Chapter 12: Resuming an Old Pattern

"Hello world; we've got some exciting news: we've finally identified specific cells associated with the Great Death plagues. This is significant, because while we still consider the plagues to be caused by viruses, we've identified a companion cell that seems to flag when the virus is present. The problem researchers had before the collapse of the medical system was that they were looking in the blood for the source of the infection, where there were just too many components to consider. It seems that besides these plagues, the asteroid shower also introduced numerous other microscopic life forms which aren't as deadly, and they're easy to mistake for the plague sources.

What we've managed to do, by examining the people who have survived the Death, is to calculate how the plague works, especially in a weakened form. By doing that, we've determined that sweat, blood and saliva are all effective methods of contagion. By examining sweat samples—which aren't nearly as complex as blood or saliva—we've managed to isolate a suspect cell.

Testing this associated cell, which functions in conjunction with the virus and appears to act as a transmission mechanism for the plagues, proves that blood samples containing these cells produce rapid cell death in healthy blood samples, whereas samples without it don't.

Based on these relatively simple tests, we've been able to determine several things. While the active plague is easily spread by airborne contagions, the modified strain found in survivors shows that the plague requires humidity to survive. While you can catch it from left over skin cells on a door handle, for instance, once the surface dries sufficiently, it's no longer contagious. However, that also means if you enter a previously infected area that contains high humidity, you'll still need to wear gloves before touching anything.

What's more, we've determined that those who have survived the plagues are still infected, though with a much weakened version of it. While it's still contagious, the effectiveness of the contagion is very limited. Essentially it requires skin-to-skin, blood-to-skin, or face-to-face physical interaction to communicate the infection. This stands in marked contrast to the active plague, which has been repeatedly determined to be carried in the air, blowing great distances on the upper air currents. It's now our understanding that it was the moisture content that allowed these pathogens to survive in the airstream.

However, it's important to note that these results have only been documented in a few individuals, each of whom has survived each of the plagues. We haven't managed to test anyone who has survived only a single plague, and we're unsure whether this 'weakened efficiency' applies to them as well. We have a few samples from someone in this category, which we'll be testing to determine whether it applies in their cases as well, but we're currently stymied by a lack of test subjects, as most people who've survived a single plague variant then fall victim to the other versions.

Anyway, we'll continue to conduct these tests, letting you know what we learn, but we thought it essential to get this information out to you as quickly as possible, as it will help you with your risk assessments."

"Harrisonburg? Virginia?" Greg asked, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Wouldn't it make more sense to try for Charleston? After all, it's a much larger city. Since it's the state capital, it should also have more resources."

"Think about it," David explained, "Charleston is surrounded by a meandering river and shadowed by mountains. You've got to cross three major bridges to even reach the main potion of the city. The chances of the roads leading into the area, or the mountain passes leading into the city, being blocked by either downed trees or landslides are significant. And even if we make it there the bridges might not even be passable given the damages of the initial meteor showers, so chances are we'll have to build rafts just to reach the city. For as far as we have to travel and what it'd require to make the trip, it's just not worth the risks involved."

Everyone was scattered around the living room, which given how much machinery Tom had installed there, made it very crowded. Since most were still susceptible to exposure, that meant they couldn't squeeze too closely together.

David had taken the center seat on the main couch, with Alice sitting on his right, symbolically positioning herself as his 'right hand' man—a point she was very consciously trying to make. Mattie, still seeking the close physical connection that had originally gotten her infected, was sitting on the floor leaning against his legs, while Betty was leaning against David's left side.

Having suffered through so much, she felt it was her right to demand the same kind of physical contact that Alice and Mattie shared, and while she wasn't making a big deal of it, she wasn't shy about cuddling against him, feeling the comfort of his arm protectively wrapped around her and the reassuring warmth of his body reminding her of how much she'd been missing over the many weeks she'd so studiously avoid such contact. But her focus was on the discussion, because she knew that this was no time to play, and she wanted to prove that she could be as important to David as both Alice and Mattie were.

The new kids were all sitting on the floor, and while they were physically near each other, they each maintained a certain minimal distance from each other, each very conscious of exactly how close the others were to them. Every time one of them would shift position, they'd all shift as well, maintaining the exact same distance between them, each painfully aware of the physical risk the proximity of their own siblings represented to them.

Greg sat in an easy chair across from David, with Melissa perched in his lap. Now that they'd committed to each other, they both seemed much happier, and while they were paying attention to everything that David said, they also spent a fair amount of time staring, touching and whispering sweet nothings to each other.

Monique, ever conscious of both social and medical protocol, stood behind the chair that Debbie was seated in. She still felt protective of her, almost acting as her new mother, but she didn't want to appear too involved, not because she was afraid Debbie would react negatively, but because she didn't want her to get used to the comfort of others now, since such a hunger could quite literally kill most of those here.

Jenny too, was strategically positioned sitting in front of the other kids, with each of them forming a circle around her. The meaning was clear to everyone watching. They'd have to get through Jenny to reach any of the others. It was clear she took her role of their protector seriously, and she'd gladly trade her life for any of them, but she wouldn't risk casually touching any of them—even her own brother—for fear that such an oversight would be as big a risk as a stranger's physical attack.

Finally, Tom occupied the last chair, situated in isolation next to his busily flickering machinery, holding John-John in his lap as he idly stroked his fur. David noticed that his positioning said a lot about him; that he used his interest in science to hold other people at bay, and he used his knowledge of the risks that others represented to physically distance himself from connecting emotionally with anyone else.

"Meanwhile, Harrisonburg," David continued, leaning forward cradling a warm mug of post-dinner coffee in his palm, "while not as close, has several significant population areas surrounding it, so it makes a better target. It's easier to reach, it has more likely targets, and the geological surroundings make approaching it much simpler. It also has more routes to access it, in case any one is inaccessible."

"That does make sense," Greg said, taking his eyes off of Melissa as he considered the idea. "But what about heading north, hitting Morgantown and the various towns in that direction?"

"That's a valid option," David admitted, sitting back and luxuriating in the feel of so many loved ones close by, which felt that much more bittersweet in comparison to how everyone was reacting to each other, "and it's more likely to succeed than Charleston, but while it's farther away, the cities and towns along route 81 are more populous than those along 79. If Harrisonburg proves a bust, we'll still be near Charlottesville in one direction, and Strasburg and Winchester in the other. We'll have more options heading east than we will moving in any other direction." David took a sip of his coffee, giving Betty another comforting hug as he allowed the others to consider the wisdom of his words. He'd already been planning this for some time, and they were just hearing it now.

"Before we get any farther, I have one more thing to add," Tom hurried to contribute, not wanting to leave such an important decision up to a bunch of Luddites who didn't know how important this truly was. Everyone turned their attention to the solitary scientist, and his little dog too, as he wore a smug self-congratulatory expression on his face. "I've been sitting on this, since you've been so distracted with other things," he began, sliding his eyes first towards Betty, then to the kids scattered across the floor. "But since it'll impact where we travel to, it makes sense to bring it up now." He took a second, allowing the tension to build a bit for a dramatic delivery, his eyes filled with amusement as everyone focused on him with intense interest, supplying him with the emotional satisfaction he couldn't derive from other means. "I've isolated the cells that I suspect are spreading the disease."

There was silence for several long moments as everyone took in this newest revelation.

"Shit, that's major," Monique replied with an astounded expression on her face. While she knew he'd been fiddling with blood samples, she'd never really thought he was anywhere near discovering anything, thinking his skills—which he'd never defined—were too limited and his available resources too few.

Tom spent several minutes detailing the results of his latest research, speaking rapidly and using scientific terms that went right over the heads of most of his audience, although Alice make copies notes as he went on for her planned broadcast later, before he got to his point.

"This idea is an unproven hypothesis at the moment, and we can't prove it until we can identify the virus and tie it to the associated bacteria. To do that we need access to a working electron microscope." He paused, making a vague hand gesture in David's direction. "That's why traveling to Harrisonburg is the only valid choice here. There's such a device in Charlottesville, which isn't that far from Harrisonburg, but there's none in Charleston. We'll need to plan on visiting the University of Virginia campus, and take along a generator or two to allow me to finish the necessary research." He was so sure about the value of this important consideration, representing a major step in eventually curing the Great Death, that he thought it rendered the entire discussion moot.

As if to echo the import of his words, John-John took that opportunity to bark sharply at the others, as if to say "Listen to my master, as he knows what he's talking about!"

"That's a lot of material to drag around, especially over such a long distance," Greg pointed out. "That's asking for a lot, both in terms of effort, resources and time."

"It is, but that's why I'm bringing it up now," Tom replied. "I think it's necessary, but hey, I'm just the lead researcher here, David's the project manager," he added with a slightly dismissive grin, again thinking the conclusion was evident to everyone. "I'm leaving it up to you to decide. I can continue my work without it, but we may be barking up the wrong tree and wasting valuable time we can't afford. This is a simple but complicated step that'll move us significantly forward towards learning how to handle this crisis."

"All right, I'll consider it," David said, unhappy that it fell to him to consider all the risks and provide the solutions to carry out everyone else's grand schemes. "But I'm not making a decision on the spur of the moment."

"Keep in mind that traveling to Harrisonburg is already pretty far, and venturing to Charlottesville is likely to be both more trouble and more problematic," Greg pointed out. "There will be more abandoned cars, more potential for conflicts, more downed trees, power lines and dead bodies."

"Just remember, we don't know if the facilities are even intact," Monique reminded them.

"And there's always the chance we may have to fight our way there," Alice pointed out, reminding everyone that she was now effectively David's security chief.

"That's true," Tom argued, feeling the obvious solution slipping from his hands, "but I think a visit there would be a risk we should all be willing to take, given what it could do for us. For both us and the rest of humanity," he reminded them. "This would help us identify the central component of the Great Death, and would be a major advance towards finding a potential cure. We have a working understanding of how these plagues work, but we need to determine whether I'm not missing something." Tom paused, running his fingers nervously through his unruly hair, afraid of losing this opportunity.

"Again, you've all made your points, but we need to work out the logistics, and I'm not going to do that in an open forum," David stressed. "This is looking more and more like a trip of several days, at the very least. Now, is there anything else?"

"I'd like to return to Tom's previous announcement," Monique said, turning to him. "While these new theories about the diseases are interesting, what are the real world implications?"

Tom smiled at this, as it allowed him to further expound on his research. "Well, it means I could run tests to tell if someone is infected, and I can identify just how sick they are even if they have no symptoms. I've also demonstrated that we don't have to worry about touching surfaces, as only still moist ones are contagious. If we enter a house that's been standing empty for some time, it should be safe, although if the house has a high level of humidity, you'll need to be cautious."

"Damn, that's pretty significant," Melissa observed, sitting up and leaning away from Greg for the first time since sitting down for the discussion.

"Yeah, it is," Monique agreed with a nod, glancing at everyone sitting on David's couch. "But I'm mostly interested in what it means about our infected carriers."

"Ah, now that's where it gets interesting," Tom responded, leaning forward and disturbing John-John, who liked always knowing where everyone was, since he always lived in fear of someone doing something disgusting behind his back. John-John settled back down as Tom began explaining his research, the words tumbling from his mouth in an excited rush. "As I said, I can tell how sick someone is by how quickly the fresh blood cells begin to die. If they die quickly, then the person is both sick and highly contagious. David, Alice and Mattie's blood doesn't rank as highly contagious, and as we thought—their blood can infect healthy, unexposed cells, but the newly infected cells die much more slowly. While they're still carriers of the plagues, the version they carry is very weak and thus it takes a while for the cell damage to accumulate."

"Does that mean we're relatively safe if we stay here?" Peter asked, ignoring his sister's glare as he tried to make sure he understood Tom's complicated explanation.

"Exactly," Tom replied. "It's just as we've surmised so far. As long as you don't touch anyone who has survived any of the plagues, you should be fine. I'd also stay away from their shower, their towels or their clothing, but otherwise there shouldn't be a problem."

"You hear that?" Betty asked Mattie as she leaned forward and ruffled her head. "It's safe for us to make out."

Mattie smacked her hand away as everyone laughed, but Betty's eyes had been looking at David when she'd made her comment. David hadn't noticed, but Alice sure did.

"What's more, I did some quick saliva samples," Tom continued. "Again, that gets complex because there are SO many cells in saliva, many never fully identified, but knowing what to look for, I could evaluate just how contagious their spit is. I then had Betty cough into a couple of specimen jars. As far as I can tell, there are no contagious elements transmitted beyond about half a meter. So the only way they could affect you via an air-borne transmission is if you were standing right in front of their face."

"That's reassuring," David responded. "I've been worried about compromising everyone here. Just in case you're worried, Greg, I'll try not to breathe the next time we kiss," he teased, generated laughs from everyone, although Betty's laugh was more nervous than heartfelt. "Instead it looks like our assumptions about it have been spot on."

"Well, that much is based on empirical evidence," Tom conceded, "so it doesn't require this trip to confirm. The bottom line is that, yes, you're still contagious but the contagion is drastically reduced."

"Well that's reassuring," Jenny said, looking like a major weight had been finally lifted from her shoulders. She'd been afraid she'd have to take everyone from the house at some point, but if what Tom said was true, while it was possible that someone might end up contracting it, the rest were unlikely to, and David at least had a treatment for it. "We'll definitely stay here in that case. Just make sure you all stay away from David and the others," she reminded her kids. "While this is an acceptable risk, a simple mistake is still life threatening."

"Okay, Mom," Peter said in the world-weary tone of a put-upon tween.

David was hoping the kids would spend the rest of the evening watching movies, but instead an intense discussion started over who was going to be able to join in the trip. David merely shook his head, realizing there was never an end to this management business.

"Dad, we've got another one," Alice yelled from her post in the radio room.

"You'd better hurry," Mattie added excitedly, shouting loudly enough for her voice to echo into every nook and cranny of the house. "It's someone new that we haven't met before!"

"Hold on a minute, Dougan. I'm sure my father will want to hear this, and there's no sense repeating it unnecessarily," Alice explained into the ham radio.

"Understood," replied the faint voice at the other end of the crackling static filled connection. "This is a big event on my end as well, and I'm interested in talking with whoever I can at this point."

"Well, we have a houseful of survivors at the moment, but I'll let you speak with my father, who's in charge of the operations here."

"All right, all right, I'm here," David said as he entered the room, glancing about wildly expecting to see someone injured given how excitedly the two had been calling. When he saw they weren't as panicked as they'd sounded, he approached them clustered around the radio on the table, ruffling Mattie's hair. "How the heck can a woman as small as you generate so much noise?" he asked wryly. At her grin and shrug, he harrumphed and turned his attention to his daughter. "What's the deal? Who haven't we met?"

"It's someone new," Alice repeated.

"So I gathered, since that announcement is still ringing in my ears," David responded. "Okay, what about the others? Have we received any word from either John Taylor or Tobias?"

"No, neither one has responded lately," Alice responded before turning back to the radio. "My father's here now, go ahead and explain what you told me," Alice instructed Dougan.

"Sure. My name is Dougan Larks, from Loveland, Colorado. I am ... I was with my family," he replied, choking up slightly. "Our house burned down in a fire started by the initial meteor shower and we were forced to take shelter in Denver. The city created an emergency shelter that took in all the fire victims, but once people started dying, we figured that many people in one place was a recipe for disaster, so I took my family and looked for someplace safer.

"We took refuge in the Cherry Creek Marina. It's a landlocked lake complete with a yacht club, and since most of the boats were totaled by the meteor shower or the owners were either injured or missing, the place was empty. We took over an abandoned boat, stocked it with whatever food we could find, and settled in to escape what was happening outside. Only it didn't work out so well," he concluded, sounding close to tears.

After a short pause, during which David was afraid they'd lost the connection, he continued. "My wife and kids died, one after another. I got ill, but I recovered just after watching my youngest die. When I finally recovered enough to crawl out of the boat, I couldn't find anyone still alive. There were dead bodies all over, but there were no others survivors. I didn't know what to do, and not knowing where else to go, I decided to try the radio that was in the boat. It took a while to figure it out, but the original owner had a decent manual with it, so I finally got it working. I've been calling periodically for several days, but when I turned it on today, I heard you, so I responded immediately."

"Yeah, the plagues were spread via the air, so there wasn't any escaping it," David explained. "By leaving the shelter, you probably bought yourself several days time, but there wasn't any escaping it." He gave Dougan a quick overview of his and Alice's experience, as well as some basic information about the survivors they'd taken in. "So," he asked when he wound down, "there's no one who's survived near you?"

"Not that I've seen," Dougan told them. "The lake and marina are on the edge of a large state park, so there wouldn't have been many people nearby. Honestly, I couldn't venture too far, since there are too many abandoned cars and animal carcasses to drive anywhere. After walking for hours, calling out for anyone, I finally gave up and returned here. I've got no idea what to do now."

"Well, not knowing the area, I've got no idea on how to advise you. I don't know how Denver held up." David considered Dougan's situation, trying to come up with possible options, but came up blank. "The thing is, we're expecting some extreme weather this winter, much worse than you've ever seen, so if you don't think you're prepared for it, you may need to find someplace more secure," he said, falling back on his basic survival knowledge. "You'll need shelter, a reliable source of warmth, and access to anyone who may still be alive who can help you out."

"That doesn't leave many options," Dougan replied unhappily. "Without public services, I'm not sure anywhere here will be that safe in the kind of conditions you're describing. If it turns out as bad as you think, then Denver might be the worst place to be. Maybe I need to head for warmer climes before the first snowfall, but it's going to be tough if I can't drive."

"You'll have to focus on finding a decent SUV designed for off-roading, something that will allow you to drive around any obstructions. You'll also need to grab whatever resources you can scrounge. We have a good idea on what's safe and what isn't, so we can tell you how to keep your exposure to diseases to a minimum. I think you should be able to get away from the city without too much trouble, but you'll have to figure out where to go from there."

"I've got family in Oklahoma," Dougan suggested. "Maybe I could try for there?"

David glanced at Alice and Mattie, frowning at the prospect of delivering more bad news. "Unfortunately, the odds are that they didn't survive either," he finally said, opting for brutal honesty over false hope. "If you feel it necessary to check, that's fine, but you'd better be prepared to be disappointed."

"Well, then maybe Albuquerque, New Mexico would be better," Dougan suggested, remaining positive, still hoping for the best. "Or maybe even Arizona. They're warmer, so it should be better for escaping the cold and snow."

"That sounds like a plan, but they're both a long ways away. Keep your eyes open on the way down for anyplace that looks like you could survive if you get stuck or things don't work out."

"OK, I'll try for that then. It'll take me a little time to get organized before I go, and I'll need to find some way of taking this—"

"CQ CQ CQ," someone else broadcast, interrupting their communications, "This is ... the hell with it, I'm trying to reach whoever is on the line."

"This is David in West Virginia," David responded, also ignoring the formal rules of ham radio communications. He glanced questioningly at Alice, his eyebrows raised in surprise. She shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'No idea who he is'. "We also have Dougan from Denver with us. Who is this?" he continued.

"This is Nick Rogers," the new voice replied, the signal being clearer so the sound of the wind in the background could be heard. "I left on an extended solo hunting trip almost two months ago, I was camping in the secluded Rozel Bay area of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. While I was humping my way up into the hills, the meteor storm started and destroyed my vehicle, so I had to walk out. Fortunately I'd packed for an extended stay, so I had basic amenities like a tent, sleeping bag and some freeze-dried food to help me survive. Plus I'd gone there to hunt, so that helped as well, although I figured out to stop when I noticed the animals looking sick. I just got to Ogden, the nearest city about six hours ago, and there doesn't seem to be anyone left alive. There are bodies everywhere, human and animal! What the hell is going on? What happened?"

"Ah, Nick. You've officially missed the end of the world, I'm afraid," David told him with a grim smile. He then provided a brief recap of what had happened, what had survived so far, and what he believed the origins of the plagues were.

Nick was interested, but had trouble wrapping his mind around its implications. After a long silence, his voice came back subdued.

"Really? There's no one left?" he asked, his voice almost pleading as if asking David to tell him it was all some vast cosmic joke.

David took a deep breath. "I wish I could tell you otherwise, Nick. There are survivors, obviously since we're speaking, but there are very few of us. We don't know for sure, but we estimate that there was only a couple hundredth of a percentage survival rate. This was more than an apocalyptic event, it's closer to extinction event. We survived only because there are so many humans that a few had either the odd genetic advantages or just random luck. The problem was that there were multiple plagues, and if someone survived one, they might not survive the next, or the one after that. Each of these was transmitted via the air, so no one was spared."

David paused for a moment to let his words sink in, and then continued in a more sympathetic tone. "I know it's a difficult concept to grasp, but you need to deal with it because you're going to need to struggle to survive from here on out. I'm afraid you're not out of the woods yet. The plagues haven't disappeared, but have simply lessened in severity because there aren't enough people surviving to transmit it as quickly. And there's more bad news ... There are very few resources left, and on top of that the meteor shower put so much ash in the air that it's blocking the sun. That means that there's going to be fewer things growing, and it's going to get incredibly cold for the next five to ten years.

"You've got to begin collecting resources," David said, speaking slowly so that Dougan could consider the import of his words as he spoke them, "and you need to find a safe place to live where you can sustain yourself. If you can't do it where you lived before, then there's simply no reason to return there other than to say goodbye, and if it's been contaminated by the dead, then it's not worth risking it. You'll need to find any other survivors you can, and a way of providing for them."

"Shit," Nick exploded unexpectedly. "Shit, shit, shit! I left my girlfriend, my parents, my sister, and all my friends behind in Provo. I've got to..." His voice trailed off as he thought about what he'd seen on the streets of Ogden and what David had told him. "They're all dead, aren't they?" he asked in a small lost voice.

"I'm sorry," David said, feeling the man's pain, "but you're not alone ... We've all lost those close to us. Though it's no consolation, be glad you weren't there to see them passing, because it wasn't a pretty sight. But you're still alive, and we need to make sure you stay that way. Do you have any plans for what you're going to do now?"

"Damn, I don't really know," Nick said with a sigh. "I haven't had any time to consider it. After all, I only found out that the world ended about ten minutes ago," he added with a slight chuckle, obviously his attempt at black humor to cope with events. "I haven't really checked Ogden. I just came across the bridge and found dead bodies amongst all the animal carcasses, so I found a nearby marina and searched until I found a boat with a ham radio. I tried the local emergency channels but..."