joey

Backstory Joey – whose real name is Ana Lucia Cruz – was formerly a Combat Medics in the Army and is a recovering drug addict. Joey eventually became addicted to morphine during her time in the Army, leading her to work as an underground medic for criminals – until she fatally nicked the artery of a man close to Abigail’s father, Kristof Lazar. Joey also has a young son named Caleb who she was separated from, and she hopes that the $7 million she’s meant to earn from the heist will help her be reunited with him.

History Joey joins Frank and Peter and make their way to a house to kidnap someone, although at this stage, the details are kept hidden from her. After breaking into the targets home, Joey realises that they are there to kidnap a 12 year old girl and she confronts Frank. Despite her hesitations, she agrees to along with it for the money and successfully kidnaps Abigail. Their boss, Lambert, takes them (at this point, joined by Sammy, Rickles and Dean) to an abandoned house to hide out with Abigail for 24 hours while he organises the ransom and tasks Joey with the responsibility of being the only person to interact with Abigail.

The group wait it out in the house's games room and Joey shows off her skills at reading people, which she successfully does and in-turn, they find out more about each other. Joey does her job and checks in on Abigail, she promises that nothing will happen to her and even talks to Abigail briefly about her own son. The whole gang is shaken when Dean is violently decapitated and they begin to suspect one another. Frank finds out that Abigail is the daughter of a powerful crime boss, Lazaar and that Dean was probably killed by his hitman, Valdez. Joey returns to check in on Abigail, who tells her Frank is Valdez. Joey confides in Rickles to form an alliance, but he is violently killed too and she goes to confront Frank.

Frank suggests Abigail is pitting them against each other and he and Joey steps in when he wants to kill Abigail. Suddenly, Abigail reveals her true form, that of a vampire and tries to kill them but they manage to escape. Trying to formulate a plan, the rest of the gang try to use conventional vampire-killing methods against Abigail but Joey wants to bargain with Lazaar to exchange Abigail for their lives.

They search the house, trying to capture Abigail after Joey realises she is still vulnerable to narcotics. After a fight, Joey is successful in knocking her out and they trap her in an abandoned elevator cage. Abigail reveals her plan, that they all wronged her father in various ways and she formulated the kidnap to kill them for her own pleasure. Joey in particular is targeted because of her medical negligence. Joey uses Abigail's vulnerability against Abigail, telling her that she will never gain her father's love.

Abigail breaks out of her cage effortlessly and the rest of the gang flee into the library where the sunlight it. They split up to find a power source to deactivate the house's security system. But Joey finds that Sammy, having been turned and controlled by Abigail has killed Peter. She manages to divert sunlight and use it to make Sammy explode. Now stuck with Frank, the two try to find a way to escape and encounter Lambert, a vampire, who turns Frank and hopes to team up with him to kill Abigail and Lazaar.

Joey watches in horror while Frank, now a vampire, kills Lambert and Abigail and sets his sights on her. She manages to flee the room, and with her cell phone, calls Caleb to tell her she loves him. Frank pursues Joey but is attacked by a revived Abigail, who needs Joey's help to kill Frank and she will in-turn, let her live. The two overpower Frank and impale him in the chest, killing him for good.

Abigail thanks Joey for her help but as she is about to leave, Lazaar arrives and wants to kill her. Abigail steps in and pleads with her father to let her go. He accepts, shakes Joey's hand and she leaves the house.

Trivia Although Combat Medics are certified at the Emergency Medical Technician level upon graduation, their scope of practice often parallels and sometimes surpasses that of a paramedic. The Combat Medics remain very versatile and may even diagnose illnesses and perform procedures usually performed by Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, and Physicians. Combat Paramedic Course, Special Operations Combat Medic Course, Prolonged Field Care Course, Flight Medic/Critical Care Course, and advanced Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) such as cadaver labs are some of the educational opportunities available to medics as they progress.

Abilities Military training: In her early life, Joey was a Combat Medic in the army, where she learned skills and techniques in patching up patients along with how to fight in the fields of battles. Her knowledge of the military has aided her career as an abductor for making quick and easy money on ransom assignments as well. This skill set even gives her an advantage in supporting her group when fighting against a vampire. Expert physician: Being a medic in the army, Joey knows the proper treatments to give for intensive care to patients. First shown after Barrett, Sammy, and Peter attempt to attack Abigail who outmatched them and stab Adam in the leg with a stake Ana pulls it out and wraps it in gauze allowing him to walk on it. Lazar even stated that she did medical attention as an underground doctor in her father's organization where she nicked an artery out of one member which caused him to bleed out as her drug addiction made her too high to safely remove the bullet from the patient. Gunmanship: Her military training taught Cruz how to use firearm weaponry against threats as she was able to rapidly and repeatedly fire at Abigail 3 rounds in the chest and one in the head but was unaffected due to her vampiric durability and regeneration. Later, she manages to shoot Peter on the side of his stomach without causing severe damage, only to graze him. High intelligence/strategist: She has displayed intellect that grants her wits and knowing limitations and analysis when going up against danger. As figuring out that Abigail was a vampire she claimed that traditional weaknesses wouldn’t be effective on her, but only the syringe filled with a sedative fluid would as she felt the immortal's pulse weaken. Then knew to lock her in the elevator shaft for information about how her group can leave the mansion and after she tells each them their backstories is why she lured them there allowed Ana to realize that her father wasn’t in the house where she was abducted or set off the alarms just a decoy to con them into going to the abandoned mansion to amuse herself hunting them as her prey. Self-defense: A Medic in the army also expertise her to learn hand-to-hand combat. This is demonstrated when Peter aims his gun at Abigail and Joey quickly grapples him down to his knees holding him at gunpoint later on when Frank turns into a vampire, she sets her stance in boxing form trying to throw a jab punch and lands a kick with her knee to his side stomach but gets easily overpowered. Staff proficiency: Going up against Abigail, she showed proficiency in wielding wooden stakes for melee weaponry. Cruz even uses a firepit poker to swing at vampire Frank's face from both the left and right sides before jamming it to his mouth to twist his neck until aided by Abigail stabs the latter in the heart with the stake causing him to blow up. Peak human endurance: During the battle against the vampires, she possessed a high level of endurance in tolerating punishment when Lambert had her pinned against the wall by the throat before he thumbs her head back but makes a quick recovery. After Frank was turned, he pushes her out a door’s corner, up the platform of stairs, and bit her shoulder after stabbing her arm against the pillar with a fire-pit poker. Yet she was able to continue fighting against the latter with Abigail's support long enough for both of them to impale him with a stake to the heart. Equipment Firearm: During the film, she carried a small firearm. Sedative Syringes: As a medic, she possessed syringes filled with sedatives to have her abducted victims unconscious. Wooden Stake: Going up against vampires, she crafted poles into one stake. Committed Murders Sammy: A mercy kill, since she had been sired into a mindless puppet and controlled by Abigail. Adam Barrett: Self-defense