The Last Stand (Book 3) (The Repentant Demon Trilogy) by Samantha Johns Page A

level where the doors opened into a sparkling clean and bright medical facility.  It was where Abigail had come earlier for her physical.  She hoped this one would be equally as successful, for both of them.
     
    “Why does the government always lie to us?” she complained, seeing the attendants approach with folded gowns for them to wear.  “We wouldn't need to undress just to give a blood and urine sample.”
     
    “We just want to be thorough,” said a nurse pushing the blood extraction equipment on a cart, “an X-ray, a CAT scan, these are just precautions.”
     
    “I'm pregnant!” protested Abigail, “I can't have those kinds of tests, especially at this early stage.”
     
    The other nurse looked alarmed.  “Does Dr. Cory know this?” she asked, “He personally gave these orders.”  She began punching numbers on her cell phone.
     
    “I just saw Dr. Cory this morning and had an ultra-sound,” Abigail fumed.  “I don't care who ordered it.  I'm not getting any of that.  No X-ray, no CT scan, no MRI.  None of it.”
     
    “You're right ma'am,” said the nurse, snapping her flip-phone shut.  “When Dr. Cory got the news of the two patients, he wasn't told their names.  You won't be getting those tests.”
     
    “Well we were together everywhere,” argued Uma, “and we ate at the same restaurant.  So if she doesn't need tests, neither do I.”
     
    The nurse dialed the phone again, turned her head while she spoke, then announced that these ladies did not need to undress.  “Blood and urine samples only,” she proclaimed.  Then she came forward to speak confidentially to the two of them.
     
    “Dr. Cory is so fed up with government authorities giving him orders about how to proceed with his patients,” she said.  “If you don't mind, I'd just like to write down everything you both ate or drank while in town.  Then pee in the cup, let us draw some blood, and you can both go home with your husbands.”
     
    By the time the women were finished, they decided to gather at the cabin and watch the news together.  The entire country was panicking. 
     
    “Never had anything like this happened before in U.S. history,” newsmen reported.  “These outbreaks have been reported over several states; from Boston to Los Angeles, in twenty-four cities spaced sporadically across the nation.”
     
    The announcer on the television screen stood before a hospital as ambulances behind him parked with red lights still flashing. 
     
    “Victims continue to trail into emergency rooms with varying symptoms such as severe vomiting and diarrhea as well as seizures and breathing problems.  Both ricin and cyanide had been identified as contaminates in yet unknown food sources.   The attacks had to have been perpetrated with precise planning.  Cyanide acts within minutes of ingestion, but ricin could take hours before symptoms appear.  So far, authorities had not been able to identify the exact sources of the contamination, but it is believed to have been through food or water, and it could have been done at restaurants, grocery stores, or food processing plants.  With such a wide range of victims, it didn't seem like they would find a common denominator among them.  Cities across the whole nation have been hit.”
     
    “It's amazing how they can go on and on,” said Brady during the commercial break, “when they don't even know anything.  They don't know who did, how they did it, or what's happening next.”
     
    “The news talk shows are going to fill the empty space with everything but news,” added Abigail.  “They've already lined up an hour-long special documenting the history of biological warfare, past incidents involving ricin and cyanide, both successful and unsuccessful.  We're going to hear hours of speculation since they don't have any real news to report.”
     
    “They're telling everyone to seek medical help if they have any symptoms,” Uma said, with agitation,