by Rounds, Mark
“How long will we be down,” said Herb.
“I can’t tell yet. As we have only thirty-five or so active nodes in the building, it shouldn’t take too long to get things back up internally. I will not hazard a guess as to when we will have an internet connection again and the vpn’s are all down. All those guys working from home are out of luck. Someone, probably several someones hammered us pretty hard.”
“Right,’ said Herb. “I’ll get on the horn and let everyone know. You keep doing whatever it is you do.”
Just then, the lights went out.
“Phil, are you still there?” asked Herb as the emergency lighting came on.
“Yeah, we just lost power I think.”
“So that is what that whole darkness thing is all about.”
“Look who is the comedian now ….”
The phone went dead. Not just like someone one had hung up but like there was no connection.
Herb reached for his personal cell phone and dialed his boss, Dr. Riley.
“All circuits are busy. Please try your call later.”
“Well, that won’t do,” thought Herb. He could hear other folks in the building beginning to congregate around the emergency lamps trying to use their cell phones. They were apparently getting the same response he did and there seemed to be arising note of panic in their voices. Herb opened the locker in his office and grabbed the bullhorn that was ostensibly for crowd control in case of a demonstration but was most recently used at last year’s Fourth of July Picnic to tell everyone when the food was ready. Herb stepped outside the door of his office.
“Will everyone please calm down,” said Herb over the bullhorn. “There seems to be a power outage as well as a communications outage. Please do not panic. Employees will make their way to the lunch room. The light is better there and we can figure out what happened and quell any rumors.”
Herb walked through all the halls in the three story building repeating the same message. As he turned one corner, he bumped into Dr. Riley.
“Sir, I took the liberty of gathering everyone in the lunch room,” said Herb. Some folks were beginning to panic, the situation being what it is. I thought getting them together in the light would help.”
“Good idea, Herb,” said Dr. Riley. “I am currently on the secure link trying to make heads or tails of what is going on as long as the battery backup lasts. Tell them that and let them know that I will be down in fifteen minutes to brief them on what I find out.”
By the time Dr. Riley got down to the lunch room, all of the staff had gathered. He could see that Herb had broken out the last two cases of soft drinks and some semi-stale potato chips left over from the Christmas party. It was telling that no one was turning up their noses at warm soda and questionable snack food. He waited until Herb entered the room and closed the door.
“I am glad you have all gathered here,” said Dr. Riley. “It makes what I have to say easier. It appears that electrical power and most communications are down. Our secure communications link is up however and we have had fragmentary communications from many sites on the network that confirm that this problem is nationwide. There seems to a systematic cyber-attack on communications and power generation stations and there are some rumors of physical attacks on relay stations. Power company employees and Army and National Guard Engineers are out trying to fix the grid and there are some reports of sniper attacks on those crews.
Our power comes from reactors on the premises but they apparently have been able to disable our substation. There is also a slight chance that something may be happening with the reactor. Other issues have been complicated by the infected. There is no more we can do here until we get power and communications back. I suggest you all head home for your own safety. We will contact you when the situation improves. …”
May 22nd, Friday, 09:13am PDT.
Chad got into his Subaru station wagon and headed home. He had gathered up all his personal belongings along with his pistol and a little backpack with food and a first aid kit had had begun keeping in his office. He also gathered all the paper files he could on his work, but most of it was on servers that had been shut down and he hadn’t been allowed to back them up on a portable medium. The last thing that made it into his car was a ream of flyers that had Dr. Grieb’s talking points in the disease and infection control. He thought those might come in handy.
Even though garbage pickup had stopped just a week ago, trash was already starting to pile up in alleys and around the sides of businesses and homes. Much was neatly bagged, but a lot was just in disorderly piles. There was also very little traffic. Gas was getting hard to come by, not because there wasn’t any left in the tanks but no one was taking credit cards and there were damned few people willing to work a low wage job that had plenty of contact with the public just to collect the cash for someone else.
However, the power outage had people outside. The homes were mostly dark and there was no electronic entertainment so people were outside trying to make sense out of what was going on. There were some folks listening to car radios for some information, but most folks didn’t keep portable radio these days. The Emergency Alert System Broadcasts that were coming out sporadically came from those radio stations with generators. Chad had been listening to the broadcasts as he was driving and had learned little that was new.
As Chad rounded the corner, there were several people in front lawns and on door steps shouting and gesturing. In the street, there was a man who was clearly infected and appeared confused. As the street was blocked, Chad slowed down but kept the motor running and moved his pistol to the seat. He also rolled down the window a bit to hear what was going on.
“Clear out!” shouted a young man as he threw a rock at the infected man in the street. The rock hit the man square in the chest but he appeared more confused than anything.
“But I live here,” said the infected man. “You all know me. Last summer you came to my house for a barbecue. My wife and kids, they are just down the street.”
“They don’t want you around and neither do we!” shouted an older woman holding a baseball bat.
“You’re sick!” shouted the man next to the woman with the bat. “Go turn yourself in!”
“But you go there to die!” said the infected man. “I am not ready to die. I love my family and would never hurt them.”
“You bring the plague old man,” said a boy no older than sixteen with a pump shotgun. “My parents got it and they left rather than infect me and my little sister. You clear out too or I’ll shoot you I swear!”
Chad was uncomfortably aware of how similar this was to his meeting with Heather’s ex and was pretty sure how this was about to turn out. But he didn’t know what else to do.
Flashing lights in his rearview mirror attracted Chad’s attention. A high patrol car was moving slowly through the crowd. The female officer in the car looked gaunt but somehow familiar.
The loud speaker on the car clicked a couple of times and then the officer spoke.
“You are all at risk for infection, please go inside,” said the officer. The she drove the car and stopped it between the growing crowd and the infected man. She rolled down the window and said something to the infected man that Chad could not quite make out. The infected man moved over to the curb and sat down.
“This location has been reported to the city desk,” said the officer in car. “An ambulance will come and pick this man up. I repeat, you are all at risk for infection. Please disperse.”
The crowd began to break up and move uncertainly toward their homes. Chad used the distraction to slide around the crowd and drive the last two blocks to his home.
He was hardly out of the car when the same highway patrol cruiser pulled up. Chad thought that perhaps she was looking for witnesses or something and began moving toward the car.
The driver side door opened and with some difficulty, the driver emerged. The gaunt face woman was wearing a Washington State Highway Patrol jacket and a hos
pital gown. She had bare bloody, feet and was struggling to walk. Chad started towards her to help.
“Stop!” said the woman who Chad suddenly recognized as Deputy Hoskins from the Sherriff’s Department. “Chris Vaughn said I was to come to you. He said to say I am in remission because I wouldn’t eat Spam, but don’t come too close. I don’t want to make anyone else sick. I also need to do something with the car. I called in that man’s position on the radio. I used Chris’s call sign but they know it wasn’t him and sooner or later they will figure it out.”
Chad looked toward his house and saw Mary and Dave at the door.
“Mary, this is a friend of Chris,” said Chad hurriedly. “He was that highway patrolman who helped us in the police station. She was infected, but now is in remission. Can we take care of her? This is very important.”
“Of course we can take care of her,” said Mary looking at Chad. The look said they would talk later. “I think we can set something up in the garage until we are sure things are ok. What is your name sweetheart?”
“Amber,” she said uncertainly. “Amber Hoskins. I used to be a Deputy Sherriff.”
“We need to get you off your feet,” said Mary as she walked up the driveway toward the house. “I have some things we can dress your feet with but I think it would be best if you did it yourself. I am going to set up some lawn furniture in the garage for you right now.”
Amber looked scared and then made a decision and strode forcefully toward the garage. Mary opened the door and let her in. Amber hesitated at the door.
“Chad?” said Amber. “Chris’s call sign is 299. I left the radio in the car set to the frequency they were using at the high school. If you say ‘299, please return to your vehicle’, or some such, that should get his attention. Gosh I am so tired.”
Dave came out. Chad noticed that he had been leaning against the door jam and walked with a decided limp.
“Talk fast,” said Dave. “I heard enough to know this is not just some poor kid we are taking care of and then you have to get rid of this car. The neighbors are already noticing.”
“Look, remissions are just starting to happen,” said Chad. “But they disappear, almost as soon as they crop up. We need to know more about them. We have to talk to Amber and keep her out of the public eye for a while. I will get in contact with Dr. Grieb as soon as I can to get whatever new data there is on this.”
“How do you know this is a remission?” asked Dave.
“A couple of things, first, she is lucid, secondly, she tells me that her appetite is back to normal.”
“How did she know that?”
“She hates Spam,” said Chad with a grin.
“Good point.”
“The thing that convinced me though,” continued Chad “was when she stopped to defuse an attack on an infected man. She is really weak and it put her in jeopardy of being discovered but she did it anyway. It argues against her still being infected as one of the signs of the disease is paranoia. Paranoids don’t take care of other people well. But what do I do with a police car?”
“Better take it back to him,” said Dave. “From what I know about cops, they get into big trouble if they happen to lose one.”
“That’s not funny,” said Chad testily as he headed for the car.
“Wait one,” said Dave as he hobbled back to his house. After a few minutes, he came back with a tactical vest, heavy gloves, a balaclava, and one of the Mossberg Defenders he had purchased along with a box of shells.
“I’ve got my pistol,” said Chad looking aghast at all the hardware.
“Look Chad, power and cell phones are out, the radio is telling everyone to remain calm and stay home, you have a fugitive living in your garage, and you are about to go joyriding in a cop car. These are unusual times,” said Dave with a wry grin. “Get that car out of here. If I don’t hear from you in an hour, I am coming down to the high school to get your raggedy ass.”
“How will I contact you?” asked Chad as he began strapping on the vest.
“I have a scanner for all the police frequencies. Our generator is chugging away. Right now it’s running on natural gas from the utility company, but I have no clue how long that will last. I do have gasoline for backup for what it’s worth. I will listen for 299 and if you’re stuck, tell me. Now leave. I’ll explain to the neighbors about your nephew the cop.”
Chad grabbed the shotgun and got into the car. It took a minute to figure out the different control cluster. After some experimentation, he started the car and pulled out waving at Dave as he went. Even though he couldn’t see her in the dark garage, Mary waved back.
May 22nd, Friday, 10:02am PDT.
Chris was huddled with Lieutenant Miller behind the lieutenant’s Ford Explorer which was serving as a command post for this incident.
“What in the hell happened, Chris?” asked Miller after they had got settled.
“I wish I knew,” said Chris resignedly. “I was off duty and in with Amber when all of the sudden, they started wailing and thrashing. Some of them had either had their restraints removed by friends or family or simply tore them out. There were like fifty infected on the loose, all at once.”
“Any data on the cameras we had installed?” ask Miller.
“Not sure,” said Chris. “The laptop where everything was stored was in the office. We couldn’t get back to it after we lost power.
“I was able to get a good count on all the medical staff as they rallied where we told them. We lost one. I have no clue about friends and family. They scattered when it got bad. We had a sign in list and they were all briefed, but they didn’t follow the evacuation plan to gather over at the baseball diamond for a head count. I can’t account for more than half of them. I suspect more than a few didn’t make it out.
“Then me and my security team tried to get things back under control. We might have made it too, but we lost power. There are all kinds of dark corners in the school for people to hide in when there is no light. The darkness seemed to spur more of them to break free of the restraints. Many broke bones doing it.”
“What motivated them to do that?” asked a surprised Miller.
“Sir, the infected, they were ‘feeding’ on the patients who were still restrained,” said Chris quietly. “It was self-preservation.”
“So did you get back to Amber?” asked Miller trying to change the subject.
“I tried, but there were so many,” said Chris in what he hoped was a sad resigned tone. “And I had other duties, people to protect. She is probably still in there for all I know unless …”
“It’s OK,” said Miller patting his shoulder. “You did all you could and then some. She would have wanted you to take care of your people.”
“After twenty of the scariest minutes of my life,” continued a subdued Chris, “I got the security detail the hell out. We shot a lot of people sir. Dozens of them at least, but there were always more popping up. We were running low on ammo so I called everyone out. No one else was bitten. I stationed my people in positions of concealment covering all the doors. It also gives us pretty good coverage on all the windows. There were enough National Guard troops so that there was at least one automatic weapon with each team. All of the Guard medical folks were armed of course and they are helping, but many of my officers are down to pistols. We need ammo soon or this will break wide open.”
“Have there been any attempts to break out?”
“Yeah, more than one. Usually it’s in ones and twos, easy enough to contain. There was one big rush when they broke out a bunch of windows in one of the classrooms. There were twenty or thirty of them but we contained it. But look, I called for backup, the National Guard, hell the Cavalry, I don’t care! We are minutes from a breakout that would put a couple of thousand infected individuals on the streets. I appreciate you coming and bringing some ammo but all it will take is one concerted push and they will be all over.”
“Calm down,” said Miller reassuringly. “I have called e
veryone from the City Manager to the National Guard and there is some help coming. Most of the Guard is on roadblock duty but they have gathered up some clerks, limited duty guys and their first sergeant and they will be rolling soon. Because the force will be mainly Guard, they are giving command to the first sergeant; I’ll handle the civilian side.”
“That will be a relief,” said Chris.
“Look, if this was any other time,” said Lieutenant Miller earnestly, “after what you have been through, I would make sure that you got paid leave and time with the department counsellor, but we are out of people. I don’t have anyone to replace you with. Every day people call in sick or tell me that they need to stay home to take care of family. I am sorry but I still need you here.”
“I knew the job was dangerous when I took it,” said Chris with a wan smile.
“299, report to your vehicle,” said a disembodied voice over the radio.
Chris looked over his shoulder and saw Chad in his cruiser just entering the parking lot.
“Sir I need to check something,” said Chris.
“Go ahead,” said Miller. “I’ll be right here.”
Chris stood up and waved at Chad who drove in his direction. Chris didn’t want his boss to hear his discussion the Chad so he jogged a few yards toward the car and stopped out of earshot.
“She is safe in my garage,” said Chad replying to the obvious question on Chris’s face. “My wife is looking after her.”
“I owe you big time buddy,” said Chris.
“So talk,” said Chad earnestly. “I am taking an infected individual into my home on your say so that she is in remission. Is she?”
Chris briefly related what had happened in the last hour including the truth about what he thought had triggered the outbreak.
“Don’t sweat that,” said Chad. “At work, the power outage was preceded by a sustained cyber-attack that took out our servers. You didn’t trigger this. It was planned by someone and had been planned for a while. Amber just gave you a few minutes warning. I think she might be in remission too. I hope so anyway.”
