FULL CIRCLE
Chapter 24
Frank hurried back to the lab to start running through the samples that he'd taken from Mrs. Randolph's room. With any luck, he would have a sample of the infectious agent. And then maybe they'd have something to go on. It had to be something in the room. None of the sick
residents had any contact as each was for all intents and purposes, confined to their rooms. And the staff was taking the usual precautions in handling each one.
Natalie looked up from her latest test to ask, "Did you get anything yet?"
Frank nodded as yet another swab showed evidence of something other than the bleach and other chemicals he'd come to expect. "I went all over that room and the bathroom and so far all the samples are allcoming back positive for something. I could just be the normal disease
spread from the sick person. But it almost looks as though someone sprayed an aerosolized mist of the infectious agent."
"Maybe that explains why nobody else has gotten sick in the past two days, they were being deliberately infected," Natalie suggested, shaking her head.
"I'm going to give Connor a call. Fill him in on the latest," Frank decided.
Natalie took one of the swabs and rubbed it on a prepared slide. "I've definitely narrowed it down to something viral. Let's see if I can get any closer."
Frank had pulled out his phone and was saying, "Connor, in this last room I found a number of traces of what could be the infectious agent."
"Any idea what it is?" Stephen asked.
"Not yet. But I almost didn't get there in time. The moment I left, they were coming to clean up," Frank replied.
"I don't believe this!" Natalie exclaimed.
"What?" Frank asked.
She turned away from the microscope to say, " I need to check it again but I'm seeing a resemblance to the mutated influenza virus we ran into in Virginia."
"The Spanish flu? How can that be?" Frank asked.
"I don't know. But I'm definitely seeing some resemblance," Natalie replied.
"Connor, did you hear that?" Frank asked. "Natalie thinks it's the Spanish flu!"
She reached to take the phone out of Frank's hand. "It's not exactly the same one we encountered, Connor. Some of the RNA is familiar but there are other RNA mixed in. I'm going to see if I can identify more."
You do that. Meanwhile I'm going to call Eva and have her pick up Miles. I think I may just have an idea about what's going on. But I don't want to say it over the phone. Better we all hear it face to face," Stephen told her.