CNV-6

DATE/TIME OF PRONOUNCEMENT: 8-18-2016 / 14:48 PM
DATE/TIME/PLACE OF EXAMINATION: 9-19-2016 / 9:32 AM / MEDICAL EXAMINER’S FACILITY

CASE SUMMARY: A 37 year old man was admitted into Sibley Memorial Hospital on the morning of August the 18th (approximately 8:16 AM). The man complained of chest pain and dizziness; he was brought to meet with a general physician and observation was advised. The man continued to deteriorate throughout the day. At approximately 10:00 AM, he underwent his first episode of epistaxis. Arrhythmia was recorded – heart rate was approximately 154 beats/min. Pupils were dilated and unresponsive (Glasgow coma scale 3). A chest x-ray was performed after occurrence of hemoptysis. The patient continued to decline despite treatment. At 14:48 PM on 9/18/16, resuscitation failed and the patient was pronounced dead. Body fluids collected for the coroner’s office include blood, bile, urine, and stomach contents. The autopsy’s findings were inconclusive.

FINAL ANATOMIC PATHOLOGIC DIAGNOSIS
POSSIBLE BLOOD-BORNE VIRUS, the origins of which are unknown. The autopsy discovered black spots inside left lung, left ventricle, and darkening of the cerebrum. Brain showed mild endema.
TOXICOLOGY REPORT revealed no known foreign substance in system.
BLOOD ANALYSIS revealed unknown foreign bodies in blood of the deceased. Further research is required.



It looks like the whole of D.C. is on fire.

Brynn has a good view from her apartment, and everywhere she looks has bright clumps of red. Most of it is due to car crashes, she notices – there seems to be a pile up at every intersection. Other spots are marked with flames ripping through stores, buildings; barely two weeks had passed since the first infection, but the city was already a shadow of what it had been. It became apparent to Brynn that when the world is falling apart around them, people tended to fight destruction with more destruction.

The blonde holds her phone near her ear, other hand fiddling nervously with her lips. The man on the phone drones on for minutes before giving her a chance to speak.

“I get it, Will.” The man started to interrupt. “Will. Listen to me – I get it,” Brynn sighed, letting out a long breath. “I’ll do it, okay? But like…give me a plan or something. Anything. Have you even looked outside recently? There’s no way I can get to Sibley from here on my own. The roads are a mess and. I mean, seriously, Will, you’re expecting me to fight through the dead here. Me. Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?”

Brynn tries not to be too hard on herself, but this is an exception – one thing that college and med school and her work did not teach her through the years is how to kill, or even how to fight, for that matter. She understands the gravity of the situation outside of the safety of the apartment walls, and she knows that she is surely not cut out for it.

“There’s someone else near D.C. that they’ve asked me to get here,” Will, the man who acted as her mentor for a little over a year, told her. “I can get him to help you.” He paused for a few seconds, tone softening when he finally did continue. “Brynn, I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t think you would be able to help. We’re running out of options here and time isn’t on our side.”

The thing is, Brynn knows from the start that she has to agree to it. As Will said, they were running out of options, they including herself. She could hardly camp out in her small apartment forever; she already made it through most of the food in her fridge and was failing at her attempts to portion her snacks accordingly. The electricity and the water had been spotty – it seemed like her power would go and come back for periods of time at least three times a day, no pattern to it. Eventually, she would have to leave. Eventually was just happening a lot sooner than she had originally imagined.

“You know I don’t have much of a choice here, Will. But for the record – if I do die, make sure you take credit.”

“You’re not going to die, Brynn. I’ll get the guy to come to you so you don’t have to go anywhere by yourself, okay? He’s coming up from Fort Belvoir so it might take him a while. He’s a Navy guy. Benjamin Yedlock. Safe to be with. Just pack light and be ready.”

“Wait,” Brynn said quickly, scared that was his cue that he was going to hang up. “Should I bring anything? My laptop or – “

“I said pack light, Brynn. Just whatever you’ll need to get here and they have the rest.” She could hear other voices in the background now. Will said something she couldn’t understand to whoever was there. “Just be safe, stick with Ben, and don’t do anything stupid, alright? I have to go now, Brynn, but seriously. Be careful out there.” There was a pause, more shuffling, and then a quick, “See you soon,” before the phone cut off.

When the call ends, Brynn finally finds the will to tear herself from the window, from watching the fires and the few people scamper about.

She’s terrified.

There’s about a million thoughts racing through her mind, although all of them seem to revolve around the same things: the dead, the virus, how one - if not the combination of them - would likely kill her when she stepped foot outside. She hadn’t been out there since the first days, and that was nothing compared to how things were now. When she first learned about patient zero and his escape act, she had been at Sibley. Normally she stuck to DAVRC’s D.C. office for her research, but she had tagged along with Will to grab a few samples from Sibley’s clinic. When someone spoke about the apparent rising of a patient, she had brushed it off – just a rumor.. And then, as she lounged on her futon later that night, the first news report had come out. ‘BREAKING NEWS!’ it had flashed, red letters across the bottom of her screen, ‘FIRST REPORTED ZOMBIE CASE AT D.C.’S SIBLEY?’

Even then, she didn’t believe it. Impossible. It was impossible. Every ounce of her schooling and research and common sense told her that.

Yet, somehow, it was true.

It became harder to deny after the doctors who had worked on patient zero became sick with similar symptoms; even harder when those same doctors died and, while under observation, rose from the dead. She remembers sitting on her futon that whole night, watching live updates stream in. One case turned to two turned to three and before she knew it, CNV-6 was announced to their world and it seemed the reality that had once only existed in movies and books was coming to life.

And despite the resources around them, D.C. was found to be fully unprepared for this new reality.