Three Days in April by Edward Ashton Read Free Book Online Page B

groundwater, which I think we can take as a given, and the fourth refers to the increasing heat of the sun. The fifth plague is a plague of darkness. That I believe has not yet come. Nor have the sixth and seventh plagues, which are the drying of the Euphrates and a great earthquake and rain of fire. I believe that these will be fulfilled through a great asteroid strike, most likely somewhere in the Middle East.”
    Jerome leans forward again, moving in for the kill.
    â€œOf course,” he says, “our government has had a very thorough catalogue of all near-­Earth asteroids for many years now, and we would know—­”
    â€œPause,” I say. I thought maybe we were making progress with the seven plagues, but none of the ones the good reverend talked about involved massive anal bleeding.
    â€œHouse. Return to live newsfeed.”
    There’s a new caster now, a very serious-­looking blonde woman, and the crawl across the bottom reads “HORROR IN HAGERSTOWN” over and over.
    â€œ . . . repeat, nothing is yet known about the nature of the outbreak in Hagerstown. Government spokespersons have stated unequivocally that no disease research centers are located in Hagerstown, and that they have no knowledge of any terrorist threats that may have been made against the region. We now go live to the White House, where Press Secretary Darryl Browning is scheduled to make a statement.”
    Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. The scene cuts to a podium in front of a plain blue background. A tall man with a gray crew cut steps into frame and looks directly into the camera.
    â€œLadies and gentlemen of the press,” he says. “At approximately sixteen thirty, there was a massive outbreak of an unknown, highly contagious, and highly lethal disease in Hagerstown, Maryland. We know nothing at this point regarding the exact nature of the disease, but video from surveillance cameras and drones in the area indicates that it is most likely hemorrhagic in nature. Containment checkpoints have been set up on all access points to central Hagerstown, but no survivors have yet been observed. Likewise, surveillance indicates no movement whatsoever within the Hagerstown city limits. Our belief at this time is that the fatality rate within the affected area is one hundred percent.”
    That gets a few gasps from the audience, and I can hear some muttering in the background.
    â€œI can now take questions, but please understand that we are still working with severely limited information.”
    I can’t see the reporters in the audience, but from the long silence I assume they’re all sitting with their jaws hanging open, possibly wetting themselves. Finally, Darryl Browning says, “Yes, Ms. Barringer.”
    The viewpoint pans to the gallery, where the bloggers and press hags look pretty much exactly the way I pictured them. An older woman is standing in the center of the front row.
    â€œSo . . .” she says. “What . . . what do we do now?”
    Darryl Browning looks down at the podium for a long moment, then back up at the camera.
    â€œWell,” he says finally. “Considering the existential threat that this outbreak poses to our nation, it seems clear that our only option is the most thorough possible sterilization of the entire Hagerstown area.”
    He goes on, but I’ve stopped listening. Sterilization. I’m not sure what exactly he means by that, but I’m pretty sure it can’t be good. How do you sterilize things? Boiling water? Iodine? Fire?
    Fire.
    I need to get to one of those checkpoints.
    B efore I go, I swap my skirt for shorts, and my sandals for sneakers. I pull my road bike down from the rack on the entryway wall, drag it out the front door and into the street. There’s a boy out on the sidewalk a few houses down. He’s looking up, waving his hands in the air and yelling. He’s maybe ten years old, barefoot