PANOPLY OF FEAR
Chapter 10
Closer

"Lovers long for the moment when they are able to breathe forth their love for each other, to let their souls blend in a soft whisper." - Soren Kierkegaard

The medics laid Dave on the bed in the first aid room. He had a lump on his forehead and he was out cold, but his respiration and pulse were good, so it was just a matter of waiting for him to wake up. The medics checked out his injury and concluded that he passed out with the pain and knocked himself out when he fell. After a few minutes, he began to stir. The medic was on the phone to Morgan.

"He's just coming round now. We think he fell down stairs. Just hold on, he will be able to talk to you."

He checked, and Dave was pushing himself up onto his elbows, pushing the medic away, mumbling things like not wanting to stay lying down and to stop fussing. He swung his legs round and sat on the edge of the bed, and tried not to let them see that his head was spinning.

They were the experts though. They lifted his legs back onto the bed and made him lay down again. He pressed his lips together in annoyance, but he allowed it. He took the phone from the medic.

"The signal was cut off. We were following Hotch's phone GPS, and it suddenly stopped." Morgan said. "So at the moment we are parked at the side of the road, hoping Garcia will be able to extrapolate something from the information we have so far."

"Has she got a list of possible sites?" Dave asked.

"Yes, she's working out a route for us to cover as many as possible." Dave heard him sigh. "We are so close. If we can get Fair quickly, we're hoping to stop any more outbreaks."

"I'm going to try and take a look round for the source of the infection as soon as I can get on my feet."

"I think we've found the source." Morgan said. "A pre school club, where Fair's sister volunteers, was the place where Tisha went every morning. Chloe Fair hasn't gone in today."

"Do we have anything on the incubation time yet?"

"Anything between six and forty eight hours for this particular strain. It is only contagious in the bleeding and coughing phase. I think the school is clear."

Dave was about to say how good that news was, when one of the other medics ran into the first aid room.

"We have two more victims. Mr and Mrs Breno. Tisha's parents."

-0-0-0-

Reid looked up at Edward Fair who had just stamped on the phone. He didn't say anything. Nothing really mattered now. Aaron was dying in his arms, he was infected by his blood, and so he really had nothing he wanted to say.

Fair didn't say anything either. He swung his fist into Spencer's temple and sent him reeling on the floor. But he kept his grip on Hotch. There was no way he would not fight to make his last minutes of life as comfortable as he could. Reid was holding Aaron, lying on the floor.

"I'm still here, Aaron. It's ok."

"It's not ok!" yelled Fair. He pushed his fingers into Reid's hair and lifted him off the floor. Reid looked at his face for the first time and saw that he was breathing air from a tank on his back. Reid was now standing in front of Fair. Aaron was still lying on the floor in smears of his own thick dark blood, and the same blood was on Reid's clothes and skin. There was no doubt in his mind that he was now going to die in the same way as Aaron. His last best hope had been that phone. Reid raised his hands and fought to remove the man's fingers from his hair. Fair let go and stepped back.

"OK, fag! Cuddle him all you want. And when he's dead it will be your turn to try the serum. We will be able to see if it works post infection."

Fair kicked Spencer's knee and he fell to the floor. He looked back up in defiance.

"They will find us, you know. Dead or alive, but they will find us." He said. "And you will be tried and convicted of murder."

Fair smiled.

"Doubt it. They are way too busy." He said. "I need to examine Hotchner now. Let go of him."

He wrenched Reid's hands from Aaron, and pulled Aaron away from him. He pulled the man's limbs straight, and Reid gasped as Aaron screamed as his muscles were stretched from the cramped position they were still in. Bloody tears burst forth from his once beautiful eyes. Blood ran in gouts from his ears and nose, and he coughed blood from his diseased lungs. Reid could see blood soaking the floor beneath his hips and he was saturated with blood from his waist to his knees.

Aaron attempted to open his eyes, but even with them open the blood leaking into his eyes stopped him from seeing.

Fair cut the rest of Aaron's clothes off and turned him over. He took measurements of vital signs and wrote the results down.

"Stinking fag!" He kicked Aaron in the stomach and went to the lab bench across the room and began to work. Aaron groaned softly and coughed blood and tissue onto the floor. Reid crawled to him through the mess on the floor and lay down next to him. He drew Aaron close again, and sat with him. With one arm around him and the other on the back of his head he rocked him and pushed his fingers through his bloody matted hair.

"Keep breathing for me, Hotch. Just keep alive and stay with me..."

And he couldn't say any more because his sobbing was preventing him from speaking coherently. Aaron sighed and pressed his face against Reid's neck.

"Tell... Emily..."

"Tell her what? Hotch, tell her what?"

But Hotch didn't say anything else. Reid felt Aaron's eyelashes flutter against his skin and it made him cry.

-0-0-0-

Emily fidgeted in the passenger's seat, waiting for Garcia to get back. They couldn't be sure that Edward Fair had Aaron, or what he was doing to him. But she was thinking, like Rossi, that he was being used for testing the virus. She had not seen anyone die of it, but she had read the information that had been provided, and she shook inside when she thought Aaron could be dying from it right now.

"Morgan, don't let's sit here, please, there must be some..."

Her phone rang. Garcia was back.

"I've worked out a route for you, downloading it now into your navigation system

"Ok," Morgan said. "Let's go."

He slammed the car into gear and they moved off.

Garcia said there were only two rental places, and they were to the north of Quantico. So they were looking for somewhere disused. They followed her guidance, and before too long they were pulling up outside a high wire fence with 'KEEP OUT' on the gate.

Emily was out of the car almost before it stopped.

-0-0-0-

"Enough of that." Fair said. "Get away from him now."

Reid didn't move. Fair pulled Aaron away by his hair, yanking back his head. Reid let go. It sickened him what this man was doing to Hotch.

"Ok, ok, I'll get away." Reid yelled. "Stop hurting him!"

"He's of no use now." He said. "The vaccine obviously failed. Now I need to see if it works as a cure."

Spencer sat on the floor and looked at Hotch. Hotch opened his eyes and stared back at Reid, and Reid felt he was seeing deep into Aaron's soul. He could see the spark there still, that spark that had enabled Hotch to cling to life in the most horrific circumstances in the past. Spencer prayed that the spark was enough this time to ignite that determination that was uniquely Hotchner. In the midst of this silent communication, Fair stuck a syringe of vaccine in to Reid's arm. Fair took hold of him and pulled him back to the pillar. This time he didn't use plastic. He used Reid's own cuffs. And Hotchner's on his ankles. He didn't do anything with Hotch. In his eyes, he was dead.

"I need you still for this. You should have been in the cage, but you have destroyed that. So, I will be back later to check the progression of the disease.

He took some base line measurements – temperature, pulse, respiration - and left. Reid heard the padlock snap home, and he was alone again with Aaron and his pain.

"Aaron, Can you hear me?"

Reid watched his friend carefully. He saw Aaron flex his fingers.

"Stay with me, Aaron. Morgan and Rossi will be here soon. They won't leave us."

Aaron rolled onto his side and drew his knees up. He looked at Reid and struggled to speak.

"They won't leave us. I can promise you that."

Aaron blinked as more blood flowed from his bleeding eyes. Reid didn't know if he was crying, or whether it was just blood. He kept reminding himself of the ten percent survival rate. But he never read anything about how sick those survivors got. Hotch had organ damage he was sure. The blood had to be coming from somewhere, and when Aaron coughed blood, it was mixed with tissue.

Aaron stretched out his hand to Reid, trembling fingers inches from him, but he couldn't reach for him, his hands in shackles behind him, and his feet cuffed.

"I can't reach you, Aaron. I am so sorry!"

Using both hands, Aaron dragged himself through the blood towards Reid.

Reid will die now because of me. I want to be touching him...want to show him he is not alone...

Very slowly, Aaron moved closer to Reid. Reid was not watching; he had his head back and his eyes closed. He looked down when he felt Aaron touching his leg. Gently Aaron rested his head on Reid's lap, and slowly slipped into a pain free unconscious bliss

-0-0-0-

With help, Dave sat up on the bed. "Tell me about Tisha's parents. Where have they been since they started symptoms?"

"They have been alone in one of the offices. They didn't mix with anyone."

"That's good. It's spread by droplet. If they have been isolated, then we shouldn't get any more casualties."

"So they were infected last night?"

"Yes, so it shouldn't stop the quarantine from ending. We will have to wait though. It is the CDC's call, not mine, I'm glad to say." He tried to get up. "I need to address everyone. I need to organise the evening and night for them, and have food brought in."

"I'll do that." Adejua said. He had just come into the room. "I thought of putting a film on for the kids, and getting some take away food. They can sleep in their classrooms, boys and girls separate. There are enough empty rooms. I'll ask for bedding for everyone."

"Sounds good." Rossi said. "It might be best to use the PA."

"Yes. I'll go and start sorting it now." Adejua left the first aid room, glad at being given a task to do. When this hit the papers, and they wanted a hero, he decided that it would be him, not some dego Fed.

-0-0-0-

Emily and Morgan ran back to the car. That one was a waste of time. It was derelict and falling down in places. It wouldn't be safe to work there.

"Ok, where's the next possible?"

"Five miles." Morgan said, gunning the engine. He reached out and touched Emily's arm. "It's ok, Emily. We'll find him."

"Sorry?"

"Hotch. We'll find him for you."

"How...What makes you...erm... ?"

"I'm a profiler, Emily. I've seen the way you look at him. But I'm also sure that Hotch hasn't got a clue, and thinks that you and The Kid are an item. He might be a top profiler, but he can't profile himself!"

"Me and Reid? Why on earth... ?"

"He sees you spending time with him. But that's because you are both in love with him. Am I right?"

Emily nodded. "No wonder you are on the team!"

"Here's the next place." Morgan said, driving into a car park.