AN: I love Carmilla, but have also been watching quite a bit of Z Nation lately. It's a fun show, and for some reason, this semi-crossover popped into mind. So yeah. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Carmilla or Z Nation.
It was almost nice, out in the woods. The weather had been holding steady, only a few light showers they had been able to easily avoid, ducking under the rocky overhangs that lined the stone walls they were following. Kirsch and Danny had even been able to catch a deer, putting meat in their bellies for the first time in who knows how long.
LaF said six months, but Laura wasn't so sure. It hadn't felt that long, didn't seem like six months had passed since the world had gone to shit. But then again, Perry would say it felt longer, so who truly knew?
"We've got puppies and kittens, guys."
Pushing herself to her feet, Laura sighed as she grabbed her weapon- her long bladed knife, not the gun. It was too dark to aim; she didn't want to accidentally hit a tree or friend. That, and they were running low on bullets. Better to make due with her knives now than risk running out when they had to make a run into one of the towns they often passed later, where they were outnumbered ten to one and the knives were as good as the toothpicks she had been trying to use when Danny found her.
She wouldn't admit it to herself, but Laura also liked the knives. That sick sense of satisfaction when she sunk the blade home, ending the threat.
Getting a little bit of revenge for the last six months.
"How many do you think are out there?" LaF's voice came from the other side of their little camp, their form almost seeable in the dark. A little patch of darkness that was darker than the rest moved over to their side- Perry, repositioning herself as she always did when they raised the alarm. Even six months later, she hadn't brought herself to get used to their new lives, could barely hold her own in the fights. She tried, oh she tried, but more often than not she found herself on sniper duty, as far from the action as they could get her.
It was better that way, it really was. She was the only one of them with any kind of medical capabilities- real medical, like sewing stitches and keeping wounds from getting infected, not the form LaF had learned during the handful of biology courses they had taken before the world had fallen apart- and she had saved them all more times than Laura could count. If they lost her now?
She couldn't be quite sure what would happen to them. They were careful not to get bit, but still, living in the wild was a hard, dangerous life.
"Not sure."
"Seven, I think," Carmilla called down softly from her tree, her eyes fixed on the small hoard she had caught sight of. "No, make that eight. Definitely eight."
It had, perhaps, been hardest on Carmilla. Not even Silas had been able to withstand the initial waves, despite the supernatural protections that had been in place, forcing them all to flee. To abandon the 'Dean and Anglerfish god' plotline their lives had been in exchange for this messed up zombie horror movie. Without blood, and with only six humans in their group who needed their strength, she had been forced to drain the animals they brought back, though it did little to sate her thirst. Did little to keep up her strength, though for now it was enough.
It was enough to keep her eyes sharp, her speed faster than the creatures that followed them, and her strength just high enough that she was their greatest weapon. But still, it was tough.
"Are Danny and Kirsch back yet?"
Betty, her hand on Laura's shoulder a moment before speaking. She had kept close as well, more often than not joining Perry on the far defensive instead of the nearby. She was smart, smarter than any of them, there was no denying that, but she couldn't fight. She was learning, faster than Perry at least, but her skills weren't quite up to snuff, not enough that any of them felt comfortable enough to let her into a real battle.
Perhaps if more of her training sessions with Danny actually included weapons instead of sex, she would improve quicker, but that was neither here nor there right now.
Right now they had a bunch of 'puppies and kittens,' as the group had taken to calling them, since 'zombies' was too harsh of a word, to take care of.
"Not yet, no," Laura replied, biting at her lip for a moment in thought. Danny and Kirsch had taken to scout duty, going ahead of the group to check out the next place they were heading, almost always a few hours ahead. Keeping an eye out not for zombies, no, Carmilla could smell those, but for the other humans who had survived this long as well.
Those were the terrifying ones. The puppies and kittens, well, they were just hungry. The humans? They were cruel.
"But they should be here soon," Laura reassured her. "Get into position with Perry. They'll be surprised when they come back and we can tell them seven more dead."
Betty gave a small, grim smile at that, hoisting her sword more securely over her shoulder. She had grabbed it from the Summer Society's house before they had gone on the run and hadn't parted with it since. She'd gotten good- good, not yet great, but she was getting there. Nodding, she moved over to Perry's side, whispering softly as she drew the red-head away.
They would be safe and ok. Laura would make sure of that.
"This would be a lot easier if our muscle wasn't always off, Frosh," LaF said with a shake of their head. "The living muscle, that is."
"Maybe," Laura admitted, "but you have to agree it's more fun this way."
"Maybe." Looking down at the long bladed knife Laura held, LaF sighed and shook their head, dropping their gun in exchange for the butcher's knife they had picked up a while ago. "You ready for a fight?"
"I know I am," Carmilla said, coming up besides the two of them, her grin wild and wicked. She held no weapon- even weakened as she was, she could still cave in a skull with a single move, destroying the brain before monster could get at her. Not that it mattered if they did. She had been bitten a dozen times so far, and nothing. No side effects, just a painful wound that took a bit of time to heal.
"The undead can't turn the undead, cupcake," Carmilla had pointed out with a small smirk the first time it had happened, "even if the bite stings like hell."
Rolling her shoulders, a small crack coming from her neck, Carmilla widened her smile and looked down at the small hoard coming right towards them.
"I'm ready to play with some puppies and kittens if you are."
Neither Laura nor LaF said anything, just held up their blades and nodded. And rushed towards the approaching creatures, silent lest they draw others, giving them the mercy they needed.
She would never say it, but after six months of being hunted, of being on the run, of watching humanity and civilization fall around them? Laura enjoyed sinking the knife into the skull of the nearest little 'pet,' if just for the single moment of satisfaction it brought to watch them fall.