Now 2020

Dust particles danced in the air, it was stifling, sticky and uncomfortable.  I shuffled the papers together trying to maintain some kind of order.  My eyes were red and swollen from the microscope.  I fought the feeling of hopelessness everyone else had succumbed to.  Somewhere in the stack of information was something I needed.  I just didn't know what or, where.

Picking up my cup I brought it close to my lips, glancing down, I watched the cockroach crawl over the lip and fall onto the desk.  I didn't touch it,  it deserved to live.  The crawling little creature buoyed my spirits and I started my search anew besides, there had been too much death.

Then 2019

My attention was not focused on the chalk board or, the test strip in front of me instead, I was at the beach, in the park, I was in fact, anywhere but here.  The Prof cleared his throat and I realized he'd addressed a question to me..  "Do you find this theory to be true?"  Couldn't think of a thing to say, certainly nothing witty.  I shrugged and alluded to the fact... I had no idea what theory he referred to. 
Was that a thing with Professors.. making you feel like an idiot..  I was deciding whether or not to confront him when we heard the commotion.  A  security guard, (which I lovingly referred to as Rent-A-Cop) ran in telling us someone was outside with a gun and for us to stay inside, he told the Prof to lock the doors behind him and he disappeared around the corner.  From my seat, I could see out the window, a man ran past, I didn't see a gun but... I saw his face, I saw the open sores, I saw the hanging eye, the lips blue, swollen blood oozing from the corners of his mouth..  patches of his scalp hung from his head.. I screamed, I think..  That was the first we heard about it.  They named it..  Molecular Melt..   and that's what the body did.. it simply melted.

Now 2020

Tears still flowed freely when I think about the beginning, they flow when I think about all the deaths, they flowed when I think about how helpless we are, still..  Back to work.  There was something here, I knew it, I could feel it, I couldn't stop until I found it..  One thing I did know, it only happened to human beings..

Now 2020

Sometimes, I wanted to quit.  Just stop and let go.  I remember my mother telling me.. "honey, let go let God"  Most of my colleagues had thrown their hands up in defeat.. the ones that hadn't melted.  Others set about trying to get themselves and their families out of the city which, made no sense.. it was wide spread, worldwide, it had no pattern, it had no rhyme or reason.  You could be a city dweller or, a recluse and still get it.  We could not pin it down to any particular thing and that is what made it so dangerous. 

When we first isolated it, it appeared to be a flu virus, similar to H1N1.. we treated it with antibiotics..  in fact with the serum used in the 2009 epidemic.  We treated the patient within the binds of isolation, as we would for T.B. or, AIDS.  It thanked us by mutating into something that ate the organs, something similar to Ebola.  From onset, it appeared not to have an incubation period, at least, we have never been able to distinguish one.  It was just there, it existed, it killed, without prejudice, without concern towards age, color, creed, gender.. it was the perfect killer.. a perfect weapon, and that thought caused a flash in my mind.  Something I"d read..  I stopped, cold in my thoughts, shivering at the little light that began to shine inside my head...  recognition, it was here..  I stared at the cabinet, the files I meticulously kept in order..  I was obsessive compulsive and it was going to pay off...

2019

My parents remained inside, I took trips to replenish supplies, only cans, bottles, nothing plastic, wooden, cellophaned.  I went to the lab and tried to work, finally feeling it was too dangerous to attempt this each day, I brought my work home.  Down in my basement, I had cultures of bacteria, viruses, I padlocked the door from the outside and made sure I was the only one with a key.    Through my ground level window I saw feet and legs, sometimes they walked, sometimes they ran, sometimes they shuffled along, I knew those were the infected.. 

It worked for a few months, our self imposed quarantine..  a few months.. one day I was down in the lab.. going through the myriad of papers, deciphering numbers, medical lingo and sometimes my own handwriting.  I heard a thud, then another, I stared up at the ceiling..  my throat constricted.. maybe, if I just ignored it, maybe it would go away.. maybe.

They were both on the floor, daddy had his gun but his hand had softened and he couldn't grip it, moma's hand was in his other..  they couldn't speak.. not audibly but daddy's eyes.. oh God MY FATHER'S EYES!.... they said it all..

2020

I pushed that memory from my mind, wiped away the tear and went to the files.. I wondered how that would look on a resume..  what would that be classified under,  would it be something totally new.. maybe  "necessary homicide"  swallowing my urge to puke, I rifled through the files.. there it was..  I opened it,  funny how it started.. 

5/2019 
LORD, IF YOU CAN STILL STOMACH ME.. PLEASE HEAR.. HELP THESE POOR SOULS, THEY KNOW NOT WHAT WE HAVE UNLEASHED...

2/2019
D. Saltz

2 mil.. not enough but would have to do.  I dropped the reagent into the dish and covered it.  A ratio of 2 to 1.  I hoped the outcome would be as good as the first. 

All things considered, at first I felt we had done the right thing.  The patient was improving, the serum was working.  We were so happy about the results we chose to ignore what was sitting in our faces, sad to say, it nagged at me..  When I analyzed the blood, all of the Aids virus was gone.  The patient was recovering, no cough, no more melanoma, the lungs were clear.  But there were a couple of black cells.  I did a smear, under the microscope they appeared to be just that, black cells.  They did nothing, they were quiet.  I figured perhaps pieces of the destroyed disease, nothing to worry about.. still the nagging.

7/2019
D. Saltz

Our patient has been readmitted.. I don't understand he was cured.  When I reached his room I was... the only word I can think of is horrified.  His skin was wet like clay, he bled from his pores,  I reached down to take his pulse but, when I touched the arm, the skin sloughed away.  Taking some of the skin, I headed for the lab.  I did a culture..

The petri dish was alive.  The tiny skin culture had filled the dish.  There were tendrils of black outside the lid.. what had it done eaten it's way through?  I was afraid to pick it up but, I had to see what was going on.. I knew one thing, it had something to do with the black cells.

8/2019
D. Saltz

After the inquiry with all it's surprises, one being the distribution of over 7 million doses of the serum.  Not only was it distributed, it was sold as an anti flu serum, to private practices, in the U. S. , Europe, Asia, Africa.  I guess in defense of myself I have to say I was blissfully ignorant of this knowledge,  also I had not been aware of the fact that when our patient came back into the hospital, there were thousands of others.  I'm tired, I just want to sleep, been feeling that way since I had my flu shot. 

Anyway, it isn't contagious, it doesn't go airborne, you don't have to worry about bodily fluids, it has to be injected.  I have tried to figure out what went wrong, it was engineered to destruct after it had killed the offending disease. 

My final words.. if you didn't take the new flu shot, you are safe.  As for the rest, they will die, painfully and horribly..  on the next page you will find the breakdown of the serum but, nothing can kill it, or alter it.. I'm sorry, soon I will burn in hell..
Dall

2020

How many times had my mother scolded me about getting my flu shot, I always promised I would but, I felt others needed it more than me.  I remember daddy taking it just to please momma.  Now I find out that is what killed them. 

All my work had been for nothing, I should have spent the last few months finding the names of those that had taken the shot.  I gathered up the documents and headed out the door.  I had some questions.  One thing, we needed to find out how many more there were..  seemed like everything man touched, he destroyed..

I didn't believe in hell but, it made me feel good thinking that perhaps God had saved a nice hot hole for Dr. Saltz and her cohorts.. 

I hoped... no I wished with all my might that they roasted over a slow spit..