Dawn of a New Day

by Mariano, NIck

  Harold staggered into the night and as he walked through the darkness he began to feel irritable and like he wanted to kick someone’s ass for no apparent reason. After walking about forty-five minutes he encountered a man walking his dog. Before Harold knew what was happening, he had attacked the man and was biting him all over his face and arms. The man screamed out in pain and once his dog got free from his grip, he turned and began to attack Harold. The noise got the attention of a nearby policeman who was patrolling what was left of a park on the outskirts of the city. When he responded to the sounds he found a man kneeling over another, and from what he could see, eating parts of the second man’s face. A dog was nearby barking and lunging at the kneeling man. Although the patrolman had never seen one of the “walking dead” he was fairly sure that was what he was encountering. He wondered how the infectee had gotten here. Up until a week ago, California had been infection free from the deadly disease ravishing the East Coast and Asia. Without hesitation, the young officer withdrew his semi-automatic pistol and shouted for the kneeling man to stop what he was doing, standup and move away from the second man. The man turned toward him and rose slowly. When he turned, the officer’s flashlight revealed a face covered with blood and black and blue sores on both his face and arms. That was all he needed to make a decision and before the man could even begin to move toward him, the officer fired three well-placed shots into the man’s head.

  Meanwhile, back at the shelter, Harold’s crew was beginning to get up from an uneasy night’s sleep. Most of the men were still coughing and some had begun to develop aches and pains and bruising on their arms, however, it appeared that the vaccine they had received prior to departure was holding its own and that the virus was not progressing much beyond the flu stage of the disease. They nonetheless reported themselves to the authorities and were placed into an isolation area for further observation. They also wondered what had happened to Harold, as he was nowhere to be seen when they awoke.

  The police officer called in the shooting and possible encounter with an infectee and CDC teams and authorities rapidly responded to the scene. The officer had tried to catch the dead man’s dog but he ran off into the night. The officer figured the dog would either find his way home or that someone would gather him up later. He had never heard about how a virus organism could do an Antigenic Shift from a person to an animal and then back to a person. He was also unaware that the dog had bitten the apparent infectee several times before he arrived and that the virus was already streaming through its veins.

  CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE

  Toto was the name of the dog that had tried to save his master without success. He had bitten the attacker several times trying to stop him from hurting his master and could still taste the blood in his mouth. Unbeknownst to Toto and California authorities, the super virus was now streaming through his veins. The virus wouldn’t turn loving Toto into a zombie dog or a dog that had the urge to attack everyone he saw, but it would leave itself in Toto’s fecal matter whenever he went. That fecal matter would then dry up and fly through the air, spreading the deadly virus to whoever was unlucky enough to pass through that area. Birds would also eat from Toto’s deposits and spread the virus. Once the virus got going it would spread like wildfire much like the plague had done in the Middle Ages.

  When the CDC and authorities arrived at the scene they find the missing firefighter, Harold Stilwell, dead from multiple gunshots to the head and a yet unidentified man with multiple bit wounds to his face and arms. The responding police officer told them how he had stumbled across the scene and why he had finally shot the attacker. What the officer failed to tell the authorities was that there had also been a dog at the scene who had attacked the person responsible for the attack and that the dog had run away. With or without this information the CDC decided that an inoculation program had to get underway immediately in California since if there was one infectee, there could be others. They did not yet know that Stilwell had been staying at a local shelter along with over one hundred other fire and rescue people, some of whom had not been inoculated against the deadly virus. By the time they determined who Stilwell was and where he had come from, some of the people from the shelter were already experiencing sore throats and spreading the virus throughout areas they were working in. Stilwell’s crew, however, was staying well despite some minor flu symptoms. It appeared that the counter virus vaccine developed by Fort Detrick was doing what it was supposed to do. It also appeared that no one knew that Toto was excreting the virus as he traveled through the ruins of the city.

  The CDC team found out that the rest of Stilwell’s team was already in isolation at a nearby medical facility. When they checked in on them they found that all the men were suffering from flu symptoms, however, none of them had progressed to any of the latter stages that involved substantial changes caused by the plague and rabies viruses. A few of the men had some bruising on their arms and legs but the virus wasn’t developing lesions or sores on them. They also were still rational and none felt sudden urges to lash out at anyone. All had been inoculated with the new vaccine about three days before they departed the East Coast. A quick check of the shelter where they were staying revealed that about three quarters of the men at the shelter had also been inoculated prior to their deployment. Unfortunately the other twenty five per cent were firemen from the California area and none had been vaccinated against the virus. Teams were quickly mobilized in an effort to find those not vaccinated and get them into some sort of isolation facility as soon as possible so that if they were infected, the virus wouldn’t be spread any further. Most thought it was already too late to stop a major breakout of the virus. This aspect, plus the disaster that had already taken place, could paralyze California for months, if not years.

  The CDC team notified their headquarters in Atlanta and Fort Detrick about the new developments in California, including the apparent success of the newly developed vaccine. They requested as much of a supply as was available for immediate inoculation of those workers within a ten-mile radius of that morning’s incident. The team then received the bad news that there were extremely limited supplies available as the massive inoculation program-taking place on the East Coast and in Asia and Europe was rapidly depleting supplies. Pharmaceutical companies had already informed the authorities that it could be several weeks before additional supplies would be available because of the limited amount of resources they currently had. Things weren’t looking good for a fast recovery in California.

  MORE PROBLEMS IN CALIFORNIA

  The bad news was that additional supplies of the anti-virus vaccine could take several days or weeks to get to California. Some supplies were still available on the East Coast and the government got those to the rescue areas quickly. The bad news was that no one knew or even thought about the dog that had been with the recently killed man near the local shelter. Toto was exploring the neighborhoods and still looking for his master although he sensed that something bad had happened to him. The virus spores in his fecal matter continued to be spread around the area and many would lay dormant and never infect anyone. Others, however, would eventually be picked by the Santa Ana winds and be inhaled by unsuspecting passersby. Some would avoid being infected, however, enough would get infected to start a major problem for California. On the plus side, most of the civilian population had been evacuated to safer areas outside San Francisco in order to make room for the major rescue effort underway. It was feared that additional tremors could occur at any time and that many of the now standing buildings would eventually collapse. Of the rescue workers that were exposed to Stilwell and his team, over 95% would get inoculated in time with the limited supplies of vaccine and only suffer some discomfort from the flu and other minor effects. The Governor and the President discussed the dire situation and additional reinforcements were sent from a number of surrounding states. Fortunately enough vaccine was diverted from the East Coast to safeguard the new rescuers arriving. Even though the first occurrence
of the virus had been caught early on there were still numerous reports of people suddenly becoming irrational and attacking whoever was in their reach. Even the inoculated weren’t safe from getting attacked and most would suffer significant injuries that either threatened their lives or killed them outright.

  Just as the scientists had predicted a number of significant after shocks followed the quake and several structures were damaged beyond repair. Most of the people who had survived the first quake were evacuated from the city; however, many who had been buried in the rumble were not found in time and the death toll climbed rapidly. The count on day three after the quake numbered over 30,000 killed, with too many people injured to even count. Gradually San Francisco resembled a ghost town with only animals roaming the street and rescue workers digging at collapsed structures where the chance of finding someone alive was the greatest. Gradually some electric power was restored and rescue operations began to run around the clock, speeding up the recovery effort.

  By the end of week one the death toll had risen to over 50,000 and rescuers were beginning to wonder if they would still find anyone alive under the rumble and ruin. Additional military and fire rescue people would eventually arrive to speed up the effort but the government made sure that everyone arriving from outside California was inoculated. The next major step was to get all the survivors vaccinated and to stop an advancing super virus in the state.

  By the end of week two the death toll stood at 75,000, however, the incidence of infectee attacks leveled off. Military troops and police authorities patrolled the streets looking for survivors who still might be wondering in some outlying areas and shooting infectees who appeared to have reached the final stages of the infection. Even though scientists and doctors believed that given enough time, the vaccine could begin to reverse the deadly disease, authorities weren’t able to contain the large numbers of infectees they encountered.

  The only good news during the past several weeks since the quake was that the new vaccine developed by the CDC and Fort Detrick seemed to be working. The East Coast was gradually getting back to normal and only a handful of new cases were reported. Pharmaceutical companies were able to produce greater quantities of the vaccine than they first anticipated and additional production facilities were opened to meet the need in California and elsewhere. Supplies in Asia and Europe were adequate and people lined up to get inoculated. Cases there also showed a dramatic decline. South America, which was the lightest affected by the virus, contained the few cases that showed up and began an inoculation program of its own once their factories got started on the production of the new vaccine. The fact that some of the Asian strains had mutated because of the pneumonia factor produced some additional problems but eventually doctors were able to combine additional ingredients to the U.S. version of the vaccine to counter the mutations.

  By November the world was still struggling but was getting back on its feet as many of the production and manufacturing facilities throughout the world had slowed or ceased to operate during the height of the crises. People were gradually going about their normal business and the streets of the cities began to look like the old days. An increased military and police presence was visible at major shopping areas to ensure that things stayed safe. Gradually plane service resumed on a limited basis. International travel was still restricted and only people with the government or whom their governments had cleared were allowed transit. Transportation within states was almost back to normal, however, all modes of transportation crossing state lines were heavily monitored. People had to submit to a quick medical evaluation before their travel and anyone displaying evidence of any sort of infection was placed into quarantine for a week to ensure that he wasn’t infected. Many people began to complain that the world countries had turned into police states, however, the majority of the population agreed that these steps were necessary to finally rid of the world of the deadly disease.

  Also on the negative side was the fact that ISIS and its sister terrorist organizations hadn’t taken a break in their activities despite the world crises. It was business as usual for them. A number of lone wolf attacks took place. Africa and the Middle East had remained free of the super virus as most international travel was curtailed shortly after the outbreaks in Asia, Europe and the United States. ISIS continued to recruit new combatants and plan attacks throughout the world. Since many of the attackers were on a suicide mission, the fact that they may have to travel to an area infected with the virus was not a deterring factor. Attacks continued in Africa and the Middle East during the latter part of 2015. While the world tried to get back to normal, ISIS tried to shake things up even more. The fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan continued and although the European Alliance and the United States had a difficult time replacing troops in these two areas, soldiers continued to fight against the radical groups there. ISIS continued to expand its areas of influence and parts of Iraq and Syria fell to ISIS elements. It was almost like this part of the world hadn’t grasped what was happening elsewhere in the world. In August 2015, ISIS claimed responsibility for the deaths of more than 15 people, including 12 Saudi Arabian police officers in Saudi Arabia. In September bombs placed at a mosque in Sana’a, Yemen, killed twenty-five people and another twenty were killed in a separate suicide bombing in the same city. In October a Russian passenger jet blew up over Egypt killing all 224 passengers on board and ISIS eventually claimed responsibility for the bombing. In November the group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed 43 in Beirut. Also in November the most significant attack on Western society occurred when ISIS killed 129 people at several locations in Paris, France.

  It was a cool and pleasant evening in Paris as tourists and Parisians strolled the streets, sat at sidewalk cafes and enjoyed an espresso, an evening meal or attended a rock concert. Suddenly the news media began to carry a breaking story about a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris and its northern suburb of Saint-Denis. Three suicide bombers struck in Saint-Denis followed by suicide bombings and mass shootings at cafes, restaurants and a music concert in Paris. Conflicting reports began to come in about the number killed and how many attackers were involved in the incidents. After several hours of reporting and television scenes of heavily armed policemen responding to the attacks, the news finally began to report the full details. The attackers had killed 130 people and injured over 368, with several of the injured in critical or serious condition. Several attackers had been killed and police were scouring Paris for an unknown number who may have eluded capture. It was the deadliest attack to take place in France since World War II and also one of the deadliest in the European Union since the 2004 Madrid railway bombings. While police tried to piece together the facts surrounding the attacks, ISIS released its own statement and claimed full responsibility for the attacks, claiming they were in retaliation to the French airstrikes in Syria and Iraq. ISIS also stated that this was only the beginning of its worldwide campaign against any country that opposed it. The French President declared a state of emergency and borders with neighboring countries were temporarily closed. Surrounding European countries also went on a heightened terrorist alert level. The United States condemned the attacks and stated that it would drive ISIS off the planet. The major cities in the United States went on an elevated terrorist level and heavily armed police suddenly appeared in all the major cities. People worried that the United States could be next.

  Less than a month later, a Middle Eastern husband and his wife would carry out an attack in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 people and wounding 21. An investigation by the FBI would later label this as a terrorist attack with Islamic State connections. The President finally decided it was time for immediate and drastic actions.

  GOD BLESS US EVERYONE

  As the Christmas Season rolled around the peoples of the world bowed their heads and thanked the Lord that things were finally getting back to normal after almost a year of turmoil. The new vaccine developed by the CDC and Fort
Detrick was working well and the spread of the super virus was finally under control. Supplies were being produced in adequate quantities and soon everyone, either infected or not infected, would be inoculated. Reports of new infections slowly dramatically and only two to three new cases were reported in the United States in the last 30 days. Asia, Europe and South America also had things under control. The people of the world could finally relax and celebrate the holidays and be thankful for what they had. Although many stores and shopping malls weren’t completely open, people still managed to get out and do some Christmas shopping and prepare for the holidays. Many items weren’t available since manufacturing had slowed down dramatically during the crises, and in some cases, completely ceased during certain phases of the infection. Police still heavily patrolled the streets and cities, looking for possible infectees and responding to the heightened terrorist threat posed by ISIS. The attacks in Paris and California continued to worry people and everyone expected some additional acts of terrorism to take place sooner or later. ISIS continued its propaganda campaign and the nightly news carried reports of new threats from the terrorist organization. People were uneasy to say the least, however, many had decided they weren’t going to let the threat spoil their holidays. California was getting back on its feet and clean up continued throughout San Francisco. A number of buildings had to be demolished because they were too heavily damaged to be rebuilt. The city was coming back although it would be months and in some cases, years, before San Francisco would be completely back to normal.

  Three weeks before Christmas the President addressed the nation and told everyone that the threat from the super virus had been all but eliminated and that the government was keeping a diligent eye on any new outbreaks. He said that the United States had put up with the threat from ISIS long enough and that Special Operations elements from the military had, and were, being deployed to Middle Eastern hotspots to eliminate the threat. Some elements were already in Iraq and Afghanistan and additional units were being deployed to Syria. He said the United States and the other governments of the world had enough from ISIS and he promised that the Year 2016 would see the end of that terrorist group once and for all. He said that he had conferred with America’s Allies and everyone was prepared to rid the world of this threat. He wished the people of the United States and the world a Happy Holiday season and a Happy and Prosperous 2016. The President concluded his speech as the White House’s traditional Christmas tree was lit while holiday music filled the air.