Chapter Text
God, it hurt like a bitch. But Dominik couldn’t afford to think about the stabbing pain in his knee for longer than that second as he stood up from where he had fallen, immediately resuming his run. It would be stupid to sprint when covering such a distance- his energy would’ve run out by then. God damn it. He just had to alert them of his presence back there. Luckily there was only one left chasing him, but it felt like the most determined thing he’d ever seen in his life. While keeping his focus mostly on traipsing past the vines in this foul-smelling forest- if you could even call that wasteland a forest anymore- he looked down at his knee and bit his lip. There were a few shards of glass sticking out of a gaping wound, his blood was flowing like water. He cringed and wanted to sob in his pain, but the footsteps behind him kept him alert, kept the adrenaline pumping. He pulled out his radio.
“Guys? Guys! I need someone, someone please, ow! I don’t know if I can keep running, damn it!”
He clenched his jaw and turned his head around when he bent over for a moment. He could only hope that his breath would catch up to him before it did. He saw it approaching again, God, what a sickening creature. It was fucking fast for a thing in that stage of decay (he praised God that he was fit and faster). Its clothes probably didn’t even count as clothes anymore- torn up and dirtied and wet, its hair was just deplorable, odd clumps left here and there, and its skin sallow and almost… melting off its bones. Fuck, there was nothing more in the world that Dominik hated more than zombies.
The combination of the foul smell of the ‘forest’, the gaping wound in his knee, and the sheer image of the thing made him gag, choke and throw up. “Fuck!” he sobbed, wiping his face and gasping for air. “Fuck off!” the man threw a stick at the zombie as it drew nearer. “GUYS!” he yelled into his radio.
“We don’t know where you are, Dom! Damn it, what’s your 20?!”
With the creature just catching up to him, he staggered to his feet and started to run again, grunting with anger (or fear) as the radio began to slip from his bloody and sick grip. “Just open the gate, open the gate I’m almost there-!” he tripped again- fuck!- right on his bad knee, driving the glass deep into his wound again. He felt it swimming around in the blood, jabbing at his flesh. This is it, he cried to himself, I’m gonna get eaten right here. I’m done for. Dominik glanced back through blurry vision just to see the creature bounding towards him, growling and screeching with newfound joy at his defeat before he hid his head in his arms to brace for impact.
There was a sickening sound of a single slice. Clean. And a thud right next to him.
He lifted his head again only to scream- face-to-face with the very thing which made him hurl just a moment ago. He scrambled into a sitting position when he noticed there was no body connected to the head and looked around with panic. Dominik found the big heavy boots first, and as he lifted his gaze up to the dark purple and black leather pants and the bomber jacket, he recognised who it was instantly.
“Rhea!”
She was using the sleeve of her jacket to wipe the blade of her axe clean. “You look terrible.” Rhea helped Dominik up and only then noticed his knee. She cringed slightly. “That’s gotta hurt.” After kicking the head some distance, she pulled Dominik’s arm by his hand behind her neck and hoisted him up onto her shoulder, picking up the axe in her other hand. “Poor little Dom Dom.”
Dominik closed his eyes, feeling horrible. Rhea didn’t talk anymore as she carried him seemingly effortlessly the short distance, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Really, he felt like his mother had come to pick him up from a party and he was like six years old. “Thanks.” he mumbled, “could’ve died.”
“I know, that’s because you’re an idiot.” She scowled at the open gate and walked through, wary of any creatures that could have entered through the open gate since Dom called for it. Glaring at the angled camera as she walked through a short distance, she listened to the quiet yet annoying mechanical sound of the gates closing. “Open up!” she yelled as she reached the secondary gate. Her hands were full after all.
The heavy metal door was opened and a man with short hair and widened blue eyes stepped aside for them. “What happened?! Dom? I didn’t know where you were, I didn’t know how to help-”
Rhea pushed past him and almost dropped Dominik onto an armchair, acknowledging the man’s concern. “He can tell you later, Finn. Take his bag, he went for supplies. Take mine too.” After handing him the bags, Finn left them alone albeit hesitantly.
Dominik really admired how strong Rhea was- being able to pick him up and carry him like he was a sack of potatoes. It’s not like she didn’t look it either, no, she was built like a tank (respectfully), her defined muscles were revealed as she took off her jacket and stood before him with her hands on her hips. Her hair was long and braided, black as the night with purple highlights in it. Her tattoos were definitely something to look at too- the stark contrast against her skin made her look all the more threatening. She could kill him easily if she wanted to.
“Dom, I’m fucking talking to you. Stop gawking.” She tipped his chin up with her fingertip and glared into his eyes. At his quick apology, she sighed. “You’re such an idiot. You’re lucky I was nearby, you know? Do you realise how lucky you are I was there and heard your call? You would’ve just let that zombie take you, huh. This close to the compound!” She threw her hands up in disbelief. “That’s not what my boys do.” Suddenly, she stopped telling him off when she saw him wiping tears from his face. Rhea paused while thinking- for a moment unsure of what to do- and then crouched before him, taking his bloody hand in her own. “Let’s get that knee sorted out and we’ll clean you up, yeah?”
Dominik nodded slightly, looking away from her with embarrassment. “I’m sorry.” he repeated, then began to get up. He limped over to the door before Rhea stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
“I’ll get Dame to bring a med-pack, just sit here.”
In all honesty, that room scared Dominik. It was the closest to the exit, and even though there would need to be a double-breach for them to be in any real danger there, it irrationally freaked him out. Especially with that near-death experience just then. “No I… I think we should go further in. I want to get a snack anyway.” he made up, opening the heavy door.
Rhea still pulled his arm over her shoulders and walked as his support, going at his pace which (to her thankfulness) wasn’t actually that slow. She knew he was scared- she wasn’t stupid. But playing along couldn’t hurt. Walking further in past the long hallway, they reached a lounge area where Dominik set down a plastic sheet over a spot on the couch and laid down. Rhea snorted, “Damian got it through your head not to get the couch dirty, huh?”
Speaking of the Devil, the man himself rushed through the opposite doors with a small green bag in his hand. Damian knelt beside Dominik and looked at him seriously, “are you hurt or bitten?”
The younger shook his head at the second part quickly. He knew how serious that would have been. “My knee…” he didn’t want to look down.
“Fuck.” Rhea whispered as he saw the bloody knee again. “We’re gonna have to take your pants off, Dom. That’s a lot of blood.”
Damian lightly hit Rhea’s thigh, “you don’t just say that! Don’t cry, alright Dom? I got this First Aid kit with me.” He took out some tweezers and disinfecting wipes and began to already pull out larger shards of glass from there. “How’d you manage to find that glass to fall in…” he mumbled more to himself as he wiped some dirt off his knee.
Dominik cried out and grabbed Rhea’s arm with his nails digging into her skin. “Fuck!” She didn’t seem to mind.
“Dom, stop squirming! I gotta make sure it’s not infected before I stop the bleeding!” Damian decided to just go for it, hastily wiping dirt off the wound and then just yanking his pants down, carefully over his knee though and keeping them around his ankles for now. There was a long and grueling few minutes of Rhea holding Dominik, in excruciating pain, tightly while Damian sewed his knee back together. Only then could he grab the gauge and tightly wrap the boy’s knee with bandages.
Dominik, still gripping onto Rhea’s arm, finally looked down and saw all the blood which had poured down his shin, seeing his pants leg was all wet and dark with it. “I’m gonna hurl again.” he groaned, taking a deep breath through his nose.
The woman sat beside him and pulled him to rest against her shoulder, her hand stroking his cheek. “You’re fine.”
He sighed softly, content against her chest and closed his eyes. “Thank you. Both of you.”
Damian ruffled his hair and got up off his knee. “You need my help with a bath? You could use one.” he scrunched his nose to make Dominik smile.
As Dominik cracked an eye open slightly to catch Rhea’s eye, she began to get up. “That’s fine, Dame. I’ve got it. Thanks for your help." After slipping her arm under his knees carefully, the woman pulled him up and walked through the door Damian was holding open, ignoring Dominik's pained expression for now because she knew that as soon as she caught his hurting eyes she'd put him down and go on a mass-zombie-genocide.
"You sure you don't want me there? Rhea's bedside manner ain't exactly the best, you know." Damian nudged Rhea gently, she rolled her eyes, and he went off in the other direction, "buena suerte, then. You'll need it." He sniggered before disappearing.
Rhea finally set Dominik down on the edge of the bathtub and began to peel off his wet clothes. There was nothing sensual or sexual about it: his clothes stuck to him with a sickening combination of sweat, blood, and vomit- Dominik didn't even go red as she stripped him. In fact, Rhea noticed he was very pale. It was expected though, since he'd lost so much blood, but it was concerning nevertheless.
It was silent while the bathtub filled up. Dominik's eyes were closed. Rhea would never admit it, but she was worried. She really was. "Don't fall." she murmured as she took a hairtie and collected her braids of various sizes into a vague ponytail. The ends of her hair were stiff from the spills of the undead prey she hunted earlier, she noticed as she did her hair. Then she looked in the mirror at the grime that was smeared over her clothes. What was from Dominik and what was from her? Earlier that day, one of the creatures had actually lurched forwards unexpectedly and grabbed onto her leg, slobbering over her leather-clad thigh as it tried to bite her. She could only thank God that a zombie's bite force was not strong enough to bite through that material. The Nightmare had heaved up her axe above her head and brought it down heavily, severing the creature in two at the waist. She felt nothing but pure exhilaration while she watched it topple to the ground, returning to the earth. It was brutal. But she felt no remorse for the things at all. No, just like they lacked the ability to feel remorse for taking and killing and changing innocent people (not that she cared about anyone but those closest to her though), she lacked the ability to feel remorse for mincing them.
"Mami?" Dominik's weak voice called.