A/N: Hi there! Kleinchen here, with my second Trek fic. :]

This was written for the reel_startrek community on LiveJournal.

This story is told in four parts. I'm not sure how soon updates will be but they will probably be a week apart max.

Warnings: This story contains swearing, some violence, and major character death.

Comments and critiques are greatly appreciated! Please enjoy.

Part One: The Hospital

The sun has just barely reached the highest part of the sky and it's gotten a little warm, but the beer is still a little less than lukewarm against Jim's lips, which is good because the car's air conditioning is busted and if it was warm he thinks he might just toss the whole crate of beers out the window in frustration. But it's not warm, so it's good and he looks out the window placidly, even though the landscape never really changes and it's not exactly the most interesting thing to look at. He's bored and wants to start humming or singing or something, but he doesn't because Bones will definitely snap at him to shut up if he does, that he can't drive over all the noise which is stupid because the freeway is like one straight line and it's not like it takes a lot of effort to drive in a straight damn line. But he hates it when Bones is irritated at him so he keeps quiet and instead busies himself by looking at the old paper map their route is scrawled on in red ink, Bones' chicken scratch writing invading most of Oregon and California and the Pacific Ocean, and a line drawn from San Francisco, where they started, to Riverside, Iowa, where they left not long ago to see if Jim's brother was still alive (they couldn't find him so probably not), then to the coast of Georgia, where they're headed.

"Where are we?" he asks, looking around, even though he knows most freeway signs have been torn down or have fallen apart by now.

"Middle of nowhere," Bones replied, his eyes never leaving the road, "Almost out of Iowa, getting close to Illinois, I think."

Jim looks back at the map, studies the spiderweb of lines – roads and freeways – spreading across the country and finds where they are in Iowa as Spock adds from the backseat,

"We passed the city of Mount Pleasant forty-seven minutes and fifteen seconds ago."

"Real pleasant," Bones snorted.

"I do not understand your statement, Leonard. It is impossible to judge whether or not it is truly a 'pleasant' place, as it claims, as we did not actually enter the city."

"Yeah, I'll show you pleasant."

"Leo," Nyota soothes from next to Spock, "Be nice." She reaches over and pats his shoulder and he darts his gaze away from the road for a brief moment to glance at her and smile slightly, crookedly, and replied,

"I'm being perfectly nice." Nyota laughs but does not reply, and he turns his attention back to the freeway.

"Hey," Jim says, pointing at the map, "If we get on the 74 then the 55 we'll get through Illinois faster."

"And that'll take us straight through St. Louis, Kentucky," Bones snaps, "No. You know the rules, Jim."

"Leo," Nyota says again, warningly, from the backseat and Bones shuts his mouth. Jim doesn't reply.

Yeah, he knows the rules. As if he couldn't know them after Bones repeated them ten thousand zillion times, their first day on the road, the day of their escape. He can still remember the blue sweater Bones wore that day, and how his face was clean-shaven and his hair only slightly tousled, in contrast to now, with stubble on every man's jaws because shaves were few and far between, and unkempt hair because they didn't have water to spare to wash it, all the water went to keep the car running and for drinking, nothing else.

"Stay away from the infected at all costs. That means stay out of populated places," he remembers Bones saying that first day, "Disinfect anything that could have been touched by an infected person. And the infected are dead, they can't be helped. You can't help them. You can't help them." He remembers Bones repeated that one the most – you can't help them – because he's a doctor and the thought of not helping someone is so foreign and so distasteful to him. Or, was, at least. Not so much anymore. It doesn't bother anyone anymore. Jim takes another sip of his beer, wondering how many are left.

"Leonard, it would be perfectly safe to travel through a city so long as the car is locked and we do not exit the automobile," Spock says, and Bones frowns.

"For the love of god," he growls, "Jim, get your boyfriend to shut up. Even if you have to make out with him to do it. Seriously." Jim flushes and he's sure Spock is starting to take on a green tinge of embarrassment too and he replies darkly,

"He's not my boyfriend, asshole. Shut up."

"Coulda fooled me."

"Shut up, Bones!"

"I can assure you that Jim and I are not in a romantic relationship."

"Thought Vulcans don't lie."

"I am not lying, Leonard."

"You sure about that, Spock?"

"I am one hundred percent certain."

"Only one hundred? Not two hundred? Not even one hundred and ten?"

"Your question is illogical, as there cannot mathematically be any percentage higher than one hundred percent."

"Oh my god," Nyota groans, tugging at her ponytail of long dark hair, "Leo, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were the one who was dating Spock." There is a moment of stunned silence, then Spock says in a monotone,

"Nyota, I am disappointed. That is the most illogical statement I have ever heard you say." And then Nyota and Jim erupt into laughter and even Bones chuckles half-heartedly, and even though Spock's expression doesn't change Jim can tell he's pleased with himself and he smiles at the Vulcan and Spock raises an eyebrow back. Okay, maybe Bones did have a reason to suspect – but still.

They are silent for a while after their chuckles die down. Nyota starts humming which makes Jim scowl because Bones never gets irritated when she sings, and he doesn't know if it's because he thinks she sings better than him (which is probably true) or the fact that they've been dating for what seems like forever and if he told her not to sing he wouldn't be getting any form of action for weeks (which is definitely true).

Then all of a sudden the car starts slowing and Jim looks questioningly at Bones, who is scowling at the road as he mutters,

"What the hell is that?"

Jim looks and he can tell right away what Bones is talking about. A blockage in the road has come into sight, too far away from them to be able to make out what it is, but hesitantly Bones speeds up again and after a moment they can tell it's another car, a green SUV that looks like one of those old Ford Expeditions. It's parked in the middle of the two-lane freeway so that nothing can pass on either side without off-roading, which is going to be a problem for them because while the (stolen) Mercedes is nice enough, they all know that it can't handle off-roading without some serious problems, especially in a terrain this bumpy. The roads are thrashed enough as it is.

They slow to a stop about twenty feet from the SUV and McCoy shifts in his seat, as if it'll somehow give him a better view of what is plainly in their faces. He moves as if he's about to get out of the car to investigate when a figure emerges from behind the car and starts to walk towards them.

"Masks on," he growls, "Jim, lock the doors." Jim fumbles to lock the car while pulling his ventilator mask over his mouth and nose with one hand, the slight pressure falling familiarly into place. His mask is decorated with a mouth full of pointed teeth, with the words "homoerotic love machine" scrawled above the set of fangs. Bones had added the "homo" part after Jim had decorated the doctor's once-plain mask with a frowning face complete with wrinkles, and Jim found it amusing rather than irritating the way Bones had hoped and he had added on the "-erotic love machine" part himself good-naturedly. He suspected Spock had played a part in the addition as well, because he had decorated Spock's mask the same day he had Bones' – Spock's was, of course, a straight line of a mouth with a speech bubble beneath it proclaiming "LOGIC!" Spock had been plenty irritated (in spite of his lack of expression – Jim just knew things sometimes) but, since they had no extra masks, he had to wear it anyway. Nyota was the only one with a mask that had not been sabotaged by the others – hers was decorated with a set of full kissy lips, colored in with red actual lipstick that they had found one day when they had raided an empty drugstore in hopes of food and had found that the cosmetics section was almost entirely untouched, unlike the rest of the store. She had laughed hysterically and scooped up handfuls of the stuff – Jim didn't see the point, nor did any of the other men, but she maintained that looking nice was always nice, even if there was no one but the three others to see her, and even though their clothes were all ragged and tattered and stained.

The figure stands now next to the driver's side door – he is an Asian male who looks around the same age as the four of them with messy hair and an oily face without a mask, and he peers at them with a look of desperation. Bones lowers his window as little as possible, only enough to allow sound to travel, and he says gruffly,

"What do you want?"

"Do you have any water you can spare?" the man asks without preamble, leaning down to look through the tiny crack in the window – Bones backs away slightly, "Any at all? We're just trying to get to Burlington, it's just a bit more down the freeway, but we ran out of water for the car and we don't know where to get anymore, it's the middle of nowhere out here."

"Who's 'we'?" Bones asks suspiciously.

"My friend and I," the man replies, "Please, we barely have enough water to drink as it is, all we need is enough to make it to Burlington."

The other three are preoccupied with the stranger, but Spock looks out the windshield to peer at the SUV in their way. He can make out the profile of another person – male, a slightly younger teen from the looks of it – with a mask on his face and a mop of curly hair falling in his eyes. The window is tinted dark but Spock can see fairly clearly that the other person is looking down at apparently nothing, then turns his face to look at the man speaking to them, and Spock can see his entire face clearly.

The mottled skin on the side of his face previously hidden sends warning bells howling in Spock's mind and he says quickly, loudly,

"There is an infected individual in their car."

"Shit!" McCoy hisses and he immediately starts backing up, tires squealing, and the man shouts after them, "Wait! Please, wait!" But they ignore his heartbroken pleas because everyone has learned to never doubt Spock's word or his superior eyesight.

Bones starts barreling forward again, swerving in a wide radius off the freeway and around the SUV. The little Mercedes rattles and groans in protest as they struggle over the rocky ground and Jim bumps his head repeatedly against the window, much to his irritation, but they manage to get back onto the freeway once they're past the SUV and they're screeching down the freeway again. Jim watches the Asian man in the rearview mirror running desperately after them for a few strides, an arm outstretched as if he can somehow will them back, then stumble to a stop and double over, hands on his knees and shoulders heaving in heavy breaths or gasps or maybe sobs, they're too far away for him to tell by now.

"Damn it all to hell," Bones is growling under his breath, "That asshole could have been infected too and there he was all up in the window – I'm disinfecting that damn thing the second we stop tonight. How much Clorox we got?"

"Seven gallons," Nyota replies, counting the jugs resting below her feet, "Plus maybe like a quart or so in this smaller bottle."

About a mile down the road the car starts groaning and leaning to one side and Bones swears,

"Are you shitting me?" The car slows to a stop and he gets out, slamming the door behind him, takes one look and howls in rage.

"The tire popped," he shouts, face reddening in fury, "That damn guy – now we've got a flat damn tire! I sure as hell hope that asshole's happy!" He punches the car in his anger but only succeeds in bruising his knuckles, and he stalks back into his seat, slamming the door again. He puts his face in his hands and groans.

"What are we gonna do now?" Jim asks unhappily, and he is answered with silence.

Finally Nyota says,

"We can go back to that guy, use their car."

"Of an infected? You got a death wish or something?" Bones growls, whirling around to glare at her.

"It may be our only option," she retorts defensively, scowling back at him, "Look, that car will be big enough for all of us. If we can negotiate with them I'm sure they'll let us use it. We can keep them in the back, in the trunk or whatever. It's an SUV, they'll fit. And we've got that plastic tarp or whatever, and duct tape. We could do it."

"I agree that this may be our only option," Spock says, and McCoy turns grumpily away from them.

In the end no one can think of any other plan and so they exit the car, carrying with them a gallon of water and three gallons of Clorox and the duct tape and tarp with plastic gloves on their hands, and they start walking down the way they came. It's only a mile or so and after about fifteen minutes of walking the green SUV comes into sight again.

"Masks on," Bones growls, and they pull their masks on before the Asian man spots them from where he's leaning against the car, his head lifted up to the gray sky as if searching for some deity, some being to show mercy to them. When he catches sight of them, he hesitates for a moment then starts walking slowly towards them. They reach him first.

"Look," Bones says angrily – he always seems to establish himself as their spokesperson, which everyone thinks is stupid because he's the least agreeable of the bunch but he does it anyway, "Our tire broke thanks to your damn roadblock here and we'll give you water for the car under one condition. We get to drive it. We'll drop you off in Burlington or wherever the hell you're wanting to go, and then it's ours. And you and your infected buddy in there have to stay in the back – the back back and no funny business." The stranger looks apprehensive and almost upset for all of five seconds, then a look of weary resignation dominates his features and he sighs,

"Okay."

"Get him out of the car," Bones replies, wasting no time, "Both of you go stand over there – way over there, mind you." The stranger goes and retrieves the other man from the car, helping him onto the ground. He's barely older than a boy with wide youthful blue eyes that stare at the group of four in a mixture of both hope and distrust and he pushes his curls out of his face as he and the Asian man stumble to the side of the road.

Bones starts pouring the water into the tank as the other three set to work on disinfecting the car. They dump Clorox over every seat, over the dashboard and the wheel and the glovebox while clearing out all the trash in the car, wiping down the windows and door handles on the inside and outside and even pour Clorox into the plush floor because nothing is safe if it's been touched by one of them.

Nyota leans over the back seat and sets up the tarp, creating a wall between them and the trunk with the plastic and the duct tape. The tarp is transparent so they can see clearly into the separate "room" of the car.

"What're your names?" Jim asks as he's disinfecting the back of the car.

"I'm Hikaru Sulu," the Asian man replies, "This is Pavel Chekov." The teenage boy looks at Jim with eyes almost as bright blue as his own and Jim cannot bring himself to return the gaze, because he knows he's looking into a dead person's eyes. The infected are already dead. You can't help them.

"I'm Jim Kirk," he replies, "The grumpy one's Leo McCoy. Spock is the Vulcan and Nyota Uhura is our lone source of estrogen. What're you going to Burlington for?"

"There was a radio broadcast," Hikaru says, "They're giving out vaccinations at the Burlington hospital. Some new drug that everyone has high hopes for."

There have been high hopes for every vaccination, Jim wants to say but doesn't, high hopes for every single one, and some of them have even made things worse and certainly none of them have made things better. But he keeps his mouth shut behind his fanged homoerotic love machine mask. Hikaru seems to notice the words adorning it but doesn't say anything even though Jim can tell he really wants to ask, and instead he peers at Pavel and Jim wonders if maybe they're gay and that's why they're traveling together but he doesn't ask because this Pavel kid doesn't look eighteen and Hikaru looks about his age which is twenty-four, so he doesn't want to know.

There's a gallon and a half left of the three gallons of Clorox they brought when they finish disinfecting and Hikaru and Pavel climb into the back. There's barely enough room for the both of them but they manage, Hikaru squeezing to give Pavel as much room as possible, not out of fear of infection but out of what looks like compassion and sadness, which no one comments on. They pile into the car in the same arrangement, Bones driving, Jim next to him, Spock behind Jim and Nyota behind Bones, and they drive the mile down to their busted car where it appears that, thankfully, no one has passed by and stolen everything, so they take all the water and Clorox and food and everything out of the Mercedes and pack it into the SUV, which really is an old Ford Expedition that's been fitted with a water turbine engine. There's a bit more room for everything now and Jim is glad because it was really cramped in the stolen Mercedes, not that he would have ever complained but he's thankful to have more room now. Spock huddles in a blanket because it's started getting cooler and it's cold for him even at noon when it's warmest. Jim feels bad for him because he gets so uncomfortably cold in the cool Earth climate from the smog and pollution that filters out the sun, but then he can't feel too bad for him because he's Vulcan and so he's practically immune to the horror that threatens the rest of them, which in turn makes him feel bad because Spock shouldn't be here, wouldn't be here if it weren't for the fact that Earth is entirely and completely quarantined by the Federation, no exceptions, not even for Vulcans. Or half-Vulcans. Or any other race for that matter. Jim starts feeling down with all these negative thoughts so his mind travels clear of Spock.

He can still remember clearly the day the Federation made a public announcement about the pandemic and the quarantine. It's been months since he's even seen a copy of the declaration – it's been over a year since the quarantine was put in place – but he can still recite it from memory.

The virus seizing the planet Earth is too great of a threat to be treated. In light of this, Earth is hereby quarantined until the threat is eradicated. Starfleet and United Federation of Planets headquarters are to be relocated to the Vulcan branches respectively, as Vulcan is the second-highest contributor and maintainer of both organizations. All shuttles leaving Earth are to immediately turn back and be disabled upon landing. All shuttles approaching Earth are to be grounded or turned back. Under no circumstances is any life form to breach Earth's atmosphere, whether leaving or entering, and there are no exceptions. The planet will be under careful, unmanned surveillance until the Federation deems the planet safe to return to. The Federation mourns this loss but hopes that the natives of Earth will understand the necessity of this action.

All hell had broken loose after that. The Federation president had committed suicide the next day, along with countless other government and Starfleet officials, and then everything had dissolved into anarchy. It was a marvel they had been able to stay alive this long. One year – one year since the breakout and already it was estimated that eighty-nine percent of Earth's population had perished, fallen to the disease that no one had a name for, that no one had to name because everyone knew exactly what it was. He remembers everything too clearly and wishes he didn't.

They pull over at about ten o'clock that night along the side of the freeway. Bones gets out of the car and he and Nyota kiss and stride off into the brush with a blanket and no one has to ask where they're going.

Jim eats half a can of cold condensed chicken noodle soup because getting a fire going is too much of a hassle and Bones would yell at him if he did, even though Spock is shivering in the backseat with two blankets wrapped around him. Jim hands him the remaining soup but he declines, saying he ate yesterday and does not require sustenance and even though Jim thinks that's bullshit he learned to stop arguing with the Vulcan long ago. So he finishes off the rest even though he's not that hungry, because there's no way to save food reliably and it's too precious to waste. He cracks open another beer, then climbs into the backseat with Spock because he can't bear how much he's shivering.

"Cold, huh?" he asks, settling himself next to the Vulcan. Spock nods once, quickly, his gaze flitting back and forth between Jim and the window. "Give me your hand. Let me warm you up a bit." Spock flushes – he always gets flustered when Jim asks, which is nothing compared to how mortified he had been the first time Jim had asked – but slowly pulls his hand out from the blankets and lets it rest palm up on the leather in the space between his body and Jim's.

It's a lucky thing Jim paid attention in xenobiology at Starfleet, he thinks, otherwise Spock would have been twice as cold twice as often because he knows the stoic Vulcan would never had brought it up. He trails his fingertips along Spock's hands, tracing patterns into the warm sensitive skin, letting his nails skitter feather-lightly down to his wrist, then scrape a little harder back up to his fingers. It's a good thing that, one, this is inconspicuous, and two, that Hikaru and Pavel are facing away from them as they eat uncooked instant noodles, because if anyone found out, Bones would be teasing him ten thousand times worse. And they weren't dating, they really weren't – they were just – best friends. And if that meant being bromantic during the day and making out with their hands to keep warm in the cold nights, well, they were okay with that and if Bones wasn't he'd just have to deal with it.

Spock projects faint amusement at Jim's thoughts through the link between their hands, but it's faint, which Jim knows is because his mind is a little, ah, preoccupied with other sensations at the moment. After another few moments of stroking and tracing patterns, Jim laces Spock's fingers with his own and gives a hearty squeeze which elicits a faintly-stifled moan from the Vulcan, who then says faintly,

"That is – sufficient."

"You're warm enough?"

"Yes," he replies, and he pulls his hand away, and Jim can see his face is flushed green and he's even sweating a little, which means a job well done. Spock takes a deep breath, steadying himself, and leans back into his seat and Jim takes another swig of his beer. He knows that even touching hands, much less abusing their... particular qualities just to keep warm, is a taboo that Spock normally would not have violated and even now feels a little uncomfortable about, but only a little and not enough to stop him, because they're stuck here on Earth probably until they die and so scandal and propriety and cultural norms mean nothing to either of them now.

Jim wasn't cold to begin with but he's feeling pleasantly warm now, which he assures himself is just a side-effect, a spillover, from their brief link through their hands and certainly not because seeing Spock turned on – by him – turned him on too. Definitely not.

He finishes his beer as Spock closes his eyes, probably to meditate, and Jim knows he wouldn't want to be bothered but he huddles closer to the Vulcan anyway and he doesn't push him away, so Jim snuggles right up next to the warm, blanket-enveloped body and he's so warm and comfortable next to him that he's asleep when Nyota and Leo come back to the car with their hair mussed and their faces covered in a faint sheen of sweat. They laugh at the sight and Leo retorts that they really are together, that they have to be and that Jim is just being stupid and stubborn as per usual. Jim is asleep and Spock is deep in meditation and so Nyota climbs into the front seat next to Leo and soon the car falls silent save for the sound of slumber-deep breathing.

The next day they reach the city of Burlington in the early afternoon, maybe as early as 11:30 but it's cloudier than usual today so Jim can't really tell. Leo drives quickly through the streets as if anxious they will be attacked or something, but the entire city is completely still and completely silent except for the noise of crows that gather in multitudes around abandoned dump trucks that read in bright yellow letters "DANGER: BIOHAZARDOUS MATERIAL" and as they pass one Jim can see the crows are tearing at thick black bags – body bags, and he looks away in revulsion. It must be some kind of sick ironic twist of fate that only humans are affected by the disease, because before it hit there were animal activists everywhere you looked and now all the people were dead and the animals are taking over. Too bad there weren't human activists, because maybe then someone would try and do something to save the few who were left.

After a few wrong turns and dead-end streets they make it to the hospital. It is just as quiet as the rest of the city, no cars in the parking lot and no people to be seen. "VACCINES GIVEN HERE" is spray painted on the concrete in front of the entrance. Bones parks the car and, studying the building suspiciously, he mutters,

"Something tells me this vaccine didn't quite work out."

From the back Hikaru taps against the plastic separating them and calls out, "Let us out." With a sigh Bones gets out of the car, as does Jim, with their masks and gloves on and they open the tailgate slightly then back away so Hikaru can get out.

"It looks like there's no one here," Bones says, and Hikaru frowns and replies,

"There has to be. I'm going inside." Jim glances at Bones, who looks back at him irritably, then sighs and says,

"We'll go with you. Let me grab my phaser." Bones walks back to the car and pulls his phaser from the glovebox and Jim follows him. Spock gets out of the car and says,

"I will go with you."

"We can't leave Pavel by himself," Hikaru said, looking back at the lone figure in the back of the car in worry.

"I'll stay with him," Nyota says before anyone else has a chance to reply. Bones scowls.

"Nyota," he says, but she cuts him off.

"It'll be fine, Leo," she assures him with a smile, and he looks at her hesitantly then finally acquiesces, and the four men head into the hospital with their masks and gloves and their single phaser.

The doors are unlocked but when they walk in the hallways are dark, which isn't entirely unexpected because electricity has been dodgy at best for a while. Hikaru looks about wildly, then says,

"I'm going to go look around. There has to be someone here."

"I'll go with you," Bones says, looking around suspiciously.

Jim begins to follow Bones but hesitates when he looks back and sees Spock has stopped in the doorway and is looking down another hallway. Spock only glances at him then starts to walk in the other direction and after a brief moment Jim calls,

"We're gonna go look over here, Bones."

"Be careful," comes the reply, and Jim hurries over to Spock. The Vulcan has found a row of commlinks and is fumbling with the first one, smashing frantically against the on button while holding the earpiece a little bit away from his pointed ear, because he doesn't have any disinfectant and he still worries that the Human part of him makes him more susceptible to the disease than others believe him to be and he's not taking any chances because that would be illogical.

The commlink doesn't work and he drops the earpiece and moves on to the next one, going through the same motions with the same results. There are ten in the row and by the time he has gotten to the fourth one Jim says,

"Spock, you know they're all broken."

"To make such an assumption is illogical," he replies distractedly and Jim steps closer to him.

"Who could you call even if they did work? Who could you call that would answer?"

"If there is any possible chance I could contact my mother I will take it without hesitation – "

"Spock."

" – because there is no concrete evidence that she is dead."

"Spock."

"She is not dead, Jim."

Jim doesn't say anything in reply, knowing he can't change the other man's mind because Spock's mother is the only family Spock has left and in spite of his professed lack of emotions Jim knows that Spock loves his mother more than anyone else in the universe – and he also knows he and his father are not on speaking terms and he wonders if his father regrets that now that he will never see his son or his wife again. It would be smarter of Spock to try and contact his father but he knows that the half-Vulcan is too illogically prideful to talk to him unless he contacts his son first which is impossible, so he doesn't say anything about that either. Instead Jim waits silently as Spock tries every single commlink and when he lets the final earpiece drop from his hand he stands in the corner of the hallway forlornly, looking somberly at the commlink he has just tried. Jim walks over to him and puts a hand on his shoulder.

"We're gonna get through this," he says vehemently, even though he doesn't quite believe it himself, "Everything's going to be alright in the end." Spock nods slightly once, not meeting his gaze, and Jim sighs. He reaches down and gives Spock's hand a gentle squeeze which causes the Vulcan to look sharply, questioningly at him because he has never done this before without a specific purpose, but he does not push him away so they hold hands for a moment before Jim continues, "Come on. We should go catch up with Bones."

Meanwhile Hikaru and Leo have scoured the first floor, checking every room which have all turned out to be empty and littered with trash. They make their way to the second floor in spite of Leo's trepidations and as they are walking up the stairway there is a flash of movement far down the hallway and Hikaru starts sprinting, leaving Leo shouting after him,

"Wait!"

They never quite catch up with whatever it was but it leads them to what appears to have been the cafeteria, but all the benches have been pushed aside to leave the middle of the room empty. There are lights set up around a large tent made of what appears to be shower curtains and bedsheets and even though the lights flicker continuously it's the most light they've seen in the building and even from a distance Hikaru can make out shapes moving from within the tent and so he races over to it, followed closely by Leo.

They realize what they have been chasing after is a child who clambers into the tent-like structure and Hikaru stumbles to a stop at the folds of plastic and sheets. They can hear murmurs from within and Leo leans over, breathing heavily and cursing.

"Hello?" Hikaru calls, tapping at the makeshift walls, "Hello?" After a moment there is a rustle and the curtain is pushed aside to reveal a man older than the two of them staring at them with weary eyes. His short brown hair is messy and his brown eyes are bloodshot and dull, but the mottled skin on his face is all they notice and they take a frantic step back. He simply stares at them questioningly and finally Hikaru manages,

"We're – we're here for the vaccines." The man lets out a breath that might have been a chuckle or a sigh and he replies,

"So were they." He gestures behind him where a group of children are sitting together in hospital gowns, a few of them with visibly mottled skin and a few without but all are eerily silent as if they know their fate. His accent is thick, some kind of European that neither Hikaru nor Leo can really place but Hikaru doesn't give it a second thought.

"Are you – are you a doctor?" Hikaru asks, and the man shakes his head.

"Me? No, I'm just Scotty, nothin' special. Just a lab technician. I only worked with the machines." He pauses and glances back at the children. "And I'm the only one left." Hikaru's face falls and he protests wildly,

"But – Scotty, right? But what about the vaccines – they said – they said..."

"They say a lot of things," the man, Scotty, sighs, "They don't mean anything."

"So they... the vaccines don't work?"

"Just prolong the death," Scotty murmurs, and he takes a step back into their makeshift home and reaches for a jug of what appears to be Kool-Aid if the opened drink mix packet next to it is any indication, and next to the drink mix packet is a white bag of some medical looking stuff. "Just make the suffering last longer."

"What's that?" Leo says, the first word he has said to the man, frowning at the white bag in consternation as Scotty begins to pour the liquid into small paper Dixie cups.

"Just a wee somethin' to help us sleep," Scotty murmurs, but his voice is thick not with his accent but with sorrow and terror and Leo knows the stuff is poisoned, "I'm sorry. Ye caught us right at snack time. Ye cannae stay here so I'll have to ask ye to leave."

"You can't do this," Leo says, "You can't kill them."

"I'm doin' them a favor," Scotty replies, his face twisting in desperation, "Ye cannae know how much worse that damned vaccine made it. At least they'll go out sleepin' peacefully instead of screamin' like their fam'lies." He visibly composes himself, sighing, and the children stare at him in silent, guarded curiosity. Hikaru looks away, a look of utter heartbreak falling over his features. "I'm sorry I cannae help ye." And with that he pulls the curtain in place and they are shrouded once again, reduced to dim shadows against the white fabric.

Hikaru and Leo stand there for a long moment, then Leo turns and says softly,

"Let's get out of here." He starts to walk away and after a while Hikaru follows him silently, eyes wide, expression stricken.

They run into Jim and Spock on the stairs.

"Well?" Jim asks.

"No one was here," Bones says quickly before Hikaru can say anything, and they believe him because Hikaru's expression is enough to make them believe it.

Nyota is sitting quietly in the backseat when the boy, Pavel, taps at the plastic separating them and says faintly,

"You are Nyota, da?" Nyota turns around and smiles hesitantly at him – she resists the urge to pull on her mask even though the plastic separates them and Pavel is wearing a mask, as well.

"That's me," she said, "And you're Pavel." The boy's eyes crinkle in what is probably a smile and he replies,

"I am sorry for the inconvenience ve haf been."

"Oh, no. It's alright. I think Leo is the only one who's bothered," she replies with a halfhearted smile.

"I am wery sorry," Pavel repeats, and Nyota waves it away.

"Don't be," she says, and, peering into his baby blue eyes, she asks, "How old are you?"

"Sewenteen," he replies.

"Seventeen," she breaths, her heart breaking, "I'm so sorry." He shrugs it off.

"Is nothing to be sorry over," he says, "I am lucky, in a vay. I outliwed the rest of my family." But his eyes look away and she knows that it is not a lucky thing he has outlived them. "And I hawe Hikaru to look out for me in meantime. Is not so bad a thing, to die with friends, da?"

Nyota is about to reply sadly when Pavel starts coughing, choking over his words, and in a panic he reaches for the respirator on the wall and he can't get it off, his hands fumbling, and his coughing intensifies and he can't even use his hands, his body is being wracked so violently. Nyota panics, and she wants to help but is terrified but she pulls her mask quickly over her face, unable to fumble with the strings and so she simply holds it in place with one hand, thankful the gloves are still on her hands, and she pulls the plastic down, tugging at the duct tape until it relents. She reaches over his shuddering, coughing frame and loosens the respirator – and, after a moment of hesitation, she pulls down his mask, dropping her own in the process, which she knows isn't smart but he sounds like he's dying and she can't stand it.

Before she can get the respirator to his mouth he's coughing up blood and splatters of it mar her face and when the respirator is finally on his mouth, his nose, and he's breath heavily, she shakily wipes it away, because now that the adrenalin of the panic she was in has faded she knows she has made a horrible mistake and it's going to cost her her life. She's breathed in his air without a mask and his blood was on her and he's staring at her now, wide-eyed as if he knows exactly that he has sentenced her to death and he chokes out from beneath the respirator,

"I'm sorry." She shakes her head, struggling to regain her thoughts, when she hears the hospital doors opening in the distance and in a panic she puts the plastic back in place, and Pavel turns away from her and puts the respirator away – they seem to have some unspoken understanding that this won't be mentioned – and she's sitting quietly in her seat, just the way she had been before, when the four men return to the car.

"Well?" she asks hesitantly, hopefully, until she sees Hikaru's face as he walks past her, straight to Pavel.

"No one was there," Leo says quietly, watching Hikaru guardedly, "The vaccine must not have worked."

"Oh no," she breaths, and Leo walks away from her to join Hikaru who is in front of Pavel, with Jim and Spock observing them from a few steps away.

"Are there vaccines?" Pavel asks, his eyes pleading with Hikaru who looks away in guilt and despair and says slowly,

"No." Pavel lowers his gaze and replies faintly,

"Oh."

"I'm sorry," Jim says gently, brows furrowed, and Hikaru shakes his head. Suddenly Pavel looks up.

"Hikaru," he says, "I haf to use restroom."

"One or two?"

"One," Pavel replies, shifting uncomfortably. Hikaru looks at Leo nervously because he knows, he knows that if the opportunity arises they will leave without them, without a second thought, so he asks,

"There are some bushes over there. Can you walk by yourself?" Pavel looks at him uncomprehendingly in confusion and replies,

"I... I vill try." Hikaru helps him get down, out of the car, and the other three men back away considerably. Pavel takes a few unsteady steps before he stumbles and falls to his knees and Hikaru rushes to his side.

"Okay," he says, helping him up, "Okay. I'll help you. It's okay. I'll help. You did good, I'm proud of you." He looks back at Leo one last time, his expression pleading silently with him, before he starts walking further down the parking lot, holding Pavel up.

"Get in the car," Leo says tonelessly, turning away from the pair.

"Bones," Jim begins to protests, and Bones cuts him off,

"Get in the damn car, Jim. We're leaving."

Pavel and Hikaru can both hear the car starting, and Hikaru's features twist in anguish as Pavel looks behind them wildly, panic skittering over his face, and he struggles to turn around even as Hikaru continues walking forward.

"Hikaru," he says desperately, "Hikaru, they're leaving!"

"I know," Hikaru chokes out, fighting against tears, "Come on. Let's find someplace nice to sit."

"I'm sorry," Pavel says, tears spilling over his mottled cheeks, "I'm so sorry, Hikaru. You should be with them. It's my fault, I'm sorry."

"Hey," Hikaru replies, his tone stern in spite of his own tears, "None of that. I would never leave you behind, Pasha. If I have to die... I'd rather die with you."

"I'm sorry," Pavel sobs, shaking his head, "I'm sorry."

When the men pile into the car and the engine starts, Nyota looks about wildly and says,

"What's going on?"

"We're leaving," Bones replies tonelessly.

"What? Leo, we can't leave them!"

"Maybe you guys forgot the goddamn rules!" Bones shouts, slamming a hand on the steering wheel as they pull out of the parking lot, "I didn't even want to help them in the first place. They're infected and they're going to die. We can't help them. We can't help them, god dammit! The only thing you can do with infected people is leave them to die."

Nyota turns away and sobs and everyone assumes it's because she's too soft to deal with this because it's not easy for any of them. No one imagines her tears could possibly be because she knows that, soon, she will be left behind too, and her tears are not those of sorrow but of terror.