Linda Andrews - Extinction Level Event

Closing her eyes, she swayed on her feet. Her simulations hadn’t predicted this. Maybe she didn’t know what she was doing. Shaking off her doubts, she stared at her plastic cup. Disposable. Like her. Like life. Like humanity. She bowed her head. Why bother fighting anymore? Why not just give in?

Death ends all pain.

“You’re supposed to be asleep.” David’s sleepy voice came from the direction of the couch.

David.

A wavering light appeared deep in the Earth’s bowels.

Hope.

Beautiful. Daring. Painful.

He’d come in the middle of the night telling her of the military’s decision to side with her over the governor, and she’d asked him to stay. Mavis rolled the cold plastic over her lip before taking a sip. It was nice to have a man in the house, to have David in her house. Just his presence stopped her from jumping at the slightest noise. From going to sleep and never waking up. “I needed some water.”

Her voice came out low and gritty. The illness still raged in her throat, played bongos on her joints, and rattled like shrapnel inside her skull.

Fabric rustled before his soft footfall whispered across the tile. “You need to rest. We can’t afford to have our chief officer out of commission.”

“You don’t have much choice.” She felt his body heat flame against her back. Close but not touching. He never would breach the unspoken boundary unless she initiated it. Asked for it. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. A shiver traveled up her backbone. Stupid fever. Hot one minute; freezing the next. She drained her cup before setting it down on the counter. “I’m already ill.”

“But still functioning.” He set his hands on her shoulders. His thumbs quickly found the knots of tension and massaged them away. “Your skin is hot.”

She curled against the wall of muscle. Body heat seeped into her bones, driving out the chill burrowing through her marrow. Yet another reason to have a man around. They were always warm. But the courage to ask for more deserted her. The future loomed like a big question mark on the horizon. One she might not live to understand. So shouldn’t she take a chance now?

“You need an aspirin for your fever.”

“No meds.” Her head lolled back until it rested against his chest. Perhaps this could be enough. Perhaps she needn’t risk anything. “The illness will leave faster if I allow the fever to burn itself out.”

“Is that a fact?” His warm breath washed down her bare neck.

She breathed in the scent of him, his strength and his health. “It’s as good a hypothesis as any other.”

“And does this hypothesis of yours include sleep and rest?”

She smiled. Smart man, out maneuvering her with her own words. Of course, he was a career soldier, trained in battle tactics. “Yes, it includes sleep, rest, and plenty of fluids.”

Releasing her shoulder, he reached around her and picked up the half-full water bottle by the neck. “Let’s take this to your room so you don’t have to get out of bed to get your fluids.”

“You’re just trying to get in my bed.” She gasped as soon as the last word left her mouth. Oh God, had she really said that out loud? What had happened to her inner coward? Her teeth clamped down on her lips until they tingled.

David chuckled and stroked her arm. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get in your bed.” Clasping her to his side, he ushered her from the kitchen. “We’ll be bugging out before you’re recovered enough to reissue the invitation. Our future will start on the hard ground so enjoy the comfy mattress, while you can.”

Mavis blinked. He’d actually thought about them together? Her skin tingled. She remembered this feeling enough to know that the pins and needles had nothing to do with the fever. Thank God, he’d said the words first. She felt him tense. Good grief. She’d been silent for too long. Had he taken it as a rejection? “I—”

He steered her down the hallway. “I know. I’ve shocked you with my plain language. I just wanted to let you know my intentions, in case you were entertaining…other offers.”

Other offers? Laughter bubbled against her lips. “I’m forty-two, not twenty-two.” Things have sagged, shifted and been marked by time. Her cheeks heated. Christ, she’d have to make sure there wasn’t a full moon or any direct lighting when he got her naked. “There’s not exactly a line of men waiting at my footboard.”

“Good.” He stopped on the threshold but pushed her inside. “I’ll see that it stays that way.”

Her stomach did a funny dance. He actually wanted her. Physically. At her age… Her thoughts diverted onto a tangent. At her age sleeping on the ground wasn’t comfortable. She turned on her heel and faced him. As long as they were being honest… “I was going to say that I have a blow up mattress in my trunk. It’s queen-sized.”

“You’re my kind of woman, Mavis Spanner.” In the glow of her battery-powered alarm clock, he winked before setting the water bottle onto her dresser. “Now get some sleep, rest and plenty of fluids. That’s an order.”

She shook her head. She must be recovering if she could flirt. Flirting? At her age? Who knew she had it in her? Peeling back the covers, she sat on the bed. “I don’t take orders, Sergeant Major. I give them.”

Crossing his arms over his bare chest, he propped a shoulder against the door jamb. “Is that a fact?”

“It is.” She swung her legs onto the cool sheet and shivered. Obviously, the flirting wasn’t a cure for what ailed her, more like cerebral diversion.

“Aunt Mavis?” Sunnie’s voice cracked on the last word.

“Sunnie? Are you all right?” Shoving aside the covers, she scrambled to her feet. Crap! She’d forgotten about Sunnie for a moment. God she was a horrible aunt. Her last surviving relative was sick, and she was flirting. Flirting, at her age! She was too sensible for such nonsense.

David stepped into hallway as she swept by. “I can see to her.”

“No!”

He reared back.

Mavis shook her head. Damn, she’d just set a new record: Flirt to shrew in zero seconds. He really was a good man. Too bad he was so darn distracting. “Thanks anyway.” She set her hand on his arm and felt the play of muscles under her palm. “You need to get some sleep. I can’t have my second-in-command getting sick.”

He nodded once then disappeared down the dark hall.

She bit her lip to keep from calling him back. He was a very big distraction.

Coughing erupted from her niece’s room.

“Sunnie?” Mavis ran the last eight feet. Her socks slipped across the wood floors as she rounded the corner.

A battery powered disk light shone on her niece. Sunnie held her blue handkerchief over her mouth with one hand and flashed her open palm at Mavis.

She dropped to the throw rug and crawled closer. As soon as the girl stopped coughing, she placed her hand on her forehead and felt the elevated temperature despite her own. “Your fever is back.”

Sunnie dragged the cloth over her mouth before falling back on her pillow. “I feel like I did when I had the Redaction.” She dragged in a breath. Air rattled in her chest. “Are you sure, I don’t have it?”

No. Mavis caught the word before it could escape. Her doubts would not be silenced so easily. They crowded her thoughts, taunting her.

“She’s sure it’s the Plague. There’s lots of it going around.” David stood in the doorway, tucking his shirt in his waistband. “I’ve sent for the Corpsman. He’ll be here in five.”

“But the coughing…” Sunnie groped the top of her desk until she found a lozenge. Her sleeve hooked three more and they dribbled onto the comforter.

“That’s normal.” But only for pneumonic plague. It shouldn’t have reached that stage, especially with the high doses of antibiotics. True, the medics were treating everyone with Cipro, usually assigned for Anthrax cases not Yersinia pestis , but it should still work. Except, antibiotics didn’t cure plague one hundred percent of the time. Please God, don’t let this be one of those times. She tucked a lock of hair behind Sunnie’s ear. “I’d like to check you over, okay?