Dinner was terrific as usual and Dwayne went upstairs to do his homework as his parents cleared the dishes. An hour later he was done. He went downstairs to find his parents already settled in and the news programs back on the television. He sat next to his mother on the couch, scrunching himself cozily into the cushions.
There was a special report program on TV and the family watched it with growing dismay. From everything that was said, three things were readily apparent. One, was that a great number of people in Asia and the Far East were becoming ill because of some sort of virus. They would fall into a coma and then wake up and become uncontrollably violent. Two, was that the local Western reporters were discounting the reports of the zombie attacks that was starting to proliferate from local Asian sources. Although with China now enforcing a complete news blackout and various third world countries losing power and communications, the reporting from Asia was becoming very unreliable. Third, and most troublesome, was the fact that this new pandemic seemed to be spreading rapidly. Russia and the Middle East were reporting a mounting number of virus related incidents. As the Shannon household eventually locked up and went to bed, the world situation continued to spiral out of control.
When the Pandora dust cloud crossed Earth’s orbit, our planet’s rotation caused the virus particles to affect Asia first and then the rest of the world as its rotation exposed the rest of the continents to the alien contagion. As the Shannon’s slept, the rapidly mutating virus was continuing its deadly path. Europe and Africa were next. The previous Pandora victims on these continents were already experiencing the beginnings of this changing pathogen. By the time the Shannon’s East Coast town of Oakwood was rushing to begin their day at work and school, the first few mutations became complete in Europe and Africa and they were about to join Asia and its viral chaos.
Thursday…
Let’s leave the Civil War for now,” said Mr. Nelson, Dwayne’s history teacher. “I think we should talk about what is happening overseas right now. So, we’ll close our books for today and have a class discussion.”
The sound of textbooks slamming shut filled the room. A number of smiles accompanied that action; a short reprieve from the drudgery of schoolwork. Mr. Nelson leaned against his desk and gazed about the classroom. The smiles and shared looks of amusement from his seated pupils began to dwindle as they intuited the grim seriousness of their teacher. Seeing some teenagers becoming uncomfortable, Mr. Nelson smiled at his class and spoke.
“What are you all thinking about what’s been going on in the news concerning this pandemic in Asia?”
A boy named Tim said in a snide stage whisper, “Who watches the news?”
Singling him out, Mr. Nelson asked curiously, “You don’t listen to the news?”
“No,” Tim answered squirming in his seat. “It’s all bad. The world sucks, so why bother.” Several heads nodded at his answer.
Mr. Nelson grunted and continued on, “I can see several of you agree. But if you don’t know what’s going on, how can you possibly prepare yourself for what’s to come? Or even prevent it?” He looked around the room. “It’s a much smaller world now and we’re part of it. What happens in, say, Sri Lanka may possibly wind up affecting us.”
“Where?” a voice asked. Several students giggled.
Nonplussed the teacher continued, “What do we think of the situation in Asia, then? Any opinions?”
Dwayne raised his hand and his teacher pointed at him. “Well,” he started, “this virus that’s going around there seems to be spreading really fast. It’s scary. From everything I’ve ever read, that doesn’t seem to be the norm for a virus. I mean, not that fast.”
“That’s a very good point Mr. Shannon. Any ideas?”
Dwayne just shrugged helplessly. Mr. Nelson, “Anyone else?”
“Yeah,” said Billy raising his hand. “What about the zombies they mention?”
Several boys chuckled and even Mr. Nelson had to smile. “I really don’t think that anybody is turning into a zombie, Mr. Dwyer.”
Then a girl in front spoke up, “Mr. Nelson, I have family in New Delhi, India. When my parents spoke to them on the phone, my grandmother there told of people biting other people. She said that they were eating people there. My cousin was bitten yesterday. Last night we couldn’t reach my grandmother by phone anymore. I’m very afraid for her.”
Serious now, Mr. Nelson said, “I’m very sorry Ms. Singh. I’m sure she’ll be fine. It’s probably just the cell phone service there. But I don’t think that zombies had anything to do with it. They don’t exist. I’m sure that your grandmother was simply very frightened by the violence happening. Maybe –”
“No,” interrupted the Indian girl, “my grandmother is a very educated woman. She knows what she is talking about.”
The history teacher awkwardly paused. He was embarrassed and taken aback by the girl’s insistence. His silence was quickly overtaken by a sudden outbreak of questions from the curious students. Some were directed at him, but a lot went to the girl asking for details and facts.
Forty minutes later the bell rang as the now animated class arose and filed out of the door still discussing the pandemic. As Dwayne walked past, Mr. Nelson stopped him.
“Mr. Shannon,” he said, “that was a very astute observation you had at the beginning of our discussion. Nice going. You have a good head on your shoulders.”
“Uh, thanks Mr. Nelson,” Dwayne said proudly. He walked out with a smile.
Mr. Nelson leaned back on his desk and watched the students leave. His smile slowly faded as he thought back to his pupils’ reactions to the informal conversation. Most were interested in the events happening, but only in the most un-engaging way. It was as if they were discussing the latest episode of a television series. Interesting, but I really couldn’t care less. There were some kids following the news, like Dwayne, but for the most part they felt that if it was happening there and not here, who cares? The teacher dwelt for a minute on Dwayne’s surprising analysis of the pandemic’s rapidly mushrooming spread. Mr. Nelson has been one of the first teachers in the high school to come down with the Pandora virus. He couldn’t seem to shake the uncanny feeling that the close proximity of both infections was much more than just a curious coincidence. They now knew that the first virus came from the dust cloud of the comet strike. Now, weeks later – this. A chill ran up his spine as the surmised connection frightened him. He had done his masters dissertation on world changing disease pandemics in history and knew what the potential outcome could be if there was a correlation between the first Pandora virus and its new epidemic. One third of the world’s population, he thought. The second deeper chill caused him to shiver as he realized. And that includes me.
Engaged by the last period discussion, Dwayne, Billy and two other students spent the school bus ride home with their noses in their cell phones. Now that the European countries had started recording outbreaks of violence, the newscasts featuring this story were almost constant. They were all blaming it on a virus infecting its victims. A few international reports also hinted that it may be related to the first Pandora virus infection. Dwayne realized that his mother had come down with the Pandora virus and was struck by the fear that she would get this virus also. He looked over his shoulder at his friend Billy and immediately saw the same fear in his eyes, too. Billy’s parents had both been sick with the Pandora virus a couple of weeks ago. Just then, Billy looked directly at Dwayne. His fear was palpable and his eyes looked wet.
When the bus dropped them off, both boys silently descended the stairs not speaking of their thoughts to each other. Although Dwayne still gazed at his cell phone screen walking home, Billy had shut his off and put it back in his knapsack. He looked stricken. Neither boy trusted themselves to talk about the concerns for their families that now haunted them.
After mumbling goodbyes, they parted and entered their separate houses. Dwayne put his books down and walked into the kitchen. He heard the small flat screen TV o
n the counter going and entered to find his mother in front of the sink and in the middle of cutting vegetables. The news was on and she was staring out the window lost in thought. She didn’t seem to be aware of his presence and just stood there unmoving.
Dwayne nervously cleared his throat and tentatively mumbled, “Hi, Mom. I’m home.”
For a second she didn’t move. Then she turned around, and seeing her son standing there, put a smile on her face and said, “Hi, Dwayne. I didn’t hear you come in. I guess I was just lost in thought. Do you want to eat some carrots? I’m cutting them for dinner tonight.”
Dwayne sensed that his mother’s voice was off. She seemed distracted and tense.
“Yeah,” he said, “I’ll take a carrot. Thanks.”
She again started preparing the vegetables while he took a peeled carrot. They both stood there while the television announcer droned on about the situation in Asia and now Europe. They listened together as he watched his mother and she continued making dinner.
“More news from Europe,” the news anchor exclaimed. “It seems that officials from the World Health Organization in Paris, France officially now claim that all persons that have been infected with this new strain of mystery virus are only the people that were victims of the first Pandora virus. The WHO spokesman confirmed the rumors that have recently started, stating that the victims of the initial Pandora virus appeared to be the people that were now coming down with this new epidemic.
“As you know, the Pandora virus was brought here by the March comet that hit Mars. Dust cloud –”
Dwayne’s mother quickly reached over and shut the television off. Shaken, she uncomfortably smiled at her son and said in a strained voice, “Why don’t you run up to your room and do your homework. Your father should be home soon.”
“Uh, okay,” said Dwayne nervously. He turned away and after taking two steps looked back over his shoulder. His mother was staring out the kitchen window again while nervously wringing her hands.
Pounding up the stairs to his bedroom, Dwayne sat down in front of his computer and for the rest of the time till dinner, he trolled the Internet for more news on the Pandora virus. He heard the phone ring as he perused different newsfeeds. What he saw seemed pretty grim. Rome, Paris, Athens, Frankfurt and several other major European cities were already reporting attacks by infected people. All of the countries were asking every previously infected Pandora victim to go immediately to their local hospital. WHO doctors in France had definitely determined that the previous Pandora victims that were relapsing with what they were now saying was a mutation of the original alien virus. Dwayne started to watch an interview with a Dr. Michel Devroux from the Ministry of Health, but soon lost interest in the biological complexity his explanation.
Turning now to YouTube, Dwayne typed Pandora mutation in the search engine. He was rewarded with a long list of videos from throughout Europe and Asia. Most of these were extremely graphic in their content. Apparently the Internet channels were being overwhelmed and couldn’t keep up with restricting the more sensational videos. While all of the official newscasts with strictly referring to the attackers as reinfected people, the civilians behind the camcorders and cell phones weren’t restricted in their comments. They were calling the infected… Zombies.
The first time he heard a video narrative use the word, he laughed. Such a thing was unbelievable and he assumed the speaker was just panicked or crazy. But by the tenth video that repeated this, he was no longer sure. As he sat back to try to comprehend what he was seeing, he heard his father come in the door to the garage from work. Dwayne shut his computer off and started to do his homework. After five minutes of reading his history chapters, he gave up. All the videos on YouTube were flashing around in his head and he couldn’t concentrate on schoolwork.
“Dwayne,” his mother yelled up the stairs to him, “it’s time for dinner. Come downstairs.”
Still dazed by the Internet news, Dwayne ambled down the stairs and took his seat at the dinner table. “Hi, Dad,” he said, “how was work?”
“Little crazy, son,” he answered, while his wife handed him a platter of meat. “With all as going on in the world now, that’s all everybody talks about. I’m afraid not much work got done today,” he chuckled.
“Speaking of what’s going on,” his wife Anne said, “Erica called this afternoon. She wants to come home this weekend.”
Erica was Dwayne’s big sister. She was enrolled at Columbia University in New York City.
“Really?” His father said.
“Yes,” she said. “Erica says that a lot of her friends were talking about going home in light of the troubles going on with the Pandora virus. Her one friend, Greta, is an exchange student from Austria and wasn’t able to return home because all of the flights to and from European countries have been canceled until further notice. This worried the rest of the students and everyone wants to get home before that happens here.”
Patrick Shannon sat back, thinking. “I’m not surprised. With an epidemic that’s worldwide, air flight is usually the first to go. I feel sorry for that girl Greta. Now she can’t go home and is stuck here alone.”
Anne nodded. “Erica said that Jason Rabner from West Branston is driving home and she can get a ride with him. She can be here on Saturday. I told her okay.”
“Why so long?” Patrick asked. “Today is only Thursday and it’s just three or four hour drive at the most.”
“Oh,” replied Anne, “Jason has an important exam tomorrow and doesn’t want to miss it. They’ll leave first thing Saturday morning.”
Dwayne was glad his sister was coming home. They were two years apart but got along really well. But the fact that everyone was this concerned about the pandemic frightened him thoroughly.
§ § §
As the day grew into night, the world turned. Most of Asia had already become overwhelmed. China enlisted a complete news blackout and closed itself off from the rest of the world. The Chinese communist government decided that there was only one way to deal with something of this magnitude and it didn’t want nor need the rest of the world interfering with their solutions. Most of the other countries’ governments collapsed like a house of cards. The infection rate in Asia was higher than the thirty percent of the rest of the world. And Pandora didn’t differentiate between rich and poor, powerful or weak. Many world leaders were stricken by this virus. Between political infighting, military coups and inept replacements, most Third World governments existed in name only. The ship of the nation sailed but no one was at the wheel.
Australia and Japan remained stable. The Japanese dedication to nation and the Aussie fighting spirit held sway to keep both nations intact.
In North Korea, supreme leader Kim Jong-un, infected by the initial Pandora virus, relapsed with the new mutation. Convinced that this was a Western plot against him personally, he ordered from his sick bed the complete use of all nuclear weapons against the United States, South Korea and Japan. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and the deathly ill and crazed leader was quietly assassinated.
India descended into chaos. Though the central government was relatively intact, their control of the rest of the country was weak. Local leaders became hegemonies in their areas of influence. Superstition and religious bias soon prevailed as swarms of Hindus and Muslims fought each other in the streets. This accomplished was to give the zombies more victims.
Europe and Africa then became the next continents to experience the mutation. Africa basically imploded. With many small nations having weak or corrupt governments to begin with, the leaders just sealed themselves in their palaces and left their people to fend for themselves. Tribal warfare increased and regional warlords took reign. Zombies took the rest.
European nations fared better. Except for Greece and several Balkan countries, the national governments remained strong and worked to keep their countries together. Their main problem was the porous borders of Europe. Refugees would flee from place to place ho
ping for some reprieve from the infected. But there was none. Every city, every province, every country had the exact same problem. And that problem was simple. All of the people who came down with the original Pandora virus of several weeks ago were now becoming reinfected with what would be called the Pandora 2 Mutation. Said victims would become deathly ill within hours of the mutation switching on and taking hold. Severe headaches, nausea, muscle cramping, weakness and pale, clammy skin were the first signs. Bloodshot, dull eyes, a “sunken” look in the face, and severe stomach cramps came next. As the blood thickened and darkened, veins would seem to stand out on the skin. Soon, vomiting of bile and blood and then collapse, coma and death would occur.
Then, within fifteen minutes of physical death, the mutated virus already now entangled in our DNA would take over the body and reanimate the corpse. The body, now nothing but an incubator for the virus, would do the one thing that was revived for – to spread the virus to new victims. And it did this by fluid to fluid contamination. One bite was really all it took, although most zombies didn’t stop there; driven by the new emergent instinct to infect.
Pandora (Book 5): Behold A Pale Horse Page 2