The Pilgrim Strain

by Edgar, C. P.

  Merissa thought about the scene Samir just described. “Ok, let’s all calm down. We’ll head over to Clinic One and start taking preliminary assessments of the patients. I’ll call back the teams to assist. How many people have shown up so far?”

  While waiting to hear a response to her question she grabbed her medical backpack and her mobile telephone and headed back to Samir helping him to his feet. He was slow to his knee but stood up on his own power after a moment's time.

  He looked a bit pale but seemed to have recovered. She looked him in his eyes, “I am truly sorry Samir. You frightened me.”

  Samir laughed, “Doctor, trust me when I tell you. You have nothing to be afraid of, that was the first time I have ever been knocked to the ground in my life.” Samir dusted himself off.

  Merissa, embarrassed, tried to change the subject back to the issue, “Samir, how did you receive that wound?” She took a knee and placed her pack in front of her unzipping a pocket holding latex gloves. She placed a pair on her hands and unzipping another pocket grabbed a povidone-iodine swab and a small field dressing pad. Standing again, she began dressing the wound.

  “I had been out at Clinic Four trying to fix the front door which had pulled free of one of the hinges earlier today. A woman and her child were the first to show up and ask whether any of the doctors were inside. I told her no.

  “I tried to explain to her that they had gone for the evening and that they were not going to be back until the morning. She told me that her boy had grown feverish after receiving the shot earlier in the day and that she also did not feel well. Then others started to show up.” He winced as she applied the povidone-iodine to the wound.

  After allowing a moment for Merissa to just simply attend to him, he continued, “It seemed in only a matter of minutes, dozens of refugees had appeared and were asking to see a doctor. A couple of them were talking to no one in particular, and others were not making much sense at all. I remember seeing a young boy limping along with his mother or grandmother. I saw the young boy drop to the ground and have a seizure or something. When I ran over to help, his mother attacked me. Some of the other people that had come to see what the commotion had been about helped me. We ended up having to secure her hands and feet in order to get her under control. I had to call for some additional UN security forces to come and assist. They should be here shortly.”

  Merissa noticed that Samir’s respiration had increased as he related the incidents to her. She could tell he was reliving the moments. The stress was evident.

  Samir continued, “I drove past clinics Two and Three on my way here and saw a similar number of people at each.” He looked at her with some worry in his eyes.

  She finished the field dressing on his back and gave him a soft pat on his arm. She took her gloves off careful to fold them inside of themselves and threw the waste into a trash receptacle just inside her door. Securing her pack and grabbing her phone once again, which she had placed on the ground, Merissa started dialing the medical team. She looked at Samir and said, “Let’s go.”

  ***

  Helechek had the long-range night optics up and was scanning the eastern side of the camp. The sky was a brilliant display of stars and the moon was cresting the sky adding a spectrum of light across the land.

  It was very late in the evening and based upon last night they had expected the place would be very quiet. However, they were picking up motion all over the place.

  People were running along the paths where others were carrying children in their arms. They had identified large clusters of people mainly at the clinics. Although they couldn’t hear what was going on, they could tell that something unusual was happening from the body language of the people and the way that some were apparently yelling at one another and flailing their arms.

  He and Daggan had been monitoring the situation and had radioed in to the TOC a report about five minutes prior. They knew that Einberg and Miller had infiltrated the camp earlier in the day and were currently isolated in the clinic administration building.

  “Looks like the cavalry are inbound,” Daggan stated pointing with his gloved hand in the general direction of the southern gate.

  They could plainly see the headlights of about a dozen vehicles approaching in a winding column. Getting back onto the optics, Helechek recognized that many of the vehicles were SUVs but he did note two in the rear were troop carriers and he could clearly see the UN insignia displayed on each. The infrared infused paint in the insignias being picked up clearly through the optics. He wondered if Einberg and Miller had been compromised.

  He grabbed the radio and jumped on the network, “Juliet, this is Sierra One, we’ve spotted multiple vehicles heading into the compound including what looks to be at least two troop carriers, break.”

  Continuing he said, “What is your status, over?” He knew Einberg was up on guard based upon his shift announcement over the radio about thirty five minutes prior.

  “Roger Sierra One, we’re seeing the activity from our end. We don’t believe the inbound personnel have anything to do with us. We haven’t really done anything out of the norm. We have observed groups of refugees moving toward the clinics, increasing dramatically over the past hour or so. There are a few gathered outside our location as well, some of which look pretty banged up. We’re going to pack up and move out to locate Sprinter to see what’s up, how copy?”

  “Juliet, Toad, this is Top. Go ahead and locate Sprinter and see what intel you can gather but you guys break free if anything feels wrong. Kilo and I are going to start moving toward your location for pick up at Extraction Point One. I’m calling it guys, this mission just expired.” Rainer had reached his limit. Brewster’s mission wasn’t passing the sniff test anymore.

  “Roger Top, we’ll pass info as it comes in and then meet you at the extraction point, Juliet out.”

  Rainer jumped back on the net, “Sierra One, be prepared to engage hostiles should Juliet and Toad be compromised. Keep your eyes on them, over.”

  Both Helechek and Daggan confirmed. Rainer knew they were already readying themselves to do just that. He felt better knowing that they were on the hilltop providing cover for Einberg and Miller. He knew that their capabilities to engage were limited but sometimes just another set of eyes or two in this case were enough. He tried to remember whether Helechek or Daggan had grabbed any UAV assets when they kitted up.

  “Kef, did Chek or Daggan grab the Puma?” he asked over his shoulder.

  Kef was already packing up their gear. He moved to the back portion of the small house and upon return shook his head in the negative.

  “Ok, no worries. Have it handy in the vehicle should we need to deploy it. I’m going to dress out in case we have a hot extraction or need to retrieve them by force.”

  Rainer had placed his plate carrier on the table. He had configured it earlier that day and was just rechecking it. Next to this he placed his own HK MP7 and reaching down into its weapons case retrieved and then attached the suppressor.

  Kef continued to gather the last of the equipment and had begun to take the equipment out to the two Toyota Land Cruiser Thatcher trucks they had procured. On his way back in, he noticed the sector antenna array they had mounted on the roof of the dwelling and made a mental note to grab it. Realizing that he’d probably forget anyway he called out to Rainer, “Don’t let me forget the antenna on the roof.”

  Rainer passed him moving in the other direction carrying gear to the trucks. He was already wearing a fresh set of A-TACS camouflage tactical pants and combat shirt. Suddenly his Virgin, which was strapped to his left forearm, vibrated.

  He opened the cover and saw a text message from Miller indicating that they were moving to locate Sprinter. He typed a quick message in response and clicked send.

  ***

  Einberg and Miller had just managed to break free from the people immediately outside the clinic administration building. The moment that Miller cracked the door to the building there was
a rush of bodies swarming the two of them. Women were begging them and pointing to their children most of whom were asleep on the grounds surrounding the building.

  They tried to communicate as best they could assuring the refugees that they would be ok and help was coming but there was a definitive language barrier. Miller had resorted to pointing to himself and saying, “No doctor.”

  Einberg had simply started taking continuous photographs with a camera he had hung around his neck as a prop. With the flash activated, it seemed to operate as a protective shield and gained them some ground between the desperate people.

  Clicking off a few more photos and gaining some more ground they slipped into the shadows and found a clear area to stop and orient themselves. Miller had the Virgin on his wrist and was looking at the map. It automatically rotated itself so that what the operators saw at their tactical twelve o’clock was displayed appropriately on the device. Miller was unsure which way to proceed though.

  They had received their autonotification that Doctor Manzak’s shelter door had been tripped indicating she had left, which considering all of the people crying out for a doctor was to be expected. He keyed up the radio network, “Sierra One this is Toad, over.”

  “Roger Toad, go ahead.”

  “Do you have a fix on Sprinter, over?” he asked. He was kicking himself for not thinking about bugging her directly so they would have had constant data on her location.

  “Negative Toad, we haven’t made a positive identification on Sprinter’s location. We are seeing an extra volume of activity at Clinic One at the moment. Also, that column of vehicles had stayed intact up to Clinic One and was there for several minutes but then the column broke up into smaller groups. The vehicles headed off in different directions and we believe we have spotted two parked now at Clinic Five, break.”

  Miller heard Daggan drop off the net and then came back up, “Also, those two troop carriers had pushed straight through the main road from the southern checkpoint all the way as far north as we could observe probably all the way to the northern checkpoint. We could see it stop every so often for approximately a minute at a time. We believe it was dropping off dismounts as it traveled north, so be prepared for more roving security personnel, over.”

  Einberg looked at Miller. “Sounds like whatever leadership is present here at the camp is located at Clinic One. Is that how you read this?” he asked.

  “Yea, that sounds about right. Let’s head there and if she’s not there we can at least see if someone knows where she headed. What do you think is going on?” Miller asked knowing that Einberg was the most knowledgeable on the team regarding medical situations.

  Einberg had been an EMT starting in his high school days finally having earned paramedic status just as he finished college. He had entered the Army wanting to be a combat medic and was recruited into the 18D program in the special forces after his propensity toward effective combat medicine had been proven during his first tour overseas.

  “I don’t know. Considering that a vaccination campaign started today and many of these people were given their first round of inoculations, I would say it is likely that there is a problem with the drug and these people are experiencing those effects. That's just speculation though.”

  He looked at Miller with his devilish smile and added, “Or they all have Ebola.”

  “Fuck that. That's why I refuse to go to Liberia or Sierra Leone.”

  “Seriously, that woman back there that grabbed your hand, she looked symptomatic for Ebola. You’re probably going to be pissing blood out of your ass within the hour. In fact, get the fuck away from me,” Einberg motioned like he was horrified by Miller.

  “God, you’re messed up in the head bro. I’ve got lead, let’s get on with it.”

  Miller started off in the general direction of Clinic One. They were avoiding the larger pathways and the main roads that most of the refugees were utilizing. The camp itself only had minimal lighting. There was a roughly strewn electrical system running up the main thoroughfare with a handful of lights on poles at some of the larger open areas like the central water well. Other than those areas, the camp was in complete darkness except for small pockets where camp fires were alight.

  The refugees that weren’t walking about or seeking help were huddled together outside their huts looking about. These people had seen a lot in the past and any indication of trouble made them nervous.

  Miller could see fear displayed on their faces and the way they immediately turned to the sounds of people rushing from place to place. They were trying to remain calm but it was like yelling fire in the middle of a theater.

  They slowed their progress as they approached Clinic One and halted in the shadows just outside the open spaces surrounding the facility. They had been using their mapping system to guide them in but were relying more on their ears and eyes as they rounded the last bend in the trail leading to the clinic.

  Somebody had deployed a series of portable lights like the kind you would see at a construction work site. Einberg could hear the muffled sound of a generator running although it was coming from the opposite side of the clinic. They also could here choruses of voices, some panicked, others controlled and obviously authoritarian.

  The scene before them looked like controlled chaos to Miller. There were medical personnel working between groups of people. UN security personnel were assisting with the placement of more lighting equipment. Miller motioned to Einberg in the direction of the clinic as he had sighted Doctor Manzak.

  She was still wearing her khaki pants but had at some point donned a long-sleeved blue medical blouse. They also saw that she was wearing protective gloves, clear plastic eye pro, and had on a disposable paper mask. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was bouncing from group to group talking with other physicians and medical staff similarly dressed and issuing commands.

  “What do you think?” Miller asked Einberg.

  “I think we start taking photos of the scene as our cover and make our way to the doctor to find out what’s going on.”

  “Still think this has something to do with the vaccinations?”

  “Maybe, I don’t know,” is all Einberg said before he started moving out into the clearing and snapping off photos. They had adjusted their cameras’ configurations, opting not to use the flash so that they were less noticeable.

  They began by photographing the entire scene from afar but then started moving into the interior. Einberg picked up quickly that the doctors had already begun triaging patients by symptoms and severity.

  The first couple of groups they came to were receiving little to no attention from the limited medical staff present and were exhibiting only slightly discernible symptoms. Einberg saw the sheen of sweat on some indicating fevers and some general fatigue. He clicked off a few pictures and then considered the viewfinder of his camera to verify their capture. He saw the eyes of a woman staring back at him with a look of fear and helplessness. At that moment Einberg felt slightly torn. He could break his cover and try to help but he had a mission too.

  Miller had moved deeper into the area and was photographing a smaller group of patients mostly comprised of older somewhat elderly refugees. Miller wasn’t as gifted a medical practitioner as Einberg but he had, like everyone on the team, plenty of medical training in the past. Most often it had been training specific to combat trauma care like massive hemorrhaging due to gunshot wounds or explosive fragmentation. Miller could see that these people were suffering from some sort of internal issue, most looking like they had the flu or something.

  Miller stooped to get a close-up shot of an older man who was sitting off by himself and bent over, his hands going over his feet back and forth searching for something that wasn’t there. He was mumbling to himself in a language that Miller did not recognize.

  Zooming in, Miller took a series of shots of the man who had stopped moving at the sound of the device. Slowly looking up at Miller, the man gazed through his deeply bloo
dshot eyes. Miller momentarily stunned by the man’s expression asked, “Are you ok sir?”

  The man let out a low growl which made Miller take a step back. He autonomously moved his strong hand toward the SIG he was now wearing in an in-the-pants holster tucked under his pullover in his lower back. A hand reached out and grabbed Miller by the shoulder turning him slightly which forced him into a defensive stance with his right hand reaching for his weapon and his left hand up slightly in front of his body, palm out expecting to deflect a strike. Normally he wouldn’t have been so jumpy but that man’s growl wasn’t natural.

  “Take it easy.” Doctor Manzak stood in front of Miller looking between him and the man who had resorted back to playing with his feet.

  “What’s going on?” she asked softly.

  “What’s wrong with these people?” Miller asked relaxing his defensiveness but keeping his eye on the man.

  “Ok, first of all, you two need to come with me and get on some protective gear,” she said pointing to Miller and Einberg who had made his way over. They walked over to an area right outside of the clinic which had three or four folding tables with gear boxes strewn on top. She reached into the first and handed Miller and then Einberg blue garments like the one she was wearing.

  “Put these on,” she said indicating with her tone that ‘no’ was not an option.

  After they both had taken off their backpacks and put on the garments she handed them plastic eyewear and filter masks. While they strapped their backpacks back on she described what was going on.

  “We are unsure what exactly is going on but it would seem like the vaccinations we administered this morning and throughout the day are corrupt in some way. At least that is our hypothesis at the moment.”