Epidemic

Bryan Mills was enjoying the final day of his excursion on the African Savanna. He was on the last leg of a two week vacation that he treated himself to. After working 25 years at the Post Office in the Lower East side of Manhattan, he felt it was time to treat himself to a good time. ‘You only live once,’ was a favorite saying of his, and it was his motivation for the trip.

Seeing all the animals of the savanna was something that he had always wanted to do. Ever since watching it on TV, he wanted to explore this world for himself. So he made the trip and now two weeks later, it was coming to an end. He had no regrets, as he would remember this day for the rest of his life.

When he got back to his hotel, he took a nap because he was tired from the activities of the day. He had a lot of packing to do, so some sleep would do him good. An hour later he was up, and he was ready to start packing for his trip back home, which was the great city of New York. He began to pack, starting with the souvenirs that he brought during his vacation, then he packed his personal belongings and some miscellaneous items. He was about to close up his suitcase when he noticed a piece of clothing on the floor. He went to retrieve it, but when he did, he felt something bite him on his hand. He threw the clothing down on the ground to see what it was that bit him, but it disappeared before he could see it. Nevertheless, he had a plane to catch. So he put the item in his suitcase and called for a cab to take him to the airport.

The cab arrived, and Bryan brought down his belongings and put them in the cab and they were off to the airport. When they arrived at the airport, Bryan was attempting to remove his items from the cab when all of a sudden, he felt a strange sensation in his head, and it made him dizzy. Thinking it was nothing, he continued on with his trip home. He had a long flight ahead of him, but the last thing he wanted to be was sick. 15 hours later, he was back in New York.

2 weeks had passed since his trip to Africa, and he was back at work at the Post Office. On one routine outing--he was a mail carrier--he started to feel sick again: the same way he felt when he was in the airport in Africa. He continued to deliver the mail, because it had to get done. He walked up to a house that he had been to hundreds of times throughout the years and he attempted to deliver the mail. He knew there was a dog there, but the dog was harmless. He put the mail in the slot, and headed out to the street. On the way out, the dog walked up to him to greet him, wagging his tail in anticipation of a pat on the head from Bryan. But this time, there would be no pat on the head. This time, when Bryan saw the dog, instead of a pat on the head, there was a violent encounter that left the dog dead! After Bryan killed the dog, he went back delivering the mail. The dog’s owner came running out the house to see his dog dead. Not from a pat on the head, but from a bite to the neck! It was concluded that Bryan bit the dog to death, but why would he do that? The dog’s owner called the police and explained everything to them. He knew who Bryan was because he delivered the mail there for years. The police went to his job to question him about the incident, and Bryan told them he didn’t know what they were talking about. The police then took out a picture of the dead dog, and when Bryan took a look at it, something made him attack the picture, like he was attacking the dog again. The police tried to subdue him, but he overpowered them. Finally, they tased him to get him to stop, and when he was in their custody, they took him to a hospital. When they arrived, his behavior was far from ordinary. He was making animal noises instead of speaking English. When the doctor examined him, they informed the police that his blood was infected with a virus that caused him to attack animals and it was very contagious. About a minute later, the officers that arrested Bryan were now acting like him, as they too, were infected. All it took was a touch and it could be transferred from one body to the next. They quarantined Bryan and the infected officers until they could figure out what to do with them. While waiting for an answer, a news report came on the TV and it reported that the virus had spread quickly, as far west as San Francisco in the United States and in other nations like England, France and as far as China to the east. It was now an epidemic!

John Barnett of Ferguson, Missouri, was on his way out of the supermarket when out of nowhere, a man grabbed his arm and tried to attack him. John fought back, but the man kept coming. Only after he made it to his car was he safe. It was becoming uncontrollable and something had to be done.

When John made it home, he contacted an old schoolmate of his named Sam Porter from St. Louis. They served in the military together, but John did his term and left and Sam stayed and became a Commander in the Army. He told John that he would help him because the virus had taken a personal toll on him. His daughter Marie had contracted the virus and he gave his daughter his word that he would find a cure for her and everyone else who had the illness. Sam contacted some friends who knew about viruses and how they operate. One was Dr. George Goodwill from Clayton, Missouri, who specialized in Biophysics. Another was Jim Hartley from Alton, Illinois, who was a computer genius. And the last one he called was Julia Berry, also from St. Louis, who was an engineer and an actress. They went to Dr. Goodwill’s office and came up with a plan and notified the doctors in New York City of what they were about to do. They would gather all the people affected into every stadium and park of their respective cities, secure them and from the air, unleash the antidote on all the people. They agreed, and they began to formulate an attack.

Dr. Goodwill would be responsible for getting the materials for the antidote, while Jim would analyze and construct the composition for the formula on his computer, and Julia would take all the information and crunch it to create the antidote. One week later, they were done and all of them flew to New York City with the finished product. The antidote was completed and they named it, OPW-101. With that being done, they got on social media, and informed the world about the cure and how to administer it to the afflicted. Soon, all the major cities were shuffling the sick into stadiums and parks, exposed to nothing but open sky. When it was revealed that everyone affected were in position, a group of cargo planes flew out of a New York City airport and went across the country and beyond and started to shower the affected with the cure. As soon as OPW-101 came in contact with the hosts’ skin, the virus was destroyed and the person turned back to their regular selves. Everyone was healed, including Sam Porter’s daughter Marie. In three days, the virus was eradicated and Sam, George, Jim and Julia became heroes. The President even called to congratulate them. They didn’t consider themselves heroes, but people with a mission. And if they had to do it all over again, they would not hesitate.