Jassim was frightened by the situation of several militiamen he saw, and did not look at the militia elsewhere, but after a strict decontamination, he inquired about the big eyes and learned that the militia elsewhere was the same as what we saw. Jassim and Dr. Lee are almost certain that we have encountered a virulent infectious disease that is rapidly occurring. Therefore, although we returned to the barley field after careful decontamination, on the way I discussed with Jassim that all those who came to Lutheran Road today should not enter the barley field trench for the time being, but should find a place outside the trench to stay and observe for a while, and not to bring pathogens into the community.

We radioed to the command center and asked them to find a house outside the trench to put us in a telephone line, in addition to several trucks and a large number of protective suits and disinfectant water. When I can't go back to the community, I'm going to make a trip to the feed mill where Big Eye went last time. Last time they brought back a lot of vitamins from there, and this time I'm going to get some food additives like glucose, which can help us get through when we don't have anything to eat.

Lavona has a lot of university and research laboratories that are all in response to the plague, and we have scavenged a lot of protective clothing from these laboratories, which are now coming in handy.

The next day, we saw that there was nothing unusual, except for a few people who were left to protect Jassim and other non-combatants, and the rest of us drove the truck to the feed mill. On the way, we accidentally found some dirty militia corpses on the road, some of them died of exhaustion while driving out of the city, and some were thrown directly on the road. None of the bodies were injured, except for bloody phlegm and smeared excrement on their trousers, suggesting that the cause of their death may be exactly the same as the one we saw yesterday of the militia deaths.

The large number of corpses indicates that the epidemic has spread rapidly and will spread rapidly with the militias that are moving around.

It was only I who found out about this at first. Just to prevent panic, I just whispered to Big Eye. But every time I encountered such a corpse, I only looked at it from a distance, never dared to approach, and ordered the convoy to go around. The more such movements, everyone inevitably noticed the corpses, and the people who saw the dying militia up close yesterday with big eyes quickly realized the problem. Someone asked on the intercom: "These people seem to have died of infectious diseases." We won't be infected when we come out now, right? ”

Then someone suggested, "Are we going to get infected with so many corpses?" Shall we go back and hide for a while? ”

At this time, I remembered the story of Liu Lianren. He found a piece of stinky meat, which could be poisoned if he ate it, and starved to death if he didn't eat it. Now we are also facing this problem. The people in the convoy should also understand this truth, but they were frightened by the sudden tragic scene. I decided to remind them of our situation and say to everyone on the intercom: "Listen to me, we don't have enough food for everyone for a month. No one knows if the plague will end in a month, and if we don't continue to look for food, soon we will have to lower our rations until we starve to death. Now we have to choose between the possibility of dying of the plague and the certainty of starvation. Each of you has a choice, and if anyone thinks they should take refuge from the plague, they can go back immediately. ”

There was silence for a long time before a voice cautiously said, "My child needs food." I can't go back. ”

Then a few voices chimed in, "Let's put on our protective suits and wash them off again, right?" "I think starvation is the most cruel way to die." "Looks like we don't have a choice." "The way of the son of a bitch!"

Anyway, no one said they wanted to go back, so we moved on, and what happened in the future can only depend on luck. What we didn't expect was that when we returned to the base with dozens of tons of glucose, corn flour and protein powder, no one felt unwell, but Jassim told me that there was an unusual patient in the community. This patient belongs to Daqitang, who has had fever symptoms since last night, and this morning he has been showing signs of high fever and lung failure. The worst thing was that this patient had a bloody cough and severe diarrhea, which was very similar to the symptoms we saw of the sick militia.

After listening to Jassim's report, I broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly asked, "Have you taken measures?" ”

"We set up an isolation ward in a house outside the trench," Jassim said. The patient has been isolated from the patient in the same ward. Also, we are screening people in the community who have fever symptoms. More than a dozen people have now been identified and they are being placed in another isolation ward. ”

After reporting to me on the countermeasures, Jassim pulled me to a place where no one was, and his voice trembled when he spoke: "The patient's onset is so rapid that it destroys the functions of the human body in such a short time, and it seems that the human body has no resistance to pathogens at all, which is rare in nature." It must be a bacterium or virus that we have never seen before. I think only a bioweapon-grade virus can achieve such an effect. ”

Seeing that he wanted to speak and stopped, I asked, "What do you think?" ”

He was about to speak when my walkie-talkie rang, but it was the big bird calling me. "James, something is wrong! Let's go to the Americas Wireless News Channel first. ”

There was a TV in the room, and as I walked into the room, I asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"There has been an outbreak of a virulent infectious disease in Brazil, and a state of emergency has been declared there," Otori said. Wait, Russia Today is reporting that the infected may be mercenaries returning from Mexico. ”

I turned on the TV and saw a Brazilian health official talking about the outbreak, and from his description, the symptoms of the infected people were largely consistent with those we saw from the militia. The health official also specifically reminded the public that the onset of the epidemic is very rapid, and that it can be fatal in just a day or two, and that if anyone has a fever, they should immediately go to a government-run fever clinic for treatment, and he also called on the public to reduce gatherings and not go to crowded places.

I asked Big Bird over the radio, "Is there any news from Mexico?" ”

"Mexicans say the militia has suffered heavy casualties and that the offensive has weakened. No other news. ”

I turned my head to see Jassim's face was blue and his body was shaking. I hurriedly helped him up and asked, "Jassim, what's wrong with you?" ”

Jassim slowly sat down in his chair before saying, "James, I think this could really be a biological weapon." Did you notice no, the Russians said that the infected people could be mercenaries returning from Mexico. You said that the Mexicans hired a lot of South American soldiers. The timing of their onset is consistent with that of the militia who died here, the symptoms are consistent, and they may have been infected in this place. ”

Seeing that I didn't answer him immediately, he continued: "So it's scary, if it's really a biological weapon, we simply can't deal with it. So ......"

At this he clenched his fists so hard that sweat dripped from the tip of his nose. I asked, "What do you want to say?" ”

After trying to calm down, he said, "Give up all the infected!" We have no effective treatment but to avoid contact. ”