Horror

A number of things happened quickly this morning and this is the first opportunity I have had to journal about the course of events.

First, I received a call from the office of the Navy in the Pentagon. Admiral Davies said the UN team had actually landed about the same time the news reports about the recovering animals were hitting CNN. They arrived at the beach in troop landing craft and headed inland on 4 wheeler ATVs.

About a mile into their trip they came across a field strewn with the bodies of various rodents and some larger mammals and birds. Quick examinations of the bodies showed that they had mainly died of fatigue, their hearts having literally seized or ruptured (he used the word ‘exploded’) from the exertion of their frantic exodus.

Having found this to be the case with several animals, they remounted their ATVs and moved on in search of the ‘resurrected.’ The scientists had not moved far before they spotted a group of one hundred or so rabbits. They noted this as unusual for rabbits -- and rodents in general -- who generally do not move in packs or herds. The scientists dismounted their four wheelers and approached cautiously with tranquilizer guns. At first, nothing happened and the group of rabbits stumbled together Eastward, the direction of the stampede and the passed cloud.

The scientist in the lead, Anatol Petrovsk with the Russian version of the CDC, apparently stumbled over a gopher hole and fell. By the time he got his hands under himself to push up, three rabbits were on top of him, biting him on the face and neck. He struggled and actually managed to get his tranq gun under one and he squeezed the trigger. The force of the dart being launched from the gun lifted the rabbit off of Petrovsk’s shoulder and the teeth that had been sunk in up to the gums pulled free along with a decent patch of Petrovsk’s neck. Bunny Fufu (Admiral Davies said one of the other scientists had ironically dubbed the rabbit such because of the reference to the children’s song and because the name spelled out sounds like “eff you, eff you) landed about three feet away. The rabbit, who had been shot with enough tranq for a bearapparently stood up, shook like a wet dog, sending the dart flying, and lept right back onto Petrovsk. And sunk his teeth into the man’s chest to continue his meal.

The other scientists were getting ready to leap in (forgive the pun) to help their fallen colleague, but the two Marines that served as the armed escort for the expedition held them back and ordered the scientists to return to the boat. The reason for this was that the rest of the rabbit pack was moving toward them, and if it had taken only four to take down Petrovsk, a hundred or more would easily wound if not kill everyone left in the expedition.

When being briefed back on the British battleship that had been the landing pad for the expedition’s helicopter, the scientists reported that while the rabbits were violent, the rodent’s faces were unexplainably devoid of expression throughout the whole attack. They also reported seeing the rabbits breathing wisps of smoke tinged the same color blue as the cloud that had put them into a coma hours earlier.

Admiral Davies asked me what I thought this meant. Obviously, it suggested that the blue cloud was infectious and induced a coma followed by some sort of disease that effected some or all of the brain of the victims. He said he concurred and asked how I would fight it. I explained, that I could not even begin to devise an antidote -- if one were even possible -- without a sample from an infected animal. Barring that, I would stay the hell away from it. He said he concurred with that conclusion and excused himself to take care of some other pressing matter.

Not fifteen minutes after I hung up with the Admiral, Amanda called upset. She was not crying hysterically, but her voice cracked occasionally and she sniffled incessantly.

“Bruce,” she said, “they’re going to burn and sink the ship.”

I asked her how she could possibly know that and she explained that the Vice President had just called her.

“He said he was very sorry for the situation, that Eugene had been a great academic and that the loss of him would be felt throughout the scientific community. ‘But,’ he said ‘we have every reason to believe that his discovery in the arctic had killed every person aboard the ship and that it is imperative for the safety of millions of Americans that it not be allowed to come ashore and infect any more.’ He said the best option for containment was to napalm the ship to burn it with extreme heat and then sink it.”

She sobbed a but and then explained that she had said she understood and then thanked the VP for calling to let her know personally.

“Did they tell you when they planned to --” I started to ask when the HOLD button lit on my phone and tones played through the phone’s speaker to indicate the intercom system that plays through ever phone in the office was being activated. Not five seconds passed before the announcement started.

“Please forgive the interruption. This is Arthur Cannon, Director of the CDC, and I am broadcasting this message to all field offices simultaneously. We have been closely following the situation aboard the Northern Belle, the ship that discovered an unidentified biologic gel in the arctic 10 days ago. As you likely know, the ship stopped all external contact during its return voyage and witnesses have reported a probable contamination of the substance to all aboard. Due to this combined with accounts of the Greenland incident the President of the United States has decided that the risks to the security of the country are too great to allow the ship to land or have anybody investigate it in person. To this end an attack is being made on the ship as I speak to incinerate all contents and then sink the ship 300 miles off the coast. All CDC offices are asked to remain on alert status until it is deemed that this crisis is past. I thank you for you dilligence in this matter. An email with instructions for how to proceed will be sent to all employees immediately. Thank you.”

The intercom tones signaled the switch back for the phones. There was a moment of silence, and then Amanda spoke shakily through the handset, “Hello?”

“Amanda...I’m sorry...they...they jst attacked Eugene’s ship.”

“I know. I just watched it live on CNN.”