The two men met later that day and Magee told Mathews that he had recently had two divers bring up a steel box, containing some sort of canisters, from the sunken U-756 German submarine that was recently discovered offshore. He said that they had taken the box to Strauss since he was an expert on German history and especially U-boats. The box had been opened in his office and when they saw that it contained some type of canisters with a dispersion top, they decided to call the FBI and request assistance. He said that he understood an Agent paid Strauss a visit the next day and had taken the box and its contents with him. Mathews began to piece together the facts from Wilmington along with information he knew from the New York incidents. He knew that ISIS had somehow found a container from the Nazis that had been hidden for many years before being found and its’ contents unleashed. It made sense that a second submarine could have been carrying a similar cargo and that what the divers found was more of the Nazi super virus. He also knew that the CDC’s vaccine had little or no effect on a person once he became infected and that only uninfected persons could benefit from the X554 vaccine. He knew that Special Agent Max Taylor was from the FBI’s Wilmington Office and that it was possible the box may have been taken there. He placed a call to FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. to see if he could get Taylor’s supervisor. After several phone transfers at the FBI, Taylor’s immediate boss was reached and said Taylor had never contacted him about any box prior to his leaving for Malaysia. Mathews asked if the CDC Response Team could visit Taylor’s office to see if the box was still there.
That afternoon the Response Team, equipped with chem/bio suits and equipment, entered the Wilmington FBI Resident Office and initially couldn’t find the box, however, when they finally gained access to a room adjoining the office, they found what they were looking for. A steel box containing what appeared to be canisters with dispersal devices was found. Further examination revealed that all of the canisters might have been discharged. Mathews theorized that Strauss had been exposed to one canister, Taylor to another and the third and fourth canisters remained a mystery, unless they were discharged after being placed in the room. Mathews contacted the building manager to ascertain if everyone was at work at the Federal Bldg. and found out, to his dismay, that over half the employees that worked there had called in sick over the last several days. Mathews thought to himself, “This is not a good thing.” Mathews ordered the building closed until further notice and his team was dispatched to visit all the employees who had called in sick. Mathews reported his findings back to CDC Headquarters and a conference call was quickly set up between the CDC, the Office of Homeland Security and the White House. It was agreed that the city and three miles beyond would be cordoned off and that the National Guard would set up roadblocks to prevent people from entering or leaving the area. Local authorities were notified and asked for help in visiting all the employees from the Federal Building. They were also briefed on a Need-to-Know basis about the possibility that a super virus may be involved and that infected people had to be restrained and brought into a holding facility being set up in town. They were also told that the use of deadly force had been granted by the White House and that if they believed they were in danger of being infected or attacked, they should shoot to kill. Many of the police officers attending a briefing on the situation couldn’t believe what they were being told, however, many knew about the ISIS’s attacks earlier that year in New York. The word “Zombie” began to pop up in numerous conversations and one officer detailed what had happened at the hospital. He knew one of the public safety officers there who swore that Strauss had been shot multiple times, only to raise again and begin to attack people. It was only when an officer shot him twice in the head that he went down permanently.
The CDC also decided that it would begin to inoculate all uninfected persons even though they believed that the virus might have somehow mutated since the outbreaks in New York. Back in Atlanta the labs began analyzing blood samples from Taylor and Strauss in an effort to find a cure or at least a guaranteed prevention. A holding facility was quickly put in place near Wilmington so that infected people could be secured, in an effort to contain the virus. The fact that over half of the employees at the Federal Building had reported in as sick meant that at least 100 people were possibly in some stage of infection. It was critical that no one be allowed to travel outside the quarantined area in an effort to contain the virus. So far there were only three reported attacks by possible infectees. In all cases police officers were forced to kill the persons involved.
The blockade of roads wasn’t popular among the town’s people; however, there had been no incidents of people trying to force their way through the areas. What was not known was how many people may have breached the quarantined perimeter on foot. So far no public announcement had been made telling the population about the nature of the illness. Word finally leaked to the press and several national news agencies were now camped out at the perimeter, however, none had been granted access to Wilmington itself. Some local news agencies were telephoning and texting developments and information to their colleagues on the outside but the news was still sketchy. Locally, people were told if they developed a sore throat, excessive cough, or any skin eruptions they should immediately report to the nearest hospital for treatment. So far there were 50 confirmed cases of the super virus and these people were immediately transported to holding facilities set up by the government, as there was no treatment the hospital could administer.
The last communication from the CDC’s Response Team, in Asia, reported new cases of the virus in Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila. These were all connection points for the Korean flight that Agent Taylor had been on. The worst outbreaks were in Kuala Lumpur since a large number of people had terminated their flight there and the fact that the city was still surrounded with smog from the Indonesia fires only helped to increase the instances of illness there. Malaysia has a population of over 28 million people and Kuala Lumpur over 1.6 million plus the many tourists who flock to that city for high end shopping. The CDC Team knew it was critical to try to control outbreaks there as the infection could jump to other highly populated countries and cities. Inoculations using the X554 vaccine had begun, however, it would be literally impossible to produce vaccine quantities in the numbers required. Work was also underway at several labs in the U.S. and abroad to try to find an actual cure although most scientists agreed that once a person became infected the likelihood of curing him was slim.
Investigative teams were pouring through old German war records in an effort to find more information on how Mengele and his team of doctors and scientists had actually engineered the virus so that they could try to reverse engineer it. The canisters retrieved in Wilmington would prove helpful as some of the canisters still contained traces of the virus so that scientists and doctors could study the makeup and how it affected animals and people. Meanwhile only bad news continued to flow into the CDC. The White House and Homeland Security were monitoring the situation in the event that additional cases were reported outside the Wilmington area. The President was scheduled to address the nation that evening and would announce that the super virus that had affected New York State earlier that year had reappeared in the United States and several countries aboard.
THE U.S. RESPONSE
At 8:00 P.M. that night the President addressed the nation and for the first time officially acknowledged that the Super Virus previously used by ISIS terrorists in New York had resurfaced in North Carolina. He said that DHS and the CDC were actively working on containing the virus and on finding a cure or inoculation for its prevention. The City of Wilmington, Ground Zero, was now off limits to the public and no one was allowed to enter or leave the area. The public was advised that initial signs of the virus were a sore throat, excessive coughing and discoloration of the skin over parts of the body. Persons were advised that if they displayed any of these symptoms they should proceed immediately to the nearest hospital for treatment.
What the President didn’t tell the public was that currently there was no treatment and that persons believed to be infected would be relocated to interment camps until a decision could be made about how to deal with the infectees. The President also encouraged people to stay indoors for the next week unless it was necessary to do otherwise. The U.S. Government had also enacted a curfew at all the towns surrounding the Wilmington area. Persons were required to be indoors during the hours of 8:00 P.M. and 8:00 A.M. National Guard troops were patrolling these areas and persons disobeying the curfew would be arrested and detained. The FAA had curtailed all flights originating or with connections from Asia for the next seven days. No planes would be allowed to land or depart to or from any Asian country. The President advised that the rationale for this move was the fact that the virus had jumped across the ocean and that major outbreaks had been reported in Korea and Malaysia. CDC Global Rapid Response Teams had been dispatched to several countries to help stop the spread of the virus. The President also informed the public that the virus could produce zombie like characteristics in some of the infected and that contact with these people could be fatal if they are encountered and not avoided. The speech concluded by the President saying that the United States was working around the clock to stabilize the situation both here and abroad and that daily news updates would be posted on all major networks.
Following the news conference the President met with his National Security Council, Homeland Security, the CDC and the Department of Defense. After a very heated discussion, it was agreed that troops and police officers, encountering infectees who had progressed to the zombie stage, were now allowed to exercise deadly force. They were not required to try to detain these people since they were beyond help or cure. Authorities were advised that head shots were recommended since a number of infectees who were shot otherwise had reanimated a short time later. Interment camps were being established at a number of stadiums and armories, however, CDC doctors stressed that once a person became infected there was little or no hope that he could be cured at this time.
So far only two cases had been reported outside the Wilmington area although it appeared that as many as one hundred federal employees could have been infected at the Federal Building in Wilmington. It appeared that the canisters that were retrieved from a sunken U-boat may have been brought back there by an unsuspecting FBI Agent and that one of the canisters may have discharged and then circulated through the AC ducts further infecting people. Police authorities were now tracking down all employees from that Federal Building to ascertain the condition of their health. With some luck the U.S. might be able to contain the spread of the virus if the general public listened to announced instructions. The fact still remained that Asia was a mess and how the spread of the virus could be contained there was not certain. Thousands were already infected and passengers from the Passenger Zero flight to Korea and Malaysia had dispersed and traveled to numerous other countries further complicating the situation.
The United Nations was holding a special session later that day and doctors from the CDC were scheduled to address the delegations and bring everyone up to date on the Super Virus and it’s projected spread. The world was at risk of suffering a major pandemic of epic proportions, the likes of which had never been seen in modern times.
BACK TO WILMINGTON, NC
Harold Mathews from the CDC decided to travel down to Myrtle Beach and talk to Gary and Reed, the two divers who had found the mystery box while diving the U-756. He was interested in learning more about the Wilmington incident and also wanted to take a break from the hectic schedule he was keeping in Wilmington. He met the divers at a local restaurant and they had some small talk before discussing their find. They had found the box a short distance from the sunken U-boat and it appeared to them that the sub may have blown up from the inside based on how the metal of the hull appeared to be blown outward from the super structure. They used an air bag to bring the box up and decided they would contact a local expert on World War II and U-boats in order for him to examine their find. When they opened the steel box and ascertained that it contained some sort of canisters, they decided the box and it’s contents should be handed over to the authorities. Strauss said he would call the FBI and have someone retrieve the box and it’s contents for further examination and it was at that point that the boat Captain, Gary and Reed, departed and left Strauss to handle matters further. What transpired after they left was not known. Mathews asked if the canisters appeared to be leaking when they opened the box and both Gary and Reed replied “No.” Mathews also inquired if they were sure that the box had been on the U-boat prior to its sinking. Both replied, “As far as they could determine, as there was no other wreckage near the U-boat.” Mathews and the divers finished their lunch and they asked Mathews if he could fill them in on what had happened since they last saw Strauss. Mathews said a lot of the information was classified, however, he could tell them that it appeared that Strauss had been exposed to the contents from one of the canisters and that he became infected by what they believe was a Super Virus that had been developed by the Nazis toward the end of World War II. Since neither of the divers was experiencing any ill effects, the exposure must have been after they left Strauss at his office.
So far there had been six deaths in Wilmington. Strauss, the two people at the hospital that he attacked and two additional hospital aids that were exposed to the virus somewhere along the way. The CDC Rapid Response Team was still trying to locate all the people who had been in the Federal Building where Agent Taylor had left the box with the canisters. Mathews theorized that one canister had exposed at least Strauss, if not Taylor too; one may have exposed only Taylor and one was believed to have exposed the Federal Building. How the last canister was discharged was not known although examination revealed that all canisters had been discharged at some point. Fortunately there were still remnants of the virus present in two of the canisters and so scientists at the CDC were able to extract samples and begin work on analyzing the contents.
A Command Post had been set up at the Police Department and police officers and National Guard were patrolling the area, on the lookout for possible infectees. The quarantine appeared to be holding and although there were hundreds of news people now at the perimeter, access and exit was strictly controlled. The biggest worry of infectees still appeared to be the Federal Building in Wilmington. Fifty of the one hundred people who had reported in as sick had been tracked down. Twenty-five had normal illnesses not related to the virus, however, the other twenty-five were infected and relocated to detention centers. Without a cure for the virus the main question was “What do we do when these people begin to turn?” They were separated into small groups but it was just a matter of time before they began to turn on each other. The matter was brought up with the President and his National Security Council, in consultation with the CDC, and it was finally agreed that the most humane thing to do was euthanize the people as soon as it was confirmed that they were turning. No one had even come back to normal after they reached stage three of the infection, eruption of the skin with sores and oozing fluids. The next stage was the zombie stage and controlling the detainees at that point would be a problem.
Mathews also stayed in close contact with the CDC Teams in Korea and Malaysia. It now appeared that the degree of infection in Korea was minimal as most people on the Taylor flight had merely transited the Airport and were not fully infected at this point. Malaysia was another story however; the number of confirmed cases had climbed to almost 4,000, double the number from the preceding day. Reports of zombie attacks were also on the rise and the city of Kuala Lumpur was on lock down. All stores and businesses had been ordered to close for at least the next week and military troops had been moved into the city to assist the national police. One of the most serious attacks so far took place at the trendy Pavillion Kuala Lumpur Shopping Mall in the Bukit Bintang District of the city. The mall entails over 1.37 million square feet and on an average day several
thousand people shop there and use the massive food court on its lower level. Ten infectees had somehow gained entry into the mall and went on an attack spree, which lasted over fifteen minutes before mall security, and police neutralized the threat. Over 75 people were attacked and bitten in this period and 10 had fled the mall before police could detain them. Another attack took place at the Petronas Twin Towers where two employees of that building suddenly went wild and started to attack fellow co-workers on the thirtieth floor. Over thirty people were infected before police and security could reach the floor of the disturbance. CDC teams were actively inoculating people although no one knew how effective the X554 vaccine was. The fact that the virus had mutated in Malaysia because of the smog and air pollution meant that the CDC and Malaysian health authorities were dealing with something quite different from the U.S. version of the virus. Blood samples had been flown back to Atlanta and Fort Detrick in Maryland for scientists and doctors to analyze. It was still confirmed that the Nazi virus was a strain of the flu, plague and rabies, however, that fact that several people had lung infections from the air pollution tended to add another element to the equation, one that the scientists still couldn’t figure out.
Finally a few days later someone figured things out. There was actually a simple answer. Many of the people infected in the Asian countries were already affected by the fires in Indonesia and had developed respiratory problems or even pneumonia as a result. A large percentage of these would develop pneumococcal pneumonia, a bacterial strain of pneumonia that affected the lungs and could spread to other parts of the body, including the blood. Many of the cases could also result in Bacteremia, an infection of the blood that lead to low blood pressure and damage to vital organs like the kidneys and the heart. Some infected people would also become infected with meningitis, which affected the brain and spinal cord. When the doctors and scientists analyzed all these factors they quickly realized that they could be dealing with as many as five or six different diseases in some infectees instead of the original three from the actual Nazi Super Virus. This made analysis and the cure and prevention almost impossible. Many doubted that a singular vaccine could tackle all the infections with any degree of effectiveness. Mathews thanked his lucky stars that he only had to worry about the original virus in the U.S., although some sort of mutation had occurred in a number of the infectees. During the New York infections, once an infected person was killed, he stayed dead. No so in many of the Wilmington and Malaysia cases. The fact that many people in Asia were already ill with respiratory infections also made it easier for the super virus to take hold quicker than normal and some infectees started showing the zombie stage in as little as one to two days after infection. Since this group was already in a weaken stage to start with, death or the zombie stage came more rapidly after exposure. The Global Rapid Response Teams in Asia had also determined that once someone who was infected, the incubation period for the disease to take hold was only about one to two days. Many of the symptoms of a normal infection by air never materialized in a bitten person. They just suddenly felt sick and looked pale and would die, only to become reanimated a short time later. It was becoming harder and harder for health officials to determine who was dying of natural causes versus who had been a victim of a zombie bite.
Dawn of a New Day Page 5