Diary of the Last Seed (2 page)

"We will figure it out Mrs. Blackburn, he will wake up," the doctor said.

“I’ve been waiting for him to wake up, or for you guys to figure out what is wrong with him, for about two months now. The world is going to shit out there, and I have to deal with my sick son and a bunch of incompetent doctors and nurses that cannot diagnose him. It’s not fair for me or my family. I am tired of all the excuses you have given me. I have not seen my husband for over two weeks now, and I can’t even give him an update on our son's condition, because there is none.” She shook her head side to side with tears running down her face. She was exhausted.

The doctor bent down and looked into her eyes. “You need to rest, go home. Spend time with the rest of your family. If there is any change on your son's condition, I will personally contact you. As a matter of fact, here.” He handed her a small business card with his personal information.

“If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me any time. I normally don't do this for patients, but I will make an exception for you Mrs. Blackburn. You need to promise me that you are going home to your family.” He kept his hand on her shoulder for comfort.

Stacy didn't know what to do or say. She got up from where she was seated, nodded to the doctor, and looked at her son.

“I will be back next week.” She lifted her son’s hand to her face, moved the IV out of the way, and kissed it.

“I love you. I love you with all my heart and soul from the moon and back.” Stacy lowered her son’s hand back to the side of the bed. She blew him another kiss and slowly walked toward the door. “Please take good care of my son,” Stacy told the doctor. She left her son’s room in search for the exit door. Walking through the hospital, deep inside her thoughts, Stacy failed to notice all the chaos and sick people that had overpopulated the emergency room. All Stacy wanted was to get away from the hospital for a couple of days and go see the rest of the family. Stacy left the hospital, got into her car, and drove home. That was the last time she would ever see her son.

CHAPTER TWO

Dr. Meacham

“So the disease is airborne?” Dr. Meacham asked. He was standing in a small observation room, looking through a glass window at who he thought was patient zero for a new type of epidemic. Dr. Meacham rested his forehead against the glass wall. He could see his reflection on the glass and noticed the guilt on his face. And who wouldn’t feel guilty when seeing one of his co-workers in that type of predicament? He raised his head and stared into the other side of the glass wall where there was an even smaller room painted all in white. A sealed bio-hazard door was on the left side of the room, and his co-worker strapped to a metal frame bed was on the right. Dr. Whitney was a brilliant, up and coming virologist, now, by a mistake or just pure lousy luck, she lay motionless. Her face was still covered with trails of dried blood running from her nose, ears, and eyes. An open gash from her forehead disappeared under her red hairline. Other wounds were slowly appearing over her entire body.

“If I were a man of God and not a scientist, I’d swear she looks exactly like the exorcist,” Dr. Moore said. Who would debate him? After all, her wounds and behavior could be confused with a possession, or a person suffering from stigmata. The other doctors tried to treat her wounds, but they hadn’t had any luck, it seemed as if the blood was not coagulating. Dr. Meacham knew that the young doctor didn’t have too much longer before she bled to dead. It had been three hours since she started acting weird, and the other doctors had to strap her down to the metal bed.

Dr. Meacham remembered her asking him if she could work during the weekend, since she had family coming in this week. For just a moment, he thought that whatever was happening to her was his fault. He had no idea that this was just the beginning, and that she was not the last person that he would see dying under his authority. Dr. Meacham didn’t pay any attention to Dr. Moore, who was next to him asking him a question.

“Sorry, Dr. Moore, you said something?” “Are we infected as well?” Dr. Moore asked, with disbelief written all over his face. “Maybe,” Dr. Meacham said, “Naaa, it is not possible. If the virus were airborne, that would mean everyone in the building is infected.” “If that were the case, someone else should have been showing symptoms already.” “You are right, Chris,” Dr. Meacham said. He knew that Dr. Moore preferred to be called by his first name, at least by his colleagues.

“What if the virus has different incubation periods, depending on the person who is infected?” “Because the antibodies of each individual are different, maybe that’s why it had taken longer to show in everyone else,” Dr. Meacham said. “If you are right about these, we are in a time bomb and I don’t want to be inside this building went it goes off,” Dr. Moore said.

“Chris, I need you to lock down the building, nobody comes in, and nobody goes out. I will also need you to gather a few more personnel and conduct blood tests on everyone in the building. I need this to happen ASAP. You got it?”

“Yes,” Dr. Moore answered with an attitude. He knew Dr. Meacham was his supervisor, but he didn't like to be bossed around. He knew this was bigger than him, or anybody else in this building. If, in fact, this was a new virus, and it was airborne, that meant everyone was infected, and it was going to be a terrible day for all. He hoped that Dr. Meacham was wrong and that he was just having a bad day. Dr. Moore could not imagine, or even believe, that a virus, fungus, or whatever it was, could become airborne in a day.

The only possible way would be if the virus had mutated a long time ago and for some reason

the incubation period came to a halt. But, these were all theories, speculation his mind was working on.

He knew that if anyone could fix this, or find a cure, it would be Dr. Meacham. Dr. Meacham had been

working there much longer than he had. Dr. Moore could still see that Dr. Meacham was worried,

and that made him a little uncomfortable since he never worried during this type of situations.

This time something was different. Something was not right, as if Dr. Meacham had known this would happen.

But could he? Dr. Moore thought about it. Dr. Meacham was a little worried about the whole situation,

but he was still acting quite calm.

Dr. Moore turned around and looked at him; he was still staring at Dr. Whitney through the glass window. Dr. Whitney had not been working there for long, but she was still part of the team, part of the family. They spent so many hours in the same place that sooner or later they all became family. Dr. Moore knew that was probably the reason why Dr. Meacham was feeling a little down. Seeing one of his fellow co-workers dying in front of his eyes had to be extremely difficult for him. It’s not like having a car accident or being murdered, the person he knows is right in front of him, and he cannot do anything to save her or even prolong her death. Dr. Moore knew Dr. Meacham needed time to think by himself to analyze the situation at hand. Dr. Moore decided not to waste any more time, he slowly opened the door, so not to disturb Dr. Meacham. Dr. Moore exited the room and closed the door behind him.

The sound of the door brought Dr Meacham back to reality. He pulled a chair in front of the glass wall and sat down. He never broke eye contact with his patient. A million thoughts were going through his mind. He didn’t want to let anyone down, but this was something he was not going to be able to fix. He stood up, walked toward the little desk inside the office, and picked up the phone.

“May I speak with Dr. Spranger?” Dr. Meacham asked the receptionist on the other end of his call. “He is currently in a meeting,” the lady on the phone said.“I don’t care if he is in a meeting, or in the bathroom looking at porn, you need to get him on the phone! You need to tell him Dr. Meacham needs to talk to him, and is an emergency! Do it NOW!” Dr. Meacham could tell the lady’s attitude had changed, and she was going to comply to his demand.

“Sir, give me a second,” the lady said. A few minutes passed before he heard a man’s voice through the phone. “How can I help you?” the man said. “I’ve got a situation that is currently unfolding here in my building and I don’t really have a starting point for it. I was wondering if you can review some specimens I have? You know I would never ask for your help unless I really needed it. I understand we are not on the best terms anymore, but I think my situation could also affect you and your people. Let’s leave the past mistakes in the past,” Dr. Meacham said.

“For you to call me and pretty much beg for my help, it must really be some situation you’ve got there. You know I don’t respect you as a person anymore, but I do respect your work and your research. So if you need my help, something really big must be happening. Send me what you’ve got and give me a few hours,” Dr. Spranger said.

“Everything is already in your email; I was going to send it to you even if you had said no,” Dr. Meacham said. “Cocky as always. I’ll reply in a few hours. I’ve got my own share of situations over here,” Dr. Spranger said. “Just do me a favor, when you read my email, please prioritize on the last question, ok?”“No problem” Dr. Spranger said.

CHAPTER THREE

Emma Smith

If Emma would have known about the events that were about to unfold, she would have done things differently the day before. Shit, she would have even gone to bed early, but instead Emma spend all night talking on the phone with Jason. Being grounded didn’t make a difference. Even if Emma’s parents took her cell phone and computer away, she was fine by it. She was prepared for these type of situations. She always had a back-up plan; even her mother said that she was way too mature for her age. Emma always saw them as ignorant, and she prided herself as being the smart rational one of the family.

Emma was glad that Jason had given her a pre-paid cell phone for her to have in case she ever got grounded, which by his calculations, was about every other week. After all, every time Emma was in this type of predicament it was because of him, so in a way he was trying to make it up to her. Emma really didn’t care since the money was not coming out of her pocket. Emma didn’t think about herself as a gold digger or anything like that, but shit, how could she say no to stuff someone else was buying for her? It’s not like Emma was sleeping with anyone in exchange for stuff. Emma knew a few girls in her high school that would do sexual favors for old guys around the neighborhood. Emma even knew about the relationship between Katy Huffman and Mr. Edwards, the math teacher.

Emma saw them going into the math classroom and locking themselves up inside after all of the other students were gone. “I guess you’re stupider than you look, to get a B minus instead of an A after you let that nasty old man doggy hump you for an hour,” Emma remembered telling Katy. It was true, Emma always thought about Mr. Edwards as a disgusting old man, already in his forties, and still trying to pick up young girls. “Only stupid girls would fall for that bullshit,” Emma said. Emma never mentioned a word to anyone about the thing she had seen.

She had the tendency to say what she needed to say to that person’s face and no one else’s. That was one of the things Jason hated about her, and was trying so hard to change, but she was too stubborn to listen to him or change on her own. Maybe one day she would change, but not now. She didn’t want to be like her mother, always following her dad around and doing everything he said, like sheep following direction from a Labrador. Emma hated how her mother was so simple minded, always repeating and reassuring everything her dad said. Emma used to call her “K.A.E or Kiss Ass Echo.” Her mother never knew the meaning of it, but she knew it was not pleasant. Emma found it so annoying. It was funny when she was little but not now.

But for Emma everything she knew was about to change forever, and today was the day. The day that her whole life would alter, and there was nothing she could do to prevent it.

The banging noise was so loud it echoed through Emma’s room. Scared to her bones, Emma woke up feeling her heart beating like a Latin conga. She looked around her room making sure none of her stuff had fallen from her dresser. For a moment she thought that her middle school run & track trophy had fell. The first trophy she had ever won in her life, well, at least the only first place trophy she had won. The dresser was the only piece of furniture holding her life achievements, from a time when she was dedicated to school and her studies.

The rest of the walls in her room were covered with emo looking stuffed animals and Japanese animation posters. Her mom and dad didn’t even know what all posters were about, and didn’t pay too much attention to them. Emma grabbed her pillow, laid back down, and covered her face. She was trying to go back to sleep. But the sun was already out and the headboard of her bed was laying against the window, even though her mother didn’t like it. She was a teenager, a rebel to society, and a wanna be adult.

Her mom just didn’t like it because she was afraid that someone would reach through the window and grab her hair. Emma laughed at her mom every time she heard her mom’s worries. Her mom usually got mad and walked out of Emma’s room, yelling how disrespectful and inconsiderate she was. What her mom didn’t know was that there was a reason why Emma’s bed was setup that way. They both had grown apart soon after Emma started high school. Due to that and other family issues, neither of them were brave enough to talk to each other. Her mom didn’t even know that she had a boyfriend. The only reason Emma had her bed against the window was because it was easier for her to hear when her boyfriend threw rocks at the window, letting her know that he was there to help her sneak out.