21 Days
Day One
"Dr. Swan, over here!"
Bella turned, the sight of four armed military police flanking six people in white hazmat suits not surprising her.
Emmett had been messaging her since before she left Africa, warning her of what was happening state side to the health care workers returning from the countries where the Ebola crisis had struck. She was tired from a full day of travel, a bone rattling jeep ride to a military transport truck to the tiny airfield and station wagon sized prop plane to the small commercial jet to the last leg of the flight on the jumbo jet. Couldn't they have detained her sooner, so maybe she could have gotten some sleep on a real bed in a climate controlled room instead of letting her haul ass all the way to Newark, New Jersey before stopping her? She stood, waiting for the group to surround her. Two of the armed men carried sticks with loops, the kind they use to capture stray dogs. Did they really think she was going to make a run for it? For God's sake, she was the one who volunteered her services, she wasn't some kind of spy trying to infect the American people! She dropped her duffle bag off her shoulder, but before it could hit the floor one of the people in white wrapped it in plastic. An electric cart, shrouded in plastic and driven by another person in protective gear, stopped next to her.
"Please get in, Dr. Swan. We will be escorting you to the quarantine facility."
"What? I don't have any symptoms, they took my temperature a dozen times since I left the hot zone. I'm fine."
"Sorry Ma'am, new federal guidelines require a 21 day quarantine in an approved facility. No exceptions."
"Fan-fucking-tastic." She couldn't wait to hear Emmett's 'I told you so.' He never understood why she'd give up a week or two of vacation each year to volunteer for Doctors without Borders.
"Babe, what are you getting out of it?" he complained before she left. "We could spend an extra week in Cancun instead of you sloggin' around some field hospital."
There was no point in arguing. People weren't listening to reason. It might be safer in quarantine anyway. Em said the nurse who broke her home quarantine got death threats. Shaking her head at the stupidity of people, she got onto the plastic lined seat and was whizzed away.
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-21days-Day 1-
"I'm sorry sir, there is no other option."
"This is bullshit. I'm an American citizen, you have no right to detain me!"
Edward Cullen was looking forward to a long hot shower and the privacy of a quiet hotel room. This had been his third tour with Doctors without Borders, and while he loved helping people who really benefited from Western medicine, every moment in-country was crowded with people. On past trips he'd gotten used to, even enjoyed, the masses of people, many of whom had walked hours to the hospital, begging to be seen, thanking and praising everyone after being treated.
This time was different, the deadly Ebola crisis made the energy in the place sharper, fear put everyone on edge. Tempers were shorter, the conditions far more difficult. He and the other volunteers were crammed into tents, always too close together waiting in line to wash or bumping elbows in the too small space dedicated to wrapping each other in the sweltering protective gear. The need to separate the truly ill from the possibly ill and from the hopefully healthy had the volunteers stretching their resources like never before. The disease never took a break; the clinic was busy every hour of the day.
His head was crowded with all the patients he'd helped; some survived, but most they could only make a little more comfortable before they died. He didn't think he'd ever get the smell of bleach out of his nostrils, he'd been sprayed, it seemed, every hour of his entire tour. Even the airplane was too much, packed with people and the first world pollution of cologne, perfumes, fabric softener, and booze—a sensory deprivation tank sounded like heaven.
And now these clowns, looking equally threatening and ridiculous in their white and blue suits, treating him like he was some kind of rabid animal instead of letting him rest.
"Mr. Cullen, please. New federal guidelines require a twenty one day quarantine in a federally authorized facility."
Travelers were gathered in clumps, talking and pointing. This was unusual activity, even for JFK, one of the busiest airports in the country. He didn't want to provoke some kind of mass hysteria. This could all be sorted out somewhere privately.
An ambulance was waiting in the parking lot, black government SUVs parked in front and behind the vehicle.
"This isn't necessary, I'm not sick."
"This is the established protocol sir. Please get in."
"Where are we going? Columbia Presbyterian? NYU Medical?" He named the top New York hospitals he could remember off hand as he sat on the gurney.
"No sir. A facility has been established at Fort Monmouth."
"And where the hell is that?"
The doors slammed shut and the vehicle started rolling before the man answered. "New Jersey."
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AN: 21 days, one chapter a day. I know, I have some nerve when I still have an unfinished story out there, but this one won't leave me alone. I have a special helper for this story-let's just call her 'Nurse Beta'