Page 89 of Smoky Lake

The mention of a creek caught her attention. “What creek?”

“Goldpan Creek, out Fire Peak way. Nice and private. No one around to watch my balls shrivel up.”

Bear dragged her away before he could really get going on that story.

She thought about the kid, Sawyer Miller, who had dragged his sister to the creek. He was the only one who had exhibited disordered speech. Was there a connection?

The third of Bear’s elderly patients was a woman Ani hadn’t met before, but had seen at The Fang in her handwoven ponchos belted at the waist. Paulina Volk was a hermit artist who had recently gone camping three days near a creek. She liked her morning swims. Like many of the waterways around here, the creek had no name that she knew about.

But it was just a bit south-southwest of Smoky Lake.

“Did you experience any hallucinations or delusions while you were sick?”

“Yes , but not nearly enough.” She actually looked disappointed. “I would have enjoyed more of that.”

Wow.

That made three elderly patients and at least one child who had experienced hallucinations and/or disordered speech after contracting the virus. And all of them had recently gone swimming.

Oh my God. Was the virus water-borne?

“Bear.” She jumped to her feet. “Can you take me to the CDC people at the airstrip?”

“Of course.”

She spent the ride putting her thoughts in order. Thank God for Bear, who didn’t require any conversation. At the airstrip, she practically flew into the military tent.

Dr. Christianson was huddled with other members of her team near the map taped to the whiteboard. “I need to talk to you,” Ani said urgently.

“I’ll be done in a few minutes.”

“Now!” Ani raised her voice, which was such an unusual thing for her that she nearly swallowed her tongue. “I need to talk to you now.”

The doctor didn’t look happy, but she gave Ani her attention. “We’re a little busy here, if you hadn’t noticed.”

“You’re looking in the wrong direction.”

“What are you talking about?” The doctor started to turn away, but Ani grabbed her arm. Being dismissed felt so familiar. How many times had John shrugged off her opinions and desires? No more. Never again. No matter the situation.

She strode to the map that was mounted on the whiteboard and grabbed a Sharpie. She marked down the locations where the elders had gone swimming. Goldpan Creek. Copper Creek. The unnamed creek near Smoky Lake where the artist had been camping.

The pattern was unmistakable. All of the locations were downstream of the eastern lobe of Smoky Lake. The area where Bob’s cabin was located. Where Gil had fallen in the water chasing after her Igloo cooler. Was that how he’d gotten infected? It must have been.

As for the Miller kids…everyone’s favorite swimming hole was directly fed by a stream that flowed from that same watershed.

Heart pounding, she turned to the doctor. “I think the omegavirus might also be waterborne, and that’s when it’s most dangerous. That’s when it causes hallucinations. In every case I’ve seen with that symptom, the patient had recently been in the water.”

“We have no evidence of that. We believe transmission requires close proximity.”

“But you don’t know everything about it yet. It’s possible, isn’t it? You said someone’s trying to weaponize it. I think it’s getting into the waterways around here and that’s why people are getting sick.”

Dr. Christianson shook her head impatiently. “Most bioweapons are airborne, not waterborne.”

“Then…then maybe they’re not trying to weaponize it. Maybe they’re just being careless. I don’t know. But I think I know where they are.” She tapped the map on the spot north of Bob’s cabin. “Somewhere around here. Victor’s been working on a treatment, he wanted to get his research, remember? I’m worried that someone got there before him and that’s why the virus is getting out, and…” She trailed off. Dr. Christianson was watching her as if she was just as delusional as Pinky. “I know this sounds kind of…out there. But we can’t ignore the possibility that I’m right.”

She wished she could wipe that smug, dismissive look off the doctor’s face. This was so unlike her to push like this. No, it was unlike the old Ani. New Ani wasn’t going to just give up.

In fact, she’d never given up, she realized suddenly. She was a persistent fucking bitch when it came down to it. No matter what life threw at her.

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