by David Nadas
yes.” Dan responded, letting go. “Over here.” And he led Andy and Asha through the observations and dissections of the bitterns.
Forty minutes later, Andy was plopped down on one of the stools. The research Dan and Matt had put together was first rate, well documented. A safe pair of hands as it was known in the trade. The main focus was on the vector and the timing of release looked imminent. While Andy was on his cell phone to Trenton, Asha looked highly concerned and was on the phone to Atlanta, her singsong voice now a series of tangled sentences.
“Gentlemen.” Asha began. “We have a serious problem here.” Something Dan and Matt already knew. "I took my superior through your observations and data. We have a linked a case reported from Staten Island, New York. A human infection, but we have not confirmed this.”
Andy sat there, trying to assess the latest developments, his eyes thoughtful. He took a deep breath.
“Asha. Would you mind staying behind to give Matt and Dan a hand to identify the origin? I need to get back to Trenton and brief the Governor.” After Andy left, Dan walked Asha through their analysis once more. If anything, it seemed to cement the fact that the contagion’s origins were extraterrestrial, and Phragmites was phase one of the dispersal.
Asha sat down at the table looking over the paperwork and Dan could see she looked nervous. He tried to make small talk, something he was not good at, but got her talking about herself. He was pleased to learn she was single.
Matt's cell rang. It was Laurie. She was on her way to work.
"Good morning," she said with a laugh. "How's the President?"
"Not good actually. Dan discovered something rather serious.” Matt replied.
"Like how serious?”
"Like in potential pandemic."
"Pandemic like in H1N1?"
"No. Pandemic like in something much more alien. Dan found these two bitterns with twigs growing out of them. Made them into zombies." The phone went silent.
"Laurie, you there?”
"Yes. I really thought you were kidding until you mentioned twigs. I'm heading into work early today to fill in for Cindi. She cut her hand and can't make it in, but told me a really weird story. Yesterday, some woman came into the pharmacy and asked Craig, the pharmacist on duty, what he suggested for removing a small twig she found stuck into her scalp. She doesn't remember slipping or falling or how she got it. Anyway, Craig looked at it and said it was deeply embedded. He had one of the cashiers take the woman to OC Medical. Then, when the cashier got her to OC, he had a hard time getting the women to let go of the car door handle. He had to pry her fingers from it. Isn't that weird?"
"Laurie, do not go to work. Come straight here."
"I can’t, Matt. Who’s going to cover? It's only Cindi or me at the moment and Cindi can't use her hand. Craig left for vacation after work yesterday."
"I'm dead serious, Laurie! You can't go there. This thing we are dealing with— I can't go into detail but the CDC is all over this. The pharmacy could be a hot zone. I don't want you there."
Matt, I can't just bail on them."
He cut her off, "Laurie!" Drawing the attention of Asha and Dan, "You need to come directly here."
Matt, you're scaring me."
"Good!" He said slightly relieved. "Now promise me you'll come directly here. Call work from your car and tell them you have an emergency; and don't get caught up in the guilt, this is nothing to joke about, especially if what Cindi reported is connected. And call Cindi and tell her not to go near the pharmacy, then find out who the cashier was and where Craig headed for vacation, flights, everything. I need you to call the hospital and find out where that woman is. If she’s still there, tell them to treat her as highly contagious.
"Matt?"
"Laurie. Don't worry. Just promise me you will come directly here. Turn off the outside vents and do not stop anywhere or open your window for anything or anyone."
"I promise."
"Get here quickly. I've got to go deal with a few things right now. I love you,” Matt said and hung up.
"Asha, my wife just told me we have another possible infection reported yesterday from Main Pharmacy in Ocean City. The patient was taken to OC Medical. Elderly woman. Twig. I think you need to tell your people there was a cashier at the pharmacy that escorted her to the hospital and the pharmacist who assisted her has left for vacation. Finally, we had a few interns from Stockton in the Phragmites fields conducting the sampling and they should be checked on. Dan has their contact information. I hope they didn't have classes this morning."
Asha contacted her field office in Trenton, while Dan and Matt sat at the table and checked over their work looking for more clues.
"We should see how widespread this is." Matt stated. "What other Phragmites fields are nearby?"
“There’s the one along Mays Landing Road, a little way up by the boat yard."
Laurie arrived, stepped quickly to Matt, dropped her pocketbook to the floor and threw her arms around him, Matt returning the gesture with the relief of her safely in his arms.
"Dan, sorry," Laurie apologized, pulling away from Matt and hugging Dan, who stood stiffly, blushing, with his hands in his pockets. "Thanks for waking me this morning." Laurie whispered for only Dan to hear, and placing her hands on his cheeks. "Nice Fu Manchu."
Asha was off her cell; she stood and introduced herself to Laurie. Laurie looked to Matt with raised eyebrows. Matt returned the gesture, which drew a response from Laurie that it was OK for her to notice Asha's curves, but not him.
"Dan," Asha said. "Could we go to a nearby Phragmites field where I could see these spores in vitro for myself? We will need to wear the hazmat suits. The spores appear to be of very small particle droplet nuclei that can quickly become aerosol. It’s most likely they can be breathed in."
"Good idea." Dan said. "Would you mind helping me with the gear?"
Descending the steps cautiously with their wrists, ankles and masks taped tightly, they looked like a reenactment of the landing on the moon. Dan and Asha got into his rusted Bronco, the doors taking two hands to pull open from the freezing rain that had settled into the seams. They turned right onto Mays Landing Road and drove toward the boat yard in silence. Dan stopped the truck when he saw a small patch of Phragmites and bagged a couple of samples, labeled them, and sealed the bags into a hazmat box before returning it to the back of his truck. He repeated this process a couple more times. Further up, as they rounded the bend near Phish Rigs & Bait, Dan slowed down and stopped in the middle of the road. Ahead they saw people along a fence, grouped together in lines of two: some with no shoes, others in nightgowns and one fully dressed in hunting gear. All were clinging to one another. The front two people were standing and clutching onto the cyclone fence. Dan put the truck into neutral. Even from this distance, all appeared to have the telltale twigs reaching up and over their heads. He and Asha were startled when another person came from behind a parked car and clasped onto the last person in the far row. He settled down on his knees and stared off in the distance.
Asha gasped beside Dan. She was pressed into her seat, her left gloved hand clutching the console.
"We should go see if they are ok." She managed to finally say.
"They don't look too good." Dan said, pressing down the lock on his side and instructing Asha to do the same before shifting into first gear. He rolled forward until they were within ten yards of the fence, the nose of his Bronco pointing outward in case a quick exit was needed.
"Let me take a closer look. Don't come out yet,” Dan said. Asha’s large brown eyes focused on the scene outside. She seemed to be ok with his suggestion of staying put. “Be right back.”
Not taking his eyes away from the five souls clasped to each other, he popped the door open and stepped out. Walking along the shoulder as if it were a balance beam, he looked around, making sure no one was going to charge out from the brush. He approached the fi
ve and leaned over trying to get a better look at their faces and noticed that their mouths, ears and noses were dusted with a gray powder. Grabbing onto the cyclone chain-link, he gave it a good shake. Their bodies moved slightly back and forth, but there was no reaction. All appeared alive, zombie-like, the same as the bitterns. He stepped forward and could see their expressionless faces, all focused in the same direction. Dan followed their gaze but saw nothing himself. The woman in the nightgown had both hands clasped tightly around the steel pole that anchored the fence into the ground while the others were tucked in closely, their raw hands clasping onto the person before them. Dan heard his truck door open and saw Asha stepping out with a tackle box of equipment in one hand and a camera case in the other. Behind her was an SUV traveling rapidly and weaving toward them.
"Asha!" he yelled out, as he began to sprint toward her. "Look out behind you!" His voice was muffled behind the Plexiglas of his hooded visor and she could not make out what he was saying.
The SUV continued to barrel toward them. Dan got to Asha in time, grabbing her suit around the shoulders and yanking her hard enough so she dropped the toolbox and camera case. He pulled her past the front of his truck as the SUV careened into the back of his Bronco and exploded into flames. The SUV and Bronco spun off the shoulder and came to a sudden stop in the chain-link fence, like hockey pucks
