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2020-11-04
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Plague

Summary:

While in the Army, James Ellison discovered special enhanced senses. He can hear, see, smell, touch, and taste better than anyone. He is The Sentinel.
NOTE: Sentinel and related characters are tm and © Pet Fly Productions. No infringement of copyright is intended.
classification : pre-slash
Rating: FRT-13 ˜ Fan Rated Suitable For Older Teenagers
This takes place about three episodes after "The Sentinel By Blair Sandburg." Yes I know the series ended with that episode, but I picked the time frame for a good reason!

Work Text:

Plague
by Broken Promise Productions

It's another beautiful say in Cascade, Washington. The sun greets the new day with brilliance and radiance into the infamous apartment at 852 Prospect. Jim naturally wakes up with sun; being a Sentinel certainly has its advantages. He woke up and proceeded to go downstairs to fix breakfast.

He goes over to the refrigerator and begins to look over his choices. He started to think to himself along the lines of wanting to find something new to eat. It was a rather odd thought for him, even though when he experimented with tongue he found out he liked it. After a little more thought, he decided to go with eggs.

The cracking and sizzling of the eggs (not to mention the smell of it) woke up Blair. He was very groggy and as he finally rolled himself out of bed, Jim was finishing up his quick breakfast. As Sandburg was "moseying" out of his room, he saw the morning news.

"Our top story this morning is a new illness sweeping through Cascade. Medical authorities have yet to isolate it, but it seems to be similar in form to bacteria. The first symptom of this disease is light-headedness followed almost immediately by fainting. You are urged to call emergency services if such an event begins to happen to you or someone you know."

"Hey Jim," Blair said, "did you hear that?"

"Yeah, it sounds nasty."

"Have you been called in about it yet?"

"What can I be called in for, Chief? Someone gets sick and the hospitals handle it, not the police. We do need to get going though."

"I guess you're right, Jim."

With that, they got their coats on and got out of the door. Going down the stairs, Blair could only think about this new disease. What if Jim got infected by it? Would his Sentinel abilities overcome this? He couldn't stop thinking about the notion of losing his best friend. By the time he could finally get himself composed, the both of them were already at the Sweet Sixty-Nine.

They got in and drove to the police station. Along the way, they noticed about twenty people fainting. Whatever this virus or bacteria or whatever is, it was starting to get pretty serious. When they arrived they were greeted by Megan Connor. She's usually in a cheerful mood, but the news of this new disease has apparently gotten all of her attention also.

"Jim, Sandy, thank God! I saw ten people fainting from this disease and I was worried that--"

"Relax," Blair replied, "we're just fine."

"Yeah, we're fine. You said you saw ten people faint, right?"

"Yes, Jim. Why do you ask?"

"We saw about twenty. Whatever this thing is, it's taken a foothold."

"Anyway, I got the two of you breakfast. I figured at least Sandy would need it."

"Megan, I am a heavy sleeper."

"I know, Sandy. Jim complained about it to me one day." Just then, Inspector Megan Connor sneezed; she tried to cover her mouth, but it was a little too late as some it went in Blair's direction. "I'm sorry, Sandy. I tried to cover my mouth, but I was a little late."

"Don't worry about it. All my clothes can use some spit now and then."

"Look," Jim interrupted, "if there's a disease out here, shouldn't we be inside?"

With that, they went inside the precinct. Megan was able to squeeze herself into a full elevator car. Jim and Blair decided to wait for the next car to come down. During this time, the two of them got into yet another heated conversation about Ms. Connor.

"Sandy," Jim said, mocking Megan's voice and accent, "I brought you breakfast. I sneezed on you. I love you but I refuse to admit it to you."

"Jim, shut up. I can't help it if she finds me cute."

"Cute isn't the word for it. Try helpless."

"Okay then Jim, what would it be if she liked you?"

"Then it would be that she found me cute."

"There you go again! Double standards!"

"Chief, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm cute and you're helpless. There really isn't any debate there."

"You know, you can be really conceited when you want to be."

Just then, the next elevator car finally came down. It was running very slowly for some odd reason; it always does when they fight. They hopped into the elevator and went to the Major Crimes floor.

On the floor, Simon was trying to calm everyone down. Considering it was Simon who was doing this, he wasn't doing a good job at it. "Look, I don't care if there is a disease out there or if God himself is ending the Earth. You have a job to do, so get to it!"

"Simon?"

"Connor, not now!"

"I wanted to tell you that Jim and Sandy are here now. They're not infected."

"Then maybe some work can be done. Everyone else here is scared of their own shadows!"

As Sentinel and Guide went into Major crimes, the only thing Jim could hear, even with enhanced senses, was talk about the disease. He could hear Rafe very clearly saying that anyone could have it and nobody would know until it was too late. Jim was getting sick of hearing talk about this plague; he went into Simon's office, the last bastion of non-plague talk or so he hoped. Blair followed like a lost puppy dog.

"Jim," Simon said as the two of them entered, "I can't even get people to write parking tickets, much less tackle a major crime. My officers won't even get out of their homes."

"Nice to see you too, Simon," Blair remarked.

"Shut up, Sandburg!" Clearly, Simon was not in his usual grumpy mood but rather in an extra special grumpy mood. "The hospitals have been filled up and the Mayor has already declared a state of emergency."

"Which means we should be out patrolling, not sitting here," Jim said.

"Exactly, so go do your damn job! Maybe you'll motivate the others!"

With that they exited the office and into the floor of Major Crimes. Megan immediately greeted them. "I could hear Simon from out here."

"Oh, yeah," Blair replied, "He's pretty mad in there."

"He's right though, we do need to be patrolling, not sit here. Maybe we could--" Megan stumbled a little bit.

"Megan, is everything all right?"

"Sandy, I feel dizzy." Immediately after she said that, she slipped into unconsciousness. She fell in a slump and the rest of the unit saw what happened; it shook them to the core.

"We're all going to die," Rafe said. The fear of the disease has conquered him entirely. The rest of the police department looked on in shock; Megan was the first officer to faint.

"Somebody get the EMT's in here," Jim barked. "NOW!"

They got on the horn and signaled for some medical help. Minutes later, they arrived, carrying off Megan to the hospital. Jim and Blair hurried into the truck and followed the ambulance to the hospital.

When they arrived, a doctor greeted them. "We're sorry," she said, "but we can't allow uninfected people in or out. It's too much of a risk."

"We're with the police. What can we do to help?" Jim was obviously worried about this plague scare now.

"Right now, keep the peace. We're working around the clock trying to find some kind of cure. It looks like it's manmade and it's unlike anything we've ever seen before. Almost ninety-nine percent of the people who come in here with it die from it."

"Wait," Blair said. "There's over four million people in Cascade. That means--"

"Only forty thousand or so will survive this," Jim finished.

"We're doing the best we can. I can assure you your friend will receive as much care as we can, but we've seen over three thousand people so far. Our morgue is filled! We've resorted to putting the dead in the hallways!"

"It's okay," Blair said, "I'm sure you can find a cure." With that comment, Jim and Blair left to go back to the police station. Blair couldn't think of Jim getting the illness any more, since it has already hit close to home with Connor.

"Jim," Blair said, his voice quivering a little, "Megan sneezed on me before she fainted. You don't think I contracted it, do you?"

"I-I don't know, Chief. She'll be okay. You'll be able to date her before she dies."

"You don't understand, Jim, it's just that--" Blair froze in mid-sentence. His eyes grew ever larger by the microsecond; there was something horribly wrong. "Jim," he asked, almost like a question. There was clearly worry in his voice.

"What is it, Chief?"

"Take me back there."

Blair then fainted in his seat. He was wearing his seat belt at the time, so he didn't slump forward; his head merely went down. Jim was equally shocked and worried; his Guide had this horrible disease and will die unless a cure is found. He whipped the truck around and drove like a madman to the hospital. He arrived in record time and after he stopped he opened his door and leapt out of the truck. He hurried to the other side, opened the door, and carried Sandburg into the hospital.

Inside, he found a truly horrifying sight. The hospital staff was working overtime to keep the pain down. The hallways were filled with bodies and the stench of rotting flesh filled Jim's lungs. He did his best to get Sandburg further into the hospital under such hideous conditions. Jim finally set Blair down in an empty hospital bed, which happened to be the same room that Megan Connor was in; such a coincidence was not uncommon in Cascade. Ellison then flagged down a nurse and informed her of the situation.

"Mr. Ellison," the nurse began after being informed, "we'll do the best we can for your partner. You will have to stay inside though. You may have the disease. Do you have any medical training?"

"Only some from the Army."

"Better than nothing. Suit up and I'll get you assigned to this wing."

Jim got dressed in the green uniform the nurses gave him and turned off the cell phone. He wasn't going to be able to get out of there to begin with and it may interfere with some of the machines. He did look nice in the outfit though; makes you want to get sick just so he'll take care of you. He immediately went into the room containing his Guide and Megan.

As he went in, Megan was slipping back into consciousness. "Jim," she asked, looking a little stunned because he was in a hospital uniform. She was very weak also from fighting this illness and so her speech pattern was very breathy at the time.

"Connor!" Jim was shocked to say the least. It was like one of those scenes when you see someone coming back from the dead.

"Jim, I can't feel my legs."

"Listen, everything is going to be all right. You'll get back to normal and we'll laugh about this over a beer."

"You don't have to lie about this." Clearly, Megan was not in the mood for this. "I know my time's almost up. I just didn't think it would happen like this."

"Look, I don't want to think about you or Sandburg dying from this right now."

"Sandy has it too?"

"Yeah. They're working on a cure as we speak."

"I hope this cure comes soon. Jim, if I don't make it, I want to tell you something."

"Anything."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for getting in the way."

"Connor, what do you mean? You've been a great asset to us."

"No, Jim, I mean personally. Between you and Blair. It doesn't take a Sentinel to figure out there's something going on there."

"Sandburg and I have never dated each other, if that's what you mean."

"But still, I've been...getting in the way...of your friendship...or whatever." With that, she slipped back into the dark caress of unconsciousness.

Jim hovered over the two of them all day, since he really couldn't do any police work. He kept thinking about Megan Connor's comments. Is it truly possible that there's something more than friendship between him and Blair? Why didn't he know of this to begin with or even thought about it? The sheer idea of having this quasi-semi-kinda-boyfriend like thing with Sandburg boggled his mind. Did it happen? Is it still happening? Most importantly, what does Blair think of all this?

Sandburg and Connor were admitted at ten in the morning and it was five in the afternoon now. On top of all that, an alarm sounded. A high pitched "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" emanated from the room, over on Megan's side.

Jim rushed over and began to administer CPR, not thinking of the after-effects of performing this. The hospital staff rushed in and took over rather quickly. Nothing seemed to help her; the piercing sound continued. They got out the paddles and after rubbing them together, began to administer the shocks. Again and again the shocks went into her, but it did not help. Megan Connor was dead at three minutes after five in the afternoon. Jim left the room, horrified at the event that just happened. It's truly a sad day in the police department when one of their own dies, but this time it was even more hideous. She couldn't even cling to life to begin with; the plague took all of her will. He decided to see if anyone else needed help.

On his way, he saw the hospital crew trying frantically to isolate the disease and figure out some kind of cure. He went in to see how well everything was going.

"We still can't truly know what the hell this thing is. It looks like nothing I've ever seen before," one researcher said.

"Well, we better find out soon! People out there are dying by the gross. The police departments have been turned into makeshift triage centers. Refrigerated trucks are being pulled into Cascade to hold the bodies," another replied hastily.

"Just how many are dead," Ellison asked.

The staff snapped around to see the stranger in their midst. "Right now, over thirty-five thousand. Who the hell are you?"

"My name's Jim Ellison. I'm a detective with the Cascade Police Department."

"And why are you here then?"

"My partner has this illness and I carried him in. I got quarantined."

"How did he get the illness? We're still trying to figure that out." The researchers were going to use everything at their disposal, including a stray detective.

"He really didn't do anything different. We both met someone who had the disease and she sneezed on him."

"Okay, so far you've proven our hypothesis that it's an airborne disease. Have you had any physical contact with a plague carrier since coming here."

"Only to perform CPR on Megan Connor."

"Mr. Ellison, we need to get a blood sample from you. You may have the plague now."

Jim got hooked up to a needle and gave some blood for the hospital researchers. They prepared a slide of Ellison's blood for closer inspection. Upon looking at the crimson substance, the researchers made an observation.

"Somehow," a female researcher said, "you seem to have a natural immunity to them. In all but one of the other slides, even minutes after being in contact with the disease, they multiplied by the billions. It's a very fast acting disease that targets the cardiovascular system. It first clogs up the main blood vessels with its waste, not allowing anything in or out. Then it moves to the heart, clogging it up so badly that it literally explodes. All of our autopsies have confirmed this, but so far, there is no cure."

"If I have this immunity to it, can you make a cure?"

"We've tried using the blood of someone who's immune already. Only one other has been found so far. Mr. Ellison, we're talking about immunity on a genetic level. It can't be transferred like that."

Jim left the lab stunned. There was nothing he could possibly do to save his partner. The Great Protector of Cascade can catch any criminal and bust any organization, but what can he do about something that is smaller that the width of one of his hairs? He went back to Blair's room, deciding to wait out the inevitable with his partner, friend, and possibly even lover.

When he got in, Sandburg was awake but still lying down in his bed, weak from the illness. "Jim," he began in the same breathy tone that marked Megan's last minutes, "why are you still here?"

"I have to be here. Quarantine rules."

"They found a cure for me, right? I mean, they wouldn't let me down, man."

Jim paused for a moment. Does he have the courage to tell him the truth and say he's going to die? Should he try to keep Blair's hopes up or crush them? He took Blair's hand and placed it in-between his stronger hands. Then, looking directly at Sandburg, he said, "They're working as fast as they can."

He lowered his head closer to his little Wolf and laid it right beside Sandburg, showing that even after all the tragedy they had been through these last few years, he cared very deeply about his Guide. He tried his best to keep Sandburg's spirits up in the face of death, trying to hold back tears at every possible moment. The main question is just how close have they become; Megan's final words still rang in Jim's head.

"Hey Jim," Blair began, "have you ever noticed how we've been a little...closer lately?"

"I was just thinking about that."

"Do you think we..." Blair couldn't finish that sentence; he drifted back into unconsciousness.

"Sandburg, don't do this to me." Jim was starting to lose it; there was no way he could handle Blair dying on him and not coming back. "Don't die on me, Babe. Come on, Blair, wake up! DON'T DIE ON ME!!!"

One of the other nurses saw this display and put her arms around Jim. "We've all had big losses," she said. "My father died in here and there was nothing I could do about it."

"It can't happen to him." Jim was almost in tears and right now anything would make him break down. "It can't."

"Let's go get some coffee. It's going to be a long night."

They went to the hospital cafeteria for some much needed drinks. During the break, a voice came in over the loudspeakers. "Jim Ellison, please come to the front desk. You have a phone call." He went to the desk and answered the phone.

"Yeah."

"Jim, it's Simon."

"Simon! I heard they have the sick in the stations now."

"It's a state of emergency. All but two of my officers have this disease. I figure it's only a matter of time before--"

"Simon, don't say that!"

"How's Megan and the kid?"

"Sandburg's holding on. Megan died a little after five o'clock."

"Oh God, no."

"It's a blood disease and they're working on it as fast as they can."

"I hope the cure comes soon. It's eight in the evening now and the freezer trucks are getting full."

"Simon, that wasn't funny."

"It wasn't meant to be."

Slowly, Jim hung up the phone, thinking of nothing more than Blair's health. Megan's death was already too much for him to bear; he may have not liked her all that much but she didn't deserve to die like this. If Blair would be a casualty of this disease, he'd spin out of control. He slowly walked back to Sandburg's hospital room. Along the way he could hear the people sobbing, praying, doing whatever they could to try and live against this plague. Jim was never a religious man though and he wished he had some spiritual guidance in this case. It isn't helping the religious though; the plague takes them regardless of religion.

There is no cure and Jim is facing the reality of his partner and Guide dead in front of his eyes. Can anyone truly take joy in making a plague that has decimated a city? He made it to Blair's room and stayed by his friend's side; they always told each other they would be there until the end. Neither of them thought the end would come so soon. He slumped over Sandburg and fell asleep. It was the only thing James Ellison could do to keep from thinking about his partner.

At about ten o'clock PM, Jim was forced to wake up. The doctor's were pushing him away from his Guide. He was resisting with every ounce of strength he had.

"NO! YOU CAN'T TAKE HIM AWAY! HE'S NOT DEAD! I WON'T LET YOU DO THIS TO HIM!"

"Please move away," the doctor said. "We have a cure!"

"How," Jim asked with equal shock and relief. "There is no cure."

"It's a drug cocktail. It's had tremendous success with everyone we've tried it on. We've sent the recipe to every triage center in town. The plague is over!" The doctors administered an IV drip to Sandburg. "He'll be fine now. You can go home and see him tomorrow. I'll bet my career that he'll be fine."

After hearing that, Jim slothed his way back into the truck and headed for the loft for a night of sleep. The most trying day of his life was over and his Guide was going to make it. He thought of Megan Connor and her death; it humbled him.

The next day, Jim went in to see his partner and the doctors were right; he was better. He rushed to see his guide and gave him a hug. It was a little bit hard though; the bed was a big hindrance and a lack of strength on Blair's part wasn't helping either.

"Jim," Blair began, "I'm fine. There's no need for all of this, man."

"Yes there is. Trust me on this one."

"Look, about yesterdayâ€"I guess what I was trying to say was that we're getting a little beyond friendship."

"Sandburg, we can talk about this another day. Right now, I just want to be with you."

end