Islands - The Epidemic: An Airborne Ebola Disaster

by Smith, Patricia

  “Come on,” Max insisted. He leaned against the underside of the car. “I’ll do most of the work and we won’t have to move it very far. Besides, it should shift relatively easily – the metal should skid on the tarmac.”

  She leaned forward and took a hold of the exhaust. “If you think you’re going to get hurt, we must stop. We might know medicine, but none of us are chiropractors.”

  The sound of scraping metal echoed around the streets, bouncing off the buildings lining the raised carriageway as they slowly pushed the car aside.

  A short while later, “It was easier than I thought,” Judith said, satisfied. “I’m pleased we didn’t turn back because of that.”

  They returned to the vehicle and, continuing their journey, were relieved to encounter no further major obstacles in the fifty yards before they turned off the ring road and drove down the slipway. At the bottom, they turned left at a roundabout and, at long last, caught sight of the hospital.

  “Do you think the pharmacy might have been raided for drugs in the same way the chemist was?” Max asked, drawing the car to a halt at the side of the road. Although they could see the infirmary, there was no way they could drive through onto the grounds.

  “There’s a good chance,” Judith said, “but, as you know, there are plenty of places where drugs are stored in hospitals that your average person wouldn’t know about.” She opened her door and climbed out. “I guess we walk from here.”

  Directly ahead, their first clear evidence since the traffic jam in Scotland of the panic that gripped the population became apparent. The road around the hospital was completely blocked by cars crushed up against each other, due to a series of crashes, as people had tried frantically to reach the institution.

  The pair approached the chaos, picking their way through the carnage on their way towards the building. They squeezed past bumpers and could see haemorrhaging had taken place inside many of the vehicles as the floors and fabrics were stained with blood.

  As they reached the small wall and railings that surrounded the property, they could see why the road outside was blocked when they viewed the tragedy beyond. Some, like the couple they had seen at Kirktown, had obviously died at home whilst others had made a last desperate dash for help to the nearest medical facility.

  An entanglement of cars almost completely blocked the main entrance and a variety of vehicles had been abandoned in various states around the hospital grounds. Any accessible scrap of space had been filled, with every embankment, flowerbed, smoking shelter and wheelchair bay being used for parking in a frenzied attempt to get as close to the institution as possible. Many cars told their tale of a perilous dash through the streets, with their crushed bumpers, smashed windscreens and buckled doors damaged in the frenetic race for help.

  The pair slowed as they drew near to the hospital entrance, until eventually they stopped just outside the range of the automatic doors.

  Max looked at Judith apprehensively. He smiled tensely. “Ready?” he grimaced.

  Judith nodded, then together they stepped forward and the doors slid open.

  Both recoiled in horror as the stench of countless corpses escaped the building along with a rush of air. They staggered back a few steps, as if they had walked into a wall, before regaining some semblance of control.

  Judith leaned forward; resting her hands on her knees, she spat on the ground to clear her mouth of the putrid vapour.

  Max turned away, “Strewth, that’s gross,” he gasped.

  “You can stay here if you want,” she said. “It only needs one of us to find the morphine.”

  “No.” He gained control of his gagging reflex. “We stick together.”

  Judith pulled two masks from her pocket and handed one to the nurse.

  Reception was directly ahead, only a few yards inside the doors, to stop anyone coming into the building without being registered. Immediately after was a left hand turn, which joined a corridor running the full length of the hospital.

  Max stepped forward, leading the way, and triggered the lights activated by motion sensors. Briefly, they flickered before fully tripping on and illuminating the carnage that lined the passage.

  Innumerable adults and children were spread across the floor, shoulder to shoulder as far as the eye could see.

  Max slowly began to move forward, carefully picking his way around the corpses.

  The bodies near to the door had blood stained blankets pulled over them but, as the pair made their way further along, even more lay uncovered.

  “They must have run out of linen,” Judith said from behind.

  He glanced back, “Maybe they concealed the ones by the door for psychological reasons.”

  Another set of lights blinked on to reveal the wide passage ahead. Their route was nearly completely blocked with cadavers, propped against the walls or slumped on the floor, left where they had died. Pools of blood had gathered beneath the bodies and trickled across the passage, where eventually it had dried. Barely a step could be taken which did not involve treading on dead and decomposing matter.

  Some attempt had been made to stop the mess; a large bucket and mop sat near a puddle of red-stained vomit. It had been partially cleaned before being abandoned, the plastic container left as a ghastly testament to some poor soul’s attempt to deal with the horror all around.

  “Is there anyone here?” Judith called.

  Max looked back, his eyes wide, his mouth tight. “Are you joking?”

  Judith returned his stare. “Of course not,” she shook her head, “you never know.”

  Max was feeling the strain. The situation was threatening to overwhelm him and, although he had seen some horrific things throughout his career, nothing could prepare him for this.

  They arrived at some stairs.

  “We could cover more ground if we split up,” Judith suggested. “You go to the pharmacy and I’ll check the drugs cupboards on the wards.”

  He thought a moment. He was reluctant to let her out of his sight, but on the other hand was more desperate to get out of this place. “Okay.”

  She started up the stairs two at a time, leaving Max alone in the corridor of corpses.

  He regretted agreeing to the split the moment he could no longer see the virologist. As he continued along the corridor, stepping over bodies, living his worst nightmare, his imagination ran wild. All the horror movies that had scared him as a child instantly came back to haunt him. He desperately tried to suppress his thoughts but, like a probing tongue on a persistent mouth ulcer, he could not stop. As his mounting panic was just about to burst forth in a hysterical dash for the door, Max suddenly heard Judith call out from the upper floor. Slowly his nerves calmed and, gathering his courage, he picked up his pace and joined Judith in the call for survivors.

  Upstairs, Judith quickly found a secure cupboard in the Ward Sister’s office, then in the staff kitchen found a suitable lever and a short while later managed to force her way in to find pitifully short stocks of supplies.

  A single bottle of liquid morphine and two bottles of tablets were found at the back of the cupboard, along with some anti-sickness drugs and two packets of antibiotics. She grabbed the painkillers and a handful of syringes, stuffed them into her pocket then returned to the ward and walked through to the other side.

  Slowly, she passed each of the beds, scanning the faces of those who had been patients when the crisis began. She realised that, no matter what their ailments were upon entering the hospital, internal bleeding had invariably been the cause of their deaths. Bruising on the skin and trails of blood, which ran down from the facial orifices, were evident on almost all of the bodies she passed. After she left the final bed behind, Judith noticed a small room on the left just before she moved beyond the doors.

  She stopped to peer in through the glass at a nurse lying on a cot and realised she had no sign of the disease. Judith thought she might still be alive. There was no evidence of bleeding or bruising on her face and from the do
or she could not see any indication of haemorrhaging anywhere in the room. She stepped inside, but was instantly dismayed.

  The woman’s skin was grey and it was now obvious, without the filtering effect of the glass, that she had been dead for some time. Two items on the bedside table – a small plastic cup and an empty bottle of pills – gave a clue to her last moments.

  Judith wondered as she left the room, whether the nurse had chosen to take her own life because she had begun to develop the disease, or whether it was from fear of being alone.

  “Anything?” Max called, when he spotted her leaving the stairwell at the far end of the passage.

  “I’ve got one bottle of liquid morphine and two bottles of tablets,” Judith said as she made her way down the corridor towards him. “There was one apparent suicide in a side room, but the rest seemed to have died from the disease. How about you?”

  “The pharmacy had been raided. I’ve got one bottle of liquid heroine and some paracetamols. All of the anti-viral drugs have gone and also the antibiotics, proving it wasn’t necessarily anyone with a medical background who did it; otherwise they’d know antibiotics were useless against viruses. I also came across a rather grisly scene at the far end of the passage.” Max grimaced. “The automatic doors seem to have been triggered by some animals, most probably dogs, as there were a few half eaten bodies outside on the lawn.”

  Judith nudged her head towards the entrance, “Come on, let’s go. I’ll be glad to get out of here.”

  “Wait. I also found these,” he added softly.

  Judith looked down and followed his eyes, then, “Oh, no,” she choked. She crouched, sitting back on her heels to take a closer look.

  The woman, her shoulder length blonde hair caked to her face with dried blood, was propped up against the wall with a young child, whose sun-kissed ringlets were stuck together in clumps of red stained vomit, splayed across her lap.

  “It is them, isn’t it?” Max asked. “It is the two in the picture?”

  Judith stood. “It certainly looks like it. Even with the level of decomposition I’d say it was Hilary and Beverly.” She shuddered. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I can’t stand it anymore.”

  Outside the air smelled sweeter than either of them had ever known and they both breathed deeply, clearing their nostrils as they hurried back to the car.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The Macdonald Hotel, Ten Miles South of Leeds

  Max and Judith hurried back to the hotel as fast as they could. The returning route, now familiar, shortened the travelling time considerably.

  As they pulled up the drive and caught sight of the hotel entrance they could see Susan waiting outside, pacing around the front step anxiously. She stopped and stared when she spotted them passing the shrubbery, then rushed forward as they drew to a halt.

  “You’ve been gone ages,” she gasped. “I was getting scared something had happened. Did you get some morphine?”

  “Yes. How’s Hannah?” Judith asked, as she stepped out of the car.

  Susan’s face dropped. “She’s getting worse. You’d better take it upstairs straight away.”

  Judith started round the back, but stopped when Susan called, “I found the key for the front door; it’s open.”

  She returned and quickly disappeared inside the building.

  “Did you get many drugs?” Susan asked Max once they were alone.

  “The hospital had either used up their supplies or they’d been raided. No matter what, there wasn’t much left.” He shook his head in horror. “It was terrible inside.”

  They headed into the building.

  “What, the lack of drugs?”

  “No, the hospital.”

  Susan stopped and gave Max her full attention.

  “It absolutely stank and there were bodies literally everywhere. They were lined along the corridors, most of them uncovered and, from the blood and vomit pooled on the floor, we guess they died where they lay, still waiting for treatment.”

  Susan’s blue eyes stared, wide and unblinking.

  Max moved closer. “We think we found Hilary and Beverly in the main corridor,” he said in a hushed voice.

  Susan crossed her arms. “You have to tell Joseph,” she insisted.

  “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

  “I think not knowing is the worst. No matter what, it’ll give them closure.”

  “I don’t know... Maybe you’re right.”

  ****

  Judith hurried upstairs and walked into the bedroom without knocking.

  Hannah was propped up in bed, obviously running a fever, with a small fan on the side table blowing cool air onto her face.

  She looked around at the virologist then grimaced when a wave of pain caught her off guard.

  Quickly Judith retrieved the morphine and measured a dose into a syringe before administering the drug directly into a vein.

  Hannah’s face instantly relaxed as the painkiller took effect. She smiled, comfortable for the first time in almost twenty-four hours, to reveal lips and teeth smeared in a ruby red covering. Closing her eyes, she sank deeper into the pillow.

  “Did you manage to get some fuel?” Joseph asked. He spoke slowly, sounding exhausted.

  “Yes, we filled it up.” Judith grabbed a chair from in front of the dresser and moved it alongside the bed. “You should go and get some rest. I’ll take over here.”

  He looked at his wife; she seemed to be sleeping. He paused, reluctant to leave, before acquiescing. “Maybe just a little while.” He stood. “You’ll come and get me when she wakes?”

  “Yes. Oh, and Joseph.” Judith moved to speak to him by the door. “We think we saw Hilary and Beverly in the hospital,” she told him in a hushed voice.

  For a moment Joseph’s face brightened, before he realised her meaning and it once again fell. “I take it they were dead?” he whispered.

  “Yes, I’m sorry.”

  “Are you sure it was them?”

  “It looked like the pair in your picture.”

  “Thank you for telling me.” His head dropped in grief as he left the room. “At least we don’t have to worry about them anymore.”

  ****

  Susan watched Max throwing a toy for Seb. “What do you think will happen about Kent now?”

  The dog ran so fast that his back legs swept past his shoulders to grip the ground and lunge himself forward full pelt, as he tore across the grass to retrieve the napkin currently doubling as a ball.

  “We can’t move Hannah; not if she’s that poorly.”

  “No, maybe we all couldn’t go, but you and Judith could go ahead. Joseph and I could stay here, until...” she shrugged, “well... you know.”

  Max stopped, the knotted napkin in his hand. “I suppose that’s a possibility. The quicker Judith gets there, the quicker we have some hope of a cure.”

  “Yes, and if the other scientists were close,” Susan said excitedly, “you might even get back to save Hannah.”

  Max was tempted to say, ‘That’s unlikely,’ but one look at the young woman’s face, filled with hope for the first time in such a long while, stopped the words in his mouth. “I’ll discuss it with Judith.”

  ****

  Judith stood by the window, watching the pair play with the dog. She turned quickly when Hannah suddenly started to cough. She lifted her into an upright position, before grabbing a tissue and holding it to her mouth.

  Hannah was very weak and, although her chest convulsed, she had virtually no strength to clear her airways. Judith began to panic and thought she might choke, until suddenly a clot of blood appeared on the tissue and slowly Hannah began to breathe more freely.

  Judith eased her back onto the pillows then took the tissue to the bathroom and flushed it down the toilet. She washed her hands before returning to sit by the bed.

  Hannah’s head swivelled so that she could look at the virologist. “I think it might be time for another one of those shots,” she sa
id, her voice quiet, her speech slightly slurred.

  Judith shook her head. “No, it’s too soon. Besides, the other one shouldn’t have worn off yet.”

  “That’s my point.”

  “If I give you another shot, you’ll overdose,” Judith stated bluntly.

  “I think it’s time to go,” Hannah said, more clearly this time.

  Judith went rigid. “I can’t.” Her mind raced. “You’ll have to discuss it with Joseph,” she cautioned.

  “I don’t want to discuss it with Joseph; he’ll talk me out of it. We both know where this is going.”

  “I might be able to sort it out,” Judith said, pleadingly.

  “Maybe for the others, but not for me. I’m only holding you back now.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “I heard what you found at the hospital.”

  Judith looked away. “We couldn’t be sure.”

  “You sounded sure at the time.” Hannah shuffled, trying to get comfortable. She blinked and a trickle of blood ran down from the corner of her eye. “It’s time I joined my children.”

  ****

  “That was quick,” Judith said when the bedroom door opened.

  Joseph looked brighter; his cheeks were pink and he looked a little bit more refreshed. “I only needed a nap. I feel much better now.” He crossed to the bed. “How is she?”

  “She’s sleeping,” Judith said. She stood. “I’ll be off downstairs, if that’s all right?”

  “Yes, of course.” Joseph took her place in the chair. “Thank you Judith. She’s obviously a lot more comfortable, she almost looks better.”

  Judith, head down, face hidden, said, “You’re welcome,” as she hurried from the room.

  Chapter Thirty

  The Macdonald Hotel, Ten Miles South of Leeds

  Judith went to her room with no intentions of leaving for at least a few hours. She stayed there when the yelling started, ignored the footsteps pounding up the stairs and pretended to sleep through the wails and tears. It was only when the sorrow came pounding on her door that she could ignore it no longer. She opened it to find Susan standing in the passage.