now YOU suck

by uhhisthisallowed

Summary:

Leigh finds a medical treatment for the group that just hits different.

sorry i'm so bad at writing summaries. its all three of 'em flirting and taking care of each other in their own very weird way.

Chapter 1

Yesterday, Sam had given up something very important for someone else; his left arm. Not cleanly, either, but through crushing, gnawing and slow breaking, truly the most excruciating experience of his life. It was an easier choice to make than he anticipated, however, no matter how much he tried to talk himself into it he just couldn’t bring himself to put that innocent animal-child down that monster’s throat.

That pain just now… I almost put Scout through that. It would have been his last memory… How could I have even considered that?  He had thought after waking up on the floor of the unending room, covered in his own blood. 

Hellen had patched him up as best she could, (which Sam suspected may have not been very well, it’s not like she was a nurse before all this). And while being carried home (again by Hellen), Scout had sat on his belly and given him some caring licks on his newly acquired stump, as if to clean it. Sam considered stopping him from doing this, it probably was far from sanitary, but it was so…cute? Yeah. Cute. 

 

Today, Sam sat at his kitchen table with the others. He had just finished making everyone a simple breakfast of poured cereal, he didn’t have the energy for anything fancy. While everyone was digging in, Sam glanced across the table and noticed Leigh cradling Scout in her arms, ignoring her food in favour of nursing him from a cut on her arm.

“Heh heh heh, drink up little buddy, we need you nice and strong so you can fight your dad one day!” Scout happily suckled the blood from her open wrist as she spoke.

“Huh. You’re…surprisingly good with him.” Sam remarked.

“Well yes, I grew up with little siblings! I think.” Leigh answered proudly. 

“…You think?”

“Yeahhh, memory’s pretty scrambled from the change and all, but I know enough to remember I had little sisters! Their names though, don’t ask me.” 

Sam wasn’t really sure what to say to this. “Oh…I’m sorry, thats…kind of sad.” 

Leigh was annoyed by Sam’s pity, to her it was borderline offensive. “What?! Nooooo it’s better this way! The visitor shaved off all the mushy parts of my brain that were just slowing me down! And plus, I got to keep all the kid-raising skills without any useless baggage, heh heh heh…”

Sam definitely couldn’t relate to this philosophy. He imagined if he knew he had someone he cared about at one time, but no longer remembered who they were, it would send him into a mental spiral for the rest of his life. But it seems for Leigh, the visitor had significantly dulled any emotional pain receptors she may have previously had, so Sam figured what she doesn’t know probably doesn’t hurt her.

“You should be busy worrying about yourself anyway, you look like shit! Heh heh.” Leigh teased while jabbing a finger in Sam’s direction. 

I mean if thats true its nothing new. I always look like shit.  “Yeah, tell me something I don’t know..” He mumbled.

“S-shes right mr. Sam, you kinda look-hhh-sick, or something…” Joel chimed in. 

Oh, well that might be bad. Sam knew Joel was very observant (despite his lack of eyes) and honest too, if even he’s agreeing on the dismal state of Sam’s appearance then maybe he did look worse than usual. Sam himself wouldn’t know, he hadn’t looked in the mirror yet this morning. 

Deciding to see what the fuss was about, Sam backed out his chair and stood up to head to the bathroom and check himself out, until all at once his vision blackened. Ah, Head rush. 

He stumbled blindly for a few steps, waiting for his vision to clear again like it always does when he stands up too quickly, but it never did, and before he knew it he was coming to on the floor in Hellen’s arms.

 

“You fainted.” She simply said.

“Oh.” Sam responded stupidly. 

Dan’s head appeared over Hellen’s shoulder. “DUDE you fell HARD just then! You okay?”

“Y-yeah, I think so…? My head kinda hurts…”

“You’re pale. You need to eat.” Hellen stated, and Sam realized he actually never took more than a few bites of his breakfast before getting up just then. 

“Yeah, you’re probably right..I’ll just finish my food then I guess.” Sam tried to pull himself back to his feet and out of Hellen’s arms, but she stopped him with a forceful hand on his chest. 

“You’ll eat in bed. I’ll bring the food.” This was clearly an order and not a suggestion. 

“O-okay, haha, I appreciate the nice ide-“ Before Sam could finish, Hellen had hoisted him into the air, princess style. She wordlessly carried him to his room and lowered him onto the bed. 

“O-oh, thanks, You didn’t…have to do that.” Sam stuttered, but in truth he was glad she did, the small gesture of personal attention made his heart palpate a bit. Or maybe that was just the sickness?

“You’re probably still sick from blood loss. You lost a lot yesterday. I was there. Sopping it up.” 

“Ah, Yeah, you’re probably right…”

“I’ll get your food, you can’t go out today.” 

Sam wanted to argue as Hellen stood up and started toward to bedroom door, but he knew her idea WAS probably the safest one, and there was really no arguing with Hellen even at the best of times, anyway. 

Just then Leigh leapt in front of Hellen’s path, blocking her from exiting the room. clearly she had been listening in. “Wh-does that mean Sam’s not taking us out today?!” She whined, sounding much like a dog being denied its walk. 

“No. Sam could die if he faints again out there.” Hellen answered, towering over the much shorter woman.

Leigh let out a deeply annoyed groan. “Well…Those of us who aren’t sick should go out, then. Lets you, me and some of the kids head out! Heh heh!”

“No. Someone needs to watch after him today.” Hellen stated matter-of-factly, as she pushed past Leigh to get into the living room. Sam heard Leigh Moan in despair once more, but he was glad Hellen had denied her request, truthfully he still wasn’t convinced he could trust any of the adults to look after the kids on expeditions without him.

 

~~~~~~~

 

It was nearing the end of the evening. Hellen had been looking after Sam all day, which didn’t involve much besides getting him water, snacks and watching him sleep to make sure he doesn’t die for some reason, but she wasn’t sure she could keep it up much longer.

So far, Hellen hadn’t yet gone a single day since her transformation where she hadn’t killed at least one creature, and tonight that bloodlust the visitor had cursed her with was starting to boil over like a maddening itch. If she stayed put much longer, she feared she might actually be more of a danger to Sam and the others than a help. So, she allowed herself to stand up and leave the apartment. As she did, Leigh called to her from the couch;

“HEY! I thought you said you weren’t going out today, take me with you!”

“No. I want this to be quick, you’ll drag it out.” Leigh knew she got her there, she had fully planned to drag it out. 

Hellen then gestured towards those sitting on the couch (Leigh, Dan and the kids) as she left. “Watch after him.” And she slammed the door behind her. Leigh whined again at being denied by Hellen for a second time today. 

“Ms. Leigh, let’s go check on Mr. Sam! I haven’t-hhh-seen him since this morning!” Joel cheerfully suggested, and he, Sophie and Scout hopped off the couch, dropped their controllers and headed for the bedroom. Leigh followed due to dreading being alone with Dan, especially in front of a video game.

 

“Hhh-how are you feeling, Mr. Sam?” Joel asked at Sam’s bedside, the kids had just woken him up from his second nap today. 

“Ah, not much better, honestly… But hey, thanks for coming to check on me.” Sam said, and weakly ruffled Joel’s hair. 

“Uh oh…That means you probably can’t make dinner, huh?” Sophie asked, “and your food was just starting to taste better, too!” 

Sam was half-flattered, half-hurt by her honest performance review. He chuckled and patted her shoulder next. “I guess I won’t… I think there are some TV dinners in the freezer, though?”

Joel gasped a little in excitement. “Oh man, my mom-hhh-never lets me have those!” 

Probably for good reason. Sam thought, but tried to forgive himself for his lacklustre food offering tonight. 

“Really? I had them lots, they’re pretty okay. I love the brownie the most!” Said Sophie, “I bet Scout will like it, he eats anything!” 

“He sure does…” Joel echoed, stroking his recently patched up Teddy. 

Scout squeaked in delight at him being referred to in the same sentence as food.

“Why don’t you kids go pop those in the microwave now, eh?” Sam secretly wanted to get back to sleeping, and luckily Sophie needed no convincing. 

“Okay, feel better soon!” She scooped up Scout, grabbed Joel’s hand and led the boys towards dinner and out of the bedroom. 

 

Leigh had been watching their conversation from the sidelines, and didn’t leave with the children. Instead she stood in the corner of the room staring unblinkingly at Sam. 

“U-uhh…You’re welcome to those TV dinners too, Leigh.”

“Nah. Not hungry.” Was all she replied.

“…Okay…Well i’m um. I’m going to go back to sleep now, I guess.” 

“Mmhmm.” Was all he got.

A bit unnerved by this, Sam laid back down and shut his eyes, trying to forget about Leigh’s looming presence in the room as he had done all day with Hellen. Luckily, his genuine illness made that much easier than normal, and he soon returned to a deep slumber. 

Once he was asleep, Leigh approached his bedside to get a closer look at him. Like she had commented this morning, he looked like shit. His face was still pallid, his eye bags more pronounced than usual, and his general demeanour still sickly. 

This is kinda pissing me off. She thought.

Seeing Sam in this state was stirring up something in her that was deeply, deeply unwelcome.

Leigh considered Dan a level 1 opponent, Hellen, a level 100. Sam however hovered somewhere around a 50. He was strong enough to beat her once, yes, but she was pretty sure that was just luck, and that he probably cheated. Somehow. 

Regardless though, in Leigh’s eyes they were very similar in their “power level.” Sam was a formidable opponent, cheater or not you HAD to be to beat Leigh. He reminded her a lot of herself, in a way. A more pathetic, soft and mushy version of herself. A version that she suspects she may have embodied more, once upon a time. If he would just get over his hangups about looking outside, he would probably rise to her level and leave behind all the parts of himself that are holding him back, just like she did. She wanted that for him, for them. 

They WERE, after all, destined to fight to the death. Him being at his best would only make the victory that much sweeter! She sort of felt she had a duty to bring him back to himself, he was basically the proverbial Yin to Leigh’s mutually-destructive Yang!  

And seeing him like this…weak, vulnerable, not his usual hardy self… They were normally so similar in ability, and if he could be reduced to this, maybe eventually she could too…again. She did not want this losing attitude that he had right now to rub off on her. 

 

This final thought convinced her to try it; the idea she had been silently mulling over the whole time she had been in the bedroom. 

She lifted her right arm over Sam, the one she had used to feed Scout this morning, and slowly re-opened the wound on her wrist with her fingernail. Blood oozed out slowly, and once she was satisfied with the cut, she spoke. “Hey, I got something for ya.”

Sam groggily opened his eyes and stared confused at her, not really understanding what was happening. 

Leigh tried to sound comforting; “open up, heh heh.” And she shoved her bleeding appendage towards his mouth. 

“N-Nuh!-“ Sam attempted to decline as he tried turning away from the oncoming arm, but he was too slow. Before he knew it, Leigh’s wrist had collided with his face and a fresh glob of warm liquid had streaked across his mouth. Inevitability, a little leaked in. 

As soon as the blood hit his tongue, he stopped squirming. It tasted…really good, nothing like the coppery sensation he got when he accidentally bit the inside of his cheek. Leigh’s blood was thicker than expected, like molasses, and syrupy like it too, its sweetness tickled the back of his throat as he swallowed. 

Surprised by the pleasantness of it, Sam blinked a few times and turned to look at Leigh’s wrist, which was still open and hovering near his face. The combination of the comforting taste mixed with the inviting sight of her leaking flesh numbed something in his mind, and he felt compelled to go back in for more. 

“Heh heh, go on…” Leigh urged.

That was all the permission Sam’s now-clouded mind needed to begin feasting. Without a word he latched his lips onto her wound, sucking hungrily. The sanguine sweetness flooded his mouth, and he guzzled it down eagerly.

“Hehehe..” Leigh could hardly keep her giggles in. This may not be a fight with Sam, but there was still something…very satisfying about this sight. He was still acting needy, sure, but his drive to improve was back, he had hunger, and she was able to facilitate. 

There was also something about his expression…so focused, so taken, she felt a bit like she had him right under her thumb. It was kind of…Cute?  

“Hehehehe!” She giggled again.

 

Sam’s feeding only grew more insistent the more he drank, and soon he was biting down on Leigh’s flesh too, completely unconsciously. Leigh didn’t mind at all, she loved it in fact, The pain from his bites only confirmation that his strength was returning. Aaaahhh it’s working! theres the fight in ya coming back out! She thought fondly.

Everything seemed very far away to Sam now, it was all drowned out by the anesthetic effect of the blood. To get a more comfortable angle, he absent-mindedly reached around with his right arm and gripped Leigh’s elbow. 

Leigh jumped at this and her face lit up more, she was feeling much more excited than expected now. This wasn’t just cute anymore, this was sickeningly adorable. His eyes, half-lidded but clearly immersed, his mouth, chewing hungrily, carelessly making fresh wounds…He even had little rivulets of drool sliding down his chin. Her eyes strained to open wider and take in the image of him being so honest with himself. This was the kind of thing she really wanted to see from him, letting go, letting loose! It was just gorgeous. Maybe, since this worked so well, he might consider looking outside after all, too. That would be grand… They would be SO much more alike then! And the brawls they would have, oh, she could only imagine… They would be legendary! 

 

Leigh was so focused on her fantasy and Sam on his meal that neither of them noticed Hellen return. “OY!” She boomed from the doorway. 

The two were instantly snapped out of whatever trance they were in and braced for the enormous woman stomping towards them. Hellen grabbed the back of Leigh’s shirt and yanked her upwards with a fierceness, holding the small woman suspended in the air while her limbs flailed uselessly. She then got right in Leigh’s face. “You’re lucky I just got done satisfying my bloodlust.”

At being manhandled so easily, Leigh felt a confusing mix of humiliation, fear and…maybe a little arousal? “Whaaaat whaaat?! What’d I do wrong?!” She protested, still flailing midair. 

“You could have poisoned him.” 

“Poison him? How?! He needs blood, doesn’t he?!” Leigh argued. 

“Giving blood doesn’t work that way. How do you not know that?” 

Leigh made a chopping gesture, hitting the top of her head with the side of her open hand. “Well DUH, my memory was basically halved, remember?”

Hellen wasn’t sure if the goblin-woman wouldn’t have still pulled this stunt even if her brain wasn’t scrambled. 

Leigh continued; “Anyway, how do we KNOW it’s not good for him? the rules are all different now, right? Scout seems to like my blood, and whats good for baby should be good enough for daddy, I would think, heh heh heh heh!”

Hellen shook her head, “Scout is like us: cursed. But Sam is still human, your blood could hurt him.” She then turned her head to check on Sam. He was sitting up in bed now and seemed alright. Better, even, more alert. Though he had unbecoming dark red stains all around his mouth, like a toddler who just finished a plate of spaghetti. 

Sam felt the need to reassure Hellen, “I feel…pretty okay, actually. I’m a little unsure of what just happened there but..I guess it was something good…?” It seemed Sam had partially blacked out through the duration of his feeding session. Next, his eyes drifted towards Leigh. “Ah! Leigh, what happened to your arm?” 

“You did, hehehehe,” Leigh giggled and Sam just looked confused and concerned.

Hellen also glanced over Leigh’s arm. It was covered in blood and bites, Sam had chewed it up like a dog with a new toy, not that he knew he’d done such a thing. 

Hellen let out a tired sigh at the tiny woman she was still dangling. “Am I going to have to treat you now, too?”

“hehehe oooooohh yes, please bandage me, nurse Hellen!!” Leigh teased, wearing a mock-innocent expression.

In response, Hellen flung her across the room. Leigh twisted mid-flight and landed on all fours like a cat. “Eeeehh, so rude!!” 

 

Hellen dismissed her and returned to sitting by Sam’s bedside. She wasted no time wiping down his messy face with her sleeve, an action that made Sam flush and feel very spoiled. “You don’t feel different?” She questioned.

Sam thought for a moment. “Uuhh…no…? I mean, I feel different from this morning, in that I feel more ‘normal.’ but like, ‘mutation’ different? No, I don’t think so.”

Sam felt Hellen’s eyes scrutinize him, studying for any worrying changes since she had left, she noticed his colour had indeed returned. Sam squirmed a bit, nervous to meet her gaze for multiple reasons.

“I bet he’s good to get up now!” Leigh suggested, still in the room, just at a safe distance from Hellen. 

“…Maybe.” The large woman answered.

Sam tried to stand up, and was delighted to find the dizziness and fatigue that plagued him earlier today had disappeared entirely. “I…I think she's right!”

Leigh beamed with an impish pride. “Weeelll what’d I tell you?! Hahahaha!” 

Hellen shot her a look that told her not to get too cocky and Leigh quieted her cackles. Inside though, Leigh celebrated the small victory. 

“Thanks Leigh, for uh, whatever you did. And of course thank you Hellen…For making sure everything didn’t just crash and burn while I was out of commission, haha.” Sam knew he would miss being looked after by Hellen. 

“Now that you’re back, lets go on one outing, just one before bed, eh? All three of us?!” Leigh pleaded. 

Sam looked to Hellen with a smirk full of pity for Leigh, he wanted to get her permission first. 

“Yes.” Was all Hellen responded, she was much more excited about this prospect than she let on. 

Chapter 2: Hellen loosens up a bit

Summary:

This one's definitely more Helleigh centered, and also from Hellen's pov, because thats what i felt the previous chapter was missing more of! But theres still some SamHellen too.

Antoine lovers i'm sorry and beware, he gets kilt.

Hellen’s first impression of Sam was-in the kindest words-extremely underwhelming. The man who had answered the apartment 33 door had been approximately 5’5”, 30-something-years old and somewhat slovenly in his personal style with two large eyes sitting atop a plain face that screamed for sleep. He had a rather meek presence as he, with very little questioning, allowed her to enter his home and begin living with him-who needs a doormat when you’ve got a greeter like that? 

While first getting to know him, Hellen found herself getting a little irritated at times with Sam. To her, he prodded too much. He would always ask inane, repetitive questions like “how are you?” “Is something on your mind?” “Thats a big knife” (which wasn’t even a question, so what was she even supposed to say to that ). She really didn’t fancy being bothered with small talk so much, and preferred to restrict her communications with people to things that were necessary or otherwise especially interesting. Hellen was never much of a talker, even before looking outside.

But despite her often monosyllabic answers to his questions, Sam would always keep pushing her bit by bit every day. “Did you eat?” “how was the food?” “What kind of games do you like?” “Are you upset?” “that cut looks bad..” “Do you want me to help?”

It wasn’t just her, he would run around fussing over every new resident in the apartment. Tending to the children, bringing back new video games to keep everyone entertained, nursing wounds, and cooking every night to boot. 

It was irritating… But why exactly, though?

Eventually Hellen came to a realization. She couldn’t deny it anymore; Sam was a sweetheart, a real rare find of a person that really just wants to do good and be good. But watching him be walked all over and giving so much of himself away all the time felt like watching a loyal dog be left tied up in the blistering heat. Because, like a dog, he was-as much as she hated to admit it-cute. Not conventionally, for certain, but his clear sincerity and selfless nature made it very hard to not be endeared to him. 

When she would see Sam get pushed around by the teens, allow his blood to be sucked by a giant tick, or pressured to do favours for another cursed, she would get this urge to strangle him and also scoop him up and pinch his cheeks in equal measure. She imagined pinching those sullen cheeks hard, hard enough to scold him for being so passive, but also to satisfy that annoying itch in her brain. 

These days, emotions Hellen may have previously processed more healthily felt as though they were always being passed through a kind of “aggression” filter, coming out on the other side more crazed than they needed to be. She wondered if perhaps her annoyance towards Sam was actually an over-active sense of “cute aggression”? It seemed possible.

If so, she decided it would be best to fight to not act on any of these urges, in practice it would probably be humiliating for her and would most likely regret it afterwards. luckily, this wouldn’t be difficult. Hellen possessed incredible self restraint in practically all areas of life. She had been doing a good job keeping a ravenous bloodlust in check for a while now, after all. 

 

Unfortunately for her, Leigh appeared. Hellen definitely started having a hard time containing her aggravation then. 

When Leigh met Sam and Hellen, the little goblin-lady had just gotten done trying to kill them, and what did Sam do? Invite her right in of course! All she had to do was ask. 

Stupid, stupid man. He should let me kill her. Hellen had scolded him in her mind. I’m going to have to watch his back for him all the time, aren’t I? He certainly won’t do it himself. And with that thought, Hellen had wedged herself between Sam and the their feral new “friend” on the walk back to the apartment.

After just a day of living with her, Hellen found that Leigh’s domestic habits did nothing to improve her impression of her. Leigh was messy, inconsiderate and annoying in a way that was not cute. Her constant following and nagging of Hellen made her long for the days not long ago of just Sam in her ear. 

“Hey, Hellen! How’d you get so big and tall, eh? Were you a big-time wrestler before this?” Leigh asked on the 8th day while squeezing Hellen’s bicep-without permission. 

“…No. I was a gardener.” 

“Oooohh you must have photosyncronized then, eh?! Thats why you’re tall like a tree, hahaha!” 

“Its ‘photosynthesized.’ And Gardeners take care of plants, they don’t become them.” 

“Psshh, I’m just jokin’ with you! I know that, obviously.”

It was not obvious. 

Leigh had mentioned before that her memory had become swiss cheese from her transformation, and the worldly information she was aware and unaware of kept Hellen on her toes. One day Leigh had been able to to recite a recipe for a homemade cleaner at the crafting table out of nowhere, and another day she had tried to fix the toilet by flushing bugs down it because in her words; ‘they’ll eat all the bad stuff.’ 

“Hellen, Leigh, lets get going! We got a lot to tackle today.” Sam called from the open apartment door. The three of them had spoken the previous night about finally taking on the basement.

“Me too, right-hhh-Mr.Sam?!” Joel answered from the couch, Hellen imagined that if he could he would probably be wearing a hopeful expression.

Sam didn’t really want to bring Joel into a brand new area of the building, filled with brand new horrors surely awaiting them, but the boy had begged him last night to come along that day. He claimed he was tired of being left behind inside and wanted to walk around and explore. 

And it was true; Sam had been avoiding taking Joel along for about three days now, because despite Joel’s eagerness to come along and his surprising prowess in battle, Sam just never felt right about bringing the boy along if he could help it. Every time the child strained painfully to grow new teeth in his gaping maw, only to have to force them back out, Sam couldn’t shake the immense sense of guilt. 

But unfortunately for him, Joel was the type of kid who loved to feel useful. So even though it hurt, he would push through to be a good ‘helper,’ and always ask to join in the fight. 

“Y-yeah…you too, kid.” Sam relented. 

“Yay!” Joel cheered, then bounced off the couch and joined Sam and the two women by the door. “Lets go!”

~~~~~~~

“Alright whatever’s behind this door just remember we’re freshly stocked on grenades, so don’t forget they’re there and use them if you need to.” Sam warned Hellen, Leigh and Joel while his right hand rested on the basement door. He was saying this almost exclusively for Joel’s sake, he knew Hellen and Leigh could handle themselves. 

“Yes Sir!” Joel replied and nodded enthusiastically. Leigh licked her lips, and Hellen just stared at the door.

“Good. Alright, well…without further ado, haha..” Sam chuckled awkwardly in an effort to calm his own nerves, and slowly creaked open the basement door. 

Before them was a mercifully quiet, dim, dank basement hallway. Sam sighed in relief, after being nearly flattened by a bus on the ground floor he had been jumpier when entering new spaces. 

The group stepped forward into the hallway and tried the first door they saw immediately to their right. It was numbered, so it seemed to be a residential unit, which meant someone was likely to be in there. Sam twisted to handle; it was unlocked. Before opening it all the way he turned back to his friends to give a silent warning nod that he was going open this door now, so they had better have his back. They all nodded back at him and Sam swung it open. He braced himself by raising his machete…and was met with more silence. So far, so good.

This room was even dimmer than the hallway, but in it everyone could still make out colourful posters that adorned the walls. Sam was still scanning them when he heard Joel squeal.

“Comic books!!” The boy yelped, and ran excitedly towards a pile of books that were on the floor, and eagerly started to flip through them. 

Sam sighed, relieved his shrieks weren’t ones of fear. He approached the boy, who was now sitting on the ground. “You know this series, Joel?” 

“No, I’ve never seen-hhh-these ones before, I just like comics. Every kid does-hhh-probably!” 

“Hehehehehe some of these have some pretty interesting pictures in them!” Leigh giggled deviously as she held one of the books open, turning the thing multiple ways to try and get a better look in the dim light. Hellen noticed the cover of the one Leigh was reading and immediately snatched it out of her hands. 

“Eeeeehh?! I was looking at that!” Leigh protested, but Hellen ignored her and shoved the manga into Sam’s hand. As soon as he saw the impossibly oversized breasts on the anime-style girl on the cover, he knew why it had to be confiscated. 

Hellen turned back to Leigh and jabbed a finger in Joel’s direction, who was thankfully still absorbed in the mecha he was reading, trying to communicate “not in front of the kid, dumbass.”

Leigh tutted in recognition. “Ahhh yes, the little tyke, of course… Well, don’t throw it away though, Sam! I’m still interested in checking it out later heh heh heh!” 

Hellen rolled her many eyes. That cartoon slop isn’t even good porn. She thought. But even trash is new and exciting to her, I guess. She’ll have to figure it out herself. 

Sam packed up the manga and made a mental note to go through them when they got back to the apartment to figure out which were age-appropriate for the kids. 

Next, Joel spotted something shiny on a coffee table further into the room. He gasped with excitement again and ran towards it, “A robot action figure!!” The boy picked up the toy and held it next to his beloved stuffed friend. “Now fuzzy can have a-hhh-cool, tough friend, just like me!” He glanced in Hellen’s direction, and she nodded, feeling that cute aggression bubble up again for a moment. 

“C’mon, what about me?!” Leigh teased. 

“You’re tough too-hhh-Ms. Leigh! But Ms.Hellen is tough and cool.”

Leigh made a face of deep offence. “Eeeeeeehhhh?!” 

“You heard the man.” Hellen stated. Sam couldn’t help but giggle.

“And what’re you laughin’ at, bud?” Leigh turned to Sam and jabbed his cheek  with her finger in a way that she thought was playful, but was still much too hard. 

Sam swatted her hand away. “Girls, girls, you’re both pretty.” He teased back.

Leigh scoffed. “Girls?! The disrespect i’m getting today-i’m 32! Probably!”

At that, Sam laughed harder. “No, no, it-it’s a reference to-“ And stopped when he noticed Hellen making eye contact and shaking her head. “Y’know what, never mind. You’re right.” 

“As always!” Leigh huffed. 

While the four were busy with their casual conversation, they had failed to notice a figure in the far corner of the room. It had been idle all this time, but the noise of their chatter had finally reached its ears. Before any of them could process what was happening, the creature had sprung to life and was rapidly advancing upon them, sights set for the smallest. 

 

“JOEL!” Sam screamed. The unknown threat was moving lightning fast towards the child’s back, so Sam dove at him.

He managed to swipe Joel out of the way just in time, but not without receiving a painful kick to the hip from the monster. It hurt, but Sam’s pain always felt dulled during battle. Adrenaline and what not.  

With Joel at a safe distance, the two took in their new enemy. 

It had a humanoid silhouette, but with too many limbs with sharp incisors where hands and feet should be. Its skin didn’t look like skin anymore, more like hard plastic, and two bulbous, shiny red eyes bulged on its face above a hole where its nose clearly used to be. Above that, what looked like many wriggling insect legs had replaced whatever hair used to be on its scalp, and for some reason that was the thing that clued Sam in that they were facing some sort of insectoid. Despite all these twisted characteristics, however, one of the most notable things about the creature was the long, bright red scarf around its neck. 

Sam remembered his grenade lecture from earlier. He pulled one out of his pocket, pulled the pin and lobbed it at the cursed. 

“COVER!” He warned his allies, as it exploded in a burst of fire and smoke. When it began to clear and the four of them had uncovered their faces, the silhouette of the cursed remained where it was before, only mildly harmed.

“Bit early for that, no? Not sure what we’re dealing with yet.” Hellen criticized, still waving dust away from her face. 

Sam shrugged, clearing his eyes of a bit of debris. “Yeah, well, I thought the smoke cloud could buy us some time.” 

The creature stood and did not advance. Instead, it opened tens of disgusting slits all over its body, and beneath them; eyeballs. 

The countless eyes flicked between Joel and Sam, trying to discern who had lobbed the explosive, before incorrectly settling on Joel again. The gaze from the eyes felt penetrating, and Sam scrambled to cover the boy’s vision with his one arm. He didn’t even know where Joel’s eyes were located, but tried anyway because he knew-in this new world it was a rule to avoid pointed eye contact with any enemy. He couldn’t settle on where to cover Joel’s face so instead he just stood in front of the child, shielding him fully. 

As Sam felt the many eyes bore into him, his knees began to wobble, his eyes grew heavy, and all at once he crumpled onto the floor in front of Joel, completely unconscious. 

Well, theres Sam down. Hellen thought as she readied her own attack. 

The creature picked up on her intentions and began zipping back and forth in an attempt to dodge any oncoming blows. She swung her cleaver, and managed to connect with a shin on one of the thing’s legs. It didn’t seem to have much of an effect, though, as the leg was covered in a hard exoskeleton that protected it from sharp-force trauma. 

“With a fast moving target, you just need a bigger gun!” Leigh shouted gleefully from behind. Hellen then heard the familiar sound of twisting and morphing flesh against flesh that signalled the little woman had taken on her beastly form. 

The now giant, ugly, many-mouthed cursed that was Leigh rushed in the bug-man’s direction. It tried to dodge by zipping around again, but Leigh’s body took up half the room, it was nearly impossible for it to avoid her. 

The grinning beast lifted her many legs and began aiming stomps at her enemy in rapid succession. The bug-man managed to avoid the first few, but had its legs flattened with a satisfying crunch in the four consecutive stomps. 

With the enemy incapacitated, Joel took the opportunity to shoot a few teeth in its direction. It didn’t help much, but he didn’t need to know that.

Hellen readied her weapon to step back into the fray, but a long, blue arm shot out from one of Leigh’s side-mouths and stopped her; it seemed she wanted to handle this alone. 

Greedy. Hellen thought. 

Leigh’s feet kept fiercely stomping. The creature below her feebly attempted to evade but could barely move with its broken legs. Her stomps hit its pelvis, then its arm, then its chest. With each blow Hellen heard a low, distorted, booming laughter echo louder from within Leigh, she was clearly delighting in this bloody game of whack-a-bug. 

With a final, sickening crunch, Leigh’s foot descended upon the bug-man’s head, crushing it entirely. She let out a roar of pleasure at her victory and turned her huge form to face Joel, her beastly voice was layered and much lower than normal. “C’mon, you gotta admit THAT was cool, right?!”

“Yeah, really cool!” Joel affirmed. 

Leigh then turned to Hellen, looking expectant. 

It was a bit cool. Hellen admitted to herself. She didn’t voice this however, as she wasn’t ready to give Leigh that validation aloud just yet. “That doesn’t hurt?” She asked to change to subject, pointing to one of Leigh’s mouths. 

Leigh realized Hellen was referring to one of her tongues that had been lopped off in battle-she hadn’t even noticed. 

“Oh, this? Naaahhh, I don’t feel nothing in this form, it’s awesome! Though it’s a pain in the ass to get around over long distances, too big and can’t fit in small spaces, its why i’m not in it all the time. Wish I could, though!” And with that, Leigh promptly shrank back to her compact, travel-sized human form. 

Joel was sitting by Sam, who had just started coming to after being shaken a bit by the boy.

“Oooughhhh, jeez…. Is it over already…?” Sam asked, bleary-eyed.

“Yep, you fell like a ton of bricks and missed me killin’ it good! Heh heh heh heh.” Leigh responded proudly.

Sam rubbed the part of his head that had hit the ground in pain and embarrassment. 

“Ugh…well, just glad we’re all alive, then…” 

Hellen approached him silently and offered him some bandages for his new bloody goose-egg, which he took gratefully. 

“It’s too bad that bug-hhh-guy was so mean, I really liked that cool scarf he had on.” Joel lamented. 

“I can get it for you, kid, should still be salvageable!” Leigh suggested, and Joel perked up at the offer. 

The now-small woman approached the cursed’s corpse and grabbed the red fabric of the scarf. It was tucked beneath the flattened head of the beast, so to free it she had to tug while holding the rest of the body in place under her foot. Her interaction with the corpse seemed to trigger a sort of terminal lucidity in it, and all of a sudden one of the creature’s talon’s began to swipe wildly, hitting one of Leigh’s unguarded ankles.

She immediately dropped with a shriek, and this triggered Hellen to rush in and finish the job. 

She raised her cleaver and swiftly chopped the still-flailing appendage of the beast, slicing through its meat much easier than before now that its exoskeleton was damaged.

Leigh sat on the ground clutching her leg,“Auughh, FUCK that HURTS!! I thought I killed that thing?!” 

I did too. Hellen thought, then remembered something she’d learned about bugs while residing in this 40-year-old apartment for so long; they were hard to fucking kill. She was reminded of the many cockroaches she had had to squash in her unit, only to find their disgusting little legs still moving hours later. 

Predictably, Sam was already by Leigh, looking concerned and fretting. “Are you okay? Let me see-“ He moved the hand covering her wound to reveal a deep, deep gash in her right achilles heel, exposing the nearly completely severed tendon. “Shit… Well, that explains why you dropped so fast…”

“I might be able to still walk?” Leigh suggested as she tried to stand, shrieked again, and promptly fell back down. 

“Stop. No more trying to walk.” Hellen commanded, and Leigh obeyed.

Sam reenforced Hellen’s order, “yeah, it’s literally almost impossible to get around with an injury like that. Hellen, do you have the bandages? We need to apply more pressure quickly..” 

Hellen nodded and handed him the materials he needed. She watched him try to work on the injured ankle, but he was doing poorly. Patching up minor, less bloody wounds with his one arm was doable, but the dexterity needed to stop the bleeding on a cut this deep was causing him to slip on the blood and start over multiple times. Two hands were required. 

“I’ll do it. You keep looking for supplies with Joel.” Hellen ordered after a few seconds of watching him struggle. 

She nudged him out of the way, taking Leigh’s leg in her hands and getting to work while Sam corralled Joel into the bathroom to scavenge. 

With a sharp tug Hellen began roughly and firmly wrapping a bandage around the limb, doing her best to apply as much pressure as possible in the wrapping. Leigh hissed a little. “Could stand to be a bit gentler, eh?”

“I need to make sure this is tight for your sake.” Hellen answered matter-of-factly. 

“Yeah, yeah…But don’t I deserve a reward for my work earlier? A little extra TLC? Heh heh heh….” She ended that statement with her signature chuckle, showing she was mostly teasing, but for some reason Hellen took her seriously-she was a serious person, after all. 

“…Yeah, I guess you do.” Hellen conceded. She then gingerly lifted Leigh’s leg towards her head and tipped her mask up slightly to reveal the bottom half of her face. A long tongue slithered out from between rows of sharp teeth, and started lapping up patches of blood from off the ankle.

“YEEK!” Leigh yelped in surprise, a highly uncharacteristic sound from her that Hellen derived immense satisfaction from eliciting. “W-whats all that about?!” 

“I saw you feeding this stuff to Sam yesterday, looked like he enjoyed it.” Hellen answered through her licks. “Wanted to see what all the fuss was about.” She lifted Leigh’s leg higher, almost above her own head, and slowly dragged her tongue from the crook of her knee all the way to the bottom of her heel, leaving behind a long stripe of saliva. Hellen watched as Leigh’s face grew immensely red, the corners of her grin twitching in a way that looked like it was trying to hide nervousness. 

“W-well damn, heh heh heh…”

Shit-this really DOES taste good. Hellen thought, starting to become genuinely absorbed in what she was doing. Doesn’t taste ANYTHING like regular blood, more like syrup or something…syrup with extra corn starch. It’s so thick too, how is this stuff making it’s way through her body effectively? Does she have huge veins or something? And is that a slight tanginess i’m getting? Yeah…reminds me of…kool aid? No, gatorade? Powerade? Some sort of ‘ade’…

Hellen hadn’t even realized how focused she had become in her “cleaning” until she felt the leg in her hand start to tremble a little. She paused and glanced up to check the source.

Leigh was staring down at her with her face turned ever so slightly away. Her eyes were uncharacteristically narrowed, her cheeks bright red and her breathing was heavy. The trembling seemed to be full body, too. Leigh’s left index knuckle had been shoved between the teeth of her strained grin, she had clearly been gnawing on it over the past minute, as little cuts had appeared there where they weren’t before. She seemed to be doing it to relieve some sort of tension…then Hellen realized she was gagging herself to prevent noise from coming out. 

Oh, thats…thats a pretty nice face.

“Want me to stop?” Hellen offered. 

Leigh was startled a bit from her haze. “Huh?! N-no! No.” 

“Good ‘cus i’m almost done.” She answered, and then promptly finished cleaning up her work with her tongue by attending to a final large glob that seeped out from between the bandages. The thickness of Leigh’s blood made it easy to stifle the bleeding, and even easier to clean afterwards. And of course the wonderful taste didn’t hurt at all. 

Leigh’s grin dulled a bit when Hellen concluded the licking and placed her leg back on the ground. It was a pretty obvious expression of disappointment. 

Before she could get too upset, though, Hellen bent down again, scooping Leigh up with one arm under her back and thighs, yanking the small woman off her feet entirely. 

“WHOA now!! W-what gives?!”

“I said no more trying to walk; I was serious.” Hellen flatly answered. 

“Oh but come on, this is kinda-this is sorta-t-this is like…” Leigh tried to say, and became frustrated at her failing mouth that betrayed her flustered feelings. “AGH, whatever!! This could be fun, I guess, heh heh… Onward, steed!” Leigh teased as she threw her hands theatrically in the air.

Hellen purposely lurched a step forward much too harshly, and Leigh momentarily lost balance. To steady herself, she quickly latched onto Hellen’s neck.

“O-OY!! Too jerky, bad horsey!!” 

Hellen, for once, leaned into it. “Thats just how I walk. You better keep holding onto my neck, you’re a poor jockey.”

“Eh…eh heh…heh heh heh heh! Yeah, good idea…” Leigh answered, hiding her face in Hellen’s collarbone, her arms still wrapped around her neck. 

Hellen resumed searching the apartment with the others, all the while cradling Leigh effortlessly in her left arm like an overgrown toddler clinging to her neck. In her ears she could her the soft, low giggles from the little woman, as well as the heat from her flushed face against her collarbone. Leigh was clearly quite tickled about this whole situation. 

Suddenly Hellen felt that urge again, the aggression telling her to to pinch at Leigh’s cheeks-hard. She was such a noisy woman, what kind of cute sounds would she make if she did? Hopefully one’s similar to when she was having her wound licked clean. 

Hellen felt it was probably now or never. She quickly reached up a hand and grabbed the side of Leigh’s face harshly, mushing the skin around between her fingers for just half a second.

“YEEK!!” Leigh yelped.

Oh yeah. Hellen was thoroughly satisfied with that noise. Okay I’m not crazy, that WAS cute. 

“Whats your excuse for THAT, ehhh?!” Leigh admonished while rubbing her cheek, and gave Hellen’s head a thorough whack with her fist. 

Shes pretty easily undone if you just push her buttons a bit…very cute, actually. How unexpected.

“Sorry, was trying to scratch my neck. Forgot you were there.” 

“Oh yeah, likely story. When i’m healed tomorrow you owe me a wrestle, you gotta be taken down a peg!” 

“Mmhmm. When you’re healed.” Hellen replied, unfazed due to hearing threats like this every day. 

Leigh growled approvingly at that, and slowly reattached herself to Hellen’s neck. A low rumbling, almost like a purr, began emitting from somewhere deep in her belly. 

Notes:

so yeah as is fairly obvious this was based on an idea that Leigh's blood could have extra special properties like healing and maybe euphoria. I donno seemed cool at the time!!

also yes the title is a TV girl 'Not Allowed' reference