Dr. Corbyn was driving to the hospital when she got a call from her friend, Katie. She was also a doctor working in the same hospital. "We keep getting reports of hemorrhagic fever," Katie explained, "Six in the past few hours. But where are they coming from? I mean, we never had a case of that for a whole year."
"Weird. So the cases are spiking up?"
"Yes, it is."
"What do you think caused it?" Dr. Corbyn asked.
"I don't know. Poisoning? Their skin was blue, and they were bleeding so… I think it's ricin. Since the first cases appeared in a farm, it mostly likely was an attack."
"Who would've done it then?"
It was quiet for a few seconds, until Corbyn heard the sound of beeping rise in speed dramatically.
"...Got to call you later. Patient's having a seizure. Bye." Before Corbyn had a chance to say bye, Katie hung up.
"...Bye." Corbyn said, her message delayed. As Corbyn drove by, it started drizzling. And then started pouring. As she continued to drive, she tuned into a radio station, looking for something to listen to. It was static for a few seconds, before it went to normal.
"Twenty deaths related to a still unknown pathogen have been recorded in Virginia. Though it is not widespread yet, people in that state should always wash their hands. Limit contact with others. That reduces your risk of contracting the disease…" Corbyn went onto another radio station, but nothing was interesting. She looked up to see a group of birds soaring in the heavy rain. One seemed to get bigger. And bigger. The bird dropped on her windshield, crimson red splattering and mixing with the rain. She was caught off guard.
"Agh!" she screamed, as her red Honda Civic swerved on the road, her tires screeching like dolphins. She finally stopped, but her car was facing the wrong direction. She took her umbrella, and went out of the car. Pellets of rain plopped on her umbrella. The dead bird on her windshield was something she really didn't need to see. It was facing upright towards the sky. it's face was swollen, and it's eyes were red. A sign of infection.
"So now we know this thing spreads by birds, and most likely swine lifeforms. And we identified the pathogen. Influenza. We still cannot identify the category where it belongs." Harlan said, writing on the whiteboard with a blue marker.
"It enters through the mouth, ears, and nose via droplets and dust particles. What really baffles me is the R-naught. Usually with Influenza viruses, the reproduction rate stands at 1. But this one stands at 4, despite being extremely deadly with an estimated mortality rate of 80%. If a disease is extremely deadly, it won't be able to spread quickly but this one can. The question is, how?"
"You can't keep track of every bird and pig on Earth, so it's obviously going to spread fast. Bird migratory routes will bring it to South America if they have it." Dr. Burgh said, staring at his notebook full of medical texts. Janet pulled out her phone, and scrolled all the way down on her news app. "ONE-HUNDRED CASES OF HEMORRHAGIC FEVER IN VIRGINIA" it read in big bold letters. She put back her phone in her pocket, paying attention to the whiteboard. Just as Harlan was about to finish writing a sentence on the board, his phone rang, emitting a tacky ringtone. He grunted, and pulled his black IPhone out of his pocket.
"Harlan here, what do you need?" he asked, immediately changing his tone. "Yes? What happened… What? … Another case in New York?"