Quaranteam - North West Ch. 11

He was on the ground inside the hut, and while I rushed over to check on him my instincts clicked in and I stopped about half a dozen feet away and slowed down.

Inside, he was on his side. His chest wasn't moving, but I could see a leak of blood out of his mouth and the corners of his eyes. I don't know why, but my eyes went to the open box of Claritin in his shirt pocket.

"Fuck. Shit. Fucking hell," I swore, backing away and grabbing my phone out of my pocket. I dialled 911 first, following the First Aid protocol, and I was almost struck dumb when I got a busy tone. "Fuck!" I shouted and almost threw the phone, but knew that was a bad idea. I hung up and dialled Vanessa, but she didn't pick up. I left a message telling her about Patrick, and then I called Miriam.

"Harri?" she answered. "Talk to me."

"It's not drugs. I think it's an outbreak. I'm looking at our gate attendant collapsed and probably dead. He's got blood leaking from his mouth and eyes, maybe his nose."

"Shit," Miriam grunted. "OK, we're already on it. I think Brent Peters tried to downplay it, maybe he thinks he has it under control but he doesn'tget it. We're already spinning up an emergency response but it'll take some time to be able to handle the number of people on site. You said you're at the gate?"

"Yeah, Vanessa asked me to come down here," I said.

"Good. Stay there," Miriam said. "Don't go near the body. Even vaccinated you're not perfectly immune. Do not let anyone get on or off that site, OK? Its vital people don't add to this problem."

"I hear you," I said.

"Good. OK," she said. "Be safe."

"Be quick."

I hung up and glanced at poor Patrick, then went and sat on the ATV.

"Shit," I said to the wind.

* * * * *

"Harri, things are getting weird up here," Kyla said.

I was still down at the gate and had turned away several trucks looking to drop of supplies or equipment, directing them to the motel like Vanessa had asked. As soon as I told them we were on quarantine lockdown and motioned to the just-visible form of Patrick in the guard booth they stopped bitching and were happy to drive away.

"What do you mean 'weird?'" I asked.

"I've just got a bad feeling," she said. "I went up on the roof of the RV and the workers are clearly agitated, and it looks like they're being kept out of the barracks buildings. Some of them are wandering around and are getting closer to the compound and looking more curious than usual. No one's come right for us or anything, but I'm just- You know that feeling?"

"Yeah, I do," I said. I knew it. That tingle, that edge, when you knew something was brewing. "Look, the code to the gun safe is 4-83-16-7. Grab everything and bring it into the compound. Dani can help, she knows her way around firearms. Try not to spook the others, but don't let anyone leave the compound and definitely don't let anyone in unless it's me or Vanessa."

Kyla was silent for a long moment. "Thank you. For trusting me."

"Kyla, if I trust you enough to agree to have a mess of babies with you, I hope I can trust you with my guns," I said with a nervous smirk.

"You know what I mean," she said.

"I do," I said. "Be safe."

"You too."

* * * * *

"Harri, you need to come back," Erica said.

"What's wrong?" I asked, already heading for the ATV. I'd been pacing for almost an hour. The trucks had stopped showing up so I assumed someone had re-routed them and no one had tried to come down and leave. Part of me wondered if that was because construction workers were drilled to be safety-focused and so a basic quarantine rule felt like an instinct to stay in place, or if they thought there was more than just me down here keeping them in.

"Guys have been approaching the compound and asking weird questions," she said. "We've been telling them to go away and respect the quarantine, but there's about a dozen of them hanging around about halfway to the compound, and I can't get Vanessa to answer her phone."

"What kind of weird questions?" I asked, feeling a growl from my chest that I didn't intend to put in it.

"They're asking about the vaccine," she said. "I- I think there's been rumours about us going around. We always knew people would be talking, but I never thought it would be more than awkward. This is creepy, though."

"Fuck, OK," I said. "I'll be there ASAP."

"Harri, if they are thinking about us, they'll be thinking about Vanessa."

"I'll find her," I said.

I almost just drove off, but I couldn't leave the entryway open. I looked around but I didn't have a single sign or barricade to work with. All the pylons and stuff that had been up during the widening of the highway and driveway entrance had been carted off somewhere else.

"Fuck it," I said, a little disgusted at what I was about to do, but it would definitely deter people from entering at the very least. I took off my jacket and wrapped my hands in it, then went over to Patrick and grabbed him by the feet and dragged him out into the middle of the driveway. I dumped my jacket with him and looked into the hut again for his clipboard so I could write a note or something, but it was covered in splatters of blood so I didn't touch it.

And I left him there. The only warning I could come up with.

If I thought I'd ridden the ATV hard and fast going down the driveway I'd been kidding myself. I didn't let up on the throttle once going back up, the rip-roar of the engine crackling hard from the strain. Instead of crossing around the wide way to the compound, however, I headed right into the thick of the temporary buildings where something like a thousand men were currently milling about.

"Move!" I roared over the thrum of the ATV engine. Some people moved because of the vehicle. Other people moved when they heard my voice, or looked over and saw the expression of my angry eyes over my mask. As I got deeper into the crowd I had to slow down as I stood as high as I could while still moving and tried to spot Vanessa.

One group only moved out of my way when I put my hand on my pistol.

I finally spotted Vanessa, along with her father and another white hat, in the side vestibule of one of the barracks buildings. They all looked over in confusion as I pulled right up next to the door and hopped off without even turning off the engine. I threw open the outer door and stepped in, heading right for Vanessa.

"Harri, you're supposed to be down at the gate," she said through her mask, concern and surprise in her eyes.

"We need to go," I said, taking her by the arm.

Fortunately almost any other timeexcept right in the middle of this specific emergency, Vanessa was strong-willed, dutiful and didn't take any shit.

"Harri, what the fuck?" she said, tugging her arm away. "I'm working here. We need to try and keep people calm and you're acting like an asshole."

"I'm sorry," I said. "But there's too many of them and not enough of you. There are guys poking around the compound and asking questions about the vaccine, and they're getting closer. We need to get back there and lockdown."

"You sonofabitch," Brent said, shouldering around the other foreman in the little room. "You let go of my daughter or I'll stick my foot so far up your ass that-"

"Shut the fuck up, Brent," I growled, levelling my finger at him with a glare. "Just shut thefuck up and listen to me. You've got a thousand guys around here who are worried that they've got the sickness, and they've been talking. And talking. And you know what they're talking about? Not wanting to be sick. Do you know what one of the usual topics of conversation is? Me and my friends and family, including Vanessa. The rumours about how we're in the experimental vaccine group? That includes her. And practically everyone knows how- how sexually active we are, and how that might be connected. So what do you think a bunch of scared, angry guys who have been quarantined for months are going to start thinking of doing when the only answer they have on their minds is that there are women, right over there, who could fuck the sickness away no matter how fucking stupid that sounds?"

Brent had gone ashen-faced.

"Come on," I said, pulling Vanessa with me. She didn't hesitate or try and pull away. Brent didn't say anything.

I got Vanessa on the ATV and sat behind her, protecting her with my body as best I could, and then I revved the engine and people backed away, and then I was driving. I revved the engine again to make people move. Someone didn't move fast enough and got bumped and I didn't care.

We broke out of the crowd and I gunned it, heading for home. I could see the guys gathering, about twenty of them now, a stone's throw from the compound. I went straight at them and several had to jump out of the way because they thought I was playing chicken.

I wasn't.

* * * * *

"Miriam texted," Erica called to me. "She said 'ERT on route.'"

"That means they'll be at least an hour and a half," I said. I didn't look down at her, keeping my eyes on the assholes out in the field.

There were about thirty of them now, but a couple smaller groups were further back and watching what would happen. A few of them had tried to follow me to the compound until I'd ordered them back and pulled my M9. I'd escorted Vanessa inside, then driven the ATV right into the entryway between the RV and the storage container and plugged it. Someone could climb over it, but they'd be slowed down. I got the other ATV and did the same thing at another one of the corners before going inside. I would have used the cars as well but that would mean people could use them to climb onto the roofs of the containers and RVs.

Kyla had been watching me from the roof of a storage container as I did this, sitting low to try not to draw attention but clearly holding my DDM4. Erica, Ivy and Dani had all wanted to hug me when I got back, but I warned them off. "Vanessa, you were close to me so you need to quarantine. I had to move a dead body, so I might be contaminated. None of you should come near me."

Erica looked like she was about to approach me anyways, so I held up a finger and glared at her. "I can't do what I need to do if I'm worrying about you," I told her.

She looked like she wanted to bite back something, but swallowed and nodded. "OK."

I'd ended up trading places with Kyla, and she left the rifle up there for me to use.

"Are you feeling OK up there?" Erica asked.

"I'm heated, and could use a granola bar or something," I said. "But I'm not feeling any sickness. How's Vanessa?"

"She says she's fine," Erica said. "She's in our RV."

"OK," I said.

A granola bar hit me in the head, making me look down at her as she smirked up at me. "Don't ignore me and you could catch your snacks," she said.

My facade cracked as I snorted and bent to grab the granola bar. "Thanks, babe."

"Love you," she said.

"Love-" I cut off as a group of five guys split off from the group and started walking towards the compound. I dropped the granola bar I hadn't even had a chance to unwrap and held my rifle at the ready. "Stop," I yelled at them.

"It's OK," they yelled back. "We just want to talk." They kept walking.

"I said stop!" I said, raising the rifle to point towards them. That made them stop.

"Look, we just want to know if it's true," one of them yelled.

"What?" I asked.

"We want to know if it's true," one of the others shouted louder.

"No, is what true?"

They seemed to confer with each other for a second. "Is it true you guys are vaccinated?"

"We're locked down, just like you," I yelled.

"That didn't answer the question," said the first guy.

Fuck, there had to be a semi-smart one.

"Fuck off," I called back.

"That's not a no," he yelled. "Why are you so aggressive, man? Is it because you have something we might need?"

"There's a thousand guys out there, and I've got women who you all have been staring at for weeks in here. I don't give a fuck what you think is going on, I'm not letting you creeps near them," I said.

They backed off, but I could clearly see their agitation. I hadn't convinced them of shit.

* * * * *

"Please," moaned the lone figure. "Please, I just need help."

He was staggering across the field and I'd watched him come on from almost the start. I could because the crowd parted around him like a school of fish around a whale. As he got closer I could tell why.

The guy must have snuck out of the barracks somehow. Based on what Vanessa could tell us, they'd tried to quarantine anyone who was sick inside the barracks. As he got closer I saw that his sleeve was covered in blood and he was stopping to cough and hack.

By the time he was within speaking distance he was leaking blood from his nose and bloody spittle was covering his chin.

"Stay the fuck back, buddy," I said, pointing my rifle at him.

"You need to help me!" he cried.

"I don't have any wayto help you," I said. "There's an emergency response team on its way, you just need to rest and try and keep calm until they're here."

"Fuck-cough cough- Fuck you! We all know that you freaks are juiced up with some vaccine, and everyone knows it's got to do with you having sex with them. Just- Just, please, someone come out and fuck me! I need it to live!"

Any other situation and that might have been comical.

"That's not how it works," I growled. "Now back the fuck off and go back into your quarantine, or at least go sit by yourself outside. You're putting everyone in danger."

"Everyone but you and them!" he screamed. "You're killing me!"

"Get the fuck out of here," I said, flicking off the safety on my rifle as he took another staggered step towards the compound.

He hesitated, and went down to one knee and started hacking up blood on the ground. Then he looked up at me with a pitiful expression of hate, and he turned and crawled his way to his feet, staggering away.

Sixty or so other men were watching from around the field now, their presence a looming menace.

* * * * *

I watched as Brent Peters, in one of the official trucks, tried to disperse the crowd. He shouted, he threatened and he cajoled. I was pretty sure a couple of Vanessa's 'gorilla' crew who had been around the site since the beginning were with him.

To be fair, he split off about fifty of the workers and drove them back towards the barracks and offices.

That only left another fifty ignoring him and slowly circling like a pack of wolves.

I fingered the safety of my rifle again and flipped it off and kept it that way.

* * * * *

"Stay thefuck back," I shouted. "One more fucking step and I willend you."

"You can't do that!" shouted one of them. "They have the vaccine. You can't just keep them to yourself!"

I leaned forward slightly, pushing the muzzle of my rifle just that little bit closer to the construction worker. My finger was on the trigger.

"One. Fucking. Step," I growled as loudly as I could. "And I will murder every last one of you."

Someone in the back of the crowd of twenty burly, rough-looking men threw a wrench at me. He missed wide by a good two yards. I fired a shot into the ground a foot from the front line of men, the boom echoing across the open space of the construction site. It turned more heads down at the offices and barracks buildings, and I could only hope it would warn people away instead of bringing them over.

"How about we clarify," I yelled. "Back the fuck off,and the next person who throws something gets a bullet between their fucking eyes."

Leo was up on the other storage container with one of the hunting rifles, looking nervous but following my lead. Down in the compound Dani, Kyla and Erica were each in the centre of the little barricade they had fashioned in the last hour, armed with the rest of the firearms from the safe. I was proud to see them there, keeping calm, but prayed to God they wouldn't need to shoot. Ivy, India and Aria had used one of the back entrances to the compound to slip inside the storage containers for shelter just in case the shooting did start since the metal walls were thicker than the RVs. Vanessa didn't want to leave quarantine and risk the others, so she stayed where she was.

"You can't shoot all of us," one of the construction workers yelled.

"I've got a full auto enabled rifle, three mags of ammo, and a sidearm, motherfucker," I shouted back. "I may not get all of you, but how much do each of you want to bet you're one of the few I miss?"

* * * * *

I didn't see where it started, but I definitely saw it coming. Someone had decided to try me by getting smart, and now a big CAT backhoe was rumbling across the field toward the compound.

Honestly, I couldn't be sure what his plan was. Crash into the RVs or storage container? Swipe me off with the shovel held up really high? Just battering ram through?

Whatever it was, whoever it was, the crowd of men in the field cheered when they saw it coming. Part of me wished it was Brent out in the machine and he was planning on squashing the sons of bitches, but no such luck. It didn't veer off course.

I couldn't yell any warnings to the driver, the heavy machinery was too loud.

Dropping to one knee, I sighted down my rifle, and at about 60 yards I put a bullet through the front glass of the cab.

I don't know if the guy thought the cab was bulletproof or what, but I could see I'd put a hole in the glass. Couldn't tell where or if I hit the guy because of the tint and the glare from the afternoon sun, but I hesitated on pulling the trigger a second time and was rewarded by the big machine slamming to a halt and the cab door bursting open as a guy fell out.

Someone else rushed for the cab, mounting the side of the backhoe, trying to be a hero to his people.

I aimed a little low and took another shot, and his legs went out from under him. He bounced off the wheel and rolled to the ground. A couple of other guys rushed forward and grabbed him, pulling him around the backhoe for cover. The cab door hung open, the engine of the big machine thrumming loudly, but no one else went for it for now even though the cheering of the crowd of animals had turned to boos.

* * * * *

They made a rush for the backhoe. A group of them started to move closer to the compound in anticipation. What they didn't know was that I could see something they couldn't.

I could see the helicopter.

It buzzed over, low to the ground, the wind whipping around dust and dirt as men hit the ground in fear at the sudden sound of propellers just above their heads. I lowered my rifle and covered my eyes with one hand from the blasting grit as a loudspeaker crackled to life.

"By order of the United States Air Force, hit the dirt and stay there!"

It wasn't exactly professional wording for dispersing a crowd, but then the tone of Miriam's voice did a lot of work.

The Pave Hawk circled, its door gunners deployed and scanning the field, and it lowered down next to the compound and a fireteam of airmen in gasmasks disembarked and moved out onto the field with rifles raised, shouting for the men to stay down. At the same time, military trucks began circling around the barracks buildings, their heavy frames and engines rumbling in counterpoint to the whining engine of the helicopter as it powered down.

Miriam stepped out in full combat fatigues and shielded her eyes as she looked up at me.

"I feel like I should make an Alamo joke right about now," she said.

"I was thinking more 'look to the west in three days at dawn,'" I countered.

"Dude, that issuch a misquote," Leo said from the other container. "'Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day, at dawn look to the east.'"

"Erica, your brother is a fuckin' nerd," I called down into the compound, and then I turned back to Miriam. "So, got time for that beer now, or do you think you're a little busy?"