Unresponsive - Tumblr Posts

@febuwhump prompt: unresponsive

***

She went from a hysteria so absurd sounding that Spike was convinced she was performing some sort of dramatic scene to full out collapse so swiftly he had no chance to make a dive to try and catch her.

It was just like with Jet, though Spike had privately worried that it was his concoction that had laid out the other man so abruptly. Here was proof that something more dire was afoot... an angry purplish blotch marring a good portion of Faye's right calf, so similar in color and shape to the mark on the back of Jet's neck.

He collected her into his arms, tender despite her unresponsiveness, and merely held her for a moment. Faye was so prickly when conscious, so standoffish physically despite the sexual allure she fairly radiated. The only exceptions were when she chose to initiate contact, brief flares of her hands on his shoulders or the whisper of their fingers sliding against each other when trading off cigarettes.

Her breathing was shallow but steady, the same again as Jet. But, Jet had briefly regained consciousness... Faye was exhibiting no sign of waking. It made him nervous. Faye's body had put up even less of a fight against the internal assault her immune system must be undergoing. Clearly whatever had... attacked? infected?... whatever had happened to Jet had claimed another unsuspecting victim.

Who would be next?

A flash of fear shot through him as he remembered Ed donning the heat seeking googles and taking off impulsively not long ago. She was so thin, so young... what would happen if she suffered the same fate as Jet and Faye?

Carefully hoisting Faye aloft in his arms, Spike considered bringing her to her bedroom but immediately dismissed that idea. What if she came to and needed help? What if she stopped breathing and no one was around to notice? His heart tightened at the thought of something happening that would forever quiet Faye's acerbic wit and smartass mouth.

Well, considering how deeply unconscious she seemed to be...

"Faye... I'll take my chances dicing with you... we can play a private game and I'll even let you win all my clothes if you think you can beat me without that anklet." He kept a sharp eye on her face as he spoke but not even the suggestion of shaming him or the prospect of a true challenge roused her. Faye was frighteningly unresponsive.

In that case, she wouldn't be entirely uncomfortable if he made her a bed on top of the coffee table. The chair was far too small and the couch was occupied already by Jet's comatose form.

It was a bit difficult, though ultimately manageable, to situate a blanket on top of the metal surface while still cradling Faye's dead weight - that absent thought made him shudder and he shook his head fiercely to dismiss it. She was breathing, she would be fine. Jet too... he would recover from whatever this was as well.

Gently he lifted Faye's head to put a folded up towel beneath as a sort of pillow. And then he turned his back on his ailing shipmates.

There was another crewmate at risk still. Well, two counting the dog which Spike did. There was no time to stand over these two worrying about what the future would hold. Besides, finding Ed would be the first step in figuring out a type of cure. The kid was brilliant, surely she could sort out how to help the others.

Capturing or eliminating the enemy was important as well - what if they needed to dissect the damn thing to discover how to thwart the potential poison or whatever was running amuck in their systems?

So the only answer was to get his shit together and go searching for the errant pair and the... whatever the fuck... was responsible for knocking out two of the toughest people he knew.