Chapter Text
Frank isn’t old enough to remember when the vampires arrived. He was a toddler at the time, and though he has some fuzzy memories about the grown-ups in his life being worried about something and his dad putting new locks on all the doors and windows, he doesn’t remember being shocked. He was a kid, and he’s pretty sure that he was more worried about his cartoons and toys at the time. He remembers his dad dying though, how could he not? One day his dad was there, and the next he wasn’t.
His mom said that he was killed by a bad man. By a monster. By a vampire.
Now that he’s old enough, Frank knows more of the story. His dad had left after dark - something that he and Frank’s mother had avoided doing ever since more was known about the real-life vampires who had just come to light. His dad was going to help a friend who’d had some car trouble and was panicking. He was a good guy like that. He’d taken a shotgun with him, but hadn’t gotten the chance to use it. The next morning both him and his friend were found dead and drained of blood. It wasn’t hard to figure out what happened.
Frank’s mom said it was just one more reason that the quarantine zones were needed. That if the vampires who had killed Frank’s dad were locked up like they should have been, then their family would still be together. He agreed at the time. He missed his dad. He still did. He felt so much resentment and rage towards the vampires who had taken him away from them.
He and the other kids his age were afraid of vampires, but in the same way that they were scared of serial killers. Sure, they were real. Frank knew that more than anyone, and he knows that he wasn’t the only kid in his school who had lost someone to vampires. But they didn’t feel real. They felt more like something about a game or movie. Frank remembers playing vampire hunters in elementary school. No one wanted to play as a vampire then. The quarantine zones would have been established by then. He remembers when one boy left mid-year, the rumors said that his dad was bitten by a vampire and his whole family had to go into quarantine. He’s still not sure that those rumors were true, but even at the time he knew what it meant to be put into quarantine.
It meant that you weren’t coming back.
LA was the first quarantine. The first vampires came to light there. Though they weren’t necessarily the first. Some of the fangs were old, like…remembers the Victorian area old. According to most reports those weren’t the vamps that were causing issues. It was the new wave of vampires, the ones who wanted to be seen and didn’t care about staying quiet and staying hidden. A group of them started biting people all over LA and then those people would turn and in turn bite more. Eventually the government just decided to wall off the whole city. No one in, no one out.
It wasn’t like that anymore. No one came out, but people certainly went in. You got bit? You’re in. You get discovered to be a century-old vampire? You’re in. You show up at the gate and say you’ve been bit? You’re in. The government doesn’t really care who enters, but all who do never leave.
Officially people can leave. If they’re sponsored. Nevermind the fact that to be sponsored you need someone on the outside to either turn in a wanted vamp or pay a sum upwards of half a million dollars. Needless to say, most of the humans who were dumped into the quarantines were there for good. Frank shudders to think of all the innocent people of LA and all the other quarantines who were caged in with the vamps for no reason other than damage control.
A lot of the folklore was true. Sunlight burned the skin of a vamp, they needed to drink human blood to survive and they were essentially immortal in the sense that they couldn’t age. But there was one aspect of the lore that wasn’t true. You could survive being bitten. The infection that caused vampirism was spread through bites, that much was true, if the victim wasn’t killed then they were infected and they were liable to turn into a vampire themselves. But it wasn’t like the stories. Sure, most people who survived being bit ended up turning into a vampire, but the scientists have figured out that if you somehow manage to push through 4 months of denying yourself the urge to drink human blood you’re supposedly able to fight through the infection. There were some controlled trials that have shown that it’s possible, with the right care.
Most people don’t get the right care. They end up biting someone they love and then they either end up dead or locked away in a quarantine. It’s not exactly a comforting thought.
Now though, as Frank is thrown into the back of the vamp van - a reinforced vehicle that seems more suited for rabid dogs than humans - he prays that those trials are true and that he and his best friend can make it through this.
“He’s not bitten!” Ray cries out, pleading with the officer in tactical gear who had just manhandled Frank into the van. Ray hadn’t fought at all. He’s too noble for that. Frank’s eyes are glued to the blood splashed against his friend’s shirt, and pouring from his shoulder. Frank hadn’t even seen the vamps approaching. He hadn’t even been next to Ray at the time. He’d been in the backyard, fucking around and flirting with a girl whose name he couldn’t even remember. It wasn’t until he heard the screams from inside of the house party that he realized something was wrong.
He didn't suspect vampires at the time. He thought maybe someone had showed up with a gun or something - at the time that had been the scariest thing he could think of. He ran into the house to try and find Ray and get the hell out of there, lord knows that neither of them had anything to do with any of that.
Frank didn’t remember when the vampires had appeared, but he certainly remembered the sight of a group of vampires with their mouths latched onto some of the attendees of the party. It was chaos, people were running everywhere and it wasn’t clear who was human and who wasn’t. Frank had to jump over a body on the floor, he can still remember the glassy-eyed look on the guy’s face. Frank should have run, but he was drunk and his brain was lagging. He searched for Ray, and eventually found him - though not the way that he wanted.
Ray got bit. Frank remembers that. He thinks that Ray might have been trying to protect the girl he’d been talking to. A mousy girl named Karlee that he knew from school.
A fat lot of good that did him.
The officer doesn’t even blink at Ray’s pleas. He just looks at the two of them like they’re already turned and dangerous. Frank feels like the feral dog that he was being treated as, he was thrashing and fighting. He doesn’t know what he’s fighting for. Ray was bitten. There was no undoing that. His best friend was bitten and he was probably going to turn. He was going to be locked away in quarantine and Frank would never see him again. Hell, Frank was probably going to be locked up with him regardless of the fact that he isn’t infected.
“Seriously, look at him. He’s not bitten. It’s my blood.” Ray pleads, “He’s not bitten, you don’t have to take him. Please, just let him go.”
“We don’t have time to search him for bites.” The man says gruffly, “Sorry Kid.” He doesn’t look sorry as he slams the door shut on their faces.
“Fuck You!” Frank cursed, slamming on the door. It wasn’t fair. They’d just been minding their own business. They were just having fun, just going to a party to celebrate the start of a new school year. Ray didn’t deserve this. He was one of the best guys that Frank knew. He didn’t deserve to be turned.
“It’s ok, they can’t just throw you in there, right? I mean, you’re not bitten. You’re going to be in danger if they throw you into quarantine. So they can’t just throw you in there, right? All we have to do is convince them that you’re ok, and then you’ll be safe.” Frank turns to his friend. Of course Ray is thinking about him right now. Ray, who is currently bleeding from the bite on his neck. Ray whose life will never be the same.
Ray, who Frank is very likely going to lose.
“Dude, just…” Frank trails off, what can he even do here? He pulls off the sweatshirt that he’d been wearing, balling it up before pressing it against Ray’s neck. “We’ll figure this out. You don’t have to turn. We can…we can wait this out. 4 months right? We can wait that out and then you’ll be ok. You won’t have to turn.” He doesn’t mention the fact that even if they do push the fact that Frank isn’t bitten, no one will believe them. How many other poor fuckers had tried to use that excuse to get out of quarantine. Maybe some of them were telling the truth. Most of them probably weren’t. Quarantine was a death sentence. You went in and you didn’t come out.
Who would tell their parents? How would Frank’s mom find out that her only son was going to be locked up. Would they tell her that he was a vampire? Would she think that her son was a monster?
A broken sob crawls its way out of Ray’s throat. “Sorry.” He says through a cry. “It just hit me.” Frank doesn’t know if he’s talking about the pain or the fact that he was infected. Instead he just felt tears filling his own eyes.
“We’ll be ok.” a lie that he had to believe. They would figure things out, right? They would make it through this. He would watch over Ray until the infection had run its course. And then…Frank wasn’t sure what would happen after that.
There was no way their families would ever be able to put together the money to get even one of them out of quarantine, let alone both of them.
They were fucked. No questions about it. Their lives were over. Frank was vampire food. Anemic and scrawny as he was, he was sure that he’d make a good snack for one of the vamps that was locked up in the nearest quarantine. There’s one right outside of New York. They were probably on their way there right now.
“Do you have your phone?” Ray asked between sniffles, “I wanna talk to my mom. I lost mine. It was in my jacket.” Frank nods, scrambling with his pockets and pulling out his phone. It has half-battery life if he’s lucky. He should have charged it before Ray picked him up for the party. Better yet he should have just stayed home and played mortal combat with Ray instead of going out. He should have done a lot of things differently. He should have hugged his mom before he left. He should have brought more with him to the party than his half-charged phone, his mostly empty wallet and a few cigarettes and a lighter.
“Yeah, here.” Frank said, passing the phone over and shuffling awkwardly away from Ray. He somehow felt wrong as Ray dialed his mom’s number and tearfully explained to her what happened. Frank just sate there, numb. It still didn’t feel real. Ray couldn’t be infected. He just couldn’t. This couldn’t be real. It felt more like a bad dream, like if Frank just squeezed his eyes shut tight enough then when he opened them he would be in his own bed or on Ray’s bedroom floor. Then he could just shake off the nightmare.
Though the more he looked at the blood smeared around the collar of Ray’s shirt, the more he knew that this was real.
“Yeah, mama.” Ray said, “I’m not lying, you know that I wouldn’t lie to you about something like this.” he sighed “Frank’s with me, but he’s not infected. We’re going to figure this out.” Frank could hear the sound of Ray’s mom frantically sobbing on the other end. “Look, mama, I’m going to stay strong. I’m going to try to get through this. I-” His voice breaks and Frank can tell that Ray’s trying to stay strong for his mom’s sake. “I’ll try to stay in touch, there’s still phone service in the quarantine zones, right? I’ll call you as often as I can and I’ll keep you updated. I love you so much mama, tell the guys that I love them too?” He and his mom talk for a few minutes more. Frank can’t even imagine how Mrs. Toro feels right now. He should tell his mom what happened as well.
What would she think? First her husband and Frank’s father is killed by a vampire back when Frank was young and now her only son was being locked away in a quarantine zone with vampires and she would likely never see him again.
He had to be the one to tell her. He couldn’t let her find out about this from the police. He couldn’t make her relive the moment when an officer knocked on her door and let her know that her husband was dead.
So when Ray finished up with his phone, Frank took it and dialed his mom’s number. She didn’t answer.
She was sleeping, and somehow that made it easier for Frank to leave the message that he knew he had to leave. “Mom, there’s no easy way to say this but there’s been an attack.” He paused, “Vampires showed up to the party that Ray and I were at and things went really bad. I’m not bit, but I think they’re gonna send me to quarantine either. Ray’s with me and we’re gonna figure this out. I’ll call you again in the morning, but until then just know that I love you so much.”
He could already imagine his mom waking up in the morning - painfully early just like she always did - and listening to his voicemail. He can imagine the fear and panic that she would feel upon hearing his words. He wished there was something more he could do to convince her that he was going to be okay, but he doesn’t even know if he can convince himself that things were going to be fine. He doesn’t know anything about the quarantine zones. No one who goes in comes out alive, needless to say there’s no coverage from reporters. There’s the vague few blogs and video posts that come out of zones that have minimal internet access, but even then there are just as many if not more hoaxes that it’s impossible to really know what’s going on behind the heavy walls that lock everyone inside.
For all Frank knows, he and Ray are going to be sucked dry the moment they step foot inside those walls. They’re not strong enough to fight off a full fledged vampire. The reality of their situation is starting to hit him.
His life is basically over.
He won’t start that band he always wanted to. He won’t finish the degree that his mom was so proud of him for pursuing. He wouldn’t do anything with his life. He probably wouldn’t even be remembered by anyone but his mom.
“Fuck.” He whimpered, collapsing against the wall of the van. Tears started to burn in the corner of his eyes.
Ray noticed, because of course he noticed. He was Frank’s best friend. He knew Frank better than anyone else. He knew that Frank was still afraid of vampires even all these years after his father was killed. He knew that Frank had nightmares about the dark road on the night that his dad was killed - despite that fact that he wasn’t there and didn’t even know the full story until he was older. Ray knows all his secrets, and as selfish as it sounds, there’s no one else that Frank would rather be stuck here with.
“Hey, hey.” Ray said softly, “We’re going to figure this out. I’ll vouch for you and let everyone know that you’re not infected. You don’t have to go in there.”
“But you do.” Frank said, feeling another wave of sadness hit him. He doesn’t want to lose Ray. It would break his mom’s heart for Ray to be sent off to quarantine nearly as much as losing her son to those heavy steel walls. His mom loved Ray, she practically treated him like another son. Ray was such a good guy, he didn’t deserve this.
Ray smiles sadly, “Yeah, I do. But it’s better this way. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I don’t want to hurt my mom or brothers, I don’t want to hurt you.” He emphasized that last point the most. “So I can’t have you going into quarantine with me. I just can’t. I couldn’t live with myself if I did something to you.”
“You won’t.” Frank is sure of that. If anyone is disciplined enough to fight off the vampire virus it’s Ray.
Ray shook his head, “I can’t promise that. We have no idea what the virus is going to do to me. I might not even be me after enough time.” It’s suspected by scientists that vampires more or less regain their human personality and memories. They’re not inherently soulless or evil, not that that does much to change public opinion on those that are infected.
“You will.” Frank said, “If anyone can push through this, it’s you.”
“Maybe.” Ray said, “But I want to push through it alone. I can’t put you into this.”
Frank nodded, but he already knew that he was into this just as much as Ray was. There was no getting out of it. He’d put himself into this mess when he fought for Ray, even as Ray was bleeding from the bite on his shoulder. The two of them were in this together, for better or for worse.
“We’ll look after each other.” Frank said the words like a promise, “We always do.”