Season 1, Episode 8:
FANthrax
Part 7 of 10
“Whoooo…
are you? Who, who… who, who…”
Nick sang as they walked through one of the biocontainment labs at the
“Where is it?” Jeanie asked, when they entered the
room. She could not hide the look of
anticipation at having the slightest break in the case.
“Here.” Nick held it
out to her as if he were a child, showing his mom an “A” on a test.
“Is the lab ready for testing?” Julilly asked Jeanie.
“We’re all set.” Jeanie
led them out of the office and through the halls towards the lab she had
prepared. The first set of doors they
entered was the clean room, and it was here that Jeanie put on her own Hazmat
suit, a little sleeker then the bulky, yellow ones the others were still
wearing, despite Nick’s complaints about driving with the mask on.
When they were all through the second set of doors, Nick
handed Jeanie the bag with the confetti strip inside. Carefully, so as not to disturb the white
powder, Jeanie pulled the confetti out using a pair of tweezers and
painstakingly cut small pieces off, distributing them among several different
Petri dishes and test tubes.
Without words, the three women took samples to different
stations within the lab and set to work testing the samples to determine what
it was that they were dealing with. Nick
watched as Brian took a seat, flipping open his phone to make a strange call
through his Hazmat mask. Nick hovered
between Red and Julilly, trying to watch what it was they were doing.
After at least an hour, Jeanie piped up, “Well, this is
highly unusual. I thought the testing
was going to take hours, but it seems the first ones I ran yielded results that
shed some light on the situation.”
“Hrm, it’s almost as if we’re in a story, instead of real
life,” Nick reflected.
Jeanie looked at the blond agent and chortled. “Like this could be made up.” She
sighed, amused, and continued, “It seems we are dealing with two different
strands of the same containment. Which
makes sense, after studying the cases,” mused Jeanie.
“I have discovered that the powder contains a virus. It appears to be a new strain of virus,
manufactured, not one that occurs naturally.
Its genetic structure has been modified to shorten its incubation period
and increase its rate of transmission. What
I can gather is the confetti was coated in the powder before being shot over
the crowd. We are looking at hundreds of
infected from that concert alone.”
“So those that were at the concert were infected first?”
Red questioned.
“Bree-Anna had a front row seat,” Nick piped up. “I saw a video with her holding the ticket
and was able to catch that detail.”
“She would have received a high dose of the powder if that
was the case. But that doesn’t explain
how she passed it on to her sister, who wasn’t at the concert, nor does it
explain how others at the hospital are getting sick without having had any
contact with the infected patients.
Which is why I’m hypothesizing that there are two strains, perhaps a
mutation of the original strain that has caused it to go airborne. Whether accidental or deliberate, an airborne
mutation would give whoever did this the perfect way of transporting the toxin
to thousands of others.”
Clearing his throat, Brian chimed in, “I spoke with
Terrance’s mother, and she found his ticket.
He was at the concert; our hunch was correct. She did tell me that he was sitting pretty
far back from the stage; she remembered hearing him grumble about how bad his
seat was. The confetti cannons didn’t
shoot that far up into the stadium. He
would have inhaled the powder, but from what you’ve said, it shouldn’t have
taken hold of him as fast as it did…” He
trailed off, ending his observation with a strong cough that forced him to take
a seat or fall over.
“There had to be another way he had it enter his
bloodstream,” Red added. “Perhaps…”
“Brian!” Julilly shouted, as she watched the agent fall off
his chair and onto the floor, pulling off his Hazmat helmet and letting a
stream of bloody vomit escape onto the floor.
“No!” Nick had
started towards him, moving to lift his helmet and help the downed agent. Before he could, Red grabbed his hands. “He’s infected, Nick.”
Jeanie was already on the phone with the hospital to get an
ambulance. The three agents stood there,
as Brian lay curled in the fetal position, feeling untrained and helpless to
aid him.
± ±
±
“Go
faster!”
“I
am!” Nick snapped back at Red. Studying
her out of the corner of his eye, as much as the Hazmat suit allowed, Nick
noticed the doctor’s odd panic. For
someone who was known to be the calmest among the agents, it was a behavior
Nick wasn’t used to witnessing.
Shrugging,
he kept his eyes on the road and the ambulance he was following closely. The loud siren of the ambulance was disturbing
him; nonetheless, it also allowed them to clear the roads and make it to the
hospital in the shortest period of time.
Red
almost jumped out of the bright yellow Hummer before it came to a halt behind
the ambulance when they arrived to the hospital and rushed to the paramedics
who were taking Brian inside.
“Stay
away, ma’am!” one of the paramedics yelled at Red, who was running next to the
stretcher upon which Brian was lying.
“I
WON’T stay away!” Red shouted back at the paramedic. “He’s my colleague, and we both work for
“Shitballs,”
Nick muttered to himself, as he watched the scene Red had created in a mere
matter of seconds. He got out of the
Hummer and rushed inside to her side, only to see that the paramedic had
blocked her way as the others took Brian away.
“Sir,
it’s alright,” he said calmly, as he pulled Red gently towards him by the arm. “Lady here is also a doctor, and we’re
supposed to stay with the patient at all times.” He searched through the suit’s pockets and
took out his HimTak ID to show the paramedic. He knew the guy wouldn’t know what it was, but
he also knew that whenever he flipped the ID, FBI style, people would be a bit
intimidated and leave them be. As much
as he hated the government, it always worked on his behalf when he pulled his
government agent act.
Relenting,
the paramedic sighed and moved out of their way. “Follow the corridor, go through the doors on
your left, and turn right. It’s the
third room on your left.”
Nick
gave a small nod. “Thank you.”
Unexpectedly
silent and unusually stressed, Red followed Nick closely to the said room. Nick was starting to get quite uncomfortable,
and it hit the peak point when they reached the room Brian was supposedly in.
“Should
you go in first, maybe?” Nick offered sheepishly. Through his Hazmat suit, he could feel that
his palms were sweating with anxiety, and he would be a rather happy person if
he just stayed outside.
Against
his expectations, Red shook her head. “No,
I don’t want to face it alone.”
Sighing,
Nick turned on the doorknob and stepped inside the room.
There
lay Brian on the hospital bed, across the room. His eyes were shut, his jaw was stretched, and
his body was stiff. His eyebrows were
frowning, showing the immense amount of pain he was in, even though he was not
fully conscious. Afraid to go any closer,
but not having the determination to stop, Red and Nick walked across the room to
take a good look at the CIA agent.
Red
gasped as she took a full look at Brian. “Oh no… This can’t be happening.”
Unable
to dart his eyes away from the agent’s body, Nick muttered almost inaudibly,
“You gotta be fucking kidding me.”
Red
grabbed his patient chart from the foot of the bed and flipped through the
pages quickly, mumbling to herself some medical terms that Nick could not
follow.
“I
hate to say this...” she started, as she came next to the bed again and checked
Brian’s skin closely. “His fever is 105,
and…” She slowly motioned to a black
swelling on his arm. “… he has the black
pustules.” She checked the monitor next
to the bed and eyed Brian’s chest, which was moving up and down faster than
normal. “His breathing is labored. He…”
“He’s
infected; I can tell,” Nick finished her sentence, distressed.
“We
need to find a cure imme-“ Before Red could finish, Brian’s body went
into sudden convulsions, causing them to startle.
“What
do we do?” Nick cried, horrified, as he watched Brian’s body spasm uncontrollably. He reached for Brian’s flailing arm, trying
to pin it down.
“Don’t
try to hold him down. Just make sure he
doesn’t fall off the bed,” Red directed.
“It’ll pass.”
It
was torture, having to stand by helplessly and do nothing while Brian twitched
violently, his head thrown back, his adam’s apple bulging from his throat, his
hands clenched into tight fists, which he’d drawn stiffly to his chest. But Red was right, and within minutes, the
seizure passed. Brian’s frown seemed to
ease down a little as his expression got softer. His lips parted slowly as he let out a soft
moan.
“Help
me turn him on his left side,” Red said softly.
“In case he vomits.”
They
did this, but Nick could see Brian’s eyelashes fluttering. Was he starting to wake up? “Brian?” he asked, bending over him.
“Nick…”
Red whispered tentatively.
Ignoring
her, he leaned in closer to Brian’s face. Brian let out a soft moan again, before a
small syllable that was all too familiar escaped his lips.
“Ash…”
Nick
stood up straight; his eyes grew wide from what he’d just heard. A small relief filled him as he realized Brian
was not fully unconscious after all.
A
small tug on his suit caught his attention. Turning back, he saw Red, pointing at something
before him with widened eyes. Following
her motion, Nick eyes fixed on the catheter bag hooked up on Brian.
It
was filled with purple liquid.
“We
don’t have much time,” Red spoke slowly. “We need to find a cure, an antidote, before
the virus infects his whole system.” Her
voice was shaking with panic. “I need to
go back to the lab and work on an antidote; Jeanie must need help… Give me the car keys, Nick.”
Hardly
paying any attention to what she was saying, Nick took out the keys from his
pocket and tossed them towards her. He
had only one mission on his mind. Searching
the room with his eyes, he noticed Brian’s Hazmat suit in the opposite corner. He walked across the room and searched through
the pockets and found what he was looking for.
He
flipped the cell phone open once he was out of the room. Checking the recent calls, he saw the name he
wanted to call. He hit the yes button, and before the second ring, a chirpy but
delicate female voice answered.
“Hi
baby!”
Nick
winced. “Opal…”
“Nick?” Nick
was surprised that Brian’s girlfriend, whose real name was Ashavari, had recognized
his voice immediately. After all, they
had only met each other once. “What’s
wrong?”
“I
have some news. But please, stay calm-“
A
soft sob came from the other line. “Is
he gone? Nick… tell me, is Brian… is he…
dead?”
Taken
aback, Nick answered quickly. “What? No,
no, he’s still alive. Believe me. Just… he’s not in a good condition…”
“Nick,
tell me the truth. What happened? Did he get infected with the virus?”
Pro,
or con, of having a girlfriend as your colleague: They jump to conclusions and don’t dwell with
reasons.
Nick
found himself stuttering. “He… he really
is alive. But yeah, we… we think he got
somehow infected; we’re not entirely sure-“
“Does
he have a fever? Any shortness of
breath? Is he conscious? Did he vomit blood?”
A
definite pro. Nick was almost certain
she knew more than he did about the virus. When Brian had found the time to inform her
was beyond him.
“Well,
yeah… but he’s not fully conscious, not fully unconscious either… coming in and
out of it…” He decided to keep the fact of
Brian’s urine turning purple to himself.
“Oh
my god… I told him to be extra careful…” Opal
ranted, as Nick heard loud noises coming from her end of the line. From what he could tell, she was packing.
“Opal,
please, please stay calm. Please. He’s in the hospital, and Red and several
other doctors are working on an antidote.
He’ll be fine; you’ll see. But
just in case…”
He
heard a door shut on the phone. “I’m
already on my way, Nick. Thank you for
letting me know. Please, take care of
him for me. See you in a few hours.”
She
hung up. Lowering the phone from his
ear, Nick let out a soft sigh. “I will, Opal.
Just hurry.”
± ± ±
The
tires squealed loudly, as Red hit the brakes in front of the Centre
for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control and got out of the Hummer as fast as the Hazmat
suit allowed her. She was really
starting to get claustrophobic in her suit; she felt her breath shortening as
she rushed inside the building and made her way to the labs.
She
didn’t know why she had felt such a strong urge to leave Brian’s side and rush
back to the labs, but she was desperate to find something that would fight the
virus. It was to their luck that the
disease centre was fairly close to the hospital and the car had GPS. She was losing track of time, but she was
quite sure it had taken her less than ten minutes to drive back to the lab.
She
ran into Jeanie halfway. “Julianne? What are you doing back here?” Jeanie
questioned in surprise. “Weren’t you
supposed to be in the hospital with…”
“Agent’s
Littrell’s infected,” Red said, breathless.
Jeanie
sighed with sorrow as they hurried back to the labs. “I knew it. Does he show all the symptoms?”
“High
fever, shortness of breath, delirium… he’s almost unconscious. And purple urine,” Red counted in one breath.
“Those
are all the common symptoms for both types of the virus.” Jeanie opened the door to the lab and let Red
in.
“He
never took his helmet off!” Red exclaimed. “We’ve been extra careful with that, and I was
with him all day.”
“Then
his is the direct contact type,” Jeanie estimated.
“He
has black pustules all over his body as well!” Red added. She wanted to smack herself; how could she
forget that?
Jeanie
nodded knowingly. “Definitely the direct
contact type. The victims who got the
airborne kind didn’t have any of those.”
“Clear
a lab for me,” Red demanded, her voice cracking. “I have to work on an antidote immediately. We can’t afford to lose him.”
Jeanie
looked at her sympathetically. “I know,
honey. I already started working on an
antidote. Take a look at it here.” She motioned towards a computer. She typed something on the keyboard, and a microscope
image of the virus infecting a blood cell popped up on the screen.
“See?”
Jeanie asked Red, who was studying the image carefully. “If we can develop the inactive form of virus,
we can create a vaccine for the victims that were exposed to the virus. That is, of course, if we can treat them soon
after exposure.”
Red
shook her head with disappointment. “That
won’t help Agent Littrell at all. He
already shows the symptoms. I just hope
he’s not already in the terminal phase...”
She trailed off, shuddering.
The
thought of it alone made her weak in the knees. She felt dizzy.
“I
know.” Jeanie nodded. “Another way is finding an immune person and
producing an antibody from their blood system.” She patted Red’s arm supportively. “We’re almost certain that will work perfectly
for the victims with symptoms.”
Red
pulled away a little, looking at her apologetically. “Almost certain doesn’t help me, Jeanie. You don’t understand. We can’t lose Agent Littrell. We just can’t. I can’t let that happen.”
“We’re
working hard on this antidote, Julianne,” Jeanie assured. “The results will come in in
no time, and we’ll be able to cure Agent Littrell; I promise.” She looked right into her eyes. “You have my word.”
Relenting,
Red let out a soft sigh. “Is there a way
I can be of any help for the antidote?”
Jeanie
smiled understandingly. “You can help
Agent Littrell. We need to slow down the
spread of the virus to gain more time. We
came up with some self-made medication that we think would help us on that
note.”
“Can
we try blood transfusion?” Red suggested.
“Most
definitely. I’ll call the hospital
immediately to find the same blood type of Agent Littrell, so we can follow the
routine blood transfusion. It will clear
his blood enough for us to make it on time for the antidote to be injected into
his body.”
“I’ll
head back to the hospital to make sure they run the process as planned,” Red
agreed. She was racking her brain hard
to find other solutions.
“It
would help if we try to remove the pustules from his skin, probably…” she continued.
Jeanie
acknowledged silently.
“I
should go back,” Red said finally and left the lab hurriedly. She felt like she was virtually useless with Brian’s
situation, but she had to try to help Brian, try the medication Jeanie had come
up with in order to keep him alive.
She
arrived back at the hospital in no time. Making her way to Brian’s room, she hesitated
for a moment before going inside, afraid to see his condition. Taking a deep breath and hoping that at least
he wasn’t worse than he’d been, she walked in.
Nick
was standing by his side, studying his expression carefully. Red walked towards him and put a hand on his
arm.
“How
is he holding up?” she asked slowly.
“Been
going in and out of it for awhile. His
fever has been stabilized, but didn’t go down,” he said briefly. “A doctor came in a couple of minutes ago and
said they’ll try a blood transfusion.”
Red
nodded. “Jeanie and I thought it would
help give us time until the antidote is ready.”
Nick’s
face beamed. “So there’s an antidote?”
“They’re
still working on it, but everyone’s positive it’ll cure him… and the other
victims with the symptoms.” Red looked
around and saw a tray of medical equipment. Thanking Jeanie inwardly, she made her way
towards the end table and grabbed the small scalpel.
She
wasn’t going to let fate take its toll on her this time around. No way. Twice was more than enough. She had failed with Drums, and there had been
no chance of saving Shazam. Her eyes
welled up with tears as she remembered the past events, the lost colleagues. The worst thing was, in the current situation,
things were far worse from one aspect. She
had to watch Brian slip away from her hands slowly, if the antidote didn’t come
to rescue on time, or if the current medication didn’t slow down the virus. It all came down to the reaction of the virus
to the antidote and whether or not the right treatment arrived in time.
“What
are you doing?” Nick’s question took her out of her thoughts.
She
gazed at Nick. “I’m going to try
removing the dead skin and these black pustules.” She eyed Brian’s skin and realized that the
pustules had increased quite noticeably in the time she was at the lab.
She shook her head slowly and leaned towards
Brian’s body, only to realize her hands were trembling. She stood up straight and closed her eyes,
cursing to herself inwardly. This was not
the time to get emotional, nor to let her own failures affect Brian’s recovery…
if he could recover, that was.
“Jewel…”
Nick asked softly, “are you alright?”
Not taking
her eyes off Brian’s figure, Red nodded slowly. She had to be strong. She had to be strong for Brian. She wasn’t going to let some stupid virus take
him away. Not this time around. Not Brian. He was going to be healthy again. He was going to beat this disease.
“I’m
gonna kick this virus’s ass, Littrell,” she muttered slowly, as she leaned
towards his body again. “Just hang in
there.”
± ± ±
Nick
slumped back in the seat, letting his eyes drift shut. One thing he hadn’t counted on was the overwhelming
guilt he’d feel for leaving Brian back at the hospital like he had. If only…
“Hey,
you okay?”
He
nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“He’s
gonna be okay, Nick; ya gotta believe that,” Julilly said quietly.
“I do,
but… I mean, shit. I dunno, it’s scary
having it this close; it coulda been any of us… but, I mean, Brian… we didn’t
get along, but still.”
“We
aren’t gonna do him any good just sitting there, watching him like that, you
know? We have to keep moving, keep
fighting. Make the person who started
this pay,” Julilly announced, determination in her voice.
Nick
sighed, lowering his head and opening his eyes. They were on their way back to the arena to
see if they could possibly find anything else. The mood was now grim, compared to the first time
they’d gone there. It was a matter of
life or death, at this point.
Yeah,
a little too close to home for his liking.
Julilly
was right, though: they needed to keep
working. He’d be damned if he let this
continue. Someone was going to pay for
this.
± ± ±