Defiant: Quantic Dreams Book 2 by Elizabeth McLaughlin (best mystery novels of all time .txt) 📕

to leave but turned back. “Jacob, whatever this is-this virus? It will not be easy. I’ll confirm it with the scientists I have looking at it, but I don’t think there’s going to be a vaccine anytime soon. We have to get ahead of this, and quickly. Holding an election is not a good way to go about ensuring the disease doesn’t spread.”

“True. I’ll figure something out, Phoebe, I promise.”

“Hm,” she said, and left.

Assurances from Phoebe that this wasn’t a virus that could travel through the air did nothing to dispel the necessity of isolation from my mind. For now, I could quarantine anyone who had been in close contact with the two known patients in their quarters. Given enough time, if they didn’t show symptoms, it would be reasonable to release them back into the general population.

When I had finished identifying everyone, I ended up with nine people who had come in frequent enough close contact with either Allison or Daisy in the past few days to be a risk. Three of them were the medical team who I asked to remain confined to quarters whenever they were off duty. Marcus did some damage control of his own and started spreading information in a way that alarmed people less than Gabriel’s spouting about a deadly virus making its way through the shelter. Some of Marcus’s friends took up the cause and volunteered themselves to bring meals and supplies to the quarantined.

The printer had finally finished the enormous job I assigned it, and it left me with four counting poles and two-thousand differently shaped pieces that could be placed on them. I brought them to Andrew Fang’s quarters and asked him to keep a hold of them overnight. Word about the election had spread, fueled by the fears of an epidemic, and by the next day people would be a single step away from an angry mob. I decided that I would announce a temporary confinement to quarters while a team would rove the shelter, distributing what personal protective equipment we had. Once everyone was gowned and masked, I’m sure Gabriel would agree that having everyone vote by the family was a reasonable measure. The upside of an epidemic is that any move to put healthy people in danger wouldn’t play well.

As I lay in bed, I noticed how tired I felt. The news that the infection sweeping through the shelter wasn’t an easy to treat virus, but something that hadn’t been encountered before shook me to my core. I wanted to comfort myself with the idea that freeing the shelter from the virtual world was the right thing to do, but all I had accomplished was given people the freedom to watch their loved ones die horribly.

There was nothing I could do to change the situation that night. I pulled the covers around my shoulders and went to sleep.

Chapter Nine

I hadn’t slept for more than a few hours when a pounding on my door ripped me from a sound sleep. Phoebe Rickman stood at my door, her scrubs wrinkled and stained.

“Jacob, I’m sorry to wake you like this. Allison’s dead.”

It felt like the world drained away from me. I knew Allison’s condition had been serious, but I never imagined that she could decompensated that quickly.

“How?” I croaked, voice raspy with sleep.

“Simple bad luck. Her condition had been stable since the last time you saw her, but her respiration and heart struggled in the last hour or so. We tried everything we could. I’m truly sorry.”

“Just..bad luck.” Allison and I hadn’t been very close, but I had spent enough time with her since the destruction of the virtual world to consider her a friend. The loss hurt. “How’s…”

“Frank?” Phoebe leaned against the door and folded her arms. “He’s pretty rough. I left him with Shannon. We’ll give him some time to say goodbye and then wrap her body for cremation. I understand that you and George have a vote planned for the morning?”

“Yes.” The election was the furthest thing from my mind now, but she had a point.

“I need you to confine everyone to their quarters.”

“I was already planning on it. Myself and a few volunteers will gather what protective gear we have. I still have to hold the election, but we can do this in a way that minimizes panic, and exposure.”

“Good. I’m going to be straight with you, Jacob. We’re going to see more people sick with this. Many more. I think the only reason we haven’t gotten more reported cases is because anyone with symptoms is brushing it off as stress, or their imagination. By the morning, I wouldn’t be shocked if I have half a dozen more people confined to the infirmary. Once word about Allison gets out, there’s going to be fear. I’m looking to you to keep the peace.”

“I know. There have already been threats against me.” I expected a stronger reaction from her, but she said nothing and just waited for me to continue. “I will do my best, Phoebe, but my best may not be good enough.” I studied my shoes.

“You’re a good man.” Phoebe reached her hand out and squeezed my shoulder. “If it all goes bad…”

I looked up and cracked a wry smile. “I appreciate it, friend. I have a feeling that I’m going to regret asking this, but could I come to see the body? I should offer Frank my condolences and I’d like to say goodbye.”

“You can’t touch her, but sure. I’ll check with Frank first to make sure he’s all right with a visitor, but that should be just fine.”

We walked through the hallways in silence. As we made our way towards the infirmary, I ticked off in my head what needed to happen over the next twenty-four hours. I knew I could get a couple of the bigger guys to walk around with me and explain the situation and keep some semblance of order. The problem was that instead of a temporary confinement to quarters,