Day 8

When Riley steps off the plane at J.F.K airport he immediately notices the man in a military uniform holding a sign with his and Benjamin's namaes scrawled on it in chicken scratch.

He pauses and points out the man to Benjamin who eyes the soldier wearily.

"Looks like the plans changed" he mutters tiredly.

Riley nods.

Benjamin motions for Riley to follow him.

"I'm Dr. Benjamin Norwich and this is my colleague Dr. Riley Walker" Benjamin introduces.

"I'm Joseph. There has been a change in plan. We just received information that there was a report about a possible virus detected in the Boston area. We are moving the research to Rochester, Minnesota"

Riley risks a once over at the man, he is tall and fit. His head is shaved and he is dressed impeccably in a uniform with polished buttons and shoes. He holds his hat beneath one arm, the definition of a perfect solider.

"This is not a plan. I don't even know where Minnesota is." Riley announces

"We have placed you both on the first flight. It leaves in three hours. I will be accompanying you to Minneapolis from here" Joseph's reply sounds like an order.

"I want to go to the bar" Benjamin announces.

Riley smiles. Benjamin is the definition of a true Irish man.

Joseph looks a little taken aback; it was 9:00 a.m. in the United States, but his lips quirk up. "I don't see a problem with that"

"Are you going to hand us our boarding passes?" Riley inquires.

"No" Joseph replies shortly as the three man began to walk towards the C terminal.

"Why not?"

"Because I like to hold the tickets- do you have a problem with that?"

"Not at all."

∆∆∆

Abigail takes the hand offered to her by Kingston and lets him help her out of the helicopter that had just landed on the roof of the MAYO clinic. He covers her shoulders with his arm and leads her away from the helicopter before the stopping at the door way. "Good luck" he yells at her before turning and running back to the helicopter.

Abigail waves to him before she follows the other members of WHO into the research institute. She descends the stairs slowly, one hand gripping the rail tightly and the other lugging her suitcase. Henry holds the door open for her, always the southern gentleman she thinks to herself as she slips past him.

"Thank you" she replies as he closes the door and begins to walk beside her.

"You're welcome"

The trio is met by a tall, slender woman who looks to be in her mid to late fourties. She is dressed professionally in contrast to the quartet who had departed from DC. Abigail pushes her glasses further up her nose and attempts to straighten her wrinkled Phish t-shirt. "Hello. My name is Kaitlyn Higgins, I am the director of the MAYO clinic, I'm glad you could join us. It's an honor to get to meet Dr. Suber" she says softly.

Henry shifts uncomfortably. Henry is modest when it comes to his accomplishments in the medical field.

"Ms. Higgins, I am glad to be working with you again," Beau says with a smile as he shakes her hand.

"I would like to introduce you to Doctors James Cassidy and Abigail McGee" Beau says motioning to the two younger members one at a time.

Abigail smiles and takes Kaitlyn's hand.

"Hello," she greets both members, although Abigail can't help but notice the weary look that she gives her."I hate to rush you, especially after such a long trip, but we need to get you to the conference room" Kaitlyn explains.

Abigail suppresses a sigh and grabs her suitcase..

"The Surgeon General decided that this facility would be used as the 'Head Quarters,' if you will for the North American team. There will be eight of us, plus two more from Europe" Kaitlyn explains as they walk down the hallway.

Upon entering the room, Abigail notices a large circular table in the middle of the room. Like King Arthur's Court or the Socratic Method of allowing everyone to feel and appear as equals.

Three chairs are already occupied.

"Please, sit" Kaitlyn says as she gestures to the large table.

Abigail sits in the closest chair and looks at the three people sitting around her. A stern looking middle aged woman with graying brown hair tied back in a bun so tight that it looks like she is trying a natural Botox. She is dressed in the working uniform of a Naval Capitan.

Next to the woman sit what looks like a recent medical school graduate. She has wide dark eyes and black hair tied back in braid. When Abigail makes eye contact with her, she looked down quickly, a blush already staining her cheeks.

The third person is a man around James's age. Fair skin, red hair, and built like a tank- the man reminds Abigail of a viking. He is balanced precariously on the back two legs of his chair, with his arms crossed in a rebellious nature-there is a hint of black inked tattoos peeking from beneath the sleeves of his shirt. The man notices her examination and gives her a wink.

Kaitlyn waste no time and walks to the whiteboard at the front of the room.

"We have a reported 105 cases of this outbreak from the middle east and so far 150 fatalities via attacks from the cases" she begins as she wrote the numbers on the board.

"What happened to them?" Abigail inquires.

"They were mauled to death and some of them partially eaten. It looks like whatever this is could be something that leads to cannibalism" Kaitlyn explains.

"Cannibalism? How do we know this is an epidemic and not a crazy cult, eh?" The Viking man inquires. Abigail quickly deduces he is a Minnesota native.

"Because I saw the whole thing" the military woman meets his gaze.

"According to Capitan Jackson, people were reported dead before coming back to life" Kaitlyn explains.

"Are you serious?" James laughs looking at the military woman.

Kaitlyn flips through her notes before nodding.

"This sounds like something out of a horror movie" Abigail says.

"What do you mean?" Kaitlyn asks.

"Like zombies or something like that" explains Abigail.

The people in the room exchanged glances, the Viking man even lets out a chuckle, but Henry gives her a knowing smile.

The military woman gives Abigail a disgusted look, while the shy looking girl smiles slightly.

"This is why we shouldn't hire kids" James mutters once again.

Abigail shoots him a glare. "You need a new line"

"Then stop acting like a kid" James snaps back.

"Has an autopsy been conducted?" Henry asks taking the attention off of Abigail.

"It's in progress. The last one ended in multiple fatalities before the infected could be subdued" Kaitlyn reports.

"So far the infected show these behaviors" Kaitlyn doesn't bother with the powerpoint that is currently being projected, instead she begins to write each symptom- reestablishing them vocally

"Anger."

"Loss of speech."

"Death with self-resuscitation."

"Cannibalism."

"And something that can only be described as autotomy."

"Autotomy?" a soft voice asks.

All heads turn to the girl who has her hand raised slightly.

"The voluntarily removal-" James begins in a mockingly patient tone.

"I, I know what it means." the girl mutters eyes flitting to James's and back at the table.

"Then what are you asking?" the Viking man has lowered himself to the floor on all four of his chair legs.

"Autotomy is a defense mechanism in reptiles and only a few known species of animals. Why would these humans need autotomy, humans aren't built for autotomy."

"It is not the voluntarily removal per say. It is that the subjects seem to be uncaring if a limb is lost." Kaitlyn struggles to explain.

Abigail pushes her glasses back up her nose, wishing she'd had them repaired before going on this trip.

"Do we have any guesses as to what could have caused this?" Beau questions.

"We know that it's not airborne" Marian relays.

"That the incubation can last anywhere from 10 minutes to 10 days, at least that is what the notes from the Department of Defense say." Beau shuffles through his briefcase.

"It could be something neurological" Henry removes his wire-framed glasses and rubs his eyes wearily.

Once again Kaitlyn writes on the white board. Neurological

"That's the best place to start. If there are changes in mood, loss of speech, and paralysis then there is something neurological happening. The brain is a damn weird organ." James has his own notepad out and is jotting down Kaitlyn's same symptoms

"We'll start there, our collegues from Europe will arrive in a few hours" she closes the marker with a snap.