Excerpt of Coming Flu by J.L. Greger

CHAPTER 3: A glimpse into the future – October 2013

“Just breathe deeply Mr. Morton.”

“C… Can’t.” He choked and gray foamy slime dripped from his mouth.

Tears splashed down Marcia’s ashen cheeks. The young emergency room doctor could see she was past being worried; she was scared and on the verge of becoming hysterical. She had described her husband as a lean, but vigorous, man; he saw grayish skin stretched over a skeleton.

“Three days ago Marv started coughing violently. He kept saying that he didn’t need a doctor to tell him his allergies were acting up,” Marcia wiped her eyes with a tissue. “He got quieter when he started spitting up blood. Then came the blood clots yesterday.”

“How about today?” The young doctor couldn’t fake a smile to reassure Marcia so he avoided looking at her.

“He could hardly move and didn’t even comment when I got a neighbor to help hoist him into the car to bring him here.”

When Marcia began to cough violently, the doctor motioned for a nurse to steady Marv while he checked Marcia’s breathing. She deserved to hear the truth, but he couldn’t force himself to say it. Again he avoided looking at her face.

The young doctor broke one of his personal rules after his shift ended two hours later. He checked on the Mortons, even though they were no longer his patients. Both were covered with IV lines and monitors and lay in hospital beds in an isolation room near the ICU. Marv was attached to a ventilator with a tube down his throat, while Marcia had a cannula in her nose. He stared through the window of the door to their room. He heard the clicking sounds of medical devices and occasional sobs from Marcia. He tried to smile at her but left quickly. He could do nothing for them, besides a large red sign on the door declared: No visitors.

During his next shift on Wednesday, public health officials bustled into the emergency room and questioned him and everyone else about their vaccination history and their exposure to the Mortons. They whisked away a clerk who had not been vaccinated and ordered the young doctor and the rest of the staff members to a meeting.

The officials were in a hurry and conducted a brisk meeting. They made quick announcements. Marv Morton had died the previous night. His wife Marcia was not expected to survive the day. The Mortons’ daughter had been banned from entering her parents’ room to say good-bye. Then they instructed the emergency room staff on the triage procedures to be followed with all patients showing any symptoms of the flu.

The young doctor wished he had smiled more at Marcia. He didn’t want to become like these officials. They were so concerned about the welfare of citizens throughout the Albuquerque area that they had no time to sympathize with individual patients. They were forcing him to implement Draconian triage procedures. Worst of all - they were forbidding him to tell anyone outside the emergency room about the new rules.