Pandemic: Beginnings: A Post-Apocalyptic Medical Thriller Fiction Series (The Pandemic Series Book 1) Read online

  Thank you for downloading BEGINNINGS, Book One of the Pandemic Series, by Author Bobby Akart

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  Other Works by Bestselling Author Bobby Akart

  The Pandemic Series

  Beginnings

  The Innocents

  Level 6

  Quietus

  The Blackout Series

  36 Hours

  Zero Hour

  Turning Point

  Shiloh Ranch

  Hornet’s Nest

  Devil’s Homecoming

  The Boston Brahmin Series

  The Loyal Nine

  Cyber Attack

  Martial Law

  False Flag

  The Mechanics

  Choose Freedom

  Seeds of Liberty (Companion Guide)

  The Prepping for Tomorrow Series

  Cyber Warfare

  EMP: Electromagnetic Pulse

  Economic Collapse

  Pandemic: Beginnings

  The Pandemic Series, Book One

  A novel by

  Bobby Akart

  Contents

  Dedications

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author, Bobby Akart

  Author’s Introduction to the Pandemic Series

  Epigraph

  Prologue

  PART ONE WEEK ONE

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  PART TWO WEEK TWO

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  PART THREE WEEK THREE

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  PART FOUR WEEK FOUR

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Bonus excerpt from 36 Hours, The Blackout Series

  Copyright Information

  Dedications

  This book is dedicated to my darling wife, without whom life would be hopeless. Thank you for loving me. Bullie and Boom, seeing your wiggly butts at the end of a long day behind the keyboard makes it all worthwhile.

  My friends and readers, please heed the warning of this series. A global pandemic can strike in an instant. I write this book to entertain you, but also to get you ready for the next global war.

  Thank you for supporting me!

  Finally, the Pandemic series is dedicated to the disease detectives, the shoe-leather epidemiologists of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, who work tirelessly to keep these deadly infectious diseases from killing us all. They are selfless, brave warriors, risking their lives and the loss of their families in order to fight an unseen enemy more powerful than any bomb.

  Acknowledgements

  Writing a book that is both informative and entertaining requires a tremendous team effort. Writing is the easy part. For their efforts in making the Pandemic series a reality, I would like to thank Hristo Argirov Kovatliev for his incredible cover art, Pauline Nolet for making this important work reader-friendly, Stef Mcdaid for making this manuscript decipherable in so many formats, John David Farrell and Kris Adams, who together with Marshall Davis have brought my words to life, and the Team—whose advice, friendship and attention to detail is priceless.

  The Pandemic series required countless hours of research. Without the background material and direction from those individuals who provided me a portal into their observations and data, I would’ve been drowning in long Latin words. Please allow me to acknowledge a few of those individuals whom, without their tireless efforts, the Pandemic series could not have been written.

  Brant Goode, CDC CEFO Supervisor.

  Colonel Mark G. Kortepeter, MD, a preventive medicine officer in the Operational Medicine Division at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, USAMRIID, where he teaches the medical management of biological weapons casualties.

  Rear Admiral Stephen C. Redd, MD, Director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR) at the CDC.

  Thank you and thank you for your service to humanity!

  About the Author, Bobby Akart

  Bestselling author Bobby Akart has been ranked by Amazon as the #3 Bestselling Religion & Spirituality Author, the #5 Bestselling Science Fiction Author, and the #7 Bestselling Historical Author. He is the author of sixteen international bestsellers, in thirty-nine different fiction and nonfiction genres, including the critically acclaimed Boston Brahmin series, the bestselling Blackout series, and his highly cited nonfiction Prepping for Tomorrow series. All four novels in The Pandemic Series have achieved #1 Bestselling status in their respective genres.

  Bobby has provided his readers a diverse range of topics that are both informative and entertaining. His attention to detail and impeccable research has allowed him to capture the imaginations of his readers through his fictional works, and bring them valuable knowledge through his nonfiction books.

  SIGN UP FOR EMAIL UPDATES and receive free advance reading copies, updates on new releases, special offers, and bonus content. You can contact Bobby directly by email ([email protected]) or through his website www.BobbyAkart.com

  Author’s Introduction to the Pandemic Series

  In the mid-twentieth century, a new weapon shocked the world with its ability to destroy the enemy.

  For centuries, another weapon has existed…

  One that attacks without conscience or remorse…

  Its only job is to kill.

  They are th
e most merciless enemy we’ve ever faced…

  And they’re one-billionth our size.

  Be prepared to become very, very paranoid.

  WELCOME TO THE NEXT GLOBAL WAR.

  Biological weapons, delivered under the right conditions against an unaware, unprotected population, will, pound for pound and dollar for dollar, kill a million times more people than a nuclear weapon. A nuclear bomb doesn’t come close to matching the potential footprint of a biological weapon.

  Over the past half century, the number of new diseases per decade has increased fourfold. Since 1980, the outbreaks have more than tripled. With those statistics in mind, one has to consider the consequences of a major pandemic.

  Death has come to millions of humans throughout the millenia from the spread of infectious diseases, but none was worse than the Black Death, a pandemic so devastating that uttering the words the plague will immediately pull it to the front of your mind. From 1347 to 1351, the Black Death reshaped Europe and much of the world.

  In a time when the global population was an estimated four hundred fifty million, some estimates of the death toll reached as high as two hundred million, nearly half of the world’s human beings.

  This plague’s name came from the black skin spots on the sailors who travelled the Silk Road, the ancient network of trade routes that traversed the Asian continent, connecting East and West. The Black Death was in fact a form of the bubonic plague, not nearly as contagious and deadly as its sister, the pneumonic plague.

  Fast-forward five centuries to 1918, an especially dangerous form of influenza began to appear around the world. First discovered in Kansas in March 1918, by the time the H1N1 pandemic, commonly known as the Spanish flu, burned out in 1919, it took the lives of as many as fifty million people worldwide.

  Why does the history of these deadly pandemics matter?

  Because it has happened before and it will happen again—despite the world’s advanced technology, or because of it. People no longer stay in one place; neither do diseases. Unlike the habits of humans during the Black Death and the Spanish flu, an infection in all but the most remote corner of the world can make its way to a major city in a few days.

  Terrible new outbreaks of infectious disease make headlines, but not at the start. Every pandemic begins small. Early indicators can be subtle and ambiguous. When the next global pandemic begins, it will spread across oceans and continents like the sweep of nightfall, causing illness and fear, killing thousands or maybe millions of people. The next pandemic will be signaled first by quiet, puzzling reports from faraway places—reports to which disease scientists and public health officials, but few of the rest of us, pay close attention.

  The purpose of this series is not to scare the wits out of you, but rather, to scare the wits into you. As one early reader said to me, after reading the Pandemic series, “I now realize that humans can become extinct.” Not a comforting thought.

  The Pandemic series is a new dystopian, post-apocalyptic fiction series from twelve-time bestselling author Bobby Akart (the Blackout series, the Boston Brahmin series and the Prepping for Tomorrow series).

  The events depicted in the Pandemic series are fictional. The events, however, are based upon historical fact.

  Note: This book does not contain strong language. It is intended to entertain and inform audiences of all ages, including teen and young adults. Although some scenes depict the realistic threat our nation faces from a deadly pandemic and the societal collapse that will result in the aftermath, it does not contain graphic scenes typical of other books in the post-apocalyptic genre.

  I believe more of our young people need to lead a preparedness lifestyle. Studies show that our millennials do not have any of the basic survival skills. By writing this series free of vulgarities and gratuitous sexual innuendo, I’ve intended it to be suitable for everyone. Thanks.

  Epigraph

  The single biggest threat to man’s continued dominance on the planet is the virus.

  ~ Joshua Lederberg, PhD, Molecular Biologist

  *****

  Today, with how interconnected the world is, (disease) would spread faster.

  ~ Bill Gates, Microsoft Founder

  *****

  Sooner or later, there will be pandemic flu. Is it gonna be this one? Is it gonna be the next one? No one can tell.

  ~ William Kelly

  *****

  Viruses are very unpredictable. A disease that emerges in one place can be on the other side of the world in twenty-four hours.

  ~ Mitchell Cohen

  *****

  Infectious diseases know no boundaries.

  ~ Dr. Mackenzie Hagan

  *****

  Could it not be contrived to send the smallpox among those disaffected tribes of Indians? We must on this occasion use every stratagem in our power to reduce them.

  ~ Lord Jeffrey Amherst, Commanding General of the British forces, French & Indian War, 1763

  *****

  And let not those who disbelieve suppose that they can outstrip Allah’s Purpose. Lo! They cannot escape. Make ready for them all thou canst of armed force and of horses tethered, that thereby ye may dismay the enemy of Allah and your enemy.

  ~ Quran 8:59

  Prologue

  You are free to make your choices, but you are not free to choose the consequences.

  Western Africa

  They were dragging Dr. Francois Alexis through a dark, dusty hallway. He’d become confused at how long he’d been held in the tiny cell, without light, and no sustenance. For days, he’d been bound and gagged. A dark hood was pulled over his head, which also made it difficult to breathe. Dr. Alexis had become completely disoriented in a world of blackness and terror.

  Between the beatings and the fitful attempts at sleep, Dr. Alexis was unable to determine whether he’d been held captive for two days or ten. Many events were impossible for him to discern in this starved, sleep-deprived state. What do they want from me?

  All he could remember was leaving the International Medical Research Centre in the former French colony of Gabon on the West Africa coast late Friday night. He stopped to pick up a sandwich and was hit in the back of the neck with a powerful blow, forcing him to the ground. He remembered the black hood being pulled over his head and he was whisked away in a vehicle to an unknown destination. His attackers never uttered a word throughout the abduction.

  The Center for International Medical Research where he worked, known as the CIRMF, was staffed by one hundred sixty-seven scientists and had an annual budget of over five million dollars. Based in Franceville, a city of one hundred thousand in southeast Gabon, the facility boasted a biological research infrastructure, which was rare in Africa, including a biosafety level 4 laboratory. A BSL-4 represented the highest level of biosafety precautions and was designed for working with the world’s most dangerous pathogens.

  Dr. Alexis was one of a dozen scientists focused on emerging infectious diseases like Ebola, Marburg, and the three varieties of plague. The facility’s primatology center was among the largest in the world. Containing five hundred primates, half of which were housed in a jungle enclosure, the CIRMF was ideally suited for testing and researching viruses in their natural hosts.

  With his mind racing, seeking answers as well as anticipating what was happening, Dr. Alexis struggled against his captors while peering through the bottom of the black hood, which continued to obstruct his vision.

  The more he struggled, the harsher he was treated. When the hood was removed, enabling him to see the floor, he stopped his resistance.

  He was forced through an entryway into a brightly lit room, where a variety of power cords and cables spread across the floor. One of his captors yelled at him in Arabic and pushed him into a nondescript wooden chair in the center of the room.

  Another man issued orders, barking the words in a guttural language he couldn’t interpret, and the room lit up with artificial light, causing Dr. Alexis to wince despite his limited vi
sion. He adjusted his posture in the chair and two strong arms pulled him upright in the chair. Then his hands were strapped to the back of the chair with zip-ties. His legs were bound in a similar manner, which effectively immobilized him. He’d become one with the chair.

  The room became eerily silent. There was no speaking. No shuffling of feet. Only the faint sound of an internal fan on a computer or other electronic device, which whirred in the background. The anticipation added to Dr. Alexis’s anxiety. His heart was pounding in his chest. He tried to speak, but the gag prevented the words from coming out. What is happening?

  ZING!

  The screeching sound of metal on metal filled the room. The noise was familiar, but Dr. Alexis couldn’t place it in his agitated state of mind. Horror overtook him as he frantically looked from side to side to locate the source of the sound.

  Suddenly, an arm wrapped itself around his forehead and pulled his head back, exposing the pulsating veins in his neck. The young Frenchman felt the cold steel of the blade press against his flesh. He looked down past his nose to catch a glimpse of the weapon. It was a sword, polished chrome glimmering in the light of the room.

  He attempted to voice his protest, but that caused his neck to swell and press closer to the sharp blade. His captor let out a throaty laugh, harsh and raspy, which caused the blade to move from side to side ever so slightly.

  As if in the hands of a surgeon, the sharp blade pierced his skin, slicing slowly across his neck. His captor’s precision was remarkable—not too deep, but enough to produce the desired effect. Warm blood trickled slowly out of the wound, marring the finish on the sword and dripping down onto his partially exposed chest.

  I’m going to die today, Dr. Alexis convinced himself as he closed his eyes. I’m about to become the lead news story on France’s TF-1.

  His mind raced to his beautiful wife and two young daughters. Josephine had encouraged him to take this job. His pay was doubled because he was away from home, but she thought it would help them provide for their young family. She’d remained behind in Paris while their darling preteen girls went to the finest schools his salary could afford.