Quaranteam: Off the Grid Ch. 03-05

He knew enough about guns to remove the magazine and check that it was about half full. It would be better at range than the shotgun which he had reloaded with slugs. The rain had settled down to a breezy drizzle at the back end of the storm. Colin went to the porch, sitting in the chair overlooking the valley. He had a gun on either side of him and he scanned the night, watching and listening for any sounds out of the ordinary. He didn't have a single clue about what he had wandered into... but now that he had it was his job to try and help the sleeping blonde in his bed.

The small hours of the morning crept by and Colin watched the clouds slide past and reveal the stars. Even with the woman in the house behind him he felt more alone than at any point since coming out to the mountains in May. It was just him, his regrets.... And his memories.

-o0o-

Commander John P Jones of the US Navy had held dawn watches before. Hell, when working at sea it was by far his favorite time of day when he got to watch the sun burst out of the sea, usually with a lovely pastel light show to go with it.

Sitting in the mud at the bottom of a ravine with half of his command dead or missing did not improve the experience.

They had secured 4 of the 6 cases of the Quaranteam serum that they had left with, two from his humvee, two from the wreck that had been pushed down the hill at the start of the fight. One of the 3 soldiers in that wreck had miraculously come out alive as well. She had a fractured arm and a hell of a concussion but she had fared better than the other two who had died in the crash.

He felt mostly lucky that whomever had hit them hadn't felt the need to come down and finish the job. There had been some more shots after Jones had gone over the guard rail, followed by shouts from the attackers and the sounds of squealing tires as they bugged out. Jones had spent twenty minutes belly crawling back up to the ambush site to find that the scene had been cleared of enemy bodies and the only blood splatters he could find in the rain belonged to his dead people or smelled like ammonia even with the rain and wind still howling.

Cressman and the two cases from her vic were nowhere to be found.

He had slid back down the hill to his team after confirming that the raiders had collected their dead (and the mounted guns off the two humvees) and left his soldiers where they lay. After gathering the dog tags of his fallen he slipped and tumbled back down to find his people hard at work pulling the radio out of the wreck. One of them had the skills to wire it back up to the battery and within an hour of the whole thing going tits up he had contact with the camp. They couldn't scramble helo support until the storm cleared but a company of reinforcements was being whistled up and testing just how much speed they could get out of their rides.

Jones made sure that the pair of wounded soldiers were as comfortable as possible, pulling out a tarp from the humvee and helping put up a shelter for them. The rest of them rotated a watch to make sure that whatever god damned gomers had hit them weren't going to come back through the woods to try a repeat performance.

The weather cleared and left the party still wet and miserable. At around 0500 they all came alert at the sounds of multiple engines coming up from the south on the road above. The sounds of boots storming the scene echoed down through the sparse pines, shattering the quiet of the break of day. The survivors in the ravine hit the mud and aimed at the guardrail. Someone above yelled the mission's challenge word down the hill. "Achilles!"

Jones motioned for his team to stand down. "Hector!"

A line of National Guard troops appeared at the edge of the guardrail. Jones sighed. Time to face the music.

-o0o-

Grace woke up to the sounds of birds and a ray of sun coming in the skylight, the dust motes illuminated and dancing in intricate patterns. She stretched and made a contented sound, feeling like she had just had the best night's sleep anyone in human history had ever been granted. She lay back in the comfortable bed, breathing deeply of a scent that shouted "home" just as much as the freshly turned soil on her family farm. It was like.... Old worn leather of a baseball glove mixed with... the smell of books and a hint of grass. It was surrounding her and permeating her and she loved it. Plus this bed was so much more comfortable than her cot in the camp.....

Oh.

Right.

She sat up, the sheet falling off her naked torso. The rustic cabin seemed silent except for the sounds of nature filtering in through the lower level. She shifted and felt the definite confirmation of last night still leaking out of her... and she remembered it all. Her face felt like it would burn off from blushing so hard. The feeling had been everything they had promised and more. Not the way she had ever imagined her first time. But better than with Flannery. Dying on some abandoned stretch of road was better than that. Seeing the water at the bedside she downed it greedily and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Now she had to figure out the consequences of last night.

She did her best to move quietly down to the stairs and looked around the living area. She grabbed her clothes and hurried to answer her body's call in the bathroom before taking a spit shower in the cold water and getting dressed. She emerged and looked around curiously... her host was still nowhere to be seen. The clock showed that it was just past noon though the power was still out. She snooped around a bit, noting the books stacked around and the general bachelor state of the place. Lifting the lid on the pot on the stove she quickly closed it again. Turkey with the feathers on. Ok. So he wasn't a chef or a hunter, that much was clear.

There wasn't a lot there. A few amateurish sketches of the far skyline. A bit of writing that looked like a journal maybe. The microphone and box lined with acoustic foam caught her eye for a moment but a sound from the back porch dragged her attention. She froze. It came again, a deep growl coming rhythmically. Bear maybe?

Her boots were still unlaced but she crept over to the sliding door and slowly poked her head outside.

The valley was filled with a breeze and the smells of life, still with the wet tang of the rain from the storm. The sound was coming from the right... where he sat. The mop of curly dark red hair covered the side of his face as his chin was against his chest. Another snore ripped out of him and she relaxed with a soft smile. That was something she would have to get used to.

The double barreled shotgun was propped up against the cabin wall and her service weapon was laid across his lap. She noted that at least he had good trigger discipline while asleep. She gently reached out and pulled it from his limp grasp. No reason to tempt fate if he woke up and freaked out. Putting the M4 to the side she studied his face. He was definitely older than she was even if he wasn't starting to go gray. His beard was well trimmed and a shade or two brighter than his hair, glimmering like copper wire in the light. She reached out and brushed one of the wild curls out of his face. God, that was about the softest hair she had ever felt. She was actually jealous since after seeing his bathroom she knew he didn't have some extensive hair care routine. Hell it was actually quite a bit longer than her own cut.

The touch against the side of his face was enough to wake him with a start. His hands clenched and he rocked back when the weight of the rifle wasn't where he expected it. Blinking rapidly he looked around. She was fascinated by the deep green of his eyes and the core of light brown surrounding his pupil. From further away they would probably look dark but up close here? She blushed again as she tried to compare the color of his eyes to gems or sunlit leaves. Her brain was more clear than last night but something about him being so close was enough to fog her thoughts again. And he was giving her a sense of deja vu.... But she couldn't figure it out.

She put on her most innocent smile, the one her mother had always known meant she was guilty the instant it appeared. "So.... hi! I don't think I got your name last night."

He looked at her like a third tit had grown out of her forehead for a moment before laughing softly. "No. Sorry, you were pretty focused on one thing last night. And uh... that was an infectious mood I guess. I'm Colin. Colin Sullivan. Nice to meet you Miss Cressman."

It was her turn to look surprised. "How did you.... I don't remember telling you last night?"

He shook his head and looked out at the view again for a moment before looking back at her with an eyebrow raised, pointing at the printed name on her chest. "It's on your jacket and I really hope you're a Miss and not a Missus after what we did." A flash of some emotion that she couldn't translate passed over his face and left again. "So... are you ok? Everything from yesterday is still unpacking itself in my brain and I think you might have been in shock or something."

Grace shook her head and drank in the sound of his voice. It was smooth and deep like a radio announcer on valium. He could probably calm down a room of angry Marines just by reading them a story. Especially if they had the same ratio of women to men that the Army and Air Force had been left with. "I'm... I'm ok. And it's Grace. You should call me Grace." She swallowed. Shit. She was going to have to explain all of this. He seemed nice enough for now but this had been a literal shot in the dark. "I promised that I would explain everything. So where do I start?"

Colin snorted in amusement. "We can start with what the hell I walked into last night. I barely know how to shoot and here I am acting like I had any business joining... What, a war? Are we getting invaded along with everything else?"

Grace's eyebrows came down as she pieced together her memories of the night. "I honestly don't know. We were supposed to be transporting... something... to the north." She chose her words carefully. They might be bound together but he sure as shit did not have the security clearance to get all the details. Yet. "We were just driving up the highway when they blocked the road and then started shooting. God they must think I'm dead or captured! Do you have a phone? And what were you doing out there?"

Fear slithered up her spine. Could he have been a part of this? One of the attackers who was in on it?

It was Colin's turn to look at the porch in confusion. "I saw them cutting the power lines over there." He pointed to the towers in the distance. "They drove past just before the storm hit so... I followed. Not my smartest choice ever. I have been here for months and it was just so... out of the ordinary. I followed them, stopped when they stopped, and saw the whole thing unfold. No idea who they were but once they started trying to kill American soldiers I was pretty sure which side I was on."

He glanced at the shotgun. "Not that I was much help. I know I hit the one guy but that was with birdshot from pretty far out. Not like I did much more."

Her hand covered his and squeezed, her eyes searching his face. "No, Colin, you did a lot more than that. When the driver of the truck jumped down... he was about to shoot me. And you took him down before that could happen. You saved me."

Colin's eyes grew wide and he swallowed. She thought that he looked nauseous. "I... I killed him?"

In her head Grace groaned. Oh god he didn't know. How the fuck is he going to....

The question of his reaction was quickly resolved when he stepped to the edge of the porch and began to gag.

He did his best to get himself together and actually managed to avoid tossing his cookies in front of Grace, but it was a close run thing. He jumped when she appeared at his side, rubbing his back to try and comfort him. He realized just how tiny she was at that moment.

She took his left hand and brought it to her lips, kissing each finger in turn. She finally realized that the smell from the bed was his smell. Weirdly that took away most of her fear. "Ok so you aren't used to that kind of thing. That's comforting. But seriously you saved me... in more ways than one."

She led him inside to sit at the kitchen table, grabbing a glass of water on the way and handing it to him. He thanked her and downed half of it in one go before leaning one arm on the table and studying her again. It was the kind of look that made her shiver just a bit.

"Jumping into a combat zone and saving me won you a lot of points... like a lot. But last night was about something... more than that. How much do you know about DuoHalo?"

There was that unreadable look again. This time it didn't leave his face. "I haven't really kept up with the news for the last few months. I know it's not something you want to catch."

She nodded and laced her fingers together to keep herself from reaching out to touch Colin. It was practically a compulsion at this point. "Well you aren't fucking wrong. It's a lot worse than anyone has told the public so watching the news wouldn't tell you the story anyway. It kills one out of every three adult women who catch it... and about 9 out of every 10 men."

Grace was waiting for him to look shocked but he just nodded slowly. "I believe it from what I saw. I don't... It's not a good way to go."

"Where did you see it? If you've been exposed..." Her voice held a note of panic.

He waved away that thought. "I found the aftermath of a 4th of July party down in Deer Park. I tried calling for help with the bodies in the parking lot but the 911 dispatcher just transferred me to the military and they didn't even seem to care about the death toll, the heartless bitch.... Uh no offense?"

She laughed, a sound that Colin found he really wanted to hear more of. "None taken. We've been trying to triage a whole country and most of us didn't exactly join to take charm lessons." Finally she couldn't take it any longer and put her hand just next to his, close enough to feel the warmth coming off it. His eyes flickered down to the tabletop and she saw his eyebrow twitch up for a moment. She smiled at him as his hand moved over and began to stroke her fingers gently.

"You're the reason I'm out here then. I'm one of the medics who got sent out to try and save who we could after that shitshow. Because once you have it? You spend the first two weeks with zero symptoms before it hits like a train. The last 24 hours is where it goes ape shit and does the damage. We still don't know why it hits men and teens harder."

Colin's hand clenched hers painfully tightly for just a moment before he let go of her hand. "What do you mean teens?"

Grace had certainly noticed that reaction. She frowned and spoke slowly, wondering what sparked that reaction. "It doesn't have a survival rate for anyone from puberty to adulthood. It... it just kills. Little kids are coming out of it ok, but anyone who was going through puberty is screwed. Even a lot of college aged people are caught up in that, though the boys were in deep shit anyway so it's been hard to nail down exactly when the risk starts changing."

It was extremely hard, in Colin's mind, to decide if it was better or worse knowing that he would have had to lock up Beth like a princess in a tower for the last half of her childhood to save her. It definitely didn't help to know that millions of families were now locked into the same grief that clawed at him every day. He felt Grace sit on his lap and snapped back into the moment. She brushed away the tears that lingered on his cheeks and looked at him with concern bare on her face. He forced an awkward smile. "Sorry, that is... hard news to take, ya know?" He sniffled and wrapped an arm around her waist. He was still struggling but god above having some physical contact after all this time felt good.

"So... with the two pandemics every biologist and scientist in the world is basically in overdrive trying to create a vaccine," Grace continued, leaning into Colin's arms. "And they have one that works. Mostly. But it has some side effects." Her left hand was still tangled in his hair and the other one she placed on his chest. "And that is why I was acting like that yesterday. It's a vaccine that only women can take. It's fatal if a man gets the serum jab."

She paused to see what he would say, but Colin was just watching her and looking a bit like a poleaxed ox. She sighed. Her engine was still revving hot and sitting on his lap was not doing a damn thing to calm her down, even though she worried about his emotional state. She gave into temptation and kissed him gently on the lips. He returned it after a moment but she could still practically hear the wheels turning in his mind.

"Only women can get a vaccine, which causes what? Terminal horniness? For a disease that kills most of the men that catch it? So what are all men going to be stuck in quarantine until they fix that?"

Grace shook her head. "No, there is a way to get some immunity for men. And that is probably why it causes the arousal. It's.... It's a sexually transmitted immunity. So uh... congrats! You have about 50 to 70% immunity!"

Colin reached past her to remove his glasses and placed them on the table before pinching the bridge of his nose. "Thank you. Yeah. This is.... I mean this is all completely insane, you know that right? But cool, I am less likely to die. Which is nice. But what kind of a super villain releases a cure that needs sex to save us?"

"Well it isn't really a cure. The immunity is.... it wears off. After about a week or a week and a half. So you'll have to get laid again by a woman with the vaccine to renew it." Now his eyebrows climbed halfway to his hairline. "And any vaccinated woman needs her man. I uh. Look, this is the awkward part." She shifted in his lap, not sure how to continue. He waited and focused past how nice her wiggle felt.

"Once we get jabbed with this stuff, a woman is on a timer. We get hornier and hornier until we get... until we get a guy to come inside us. Dealer's choice for which hole, but it's gotta be inside." She held up a hand to stop the next question. "And once we get that first shot from a guy... we are bound to them. Any other man's cum is toxic to us after that."

"Wait. If you were... what, simmering and on the way to boiling over? Then what the fuck were you doing out in a gun fight yesterday?"

"The shooting was totally out of the blue. It was supposed to be a way... a way to keep me out of sight from someone who I'm pretty sure was trying to bond me to him. By the time that you and I got here I was going out of my mind. I needed to finish the process with someone and uh. Surprise! It was you!"

Colin leaned back and tried to absorb all of this. "So you and I... we're together now? Like you can't break up with me even if you wanted to? Grace that is.... What the fuck do we do if we hate each other?! What if one of us dies? You don't even know me, what if I turn out to be someone you don't want to hook up with weekly?!"

Grace sighed and stroked his cheek. "You're at least a nice enough guy to worry about all that. And I might not have picked you up at a bar but hey I know all of our interlocking pieces interlock." Her tone on the last word made it absolutely one of the most suggestive comments Colin had ever heard. "Plus there is a computer questionnaire that you'll have to take that will show us how compatible we are. Everyone getting into the vaccine program has to take it. Though I'm not sure that it works all that well."

He scoffed. "That right there is a hell of an endorsement. If you want to find someone else then I don't mind. Like you are so stupidly hot that you could find a much better partner for this thing than me."