Pandemic: Chapter 2
MEDICAL LOG 000-002: This is only my second day at the Lone Wolf mining colony, and already there has been a death.
Deceased name is Huttser, male German Shepherd, five foot, six inches tall, 129 pounds, average build, 31 years old at time of death. Liver temperature and lack of rigor mortis indicates time of death to be around five hours ago, 02:00. Body discovered by older of two daughters around 07:30. Cause of death: undetermined. Appears to be natural. Further analysis upon return to medical center.
Rhea has taken the elder daughter outside, trying to calm her down. According to her, Huttser is the Canid she was talking about yesterday, the one who she had been treating for a mild case of dog flu. It is noted that while dog flu is a common enough ailment among our species, there have been some cases of fatalities from dog flu, though usually accompanied by per existing medical conditions or an immune deficiency.
Dr. Rufus Ryker, Medical Officer.
Rufus clicked off his handheld audio recorder and put it back into his breast pocket. He removed the thermometer spike from Huttser's side, wiping off the blood with a sterile wipe, then put it back in his white medical bag. He brought the hoversled over, taking out a white body back from his bag and carefully pulling it over the dead German Shepherd, zipping it up, then moving the body bag onto the sled. After it was loaded, he pushed a button on the side of the sled and it raised back up to waist level.
He pushed the sled out the front door of the small three room house, a large silver and gold cross printed on the front of the white body back, the only indicated sign that there was a body inside it.
As he came out, Rhea looked up, the young daughter still beside her, holding the paw or her baby sister. She had finally stopped crying, though her eyes were still red and swollen. Several of the surrounding neighbors had come out of their homes to see what was happening. After making sure they were okay, and talking to a local relative who lived across the street, Rhea took the pups to the relative, then caught up with Rufus on the way back to the medical center.
"How is she?" Rufus asked as they got inside the medical center.
"Shaken up, but what can you expect from a little girl who finds her father dead on the couch. Luckily, she took her little sister outside to play so she wouldn't have to see their father also. They've got an aunt they can live with though...sister to the mother."
"And the mother?"
"Deceased. She died about six years ago during a cave-in in one of the tunnels. The father's been taking care of the pups ever since, though the older daughter does a lot herself. The father works in the mines too, but the aunt runs the local general store, so they should get more time with each other."
Rufus nodded, parking the hoversled beside the examination table, transferring the body from one slab to the other, then unzipping the bag. Rhea was immediately bringing tools over and the body scanner, not even having to be asked to know everything that was needed for the necropsy.
They both put on muzzle filters, small masks that fit over Canid muzzles, designed to bring in fresh clean air to the wearer, and keep exhaled air from contaminating the surrounding environment, mainly designed for surgical use, or in dusty, smokey areas, such as the mine. If little or no oxygen was present, or harsh toxic chemicals were present, a heavy rebreather would be required.
Taking a pair of scissors, Rufus cut through the dead Canid's shirt so he could slide it off, then took of his paw pads, then his pants. As the body lay there naked on the table, Rufus made note of the physical appearance and any anomalies present. There were a few lumps and scars on his chest and arms, though they could be accounted for the body of a 31 year old ore miner. Rufus sat his recorder on the table and clicked it on.
"Minor scarring on the arms, back, and chest areas; probably from work-related injuries, all appear to be several years old. I do, however, note swollen tonsils, possibly due to infection caused by dog flu. The tongue is also swollen with a consistent color of milky white, instead of a heathy pink."
Rufus moved his examination of the exterior body down to the chest and stomach. "Upon initial feel, chest and stomach appear normal, taking into account swelling of stomach and intestinal cavity from gastric decomposition. I do note, however, that the deceased's genetallia are swollen, the testicles twice as large as normal, with a slight discoloration. Penis is also swollen and black. Judging by his penis, patient would not have been able to urinate, blocking his urinary tract and bladder, causing his kidneys to eventually fail."
After finishing the preliminary examination, Rufus stepped aside and Rhea stepped forward, setting up the body scanner over the deceased. She set in on upper body scan, letting the machine scan from the torso to the head. A green laser grid appeared on top of the deceased Huttser, slowly moving up and down his body, then stopping above the head and beeping.
Rhea and Rufus watched the live-view monitor as the scanner made its passes. As he suspected, the scanner showed a very damaged liver, and mal-shaped swollen kidneys. What was odd was the lungs and heart. They also appeared to be misshapen and malignant. Even more disturbing was the brain. A massive tumor was growing on the back of the brain near the brainstem, the normal cranial fluid turned from a clear liquid to a milky white cream.
"What...is that?" Rhea asked, not sure what to do.
"I...I don't know. Rufus replied, unable to take his eyes off the screen. "We need to get a sample of it though. Seal the lab, we don't want someone walking in and exposing themselves."
Rhea nodded, locking the double door entrance, then getting the surgical cutting laser. She handed it to Rufus, who now had a pair of heavy elbow-high rubber gloves on, and a full face shield over his muzzle filter and face.
Rufus activated the surgical laser, carefully cutting a ring around the dead German Shepherd's skull, Rhea holding a drain pan below, wear matching gloves and face shield as Rufus cut around the skull. As soon as he deactivated the laser and removed the top of the skull, a puddle of thick milky liquid oozed out of his head into the drain pan. As soon as it all drained in, Rhea put an airtight lid over the pan, marked BIOHAZARD.
Rufus put down the surgical laser and picked up a nano-scalpel, carefully making an incision at the base of the brain, trying to remove the strange tumor without cutting into it, and take of piece of brain with it for comparison. He held onto the tumor as he cut around it, making sure it didn't fall. The tumor was hard as a rock, and a few times his nano-scalpel hit a deep root, catching on the solid surface.
Finally, after ten minutes and two nano-scalpels, Rufus had removed the massive growth, placing it in another biohazard container and sealing it. He and Rhea carefully zipped Huttser back into the body bag, then wrapped that in a sealed red hazmat bag. Rhea and Rufus then took two full cans of industrial disinfectant and sprayed the heavy foam all through the medical center, letting it sit and slowly evaporate over the next thirty minutes while they each took a special decontamination shower.
After the foam had completely disintegrated, they both went back into the medical center, over to the sealed hazmat tank, where they could examine the two specimens behind sealed plexiglass. Just as they sat the tumor and liquid container into the sealed hazmat tank, a heavy knock came at the door.
"Is anyone there?" Someone said outside the door. "I need help, it's my husband, he wasn't feeling well this morning, so I left him while I went to work, but now he can't even get out of bed!"
Rufus ran to the door and unlocked it. "Rhea, can you stay here and run a full toxicology and spectroanalysis on the samples? I'll go see if I can help."
"Sure thing." Rhea replied, starting the machine to run the full array of chemical and material tests on the tumor and liquid.
Rufus grabbed his mobile medical bag, making sure he had an extra muzzle filter inside, then followed the female wolf to her house. The house was clear on the other side of town, near the entrance to the ore mine at the base of a massive plateau. Before going inside, Rufus told the wife to wait outside, to minimize her chance of exposure, then put on his medical gloves and muzzle filter and went in. The male wolf, a medium sized standard gray wolf, lay motionless in the bed at the back of the house. Rufus slowly approached, his medical kit in hand.
The male wolf was breathing, but at a slower-than-normal pace, a look of pain etched across his maw, yet he said nothing.
"Hello sir, my name is Dr. Rufus Ryker. Your wife sent for me. I'm going to take a look at you. Is that okay?"
He made no response. Rufus stood beside the bed and looked over the wolf. The first thing he checked was his temperature. He was burning up with fever. Next he checked inside his mouth, and just as he feared, the tongue was white and swollen, dry as the desert they were in. Finally, Rufus removed the blanket and unzipped the wolf's pants and examined his privates...and just like the previous victim, they were also swollen and discolored, restricting blood and urine flow, backing up the kidneys until they would ultimately shut down.
Just as Rufus was pulling the blanket back over the wolf, the patient suddenly went into a full rigid position, his eyes shooting open as his jaw locked in what must have been excruciating electrifying pain, then went completely limp in the blink of an eye.
"Sir? Sir!" Rufus shouted, his paw flying to the wolf's neck, searching for a pulse. Finding none, he ripped open his medkit and pulled out a small metal gauntlet, a large central palm node, with small wires connecting nodes at each fingertip: a handheld pulse defibrillator. He curled his hand into a tight fist until the red nodes turned blue, then opened his hand and shoved it directly in the center of the wolf's chest. His whole body involuntarily arched back as a jolt of energy radiated through his heart and nervous system in an attempt to stimulate the heart and revive him.
Nothing happened. Rufus pulled back and balled his fist again until the device recharged, then again he pressed it into the lifeless wolf's chest. Again his body arched into the air from the shock, but there was still nothing. Rufus removed the handheld pulse defibrillator and tossed it back into his back, checking the wolf's pulse one last time. He sighed, then pulled out his recorder.
"Calling time of death: 13:47. Identical symptoms to patient number one. Incubation time unknown. Kill time: less then 24 hours. Unknown if contagious, or source infection."
Rufus packed up his bag, then pulled out another body bag and sealed the dead wolf inside it, locking it with a biohazard lock, then pulled out his handheld communicator. "Rhea, he didn't make it. Looks like identical symptoms to our guy in the lab. Bring over a hoversled, and some quarantine signs." He clicked it off, and walked outside.
The female wolf who was the wife of the deceased was waiting right outside the door for him, her eyes swimming in tears. She looked right at Rufus, waiting for an answer. When he said nothing, she knew. She dropped to her knees, screaming at the top of her lungs, tears streaming down her face. Rufus tried to get down on one knee and console her, but she jerked away from him, screaming and sobbing into the ground.
Rufus simply stood there, waiting for Rhea to arrive, watching the neighbors gather around and ask questions among themselves, two Canids finally managing to get the grief-stricken widow off the ground and away from the scene. Rhea finally arrived, pushing the hoversled in front of her, a bag of quarantine flyers resting on top of it. She stopped in front of Rufus with the sled.
"Thanks. We're you able to find out anything from the lab tests?" Rufus asked as they both went inside to collect the body as quickly and quietly as they could in order to keep the already edgy townsfolk from a full out panic.
"Yes." She said, then leaning in close to whisper to him. "And you're not going to like it at all. I think we may be facing an event of unprecedented proportions. We need to tell the Alpha. We need to tell everyone."