She and the others weren’t sick yet, according to her letter, but the captain had turned the ship around and was heading back early. That alone made Arthur feel better and he had already marked out a route to go and get her.
He glanced over in the corner and saw his AR standing against the wall, after listening to the local radio station. They had reported a rash of break-ins and riots starting in Little Rock. It had been just this morning that Arthur had heard of deaths from the flu, and it had been over a hundred and thirty in Clarksville alone.
In the living room, he heard the TV give off a blare of the Emergency Broadcast Network and then his computer blinked and started blaring as a scroll bar rolled across the bottom. ‘This is not a test, stay tuned for emergency information’.
“Oh shit!” Arthur shouted, jumping up and running to the living room. He read the same ticker at the bottom of the screen, then the screen blinked and showed the national news anchor for the local station.
“Mark Bryant here, and we’ve just received word that all stations are now under the authority of the government,” Mark said with a serious face. “We are awaiting a live report from the director of the CDC on the drastic turn of the flu outbreak that is spreading across the globe.”
Mark stopped as if someone off screen was talking. “We are taking you live to Atlanta,” Mark said and the screen cut to a podium with CDC across the front.
When Ernie stepped up to the podium introducing himself, Arthur groaned. “Oh, come on, can’t you get someone there that at least understands medicine?! Get the guy who mops the floors!”
“I’m here today to tell you the virus that has broken out across the globe and here in our great country has mutated,” Ernie said, looking out across the room. “We were dispensing the antiviral meds and holding the virus in check, but we have discovered that it has mutated into at least two different strains.”
“What the fuck?” Arthur mumbled, dropping down on the couch.
“This virus is an H5N1 type and since the mutations, the mortality has climbed to over ninety percent,” Ernie said and Arthur felt his heart flutter as the room exploded with reporters shouting.
Falling back on the couch and staring at Ernie holding up his hands for quiet, Arthur knew H5N1 was the virus that scared the medical community. Highly lethal and slow onset, but had never been recorded with human to human transmission.
“People, please. I can’t give out the information the public needs with you yelling!” Ernie shouted. “You are killing people with your shouting!” The crowd fell silent at that accusation.
“Thank you,” Ernie said. “People need to avoid crowds and public places. Stay indoors and only let immediate family in your house. Avoid all contact with all people as much as you can. People can look healthy but be infected. We have documented cases of people that once infected, can go for two weeks without showing any signs of illness. Then they will develop an itchy nose and sneezing. When coughing starts, death follows in twenty-four to forty-eight hours,” Ernie paused, looking around the room at the stunned faces.
“That is why we have a sheet of glass between you and me,” Ernie told the reporters and more than one ran out of the room. “We offered each of you masks and told you they were needed, but more than one of you told us it would mess up your makeup and distort your voice.”
“Now,” Ernie said, glancing at his notes and then back to the cameras. “Again, avoid people and closed in places where people have gathered recently; like schools and shopping areas. All schools are hereby closed and all students will be returned home and at home they should stay. If you need food, call your local Red Cross, or hang a white sheet outside of your house. Police will inform the Red Cross and the military who are mobilizing to start food dispersion. I’m telling you now, if you go out to a store, you will get infected. Stay indoors unless you have a medical emergency, then call 911. A travel ban is in effect in all states.”
Pausing, Ernie glanced at the teleprompter. “Anyone found off their property will be detained and that’s the last place you want to be. The Attorney General has issued a draft that all prisoners will be on lockdown until further notice. All meals will be served in cells. Any confrontation with prison staff will be viewed as a deadly action.”
“In public, any person not following a police officer’s orders, deadly force has been authorized. You must understand, the police and soldiers don’t want to get near people and they will instruct you to get in transport from a distance,” Ernie said with a depressed expression. “This transport will be enclosed trailers.”
“This virus is airborne, so you can catch it if a person gets within ten feet of you or you walk in a room they have been in. If you have someone sick or who passes in your house, hang something red outside. Separate them from everyone else and wash your hands repeatedly.”
Taking a deep breath, Ernie looked around the room. “People, I’m not going to lie. The next few weeks will be very hard. We were very close to a vaccine before the virus mutated. That mutation killed most of the chickens we used to develop our vaccines. We have gotten more from secured sites, but our scientists have had to start over.”
“How long?” someone shouted.
“I’m getting to that,” Ernie snapped, looking hard away from the camera. “Our
