"Zane, I heard you talking. Are you okay?" Zane yawned softly, stretching his arms out beside him. He could hear Travis chuckling as he approached. "I'll take that as a yes. Were you awake?" "Nope..." Zane mumbled. "Oh, I'm sorry. I just thought you needed something. I'll leave so you can-" "No.. You can stay." Zane patted the blankets beside him. "Are you sure?" "Yes. I'm already awake anyway." He heard Travis creep over to Zane's 'bed,' then slowly lower himself down onto the blankets. Once Travis was situated and laying on his back, staring at the ceiling, he spoke. "Zane?" "Yeah?" "Why aren't you mad about the attack?" "Oh, I am." "You're doing a good job of hiding that, then." "I've been too tired to think about it too much, and I don't have enough energy to accurately represent how angry I am about it." "How does your face feel..?" "Terrible. How does it look?" "Beautiful." Zane couldn't stop the blush that crept across his cheeks. A smile made its way into his face as well. "I missed talking to you," Zane said, adding a very quiet laugh to his words. Travis brushed his hand against Zane's hand, then took it gently. "I'm surprised Aphmau let me in here with you alone." "Why are you surprised?" "I've noticed the looks she gives me when I'm around blood or animals." Zane felt a fresh wave of anger. "Did she say anything to you?" "Well... no.. She just looks really suspicious anytime I'm around blood." Zane paused. "Is that why you tried to attack Garroth?" Travis squeezed his hand. "That wasn't my fault! I didn't know what I was doing. I had no control—" "Shh.." Zane rubbed his thumb over the back of Travis's hand. "I know you didn't want to attack and that you couldn't control yourself. Do you have any idea as to why your mind tried to bite him, though?" "He was bleeding on his leg." "Oh, yeah, his gunshot wound. So if the smell of blood triggers your mind... then... What about my face?" Zane knew that Travis could definitely smell the blood on Zane's face. When Travis was silent, Zane kept talking. "I mean... There's no way you can't smell it. Does your mind want to make you attack me, Travis?" Travis was silent for a few more moments before he rolled over, putting his arm around Zane's stomach and pressing against him. Zane stifled a sigh and gave a faint smile. "It's fine. You don't have to talk about it." "Thank you." Zane allowed the room to become silent. He didn't try to speak anymore, and he knew Travis probably wouldn't speak either. It didn't take long for Travis to fall asleep, and, for the first time since the attack, Zane fell asleep without the throbbing pain in his face being numbed.
"Alright... Try to keep still, Zane," Aphmau said, gently messing with the cloth over the right side of his face. Travis was sitting against the wall next to Zane, his hand on top of the other male's. Garroth, Laurence, and Aaron were out in the main room after being instructed to stay out for a few minutes. Aphmau had decided that it was finally time to take off the bandages and let Zane see himself. Something told him he wasn't going to be happy with the result. "I'm going to be ugly again." "You mean you weren't always this beautiful?" Travis asked, sounding shocked. "Teenage years were rough." "Well, no matter how you look, I'm still going to call you beautiful, because that's exactly what you are." "You're going to make me get embarrassed and mess Aphmau up." Aphmau was concentrating too much on what she was doing to respond. Zane felt a little bit of numbness on his face, but not as much as he normally felt. He had no idea how Aphmau was doing it, but he was too tired to figure out how she did it. "I'm surprised you haven't freaked out about your face being covered yet and having to lay around for a week." "Again. Not enough energy." Travis laughed, but it sounded a little nervous. "Maybe if I get a few scars, I'll look more intimidating." "Oh... you'll definitely have scars," replied Aphmau with a nervous laugh that matched Travis's. Zane frowned at this. "I don't like this anymore," Zane mumbled, now feeling very uneasy. Travis scooted over and leaned his head on Zane's left shoulder. Zane was trying to keep still, or else he would have leaned his head on Travis's and tried to fall asleep and forget what was happening to his face. "Is there.. still blood on my face?" "...Yes. It's not done healing." "Can any of it be cleaned?" "I've already cleaned some of it off." Zane sighed again. Something about this didn't seem right. "How is everyone else doing?" he asked quietly. "Aaron and Garroth have been gradually tidying up around here and in the main room. They've started to do something where one of them stands outside with the door cracked open a little and just listening. They keep guns with them, so they're protected. The other one stands inside, right next to the door, just in case the other person would need to get inside quickly." "What are they listening for?" "Barking, talking, a horde of walkers. Anything dangerous." Zane felt his face tingling. "I'm going to take off the cloth now," she said, clearing her throat. "Then the one across your eyes." Her voice dropped in confidence as she spoke. "Just... get it over with. Please." Through the tingling, he felt the cloth be gently removed. "It's definitely better than it was," Aphmau said, seeming still very nervous but also happy. "And now... your eyes." "And what's the bad news?" "Hm?" "You said there was bad news." "You'll figure it out. Trust me, it's easier to find out for yourself than me telling you. It just messes with your negative thought association." "Whatever..." Zane blinked under the cloth, frowning. His left eye just saw darkness, while the other looked like the inside of his eyelid. No wonder it felt weird, she put the cloth on with that eye closed. It made sense. His eye could have been closed when the wolf attacked and it could have hurt his eyelid or something. It was a possibility. "And now for.. the eyes. I do have a mirror here, if you'd like to see it." "I'll look. Don't worry." Aphmau felt very hesitant as she reached behind his head, gently and slowly untying the cloth. The entire room felt like it dropped in temperature as everyone grew nervous. Zane wouldn't have been as nervous if Aphmau wasn't shaking and Travis wasn't squeezing Zane's hand so hard. As she removed the cloth, both of his eyes were closed. The light from the window hit his left eyelid. He felt kind of disgusted that there was probably blood on his right eyelid, blocking out the light from his eye. "You can open your eyes, Zane..." Her laugh was forced. "Slowly." He did as she said, slowly opening his eyes. He winced against the light from the window now, turning his face away. From how it looked, he guessed his right eyelids were stuck together or something disgusting like that. It didn't feel like it, but with how badly his face was damaged, he wouldn't have been surprised if he didn't feel a slap in the face. His left eye searched Aphmau's face, which looked pale. "Your face looks so much better than it did during the attack," she said after a pause. Travis shifted. Zane looked at him. "Guess what, Zane?" "What?" "You look beautiful." Zane blushed. It felt very strange on the right side of his face, but he was too happy to care. He was eager to see himself, and then make Aphmau fix his eye so that he could actually see. With very shaky hands, she grabbed the mirror. "You weren't this nervous when Travis was injured." "I knew about Travis's injury and I had treated several of his case before him." "Really?" "Yes, though they weren't as bad. Plus, Travis didn't look that different when he was turned. He didn't have time to...." She searched for words. "....decay." Zane fought back a gag at this. He didn't want to imagine Travis as a zombie. "Just.. give me the mirror. Please." Hesitantly, she handed him the mirror. He grabbed it from her hand and spun it around, getting one quick look at himself before dropping the mirror in surprise and shock. Aphmau winced. "You didn't get a good look..." Shuddering, he picked the mirror back up. He had dropped the mirror because all he saw was red, and he expected more scarring to have taken place. Once the mirror was raised again, he gulped and held it as steady as possible. The left side of his face was fine. No cuts or scars besides the ones that were already there. But the right side of his face... The first thing he noticed was that his eye was open. The second thing he noticed was the fact that his face was very red and very gross looking. Aphmau reached just past the right side of his face, doing something he couldn't see until he turned his face to it and stared directly at it. She was simply waving her hand in what would have been the peripheral vision of his right eye. He turned his attention back to the mirror, still shaking. He looked like one of the walkers he had seen that had been missing part of their face. Feeling a little sick, he put the mirror down and stared up, letting his head fall back against the wall. The other two were silent. "I.. can't see." More silence. "Aphmau, why can't I see out of one eye? You never told me I went blind." Silence. "That's the bad news, isn't it?" "...Y-yes..." "You don't... seem that angry..." Travis said hopefully. "I cannot get mad at you or even Aphmau. It's the werewolf's fault and mine." Zane gritted his teeth, taking deep breaths to control his anger. "Can I be alone for a few minutes?" "O-Of course, Zane." Aphmau was up and out the door in a matter of seconds. Travis kissed the top of his head and left more slowly, glancing back over his shoulder multiple times before exiting and closing the door. Zane snatched the mirror off of the floor and stared at it, then bit down on his hoodie sleeve again to muffle an angry yell. Wherever this wolf went... it was going to pay.
Chapter Bonus: A Messy Zane Drawing
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