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station, however, immediately broke to an anchor desk. The anchorman talked rapidly.
    “If you’ve been watching, you know we’ve just received confirmation that the President is indeed sick with the deadly avian flu strain, and the Vice President is now acting President. Our political commentators are standing by with their reaction to this disturbing news—but first, we’re getting word of a breaking story in the Netherlands that may be connected with the terrifying outbreak. Dr. Bart Fecher, the famed virology researcher, has apparently committed suicide. We take you now to our correspondent station in Rotterdam.”
    A new scene with a different podium now showed. This one was indoors. A dark-skinned man slowly walked up to the microphone. He appeared to be sulking, and wiped his eyes with a handkerchief. He then began talking in Dutch. A translator relayed what was said. A transcript in English also scrolled across the bottom of the screen.
    “I …I …this is the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do. I’m only speaking to you now because I know Dr. Fecher would want me to. I was his trusted assistant for the last nine years. We worked together in the secure virology lab at Erasmus Medical Center. He was …a brilliant man.”
    A name now also showed on the screen: Dr. Andries Koning.
    “He only ever wanted to protect the world from this. He felt he failed. Worse, Dr. Fecher believed his actions were responsible for helping bring about the very thing he wanted to protect us all from. He simply could not live with this knowledge. That is why he’s …gone.”
    A long moment of silence followed where Dr. Koning attempted to re-gather himself. Finally, he continued.
    “We hoped beyond hope the infection would not further propagate in the wild once it escaped our facility. I now confess to you what we were afraid to admit before. The plane crash last December breached the secure viral science laboratory, and infected polecats were removed by birds of prey. The experiment we were working on was a heretofore undisclosed sixth mutation of the H5N1 virus. Dr. Fecher wished to form a strain that would mutate to a safer, non-life threatening variant. Instead, what we ended up creating was the opposite—a weaker strain now converts itself into this sixth mutation variant. Infection of the human population with this virus is an unfathomable nightmare. It’s an indiscriminate killer, more resilient than anything we’ve seen or worked with.”
    Absolute silence at his next pause, both in the building he was talking from and in the store where Clint and a small crowd had assembled around the television.
    “We are turning over all research data to the World Health Organization and the respective health agencies of all countries who request it. Perhaps we can collectively discover a way to stop it, before… before…”
    Dr. Koning couldn’t finish. He stepped down. The TV station went back to the anchor desk, but Clint had heard enough for the day and went to find Jenny.
    She was at the register making a purchase. They decided to leave the mall and pick up something special from the grocery store to cook at home. Clint relayed everything he learned to her as they drove.
    “Can’t say I’m surprised by any of it,” Jenny said. “I sure hope the President recovers. Did they say anything about the outbreak spreading to any new states?”
    “No. But I left to find you, so I don’t know.”
    “Well, last I saw it was in fifteen states, only those near the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. As difficult as they’ve made travelling, I’m not that worried about it coming to Colorado. Especially with the CDC now controlling the National Guard. Shouldn’t you be turning here?”
    “Huh?” Clint glanced at her. “Oh, no—not Sam’s Club. We’ll just pop into Safeway. It’s only a few items, and they have fresher meat.”
    “All right. If you’re lucky, maybe I’ll model my new outfit for you when we get