Author's Note: hey again y'all just wanted to drop in and warn for gore again. It isn't any worse than last chapter, but I thought I'd give you a fair warning. Other than that, enjoy the chapter!

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Daphne had always been rather squeamish. She cringed at blood, recoiled from gore, and could barely stand the thought of surgeries. So, as she rushed to Fred's side with the plastic first aid kit in her grasp, she was careful to look anywhere but Velma's bare, bloody, shredded back.

Fred flipped the lid of the case open, as Daphne waited pensively behind him. Fred reached for a roll of gauze and made to stretch it over the open wound, when Velma's hand shot up in protest.

"What are you doing?!" She demanded in a delirious tone, "are you trying to kill me?!"

Fred recoiled, "wha— Velma are you alright? I'm trying to bandage the massive gouges in your back— those are what's trying to kill you!"

Daphne hazarded a glance in the direction of her friends, then cringed away... nope. She fixed her gaze firmly to the ceiling as her friends continued.

"You gotta clean the wound first genius!" Velma made a move to look at Fred, before letting out a strangled whimper and lying down again, "not to mention you didn't even check for bite marks! What if I was bit?! Then none of us would know until it was too late."

The weight of her words hung in the air. Fred and Daphne exchanged worried glances. Daphne could tell that neither of them had even considered that horrible possibility.

"I'll go find some water," Fred stood up from his crouched position. "There's gotta be some somewhere."

He planted a quick kiss on Daphne's cheek, "you two will be ok here?"

"Yep! We're all good Freddie" Daphne said a bit too loudly, "just be back soon, 'kay?"

He shot Daphne a thumbs up as he slung his bat over his shoulder and made his way for the door. It clicked shut behind him, leaving Velma and Daphne alone.

There was a pause. Daphne's gaze was still up at the ceiling. She thought about what Velma had said. What if she had been bitten? How quickly would she turn? Daphne eyed the gun, emptied of shots and haplessly strewn across the floor. It had been forgotten in all the chaos.

She strode towards it, and held it haphazardly in her grasp. It was empty , she knew that. But even so she felt safer with it in hand.

"Hey Daph?" She heard Velma call out behind her, "where are you going?"

"Nowhere," She chimed back, "why?"

"Oh, I thought because of your footsteps..." Velma sighed, "you know, I can't move... so it'd be nice if you— y'know, get into my very limited field of vision."

Daphne stepped around Velma, and sat down. She eyes Velma's face carefully searching for anything... zombie-ish. Velma durned her neck to get a better view of her friend, wincing with every move.

"Whatcha looking at Daph?" She prodded.

Daphne's eyes snapped away, her face flushing slightly, "oh nothing!" She laughed biting at her lip, "nothing at all!"

Velma raised an eyebrow, "uuuuh huh." She scoffed, "sure."

Daphne tucked a stray hair back in place with a shaking hand, "sorry Velm I just— do you really think you were bitten?"

"It's a possibility."

Daphne swallowed a lump in her throat, "and what if...?"

"If I'm infected?"

Daphne nodded, biting her lip.

"I guess you shoot me then... or Fred does... which one of you had better aim do you think?"

Daphne sat up straight in a panic, "I don't know— wait— shoot you? Velma you can't be serious?"

Velma made to shrug but groaned as she did, "what else is there to do? At that point I'm going to die anyway..."

She trailed off as the reality of the sentence hit her. She took a deep shuddering breath, "might as well get it over with... so I won't have the chance to hurt you or Fred."

Daphne's lungs felt like they were being crushed, her heart pounding loudly against her rib cage, "...there's nothing else we can do?"

"There are some theoretical research papers that claim that cutting off the infected areas as soon as the bite happened can prevent infection but—" Velma gasped, panting, it was obvious that she was getting worse.

"Jeepers! Velma can you breathe?"

Velma held up her hand, catching her breath for a moment, "fine... dizzy... blood loss...I shouldn't talk too much."

Daphne nodded, "but— just yes or no— if we cut out the bite you'd be ok?"

Velma waved her hand in a 'kinda' gesture, "...we'd need to do quick... and it's never actually been tested ... it's less reliable if it's in someplace like the back."

"Well in that case, I hope Freddie gets back soon."

Velma rested her head on the backs of her hands, "yeah," she panted, "me too."

Fred didn't return 'soon' not soon enough. Not for Daphnes liking anyways. What was in reality only half an hour felt stretched into weeks. She jumped at the leaves blowing in the wind and every move Velma made sent Daphne into a subconscious panic, as the less logical part of her brain was already convinced that Velma has been bitten.

"He should have been back by now, right?" Daphne stammered, "don't you think he's been gone too long?"

She looked over at Velma, who was tensed in pain, rubbing vigorously at her temples. She shook her head sympathetically, "just hang in there Velm, I'm sure Freddie's on his way back right—"

Just as she said it, she heard the door click and the hinges groan. Daphne shot up, a smile breaking across her features as she went to greet him.

"Freddie!" She gasped, "did you find anything?"

Fred panted, looking winded and disheveled, "yeah, about three gallons worth... I figure we save some to drink too."

"Oh!" Daphne giggled, "now that is smart!"

From her place on the floor, Velma made a loud annoyed sound halfway between a scoff an a whimper. Fred's attention snapped directly to her. He rushed over and slid this bag off his shoulder, from which he pulled three milk jugs, that he had dumped out and filled with water.

He took took a clean-looking scrap of the shredded t-shirt Velma had been wearing in his hand, and soaked it in water. He did this carefully as to not waste any.

As he pressed the makeshift washcloth onto Velma's back, she tensed. Her face scrunched up and she let out a grunt of surprise.

"Sorry Velm," Fred chuckled nervously, "should have warned you."

He moved slowly and gently, the water easily wiping the dried blood that had obscured the extent of the damage. Daphne peered tentatively over Fred's shoulder, her breath caught in her throat at Fred wiped that last of it away.

As soon as Fred stood up in search of the med kit, Daphne took his place. She leaned over Velma, scrutinizing. Her disgust for gore forgotten in favor of the life of her friend. There were four deep slashes, running diagonally down the other girl's back. Four, bleeding. Muscle-deep slashes, and as Daphne saw them she breathed a sigh of relief.

She stood up and plodded over to where Velma could see her, "hey Velm!" She chirped, "you want the good news or the bad news?"

"Bad, then good," Velma smiled slightly.

Daphne smirked as she sat down besides her friend, and slipped into the mid-Atlantic accent she'd perfected for work, "Tonight our first story, local know-it-all Velma Dinkley has four gnarly looking cuts in her back... sources say they are going to need a while to heal..."

Velma smiled, then stopped herself, Daphne knew she was trying not to laugh. Daphne kept going.

"In other, related news, we have confirmed by multiple sources that Ms. Dinkley has not been bitten by a zombie."

Velma's eyes welled up with relief, and her mouth widened into a great big toothy grin.

"Jinkies!" She smiled, "I was so worried— aaahgh!"

Velma groaned as Fred splashed more water onto her back.

"JINKIES!" She cried again, "Fred, what happened to a warning?"

Daphne couldn't help but smile to herself as Fred and Velma went on to bicker about proper warnings and the like. She took a look at the pistol, still gripped firmly in her hand. She shook her head and set it down near Velma's things. She wouldn't be needing it. And thank goodness for that.

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Author's note: Hey y'all! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did, review, follow, all that jazz. It really helps me out. :) until next week!