by Daniel Wilde
“Man, if I had a woman like Anta around, I’d make sure I was the only one giving her any comfort. I’d go talk to her if I was you.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. I think I better do that.”
Great. What was I thinking? What am I going to say to Anta now? I should have talked to her earlier. It would be awkward now. John was right, I’m an idiot. I should be comforting her if she needs it. Every person in our bunker has lost loved ones now. I don’t think any of the men here still have wives alive on the outside. And who knows how many women will be alive out there when this is over? I need to let Anta know how much I care about her before some other dude beats me to it.
But how can I be thinking about scoring with Anta when the entire world is on the brink of collapse? I really am an idiot. Almost everyone in the bunker has lost their entire family. Those with family remaining alive on the outside don’t expect any miracles to occur. Even if Shevchuk has awesome news to announce tomorrow, it’ll be too late for just about everyone. There won’t be any way to get a vaccine out there to the people with any real speed. Who would do it, and how?
By now, it’s almost certain that no safe haven exists on our planet, save the bunkers like this one. Nine days ago, it was estimated that more than two billion people were already infected or dead. With the inclusion of the world-wide violence, death and infection rates must be nearing, or even surpassing, three and a half billion. The world’s living human population could be down to hundreds of thousands within a month. And those still alive by then will be spread out over the entire globe. How many people are immune? Will they figure out that they are immune? There has to be more than just Neirioui Safar and her daughter Suvan. Other people will be safe, at least for a while because they’re hiding out in bunkers like us. Others will be safe if they’ve found a place to hide, and no wind or birds have brought the plague near them; but for how long?
I pondered this as I walked down the hallway toward Anta’s room. When I arrived, I stood there a moment, listening. Hearing nothing from inside, I knocked quietly on her door.
“Down here,” a voice replied from a darkened corner at the end of the hall.
I walked toward the voice and found Anta there, with Dr. Andrew Jones’ arms wrapped around her. Anta didn’t look up. She was crying into Andrew’s chest. Apparently, Anta and Jones have made up after Jones’ insults a couple months ago.
Jones winked at me, knowingly, as if to say, “You blew it and now she’s mine.” My heart crumpled as I took in the scene. I felt dejected. An inner conflict was beginning to brew. I didn’t know what to do next. But I did know that I needed to respect Anta’s wishes, whatever they were. So I didn’t say anything more. I turned on my toes and quietly walked back down the hall in the direction from which I had come.
April 25, 2093—Staff Meeting—Hidden Bunker near Boston
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have had a significant breakthrough!” The room was quiet, almost silent, until Dr. Yurgi Shevchuk said those words. Then the quiet broke and 17 voices began to speak at once. From four separate holos along the wall at the front of the room, the voices of Street, Lucky, Mrs. Neirioui Safar and her daughter Suvan Safar joined the cacophony of noise.
The tension that had at first existed in the cramped conference room broke like a dam, letting the nervous waves of energy free. But nobody was listening to what anybody else was saying.
After several long moments, the group began to quiet, realizing that Yurgi was standing there, smiling, and waiting to continue.
“Although it was over a week ago that we finally succeeded in the creation of a difficult process that appeared to offer us the ability to proffer a life-saving vaccination to living cells, not until yesterday did we have near-conclusive data confirming that such a process may prove useful in aiding the living cells of human beings in the creation of an antibody to ward off the effects of Anthrax E!”
“English please,” Street begged.
“Of course, Street. My apologies to you and our other non-technical team members.” Yurgi looked around the room, then turned back to direct his next comments to Street on the holo. “As a result of yours and Lucky’s efforts 10 days ago, Street, to collect and bring us live animals, we have been able to test immunity to Anthrax E by injecting some of the animals, under controlled conditions, with a concoction made, in part, from the living cells from our immune donors. Then we exposed the animals to the live virus. The testing appears to be successful. The animals appear to be immune. But there is still work to be done. Just because the procedure works on animals doesn’t automatically mean it will work on humans; nor does it mean that all humans will respond in the same manner.”
“Touchdown!” Street cheered, throwing his arms into the air, while everyone else cheered. Even Yurgi was excited. His usually calm persona was gone, and in its place, a happy child stood, bouncing on his toes.
“But there’s also some disturbing news,” John said after allowing the crowd a few more minutes of excitement. The group quieted again.
John continued: “We haven’t received any communication from any United States governmental agency in more than three weeks. The IWO hasn’t contacted us in nearly a week. Even the U.S. leaders we believed were tucked away safely inside bunkers like ours have stopped talking.”
“Where have they all gone?” Mrs. Chrissy Houghton asked.
“Well, as you can probably guess, it seems possible, even probable, that the lack of communication is the result of illness and death. But what is curious is that we were told that the top ranking U.S. leaders, just like leaders around the world, were all in bunkers like ours.”
“So do you think Anthrax E got into some of those safe-houses?” Anta asked. “Or are they just so despondent or afraid that they aren’t talking.”
“Would you like to know what I think?” Mike asked. When nobody responded, he continued. “I think they may be dead.” He said no more as all faces turned to him, most staring blankly.
“And why is that?” Shift prodded after several seconds of silently waiting for Mike to continue.
“I didn’t want to say it in this group meeting without doing some more checking, but I saw something strange this morning.”
After a short pause, and a sigh, Mike continued, clearly uncomfortable with the news he was about to share. “Let me start a little differently. As you know, we don’t know exactly where any other bunkers are located. It’s all pretty secretive. While I haven’t been able to learn exact coordinates of other bunkers, I have been able to decipher enough information to find cities where some other bunkers are located.
“One of the bunkers is in New Jersey. I’ve developed a friendship with my counterpart in that bunker over the past few weeks. They have 13 people in there, but I don’t know if any are government. Anyway, recently my colleague gave me his exact coordinates, and I gave him ours.”
There was some murmuring, but nobody said anything out loud. Yurgi’s mouth tightened just a little. The trust and respect for Mike and his abilities had grown tremendously over the weeks, but this was a breach of security protocols. Everybody waited for Mike to continue.
“I know that was something I wasn’t supposed to do, and it could be dangerous, but I had a theory and I wanted to test it. My colleague and I decided to watch each other’s bunkers to see whether anything came of it. There was a very specific reason for this.
“I’m sure you all remember the bathroom incident a couple weeks ago where the ventilation system screwed up. Well, the same thing happened to the New Jersey bunker a few days before ours. After our incident, because my colleague had told me about their malfunction, I did some checking in online records from the various bunkers. Because I knew the cities where many of the bunkers were located, I could see a pattern. Starting with a bunker in Alabama, ventilation systems started malfunctioning. After Alabama, bunkers in Tennessee, North Carolina, two in Virginia, Maryland, Arkansas, the one in New Jersey, our bunker, and then finally, a b
unker in Ohio all had ventilation malfunctions, in that order. Since the Ohio malfunction, there haven’t been any others that I’m aware of, but I haven’t checked for a few days.
“There are some bunkers with no problems. Those bunkers appear to be newer. The older ones like ours are the ones having ventilation problems. I haven’t been able to learn what was happening to the other ventilation systems, but their computers showed a malfunction of some kind. I presumed that the malfunctions were probably all the same.
“The interesting part is that the sequence and timing of the malfunctions seems to coincide with the timing and sequence of the spread of Anthrax E throughout the eastern states. So, the theory I developed after my research in the day or two following our ventilation malfunction was that, perhaps, the malfunctions had something to do with the spread of Anthrax E. It was a strange idea, but this whole thing is strange, so I followed up on my idea.
“My concern was whether the ventilation malfunction could be bad for those inside the affected bunkers. Obviously, if the malfunction had something to do with Anthrax E, it could be problematic for those inside. But I couldn’t figure out how Anthrax E could be related.
“So, I talked with Carón about it. He didn’t think there was any relation. But he didn’t rule out one possibility, albeit very slim. He thinks there’s a remote possibility that the various ventilation systems, while attempting to perform the function of cleaning out the air from the inside, could have actually been struggling with that process due to some kind of altered atmospheric pressure on the outside. That theoretic struggle may have then led to a malfunction.
“Carón confirmed that, when he worked on our ventilation system, it was not actually plugged up like he originally thought. It wasn’t working and the computer said it was clogged, but that wasn’t the case. He was able to get it going by simply reentering access codes. I then confirmed with my friend in New Jersey that the same fix was enacted in their bunker. So, something appears to have caused the systems to stop working, and it likely happened the same way in the other bunkers.
“Talking with Dr. Justin Case, our resident computer science professor and fusion physicist, he said that, although unlikely, it is remotely possible that Anthrax E spores may be dense enough to cause a shift in the air pressure outside. If so, then the theoretical variance from the usual air pressure outside each bunker, in sequence, could have resulted in ventilation system malfunctions.”
“Wow!” Shift said. “That’s quite a theory. So, what is it that caused you concern this morning?”
“Well, this morning, I started to wonder whether that kind of problem, or something else like it could allow for a reverse flow of some kind—like a back draft from a burning building. I talked with Carón about this too, and he didn’t think this was likely either, but again, he didn’t dismiss it outright. So, here’s the thought I had, but simplified. And, Dr. Case confirmed the possibility just before this meeting.
“A back draft occurs when a compartment fire has little or no ventilation, leading to the slowing of gas-phase combustion due to the lack of oxygen. If oxygen is then rapidly re-introduced to the compartment, by opening a door or window to a closed room for example, combustion will restart, often very quickly. The gases will be re-heated by the combustion and will expand quickly because of the rapidly increasing temperature.
“Here’s the part that I was worried about: in a fire, firefighters are looking for instances where a room may be pulling air into itself, like through a crack. If they see that phenomenon occurring, they evacuate immediately because that’s a strong indication that a back draft is imminent. Due to pressure differences between the closed room and the outside of that room, puffs of smoke are sometimes drawn back into the enclosed space from which they came. That’s how the term back draft originated.
“So, my thought was, while the ventilation system was malfunctioning, it wasn’t expressing air. It was holding the air inside. If the pressure difference between the now-closed-up bunker and the outside became too disproportionate, could air, like the puffs of smoke from a fire, be drawn back into the bunker?”
Suddenly, there were several voices talking at once.
One voice rose above the crowd. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us about this before, Mike?” Dr. Latisha Bodily, a virologist from Connecticut, shouted to be heard above the crowd. “Do you think we’re too stupid or something?”
Several others murmured in assent to Dr. Bodily’s question.
Dr. Shevchuk had been quiet since his announcement, but spoke up, forcefully, “I need for all of you to be quiet . . . now.” The silence was instantaneous, except for Dr. Bodily.
“Why should we be quiet? This man may have put our lives in jeopardy, and for what? And what gives you the right to tell us what to do?” Dr. Bodily’s questions were asked with such hostility that even Dr. Shevchuk was surprised, momentarily. But this wasn’t the first time Dr. Bodily had questioned Dr. Shevchuk verbally in front of the others. This would be the last.
“Dr. Bodily,” Dr. Shevchuk said slowly and quietly, but with such energy as to cause every person in the room to feel the force behind his words, “I need for you to understand something, now. This is my lab, my facility, and my operation. You will listen when I talk. You will jump when I say ‘jump’, and you will shut your mouth when I tell you to shut your mouth. Am I understood?”
Dr. Bodily’s body was shaking, but she slowly and painfully nodded her head. Then she looked at the ground and didn’t raise her eyes again until the meeting had adjourned.
“Thank you. Now, Mike, Dr. Bodily asks a good question. Why haven’t we heard about this until now?”
“Well, I just put it all together this morning Yurgi. I only thought about the back draft theory very late last night, and Dr. Case just confirmed the possibility this morning. I’m sorry I didn’t speak up before, but my theory was only that—a theory. And it didn’t even seem like a very good theory until now. I’m sorry. Really.”
“I understand,” Yurgi replied. “And the rest of us will try to understand if we don’t already. But more importantly, even if we knew before, what would we have done? Would we go outside so as not to risk being infected inside? No. Nothing has changed but our knowledge. Ignorance, at least for a while, was bliss. But now, the next question is, Mike, what did you see today that made you worry?”
“Well, because of what I saw, I approached Dr. Case this morning. Before witnessing this strange occurrence, I hadn’t been able to piece it all together enough to even form a coherent question.”
“Mike, what did you see?” Yurgi was becoming impatient, clearly worried like everyone else. But Mike didn’t feel any anger coming from Dr. Shevchuk—just urgency.
“I was checking current and past video feeds from some of the cities where I know bunkers are located. Mostly, I was just looking for anomalies of any kind. I didn’t know what to expect or even what I was looking for.
“When I got to Cheyenne, Wyoming, I started with a city-wide overview, as usual. I was just about to zoom in on the downtown area when I noticed heavy smoke on the east side of town. The smoke wasn’t strange by itself—buildings are burning all over the world. What was strange was that some of the smoke looked like it was falling rather than rising. I zoomed in. The smoke was coming from a small burning building and actually looked like it was being sucked into the house next door. I immediately checked online records and saw that the Cheyenne facility, another old bunker, was experiencing a ventilation malfunction at that exact moment.”
“Damn!” John said. Others exclaimed similarly. The volume again rose as the group began speculating again.
“Quiet!” Yurgi shouted, but not in anger. Again, nearly-instantaneous silence.
“Indeed, John,” Mike replied. “That’s just what I thought. I immediately called Dr. Case. He looked at the images and that was when he confirmed the possibility that I had, until then, only speculated about. It appeared that a back draft-type event was occur
ring in Cheyenne. This was less than an hour ago.”
“Mike, are you saying that any bunker with a malfunctioning ventilation system could have possibly been infiltrated, or could still be infiltrated by Anthrax E spores?” Shift asked. He, like the others, was hardly able to grasp what he was hearing.
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying,” Mike replied, solemnly. “But the good news, at least for us, is that Anthrax E never got in here, right?”
“The ventilation problem occurred on April 14th,” Carón said. “And I had it back up and running late that evening. That was 11 days ago.”
“We should be fine then,” Yurgi said, speaking calmly again. “Let’s pray the others are too. Mike, I want you, Carón, and Justin to call Cheyenne. Tell them what you’ve seen and what you suspect could occur there. Just so they’re ready. Mike, find records for every other bunker you can, worldwide. I know that will take some time. Get help from others. Start with the places where the infection first arose, then move on to the more recent sites. It seems obvious that the older sites are more vulnerable. Once you start compiling your lists, I want the three of you to begin making contact with as many sites as you can. Everybody else, let’s get back to work.”
April 25, 2093—Anta
Wow! What a meeting. I’m beginning to think Mike is a genius. And Dr. Shevchuk, even though he’s been our de facto leader for months, has just shown us how great he can be. He’s no tyrant though. He’s a good man, and I’m certain he won’t ask us to do something that doesn’t need doing. At the age of 74, he’s also the oldest among us. Thankfully, his health is full and his habits, assuming he maintains them, should help him continue in health for thirty or forty more years, unless Anthrax E has its way.
Unfortunately, there’s one person here who doesn’t play well with others. Dr. Latisha Bodily, a virologist from Connecticut I think, really got under Yurgi’s skin today. She’s such a smartass. Yesterday, she and Shift almost had an actual fist fight. It would’ve been cool! I would love to see Shift beat that lady down, even though he’s probably too gentlemanly to hit a woman.