“Well I’m sure your uncle and the rest of the government has got it covered,” said Rose waving her hand dismissively and moving into the locker room.
It took several minutes for Rose to get dressed into her uniform and come back out into the squad room across the hall. By then, everyone from the previous shift, most of the administration, and everyone working patrol that night were assembled. At the front of the room was a man, presumably from the CDC, speaking with their Chief, Gary Hill. As Rose was entering the room, their conversation was ending and Chief Hill turned to address the room. Rose slipped into the back and moved over toward Andy as Chief Hill began.
“Alright everyone, the CDC put out a notice the other day to all Chiefs of Police across the country that they want to bring all police officers up to date on what’s going on with this new disease we’ve been hearing about on the news. You guys are the ones out there taking calls so you’re probably going to be some of the first people around here to see an infected person, should we get some, and they want you to know what to expect. So, I’d like to introduce Dr. Leonard Knight from the CDC.”
Andy began to clap for Dr. Knight but wasn’t joined by anyone and his clapping quickly trailed off leaving Andy pink-cheeked and embarrassed.
“Thank you everyone.” Dr. Knight was a tall man with pale skin and dark wiry hair that was starting to recede at the temples. He had a squeaky, nasally voice that was hard for Rose to listen to, but everyone was so interested in what it was he had to say, no one else really seemed to be bothered by it. “As your Chief mentioned, my colleagues at the CDC and I’ve been tasked with going around to every police department nationwide and educating you all on what to expect with this new disease. I know you likely have heard many things on the news and while I want to assure you that we are managing the disease, it’s a constant battle to contain it.
However, before I get into that, let me give you some background information we have been able to put together on this new disease that has been designated H20N1.” With that, Dr. Knight turned to face his PowerPoint presentation being projected behind him.
“Great, death by PowerPoint,” Rose said quietly to Andy out of the side of her mouth but Andy seemed to be focused on the screen and didn’t register Rose. Not getting a rise out of Andy, Rose frowned and turned back to Dr. Knight.
“H20N1 is a variant of the disease we all know as H1N1 or the Swine Flu,” Dr. Knight continued. “This version appears to be heavily mutated and has effects on the body we’ve never seen before. We have gathered that H20N1 started in New York City, however we are unsure how it came to be. It appears as though it just sprang up sometime in the middle of the summer. Unfortunately, New York City in midsummer is packed with tourists from all over the world. Based on this we are reasonably comfortable assuming that some sort of terrorist chemical weapons attack was to blame for the outbreak of this disease.”
Rose’s jaw dropped, shocked by this revelation. A terrorist attack in New York City that hadn’t only not been reported by any media outlets, but has been completely covered up by the US Government? The implications of this were huge. Rose’s head was spinning.
Dr. Knight continued, his voice seemed almost distant as Rose had to force herself to refocus. “While New York City, by far, had the most cases of infection, we quickly determined that all major cities with an airport connected to New York City started showing cases of infection. So as I said, we are managing the disease and we have quarantined New York City, but the infection is spreading rapidly.”
This caused some very distinct murmuring within the room. One of the officers from the day shift, Corporal Mike O’Brien raised his hand with a question. “So Dr. Knight, when you say you’re ‘managing’ the disease, how exactly are you ‘managing’ it?”
“Well we are tracking cases and coordinating with authorities on the ground in the specific city or country,” said Dr. Knight.
“Wait, so this is a worldwide issue?” pressed Corporal O’Brien, raising his hand again but not waiting for an answer. “Can you treat this disease? Is there a cure?”
“I will get to that shortly, but as of this time, we have yet to find a way to control and kill the disease,” admitted Dr. Knight, stone-faced.
Rose expected there to be more murmuring at this revelation, but instead Dr. Knight’s response was met with complete silence. Andy and the rest were just staring at Dr. Knight, some now with jaws hanging open. Everyone seemed frozen in a shocked silence.
“Yes, well let me get into the symptoms as we have been able to determine them thus far.” Dr Knight said trying to refocus the meeting back to what was in the PowerPoint. Rose suspected that Dr Knight may have revealed more about how tenuous a grasp the CDC actually had on this disease then he’d have liked. Dr Knight continued, his voice shaky to start, but as he continued on, it returned to his normal squeaky drawl.
“So it appears as though the manner by which you are infected will determine how quickly you progress through the disease’s stages. For example, if you are exposed to an infected person’s sneeze or other bodily fluids, the disease would initially present as something similar to the flu. However, the victim will get sicker and sicker and nothing can be done to stop it. We have also found that the infected’s brain will also began to deteriorate slowly as the infection ravages it. More and more upper-level functions of the brain will be killed off with memory loss or damage to the Hippocampus appearing to be the first major noticeable brain damage.”
Rose looked around the room as Dr. Knight continued on pointing at pictures of brain scans in his presentation, his voice fading into a buzzing background noise. Rose looked around the room and still, no one moving. Everyone‘s eyes were fixed on Dr. Knight’s presentation, the air around them thick with fear and tension. Typically when everyone in patrol gathered like this, even with guest speakers, there were usually sarcastic comments and jokes being tossed around, mild sexual harassment and people with their heads buried in their phones. Not today. No one appeared to be breathing, let alone talking. Everyone’s attention was focused solely on Dr. Knight.
Dr. Knight cleared his throat and continued drawing Rose’s attention back. “As the memory in a subject goes, it appears as though there is a direct correlation to increased paranoia. As an infected becomes less and less aware of where they are, who they are, and who’s with them, they become more and more fearful. All higher level functions of the brain eventually shut down and this appears to coincide with the peak of their fear and paranoia as far as we can tell.”
Dr Knight paused and took a quick sip of water before continuing. “At this point, it appears as though the infected are solely focused on fulfilling two basic needs: the need to feed themselves and the need to not be confined or trapped in order to do so. All other brain functions, with the exception of the fear center of the brain, the Amygdala, and those needed to keep the body medically alive, cease to function. At this stage, it appears as though fight or flight in their ravaged brains is all they have left. When flight was not an option, the fighting becomes quite violent. Some at the CDC have come to call this the “rage” phase, for those of you who have seen the movie ‘28 Days Later.’”
The pop-culture reference seemed to have knocked Andy out of his daze. He had always been a horror movie buff. Raising his hand and speaking at the same time, Andy said “So wait, you said ‘depending on the manner you’re infected’? What do you mean by that? Like a zombie?”
This comment finally garnered a few chuckles from the room, but Dr. Knight didn’t smile, he just continued on, his stony expression persisting. “Rabid wild animals actually more accurately describe the infected then some sort of reanimated, undead corpse or zombie. Attacking and feeding seems to be the main purpose of the rage phase of the disease; it’s how one carrier spreads the disease to another most effectively. A person who’s bit will be at full “rage” in about three or four days while someone infected via a cough or sneeze would only have severe flu-like symptom
s at about two days. They wouldn’t reach the “rage” stage until around a week.”
Dr. Knight continued after a pause for more water, this time a much longer drink. “Look, the infected aren’t the risen dead. They’re still people, they just appear to have no other purpose other than feeding themselves and raging like wild beasts. And like an animal, if you corner it, it will try and escape at all costs.”
Sergeant Gregg Heffernan, Rose’s supervisor on the midnight shift, raised his hand. “So how would you suggest we deal with these infected people? It seems like what they have is pretty contagious...”
“That is exactly right sir,” said Dr. Knight cutting in, “and this is one of the main reasons why we are having some difficulty controlling the spread. My suggestion is to avoid contact with the infected altogether if possible but, since that’s likely not an option, I would suggest killing from a distance to avoid physical contact. Hand to hand confrontation with the infected is likely only to get you infected as well.” There was another pause, almost it seemed to Rose, for dramatic effect. “Yes, I said kill. Unfortunately, we have been unable to find any way to reason with or control the infected we have captured in New York whom have gone into Rage phase. We suspect that the portions of their brains needed to interact with us were no longer functioning. Because they’re so infectious, we are suggesting that anyone encountered in the Rage phase be killed. This isn’t being made public, none of this is actually, but we don’t have any other options at this time.”
Dr. Knight turned away from the room briefly and skipped through a few slides to another part of his presentation. Rose looked around the room, like before, everyone was still quiet. Most seemed to be staring off into the distance and all seemed scared. This worried Rose. If a room full of police officers were scared into stunned silence by just being told about the effects of this disease, she could only imagine how civilians were going to react when they encountered the infected themselves, let alone just hear about it.
“There is a silver lining however,” Dr Knight continued again, breaking the silence. “Luckily, we have been able to determine that there appears to be a natural conclusion to the disease. Since the disease destroys the infected’s brain part by part, the brain can’t operate this way forever and eventually dies completely. We’ve come to call this process the ‘burn out.’ Their brain simply ‘burns out’ and the infected die, sometimes very suddenly.”
“What’s the time frame for that? How quickly will they die from this ‘burn out’?” asked another officer from the other side of the room, a hint of hope in his voice.
“Well we don’t really have a solid time frame for this, we haven’t studied enough of the infected to know for sure. However, it appears that the time frames vary from person to person. Some people’s brains can only withstand the Rage phase for a short time while others seem to be able to endure for extended periods. Some of my colleagues have even speculated that a few infected may be able to adjust to the Rage phase and live on indefinitely. That’s only speculation however.”
“Jesus, we may have to deal with these forever?!?” said Jen Johnson, one of the dispatchers. Jen was leaning against an open door frame with one hand and had the other on her very-pregnant belly. “Are you fucking joking?”
“I can assure you that the US Government is well aware of everything I’m telling all of you today and they are doing everything within their power to contain and eliminate this disease.”
“Small comfort to New York,” Andy muttered softly next to Rose.
“So to that end, I’ll start into the second reason why I’m here today,” continued Dr Knight. “In an effort to combat this disease, or any disease, we want to create a vaccine as a way to mitigate or prevent infection. The CDC and the US Government are requesting that anyone you come across who may be immune or even have some sort of resistance to this disease, to please contact the CDC. These people will have injuries from the infected that might be several days old but still show no signs of infection. We will need to do extensive testing, but without them, we’re essentially starting from scratch and developing a cure could take a very long time. AIDS is a perfect example of this, there is still no cure and it has been decades. So please, if you happen to encounter anyone who may be immune or resistant to the virus, please contact us and we will reach out to that person.”
“What kind of testing are you doing?” asked Sgt Heffernan. “Just like a blood test?”
“The testing will be quite extensive” explained Dr Knight. “I can not get into the details as they’re need-to-know and classified, but anyone showing any immunity or resistance will need to be taken to CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.”
“Brought to Georgia? For how long?” pressed Sgt Heffernan.
“We are in the early stages, so likely for some time. We are in desperate need to get a cure for this disease as soon as possible and all methods of testing will be...well I can’t get into the details, but know that we’re pulling out all the stops for this one.” explained Dr Knight glancing at Chief Hill.
“Alright everyone, I think that’ll conclude the meeting” said Chief Hill taking the cue. “If you have any further questions, other members of the administration and I will be available. I’ll be in contact with Dr Knight continuously if needed.”
With that, the meeting began to break up and officers went off in different directions having hushed conversations about all the information that had just been piled on them.
“Well that’s some crazy shit,” Rose commented to Andy giving him an elbow in the arm. Andy still seemed to be in a daze.
“Yeah, I gotta ask this guy a question,” said Andy walking away from Rose without looking at her. He walked over toward Dr Knight who was currently alone packing up his computer and projector. Rose followed closely behind Andy. Something wasn’t right, Andy seemed very bothered by something. Rose stood near by Andy and Dr. Knight, close enough she could hear most of what was being said, but not close enough to make it seem as though she was eavesdropping on their conversation. With an ear pointed toward the two men, Rose pulled out her phone and pretended to check her email while listening intently to their conversation.
“Dr. Knight? My name is Andy Lawson. My uncle Robert Lawson works for Infectious Disease in the Washington office of the CDC.”
“Oh hello Andy, I think I may have heard of your Uncle. How can I help you?”
“Well, I was talking with my uncle the other day, and while he didn’t reveal anything close to what you told us today, he did mention something about the testing that was being done on people thought to be immune. It was an off-handed comment, but when I heard what you had to say today, I kind of put two and two together…”
“Look Andy, I’m going to stop you right there.” Dr. Knight said to Andy in a hushed voice as he moved in toward him. Rose had to shuffle slightly closer to hear and even then, it was difficult with the noise in the room. “Your uncle knows as well as I do how desperately we’re looking for a cure here alright? We’re doing what we have to do. The sacrifice these people are making will be inconsequential once we find a cure and get this thing under control...They’ll be heroes alright?” Dr Knight backed away from Andy and noticed Rose nearby. “Look, I need to get out of here and move on to Caribou. Lets pretend this conversation never happened okay? Alright.” Dr Knight quickly gathered his things without letting Andy answer and left the room saying a passing goodbye to Chief Hill on his way out.
Outside the conference room, Rose caught up with Andy who was getting his duty bag ready for work. “Hey man, not that I was eavesdropping or anything, but what was that all about with that CDC guy? Sacrifice? Heros?”
Andy zipped up his duty bag and hefted it over his shoulder, facing Rose. She could tell that Andy was trying to mask his feelings but it was a poor effort, Rose could see the fear and sadness in Andy’s eyes. “Let’s hope, for their sake, we don’t find anyone who’s immune alright?”
“Wait, what the fuck does
that mean?”
Andy was moving past Rose, but stopped and looked around to see if anyone was nearby; they were alone for the moment. “That doctor wasn’t lying when he said ‘pulling out all the stops.’ If we send someone away with them, they aren’t coming back. My uncle hinted at it and that doctor just confirmed it. They’re desperate for a cure, Rose. Whatever they can do to find one, they’re going to. Innocent lives be damned.”
Andy turned quickly and walked out the back door to go set up his cruiser for the night’s shift. Rose watched the outside door close behind Andy as he went outside. Rose chuckled to herself. “Drama queen,” she muttered smirking as she began to organize her own bag for the night.
Chapter 2
Kate Rose was always one of those people who got to work early and left late. She was a hard worker who chose to work the midnight shift at the Green Forks Hospital because she thought that was the best way to get some hands-on experience. What Kate didn’t realize was that everyone else who worked the midnight shift had been at the hospital forever and worked that shift to avoid the hospital administration. Avoiding rules they thought were “a waste of time” or “overkill” were the biggest reasons they chose to work the midnight shift. So instead of getting the experience she was looking for, Kate mostly worked the check-in desk at the entrance to the Emergency Room.
Being a year out of college with a brand new nursing degree, Kate was motivated and eager to learn. Her coworkers weren’t. In fact, for most of them, doing work was the opposite of what they wanted to do with their shifts. Doing the bare minimum, gossiping with the other nurses, eating lunch, gossipping some more, and then going home when the sun came up was an ideal shift for all of Kate’s co-workers and this created a big problem for Kate. Since she was forced to work the desk all night, she wasn’t getting any experience and since no one cared about doing a good job, she wasn’t learning the proper way to do things she’d need to do if she ever went to another shift. This situation was among her chief complaints when she arrived home from work on any given day, but she and Rose had decided that they’d try to not complain about work when they were home. Sometimes, that was very hard thing to do.
Jordan Rose Duology (Book 1): Break Away Page 2
