by Perrin Briar
“We can’t know that,” Susan said. “And we certainly shouldn’t be depending on it.”
“Then what are you suggesting?” Richard said.
How could Richard be so naïve? They couldn’t blindly hope for the best. They needed to act, and act fast. Otherwise the virus was going to be on them and there would be nothing they could do to keep it in check.
“New York will soon be overrun with them,” Susan said. “And look at the Rolling Stones. If others were infected at the concert, then the virus is already amongst us. Anyone who was in New York recently could have it. Someone here could have it. Some of the investors who came here today could have it. We don’t know.”
Phil’s eyes grew wider the longer Susan spoke. By the end, his eyes were like saucers. He wiped his hands unconsciously on the front of his jacket, feeling dirty, like the virus might be on him now.
“What about the media?” Phil said. “Shouldn’t we be informing them we’ve got information on the virus? They could get the word out, inform people.”
“Cause a panic, more like,” Susan said. “Since when has the media ever not stirred up a shit storm once they’ve been given breaking news?”
Susan wanted nothing more than to get the hell away from there, to grab Amy and remove her from harm. But she didn’t need to worry. Rosario would take good care of her. She took a deep breath to calm herself.
“No,” Susan heard herself say. “The virus is already on its way. No matter what happens, we have to stay here. We can’t leave. Not yet. Not until Archie has made a cure. We have the weapon that will stop the virus in its tracks. It could save millions of lives. We can’t leave now.”
“God,” Phil said. “She’s right. I wish she wasn’t, but she is.”
He ran a hand through his long hair. He walked away, then turned and walked back, a lost boy.
“What are you suggesting we do?” Richard said. “Stay here while those things come get us?”
“If Archie’s here, we’re here,” Susan said. “This has to remain a secret for as long as we can maintain it.”
Richard looked over at Phil, who was mumbling to himself and shaking his head.
“Do you think we can rely on him to keep it a secret?” Richard said in a low voice.
“Of all of us, I think he’s the only one we can rely on,” Susan said.
Z-MINUS: 7 hours 32 minutes
Richard called the hospital manager, a close friend, and explained to him what was happening in New York and how they expected it to hit the city of Charlotte within hours. The patients would be sitting ducks. The manager believed Richard, but maintained he could not simply have the patients moved. He promised to call his boss and get his approval before making any decisions. In short, he didn’t want to be blamed if the virus didn’t reach them. Richard hung up and explained the situation.
“What can we do?” Richard said. “We can’t make them evacuate.”
Susan came up short. The hospital wasn’t their responsibility. They would have protocols in place to deal with an emergency.
“What about our patients?” Richard said. “They’ll be doomed the minute the infected get here.”
“We’ll evacuate them,” Susan said. “All of them. We have to send them away.”
“They’re our responsibility,” Phil said. “We can get them somewhere safe.”
“But we haven’t got anything to take them away in!” Richard said.
“I know someone,” Phil said. “My friends. They’ve got a van we could use. But where would we send them?”
“Anywhere far from here,” Susan said. “To the remote center on the outskirts of town. Take them there.”
“I’ll give them a call,” Phil said, reaching into his pocket.
“Are they reliable?” Susan said.
Phil shrugged.
“They’ve never let me down before,” he said.
What other choice did they have?
“Call them,” Susan said.
Phil put his cell to his ear.
“Hey man,” he said. “It’s Phil. You know, Bong Phil. Yeah, I’m good, man. You? I’m sorry to hear you failed to get into the final of Battle of the Bands. Listen, I need a favor. I need you to bring your van to the research center. Can you do that? I need you to take some people somewhere. Do this, and I’ll get you all the bongs you want. Hey, and lay off the grass on your way over, will you? This is an important mission. Later.”
Phil hung up.
“They’re on their way,” he said.
Susan just looked at him.
“What?” Phil said.
Susan shook her head. Beggars can’t be choosers.
“Make sure they’re here within the hour,” Susan said.
“We ought to get the patients up and ready to leave,” Richard said.
“I’ll speak to Steve,” Susan said. “You get the kids.”
“All right, but be quick,” Richard said.
Susan hustled down the accommodation corridor to the door at the end. She turned the handle and entered.
They were communal sleeping areas, like a regular wing in a hospital. Snores filled the room, others chomping with empty mouths like they were eating in their sleep. Rehabilitation was an exhausting process. Sometimes subjects had to have two or three naps a day.
Steve’s bed was closest to the door. Susan creeped up to it and gently shook him awake.
“Hmph?” Steve said. “What’s going on?”
“There might be a bit of a crisis,” Susan said. “We need to get you and the others out of here.”
Steve appraised Susan’s expression and seemed to find something there. His training had burned the need for unnecessary questions out of his mind. It was a time for action, not explanation.
He threw back his sheets and sat on the edge of his bed. Susan handed him his prosthetic arm and kneeled down to help him with the straps.
Steve looked down at Susan.
“While you’re down there…” he said.
Susan shook her head.
“You’re incorrigible,” she said. “Maybe if we get through this I can find someone to accommodate you.”
Her comment had the opposite effect to the one she’d intended. Steve frowned, deep creases in his forehead like a street map.
“If we get through this?” he said. “Through what?”
Susan weighed Steve up. He was used to taking orders and not being told every piece of information. She could get away with not telling him what she knew. But this was not the military, and Susan had more respect for him than that.
“A virus may have broken out,” Susan said. “It was in New York, but we believe it’s already spreading across the world. It might even already be here in Charlotte.”
Steve blinked at the bluntness of the information.
“Okay…” he said.
He took a moment to gather himself, and then wordlessly put on his pants.
Susan stepped back into the hallway. She heard the rumble of Steve’s voice through the wall as he woke the others.
Susan opened her cell and dialed Rosario’s number. The phone rang and rang. Susan felt a tightening in her chest. What if the virus had already seized Charlotte’s suburbs? Please let them be okay.
Finally, and with much relief, the phone was answered.
“Rosario?” Susan said. “It’s Susan. No, everything is fine. Well, actually…”
She took a deep breath. How was she going to ask Rosario to do what she needed her to do without telling her why? Would Rosario blindly trust her? If she told Rosario the truth, could she trust Rosario not to reach out and tell everyone she knew? And how long before one of her friends called the news? They couldn’t risk news of the outbreak coming out just yet. It would cause a panic and do more harm than good.
“Rosario,” Susan said with a voice that sounded much more confident than she felt. “Something’s wrong, something big. And if it goes the way we think it might, then you’ll need to get somewhere safe. I can’t tell you
what’s going to happen. I just need you to trust me. Can you do that?”
“Of course I can,” Rosario said. “Fool child.”
Susan smiled. Her shoulders relaxed. She hesitated about what she was going to say next.
“That man who answered the phone earlier,” she said. “Is he important to you?”
“No, not really,” Rosario said. “He’s just someone who keeps me company sometimes.”
Way more information than Susan needed.
“Okay,” Susan said. “The chances are he’ll be fine anyway. Look, I want you to take Amy to my house in the country. You went there once with us, remember? The place with the tall ash tree. The address is pinned to the corkboard in the kitchen. I want you to take my car and drive over there. No, not in the morning. Now. Go right now. Stick to the speed limits and you should be fine. It might be nothing, but I would feel a lot better if you and Amy were far away from it.”
Rosario was silent a moment.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll do it. But you’d better have a damn good excuse for making me skip town.”
It was one of the few rare times Susan had heard the woman swear, so she knew she was taking it seriously. Susan put her cell down and breathed a sigh of relief. It was all she could do to protect Amy at the moment.
She rushed down the corridor. Everything was happening so fast. Was it right for her to make special allowances for herself and not warn the rest of the east coast? For once, she didn’t care. Amy was going to be safe. That was all that mattered.
Boom!
A hollow explosion, thundering and loud. It sent a tremor through the ground. Susan ran to the glass wall of the research facility, joining Phil. They turned to look in the direction of the noise. It was far, but there was clearly a wisp of smoke rising into the sky.
“Where is that coming from?” Susan said.
“From the other side of town,” Phil said. “No. Farther than that. It must be forty, maybe fifty, miles out.”
“News just in,” the announcer on the news said. “We are receiving reports of explosions in Uwharrie forest just a few moments ago. Details are sketchy at this time, but there appears to be smoke rising from the forest canopy.”
Shaky handheld footage, from what appeared to be almost from their own location, appeared on the screen. White smoke tickled the sky, illuminated in profile by flickering yellow flames.
“I think it’s safe to say the truth of the virus is out,” Phil said. “Or if it’s not, it soon will be.”
Z-MINUS: 6 hours 59 minutes
A cold finger traced up Susan’s spine. They’d made a terrible mistake. They should have warned people, should have told the media, should have gotten word out. No matter how much panic the media caused it wouldn’t have been as bad as this. At least then people might have stood a chance at protecting themselves. Now, it was too late.
Many people would be settling down for the evening, comfortable and warm, bellies full of delicious food, ready to be entertained by the latest episode of their favorite TV show. Something would rap on their windows and doors. They would open them to find someone standing there, something from their worst nightmares birthed into reality.
Screams rang into the night. In the distance, small bangs like punctuation. Collisions and screeching wheels signaled the approach of what Susan knew would be the riot-like behavior she’d seen on TV.
They needed to hurry if they were going to get the patients out of the research center in time. The hospital was awake now, alive with energy. But they clearly had no plan to evacuate their patients. They would hold fast. It was not in the nature of hospitals and care workers to dispose of the people in their care.
Susan led a conga line of children in hospital gowns out the research center’s main entrance. Richard followed behind, pushing a girl in a wheelchair. Phil, Steve, and the other soldiers helped the adult patients.
Phil’s friends turned up in a beaten-up old van that had graffiti scrawled over the sides. Phil’s friends were no more kempt. They had tattoos up their arms and necks and piercings through every available patch of skin. Susan pulled Phil aside and looked at him askance.
“Are you sure we can trust them?” she said.
“They’re as good as their word,” Phil said. “They might look a little rough around the edges, but they have hearts of gold.”
Phil had a lot more faith in his friends than Susan did. Phil’s friends looked at the robed figures with uncertainty and cast accusing glances at Phil. But they weren’t without manners. They opened the van doors and helped the patients into the back.
“I’m not going anywhere until I know what’s going on,” an old lady called Betty said. She could be more stubborn than a mule when she had a mind to be.
“It’s for your own safety,” Susan said. “You should go to our remote facility on the outskirts of town. You’ll be safer there.”
“Safer from what?” Betty said.
“We can’t tell you,” Susan said. “Not yet.”
Grumbles from the older patients.
“I know we’re asking a lot from you – from all of you,” Susan said. “But believe me, we wouldn’t be doing this unless it was absolutely necessary.”
It was only their love and trust for Susan and Richard that they nodded and allowed themselves to be put into the back of the van.
“What about my friends and family?” one of the other patients said. “They’ll be worried about me.”
“They’ll be informed of your whereabouts,” Susan said. “I promise.”
She wished it was one she would be able to keep, but it seemed the right thing to say to soothe those hesitant about getting in the van. The children got in first, then the adults. All told, there were no more than a dozen.
“Now you,” Susan said to Steve.
“What about you?” Steve said
Susan pursed her lips, unsure about how much to tell him. She wanted him to leave, to be safe.
“We’re making a cure,” she said, lowering her voice. “Or, Archie is. But it takes time, and we need to be ready to transmit the data to the rest of the world so others can replicate it.”
“How long does the robot need?” Steve said.
“Eight hours,” Susan said.
“There’s no way to make it go faster?” Steve said.
Susan shook her head.
“Archie’s the only machine that can do this,” she said.
Steve ran a hand over his shaved head.
“Okay,” he said.
“Good,” Susan said, gesturing toward the van.
“No, I mean, okay, I’ll stay,” Steve said.
“What?” Susan said. “Didn’t you hear what I just said?”
“Loud and clear,” Steve said. “I lost an arm, not an ear. You said you need to wait for your robot to build a cure that you can use, right? You said you need to wait eight hours. The infected, whatever they’re infected with, aren’t going to knock politely and ask to enter. You’re going to have to defend the building and stop them from entering. And if you didn’t notice, you’re part of the hospital. Where do you think all those people who get hurt and injured are going to end up going?
“You gave me back my life. Let me at least try to protect yours. Besides, how bad can these ‘infected’ be really?”
Susan felt cold as the realization dawned on her. The hospital was going to be the most dangerous place in the city. Before long there would be a line of people showing up at the hospital. They would be scratched and infected, and eventually, however long it took, they would turn. It was a bloodbath waiting to happen. And where were they going to be? Right next door.
They were never going to last eight hours defending the cure without protection. Steve and his men were their only real chance of survival.
“What do you suggest we do?” Susan said.
“We shut the building down, make it look like no one’s home,” Steve said. “We defend each floor, one at a time, keeping them from get
ting to the top.”
“You make it sound like we’re in a warzone,” Susan said.
“That’s exactly what this is,” Steve said. “Or soon will be.”
Susan nodded, though the full impact of what Steve was saying hadn’t really sunk in yet.
“Is that everyone?” Phil’s friend with the Mohawk said.
Steve turned to Oaks and Taylor, who gave him a small nod.
“That’s everyone,” Steve said.
Phil’s friends shut the van doors.
“Wait,” Richard said.
He turned to Susan.
“You should go too,” Richard said.
“What?” Susan said. “Why?”
“Because there’s no need for all of us to stay here,” Richard said. “Only one of us needs to be here. You should go, be safe, with the others.”
Susan was taken aback by this sudden display of affection. It wasn’t in Richard’s nature to be so outspoken when it came to his emotions. She swallowed the lump in her throat.
“No,” Susan said. “I’m staying. But you can go.”
Richard shook his head. He put his hands on Susan’s shoulders and looked deep into her eyes.
“There’s no reason for you to put yourself in danger,” he said. “Not now. Drop by home and take Amy with you.”
There was a time when Susan would have done anything Richard said when he looked at her like that. But no longer.
“I don’t care,” Susan said, breaking his embrace. “I’m staying.”
Phil raised his hand.
“Uh, I can do it,” he said. “You can both go. I’ll handle it.”
Susan smiled. Phil often flew off the handle, a slave to his emotions, and sometimes didn’t follow orders, either through forgetfulness, or doing what he thought was morally right. He was not the type of person to be left alone in a position of responsibility. But yet here he was, willing to sacrifice himself for them.
“Thank you, Phil,” Susan said. “But if one of us gets injured then there still needs to be someone here to upload the information into the cloud.”
Phil nodded, in disappointment, Susan thought.
Phil’s friend climbed into the front seats.