Not that Ellie blamed them, considering she'd been in a news void for almost a day with no idea what was going on.
“What are you doing?” Hal asked, nervously glancing at the crowd around them as she drifted towards the bank of monitors. She waved him to silence and kept going, eyes glued to one of the screens as she got close enough to hear the audio.
“. . . must once again strongly repeat, for the sake of all viewers currently tuning in,” a distinguished looking older newscaster was saying in the gravest tones, “that this is NOT a case of isolated incidents that we are reporting as a point of interest, but a severe emergency situation. From what we've been told from official sources, there are already outbreaks outside of airports in several major cities across the United States. Including in our own fair city. And more are being discovered by the hour.”
Ellie drifted to a stop a cautious distance behind the loosely gathered crowd also intent on the news. Hal slowed to a stop beside her, expression troubled as they listened.
“All knowledge of this situation had previously been suppressed in an attempt to avoid a panic. However, at this point the Federal government, State of California, and City of Los Angeles are in agreement that the outbreaks cannot be contained. They are turning to the citizens to take all precautions, starting immediately, to help with containment efforts and for your own safety. At this point the President is seriously considering taking measures to lock down infected cities, in a last ditch effort to contain what is looking to be a widespread pandemic.”
Hal swore softly. He wasn't the only one reacting to the news, and several people were shushing loudly as the noise volume of the crowd drowned out the newscaster's voice.
Ellie, leaning forward in an attempt to hear better, jumped and gave a frightened squeak as someone touched her elbow. With Hal beside her it could only be him, which was a relief in spite of the glare she shot him for scaring her like that.
He didn't seem to notice as he leaned close to her ear to be heard. “The car's radio will have the news too.” He looked around uneasily. “Something tells me we should try to get out of here as quickly as possible. Out of LA, I mean.”
She didn't recall ever agreeing to let the young man ride along with her, only to let him walk with her to the rental place while she considered it. But she supposed he might've meant that in a more general sense, as in both of them should be in a rush to get out whether or not they traveled together.
Besides, under the circumstances she couldn't blame him for making assumptions since she'd been leaning towards letting him tag along anyway. Not to mention she also agreed with him; the quicker they got out of here and on their way home, the better.
Still, as they hurried on their way Ellie caught a last snippet from the newscaster. “-confirmed that as yet travel to and from cities where outbreaks are reported has not been restricted, however officials are strongly urging all citizens to remain in your homes under self-imposed quarantine if at all possible. In the meantime all flights are grounded for the foreseeable future, and all trains and long distance buses are halted. Beyond that, our sources with local law enforcement tell us they are drawing up plans to put barricades in place across all roads into the city as early as tomorrow morning, working in conjunction with emergency services to test all . . .”
She wanted to hang back to listen to the rest of that, but it looked as if there was even more need for haste than she'd realized. The news simultaneously filled her with relief and made ice crawl down her spine: relief, because it meant she wouldn't be kept from going home to her children. And terror, because if infected cities weren't already being closed off then it was almost guaranteed the disease would spread.
If it hadn't already.
The government really had failed to contain this disaster. And if Zolos had managed to escape the airport in Kansas City, her family was in the path of it.
◆◆◆
“I'm sorry, ma'am, there are simply no cars available at the moment.” the woman behind the counter at the car rental agency said, with the forced polite tone universally adopted by service industry workers who were currently wishing they could be anywhere else. Including possibly the bottom of the ocean or the surface of the sun.
Ellie could sympathize with her, since she'd certainly been in that position before. Which was why she usually tried her best to avoid causing those sorts of headaches when she was on the other side of the encounter. “Is it a matter of waiting until one becomes available?” she asked.
The car rental employee shook her head emphatically. “They've all been commandeered by Federal relief services to ferry people to the quarantine camp north of Los Angeles, just outside city limits.” She hesitated. “Since you can't rent a car, you might consider making use of one anyway, to ride to the camp. It's probably the best situation you can be in under the circumstances.”
“We're not infected!” Hal protested heatedly.
“I sure hope not,” the woman replied, deadly serious. “But the quarantine camp is for everyone left stranded in Los Angeles from the airports, harbors, bus stations, and anywhere else. The actual infected are in their own containment areas, with zero contact with anyone else until they're no longer contagious.”
“People can stop being contagious?” Ellie asked eagerly. That offered a glimmer of hope that this nightmare might one day end.
The car rental employee grimaced. “Assuming they don't die, which apparently nine out of ten do. The survivors need to wait at least three weeks for the virus to clear from their system, then go through decontamination to make sure they're not carrying any on their clothes or skin, and then they're safe to rejoin the general population.”
“You sure about that?” Hal asked. “Have we even known about Zolos for three weeks?”
“I don't know, sir, I sell cars for a living.” The woman's grimace deepened. “Or at least I did. I've heard it's the quarantine period for some other viral infections, that's all I know.” She straightened tiredly. “Go to the camp or don't, but if that's all then I need to help the next customer.”
Ellie shook her head morosely, backing away from the counter so the next person in line could move forward to try to rent cars that weren't available.
There was no way she was going to any quarantine camp. Her children needed her, were probably scared to death in a crisis like this, and she wasn't about to be trapped more than half the country away for weeks. Even more than her own safety, she'd move heaven and earth to be there for Tallie and Ricky.
Although she had no intention of ignoring her own safety either, which was an equally important reason to avoid this camp like, well, the plague. She had no doubt the officials in charge of it would very carefully section off everyone who came in, isolating groups to reduce the risk of infection, and quickly remove anyone discovered with the virus to a more secure location. They probably had carefully crafted plans for just this sort of situation.
And the plans, no matter how ingenious and thoughtfully prepared, were pretty much a waste of time.
In her line of work, Ellie had had enough experience with large corporations managing hundreds or even thousands of employees to know how they operated. There were always errors, everything from minor mistakes to catastrophic oversights to real nightmarish boondoggles caused by greed and shady activity at the mid or high levels.
A quarantine camp in the middle of an epidemic, or more likely a pandemic, was like an egg in the middle of a herd of stampeding elephants: it would just take one misstep for it to all fall apart, and there were countless opportunities for that one thing to go wrong. Practically every person in the camp would present such an opportunity.
The emergency relief personnel would have to be absolutely flawless in order to prevent just that one tiny slip up that could spell catastrophe for countless vulnerable people. Even if they were absolute professionals, it wasn't realistic to expect that kind of perfection from them. Especially for any length of time.
So no, a quaran
tine camp was the last place she wanted to be. In fact, if she couldn't get out of the city, quickly and without coming into contact with anyone or anything a contagious person might have touched, she might not live past the next few days, let alone long enough to get back to her children.
She needed a car, and it was obvious finding one at the airport was going to be as difficult as it was dangerous. Best to get away entirely, since this place was a hotspot for spreading Zolos in spite of the authorities' best efforts.
Hal had been intent on his phone while she was stewing on the problem, and he abruptly grunted. “Got it.”
Ellie turned to look at him with a frown. “Got what?”
He pointed the screen towards her and tapped it. “These are all people within ten blocks who are putting themselves in voluntary quarantine in their house or apartment until the crisis is over, and are willing to sell their car for the right price since they won't have any use for it and might need money.”
She arched an eyebrow. Buying a vehicle from people in that situation was an option she hadn't even considered, although it seemed logical. Those families likely wouldn't have any objections to selling a car they wouldn't be using any time soon, especially if they had two as many households did. Particularly in the wealthier neighborhoods.
Although she had to wonder how people in voluntary quarantine went about selling to complete strangers who might be infected. Ellie looked at the list of cars displayed on the teenager's phone, complete with pictures, pertinent details, and contact info. “How is there already a website for that?”
He scrunched his forehead. “There's an existing platform where people are responding to current events. This crisis has been public for what, seven or eight hours? That's practically an eternity on the internet.” He leaned forward eagerly, clicking on one of the listings. “See, you take care of payment online, then they leave the keys in the car along with the title signed over to you and give you the location. That way you can come pick it up without needing to have any direct physical contact with anyone.”
Ellie motioned for him to take his phone back. “Well I think I could probably buy a car if it's not too expensive.” It would probably eat up most of her savings, but maybe she could resell it when she got home. Maybe even on the same site Hal was using. “Can you find one that'll get us to KC?”
Hal stared at her. “You want me to shop for a car for you?”
“Well, I'll want to look at what you find before actually buying it.”
He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could a woman spoke up from behind them. “Excuse me!”
They both spun warily, relieved to find that the person who'd spoken was a cautious distance away, standing with a man who had a protective arm around her waist. Her husband, judging by the rings on their fingers. Ellie thought the voice was familiar, and after a moment recognized it as the woman from their flight who'd wanted to disembark onto the tarmac.
She was a bit taller than Ellie, although she stood with a nervous stoop to her shoulders that made her seem smaller and more vulnerable. Her hair was dark brown, worn long in a tight braid that made her features seem more pinched. Although that might've just been her fearful expression. The man with her was tall and slightly overweight, lighter brown hair beginning to recede in spite of the fact that the couple looked to be in their early to mid twenties. Both wore latex gloves and masks.
“Can I help you?” Ellie asked politely.
The woman looked at the man expectantly until he cleared his throat and stepped forward. “Hi. Um, I'm Brock Nowak, and this is my wife Hannah.” Hannah beamed around her mask when he said that, practically bouncing excitedly. That led Ellie to guess they were newlyweds.
Very new newlyweds, as it turned out when Brock continued. “We were on our way home from our honeymoon when this all happened, and overheard you talking about buying a car to get to Kansas City. We live in St. Louis, so we're wondering if we could carpool.”
Well, this was turning into quite the crowd. And Ellie didn't even have a car yet. Still, safety in numbers and all that. “I think that would be fine,” she said cautiously. “You can contribute to buying the car and paying for gas.”
Hannah stared at her blankly, as if she'd just asked for something unreasonable. “Why wouldn't you help us get home?” she demanded. “It doesn't cost you any extra to let us tag along.”
That wasn't strictly true, although the added weight wouldn't really add too much to gas costs. Still, it was as if the two had no idea how carpooling worked; even Hal, who'd admitted he couldn't contribute much, was giving the couple an odd look.
Brock seemed to sense they weren't making a good impression because he hastily spoke up. “We could probably chip in.” He motioned to a plastic bag his wife held. “Also, we were able to get our hands on gloves and masks and hand sanitizer and things like that. We'll be happy to share them with you.”
“Actually, we insist on it,” Hannah cut in hastily. “If we're going to be traveling together we need to make sure none of us get infected with this Zolos virus.”
That seemed reasonable enough, and actually useful. Besides, it would be cruel to refuse to help newlyweds who'd just come from their honeymoon, just because they didn't know carpool etiquette of all things. “All right,” Ellie said. “We're looking for a car now.”
“Actually, it's mostly just a matter of picking one,” Hal said. He'd been busy on his phone during the conversation, and now offered it to her again. “I've found a few cheap options that aren't far from the airport.”
She began going over the shortened list, while Brock and Hannah cautiously approached to also take a look. The cars all looked reasonable enough, about the same price, mileage, and appearance. Older vehicles, but ones that looked as if they'd make it a few thousand miles to get them to Missouri.
After half a minute Ellie picked one that seemed fine, a red sedan with faded paint that was chipped around the wheel wells, and pointed to it. “This one will work. Let's go.”
No one seemed to have a problem with that, so they left the car rental place behind and headed for the exit.
Chapter Five: Getting Out
Hannah passed out more gloves and masks for Ellie and Hal as they walked. Ellie wasn't sure how much good those would do against an airborne virus that stayed alive on surfaces, but she had to admit that if nothing else, the psychological effect of having even that protection was enormously comforting.
She'd just need to make sure it didn't cause her to let down her guard.
They finally found crowds in the mostly deserted airport once they reached the entrances; everyone seemed to have converged there in their desperation to get out. Ellie realized why when she saw a police cordon, complete with officers in hazmat suits, blocking off half the airport's exits over by the luggage claim area, and a wall of plastic that stretched across the vast open space to seal off the area, guarded by more officers.
The people who'd been trapped on the other side of the plastic when it was sealed off obviously weren't happy about their situation; they pressed against it and crowded the blocked off entrances, shouting that they weren't sick and desperate to get out before they were infected themselves.
The police weren't risking the slightest chance of the crowd getting out, shoving back against the stretched plastic with plexiglass shields and making liberal use of pepper spray and air horns wherever the barrier had been torn. All the while shouting for the frantic crowd to stay back and remain calm until they could be safely evacuated to the quarantine camp.
A few were even bringing out their batons when the crowd became too unruly.
In any other situation the sight of such treatment would've horrified Ellie. At the moment, though, the prospect of those people getting through and possibly infecting her filled her with dread, and she silently rooted for the hazmat suited men and women.
She unconsciously broke into a jog towards the bottleneck at the entrance farthest from the cordoned off area, the faste
st she could go while lugging her suitcase, laptop bag, and carryon bag. Hal was right there with her, and Hannah actually bolted ahead, eyes terrified above her face mask, as her husband struggled to keep up while managing all their luggage.
Their haste brought them to the bottleneck a few seconds sooner, at which point they had to wait anxiously for the people ahead of them to stream through the doors. A process that took far longer than it otherwise would've since people were reluctant to get within three feet of each other.
Across the room, the frantic crowd in the quarantine area surged harder and harder against the police cordon, the situation looking on the verge of breaking out into real violence at any moment. Canisters of tear gas flew, sending the people crowding through an increasing number of rips in the plastic reeling away coughing and gagging. But that just made those who remained even more desperate to break through.
As Ellie watched in growing alarm, she was startled to realize that amidst all the screams and shouted warnings echoing across the cavernous room, Brock was humming the final part of “In the Hall of the Mountain King” beside her as he watched the crowd get closer and closer to breaking through.
Hannah heard him and made an outraged noise. “That's not at all appropriate.”
Her husband flushed scarlet, looking unduly devastated at the rebuke, and jerked his gaze away from the panicking mob. “Sorry,” he blurted. “It's keeping me from seriously freaking out.”
Ellie certainly didn't approve herself, although from her experience in conflict resolution she knew that some people, especially younger people, could sometimes experience an uncontrollable urge to smile or even giggle in high stress situations where doing so was viewed as highly inappropriate. A purely human response that was often misunderstood and even served to escalate tense confrontations.
“Never mind,” she said firmly before an argument could break out with the couple. “Let's just get out before things really fall apart.”
Isolation (Book 1): Shut In Page 8
