Invasion

"I've never seen anything like this," Jesse said.

"You know what I'm saying. I mean, how long does it take three young people to get themselves together to go out for breakfast?"

"It's Cassy's fault," Pitt said. "She was in the bathroom for eight years."

"That's untrue," Cassy said, taking immediate umbrage. "I didn't take as long as Jonathan here. Besides, I had to wash my hair."

"I didn't take long," Jonathan said.

"You most certainly did," Cassy said.

"All right, enough already," Jesse shouted. Then in a more moderate tone he added: "I've just forgotten what it's like having kids around."

They had stayed the night at Pitt's second cousin's apartment, thinking it was the safest place. It had worked out fine with Pitt and Jonathan sharing a bedroom. The only minor problem had been the single bathroom.

"Where should we eat?" Jesse asked.

"We usually eat at Costa's," Cassy said. "But I think the waitress there is an infected person."

"There's going to be infected people no matter where we go," Jesse said. "Let's go to Costa's. I don't want to go anyplace where I might run into any of my fellow officers."

It was a beautiful morning as they emerged into the sunlight. Jesse had them wait by the front door a few minutes while he went out to reconnoiter his car. When he saw no evidence of it having been tampered with, he waved them over. They piled in.

"I got to stop for gas," Jesse informed them as he pulled out into the street.

"There's still a lot of people walking around," Jonathan said. "Just like last night. And they all have that weird shit-eating grin."

"Foul language is no longer cool," Cassy admonished.

"Jeez, you sound like my mother," Jonathan said.

They drove into a gas station. Jesse got out to pump the gas. Pitt got out to keep him company.

"Have you been noticing what I have?" Jesse asked when the tank was almost full. The gas station was very busy at that time in the morning.

"Are you referring to the fact that everybody seems to have the flu?" Pitt commented.

"That's exactly what I'm referring to," Jesse said. Most everyone they saw was either coughing, sneezing, or looking pale.

A few blocks away from the diner, Jesse pulled over to the curb at a newsstand and asked Pitt to get a paper. Pitt got out and waited his turn. Like the gas station, the newsstand was busy. As Pitt got closer to the stacks of papers, he noticed that each was being held down with a black disc!

Pitt asked the proprietor about his paperweights.

"Cute little things, ain't they?" he said.

"Where did you get them?" Pitt asked.

"They were all over my yard this morning," the man said.

Pitt ducked back into the car with the paper and told the others about the black discs.

"Wonderful!" Jesse said sarcastically. He glanced at the headlines: Mild Flu Spreading. "As if we didn't know that already," he added.

Cassy took the paper in the back seat and read the article as Jesse drove on to Costa's.

"It says the illness is miserable but short," Cassy said. "At least for healthy people. For people with chronic diseases, it advises them to seek medical attention at the first sign of symptoms."

"A lot of good that's going to do them," Pitt commented.

Once inside Costa's they took a booth toward the front. Pitt and Cassy were on the lookout for Marjorie. They didn't see her. When a boy about Jonathan's age came over to take their order, Cassy asked about the waitress.

"She went to Santa Fe," the boy said. "A lot of our staff went there. That's why I'm working, I'm Stephanos, Costa's son."

After Stephanos disappeared back into the kitchen, Cassy told the others about what she'd seen in Santa Fe. "They're all working at this castlelike house," she added.

"What are they doing?" Jesse asked.

Cassy shrugged. "I asked; it was a natural question. But Beau just gave me platitudes and generalities about a new beginning and making everything right, whatever the hell that meant."

"I thought foul language wasn't cool," Jonathan said.

"You're right," Cassy said. "I'm sorry."

Pitt glanced at his watch for the tenth time since they'd been in the diner. "It shouldn't be too long now before they arrive at the CDC."

"They might be waiting for the place to open," Cassy said. "By now they've been in Atlanta for several hours. With the time difference maybe the CDC doesn't open for another hour or so."

A family of four in the next booth started to cough and sneeze almost simultaneously. The flu symptoms progressed rapidly. Pitt looked over and recognized the pale, feverish appearance, particularly of the father. "I wish I could warn them," he said.

"What would you tell them?" Cassy asked. "That they have an alien monster inside that's now been activated and that by tomorrow they won't be themselves?"

"You're right," Pitt said. "At this stage there's not much that can be said. Prevention is key."

"That's why we've gone to the CDC," Cassy said. ''Prevention is what they are about. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that they'll take the threat seriously before it is too late."