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Until the CDC scientists found a cause of death, they could not even begin the search for a cure or prevention mechanism. The team responsible for tracking and isolating the infection was now very worried indeed.

      It was obvious the original source of the SDC contagion had been from Glens Falls or New York because of the number of reported deaths from these areas. The spread to other areas and even other countries and continents had been so rapid that any kind of isolation or quarantine plan was doomed to failure.

      His staff was updating the president on an hourly basis, who was now himself suffering from what seemed like early cold symptoms. As the reported death toll increased, it became obvious this was a very serious situation.

      On Friday afternoon, the president held an emergency session with the objective of coming up with an action plan. The possibility of setting up designated quarantine areas around the country, with a total ban on movement into and out of the areas, was discussed for the first time.

      The practical and legal problems involved in implementing such a quarantine plan were recognized, with the large number of people and different jurisdictions involved. The president and his staff decided, with the approval of the CDC experts in attendance at the meeting, to postpone the decision until the next morning. The numbers of deaths in Europe and the rest of the world were not yet large enough to warrant implementation of quarantine measures there.

      As government officials were considering quarantines and other emergency measures, the SDC contagion was continuing to spread rapidly. By the end of the day, about six hundred thousand people were infected around the world. Nearly half a million people in North America and over a hundred thousand in Europe were suffering from the mild cold like SDC symptoms that would cause them to die in their sleep sometime in the next two days.

      Panic in Glens Falls was rampant. More than five hundred people were already dead. By Friday evening, more than half of the population had fled the area. Since nearly all the people who lived in the Glens Falls area were already infected, they were taking SDC with them wherever they went.

      In New York City more than three hundred were dead and about three hundred thousand were infected. The exit from the city was becoming a major traffic problem and a public TV broadcast by the mayor on Friday evening had not improved the situation. His pleas for New Yorkers to stay calm and not to leave the city were ignored. The broadcast had accelerated the panic and urgency to get out of the city as rapidly as possible.

      Saturday was the day that brought the realization to most governments that the spreading contagion was more serious than anything ever previously seen. A few forward-thinking people saw a threat of the total extinction of the human race.

      As the day broke in Europe, more than a thousand people were dead. In North America, more than seven thousand had died in their sleep during the previous night. The number of deaths in the rest of the world was relatively small, fewer than two hundred. However, the unexplained sleeping deaths had reached every continent. It was now recognized as being caused by the same infection claiming much higher numbers of victims in North America and Europe, where panic had by now become endemic.

      Saturday was the most difficult day in the president’s life. His chief of staff had awakened him at four in the morning when the news of large numbers of sleeping deaths had started to come in from England, France, Italy and Sweden. The planned federal health emergency meeting that had been set up for ten that morning was brought forward to seven.

      By the time the meeting started, the news from Europe, Asia and Africa was even more alarming. When the meeting got into session, the reports of deaths in cities in North America started to come in, as people woke up to find family members, lovers and friends had died in their sleep. The number of reported deaths in Glen Falls and New York was especially horrifying. Closer to home, by nine, more than a hundred deaths had been reported in the Washington area.

      The barely controlled panic of the meeting participants nearly got out of control when the meeting was interrupted. An aide reported that three members of the White House Secret Service detail had died in their sleep the previous night. It was a credit to the president and his staff attending the meeting that only two staffers abruptly excused themselves on hearing the news. They deserted their White House duties to immediately collect their own families and flee Washington.

      As the information now available was reviewed, the connection to the mild cold symptoms experienced by most victims prior to their sleeping death was brought to light. Most of the people in the meeting noticed that nearly everyone in the room, including the president himself, seemed to be suffering from a runny nose.

      The director of the CDC despondently admitted how little useful information his organization had discovered about the contagion. A firm diagnosis of SDC still had not been possible. The cause of death was uncertain, despite a large number of autopsies. No cure or preventive measures had been identified. The only definite recommendation he was able to make was the immediate implementation of the quarantine plan that had been tentatively discussed the previous evening.

      The meeting ended before ten, after the CDC report. Most of the participants hurried off to see their personal physicians about their cold symptoms. The president’s doctor was summoned immediately. The medical advice obtained by these most powerful people in the country was no different and no more helpful than what the rest of the population were receiving.

      At eleven, the president had given the unprecedented executive order to mobilize all federal and state authorities. He announced a complete quarantine of all urban areas with populations of more than a million. All public and private air travel was suspended within the United States. All flights to and from the United States were canceled indefinitely. Interstate highways were closed, as were all U.S. border crossings. The steps taken were much more far-reaching than after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

      At noon, the president addressed the nation on television and radio. After explaining the gravity of the crisis, he urged everyone to remain calm and stay at home. Despite his best intentions, the president’s actions and his address to the nation made the panic arising around the country even worse than it already was.

      On Saturday afternoon, people were on the move across America by every means available to them. Because it was a weekend, the reaction to flee was much easier to act upon. In most areas of the country, the quarantine orders were impossible to enforce and the spread of SDC was accelerated and broadened.

      The near-extinction of all human life in North America was now inevitable. It would progress at an exponential pace. The news of the U.S. actions spread quickly around the world, accelerating the panic everywhere.

      By midnight in Washington, the number of infected had grown to well over a million in North America, with a slightly smaller number in Europe. SDC had reached every large center of population in North America and Europe. Almost three million people were infected worldwide.

      The crisis that had occupied the president’s day had left him in despair. When the last meeting ended at midnight, he was in desperate need of sleep. He went to his bed reluctantly, leaving orders to be awakened if there were any major developments. He lay awake for almost an hour, worrying about what the next day would bring. He need not have worried about his capability to deal with events the following day. His exhaustion finally overcame him and he went into a deep sleep. He was dead within an hour.

      North America died quickly, with fifty thousand dead on Sunday, five hundred thousand on Monday, five million on Tuesday and fifty million on Wednesday. With few exceptions, by the end of the week, all of the more than three hundred million inhabitants of North America were dead.

      Europe died almost as quickly, with fifteen thousand dead on Sunday, two hundred thousand on Monday, three million on Tuesday and fifty million on Wednesday. As with North America, by the end of the week, nearly all of the seven hundred million people who lived in Europe were dead.

      By Monday July 27, 2015, only two weeks after SDC had claimed its first victim, most of the seven billion or so inhabitants of the Earth were dead. The Earth was now truly ready for a new beginning.

      Part 2: The Survivors

      The

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