Sympatico Syndrome (Book 1): Infection (A Pandemic Survival Novel)

by McDonald, M. P.

“I’m not talking about everyone going somewhere. I’m talking about us.” He circled his hand, encompassing all of them, “and our kids. We need to go, and I have just the place.”

  “Hold on a second.” Sean held up a hand. “We’re not going anywhere. I have a big meeting with the other contractors next week, and I have to prepare. No way am I jeopardizing it because of some flu bug out on some island in the Pacific.”

  “You don’t understand. This virus, Sympatico Syndrome, is going to have a global impact. In fact, it already has. It’s killed over four hundred people in the U.S—”

  “Four hundred people? Seriously? Out of three hundred and thirty million?” Sean chuckled. “Yeah. I’m scared of that. I think the reason you’re worried is that it’s your job to worry about diseases.” Then he remembered Cole was retired from that job. “Or, well, it used to be your job.”

  Cole stabbed his hands through his hair. “Shit, Sean. Give me a little credit. Did I panic during the whole Ebola scare? No. I was the voice of reason. I remember you were worried that Jenna would catch it at work. Did I laugh at you?”

  Sean shrugged. “So? I was right to be worried. Two other nurses caught it.”

  “And they were over a thousand miles away. I told you as long as she was cautious, the chance of her getting it was minuscule. Remember? Just coming into contact with someone who had the disease was improbable, but even if she had, with correct precautions, the risk could be minimized. I know. I dealt with the disease in West Africa.”

  Jenna nudged him with her elbow. “You called Cole about me?”

  Sean slanted a look at his wife. “Hey, I was worried. I’ll admit it.”

  Jenna rolled her eyes but turned her attention to Cole. “I’ve heard some rumors at work that there was some new virus, but we haven’t had any official word on what’s going on.”

  “Here’s what’s happening.” Cole pulled out a kitchen chair and sat down. “Do you have a pen and paper?”

  Sighing, Sean opened a kitchen drawer and pulled out a yellow legal pad and dug around for a pen that worked. He tossed both on the table in front of Cole. “Here you go.”

  “Thanks.” He started drawing circles and labeling them. “This is the chain of infection. The top of the chain is the infectious disease itself. Could be a virus or bacteria, even a fungus, but in this case, it’s a virus.”

  “So antibiotics won’t kill it?” Sean felt stupid. This wasn’t his realm at all.

  “No.” Jenna worried her bottom lip. She did that when she fretted, and now Sean was worried, too.

  “Jenna’s right. Antibiotics won’t touch this. They might help with a secondary infection, but we don’t know if that will be an issue.” He tapped the next circle in a clock-wise rotation. “This is the reservoir where the virus sets up housekeeping before heading out to find other hosts. At this point, it’s probably too late to worry about that right now. We need to worry about the next parts of the chain—portal of exit and mode of transmission. I’m guessing it’s respiratory tract. It’s the only thing that makes sense for such a rapid transmission.” He jotted some words down, but Sean couldn’t read them from where he stood.

  Cole continued, “But, is it airborne? Droplet? What about contact? Does it require direct contact with an infected host? Or does it remain infectious for an extended period of time on surfaces?” He rapped on the tabletop. “Like furniture and doorknobs—that kind of thing. And it may also be blood borne although that has the least chance of spreading so it’s not my concern right now. It’s something to think about later when survivors are over the initial illness.” He crossed out blood borne.

  “What kind of precautions do you think we need to take?” Jenna moved closer to the table and peered at the diagram.

  Cole pointed with the pen to what he’d written. “I would guess it’s airborne for sure, and probably lingers in the air for quite a while. There’s no other explanation for how it’s spread so quickly. Regular masks won’t keep it out. You’d have to wear an N95 mask.” He pointed to Sean. “You probably have some of those in your work truck for keeping out fumes and such. I have some also, but we need a hell of a lot more to get through this. Jenna, do you have any around the house? Or could you get some from work? Time is of the essence. Once others realize what is going on, those masks will be hard to come by. It has to be our chief priority.”

  Jenna’s eyes widened. “I suppose I could find some in the storage closet at work, but I could get fired for taking them.”

  Cole set his pen down and pinched the bridge of his nose then rubbed his eyes. He sighed and spread his hands. “I’m obviously not making this clear. This disease—Sympatico Syndrome—it’s going to change the world. We’re talking pandemic, possibly on a scale mankind has never seen. It’ll make the Spanish Flu look like the common cold. The bubonic plague will be a footnote in history after this.” He looked directly at Jenna. “Your job is gone. All of our jobs are gone. Right now, our only task is to survive, and I’m trying to draw up plans for that. But I think it would be better for you not to even go near the hospital. There’s too big of a chance you could get exposed. We’ll have to get masks at the drug stores. Once we get to the island, we shouldn’t need them anymore.”

  Sean saw Jenna’s eyes pool, tears escaping, and he crossed to the table, slamming his hand down. “Stop it, Cole! I don’t know what the hell you’re thinking, but I won’t tolerate you coming in here with your doomsday disease and scaring the shit out of my wife!”

  The television in the den, where the kids were, became quiet. Muted, probably, when one of them heard him yelling. Light footsteps sounded in the hallway. Piper. Trent didn’t tread lightly. At fourteen, he clomped around the house like an ungainly young colt.

  “Mom? Dad? What’s going on?” Piper came around the corner and stood in the threshold between the dining room and kitchen. She spotted Cole and broke into a grin. “Hi, Uncle Cole! What are you doing here?”

  She tucked a few long strands of dark hair behind one ear and crossed to the table, giving Cole a quick hug. At least his brother managed a return smile. The first crack in his serious countenance since he’d arrive.

  “Hey ya, Piper. I had some news I had to tell your parents.”

  Piper’s eyes swept the room, landing on each of them, and frowned. “What was all the yelling about?”

  Sean answered, “Nothing, sweetie. Me and Cole are having a disagreement. You know how we are…sometimes.”

  It was more than sometimes. Sean loved his brother, but Cole tended to try to take charge of everything. He was only a year older but sometimes acted like he was more Sean’s father than an older brother. It probably had something to do with their dad dying while they were still kids. Their mom had been devastated, and it took her years to be able to deal with normal life again. If it hadn’t been for Cole, Sean knew he probably would have ended up running with the bad crowd in school, so he guessed he had that to thank him for. Still, high school was more than two decades ago. He had a family and business now. Sure, he hadn’t gotten advanced degrees and been a big shot in the Navy, but he’d built a good life all on his own.

  “Oh. Okay.” She opened the fridge and pulled out an apple and moved to stand by Sean. “The movie was stupid. That’s the last time I’ll let Trent choose. Mom, can we go shopping later?”

  Jenna shot a look at Cole, then gave a vague reply. “We’ll see. Why don’t you go clean your room, then we can discuss it.”

  “Fine.” Piper sighed, but then smiled at Cole. ”Tell Hunter I said ‘hi’ next time you talk to him.”

  Sean held his breath, waiting for Cole to launch into his spiel about the disease, but he only nodded. “I will.”

  When Piper was safely out of earshot, Sean said, “What? You draw the line at frightening my kids?” He painted his words with sarcasm.

  Cole gave him a long, steady, look. “I’m sorry you think I’d do something like that. I didn’t come here to scare anyone, but I’ll admit this disease�
��it scares the living hell out of me. Listen to me, Sean…I studied disease for a living. Not just diseases we have now, but killers from throughout recorded history, and I’m telling you, we’ve never seen one like this. Do you really want to know why it has me beyond worried?”

  Jenna nodded, and Sean shrugged.

  “For one thing, it delays symptoms, or somehow masks them.” Cole’s eyebrow cocked as he jabbed his first two fingers on the table to emphasize his points. “Victims don’t seem to know that they are even ill until only minutes before they die. It’s like the virus floods the body with endorphins. Dopamine, oxytocin, vasopressin. All feel good hormones. The victims feel fantastic! They want to be around people. Mingle. Have a good time.” He snapped his fingers. “Then they die. Like, drop dead, literally.”

  “Is that why it’s spreading so fast? Can’t we quarantine everyone who’s come in contact with the virus?” Jenna—the voice of reason. Sean sent her a grateful look.

  “They tried that. Did you see on the news how the sailors on the base on Aislado were confined to quarters? It didn’t work. Not only didn’t it work, but the virus has spread to all corners of the globe by now. What they should have done was close the airports at the very first sign of infection, and even then, that might not have helped. How do you screen for a disease that has few symptoms until the victim drops dead?”

  Sean finally had something to offer. “Anyone who seems extremely chatty could be quarantined if that’s the only sign.”

  Cole shook his head. “Too many false positives. Lots of people are chatty—especially when they’re nervous.”

  “Okay, Cole, so you’ve given us an overview,” Jenna waved at the diagram, which Cole had stopped working on, “but what kind of mortality rate are we looking at? Ten percent? Twenty?”

  “I don’t know for certain, but from what I learned, it’s closer to ninety-eight.”

  “Percent?” Even Sean knew that was bad. Worse, it was awful.

  Cole gave him a grim nod.

  “Shouldn’t you be doing something about it? Calling to see if you can help manage the crisis? Hell, Cole, I know you’re not in the reserves anymore, but this is an emergency!”

  Pain and guilt flashed in Cole’s eyes. “I wanted to help. I told Elly that as soon as I saw that my family was safe, I’d call and do whatever they needed. She said it was too late, and basically, to save our own skin. That my job was to survive.” A muscle jumped in Cole’s jaw.

  It was the pain and guilt that convinced Sean. One reason Cole had retired was he had felt useless as he’d watched so many people die in West Africa. One night, the two of them had gone out for drinks. It was the Saturday after Hunter had left for college and Cole had seemed a bit lost. They’d ended up getting hammered, and it was only then that Sean had learned the scope of what Cole had seen. He’d spoken of whole families wiped out by Ebola. He’d been haunted by the sight of children orphaned and then left to fend for themselves out of fear that they harbored the disease. Some villages deep in the forest had lost half of their population.

  The free flow of alcohol that evening had weakened the barriers Cole erected to deal with his emotions. He’d blinked back tears as he’d confessed his feeling of helplessness in the face of such suffering. Not used to seeing his stoic brother so emotional, despite the several shots he’d downed, Sean knew he’d never forget the stricken expression in his brother’s eyes. Cole wore the same look now, and it sent a bolt of pure fear straight through Sean.

  “What do we need to do?”

  Jenna gave Sean a look of surprise, and opened her mouth as if to question him, but as her eyes searched his face, she blanched and closed her mouth. With a deep breath, she nodded.

  “Yes, Cole. Tell us what your plan is?” Jenna got another pad of paper from the drawer along with another pen. She sat down at the table, pen poised.

  Sean slid onto a chair, his thoughts not nearly as organized as Jenna’s. Fear for his family was foremost in his mind. Piper and Trent were only teenagers. He had to do whatever he could to keep them safe.

  Cole looked at both of them for a moment as if judging whether they truly believed him, and then he began outlining his plan for using the island Uncle John had left him. Sean had remembered wondering what in the world Cole was going to do with an island in a lake in the middle of the Northwoods. Sure, it would be good for the occasional fishing trip, but maintaining it for an occasional fishing trip seemed like a huge expense. It would be cheaper to just take a fishing trip once or twice a year.

  Sean had even felt guilty that he’d received the beautiful house in town and wondered why Uncle John hadn’t given Cole the ‘good’ property—especially since Cole’s new career was flipping houses. He would have loved fixing up Uncle John’s house and selling it for a profit. It wasn’t in bad shape, but could use some updating.

  From Sean’s fuzzy recollection of the island and the resort, he thought it might work, short term. The cabins had been pretty barebones even to a young kid. He couldn’t imagine what they looked like now, over thirty years later. Were they even still standing?

  He voiced his fears to Cole. “What if we get there and no buildings are habitable?”

  Cole nodded. “I know. I was worried about that too so I dug out the information I received on the property. There’s at least a main house that should be fine. Uncle John stayed there as recently as three months before he died, according to the electric bills, so it couldn’t be that bad. As to the rest of the buildings, they’re listed in the will they’re still standing, but your guess is as good as mine as to what shape they’re in. I guess we should include some building supplies to bring with us.”

  “I can take some lumber in my work truck. Jenna, you’ll have to follow me in your car. We need to bring as much as we can.”

  Cole agreed. “Do you think Piper can drive my car? I’m going to get a rental truck to get as much as we can to the island. I’m heading out to get more supplies when I leave here. I don’t think we’ll be able to transport it all in our own vehicles.”

  “Just how much do you think we’ll need?”

  “I asked Elly how long we should plan for, and she wasn’t sure. Anywhere from a month to six months.” Cole leveled a look at Sean, his expression bleak. “I think we should be prepared to be on our own even longer.”

  “Jesus.” Sean swiped a hand down his face as he tried to envision the world as Cole was predicting it. “I hope you’re wrong, Cole.”

  “Me too.” Cole took a deep breath. “But if I am wrong, and believe me, I hope I am, if you guys join Hunter and me on the island, you may end up losing your job.” He looked at Jenna, then at Sean, “Or your business. While I would never intentionally mislead you, with such high stakes, you have to know that I can’t see the future. I’m going by my colleague’s advice and supplementing it with what I’ve learned from listening to the news. Even though there isn’t nearly as much as there should be, I suspect what we’re hearing on the news is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much going on beneath the surface that either the media hasn’t learned what’s really going on yet, or they have, and they’re making their own escape plans and not letting the general public in on it yet.”

  Chapter Four

  “Now that we have a basic plan, I need to call Hunter back. I have him sitting tight in his dorm. I told him to pack, but who knows if he really did.” Cole pulled out his cell phone and got up from the kitchen table. Sean and Jenna exchanged a look, and he knew they were thinking about their own kids and how to break the news to them.

  “Hey, it’s me.” Cole dragged in a deep breath. “Remember when I said I had news to discuss with you?”

  “Is it about that disease? Sympa—sym something?”

  “Yes, Sympatico Syndrome. Remember Elly Jackson? From my Ebola mission?”

  “Yeah. The one you had the hots for?”

  “The hots…?” Cole shook his head. Now wasn’t the time. “Anyway, she called me to give me some ins
ide information. The situation is grave. The news isn’t giving the whole truth, or maybe they don’t know it, but Elly is confident this is going to be devastating and wants us to take precautions. That’s why I said you were a genius. I didn’t know where to go to isolate ourselves, but you gave me the idea of using the island. It’s far enough out in the lake from what I recall that the only way to get to it is by boat.”

  “What about school? What if it turns out to be nothing? I have finals coming up, and I can’t afford to miss them.”

  “Forget school. If Elly’s wrong, we’ll figure out where to go from there. Your safety and health are more important.” Cole couldn’t believe he was basically advising his son to drop out of school.

  “Okay, but what should I do now? I packed like you told me. Am I flying home?” There was a hint of fear in Hunter’s voice, as though he was trying to mask it.

  “No. It’s too dangerous. There’s no way to know if the other passengers are contagious. You’ll have to drive.”

  “Drive? Alone? Won’t that take me days to get there?”

  “Two days if you only stop to sleep and go to the bathroom.”

  “Okay.” There was a pause, then Hunter asked, “Dad, what if I catch it?”

  “Listen to me, Hunter. This is scary, but you’ll be okay. I’m sure I’m just over-thinking this. It was my job to predict worse case scenarios, remember?” Cole spoke in his calmest voice and glanced at Sean and Jenna. They looked as worried as he felt.

  “But, here’s what I want you to do. Go to the nearest ATM and use the credit card I gave you for emergencies. Get a cash advance. Whatever the limit is. Then get yourself some supplies. Water, hand sanitizer, masks, gloves. Food you can eat in the car. That kind of thing. Be low-key. Don’t act panicked. If you can, go to a few different drug stores for those items, buying gloves at one store and masks at another. Try a hardware store for masks. They carry respiratory masks that filter out pretty much everything. Forget about those flimsy paper masks.” He paused. “Are you still there, Hunter?”