The Tide (Tide Series Book 1) (29 page)

“It was him,” she said. “Those scratches match the holes we found in the suit.” With one hand still probing her wound, she pointed at a couple of Hunters. “Take Ivan up to the isolation ward.”

Spencer and Jenna stepped forward. They lugged Ivan up between them and hustled for the stairs. Peter bent over Divya. The doctor groaned as Peter cradled her head.

“Sean, grab a stretcher,” Peter said to the epidemiologist. “I don’t want to move her without one in case anything’s broken.”

Sean nodded and sprinted through the small crowd gathered along the corridor.

Peter looked up at Lauren. “So Ivan was infected.”

Lauren’s cheeks flushed crimson. “This is what happens when you don’t follow our directions,” she said to the others waiting outside. “I want to see everyone come through the medical bay by the end of the night. Everyone, and I mean
everyone
, needs to be checked for a potential Oni Agent infection. Now, please, give us some space.”

Most of the Hunters and crew dispersed, rushing back to their duties. Captain of the ship during Dom’s absence, Thomas Hampton approached the door to the cabin. “You want me to round people up for the meeting?”

“No, the purpose of the meeting was to find out who could have been infected by the Oni Agent and reiterate how serious this biological weapon is,” Lauren said. Glenn heard pure anger tinging her words. “I think we’ve accomplished both those things. Just make sure no one misses their appointment with me tonight. “

“I’ll go cabin to cabin with Jenna and Spencer. Everyone will get the message loud and clear,” Thomas said. “Then I’m going to see if I can reach Dom and let him know what’s happened as soon as possible.”

“Thanks,” Lauren said.

Glenn ignored the pain in his shoulder and head, reminded again of the other Hunters’ mission. “Any word from them so far?”

“Chao reports they’ve landed and they’re avoiding confrontations with hostiles as much as possible,” Thomas said. “First LZ was too hot, so they touched down a bit farther than anticipated. Anyway, you two let me know if there’s anything I can do or if you have trouble with any crew members who don’t comply with your medical instructions.”

“I have a feeling that will no longer be a problem.” Glenn took a deep breath. The expansion of his lungs sent a sharp dagger through his ribs. He clasped the spot with his hand. “Damn, that hurts.”

Sean came back to the scene with a stretcher. Thomas helped him load Divya, and they took off.

Lauren offered him a hand. He accepted the gesture, her delicate fingers dwarfed by his large palm, and grunted as he lifted himself to his feet. Despite the pain radiating through his chest, he felt a small comfort from Lauren’s touch, something he’d been missing for quite some time. But he refused to acknowledge it, determined to respect the boundaries they’d set between each other.

“Thanks,” he said.

“No, thank you. You saved Divya’s life.”

A pit formed in Glenn’s stomach. “If everything you’ve found out about the Oni Agent is true, I’m afraid I only delayed the inevitable. It looked like she received more than a few scrapes from Ivan.”

“We’ll find a way to stop the progress of the Oni Agent,” Lauren said.

Glenn could tell she wasn’t sure if she believed the words. “How close are you?”

“We’re—” She stopped. Her brow creased in concern, and she lifted the sleeve of his T-shirt.

“What is it?” He cranked his neck to see what she was looking at. Four lines of blood trickled across his dark skin.

***

L
auren placed a hand on Glenn’s shoulder and squeezed it. He had stopped Ivan from killing Divya. Glenn had thrown himself into harm’s way without deliberation, without asking others what should be done. If it weren’t for him, Divya would’ve been rendered to a bloody pulp.

And his actions had not only saved the doctor but potentially many others, too. If Glenn hadn’t responded so swiftly to her screams, others might have been attacked and infected in Ivan’s Oni-induced rage. His selfless actions reminded her of the relationship they’d once shared, and she couldn’t help feel a pang of sadness at what they’d sacrificed for their jobs, the relationship they’d lost because of their devotion to their jobs. Now she stood to lose Glenn completely.

Earlier, Peter and Divya had used blood samples from Amir and Scott to identify a set of antibodies they hypothesized were produced by the human body in response to the Oni Agent. They postulated these antibodies must have been ineffective at neutralizing the biological agent, much like the biological reasons antibodies couldn’t neutralize HIV.

From this finding, they’d developed a simple test to detect the presence of these antibodies based on a microfluidics lab-on-a-chip setup Divya had developed during her research fellowship. They needed to demonstrate that the antibodies they’d identified in Amir’s and Scott’s blood were related to the Oni Agent and not some other common pathogen.

To test this, Divya and Peter had used themselves as negative controls. The experiment they had designed showed neither of them had the purported Oni Agent antibodies.

Now, the test showed Divya
did
have the Oni Agent antibodies. Glenn’s blood showed similar results, as did Ivan’s. Fortunately, with Thomas’s help, they’d rounded up every other crew member aboard the ship. No one else’s blood samples demonstrated the presence of Oni antibodies, and, for that, Lauren was thankful.

Still the thought did little to ease her mind regarding Glenn’s fate. She told him as much when she came to check on him.

He patted her hand. “Not your fault.” He glanced at the medically sedated forms of Amir, Ivan, and Scott. “How long do you think before I end up like them?”

“We started you and Divya on heavy dosages of antibiotics, which we think slows the Oni Agent down drastically.”

“How long?”

Lauren withdrew her hand and folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not certain. We’ve kept Amir sedated since Scott attacked him and have been pumping him full of antibiotics. He’s only just now shown outward symptoms of the agent’s progress.” She gestured to her own fingernails. “His nails are turning yellow. A calcified layer is developing over them.”

Glenn wrapped his fingers around her wrist. She recoiled at first, ashamed to have let him down. Frightened of what it meant for Glenn.

“I trust you,” he said in his deep, soothing voice. “If there’s a way to stop this, you can do it.”

Lauren squeezed Glenn’s shoulder a final time. She passed Divya, still unconscious from the beating she’d taken from Ivan, and entered the lab.

Maybe Dom was wrong. Maybe someone at Fort Detrick knew of a cure. Something they were preparing to deploy. If she could just hold back the Oni Agent from taking over Divya and Glenn until Dom made contact with Detrick...

“Nothing in the science literature points to the gene sequences we’re seeing in our samples,” Sean said. “I can’t find a match. It’s like this DNA is from an alien life-form or something.”

“Lauren’s nanobacteria theory is crazy enough,” Peter said. “There’s no need to bring extraterrestrials in this too.”

“Oh,” Lauren said, her eyes wide. A sudden realization poured into her mind—a theory no more absurd than the initial nanobacteria conjecture. The puzzle pieces of the Oni Agent started to fit together.

Both Peter and Sean stared at her, pausing from their tasks of pipetting reagents from one flask to another.

“I don’t like that look on your face,” Peter said.

“Extraterrestrials,” Lauren repeated.

Sean set down the mechanical hand pipette on the lab bench. “I mean, it’s not actually—you don’t actually think—” He stopped, nonplussed.

A grin uncoiled across Lauren’s face as she recalled a paper she’d read when researching nanobacteria. “I saw claims that nanobacteria have been found on asteroids and even fossils of them on meteorites.”

Peter held up a hand. “Lauren—”

“Listen,” she interrupted, “I’m not saying these things are from Mars. Far from it. There are some theories that nanobacteria
could
survive such harsh environments because of the apatite structure they build around themselves.” She jabbed a finger at Peter. “It’s just like the coral idea we talked about. The nanobacteria are protecting themselves with the bony structures they form in people.”

Deep lines creased Peter’s forehead. “I still don’t see how that helps us.”

“Don’t you?” Lauren said. “The answer’s been staring us in the face the entire time. The antibiotics
have
been partially effective. They do eliminate the nanobacteria. But if these tiny organisms are protecting themselves with this mineralized bony structure, the antibiotics are going to have a hard time reaching them.”

Sean rubbed his gloved hands together. “So we need to somehow disrupt the calcium formations around your invisible nanobacteria?”

“Exactly!” Lauren said, her voice rising an octave. Sean and Peter’s skepticism couldn’t pop the balloon of optimism holding her up. “And I already know how.”

Sean and Peter looked at each other.

“Seriously.” Lauren tapped away at a keyboard and brought up an abstract from a medical study. “A while back, the NIH sponsored a multi-institute trial of EDTA chelation therapy.”

“EDTA?” Sean cocked his head. “That’s the same stuff we use in cell cultures to disrupt the proteins and extracellular matrices that cells make to hold themselves to each other.”

“And the NIH tested this to see if it’s a legitimate remedy for something?” Peter asked.

“Yep.” Lauren pointed to a couple of graphs. “There’s a theory that calcification and plaques in blood vessels, the stuff that causes heart attacks, is a result of nanobacteria mineralizing the tissue. Kind of like what we’re seeing with the Oni Agent.”

Sean squinted at the monitor. “And this study showed statistically significant improvements in patients receiving the therapy.”

“This doesn’t prove anything about nanobacteria,” Peter said, his arms folded across his chest. “This is correlation, not causation.”

Lauren held up a finger. “True, but the EDTA chelation therapy did show a reduction in cardiovascular events like strokes and heart attacks. It did
something
.”

Neither Peter nor Sean said a word.

“Something is better than nothing, which is what we’ve got right now.” Lauren gestured to Sean. “Like you said, we use EDTA in the lab to deactivate metal-dependent enzymes. The molecule sequesters calcium ions, which means it should more or less be able to degrade the calcium apatite protecting the nanobacteria. I say we try the therapy out then administer an increased dosage of antibiotics to wipe these suckers out.”

“Okay,” Sean said. “What are the potential side effects?”

Relief spread through Lauren; she was close to gaining Sean’s support. “Most common is just a slight burning sensation at the injection site. Sometimes patients experience vomiting, nausea, fever, or headaches.”

Peter stabbed a finger at the screen. “Says here it can also cause heart failure or bone marrow depression.” He ticked off other symptoms on his fingers. “Hypocalcemia, kidney damage, a drop in blood pressure. Those are all fatal.”

“But all those incidences are low—very rare—and can be avoided if we monitor the EDTA infusion,” Lauren said.

Peter was glaring, but Sean nodded. “To be honest, the side effects are certainly not worse than the Oni Agent.” With a tilt of his head, he indicated their patients in the isolation ward. “They’re going to end up like those Skulls if we don’t do something.”

“We have to try,” Lauren said. “And as chief medical officer aboard this ship, I’m doing this with or without your approval. But I’d prefer to have you on my side, Peter.”

“Fine.” Peter held up both his hands in a placating gesture. “What’s the first step?”

––––––––

O
ne problem at a time,
Kara thought for the hundredth time. She fed more shells into the shotgun’s internal magazine as she treaded down the hallway toward the dining room. With her mom turned into one of those crazies and half a dozen more in the backyard when she last checked, she no longer knew which problem to confront first.

The distant thrum of what she thought was a helicopter sounded in the distance. She peeked out the blinds.

Now even more of the enraged, crazy-looking people prowled her front yard. She could see the silhouettes of strange growths jutting from their joints and bumps along their spines and shoulders. They peered around with squinted eyes. A squirrel ran up a tree, and a gaggle of the deformed people wailed and yelled, clamoring after the poor animal. They grappled the tree trunk and scaled the branches. Kara closed the blinds and chewed her bottom lip, fighting with everything she had to keep herself from breaking down. But she couldn’t help the tears leaving wet trails along her cheeks. She wiped them away before she joined the rest of the group. Maggie lay on the floor, her eyes closed and her splinted front leg on a pillow Sadie had placed for her.

“That was definitely a helicopter,” Joe said. Nina nodded in agreement.

“Maybe help is on its way,” Sadie added.

Zack tugged on his mother’s sleeve. “Why don’t we call the police?”

“We’ve got enough water and food to last for a few days. There’s no reason to go anywhere,” Kara said. “At the same time, if that was a helicopter we heard, maybe they’re looking for survivors.”

“The radio said to stay indoors.” Sadie played with the radio knobs again. Like their last several attempts, all she found now were stations filled with static or the same emergency broadcast on a loop.

“We need to make a sign, something for air traffic to see us,” Kara said. “Otherwise, how will they know there are survivors in the house?”

“Good idea,” Nina said. “Maybe a sheet. Do you have paint or markers or something we can write on it with?”

Sadie nodded. “We have sheets upstairs. I’ve got a bunch of paints we can use to write HELP or something.” She stood to go retrieve the sheet from the linen closet.

“Wait,” Kara said. She’d used several of their extra sheets to cover the crazies now rotting in their laundry room. Her sister didn’t need to see those corpses. “I’ll go get it.”