Quaranteam - North West Ch. 12

I sighed deeply. "Vee, I think you're dripping cum onto my shorts."

Vanessa raised her dress up to her hips, revealing her bare pussy as my cum leaked out of her directly onto my clothes. "Oops," she said, looking at me in embarrassment.

Once I had another new pair of shorts on, and my flip-flops, Vanessa and I exited the RV and I blinked at the late afternoon sun as it gleamed down at an angle on the compound. "Fuck," I grunted. "Where did the day go?"

It seemed wild, but two hours of emotional sex with four women in sequence made the entire rest of what had happened that day feel like it had been a week ago.

Everyone else was already outside, and I found myself blushing as they all turned at my first step down from the RV and started applauding in a golf clap and catcalling. I just laughed and waved them off. Soon I was getting hugs as we all started to feel like we were safe and together. And not just from my girls - Leo and I embraced and squeezed the shit out of each other. India and Aria, for all that we were basically friendly acquaintances at best since they'd spent the last two weeks getting to know Dani and Leo better while I'd been focused on Vanessa and Kyla, hugged me as well. Dani went so far as to give me a peck on the lips, which surprised me, but that silly little smile of hers and the extremely warm hug let me know it was just her being comfortable with me in a way we'd been heading towards already.

All in all, for the first time in weeks none of the girls were dressed down in a partial bikini or anything like that. Everyone was fully clothed - barring the fact that I knew Vanessa and Kyla were both lacking underwear beneath their dresses. The past two weeks had been hot even when it wasn't sunny and there had been lots of tanning going on as the girls all got comfortable with each other. Topless tanning, I'd been assured, wasn't going to actually happen despite the pictures I'd been sent in the hospital. Everything else in the compound was mostly put back in place - the barricade in the centre of the 'yard' that Erica, Kyla and Dani had used had been disassembled, and the chairs and cornhole boards spread out again.

Once we were all coming down from the endorphin rush of being alive together I climbed back up onto the top of the RV to take a look at the outside world, followed by Kyla and Vanessa.

Outside the compound, the big white tents were still up but there were a lot fewer of the construction workers milling around. I couldn't tell if the number of hazmat-suited National Guard had changed, but there was a truck pulling away towards the driveway that looked like it was full of workers while another one rumbled past coming the other way. Almost as soon as it stopped, more workers were being loaded up into the covered bed.

Vanessa took my hand as we stood watching, her rough hands squeezing tight, and I slipped my other arm around Kyla's waist and hugged her to me at the hip. She leaned into me a little, and the three of us watched the proceedings. It looked like areas of the site were already under quarantine, and National Guard soldiers were walking the grounds and the fields scanning the terrain. Several of them were planting little yellow flags which, in a criminal investigation, I would have assumed were evidence markers. In this circumstance, I couldn't really guess what they were for.

I ended up texting Miriam to let her know the 'inoculation thing' was all up to date. I still felt weird being open about the sex I was having, especially outside of our weird double family thing going on. She sent back a thumbs up, and then let me know someone would be over to speak to us. About ten minutes later a Hazmated National Guardsman with a medic symbol on his shoulders and back started trudging over to us from the direction of the tents.

"Hey folks," he said, giving us a little wave as he got close. "Sounds like y'all need to do some infection tests? I got orders that two people are at risk?"

"That'll be us," I said. "How do we do the tests?"

"Well, the best we got right now are blood tests, so I gotta come in to do the draws unless someone in there knows what they're doing to keep everything sterile," he said.

"I can do it," Kyla said.

"You sure?" he asked.

Kyla sighed under her breath even though her expression didn't change. "I'm sure."

The guy shrugged and took out a couple of packets and tossed them up. We did it right there on top of the RV, with Vanessa and I sitting on either side of Kyla as she tore open the packs and used the little alcohol swabs to clean off her hands and spots on the inside of our elbows.

"How did you learn to do this?" Vanessa asked.

Kyla glanced at me, and I knew the answer was something she wasn't ready to tell her. "I took a couple of nursing courses through a college affiliate program while I was at Uni," Kyla lied. "I figured I probably can't be a dancer forever, so I might as well try out something more practical."

"I wish I could have tried something like dance when I was a kid," Vanessa said, wincing a little as Kyla stuck her with the needle after finding her vein. "With older brothers and a Dad like mine, it wasn't ever really an option."

"I'd be happy to teach you some stuff," Kyla offered. "Nothing crazy, just some basics, and if you like it we could do more."

"Really?" Vanessa asked. "I don't know, I feel like I'm not really the graceful type at this point."

"Vee, just try it," I said, reaching around Kyla to put my hand on Vanessa's. "You know you want to, and with the way the world is going, if it makes you happy then who cares if you're graceful? Plus, I bet you could tapdance around any of us in those steel-toes of yours."

That made her laugh, and soon Kyla had the blood drawn and sealed into two vials. We didn't have any writing tools to mark them, so she had to toss one down at a time to the guy and he used his pen.

"Alrighty, I'll get these over and tested ASAP," he said. "The Air Force lady said you were top priority."

"That's the Colonel, soldier," I said, frowning at the lack of respect the guy seemed to have.

"Yahep," he said, turning and waving over his shoulder. "The LTC. I'll let her know."

It was Kyla's turn to reassure me as I grimaced after the guy, and she did it by grabbing my chin and pulling me into a soft kiss. "He's more civilian than soldier," she said.

"Soldier enough to use a proper rank," I grumbled, but my grimace broke as she kissed me softly again. And then she glanced at Vanessa and I saw a distinct look between the two of them. "What was that?"

"Nothing," they said in unison.

All I could do was narrow my eyes, which just made them both chuckle.

We went back down into the yard and I think for the first time since the whole thing had started I actually felt cooped up. Our little compound wasn'tthat big when it came down to it. Now with nine people living between the two RVs and not knowing if we could step outside... well, I wasn't feeling claustrophobic. Iwas dreaming a bit about the old house and being able to step out the back door and lose myself in the forest within half a minute of walking.

I think Erica and Kyla could both tell I was a little off and decided between the two of them that they should give me some space. I gathered up all the firearms and brought them into the storage container with the gun safe, leaving the doors open and hanging up an electric lantern that plugged into the RV. I was just starting on the second shotgun when Dani slipped in. She didn't say anything, just looked at what I was doing and then went and got another towel and organized her own little workstation across from mine.

We cleaned each gun. The only talking was when she had to ask about a specific make or model and how it was supposed to come apart. It was soothing to focus on and restful for my mind and body to do something that took focus but was also mindless.

Once the last firearm had been stowed away in the gun safe, Dani and I were left with the 1911 between us.

"Russian roulette?" she asked with a smirk and a chuckle.

"I think we'd need a revolver for that," I laughed.

She grinned, then reached across the table we'd used for our workstations and took my hands in hers. "Harri, thank you," she said. "I know you don't feel like you need it, but you deserve to hear it."

"Dani, I-"

"Just say, 'you're welcome,' jarhead," she said with a soft smile.

"You're welcome," I sighed. She was right, I didn't feel like I needed any thanks for today. If anything I felt like I should have been able to do more. Be more. The girls never should have felt as scared as they did.

Dani stood up and came around the table, surprising me by sitting in my lap and wrapping her arms around my shoulders and neck, hugging me tightly. "Seriously, Harri. You're one of a kind. Thank you."

I hugged her back lightly, but she squeezed me harder and I sighed and gave her a full bear hug. She felt good in my arms and I realized that over the last month I'd come to love Dani. Not like Erica, or Ivy. But not like my sister either. It was weird because I knew there wasn't ever any way anything could happen between us, most importantly because she was with Leo. But also because of the vaccine Imprinting. I loved her in a way I couldn't really put my finger on. She was part of my life, part of the family. I felt like she'd been with us since the beginning, and not just since the vaccine.

And despite all the reasons that we would only ever be platonic, she felt good in my arms. I kissed her on the cheek and she did the same to me, and then we separated and she stood up.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

"I do," I said. "Thank you."

She patted my shoulder with a smile. "You really are like my Dad," she said. "It would be weird if you weren't so cute."

I snorted and she stuck out her tongue between her teeth as she teased me, and we went back out into the compound.

In the end it was Miriam who came to tell us the results. Vanessa and I met her just outside of the compound after she texted she was on her way over. When we saw she had her gas mask on I was a little worried, but she quickly assured us.

"It's just precautionary," she said. "The good news is that your blood tests both show that you were exposed to Duo Halo, but your vaccines are working. Vanessa, we'll probably want to test you again in a couple of days to make sure your situation is stable.

"OK," Vanessa nodded. "Any word on my Dad?"

Miriam nodded. "Yes. Brent did test positive for Duo Halo as well, but it was early and he was on the first truck back to Portland. We had a few different lists of potential testers for the next phases and as soon as we knew we needed an emergency response we've been getting in contact with them. We'll do our best to pair up people properly, but it's become life and death now. If he isn't matched up already, your father will have a bonded partner within the next couple of hours."

Vanessa took a deep breath and nodded, running her fingers through her hair. "That's... so fucking weird, thinking of my Dad having a new... whatever. Girlfriend, let's say. He hasn't been with anyone that I know of since the divorce from my Mom. I thought he'd be single for the rest of his life."

In the back of my mind I was wondering how they were going to find someone who would be happy to be with him. Brent was a nice enough guy, and professional when he wasn't pissed at me for sleeping with his daughter and getting her entangled in our whole thing, but he was also one fat man. It was something I really hadn't considered at all - Leo and I were both relatively fit. So far we'd lucked out on the women we'd partnered up with being attractive. What if someone had shown up who I didn't think was sexually attractive? What happened then?

"So what now?" I asked, pushing my other questions to the back of my mind. "Are you going to have enough people ready to go?"

Miriam's smile slipped and she took a deep breath. "No. We're not," she said. "At best guess, my Docs are expecting fifty per cent losses."

Vanessa almost collapsed, but I caught her.

"Five hundred people?" she gasped.

Miriam nodded. "About a hundred and fifty are too far gone to even make it off the site. We're doing what we can for them in Dormitory 1. We're triaging as best we can, but we expect another two hundred will hit that point before we can get them to Portland. And the last hundred and fifty or so we'll lose just because of the time it will take to process everything. We're flying a new batch of the vaccine up from down south, but the way Duo Halo works, the worst of the worst have already been infected for a couple of weeks and we're looking at the tail end of the process. The people on the borderline will have been infected for a week and a half or so."

Vanessa let go of me and stumbled a few feet away and threw up.

"There's nothing else that we can do?" I asked quietly.

Miriam shook her head, her expression grave. "We'll do what we can to save as many lives as possible."

"OK," I said, stepping over to Vanessa and rubbing her back once her dry heaving was coming to an end. "What about us? What's happening with the site?"

"The site and all the offices are on quarantine," Miriam said. "Once we're done out here we'll tape everything off. We'll send teams out soon to scrub the whole place down and sterilize it. Then we'll clear out the deceased's belongings, and we'll start by getting crews in to refab the dormitories. We'll want to get work back rolling as fast as we can, but things are going to look a little different. Prepare for a lot more women moving out here with their partners."

"Oh my God, I can't even start to think what that will look like," Vanessa groaned. She'd wiped her mouth and was spitting out the taste of her puke already.

"We'll figure it out," Miriam assured her. "As for you all, give it a day or two again before you start going out. Do more, ah, rounds together. Sex between partners seems to be the single best thing vaccinated folks can do to make sure they are healthy. After that, you can head off-site to do whatever errands you need to do, and we'll keep you updated on when we'll be on site. We're combing the forest for anyone who slipped off, so once we're done and we've accounted for everyone I'll also give you a green light to go do your thing to be a mountain man."

I sighed and nodded along. It was good news that we weren't just going to be trapped here, and I already felt a bit of pressure lifted off of my chest. "OK," I said and took a breath. "How are you?"

Miriam pressed her lips together in a not-quite smile. "It's not the worst thing I've been through, but it's up there," she said.

"Well, I'm thinking about hugging you," I said.

"Thanks, Harri," she said. "Maybe next time I can get that hugand that beer."

"Two beers. Actually, a whole fucking case," Vanessa said. "And not the cheap stuff."

"Deal," Miriam said.

I bid my farewells, as Vanessa had some more technical questions to ask, and I left them to it.

Back inside the compound, I paused just inside the sheet-door, leaning against the butt of the RV as I closed my eyes and took a long breath.

Five hundred out of a thousand construction workers would be dead in hours, if not a couple of days.

It took me several more long breaths to get myself thinking straight before I walked back around into the compound proper. Ivy was the first of my girls I saw, and I went right to her and picked her up in my arms and walked over to a chair and sat down. She laughed as I did it, and immediately straddled my hips as I sat and gave me a kiss as she hugged me.

We made out a little, and I could tell that she knew I wasn't quite right and needed something to ground me.

As we kissed a hand trailed across my shoulders and I glanced the way it went to see Erica smiling at me reassuredly. She'd seen it too.

It was weird, living with women who could read my body language like that. Who could tell my moods. Weird, but amazing. Ivy kissed me again and then spun so she was sitting sideways, and then Kyla was there beside us handing me my latest sketchbook.

"Draw us something," Ivy smiled. "S'il te plaît, mon amour?"

I exhaled the tension in my shoulders and smiled. "What should I draw, ma dulcinée?"

"Kyla," she said, smiling at my Filipino partner. "But as a badass warrior princess, like she's in Game of Thrones."

Kyla snorted a little laugh. "Really?"

Ivy grinned and nodded. God, she knew how to lift my spirits.

"Fine," Kyla said with a little smirk. "Do I need to pose, or what?"

"Just sit with us," I said, gesturing to the chair beside Ivy and I. "I'll make it work."

So I flipped to a new page and I started to draw, and I only thought about the deaths when I let my focus slip from the page or the women in my life.

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Thanks for reading! Votes are appreciated, and comments are even better.

Quaranteam: North West is an ongoing series that will continue to see updates moving forward. If you have enjoyed the series so far, definitely make sure to check out CorruptingPower's main series and other spinoffs. For similar Harem-y themes, you might want to check out my other series currently releasing.

Cheers!

~Break.

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