okay kiddos i've had to do an assignment for bio 2 so i decided to do a short story based off of somthing biological in nature for the class so here goes.
now feel free to review and give your opinions of it, i wish that i could have done better myself, but i put it off to the last minute so without further adeu: The Mysterious Virus by yours truely
Prologue: The Beginning of the End
As the smoke cleared from the explosion a bloody and scraped hand emerged from the rubble that was once the facility’s biohazard containment room.
Miriam Parino forced herself to get a hold of one of the jagged rods of rebar jutting out from the remnants of the exterior wall. The pain was very immense, and everything seemed to be going in slow motion. She was still disoriented didn’t fully understand what had just happened. One minute she was at her computer analyzing the virus, and the next minute she was flung halfway across the room.
Is it still contained? Oh God, if the containment was breached then the whole world could be in danger. Got to get over to the containment area.
Miriam forced herself to her feet and limped over to the containment shelter at the far end of the lab. The once white sterile room was now a mass of burnt out gray and black, she could still see some of the lights still on meaning that the facility still had power. She made it over to one of the computer terminals that were still operational. The monitor was lying on its side, and she used her good arm to turn it upright.
She grabbed the keyboard from the floor and accessed the computer, and her worst fears were confirmed. The explosion had caused a full scale containment failure. She knew that the virus was airborne, and that it had probably had enough time to reach the jet stream and would make its way to the major areas of the world to infect on a global scale.
An alarm sounded from the loud speakers followed by a cool and calm feminine voice of the base’s main computer announced Miriam’s death.
“Warning, containment failure has occurred in the pathogenic labs. Initiating sterilization procedure. All base personnel now have five minutes to reach minimum safe distance. Arming three kiloton nuclear warhead,” the computer coldly announced.
Miriam winced at the thought of her life ending in a few minutes. She was a very religious person, and knew that the end of her life wouldn’t be something to fear, but her work was crucial to keep this virus from ever harming humanity. She had to do something in her last moments.
“You now have four minutes and forty five seconds to reach minimum safe distance,” the loud speaker announced again.
Miriam turned back to her terminal hoped that it was still connected to the internet since they did live conferences via the net. To her luck it was still connected, but she only had moments to send a message. She heard the computer announce that she had three minutes before the nuke went off.
She logged onto her email account, and attached as much of her research on the virus as she could and sent the message to her friend who was a professor at Stanford University. After she saw that the message was sent she slumped back into her chair awaiting the end, and knowing that the virus had already made it well beyond the reach of the nuke. She just hoped that Dr. Crackhorn would get to the research that she sent him.
Miriam let out a sigh as everything went white, and she thought no more.
Chapter One: Five Days Earlier
Miriam Parino had just gotten home from her day at the university. She was only seventeen years old, but had already earned four PhDs in Virology and Bacteriology. She walked into her room and took off her lab coat and threw it onto her dorm room bed, and took off her shoes. She let her long brown hair loose as she took out the bands which had it constricted into a ponytail. She took off her glasses and switched them for her contacts since she wasn’t allowed to use contacts in the lab.
Miriam walked over to her refrigerator and grabbed a soda as she turned on the evening news. She decided that she would relax for a few minutes, and then go out for a little bit of dinner at Dax’s and then turn in for the evening.
She was just getting up to change into some more comfortable clothes when she heard someone knocking at her door. She walked over to the door, and opened it to see two military personnel standing in front of her.
“Can I help you,” Miriam asked trying not to look nervous. I haven’t done anything illegal so why are two military men at my door?
“Are you Miriam Jena Parino,” one of the officers asked.
“Yes, why are you two here, I haven’t done anything wrong, and I haven’t left the university grounds in two weeks…you can ask anyone,” Miriam said in a nervous tone.
“You are not in trouble Ms. Parino, but we are here to take you to an Air force 747 that will take you to a military base in the South Pacific,” the other officer said.
Miriam looked perplexed, “Why am I going to the South Pacific?”
“We are not at liberty to discuss this. You will find out when you have boarded the plane, and don’t worry we have already cleared this with the administration here; now if you do not mind the sooner we leave would be better,” the first officer said.
Miriam shrugged, “Alrighty, lead the way.”
The two military men walked Miriam out to a black sedan just outside the dorm, and opened the rear door for her so she could sit down. The Car pulled out of the university’s parking lot and headed off toward the Alistair Air Force base east of the university.
They arrived at Alistair about forty five minutes later, and escorted Miriam to the airliner sitting on one of the runways. The two military officers shook her hands and wished her well as a USAF woman helped her to her seat on the plane.
Miriam was seated in an airliner chair surrounded by a conference table, and was assisted with being strapped into her seat for takeoff. Several other people came into the area she was sitting in and sat down at the table and strapped themselves into their seats. Miriam looked at them, half of them were military, and the other half looked like doctors and scientists.
She felt the liner start to vibrate as the engines began to power cycle, and heard the whine of the engines as the 747 began to taxi to onto the runway for takeoff. The others at the table were quiet, and she decided not to be the one to break the silence. Hell she didn’t even know what was going other than it affected national security somehow.
The massive Boeing 747 rapidly took off and set its course for somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean.
Back in the conference room, everyone removed their safety belts, and the Air Force man sitting at the head of the table stood, “I am Major General George Harriman. The reason that you all have been taken from your homes and places of business is that there is a biological threat directly threatening the United States, and possibly the entire world. You all have been chosen to research and develop a countermeasure for the virus that we have simply designated as H2N7. You will be using the most advanced equipment, and will be working with live samples of the virus. I apologize for not being able to notify you ahead of time, but understand that this virus has so far been contained in two third world Asian countries, but we fear that unless we can develop a vaccine for the virus, we believe that it will spread violently in the near future, and our containment measures are beginning to fail. The only way to keep from mass panic arising is to try to keep this as secret as possible. Any questions,” General Harriman simply stated in a matter of fact tone.
Miriam just sat there with her mouth going dry from what she had just heard. Is he serious, a virus that could possibly go pandemic? “Excuse me general. Can you explain anymore about the actual virus,” Miriam asked trying not to sound nervous.
Harriman glanced over to her, “Yes ma’am, from what our scientists already at the facility can gather, the virus injects its genetic material into the host’s cells, but the genetic material binds with the host’s DNA somehow, and incubates within the host, and after about two weeks, the host become violently ill, and the host’s brain chemistry goes haywire. Essentially rendering the host into a mindless carrier who will spread the virus to anyone or anything he or she comes in contact with. You will be able to look over the information when you arrive at the base. Until then I suggest that you all rest. The Airmen that are at the table with you will be your personal assistants while you are at the Area 52 base. This meeting is adjourned,” Harriman said as he turned around and left the conference room.
The airliner continued on its way.
kannibalkaney
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You don't love a woman because she is beautiful, she is beautiful because you love her. ~Author Unknown
They had been flying for the better part of six hours when Miriam felt a slight pressure change indicating that the jet was dropping altitude. She looked out of her passenger window trying to see if she could see anything outside but only seeing darkness. A disembodied voice came from one of the speakers, “This is your captain speaking, we will be landing at Area 52 in approximately fifteen minutes. Local time is 20:33.”
Miriam glanced over at the other passengers which looked as tired as she did. When they had left, was already after seven or eight that night and adding six hours to that put it after two in the morning at home. In the distance she could faintly see what appeared to be runway lights.
The 747 landed at the base and the passengers disembarked and entered the massive concrete structure on the other side of the runway.
Walking into what appeared to be an auditorium they were directed to sit down by several airmen. A screen lowered from the ceiling and a projector from the back of the room came to life displaying a man wearing a lab coat. The man on the screen adjusted his glasses. From what Miriam could tell he was Arabic, but spoke with a British accent. “My name is Asad Mahad; I am the lead scientist here at area 52, and the reason why you are here. I have chosen you because you are the leaders in your various fields. As you already know the H2N7 virus is an increasing threat. What you don’t know is that the Avian Flu which has been covered on the various world wide news channels has mutated into this form which only infects humans. Many Southeast Asian countries have already been infected, and it is your jobs just it is mine to insure that this virus doesn’t go pandemic. After you leave here, you will be admitted into the decontamination center to under go topical decontamination before you will be admitted into the labs. When you enter the labs you will not be able to leave that section of the facility. All of your necessities will be taken care of for the duration of your stay. We will begin work tomorrow morning at 06:45 so I suggest that after you decontaminate of getting a good night’s sleep.”
The screen went blank and the airmen directed the group to a room adjacent to the auditorium where they were told to remove their clothing and step into a chemical bath and submerge themselves fully for a full minute. This was to insure that the surface of their skin would be devoid of certain bacteria that could contaminate the biological samples held with in the lab section.
After resurfacing from the chemical baths they were told to rinse in a shower in the next room. Finally they were given a new set of clothing which were all tight fitting jumpsuits that were for functionality only.
Emerging from the Decon room they were led to individual rooms that had been designated to them. Miriam entered her room looking around at the sparsely decorated area. It contained a bed, table, chair, and a computer/television terminal at one end and a bathroom on the other. Deciding to heed the advice given by the mysterious Asad Mahad she slid in between the sheets and turned off the light.
The next morning she awoke to the voice of one of the airmen stationed at the base and was given half an hour to dress herself and be ready for the morning’s briefing. After dressing herself she was led into a commons area where everyone was served breakfast. Dr. Mahad walked in from one of the doors at the back of the room and took his place at a nearby podium.
“Ladies and gentlemen, today we will begin the R&D to create a countermeasure to this virus. I will divide you up into groups. One group will work on finding a vaccine for H2N7, the second group will work on containing the virus, and the last group will work with actual carriers of the virus. I have divided you based on your areas of expertise. The paper work being handed to you now details which group you will be in, and it also details information about the virus.”
Miriam looked over the paper work she was given. She was apparently going to be in the vaccine group so that meant that she would be working with hot samples. She looked back up at Dr. Mahad and noticed something in his eyes like he was holding some information back from her.
As the doctor continued to brief them about the work that they would be doing Miriam was looking over the symptoms of the virus. She noticed that the virus incubated in the host’s body for about two weeks before the infection became apparent. The virus attached itself to the host’s DNA and caused the virus to literally become a part of the host. The early symptoms were for the most part very flu-like. An unsuspecting victim would think that he or she simply had a very bad flu infection. However, after about four days after the infected started showing symptoms Miriam noticed that the brain chemistry levels of the afflicted individuals were all abnormal. The serotonin and dopamine levels were all off the chart. From all the data she could see, all the infected individuals higher brain functions were shut down after about a week or so reducing the victims to mindless, primitive carriers. The individuals would only respond to basic stimuli and were in a state of frenzy since they were only controlled by their primitive brain. Eventually due to the damage done to the brain the subject would die from brain death, but death would not occur before the subject would have time to spread the virus. She noticed that the virus could be delivered in an airborne, blood transmission, and even salivary transmission.
The more Miriam looked at the virus, and how it worked the more she was convinced that it wasn’t naturally occurring, but was engineered as a bio-weapon. She speculated that somehow the military had lost containment at either this facility or another similar to it, and they now want us to fix their problem. She decided that she would keep quiet and do her job, but as soon as they left here she might have to anonymously make this information public. The poor devils that were infected with this virus would turn into mindless carriers and spread the virus until they physically died. She shuddered at the thought of what the virus did to its victims.
After breakfast each group went about their tasks of working toward a common goal. Miriam walked into a lab which was lined with computer terminals, microscopes, and even held a containment shelter for live samples to be worked with.
Dr. Mahad had assigned himself to the same group as her and showed them all the progress that he and his other scientists had made on a vaccine. Unfortunately the current vaccine killed sixty percent of its recipients. The DNA from the vaccine could mutate into an even more deadly form of the virus which rendered the victims dermal surfaces into a red mush which contained extreme levels of what was designated H2N8 which had similar symptoms, but killed within 48 hours. The mushy remnants of the dermal regions could infect an individual by simply touching the matter even if the person was wearing a protective suit.
After going over some more information based on the original virus and the mutated variant from the vaccine Miriam and the rest of the group began their work which included infecting lab rats with the virus and it’s variants and analyzing the data from their deaths to see where they were going wrong.
Miriam looked over at Dr. Mahad, “Doctor, if you don’t mind my asking how the avian flu mutated into the virus we’re studying now?”
Dr. Mahad looked up at her, “Well we’re not really sure. It had been common knowledge that the virus could mutate into something more dangerous to humans. All we know is that if left unchecked the virus could reach pandemic status within less than two months if we’re not able to either contain it or cure it.”
Miriam stood up and stretched, “Well it’s just kinda funny how this virus only affects humans and not other animal species.”
“It’s not the first time that a virus has shown an affinity towards our species. Think about HIV which specifically targets human t-cells,” Mahad said as he stared into a microscope at one of the samples of infected cells.
Miriam could tell that he wasn’t telling the whole truth about the virus but she wouldn’t find anything out about it from him that wasn’t already “common knowledge.”
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You don't love a woman because she is beautiful, she is beautiful because you love her. ~Author Unknown
Over the next three days life at Area 52 became somewhat of a routine. Miriam would get up at 05:30 and dress herself. They would brief at breakfast when it was 06:45, and then each group would separate out into their individual areas. Miriam had learned that the base was rigged to self-destruct via a three kiloton nuclear warhead in the event of containment failure at the base, and it had made her feel uneasy but she understood why this was necessary. They would work on their vaccine which they were making progress on, and that evening around 21:30 they would brief again in the commons and send their data via a secure internet connection to a secure facility somewhere in the United States. After that briefing she would retire to her room and shower. After that she would usually go to bed so she could get enough sleep to function the next day.
It was the fourth day of life there, and needless to say she missed seeing the outside world. There were windows in the commons, but that wasn’t enough. She missed the feeling of sunshine on her skin, and the fresh air outside. Hopefully they wouldn’t be here too much longer. What Miriam didn’t know was that by this time the next day she wouldn’t even be alive.
Dr. Mahad walked into his office where he kept his own private terminal. He sat down at his desk and pulled out the chemicals he had stockpiled to himself over the last few weeks. He knew what certain chemicals in specific measurements were capable of doing when given the right stimulus. He didn’t consider himself a terrorist, but humanity had become far too corrupt and evil in the last few decades to be allowed to continue. What he had in mind for humanity was a cleansing. He would use the very virus that his government was planning on using on its enemies to infect the entire world. All he had to do was to make his little bomb, set it up, and rig one of the terminals to send an electric surge into the chemicals causing a massive explosion that would breach the viral containment causing the virus to escape into the atmosphere and cleanse the world from the evil of humanity.
He knew that this facility would be destroyed and the research data would be lost for the most part inhibiting the U.S. government from tracking a cure before it was too late. The truth was it was he who had designed the virus for the United States to carry out their deadly deeds, but realizing the error of his ways figured that this was the only way to atone for his sins.
At the evening briefing Miriam noticed that Dr. Mahad seemed really weird tonight, even more weird than he had been in the previous days. It seemed that he was deep in thought about something. She shrugged it off as a guy who just had spent more time than he had needed to in front of a microscope. Almost like some of those undergrads at the university.
Miriam retired to her room, showered, and went to bed hoping that she would soon be rid of this place.
Chapter 4: Day 5
Miriam awoke the next morning with the usual fashion and went to the commons area to eat breakfast and listen to the usual briefing of what kind of progress was made in the three groups. Thankfully she had never had to stand up in front of all those eggheads to tell the progress of her group. That fortunately was left up to Dr. Mahad. She still didn’t like him; there was something up with him, but she was forced to deal with him so he would endure. After breakfast she walked to her station in the lab, however as she walked by the other terminals she noticed a cable stretching out from the tower into a large black box next to the containment room. She passed it off as nothing more than a black box containing a removable hard drive or something detailing all the information of their work.
Miriam sat down at her terminal and began to study some more on the virus. She believed that given a few more days that they would all have an early vaccine that could work. They would just have to test it on someone and infect them. She noticed Dr. Mahad sitting down at the terminal with the cable stretching out to the black box, but she noticed that he was sweating profusely. He looked as though he feared something. She was about to get up out of her chair to ask him if something was wrong when she saw him hit a button on his keyboard, close his eyes, and then she felt a large blast wave of heat and was thrown back what felt like a hundred yards even though it was less than twenty feet.
As the smoke cleared from the explosion a bloody and scraped hand emerged from the rubble that was once the facility’s biohazard containment room.
Miriam Parino forced herself to get a hold of one of the jagged rods of rebar jutting out from the remnants of the exterior wall. The pain was very immense, and everything seemed to be going in slow motion. She was still disoriented didn’t fully understand what had just happened. One minute she was at her computer analyzing the virus, and the next minute she was flung halfway across the room.
Is it still contained? Oh God, if the containment was breached then the whole world could be in danger. Got to get over to the containment area.
Miriam forced herself to her feet and limped over to the containment shelter at the far end of the lab. The once white sterile room was now a mass of burnt out gray and black, she could still see some of the lights still on meaning that the facility still had power. She made it over to one of the computer terminals that were still operational. The monitor was lying on its side, and she used her good arm to turn it upright.
She grabbed the keyboard from the floor and accessed the computer, and her worst fears were confirmed. The explosion had caused a full scale containment failure. She knew that the virus was airborne, and that it had probably had enough time to reach the jet stream and would make its way to the major areas of the world to infect on a global scale.
An alarm sounded from the loud speakers followed by a cool and calm feminine voice of the base’s main computer announced Miriam’s death.
“Warning, containment failure has occurred in the pathogenic labs. Initiating sterilization procedure. All base personnel now have five minutes to reach minimum safe distance. Arming three kiloton nuclear warhead,” the computer coldly announced.
Miriam winced at the thought of her life ending in a few minutes. She was a very religious person, and knew that the end of her life wouldn’t be something to fear, but her work was crucial to keep this virus from ever harming humanity. She had to do something in her last moments.
“You now have four minutes and forty five seconds to reach minimum safe distance,” the loud speaker announced again.
Miriam turned back to her terminal hoped that it was still connected to the internet since they did live conferences via the net. To her luck it was still connected, but she only had moments to send a message. She heard the computer announce that she had three minutes before the nuke went off.
She logged onto her email account, and attached as much of her research on the virus as she could and sent the message to her friend who was a professor at Stanford University. After she saw that the message was sent she slumped back into her chair awaiting the end, and knowing that the virus had already made it well beyond the reach of the nuke. She just hoped that Dr. Crackhorn would get to the research that she sent him.
Miriam let out a sigh as everything went white and she thought no more.
__________________
You don't love a woman because she is beautiful, she is beautiful because you love her. ~Author Unknown
A man walked up to a television set sitting in the shattered window of an electronics store in one of the major cities in the United States. He stood there and watched the woman who was on the screen telling the world news with a look of fear in her eyes.
“Today marks the 8th day as a mysterious virus has continued to spread worldwide killing millions. The death toll is now estimated somewhere between 750 million and is climbing. Government officials are still reassuring that they will be able to track down a cure for this deadly illness. However, they are recommending that people stay indoors and away from heavily populated areas until this crisis is over.
Yesterday riots at Moscow crippled the Russian government sending the entire country into a state of anarchy. Many believe that it is only a matter of time until the same thing happens here.”
The man turned around from the television, but not as a man, but as just another carrier of the virus.
The End?
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You don't love a woman because she is beautiful, she is beautiful because you love her. ~Author Unknown
i have to make allusions to my favorite characters now
yeah i wanted a worse case senario, but i left it hanging since she did send the information before she died there may be hope, but then it may be wishful thinking
plus i wrote this in like four hours the day before it was due so i had to hurry it along and not allow it to grow to its full potential
i may at a later date redo it and make it the vision i originally had
kannibalkaney
__________________
You don't love a woman because she is beautiful, she is beautiful because you love her. ~Author Unknown
very nice story even if it was a short story, easy to get into. i think that you will get a good grade on it most definately.
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There is a fight between two wolves going on inside everyone. One stands for all good things and the other, all that is evil. Which one will win? The one that you feed.
no i didn't really read a lemon before writing this, but i do kinda have that style don't i
i might have accidentally let some of my character's personality traits from my other work blend in with miriam's personality somewhat, but oh well i digress
now as far as lemons go i read those quite a bit, like i read a bunch of inuyasha x sango ones and that was pretty nice
kannibalkaney
__________________
You don't love a woman because she is beautiful, she is beautiful because you love her. ~Author Unknown
You don't love a woman because she is beautiful, she is beautiful because you love her. ~Author Unknown
There is a fight between two wolves going on inside everyone. One stands for all good things and the other, all that is evil. Which one will win? The one that you feed.
