.
Leona had Daryl clean her hands and bandage them. She hissed a little from the feeling of the rubbing alcohol being poured onto her hands but after that she seemed like she was in her own world. The 20 year old looking at the radios she had taken off the men. After cleaning and bandaging her hands, Daryl patted her shoulder while smiling at her.
"You did what you could." he whispered making Frankie look at him before looking away.
She had could herself a corner to hold up in. A blanket wrapped around her as she stared at one of the radios, her thumb rubbing against the speaker of the radio. She was tempted to contact this Fontana, blame her for everything but no…what would that accomplish?
She heard her students sitting together, they all sat in a circle together talking about having to find their parents and what not. She sighed and closed her eyes as she tugged the blanket closer.
The sound of the radio squawking made her eyes open. Looking around, she saw her students where fast asleep and covered up. She looked at the expensive watch on her wrist, she bought it with her first pay check when she was interning at her mother's law firm. It was nine in the morning on Saturday. Had she really been asleep all this time? She moved towards one of the chairs that where made into a bed by connecting extra parts to it, her purse and bag sat in the chair next to the one she choose. She sat the radio down as she heard the faint conversation between soldiers. She dumped out the pack she had taken from the solider and saw it was MREs, water bottles, extra bullets, and that was about it.
"That Commander Fontana was attempting to speak to you last night." spoke a voice making her look to see someone she didn't even know was in the safe house. Elise, Frankie knew her. She had been apart of her Zombie Preparedness classes that she had every Friday since she began teaching. She was a gorgeous woman, only 38 years old and no lover…Frankie found that odd but she never openly stated it. She had been the teacher of Elise's step son…however the asshole divorced Elise for looking at woman.
She moved over and sat down on the chair on the other side of Frankie's things. "She was trying to contact you, the Commander. Kept saying girl, then called you a bitch. I had to answer, she was getting angry. I explained that you had fallen asleep. Then she proceeded to insult me…you killed her men."
"I killed one man. I don't know if I killed the other." she answered.
She opened her purse and pulled out a half face mask, the kind that covered her nose and mouth. "I lost students, Elise. I…"
"I know." she whispered putting a hand on the back of Frankie's neck, her thumb rubbing soothing circles.
"I know her." spoke Frankie as she pocketed the half face mask into an inside jacket pocket. "Well I mean I didn't know her, know her but I…" Elise made a motion that said she understood. Frankie opened her backpack and pulled a leather holster out that she strapped onto her body, slipping both arms through the holes and she hooked her photography camera to the strap that hung off it. "This Commander Fontana and I had met before…several times actually. I heard hr the first time we met and that voice sent a feeling to my core that I couldn't describe."
Elise laughed. "Her voice turned you on."
"Understatement." snorted Frankie with a smile on her face. "I needed a new pair of panties by the time I got home." Elise laughed harder. "Anyways! I needed to see who it was so I walk around the corner and there she is. In all her glory and looking annoyed as fuck. So I did the trip tactic. I pretended to be walking by her when I tripped myself and she only caught me cause I was going at her. I thought she'd ask me if I was okay…no I get a watch where you're going you idiot."
"Harsh."
"I suppose but the second meeting was nicer. Coffee shop by my apartment. I was leaving and she had been there, she turned to leave and smacked right into me…spilling her black coffee all over me. I was surprisingly calm for having scalding coffee on me from what I was told. She had apologized and offered to give me another shirt but I remember shaking my head and leaving."
She checked the battery on her camera before pocketing several battery packs into her jacket. "Where are you going?" finally asked Elise, she was waiting for it.
"Out."
She hooked the radio to her waist band as she stood up from the chair and walked towards the baseball bat she saw and spun it in her hands. She needed to alter this. "Frankie…"
"Elise." she stated looking back at the brunette. "Keep them safe and take my purse with you. I'm bringing my bag."
"Yeah…"
"I'll have my phone and wallet so there's nothing really important in it, I'm just saying…that's an expensive purse." Elise snorted and nodded.
She walked into the garage area which was where they obviously did work on the mall carts. She saw a couple saw blades and a roll of barbed wire, a smile formed on her face. She grabbed a hammer and hammered the saw blades into the baseball bat as gently as she could with out cracking the bat or ruining the blades before wrapping the barbed wire around it, starting underneath the blades and working around it and across them to hold them in place. She secured the barbed wire and looked at her fingers, a few nicks on them from the barbed wire but nothing serious.
She heard the door open as she spun the bat in her right hand. "Where are you going?" asked a voice making her look to see Ashe rubbing at her eyes.
"Out. Ashe go back to sleep."
The brunette grunted and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before walking towards her teacher. "Why are you going out?"
"Cause." Ashe gave her that look, a similar looked Frankie gave to her students when they gave her crap excuses for not doing their photography homework. "Don't do that, that's my look. I just need to see how bad the outbreak is. We need supplies."
"The supply closet has food enough for ten weeks."
"I understand that but what happens when we get more survivors here? In Los Perdidos we weren't as lucky to have these safe houses. There were the safe houses the illegals had, I helped them get Zombrex before the outbreak." she spoke. "We had to scavenge for ourselves." Frankie huffed as she stared at her brilliant student, one of her favorites actually. She had a bright future in Photography if she wanted to pursue it. "I cannot sit still and think about what's going on, Ashe."
The student sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Adam was talking about going to a safe house in town."
"Use that as a last resort. If you don't hear or see from me in twenty-four hours then leave. Tell Elise I said that." She grabbed Ashe's face and kissed her forehead before leaving the garage to make her way out of the safe house, she'd go through the kids came.
The door slammed shut behind Frankie as she stepped out into the mall's maintenance hallways. It seemed…quiet. That was creepy but she knew it was normal. She walked up the stairs slowly only to come to a stop as she saw Bruce walking around but a zombie version. "Zombification used to take days." she whispered staring at Bruce. "What the hell is happening?"
Zombie Bruce looked at Frankie and snarled making her eyes widen. She couldn't think the word fuck, let alone say it as he ran at her. She swung her bat and watched as it slammed into the side of his head, his body slumping down onto the ground. She placed a foot on his chest and ripped the bat free. She swore to herself and crouched to search his pockets. She reached into his jean pocket and pulled out the smart phone she often caught him using in class. She tapped it open and saw text messages from his parents.
"Well…shit." was all she said. She pulled her own phone out and dialed Bruce's parents. She half expected his parents to answer but it went straight to voice mail. "Bruce's…parents? I cannot properly remember last names at this very moment due to the current ongoing situation but this is Miss. West, if it is possible, please call me back or text. I do not care which. Yeah…I was never good at these things. So…bye." She hung up and stuck her phone back into her pocket while putting Bruce's phone into her bag.
The mall was over run, a few survivors here and there hold up in certain areas who were nice to her when she ran across them. She spent the entire day walking around the mall, killing zombies and looting stores. She was currently in a store where she spotted a black jean coat that would go past her ass. She opened the jacket up and saw inside pockets, a smile forming on her face before pulled it down from the mannequin it was perched on. She sat her bag down and pulled her current jacket off before slipping the new one on.
A noise caught her attention and she looked. She had cleared the zombies out from in front of the store so it wasn't that. Lowering her half mask down to rest around her neck, she looked at herself in the mirror. She loved this jacket more than her other one. She pulled the battery packs for her camera out and stuck them inside her jacket, she draped it over the counter near the register before turning to leave.
She stepped outside the store and heard the same noise as before but this time it was clearer…kinda. It was coming from the front of the mall. She made her way towards the entrance and stopped behind a kiosk, looking through the opening to see military men firing at zombies. She knit her brows together and saw an upside down triangle with an eye on their clothing. What kind of symbol as that?
"Front entrance secured Commander." spoke a voice from Frankie's hip making her look and pull the radio off. She turned it down and held it beside her head to listen.
"Good job, set up schedules. I'm leaving here in about ten minutes."
Frankie hummed and hooked the radio back to her hip before running towards one of the shops near the hole in the wall as the soldiers had their backs turned. She pressed her back to the wall as she fished through her bag to find her compact mirror which she pulled out before putting the bag over her shoulder. She opened it and angled it to see the soldiers where still too busy to notice she was there. She slowly walked towards the hole in the wall before taking a quick left once out.
She climbed over the railing and did the same thing to the remaining railing, no point in walking down the entire wheelchair ramp, it would be a risk. She slowly walked across the road to see tents set up. Frankie moved between the wall and the tent before crouching down to watch. The same strawberry blonde haired woman from the food court was walking around and shouting orders. Unhooking her camera, Frankie laid her bat down before raising it up and snapping numerous pictures.
Frankie blew a strand of hair out of her face as she opened up the pictures and stopped on one of the woman, she was turned towards Frankie. She tilted her head and zoomed in to see her eyes looking directly at the camera. She saw a pair of booted feet stop in front of her, the right one kicking her bat a little. Swallowing, the 20 year old looked up and saw the woman staring at her.
She fell backwards and scrambled up to run back the way she came. The woman's hand nearly grabbing the arm of her jacket as she moved as fast as she could. She could hear the woman shouting orders as she pushed herself the way Frankie had gone. She ran into the parking garage and slammed the doors shut before sprinting for her SUV, she fell down and slid under it. The doors to the parking garage where slammed open making her turn her camera off so it didn't admit any light.
"You didn't need to run!" shouted the woman's voice. Right now Frankie was regretting having not jumped into her trunk. "But I don't remember giving you permission to take pictures!"
The radio on her hip squawked making her groan softly. The noise had echoed through out the parking garage but she saw the woman stop from where she was and then she heard it. Frankie unhooked it from her hip and slowly moved to put the radio between her SUV and the van beside it. She then moved herself to the other side of the car as the radio made the same noise, Frankie got out from under her car with both her bag and camera. She hooked the camera onto the strap on her back as she moved to the back of her car.
Peaking through the trunk window, she saw the woman walk between the cars and bend down to grab the radio. She was panting as she pressed her forehead to the trunk door. The woman stood up and she could hear her walking to the front of the car. Then it happened, she heard running and couldn't react. She managed to snag up her camera and quickly unhook it as hands grabbed her jacket and slammed her against the wall.
Her eyes met the woman's. "You." she stated holding Frankie's jacket as she kept her pinned between her body and the wall.
"Me." whispered Frankie.
"You know, I never did catch your name the last time we met."
"The last time we met, it was moments before you left and a zombie outbreak happened!" spat Frankie be for she was shoved harder against the wall.
Running was heard and she saw a solider show up. "Commander Fontana!"
"I've got her. Go get some cuffs." spoke the woman. The man nodded and left to do as his Commander instructed.
The 20 year old struggled against Fontana but the woman's body weight was making it not only hard but rather…uncomfortable. The woman's hips pressed against her own hips made a warmth blossom in her lower belly but she had to ignore it. She reached for her pocket and pulled out a set of keys, she hit the trunk button and it flew open. The trunk striking the Commander's back making her shout and actually arch into Frankie, the girl threw a leg up and placed her foot against the wall before shoving her body weight against the Commander's.
Both of them falling into the trunk and Frankie pinned her the best she could and the best she could do was hold her down for maybe a minute before she was grabbed and rolled over, her back slamming against the floor of her trunk. Fontana growled and kept her wrists pinned, her camera having been dropped into the trunk when she tackled Fontana.
The Soldier showed up as Fontana sat on the girl's hips to keep her pinned. She took the zip tie, which was actually better than cuffs but whatever, and pulled the girl's hands forward and zip tying her wrists together. She slid off her and grabbed Frankie by her shirt to sit her up.
"Grab her bag." ordered Fontana, the soldier doing so. "Lets go."
"W-Wait!" she cried making the Commander look at her. "My camera, please. I need my camera."
The strawberry blonde looked towards the camera and grabbed it. She opened Frankie's backpack and stuck it inside before zipping it closed. Frankie gave a small smile and didn't put up a fight as she was pulled away from her car, the Solider shutting the trunk in the process. She was lead to a pair of military trucks and was pushed inside of one, Fontana climbing in after her and taking the backpack from her solider.
"Back to base." ordered Fontana as she opened the bag to look inside of it as the driver began to leave the mall.
Frankie looked at her out the corner of her eye as her camera was removed, it was however set aside. She had a journal inside her book with a package of unopened pens, a phone charger, tampons (just in case, you never know), a bottle of soda, a hair brush with several hair ties wrapped around the handle, a make up case, Bruce's phone and a copy of her father's book. Fontana didn't find her wallet though, thank god. Last thing she wanted was this woman knowing her full name. Piper had made a secret compartment kinda thing in her backpack which was where her wallet was currently stored, out of sight unless you knew there was a zipper leading to it.
"What do I call you?"
"Frankie."
Fontana cringed. "Eh…"
The 20 year old sighed and shifted in her seat. "Frankie is short for Francesca. I don't usually like being called that but, I take it you don't like my nickname so…"
Fontana opened the copy of Frank's book. She had bought it when coming to Willamette, the signed copy was back home in New York on her bookshelf. "Didn't peg you as someone who would read this."
She shrugged. "Yeah well, I like Frank West. What can I say?" she asked with a small smile. She could definitely not say that Frank was her father. If this woman hated Frank West and learned Frankie was his daughter, that could lead to anything and she wasn't going to risk that. "You're…Fontana?"
"Commander Fontana." corrected the woman.
"Fontana it is." the Commander glared at Frankie who instead smirked a little. "I am not one of your soldiers, I do not need to call you Commander."
The older woman pursed her lips before pulling Frankie's camera into her lap and tapping the button to look back at her photos. Fontana went through the photos and stopped on the picture of herself looking directly at the camera. Her thumb hovered over the delete button but she saw Frankie tense up out of the corner of her eye. She removed her thumb and saw Frankie somewhat relax.
"You don't want me deleting."
"At least not that one. I like that." she whispered. She loved it actually but Fontana didn't need to know that, just the fact Fontana made eye contact with the camera pleased her.
Humming, the woman raised the camera up to her face, acting as if she was taking a picture before lowering it. "This seems expensive."
"Five thousand dollars and that's with out the accessories I was given with it. I got it for Christmas five years ago by my father."
Fontana turned to the side and pointed the camera at Frankie before snapping a picture, once it was taken the 20 year old made an annoyed face. Then she felt the camera hit her hands making her open them and take it between her hands.
"What was it you said through the camera feed?" questioned Fontana. "I survived Los Perdidos. I'll survive Willamette." Frankie said nothing as she rubbed her thumb against the top of her camera. "You were in Los Perdidos when the outbreak happened?" She still said nothing but nodded. "And you obviously escaped. Quite curious how you survived."
The young woman's eyes became hard. "Are you implying I cannot take care of myself?" she forced out through gritted teeth. Fontana smirked and shrugged. "I do believe I managed to over power you earlier!"
"By cheating. Opening a trunk so it would hit me and made me loose focus about what I was doing." Fontana grabbed a hold of Frankie's chin in the palm of her hand, her gloved fingers digging into her cheeks as they stared at each other. "I could have you killed for that. I could easily snap this pretty neck and shove you out of the car." She felt Frankie's jaw shift under her palm, she was biting back whatever words she wanted to say. "Lucky for you, I think you'd prove useful."
"Explain."
"You did managed to over power me even if it was by cheating and was for a mere minute before I turned the tables. You've survived Los Perdidos." Fontana moved her thumb and dragged it across Frankie's bottom lip as she eyed her. "You're feisty. You could prove useful to Obscuris."
"And what if I say no?"
That wasn't a question the woman had been expecting. She hummed as she tilted her own head. "Then we will see how long you can stay alive when surrounded by zombies."
"I bet I can last pretty long." smirked Frankie.
She watched the Commander bit down on her own lower lip. Was she bothering her? Frankie only did that when she was upset, embarrassed, thinking or…turned on. No, Fontana wasn't turned on, there was no way in hell she was turned on. "I bet you could too."
Frankie felt the hand release her jaw and Fontana crossed her legs as she took a tablet from the front seat. She looked towards Frankie who was staring at the tablet. "I'll join." whispered the 20 year old. "But I have…some terms."
"You're in no position to be making demands." spat the Obscuris Commander.
Inhaling deeply, Frankie shook her head. "I'm just asking not to be thrown to the zombies if I piss you off. I'm quite vexing at times."
Fontana scrolled through the list of already dead soldiers that had died in the past twelve hours. "I suppose that could be arranged."
"And my camera. I want to be able to take pictures."
"No."
"I won't…post them or anything. Just for me and you, like reconnaissance. Also I want to be allowed to explore the town at my will, you may say no but I could find out things for you that someone dressed up as a soldier could not."
Frankie could see the older woman was battling with this decision. She knew she was right though, an Obscuris Soldier couldn't get information from a civilian with out possibly torturing or threatening them where someone dressed like a civilian was more likely to obtain the information. "If I allow this, you report everything to me. When with us you wear an Obscuris uniform." Frankie nodded. "Then I will allow it."
So that was how Frankie became Fontana's right hand woman. The first week she proved herself to the woman that she knew what she was doing, she'd stalk survivors dressed in her civilian get up but what Fontana didn't know was Frankie often helped them. Often traded food or water for information, she met with her students again a week after being taken by Obscuris. They had done as she said and left once Frankie had been gone for 24 hours.
She hadn't planned it. She really hadn't. Joining Obscuris was to save her own skin really, self preservation. Her father knew it well and taught Frankie that if alone with out friends or other survivors, do anything to save your own skin.
Her students and Elise where hold up in the Old Town Emergency Center. It made her happy to know they had all made it out of the mall and to the safe house. She had spent a night, telling Fontana she was tired and it was too late for her to attempt to travel back to base. A lie really, she had wanted to stay with her students for one night before having to get back to work.
Come morning, Elise wouldn't let her leave with out questions.
"Frankie."
"What?" whispered the woman as she put her jacket on. It was around 7am and everyone was still sleeping aside from Frankie, Elise, and one of the survivors she never bothered to learn the name of, he was cooking in the kitchen.
The brunette ran her eyes up and down the woman she had come to learn everything from. "What's going on? Who were you speaking too last night?"
The 20 year old sighed and closed her eyes. Of course Elise heard her. "Commander Fontana." Elise's eyes widened at the statement. "I did what I did to save my skin, El."
The older woman stepped up to Frankie and looked at her curiously. "What did you do?"
"I joined them. Obscuris, the paramilitary group. It was either that or possibly be zombie chow." answered the younger woman as she hooked her camera onto her holster and checked her gun's ammo, she never used it but it was always good to check it. "Just if you see any of them, avoid them okay? The best you can. They don't always take prisoners."
"She took you."
"Cause we knew each other. It was a moment of weakness on her part." was all Frankie said before exiting the safe house.
The cold hit her like a bat to the face. She whipped her phone out to check the temperature. It was 35 but with the wind chill it felt like 20. She pocketed it and cracked the gate to slip out and head back to base. She moved quickly but silently through Old Town, avoiding zombies if it was necessary when her radio went off.
"We need help! Hostile survivors have us pinned at the bus depot! The Commander's been hit!" shouted someone over the radio making the girl spin around and take off running.
The Bus Depot from Frankie's currently location was twenty minutes away, maybe fifteen if she kept her pace up. Lieutenant James Cabellero tied a piece of torn cloth around Fontana's shoulder, a loud groan admitting from his Commander. The bullet had gone right through but it was bleeding a lot and they needed to get back to Diane Blackburne, have her take care of the wound but they were pinned down.
The Hostile Survivors where closing in. They had killed five of their men, leaving only four remaining soldiers firing, the Lieutenant and the Commander. He had Fontana behind and overturned soda machine as the hostiles advanced. He paled as he watched the four remaining soldiers get shot down, leaving him and Fontana alive.
"Back up is coming Commander." he promised.
"They won't make it in time." she answered, flinching as a bullet bounced off the machine and struck the wall. James leaned out and fired at least five bullets, only one of them hitting their mark and killing a Hostile Survivor. One down, four more to go.
The Hostile survivors slowly made their way inside at the same moment Frankie sprinted up to the Depot. She leaned down, her hand wrapping around a spiked baseball bat a previous survivor had most likely dropped while fleeing or when they had been killed. She ran in and slammed the bat into the side of one of the Hostile Survivors' heads.
"Say cheese!" she shouted bringing her camera up, thumbing the flash, and snapping a picture. The flash blinding the survivor long enough for he to shoot them in the chest. She ducked under a crowbar and slammed her fist into the stomach of the Hostile survivor who had attempted to hit her before rolling over their back as they bent over in pain. She grabbed their arm in the process and heard the sound of their arm breaking.
She kicked them down and looked at the remaining survivor. Her chest rising and falling as she panted. He had no gun on him, could be quick work to shoot him but no. She put the safety on her gun and dropped it just before he ran at her. She dodged his punches before grabbing his right fist as it neared her face. She spun around before she leaped up and slammed her feet into his stomach, both of them hitting the ground.
Frankie rolled onto her back before using all her strength to throw herself up onto her feet. She saw him go for one of the guns dropped by a soldier but she was faster. She ran and kicked him in the face, his body dropping down once more with a groan. She panted as she turned around as he struggled to grab a weapon, any weapon.
She picked up the nearby rifle and pulled the lever back to check and make sure no bullet was in the chamber before aiming at him and firing until the gun clicked. Only one of the survivors remained alive but their arm was broken so they didn't pose a threat to Frankie. She walked over towards Fontana and James, she knelt beside Fontana and looked at the bloody cloth.
"She's weak." answered James.
"There's a lot of blood loss, would suggest why. Alright come on Commander." She grabbed her good arm, put it around her neck and hoisted her up onto her feet. "Get the truck please Lieutenant."
He nodded and ran to do so. Frankie walked towards the entrance with Fontana, slowly but surely. "You did all this?" asked Fontana looking at the four survivors, three dead and one alive but he was too busy rolling in pain.
"Yes." was all Frankie said as the military truck pulled up. She opened the door and helped Fontana in before climbing in herself.
James hit the gas and drove back to base as Frankie opened the medkit. She looked through it and pulled out the necessary things; rubbing alcohol, gauze, bandages, and a shot of adrenaline. Enough to keep Fontana alive until Blackburne could get her hands on her.
"Gonna need…blood transfusion." grunted Fontana. She was very pale so Frankie believed it. She unwrapped the cloth before undoing her jacket to push it off her shoulder. Fuck cloth fragments where in her wound. She fished out the tweezers and sanitized them before moving to sit in Fontana's lap, using all her weight to keep her from thrashing too much.
She pulled each cloth fragment out making Fontana shout and punch the side of the door before grabbing Frankie's hair and pulling it hard making her flinch but not stop what she was doing. "It'll become infected if I don't get the…" she grunted as her hair was pulled harder. "…the cloth out!" She'd have a headache by the time they got back to base but it was worth it if she could save Fontana an infection.
She pulled the last cloth piece out and disposed of it before gently cleaning the wound. Okay so apparently her hair was the only thing Fontana could think to grab?! Cause she kept pulling it! She pressed gauze to both sides of the wound and wrapped it up. She climbed off her and put the things away before she felt a light tug on her hair. "What's your blood type?"
"….AB positive."
"Good…" weakly smiled Fontana. "Good. So am I…" Oh fuck. Was this going where Frankie thought this was going? She couldn't give her a blood transfusion! She had no idea how her blood would react with Fontana. Hopefully Blackburne would notice a difference in her blood before it was too late.
Blackburne met them when James pulled into the base. Frankie had to carry Fontana by this point, it was hard but she managed to get her to the medical area. Blackburne cleaned and stitched the wound before giving Fontana an IV.
"She's lucky. She didn't need a transfusion like she thought." spoke Blackburne as Frankie stood a few feet away, watching. She was rubbing her thumb against the underside of her right arm. Good, that was good. She didn't want to know what would happen if Fontana had her blood inside of her. It could've killed her for all she knew. The doctor stepped back and looked at her. "Why do you look so scared?"
"My blood…could've killed her." The Doctor tilted her head in confusion. "I've only told a select few really but…I trust you not to tell anyone." The Doctor nodded. "Phenotrans experimented on me, made me immune when I was seven and eight years old. I got bit the day the outbreak happened…"
"Impossible, nobody's immune even with the vaccine." stated Blackburne.
"I am. I hate Phenotrans but they did something right. I didn't turn. I don't know how or why."
The brunette hummed to herself and pushed her glasses up a bit. "Sit. I want to draw some blood." she stated making Frankie pull her jean jacket off and sit down in the chair next to Fontana's cot. She didn't flinch as the needle went into her skin, it was nothing compared to a set of teeth sinking into her skin.
She watched as Blackburne took three tubes full of her blood before putting a piece of gauze and medical tape across it to hold it in place. "So…"
"If she wakes or her health changes, come get me." Frankie nodded as she Doctor left. She tilted her head and saw a file sitting on the makeshift nightstand. She had only really been in Fontana's room three, maybe four times.
She grabbed it and pulled it over. Her eyebrows knit together as she saw 'Willamette High School Records' written across the folder. She opened it and saw a picture of herself staring back at herself. A red circle around her last name with a line towards the side which lead towards 'Is she related to Frank West?'
Sucking her teeth, she moved the file to see her emergency contacts. Both of which where neither her father. Two circles around Rayne and Piper's name with a line leading too 'Maybe not related to Frank West. No mention of him in paper work. Find out more on Rayne West and Piper Jones-West.' She should've figured her last name would be a curiosity to Fontana, she had kept it under lock and key from the moment they met.
Figures Fontana would attempt to try and find out her last name and would obviously go to Willamette High to obtain her record. She closed it and rubbed at her head with a groan. She sat the file down and heard a deep inhale. Looking, she saw Fontana flutter her eyes open and look around before lazily blinking.
"Hey." she whispered.
"You're alive Commander." she smiled. "I need to get Blackburne."
She stood up but didn't get far when a hand snatched up hers. Frankie looked back and saw Fontana lightly holding onto her hand. "Sit." With out arguing, Frankie did as she was instructed. The hand didn't release hers though, the two just sat there holding hands. "You took out those remaining hostile survivors."
"I did."
Fontana inhaled deeply before rolling over onto her good side towards Frankie. She slipped her hand away and saw an IV was currently on the inside of her arm. "You didn't bat an eye."
"I didn't."
"Is that what you did in Los Perdidos?"
The 20 year old let out a noise before shaking her head. "There were bikers, soldiers…Phenotrans soldiers…" The Commander rose an eyebrow at the venom that dripped from the girl's mouth at the mention of Phenotrans. "I used to help the illegals get their Zombrex during my time at Los Perdidos University. I had a lot of friends, when the outbreak happened I was prepared." She twitched a little. "Phenotrans had shut off the chips or maybe it was the Army General Marian Mallon worked with. They shut the Zombrex chips down and…" she waved a hand. "I helped people, I saved people."
"Did you kill people?"
"Just bikers or Phenotrans soldiers. I always tried to defuse the situation. Even with psychopaths." She let out a noise and smiled a little. "Wasn't always easy obviously when you got a six foot tall woman with maybe three hundred pounds of muscle getting mad cause I accidentally called sir cause she looked like a man from behind!" The Commander let out a small snort of laughter which Frankie admitted made her realize how much she was attracted to this woman, she always knew she had an attraction to her but that snort of laughter made her fall even a bit more in love. "I really should let Blackburne know you're awake."
"I don't fucking care. She's got…" Fontana tilted her head back to look at the fluid bag. "…morphine hooked up to me. I'm fine for now. Grab me a bottle of water." She motioned towards the supplies that sat across the room. Frankie stood up and crossed the room, she opened the box and grasped a bottle of water before turning to Fontana. "So Francesca West."
"Ma'am." nodded Frankie.
"Francesca Abigail West?"
"My grandma's name on my mom's side. She died before I was born so…" She sat back down and smiled. "Francesca was my dad's idea."
"And who's your dad?" questioned her Commander.
"That's for me to know and you to find out."
Frankie gave Fontana a genuine smile and if Frankie was lucky, Fontana wouldn't find out when there was thousands of zombies lurking around. There was no way in hell Frank would come to Willamette anyways…right?
TBC…
I love Fontana, I call her my wifey in my Dead Rising 4 streams lol. She is just by far one of the best antagonists I've seen and she's a hardass (Frank's words lol), a hot hardass btw.
New Chapter is in the works and if I stick with it, it'll be up in a few weeks. Depends on work and life stuff really. If there are any spelling mistakes, I apologize. I read it over and over again and never see any until after I posted it lol or someone points it out :/
I hope you all enjoy though :)
BTW in case anyone's curious, Fontana's full name is Maria Elenor Raquel Fontana. I found out when unlocking her person if interest in Dead Rising 4. I'll most likely have Frankie learn it in the next chapter.