Plague: Death was only the beginning! Read Online Free PDF Page A

after that. Nothing was being done about those that arrested during transport, and the crews were told to drive to a morgue tent instead of the hospital tents. Effort could not be wasted on the dead or dying. Only those fighting to live were given a chance at survival, as small as it was.
    As the disease grew, the doctors and nurses took only a few moments with each patient and gauged the level of infection to see whether their limited antibiotics could, or even should, be used to try to save them. Currently only about one in seven were seen as worth the efforts to even try to save. The CDC and USARIID experts repeatedly told the local doctors that the current strain of plague they were dealing with had become almost completely antibiotic resistant. Nothing in the works was currently proving effective, and harsh rumors were coming back that the current strain was also airborne.
    By 8:05 AM , Friday morning in New York City, the Mayor announced, by both radio and television, that the Bubonic plague was loose in the city and for everyone to stay in their houses. A twenty-four-hour curfew was now in effect and anyone found outside after 10:00 AM EST today would be arrested. Anyone resisting arrest was to be shot on sight, as reports were coming into the Mayor’s office that food riots and looting were taking place across the city of Manhattan. The New York State governor had released National Guard troops with live ammunition. The U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard also had orders to turn back or sink any vessels trying to leave Manhattan by water. This was to try to halt the spread of infection to the larger metro area. All ferryboats had been stopped at the terminals, and there would be no further ferry transportation until further notice. All rent payments, utility bills, and other service charges would be placed on moratorium until the crisis had been passed. Food service trucks would take an inventory of all dwellers within the apartment building, and three days’ worth of food and water would be released to each person, in person! All bodies were to be left outside the building, enclosed in a clean sheet for pick up by morgue crews twice daily. No cleaning of bodies or religious rights were to be performed at any time, as this was a known factor in the transmission of disease.
    The Mayor stated that the city had survived the fall of the twin towers, the war on terror, and the 2014 Ebola outbreak. The city was stronger than anything the world could throw at it, and this disease would fall to their will soon. This was New York!
     
     
     

 
     
     
    “Death can cover the land like a shroud. And smother the living in moments.”
    -Thoughts from the Author
     
    Chapter 7
    Infected: 655 – Dead:  350
     
    Alex Tribeca pulled his truck under the shelter of his carport and shutdown the engine. His wife, Susan, looked up and smiled at him as one of the family dogs jumped for joy beside them. She wasn’t the brightest dog in the kennel, but surely the happiest one. Maggie was a Border collie-black Lab cross they had rescued from the local shelter, and she ruled the home with an iron paw. The next one to run up was Lucy, a Basenji-yellow Lab cross that stole everyone’s heart by her sheer devotion to Alex. Alex laughed as they got out of the truck and the dogs smiled and “woofed” about them while helping trip the two humans every chance they could.
    “All right you two! Enough! Mom and I need to unload the truck and we don’t need your help!” Alex said to the dogs. “Why don’t you go play in the backyard while we work? Go on now!”
    As if understanding, they ran out the back and grabbed a stuffed toy to play tug-of-war with. Jennifer laughed at their games a moment before going back to the truck to help unload. After seeing Jim and Tom’s updates on the SecureNet, they made a quick trip into the local Sam’s Club to stock up on fifty-pound bags of white rice, popcorn kernels to be ground into cornmeal, flour,