Blockbuster

by Lisa von Biela

  The orderlies opened the second door and pushed Todd inside. She followed them and shut the door behind her. The room looked like most other hospital rooms, aside from the decontamination vestibule outside its door.

  “Can’t you take this thing off me now?” Todd’s voice had the quality of a frightened child.

  One of the orderlies spoke up. “No, sir. Current protocol is to use both the portable isolation unit and controlled access for patients suspected of contracting either ASA or MRSA-II. The double protection is necessary if either is the diagnosis—especially if it’s ASA. You’ll be tested, of course, to be sure. But unless and until it is ruled out…”

  The other orderly turned to her and spoke gently. “You can stay, ma’am. The doctor will be in shortly. When you do wish to leave, please remove the suit and leave it in the marked receptacle in there for proper disposal.” He pointed toward the vestibule.

  “Thank you.” Sylvia watched them leave, then flinched when they shut the door. There was something final and damning about the sound. She turned to Todd, who lay, pale and silent, within his IsoStat. “I never thought I’d wish MRSA-II on anyone, but I really hope that’s what this is. Lucracillin is incredibly effective for it.”

  Moments later, a doctor in full hazmat garb entered the room. Sylvia figured she’d better get used to that sight.

  “Hello, I’m Dr. Williams.”

  Sylvia introduced herself and Todd. “I’m a research scientist at Horton Drugs. I’m familiar with the MRSA-II pathogen, and have also…heard about the ASA pathogen that has been spreading. I’m concerned my husband may have one…or the other…of those infections, given his symptoms.”

  “I’ve been dealing with both here lately. First thing I’ll do is run tests to see which it is. Very important when determining the treatment.”

  “Yes, I know.” Sylvia knew all too well. Lucracillin for one; hopes and wishes and palliative care for the other. “If you don’t need me for a few minutes, I need to make a call.”

  “That would be fine. I’d like to do a brief exam first, then order the tests right after. If I’m not still here when you return, just be sure to put on a suit before reentering the room.”

  “I will, thanks.” She leaned over Todd. “I’ll be back in just a few minutes, okay?”

  Todd nodded, his lips a thin line.

  Sylvia entered the vestibule, then removed and disposed of her suit. She left in search of a private place where she could make her call. She walked down the hall, eventually finding the visitors’ lounge. It was deserted, at least for the time being. So she stepped inside and called Jerry on her PortiComm to tell him what had happened.

  “Well, I hope the tests prove you wrong.”

  “Thanks, but I don’t think that’s likely. Todd was perfectly fine this morning, and you should see him now. MRSA-II doesn’t move that fast. And his skin. The tissue death is already substantial.” She fought off tears. “I wish to God I was wrong.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “The doctor’s in there with him now. They’re going to run tests to verify what he has before they decide on treatment. Jerry, I’m sorry, I know we both need to be working on this, but I need to be here for now.”

  “I understand. I’ll keep at it on my end, and I’ll update Phil for you. Do what you need to do.”

  “Thanks, Jerry. I really appreciate it. I’m just so…scared that he has it. Oh, God.” She swallowed hard and tried to calm herself with a deep breath. But she’d learned too much about the mutant form of her pathogen not to be terrified.

  “Sylvia?”

  She wiped a tear from her cheek. “Yeah?”

  “Take good care of yourself. You’ve been exposed now.”

  “I know. I used a lot of rubbing alcohol to try to minimize the contamination, but I don’t know how effective that will be. I just have to hope I didn’t pick it up. God, Jerry, he was at the law school teaching today. I don’t even want to think of how many of his students might have been exposed—and who they’ve exposed since.”

  “I wonder if we should try again with Phil on the quarantine question. Maybe he’ll listen now.”

  “I don’t know anymore. How would anyone know who to quarantine? And would it be in time? Like the students. We don’t yet have confirmation Todd has ASA, and we don’t know which students got close enough to him, and all that. I wonder if the better thing would be some more general order for people to stay home from work, school, everything until a cure is found.”

  “That might be easier to swallow than forced medical quarantine. Quite a few people are self-selecting to do that as it is. But…to require everyone to stay home from school and work and everything until a cure is found. I don’t know about that.”

  “Every way I think about this leads to a brick wall of some sort. I can’t even think straight right now.”

  “I’m sorry. You go be with Todd. I’ll take care of things on this end, okay? Take care of yourself, Sylvia.”

  “Yeah, I’ll try.” Sylvia headed back to Todd’s room, and found Dr. Williams emerging from the outer door of the vestibule. He no longer wore the hazmat suit, but he did wear a worried look. He glanced at her as she approached.

  “I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “It’s not MRSA-II.”

  CHAPTER 50

  Sylvia awoke, a bright glare piercing her eyelids. Turning away from the light, she opened her eyes and found herself crumpled in an unfamiliar plastic chair. Then she remembered where she was and why. She checked the time. Just after 8:30 in the morning. She pushed her hair out of her eyes, mindless of her appearance.

  She pushed herself out of the chair, stretched briefly to work out the worst of the kinks, then headed for Todd’s hospital room. Given the gravity of his condition, the hospital staff had given her permission to ignore the posted visiting hours—as long as she suited up before entering his room.

  The biohazard sign hadn’t lost its chilling effect on her. She averted her eyes and entered the vestibule to don her hazmat gear. She adjusted the face mask, then took a deep breath to brace herself. Fearful of what she would find, she forced herself to open the inner door and enter Todd’s room.

  She stepped over to his bed and gazed at him as he lay enclosed within the IsoStat. He looked no better than he had last night. In fact, he looked markedly worse, despite the IV fluids and supportive medications he’d received through the night. His closed eyes lay in dark, sunken pits in his chalk-white face. His breath came in shallow fits and starts. He didn’t even realize she was there. She hoped that was from the sedation.

  But worst of all was the necrosis that ate his flesh. The patch that had started out as merely itchy skin had spread at a frightening pace—down his arms, onto his trunk, and onto his legs. Hospital staff had tried to keep up with it by dressing and re-dressing it as it spread, but they’d already fallen behind. Lesions extended out from beneath the blood-and-serum-soaked bandages.

  And where the necrosis had spread, the resulting tissue destruction exposed muscle and bone.

  Trembling with guilt and fear, Sylvia gazed down upon what she had helped create. She had a textbook idea of what the pathogen did to its victims from the Pathosym models, and now she was being treated to a firsthand view of it. On her own husband. She had to do something, but what?

  She decided not to wake him. Not right now. She hurried quietly from the room, stripped out of the hazmat suit, and returned to the visitors’ lounge to call Jerry.

  She gave him a quick update on Todd’s condition, then asked what progress he had made.

  “I wish I had something to report, but I don’t. Still hitting the same brick wall. I promise you, I’m running the tests as fast as the Pathosym can process them. Just not getting a line on the pathogen’s vulnerability yet.”

  Sylvia sat down in one of the hard plastic chairs, her legs suddenly weak. “Something has to work, it just has to.”

  “I told you, truly, I’m working on this as fast as pos
sible. I don’t know what else to do. I’m sorry, I—”

  “Todd’s going to die unless something is done. You didn’t see him. You can’t possibly appreciate how vicious this thing is until you see it with your own eyes. Talk to Phil. Try to come up with something, even if it’s not fully tested. Anything. Please!”

  She ended the call, put her face in her hands, and cried. She knew Jerry was telling the truth and was surely working as fast as he could, but it wasn’t good enough. It just wasn’t good enough.

  CHAPTER 51

  Phil Horton sat at his desk, checking the latest news on his FloaTouch display. He jabbed at the icon to switch it off. He was sick to death of the whole damned thing. And now Sylvia’s husband had contracted the damned ASA mutation to boot. Oh, how he wished he could just disappear, leave all this behind as if it never happened. Too late to wish that now.

  A soft beep from his PortiComm signaled an incoming call from Jerry. Anxious for some good news, he answered.

  “What’s happening? Any progress?”

  “No, sorry. I’m working the Pathosym to the max, but still have no progress to report. I’m calling for Sylvia. She just updated me on Todd’s condition. It’s not looking good. Sounds like the necrosis is progressing quickly.”

  Phil put a hand to his forehead. “I’m really sorry to hear it. She must be in rough shape, having to watch that. And knowing she was exposed in the process.”

  “Yeah, she’s sounding pretty desperate, as you can imagine. She asked me to see if there was anything they could try for him, even something not fully tested. I’ve got absolutely nothing right now. I, uh, know this is a tricky thing to ask, but I was wondering if you could check with Denali and see if they’re working on this, too. At this point, maybe we should even work together on something with them. I don’t know what else to do.”

  Phil realized he hadn’t told Jerry and Sylvia that Horton was in competition with Denali again. He’d thought they were under enough pressure to find the cure without burdening them with that. He thought for a moment. The death toll was only going to rise. And now ASA had struck close to home. Given the widespread outbreak, he could probably still conceal Horton’s role in the creation of this disaster. Maybe they should work together instead of in competition, given the stakes.

  “All right, I’ll call Tremaine and see what they have going. I think you’re right. We’ve no other choice, given these developments.”

  “Thanks. I’ll let Sylvia know.”

  Phil ended the call and took a deep breath. He gritted his teeth and made the call.

  CHAPTER 52

  Dan Tremaine felt a sudden urge to party as he ended the call. Despite Horton Drugs’ recent dead cat bounce on the stock market, Denali Labs was still soundly kicking the ass of all of BigPharma by every measure—even with the markets in turmoil from the ASA epidemic. Profits were at an all-time high, as was Denali’s stock price.

  So it was delicious frosting on the cake to have Phil Horton call today, begging for help. His desperation also meant that Denali would undoubtedly produce the winning drug first and snag yet another lucrative federal government contract for the manufacture and distribution. He laughed as he pondered what Denali would be able to do with so much profit. Such a good problem to have.

  Dan called Vince to check on his progress.

  “We’re nearly ready. Late yesterday, the simulations closed in on a new compound. It looks good in the model, but I need to expose a colony to the drug to verify the sensitivity.”

  “How quickly will you be able to test it on a colony?”

  “I have it all teed up, ready to start. Should have the results in a few hours. The delay is in waiting for the colony to replicate sufficiently first, rather than the Pathosym’s computing speed.”

  “Hm. Well, we have a situation that I think calls for a parallel testing path. I just got a call from Phil Horton. Not only are they making zero progress on their testing, but the husband of one of their scientists has contracted ASA. He’s not expected to hold on much longer, and they wanted to know if we had anything to try, even if it isn’t fully tested. They’re that desperate.”

  Vince let out a low whistle. “I don’t envy the poor fuck. ASA’s the most vicious pathogen I’ve ever come across.”

  “Do you have enough information from the modeling to determine a dosage?”

  “Yes, it projected the dosage and regimen already.”

  “Can you prepare enough for one patient and get it shipped out ASAP while you’re running the sensitivity test with the colony? They are prepared to accept the risks. They have no other viable choice and they know it.”

  “Sure can. I’ll get right on it.”

  “Thanks. I’ll let them know it’s coming.”

  * * *

  “Thanks, Dan. I really appreciate it.”

  Phil then called Jerry with the news.

  “I’d call Sylvia myself, but she’s probably with Todd and I didn’t want to leave all this on a voice mail. Let her know next time she checks in with you. The drug has been tested for efficacy, potential side effects, and dosage through Pathosym modeling, but they haven’t yet tested on a live culture of the pathogen. So, it looks good, but the final test isn’t in yet. Given Todd’s condition, it seems a reasonable risk to take.”

  “I agree. When will it be here?”

  “I’m hoping within the day. They have to package up enough for a complete treatment regimen, and then I understand they’re going to air courier it here on a Denali private plane.”

  “Great. I hope it’s soon enough, though. Last time I heard from Sylvia, Todd had lost a tremendous amount of tissue. The necrosis and skin destruction has spread to most of his body, and it’s eating into fascia and muscle in some parts. His GI tract is showing definite signs of compromise, too. It won’t be long—”

  Phil ran a shaky hand through his hair. “I know. I can’t imagine a more devastating superbug…and I don’t want to. How is Sylvia holding up?”

  “About as you’d expect. I don’t think she’s slept or gone home since he was admitted.”

  “Is she…well? At least so far? She was exposed, and she’s under terrific stress now.”

  “So far, she hasn’t mentioned any symptoms. I’m hoping she managed to avoid enough direct contamination to keep from contracting it herself.”

  “Well, hopefully that holds.”

  “Phil, I’m really worried about her. Not just because she could contract it, but she’s blaming herself for the entire epidemic. She absolutely blames herself for Todd’s condition. I don’t know what she will do if he—”

  “I should never have asked you both to develop the damned thing. Never. I shouldn’t have egged her on to introduce it to the population when you objected. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me.”

  After a pause, Jerry continued. “Well, there isn’t much use in recriminations now. Won’t change anything. The best we can hope for is that Denali’s drug does the job. That would be good news for Todd and Sylvia—and for everyone. My God, if they’ve found the cure, we’ll finally have a weapon for this thing and can start to fight it. This just has to work.”

  “Yeah. Well, let her know it’s coming. Thanks.”

  Phil ended the call and put his face in his hands. Jerry was right. It just had to work. The epidemic had to be stopped, and fast.

  Even if it meant it would cement Denali’s dominance of the BigPharma landscape for years to come.

  CHAPTER 53

  Clad in her hazmat gear, Sylvia sat in a chair next to Todd’s bed, cradling the precious package in her lap. The experimental drug from Denali Labs had just arrived at the hospital with instructions to deliver it to her personally. She’d had an alert put out for Dr. Williams to let him know it had arrived and was ready to be administered.

  She gazed over at Todd, sleeping the sleep of the drugged in his IsoStat. Dr. Williams had decided to place him in an induced coma. He feared the extensive internal and external tissue destruct
ion would create such intense pain that the shock of it would kill Todd. If the pathogen didn’t kill him first.

  He barely looked human as he lay there, covered in seeping bandages. The disease was progressing so quickly that it was impossible to keep the dressings clean and fresh for long. To make up for the constant loss of fluid, saline IVs and bottles of blood substitute were kept flowing into veins in the less damaged portions of Todd’s arms and legs.

  She looked down at the package in her lap. Would it save him? So much harm had already been done that his systems were on the verge of collapse. But she had to hope. The Pathosym models were usually spot-on. She’d never encountered an instance where the live colony test didn’t confirm the models; it was just something that was routinely done before shipping a new drug application off to the FDA. The extra precaution was a holdover from the old days of live human and animal testing.

  Moments later, Dr. Williams rushed into the room in his hazmat suit. “Let’s see that. I presume they included the dosage instructions?”

  “They said they would. I haven’t opened it yet.”

  “All right.” He unsealed the box and reviewed the slip of instructions included inside. He nodded to himself, then took a fresh syringe from the cabinet beside the bed. He tore off the wrapper, drew a dose from the vial, and injected it into a port in one of the IV tubes.

  “There. It calls for an IV dose every eight hours. I’ll make sure that order is in, and I guess now we wait to see what happens. In a few hours, I’ll test the level of ASA in his blood to see if the drug is having an effect. With tissue destruction this extensive, it may be impossible to determine progress just by observation.”

  Sylvia nodded. “Makes sense. Thanks.”

  Dr. Williams left the room to attend to other patients. Sylvia just sat in her chair, staring at Todd—and willing the drug to take effect and save him.