Free Independence Day Plague by Carla Lee Suson Page B

about how Steagan’s seemed tight on him.” Albert replied.
    Phelps spoke up, “The dress uniform includes gloves. The cloth gloves hid any latex gloves they wore underneath.”
    Silence flowed across the room. Phelps spoke first, “I don’t buy that crap. I’ve been in the Army for fifteen years and the one thing I’ve learned is that they don't waste their resources. All of us and the products we created are invaluable resources. To kill so many highly intelligent, highly trained people just doesn’t make sense.”
    Geller replied, “The evidence suggests—”
    “ I don’t give a damn what the evidence suggests. I think we need to focus on the problem of survival right now. Tanaka reported that we have generator use for the next four days, more if we shut down non-essential buildings.”
    “ But the disease…”
    “ God dammit, let's focus on the problems we can solve!” Phelps roared. He paused, taking several deep breaths. “I apologize. There’s nothing we can do about the disease but let it run its course. You said we might have survivors. Well, no one’s going to survive in below-freezing temperatures if our generator gives out. I can’t fight a disease on the base but I can fight this. We’ll move the security and caterers into the commissary building. They’ll have room to bed down and food in the dining hall to eat. Tanaka, tell folks that all previous cooked food and raw vegetables must be destroyed, by burning if possible. Eat only food from sealed products such as cans or frozen bags from now on. I think we can assume that any food found in private residences is uncontaminated.”
    Tanaka nodded, “Yes, sir.”
    Phelps, continued, “You three men help move the seriously ill to the hospital building. We can care for them better there.”
    Jeanine broke in, “No. we can’t do that.”
    Phelps turned weary eyes towards her. “Why not?”
    “ There’s simply not enough room. The hospital only accommodates twenty at the most. Anything larger than that and we’re supposed to notify the Pentagon. Even if we take all the furniture out and put everyone on the floor, it might fit forty—fifty at best. Most of the buildings can't hold any crowd over 150 sitting or standing. Even the auditorium only has seats for about 350.”
    Phelps sighed and frowned. “Okay, we’ll shut down power to the labs, the admin building, barracks, and garage. We’ll encourage people to share housing too where possible. That should buy us a few more days of power.”
    Jeanine spoke, “What about the product? If you shut down the power to the labs then that means the cryo-units lose power.”
    Phelps replied, “I’m not worried about the damn product. The cryo-units sit in a cold building in weather that isn’t suppose to get higher than fifty degrees during the day and below 30 at night. It’ll be okay.”
    For the next seven days, Mitchell led the strongest of the men in setting up a routine of moving from building to building, moving people together, making everyone as comfortable as possible with food and lighting fires for warmth. Day by day, fewer volunteers arrived to help until he was on his own. He doled out what little medicine they had in the laboratories, hospital unit, and BX. At first, others of the emergency committee helped too until they succumbed to the fever, cramps, and blood loss brought on by the disease.
    By day five, all the children displayed some symptom of Marburg. Those inflicted from the first worsened to agonizing rashes over the body. With the exception of Mitchell, few felt strong enough to leave their beds.
    Geller’s four year old and Anna, Albert’s 18-month-old baby, died first. Mitchell tried to dig graves in the semi-frozen clay soil of the small park but the spade couldn't penetrate the frozen ground. Days passed as he waited to feel the fever and the tingling pain in his fingertips so that he too would join the ranks of the dying.
    By the end of the seventh day, a