Chapter 19

Panthro paced back and forth in his office back at Cat's Lair. He had sent ThunderGuard soldiers to find the family of the now deceased Che and was hoping that they could shed some light on the situation. The search of their house was still being conducted and the medical examiner was looking over the body.

Suddenly alarms went off all over the Lair. The doors closed on every room in an attempt to contain whatever and whoever was about.

"What's going on?" Lea asked Panthro through his office door. The door had slammed shut leaving him in there all alone. She had rushed over to him because she'd never heard that particular alarm before.

"That's the Biohazard alarm. Doctor Pungali must have found something on Che's body," he explained.

"You were exposed to the body. How many others were? What are their names? We need to wrangle everyone up before they spread it all over," Lea said, grabbing a clipboard and a pen. Panthro quickly recounted the names of the people who had been inside Che's house and told her that thankfully he hadn't sent anyone from the scene to find Che's family. She quickly wrote everyone down and then as soon as the alarm was silenced, leaving the doors still sealed, she called down to Doctor Pungali and to the Control Room hoping to get the message out to everyone. A Biohazard team was dispatched to the house and another to the locations where the ThunderGuard was supposed to be picking up the family.

"What did Doctor Pungali say?" Panthro asked when Lea finally got off the phone.

"He's still trying to identify what exactly it is but he found on the body a suspicious pouch of some sort of powder. He's not taking any chances in case it's what killed Che," she paused, unsure of how to say the next part.

"There's more isn't there?" He gave her a look.

"He found the powder inside Che's nostrils and when he cut open his chest that's when he hit the alarm," the lioness continued.

"What did he find?" Panthro could tell she wasn't sure how to say what needed to be said and despite being one of the strongest Cats he knew, she was on the verge of tears.

"His lungs were full of black spots and fluid, and his bronchi had a tar like substance in them. Doctor Pungali thinks it's the Avian Plague," Lea finally managed.

"Avian Plague? Wasn't that wiped out years ago?" Panthro was confused. The disease was not something that originated on either Thundera or Third Earth. It started on a planet that was eventually abandoned after the majority of the sentient beings had been killed. The cure took years to discover and by then it had managed to make its way throughout the galaxy. However, once the cure had been found by the Science Academy of the Galaxy scientists, a vaccine had been made and quickly distributed. Eventually it joined the ranks of polio, mumps, and rubella, as a disease that was considered wiped out.

"His guess is that somehow someone put it in the powder that Che had in his pocket," Lea explained. Panthro thought for a moment. It sounded crazy but if one had access to the virus which was currently frozen for research purposes only, one could liquefy it and spray it onto anything. The Avian Plague attacked the lungs and once inhaled, the effects would only take a day before the patient would find it hard to breathe. Between the fever it caused and the fluid buildup in the lungs due to the gumming up of the bronchi, the patient would basically drown in his or her own body. It was incredibly virulent and was spread through fluid exchange which often meant coughing, sneezing, and any sort of intimate contact.

"Can he have the hospital whip up something to counteract it?" The panther asked.

"He's contacted them but they have to confirm that's what it is first. He's worried that anyone who came in contact with him could be spreading it around, including his children. Regular antibiotics don't work on it; all they manage to do is mask the symptoms. We could be looking at an epidemic," Lea told him.

"Great Jaga's ghost," Panthro said, realizing that he had contact with Che only days before and as Gol had pointed out earlier, it had sounded like Che was dying when he called on the phone.

To Be Continued…