by Marie Lanza
Beck suited up and joined Jason in the medical unit.
“I heard you saw a little excitement in the mess hall.” Jason smiled at Beck. “Your friends are locked up in isolation,” Jason said, gesturing towards the door, as Beck entered the room.
“Never a dull moment.” Beck approached Jason, “Can I have a private word with you?” Beck asked.
Jason looked around the room; he couldn’t imagine what confidential conversation Beck would need with him. The nurses and patients were in their own worlds, not paying them the least bit of attention, but Jason obliged. “Sure, clean room?”
Beck turned back around and Jason followed.
When Jason entered, there was a very different expression on Beck’s face. “Everything alright?”
“Umm, I don’t want to make a big deal of this, but, well, I need you to look at something.”
Jason became uneasy. “OK?”
“During the scuffle, one of those sons of bitches bit me. I don’t want to draw attention to myself if I can help it.”
Jason took a small step back in concern. “Shit. OK. There are some exam rooms down the hall we can use. No one is using that area right now.”
The hallway was quiet and secluded from the rest of the medical ward. Jason entered one of the dark rooms and flipped on a light. Beck entered and Jason closed the door behind him. It was a typical examination room. Counter, sink, chairs, and exam table for the patient to sit on. There were various medical items, cotton balls, swabs, sterilizers in packages spread across the counter. Beck unzipped the hazmat suit he was wearing and folded it down to his waste. Jason’s attention was immediately caught by the blood covering most of his arm.
“That’s a lot of blood, but…” Jason said, inspecting his arm, “I don’t a see bite.”
“That’s not mine.” Beck lifted his shirt revealing the bite in his side just below his rib cage. “This is where he got me.”
There were clear teeth marks that punctured his skin, ripping out a small amount of flesh. The area surrounding the wound was red and inflamed.
Jason pulled on a pair of latex gloves, leaned in, and lightly poked around the area with his fingertips. As he put pressure on the torn flesh surrounding the wound, blood would ooze out. “Alright, when was your last tetanus?”
“Man, I have no idea.”
“OK. I’ll be right back.” Jason left the room without another word.
Beck sat in the cold sterile room with the only sound coming from the stiff paper that lined the examination table. The wound burned and ached. Beck briefly looked down at it, but although tempted, refrained from touching it. He could feel his blood pressure rise as he played back the steps that got him here.
I should have shot the bastards and done everybody a favor, Beck thought to himself.
As he sat in the quiet room, his thoughts began to get darker, and worry began to sneak in that the infection was running through his veins and the only thing he could do was wait. His breathing began to get heavy with a small hint of panic. Beck took a deep breath and thought to himself, Shake it off, you’re stronger than this. He shook his head and took another deep breath, and sat up straight and defiant on the crackly paper.
As if on cue, Jason entered the room to further pull him from the darkness of his own thoughts.
“You good?” Jason asked.
“Yeah… Yeah, I’m good.”
“I’ve got some antibiotics I want you to take for the next week. I’m going to clean the hell outta this thing, and stitch you up. Also, don’t think you avoided a shot. Since you don’t know when your last one was, I’m going to give you a tetanus shot as well.”
“Whatever you say, Doc,” Beck said.
Jason pulled up a stool and got to work. His first order was giving Beck a shot in the arm, causing a small wince in Beck’s stoic expression.
“Sorry about that… If it makes you feel better, this part is going to hurt a lot worse,” Jason began pouring a blue fluid onto the bite.
Beck groaned in pain, squinting one eye, “I haven’t thanked you for assisting here.”
“Happy to help.” Jason chuckled. “So tell me, how did the Army get mixed up with the Navy?” Jason asked.
Beck grinned. “When this all went down, the big guys couldn’t tell their asses from their elbows. It was a shit show.” He breathed through the pain. “The Feds drew out a big grid based on population size in each state. The entirety of the armed forces – Army, Navy, Air Force, you ask for it – were all deployed based on the grid. You cleaned up your area and went to the designated safe zones. Our grid was the LA area and our safe zone was here on these ships.”
“So, there are more safety zones? … Hold tight, I’m going to cut away some skin here.”
Beck braced himself. “A few bases were taking survivors, more inland.”
“My wife’s sister… They were on their way to us when you guys picked us up.”
Beck let out a long breath and his eyes softened. “Jesus, man, I’m sorry.”
Jason looked up to Beck. “Thanks. It’s a tough situation for all of us.” He rolled his stool back. “I just need to throw a bandage on this and we’re all done here.”
“I really appreciate you keeping this discreet.”
Jason removed the latex gloves protecting his hands. “Not a problem. Just don’t go turning on me,” he said, reaching his hand out to shake Beck’s.
Jason and Beck made their way back to the medical ward. As they donned their protective suits, they were interrupted by screams from the isolation ward.
Jason and Beck dashed to the medical ward. None of the nurses moved; all stood frozen staring towards the sounds coming from the isolation ward.
Melody, still hunkered down in the office with Aubrey, jumped up when she saw Jason and Beck rushing into the next room. She stood up from the cot and made her way over to the window so she could get a better look, but everyone disappeared into isolation.
Inside the isolation ward, a woman was being held back by two nurses, screaming as another nurse and Smith wheeled a man strapped to a gurney towards the quarantine unit.
“Please no! No! He’s OK, he’s OK!” the woman continued to cry out, shaking in the nurses’ arms.
Jason walked over to Smith and looked down at the man on the gurney. The man looked no more than thirty years old, and Jason watched as, with a final, wheezing breath, the life drained out of the young man’s eyes. Jason stepped back from the body and noticed a bandage wrapped around his forearm. The dark red of blood was showing through the white bandages. Beneath the edge of the blood-stained bandage, Jason saw the edge of a tattoo on the young man’s arm. Jason pulled the bandage back to see the familiar sign medical of the caduceus – two snakes encircling a winged staff – only in the dead man’s tattoo the caduceus lay over the top of an anchor. Jason looked at the young man’s clothes and realized that besides the dirty T-shirt, he was wearing Navy dungarees and boots. This was Smith’s previous assistant.
“He’s in transition,” Smith said while rolling the bed to an empty space by the wall away from the other patients.
“Shouldn’t he be going to quarantine?’ Jason asked.
“We need to administer some trial meds during this stage. It’s our only hope to find a possible cure. Unfortunately, we can only do it when we have a subject in transition,” Smith said as he prepared a syringe.
Beck approached. “What’s going on?”
Jason didn’t have an answer.
“Every medical unit was given a series of test trial drugs to fight this infection. When a candidate is available, we’re to administer the drugs….”
“Jesus. How long does it take?” Beck asked.
“We’ll know when something works,” Smith said plainly. Smith then injected the test vaccine into the patient’s arm.
Back in the office, Melody watched Aubrey walk around the room without a care in the world. She was grateful Aubrey was too little to understand what was going o
n. As she smiled at her daughter’s innocence, movement through the window caught her attention, and she spotted Jason and Beck walk out of the other room and through the medical ward to the clean room. It was only a moment later Jason walked through the door.
“Everything all right?” Melody asked.
“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Jason made his way over to the cot, where Aubrey was sitting on the floor.
“What happened in there?”
“I met the previous doctor.”
Melody was sick to her stomach. She walked over and sat next to Jason on the cot, leaning against him for comfort. “I brought you back some food.”
Jason kissed her forehead and smiled. “Thanks, babe. I’m not that hungry right now. Did you eat?”
“I tried. It was a little difficult. I can’t stop thinking of Harmony and Dan. They could be down the hall, or fighting for their lives.”
“I know.” Jason rubbed Melody’s back. “We just have to keep hoping for the best.”
“I just feel so trapped here.” Tears began falling down Melody’s face.
“Hey, hey, babe, this will all work itself out. You hear me?”
Melody nodded.
“Why don’t we go on deck, get some air before it gets dark, then come back and get some rest?’
“Are you sure that’s OK?”
“Yeah, of course. We don’t have to be long.” Jason stood up and guided Melody to her feet. He then picked up Aubrey from the floor. “Umm, do you know how to get out of here?” he said, smiling at his wife.
The breeze was strong on the deck of the ship. It was getting dark and the crowded lines had dwindled in the few hours they’d been gone. They walked along the remaining lines, searching every face they passed, hoping to find Harmony and Dan, but like all the other faces, these too were strangers.
Jason put down Aubrey so she could walk. Melody and Jason stood on each side of her, each holding one of her hands. She would shout out words, “Bird,” “Boat,” “Water,” giving Melody and Jason nice moments of amusement and a much needed brief distraction.
Melody took in a deep breath of the ocean air. The salty smell with a hint of fish had never been quite so refreshing. Melody thought about how much they enjoyed their days hanging out on the beach, especially during the summer under the warm sun, laying on the sand, listening to the waves pounding against the shore. Those precious times they may never get again; the family together for a beach day. It was setting in just how much she took those moments for granted, always putting it off because ‘life’ was so busy and getting to the coast was ‘work.’
There were three ships anchored within sight of each other, all about 200 meters from shore. The beaches looked like a war zone. Black smoke billowed into the air as structures burned. Gunfire occasionally cracked and popped as sailors continued their search for survivors. There were no more small boats bringing survivors to the ships, nor was there anyone leaving the ships to help.
“Do you think the small boats will start over in the morning to try and save more people?” Melody asked, staring off at the shoreline.
“I don’t know.” Jason looked down at Melody. “Beck mentioned there are more safe zones inland.”
“What? When?” Melody quickly turned her attention to Jason.
“When he was saying goodbye. I told him about Harmony and Dan. But our conversation was brief. He just said something about a few bases taking more survivors.”
“Jason, oh my God, that could mean Harmony and Dan made it to one of those places. How could you forget to tell me something like that?”
“I didn’t forget to tell you. Just other things came up.”
“I’m sorry, honey, I know.” Melody was very aware Jason was overwhelmed and stopped herself from taking out her frustration on him.
“Hey, we’ll find them. OK? They’re out there,” he said.
Melody nodded to let him know she could hear his words, but the uncertainty was devastating.
“Let’s get back inside. It’s getting a little chilly out here.” Jason picked up Aubrey and kissed Melody’s forehead.
Making their way off the deck, they came across a makeshift message board full of scribbles from people looking for loved ones; scattered pictures of happier times filled the spaces, with words like, ‘Have you seen them?’ written above and below the images in bold. Melody slowed her pace, reading the messages, searching the faces in the photos. Jason rubbed her back, lightly pushing her along. He knew she’d never pass up a chance to see if she recognized anyone, but he secretly doubted that they would be so lucky.
Walking through the crowded metal corridors, Melody tried to plan what their escape route should be in case of an emergency. She tried taking mental notes but every door, every hall, and every staircase looked the same. They were on an enormous floating pile of gray steel and the only certain way to go was up until they reached the deck.
This ship was maxed to capacity, plus more. The hangar spaces were used as sleeping quarters for the civilians, with cots lined up row after row. The military personnel were spread out between crew quarters on the back of the ship and the Marine quarters towards the front of the ship. The compartments were even tighter than normal, with soldiers ‘hot bunking’ – coming off of shift, collapsing into a bunk, only to have it filled by another when their shift began. It was surprisingly an organized mess.
Being somewhat separated from the other populations gave Melody a sense of security. She knew it was a false sense of security, but was OK with it.
The medical unit was quiet, with the lights slightly dimmed to help patients relax during sleeping hours. Two Military Police escorted the skinnier man from the scuffle down the hall away from the ward as Jason, Melody, and Aubrey made their way back. Jason’s gut twisted slightly at the sight, but kept his concerns to himself.
“I’m gonna do some rounds and I’ll be right there.” Jason kissed Melody and went to do a quick suit up before entering the unit.
There was a new shift of nurses working the floor. Jason approached the first nurse, a young woman who didn’t look more than thirty years old.
“I only noticed one of those men from the fight earlier being taken to the brig.”
“Yes, sir, the other had a temperature. So, unfortunately, he’s with us a little longer,” the young nurse said and moved on to continue her rounds.
Jason immediately thought of Beck and just how he was going to break this news to him. He struggled with the dilemma that, although he made a promise to keep Beck’s injury discreet, there was now an even greater possibility of infection, and he could be putting everyone around him in danger. Jason knew Beck should be in isolation so they could monitor him. He thought maybe there was a way to keep Beck close without others finding out about his injury.
Alarms.
The aircraft carriers general alarm system blasted its ominous signal throughout the ship, while red lights swirled in the high corners.
No one moved.
Jason bolted for the isolation ward where he found the other nurses and Smith. The patients strapped to their beds were scared, begging to be released.
“Everything all right in here?”
“Yeah, we’re fine. It’s not coming from here,” Smith said.
Jason didn’t ask any more questions. He quickly exited the room, made his way through the medical ward.
Melody met him in the clean room. “What’s going on?”
Jason kept his hazmat suit on as he continued towards the door.
“Jason, what’s happening?” Melody shouted out.
Jason stopped short of leaving the unit and turned to Melody. “I’m not sure. Stay in the office and lock the door.”
“No! You can’t leave us here.”
“Stay in that office, Mel! I’ll be right back.” Jason didn’t say another word. He left the unit, and ran down a short hall that took him out of the medical ward.
The corridors were stained with red flashing lights, and it
seemed as though the alarms were louder in these areas. Jason stood in the door watching soldiers rush past fully armed.
Jason stopped one of the men. “What’s happening?”
“It’s one of the other ships – the Antietam. We received a report of riots on board. The alarms are precautionary. We’re safe for now,” the soldier said as he made his way past Jason.
Jason thought about the hundreds, maybe thousands of panicked civilians packed in the Appomattox hangar, traumatized and scared; he knew this was bad. The alarms would absolutely cause concern among the civilians on their ship, and maybe worse; riots as well. Jason closed the door and headed back to Melody.
Melody was already waiting for Jason in the doorway. As he jogged towards her, she moved from the door so he could enter.
“Get in the office.”
“What’s happening? Jason?” Melody walked back in the office, where Aubrey was sound asleep on the cot.
“We’ll be fine in here. Let me update Smith and the staff.”
“OK.” Melody closed the door behind him.
The medical staff all gave Jason their attention when he entered.
Smith walked in from the Isolation unit.
“There’s a potential problem on one of the other ships. I think we’ll be fine if we stay put. I just worry these alarms will cause stress in general population.”
“They’ll lock down the hangar as a precaution.” Smith looked around to his staff. “We’ll stay put for now, wait it out. If the situation changes, we’ll commence emergency procedures.”
Smith made his way towards the exit.
Jason followed. “What are the emergency procedures?”
Smith stopped short of the door and turned back around to Jason. “Lock down the medical unit and head to the deck. Everyone will be headed to their assigned areas and directed from there.”
“What about all these people?”
Smith briefly looked past Jason at the patients. “They’re already dead.”
CHAPTER 3
The alarms echoing across the water stopped as quickly as they had started. Emergency lights from the Appomattox splashed red through the portals and across the walls of the medical ward. Occasional gunfire repeatedly broke the silence. Melody and Jason sat on a cot, hand in hand, while Melody leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder, Aubrey sleeping soundly on her lap.
