Chapter 03
MCB Camp Pendleton
San Diego, CA
Fall 2004
Anyone who knew Aaron Hotcher knew he was furious right now. "A virus?"
But the doctor he was speaking to, Dr. Marsden, either didn't know that, or didn't care. "Apparently that's the 'gift' the aliens left us. The Marines on the ground reported what felt like a cold fog or mist the morning the ship took off. At the time we thought it was a natural weather phenomenon. Now we think it was deliberate. It might be nothing. So far not everyone exposed has become sick. And those who have are showing fairly mild symptoms. But for safety's sake we want to keep this contained until we know what we're dealing with."
"You should have warned us."
Dr. Marsden sighed. "That wasn't my call." She said.
"So what happens now?" Gideon asked.
"Quarantine with everyone else."
"How long?"
"From what we can tell there's a three week incubation period. We'll be able to determine if they've been exposed within 24 hours, but it will take three weeks to see if they can fight it off or not. If they can't then they're contagious until the infection runs its course."
"How long does that take?" Hotch asked.
"So far everyone who's come down sick is still sick, but it's only been 36 hours."
"What does it look like?" Gideon asked.
"Like a common cold. Mild fever, stuffy nose, sneezing, running eyes, slight cough with minor lung congestion. More annoying than anything. But it looks to be a lot more virulent than even the cold, the virus can stay active on surfaces for, well, we haven't seen it die off yet. And nothing we throw at it kills it."
"And you're sure it's alien?" Hotch asked.
"Yes. We've torn it apart in the lab, that virus was not made here on Earth."
"Maybe we can help." Gideon said.
"How?" Dr. Marsden asked.
"Profile their intentions by looking at their creation."
"Do any of you have a background in microbiology?"
"Reid has a background in everything."
"Whatever this is, it's out." Morgan said.
The team had been decontaminated, much to everyone's displeasure. Now they were in quarantine. On the plus side, the four of them had their own floor in the quarantine barracks. They were already setting up the common room to be comfortable. At least they would have something to do that way. But first, debriefing. "What do you mean?" Colonel Chatman asked.
"Mendoza stopped for gas. He stopped at a McDonald's. According to Father Martin he went to mass."
"Goddamn it!"
"It might just be another version of a common cold." Dr. Marsden said. "I still think it's too soon to panic."
"Well whatever it is we have about three weeks to figure it out before it spreads all over the country!"
It wasn't so much that Spencer knew everything, the team came to realize over the next few days. It was just that he processed everything so fast. "It's based on age." He said a week later.
They were having a meeting, one of the daily update briefings. The Quarantined BAU team was sitting in over a video link from their makeshift office. The scientists had more or less designated Spencer the official spokesperson since the military didn't intimidate him. "Age?" Colonel Chatman asked.
"Yes. Everyone over roughly 25 seems to be able to fight it off before it becomes infectious."
"How can this thing tell how old you are?"
"It looks like it tracks with growth hormone levels." Spencer had a chart on a white board. "At birth most humans are born with growth hormone levels right around 1800 picomoles to liter of blood. At maturity men drop to 225, women to 450. We know that everyone exposed shows signs of infection. Dormant endospores appear in the bloodstream, in a manner similar to Anthrax." Now he drew a line down the chart. "In everyone under 550 picomoles of growth hormone per liter of blood the endospores remain dormant. In everyone over 550 picomoles after about three weeks the endospores open up and the virus enters the bloodstream. Within 24 hours the virus has multiplied enough to begin shedding into the environment, and we start seeing symptoms."
"And this thing spreads like the common cold?"
"Yes. Only it lasts for up to seven days on surfaces so far and nothing we throw at it will kill it." Dr. Marsden replied. "Symptoms also last five to seven days, and so far appear to clear up on their own with no harm to the patient."
"And there are no lasting effects?"
"We don't know yet. In mature patients after four weeks from what we can tell the endospores clear out of the blood stream. At the moment everyone at that stage are showing clear blood tests. In younger patients who have already developed the disease the virus remain in the blood and passes through the blood brain barrier. We've found it in cerebral-spinal fluid samples."
"So it infects the brain?"
"Yes, sir."
"And what does it do there?"
"From what we can tell so far, nothing. No one is showing any adverse symptoms at all. It just seems to be sitting there."
"So what are your recommendations?"
"At this point we want to give it another week of observation. If the mature patients are still showing clean blood work they can be released from quarantine. Assuming no secondary symptoms appear the younger patients can be released as well, but they should remain under outpatient observations, say a weekly check-in. And I don't know for how long."
"Do you think this is going to develop into a public health crisis?"
"At the moment?" Dr. Marsden shook her head. "No."
"Yes it is." Gideon said.
The room was quiet a moment. "Why do you say that?" Colonel Chatman asked.
"This thing passes like a cold, you touch an infected surface and then you touch your face. It resembles a cold, you can't tell if it's this or just the annual bug. And it infects people under 25." Gideon was quiet a moment. "They said it was a gift, something to transform our population within four generations. This thing was designed to infect the next generation as quickly as possible. This was designed to infect children."
"Please tell me there's some good news." Morgan said
"Some." Dr. Marsden said. "It looks like you and Agent Greenaway are in the clear. Your hormone levels are too low for the endospores to open. They're already clearing out of your bloodstream."
"What about me and Spence?" JJ asked
"I'm sorry Agent Jareau, you came up at 622. Dr. Reid, you're sitting on 730." Spencer groaned and flopped back on the bunk. Dr. Marsden winced. "Sorry."
"I do not want this. How many days?"
"You should start showing symptoms in about ten days now."
"Great."
"If it's any consolation I'm going there too." JJ said.
"You two can share a hospital room." Elle replied.
"Can we get off quarantine?" Morgan asked.
"Likely in the next few days."
After the doctor left JJ flopped on to the bed next to Spencer. "You okay Spence?"
"No." He already had schizophrenia hanging over his head. Now this. "I'm actually terrified."
"So am I."
The next week, six weeks after the aliens left, two weeks after the sickness started, a week after it passed, quarantine was lifted for the Marines exposed. None of them were showing any signs of being contagious, even as carriers. There was no reason to keep them all penned up any longer.
48 hours later the first set of secondary symptoms started. "He started having some kind of seizure." The men said when Dr. Marsden ran into the barracks room.
Dr. Marsden looked at the man who writing on the floor, begging for it to stop. Brisco, she noted the name, Lance Corporal, 22. "Get him to medical." She ordered the ones who came with him. "When did this start?"
"About five minutes ago." One of Brisco's buddies said.
"The seizure did." Another said. "He's been acting strange all day."
"Strange how?"
"He kept saying he was scared of something. Said it felt like something bad was going to happen, like something was coming after him. We were sitting here watching the movie and he said 'It's here! It's happening!' then he hollered out and fell on the floor."
"Great." She sighed. "Hate to say it but you're all confined to barracks until we figure this out."
"Is Brisco going to be okay?" One asked.
"I hope so."