As the days and weeks progressed the number of walking infectees grew at an alarming rate and they also seemed to becoming more organized and aggressive. Many cities were on lock down or had curfews requiring people to be off the streets by dusk. In the U.S. the infection had spread beyond North Carolina and the recent events in Washington, DC, had the government scrambling to come up with a solution. DC remained on lock down and additional military and police guarded all the principal buildings in town. The President and his immediate staff and supervisors had relocated to an underground facility outside the city, although this was never made public so as not to alarm people. One or two infectees managed to skirt security and in one instance an infectee entered the U.S. Department of State building and attacked several employees before agents from Diplomatic Security engaged the intruder and neutralized the threat. In another instance, an infectee gained entrance to the Capitol Building and attacked two staffers from a Senators Office before the Capital Police tracked down the person and killed him. The streets of DC looked like a bomb had been dropped in the city as only police and military could be seen moving through the city. All the monuments and normal visitor sites were closed and pedestrian traffic was non-existent.
Isolated reports of infectees and attacks were reported at several of the surrounding states but so far the virus had still not made it’s way to any of the western states or to the countries south of the border. The South American countries continued to forbid anyone from crossing their borders and all airline service had been completely stopped. Everyone was sure it was just a matter of time before the virus reached these countries. Scientists pointed out that the plague had somehow managed to cross-oceans and that this virus would do so too. Scientists knew that a flu virus could move from animals to humans and vice versa because of what is called antigenic shift. Antigenic shift occurs when the virus moves from a human or animal to another animal or human. The bird strain of this type infection can jump directly back to a human, while actually creating a new strain of the virus in the process. The new strain then evolves and spreads more rapidly from person to person and usually the end result is some sort of pandemic. Scientists and doctors feared that this is what was happening in Asia and that sooner or later some bird would make his way to South America and the evolution of the super virus would begin again.
BACK AT FORT DETRICK
Scientists and doctors were studying the antigenic shift theory while trying to see why the virus was progressing and changing differently in Asia than in the United States. They looked at some recent medical cases to see how some other types of viruses had changed over the course of their infection span. In one case, a person who had been infected by HIV became infected with another strain and the end result was a virus that progressed faster than the original and the people involved usually died. Even though they knew the three main viruses in Mengele’s super virus, they still did not know how he had antigenically shifted it to form the super virus. They knew that such things can happen naturally in nature but how Mengele had done so in a laboratory couldn’t be explained. They hoped that the team in Germany would uncover something in the war records to help them find the solution.
Antigenic Shift is the process by which two or more different strains of a virus, or strains of two or more different viruses, combine to form a new strain having a mixture of the surface antigens of the two or more original strains. In contrast, antigenic drift is when the process naturally mutates over time and the known strains become something new and different. The CDC and scientists from Fort Detrick were confidant that what was taking place around the world was a combination of antigenic shift and drift. The viruses and resulting behavior by those infected led doctors to believe that multiple mutations were taking place and even if a vaccine was found that worked in one area of the world, there was no guarantee that it would work in another part of the world. Doctors and scientists knew that the common flu was a good example of the antigenic shift and drift. Influenza A, B and C, all behave differently and so when people receive their yearly flu shots they receive a vaccine that is capable of handling these particular varieties of the virus. If something is introduced into that virus strain, the vaccine becomes whole or partially ineffective. That is why almost yearly new vaccines have to be developed in order to combat new strains that have made their appearance around the world. After people are inoculated they usually stay immune to the virus, however, when it changes, the body’s immune system can’t recognize the new strain and infection sets in. People usually have little or no immunity to a new flu subtype and an epidemic can quickly arise. The human immune system is effective in detecting outside threats to the body and coming up with antibodies to combat and defect an infection. When viruses mutate however, the body’s immune system has a hard time recognizing what it is encountering and so the body quickly becomes threatened. The end result is infection and, if the virus is left unchecked, death may result. Normal mutation occurs almost yearly and in some cases the end result can be devastating and end in pandemics, such as the 2009 swine flu or H1N1 viruses that resulted in pandemics in certain parts of the world. A similar mutation occurred in 1918-1919, when the Spanish flu spread throughout the world and killed millions of people who became exposed to its fury.
The scientists also believed that some domestic and wild animals and different types of birds were contributing to the spread of the virus. The virus was showing up in places where authorities were unable to document anyone from the outside coming into that area recently. They also knew that flu viruses could change very slowly over time or very rapidly for no apparent reason. All these combinations of things were contributing to what was happening in the world and especially Asia, which still appeared to be the hotbed of the infection. The doctors and scientists were gradually figuring out how Mengele and his group had engineered the three viruses involved, and believed that the introduction of the pneumonia virus into many of the people in Asia was accounting for what was happening there. The big question was how to tackle the infection given the fact that mutations could be involved not only in the areas where they were studying it, but also in other areas where the mutation could be quite different. Scientists and doctors were working with numerous pharmaceutical companies trying to develop at least a base vaccine that could be used as a starting point for combatting what was becoming a worldwide pandemic. Doctors also believed that cases in the U.S. were lower because children are vaccinated against a number of infections at a very early age and so their bodies become immune to many of the infections they may encounter throughout their lives. CDC recommended that all children, before they reach the age of two, be inoculated against 13 different infectious diseases, to include: measles, mumps, rubella (German measles), varicella (chickenpox), hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), Haemophilus influenza type B, polio, influenza, rotavirus and pneumococcal disease. Many of the countries elsewhere in the world also vaccinate their children in a similar manner; however, many do not. It was becoming apparent that many of the hardest hit cities and countries had a lower medical standard than the U.S. Tissue samples from the dead in numerous countries revealed varying degrees of infection. The countries with higher medical standards had fewer infections, but once a person became infected, the results were always the same, death or returning as a zombie like person. Many of the cities either couldn’t treat victims because their hospitals were overrun with sick people, or the country had decided that the only way to combat the spread of the deadly virus was to exterminate those who were infected, in an effort to stop further infections. As was seen at the beginning of the virus’s spread, many people who were sick with other maladies were mistaken for infectees and killed by security forces despite their insistence that they weren’t infected. Bodies piled up around the world and mass burials or cremations were held to rid the cities of the bodies. Pestilence began to spread in many areas and rats eating dead bodies became carriers for the super virus just as they had done duri
ng the plagues of the Middle Ages. Stores began to run out of food and the governments tried to set up food distribution stations around cities, however, most people were too afraid to venture outside their homes. Many thought it was better to starve to dead than to become infected and turn into a zombie like person, as could be seen on many of the streets. Fortunately most of the utilities remained in tact and people continued to have running water and electricity. Internet and cell phone service were still available in most of the larger cities, however, many smaller villages had either intermittent or no connections. News stations continued to try to keep people informed about what was happening both locally and abroad and most people feared the end was near. Churches, mosques and synagogues were filled as people prayed to their God to deliver them from this crisis. Many had already accepted the fact that the end of the world was near and prayed that when the end finally came, it would be quick and painless. Suicides and killings among families were on the rise, as some people couldn’t face the reality of what was happening and doubted that governments would be able to find a cure in time. Country leaders communicated daily among themselves trying to ascertain any new developments in either the spread of the virus or promising research that could help find a cure. The United Nations finally shut its doors as most foreign delegates desired to spend their final days back in their own country and with their families. Only a skeleton crew remained in New York and Geneva, monitoring events that they tried to pass on to the delegates. No airlines, trains or busses were operating except for military aircraft and ships, which continued to carry out their duties. Most gas stations had either run out of gas or were closed and locked and the only vehicles that could be seen were police and military vehicles that continued to patrol cities and main highway arteries. Some ships had made it out to sea before the virus started spreading and continued either cruising or anchored at sea to avoid contact with the infectees. Most passenger ships had enough food for a limited period but some were already starting to run out of food and essentials. As safe as the ships appeared, outbreaks did occur at sea and infectees killed over half the passengers and crew before ship’s security brought things under control on one vessel. On another vessel the Captain radioed back to shore that infectees were overrunning his ship and requested that the military take appropriate action. The military decided to dispatch two military aircraft to sink the boat for fear that the infectees might figure out how to navigate back to land. Scientists theorized that sea birds had infected one or two people and that the virus just took off in the closed quarters of the ship. In another case, a freighter became infected and the Captain saw a nearby military ship and informed them of the situation. The Captain of the military craft thanked the freighter Captain and wished him God speed before he launched a cruise missile, which sunk the freighter in a matter of minutes.
The U.S. President and his Security Council continued to monitor events and hoped that someone, somewhere, would discover something that could help end this pandemic.
MEANWHILE IN EUROPE
Although the European cities and countries weren’t hit as hard as Asia, there were reports of encounters with people affected by the super virus. Unlike their counterparts in Asia, most of the infectees in Europe died within a short period after turning. A few did, however, manage to stay alive, if that’s what you could call it, and roam the streets and countryside looking for people, or in some cases animals, to prey on. Several of the farmers reported large livestock being killed and eaten by zombie like creatures. The creatures didn’t appear to be as organized or have the mobility of the infectees found in Asia, leading the scientists to confirm their belief that the pneumonia virus, coupled with the strain of the super virus was responsible. The Undead, as people began to call them, gathered mainly in the countryside, where the supply of food was more plentiful and much easier to get. Most of the animals killed were in penned areas and usually had no way to escape. Once the governments realized what was happening they deployed their air forces to tackle the problem. Some countries even used drones in situations where a large number of the undead were encountered. This resulted in fewer or no casualties on the part of the police or military. Unfortunately, the same tactics couldn’t be employed in the cities and so the task still fell on patrols to find and neutralize the threat. With the borders closed between most countries, the countries were quickly able to address the problem and within two months nearly all the undead had been eradicated. Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said of the Asian countries. Even the United States was encountering infections in remote areas of the east coast. The City of Washington was getting under control, however, it was still closed off but officials believed that within the next two weeks most of the problem in the city would be gone.
THE GERMAN FILES
The CDC Team in Germany worked around the clock going through the stacks and stacks of files that German Intelligence had archived from the war and particularly from Auschwitz. The fact that the records were in German and that many had handwritten notes and shorthand abbreviations on them, made it all the more difficult to decipher. One group finally found a large group of files from Mengele and his team and everyone was hopeful that what they were looking for was finally near. Much of the research done by Mengele dealt with ways the Germans could improve medically treating their troops if they were injured while fighting. Other files dealt with ways to eliminate the prisoner population at the concentration camp and talked about poisons and various types of gases that were being developed at Auschwitz.
Finally after over almost two weeks of scouring through the files and getting to the point where the CDC Team thought everything they were doing would be all in vain, one team member stumbled upon a diary that Mengele had kept while stationed at Auschwitz. The diary began when he entered the German Army in late 1941 and talked about how he had been seriously injured while on the Eastern Front fighting against the Russians. It went on to chronicle how he had been offered his choice of assignments and had chosen Auschwitz because he felt he could conduct the type of experiments he desired at this location.
The diary later talked about how Reichsfuhrer Himmler had visited him in 1943 and asked him to develop some sort of biological weapon for Hitler, as Hitler feared that Germany was losing the war and had lost its upper hand in Europe. He hoped that if they could distract the Americans from the war he would gain the advantage again and eventually become victorious in the war. Following his first meeting with Himmler, Mengele gathered his staff and laid out plans for meeting the Fuhrer’s desire to strike fear and panic among the Americans, possibly through the deployment of some sort of biological weapon. He discussed some of their current experiments and ideas he had about how they could engineer a super virus along the lines of both the plague and influenza. He instructed his scientists to gather up whatever virus strains were currently being stored at Germany’s main laboratories and health facilities and to begin their research into producing a virus that could be unleashed on the Americans with devastating results. Mengele said that he was fairly certain that a number of viruses he wanted to work with could be obtained from the Institute of Biological Racial and Evolutionary Research in Berlin. Furthermore, a number of the doctors at Auschwitz were already doing research that would be helpful in completing this task for Hitler. Doctors Entress, Vetter and Wirths were currently doing extensive research on developing new medications and drugs to counter contagious diseases. He thought that through reverse engineering they might be able to quickly develop some virus that would be immune to most known drugs of the day. He also had doctors Kremer, Clauberg and Schumann doing experiments in a variety of fields and he felt that between himself and these six skilled physicians, the task could be completed in the timelines given him. Mengele wrote that he knew that if he could develop something that would please the Fuhrer and Himmler he would remain in their good graces and progress up the ladder of the SS, and eventually when Germany won the war, would receive a prestigious position in the new worl
d order. Failure, on the other hand, could land him and his colleagues in Auschwitz along with all the other war prisoners.
The diary chronicled the first few days of their initial research and experimenting. All the doctors believed that by combining some existing viruses like influenza, the plague and smallpox, the end result would be a new super virus that could withstand the new medicines currently available in the United States. Although Mengele wasn’t yet sure yet how such a virus could be delivered in order to inflict a mass outbreak, he would worry about that after they had the virus developed. Auschwitz had hundreds of prisoners so the doctor knew they would have more than enough test subjects to try out their new contagions. The samples they had obtained from Berlin gave them the necessary starting blocks to get their work underway. A new sterile area was quickly built at the camp so that they could isolate test subjects and watch how the infection progressed. The doctors obtained new protective clothing and equipment so that they and the German staff didn’t get infected in the process. The group began to work ten-hour days and had meetings every night to discuss the progress they were making.
Mengele went on to write that he met again with Himmler at Auschwitz and that he was excited about the rapid progress his group of doctors had made. Mengele told Himmler that they were able to obtain strains of all the needed viruses from Berlin and that, because of the previous research his team had already done, they were able to quickly genetically drift the influenza, plague and rabies viruses, resulting in a new super strain of virus. Mengele went on to explain that an antigenic or genetic drift was when two or more strains of different viruses combined to form a new subtype virus, which was entirely different from the original viruses, but which still maintained the characteristics of the primary viruses. He said it was a sort of genetic mutation that would be immune to all current antidotes that might otherwise be effective if employed against each individual strain of virus, but would have little effect on the new strain. He said that when the virus infected the host, the different strains would attack the cells simultaneously and the host would have little chance of fighting the infection and that the new, more dangerous strain, would most likely result in a pandemic. Mengele wrote that he was confident that none of the current antibiotics would be effective in fighting the new strain, and that the process of finding a new antibiotic to fight the infection would be difficult and require months of research and development. The team decided on the three different viruses for a multitude of reasons. They considered history and the staggering figures regarding both the influenza and the plague, or Black Death, and were confident that the number of deaths resulting from the new super strain would even surpass the statistics of both the 1918 outbreaks of these two viruses. The influenza would attack the victim’s respiratory systems and death would be rapid if left untreated. The plague on the other hand caused painful swellings, sometimes as large as an apple or orange, in the areas of the arms, legs, neck and groin. When the body could no longer withstand the excessive swelling, the areas burst open and oozed blood, fluids and pus like secretions. When the Black Death last hit mankind the incidence of death was usually within a week. The plague would also effect the lungs, which in conjunction with the effects of the influenza, would accelerate the failure of the lungs by filling them with not only fluids, but with the victim’s blood. Mengele said that the group chose rabies instead of smallpox, which they had originally considered, because of the extreme physical effects this disease produced. Persons exposed to the rabies virus suffered an extreme attack on their nervous systems and death was rapid if left untreated. Advanced infection could produce violent behavior ranging from extreme aggressiveness, hallucinations, and ranting and raving. The infected people might even begin to attack other infected or non-infected people they encountered. Mengele added jokingly that if the rabies virus became airborne, which they would probably try to effect, it would result in a zombie type pandemic and the victims could take on both a zombie like appearance as a result of the plague and start to act like the walking dead, because of the rabies infection. He wrote that he told Himmler that it would be the best of both worlds, since either the viruses would kill the Americans outright or the infected people would begin attacking other people when the rabies started to drive them crazy. Either way, Hitler and his Germany would deliver a crippling blow to the Americans.
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