Containment (11 page)

"
Masks," said a woman in the room. "We should all be wearing masks and gloves!"

"
That don't matter, those cheap masks don't stop viruses. Only fools believe that."

Mayor Williams once again asked for the forbearance of the citizens of Medburg.
"The light of the whole world is shining on our city at this moment," she said. "Let us show the world how resourceful and intelligent we are."

The television channel
's newscasters then came on and began to summarize. This is not, declared a dark-haired anchorwoman, a drill.

"
No kidding, lady!" said the manager.

The red-faced woman in the office stood up.
"I'm leaving," she said. "I'm not staying around here."

She was joined by most of the other workers. The manager made no comment as he watched them walk out. Finally only four people remained in the office: the manager and three workers, including Loretta. The workers who most needed the income, low though it was.

"You's might as well go too," said the manager. "Won't be much going on here. Ain't nobody going to lose their jobs for leaving after what we just heard."

Loretta gave a sigh of relief. She walked outside. The sky was mostly cloudy, fluffy white clouds drifting overhead. It was cool and pleasant. Almost impossible to believe that the city was
in some kind of crisis. Everything seemed so normal.

Groups of people collected together in the parking lot and on the sidewalk. Loretta overheard some of the conversations.

"...go to the supermarket before there's a run..."

"
...got enough money? Banks may run out..."

"
Credit cards will still work, won't they?"

"
All of this just
had
to happen right before Fred and I went on our vacation...."

Loretta got into her car. She yanked out her cell and
punched Gary's number. No response.

Pulling out onto the street, Loretta noticed that traffic was heavier than usual. To be expected, of course, right after the announcement. Some of the pedestrians walking along the sidewalk had handkerchiefs tied over their faces. Loretta thought about what the manager had said about cheap masks.

Two blocks down the street something was blocking all traffic. An accident, taking out both lanes.

Loretta felt a rising sense of panic.
Got to stay calm. This is just temporary. That's what the mayor said, isn't it?

It occurred to Loretta that she hadn
't voted for the mayor in the last election. She hadn't voted at all, in fact. And now it seemed that her life, and the lives of her children, depended on the decisions that woman was making.

Horns started blaring. A couple of people were milling around the wreck.

Let's see how intelligent and resourceful we can be.

Loretta looked around. Why did
n't somebody do something? Traffic had backed up behind her. She was trapped. With trembling hands she operated the door controls, making sure all the car windows were rolled up and the doors were locked.

Her phone buzzed. She almost jumped to the roof.

"Hello?" she cried. "Gary?"

A woman
's voice answered. "Loretta?"

"
Who's this?"

"
Marta. Marta, from across the street?"

"
Yes," said Loretta, remembering. Standoffish woman. "Marta, hi. Look, can I call you back?"

"
Loretta, please—don't cut me off!"

The desperate plea kept Loretta on the line. But she kept looking around. Traffic was getting more and more backed up. People were standing around, and the ones wearing handkerchiefs on their faces gave the appearance of hoodlums. A dust cloud drifted down the street.

Dust? What was happening?

"
Loretta, please! Are you still there?"

"
What do you want?" said Loretta, irritated.

"
My dog. My dog is at home, I can't get to him."

Loretta recalled seeing Marta walking a little beagle puppy every once in a while. That was how she
'd met the woman, talked to her briefly a few times.

"
Where are you?" asked Loretta. "Are you in the zone?"

In the zone
. Loretta began to wonder how many times she would be using that expression in the coming days.

"
No," said Marta. "I'm in prison."

"
Prison?"

"
That's what it feels like. They're isolating us."

"
Isolating?" Loretta's sense of panic returned. She was distracted by the sight of a uniformed police officer walking down the middle of the street, headed for the accident scene.

"
They're keeping us in isolation. They won't let us go anywhere."

"
Who?"

"
People from the neighborhood, Loretta. People who live there or have been there recently. I got caught trying to get back into the containment zone this morning, before they made the announcement."

Loretta watched the cop walk past her car. He wasn
't wearing a handkerchief or a mask, and certainly not one of those space suits. She recognized him, he was one of the neighborhood cops. He calmly made his way to the accident.

"
Please, Loretta. I don't know many people on the street and...you seem friendly. Please, I need someone to take care of Alfin. Alfin, that's my puppy. A beagle."

"
Alfin," repeated Loretta dumbly. She watched the cop talk to somebody, apparently someone who'd been involved in the accident.

"
Yes. Alfin. Please! He needs to be fed."

My God, thought Loretta. What if it
'd been a child?

"
Will you do it?" begged Marta.

"
I...." Loretta saw the cop and a couple of other burly men push one of the wrecked cars to the curb. She tried to remember the policeman's name but couldn't think of it.

"
Please!" said Marta.

"
I don't have the key. To your house. I don't have the key, I can't get in."

"
Break in if you have to! I can't let Alfin starve!"

The policeman and the men pushed the other car off to the side. A woman started directing traffic. She wasn
't wearing a uniform but she seemed to know what she was doing. Cars started moving, traffic began to flow again.

"
The post office," said Loretta suddenly. "Send me a key by express mail. They said the post office will still deliver." Of course, that was the solution. And if it'd been a child in Marta's house instead of a puppy, someone would have done something. The car ahead of Loretta slowly moved forward, and she followed.

"
Mail," said Marta. "Yes. I can do that. There was a postal clerk here earlier, I remember now. I...I'm sorry I got upset."

"
Don't worry. And if worse comes to worse, I'll get Gary—that's my son—to climb in through one of your windows. We'll make sure Alfin's okay."

Loretta cruised by the wrecked cars
—the accident wasn't too serious and no one was apparently hurt. She saw the uniformed policeman standing by the curb. She smiled and waved. He waved back.

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania / 12:00 p.m.

Gordon Norschalk saw the images on the television but couldn't force his mind to believe them. Fences, checkpoints, members of the National Guard carrying rifles. People standing outside the fence, looking in; people standing on the other side, looking out. A short distance separated them, but it seemed to be a gap as wide as the Grand Canyon.

The newscasters droned on, repeated themselves endlessly, interviewed anyone they could collar. Everyone at Vision Cell Bioceuticals had heard the news and gathered in the break room near the lobby of the building. Even Burnett Sellás, the CEO, was there.

Whispers went around the room. Do you know anyone there? Friends, relatives?

"
My wife's family lived there once," one of the scientists said. "They moved away a couple of years before she was born. Neighborhood was going to seed, I understand, and her parents wanted to get out while the getting was good."

That was the closest connection of anyone in the room to Medburg and the containment zone.

Gordon felt a deep sense of relief that people in the zone had not panicked. Even so, the images of the fences and soldiers troubled him. This is America, he thought; this sort of thing should never happen here.

Burnett said,
"What a mess. How many people are in the zone?"

"
They don't have an accurate count yet," said Pradeep. "But it must be thousands."

"
Tens of thousands," said someone. "The zone is about eight and a half square miles. What's the population density of Medburg?"

Gordon shook his head. We scientists. Someone actually went to a computer and looked it up on the Internet.

The television showed images of the National Guard troops turning away a few frantic citizens who were outside the zone trying to get in. To loved ones, maybe?

The images got inside Gordon
's head. He closed his eyes but they were still there. They would always be there, he knew. They were burned into his memory and he couldn't forget them no matter how hard he tried. The woman, pleading with the soldier, who wore some kind of moon suit. Hazard suits, that's what they were called. The woman screamed, cried. But no matter what she did, the answer remained no.

Reporters lunged, stuck microphones in the woman
's face. A guardsman pushed the reporters and cameramen back.

And the situation could get worse. Much worse. Gordon rested his head on the break room table.

"A little less than three K," said the person who'd done the Internet search. "Two thousand and eight hundred people per square mile in Medburg."

"
Okay," said another voice. Calm, rational scientist. "Eight and a half square miles, 2,800 people per square mile. If the eight and a half square miles in the zone are average, then about 24,000 people are there. Make it 23,800 to be exact. But figure on fewer people than average because it's the bad section of town—a lot of vacated houses. Maybe 2,500 per square mile. That makes it, let's see...."

Gordon felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced up and saw Burnett.

"Are you okay?" asked the CEO.

Shaking his head, Gordon got up and left the break room. He made his way down the long hallway and into his office. Plopping himself into the chair, he picked up the phone.

"What are you doing, Gordon?"

Burnett had followed him. He was standing in the open doorway, staring at Gordon with an expression of concern. And something else.

"I'm going to contact this Micro person, Cecily Sunday."

"
Why?"

"
Because." Gordon took a deep breath. "Because I think we had something to do with...." He gestured toward the break room.

"
I thought we went all through this," said Burnett angrily. "The Micro people were here. They found nothing. You coordinated the visit!"

"
Yeah," said Gordon. His voice was weak. "But there was something I didn't tell them."

Burnett was yelling now.
"What?
What?
"

"
I don't know what," mumbled Gordon. It was something, he thought. Jennifer and Pradeep. And Jennifer is sick. But it's just a cold—he'd checked!

"
You don't know what?" said Burnett. "Don't do anything you might regret."

Gordon looked at him.
"24,000 people are there, Burnett. Roughly 24,000—the best estimate our science can do for now, anyway. Don't we owe it to them to follow any lead, no matter how trivial?"

Burnett had calmed down now. He moved inside the office and closed the door.
"Don't you think the Micro people—and the CDC and God knows who else is working on this—don't you think they know what they're doing? Their schedule is pretty full right now, wouldn't you say?"

Gordon buried his face in his hands. When he lifted his head again his hesitation was gone.
"I'm calling Micro because I want to tell them everything I know, everything I suspect. It's up to them to do whatever they want with the information."

"
My God, if you tell them you think the problem is with us, they'll ransack our labs! They'll shut us down and everyone will hear about it. Even if they find nothing...just the suspicion alone will ruin the company."

Gordon punched in a number. A moment later he said,
"I'd like to speak to Cecily Sunday, please."