Day Zero

Day: 48

The helicopter that carried Helen Mason landed on the landing pad and was met by Strader. He saluted the military personnel who brought her into to the building. The solider saluted back before the helicopter launched back into the air.

Helen appeared to be in her mid-forties and was dressed as professionally as the rest of the group was dressed casually. Wearing black slacks, heels and a button up shirt she approached Strader he noticed the way that she assessed his mountain man appearance. Dressed in a flannel, jeans and having three days’ worth of stubble on his face, Strader couldn’t blame her.

She held out her hand “I’m Doctor Helen Mason” she introduced herself.

“Former Lieutenant Paul Strader” he said as he shook her hand.

He led the way to the door; she followed her heels clacking behind her. Strader always hated the sound of high heels. He stopped by Helen’s room, which like everyone else’s was simply a private room that the sick patients would stay in. She looked slightly insulted that she had to stay in a hospital room but she didn’t say anything.

“I hate to rush you, but we need you to join us in the conference room where we are about to start a meeting” Strader said to the woman.

“Of course” she stated placing her bag on the floor in the hospital room before following him out the door.

They walked in silence; Strader wasn’t quite sure what to say to her. He honestly wasn’t sure what to say to most of the people he worked with.

“So...” he began awkwardly. “You work with microbiology…are you ever out in the field much?” he asked.

“No I work in the lab. I don’t collect samples; I am not exactly the outdoor type.”

Strader tried to hide the way that he rolled his eyes.

“Here we are” he said as he opened the door.

It was Henry who spoke first. “Welcome.”

“There are only ten of you?” Helen asked.

“The US government decided to use the Institute as one of the places for research. We have some of the best equipment in the nation and the Surgeon General thought that this would be the best place for the North American team to work” Yumi explained.

Helen nodded. She must be insulted that she was not chosen to help with the team. Strader thought.

“Please take a seat” Henry invited.

“So you think that this is toxoplasmosa gondii?” Dr. Kennedy inquired.

“Yes or another parasite similar to it.” Helen replied.

Strader noticed the doubtful looks that the other members of the team shared.

“We did an autopsy of a cat yesterday…there was no trace of the parasite in the cat. Nor in its feces as Fabiana was so kind to examine for us” Henry said.

Strader saw the way that Fabiana blushed at the compliment. “I didn’t find a trace of it. In a cat, b-but that was only one sample” She stated. Strader noticed that her stutter was beginning to become less frequent. It was whenever the girl was very confident in herself that she didn’t stutter.

“It can be found in humans as well. Up to 60 million people in the United States carry it. Due to the human immune system, it can take years to show. It is one of five neglected parasite infections” Helen said in a condescending voice.

Strader was beginning to understand why Yumi didn’t like this woman.

Strader noticed Riley mutter something to Abigail who answered with a triumphant smile on her face.

“What’s that smile about?” James asked.

“Looks like my Walking Dead theory could be plausible after all” she said.

“What are you talking about?” Helen demanded.

“It’s a television show about zombies. It’s pretty cool actually. I mean there is a huge focus on the people and their survival but there are zombies on occasion. Anyways, the C.D.C believes that people have some kind of protein or something along those lines, I don’t remember, that makes them susceptible to catch the zombie disease” she explained.

“Anyways…back to the realistic disease” James said.

“So what are we going to do? See if we can mix all the parasites in the United States with rabies?” Hunter asked.

“That is exactly what we are going to do” Helen answered.

Strader gave Fabiana a sympathetic look. She tended to get very attached to the test subjects. He always wondered why she decided to be an animal behaviorist.

“Who is your animal behaviorist” Helen demanded.

Fabiana slowly raised her hand.

“I need you to infect at least 30 rats with these diseases caused by parasites. Five for each parasite and five as a placebo” She said as she looked around the room obviously trying to find a tablet or some type of more advanced technology than the dry erase board that Henry and Benjamin had grown so attached to.

“You are aware that rabies is definitely a part of this disease” Benjamin asked.

Helen turned to them “I do recall your team sending the data out. Fine, Fabiana will you also make sure that these rats that are infected also have rabies”

Chagas Disease, cysticercosis, toxocariasis, toxoplasmosis, trichomoniasis

“This could take as long as ten d-d-days per rat” Abigail said.

“Ten days?” she asked Helen inquired.

“Well since rats have the closest DNA to humans, the longest incubation time before the symptoms show is ten days” Riley explained.

“Then we will wait for ten days” Helen stated crossing her arms

The rest of the group exchanged glances.

Who knows how many people could die in the next 10 days Strader thought to himself seeing the same reaction in Riley’s eye.

“What do we do until then?” Abigail asked the question that both Strader and Riley wanted to ask.

“What do you mean?” Helen asked.

“It is going to take 10 days for that test to be complete. Do you have any idea how many people could die in the next 10 days?” she demanded.

Helen sighed, Strader noticed that she gave Abigail the same type of look that James did. “What else could it be?” Helen asked.

“We are not sure yet, but we haven’t tested your toxoplasma gongii yet.” Abigail said.

“That’s not necessary,” Yumi spoke. “The European Team and the Asian team have determined that toxoplasma gongii is not the cause of this epidemic”

Abigail sighed and stood up before erasing the only medical condition that Henry had spelled correctly.

Strader felt sympathetic for the girl. He could tell that she was impatient, she saw this the same way that he did. Time was of the essence.