Authors: Kyle Kirkland
"
What's the time course of the disease?"
"
Good question," said Kraig. "Mice die quickly, within a day. Humans probably survive longer once they become infected, but we don't know how long. We also don't know what percentage of people will recover, and how long a recovery might take, and when an infected person is no longer contagious. Like most infections, there's probably a wide range of times, from hours to days or even weeks, depending on the victim's size, age, and state of health. Another critical thing we don't know is how long the bug lives outside of its host."
"
You don't know a lot yet, do you?"
"
We haven't found the bug yet, Senator," Kraig said crisply. "Until we find it, we won't be able to answer the big questions."
Medburg
's mayor broke in. "You realize the sensitivity of the situation, I hope."
"
Sensitivity?" asked Kraig.
"
We're talking about a downtrodden section of town. There will be talk—there's already talk—" The mayor's lip trembled, her voice became shaky. "They'll think we don't care about them. What am I supposed to tell these people?"
"
Tell them I care, and you care, and a whole lot of smart scientists care, and we'll solve this problem, eventually. That's the best we can do."
Chet interrupted and started talking about the absence of any spike in the number of patients in area hospitals and clinics. He clearly hoped to strike an optimistic note.
"Nobody seems to be coming down with any new or strange ailments," he said.
Others echoed his sentiments. Everybody seemed to be moved by the mayor
's show of emotion.
"
According to the latest report, there are no signs of a new and contagious respiratory illness," declared Chet. "The epidemic may already be over."
Kraig winced. None of the five victims so far died in the hospital. So the clinical situation was not a good picture of what was happening in this case
—it was misleading. But the absence of any signs of illness in hospital patients was normally a good sign so Chet had brought it up.
And other people bought it. The CDC, NIH, and WHO people knew better, but Kraig noticed their nods and satisfied looks; the unwarranted optimism had spread. The politicians especially seemed to embrace the hopeful outlook. They bought the lie because that
's what they wanted to hear.
There was even some talk about lifting the quarantine by the end of the weekend. Numbly, Kraig listened to their ignorance. Hadn
't they heard what he'd said earlier, about not knowing anything about the disease-causing agent? Did they think he'd been kidding?
A few physicians exchanged worried glances. Chet, though, greeted the D.C. cont
ingent's optimism with encouragement. "It's possible we could pick up the fences by Sunday or Monday," he said cheerfully.
Kraig wanted to kick him.
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
/ 4:15 p.m.
Cecily Sunday walked through the lobby of Vision Cell Bioceuticals wearing a Tyvek suit with a PVC coating that flexed as she stepped across the waxed and polished floor. Gordon had buzzed her in and met her at the security guard's desk. The guard gave her a strange look and perceptibly distanced himself from Cecily as she went by.
"
I'd shake hands," said Cecily to Gordon, "but I don't think you'd like touching the suit." Her face was visible behind thin plastic that covered her head, with respiratory tubes snaking around from a slender backpack. The suit speaker gave her voice a slightly flat tone but was an adequate representation. She held up her arms and showed elbow-length, transparent, form-fitting spray-ons. "A new pair of gloves for every place I go."
"
Reasonable precaution," muttered Gordon. He conducted Cecily to his office.
She sat down.
"You don't have to disinfect the chair later, I'm clean. Freshly scrubbed and bleached."
Closing the door, Gordon sat down. His expression, grim.
"So you called me here to talk about these two scientists, Jennifer and Pradeep," said Cecily.
Gordon nodded. He told them the story about their heated exchanges, their competitive nature, and how their technicians shared lab space but not always politely. And Jennifer was out sick.
"Jennifer Rason," said Cecily, "has been examined by one of our physicians."
Gordon sat up.
"That was fast. I don't even remember telling you—"
"
You mentioned her name. That was enough. Look, Gordon, we're fighting the clock on this one. Doing things fast is part of the job. Jennifer has a viral infection: rhinovirus."
"
The common cold."
"
She's been asked to isolate herself in her home. She agreed. But we don't believe her illness is anything to worry about."
Gordon frowned.
"I guess she got upset when you dropped in on her, and she found herself the focus of an investigation."
"
A lot of people are upset. Twenty thousand of them in Medburg in particular."
"
If the rest of my suspicions are as wrong as this one, I've wasted your time as well as irritating my colleagues."
"
I won't sue." Cecily paused. "I've been obsessing about that creek, and I still am. I'd like to interview again the technicians who work for Jennifer and the combinatorial chemist, Pradeep Rumanshan. And Rumanshan himself."
"
Okay. I'm sorry about all this, though. I guess I panicked—I saw what was happening in Medburg and I just couldn't stand it." Gordon looked at Cecily. "I called other people besides you. The CDC and the director of the Micro-Investigation Unit, for instance. A few other agencies."
"
I didn't know about that," said Cecily. "You'll probably get some other visitors soon."
Gordon caught her drift.
"Not as friendly as you?"
"
Certain people tend to have a short fuse in a situation like this."
"
Don't I know it," said Gordon sourly.
Cecily stared at him for a moment.
"You going to lose your job over this?"
"
I own part of the company, Burnett can't fire me." Gordon's gaze fell to the floor. "But I lost an old friend."
"
Friends are like that," said Cecily. "You lose old ones, you gain new ones." She got up and stepped toward the door. "Mind introducing me around the lab one more time so nobody freaks out when I walk in?"
Medburg, Pennsylvania / 4:50 p.m.
Loretta Winters fumbled the broccoli, florets spilling all over the counter. Yvonne, her youngest daughter, laughed.
"
Mommy's got butter-fingers today," said Loretta. "Doesn't she?"
The doorbell rang. Loretta froze.
"Mommy," said Yvonne. "Someone's at the door."
"
I know, sweetie." Loretta felt her pulse race. Gary and Alicia hadn't come home yet.
Taking off the badly stained apron she
'd been meaning to replace for months now, Loretta went to the door. She took a deep breath and peered through the peep hole. A young woman in a t-shirt and jacket was standing on the porch. She wasn't wearing a mask or gloves. Loretta unlocked the dead bolt and opened the door.
"
Hello," said the woman. She smiled and held up a badge that was hanging on a silver chain around her neck. The badge looked official with a seal of the United States and a picture of the woman. "I belong to the mayor's newly formed commission to take a census of the containment zone."
Loretta let out a sigh of relief.
"I realize this is an imposition," said the woman, "but the information is needed by the city. I have to warn you that false or misleading statements are punishable by a maximum fine of 20,000 dollars and six months in jail."
Loretta wondered why people would be anything other than honest at a time like this. She nodded quickly.
The woman asked her the name, age, and gender of each occupant of the house. After Loretta supplied the information, the woman said, "Is there anyone who lives here but is not in the containment zone?"
"
No," answered Loretta. "My husband—my ex-husband—lives in West Chester."
"
Do you have any pets?"
"
My youngest son has some goldfish." Loretta paused. "I can't remember how many. If you'll wait a minute, I'll check—"
"
That's all right, ma'am. Actually, we're only worried about mammals. No cats, dogs, mice, ferrets, rats, anything like that?"
Loretta shook her head. People keep rats as pets?
"We're advising everyone to stay inside as much as possible," said the woman. "And in case you haven't heard, there's a curfew from nine at night until five the following morning. It goes into effect tonight and will remain in effect for the duration of the emergency. Exceptions will have to be cleared by the police department. We also strongly suggest that citizens periodically tune to one of the Philadelphia television stations or WKH for further updates. WKH is now broadcasting news 24/7."
"
I listen to WKH," said Loretta.
"
Good," said the woman. "I'm sure there's nothing to be worried about. The curfew is just a precaution."
Instilled with the certainty that she would be hearing the word
"precaution" an awful lot in the near future, Loretta smiled and nodded.
"
We're also asking people to please keep in touch with their neighbors. We're all in this together."
"
I know," said Loretta. "So far, so good. I mean, people are pulling together like they should."
"
Yes, the mayor's very pleased."
The census-taker turned to leave
. Loretta watched her go next door, to Mrs. Virge's house.
* * *
Thirty minutes later Gary and Alicia came home. They stormed into the kitchen, bubbling with excitement.
"
Everybody's really bugging out!" said Alicia.
Loretta frowned, but the kids
' response wasn't surprising. To a teenager having little if any experience with real danger, the quarantine was thrilling. Loretta pictured herself as a teenager going through something like this; she realized she'd probably feel the same way Alicia and Gary did. You don't get so scared when you're young—it all seems kind of fun, like a roller coaster ride. You have an air of invincibility at that age, you don't think anything can hurt you badly enough that you won't be able to walk away from it.
I didn
't grow up, Loretta recalled, until after Gary was born and I looked down on that tiny baby and I understood that here was a life I'm responsible for. And a lot of bad things can happen that I can't control.
Now Loretta looked at her 17-year-old son
's excited face.
I'm still responsible for him.
And the kids don
't understand the seriousness of the situation, she thought. They don't know how bad things could get. The containment isn't really like a roller coaster ride; there aren't any amusement park engineers to make sure that things are safe and nobody will get hurt. Loretta felt a rising sense of panic. She tried to fight it off—
everything will be all right if we just don't panic.
"
Those suits," Gary was saying, "they're so awesome!"
"
What suits?"
"
They're like, you know, astronauts wear," said Alicia. "The people who come into the zone wear them. Helmets and everything. Like they're on Mars or something."
"
Some of the kids razz them," added Gary.
Loretta gave him a stern look.
"What did they do?"
"
They didn't do anything," said Gary. "It was no big deal. The little kids were making jokes and walking around like zombies." Gary shrugged. "Stuff like that."
Alicia giggled.
"If those people think this is Mars, that makes us Martians."
"
It's just a...." Loretta started to say the word "precaution" but she decided not to. "They're just being careful."
"
You know it," said Alicia. "Right after they left the zone they got sprayed, hosed down and everything. And the water went into buckets, they wouldn't even let it run in the streets and down the drain. They took it away, every drop of it. Enough to fill a swimming pool, probably."
"
How do you know what they did after they left the zone?" asked Loretta suspiciously.
"
We saw them, Mom."
"
We were standing near the fence," explained Gary.
"
I don't want you doing that. I don't want either of you going anywhere near that fence. People with guns are there."