Page 7 of Deadly Strain

“About fifteen minutes after we arrived.”

Fifteen minutes was a long time to be in the same environment as a lethal agent without any protection. Marshall had made it sound like they’d gotten their breathing gear on right away.

“We secured the perimeter and all was quiet, so we went to the home of one of the villagers who’s a friend. He’s given us good intel, food, and water in the past. He was dead, along with his brother, sister-in-law, and their kids.” The soldier stopped to clear his throat.

It must have been bad.

It was probably going to get worse.

“I’m going to tell you an old doctor’s trick,” she said to him. “When you look at the dead, remember these aren’t people anymore. What made them human is gone now. We have a duty to figure out what happened here so no one else dies. Focus on that.” She paused, then added, “Mourn for them later, as you should.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded and continued in a more professional tone, “We got out of there as soon as we saw what had happened. We checked the next home and realized they were dead too. We put on our masks and called for help.”

“Where did you put your masks on? Here or farther away?” she asked.

“Over there, ma’am.” He pointed at a spot about fifty yards east of their position near the village well.

Not far enough.

“I’d like you and your men to give a more detailed report to...” She glanced at Leonard.

“Sergeant Bart, communications,” he said with a chin gesture in the right direction.

She picked where Leonard left off. “While I begin my assessment.”

The soldier saluted and walked toward Bart.

“I need all the homes checked for possible survivors,” Grace said to Leonard. “Who do you—?”

“Rasker,” Leonard barked. “Do a perimeter check. Williams, Lee, start checking the rest of the village. Make sure the patrol didn’t miss anyone.” He looked at her as they headed off. “Anything else, Doc?”

“No, you’ve got everything covered.”

With a nod to Sharp, who hovered behind her, she approached the first house. Grace pulled out a small digital video recorder, sucked in a deep breath and prepared herself to see whatever awful thing was waiting for them.

She walked inside. Sharp followed.

The house was small. A hearth dominated the middle of the room, probably so it could heat the space evenly. The bodies were huddled together against the far wall under blankets as if they’d just gone to sleep.

Sharp shone his flashlight on their faces. Blood trails ran down from their noses, eyes, mouths, and ears. Everyone had bloody lesions on their exposed skin. The victims’ eyes were all open and varying expressions of agony had been frozen on their faces.

Whatever caused their deaths involved pain and suffering.

This kind of kill rate narrowed the field of possible agents to a viral hemorrhagic fever caused by something like the Marburg or Ebola viruses, another virus that attacked the liver or even anthrax. The problem was none of them killed in just a few hours. An influenza virus like SARS or MERS could kill quickly, but the timeline was still too short and the symptoms were off.

What the hell was this?

She shunted shock, horror, and fear into a locked box deep in her head. “Are these all the occupants of this house?” she asked Sharp. “If someone died before the others, would they have moved the body somewhere else?”

“Maybe.” He turned around and said to someone, “Check the rest of the house and outside for more bodies or recent graves.”

She took a closer look at the victims. Three adults and three children.

The lesions on the faces of the children looked no different from the ones on the adults. That might mean the disease progressed the same way, regardless of age.

She reexamined the position of the children, between the adults, wrapped tightly head to toe in blankets. The adults were clearly positioned to protect the children and keep them warm, indicating that they likely got sick at the same time as the adults.

Grace went back to the hearth and lifted the lid on a small pot sitting on top. It was filled with something that looked like water. She poured some out into a bowl sitting in a stack on the floor close by. Tea?