“As you can see there has been much destruction. Let’s remember that this is a country that has very distinct boundaries of class. The riots started with one of the basiji. There were tens of thousands in the streets, and it took only one person to blow the lid off the pot. It was a young man of about sixteen who was well known for his brutality to anyone breaking a Muslim law. He has been a basiji militiaman for only a year, but in that time, he has made a name for himself. He had put his faith in the clerics and could not understand why his country was being punished with the changes. He has no way of knowing the extent to which the whole world is dealing with the virus because the clerics have strict control of the media. “
“The story goes he watched his countrymen try to be peaceful in their demands, many times, only to be told to squelch them in any manner needed. This time was different though, and he too wants someone, anyone, to stop the virus. As he walked through the crowd, all near him would step back in fear. He looked around to see even young children were brought out by their parents, and his heart ached for them, their outward appearance looked eerily similar. He couldn’t take any more, so he grabbed a rock that was in a flowerbed and threw it at a store window shattering it. A spray of glass flew and all around him stood in shock.”
As the anchor spoke Sue and Daniel could see mass destruction in the video being played.
“We know that the United States is blocking all travel and sending those that are not U.S. citizens home, but here in Iran most everyone thought the clerics would be able to stop the onslaught of the virus on its people. This has not happened and the money for oil is drying up, the poor in Iran are going hungry. The more affluent are able to afford food and other everyday necessities, but those who are not rich have no sympathy for those who are in a higher station than they. Classes do not mean anything when one’s children are starving. As those hungry people stood and watched this young man, they didn’t expect his next action. He jumped on a car and yelled, ‘Are you hungry?’ Once anarchy is let loose, it is impossible to restrain. The clerics believed the basiji would keep them safe, but they were wrong. Even the basiji have families and they, too, are angry. People began to storm the stores taking anything they could carry.”
As James was speaking he walked about a block. “We are here on the street of Ferdosi. The carnage has overtaken the street and…” At that moment the screen flashed a video from a cell phone of a group of people storming a bank. “I’m told this is the National Bank of Iran in the Khomeini Square area. The National Jewels Museum of Iran is in the basement of the bank. Here are housed many treasures of Iran. It’s also said that the museum accommodates the world’s most precious jewelry collection.”
Next to James was an older man, the anchor turned to him, “Can you tell me a little about the bank and museum?”
“Yes. In the museum are beautiful and ornate pieces. There is a jewel-studded globe covered with over fifty one thousand gems and stands around three feet tall. There are a number of crowns made of gold and silver incrusted with diamonds, emeralds, pearls, and rubies. The tiaras are made of silver or platinum. They have yellow, pink and clear diamonds, emeralds and pink spinels. A basin and decanter are made of solid gold decorated with emeralds, rubies, spinels, and pearls. There are shields, hat decorations, and three thrones. One called the Sun Throne, the Marble Throne, and the Naderi Throne. The Naderi Throne was intended to be portable and comes apart in twelve separate sections. It’s made of wood that’s covered with gold. It’s about six and a half feet tall and covered with twenty-six thousand, seven-hundred, and thirty three jewels. There is also a large assortment of single gems held in cases in the museum.”
As he spoke you could see video of people pushing their way into the bank. “This is amazing. One wouldn’t think this could be possible.”
“Daniel this is getting very bad.”
“I know, Mom.” His head hung low. “There isn’t anything I can do to fix it though.”
“It’s okay, Daniel. We will make it through this.”
“How, Mom! Just how are we going to do that? Have you seen Emily?”
“Of course I have, but we will still make it through this.”
The two were drawn back to the TV as the anchor caught their attention, “We have someone who was in the bank and now will tell us what he saw.”
A young man stood with his body facing away from the cell phone camera. “I’ll talk if you keep my face hidden.”
“Of course we will protect your identity.”
The young man, seen only from behind began his story. “When the masses began their decent into chaos, it just snowballed. A small group of men stormed the bank. Their leader grabbed one of the guards and said, ‘Open the vault.’ The bank manager tried to hold off the first few, but he must have realized he couldn’t and begged them saying, ‘Don’t do this. Allah will save us.’ The leader pushed the man aside saying, ‘Allah is saving me by giving me money to buy food for my children.’”
“Once in the vault they broke open the safety deposit boxes and took whatever one thought was valuable. One man yelled, ‘Let’s take the jewels!’ That’s when the rush for the steps down into the museum began. When they reached the bottom the museum director was standing there waiting for them holding the keys in his outstretched hand. ‘Don’t hurt me.’ he said. ‘Just take the keys and let me go.’”
As he spoke his voice was heavy with emotion. “The leader grabbed the keys from him and began to unlock the cases in which the jewels are stored. The population knows that money gives one a better position in life so all was for the taking. Once the cases were opened, they began fighting over any item they could get their hands on. A man brought a hammer and began to break up larger pieces but then used it on those who were trying to claim his prize. The Naderi Throne was dismantled and the pieces smashed for easier carrying. A small piece is worth more than none. Men and women were stuffing their pockets with the loose jewels as others were fighting to take those jewels from them. People were beating each other trying to save their family from starvation.”
As he pointed towards the door of the bank he said, “Look at them.”
From the video, Daniel and Sue could see that as each person surfaced to the street, they were bloody and beaten. Those waiting outside would confront the person who just came out and a new fight would ensue.
As Daniel and his mom watched a group of four basiji pushed through the crowd into the bank. Most of the crowd outside began to move further back, not knowing what to expect. About thirty people in a mad rush to get out of the bank emerged pushing each other to get through the door. Just a moment later a young woman emerged followed by the four basiji.
“Did you see that?” Daniel asked.
“What?”
“That girl who came out, she put something in her mouth.”
“Well she will be able to get it when it passes through I guess.” Sue said half laughing.
At that moment Emily walked into the room. Daniel stood up. “Did you enjoy your walk?”
“Oh yes, I’m so thankful I can go outside again.” She answered as she crossed the room to give Daniel a hug.
Later in the day Emily was glued to the TV watching news reports. Some stations put on repeats, but most were showing how the world was changing right before their eyes. These changes didn’t take months. Once the DNA was passed to another, the one receiving the new DNA began to change usually within a few hours or a day.
What this meant was from the moment the flux was released into the population it would only take two weeks to spread worldwide, and that was if each person infected only passed the flux on to five others. With so much movement just within a small town, the flux would infect at a fast rate of speed.
The news was full of anarchy from all over the world. The Chinese followed the path of the Iranians and began to riot. As Emily watched the anchor was saying, “The Chinese believe their scientists are the smartest and best in the world, and when they have no
answer for them, the riots increased. Masses of humanity gathered in Tiananmen Square today, and the devastation reverberated throughout the country. The people weren’t going to stand by and let this go on. As you can see they struck out at whatever was closest. Shops and homes were broken into, looted, and burned. A small group set off an explosion by setting a gas station on fire. From there, they took it to outlying cities and towns. People were screaming in the streets running for their life. This went on for six days before the masses had scattered far enough that the military and police could regain some control.”
As Emily watched in horror the anchor continued, “The military has cleared Tiananmen Square and the surrounding area. It has been virtually closed down. Show the feed.”
All Emily could see was deserted streets. This is too much! She got up and went to the kitchen to help Sue with lunch. As she entered she said, “I wonder if everyone is as happy as Daniel about being able to get out more.”
“Well the way I hear it they are. All I heard anyone talking about at the grocery store was an upcoming game at the Hillsboro High School. Seems like everyone is going.”
“Are you?”
Sue laughed. “No, I’m too old for that. But even those without children in school are going. I guess it’s just a place to go and be with others.” Sue immediately wished she hadn’t said that, the look on Emily’s face showed just how hard it was to stay hidden.
As Sue and Emily were fixing lunch Daniel read the Jefferson County Leader. On the front page was an article about how local parents are trying to give their children some normalcy. As he glanced through the paper, one article grabbed his attention. ‘Owls and Hawks Game Canceled,’ the Windsor Owls and the Hillsboro Hawks were playing for first place in their league. The article went on to say how these two teams worked very hard to get to the finals and to have the game end the way it did was disappointing, but it was an eye opener to the community to what was going on with the flux.
Daniel read how, as the game started, the cheerleaders ushered the players onto the field. The crowd roared in anticipation of a great game and expected to see a lot of action. From the first moment the ball was put into play, it was intense. On a return run an Owls player was tackled. The article stated, ‘After the refs recovered the ball to set it for the next play, they realized the Owl player hadn’t gotten up.’
***
“Come on son, get up. It wasn’t a rough tackle.”
The young player’s face was twisted in pain. “I can’t! My leg gives out when I try to stand.”
The ref knelt down by him and then quickly motioned for the Owls coach to join them. “His leg is broken.” The ref said when the coach was in earshot.
The coach checked out his player and called over the EMT’s and paramedic to take the boy to the hospital. “It’s okay, John.” The coach told him, “You just had some bad luck.”
They took the boy off the field, and the game restarted. It was only two minutes later when the ball was fumbled. Owls and Hawks were trying to get the ball falling on it, or on each other, as the ball would pop loose from a player. This played out as the spectators laughed at the group of boys scrambled for the ball. The person on the loud speaker tried to keep up with the names of the player who had, then lost, the ball until he said, “Mike is on the ground not moving.”
The crowd quieted down as the announcer added, “The Owls have four players on the ground not able to get up on their own.”
Someone from the Owls side called out. “What’s happening?”
The game was stopped as EMT’s went out on the field to tend to the boys. Everyone was silent, almost in anticipation of horrible news. All were sent to the hospital as the coaches of the two teams talked.
Over the loud speaker the announcer said, “It’s been decided the game will be canceled. The parents of the boys taken to the hospital need to go to the St. Anthony’s. Thank you and have a safe drive home.”
The bleachers slowly began to empty and the parents of the injured players went to the hospital. The emergency room was nothing short of mass of confusion. Parents wanted to find out why their child was there and no one had any answers.
After a few hours, a doctor entered the waiting room. “I am Doctor Burns. Please, would all the parents of the injured football players’ follow me?”
The concerned parents quickly followed him out of the main room into a smaller one. Once inside the doctor looked at some notes. “We’re doing a blood test on all the boys to help determine what’s happening.”
“Why are you testing my son? He wasn’t hurt that bad!” One father called out.
“The first boy they brought in not only had a broken leg, but two ribs and his arm,” the doctor paused, “As other players were brought in they also have multiple breaks and one has a vertebra out of place. These injuries are all consistent with a brutal tackle.”
“Those boys were just after the ball. My son wasn’t tackled, he was just pushed and not hard. How was he injured?” A sobbing mom blubbered above the rising noise.
“We believe there’s an underlying reason, but need the tests back before we know anything for sure. We have already taken and sent samples out to different diagnostics centers around the area so we could get the results back quicker. There is a rush on them so we should have an answer by tomorrow afternoon.”
A mom asked, “What do we do until then?”
“Wait. Tomorrow we’ll have answers.”
***
The Owls had another sporting event that day. To those watching, it was as if they were seeing a movie in slow motion. A boy on the pep squad threw the cheerleader in the air; she did a summersault, landing feet first on the ground. She hit the ground and her legs seemed to melt into her feet. She lay crumpled on the ground as though she were feet, torso, and head. Her arms were sprawled in a way that, at a glance, one knew they were broken, in multiple places. Her head was askew at an odd angle and her legs seemed to be a pile of flesh.
For a moment no one moved. The coach of the cheer squad, EMT’s and the police, made a rush to the young woman. No one understood what was happening, but all knew something went horribly wrong.
The next morning, Doctor Burns again stood before worried parents. “All the tests came back with the same result.”
“What is it?” One of the parents called out.
“The results came back positive for Osteogenesis Imperfecta Type II, also known as OI or brittle bone disease.”
“That’s what Shawn’s baby brother has.” A woman’s voice called out from the crowd.
“We believe everyone was affected by the genetic flux virus and OI was the carrier’s genetic trait that was passed on.”
“Will they die?” A mom asked.
“What will happen now?” A dad wanted to know.
“Can you reverse or slow down the disease?” Another called out.
“I can answer only one question at a time,” the doctor pointed out. “What we know is all those involved have the genetic make-up of OI at an advanced stage.”
The principal, who had stayed the entire night at the hospital with the injured students’ parents, spoke up. “We had a pep rally a few weeks ago. Shawn’s mom and little brother were there. Could that have been when it happened?”
“Most likely.” The doctor nodded
“What exactly is wrong with my son?” An angry mother yelled.
“OI Type II is very aggressive. These young people have developed it over a period of a short time but it has wreaked havoc in their bodies to the point that their bones break easily, as you saw last night at the game.”
A nurse entered the room and whispered in the doctor’s ear. He nodded a few times then turned back to the gathered audience. “There are more results from others who have come into the emergency room after the first initial group. They have the same results. All have OI Type II, go to the same high school and have never been diagnosed with OI previously.”
“What now?” A dad asked.
“Some of the children must stay in the hospital for a few days.”
A commotion began and the doctor held up his hands to quiet them. “Look, we’re doing all we can. Those who are able to go home may do so. I must warn you, their bones will break very easily. You must keep them safe from injury. There are pamphlets to take with you, they will explain about the disease and how you can help your children manage it. Please, read it and take every precaution in safeguarding your child. Make an appointment with your child’s doctor for a follow up and other instructions.”
***
Daniel put the paper down. This was too much. How could all this have happened? All I wanted to do was make Emily happy. It seemed innocent enough to want her cat to have the same color of eyes as her. His simple wish had consequences and ramifications that no one would have ever thought.
He picked the paper up and finished, the emergency room began to fill with other teenagers. All had broken bones of some sort and all were from the same school. Their blood was taken and sent for analysis. The hospital saw others with the same type of injuries come in until the total had reached over fifty.
Daniel quickly looked through the rest of the paper with little interest. Most of it was filled with stories of the flux and he already had more than enough knowledge of the virus.
“Daniel, do you need anything from the store?”
He jumped at the unexpected voice of his mother as she entered the room. Seeing she had startled him she added, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, was just reading The Leader. If they have any peanut butter would you get some?”
“Yes, is that all you want?”
“Yea. Thanks, Mom.”
“No problem, I’ll be back in a while.”
Chapter Twelve
Staying Close To Home
On her way home from the grocery store Sue was listening to KJFF 98, a local am radio station out of Festus, Missouri. Matt West was interviewing a young man from the Festus High School.
Genetic Flux (Phase One Book 1) Page 12