The blue delivery van sits sealed inside the narrow funnel, boxed by concrete, wrecked cars, and Marines directing refugees around its idling engine. Lena remains at the choke point with the surviving squad, while George Pele holds the rear lanes.
the morgue technician
Remove Mara Venn for examination. If she brought the plague through the convoy, every passenger is already at risk.
George Pele
Sergeant Dunn, rear lanes are temporarily secure. No movement behind us, but that window will not last.
Inside the van, Mara Venn, a pale young woman with disheveled brown hair and a torn blue jacket, her slim build and narrow face visible, presses against the glass among frightened passengers.
Mara Venn
You cannot take me! None of them are infected. We are all clean!
the morgue technician
That is precisely what an examination determines. Open the doors before panic turns this funnel into a graveyard.
The van’s locks remain shut. Refugees watch from the moving convoy, Marines hold their weapons ready, and the distant scraping behind the barricades grows louder.
Establish whether Mara Venn is infected