Pestilence

28

Samantha held the syringe above the pale dermis of the woman’s bicep. Wearing thin latex gloves and a surgical mask, Samantha glanced once at Duncan, then plunged the needle into the doughy flesh. She injected the weakened pathogen. Agent X, the deadliest aspect of nature she had ever encountered, was flowing in this woman’s veins. And they would have to hope that it didn’t kill her.

The situation was so absurd that she questioned if they should be there at all. But as Duncan had pointed out, the risk of death was worth the reward of a cure. Maybe he was right, but they were still dealing with one unknown by instituting another.

She pulled out the syringe, threw it into a biohazard bin sitting next to them, and leaned back in the chair as Duncan slapped a cotton ball and a Band-Aid on the woman’s arm.

“So is that all? Can I go home now?”

“I don’t know,” Samantha said. “Where are you staying?”

“They got these, well, I don’t know what you’d call them. Communes, I guess. They got these communes set up, and they have cots for us. And we’re just supposed to sleep out there. But I wanna go home. I need my medications, and they said they was gonna go get ’em, but they never did.”

Duncan rose. “We’ll let you know.”

He led her outside, where a line of at least a hundred people had formed.

Getting through everyone took several hours because more truckloads of people showed up. They had been told, Samantha was informed, that if they submitted to the shot, they could go home in two days.

Samantha was cleaning the site of the injection with alcohol for a teenage girl, who asked, “So where did the sickness come from?”

“The sickness?” Samantha asked.

“That’s what they call it. The sickness. Where’d it come from?”

“Well,” she said, preparing the syringe, “sometimes nature just throws viruses at us. They pop up, do a lot of damage, and then disappear.” She thrust the needle into the girl’s arm. “There was a flu in 1918 that killed almost a million people and then just disappeared. It came and went. And sometimes these things are released accidentally by people that are studying them. And other times, we have no idea where they come from.”

“That’s scary.”

“Yeah,” she said, taking off her surgical mask. “It is. You’re done. Leave the Band-Aid on at least an hour.”

“Thanks.”

When the girl had left, Sam stepped outside into the night air and stretched her back. She glanced up to the moon as Duncan came out and sat on one of the steps of the trailer. He leaned back on his elbows. “Where you staying tonight?”

“I didn’t even think about it. I was hoping at Jane’s in-laws’ house.”

“We can probably get a ride down there, unless they’ve already been rounded up.”

Sam pulled out her cell phone and saw she had a voice mail. She turned the sound on and listened to it.

“Sam, Clyde Olsen. Your sister is being held at one of our facilities. If you want to visit her, you can. I’ve given you clearance. She’s at facility One-Nine-Two-Two. It’s in Rustic Canyon. Give me a text when you’re done with the vaccinations, and I’ll send a jeep up to drive you.”

She hung up and texted back the number, stating that they were done and needed a ride. She got a text back. Okay. Nothing else.

“What is it?” Duncan asked.

“My sister’s being held at one of their facilities.”

“Are they going to let you see her?”

“Yeah, Clyde said he’s cleared me.”

He got up and stretched his arms over his head. “Sam, are you sure you want to see her locked in a cage?”

“What else am I supposed to do? Bury my head in the sand?”

“She’s going to be fine. This… thing just needs to get sorted out.”

“Sorted out by who, Duncan? How many people know what’s going on here?”

“I don’t know.”

She tapped the cell phone against her chin. “I need to figure out a way to get her out of this state. Is there anything you can do?”

“I can take one person on a flight with me, not two. And especially not a family with kids.”

She started to say something, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of helicopter blades hovering above them.