Juggernaut Read online

  The soldiers waited. When five minutes or so had passed, the medic went into the tent and then returned a moment later, nodding.

  The soldiers erupted into a flurry of bustling activity. They carried a stretcher into the tent and emerged with a plastic-wrapped body on it, carrying it to the trolley. It was followed by three more, two of them child-sized. A moment later, smoke started billowing as the tent and everything the people inhabiting it had possessed was set aflame.

  The trolley rolled past. Nico watched it soberly, grief pulling at his chest. Those people had only arrived at the quarantine camp a couple of weeks ago. Just the day before he’d seen the children running around the pen, playing. How could they be dead today?

  He didn’t hesitate to turn to wrap himself around Zach, only to be wrapped up in return. Over a month into their quarantine now, he and Zach had fallen into a comfortable, tender intimacy that Nico had never suspected he’d longed for until he finally had it.

  “Those people were fine yesterday,” he muttered against Zach’s neck. He was shaking, despite the scorching heat of the late-May afternoon. “Jesus, Zach, this damn virus scares me so much.”

  “I know.” Zach pressed his lips against Nico’s temple. “I just don’t see how they all could have fallen sick in a single day.”

  “That’s part of what’s so fucking terrifying. Not just the virus but the way we’re responding to it. You heard what they did to the people quarantined in the tenement.” Nico drew back to meet Zach’s eyes. “McClosky used to tell me about how the virus worked. It can take a different amount of time for each person. I’m afraid that—” He swallowed and licked his lips. “I think one or two of those people fell ill, and the soldiers just killed the rest. Killed people who weren’t even sick yet. Like that woman.”

  Zach whispered a gentle curse. “That’s an insane policy. What if they weren’t going to get sick? What if some of them were immune?”

  “McClosky said that, as far as they know, no one is immune.”

  Zach’s face twisted. “Yeah, and as far as he knew, the virus was harmless too.”

  “Ouch.”

  “You know I’m right. How will they ever know unless they give people the chance to live?”

  “Yeah, I know.” Nico sighed. “Between the military government killing people out of hand, people killing each other for supplies or because they’re afraid of being exposed, revenants hunting people, supply shortages, the heat and the cold . . .” He shook his head. “There’s no way to tell how many people have died who might have actually survived the pandemic.”

  He pressed himself against Zach again, silently begging to be held. Their days were numbered. The events of the morning had made that clear. He was putting Zach in danger, not only from himself, but from the people who might kill him out of hand if they suspected he might have been exposed. He had to put some distance between them.

  Anything to protect Zach. Anything.

  If that’s true, then why are you still here? Why haven’t you demanded to be quarantined separately? his conscience nudged him.

  The answer to that was easy. Nico could feel it in the pressure steadily hardening against the point where Zach’s crotch rubbed against his hip, seeking comfort and distraction from their gruesome reality. He could feel it in those warm, soft hands that covered his back and slid slowly downward to hover at his hips in silent inquiry. He could feel it in the full, moist lips that tasted the salty sweat the midday sun was cooking onto Nico’s skin.

  Tomorrow, he promised himself, letting Zach lead him into the tent. I’ll do it tomorrow.

  Silvia hunched in the passenger seat of the lightcar, growling softly even while she was unconscious. Each time she twitched and snarled, Nico jumped as though she might leap at him.

  “Come on, come on, come on,” he muttered, hurrying Zach along, but Zach refused to be rushed. He took his time picking through the scattered supplies that had spilled from the car when it crashed.

  “It’s all right.” Zach paused in his pillaging to give Nico his tender smile. “I’m safe with you.”

  Nico’s heart melted. Everything within him went warm and soft, an ache forming in his chest that could only be assuaged by wrapping his arms around Zach and holding tight. He stepped forward to do just that when a dark form charged him, shoving him aside and sending him flying.

  “Zach!” The cry came out with a pained yell as he crashed into the ground, rocks and sharp, prickly weeds gouging him through his clothing, drawing blood. Nico fumbled for the handgun at his hip and pushed himself to his feet, staggering. Warm blood trickled down his palms and shins. He tried to take aim at the dark, unruly mass of hair on the head of the attacker, but it was a blur to him. He couldn’t get a clear shot.

  Then his gaze flicked down to Zach, and everything went still. Dark, oozing patches of putrefying skin had set in on Zach’s face and neck. His eyes were hazy and empty, and they seemed to stare at Nico with a plea.

  Then the dark shape hovering over Zach turned, and Nico stared into the feral face of the creature who had infected Zach.

  His own features stared back at him. His own eyes gleamed triumphantly at the sight of the gun he held on himself.

  “What are you waiting for?” the other Nico taunted.

  Nico woke with a scream.

  Zach was there in an instant, his hands and lips already soothing away Nico’s terror. “Another dream?”

  “Yeah.” Nico scrubbed his hands over his sweat-and-tear-damp face and looked up at the sky. The heat of the night was so stifling they’d elected to sleep outside the tent once they’d finished making love, though it was scarcely better out in the open. Nico’s balls still ached with unreleased arousal. With both of them needing to use a condom every time, they were running low, and he hadn’t had the energy to go to the latrine and finish himself off after Zach had come. Zach hadn’t been pleased with the refusal, especially since they’d already argued over whether Nico would use one of their few remaining condoms or save them for Zach to use when Zach fucked him.

  “I’d rather just stay here with you,” Nico had said, willing his erection to subside. It wasn’t hard to do when he considered the possibilities of what might happen if he came near Zach.

  Zach had given a frustrated grunt. “It’s bad enough that you have to disappear and I can’t get you off or see you come, but now you’re not even going to do it for yourself?” He raked his fingers through his hair. “I don’t like this. It’s supposed to be about sharing, isn’t it? Not me getting what I need and leaving you—”

  “With the immeasurable satisfaction of having watched you. Who says that isn’t sharing?” Nico had cut him off with a kiss. “Relax. I don’t do quid pro quo. Blue balls won’t kill me.”

  “Yeah, well, maybe I want to watch you,” Zach had grumbled, but he’d settled in Nico’s arms and fallen asleep.

  Now they lay together under the canopy of the sky, stars sparkling impossibly bright against an indigo backdrop. Somewhere in the distance, a child cried and— Was that a woman screaming, her voice rising and falling in wails, or was it just Nico’s imagination playing back what he’d heard that morning? Had someone in one of the distant pens died? Was it the Rot, or had another detainee succumbed to heat stroke?

  “Nico?” Zach’s voice dragged his mind back from its wanderings.

  “Sorry. Yeah. Bad dream.”

  Zach propped himself up on an elbow to gaze down at Nico. “That’s been happening a lot lately.”

  “Yeah.” Nico rolled away, unwilling to let Zach get a good view of his face. He suspected he looked like hell. Zach’s concerned expression whenever Nico took off his clothes was a pretty good indicator of what so many weeks on a drastically insufficient diet was doing to his body. If his face was anywhere near as gaunt as the rest of him, he probably appeared downright ghoulish, especially in the moonlight.

  “Nico . . .” Zach’s voice held a pleading note, and his fingers brushed down the xylophone of Nico’
s ribs. Nico shivered and hugged himself.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “I love you,” Zach whispered, trailing kisses atop his shoulder.

  “I know you do.” And he did. There was no doubt in Nico’s mind that Zach loved him. It didn’t matter how long they’d known each other or what influence their dire situation might be having on their emotional states. Zach was too open, too pure a soul to question the sincerity of his feelings. And really, who cared if it was a product of the stress and trauma and fear they were under? In a world of straw houses, those feelings felt like brick. “I love you too.”

  Nico turned back to face Zach, letting him drape himself over top of him. His weight felt good, reassuring. And like something Nico would miss far too much when it was gone.

  He wouldn’t mention that, though. Instead, he kissed Zach slowly until they both hovered on that precipice of being too turned on to go back to sleep. But the mood wasn’t exactly right. Instead, Zach slid off to the side and drew Nico in close, and Nico let himself be surrounded by Zach’s nurturing love as he drifted off again.

  When the guards came the next morning with the rations, Nico was ready. He waved Zach off to continue tending their little garden and greeted the suited guards himself.

  “Look, I need you guys to do me a favor,” he said, pitching his voice low. His chest ached and his eyes burned, but he made himself issue the request he’d been procrastinating on for over a month. “I need to talk to General McClosky.”

  The suited heads turned toward each other. “General McClosky?” one of them asked.

  “He’s here, isn’t he? There was supposed to be a helicopter that picked him up from his cabin in Virginia and brought him here a couple months ago.”

  They nodded. “He’s here. But how do you know him?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “If you want me to bother him with some possible Rot case out in high-priority quarantine, it does.”

  “He’s an old friend of the family. He knew my mother, and he’s known me since I was a kid. Just tell him Nicolás Fernández needs to speak with him. He’ll know what it’s about.”

  They didn’t seem to know what to make of that and stepped back to murmur to each other a moment.

  “We’ll pass it along to our CO,” one of them finally said, shoving Nico and Zach’s box of rations at him. “No promises.”

  “Of course,” Nico muttered, and watched them leave.

  When he turned back toward the enclosure, Zach had paused to squint through the morning sunlight at him. He dropped their box of rations outside the tent to cross their pen and grab Zach’s hand. He pulled the hoe from his grasp and tossed it aside, dragging Zach close and kissing him hard.

  Zach responded with all the sweetness Nico had come to expect of him, giving Nico a quirky smile when they finally came up for air. “Not that I’m complaining, but what was that about?”

  “Nothing.” Nico shook his head, letting his eyes devour the sight of Zach’s swollen lips and flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes. “Just— Let’s go inside. I need you. I can’t wait.”

  Zach blinked and frowned, like he wanted to push, but in the end he said nothing and let Nico lead him into the tent.

  Days passed with no further word on whether or not Nico’s message had been delivered. Nico couldn’t keep his hands off Zach, spending the time trying to pack every touch and taste and sound into his memory until the afternoon when a whole truckload of guards appeared, armed to the teeth, and surrounded the gate to Nico and Zach’s pen.

  They formed up around another suited figure, keeping their distance in a way that suggested this one was different. Nico and Zach stood shoulder to shoulder, waiting to find out what was going on.

  “Nicolás?” the general’s familiar voice asked, tinny and slurred through the mask of his suit. “You made it.”

  “Logan,” Nico said coolly, nodding once.

  “Why didn’t you tell them to let me know you had arrived when you got here?” McClosky demanded.

  “I think you know why.” Nico pressed his lips together tightly, then shook himself. “Besides, we needed to go into quarantine.”

  McClosky’s mask angled slightly, just enough for Nico to get the idea that he was perusing Zach. “And you’ve been here . . .?”

  “Nearly six weeks, General,” one of the guards supplied. “So far no sign of the Rot.”

  “Of course not.” McClosky sighed. “Nicolás, you’re going to need to come with us. You can’t stay here.”

  Zach started. “What? No!” He put himself between Nico and McClosky, then turned to Nico with a plea in his eyes. “Nico, you can’t.”

  “I don’t have a choice, Zach.” Nico closed his eyes. He’d known this would be difficult, but now that the moment was here, he wished it had never occurred to him to do it. How could he possibly go through with this? He looked at the mask where McClosky’s face should be. “Please. Give us a minute?”

  There was a pause, and none of the people with guns seemed happy about it, but McClosky nodded, and Nico led Zach into the tent.

  “You contacted him!” Zach accused when the flap closed behind him.

  Nico swallowed, blinking rapidly to try to dispel the sting in his eyes. “I can’t go into the Clean Zone, Zach. We were kidding ourselves to think I could.”

  “Then we’ll go away! We don’t need to stay here. The house in Indiana . . . hell, anywhere!”

  Nico took Zach’s face between his hands, silencing his spluttering, desperate protests. “I don’t think they’d let us do that. Right now they’re trying to stop the spread of the pandemic, no matter how brutal they have to be about it. I don’t think they’d let anyone just walk out of quarantine. Especially me.”

  Zach shook his head frantically. “They can’t keep you prisoner!”

  “I think they can do whatever they think they have to right now.” He pressed his brow against Zach’s, swallowing hard. “I’d do anything to keep you safe. Anything. Which means I need to be as far away from you as I can get.”

  “Nico, please!” Zach pulled back, his eyes swimming with tears, and his voice cracked. The moisture spilled down his cheeks, and Zach didn’t even bother to try to check it. “I don’t want to lose you too.”

  “I’m sorry, cariño.” Nico pressed a hard kiss to Zach’s brow, then ripped himself away from Zach’s clutching hands, rushing from the tent only to be halted by the sound of weapons being readied. He froze and glanced around to see the guards all taking aim at him. A tear of his own slipped down his face, and he peered over his shoulder, where Zach stood by the flap. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Nico!” Zach sobbed, but Nico couldn’t bring himself to look at him again. He turned to McClosky and nodded once, not even bothering to ask to take any of his belongings with him. One of the guards gestured him toward the truck with the barrel of his gun, and Nico began walking.

  If there was any pity on McClosky’s face behind the mask, he didn’t want to see it.

  Nico wasn’t sure where they would take him. An empty house within view of Cheyenne Mountain would certainly not have been his first guess.

  “What is this?” he demanded of McClosky when the truck came to a stop. The house, which looked hastily erected, was surrounded by fencing just as the pens had been.

  “Did you think I’d simply tell our troops to execute you, Nicolás?” McClosky replied, leading the way through the gate.

  “I have no idea what I expected. I just want to know what the fuck is going on.”

  McClosky didn’t reply until the door had shut behind them, leaving them inside the house with only a single armed guard, the others stationed outside. “I assume you and the young man you were quarantined with were close?” he asked.

  “Fuck you. Zach is none of your business.”

  He could practically feel the censuring look McClosky gave him. “He is if he’s been exposed, Nicolás.”

  “He hasn’t.”

  “
Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure! Do you think I would risk him, after what you just saw?”

  “You care about him.”

  “Oh, go to hell, old man. You don’t get to play the kindly, concerned patron now.”

  McClosky sighed, the sound rattling the speaker of his suit. “Your companion will need to stay in quarantine several weeks longer, now. Until he’s been out of your presence at least six weeks.”

  “Oh, sure, because you couldn’t possibly take my word for it.” There was no answer from McClosky this time except for a shrug of those bulky shoulders. Nico took petty consolation in the thought of what the inside of that suit must smell and feel like on a scorching day like today. “What’s the matter, General? Didn’t you have another dose of the Alpha virus for yourself? Is that why you have to hide inside a suit now?”

  “You of all people should know there were no other doses of the Alpha virus,” McClosky said chidingly. “What did you do with it? Did you give it to your friend?”

  Nico shook his head. “I offered. He didn’t want it, so I destroyed it.” That much was a lie, and he had to work at giving McClosky his frankest, least-guilty stare.

  “Destroyed it how?”

  “Threw it on a fire somewhere in Missouri, I think. Buried it with the coals the next morning.”

  “And the dose you took for Silvia?”

  Nico looked away. “She used it, but it was too late. She’d been caring for a guy with the Rot for weeks before I found her.”

  That hooded head bowed, the shoulders slumped, and Nico could almost believe that McClosky truly grieved for a woman who had been one of his oldest—and perhaps only—friends. “I’m sorry, Nicolás,” he murmured gruffly.

  “Damn right you are.” Nico folded his arms over his chest and glared. “So now what?”

  “Now we spend some of the very valuable and limited fuel we have remaining to fly you to the CDC in Atlanta, where the rest of the Juggernaut troops are quarantined.” McClosky sighed again. “It’s too dangerous, keeping you here among the uninfected population.”

  Oh God. They were sending him away. It was worse than he’d imagined when he thought they might just imprison or kill him.