The Final Outbreak

Chapter 2: Are we There Yet

Grace hated flying, the thought of being cooped up around a bunch of total strangers made her anxious. Not to mention breathing the same air and having to smell all the wonderful aromas of sweaty passengers. She was a neat freak and always made sure to have hand sanitizer for any outing away from home. She was flying back from Vegas after an epic bachelorette party. Back to reality and her boyfriend Jake who was eagerly awaiting her, back to her job and her pet cat Louie. Back to normal, she thought, slamming back another jack and coke to prepare for the flight.
"Final boarding call for flight 869, please head towards gate D12" announced the gate attendant.
Grace shot up out of the barstool she was sitting at, gathered her carry-on and purse, and bolted for the gate.
As she entered the plane she noticed 2 men in black suits near the cockpit standing and watching as everyone boarded. She made eye contact and awkwardly turned to see where her seat was. After stowing her rolling luggage and fixing her pants, she sat down and took a deep breath. The sooner she was off this plane the better, as her heart started to race.
Slowly the plane filled up and finally, the flight attendant sealed the main door.
"Did everyone have a good time in Vegas?"
The crowd erupted in a loud cheer and started chanting "Vegas, Vegas!!
Grace smiled and recalled the night before where she and her girlfriends had enjoyed the company of 2 strippers.
The plane accelerated and took off, into the sky. It was a perfect takeoff, an exciting one for most, but not for Grace. It never was.

There were a total of 196 souls on board. Things had started to get back to normal since the Coronavirus. Some still wore masks even after the mandate had been lifted. Grace looked around to notice the two men in black suits were gone. She looked behind her and in the very back of the plane, she spotted them. One man reached up to adjust the air vent and as he did, Grace noticed a fine mist being released from his hand. What could that have been she wondered? She turned around and slouched down into her chair trying to calm herself. A few minutes had passed, Grace heard the sound of a passenger coughing violently. The coughing turned to gagging as the passenger was an older obese man who had trouble breathing as it was. Passengers started to look back at him choking and gasping for air. Suddenly 3 more passengers started to cough almost in unison. Grace pulled a mask out of her purse and quickly put it on. It was an N95 respiratory, she didn't take any chances, she was always ready. The plane was getting ready for the descent into San Jose.
"Thank God we are almost there" she whispered under her breath.

By now half the plane was in a coughing fit causing the pilot to manually drop the oxygen mask's for safety.
The plane finally touched down to everyone's relief as passengers unbuckled and readied to exit before the plane was stopped. It was chaos, kids screaming, people crying and the look of fear on everyone's faces. Grace glanced back to check for the 2 men in the suits, they were gone! She frantically started looking around the plane, with no success. The mystery men vanished! The passengers were ordered to deplane on the runway to the awaiting police, fire department, and ambulances. The news of a possible outbreak had already been shared to San Jose from the captain.

One by one each passenger was checked by workers fully gowned in hazmat suits.
"What the hell is going?" Yelled Grace
"This is for your protection and ours" answered one of the emergency workers.
They were loaded up on an old school bus, all issued paper masks, and headed for Regional Medical Center a local hospital in San Jose. Everyone on the plane was now under official government quarantine. No exceptions, not even the Pilots could leave, not until they were checked and cleared safely.
The look on the workers in hazmat suits said it all. They knew this was serious, they knew it was bigger than COVID-19!