Chapter Text
The supply runners came back that afternoon more beat-up than usual- they must’ve had to make some risky moves to get the supplies their little walled city needed. Sabrina was carrying an injured teammate on her back- a woman named Belle, who’d apparently broken her ankle pretty badly. It was wrapped tightly up with a strip of cloth from her shirt, which she seemed more broken up about than the ankle injury. Sabrina put her down in the medical tent and made to leave, but Puck caught her arm and pointed to a chair. “Sit. I need to check you for bites.”
“I’m not hurt.” she said, scowling. Puck scowled back.
“Sit.” he said firmly, and she growled, annoyed, but took the seat to wait her turn. Puck kept half an eye on her in case she tried to sneak out, but she just tugged off her gloves and shoved them in her bag with the rest of her gear, then sat there, scowling.
When he and the other medic had gotten Belle settled, he brought Sabrina back to the “examination room”, which was really just a few old blankets hung up in the corner to give some privacy. “Let me see your arms.” he started, and Sabrina showed him, palms down, then up as he turned them. They were grimy, but no skin broken and only light bruises. “Wrists okay?” asked Puck, and Sabrina rolled them, clenching and unclenching her fingers. She was used to this. All the supply runners were. “Good.” he murmured, then stepped back the half-step he was able and gestured for her to sit on the card table behind her. She did, grumbling, and pulled up her pant legs, showing him the bruises and scrapes accumulated over the past few weeks. Puck looked for bite marks, pushing down her socks to check her ankles too. “Anything feel broken?” he asked, and she sighed.
“No. I told you, I’m fine.”
Puck furrowed his brows at her. “Look, Grimm, it’s my job to make sure everyone that comes through here is healthy, and that includes you. An unreported zombie bite could kill all of us.”
Sabrina clenched her fists, but she couldn’t argue the point.
“Okay, anywhere else hurt? Back, neck, anywhere?”
Sabrina clenched her jaw, avoiding his eyes, but after a moment she pulled up the hem of her long-sleeved shirt to reveal a small, scabby wound on her hip. “I met a zombie in a basement.” she said quickly, her words blurring together. “I dropped my flashlight and had to bail without it. I ran into something and it did this, but I didn’t have time to see what it was.” She glared at Puck. “I didn’t get bitten, though.”
“I didn’t say you did.” said Puck, poking the wound gently. “Chill out. I’ll go get some antiseptic.”
The wound didn’t look remotely like a zombie bite, but “zombie” wasn’t the only flavor of pathogen out there, and “clean” was a survivor's best friend. They’d had a handful of people die since this all started from minor wounds gone septic.
Puck came back with the supplies and raised his hands, holding a package of wipes. “I’m going to need you to hold still, alright?”
“I’m not a baby, Puck.” Sabrina snapped, and Puck scowled.
“I was referring more to you punching me in the face, but whatever. Just hold up your shirt, okay?”
Sabrina flushed, but did as she was asked, avoiding looking at Puck while he came and wiped away the half-dried blood and dirt.
He examined the wound as he cleaned it, a niggling feeling that something wasn’t right bothering him as more of the dirt came off to reveal extensive, blooming bruises across Sabrina’s stomach. This wasn’t consistent with the idea of running into something sharp in a basement, and he was pretty sure they hadn’t been there a few days ago.
Puck sat up and looked at Sabrina, eyebrows furrowed. “What’s going on here?”
Sabrina clenched her jaw. “What do you mean? I ran into-”
“Liar.” said Puck impatiently.
Sabrina, irritated, looked away. After a beat, when it became clear she wasn’t going to answer, Puck huffed and leant back down, pulling out an antiseptic salve and dabbing it onto the wound. He ran light fingers over the bruises, trying to inuit what might’ve happened. It looked like she’d been hit with a car or a four-wheeler- which, if true, might mean that she had internal injuries that would need looking at. But… why a car? Had they run into runners from another community nearby and been attacked? Puck hadn’t heard of any other people around for miles, but it wasn’t like they told him everything.
One thing was for sure- this hadn’t been an accident.
“Sabrina.” Puck said again. “What happened to you?”
She sat, fuming, for a few seconds before spitting out the words: “ Moth happened. She tried to run me over with a car. Bess wasn’t fast enough to stop her, but she got her out of the truck before she killed me. Happy?”
Puck gaped at her for a moment before he got his breath back. “Not in the slightest.” he cried. “She could’ve killed you! Are you hurt anywhere else?”
Sabrina shrugged, then winced. “She ran me into a wall. My back’s kind of sore.”
Puck groaned. “Take off your shirt, let me see.”
Sabrina turned red, which made Puck flush too. “Not like that!” he said. “Just- we all have to work together here! Can you just let me take care of you?”
That made Sabrina clench her jaw, but after a moment she unbuttoned her shirt and pulled it off, avoiding looking at Puck, and he avoided looking at her too until she was done and she had turned around on the table, showing him the pattern of bruises on her back. Feeling jittery, but knowing he had to do his job, Puck reached out and put gentle pressure at different points on Sabrina’s ribs and spine, looking for damage.
He’d done much the same for several people around the camp, ones who’d had bad falls or fights. With Sabrina, though, it felt different. His hands trembled slightly. He felt scared, knowing how close he’d potentially come to losing her. And because of Moth , no less. And she’d lied to him about it? What? He felt kind of… hurt. And annoyed. And nauseous .
“Why’d Moth try to hit you with a car?” Puck asked.
Sabrina, again, was silent. Puck found frustration bubbling up in his gut. What was her deal? As much of a loner as he was, he understood that working together was the only reason most of their community was still alive, and as one of the handful with medical training, how tenuous a grasp all of them had on life. But you know what? Fine. She could just stay silent if that was what she wanted to do. He scoffed under his breath, breaking off the interrogation. Let her not tell him anything. He’d figure it out himself.
Puck didn’t find any diagnosable injuries on her back besides more bruises, so he asked her to turn back around and addressed the wound there, unwinding a section of gauze and pressing it to the wound. She hissed in pain, but Puck made no attempt to be more gentle, taping the gauze carefully to her abdomen and handing her shirt back to her. She thanked him roughly, and Puck backed up, lips pressed together as he shoved the antiseptic and scissors into his pockets.
“I won’t order you around,” he started, annoyed at how strained his voice sounded. “Because I know it won’t work. But it would be best if you went and laid down.”
Sabrina frowned, but conceded the point with a grunt. “Okay. It’s almost nighttime anyway.”
Puck didn’t roll his eyes, but it was a near thing. “Okay. Great. See you in a bit.”
“Yeah.” said Sabrina, and slid off the table. She edged past him, not touching him, then strode to the entrance to the tent, spine stiff and straight. If he hadn’t just seen it, Puck wouldn’t have thought she was injured at all, which was probably what she was going for.
The other medic had seen to the rest of the party while he’d been tending Sabrina, so Puck shed his latex gloves and went out in search of Bess. If anyone was going to know what had happened, it seemed like she would.