Fractured: Outbreak ZOM-813 (2 page)

I just couldn’t wrap my head around this. Riots generally stem from political demonstrations, protests or rallies gone bad – not drug use. This was skid row; legions of the homeless, drug addicts and the poor souls who got lost stumbled upon the area and had nowhere else to go. It was a street full of tents and cardboard boxes set up as makeshift homes, dotted with people surrounding burning trash cans for warmth. A third world village set up in the middle of a major city.

We didn’t hear a lot coming out of this area of the city until a few months ago. This just wasn’t a neighborhood to which people paid attention. It kind of surprised me when the story of two homeless men attacking each other was a headline. Of course, both men were high – reportedly on Bath Salts - at the time. Then they had a tuberculosis outbreak on Skid Row. The news definitely broadcasted that story because of the safety issue for anyone in the area. The city even asked for Federal assistance to help the homeless population.

The last riot this city saw was over a decade ago from a high profile legal case, and as usual, people thought burning buildings would let their voices be heard. While the homeless had plenty of reasons to want to be heard, I couldn’t understand what would cause them to riot in such a violent fashion.

Will they label this as a drug-fueled riot when this is all said and done?

By the end of the day, headlines on the news said it was fully contained by police, and several people had been severely injured. However, the violence had spread from a twelve block radius to over two square miles.

I looked at the clock, and the time told me that Dan would be home any minute. I realized I hadn’t even been outside since this morning, as my day had consisted of pacing from the office to the living room monitoring news outlets.

I looked over to Mayhem who was sleeping on the floor.

Did I even let him out this afternoon?

“I wish I had your problems, buddy,” I said to him while he snoozed.

Hearing my voice, he perked up and looked at me with a slow tail wag.

“Babe, I’m home!” Dan called out as he entered the house.

I walked into the kitchen to greet him but was quickly pushed out of the way by Mayhem who got to him first. “Hey, how was your day?”

“Usual,” he responded putting down his things by the door and scratching Mayhem on the head.

“Was traffic bad?” I kissed him hello.

Dan and Mayhem made their way into the living room, I followed. Dan plopped down on the couch, letting out a long sigh before he answered, “No, seems like most people stayed home.”

“Well, there’s nothing on the news saying what started this.” I sat down next to him.

He kissed me again. “I’m sure everything is going to quiet down by tomorrow. As soon as they open the streets in that area we’ll hear some drug addict went crazy, and it escalated from there.”

I wasn’t convinced.

“I tell you what. If the craziness picks up again tomorrow, we’ll get out of town for the weekend.” He continued to try and make me feel better.

“Deal. Can we pack tonight?” I asked with hopes he’d say yes.

He laughed off my question like I was kidding. “We’ll pack if, only if, the rioting starts again.”

The night was quiet. Dan fell right to sleep as usual with Mayhem resting at his feet, but my mind was racing with thoughts of downtown LA flooded with a sea of angry homeless people. Restless, I decided to get out of bed and double check the locks on the doors and windows, and then get a glass of water. It seemed silly and paranoid. Surely a distance of 12 miles – even under best of circumstances twenty minutes driving – provided a buffer between our home in the hills and the city. And after all, all reports stated that the worst of the rioting was over, but a little voice in my head said better safe than sorry.

Standing in the dark kitchen, the world seemed calm. I could turn on the TV, but why break this perfect peaceful atmosphere and get caught up again in the 24-hour news cycle stating the same tired facts? I decided I was going to forget it and keep my confidence in the officials. If the situation changes, or gets any worse, the news and authorities would let the public know. In the meantime, I decided I would continue on like any other day.

I think I tossed and turned another hour before finally falling asleep.

5am – My usual wake up, take a few minutes to collect my thoughts, cuddle Mayhem, get up, dressed, and off for a daily run. Mayhem was right in front of me as usual every step of the way as I made my way through the dark and silent house. I set up my Ipod, stepped out in the street…

Emergency sirens wailing through the sky broke the serene morning silence.

Mayhem howled, singing with the alarms. I tried to calm his agitated state, but he tugged at his leash and moaned at my attempts.

A helicopter blazed over the neighborhood with spotlights pointed to the ground. I could hear the echo of the same message being repeated from choppers in the distance. Beneath the helicopters whirling blades clouds of smoke rose from the roof tops.

RESIDENTS PLEASE BE ADVISED TO STAY IN YOUR HOMES. ALL RESIDENTS, PLEASE BE ADVISED TO STAY IN YOUR HOMES.

The helicopter pilots kept repeating the warning over the chopper megaphone as they circled the vicinity.  It was like the warnings you would see in a World War II documentary of Europe, with the sirens blaring and people running for their lives before bombings blew away the cities. This wasn’t something that we saw in the United States.

THIS WAS NOT A TEST.

CHAPTER 2

Before I knew it, I was standing in my living room screaming for Dan. In panic mode, my body went on autopilot – enter my front door, make sure Mayhem is inside, lock it, both locks are better, grab remote on coffee table, turn on news.

Mayhem began howling to the sirens, sniffing the front door and howling again, wagging his tail like it’s a game.

My adrenaline was pumping through my body making my heart feel like it was about to rip open my chest.

Where is Dan? Can’t he hear my frantic commotion? Can’t he hear Mayhem barking?

“Dan!”

The TV screen lit up the dark living room. I couldn’t sit. This had to be bad news. Really bad news, and no one sits for this stuff. I never understood why before someone presented a person with bad news they advised you to sit. My nerves were too rattled to sit.

“What’s wrong? Sorry, I was in the shower.” Dan ran into the living room with a towel around his waist. “Mayhem, quiet!”

Mayhem calmed down, jumped on the couch with a soft whimper of frustration, and laid down.

Either the expression on my face gave it away, or he finally heard the sirens, I don’t know which, but he was suddenly very aware something was wrong. 

“Riots? Did they start again?” Dan stepped in front of the TV next to me.

The sirens outside seemed to be getting louder. Dan walked over to our front window and peeked out as I turned up the volume. There was no local news anymore. All the stations were broadcasting from the National level.

On the bottom of the screen, the news banner read, “LOS ANGELES GROUND ZERO.” A man in a suit stood at a podium with news microphones set up along with flashes and the clicks of cameras going off in the background. The title on the screen said he’s the CDC’s Director for Health, Security, and the Environment.

Another banner flashed across the screen, “VIRUS ZOM-813 INFECTS MAJOR CITIES.”

“PLEASE BE ADVISED TO STAY IN YOUR HOMES. WE HAVE NOT IDENTIFIED WHETHER THIS VIRUS IS AIRBORNE OR TRANSFERRED BY BLOOD. PATIENTS SUFFER FLU-LIKE SYMPTOMS WITHIN 12-24 HOURS OF BEING EXPOSED FOLLOWED BY DELUSIONAL AND SOMETIMES VIOLENT BEHAVIOR…” the man in the suit continued.

The so-called riots yesterday weren’t riots at all. They were diseased crazed maniacs. People lost their minds after being infected with an unknown virus, and officials initially blamed drugs because the incidents occurred in a poor neighborhood known for narcotics and violence. Officials tried to contain the incidents and provide a plausible story that wouldn’t create wide-spread panic. Unfortunately, they never had a chance for containment because they hadn’t even figured out how it was spreading.

My mind drifted away from the TV while thinking of our families. Dan’s parents lived about a mile away in the neighborhood over the hill. My sister is the other direction less than two miles away.

We should all be together under one roof during this crisis. Whose house is safer? Should we even stay in the city? We need to make a plan for us all to be together.

I came back from my thoughts and found that Dan and I were both sitting down on the couch with our hands gripping one another.  Suddenly I understood the need to sit for bad news.

“Can we get out of town now?” I asked.

“Call your sister. Let’s start packing.” Dan got up from the couch and left the living room.

I turned up the volume to the TV and listened to the CDC Official continue. “ALL PUBLIC TRAVEL HAS STOPPED. LOS ANGELES IS GROUND ZERO WITH CASES BEING REPORTED IN OTHER MAJOR CITIES ALONG THE WEST COAST.”

Then… “NO KNOWN CURE.”

It was all I needed to jump back to my feet. We needed to pack, and we needed to pack fast.

I dialed Melody but only heard the dreaded busy signal over the phone line.

Dan entered the living room again, holding his cell phone. “The phones are dead.”

“I couldn’t reach Melody either.”

“Everyone in the city must be trying to reach each other. Let’s pack. We can try again in a few minutes.” Dan left the room again.

I didn’t have to tell him that I wouldn’t leave without my family, and I know he was thinking the same thing about his parents.

It didn’t take long for each of us to pack a bag of clothes. We went to the garage next and began pulling down the containers with our camping gear – stoves, propane, dry food, lanterns, and everything else we used to camp. We loaded it in the SUV without much organization.

Our SUV, or as we liked to call it, ‘the truck’, had two rows in the back, but we pulled out the third row to make plenty of room for anything we needed.

Mayhem sat in the garage watching intensely with his tail wagging over the idea he was going for a trip.

I headed in to try my sister again while Dan worked on a little more packing. This time the phone rang.

“Hey, please tell me you’ve seen the news,” I said, knowing there’s actually a chance she hadn’t been watching the TV. However, there was no way she couldn’t have heard the sirens.

Melody wasn’t one to be aware of anything outside her life bubble. She enjoyed living in the ‘oblivious to anything that doesn’t affect her’ state of mind, whereas I live in the ‘must know all details around the world’ state of mind.

“Yeah, we’re watching it now. Sorry I didn’t call back yesterday. Thought it was nothing,” she explained on the other end of the phone.

“Dan and I packed; we think it’s a good idea to get out of town. Or at least we all need to be together.” I was pacing the house looking for anything that may be useful to take with us.

“You and the rest of the city. Streets are jammed. Freeways too. We’re locking the house down and staying put. Don’t go outside Harmony. They’re saying it could be in the air.” Melody urged me.

“OK, well, if the cell phone lines are busy we need a way to communicate,” I said simply.

“We could use the walkies we used that time we all went camping. They have long range.” Melody suggested.

I paced a few more minutes around the house while we continued our conversation.

“Let’s check in every few hours, OK?  Love you guys.” I hung up and walked back into the garage where Dan was still loading the truck.

“What are they thinking?” Dan asked closing up the truck.

“They said we should stay put. Mel said Jason came home from night shift, and the roads were a parking lot,” I explained, all the while thinking this was a horrible nightmare from which I couldn’t wake. “They’re locking down the house because the threat could be airborne,” I continued.

“OK, well, the truck’s packed. I managed to reach my Dad, and they’re doing the same thing. We’ll hang tight until we get more information.” Dan sounded perfectly fine with the plan.

Dan and I spent the better part of the day watching the news coverage and peeking through the curtains of our front windows to see what the rest of the neighborhood was doing. We watched our neighbors franticly packing their cars and screeching out of their driveways. My guess was they weren’t worried about the possibility of it being in the air anymore, or maybe they never were. We’re both satisfied with our decision to stay home.

More and more information began flooding the internet and TV stations. Citizens posted pictures and video of the city’s chaos – traffic jams, violent crowds, protests outside City Hall demanding answers, people flooding hospitals and urgent care centers for medicine. Social networking sites and news stations were grabbing whatever information they could glean and ran with it.

Watching the terror take place on our TV screen seemed so surreal. Like we were watching a movie, and when it ends there would be credits with a list of names of who was responsible for this mess. It was our window to a world that we didn’t know anymore; we watched it happening but couldn’t believe it was happening. It was easy to be in denial sitting in our living room.

I can’t say when we fell asleep, but before long morning came. Dan and I were both sleeping on the couch in front of the television. I woke up with Mayhem’s wet nose nudging me to go out, but I still hesitated to open the doors, afraid of contamination.

I reached deep into our linen closet and pulled out a few absorbent pads that we had used when he was a puppy, and laid them on the floor. “Right here, buddy. Pee right here.”

Mayhem looked at me, then the pads, and grumbled in protest.

“It’s the best I can do.” I left him to do his business and headed back to the living room.

Dan was waking up and searching for the remote. When he found it, he turned up the volume. I sat next to him, and we began listening to the latest news broadcasts.

“THE VIRUS STARTS WITH FLU LIKE SYMPTOMS, SEVERE HEADACHES, HIGH FEVER, AND CHRONIC COUGH. VICTIMS ALSO SUFFER AGITATION, CONFUSION, AND FATIGUE. THE VIRUS EVENTUALLY ROBS THE INFECTED OF ANY SIGN OF HIGHER COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS, LEAVING THEM UNABLE TO COMMUNICATE.  DESPITE THE APPARENT ATTACK ON HIGHER FUNCTIONS, VICTIMS REMAIN MOBILE. 

VICTIMS OF THIS INFECTION HAVE BEEN REPORTED TO ATTACK HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS.  REPORTED ATTACKS HAVE INCLUDED BITING AND ATTEMPTS TO INGEST FLESH.

IF YOU ARE SUFFERING FROM THE FIRST STAGES OF FLU LIKE SYMPTOMS, STAY IN YOUR HOME, AND CONTACT YOUR NEAREST HOSPITAL. AUTHORITIES WILL DIRECT YOU FROM THERE. IF YOU COME IN CONTACT WITH AN INDIVIDUAL WHO IS SUFFERING FROM ANY OF THE SIGNS WE’VE MENTIONED, DO NOT MAKE DIRECT CONTACT WITH THEM, GET TO A SAFE AREA, AND CONTACT AUTHORITIES.”

The news then began directing people to evacuation centers around the county. The centers were a zoo. I never understood why people would flee to these places. There were crowds being packed in like sardines. I guess the plus side was that they provided food and water along with the security of military personnel, but it was otherwise a clusterfuck.

Throughout our relationship Dan and I have always had the argument that he had too much stuff. He buys two of everything. Some may even call him an organized hoarder. Today I found myself thankful for this part of him which I normally found as a problem. Dan had all the toys – radios, CB’s, computers, even night vision goggles – and don’t even get me started on tools and weapons. Between his toys in the garage, including all our gear for camping, and food in the kitchen, we were going to be just fine waiting it out in the safety of our own home.

“I need you to make me a promise.” I placed my hand on Dan’s leg.

“What is it?” he asked.

“We won’t be heroes. You won’t be anyone’s hero. We take in our families, and that’s it.” I pleaded, knowing how hard that request would be for him.

He nodded his head as he took a second to absorb the reality that we could only worry about ourselves. “Agreed.”

***

Another day came and went.

Officials determined it wasn’t airborne, bringing more evacuations of people trying to flee the city, causing mass traffic jams on major roads and freeways. Evacuation centers were spilling over with people who had no other safe place or way out. Violence filled the streets, people looted for basic supplies, friends and neighbors lashed out against one another in fear of getting sick. Most areas still had water and power, the news stations were still broadcasting, and phone lines, although spotty, still worked. All images were captured from roof tops or helicopters, civilians taking photos from their windows and posting online.

We kept our TV on all day and night staying up-to-date on any new developments.

Dan and I spent the day boiling water and filling jugs in the kitchen. We had plenty of bottled water to last us another week or so but figured we might as well start this process as the gas was still on.

Mayhem was sleeping a lot, but he was happy we were finally able to let him in the backyard to use the bathroom.

“We need to figure out a plan to be under one roof with our families.”

Dan just nodded in agreement.

“It’s been two days,” I continued. “I’m sure there’s no one left in this neighborhood; God knows if anyone is even left in the city.”

“You’re right, let’s start working that out with them.”

I placed a full jug on the counter with the others and grabbed my cell.

Nothing.

I tried again, but it wouldn’t even ring.

Dan, seeing my failed attempt, picked up the landline, listened, and hung it back up.

“The phone lines must be finally down,” I sighed.

“Radios.” Dan dashed out of the kitchen.

I followed him into our office where we had the walkies plugged in. He turned one on and adjusted the volume.

“Dad, you there?” Dan asked with slight desperation in his voice. “Dad, are you there?”

The apple didn’t fall far from the tree when it came to Dan and his father. They were the same when it came to their toys. Both were always prepared for the ‘What if I need something?’ scenario. Dan and his dad would keep the radios on throughout the day just to chat with each other, using it like an intercom system between homes. I always thought it was really cute.

“Baby, don’t worry just yet, they probably don’t even know the phones aren’t working. We sure didn’t.” I said, keeping the panic in my bones to myself.