Day Zero
Chapter 6

Day 18:

“If we are going to figure this bloody thing out, we need a sample” Benjamin finally stated as he, Abigail, Riley, Hunter, and Fabiana were sitting in the break room.

Abigail found herself nodding in agreement. It had been almost a week since their meeting and they hadn’t found out anything. So far they had eliminated all but two of the possibilities that Henry had written on the white board.

“That and a bloody drink” Benjamin muttered more to himself than to anyone else in the room.

Abigail and Riley shared an amused glance.

Hunter simply rolled his eyes.

In the past few days Abigail had gotten to know each new member of the team. She and Fabiana had gotten to know each other fairly well. Hunter was looking more and more like a big brother figure. Capitan Marian still intimidated the hell out of her, and Riley was… interesting.

“You always want a bloody drink” Riley said to the man.

“And I haven’t had a bloody drink in six days…I am going bloody mad” Benjamin stated.

“You’re driving me bloody mad” Abigail heard Riley mutter to himself while Fabiana tried to suppress her laughter.

“I would kill for a beer right now” James stated.

Abigail found herself nodding in agreement.

“So let’s go get one” James stated.

Fabiana stopped laughing then. ’B-but the outbreak?” she questioned.

“Well aside from that one report…there haven’t been any others have there?” James asked.

“No, there was a report the other day about a man who was in the hospital and then two days after he got home, he attempted to eat his wife. He only got away with biting her but…a few days later she was reported to have changed into the same thing” Hunter said.

“And there was another about a family of five who attacked a woman and devoured her before the man was killed.” Abigail chimed in.

“I heard about a man who-who was also attacked” Fabiana pointed out.

“And there have been almost three hundred reports of people catching the disease and killing their family and friends in the Middle East” Riley said.

Benjamin rolled his eyes “So no bloody drink then”

Abigail shook her head sympathetically.

“How long before he goes into withdrawals?” Abigail heard James whisper to Riley when Benjamin walked out the room muttering to himself about not having his drink.

“Who knows…if he got bitten by a mosquito the poor mosquito would be hung over for a week” Riley replied.

Abigail laughed. “Really?”.

“Most likely” Riley grinned.

“So we have gotten rid of mad-cow, neurotoxins and obviously nanobots” Hunter said bringing the group back to the topic at hand.

“W-what’s left” Fabiana asked.

“Toxoplasmosa gondii and Neurogenesis” James replied.

“And we won’t be able to test of toxoplasmosa gondii unless we can get a sample” Abigail stated thinking aloud.

“It would be crazy to go out there. This thing is spreading fast. It has been a week since that man was bitten. There was a 60 percent increase at least the type that were reported…if that happens every week who knows what could happen. Let alone if it gets out of Oregon to the rest of the United States” Riley replied.

“But we have to take that risk” Hunter said.

“That too d-dangerous” Fabiana stuttered.

“Let’s talk to the others. And wait a few more days…who knows what could happen” James said attempting to be the voice of reason.

Abigail sighed for once she agreed with James.

“Come on, break’s over” Hunter stated as he stood up.

Abigail followed suit offering a hand to Fabiana.

The girl took her hand and with a smile, “I h-have to go check on the animals…there could be a change” They had injected a few rats with a Mad Cow strand to see if there was a possibility it had been that, but so far there was nothing to report.

Abigail nodded.

On her way to the lab to continue trying to replace the origins of Mad Cow disease, she bumped into Dr. Kennedy and Yumi.

“Abigail. How is it going? Have you found anything?” Dr. Kennedy inquired.

“I have almost eliminated mad cow from the list of possibilities…that leaves us with toxoplasmosa gondii and neurogenesis. But we would definitely need a sample if we are going to test for toxoplasmosa gondii” Abigail explained.

Dr. Kennedy and Yumi looked at one another. “You do know that there have now been over sixty reported cases in Seattle alone?” Yumi explained.

Abigail nodded.

“We might have to take risk though” Riley said coming up behind Abigail, his hand resting on the small of her back. She jumped slightly at the sudden contact but didn’t pull away.

“We will meet in the conference room later tonight. We will figure out who needs to go out. You do make a valid point” Dr. Kennedy mused.

“Yes sir” Abigail replied.