Day Zero

Day 35:

Riley watched as James entered the conference room, the man walked to the computer and plugged in a flash drive. A PowerPoint presentation popped up.

“Henry hates these” Abigail whispered to him.

A picture of the brain popped up, each section a different color with each different part of the brain labeled- the cerebrum, cerebellum, limbic system, brain stem.

He pointed to the largest picture of the brain, what Riley thought was the cerebrum divided into different colors. He then flipped slides, the title said Cerebrum with each part of the cerebrum also labeled and colored differently. “So far it looks like the Frontal Lobe,” he pointed to that part of the cerebrum - associated with reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movement, emotions, and problem solving has shut down” he explained.

“How are they moving then?” Hunter asked.

“I’m getting to that” James replied.

“Well they are still able to run and attack, I can tell you that much” Strader spoke up for the first time in their many meetings. Riley agreed with Hunter on this one. They needed to know how this thing moved.

“Moving on,” James said ignoring Hunter’s question.

Well he is a bloody ray of sunshine. He looked over at Abigail who just rolled her eyes but remained silent.

Another slide appeared, this one titled Cerebellum. “The cerebellum, or “little brain”, is similar to the cerebrum in that it has two hemispheres and has a highly folded surface or cortex. This structure is associated with regulation and coordination of movement, posture, and balance. As you all know… this is considered the oldest part of the brain the idea of the fight of flight reflex come from here. This part of the brain is only slightly damaged” James said.

“Their posture is a bit off” Marian said.

“The chemical in the brain that essentially creates the flight function is also missing. They only have the neurons which fire the fight…or I guess in this case eat” James said.

He changed slides. The title Limbic System appeared “Limbic System is known as the emotional brain, is found buried within the cerebrum. With the exception of part of the hypothalamus which is highlighted in yellow, because it controls hunger, thirst and homeostasis, the limbic system is also inactive.” James explained.

Strader and Marian both nodded in agreement.

“So much for a Warm Bodies scenario” Abigail said

“A what?” Riley asked her.

“It’s a movie where the zombies turn more and more human and begin to feel emotions”

“Well obviously that is not the case” James snapped.

James then switched to a new slide, “The final part of the brain is the brain steam. It looks like the Mesencephalon- the rostral part of the brainstem, it is involved in functions such as vision, hearing, eye-movement, and body movement- that part is also still intact.”

“Makes sense” Yumi said.

James then pointed to a section that was colored highlighter green on the brain steam. “The pons are not used in the brain of the zombie. This is involved in motor control and sensory analysis... for example; information from the ear first enters the brain in the pons. It has parts that are important for the level of consciousness and for sleep. Some structures within the pons are linked to the cerebellum, thus are involved in movement and posture” James explained.

Riley noticed Fabiana and Abigail nod in agreement.

James flipped slides again. “Finally the Medulla Oblongata is not used. It is responsible for the vital bodily functions such as breathing and the heart rate…which we know don’t happen” James stated.

“What about the central nervous system?” Fabiana asked.

“I don’t know yet” James said.

“If the central nervous system is damaged they shouldn’t even be able to move” Dr. Kennedy said.

“There has to be something else involved in this” Abigail said as she stared at the board, Riley smiled at her, the way her long eyelashes brushed against her glasses and her curly blonde hair was down reaching just below her collarbones.

“Marian, you first noticed it aboard the USS Salvation?” Abigail asked.

Riley noticed the way that Strader suddenly turned towards Marian his eyes shocked.

“Yes. But who knows where it could have started; we had soldiers stationed in Pakistan, Nigeria, and Afghanistan it could have come from any of those countries” she said.

“But you were a hospital ship…obviously the sick were taken to you” Abigail said.

Riley noticed Marian bristle slightly. She obviously was insulted by Abigail’s assumption.

“There are plenty of people that did not make it to my boat” she said.

Strader spoke up then. “You were the Capitan of the Salvation? He demanded.

Riley snapped his head towards Strader, along with the rest of the group.

“Yes” Marian said proudly.

“My son was aboard that ship. He didn’t make it home.” Strader stated said tensely.

“You’re sailor Strader’s father?” she asked softly.

“Yeah. Tell me what happened” Strader demanded.

Marian glared at the man. “We were taken out by a missile. No one saw it coming” she said.

“How did you not see it coming?” Strader demanded.

“There are plenty of ways we did not see it coming” Marian said.

Riley noticed that she was fighting to keep her voice under control.

“This disease could have started aboard your ship and you didn’t do anything about it?” Strader demanded.

Marian was obviously beyond angry at being accused by the ex-military man. “Of course I did. I reported it to every higher up I knew” she said.

“You don’t understand that my son was aboard that ship” Strader said. Riley noticed the heartbreaking look he had in his green eyes. It was the same look that his mother had when his father died.

“I am sorry for your loss, but there was nothing we could do” Marian stated.

Strader stood up looking like he was ready to attack the woman who had inadvertently killed his son. He and Hunter stood up quickly and each placed a warning hand tightly on the man’s arm.

Strader shrugged Riley and Hunter’s grip off his arm before storming out of the conference room slamming the door behind him.

Marian sat rod straight, her face pale and her hands slightly shaking.

She has never been involved in the actual process of telling a parent that their son is dead. She probably only signed the letters. Riley thought

“We are done here” Henry said.

The room remained tense for a few more minutes before one by one people began to trickle out the door. Riley found himself sitting alone with Hunter.

“Did you know that he had a son?” Hunter inquired.

Riley shook his head “I had an idea, but I wasn’t sure. I never would have guessed that he was killed overseas”

Hunter nodded. “Do you think that his son caught it?”

Riley shrugged, “I have no idea”

“Now what?”

“I am not sure”