{"id":161,"date":"2013-07-21T00:13:12","date_gmt":"2013-07-21T00:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/?page_id=161"},"modified":"2013-07-21T00:13:12","modified_gmt":"2013-07-21T00:13:12","slug":"chapter-14","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/story\/chapter-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 14"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 14<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Before Infernal Friday, Shawn\u2019s job never scared me.\u00a0 I mean, I never really worried about him when he went to work.\u00a0 Sure, I knew he worked around dangerous strains of bacteria and viruses at the CDC, but I also knew how seriously safety was taken there.\u00a0 Shawn was careful; he took precautions.\u00a0 They all did.\u00a0 We always joked that I probably got more exposure to germs in my job, being coughed and sneezed on by eight-year-olds, than he did studying them under microscopes.<\/i><\/p>\n

So when I hugged him goodbye that day, I wasn\u2019t afraid.\u00a0 Truth be told, I was a little pissed at him for leaving me.\u00a0 It was supposed to be our spring break, our last few, rejuvenating days off together.\u00a0 Why did he have to answer his phone when he knew it was his boss calling?\u00a0 And why couldn\u2019t he have just told the guy that he wasn\u2019t flying anywhere on his vacation time?<\/i><\/p>\n

Do I really need to ask?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t then either.\u00a0 I understood.\u00a0 My husband was a good guy.\u00a0 He was always up for helping people, doing favors, lending a hand.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know how to say no.\u00a0 I\u2019m the same way.\u00a0 But I was still mad.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t hug him as tightly as I could have.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t say \u201cI love you\u201d back with as much feeling as I had in my heart.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t say a prayer for God to watch over him while he was away.\u00a0 I guess I didn\u2019t think to, until it was too late.<\/i><\/p>\n

But I should have.\u00a0 I should have done all of those things.<\/i><\/p>\n

I should have been afraid.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Friday, April 13, 2012<\/b><\/b>
\n3:00 p.m.<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

The day showed no signs of strife.\u00a0 No \u201ctrouble in the air,\u201d as the clich\u00e9 goes.\u00a0 The sky over Atlanta was blue and sunny, and the trees outside Gretchen\u2019s open window were green and still.\u00a0 She could hear birds chirping in them above the background drone of the TV.\u00a0 Spring was in full swing, with daily temperatures in the low seventies, her absolute favorite kind of weather.\u00a0 On a day like today, it seemed like nothing could go too wrong.<\/p>\n

But it had.<\/p>\n

It had started out well.\u00a0 Gretchen had awoken naked in bed next to Shawn, having fallen to sleep in his arms.\u00a0 They\u2019d rolled apart in the night, but upon waking, she had snuggled closer to him again, chilled by the crisp, morning breeze drifting into their bedroom.\u00a0 They\u2019d slept with the windows cracked last night, the crickets\u2019 song accompanying their lovemaking.\u00a0 Pulling the blankets up tighter around her shoulders, Gretchen had sighed with contentment as she\u2019d nestled in.<\/p>\n

The week off from work had been just what she\u2019d needed \u2013 she and Shawn, both.\u00a0 They had spent it together, relaxing, working in the yard, helping each other to heal.\u00a0 Of course, it wasn\u2019t like healing from a paper cut or a burn from the stove \u2013 wear a band-aid for a few days, rip it off, and voila, good as new!\u00a0 The loss of the baby was a wound which would never fully heal, only scar and fade a little over time.\u00a0 But she and Shawn had made love for the first time since, and that had to be a sign that, as a couple, they were on the mend.<\/p>\n

And then the phone had rung.<\/p>\n

It had been Shawn\u2019s cell phone, and Gretchen, who\u2019d heard it first, had tried to ignore it.\u00a0 But Shawn, who was a light sleeper, had jerked awake and reached clumsily out to the nightstand on his side of the bed to grab it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho is it?\u201d Gretchen had asked, as he\u2019d held the phone up in front of his nearsighted eyes, squinting blearily at it.<\/p>\n

Shawn had groaned.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s my boss.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t answer it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got to.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019d sighed as he\u2019d flipped the phone open and lowered it to the pillow next to his ear.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Elliott speaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gretchen had rolled away from him, tucking the covers under her chin.\u00a0 She\u2019d listened quietly to his side of the conversation, and when it had ended, she\u2019d spoken with her back to him.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re not leaving, are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got to.\u201d<\/p>\n

There it was again:\u00a0 that compulsion to answer the call \u2013 this time, the call of duty.\u00a0 The army had drilled it into him, and as they say, once a soldier, always a soldier.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d turned back over to face him then.\u00a0 \u201cWhere?\u00a0 And why?\u201d<\/p>\n

Shawn had sat up in bed, dragging a hand through his disheveled brown hair, and looked at her apologetically.\u00a0 \u201cYou know I can\u2019t say too much.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know much, anyway.\u00a0 But I guess they discovered some new kind of virus up in Maryland.\u00a0 People have been coming down with it in droves; the DC\/Baltimore area hospitals are already filled to over capacity, just since this morning.\u00a0 They say it strikes fast and spreads even faster.\u00a0 So far, it\u2019s got the medical community stumped, but they\u2019re working on it at USAMRIID, and they want my help.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so he had gone to Frederick, Maryland, to the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, where he\u2019d worked up until just last year.<\/p>\n

Guess they must still miss him there<\/i>, Gretchen thought with a wry smile.<\/p>\n

The childlike, selfish side of her had wanted to protest, to whine and plead, if she had to, to keep her husband at home.\u00a0 She had been looking forward to three more days with him before they both went back to work, and in her still-fragile state of mind, the disappointment of a vacation cut short had seemed almost unbearable.<\/p>\n

But of course, it wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 She could deal with it, and was<\/i> dealing, as a matter of fact.\u00a0 She\u2019d taken advantage of the quiet time alone at home to catch up on some reading, play her piano, watch one of the romantic tearjerker movies she loved \u2013 things she didn\u2019t often do when Shawn was around.\u00a0 Around mid-afternoon, the guilt of such laziness had caught up to her, and she\u2019d pulled out her school tote of papers she had neglected to grade.\u00a0 Now she sat in front of the TV, which she\u2019d flipped to CNN for the background noise, with her purple pen in hand, a stack of spelling tests on a clipboard in her lap.\u00a0 When she finished with these, she would think about what to fix herself for dinner that night.\u00a0 Maybe she\u2019d go to the grocery store.\u00a0 And after dinner, she could take a walk, then soak in a long, hot, bubble bath.<\/p>\n

The evening took shape in her mind as a schedule of events, one right after the other, just like her daily lesson plans.\u00a0 The basic goal was the same:\u00a0 keep her students engaged; keep herself busy.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d been effectively tuning out the TV, her attention focused on trying to decipher Chance\u2019s handwriting, when she caught the word \u201cvirus.\u201d\u00a0 Her head snapped up, her pen slipping from her hand, as she paused to watch the news report.<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome back to the CNN Newsroom.\u00a0 This is Rick Sanchez, reporting from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, and joining me from Baltimore, live via satellite, is Dr. Gabor D. Kelen, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at John Hopkins Hospital, and director of the John Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response.\u00a0 Dr. Kelen, thanks for taking the time to talk to us today; I know your staff is swamped with this bug.\u00a0 What can you tell us about the situation?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

On the right side of the split screen, a balding man with gray hair and beard pressed his lips together grimly.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a smile.\u00a0 \u201cRick, in just the last nine hours, all of the hospitals in the John Hopkins Health System have filled to capacity with patients showing symptoms of this virus, which, I regret to say, is still, as of now, unidentified.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Gretchen frowned, remembering what Shawn had said this morning, after getting off the phone.\u00a0 \u201cPeople have been coming down with it in droves; the DC\/Baltimore area hospitals are already filled to over capacity, just since this morning.\u00a0 They say it strikes fast and spreads even faster.\u00a0 So far, it\u2019s got the medical community stumped.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

She studied the doctor on the TV.\u00a0 He looked sallow and tired.\u00a0 His skin was pale, though there were spots of color high in his cheeks.\u00a0 His eyes were sunken and red-rimmed.\u00a0 There were odd splotches, almost like hives, on his forehead.\u00a0 He looked like a man who had aged a lifetime in a matter of hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat exactly do you mean by that, Dr. Kelen?\u201d<\/i> the news anchor probed.\u00a0 \u201cIs this illness just difficult to diagnose, or are we looking at a brand new virus?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say at this time.\u00a0 I can assure you, though, that the finest doctors Hopkins has to offer are on the case, working around the clock to treat these people.\u00a0 We\u2019re staying in close contact with USAMRIID over in Frederick, where they\u2019re studying samples of the virus, trying to classify it.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Gretchen thought of Shawn, bent over a microscope in a Hazmat suit.\u00a0 At the Special Pathogens branch of the CDC, he worked in a Biosafety Level 4 laboratory, studying the Marburg and Lassa viruses, developing potential vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat should the public know about the virus at this time?\u00a0 Are there specific symptoms to watch out for?\u00a0 How does it spread?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Dr. Kelen drew a hand down his haggard face, looking beat down by the barrage of questions.\u00a0 \u201cUnfortunately, it appears to be airborne, meaning it\u2019s transmitted the same way as the flu, through coughing, sneezing, body fluids, or contaminated surfaces.\u00a0 The early symptoms also resemble those of the flu:\u00a0 aches and pains, fever, chills, nausea and vomiting.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat advice can you give viewers who are showing these symptoms?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cUntil we know more, it might be best to simply stay put and try home remedies.\u00a0 As I said, hospitals in the affected area are already over capacity, and unfortunately, all doctors can do at this point is relieve symptoms, not treat the virus itself.\u00a0 And as always, it\u2019s important to cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, and wash your hands often, to avoid spreading the illness further.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

It was the same thing she constantly told her third-graders, realized Gretchen with a thin smile.\u00a0 She could hear herself calling out, \u201cCover your cough!\u201d whenever one of them started hacking all over his desk.<\/p>\n

On her television screen, Rick Sanchez was nodding in agreement.\u00a0 \u201cOf course, of course.\u00a0 Great advice to keep in mind.\u00a0 Thanks again, Dr. Kelen, for your time.\u00a0 We wish you the best in keeping this bug contained.\u201d\u00a0 <\/i>The satellite feed disappeared, as the anchor\u2019s face filled the screen once more.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cIf you\u2019re just joining us, this is Rick Sanchez in the CNN Newsroom, and we just finished talking to Dr. Kelen at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where they are investigating a virus that has spread across the Northeastern region of the country.\u00a0 We go now to our New York studios, where Erica Hill is standing by with Dr. Michael Yin, Associate Program Director for the Division of Infectious Diseases at Columbia University Medical Center, for an update on the situation in the New York area.\u00a0 Erica?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Gretchen jumped as her phone began to ring, drowning out the new reporter\u2019s introduction.\u00a0 Letting out her breath in a shaky rattle, she reached for it and smiled in relief when she saw the name flashing on her caller ID.\u00a0 She quickly flipped open the phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey!\u201d she answered, a little shrilly.<\/p>\n

\u201cHi, Gretch,\u201d Shawn\u2019s voice replied, blessedly familiar.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow\u2019s it going up there?\u201d she asked.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve got the news on\u2026 they\u2019re reporting on that virus.\u00a0 Sounds pretty serious\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is.\u201d\u00a0 His voice was grim.\u00a0 \u201cEveryone\u2019s sick.\u00a0 The hospitals are overflowing.\u00a0 There haven\u2019t been any deaths reported yet, but some people are close to it.\u00a0 It\u2019s bad, Gretch.\u201d<\/p>\n

His words jarred her.\u00a0 Everyone\u2019s sick.<\/i>\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re\u2026 you\u2019re<\/i> okay, aren\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fine.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been in a mask and gloves ever since I got here.\u00a0 I\u2019m being careful.\u00a0 But even the base has been hit with it.\u00a0 People are collapsing in convulsions\u2026 foaming at the mouth\u2026\u00a0 It\u2019s horrific.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gretchen took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to steady herself as she pictured what Shawn was describing.\u00a0 \u201cWhat is<\/i> it?\u201d she asked uneasily.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know.\u00a0 The virus is like nothing I\u2019ve ever seen.\u00a0 And it replicates even faster than Lassa virus.\u00a0 We don\u2019t even know what it is, let alone how to stop it from spreading.\u00a0 It\u2019s moving too fast to contain it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my God,\u201d she murmured.\u00a0 Her skin prickled with goosebumps as the first shiver of fear jolted through her.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen\u2026 I\u2019m not calling to scare you, but I want to warn you.\u201d\u00a0 He lowered his voice.\u00a0 \u201cWhat I\u2019m about to tell you is a matter of national security.\u00a0 It\u2019s classified information.\u00a0 You can\u2019t repeat it to anyone, understood?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course,\u201d she agreed faintly.\u00a0 She had lived on military bases; thanks to Shawn\u2019s career, she knew about classified information.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe army thinks this is an act of bioterrorism.\u00a0 Around o-six-hundred, there was a small fleet of unauthorized jets spotted flying around the DC area.\u00a0 They made a couple of passes through restricted airspace, then disappeared before the FAA could ground them.\u00a0 Video surveillance revealed a couple of things, though.\u00a0 First, they were private aircrafts, possibly foreign.\u00a0 Second, they were equipped with spraying nozzles.\u201d\u00a0 Shawn spoke slowly, deliberately.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s… possible\u2026 that they sprayed aerosol containing the virus over Washington, D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gretchen gasped.\u00a0 \u201cGod\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe virus has spread in roughly a circular pattern, with DC as its central hub.\u00a0 Virginia and Maryland have been crippled with it.\u00a0 It\u2019s spread to New York, Pittsburgh, Raleigh\u2026\u00a0 And if we can\u2019t contain it soon, it\u2019ll keep spreading.\u00a0 It\u2019ll reach Atlanta.\u00a0 You understand what I\u2019m telling you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes\u2026\u201d Gretchen breathed, the phone shaking in her trembling hand.\u00a0 \u201cWh\u2026 what should I do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor now, I want you to stay put, alright?\u00a0 Shut up the house completely, and stay inside it.\u00a0 Don\u2019t go out; don\u2019t answer the door to anyone.\u00a0 I\u2019d tell you to go to the airport right now and buy a plane ticket to Europe, but if this is terrorism, I don\u2019t want you on a plane either.\u00a0 I think the best thing to do for now is to stay indoors and ride it out.\u00a0 It spreads like the flu, so as long as you isolate yourself from any infected people, you should be alright.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about our families?\u00a0 Our friends?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCall them if you want.\u00a0 Tell them to stay inside.\u00a0 But Gretch\u2026 you can\u2019t tell them anything else, alright?\u00a0 The army would have my head if word of this got out before they choose what details to make public.\u00a0 So not a word about terrorism, got it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay,\u201d she agreed.\u00a0 \u201cWhen do you think you\u2019ll be able to come home?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as possible,\u201d he vowed.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t leave now\u2026 we\u2019re hoping for a breakthrough here.\u00a0 But if we don\u2019t find it, and things get worse, I\u2019ll come for you.\u00a0 I promise.\u00a0 Until you hear otherwise, just stay where you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI will.\u201d\u00a0 A lump rose in her throat.\u00a0 She swallowed it with difficulty.\u00a0 \u201cShawn, be careful, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

She could hear the crooked smile in his voice when he replied, \u201cAlways am.\u201d\u00a0 It tore at her heart.\u00a0 She wished she had held onto him a little longer when she\u2019d hugged him goodbye that morning.\u00a0 Had she even told him she loved him?<\/p>\n

She would now.\u00a0 \u201cI love you,\u201d she whispered, hoping it was enough to convey her emotion through the phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gotta go, sweetheart.\u00a0 I love you too.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then he was gone, the connection cut off.\u00a0 Gretchen closed her phone and set it down.\u00a0 She stared down at it for a few seconds, feeling numb and slow as she tried to process everything her husband had told her.\u00a0 She stood, absently, and the spelling tests slid off her lap and scattered across the living room floor in a flutter of looseleaf.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t bother to pick them up.<\/p>\n

She walked to the closest window and pulled it down, latching it tightly.\u00a0 After that, she went around the house, repeating the process, securing every window in every room.\u00a0 She locked the front door and the back one, too.\u00a0 She closed the air vents in the walls and baseboards.\u00a0 She did this all quite calmly, and then she returned to the couch and hunkered down there.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t chilly in the house, but she started to tremble.\u00a0 She pulled the throw off the back of the couch and wrapped it around her.\u00a0 It smelled like Shawn, from when his head had rested against it as he\u2019d watched the Braves game the night before.\u00a0 Her nostrils flared, taking in the comforting scent, and it was then that the tears started.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

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Chapter 14 Before Infernal Friday, Shawn\u2019s job never scared me.\u00a0 I mean, I never really worried about him when he went to work.\u00a0 Sure, I knew he worked around dangerous strains of bacteria and viruses at the CDC, but I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":8,"menu_order":14,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"onecolumn-page.php","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/161"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":162,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/161\/revisions\/162"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}