Author's Note:
Blood Ties was inspired by a dream I had, so it is cannon divergent and doesn't follow the storyline of the show completely. Unlike the show Mack is still alive while Cassandra is not (Mack was in the dream, while Cassandra didn't appear in the dream so I left her out).
Disclaimer: I own Krystal Miller but I do not own Z Nation.
Family Ties
Chapter One
"Mom! We're doing a supply run!" Krystal Miller yelled down the hallway. She was accompanied by her two housemates, her best friend Piper and Piper's girlfriend Aubrey. They stood behind her, armed with their weapons and carrying their supply bags. The clicking sound of high heels on hardwood floor came across the floor from the living room. Krystal's mother, Shelby, leaned casually against the wall, dressed in a hot-pink tank top and blue denim jean-shorts. Her blonde hair was pulled up in a messy bun, and obviously hadn't been brushed in days. Krystal looked her mother up and down, taking in how gaunt and unhealthy she looked.
"Can you bring me back some grass?" She asked in her husky voice, handing Krystal an envelope that Krystal could only guess was filled with cash.
Krystal sighed in frustration.
"I thought you said you were quitting!"
"Don't sass me!" Shelby snapped back. Krystal rolled her eyes while slinging her backpack, old and worn, over her left shoulder.
"Ugh, okay, jeez," she grumbled. "I'll do my best."
"Good," Shelby said. "And don't steal any of that cash, or you'll be answering to Diego. He hates it when people rip him off."
"Yes, Ma'am," Krystal said, sarcastically.
Shelby turned on her heel and clicked her way into the kitchen, grabbing a beer out of the fridge on her way back to the living room.
"Be back before dark!" She yelled a last-minute order down the hallway.
Krystal and her companions left the house as quietly as possible, not wanting to alert any nearby zombies of their presence. They waited a moment, scrutinizing their surroundings, before deciding it was safe to proceed.
"Where to first?" Piper asked, running a hand through fiery red pixie-cut.
"Let's try hitting Cherry Avenue," Aubrey replied. Krystal and Piper nodded in agreement, and they set off in that direction. The streets were devoid of life, with nothing but piles of garbage and a couple of skeletonised dead bodies lying around. This had become the norm since the outbreak had occurred three years ago. There was hardly anyone left now; among almost everyone else in town, Piper and Aubrey's parents had succumbed to the virus. Piper and Aubrey had survived, and Krystal and her mother had taken them in.
They rounded the corner onto Cherry Avenue and started with the first house on the right. Krystal, her butcher knife in hand, led the way up the driveway and onto the front porch. The door was unlocked. Quietly, she nudged it open, and the three young adults slipped inside cautiously. They cleared each room methodically, and once they knew the coast was clear they got to work. Krystal started by checking the kitchen cabinets; they mostly contained spices and other things previous looters had deemed useless, but she managed to grab a packet of sugar and a jar of coffee beans.
"Is it worth checking upstairs?"
"Yeah," Krystal said. "They might have medical supplies; bandages or something. Never know when we might need them."
She led the way upstairs, and cleared the perimeter again. She entered the bathroom while the other two split off to check the master bedroom and what had been the child's room.
She opened the medicine cabinet above the sink and found a small box of band-aids, some aspirin and a tube of moisturiser. She left the tube of lotion, but grabbed the band-aids and painkillers. Finding nothing else useful, they hurried downstairs and left, moving onto the next house.
Finding only a tin of baked beans in the kitchen, they moved onto the bedroom. Krystal threw out a hand and stopped her friends as they approached the closed door; she could hear movement coming from inside the room. She slowly turned the handle and eased the door open, and almost slammed it shut again when she laid eyes on what was inside.
"Oh, shit," she whimpered. "Elmer and Doreen."
A pudgy, elderly man wearing a red button-up shirt and blue jeans was standing at the foot of the queen bed. His skin was a mottled, greyish-green colour, and his eyes were clouded and blank. He was standing almost perfectly still, but swaying slightly. On the other side of the bed was an elderly woman, also quite chubby. She had the same mottled skin, and she was wearing a blue sundress with daisies on it.
Both of them had plastic bags fastened over their heads with duct tape.
"What do we do?"
"I guess we'll have to put them down," Krystal said. She swiftly threw the door open and they rushed in, keeping a safe distance from the zombies' gnashing jaws. Piper swung her baseball bat, smashing it against the side of Doreen's skull. She grunted and lurched toward them, and Piper swung again. This time, the entire left side of Doreen's head was crushed inward. She staggered, slumping backward onto the bed. Piper hit her once more, and she stopped moving as thick, black blood and grey brain matter oozed across the bedcovers.
Elmer came toward Krystal. She drove her knife into his head, directly between the eyes, and he dropped to the floor.
Krystal nudged him with her foot; there was no reaction. He was dead.
With the danger eliminated, the three friends searched the room for anything worth taking.
"Oh, fuck yeah," Piper said. She had pulled a shoebox down from the top shelf of the closet, and had removed the lid to reveal a 9mm Glock 19.
"Any ammo?"
"Here," Aubrey said, pulling another box from under the bed. It contained twelve bullets, which she loaded into the gun before putting it into her bag. They fled the house and ran back out into the street.
"Should we call it a day and head back?" Aubrey asked.
"Yeah, but first we should probably go find Diego," Krystal said, frustrated. "If I come home without Mom's weed, I'll never hear the end of it."
"Where does he live?"
"Over on College Avenue," Krystal said, shuffling to readjust the shoulder strap on her backpack.
"That's not far," Piper replied. "Let's go, it won't take long."
With Krystal leading the way, they walked until they reached College Avenue. Krystal knew which house to look for, as her mother had taken her there several times over the past three years.
She wasn't afraid; Diego could be violent when he wanted to, but he had always treated Krystal kindly. She turned up the driveway of the second house on the left. The front garden was a mess; all the plants were dead and shrivelled, the grass resembling a ratty brown carpet.
The first sign of trouble that Krystal noticed was the front door. It had collapsed inward, and was now hanging by one hinge. Inside, the house was dark.
"Diego?" she called. "Diego, it's Krystal Miller. Are you home?"
There was no answer.
"Did he move out?" Aubrey asked. "Maybe he decided to leave."
"Nah, Mom got weed from him two weeks ago," Krystal said. "That's how quickly she goes through the stuff."
They quietly entered the house, Krystal wishing she'd brought a flashlight. They crept down the dark hallway to the bedroom. The door was ajar.
Krystal reached for the handle, when suddenly the door burst open with a loud crash.
A huge Doberman lunged out, snarling and snapping its frothing jaws at them. It stood in front of them in a half-crouched stance, ready to attack. Its fur was matted with what looked like blood, and it had an open, oozing wound on its right shoulder.
"Shit!" Krystal yelled as the other two girls screamed. "Odin!"
The dog did not respond to his name. he lunged at them a second time and the girls turned to run. They crashed their way down the hall, knocking over furniture and climbing over piles of garbage. Odin was right behind them, barking and making a horrible snarling sound. Piper kicked him hard in the head, knocking him down. He didn't stay down; moments later he was back on his feet, and angrier than before. Lunging again, he clamped his jaws around Piper's wrist. She screamed in agony, and Aubrey rummaged through her bag to retrieve the gun they had taken from Elmer's house. Her hands shaking violently, she fired a single shot. Odin let out a mix of a snarl and a howl as the bullet tore through the side of his neck, but he still didn't go down. Instead, he lunged at Aubrey, who fired a second shot into his chest. He fell again, and she put a third bullet directly into the top of his head.
Odin didn't get up again.
"Are you okay?" Krystal asked Piper, rushing to her side.
"Fine," Piper panted heavily, tearing the hem from her blouse and wrapping it around her injured wrist. "It's pretty shallow."
"Why w-wouldn't he die?" Aubrey sobbed. "W-was he infected?"
"Looks like it," Krystal said. Piper's face whitened in fear.
"Can it cross species?" she asked. "Am I gonna die?"
"I don't know," Krystal admitted. "I've never seen anyone get bitten by an infected animal before. Maybe it can't."
"I hope not," Piper said, her voice shaking. Before they could say or do anything else, the bathroom door opened. Diego, once a handsome young Hispanic man with sleek black hair and olive skin, came lurching out into the hall. His skin was pallid, his air unkempt, and his brown eyes were now a clouded grey. His white tank top was covered in old, brown bloodstains, and his throat had been torn out. He was snarling and making a sickening wheezing sound, and his mouth was spewing blood and foam. Aubrey screamed and dropped the gun as Diego's teeth sank into her jugular, tearing out a chunk of flesh. Her shoulder-length blonde hair was soaked with blood, as was the sleeve of her pink blouse.
"NO!" Piper howled. She picked up the gun and fired, blowing the back portion of Diego's head off. He collapsed to the floor, taking Aubrey down with him. Piper rolled him off Aubrey, and the two girls knelt beside their fallen companion.
"Aubrey," Piper sobbed. "Aubrey, I'm sorry. I wasn't quick enough–"
"It's…not y-your…fault," Aubrey rasped. She coughed, choking as her blood filled her throat. Slowly, shaking violently as she did so, she reached out and picked up the gun. She put it in Piper's hand.
"Do it…" she choked. "Please. Don't…let me become one…of them…"
"I c-can't," Piper wept. "I c-can't!"
"Please…"
Krystal was crying silently as she watched Piper break. She held the gun to Aubrey's forehead.
"I…l-love you," Aubrey choked out, coughing up more blood.
"I love you," Piper echoed. She pulled the trigger just as Aubrey's eyes became the same cloudy grey as Diego's had been. She dropped the gun with a clatter and fell into Krystal's arms.
"Come on," Krystal said, trying to catch her breath as her own tears began to subside. "We need to get you home and treat that wound."
She grabbed the gun from where it had fallen and put it into her backpack.
"We can't j-just leave her here!" Piper wailed.
"We can't move her," Krystal tried to reason with her friend. "We won't be able to carry her all the way."
"S-so what do we do?"
"Leave that to me," Krystal said. "Come on."
Reluctantly, Piper stood up and walked away from her girlfriend's body. Krystal went to the kitchen and found a box of matches. She opened the fridge, where Diego had a six pack of vodka.
She tore a shred of fabric from the hemline of her shirt, popped the bottle cap off and inserted the fabric into the neck of the bottle.
She waited until they were outside before she struck the match lit the fabric on fire, and threw the Molotov cocktail into the house. She heard the glass shatter, and the crackle of flames igniting. They walked away as the house began to burn.
"Fuck, this hurts," Piper said, clutching her hand as they walked. The bleeding had stopped, but the wound was red and inflamed and was already beginning to ooze a clear fluid. Krystal gave her a sympathetic look.
"We'll be home soon," she said. However, the further they walked, Krystal began to notice that Piper was beginning to look ill. Her face was pale, and she was sweating profusely despite the weather being quite mild.
"Piper," Krystal said, stopping her and putting her hands on her friend's shoulders. "Are you okay?"
"I…don't know," Piper admitted. "My head hurts…and I feel dizzy."
"Okay," Krystal said. "Let's just take a break for a minute."
They sat down on the curb, Piper with her head on her knees which were pulled up near her chest.
"Krys," she murmured, her words beginning to slur slightly. "Something's wrong. I can feel it."
She coughed, and blood splattered out of her mouth.
"Oh, shit," Krystal yelped. "Shit, Piper–"
Piper's face paled even further. She looked up at Krystal, but her eyes seemed to be staring through her. Before Krystal could do anything, Piper's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed.
"No!" Krystal shrieked. "No, no, no, no, no! Piper! PIPER!"
She shook Piper by the shoulders, but the other girl didn't rouse. The wound on her hand was now leaking a yellow, pus-like fluid.
Krystal reached out a hand to touch her, when Piper's eyes snapped open. They were the same cloudy grey as Diego's had been. Piper let out an inhuman snarl and sat up, snapping her jaws at Krystal. Krystal jumped away, pulling her knife from her back pocket. Piper struggled to her feet as well, her whole body twitching and jerking unnaturally.
Krystal backed away from her, keeping her at arm's length with the knife in her hand. Piper lunged at her and collided with Krystal's arm, knocking the knife from her fingers.
"Shit," Krystal choked. She grabbed her backpack and fumbled around for the gun, pulling it out at the last second before Piper lunged at her again. She pulled the trigger, shooting her in the throat. Piper choked and gargled, but kept coming. Krystal fired again, this time hitting her between the eyes. Piper dropped to the ground, and Krystal turned and ran, not looking back.
Krystal practically threw herself at the front door, shoving it open. She stumbled into the house, blinded by her tears. She slid to the floor with her back against the door, her hands covering her face, and sobbed.
"Krystal?" her mother called from down the hallway. "Is that you? Did you get–"
"NO, I DIDN'T GET YOUR FUCKING WEED!" Krystal screamed before she could stop herself. The stomping of heels on hardwood floor came up the hall until her mother appeared.
"What did you just sa– Krystal, what happened? What's wrong?"
"They're dead," Krystal sobbed. "Diego, Piper, Aubrey, they're all fucking dead!"
"Oh, my God," Shelby gasped, gathering her daughter into her arms. "Oh, my God, Krys…"
"Diego and Odin had both turned," Krystal sobbed into her mother's shoulder. "A-and Odin bit Piper. Mom, th-the virus, it can spread from animals, too. Diego attacked Aubrey, Piper had to p-put her down…and then on the way back, Piper turned and I…I had to…"
"Oh, Krys," Shelby said, running her hand through Krystal's dark hair. "This is my fault; I shouldn't have asked you to go over there."
Krystal wanted to ease her mother's guilt, but she couldn't argue with her. she had asked her to go to Diego's house.
"Is there anything I can do?" Shelby asked. Krystal shook her head.
"I'll give you some space," Shelby said. "I love you, honey. I'm so sorry."
"Love you too, Mom," Krystal said. She went into her room and shut the door, staying there for the rest of the night.