The End of America

by Pete Thorsen

  “You could at least try to be optimistic John. Maybe Dr. Bates can get some action out of the CDC with these new victims. Apparently the Detective tried to get the cannibal into quarantine but met a stone wall just like at the CDC. There are only us four that even take this seriously at all. My team that was attacked never has called me. Have you talked to anyone down there lately?”

  “I tried today matter of fact but the phone at the hospital just rang and rang so I gave up. You don’t think it has gotten that bad down there already do you that no one is left?”

  “I can only fear the worst. My team should have called me by now. And if they died the hospital had this as the emergency contact number. If it is bad down there we can expect the same up here in Boston and a week or two.”

  “Now who is the pessimist Ray?”

  “Maybe Dr. Bates will call with some good news. We can hope for that anyway. I’ll talk to you later John.”

  “Thanks for calling with the update Ray.”

  After I hung up the phone I just sat at my desk for awhile and thought of all the implications. If it was a virus it was obviously spreading and it seemed fairly quickly. We had no idea how it was spreading. We had no idea what the incubation period was. We really knew nothing except for the fact that it was spreading and that it would turn you into a cannibal.

  I tried hard to concentrate on my work for the remainder of the day. I even worked late trying to catch up a little. I ate on the way home which was becoming a normal occurrence now. I was watching the news when I got a call on my cell. It was Dr. Bates.

  “I hope it’s not too late to call you Ray. This is Lynn Bates.”

  “Thank you for calling. I was hoping you would call with some good news and like I said please call at any time day or night.”

  “As I’m sure you know the Detective called me today. He is as concerned as we are and seems to be a straight shooter. I spent the remainder of the day trying again to get some action started here.

  Mostly just to shut me up I think, a small team is being sent to Boston. Consisting of myself and two others. Another team is being sent down to Guatemala. I talked to the administrator at the hospital and the killer is being put into quarantine now. He also offered the services of the hospital lab to us. We are flying in tomorrow.”

  “Finally some positive action. This is very good news at last. We have lost contact with the hospital down in Guatemala. I have been trying all day and the phone just rings with no answer. Also my team down there has not called me at all.

  I fear things are very bad down there and think you should warn your team heading that way. It might be wise to ask for a military escort if that is at all possible.”

  “I hope it is just poor phone service. Hard to believe that whatever this is could move that fast. I will pass your warning to the other team though and we take warnings very seriously here. There have been problems in the past.”

  “If you need anything feel free to call me. Maybe we can meet tomorrow and have dinner.”

  “That sounds good but I can’t promise anything because we will hopefully start working right away. If nothing else we could meet and have dinner in the hospital cafeteria.”

  “I would offer to help with the lab work but I have not done any of that since college. Please be careful. We have no idea how this spreads or even what it is we are dealing with.”

  “Don’t worry. This is what we do and we will bring a lot of our own equipment with us. We should get some preliminary findings very quickly. I’ll call you from the hospital tomorrow. By tomorrow night or the night after we should know a lot more.”

  “Thanks Lynn. I’ll talk to you tomorrow then.”

  Finally something was being done. I just hope it is not too late. I went to bed with more hope than I had in the last few days.

  Chapter Seven

  The next day went by quickly at work. I was upbeat all day and I had high hopes that Lynn’s team would quickly come up with some answers. Maybe I could even get some answers tonight when we will meet for supper. I left the office a little early so I could shower and change before supper with Lynn even though I did not know when she would call.

  It was entirely possible that once the team started working they might not want to stop to even eat. I had done that many times myself when I would be working and then hardly believe the time when I looked at a clock. It was about eight thirty when she called. She said she had news and I should come to the hospital now. She would meet me at the entrance in a half hour.

  It was a twenty minute drive to the hospital so I left right away. Though I got there early she came walking up just when I arrived. We shook hands then she said she was starving and we went to a restaurant less than a block away. After we ordered she got down to business.

  “We already know quite a lot. The subject has lost all higher brain functions. He can not communicate what-so-ever. He seems only interested in eating. He’ll eat just about anything. He is not really aggressive though he will try to attack anyone if he is not eating.

  His only interest is eating totally, absolutely nothing else. He attacks to get food. When we brought a lab rat in the room he tried to attack the rat. He knew the rat was food. We doubt his ability to open doors or really open anything. We gave him a plastic jar with visible food inside and he had no idea how to open it other than to try to smash it or bite through it. He sneezes often and we believe that is one way it spreads.

  It is not a virus. At least we don’t think so. We strongly believe it is a parasite. We took samples of the particulate from the sneezes and it contains eggs, spores, or seeds we haven’t tested it enough yet to narrow it down yet. The same is found in his saliva so it can be transmitted with a bite also we think.

  His blood also contains some but in way reduced amounts. He heals very quickly and I mean very quickly. We deliberately made a small cut on his arm and it was totally healed in less than an hour with no scar. We do not think he feels any pain at all. When we made the cut he never even blinked. He can hear and see. But we think he does not have a sense of smell anymore.

  Our next step is to find a growth medium that will grow the seeds or eggs. Then we can introduce different substances to see if we can kill it without killing the host. We don’t know how long the seeds or eggs are viable after leaving the host.

  At this stage we are guessing it spreads by being inhaled by another host or in the case of a bite entering the blood stream of the host. The particulate is very light weight and when sneezed out would float in the air for a bit before falling slowly to the ground. Depending how long the seeds or eggs remain viable the wind could play a big role in transmission of the parasite.”

  “You guys don’t waste any time do you? You already know a huge amount it. I am very impressed.”

  “Thank you but there is still a lot we don’t know. Incubation period is a big question. And if the host remains ‘normal’ for awhile while still being able to transmit the parasite. Other than a cure the answers to those two questions are vital. If the host can transmit the parasite while still able to function normally for some time will make this very hard to stop.”

  Just then Lynn’s phone rang and she answered it. It was the Detective with bad news. There were six more cases. She told the Detective anyone near the infected when they sneezed would very likely also be infected. All six had been shot by the officers and were dead but he said they had been very hard to kill. Way harder to kill than a normal person more like someone high on drugs. Lynn said they healed extremely fast and likely felt no pain at all.

  Anyone bit would very likely be infected also. When he asked if there was anything else he should know she said they might appear dead but they healed so fast that they might be able to come back to life so to speak after a short time. Extreme caution would be advised.

  Sneeze or bite and you would be infected. Tossing some food like a loaf of bread or something would likely distract or stop an attack at least until the food was gone. The infecte
d only wanted food, any food and they would kill to get that food. Dogs, cats, rats, birds, or a pizza, all would be equal food sources to someone infected.

  She told him the CDC team would want to perform an autopsy on at least one of the corpses tomorrow if at all possible. The Detective said he would try to set it up and would be in touch tomorrow and ended the call.

  “Six more cases. All now dead. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. The number of cases will likely skyrocket. I will have to get the Ok from the higher ups but we will have to go public soon, very soon.”

  Our food arrived and we talked trough the meal and over cups of coffee after the meal. Neither one of us was in any hurry to end the evening. Maybe because we both realized that a nice relaxing quiet evening may soon be a thing of the past. Even with all the knowledge the CDC team had gained today in just one day they were still a long way from stopping the outbreak.

  “Are you working anymore tonight?”

  “No we are done for the day. Tomorrow we can hopefully do at least one autopsy and will likely learn a lot more. But we all need to rest.”

  “I’ll take you to your hotel. My car is just outside.”

  “That would be great. The team took our rental to the hotel already. I thought I might be able to hitch a ride from you after dinner.”

  I drove Lynn to her hotel but we could have just as easily walked because it was only a couple blocks away. Likely picked because it was close to the hospital. When we got there I walked her up to her room and thanked her for the update and the companionship. She promised to call me tomorrow when she found out more. At least she hoped to find out more.

  Chapter Eight

  ‘Zombies in Boston’ was the headline on today’s newspaper. So I guess the cat-is-out-of-the-bag now. I read the article and they listed all nine instances of cannibalism so they were up to date, at least as much as I was. I wondered briefly just how many more cases there would be today and decided I did not want to even guess at the answer.

  On the way to work I stopped at a pharmacy and bought a hundred count box of the masks like doctors wear. I did not know if the masks would stop the eggs/seeds but it sure couldn’t hurt. When I got to work my secretary asked me if I knew anything about the zombie outbreak. I admitted that I did. I told her the truth that it was going to get much worse and it was mostly spread by sneezing.

  When she asked me how bad it would likely get I told her in a week or so no one would be going to work and the town would be totally shut down. Also by that time cases would be reported in many other cities both near and far. As I walked into my office I thought I heard her quietly sobbing at her desk.

  I worked all morning but to be totally truthful my mind was not all on my job. This zombie thing was real and to me working right now was kinda pointless. Man’s time on earth might just be hanging in the balance. When lunch time came I wasn’t really interested in going.

  And the last place I wanted to be was in a crowded restaurant seeing and hearing people sneezing. I went instead to a grocery store and I wore one of my new masks I had bought that morning. Strange looks or not I did not care. I bought quite a bunch of groceries and I really mean quite a lot. I also bought several cases of water and other drinks. I then stopped at a sporting goods store and bought a camp stove with a lot of fuel and a couple of lanterns plus fuel. Just in case it got so bad the power went off.

  I called to see if I could talk to the Detective. He happened to be in his office.

  “Dr. Miller here. I would like to purchase a shotgun. Today. You know why. I spent four years in the Army. I think I can safely handle one if the need arises. Would this be possible?”

  “Call this number and use my name. Tell them they can call me to verify. Buy some buckshot if possible or if not then heavy shot like for turkey hunting or goose hunting. Buy plenty of shells. There are many more cases today so far and I doubt that I even know of all of them. Buy it now doctor. And just so you know I have two officers guarding the CDC team around the clock now. They are our only hope. Good luck to you. I have to go you have no idea how busy it is here.”

  “Thank you. And good luck to you also.”

  I called the number and told them what I wanted and gave them the Detective’s name and told them he said they could call to verify and he was in his office right now. They told me an address and said I could come now because they had a couple that would meet my needs.

  The address was fairly close and I was there in about twenty minutes. I picked out a pump twelve gauge with a short barrel and a long magazine. They even had some buckshot which I bought a lot of. I had actually gone duck hunting a couple years when I was in high school so I was somewhat familiar with the shotgun. I looked it over well and practiced loading it when I got home. I left it loaded sitting in my closet.

  I put the groceries away that I bought. They wouldn’t all fit in the small pantry so I put the remainder in a closet with the camp stove and lantern. At least now I was better prepared. I was also hungry and made myself lunch. I did go back to my office. When I got there I told my secretary to go on home. I told her to stop at a grocery store and stock way up on food and water then go home and stay there until this was settled. It was too dangerous to come back to work after today.

  I called John and told him what I knew and said today was my last day coming in to the office. I was now going home and I wished him well and good luck. He said the same. It was after supper by the time Lynn called. Her team had done two autopsies. One this morning and they finished the second in the late afternoon.

  They had learned a little more but so far had not been able to find a growth medium that would grow the eggs. This was hampering their efforts to find a cure or a preventive. This was way different than the usual bacteria or a virus that they commonly dealt with. It settled in the brain and that was how it affected the behavior of the host. As a parasite it tells the host to feed to keep the host healthy so the parasite can live and multiply. The parasite wants the host to stay healthy and it adds enhancements to the host body making it stronger.

  I asked her about a public announcement and she said the announcement was going to come from the main office in Atlanta but she did not know when. Every minute that they waited to do the announcement was costing lives but they seemed to either not know that or not care about it.

  She also said they had their first case in New York City today. She was sure there were other cases in other cities but because there was no announcement by the CDC no one knew what they were dealing with and it was likely just being reported as ‘drug crazed’ or just ‘bizarre behavior’.

  She had heard from the team dispatched to Guatemala was back in Atlanta. Guatemala has closed all airports and was in the process of closing all sea ports. Belize had also closed all airports. But it was too little too late. It would very likely be worldwide in a matter of days.

  She told me about the police protection around the clock and was thankful for it. The hospital was a madhouse. Besides the police detail protecting them there were other officers assigned to protect the hospital itself.

  Trying to help I asked a question.

  “In the blood samples from the infected one they had hospital. Were there any big changes or deficiencies in the blood? “

  “A couple of the tests are not done yet but what did you have in mind.”

  “If there was a big deficiency maybe it is something that the parasite can not tolerate. You could also start feeding the infected one many different substances or drugs to see if you might happen to find something that will be a cure. If he refuses to eat a substance that might be an indication that the parasite can not tolerate that item. You have a whole hospital full of medications try some all day long.”

  “Trial and error is a long process but I guess we have nothing to lose. The infected do not sleep and appear not to need sleep. We could keep up the trial and error twenty four hours a day. It is worth a try until we find a growth medium that we can use. We have studi
ed the eggs more and we think they do not stay viable very long once outside of the host body but that is only a theory at this point. Until we find a growth medium that works we can not test this theory though.

  We tried to infect several different animals but none were acceptable hosts apparently. So far we only know of only humans and howler monkeys. We even tried a couple other species of monkey with negative results. This is great news to slow or maybe stop the spread of the parasite.

  We also found that the infected are sterile and can no longer breed but that with the enhancements provided by the parasite they would likely have much longer life spans which in theory could just about be limitless if they had a constant food supply.

  I’m beat and I’m going to bed. I’ll call you tomorrow. Hopefully with a breakthrough.”

  “Thanks for calling Lynn. Good luck and please be careful.”

  I watched the TV news tonight something I seldom do. It was not good. The whole city was obviously very close to panic. They showed the highways that were either stopped or were bumper to bumper and moving slow. All going out of town. The lanes coming in were basically empty.

  I have no doubts that many of those leaving were infected. They did announce that the local airports and train stations were now closed. The news announced that the police were asking that everyone just stay home. Your home was the safest place. Any traveling at all will just put you at risk. Again just stay home. I certainly agreed. If everyone would stay home it would definitely be safer for all.

  Chapter Nine

  By mid-morning I could already see the problem with staying home. I was a ‘do-er’ and I wanted to be doing something. By lunch time I was pacing the floor. I made my lunch as slow and intricate as you could make a sandwich. But after lunch I came up with a plan.