Day 37

Abigail's alarm goes off at two a.m. and she grumbles before switching on her light. She sighs and rubs sleep from her eyes before she slips on her knock off ugg slippers, yanks a sweatshirt on over her pajamas, and walks down the hallways. She stops at the break room first to put on a pot of coffee. Still half asleep, she stumbles to the cytoplasm lab and removes the sample and gingerly places it on the counter. Yawning outloud, she shuffles back to the break room and does what she can only call her Indiana Jones move. She grabs a mug of coffee in one hand, and the handle of the coffee pot in the other. Then with a precision that she believes would put the action hero to shame, switches places with her coffee mug and the pot. She waits impatiently as her mug begins to fill. After repeating the motion, once again flawlessly if she says so herself, adds soy milk to the mug and walks back to the lab.

She grabs the petri dishes and begins to take photo after photo of the dishes hoping to find something different with these new pictures than with the initial photos at the beginning of test. After she takes nearly one hundred pictures she mournfully hits the print button; as the images print, she walks back to the break room and refills her coffee mug. Grabbing the photos she walks to the radiology wing where she can use the lights to better examine the photos.

As she examines the pictures she compares and contrast the initial images with the new ones. The pictures seem to change every time she looks at them. There is something within the cell itself that is shaped like a bullet. As she squints at the rest of the pictures she notices that time after time the number of bullet shaped things within the cells multiply that until the final picture of the entire sample is almost completely engulfed by the strange things found within the cell itself. The pictures were taken in ten second increments which could mean that during those ten seconds, the mutations could have happened again and again and again.

She does the math from the numbers that she's scribbled down; remembering that Henry had told her that there was an average of 4.2 million cells in the average male's body. The number infected cells within the initial sample was around 400. These new cells are changing every ten seconds in the last picture, nearly every cell had been infected. She quickly does the math, using both her phone calculator and the TI-3X-Pro. Sixteen cells infected every ten seconds. There are now 1,600 cells in the sample. In forty eight minutes the entire sample could be infected. She jumps up from the table, almost knocking over her long since cold coffee in the process. It's 7:30 a.m. which met that everyone would hopefully be in the cafeteria.

She runs in and almost slips on the floor in her slippers. "I found something! I found something!" she screams skidding to a stop at the door of the cafeteria.

"What are you talking about? And why are you screaming this early in the morning?" James groans.

She feels all eyes on here and she suddenly felt self-conscious in her Harry Potter themed sleeping shorts and her M.I.T hooded sweatshirt. She hadn't bothered to change clothes at two in the morning although now she wishes that she had at least put on jeans. "You don't understand there is something growing and reproducing in the red blood cells. I think it might be a virus but I am not sure, because viruses usually only affect diabetes and cancer red blood cells…out of the 100 pictures I took in the initial stage before I let the cells sit out, there was an increase every ten seconds between pictures. Then after twelve hours the next on hundred pictures had even more cells and after every ten seconds they increased as well." She gasps in one breath

"Neurodegenerative diseases have also been know to affect the morpho-functional aspects of red blood cells" Beau says.

"But it's red blood cells." Amelia argues.

"True. White blood cells are typically the most effected by viruses, but we aren't exactly dealing with a normal virus, are we?" Benjamin says.

"Everyone grab their coffee and breakfast we are going to the conference room. Abigail, go grab those photos." Kaitlyn delgates.

Abigail grabs another cup of coffee almost running into Hunter, Isabella, and Riley in the process. Riley catches her shoulders, Abigail feels herself blushing before stepping around them and heading to the coffee pot, adding more soymilk to her coffee before following the rest of the group out of the room. She arrives at the meeting just before everyone sits down.

"Abigail will place your photos on the table so that we can all examine them?" Dr. Suber requests.

Abigail nods and taking some photos out of her folder she places five photos in a line across the table. The rest of the group stands gathers on one side of the table all looking at the photos.

"This is the first picture I took before I preformed the test," she says indicating to the first picture that only had a few infected cells. "This is the first photo I took after the test."

"Bloody hell" Benjamin mutters.

"These are a few others. All of them were taken at ten second intervals," she points to the random photos that she pulls from the folder. "This is the final picture" she indicates to the photo in which the cells were completely filled with the virus.

"This is the rabies virus." Isabella says softly.

"How do you know?" Marian asked skeptically.

"I am an animal behaviorist," she pauses to collect her thoughts and take a deep breath, doing her best to build up her confidence. "I know what it looks like" she finally says with resolve.

"But there have only been five reported cases of rabies in humans. There hasn't been a reported case since 1929 and that was in Trinidad. Unless you count that one random episode of House" James answers.

"It takes three to ten days for the rabies virus to show symptoms, by then it is too late" Henry adds.

"Didn't the Pacific team report those same numbers before they were taken out?" Abigail turns her attention to Marian..

"I don't know." Marian shakes her head.

"Jimmy caught it immediately within less than two days. The man who we attempted to save was bitten by something."

"Could it be a rabies mutation?" Abigail asks.

"It seems that way" Kaitlyn answers.

"Benjamin write rabies on the board will you?" Henry asks.

Benjanim obliges.

To Abigail's surprise the Irishman spells the word correctly. She shoots a playful glance at Riley from across the table.

Beau dictates the symptoms of rabies to Benjamin. "The animal's brain will not work properly, confusion, anxiety, agitation, delirium"

"Isabella am I missing anything?" he asks the shy girl.

"F-flu like symptoms, fever and headaches" she answers

Benjamin adds those to the list.

"James, do you have enough of a brain sample to test for rabies?" Kaitlyn asks.

"No. I don't even have enough to figure out what part of the brain it is" James shoots Abigail an accusatory glance.

"Why don't you go out next time?" the woman snaps back. She isn't sure if it is the lack of sleep or patience that causes her to snap.

James looks as if she has slapped him in the face. This is the first time since she had been hired to work for the WHO that she has ever replied to his comments.

"Looks like you need a zombie head" Strader says quickly diverting the obvious tension.

"Are you serious? This thing is spreading ridiculously fast. It only takes days if humans catch it" Kaitlyn says.

"I'll go. You shouldn't go alone" Hunter volunteers.

"I'm in too mate" Riley adds.

Abigail shoots a look at Riley. Is he serious?" she thinks to herself. Riley takes her as more of the Dungeons and Dragons type. No deadly adventure unless he is reenacting one.

Riley notices her look and gives her a weak smile.

Abigail sighs softly, but of course James notices.

"Worried about your little boyfriend?" he whispers.

"He is not my boyfriend." she hisses back. Why did James have to be such an asshole? Honestly, she wasn't sure how he managed to keep a job like this.

"Whatever you say" he smirks.

I wonder how much trouble I would get in if I 'accidently' poured a mildly toxic substance into his coffee one morning she thinks to herself.

"Well looks like we're going" Strader gives a grim smile. Riley and Hunter follow suit. Abigail watches worriedly as the three men leave the conference room.

Does Riley even know how to handle a gun? I hope that Hunter knows. I am sure that Strader will show them something she thinks to herself.

Hopefully they make it back.

∆∆∆

Strader didn't want to bring anyone with him, especially not the scientist boy. Riley would have been dead within two minutes if Strader had not shown up the other day. He wasn't sure about Hunter either; at least the Minnesotan native had a stronger and obviously more athletic build. Riley is just shy of the scrawny side, there is a hint, just a sliver of muscle that Strader can make out. Then again, his son had been the same way before he followed in his old man's footsteps and joined the Navy.

Hunter must have been an athlete at some point in his life. He is tall and strong; his red beard just beginning to reach viking level.

"Hunter, what weapon can you handle?" he asks.

"Well when I was younger, my parents had me chop the firewood. A few chords a year. I guess an ax." He rubs the back of his head awkwardly.

Strader can't help but smile. "A viking through and through" he jokes alluding to the myth that Minnesotans are the direct descendants of the theory that vikings had actually been the original settlers of America.

Hunter lets out a bark of a laugh.

"What about you?" he turns attention to Riley.

"I uh…I guess I'll take a gun" Riley's eyes switch from his own to Hunter's and back again.

"Have you ever shot one before?" Strader demands.

"My old man took me skeet shooting a few times. Since thenI have shot a laser gun and the occasional water gun. How hard could it be? Maybe like riding a bike?" Riley defends.

This kid isn't going to make it Strader thinks.

Strader sighs and pulls a gun out of the bag he had left by the entrance.

He gives Riley a quick lesson, instantly noticing that the Riley has the same hazel colored eyes that his son had.

When the lesson was over, he turns to Hunter "Let's find you an axe" he grabs his crossbow.

"How far do we need to go?" Riley whispers. Strader glares at him before putting his finger to his lips. This kid is going to get us killed.

Strader ducks behind the wall at the bottom of the driveway, and peeks around the ledge before motioning for the other two to follow him. Strader has to admit that since this entire pandemic had started, his old military instincts had come back into play. Those have kept me alive before…they will keep me alive again. Especially against a universally common enemy, that doesn't die he thinks to himself. They continue to move in this patten until they reach the main street where he had first found the group. The streets are now even emptier with abandoned cars lining the roads, some of them with open doors and broken windows, reminding him of the day he and Jimmy were first attacked.

The remains of people are scattered along the road and sidewalk. The bodies of the undead are also lying along the road, by now the smell of decomposition is almost too much to bear- the bodies, human and zombie are bloated. Flies are floating, drifting from place to place. One body already has maggots crawling out of its eye-socket.

Riley covers his nose with his sleeve, his eyes clenched in disgust while Hunter had mirrors his motion.

"Let's see if there are any bandanas in one of these stores. I'll go in first and let you know if it is safe. You two stay outside, watch my back, and stay alive" Strader calls over his shoulder.

Both men nod in agreement.

"I'm going to see if I can find you an axe as well, big guy".

The inside of the shop is dark and unlit. "Wonderful" he mutters to himself

This is the last thing he needs. He is in one of those hippie-hippie woo woo stores. Just six months ago he had vowed to never enter one of these stores again. There was no way in hell he would find an axe in here.

He looks around trying to find anything that could be used to cover their faces. He sees cloth headbands hanging on the walls and grabs one to examine it. This will work. He takes three before grabbing a handful of more just in case more than three of them ended up leaving the building again. Leave no Trace principle number 1: Plan ahead and prepare he thinks. He continues to look around the store before his eyes land on a Japanese katana. "No way" he says out loud. He walks over to the weapon and takes it out of its sheath; Of course it's dull, only hippie kids buy this kind of thing. He throws it over his shoulder anyway, they could probably sharpen it at some point; if anything, Hunter could use it to bludgeon a zombie to death. He walks past the counter and sees countless incense sticks; nag champa, patchouli, lavender, something called dragon's blood. He remembers almost being suffocated by one of these things, but suddenly the thought of drowning in incense sounds better than the sterile hospital and the stench of decay. He takes a bundle of nag champa and patchouli, after hesitating he grabs the dragon blood out of sheer curiosity.

He is walking to exit the store when he hears the sound of a gunshot, then another he raises his crossbow and runs out the door. Riley is standing in front of Hunter with a still smoking gun in his hand.

"Is it dead?" he asks, repeating the first words that he had ever said to Strader.

Strader cautiously moves towards the body and draws his own gun. He shoots the zombie in the head and looks up at Riley before repeating the exact words he first said to him. "It is now"

Hunter the weapon. "It's dull as anything but I figured we could sharpen it back at the institute…until then did you every play baseball?"

Hunter gives a sadistic smile. "That is the American pastime. I played hockey all through high school" he explains. Strader looks at this man who probably had the capability of hitting a slap shot over 80 miles per hour. Why in the hell did he enter the medical field?

He turns to Riley "Looks like you might have something in you after all" he says with a smirk before giving him one of the headbands that he took from the store and a slap on the back.

"Are you really giving me the pink one?" Riley demands.

Hunter chuckles as he receives the green one, Strader pulls the blue one over his face while the others follow suit…it didn't make a huge difference, but it reduced the gag reflex a bit.

"Now for the fun part…" Strader trails off as he pulls out his pocket knife.

"There has got to be something else" Riley chokes.

Hunter spins around, taking in his surroundings "I thought I saw a fire truck a block over, there is probably an axe in there somewhere."

"Well let's go get it" Strader grunts as the three men trudge down the street, stepping over body after body.

The grim image of zombies tangled in the rescue ladder while what looked like an arm is hanging out the passenger side window. The fire hose is still leaking leaving a clean trail of water through a combination of blood and other bodily fluids that had spilled on the road. "What could have brought the fire truck into a town that was obviously overrun by something?" Riley questions.

Hunter's eyes land on the fire hydrant. "They must have been trying to fill up and use the water to blow the zombies back"

There are fire fighters lying underneath the hose, throats torn. Strader walks to the side of the fire truck where the axe is located.

Something grabs his ankle. He looks down in terror to see the arm of one of the creatures, the fingers are blue and fingernails that are dark and bloody. He stumbles back, trying to yank his foot back only to succeed in dragging the front half of the monster out from under the truck. He cries out, falling to the ground.

He hears the sound of metal hitting bone and sees Hunter slamming his dull katana against the top of the zombie's head until the skull is crushed in. What little blood remained in the zombie's body is splattered across both of their shirts and Strader's face.

"Thanks" Strader breathes.

"Yeah" Hunter's arms are hanging limp, the kantana loose in his grasp.

Riley approaches keeping his feet far from the bottom of the fire truck before yanking the axe from the side of the truck. "Let's go" he says holding the axe in his hand.

Strader nods, this kid was starting to remind him more and more of his son.

Hunter and Strader follow as the three of them once again wander through the maze of bodies and empty cars, back in the direction of the zombie that Riley had shot.

"That happened to Abigail too."A zombie grabbed her leg, yanking her feet out from under her. She managed to kick it in the face, bloody lucky she was wearing sensible shoes. Benjamin and I managed to pull her to her feet. We got lucky that the monster was ripped in half, but it still crawled after us, there was a trail of intestines leaking from the body. When we got a safe distance we realized that she still had the hand of the monster wrapped around her ankle. Benjamin ripped it off and threw it down an alleyway."

Strader is at a loss for words, instead he meets the young man's eyes.

Riley nods.

The body of the monster was right where they left it, in front of the hippie store.

"Hunter this is all you" Riley says as he hands the axe to Hunter.

The Canadian man takes it and tests the weight in his hand. Strader and Riley back away. the head from is severed from the the body as if Hunter were Perseus chopping the head off Medusa.

Riley pulls the back pack from his shoulders and digs out the latex gloves.

Strader hands him a plastic bag that he intends to carry the head in, Leave No Trace Principle number one Plan ahead and prepare.

Riley gingerly picks up the head before placing it in the plastic bag. The zombie looks at them, almost wishing it could turn them to stone with a gaze of its blood stained eyes. Riley ties the bag shut and places both the head in his. He stands up and looks at the other two men. "Well that's bloody done. We might want to make a stop for a few six packs of beer."

∆∆∆

Abigail is worried about Riley, knowing that the young man is about as useful as she is when it comes to weapons, which translated to not at all. Strader and Hunter enter her thoughts and she worries about them too, but those two know how to take care of themselves. Hunter used to play hockey, grew up with four brothers, and is strong as a horse. Strader is ex-military, and obviously kept himself in shape.

"Worried?" Isabella asks.

"Yeah, how is the rabies research coming?" Abigail replies quickly changing the subject.

"Well…I injected a monkey and a rat with the virus. They h-have the closest DNA to h-humans …but we won't know for three to five days, if that's what it is…" she trails off.

"Are you any good with a weapon?" Abigail asks the other woman.

Isabella chuckles "My father made me take self defense classes, and learn how to shoot a gun."

Abigail can't hide her surprise.

"I'm shy not weak"

Abigail then gives a weak laugh "Looks like I am useless in this situation"

Isabella os about to reply when the door was opens, the three men having returned from their journey.

All of them looks a little worse for wear, but none of them are injured.. Riley drops his backpack in disgust, the black blood? stains the bottom and she assumes that their mission had been a success. Before the thought processes, Abigail has thrown herself into Riley's arms. He hesitates, but his arms slowly wrap around her. She looks over at Hunter and Strader, with relief, She releases Riley and wraps her arms around Hunter, who don't hesitate to return the embrace, he is shaking. She looks at Strader questioningly before the man wraps one arm around her shoulders. She notices Isabella mimicking her previous motions

"I was starting to get worried about you three" she sighs.

"This boy shot his first zombie" Strader says squeezing Riley's shoulder, almost proudly. He turns his attention to Hunter and shakes his hand, "And this one bludgeoned a zombie to death with a dull katana."

Abigail's eyes widen.

"Now where's James, we have a little present for him" Strader says as he picks up the backpack and holds it at arm's distance as he walks in the direction of the neurology department, Riley follows.

"Look what we got," Hunter said with a sly grin as he motions to Abigail and Isabella to come closer. He pulls a four six backs of PBR from his own backpack with a triumphant grin.

"It may be shit beer- but its beer," Hunter answers over his shoulder as he puts the beer in the refrigerator"

"In the conference room, it's starting to look like A Beautiful Mind in there" Abigail explains thinking of the notes and newspaper clippings that had begun to appear on the wall.

Isabella giggles.

"The odds of them all having Schizophrenia is rare right?" Hunter asks.

Abigail and Isabella exchange glances. "Hopefully, but if they need more medications, we are in the right place for a refill."