She awoke to the worst headache of her life. She returned to the sink and gulped down two mouthfuls of water. Bloodshot eyes stared back at her. She lifted up her shirt, afraid of what she would see. She swallowed hard when she saw it—a rash reaching up from her abdomen toward her chest.

She was infected.

Day 8

Day 8

2,000,000,000 Infected
400,000 Dead

Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Millen sat in a folding chair, taking in the Sunday afternoon sun, watching Elim walk across the dusty field outside Mandera Referral Hospital. The older woman from the village, Dhamiria, helped him as he walked, encouraging him in Swahili. Halima recorded his progress, and Tian moved things around, providing a sort of obstacle course for Elim to walk around and step over. The six-year-old boy delighted in the task.

Millen played music from his phone, which all four Kenyans seemed to enjoy. He wouldn’t have dared expend the phone’s battery without the solar charger, but for the moment, sunlight and power were two things they had in abundance. The music and Elim’s rehabilitation had been their routine for the past two days while they waited on the transport Elliott had arranged. Millen was eager to get home. On Friday night, a few hours after arriving in Mandera, he had slipped the satsleeve on his phone and opened Google News. The first article had shocked him:

US Stock Markets Tank on Pandemic Fears

Growing concern over the scope and severity of the X1 outbreak has finally infected markets. Stock indices in the US declined over 25% today during the short session that ended at 1 p.m. in what is being called Red Friday. The decline is the largest stock market crash in history. The drop eclipsed even Black Monday—October 19th, 1987—when the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed over 22% of its value in a single day. As with the crash in 1987, the rout began with Asian markets and spread west to Europe and the US…

Millen had clicked the next headline.

World Goes Into Lockdown as Two Separate Outbreaks Spread

Though the WHO has stopped providing estimates on the number of X1 cases, experts project that at least 50 million, and possibly many more, are already infected worldwide. Nations around the world are resorting to drastic measures.

The UK announced this morning that it would close its borders. Germany, France, Italy, and Russia quickly followed suit.

Perhaps the most alarming and mysterious aspect of the X1 outbreak is the virus’s seemingly unlimited reach. Cases have been reported aboard military vessels on long-term deployment, in remote villages, and on cruise ships with little outside contact.