The Living Dead (Book 1): Contagion (4 page)

            “At this time we know for certain the virus is transmitted by bite. There may be other ways to contract the disease but we are still conducting tests and cannot confirm other forms of transmission at this time.”

            “Ma’am, Brian Gates, Huffington Post. Does everyone bitten contract the virus?”

            “Our information at this time indicates the transmission rate is 100%.”

            Exclamations broke out around the room.

            “Major, Lindsey Hudson, Newsweek. We know that many pending Haitian adoptions were fast tracked in the aftermath of the earthquake. Should these children be considered potential carriers?”

            “The best answer to that is yes. Anyone from the earthquake zone should be treated with extreme caution, including relief workers. We also have reports of refugees fleeing the island in boats that marine police with British overseas territories have intercepted. These people are in holding facilities but their health status is unknown.”

            “Major, John Garret, Fox News. Where are the evacuees from Walter Reed being kept and how long will they be quarantined?”

            “No one was evacuated from the facility.” There was a brief, shocked silence as everyone took in what that meant. “I apologize but I have other obligations this morning. We will continue to provide updates with new information as it becomes available. Please, pray for our country and for our world.” Reporters continued to shout questions as the Major exited the room.

            Virginia sat back on the sofa, stunned. For a few seconds everything went dark. She put her head down and took deep breaths. She knew that Ian sometimes liaised with the military on security projects and hospitals were one of his areas of concern and she frantically tried to remember if he had ever mentioned anything about Walter Reed. Hands trembling, she grabbed the phone and called his cell. The phone rang twice then went to static. Remembering the e-mails she pulled up her inbox to check the time they were sent, praying they posted after 4:25 this morning. That would show he was still alive after the “sterilization.” Scrolling quickly, she found the times; all were sent last night before ten o’clock. Ok, she told herself, that still doesn’t mean anything. He might never have been at the hospital at all.

Chapter 5

All their predictions ran upon a most dreadful plague, which should lay the whole city, and even the kingdom, waste, and should destroy almost all the nation, both man and beast.

-Journal of the Plague Year

            She found her shoes, grabbed her coat and purse and headed for the car. Like a lot of people, she had considered stockpiling food and supplies in the event of some sort of national emergency but never gotten around to it. When H1N1 was making headlines even the Mayo Clinic website recommended keeping a two-week supply of food, water, and medicine and she began to save some water then but lost interest. She pulled out of the driveway too quickly and the car slid sideways on the snow for a few seconds before she was able to correct for the icy conditions.  Repeatedly dialing her in-laws’ number she only got an out of area message. The mountains played havoc with cell phone reception at times. To her relief the roads were passable and not crowded. She pulled into the supermarket parking lot where the vendor trucks were still unloading their early morning deliveries. Grabbing a shopping cart from one of the outside carrels, she approached the Crystal Springs deliveryman. Stinging pellets of ice blew against her cheeks.

            “Hey there! Could you go ahead and load four of those bottles here in my cart? I’ll pay for it in the store. Thanks!”

            Inside she grabbed another cart and filled it up with soups, canned vegetables, dried fruit, powdered milk and soup, and, why not, all the Little Debbie goodies that she usually kept out of the house. Quick energy can be good and these things have enough preservatives to last five years, she thought. Praying her credit card wasn’t over the limit, she made her way back to the front of the store picking up a couple of packages of diapers on the way. She met a wave of shoppers just entering; many with disheveled hair and appearing hastily dressed. The cashiers (there were only two on duty this early) watched open mouthed as people continued to stream into the store and begin frantically loading their carts. Just as she reached the checkout a man approached and tried to remove one of the bottles of water from her cart. Moving quickly, Virginia positioned herself in front of the cart and scowled, “Back off or I’m calling the police. There are plenty of bottles in the back of the store and more are still being delivered.” The man gave her an anguished uncertain look but stepped away. She made it back to her car without further incident.

             The streets were still in good shape until she reached the corner of Stuyvesant and Meeting; she found the road completely blocked by an overturned jeep and a delivery truck. She made a u-turn, backtracked to Loblolly Point where she cut through the subdivision, and went home past the golf course.

            Arriving home, she pulled the car into the garage and lowered the door. She left some of the ready to eat food in the car and unloaded everything else. What looked like so much food in the store didn‘t even completely fill her cabinet shelves and she wished she had gotten more. She called her mother but got the “all circuits are busy” message. It was snowing even harder and the clouds still looked heavy and dark. Hoping to find information on road closings, she tuned to the local news on Channel 6 and saw a female reporter broadcasting from the entrance of a hospital emergency room, showing a chaotic and noisy crowd of people waiting in a ragged line.

            “… virus since yesterday. Authorities are asking that you, please, stay away from area hospitals unless you have absolutely no other option. All health care facilities, including doctor’s offices, are completely overwhelmed with wait times beyond calculation at this point. As we reported earlier, there is a winter weather advisory posted for Wells and surrounding counties with predicted snowfall amounts of up to 6 inches in our area with more for higher elevations. This will exacerbate an already…”

            So the snow was not going to end today. Virginia channeled to the local NBC affiliate where they were replaying an interview recorded earlier. A male reporter started the segment.

            “We obtained a brief interview with Dr. Patrick Sandys, head of infectious disease here at East Beaumont Hospital. According to Dr. Sandys, Monday morning, members of Meeting Street Baptist Church, which has a mission outreach in Haiti, returned home bringing with them five orphans whose parents were killed in the earthquake. The children fell ill shortly after they arrived.”

            Dr Sandys: “The children were brought in Monday evening. All had been vomiting for several hours and presented with subnormal temperatures as well. We set about getting the vomiting under control as they also showed signs of dehydration. All our efforts failed and the children lapsed into coma as their temperatures continued to fall. They were declared dead Tuesday morning at 4:10 a.m. We’d never before seen a pathogen that acted so quickly.”

            Reporter: “But that was not the end of the story. According to hospital spokesperson Martin Dean, the bodies of the children were taken to the hospital morgue, awaiting autopsy. At approximately 5:15 a.m., morgue attendants heard loud banging noises. Upon investigation, they found the “dead” children, not only mobile but making every effort to force their way out of the room. When the morgue attendants, along with an ER nurse, entered the room, they were attacked and bitten several times before they were able to restrain the children. The attendants and nurse received treatment for their wounds and went home after their shift was over. Later efforts made to find those employees and bring them in for observation, failed. As far as we know, they have still not been brought in, in part because of the enormous strain at present on police, fire, and social services.”

            Dr. Sandys: We want everyone out there to be aware of the symptoms of this virus and to watch for them in their families and neighbors. Signs include copious vomiting of thick black bile along with subnormal temperatures. There may be other symptoms of which we are currently unaware. Isolation of the patient is extremely important as the disease is highly contagious. Please check media reports throughout the day as the CDC will issue updates and warnings as they gain more information about the virus.”

            Reporter: “We will be breaking in live with updates as they become available. Jim Wold Action 8 News, reporting.”

            She muted the TV. The morgue at the hospital. Hadn’t her client Carson told her his cousin worked at the hospital?  Could he have been one of the morgue attendants? What if the story Carson told her was true? She placed a call to the jail but got a busy signal.

            Virginia tried to call her in-laws again but couldn’t get through on the landline or the cell. She remembered September of 2001 when all lines were jammed just from the sheer volume of people trying to call loved ones and make sure they were alright. Her stomach twisted with worry and fear. Dan and Carolyn would lay down their lives for their grandchildren but she had to
know
they were safe. She needed them with her. She tried again to call Ian but had no luck with that either.

              She looked outside. The snow was piling up in drifts across the lawns. The Eberhardts from two doors down were in their driveway, loading suitcases and boxes into their Denali. Their youngest daughter came out the front door, holding the cat in a carrier. They looked like a typical family packing up to go on vacation until Keith emerged with a rifle in each hand. She found her jacket and ran down the street.

            “Are you guys leaving town” She had to shout over the blustering wind.

            “Yeah. We’re trying to get on the road before this weather gets any worse.”

            “Do you know if 531 is open?”

            Keith finished loading a cardboard box. “Don’t know about 531. We’re going in the other direction to stay at Diane’s folks ‘til this virus thing blows over. Did you see the news? We‘ve already got cases here in Wells.”

            “I saw it. Be careful out there.”

            “Will do. Be careful here too.”

            She headed over to Portia and Bill’s. The snow was now so deep she couldn’t see where the curb ended and she stumbled off into the street, lost her balance and almost fell. Walking more cautiously she passed under the wisteria arbor that framed their front door and rang the doorbell.

            “Virginia? Get in here, your head is covered with snow,” Portia said as she opened the door.

            She took off her shoes before walking into the living room where Bill had a fire roaring in the fireplace. The TV was on and tuned to CNN.

            “Have you guys heard anything new? What’s happening?”

            Bill answered, never looking away from the screen. “They torpedoed a cruise ship close to Charleston Harbor.”

            Portia gasped, “Were there people on board?”

            “They didn’t say. Just that it was done to ‘minimize the risk of further spread of the virus.’ I’ll bet there were people on board if that’s the case. They also said all their local affiliates from Miami have gone down. CBS said the governor called in the National Guard and the city will probably wind up under martial law since they’ve already got some looting going on. We still haven’t been able to reach Jen.”

            Jen was their daughter who lived in Port Saint Lucie, just above Miami.

            Virginia looked around the comfortable room. Artwork from local artists decorated the walls and side tables held silver framed pictures of smiling children and grandchildren. Bill opened a manila envelope and arranged the contents in stacks on the coffee table. The documents looked older, like they came from a typewriter. He put on his reading glasses and shuffled through the papers.

            “I dug out some of my old journals I kept when I traveled for TI back in the 70’s. I spent a few months in the Caribbean and explored a little in my down time. Met a lot of really sharp people. One of the professors at the Pontifica Universidad Catolica had some incredible documents dealing with what Columbus found on his second voyage to the region-“

            “Second voyage? I thought he came here once in 1492.”

            “What
are
they teaching in schools nowadays? Columbus sailed here
four
times. The second voyage in September 1493 was destined for Hispaniola where he’d left a group of 39 men manning a fort built from the timbers of the wrecked Santa Maria. Hispaniola, of course, later became Haiti. When Columbus arrived in November; only a few of the men were still alive. It’s believed they were attacked by a tribe from farther south that periodically raided and terrorized the locals.”

            “The first ‘pirates of the Caribbean’ but without the eyeliner?”

            “Maybe no eyeliner but probably body paint. They were called the “Carib.” Our word “cannibal” is a somewhat scrambled version of the name. A friar who stayed with the men at the fort left a written account of the time he spent on the island. Dr. Pinochet was kind enough to allow me to copy the documents in the University archives and these (he spread the documents on the table) are my translations. I‘ve researched and added some of my own findings over the years. My goal was always to write it all up and publish someday. Some of it is unbelievable but I think-” Portia interrupted. “Bill thinks some of the friar’s experiences might shed some light on what is going on down there and maybe here too, now. The documents mention a disease that infected one of the tribes at the time. Not to change the subject Virginia, but have you heard anything from Ian since this started?”

            Deliberately not mentioning the emails and her fears she said, “Not exactly, no. I’ve tried to reach him but the phones are messed up. I’m guessing that all planes will be grounded soon if they haven’t already so it may be a while before he can make it back to Wells. Why?”

            Bill said, “Well, knowing what he does for a living, I thought he might be interested in seeing these documents. The authorities are short on information about this virus. There might be something here they can use. Could you get these to Ian?”

            Virginia hesitated. How many times had Ian told her about the hundreds of “leads” phoned or mailed in every day by well meaning citizens convinced their neighbors or the IT guy at work were terrorists? Homeland Security didn’t have enough agents to investigate all of those calls although they didn’t let that information out. Would they have the inclination or time in the midst of a global pandemic to evaluate information from late 15
^th
century documents sent to them by a small town college professor? She looked at their earnest, kind faces and knew she would try.