Quaranteam - North West Ch. 11

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QT:NW continues the official Spin Off for the Quaranteam universe originally created by CorruptingPower. You do not need to have read the original series to enjoy this one, but you really do need to start with Chapters 1-4 (I really suggest you read the original though, it's great!). Fans of the original should be pleased to know CP has approved the story and the continuity.

In this chapter you can expect a trip into the city, some emergencies, and a major problem that keeps getting worse.

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"Fuck, it's already June," I groaned. It was hot as balls and I was regretting putting on my 'go out into the world' getup.

"How did you miss the 1st?" Erica asked, also done up in her gear.

"How did we miss Memorial Day?" I countered.

"Oh, shit," Leo said, standing up from where he'd been sitting over near his RV. "You're right, we did miss Memorial Day. Should we do something?"

"Like what?" I asked.

"We could throw a party," Ivy suggested. "We could all dress up fancy and have a dance?"

The surveyors had been needing Leo and I less and less lately and I was starting to get a little twitchy with how little I had to do. Quarantine before all of this really kicked off had been one thing, but now we didn't even have our big wide backyard to ourselves. When Erica had mentioned that she wanted to take a drive into Portland to pick up some things from the tattoo parlour and check her apartment I'd jumped on the chance and we'd made the plan.

The girls were already starting to excitedly talk about planning our late Memorial Day celebration as I stretched and sighed, checking my watch. We'd been planning to leave right after lunch and it was already 3pm. Vanessa had taken an extended break since she'd worked late the night before and we'd had some one-on-one fun in the RV, which had been sorely needed for her. Where the rest of us were struggling to find things to keep busy and motivated, the last week had seen more and more responsibility and work landing in Vanessa's lap as the construction crews started to show up and move into the barracks. It meant there was an entirely new crew of cleaners, maintenance workers and delivery people under her supervision along with her 'gorillas.' Not to mention her wrangling of the other foremen and administrators on-site as her father handled the top-end details of the job. Every day it seemed like new equipment and supplies were being delivered and a third barracks was quickly being erected as even more hands were around.

But an hour with Vanessa had delayed us, and when I was finally ready to go Dani was busy with Leo over at their place, and since she was coming with us Erica and I had to wait. Then Erica and Kyla were ensconced in a private conversation in our RV when Dani emerged ready to go, so we lost another half hour before the three of us were all finally dressed and prepped to leave.

"OK," I said loudly, trying to cut through the multiple party-related conversations. "We're all agreed we'll do a Memorial Day thing, but we're burning daylight. Erica and Dani, let's go."

We took my truck, only needing one vehicle since we weren't hauling a ton of stuff like the last time. As we pulled around the site offices I spotted Vanessa walking with one of the other foremen in conversation and gave her a little double honk. She smiled and waved. Driving down the old driveway path there were now a half dozen wide offshoots winding off into the trees and closer to the highway there were big swathes of ground that had been cleared and were starting to get flattened by scrapers and excavators. Vanessa had mentioned that we'd end up with a couple of strip malls worth of stores to help provide for the eventual community - a convenience store, a clinic, a dentist, that sort of thing.

Right at the end of the driveway a guard hut had been erected, little more than a fancy roadside fruit stall that could barely fit two people inside. I pulled up next to it and Erica rolled down the window.

"Hey Patrick," I said, waving to the construction worker manning the booth and tracking the ins and outs.

"Hey folks," the older guy said with a grin. He was supposed to be on the road crews but had arrived earlier than needed. I'd asked him once if standing in the guard booth all day working a clipboard was boring and he assured me that after three decades manning a 'Slow/Stop' sign in the middle of roads through sun, rain and sleet, the booth and the clipboard were welcome.

"We'll be out for a few hours," I said.

"Sounds good," he replied and made a note on his clipboard. Then he wiped at his eyes and cleared his throat, blinking. "Y'all didn't say anything about how bad the pollen got up here. I think my allergies are kicking up and I didn't bring any of my meds, I thought the North West was supposed to be wet."

"It usually is. We'll pick you something up," Erica offered. "We need to stop at a pharmacy anyways."

"We do?" I asked.

"We do," Erica said, patting me on the knee.

"Hah," Patrick laughed. "And here I thought you was some sort of Big Dog, Harri. But you're as whipped by your women as the rest of us."

"See you in a bit, Patrick," I said.

He waved us off, then covered his mouth to cough a little.

"Poor guy," Dani said. "I'd hate if I had allergies like that."

"We'll get him fixed up," I said as I pulled onto the highway and started heading in the direction of Portland. "It's been weirdly dry and hot so I'm betting the dust from the brush cutting is doing it to him."

And I didn't think anything more of it.

* * * * *

Erica unlocked the metal grate that pulled down over the front of the tattoo parlour and lifted it up on the rollers enough to uncover the door.

The good news was that the whole thing with the 'Autonomous Zone' seemed to have burned itself out and Portland was no longer hosting big protests at the moment. The bad news was that only happened after a week of riots and several news-worthy moments of violence and vandalism. Thankfully the parlour wasn't on one of the major routes the riots had travelled down and there didn't seem to be any damage other than sprayed graffiti on the grate and some of the glass windows behind it.

I'd pulled my truck right up over the curb and parked us as close as possible. The streets were as empty of people moving around as the last time we'd come into the city, except there was more trash. I'd seen old newsreels of when there had been major strikes in New York City back in the early 80s and it wasn't exactly that bad, but another couple of weeks and it might get there. Someone must have been doing collections, they were just overburdened or understaffed or something.

I had to nudge a pile out of the way with the front of my truck to wedge into the open space, but it almost immediately proved worth it as a trio of ambulances came burning down the street with their lights running. If I'd parked on the street one of them would have needed to swerve out of the way and who knew if those extra seconds would be the difference between life or death for someone - not to mention the potential of the ambulance not swerving fast enough and clipping my truck.

Inside the tattoo parlour Erica went straight to her bay and started unhooking and gathering her equipment. Dani was looking around at the place, grinning as she examined the wild decor. She would call out questions to Erica, who would tell her who had done what mural, or the brief story behind the broken surfboard hanging from the ceiling and the skateboard deck covered in almost a hundred different signatures.

I spotted a photo on the wall and realized it was of Erica and all of her staff at the most recent DragonCon where they had put up a booth and done live tattooing. Erica had said beforehand she thought it might be a waste of time, but the owner of the parlour was a huge nerd and wanted to do it so it was her job to organize. I never had found out how it went, but she looked happy in the photo. I grabbed the frame from the wall and brought it over to her.

"Do you want to bring this, too?" I asked.

She glanced at it and paused her work, then smiled and hugged me. "That's sweet, Harri. Yes, absolutely." She took the frame and put it in one of the boxes we'd brought for her to carry stuff, then turned to me. "Hey, could you just empty all those drawers there into the boxes? Don't just dump them, but there isn't anything particularly fragile. It's mostly inks and cleaner solutions and stuff."

"Sure," I said.

"Thanks, babe," she said and kissed my cheek. "Dani and I are just going to slip through to next door."

"Oh, God," I groaned. I hadn't realized that was her plan.

"Don't worry," she grinned. "It'll all be fun for you, I promise."

The owner of the tattoo parlour also owned the sex shop next door and had installed a door between the two since the clientele crossed over fairly consistently. Erica led Dani through the door, opening it with her key, and I could hear them laughing and giggling.

By the time I was done with the drawers Erica had pointed out, placing what seemed like hundreds of little vials and bottles of inks and other liquids into the boxes along with some other art supplies, they hadn't come back. I went to the door and opened it, looking in.

Erica glanced over, grinning as she held another box and Dani was placing something inside. "You want any porn, babe?"

"What do I need porn for?" I asked.

"I dunno," she said. "Variety?"

"Ooh, this one is called 'Big Black Booties 15,'" Dani said, grabbing a DVD from a nearby shelf and waving it at me. "You don't have that kind of variety yet, Harri."

I snorted and shook my head. "I'm perfectly happy with the booties at my disposal, thank you."

Dani shrugged and put the DVD in the box. "I'll see if Leo wants it."

"Gag!" Erica laughed, making them both start giggling. I had a feeling that was a running joke between them.

"How are we paying for this stuff?" I asked. "Everything is turned off and we don't have any cash."

"Artie told me I could Venmo him at a 75% discount," Erica said. "Plus anything with an expiry date I could have for free. So we've got a lot of lube now, along with a bunch of penis-shaped candy and some candy underwear."

I sighed and shook my head.

"Oh my God, we should take her with us," Dani said, pointing up on a high shelf where a creepily lifelike sex doll was sitting.

"I think you mean rescue her," Erica said. "Harri, help me get her down."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes," they both demanded.

When we packed up the truck we had two boxes of Erica's tattoo gear and other possessions from the shop, another full box of Sex Shop stuff, and Dani was sitting in the back next to 'Sexy Susan' who had also happened to get dressed in a sexy nurse costume. They thought it was fucking hilarious, I just thought 'Sexy Susan' was a little creepy.

* * * * *

Dani stayed down in the truck, taking the front seat as I pointed out that the 1911 was in its case under the passenger seat if she needed it, while Erica and I headed up to her apartment. The elevator had an 'out of order' sign on it, and Erica had to use her key to the building to get into the stairwell which she said she'd never had to do before. That was an immediate red flag to me, but I kept my cool to try and not worry her.

"You know," Erica said as we climbed the stairs. All our sex cardio seemed to be paying off because we weren't puffing from the exertion yet. "You haven't officially asked me to move in yet."

"What?' I asked. "Leo and I-"

"That wasn't asking me to move in permanently," Erica cut me off. "That was just for quarantine."

I rolled my eyes, knowing where she was going with this. At the next floor I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to me, pulling down my mask and hers and kissing her hard and deep.

"Erica Lacosta, will you move in with me forever and ever?" I asked her.

"Yes," she grinned. "Yes, I will." She kissed me lightly to seal it, then sighed and we raised our masks and started climbing more stairs. "With that out of the way, I should really try and find a way out of my lease. Just because you have money doesn't mean I should be wasting mine on a place I'm not ever planning on moving back into."

"I'll help with some research," I said. "I know there's all the clamour about halting eviction notices, but maybe there's something that will help. I could text Miriam, see if Captain Bloomberg knows anything offhand."

"Hmm, maybe-" Erica started, but stopped as we reached her floor and found that door locked as well. "What the fuck?" she sighed and unlocked it.

"Let me go first," I said.

"Why? It's just..."

As we entered the corridor Erica trailed off, seeing the tracks of dirty footprints in the hall and the spray paint on the walls. She immediately started to move forward, but I grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Wait," I said. "Look." I pointed at the big circles on the walls next to each door, but she clearly didn't understand what I was pointing out. "Those are FEMA search and rescue marks."

Erica blinked once and was obviously unsure of what to say.

"Let's just take it slow," I said.

We walked down the hallway. Some of the doors were shut, but others looked like they'd been kicked in.

"What do they mean?" Erica asked me, looking at the circles and the scribbles of letters and numbers on the walls. Each circle had an X dividing it into four parts, and each quadrant was marked.

"The top part is the date the location was searched," I said. "5-24 means it happened May 24th, so a little over a week and a half ago. The left side is who did the search, the numbers are probably a military code for a National Guard unit. If it said PPD that would be the Portland police, or CDC or DEA or whoever. The right side is if there are any hazards." I pointed to one of the doors that were kicked in. "NE means 'No Entry.'" Then I pointed to another. "F/W means there's contaminated food and water." I pointed at another door, this one wasn't kicked in. "A 0 means no hazards.

"What are the bottom parts?" Erica asked.

I frowned and swallowed. "The crossed 0 means no one found. DB or DOA means dead bodies. LB means live people are, or were, inside."

Erica looked at the carnage of the corridor, her eyes scanning the doors of her neighbours as she weighed the number of DBs. There weren't many 0s, but about half of the apartments were labelled LB and hadn't been kicked open.

Half.

We got to Erica's place around the hall corner, passing the old lady Diane's door. It was kicked in and labelled NE, DB. Erica poked the door with her boot and it swung in. Inside, other than the dirty boot prints, it looked generally neat and tidy... other than the pool of dark something that had dried on the kitchen linoleum.

I grabbed Erica and held her as she gasped and her knees went weak. I pulled her away from the door and she saw that her own apartment had also been kicked in, but was labelled 0 hazards and 0 bodies. We went in and she sat down on the couch, burying her head in her hands.

Kneeling in front of her, I cradled her head on my shoulder and hugged her tightly as the reality of the world settled on her. She cried, though not as long as she probably needed, as I talked her through what had probably happened. Enough people had gotten sick and called emergency services that they came to do a sweep of the building. They knocked on every door, and anywhere someone didn't answer they kicked it in. Then I assumed they had extracted the bodies.

"I need to get out of here," Erica breathed.

"OK," I said. "Do you need me to grab anything? Did we forget anything last time?"

"No, nothing," she shook her head. "Just get me out of here."

I picked her up and carried her out. Erica wasn't Ivy or Vanessa, or even Kyla. She was a full-figured woman. But I carried her every fucking step, down every stair. She stopped me right at the doors to the building and had me let her down.

"I don't want Dani to see me like this," she said.

"Why?" I asked. "She would understand."

"I know," she said, blinking under her ski goggles. "But if she sees me like this, she'll start thinking about what might be happening back home for her, and she doesn't need that."

I held Erica's hand at the door for another minute as she breathed deeply and got control of herself, and finally she smiled at me and it actually travelled up to her eyes.

"Thanks, babe," she said.

"Love you," I said.

"You too," she said and touched her forehead to mine since we were both masked and goggled.

* * * * *

"Hey, Charlie," I grinned, waving to the little four-year-old as she sprawled in Mary's arms and waved back with her little grin.

"Hi," she chirped.

"OK," Mary said, setting her daughter down. "Scoot, you. Let Mommy talk with Harri for a second. Go see what your brother is doing."

"OK," Charlie said and pounded off in the way only a four-year-old could.

"You're looking more like yourself, Mary," I said. I was standing off the porch and we kept the screen door closed, but I had my mask lowered so she could see my face.

She smiled softly and shrugged. "I don't feel like it, but thanks."

"How are the kids doing?" I asked.

"Well, I regret letting them eat sugar again," she smirked a little. "But they're good. Better than me, anyways, though Thomas misses his friends from school and keeps asking when he can go back to class." She laughed and wiped under one eye. "He used to hate going to school every morning, now it's all he wants to do."

"We'll get there eventually," I assured her. "What about you? How are you doing?"

"Physically? Better, I guess. I can't stop worrying about Eddie though, I just wish I knew anything. And I haven't even seen my neighbours around recently. You've been the only adult I've talked to in person in - God, a week and a half? Maybe two? Even with the kids I'm feeling isolated."

"How about next time I come by, I'll bring some lawn chairs and my girlfriend and I can sit and chat with you for a bit?" I offered.

Mary smiled and shook her head, then nodded. "Harri, you're too good for your own good. That would be really nice. Is that her in the truck?"

"Yeah," I said. "And her brother's girlfriend that's quarantined with us. We had to drive into Portland to pick up some of her stuff. The city is weird right now, Mary. I wouldn't be surprised if Eddie tried to head somewhere else to look for work."

"Thanks," she said, and I knew she was thanking me for keeping her little false hope alive. We both knew her husband was probably just gone, one way or another.

"Any special requests for the next grocery run?" I asked her.

"Um, yeah..." she said and blushed. "Could you, uh, pick me up some pads or tampons? Whatever is available."

"I'll have Erica text you for details," I assured her. "We'll take care of it."

"Harri, I'd kiss you if it were safe," Mary said with a smile.

"Don't go saying that," I said, backing away. "Mary Duncan, the Mary Duncan, offering me a kiss? I might go mad!"

I left her laughing, which was how I preferred to go. I'd been by twice more since the first time, once to drop off meat from the butcher, and once just to say hello like today.

Back in the truck Erica asked me how they were. "Good, the kids are good. I can tell she's eating more now that she doesn't have to worry about the kids. She's just really lonely and feeling isolated."

Erica glanced back at Dani and they did that 'women talking to each other through a glance' thing and Dani rustled in one of the boxes and handed forward a plastic-contained device.

"Bring her this," Erica said. "You can say it's from us."

I flushed, looking down at the vibrator in its packaging. "I don't know if that's appropriate," I said.