by Ken Ward
“That's what they're saying this virus is like. It hits fast like the flu.”
“For fuck's sake, Kathy, I don't have the stupid virus.”
“Really? That's how you're going to talk to me?”
I'd lost my temper in that moment and like an idiot I cursed at her. So stupid. I immediately recognized my mistake. “You're right,” I said. “I'm sorry.”
“All I was saying is maybe what some others are saying is right. Maybe you should've stayed home.”
“Well, that's fine to say in hindsight. You get that right? Everyone can say that now. Had I known I was going to feel like this, I would've stayed home. I mean, I'm not psychic.”
“Yeah,” Kathy said, in a defeated tone. “Can I go now?”
“I just don't want you to start buying into all this crap that people are saying. I already feel like I've got the whole world against me. I don't want to fight with you too.”
“I'm not buying into anything. It's just something I thought.”
“That I'm selfish?”
“I didn't say that. Look, can we get off the phone now? My boss is super close and I really don't like this conversation.”
“What's wrong with this conversation?”
“I don't like your tone, the way you're talking. You're treating me like an enemy or something.”
“Well, I don't really want to end the conversation on a bad note like this.”
“Just forget about it, Matt. Okay. I have to get back to work.”
“Fine. I'll talk to you later then.”
“Okay. Bye.”
“Bye.”
I hung up and felt this horrible torrent of guilt flooding through my brain. I wish I could say it took my headache away. It didn't. Kathy had seemed like the only ally I had in this whole thing and she was beginning to crack under the pressure. I guess I couldn't blame her.
“Are you about done in there?” The flight attendant shouted through the bathroom door while knocking at the same time.
“Yes.”
I flushed the toilet so as to make it appear I'd actually needed to go. Though I was sure the attendant had probably heard me talking and put two and two together. I opened the door and the lady stood there staring at me. I pictured her lips beneath her mask as being pursed, the look of someone displeased with the person in front of them.
“Sorry,” I said with sarcasm. “Did I take too long.”
“There are other people on this flight.”
“Oh, I'm well aware.”
I walked back to my seat. I was beyond being polite. I plunked myself down and the flight attendant went back to whatever she was doing on her phone while bent over the counter top at the other end of the back room. My phone buzzed in my hand. I opened the screen and had an email notification. I didn't recognize the address, it was a long series of letters and numbers. I'd assumed it was just spam. But I didn't have anything better to do, and had nowhere to go obviously, so I clicked to open the email and inside the body of it there was a blue hyperlink. Again, not the wisest decision to click on a hyperlink inside an email from an anonymous sender, but I'll reiterate, by this point I was beyond caring about much at all. Besides, if this did turn out to be some form of malware or some money making scheme, well, they could have at it – I had nothing to give. I clicked the hyperlink and was taken to a video. I clicked play and it was the kind of video someone had obviously shot on their cell phone, it was shaky. I also couldn't believe my eyes. It was the street outside my apartment. I lived on the second floor of a small three-floor building and a crowd had gathered. They were throwing rocks and bottles at my front window. As the video kept playing more people arrived. There were guys in ball caps and with scarves and bandannas covering their faces throwing heavy objects at my place. My front window smashed in eventually. Tears formed in my eyes. My jaw dropped and my heart started beating a mile a minute. One guy held his hands out and boosted up another guy who climbed in through my smashed front window and ran inside my home. He disappeared from view and then returned in the gaping hole where my window had been and started tossing my belongings out to the crowd that had gathered, who cheered with each item thrown out. I was devastated.
“Oh my god,” I said aloud.
The video ended just as some guy lit an oily rag sticking out of a glass bottle and threw the flaming object into my place. The video cut as smoke billowed from my apartment and the sound of a police car's siren blared. I sat back in my seat, tears streaming down my hot cheeks. I couldn't believe what was happening to me. It felt as though my entire world was collapsing.
CHAPTER 16
What few friends I had at my job were no longer responding to my texts. The apartment I used to call my home I imagined had been completely destroyed, judging by the way that video ended. I tried to call Kathy again, but she wasn't picking up. If my parents were still alive or if I'd had any siblings I'd imagined they'd have ex-communicated me too. IGNA-3 hysteria had gripped the world and I was at the epicenter of the madness. I sucked on the last of my lozenges. The cherry flavor tasted like medicine Mom used to give me as a kid. But not the bad medicine taste, the good kind. You know the difference I'm sure. Regardless, the lozenges did something to my stomach. Made me feel queasy. I don't know, maybe I was misjudging that. Pretty easy to feel sick to your stomach when that's just part and parcel with having the flu. Add in the crazy levels of adrenaline that had to be flowing through me given all that had gone on and well, the lozenges were the least of my worries. I looked over at the flight attendant doing her best to ignore me. “Hey,” I said. She didn't turn to look at me right away, but instead made it known it was a chore for her to even acknowledge my existence. “Do you guys have any throat lozenges.”
She rolled her eyes. “No.” She went back to her phone.
“Great,” I said, “thanks.”
You: you there?
You: Kathy?
Kathy: im here
You: how are you?
Kathy: fine
You: how are things at your work now?
Kathy: id rather not talk about it
You: you still have the tv on there...in your office?
Kathy: yeh y?
You: you see what hey did to my place?
Kathy: what? no
You: someone sent me a video...they trashed it...i don't know what to do
Kathy: what do u mean they trashed it?
You: a bunch of people...firebombed it
Kathy: im so sorry
You: i'm scared...i don't know what to do
She didn't answer right away. I was detecting distance between us, more than just physically. Even through texts she seemed off. I guess my feelings were still raw after our previous phone conversation. It's possible that it had me reading into her texts in a way where I was inferring things that weren't there. But then she removed whatever doubts I'd had.
Kathy: i have to go
You: please talk to me...i don't need you as my enemy too
Kathy: enemy? rly?
You: i just mean...you're being distant
Kathy: u dont understand
You: tell me
Kathy: im taking a lot of abuse right now
You: abuse? what do you mean?
Kathy: the ppl at my work
You: who? delia? she's a bitch
Kathy: more than just her, theres news ppl outside the building
You: oh
Kathy: its rly embarasing
You: trust me...i know all about embarrassing
Kathy: this is effecting me 2
You: i know it is...i said i was sorry about that
Kathy: well i could like, lose my job here
You: why would you say that
Kathy: my boss is not impressed, sorry ive gotta go
You: can i call you in a bit?
Again, no immediate response. I sat staring at the screen for a solid two minutes waiting to see the little indicator show that she was typing a response. Nothing.
&
nbsp; You: Kathy? hello?
Kathy: whut?
You: can i call you in a bit?
Kathy: i dont know, i'll talk to u later
The terseness of this response, the aloofness of it, even if it was just my false perception of things in that moment, felt like a punch in the gut. As stupid as the notion may have been, I genuinely worried I was losing her over this entire ridiculous situation.
You: ok
You: i love you
You: xoxo
She didn't respond. Again, I sat there staring, like a pathetic lovesick moron – waiting for her to say something similar in return. She didn't. A tingling sensation ran up the back of my neck. Darkness. Anger. Guilt. I stood up from my seat. The flight attendant looked over at me with her customary frown. I pointed at the cabinets above her head. “Lozenges,” I said, “I don't believe that you don't have them.”
“We don't,” she said. “Get back in your seat.”
“That isn't my seat,” I pointed angrily at the red chair in the corner behind me. “My seat is out there. It's the one I paid for that you guys forcibly removed me from.”
“You need to lower your voice.”
“Are you telling me that if some rich asshole in first class had a sore throat you have nothing for him?”
“Stop yelling and sit down.”
“Hello?” I hollered, eyes bulging out of my head. “Anybody home? I'm fucking talking to you. Answer the goddamned question!”
“And I'm telling you to sit down.”
“Give me a goddamned lozenge!” I took a step closer to her and I could see it in her eyes that she felt physically threatened. As bad as it was that I'd made someone feel that way through my behavior, at the same time, I actually like that I'd elicited that reaction.
She rushed away from where she stood and whisked through the doorway to the cabin and swiftly up the aisle. Without a doubt in my mind I figured she was off to find backup to deal with the rude disease carrier at the back of the plane. I stood in the doorway defiantly, arms folded, waiting – no – daring the crew of assholes with RepublicAir to come and deal with me. I'd had enough.
CHAPTER 17
CNN BROADCAST – LIVE
BREAKING NEWS – IGNA-3 IN THE U.S., CARRIER ABOARD FLIGHT TO MIAMI
Host: Welcome back to CNN's live coverage of the IGNA-3 outbreak, I'm Tani Dotson and I'm back here with our panel. I'd like to talk a bit about public opinion, and how that might shape the response to the outbreak aboard Flight 381. Once again I am joined here in the studio by: Richard Hogue, former chair of the CIA subcommittee on biological warfare; Dr. Avna Ghulli of the National Healthcare Institute, and formerly of the Centers for Disease Control; Nicholle Quantrell, spokesperson for the Advocate Society Alliance; and Brent Holberg, who's been covering the United Nations and the World Health Organization for publications including the New York Citizen Tribune, the Manhattan Gazette and the Washington Courier. And Brent in joining us from our studio in New York, and Brent, I'd like to begin with you.
Brent: Sure.
Tani: We're seeing a lot of divergent opinions out there regarding this IGNA-3 outbreak, and in particular with regard to this young man, Matthew Gravenhurst. What are you hearing where you are?
Brent: Well, Tani, it's interesting We've been talking all this time about measures the government could be or in some cases should be taking to try and contain this outbreak, but I don't think we're spending enough time listening to the public, the people out on the street to get their take on all that's happening. In the past hour I've been hearing from colleagues who've had a chance to speak with folks just outside our offices, and this story is on everyone's lips. And there's a lot of interesting opinions out there. As a matter of fact, one of my co-workers was speaking with a young woman who told him about her sick mother whom she cares for and she expressed how worried she is for people like her Mom who have compromised immune systems who might have a hard time fighting off something like IGNA-3.
Tani: Dr. Ghulli, Brent raises a good point, but we have no indication that even quote unquote healthy people have had success in resisting this illness, isn't that right?
Dr. Ghulli: Correct. And I want to caution anyone watching this that as far as we know as of this moment, there is no difference-maker here, that is to say, this virus can infect anyone at anytime regardless of their previous health history, behavioral patterns and so on.
Tani: Nicholle, let me toss it to you now. Where do you see a role for organizations such as yours, the Advocate Society Alliance, and other organizations like it in helping to educate the public in how to deal with the potential for a pandemic such as this?
Nicholle: We have said all along and we maintain, that this is problem that will predominantly effect the poorest segments of society. The poorest among us will suffer most. This virus may not discriminate, just as Dr. Ghulli has pointed out, but people do.
Tani: Mm-hmm.
Nicholle: We know that in areas that are underfunded, where information is not as readily available. We're talking about communities where minorities are prevalent. We know that these will be the areas hardest hit.
Richard: Tani, if I may just jump in here.
Nicholle: Hold on, you'll have your chance to speak. I haven't finished.
Tani: Actually, I hate to cut both of you off, but we have our sponsors to think of. We'll be back after this short break.
EAGLE BROADCASTING – BOSTON CHANNEL 5 ACTIONLIVE NEWS
JOINED IN PROGRESS
Host: As we told you before the break, we've had our news crews out on the streets of Boston, we're interested in speaking to you and hearing what you have to say. Actionlive's own Mary Schwartz has been out there speaking with Bostonians about IGNA-3 and the outbreak. A lot of different ideas and differing opinions out there about how to deal with this problem, isn't that right, Mary?
Mary: Exactly right, Roger. I've been out here all afternoon speaking with so many different people and even just in the last half hour to forty minutes we've been able to hear just a wide variety of opinions and we'd like to play some of those for you now.
CUTS TO TAPE
Mary: What's your feeling about everything's that happening with this outbreak? This virus? Does it have you worried?
Nancy Whittorn, Daycare Worker: It does, yeah. Very worried. I've got kids, you know? My parents are elderly.
Mary: Do you worry that now that we know this young man from Boston has the disease that maybe the virus could be here in this city?
Nancy: It's scary. I mean, I'm scared. Everyone I know is talking about it. I don't know what we can do. Maybe that young man shouldn't come back here, you know?
Mary: You think he should be kept in quarantine in Miami?
Nancy: Yeah, I mean, we don't need him coming back here and getting everybody sick, you know? That isn't right?
…
Mary: Tell me how do you think the government should respond to this outbreak?
Jorge Romado, Courier Driver: I don't know. Maybe just fight fire with fire. Just, like that.
Mary: Are you talking about the flight to Miami with the young man who's been identified as a carrier?
Jorge: Yeah. Just get rid of it.
Mary: The flight?
Jorge: If it comes to that. I'm not talking about killing everyone on board that plane, but you know we've got a whole country to think about, right?
Mary: So, you're saying the government should consider shooting down that flight?
Jorge: I'm only saying if it comes to that. If it comes to that, then you have to, right?
…
Mary: How are you feeling about this IGNA-3 outbreak?
Francine Holcomb: It's frightening. I don't know what to think.
Mary: Does it concern you at all knowing that a young man from here has the virus and its on a flight that originated in this city?
Francine: How could it not? But at the same time, I feel for him too.
Mary: How so?
Francine: Well, the whole world's against him. It seems like everybody hates him. I saw what they did to his house, his apartment, whatever. He's been fired from his job. It's awful.
Mary: But don't you think we have more than just him, we have our entire society to worry about as well?
Francine: Yes. But I just think we can do both.
Mary: Thank you for your time.
CUT BACK TO LIVE
Mary: So there, as you can see, Roger. Quite a spectrum of opinions out there about this whole thing. And we heard from a lot of others as well that time permitting we could have played for you.
Roger: Yes, thank you, Mary. You're right, there is a wide range of opinions out there. I'm interested in that last person that you showed, I believe Francine was her name?
Mary: Yes, that's right.
Roger: Her's is an opinion I'd yet to hear from anyone really on this topic.
Mary: Yes, she was really the only person we spoke to who expressed concern for Matthew Gravenhurst, the known virus carrier. It makes you wonder.
Roger: Yes, it does. Listen, she's more than welcome to go and give that young man a hug on the rest of society's behalf. That's her prerogative. I think the rest of us would rather he stay far, far away. How about you, Mary?
Mary: Totally agree with you, Roger. But this is what you get sometimes when you're out speaking with the public, you're going to get some wild opinions and I think we just heard one there.
INJUSTICE & ENSLAVEMENT REVOLUTION RADIO – EL PASO, TEXAS
Host: Thank you for joining this worldwide emergency broadcast, ladies and gentlemen. This is Brock Hondo speaking to you from the beating heart of the revolution, from the eye of the storm here in our bunker studio in El Paso, Texas. And just as we have been telling you for more than 8 years now, the storm is here. The vortex has come. It is over your house. It is threatening to devour you. We've been telling you that a government planned pandemic was coming. We've been telling you that the banksters and the illuminati have been planning for this for years, we've documented the round-up camps and detention centers kept under wraps by your Congress. We've been telling you to prepare. So, what's happening right now?
Well folks, the hour is upon us. The time has come. We've been telling you the outbreak would start in a small remote part of the world and it would spread out from there, like the tentacles of a great tyrannical beast, here to divide you from those you love. Here to strip you of your freedom and everything you care about. To take you from your property that you built out of your own sweat equity. And that's just what they have done with this IGNA-3 virus. I can almost feel the throw-up in the back of my mouth having to utter its evil name. It is a government creation. We've document it. How many times have we told you? It was created in a lab by the CDC under the watchful eye of the CIA and the NSA. And don't count out involvement by the Kremlin and the Chinese. It is here and it is going to be used as the excuse, the scapegoat to round you up and to round up everyone you've ever loved or cared about and to put you all in a detention camp. To lock you up in a cell and treat you like the scum that the world elites believe that you are. Do not be fooled by the mainstream press, they are there to sell you lies. They are evil. They are the worst, lowest forms of humanity. They are life-sucking creatures who will stop at nothing to take you by the throat and to hold you down under their gold-plated boots. Don't play into their vicious game.