Virus X

Help me. Let me out.

Let me.. let me out.

Let me out!

Open the door!

Ah!

H1N1 trial 0697.

Approximate time of death: 0200 hours.

From initial exposure until full onset of symptoms,

confirm...

22 days, six.plus hours.

Still too slow.

You have to be reasonable, Mrs. Herring.

This strain's the most efficient one yet.

23 days is a lifetime, Doctor.

What I need is panic..

instant panic.

Anything the matter?

If it's a question of funding,

I'm sure others would find my compensation more than fair.

. We'll need another trial subject. . Done.

We need to expand the lab team.. more hands.

Whatever you need will be provided.

Make me a plague, Doctor.

Malcolm S. Burr?

Age 29; BS Biological Science,

Hopkins 2003;

dual degree.. MD.PhD 2007,

specializing in cytological abnormality and pathology.

Could say I spent enough time in school to earn my tenure.

Um, of course, that's not to say I don't have plenty of field experience.

If you read on, you'll notice my lab work in Mendoza, Argentina.

I was part of a social program

treating the infectious agents in the livestock.

Our team was actually one of the first to identify

the native H1N1 strain on the molecular..

Do you know what we do here, Dr. Burr?

As far as I'm aware, sir,

you're synthesizing an H1N1 vaccine.

. You're the good guys. . We're hired hands.

We do what we're told,

what we're paid to do.

Well, what you're doing here is very noble, Doctor.

I've been on this project now for almost a year.

This is grim, ugly medicine..

nothing noble about it.

With this record, you could go anywhere.

The industry is starving for young cell doctors like yourself.

With all due respect, Dr. Gravamen,

I've seen this disease at its worst.

And maybe I could have gone somewhere else or done something else,

but.. but I need to be here, Dr. Gravamen.

Late night for a...

big bad wolf to be out all alone.

Looking for a little love, Wolfie?

You know, Daddy says I shouldn't talk to strangers.

Then again, I got a lot of daddies.

Hello?

You shy or what?

Where am I?

Who are you?

Please.

My mother will wonder where I am, please.

. Oh. Good morning. . Morning.

Sorry, you startled me.

I'm usually the first one here, even before the doctor.

Well, I thought I'd get a head start.

. I couldn't sleep anyway. . First day?

Am I that obvious?

Um, just a little polished.

Meaning?

Well, the suit.

I mean, unless you intend on reading a eulogy later,

you might want to tone it down a little bit.

Been around here since the beginning,

when Mrs. Herring first commissioned the project after the outbreak.

I found it comforting to know

that benefactors were taking an interest in public health,

not just for profit but for the greater good.

How's the progress been going?

Slow.moving

but steady.

You know, H1N1 takes so many forms

that it's hard to predict what's next

. to form appropriate vaccines. . Yeah.

But we try. You know, we all try.

And Dr. Gravamen is a great man, you know?

So I've heard.

It's like what do we got to do to be appreciated?

As much time as I spend in this lab looking at microbes,

you'd think by now I'd have antenna growing out of my fucking ears.

Kenny, give it a rest.

No one wants to hear your whining in the morning.

Ha. What do you got to show for it, sunshine?

Getting up every day at 5:00 AM.

'Cause all I got is a savings account

that's dwindling almost as fast as this chair rash

that's growing on my ass.

Ugh! No one wants to hear that.

Do you? 'Cause I don't.

Oh, the biotech money to be made in the private sector.

I hear you, pal. I could finally get that Audi coupe I've been looking at.

You the new guy, the MD?

Appears so. Um, Malcolm Burr.

. Kenny Welchman. . Pleasure.

Never mind Francis.

He's just upset that his parents named him Francis.

I see you met our little tech Abby.

And, um, that's Cori.

Try not to listen to her. She's a product of public school.

. Morning, staff. . Good morning, Doctor.

. Doctor. . Nice to see you awake.

Dr. Burr, once you've changed, if you'd be so kind.

Of course.

As you know, after its initial outbreak in South America,

the native H1N1 virus has been largely contained.

Minus a body count well over 1,000.

Fair enough.

But rather than using native H1N1,

we focus our research on viral variants.

Human adapted strains.

. You're mutating the virus yourselves? . Precisely.

To provide vaccine before a more deadly strain emerges.

But predicting the random mutation of a hostile virus..

There's only a limited number of ways the virus can adapt

to recognize human receptors.

We presuppose those mutations.

ln synthesizing these variants in a controlled environment,

we generate vaccine stocks against possible viral mutation.

Contrary to what you may believe,

the most vicious H1N1 outbreak has yet to occur.

And when it does...

we'll have the solution.

Hey!

Anybody there? Hello?

Can anybody hear me?

Anybody?

Look, I'm sorry for whatever I did.

Just.. just let me out.

Hello!

Trial 0698:

female subject,

approximately 1 25 lbs,

sexually active.

Barring psychological profile, remains in good health.

Treatment yet to be decided.

My God.

This morning I was stocking the database,

observing recently manipulated mutant samples.

I came across an H1N1 version X

fresh off the gene.therapy assembly line.

And?

And? Well...

let's just say that in all my time in South America,

I never saw anything move this fast.

I mean, that virus was deadly, but this.. this..

It swallowed an entire host of T.cells

right before my eyes in real time.

A strain resistant to even the most potent antivirals.

. Version X? . It got me thinking:

what if.. what if in our effort to predetermine

H1N1's mutant variants, we create a strain that we can't control?

We've been over this. Your job here is to enact our methods,

. not question them. . Yes yes!

. But what if.. . What if what?

We have strict security measures..

a lockdown if necessary.

I'm just saying maybe we should look over those security measures.

. Double.check the inventories.. . Burr!

Your concerns have been noted, but already taken into account.

Of course, sir.

I don't know what I was thinking.

Don't get any ideas, Doctor.

A conscience is one thing a scientist cannot afford.

Jerron?

Yes, Doctor?

I think we've found what we've been looking for.

Yes, Doctor.

Who's that?

Just someone I used to know.

During your work abroad?

Yeah.

She was one of the first to get it bad.

When we admitted her,

we didn't.. we had no idea what was wrong.

We thought it was the common flu.

One day she was walking around with a baby girl...

the next she was flat on her back.

Even through residency, I..

it was the first time I'd ever seen anyone die.

I'm sorry.

It's.. the photo's just a reminder,

you know, of who we're trying to help.

What's at stake.

Yeah. Come on.

Let's get some food, huh?

Trial 0698,

continuous.

Administered sample:

version X, virus H1N1.

Hello?