Quaranteam - Hebridean Hame

This is a story set in CorruptingPower's Quaranteam Universe. Permission has been given for me to write in this setting.

Thanks to AgathonWrites, The_Licentious_Laureate, RonanJWilkerson, 2Charlie and BronanTheLibrarian for their editing and story input. Any remaining mistakes are mine.

Thanks as well as to the other QT authors who contributed to editing, make useful suggestions and whose work I would recommend you check out:

BreakTheBar, AgathonWrites, BronanTheLibrarian, OtterlyMindblowing, SilverRyden, RonanJWilkerson, BirchesLoveBooks, The_Licentious_Laureate, DisquietCertitude, 32inch, Ranthoron, Percheron, EldritchMuppet and our newest writer - 2charlie.

This story, based in Scotland during the DuoHalo/Covid pandemic, is a slower burn story than most of the other QT series.

Constructive comments are always welcome!

---VI---

Quaranteam: Hebridean Hame, Chapter 6

Monday, 28th September 2020

Eilean Arthriagh, Inner Hebrides, Scotland

"What the actual fuck Callum?!" Mira all but shouted - the disbelief in her voice countered by the anger. "At least I can see why you didn't answer your bloody phone. You obviously had better people to do..."

Callum lay on his side, facing the wall and attempting to hide his exposed penis from the unexpected visitors. He desperately tried to pull up his trousers and tuck himself away. But while doing this, he also registered that Mira's comment sounded angry, sarcastic, and... hurt.

Catherine remained in the doorway, not saying a word, her eyes going between Sarah and Callum.

With his ears and face burning from embarrassment, Callum made himself presentable. He hauled himself to his knees, stripping his still-damp jacket off and using it in a belated attempt to preserve at least some of Sarah's modesty by draping it over her lower back. Though the gesture was far too late to conceal anything, it at least made him feel marginally better for having at least tried.

Catherine then cleared her throat. He might have expected to be asked who this person was or why they'd had sex in the hallway, but Catherine's thought process had gone a different route.

"Mr Scott, why is this woman covered in bruises?" Her clipped Edinburgh accent cut through the momentary silence, the accusatory nature of her question evident.

Mira's immediate response to hearing this was one of concern, her medical training and caring nature taking over. "She is? Let me see." She squeezed past the taller woman, entered the hallway, and moved straight towards the face-down, partially covered body lying on the hall floor.

"Miss, are you okay?" Catherine called to Sarah as she moved to let Mira past her.

Sarah gave no response but continued with her chorus of 'Imprinting'.

"She's unconscious, I think." Callum offered, "I don't know what's going on with her repeating that word, though."

"Who is she?" This time, the accusatory-sounding question came from Mira, who gave him a brief but scathing look as she knelt beside the unconscious woman. Callum recognised that she wasn't accusing him of the same thing Catherine was. There was jealousy and hurt behind her anger.

Catherine's eyes remained fixed on Callum, watching him closely.

"It's Sarah," he answered Mira without looking at her. Instead, he met Catherine's gaze and assumed Mira would remember their discussion from the other day. "She told me her husband was the one who hurt her. He's a fucking cop as well, from what I remember."

"Oh, fuck." Mira's quiet response came - the words covering a variety of emotions. Partially at who she knew Sarah was to him and partially at seeing Sarah's injuries up close.

"And who is 'Sarah'?" Catherine now looked between Callum and Mira, not having been present when Callum had spoken about his past.

Before Callum could respond, an unusually flat-sounding response came from Mira. "She's the woman he loves." The anger was still there, only now more heavily mixed with sadness. The words caused Callum to turn to face her.

"Mira... It's not... That's not..." Callum stammered as he tried to find a response, though even he was unsure what he was trying to say. Her answer wasn't wrong, but it wasn't correct either.

Mira shook her head but otherwise ignored him, leaning over Sarah to check her pulse and breathing.

Realising there was nothing he could say right now, Callum tore his attention away from Mira as she lifted a hand to rub her eyes, her attention still on Sarah. Turning to Catherine, he tried to give a more helpful answer. "Sarah is Rory and Agnes' daughter."

Behind him, Mira 'shushed', interrupting any further explanation.

She gently touched Sarah's upper arm and said calmly but clearly, "Hey Sarah, I'm Mira. I see you know Callum." The way Mira emphasised the word 'know' made him flinch slightly. "Do you mind if I check your injuries? I've had some medical training."

Sarah said 'Imprinting' a few more times, although this was starting to grow quieter. Otherwise, she did not indicate that she had heard Mira.

Mira shifted her attention back to Callum with a raised eyebrow and a questioning look.

"As soon as she... errr..." His embarrassed flush, which had started to fade, appeared again as he tried to find words to describe his sexual encounter.

"We heard her." Both Mira and Catherine responded simultaneously.

"We were already rushing over. Mira was concerned that you might be in trouble when you failed to respond to her messages. She put Alison to shame with how quickly she drove here. When we heard the scream, I believe the Quad went on its two rear wheels." continued Catherine.

"Nearly broke our fucking necks, only to find you were too busy fucking to fucking answer," Mira muttered while continuing to examine Sarah "instead of being murdered by some random stranger."

Callum grimaced slightly at those words before continuing. "I'm sorry, I hadn't much chance to check my phone. I didn't even know if my message had sent." he swallowed hard, not looking forward to the next part of his explanation. "After she... screamed... She just collapsed and started saying that word. I had to catch her, or else she'd just have dropped head first. She was acting erratically before, not her usual self. I mean, I've not seen her in a long time, but it was like she wasn't in control - like the need for sex was driving her. I'd go as far as to say she was acting unnaturally. I thought she might be on drugs." He paused, his eyes going to Sarah's lean-looking ribs and face. "I've never seen her so thin. That can be a sign of addiction, can't it?" Callum's voice was strained, and his concern for her was audible to both ladies.

Mira nodded but remained focused on Sarah.

"Might be. Could be." Mira answered under her breath. "Could be any number of things. Poor mental health, eating disorder. But it might also be that the bastard who was beating her told her she was fat. Or used food to control her."

Mira gently shook Sarah's undamaged left shoulder. With no response, she checked Sarah's pulse and breathing again and repeatedly asked her to wake up in the same professional tone, gradually raising her voice. As a final step, she nipped Sarah's earlobe lightly between her fingernails. Again, without any response.

"Sorry," She told the other two, "old habit. If she'd been faking for some reason, that would have caused her to react. If she were sleeping, it would have woken her."

With the basic checks done on Sarah, Mira sighed and leant back, taking a moment to remove her wet jacket and pass it to Callum to hang up. She then glanced between Callum and Catherine before addressing the still pale-looking woman who was only now starting to close the external door behind her and unzip her coat.

"Catherine, I'm going to examine her properly. She's not conscious, so she can't give consent, but we don't know what's going on, and medical treatment is in her best interests, given these visible injuries. Plus, we don't know if she'll need emergency care."

Catherine curtly nodded, accepting Mira's rationale. Callum cast a confused glance between the pair. The experienced solicitor removed her jacket and hung it by the door, then folded her arms and sighed as she noticed his look of confusion, apparently disappointed that he wasn't keeping up. "There are laws around consent. Mira checked with me before proceeding in case of any future comeback, although I do not expect there to be any. I may not be a medical professional, but I am a legal one. If this were to go to court - for example, your friend decided to press charges against whoever did this - these are issues the defence might raise. And Mira is no longer registered, so it is sensible for her to be cautious." She explained to him.

Mira was already looking over and examining with her hands some of the bruises visible on Sarah's ribs and back, carefully moving Sarah's head also to check her neck, pressing and checking bones and joints carefully.

"She is covered in bruises. Some of them are fresh - within the last day or so. Others are at least a week old, some even older. Bruises tend to heal after about two weeks." She pointed to some of the purple, black and blue marks. "These would have been within the last two days." She moved her hand to indicate some green and yellow bruises. "These are about a week old. From what I remember, they turn brown when they are over a week old."

Mira's statement caused Catherine to glance at Callum. She locked eyes with him again, but this time, a tiny tilt of her head signalled an apology for the earlier implied accusation. Catherine's following words weren't directed at anyone in particular. "So she was hurt elsewhere. She left that place and then returned somewhere she thought would be safe. Did she think her parents would be here? Though that course of events still does not explain the urgent need to have intercourse in the vestibule."

Mira examined the more recent bruises on Sarah's right shoulder and elbow before finding two badly bruised fingers wrapped together with clear medical tape. "This looks like someone at least tried to bind these fingers. That's the only sign of any injury being treated I've seen so far."

Catherine nodded, "Those are likely defensive injuries. The hand would have been damaged while trying to protect herself from a blow. Look at the other injuries on the same side. They are the same age." Catherine's tone had changed slightly, becoming more professional, if anything. Callum had begun to notice that it was common for Catherine to revert to her professional persona when she wanted to maintain emotional distance.

"I have been involved in more than enough domestic violence cases to recognise those types of injuries." She answered both of their questioning glances.

Callum grimaced, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists as the rage bubbled inside him again. He made a turning gesture with his hand towards Sarah. "There're more bruises on her front and her face."

Mira glanced at him with concern before she turned again to Catherine. "I want to get some photos of these injuries now. If she disagrees when she wakes, I'll delete them."

In response, Catherine looked pensive, letting out a single tut, indicating her disagreement. "Not without consent."

Mira shrugged. "Well, think of this. What if she needs hospital treatment, and it looks like we did this to her? At least with pictures, we could show how she arrived here. Plus, we both know that every hour that goes past, these will fade." as she spoke, she continued to dig her phone out of her pocket. "And if it takes her a few days to decide she wants to pursue something, some will have gone completely."

Catherine and Mira stared at each other for a moment before Catherine uncrossed her arms, sighed and took a step forward. "Yes, okay. Let me take them then. If she wants legal help divorcing the animal who did this, I would be happy to represent her for free. From an evidentiary standpoint, it would be better for her legal representative to take the pictures." She took out her mobile phone, a modern iPhone that Callum had barely seen her use.

"Callum, go fetch a blanket or some big towels," Mira instructed as she continued to check bruises, working her way down Sarah's legs.

He moved to follow Mira's instructions while Catherine crouched beside Mira with her phone in hand. Returning quickly with a soft woollen blanket and a selection of bath towels, he found Mira preparing to turn Sarah over. They'd taken pictures of Sarah's back in his absence, using his coat to cover her rear.

Looking up as he returned, Mira gestured to the space beside her as Catherine moved out of the way. "Thanks. Come here and help; it's been a while since I've done this." He knelt and followed Mira's instructions, observing how she positioned Sarah's arms and aiding by carefully pulling Sarah's hip towards him, keeping his jacket in place covering her. At the same time, Mira did the same with Sarah's shoulder and protected Sarah's head.

As Sarah rolled onto her back, her large breasts were revealed, quivering as she was moved before settling into mounds on her chest, the tissue flattening slightly as it fell to the sides, but still standing proud.

"Well, at least I know what she's got that I haven't," Mira muttered beside him before she sucked air in through her teeth as she saw the extent of Sarah's bruises. "Oh, you poor woman." All Callum could do was momentarily close his eyes and grimace, both at Mira's words and the view of Sarah's injuries. Now was not the time to challenge any physical comparisons Mira was making.

Mira gently raised Sarah's chin and tilted her head, ensuring her airway remained clear. Then, her delicate fingers checked around Sarah's eye, determining that her orbital socket was undamaged. As she took her fingers away, she rubbed her thumb over her fingertips, looking carefully at whatever was there. She commented, "Looks like she's had makeup over some of these facial bruises." Mira checked Sarah's jawline before moving down to her neck and shoulders.

While checking Sarah's arm, Mira also encountered a small cotton ball held in place with medical tape - something she'd previously missed when checking the back of Sarah's arms.

"Did you say you thought she was on drugs?" She asked Callum as she checked Sarah's arms for any other injections or track marks.

"Yeah, she was behaving so oddly, I asked her. I thought Steven might have given her something. She said she hadn't taken anything or been given anything but mentioned a vaccine. To be fair, she wasn't quite with it for some of the conversation." He paused momentarily, unsure whether to continue but deciding that Mira needed to know everything.

"When she saw me, she was terrified, and she had the rifle. Then she hugged me and seemed relieved. She was very emotional but seemed otherwise fine. But after she'd hugged me for a bit and cried a lot, she started trying to kiss me. It was such a bizarre shift. I was trying to dissuade her, to get her to come inside to talk, but she jumped me when I tried to bring her out of the rain. She was... well... in a daze, I would say, I had to..."

Mira cut him off sharply, anger in her voice. "Oh, so you took advantage of her being out of it?" She looked at him, now with a disappointed and angry sneer. "Or did she just happen to fall and impale herself on you?"

He could see that he'd hurt Mira, partly causing this reaction. Mira knew he already had a history with Sarah. Some of what she said he interpreted as a deliberate attempt to hurt him, driven by her pain.

Crucially, he was very aware that he'd gone from refusing to sleep with any of the three ladies to sleeping with someone from outside their little community in a few days. And he knew his account of how that had come about was unbelievable.

"No," Callum replied gently, trying to calm his tone and avoid rising to Mira's angry barbs. "The only time she snapped out of it was when she was scared. If I showed any anger or shook her shoulder, even gently, she responded as if I would hurt her. She'd be focused and clear again, though it would fade quickly. While she was focused, she told me the vaccine meant she needed to have sex with me or... well... or she'd die. She also said she would wake up tomorrow."

Mira made a sound halfway between a laugh and a dismissive snort while behind them, Catherine tutted again.

"Oh, so you took advantage of someone who was mentally ill?" Mira seemed to be getting more angry rather than less.

Callum gave Mira a stern look and shook his head. "No, I don't think so. She believed what she was saying. She needed me to keep her safe. I got the impression she was deliberately looking for me. She said there was a vaccine, that there was some sort of time limit or it would hurt her, that she needed to have sex to make it stop and that she couldn't go to Steven. She said something about having a booklet about it." Callum looked around the hallway as he spoke, seeing no sign of anything that hadn't been there this morning.

"Oh really." Catherine's exasperated-sounding response came from behind him. Her disbelief was apparent.

Memories of others disbelieving him and the terrible price he'd had to pay because of that came to the fore. The same thing seemed to be happening here.

Again.

Callum's patience snapped as the pain and frustration of being disbelieved came to the fore.

"For fucks sake, Catherine, Yes. Really." Callum almost barked, causing both women to startle. Callum rarely raised his voice. "You don't think that if I had to make something up - if I had to lie to you - I wouldn't have come up with something slightly more fucking believable? I've known Sarah almost all her life. She looked me in the eye and told me she needed sex to stop what was happening to her. I trust her. I believed her, and whatever was happening to her seemed serious. So we had sex, and now she's unconscious and was just repeating that word over and over. Because while you might not know much about relationships with other human beings, that's not in the slightest bit fucking normal."

He stopped to take a breath, shocked by his outburst. He was back to feeling that bubble of panic at the back of his brain, spurred on by the feeling of being distrusted by people he thought trusted him. He took another breath, trying to calm himself before he continued.

"I wouldn't hurt her. I feel terrible about having had to scare her to get clear answers. I certainly wouldn't take advantage of her just for the sake of it." He turned to Mira. "You really think I would do that to someone?" His voice broke slightly at how hurt he felt.

Behind him, Catherine stood in silence. He didn't even want to turn and look at her. There would be apologies due at some point, but not now.

Mira finished checking the various injury sites and used the blanket and folded towels to cover Sarah's modesty so that more pictures could be taken. She remained silent, looking at him briefly but thoughtfully. By this point, Sarah had fallen completely quiet.

Mira's lack of response hurt him deeply. If she didn't believe him, no one would. The trickle of panic started to turn into a full-on flood. He could taste bile as a sudden feeling of nausea washed over him. His heart began to race, as did his breathing. He was rapidly beginning to feel like the situation was out of control.

Mira noticed his change in pallor and the tempo of his breathing increasing as he fidgeted and wiped his head with his sleeve. She placed a hand on his knee, looking to reassure him.

"Callum, I don't doubt that you believed you were doing the right thing, but you have to admit she could have been having a mental breakdown. I mean, look at her. The poor woman has gone through hell. And if it was some sort of breakdown, maybe she believed what she told you was true. So she was acting deliberately, in her own mind, and that was what you saw." Mira stood as she spoke, moving aside to allow Catherine to take more pictures.