The Immune

16. Deadlines

Justin and I walk back to the meeting area together and at a decent pace. Which is good, because I don't think my leg would let me run.

Once we get there, we find Ollie leaning over her table. Papers are still scattered all over the surface. Now, though, a white board sits propped up against a clothes rack. Numbers cover the surface, a complex mathematical equation that I don't recognize. Around the room are a dozen more white boards, but these are calendars. They outline the past year.

"I broke it!" Ollie throws her hands up when she sees us. She's a picture of dishevelment. Her already messy hair sticks up at new and strange angles. A smear of mascara runs down her cheek. Her brown eyes are wild. "I deciphered the file."

Mandy grabs a manila folder off the table and gapes at her. "Seriously? You finally did it?"

"I told you I was a genius." Ollie laughs maniacally. "I knew I could!"

Mandy and Ollie look at the file, and I glance around the room. My eyes fall on Isaac sitting on the floor behind Mandy's table. He holds a large piece of paper in front of him. I notice his hair is messy, only half tied up. Tight black curls fall on his shoulders and around his face. His eyes move quickly as he reads whatever's in front of him.

"Jaelyn." I look back at Ollie. "I need you to see this." She waves me over, and I glance at the file. "When your mother came to us, she brought two CDC files. The data inside was heavily encoded, and for a long time, I dismissed it. I didn't have the time or energy to try and crack it. Yet, a few months ago, we had a surprisingly large food haul, and it gave me time to dig into it. I've been killing myself for about seven weeks now."

I sit the file down and nod. I don't understand the code it's written in. The papers scattered across the table must be the translation. Instead of looking there, though, I circle the room and look at the calendars. Different days have been labelled— birthdays and death days. Even my arrival was marked.

One square in particular catches my attention. It's been circled in red and outlined in black. It simply says "Phase Two." It's exactly one week from today.

"What's this?" I ask, glancing back at them.

"That's what came of all this math," Ollie answers. She steps over Isaac's legs and jabs at the numbers. "One date! All this work for one date." She slams her fist into the board, and it rocks back and forth. Isaac jumps in shock, eyes going wide. He settles back down after seeing me and realizing nothing's wrong.

"Olivia, honey, you have to actually tell us something." Mandy puts a calm hand on Ollie's shoulder. "We can't help if you don't tell us anything. The rambling doesn't help."

Normally, I'd be annoyed by her endearing tone, but I really want to know what's going on. Mandy and I have something in common right now—curiosity.

"There were two files, like I said." Ollie sits down in an office chair and leans back. Her body looks stiff, though. "The first one outlines something called the Decontamination. Essentially, it's a three-step process designed to 'cleanse the United States.'" Ollie rolls her eyes. "Stage One was the virus. It was created to eliminate up to fifty percent of the population, to thin out the herd so to speak. The creators didn't stop there, though.

"Stage Two was supposed to be a second, more evolved strand of the virus. This one would be water-transmittable and able to infect animals. The folder contained blueprints for water purification machines so that we wouldn't thirst to death, but the food supply would have been severely affected. Widespread famine was going to be the biggest threat of the second strand.

"I haven't gotten to decode the third section yet. It's much more complex. Phase Three isn't what concerns me, though. Once I read about the second phase, I moved on to the second folder to find out more.

"What I found was more details about the second strand. How it was going to be introduced to the environment, how we were going to protect the select people who had access, and where it was going to be manufactured. From what I gather, the plan is to take what's been cooking up in Compound 4 and dump it into the Tennessee River."

Ollie looks back at Isaac. He looks up and then spreads the paper out on the floor.

"So, she has me looking to see if the Tennessee merges with the ocean in some way," he says. He traces his finger along the paper, squinting.

As we all wait impatiently, my mind wanders. Everyone knows the virus isn't water-transmittable. In order to catch it, one has to come in contact with infected blood-borne pathogens. Livestock and wild animals were also safe, because the virus only negatively affected the human genome. If what she's saying is true, then Ollie has every reason to be worried. If the virus can affect animals and oceans, then we're looking at a worldwide pandemic. So far, only the U.S. has been infected.

"Isaac," Ollie whines. "Please tell us something. Anything."

Isaac sits back on his feet and sighs. "As far as I can tell, the Tennessee flows directly into the Ohio River. Not the ocean." He takes a deep breath and looks at us. "But the Ohio merges with the Mississippi, which in turn empties into the Gulf of Mexico."

Panic slams into my stomach, and I have to grip a couch arm to keep from shaking.

"I assume if they dump a large enough quantity into the river that some could reach the ocean. It would take a while, and some would probably be lost or dissipate. But it will get there. And once the animals are infected, there's no stopping it from spreading to the rest of the world."

Ollie starts pacing, holding her head with both hands. Mandy stares at the math.

"You said you had a date." Her tone is solemn.

"Oh yeah," Ollie mutters. "The date. Eleven years and six months exactly from the initial date of patient zero." She points at Mandy. "That's you. Phase two is set to begin exactly eleven years and six months from your infection date." She looks back at the board. All of us do.

Phase Two begins in seven days. Lord help us all.