Abi sneezed multiple times
as he walked through the shopping mall. He made no effort to cover his face. He
ached all over and was slightly feverish. He could tell his body was fighting
hard against the disease. He sneezed again and wiped his hands on the door
handle as he entered the men’s restroom. It was empty. He made frequent and
hurried swipes at his runny nose and then wiped his hands on all other high
contact surfaces in the restroom – the door handle, the faucet handle, the
paper towel dispenser lever.
His intent, of course, was
to infect as many people as possible. His fellow warriors in other cities in
the U.S. and around the world were doing the same. They all followed carefully
rehearsed plans that targeted locations in which the maximum number of people
would be exposed in the shortest amount of time. The secondary goal was to
spread the disease as widely as possible. It was much better, in their view, to
have a broadly dispersed and sickening population rather than one which had a
high death rate but was confined to a small area. They wanted a worldwide
pandemic and this was the easiest and least risky avenue to achieve that end.
He carried out his mission
thoroughly. He made a number of small purchases at the mall, for instance, and was
careful to touch his nose and mouth just prior to the purchase. Money exchanged
hands, as did his germs. This was the protocol he followed for several hours –
traveling on public transportation or frequenting highly populated places. He
strove to have as many physical interactions with the people he encountered as
was possible without drawing public scrutiny.
He did this on the bus, the
subway, and at the stops and transfers in between. Several times he was able to
turn and sneeze “accidently” on people sitting or standing close by. He always
apologized profusely, concealing his malice beneath the crude cultural
stereotype he had adopted.
He then headed to the
airport, checked in his baggage, messily, and began a long day’s trip – all
pre-planned so that he took multiple hops, each of which would require travelling
the interior of the nation’s busiest airports. He carefully concealed his
agenda with a handkerchief and polite manners when was around security
personnel, but went back to his mission when out of their sight.
In Denver he had a three
hour layover, and decided to exit the airport and frequent its malls, to better
spread his cargo. One of the tenets of biowarfare strategy was the creation of
multiple epicenters, which would handicap epidemiological research teams. The
larger the city and more dispersed the epicenters, the less likely they could
respond quickly enough to make a difference.
On his way out of the
airport he spotted a young, pretty brunette trying to remove a large, suitcase
from the baggage carousel.
“Allow me to assist you,”
he said.
“Oh, no thank you, sir. I
can handle it,” the young woman said, even as he hefted the bag up and onto its
wheels.
He followed his script
carefully. He pretended to be slightly socially awkward and a bit shy, but
someone who sincerely wanted to offer assistance. His “character” for the
mission was always a bit naïve and clueless. It was a complete charade, even
the slightly affected accent.
“It is no problem,” Abi
said, smiling. “I help you to your car?”
The girl shook her head.
“No, please, I’m fine.”
“I do not mind to help you,
please,” he said, smiling broadly, feigning ignorance. Of course he realized
she would not want the assistance of a complete stranger with her large bag all
the way to her car. He smiled and acted as if his offer was completely normal.
“Oh, that’s sweet. No,
thank you. I wouldn’t want to bother you.”
Abi sneezed, and as he did
he turned his head and upper body and covered his mouth. The sneeze was
productive and left a large amount of moisture in his hand. He concealed what
had occurred by producing a handkerchief with his other hand. It appeared as if
he was covering his mouth, but he had actually sneezed nto his hand. He turned
and offered his hand to the young woman.
“I thank you then for
allowing me to assist you.” He bowed slightly. His hand remained in the air.
She smiled and hesitantly
took it. It was a small gesture of thanks in an awkward moment, just the sort
of thing Abi had learned was common in America, and perhaps no place else.
Americans were a touchy people, far too informal for their own good, he had
observed.
The handshake was brief,
and as she tried to take her hand away Abi held it for a second and then let
their hands slide apart.
“You, madam, are a delight.
May you have a wonderful week,” he said with a smile before turning and walking
away. The young woman simply hurried off looking slightly perplexed. Abi smiled
to himself. Statistically, he’d given her approximately a 60% chance of
acquiring the flu and a 35% chance of death.
Hours later, Abi sat in the
coach section of a 737 bound for Tampa, sneezing and blowing his nose, careful
to expectorate in ways that would not draw undue attention to him but would
still infect as many as possible. He visited the restroom several times, wiping
his germs on all touch surfaces.
The organization had
initially focused its study of a second attack on the U.S. on bypassing the airline screening
of travelers for weapons. Much money had been spent looking for ways to carry bombs
and guns through the security apparatus. That proved to be difficult. The
Americans were not perfect, but it became clear that getting box knives through
a search a second time was no longer going to be guaranteed. No matter.
Abi smiled to himself, even
as his body was in rapid decline. He looked around the plane and imagined all
its passengers would soon be dead or dying. A baby giggled across the aisle, bouncing on
her father’s knee. A young couple sitting in the row in front of him held
hands. Businessmen read their newspapers. Flight attendants served drinks. They would all soon be dead.
All the expensive screening
equipment in the world meant nothing if the man himself was the weapon.
Go to part 4 here.
Go to part 4 here.
Thank you for reading. If you will indulge me, I ask a favor or two. Please Like my page using the Like button at the upper left. Follow me on Twitter at @liamkfisher. I would also love to hear your comments, if you are in a chatty mood. Please post them below!
Nice read!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteWow. Love that last line. You really did your homework. ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks Melissa. I'm developing the story and myself as I go. =)
DeleteI personally don't blame Abi one bit with his hatred as America is in moral decline as people love themselves and are self center in an epic scale either worshiping money or the government to provide *free* handouts which EITHER CHIOICE will bankrupt the country one way or another in the big game of charades.
ReplyDeleteThe USA and Europe are a three ringed circus with most of us getting box seat views of the actors who act *professional* except for the occasional slip ups where they forget their lines then *cough* to cover it up. Ahem!!!
We owe something like 14 Trillion dollars which most people seem to not comprehend and the Islamic countries right now are building all sorts of infrastructure like crazy as we slide ever so faster into 3rd world status.
In 10 years maximum we will be like Africa was in the 1980s with epidemics returning as medicines are being dumbed down and going to China and we are getting the crappy stuff.
Dad has been in the medical field and has seem how it is sliding towards 3rd world status first hand and Abi will have a super easy time to bring widespread infection as punishment from God for our selfish desires.
God warned us over and over again but did we human beings listened? Noooooooooooo!
Did you finish the story?
ReplyDeleteJanet Kelley @aol.com