Infected (18 page)

“What have you got for me? We got you a relatively fresh one this time. I trust that an unrotted body gave us some clues as to what the hell these things are?”

Margaret led the charge. “It didn’t stay ‘unrotted’ for long. All the tissue is gone. Only his skeleton is left—it looks the same as the remains of Judy Washington and Charlotte Wilson. We have the liquefied remains, but I think we’ve learned all we can from that material. Before Brewbaker fully decomposed, however, we were able to gather some valuable and disturbing information. First of all, we believe the growth isn’t a modification of tissue, but rather it’s a parasitical organism.”

Murray’s face wrinkled in mild disgust. “It’s a parasite? What makes you think that?”

“Just as with Charlotte Wilson’s case, the growth itself was already decomposed. We could get nothing from it, but we found structures in the surrounding tissue that made us classify it as a parasite. The growths are tapped into the host’s circulatory system, drawing oxygen and possibly nutrients from the blood.”

Murray stared at her, like a limestone statue just beginning to show the effects of wind, rain and erosion. “What you’re telling me is that these triangular things are alive, that they’re not part of the victim but rather a separate, living creature?”

“Exactly.”

“So why are the ‘hosts,’ as you call them, going nuts?”

“We found excessive neurotransmitter levels in the brain,” Margaret said. “Neurotransmitters are the substances that pass signals from nerve cell to nerve cell, allowing the body to communicate with the brain and vice versa, as well as allowing the brain to function. Dopamine and serotonin, in particular, were at extremely high levels. Excess dopamine is implicated in severe schizophrenia, and excess serotonin can cause psychotic behavior and paranoia. We also found extremely high levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine throughout the brain. These two hormones are vital to the fight-or-flight response, key in reaction to emergencies and perceived threats. They also cause some of the physiological expressions of fear and anxiety. When the hormones exceed normal levels, anxiety disorders are very common.”

Murray nodded with understanding. “So these
parasites
make people go crazy by increasing neurotransmitters?”

“Right,” Amos said. “But there’s more. The parasite grows structures that mimic human nerves. We found such structures in the area surrounding the growth, but we found traces in the brain as well, particularly in the cerebral cortex and the limbic region.”

“What’s the limbic region?”

Margaret answered. “It’s a cluster of areas including the thalamus, the hippocampus and the amygdala, among others, that is thought to control emotion and comprise the basic structures for memory storage and recall. The growths in that area may have been some kind of endocrine system for secreting the excess neurotransmitters. Based on case studies of excess dopamine in the limbic region, hosts may develop extremely acute paranoia. That’s consistent with the behavior observed in Brewbaker, Blaine Tanarive, Gary Leeland and Charlotte Wilson. But if the growth was actually artificial nerves, it may have had another purpose—it’s possible the parasite was somehow wired into the brain.”

Anger flashed in Murray’s eyes. “Oh come on. I agree with your ‘drug delivery’ theory, that makes sense, but wired into the brain? What are you saying, that this isn’t just some chemical overdose, that the parasite is somehow
controlling
the host?”

“It is a possibility,” she said.

“Why don’t you just tell me the hosts are possessed by evil demons, Doctor Montoya? I’m beginning to suspect I made a serious mistake by putting you in charge of this. How the hell can you expect me to believe a parasite can
control
people, make them do all those horrible things?”

“We didn’t say the parasite used people like some kind of robot,” Amos said. “However, there are parallels found in nature where parasites modify the host’s behavior. For example, there is a trematode that parasitizes a species of mud snail. To complete its life cycle, the trematode must pass from a snail to a sand flea. The trematode larva somehow forces snails to high ground, out of the water, where the snails will die. It
makes
them commit suicide, if you will. At that point the trematode exits the snail and enters a flea. Think also of the thorny-headed worm, which starts in a cockroach and moves on to a rat. To facilitate the change, the worm actually makes the cockroach less aware of danger, so it is more likely to be eaten by a rat. Then there is the—”

Murray held up his hand, cutting off Amos’s next example. “I get the point, Doc. That’s riveting stuff, really it is, but snails and fucking roaches are a hell of a ways away from human intelligence.”

“Behavior is merely a chemical reaction, Mister Longworth,” Amos said. “Human behavior involves more complicated reactions, but they are reactions nonetheless, and if a snail or—as you so eloquently put it, an
effing roach
—can be manipulated, then so, too, can a human.”

Murray rubbed the bridge of his nose, as if some monster headache pounded the inside of his skull. “You know, I came here hoping for some good news, but this just gets worse every second. Okay, so someone out there has created a parasite that can manipulate human behavior. When the hell are you two going to give me something I can use?”

“Mister Longworth, this is something incredibly advanced,” Margaret said. Her voice grew cold and angry. This man wanted simple answers, yet there were none to give. “We’re talking a high degree of technological superiority. If this is an engineered organism, someone out there is so far ahead of us it’s difficult to conceive. To put it another way,
if
this parasite is engineered, we’re in a lot of trouble.”

Murray scowled—it was clear that additional complications were not welcome. “What do you mean ‘if ’?”

“I suspect, and I should note that Amos disagrees with me, that this psychopathic behavior may not be intended, but is actually a side effect. The possibility remains that this is some kind of natural parasite, or if not natural, then it was not
specifically
designed to make people crazy.”

Murray shook his head, then stared at the plaques on the wall. “It’s a weapon, Doctor Montoya, and a damn good one at that. Don’t make this so complicated you can’t see what’s blatantly obvious. You handle the chemicals and such, and leave the strategic analysis to me. Now, I need ideas from you on how to fight this thing. Do you have any suggestions?”

Actually, Margaret had several suggestions, most of which involved a sledgehammer and Murray Longworth’s ass, but those she kept to herself. “There are a couple of things we need to do. First, we need to expand the staff. We need some psychiatrists on board.”

“Why?”

“All the hosts have shown severe behavioral disorders. If we’re going to learn how this thing works, we need a living host. We need a bigger staff and we need it quick, particularly a neurobiologist and neuropharmacologist. A psychologist might help us figure out how to handle deranged victims. And in the long run, we need to learn how to combat the parasite’s effects, possibly with drugs that modify behavior by countering the neurotransmitter overdose.”

“I don’t think adding staff is a good idea, Margaret.”

“We need these people, and we need them
now
. We could lose control of this any second. Information control is one thing. Letting a plague break out on our watch is another.”

Murray’s fingers drummed the desktop. “Fine. I’ll start looking for people. I don’t need to tell you again just how secret this whole operation is, so I’m not going to have someone for you tomorrow or the next day. What have you got that I can use
now
?”

“Brewbaker had a small growth with colored fibers growing out of it,” Margaret said. “This symptom is consistent with a condition called Morgellons disease. We think that the fibers are a parasite that died, but parts of it keep working. The fibers are made of cellulose, a material common in plants but not produced in any way in humans.”

“Are the fibers conclusively connected with the triangles?”

“They are,” Amos said. “The structure of the triangles is the same material as the fibers—cellulose. There is no way it’s a coincidence.”

“And if you have the fibers,” Murray asked, “then you have the triangles? You’re going to go psycho?”

Margaret leaned forward. “No, that’s not the case. It seems people can have the fibers and
not
develop the full-fledged parasite.”

“And we haven’t seen the triangle growths before, not before the last few days? The CDC doesn’t have anything on it?”

“Not that we know of,” Margaret said. “That doesn’t mean there haven’t been, or aren’t currently, more cases. They may have existed. We just didn’t find them.”

“So the fiber thingies have been around for a few years, but the triangles are new,” Murray said. “Sounds like whoever is making the weapon is getting better at it.”

Margaret swallowed. If she was going to get her way, now was the time. “The CDC may have information on Morgellons, including potential time lines of the condition and maps of people claiming to have this disease. We need to talk to Doctor Frank Cheng, who’s leading the investigation.”

Murray leaned back in the director’s chair and looked up at the ceiling.

“We can’t get the CDC involved, Margaret. That’s why I lifted you out of that organization.”

“We
have
to talk to this man,” Margaret said. “It’s possible they have a database on this. If we’re lucky, they are tracking symptoms, dates of infection and other data that could potentially lead us to other parasite victims.”

“I can’t allow it.”

“You
will
allow it, Murray!” Margaret said. Murray’s gaze lowered until his cold eyes locked with hers. She couldn’t stop now, she had to see it through. “I’ve played this how you want it so far, but I
will
talk to this man, with or without your permission.”

She expected a huge fight, a battle of wills, but Murray just sighed. “Okay, you can talk to him. But you cannot, and I repeat it just to be perfectly clear,
cannot
tell him about the triangles. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“Find out what they’ve got. And I’m giving you executive-order clearance on this. Otto, make a call to the CDC director. Doctor Cheng will cooperate with Doctor Montoya, and he doesn’t need to know why.”

“Yes, sir,” Otto said. He smiled at Margaret. It was a small smile, but she couldn’t miss it.

“Okay, Montoya, you get your little chat,” Murray said. “But if that doesn’t turn up anything, we need alternatives. Give me something to work with.”

“The excess neurotransmitters create a biochemical disorder,” Margaret said. “Based on what we’ve seen of living hosts, they suffer symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia, possibly complete with intense hallucinations. Based on reported behavior, the hosts’ paranoia is quite acute, with elaborate threats and conspiracies, but I’m sure that doesn’t just happen overnight. There’s probably a buildup process, an amplification of paranoia. These hosts may be looking for help in the early stages, but according to what we’ve seen in the five known cases, they are very suspicious and tend to stay away from institutions like hospitals and doctors. We have to make ourselves available to these calls for help.”

“How do we do that?” Murray asked.

“We could run ads in the paper. Vague ads, things that might appeal to the host’s paranoid nature, but wouldn’t attract attention from anyone else. Perhaps businesses with the name Triangle or something like that, something the hosts would see and instantly associate with. Paranoids construct elaborate fantasies about the world around them. If we play into likely fantasies, we might draw them in.”

Murray nodded. “Newspaper ads are good. It will take a little time to create a fake business and we have to avoid anything unusual that might draw the press, but we’ll get it going. What other ideas do you have?”

Otto cleared his throat. “Excuse me for interrupting, sir, but most people don’t get their news from papers anymore, they get it from the Internet. You can set up a web page and have it indexed so the major search engines will find it. The Net is anonymous, so a host might surf it for information on the growths. They can contact you right from the web page.”

Murray’s nod picked up speed. “Yes, yes I see your point. I’ll get people on it right now. We’ll come up with some different ways to attract the hosts. What else have you got, Doctor?”

“That’s about it,” Margaret said. “The triangles decompose so fast we haven’t been able to get a good, clean look at one. We either need a live host or one that’s only been dead for an hour at the most—and I stress, Murray, the need to see a
live
host above all other possibilities. That’s the only way we’re going to learn more.”

WASH THAT THING RIGHT OUT OF YOUR HAIR

Perry stepped out of the shower into the steam-filled bathroom, toweling off lightly and feeling oddly peaceful now that all his senses (and his wayward memory) had returned. It might well have been the longest shower of his life, and it was worth every second. His head pain had faded to a mere whisper of its former screaming strength. He was hungry. Really hungry. Cleaning up the bathroom would have to wait until he’d hit the fridge. Some Pop-Tarts would hit the spot, for starters.