Max Level Quarantine

It wasn't long after the guy that stole the lab sample left that there were people in biohazard suits running down the halls at the VA. Misa was in the middle of placing an IV when the men and suits shut down the ventilation systems and began prepping a containment bubble to transport her patient. Misa finished dressing her IV and moved out of the way, waiting for someone to brief her on the situation.  

 One of the men in suits wore his rank on the outside of his suit. A silver eagle, a full bird colonel. Misa could tell by the way he carried himself he was Airforce. Finally, once the containment bubble had been set, he ordered everyone but Misa out of the room. 

His voice boomed with authority, which would have gotten to Misa if she wasnt't already used to this. “Firstly, I would like to thank you for your service. Your team's anti-terrorism efforts in Iran are regarded as some of the most significant of any ranger squadron. It was a huge loss to this country when you decided not to reenlist.”

Misa folded her muscular arms which were hidden by her isolation gown, “Enough with the flattery. Get to the point. What exactly are we dealing with here, Colonel?”

The way the Colonel’s eyebrows creased together, told Misa a lot about the seriousness of the situation. 

“Let me just preface this by telling you that we aren't sure what the captain has is contagious, but I can tell you that whatever this is, is viral in origin, and is foreign. Since we do not know much about the virus we will be taking every precaution starting now. You have the highest security clearance of any staff so I don't need to tell you that secrecy is of the utmost importance in this case.”

“I can already tell where this is going. What exactly do you want me to do?” Misa's expression became serious. She knew a hush op when she saw it. She was getting angry. She left the military so she wouldn't have to deal with this kind of shit anymore.

“I want you to be in charge of selecting staff members that we can trust not to leak out any information about this patient. I trust you already recognized who he is?”

“Yeah. That Redding guy from the Mars mission right?”

“Yes, that's him. I can tell you this information because of your top secret clearance level. Whatever I say does not leave the room. Do you copy?”

“Loud and clear Colonel”.

“The team found something on Mars. Something that suggests there were once sentient beings on Mars. We believe the team caught this virus from whatever it was that they found.”

“Was once inhabited by sentient beings? So that means there isn't  any now? And we don't know what wiped out the Martians?”

The grave expression on the Colonel's face was once again all telling. Since they didn't know what killed the Martians, they couldn't rule out this mystery virus as the cause. Before the Colonel could answer, Misa shouted out, “Oh fuck no! There's no fucking way. I got a kid brother and sister that I need to take care of. You can't keep us here, it’s unconstitutional!”

“We have officers on their way to your home and to other staff members' homes to take care of family and pets. No one will be leaving this hospital, and no one else is coming in. We are in maximum quarantine, Lt. Stanley. This is not up for discussion, it is a direct order from the federal government!”

Misa let out an exasperated sigh, “Can I at least call my siblings before I start going through the personel files?”

The Colonel pressed his hand to his forehead, “I'm supposed take your phones, but as a thank you for your service to the country I will allow you one call before we confiscate yours.”

Misa let out a final sigh, “Thank you sir!”

“Make it quick Stanley”

Misa scrolled through her contacts Mila her younger sister was 17 years old, a senior in highschool. She was constantly busy with sports and was extremely popular among her peers. Chances were that if she called Mila she would be ignored. She kept scrolling, Simon her younger brother was a geeky, glasses wearing, video game loving, genius. At 14 he still loved his sisters more than anything in the world. Misa was pretty sure if she called him he would answer. Misa hit the call button. After just two rings, Misa was greeted by the familiar voice of her scruffy headed little brother.

“What's up sis? I thought you were at work still.”

“Hey Simon, I'm letting you know, I'm going to be stuck at the hospital for a few days. Don't worry about me, I'm safe. We just have a bit of a situation here and it means all hands-on-deck.”

Nervously, the young boy spoke back, “You ok Misa? Should I get Mila?”

“No, it's ok. But I need you to do me a favor, remember mom and dad's vacation plan? I need you to do what we talk about ok? There will be a soldier around to help you and Mila ok? Can I trust you to do this for me, Simon?”

After a pause, Simon answered, “Ok sis, I can do that for you. I love you. Call me when you can ok?”

“Alight kiddo, I love you. Tell Mila I love her too.”

“Ok, bye Misa.” Click.

He hung up. Misa tossed her phone to the Colonel. “Let's go to the breakroom. I already know who you can trust.”

The two headed to a pop-up decontamination shower that team had brought it. After they both showered and changed into clean clothes, they headed to the breakroom which was already cleared out. A man in his combat uniform brought in a copy of personel files and Misa methodically picked out 6 other staff members.

“These six I trust. These ones are all either ex military or are from a military family. None of them have an disciplinary actions against them, and all of them I would trust to save my life. Plus, all of them are already in the building.”

The Colonel whispered to one of his soldiers and handed him the files of the six. The man ran off. The full bird Colonel had grey hair and a thin mustashe that was perfectly in line with regulations. He got up and reassured Misa that people were working on getting beds set up for staff in the physician on call rooms. 

Misa took the rest of her break. Wondering if her younger brother would be able to do what she had asked him to do. You see, their parents were dead. Her asking about their vacation plan was code for prepare a get away bag with food and clothes, and to gather all the weapons and ammo in the house. She had preparred them for something like this since her parent's accident four years ago. She had faith that Simon would do what he was supposed to but was afraid that Mila would rebel. She just hoped that they would be ready because she had a feeling that things were going to be getting a whole lot more dangerous. 

Misa finished up the rest of her shift with Redding before giving report to a young nurse named Jeff who was a former veteran who had been wounded with an explosive in Iran. The man was still in good condition but was missing his right leg from the knee down. Out of habit he kept his brown hair shaved, his face free of facial hair. Overall, Jeff was a good guy and Misa knew she could trust him while they were trapped here. 

Misa went to sleep and everything remained stable until about 5 days later. 

At that point, they had to re-open the hospital due to a massive influx of sick patients, and people suddenly falling into a coma similar to Redding. The VA and every other hospital in the state was filled to the brim with comatose patients. Even members of staff were starting to fall ill. Patients on stretchers lined the halls because the hospital was completely out of beds. Even with no visitors allowed, one couldn't walk the halls without bumping into someone sick with a high fever. 

Redding's condition, on the other hand, remained unchanged until about 0300 on the 7th day after his admission. After not responding to any neuro exams since arrival, staff had stopped doing neuro check and instead did a quick finger pinch with a kelly clamp. That being said, there was no reason for restraints as he wasn't on any oxygen support and didn't move a muscle since day 1. 

Courtney, the nurse on duty went to perform her neuro exam like usual when Redding suddenly let out a soul shattering growl. It did not seem human. In an instant, he was on top of her, bludgening Courtney's face with his fists. Luckily some off the staff was closeby, including Misa and they were able to drag him off her before serious damage was done. In the struggle, Misa had been scratched deeply on her forearm and went down to the emergency department to get stitches. Redding was now strapped to the bed and sedated with max doses of medication.

Misa got her stitches, then returned to the unit for her shift. At the spots where Redding was strapped down, she noticed some off his skin was becoming dry and almost flaking off, so she grabbed a washcloth and tried to clean away the flakes of skin, but instead, a large chunk of flesh sloughed off, revealing dark green scales underneath his skin. She had never seen anything like it in a human and it immediately reminded her of the reflective scales of a snake.