The atmosphere in the vehicle was quite lively as the Marcus's family happily drove towards the Fair. This was an opportunity that Stacy had been looking forward to—a family time amidst their busy schedules.
She was like a chatterbox all through the drive. If she wasn't singing with the children at the backseat, she engaged Marcus, her husband, in a discussion of what she's excited to buy at the Fair and how much fun they would have. The rest of the time she spent getting their children, Luke and his younger sister, Pearl excited about their first time at the Fair. She painted a vivid picture for them about the games, the food, haunted houses, roller coasters and other things.
Marcus had little interest in the Fair and lamented inwardly on how his whole day was ruined. He would rather spend the time with his friends at the club or work on his research at Star Labs.
Marcus found a parking spot as his family alighted from the car. He locked the doors and walked into the Fair to see Stacy checking out some wares at a stand with their children.
“Marcus?! Is that you?”
A familiar voice made him halt in his steps. He turned around and his eyes bulged at the sight behind him—a picture-perfect, tall, beautiful lady, with long blonde hair cascading down her voluptuous body to her waist. His gaze lingered, admiring her slender waist and long legs in stiletto heels. Lucy, his ex-lover, was quite the sight.
Marcus swallowed hard, struggling to say a word in response. “Erm..erm.. Lucy?! Wow, it's really you?”
She excitedly drew him into a tight hug. The scent of her perfume assaulted his nose and brought back those sweet memories of their past. He closed his eyes and relished the moment.
“So. How long has it been? 7...8 years?”
“10 years to be exact but who's counting?” She chuckled.
“You look beautiful as always. Are you here on business?"
“I'm here for a friend's wedding. It's tomorrow. So I came to get some things for myself and I just happened to run into you.”
Cough. Stacy drew close to Marcus and Lucy with a wide smile that seemed like a grimace. “Sweetheart, aren't you going to introduce me to this charming friend of yours?” She asked.
"Erm.. right! Darling, meet Lucy, my former colleague at Star Labs. She now works with a top bio chemical firm in Madrid.”
Stacy extended her hand to Lucy and the ladies shook hands.
“I'm Stacy, his wife. Lovely to meet you Lucy.”
“Same here. It's nice to meet you….”
She was cut off by the sounds of sirens coming from a distance. Everyone at the Fair became agitated as black tinted vehicles with government plates number surrounded the parking lot of the Fair.
“Everyone, please remain calm. There's no need to panic.” A voice bellowed from a horn speaker.
Police officers jumped out of their vans and began to seal off the Fair ground, creating a parameter with yellow tape lines.
“Can someone tell us what's going on here?” Shouted some of the agitated crowd members. But there was no response from the serious looking government officials.
Soon white trucks and vans drove in, and tents were quickly raised. People dressed in protective gears stepped out of the trucks and vans.
After they finished setting up the tents and some equipment, their leader finally spoke up.
“We're from the CDC. There's been an outbreak of a strain of virus in the region and we are just going to quarantine this area and check if any of you are infected. So if you have any symptoms of a flu please step this way while my colleagues check you and everyone else out. We will be done in no time. Please remain calm and cooperate with us.”
The already-agitated crowd became disorganized and soon burst into an uproar.
Stacy couldn't believe her eyes. It was like a nightmare. She was lost in thoughts when Marcus jolted her back to reality with a distressing question. “Stacy….where are the kids?”
Stacy turned toward the stand where she left them only to see that they were no longer there. “But they were just there!” She yelled.
“Alright, let's remain calm. They couldn't have gone far. Let's go look for them separately. It will be faster that way. Lucy, here are pictures of my kids, can you join us in looking for them?”
“Sure.”
They swooped into action and started asking around and yelled around for them. After an hour of relentless search Marcus called Lucy and Stacy on the phone and informed them that they had been found with the help of some CDC members in the right wing section of the fair on a rollercoaster. The excited children who seemed oblivious to their environment finally got reunited with their parent and their details were taken down as the CDC members continued to gather the people.
It was late in the night that an announcement was made, that those showing symptoms of the strain of the virus had been quarantined while everyone else will have to stay back for observation and the next day they could return to their lives. Amongst the people quarantined was Lucy.
Marcus was worried and offered to help on many occasions but was turned down by the CDC. Eventually, Sarah, the leader of the CDC group called him in for a private meeting. And it was in this meeting that Sarah explained that they contained the spread of the virus and narrowed it down to Lucy. She was patient zero.
Some people aboard the plane she flew showed symptoms of the virus so they had to track them down and quarantined everyone on board which eventually led them to the Fair. Also they contacted the Lab where she worked in Madrid and they confirmed that she had been researching some newly discovered strains of virus recently.
“Unfortunately, we can't seem to get a lead on this as those infected exhibited some unusual aggressive behavior after a 24 hour window. The most distressing thing is that this virus is mutating fast and hopefully with the cooperation of your friend Lucy, we will be able to come up with a vaccine because the outbreak in Spain is several times worse than over here. We're lucky to have caught it early. So Marcus I think we'll indeed be needing your help as Stacy had called specifically for you to help out. She said you are quite resourceful in the field and used to work together.”
Marcus could feel the whole world spinning around him. A lot of things were going on in his mind, especially the safety of his family. He wished he had insisted that they stayed home and not attend the Fair.