7-14 Days

by Noah Waters

  Miranda was happy with her chocolate cake. It had turned out exactly as she had hoped it would. Mimi, Miranda’s name for her grandmother, was steadily watching over her cooking experience. “Looks like you did good.”

  “I want to bake a cake for Momma when she gets back from California.”

  “Your mother will be happy to taste everything you’ve learned to cook, for cooking is something she never learned to do.” Mimi poured them both a glass of milk.

  The country atmosphere provided a comfortable and homey feeling. The rooms were filled with photos of Miranda and her Mom. Noah was the only child to venture off into the world like Magellan the explorer. Miranda missed her mother constantly, yet her feelings were often divided between sadness and pride. The comfort of Mimi being close by provided her with security—until her mother could return.

  Maxie and Margie stared out the windowpane to see the multicolored rainbow that ended in their front yard. Mabel leaned over her girls. “Isn’t it pretty?”

  “Yeah,” they both squealed simultaneously. “Can Daddy see the rainbow where he is?”

  “Sure your dad can see the rainbow.” Margie’s eyes grew larger as the thought of her dad and the rainbow made her smile. Marx began to bark as he, too, stared at the rainbow’s brightness. “What does the rainbow mean?” Margie questioned.

  “It means that God promises to take care of us.”

  “Always?” Margie questioned.

  “Always, no matter what.” Mabel smiled running her finger through Margie’s hair.

  Noah proceeded down the hallway while Casey returned to the bridge. Casey planned to watch the pilot, who had boarded in San Francisco, along with Captain Achilles steer the Calla Lily up the long narrow canal toward her final destination.

  A sudden stench filled the air as Noah walked pass the latrine. She stopped dead in her tracks. She knew the smell. It was the smell of blood for nothing smelled like blood, but blood. The odor was familiar from her deputy sheriff days. Blood odor would stay with you for the rest of your life once you were exposed to its pungent strength.

  Quickly turning, Noah pushed the latrine door open. On the floor lay the crew member she had seen up on deck. Keying up the radio, Noah called for Casey.

  “Go ahead, Noah,” Casey responded.

  “I have a crew member down, latrine, third deck. Looks like he is bleeding internally. I need medical assistance.”

  Achilles heard the transmission and quickly responded to Casey, “We only have a first-aid kit. Olga has the most extensive training of anyone on board, yet she is no doctor.”

  Noah squatted down close to hear the crew member’s breathing, which was rapid and shallow. She recognized the signs of shock. It was obvious from the toilet and the trail of blood that pooled around the crew member’s body that he was bleeding out fast. Being careful not to touch the skin, Noah lifted open the front of his shirt. There were dark circles all over his body.

  “What in the name of God?” she muttered. She had never seen anything like it before. Even the whites of his eyes were darkened.

  Pushing the door open farther, Casey entered the latrine quickly asking, “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it before, but he’s still alive. We need to expedite our passage up the channel. He needs medical help now.”

  Noah used her authoritative voice. Achilles, standing just behind Casey immediately gave the order to the bridge to increase speed.

  “Notify Sacramento to have a medical crew stand by with an ambulance. We have a crew member down, still alive, but weak.”

  “Aye, aye, captain” could be heard over the radio in the background.

  “I suppose we should quarantine him before we arrive,” Achilles stated. “God only knows what he has.” The captain stepped back as he called for extra crew members to help transport Abdi back to his room.

  Gently placing Abdi’s limp body on the lower bunk bed, the crew members returned to their normal workstations.

  “How long before we get to medical help?” Noah asked.

  “At the increased speed and with a cleared channel, we should be able to arrive in half the time.”

  From a distance Noah and Casey observed Abdi’s body covered in black dots. Casey couldn’t recall anything like it.

  “Do you think he’ll make it to port?” he asked looking to Noah for answers.

  “Maybe,” Noah replied as she squatted down to watch the blood pool onto the floor.

  Chapter XXIX

  “DR. PETERS, DR. PETERS, PLEASE RESPOND TO ER, ROOM 3.”

  The overhead intercom crackled as the voice slowly dissipated. Constantly shuffling papers, Annie Cogg attempted to prioritize patient files. Lately, the constant stream of patients in the ER at Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento had increased to over 40 check-ins a day. The cases that came and went varied. Annie couldn’t complain of boredom. She was happy to broaden her knowledge base by learning from each patient case. Her newest student was 6′ 2″ with brown hair and brown eyes. He was a typical Californian—six-pack built, well-tanned—Bobby Peters. Annie considered Bobby an outstanding ER intern—in his final stages of medical school. He operated in classical textbook style with an old-fashioned bedside manner. Annie’s nursing background and knowledge always played a role in the way Bobby treated each patient. She was glad that the ER this year had not received an arrogant intern but one that was willing to listen to an experienced nurse.

  “Excuse me.”

  Annie glanced over the high desk. “Yes, sir, can I help you?”

  “Do you know how much longer it will be before I can see a doctor?”

  Annie quickly glanced down at her watch. “It shouldn’t be much longer, Mr. Brown.”

  John Brown had been waiting for over 2 hours by now and his patience was growing thin. In Annie’s mind, 2 hours of waiting in the ER was nothing nowadays.

  “You don’t understand,” Mr. Brown snapped back. “I have to catch a flight to London, not to mention the fact I have to waste more time on a layover in Atlanta. I hate wasting time. Time is money and money is my business.”

  “Mr. Brown,” Annie’s voice remained calm, “the ER is full today. I’m currently prioritizing the list for Dr. Peters. You are close to the top of that list.”

  “Thank you,” Brown replied. He figured he might as well return to his seat. He was sure that his anger was not helping his intense migraine. “Maybe I should have just doubled my medication without being looked at,” he mumbled as he returned to his seat. Flopping into a semisoft cushion, Brown’s attention quickly turned to a small, frail little boy.

  “What’s your name?”

  The child turned immediately. “Tommy Adams,” he replied.

  “Well, Tommy Adams, what brought you here today?”

  Tommy quickly held up his left arm to reveal a large knot on his forearm.

  “Ouch, what happened?”

  “I was playing baseball.”

  “Oh, let me guess. You got hit with the ball.”

  “Yep and it hurt too,” Tommy’s voice saddened.

  “I suppose you are here to get an X-ray, huh?”

  Tommy shrugged. He had no idea what was in store. His mother smiled as she continued to thumb through the medical magazine.

  EMT Parker pulled the ambulance as close as he could get to the loading plank. His partner, Sue, quickly hopped out of the passenger side to help guide the backup. Swinging open the rear door of the ambulance, they quickly pulled out the stretcher as the striker frame dropped and locked in position. Parker and Sue proceeded up the plank to where Abdi had been carried to the open deck. Casey and Noah followed at a distance.

  “What have we got?” Parker questioned.

  Noah answered immediately, “We don’t know.”

  The crew members gently laid Abdi’s frail, limp body onto the stretcher. Abdi had gone without food or water for hours and he was slipping in and out of consciousness. His appearance seemed a
lmost comatose. Sue proceeded to take vital signs while Parker applied oxygen and prepped for an immediate IV.

  “I don’t think I have ever seen anything that looks like this,” Parker said as he rolled up Abdi’s sleeve.

  “He is hemorrhaging from his bladder,” Noah added.

  “His pupils show signs of shock,” Sue remarked as she checked each pupil for some kind of response. “I barely have a pulse, it’s weak and rapid. Let’s move this guy.” Sue and Parker quickly lifted the stretcher up and proceeded with it down the gangplank and into the ambulance.

  The ambulance pulled away from the loading plank as Noah and Casey leaned back on the ship’s railing.

  “Well, that’s the end of another day’s work for you two,” Olga stated. “What’s next?”

  Casey, taking a deep breath, slowly replied, “We’re waiting for our ride to take us back downstream.”

  “Looks like you’re not going to have to wait long,” Olga pointed over Casey’s shoulder at the Town Car pulling to a stop at the bottom of the gangplank.

  “You gotta give it to the Pilots Association,” Casey said, “they do everything in style.”

  Noah was completely exhausted. The boarding, the search, the stowaway, and the emergency medical issue that had developed were enough for her for one boarding. Gathering up their equipment, Casey and Noah waved at the bridge to offer a farewell to Captain Achilles and his crew. Stepping quickly off the gangplank, Casey turned to Olga, “Until next time,” he declared.

  “Until next time,” Olga responded. Noah stomped her boots on the ground and dusted off her feet; she couldn’t help but feel troubled. “What’s wrong?”

  Casey hesitated. “Honestly?”

  Noah looked directed into Casey’s eyes. “Honestly.”

  “Something—I just can’t put my finger on it.”

  They both slid into the limousine’s cushioned seats and closed the doors as the Town Car pulled away and proceeded up the hill.

  “Hello there, I’m Dr. Neil Peters.”

  Tommy’s eyes glanced up, “Hello, sir.”

  “I should be returning shortly with your X-ray and I think you are going to be OK.” Tommy’s mother sighed with great relief.

  “I’ll have the nurse finish up your chart and you should be able to go soon.”

  “OK,” Tommy flashed a quick smile.

  “Dr. Peters,” Annie’s voice expressed concern. “An ambulance has arrived with an international crew member—unknown diagnosis.”

  “Place him in Trauma Room 1, please.” Trauma Room 1 was where all serious undetermined patients were usually placed.

  “It will take just a few minutes as we have to clean up from the last patient, still.”

  “Understood.”

  “I’ll see you later, Tommy,” Dr. Peters winked at Tommy’s mother.

  The loud thumping of boots upon the emergency room floor could be heard from a distance. Sue and Parker brought the stretcher containing Abdi and all the equipment into the trauma unit. Annie gave them her orders.

  “Put him in the hall for just a few seconds and then we’ll proceed to Trauma Room 1.”

  Directly against the wall seemed to be the safest location for the stretcher and the rest of the patients in the emergency room. Tommy sat directly across from it. He leaned inward to see large polka dots over the man. He reached up slowly to touch Abdi’s hand wet with perspiration in order to provide him some comfort. As she looked up from her magazine, Tommy’s mother quickly demanded that he return to his seat.

  “Wonder what’s up with him,” Brown remarked on Abdi’s strange appearance. Brown let his inquisitiveness take the lead. “I believe I’ll stretch my legs,” he informed Tommy. He stood up and slowly headed toward Abdi’s location.

  John stood within inches of Abdi’s weakened body. Immediately, he took notice of the clock on the wall. My flight, he thought.

  “Mr. Brown,” Annie called. “Here is your medicine. Dr. Parker advises you to take two if you feel a severe migraine returning. Remember, no driving.”

  “I’m not driving, lady,” he quickly snapped, “I’m flying.”

  “See your local physician when you get home.”

  “Thank, you.” Brown signed the papers Annie presented, gathered his briefcase, and gave Tommy a quick handshake. “I wish you the best of luck with that arm. Stay away from in front of those baseballs.” He disappeared out of the emergency room door.

  The orderly slowly pulled the stretcher into Trauma Room 1. Peters picked up his pace as he provided a quick overall assessment of the patient’s condition. Annie, as always, stood nearby. “Looks like he is in shock and has some sort of skin disorder or disease. Let’s get labs, a catheter, an EKG, STAT, please.” Bobby’s medical school had provided him a broad base of wisdom yet he had seen nothing in his experience that looked like this. In his late 30s, Peters could not recall from his study of diseases anything that presented these particular black circles.

  “Annie.”

  “Yes, Dr. Peters.”

  “Contact the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta through a video comcast. This guy’s international and he could have brought something from abroad.”

  “Yes, sir.” Annie said as she marched out of the room.

  Peters leaned in close to Abdi whose respiration grew shallower by the minute. Peters quickly secured his face mask and put on an extra set of latex gloves. As he pulled down Abdi’s lower eyelid, one thing was for certain: this guy was bleeding to death. At the same time, it seemed the blood was failing to coagulate which suggested that his immune system was not functioning.

  “Neil,” Annie stuck her head in the door. “Dr. Frank Thompson from CDC is on the video comcast monitor.” Peters was glad that Trauma Room 1 had been set up recently with a complete global live comcast system. As he reached down for the remote and clicked the video, Peters got the expertise he needed.

  The screen lit up with a rather small-bearded professor-like looking physician.

  “Dr. Thompson, I’m Dr. Bobby Peters, the on-duty emergency room doctor at Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, California. You are being faxed all of the test results of this particular patient. Our base knowledge at this point is his country of origin, Somalia, transported as a crew member via container ship here to the United States, arriving just a few hours ago. To the best of my knowledge, the discoloration and onset of symptoms occurred approximately within the last 7-to-14 days.”

  “I have received, Dr. Peters, the video images already through the comcast system and the test results suggest that the patient suffers from a hemorrhagic shock with a clotting factor deficiency. He appears to be in a later phase of a disease.”

  Dr. Thompson took on an entirely new tone. “This patient needs to be quarantined immediately. From the lab results, he may have something this country has never seen.”

  “My diagnosis, Neil, is a disease known as Black Pox or what we physicians here at CDC refer to as Hemorrhagic Smallpox. Death is certain. Anyone who has been in contact with this patient must be tracked down as fast as possible and quarantined. Start with your local ER and go backward. I’ll send a special team from Atlanta immediately.”

  Dr. Peter’s body went completely limp. A shudder went down his spine. “Oh, my God our ER today has been full.” He lost all focus for a second. The likelihood of a disease that could wipe out an entire nation and travel from patient to patient in a single breath made Peters realize that as a country our time could be at hand.

  Peter’s thoughts were suddenly disrupted as a final groan was released—Abdi drew his last breath. A thin line of blood trickled down the corner of Abdi’s mouth, joining the blood pouring out the corner of his eyes. His mission was complete.

  As the black Town Car drove down the long black interstate, Noah lay her head upon the windowpane. She could see the storm had not disappeared totally—the clouds were darkening in the distance. Exhausted, something told her they had missed something critical.
r />   There was nothing she could do but wonder. “Can you turn that up, please,” she asked the Town Car driver as the radio played Sarah McGlaughlin’s, “In the Arms of an Angel.”

  Casey crossed his arms and leaned his head back. “Let’s rest some for who knows what tomorrow will bring,” Casey said. In the distance, the thunder began to roll.

  Running through the airport at a fast pace, John Brown was doing everything he could to get to London on time. The hundreds of thousands of people he would come in contact with from around the world went about their daily business.

  The car door slammed as Tommy Adams happily kissed his mom on the cheek. Tommy was glad that he could return to school, one of the largest private schools in Sacramento filled with children of all ages. Tommy quickly brushed off his hands against his pants as he could still feel the sweat droplets from where he had touched Abdi’s hand. “Bye, Mom,” Tommy quickly disappeared inside the school doors.

  At the Ops Center, Gramps leaned back in his chair as Commander Dewey sat silently. “What’s next?” Gramps asked.

  Dewey responded slowly. “I’m not sure. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” The raindrops slowly started to drip down the windowpane as the two sat silent.

  Captain Baker leaned forward to provide direct instructions to enter into the intelligence logs, “Stowaway secured, medical emergency addressed.” Holding on to the Command Center desk, his gut knew something wasn’t right. Baker walked over to the large screen looking at all the vessels heading his way from around the world and stared as he wondered what threats lay ahead.

  The knife cut the chocolate cake as Miranda and Mimi sat at a table surrounded by friends. Life was good. Laughter could be heard coming through the wooden door frame as the old hound lay sleeping. Mimi drew the curtains closed as she, too, could see the clouds in the distance growing dark.