“You’re sure this is the movie you want to watch?” Beth said. “You may not get another for a while. Aren’t these kinda cheesy?”
She was referring to the movie Fast and the Furious 9. Last year, amongst the hysteria over COVID-19, all major houses had postponed their releases. This movie wasn’t set to come out until April of this year, but being the president does have its perks.
Bobby rounded the couch, leaned down, and kissed her on the lips. She was as beautiful as the day he met her. “Cheesy? Come on. Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“You know me, honey, I’d watch a girly movie every time. But you don’t get to do this often, so this is fine.”
“We can watch something else if you want. But then you’d miss Vin Diesel flexing his muscles. I know you like that.”
“You don’t have to sell me, I really don’t care what we watch. I’m here for the popcorn.”
“Mmm hmm,” Bobby said with a smile.
He took a seat on the plush couch, pressed the button on the side to recline the chair, pressed the button on the remote to dim the lights, and took a satisfied exhale.
“Excited?” Beth smiled as she grabbed some popcorn.
“Very.”
Beth pressed play, and the graphic of the earth appeared on the screen with the word universal wrapping around it. Just as the studio logo disappeared and the first action scene began full throttle, the phone on the wall began to buzz. Bobby’s heart sank. He’d instructed everyone to give him an hour unless there was a critical update. Bobby didn’t mind the hours that he had to put in to be the president of the United States, but he could already tell what he was going to hate about the most important job in the world: there was rarely good news.
“Just leave it,” Beth said.
“I don’t have that option anymore, sweetheart.”
Beth hit pause and Bobby walked over to the phone.
“Hello.”
“Mr. President,” his secretary said. “So sorry to bother you, but you’re needed in the Oval Office.”
“Update on Alaska?”
“Yes, sir. Critical. I’m assuming you haven’t seen the news?”
Bobby’s stomach turned.
“I haven’t.”
“Someone leaked the story about the town in Alaska.”
“Shit. All right. Be right down.”
6
After a quick change of clothes, and a minute to pick popcorn from his teeth, Bobby walked into the Oval Office. His press secretary, the secretary of health and human services, and the secretary’s virologist tasked with helping the investigator in Koenig, Alaska, were all waiting for him. They were gathered around a television watching an anchor deliver the news.
“Mr. President,” they all said as they stood to greet him.
“Have a seat. Let me see what they’re saying.”
A graphic of a biohazard symbol was floating beside the man’s head as he spoke to the camera. The look on his face was worried. Bobby knew then that the shit was hitting the fan. The use of the biohazard symbol already got his blood boiling. The sensationalism of the media, right and left, made him about as angry as anything in the world. He took a deep breath and listened to the report.
As you know, with everything the world went through with the coronavirus last year, this couldn’t be more terrifying. Again, the source has not been confirmed, but the body count in Alaska absolutely has. In case you missed it, an entire town in Alaska mysteriously died last week. All one hundred and three of them. And the report from a city close to them is that it was from some sort of a virus. That’s all we know at this time. Please do not panic, but stay tuned as we will be updating this story the second we get more information.
Bobby slammed his fist down on his desk, and the three people in the room all jumped to attention.
“I can’t believe this bullshit. Who leaked this story? I want their head on a stake.” Bobby walked around his desk and stood directly in front of the three of them. “And can you believe the irresponsibility of that report?” He was shouting. “The source has not been confirmed, but everyone is dead. But don’t panic! Just stay tuned!”
Bobby walked away and made a lap around his desk.
“We need to get out in front of this,” Linda Morales, his press secretary, said.
“Well no shit!” Bobby turned around and saw the shocked look on Linda’s face. He took a deep breath and changed his tone. “Sorry, Linda. That wasn’t directed at you.”
“I get it. This is bad.”
“This is worse than that. After last year, people are going to panic. And with reporting like that, I can’t say I blame them.”
There was a knock at the door; then it pushed inward. It was his secretary. “CIA Director Lucas here to see you.”
Robert walked in, a solemn look on his face.
“Perfect timing,” Bobby said.
“Mr. President,” Robert acknowledged.
“We have to issue a statement,” the press secretary urged.
“Any suggestions, Andrew?” Bobby looked at his secretary of health.
Donna Ingram—the virologist—spoke instead. “You could say their water was tainted. Wouldn’t be the first time something like that has happened in a rural area.”
“I can’t lie to the American people.”
It was his knee-jerk reaction.
“Can you afford not to, sir?” Robert said.
Bobby was quiet for a moment. He really didn’t want to lie to the people. But with the kind of irresponsible reporting that was going in the media, they had almost forced his hand. He knew that every president at some point in their time in office dealt with this sort of thing, but that didn’t make it any easier. He was going to have to develop thicker skin.
His press secretary cleared her throat. “If it makes you feel better, I can allude to the fact that the water tainting is just one of the possibilities we are investigating. And that there is no evidence yet that this was viral.”
“Okay,” Bobby said. “I like that better. Let’s calm people down.” Then he looked at Robert. “And I want to know who leaked this, you hear me? Right. Now.”
“I’ll get on it,” Robert said. “In the meantime, I just received an update and we need to talk in private.”
Bobby looked at everyone else in the room. “You heard him. Can we please have the room?”
“Of course,” Andrew said, “But we were here for a reason, Donna has an update from Koenig.”
“Go on.”
“We’ve had the first death,” the virologist said, getting right to it. “And many others are losing the fight with whatever virus was unleashed on them.”
Bobby couldn’t believe his ears. This was really happening. Someone was weaponizing a virus, and he had no idea if they’d already brought it to the lower forty-eight states.
Donna continued. “This one is worse than the first town, Mr. President.”
“How?”
“Because the incubation period is much longer. And the beginning symptoms were barely that of the common cold.”
Bobby understood what that meant, but he wanted confirmation. “So someone can not only infect a lot of other people before they even know they’re sick, but they think all that is wrong with them is just a common cold?”