The next morning Jemma and Skye decided to explore the ship, perhaps start a few casual conversations with the passengers to see if anyone had seen anything that was out of the ordinary.
By the pool they met a couple with two young children who were splashing in the shallow water while their parents soaked in the sunshine. Both Jemma and Skye wore swimsuits to fit in, however Jemma didn't think she was ready to go into the pool just yet so she dipped her feet in and chatted with the parents while Skye dodged the older child's cannon balls. The spray of water felt nice on her hot skin but not nice enough to tempt her into it.
They were an ordinary pair, except that the women seemed unusually forgetful.
"Doesn't miss a thing at home," her husband teased affectionately, " but as soon as we take some time off her brain just shuts down."
"Bruno the brain is taking a vacation too," she chuckled and Jemma smiled at her.
They met up with a rather grumpy teenage girl named Madeline who was upset with her brother for catching a 'bug' (not a word Jemma would use) on their vacation and she crossly told them she'd kick his butt if he gave it to her.
A little boy named Max was scurrying around the ship unescorted and Skye and Jemma found out he was the captain's son when his mother let him into the control room for lunch.
They listened to a boat tour on an mp3 player provided by the cruise at a small stand, having a bit of fun on the side of gathering information. Skye had her own headphones but Jemma had to buy a pair from the vendor. They were expensive but cheaply made and the left one didn't work properly at first. She wished she'd thought to pack her own pair.
On the tour, a sweet older couple who introduced themselves as Alice and Derek offered them a look in the engine room later that day. Derek was an excellent photographer and claimed he could get them in by saying he 'worked for National Geographic.'
Jemma was uncomfortable with the lie and Skye had no interest in engines so they politely declined but did agree to meet them the next day and view the pictures they'd taken. Leo would have loved that, he probably would have gone with them even.
After the tour, they began a conversation with an older man named Oscar who was traveling with his adult son down on the second floor below deck, which had the dining hall as well as Leo and May's room. He was shaking his head and marveling at the fact that his son had forgotten the ending of Aliens.
"He's only seen it about forty times," he mused. "But he still kept asking me what was going to happen. Probably some joke I don't understand."
Skye was informing him that she didn't understand the joke either when Jemma noticed a teenage boy wandering dazedly through the hallway.
He was pale, his eyes glazed over and he stumbled towards them, about four rooms away.
Jemma left Skye and Oscar, still chatting, to see if he needed help.
"Hello," she greeted brightly. "Are you alright? You seem a little under the weather."
He grunted at her, and she noticed his mouth hung open and he was drooling slightly.
"What's your name?" She asked gently. "Are you lost?"
He screamed and tackled her against the wall, kneeing her in the stomach and knocking the breath out of her before trying to claw at her face. She managed to hold his arms back but he tried to bite her and she flinched, expecting to feel the the tearing pain of teeth in her flesh before something hit him hard from the side and ripped him away from her, spinning her around before she fell to her knees.
/-/-/
Leo sat beside May watching the screens and munching on spicey popcorn shrimp he'd taken up from the dinning hall (a full buffet all day!). Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and he was beginning to wonder if they had gotten the wrong cruise ship.
"Be patient," she instructed. "This is only the second day, we have no idea when they are planning to make the deal."
"Yeah, I guess that's true," he agreed, watching an elderly couple try to con their way into the engine room and debating whether that was funny or suspicious. It worked and they grinned at each other as they were led inside and took pictures of themselves beside the machinery. He decided on funny.
He heard Jemma and Skye talking to a man down the hall, through the door not the drones, they were close. They had been chatty all day he'd noticed, probably trying to get information from people. It was in stark contrast to Coulson and Trip who sat relaxing by the pool, likely exhausted from their night shift watching the drones. He really hoped they hadn't caught his and Jemma's late night meeting.
On the monitor he noticed Jemma approaching the teenage boy, Milo, he'd met the other day and wondered amusedly if he would warn her about the 'creeper' from the arcade.
Something was wrong though, he could tell from her body language that she was nervous and he heard the apprehension in her voice from just outside their door.
Without warning, Milo cried out and attacked her like some feral animal, slamming her against the wall and hitting her hard in the stomach.
"Jemma!" He shouted, bolting out the door and slamming into him, knocking him away from Jemma and falling to the floor on top of him.
Milo was a mass of raw, wild rage and he elbowed Leo in the gut before rolling over onto him and sinking his teeth deep into the place between his neck and his shoulder. He felt him tear painfully through his skin and down into the muscle and screamed, kicking and clawing at him to get him away but it only made him bite deeper.
There was the sound of a shot and Milo let go and collapsed onto him, still breathing. He turned his head hazily to see May holding an ICER and Jemma springing forward to push Milo off of him.
Skye and May restrained the boy and he was blearily aware of someone saying they should tie him up before he felt Jemma's hand on the side of his face and gazed up at her to see her examining his wound with wide, bright eyes.
"Is it bad," he asked weakly, feeling blood leaking down both sides of his shoulder and staining his shirt.
"Just try to relax," she soothed, stroking his cheek gently. "It isn't bleeding too much so he must have missed your major blood vessels."
"He bit me," he exclaimed, shocked. "He was fine yesterday and now he's... He's gone insane. What the hell is happening?" It hurt when he spoke and he grimaced as more blood spilled out of him.
"I don't know," she told him softly. "But you need to calm down."
"OK," he agreed shakily.
"Skye, go wash your hands and bring back some clean paper towels," she commanded.
"Is he OK?" She worried.
"He's fine," she smiled first at Skye then at him. "We just need to stop the bleeding."
Skye gave one last glance at the scene before darting down the hall past a bewildered looking older gentleman.
May had found some rope and was tying up Milo, Leo dreaded explaining this to his sister. What the hell had gotten into him? What if he had rabies? He hadn't thought humans went rabid like that from it, unless this had to do with the biological weapon...unless it was something new... Did this mean he had it now?
"Jemma," he squeaked, panicked again. "Do you think... Is that contagious?" he motioned towards Milo with his arm.
"Stop moving around," she said firmly but gently, taking his hand. "You're fine and when Skye comes back we'll get you good as new." She continued to rub the side of his face comfortingly. "Everything is going to be fine."
He was scared and he had no idea what was going on but he believed her and managed to relax, calmed by her presence and knowing she was taking care of him. At least she hadn't been hurt. If he had to do it over he'd still get bitten if it meant keeping her safe.
/-/-/
"Ow," Leo winced as she swabbed disinfectant over the bite. They were in the kitchen where she had access to water and sterile surfaces.
"I need to clean the wound," she told him apologetically. "The human mouth is filled with bacteria, you could get infected with Ekinella corrodins or Staphylococcus aureus..." She fussed. It was horribly deep, it must really hurt, and it had been so close to his carotid artery, another inch up his neck and... And if he got an infection they were far away from any hospital.
The radios were down and no one's cell phones were working, something was jamming up the signals. Trip and Coulson were trying to figure out what was going on and Leo would join them once she was finished.
The boat had turned around but it would still be almost two days until they reached shore and they were disappointingly underprepared for treating this sort of wound. She wasn't even sure the ship had antibiotics. And what if he was infected by the same thing Milo had?
"Why do you always have to be the hero?" she scolded, more frightened than angry. "Why do you always have to risk your life-"
"For you?" He finished irritably. "Hmm, let's think about that one for a minute shall we?" He grumbled, obviously put off by her tone. "Why would I want to save the life of the woman I love? That seems like an easy-"
"You know I didn't mean it that way," she interjected, narrowing her eyes and shaking her head at him. "And sit still," she snapped, fear making her impatient.
"Well sorry for squirming a bit when my neck is all shredded to pieces," he shot back. "And what did you mean exactly then?"
She opened her mouth to shoot back something but found she herself didn't really know what she'd meant. Why were they arguing? He needed her to take care of him and keep her head, he was probably frightened. Leo knew the dangers of human bites.
"I'm sorry," she sighed. "I'm not angry with you, you just... I just would really rather keep you."
"I know," he said softly, taking her hand. "I'm sorry if I scared you."
He smiled at her and she returned it fondly however her chest tightened at the thought of him getting sick. Of him losing that gorgeous smile and becoming the screaming, raging mess she'd seen in the hall.
Poor kid, she'd help him though. Milo would be fine. His sister had been a mess too, shouting at them and demanding to know what was wrong with her brother. But they had few answers. When he'd been unconscious, Jemma had taken a blood sample to examine when she was finished with Leo however all they knew for now was that the boy had a high fever and was attempting to attack anyone who got within a few feet of him. It was a good thing May had tied him up.
"Try to hold still for me, alright sweetheart?" she instructed, struggling to keep her voice from shaking as she took in the torn flesh again. "I know this hurts but it's almost over. You just need a few stitches. I'm going to numb the area and then sew you up, good as new. Hopefully it won't even leave a scar, unless you want a battle wound." she added jokingly and he chuckled. "You're being very brave, I just need you to hold still a tiny bit longer for me OK?"
"OK." He complied courageously and she kissed his forehead before continuing.
"Jemma...," he began anxiously after a minute. "Am I going to turn into a zombie?"
She almost laughed at the question except she realized he was being serious. Milo's illness admittedly could be some form of rabies-like virus but saying he might become a zombie seemed ridiculous. Milo wasn't dead, just... rabid.
He stared at her, eyes wide and scared. She finished the final stitch and took both his hands in her own.
"We have no idea what this is," she reminded him gently. "But you're going to be OK. Everyone is going to be fine because we are going to fix this. We don't even know how or if it spreads. It might not even be capable of being transmitted from person to person."
"But-" he tried to say however she cut him off.
"I don't want you panicking over something that probably isn't even going to happen." she insisted. "A few of the other passengers have come down with a fever and none of them were bitten. It could be completely unrelated, but if it is chances are it spreads some other way."
May and Skye were quarantining anyone with an elevated body temperature, just in case. She would join them after she was finished with the blood sample to examine the passengers. There was a doctor aboard, thankfully, who was already looking into it.
"Like how?" He asked but she shook her head as she taped a square of gauze over the injury because she had no answer. It could be anything, the food, the pool water, the bedding.
"You'll be fine," she said for what felt like the hundredth time and she wasn't sure which one of them she was trying to convince. "Now put on a clean shirt and let's go help the others."
She tossed him the shirt May had brought down but he didn't react quickly enough and it hit him in the face.
"Sorry!" She exclaimed, worried she'd hurt him but he grinned and balled it up before tossing it back at her.
"Careful," she laughed, catching it. "We don't want a repeat of the great laundry fight of 2006."
"It was 2005," he chuckled, coming up and wrapping his arms around her before kissing her.
"Was it?" She asked dazedly before they kissed again. It made her feel lightheaded and wonderful sparks shot through her.
There was a loud, low hum and the lights went out, leaving them in total darkness.
The engine must have stopped because it became eerily quiet before someone, somewhere started screaming.
/-/-/
Thanks for all the likes, reviews, reads and follows! You guys are raging awesome!
The Fringe reference is the older couple Alice and Derek. They are the couple from the third season episode 6B and in the show they really did trick people into letting them into places by saying Derek worked for National Geographic. Haha. They belong to the show's creators.
The laundry fight (really of 2005) is from notappeper's story Oh To Be Young and was super adorable! Thanks for letting me use it here!
So zombies, well sort of. But it may not be what you think exactly. Feel free to tell me your thoughts on the plot direction. Haha. The symptoms are inspired a lot by rabies plus Zombie movies.
Also this story occurs in between Blue Bumble Bees and Monster Goo. And Shapeshifters happens after all of them.
The potential bacterial infections are from a website on human bite hazards.