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When we were about a hundred feet in front of the fence, the men trained their guns on us, and a man with a megaphone told us to stop and exit the vehicle. They were all wearing full military gear and masks. Ollie stopped the car and pulled the brake. Zeke looked at me and whined. We took one last look at one another and exited the car. The man with the megaphone put on his HAZMAT mask and walked toward us, another man trailing behind with his gun drawn. I thought about the posts I’d read about people being shot by the military, and I started to shake. We both stopped, and Ollie grabbed my hand. When they reached us, the man with the gun kept it pointed at us, which made me even more nervous. The other man pulled out an electronic device. He walked toward us and asked to see our wristbands. Ollie dropped my hand, and we both stretched our arms out toward the man.
He scanned our wristbands, and they both got a loud beep. He took a long look at us. “I’m Sergeant McClellan. Where did you folks come from? We haven’t had any survivors in over a week,” he said in a Southern accent.
Ollie spoke up. “We came from New York City. We’ve been driving for four days.”
“You sure are lucky to have made it here,” he said. “Go ahead and grab anything you need from the car. This is the last you’ll be seeing of it for the time being.”
The tension slid off my body when I sensed we would be welcomed. We grabbed our bags and Zeke’s food then pulled Lily’s carrier out of the back. We walked back over to Sergeant McClellan, and he led us to the fence. We were ushered through and greeted on the other side by a man in a CDC suit and mask. He led us to a series of tents.
He walked to one and pulled the curtain back. “A doctor will be along shortly to take your blood samples. Do you need anything? Food or water?”
We both shook our heads. “We’re okay, but thanks,” I replied.
He nodded and walked out.
A few minutes later, a CDC doctor with long red hair and kind eyes came in to take our blood. “Hi. I’m Dr. Cross, but you can call me Debbie. What are your full names?” she asked as she wrote on a blue pad.
“I’m Oliver Wakelin. This is Karis Hylen, our cat, Lily, and our dog, Zeke.” Zeke and I both looked at him at “our dog.” He looked sheepish. “Sorry.”
I smiled at him. “It’s okay.”
“This test will take longer than before because we’ve learned more about the virus in the past month. We’ll need to check more extensively,” Debbie told us.
She pulled out her supplies, took two vials of blood from each of us, then left with a wave of her hand. Lily was meowing in protest at being left in the carrier, but we had to keep her there. We lay down on a cot in the room and fell asleep. An hour later, three doctors with masks on woke us up, asking us to get up.
As we rose off the cot, Ollie asked, “What’s wrong?”
One of them answered, “There are abnormalities in Ms. Hylen’s blood work, and we need to take her for further testing.”
“What? Wait, that can’t be right. I was already tested, and I haven’t been exposed,” I said. Then my mind flashed to Charlie and the house with the dead bodies. My limbs began to shake, and I swallowed a few times. Panic crept in. Maybe, like Henry’s wife, I was infected but not showing any signs yet.
Ollie reached for my hand, but one of the other doctors stopped him. “Sir, we’ll need you to step back and let us do our jobs.”
“Can I go with her? Look at her. She’s scared! If she’s infected, so am I.”
I was crying, worried that I’d been infected and had gotten Ollie sick too.
“Sir, your test came back negative. I’m sorry, but we can’t allow more people into the facility than is necessary. You’ll have to stay here. It shouldn’t take long. We’ll have her back soon.”
They flanked me, each taking an arm as they led me away. I looked back at him, fear snaking up from my gut. “Oh my god, Ollie!”
Zeke was barking at the doctors and lunging for me, but Ollie had him on his leash. His eyes were narrowed in anger. He looked so helpless that it broke my heart. We walked for a few minutes before I was led to a low, wide building encased in a white tent. Inside, there were machines with tubes making electronic beeping noises, refrigerators, and hospital beds. What have they been doing in here? My fears were escalating rapidly, and I could hear my heartbeat hammering erratically in my ears. They took more blood and hooked me up to an EKG. Another woman took my temperature, recording ninety-nine-point-five. This isn’t good. Could I really have been infected? I started to feel clammy and hot. My altercation with Charlie happened over a month before. Can it take that long to show up? Could it have been inside me all along, lying dormant, waiting for the opportunity to attack? Had it finally made its way to the surface now to ravage my body? But if that’s true, why isn’t Ollie sick? I was worried about Zeke too. I knew he was upset about seeing me being led away. Ollie would try to calm him down, but there was no one to calm me down.
Next, they placed a swab in my mouth to take a DNA sample. I asked the woman what they found, but she said they weren’t sure yet. They needed to see the results of everything they were doing before they could determine what was going on. I was asked to breathe into a device as hard as I could. Then they checked all my vitals, including my reflexes, which seemed to be in good shape. Lastly, they asked me to provide a urine sample, and I trudged to the bathroom. Inside, I was shaking, my mind spinning out the worst possible outcome. While I washed my hands, I noticed the poster on the bathroom wall. This building must have been a gym because the sign had a fit woman running on a treadmill, a delighted smile on her face as she looked out a window. The tagline read “Every day is full of new possibilities. Find yours!” Despite my anxiety, I had to laugh—what a way to bookend this crazy experience. I emerged to find Debbie standing outside the bathroom. She smiled at me, probably trying to ease my concern.
“Thanks,” she said as I handed her the sample. “Sorry about all this. We just don’t know what’s going on with your blood work.”
“What did they find that’s confusing?”
She looked around and then leaned in toward me. Her voice lowered, she said, “You have a slightly elevated temperature, which isn’t too troubling as many things could cause that. But you also have highly elevated levels of a hormone called HCG that we’ve found elevated in people testing positive for the virus. However, you don’t seem to have any of the other elevated levels that they had. We want to check every possibility for the elevated hormone, so we can’t clear you just yet. Between you and me, I don’t think you have it. But your abnormalities are causing quite a stir in here. We haven’t seen anything like this since we set up camp here, so everyone is being cautious about it.”
“Thanks for telling me. No one would tell me anything.” I felt a little better.
She put her gloved hand on my arm. “Look, I know this is scary, and I’m sorry it’s all so hush-hush—this is just how the CDC operates. Information is always confidential until we know it’s innocuous,” she said with a wink. “I’ll take you back to your tent now.”
“Thanks.”
We walked together back to the tent, and Ollie and Zeke ran toward me. Zeke jumped all over me while Ollie pulled me into a hug. We sat down on the cot, and Ollie wanted to know everything. I told him what they did to me and what Debbie had said.
“Hmm, that’s weird,” he said. His brows were furrowed, and he looked as worried as I felt.
“Tell me about it. I don’t know what to think. It’s just scary.”
“I know,” he said, putting his arm around me. “If you have it, then I’m sure the test is wrong, and I have it too. So we’re in it together, okay?”
I felt a rush of love fill my heart as I smiled at him. “Okay.”
Zeke was in my lap, licking my face, happy to have me back. Ollie told me Lily had finally calmed down and had been sleeping for the past half hour. We waited in the tent for another hour, and they brought us sandwiches, chips, and water. I fed Lily more canned food and gave her some water. While I poured kibble into a paper bowl for Zeke, Debbie came in with another CDC doctor. She was smiling—that’s a good sign, right? I also noticed they weren’t wearing their masks anymore. I started to get excited but tried to tamp it down. Something wasn’t right. I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. That was the most thorough physical I’ve ever had, and they could have found something else. Ollie and I sat down, and the doctors perched on chairs opposite the cot.
The male doctor spoke first. “I’m Dr. Gonderman. We know you’re worried, so we came as soon as possible to discuss your test results with you.”
“Am I sick?” I asked anxiously.
Dr. Gonderman smiled. “No, you aren’t.”
Ollie and I both sighed in relief. “So what’s going on, then? Why are my results abnormal?”
“Well, we were really concerned when we saw an elevated hormone level. From what we’ve learned in the past month, that’s a good indicator of this virus. But the rest of your results came back negative, which was confusing.”
I guess Debbie hadn’t let on that she’d already told me. I looked at her.
She smiled and looked away.
“So we’ve run more tests and checked everything we could to be certain that you aren’t infected, and in the process, we found something else.”
Oh god, do I have cancer? Meningitis? Or maybe something no one’s ever heard of before? Am I creating a new disease here? He was taking his time, so finally I asked, “What is it? Just tell me.”
He smiled. “You’re pregnant.”
Wait, what? Did I hear that right? It’s been less than a month since Ollie and I started having sex. Can that be right? I was thirty-eight years old, and I knew it wasn’t impossible, but it wasn’t that easy at my age either.
I looked at Ollie, who was stunned. We were both in a state of shock. Dumbfounded, we looked back at the doctor, hoping he could give us all the answers.
“About two to three weeks, I’d say,” Dr. Gonderman said. They both stood. “We’ll give you two a few minutes to digest this.”
We watched them leave then turned to one another. I laughed nervously. “Oh my god. I can’t believe this.”
“Yeah, I mean I guess it’s possible. We haven’t used any protection.”
I was trying to gauge his feelings, but his face showed only shock, revealing nothing about how he really felt. I couldn’t tell if it was good or bad news for him. Even if Ollie and I didn’t work out, for me, it was an incredible gift, something I had ruled out at that point in my life.
I knew I would be crushed if it wasn’t the same for him, but I would understand. I was just some woman he’d met a month before, who had gone through a horrible situation with him. I wasn’t spectacular in any way except for the circumstances I’d found myself in and how I’d responded. But then I realized that it did make me kind of remarkable, and so did a lot of other things.
He laughed, and I looked over at him. He had a huge smile on his face. “I don’t know what to say. But this is good, right?” He fidgeted nervously.
It hit me that he was just as worried about my reaction as I was about his. I smiled. “Yes, this is very good. But at some point, we should probably go on a real date.”
He laughed and pulled me into a hug, squeezing me tightly. “At least one, I’d say.”
Tears were sliding down my face, but for once, they signified happiness instead of pain. We were excitedly discussing what to do next and how our parents would feel when the curtain parted and the two doctors walked back in. They could see our excitement and smiled.
“Congratulations!” Debbie said.
“Thanks!” we replied in unison.
Dr. Gonderman continued, “Now that that’s out of the way, we wanted to tell you that because of your test results and your pregnancy, you’re providing us with more clues about the virus. Over the last month, our research uncovered what a large role hormones play in the infection. We then concentrated on that angle but still hadn’t focused primarily on HCG.
“It’s a hormone that’s produced by cells that form the placenta, but everyone has it in their body naturally, men and women alike. There are many reasons for high or low levels, but when you’re pregnant, your HCG level doubles every forty-eight to seventy-two hours. The same levels are found in infected patients who are not pregnant. Other hormones become elevated as well as a result of the virus progressing, which is why we didn’t single it out as a particularly impressive clue. But HCG is the first that elevates, which is interesting. Considering that, it seems likely that it’s related to what we’ve found in your test results.”
I nodded.
“You are the only person we’ve tested this extensively who has an elevated HCG level but isn’t infected. Our theory at this point is that the virus somehow takes on the same characteristics of a placenta, continuously feeding the body the virus, which results in the elevated levels we’re seeing and making it almost impossible to treat. This is actually a big breakthrough for us. Your coming here has helped us immensely in our understanding of how the virus works. And in turn, that may help us find a cure or vaccine.”
“Really? That’s amazing. I’m glad we braved the trip, then!” I laughed.
The doctors smiled. “We are too,” Debbie said. “I’m sure you’re both tired. Would you like to call someone? We can start setting up the verification-of-host process so you can go home.”
“Yes, that’d be great. Thanks.”
“Someone will be in shortly to escort you to our offices.”
They both left, and Ollie and I looked at each other. I couldn’t believe what we’d just heard. My mind was still swirling around the pregnancy and the incredible news that we might have inadvertently helped find a cure. I felt giddy.
A man with a clipboard came in and escorted us to the main office, which happened to be a hijacked post office. We filled out some paperwork with all of our information, including our host contacts. He then sat down with us to go over everything and call my family.
“May I please speak with Marin or Randy Hylen? Yes, ma’am, I’m with the CDC, and I have your daughter here with me.”
I heard my mom’s excited hoots through the phone. The poor man was trying to get a word in, but she could really talk when she got excited.
“Ma’am, I just need to verify that you are willing to host both her and Oliver Wakelin at the address of 2103 Honey Lane and that you are the homeowner.” He paused. “Thank you very much. I’ll pass you to your daughter now.”
He handed me the phone. “Mom, I’m okay. We’re both okay. We made it! Zeke made it too! And we have a cat!”
“Oh my god, Karis, I’m so happy right now. You’re safe! My baby is safe! When can you come home?” I could tell she was crying, and I heard my dad in the background asking questions.
“I don’t know yet. I think they’re going to start arranging that now. But most likely not until tomorrow. We’ll probably have to stay here tonight.”
“I can’t wait to see you and meet this handsome man of yours!”
“He can’t wait to meet you too,” I said, looking over at Ollie as he laughed. “I want to give Ollie a chance to call his parents and let them know he’s safe. I’ll call you once we know what the plan is.”
“Get a good night’s sleep. I love you!”
“Love you too!”
I handed Ollie the phone and listened to him tell his parents we’d made it safely and would call them when he knew what our plans were.
In some unspoken promise, we’d both decided not to tell our parents about the pregnancy. It was too new, and I, for one, wanted the two of us to relish it for a bit before we spread the good news around. It was pitch black outside, and we were both tired. The man with the clipboard came back and told us they had a room for us at a nearby hotel that was being used to house all the CDC and military staff. A flight to Sacramento had been arranged for the next morning. My parents had retired to a large house about an hour south of Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful with orchards and a creek running through the property. I couldn’t wait to get there.
Once in the hotel, Ollie pulled his six-pack of Boddingtons out of his bag and popped one open.
“Brought those with you from the car?” I asked.
“You’re damn right I did.” He smiled then took a swig and groaned loudly.
I called my mom to give her the flight details and let Lily out of her carrier to roam around. While Ollie called his mom back, I took a long shower, enjoying the warm water on my skin. The shower door opened, and I turned around. Ollie walked in, naked and beautiful. I couldn’t keep my eyes off him as he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me. Without a word, he kissed my neck and face. I ran my hands down his back and wrapped one leg around him, pushing myself into him. He groaned and lifted me up so I could wrap the other leg around his waist. We were both worked up and didn’t want to wait. He entered me and thrust gently. The feeling was pure ecstasy, but soon I wanted more, and it seemed like he was touching me more gently than before. Maybe he thought he should because of the baby.
I tried to urge him on. “Harder,” I whispered into his ear. He immediately picked up the pace. Within seconds, I was thrown over the edge, and he soon followed. We were both exhausted and fell into bed completely naked.
He placed his hand on my stomach and kissed my shoulder. “I can’t believe there’s a baby in there. Our baby.”
“Me neither. Just a month ago, I didn’t even know you.”
During that time when people were dying and violence was the norm, the thought of new life was encouraging. I knew it would be another roller-coaster ride, and I was strapped in, already enjoying the rush. For once, I wasn’t focusing on the possibility of getting crushed. I was just there in the moment.
Ollie turned out the light, and we drifted off to sleep. It was the first time in months we could sleep without one ear open to the dangers beyond.