This is my first AU story so if there are any inaccuracies, my apologies. Hope you enjoy this work. :)
The story is mostly told through Danny and Kara, but also little by others later on.
Appearing in the story are Ravit, Carlton, Frankie B., Wolf, Tom, Mike, Rachel and some others from the crew of the Nathan James.
All feedback is appreciated, so if you have any thoughts about the story, let me know. :)
1. Global pandemic
x
Kara was sitting by the window at a cabin located in Coles Point. Waiting for Burk, Taylor and Danny to return. Thinking back to yesterday as they had received rather strange messages from their families. The cabin only had the necessities to stay for a few days, so there was no TV. She quite didn't understand why would Frankie rent such a cabin, he was after all a city boy.
When she had agreed to Frankie's invitation to join him and the guys at the cabin, she didn't think she would enjoy spending her time like this. To her surprise Burk had been invited as well and he brought along two new people from the International Naval Training Program. Apparently he had met them after they had come back from the Arctic.
As Burk had arrived to the cabin with his entourage he had been pretty interested to find out about the road trip she and Danny had been on. "So what is all this talk about a road trip?" Burk had given them an assessing look as they had sat on the couch. "Needed a date to my sisters wedding." She heard Danny reply casually from beside her. "And Foster's what you came up with?" Burk had then asked. "Hey, I'm a catch." She tried to say and smiled at Burk. Danny chuckled at her comment. She wondered what he thought, wasn't she a catch? "Foster's exactly the kinda girl you want to introduce to your mother." Danny had then said to Burk giving a wink at him. "Well, just don't mess with her or you'll have to deal with me." Burk gave a look at her way and then at Danny. Danny just nodded at Burk's comment.
"Hi, I'm Kara." She got up to shake hands with the two new people Burk had with him. Thinking it was best to break off the situation between Burk and Danny. Burk did feel a little protective about her. "Ravit." "Wolf." She shook hands with the two of them.
They were all gathered around the fire place, she was sitting on Danny's lap as he sat on a armchair. Burk was sitting on the couch quite closely to a rather stunning looking Israeli woman named Ravit. With Ravit's friend Wolf on her other side. Frankie himself was sitting on the other armchair across from her and Danny. Smith and Berchem had drawn the short straw as they were sitting on pillows on the floor next to Halsey. Everyone was telling stories about previous missions and enjoying a glass of wine.
So as they had been sitting by the fire, there was a sudden buzzing of phones. Some of them had even missed calls. They had turned the phones on silent (some had vibration still on) because Frankie had insisted that all of them needed to just relax and fiddling with their phones was not the answer. She got up to check her phone as did the others too.
Message from Alisha: Did you see the news?
1 missed call from Alisha.
Message from Alisha: Kara, answer me!
2 missed calls from Mom.
Message from Mom: Just saw the news, have you heard?
Message from Mom: Where are you? Are you safe?
1 missed call from Alisha.
Glancing around her, she saw that the others were looking pretty puzzled about what was going on. Quickly browsing the news with her phone, she saw a headline "The President declares a National Emergency due to the Red Flu". She opened the link and read quickly through.
According to the CDC and WHO the Red Flu was spreading all over the world. Fearing for the worst, a global pandemic, many countries have now issued a National Emergency and taken precautions. People are advised to take contact with the local authorities in their respective locations. She managed to take a screen shot of the Red Flu symptoms before she lost her cell service. Everyone was probably trying to contact home, their loved ones and friends. Too much traffic going through, she thought. She thought back to when she first heard about it on the radio with Danny.
As they had been driving to Disney world, she couldn't help but hear what was going on in the news on the radio. "..There are reported incidents of the Red Flu in a few cities around the country. The CDC is giving out a press release later today.." She listened in and was wondering if it was the same one that had been reported few months back in Asia and Africa. She had read about it only briefly before the trip to the Arctic and it didn't seem that there was a cure for it. Feeling a little afraid that it was now spreading in the USA. "It's probably nothing to worry about." She heard Danny say as if he had noticed she was worried. Nodding at him, she hoped that he was right.
They were all in shock about what they had discovered. Most likely a global pandemic and there was no cure for it. There was a sudden panic amongst them, even though they should know how to keep their cool in situations like this, but they all had shore leave at the time, so they weren't on duty.
"We gotta go back to Norfolk." Smith had said looking at the people around him.
"Not sure if it is a good idea." Said Frankie.
"Well, we can't stay here either." Burk had added.
"It said to contact local authorities on the news, so that means the Navy should have a plan." She said trying to make sense in the situation. Although she didn't really know what they should do. They were all worried about their families for sure and how to find them, but with one car and a boat, how would they decide who got to go and who didn't? And how could they be certain where to find their family members? Smith had family back in Norfolk, glancing at him she saw he was worried about them.
"So back to Norfolk. It's our best option." Burk stated.
"It said the virus is airborne. How do we avoid contact?" Ravit asked a little note of fear in her voice.
"I suggest we keep our cool. We don't know how bad things are yet. The officials might just be overreacting." Danny said with a calm voice. "The Naval Surface Center in Dahlgren is just 1 hour away. I suggest some of us drive there and see what's going on." He continued.
"I'm in." Burk said. "Me too." Taylor added. Danny nodded. Everyone seemed to think it was the best idea at the time. It didn't do much to rush towards Norfolk even though that was the obvious place to go. The Navy must have a plan, she thought.
It was the following morning and they still hadn't come back from their trip to Dahlgren. Just 1 hour away, she heard Danny's voice in her mind. Suddenly hearing loud swearing coming from downstairs, she left the room to see what was happening.
"Frankie, what is going on?" She took a look around and saw that he was panicking. "It's Smith and Berchem. They've taken the boat." Frankie glanced at her. "What?" She looked at him. "Found this." Frankie handed a note to her. "I'm sorry, I need to go and find them." She read. She couldn't blame Smith for wanting to be with his family, his wife and kids. And Berchem must have followed as he and Smith were close friends. "Well family goes over friends." She tried to see if Frankie got it. Seeing him nod at her, she saw he understood. "Where's yours?" She asked. "My parents live in Boston, little sister is in New York." He told her. "Did you reach them yesterday?" She sat down on the couch. He shook his head.
Cell services were still down and she didn't think the lines would be back anytime soon. She had a feeling that this whole thing was going south. Suddenly unsure what was the safest plan. Should they stay at the cabin and try to survive through it, perhaps someone was working with a cure and the best thing was to stay put. But they were all in the Navy, they should find their way back to Norfolk and see what the plan was. If there was a plan.
And she was worried about her mother, how was she surviving back in Norfolk? She felt awful that her mother didn't know that she was okay. Only hoping that she didn't drown her sorrows in a bottle. And Alisha was all the way in Europe.. How would she survive?