Birmingham, Alabama

27 June, 2019

845 am

Alexis Melissani was in awe.

The freckled graduate student had seen all sorts of nasty pathogens flash across the view of her S/TEM microscope, but this one was truly amazing.

"Dr. Rashid," she called out excitedly, waving her hand for good measure. "You guys really need to see this!"

Dr. Samir Rashid smiled at the excitement his researcher was showing. If he had an office full of Post-Graduates as eager for knowledge as the energetic miss Melissani, there would be no disease they couldn't handle. Not to mention, that behind the glasses and professional demeanor, he found her freckled quirkiness greatly attractive.

"If your excitement is any indication of what you've discovered, then we are all greatly intrigued. Please, Miss Melissani, show everyone what you've found," Dr. Rashid lightheartedly smirked, while positioning himself close behind her. His proximity made her increasingly uncomfortable. Between his bad breath and creepy advances, she had come to detest her her mentor, a man she once greatly admired.

But this was important. Two of the CDCs top investigators were here, scrutinizing everything, pulling apart anything having to do with this lethal new flu.

"These samples; the influenza strain we're looking at." Alexis moved her chair over, just enough to ease the anxiety brought on by his closeness. "I've done the DNA and RNA panels, and all five cases are the same strain."

Dr. Rashid smiled patiently. "We've known this, Alexis, or at least we were at a high degree of certainty."

"That's not why I called you over, Dr." Her voice was sharp, aggravation brought on by his premature interruption. "Our problem is twofold."

Alexis took a deep breath, walking over to the whiteboard with smug determination.Picking up the green dry-erase marker, she drew a ball, covered in spikes. Though only a crude representation of the awe inspiring new strain, it was easily identifiable.

From the virus, she drew 3 lines down, labelling them SK, HM, and VM.

"Now, CDC reported these cases as related, with all 3 showing symptoms ranging from mild for the first week, to complete organism infection and subsequent organ sepsis at approximately 14 days incubation."

Taking another breath, she continued, illustrating when it warranted a visual cue. "I sequenced the protein makeup, and was able to get a basic determination of H5N3(x), a novel Avian Influenza Strain. However," she drew a large X in black ink, accentuating its importance, "This protein is unidentified, or was two hours ago when I ran the report.. It doesn't exist in our nomenclature."

"Panspermia." The new voice startled both Alexis, and the group of men gathered around her, though Dr. Rashid knew its owner. As friends that came to the States and received their doctorates together, they frequently shared new ideas. But when he'd heard his friend give a speech last night on the need for funding on his research into space borne microorganisms, Dr. Rashid asked his friend to take a look at this case.

The over caffeinated looking gentleman unfolded his arms and walked into the office extending a hand in Alexis's direction. "Dr. Ismir Khalid, Astrobiologist. Samir asked for me to come take a look at your 'bug'. We've run a few amino acid tests on the original hospital samples. Your 'X' is the result of panspermia."

"Wait," Alexis stammered, shaking his hand. Her bright eyes began looking like a balloon that had lost its lifting air. "You're saying this is something from space? Forgive me Doctor, but this is a Novel Flu Variant, something very terrestrial."

Khalid walked up to the whiteboard, circling her drawing. "The virus itself, yes. It's a variation of Avian Influenza." He drew an X in the corner of the virus. "But this protein, we have seen once before. In 2015, a small town outside Queensland, Australia experienced what they called 'Blood Rain.' Samples were taken and studied for months, by an international team of scientists from every field imaginable.Two years later it was finally determined that the red stain, it was from a protein that had been deposited in the upper stratosphere during an event called Halley's Tears.

"That's the meteor shower, correct," Dr. Grayson asked, his interest piqued.

"Technically," the Bengali Dr. with the wild hair smiled, smug in his knowledge, "the 'meteors' were debris in the tail of Halley's Comet. Dust and gas and water melted when the core passes by the sun - the tail - will get snatched up by different planets...."

"We don't need an astronomy lesson." Dr. Crenshaw had really become frustrated at the speed at which the investigation was moving. Five people were dead, and God knows how many more were waking up with mild symptoms, thinking they had a cold, and could wait it out.

"We have five fatalities, Gentlemen, you can all writing papers after this is over." Richard walked over to Alexis and handed her the marker. "Finish what you were saying."

Alexis smiled. It was nice having someone listen to the results of her hours of tireless research. Dr. Rashid was only ever interested in researching her, and it had made her all but over her career choice.

"Thank you, Dr. Crenshaw." Alexis stands, pushes her glasses up over the line of freckles on her nose, and walks back to her drawing.

As Alexis made her way back to the board, Dr. Grayson's pocket vibrated with an incoming call on his phone. Standing, he excused himself, and stepped from the room.With all the eyes returning to her presentation, Alexis continued. "No matter where it's from, this protein makes the virus one bad dude."

Everyone leaned forward in their seats, watching as she drew a crude Mickey Mouse head with a 12 written on its forehead. "Meet Mickey and his friends. Two days ago I inoculated half with the Mason/Kehoe culture, and the other half with cultures from the most recent case."

"And what did you find, Alexis?" Dr. Rashid's interrupting her again bothered Richard. At first, he'd thought it was more of the inter-agency mistrust that made so many cases difficult to solve. But watching Dr. Rashid's eyes as they remained locked on his assistant, Richard finally figured it out. This Dr. wanted to field test his cute young assistant.

A raucous laughter burst from deep inside Richard, a raging river that had finally breached its levee. "God, I'm sorry," he said, reining his laugh back in, "I haven't slept since this all began. Please continue."

With her face glowing, sure that her drawings we're the source of the amusement, Alexis continued. "The protein, if it came from space, then aliens built it. It's too perfect." With a red marker she drew a cell. "Upon initial infection, the protein invades the immune cell nucleus, and disables it, in much the same way a steroid does."

She draws a circle around the cell, then draws a line through it. "Once that happens, our Pangea goes into repro-mode, taking over every cell it comes in contact with." She pauses and takes a breath, then erases the line through the circle with her finger. "And this... is why I say it's perfect. Once about 80 percent of the host's cells are viral, the protein disintegrates, and the body's natural defenses attack. With a vengeance."

Dr. Crenshaw felt his heart sinking. "That explains the Cytokine Storm in all five cases," he said, clearing his throat. "Their bodies had no clue what they were fighting, and destroyed everything."

Noticing the paleness on Richard's face, Alexis cracked a hesitant smile. "It gets worse, Doctor. In the last two cases, the virus has mutated. It's like that protein is figuring out the immune cells."

"How so?" Crenshaw asked.

"The first three took 2 weeks, from infection, to sepsis. Janet Alvarez took five days."

Dr. Crenshaw was numb. He knew after Vera Mason died that they were dealing with something deadly. He had fought with Warren for 2 days to declare the event, but each time Warren opted to keep a lid on it.

Now, with weeks possibly passed since Kehoe's initial contraction of the virus, the number of people who could be infected was staggering.

"Alexis Melissani, by order of the CDC, I relieve you of duty here."

She looked like she'd been punched. "Sir?"

"Collect all your samples and data," Dr. Crenshaw said, rising from his seat. "As of 8am tomorrow, you are an official analyst for the CDC. Do you have an issue with the post?"

It was all she could do to contain her excitement. "Not a bit, Doctor Crenshaw."

"That's good," he said, extending his hand to her. "Because now that Pangea is loose, it's going to take the best minds we can find to get it under control. We.... Warren?"

The paleness that had taken over Dr. Grayson's features gave him the look of a fresh corpse. "That was Atlanta, we've had four more fatalities in Birmingham. Tests confirm the H... Pangea."

Richard pulled Warren over, grasping his arm. "Call it, Grayson, now," he whispered firmly, "before it jumps. If we don't go Containment, today, it'll be across the state line tomorrow."

Warren pulled his arm free of Richard's grasp. "I already have. Birmingham is under Special Containment Protocol. But unfortunately, our virus has just popped up in Pensacola, FL. It's spreading, Richard."

Sighing heavy, Richard began for the door, stopping in front of his newly minted analyst. "Alexis, this just got a lot more dangerous, and if you don't want part of it, I..."

"I will be here at 8 am, Dr. Crenshaw," she said, deadly serious in her tone. Meeting her eyes, Richard gave her a faint smile.

"One more thing, Dr. Crenshaw," Grayson said flatly. "Althea Timmons, she was one of the four." He paused, searching his mind's storage for words he just didn't have. "I'm sorry."