The first chapter, titled “Something in the Forest”, begins by introducing Charles Monet, a Frenchman with an innate likeness for animals and birds, but very little concern for that of humanity in general. A person of few companions, of which consisted mostly of the female gender and his pet crow, Monet spent most of his time alone in his small home, and as a result, very little was known about his history or reason for choosing to reside in Kenya. As the Christmas break approached, Monet made the decision to spend his vacation on Mount Elgon and asked a fellow lady friend to accompany him.
While on the mountain, they ventured through Kitum Cave and admired the crystal-encrusted walls, mummified elephant corpses and the pillars covered in bat guano. Once their trip to Mount Elgon came to an end, the two friends went their separate ways and back into their normal routines of life. However, something prevented Monet from living as he once did. At first it was a severe headache, but as time passed, his personality changed drastically and his face became an expressionless mask.
His few friends noticed the change and urged him to go to a hospital to cure him of his illness. After the first hospital he went to could find nothing wrong with him, he was sent to the best private hospital in East Africa, the Nairobi Hospital. The chapter ends with Monet waiting patiently for medical attention in the waiting room of the hospital. Feeling weak and dizzy as a result of the presence of his unwanted “visitor” taking control of his body, Monet falls to the floor while excreting large amounts of blood, as well as the lining to his intestines.
“Jumper”, the second chapter of Part One, begins with medical assistants rushing with a gurney to assist Monet, lying in the massive puddles of blood, while urgent requests for a doctor are heard over the loudspeakers. A young doctor by the name of Shem Musoke comes to aid the bleeding man, of whose breathing had now stopped. Although the cause of the Monet’s sickness is unknown, Dr. Musoke realizes that the identification of the cause can wait and directs his full attention to getting his patient breathing again.
Rushing to revive his patient, Musoke neglects the use of rubber gloves and opens the Monet’s mouth to insert the laryngoscope. Using his bare fingers to clear the mucus and blood from the airway passage, he inserts the scope into the dark hole leading into his lungs. Reacting to the insertion of the scope, Monet vomits black-and-red fluid. Even though the vomit covers Musoke’s face and body, and some of the liquid enters his mouth, he continues to peer into Monet’s mouth for any sign of Monet breathing.
Noticing the amount of blood being lost from Monet’s body, Musoke orders a blood transfusion for Monet. Despite Musoke’s attempt to stop the excessive bleeding, Monet continued to bleed, and his coma deepened. He died early the next morning, leaving Musoke confused on what could have possibly left Monet in such a condition. Nine days after Monet vomited on Musoke, he began to have a painful backache and he noticed his eyes seemed to be crimson in color. Believing he had caught malaria, he began taking malaria pills, however, the pain did not cease.
Instead the pain became unbearable and prevented him from diagnosing and caring for his patients, forcing him to seek medical help. Unable to prevent the progression of the ailment, the doctors at Nairobi Hospital left Musoke under the care of David Silverstein. With the belief that Musoke was suffering from an unknown virus, Silverstein sent some of Musoke’s blood serum to laboratories for testing and waited for the results. The third chapter of Part One, “Diagnosis”, starts with a description of Dr. Silverstein and mentions some of Silverstein’s previous patients, such as the President of Kenya.
During a phone call from one of the laboratories of which had tested Musoke’s blood serum, Silverstein is told that Musoke’s serum is positive for a virus called Marburg, a virus of which little is known. Interested in learning more about this mysterious virus, Silverstein researches Marburg, but very little has been published about the virus because of the lack of knowledge. The chapter continues with information about Marburg, such as the kill rate, appearance, name origin, effects, details of survivors’ recovery periods and its relation to Ebola types because of its classification as a filovirus.
Eyewitness information, given by Mr. Jones, a temporary inspector at an export facility, about the Marburg contaminated monkeys that had caused the virus to infect Germany is also revealed in the chapter. Once better informed about the effects of such a virus as Marburg, Silverstein believes that it would be in the best interest for everyone if the Nairobi Hospital were shut down, and those currently in the hospital were quarantined to prevent Marburg from infecting other citizens. The chapter ends with the information that Dr.
Musoke survived Marburg’s attack on his body and recovered completely. The fourth chapter of the novel, titled “A Woman and a Soldier”, begins by describing Thurmont, Maryland, the town where Majors Nancy and Jerry Jaax reside. The Jaaxes are veterinarians in the United States Army and are in charge of taking care of all animals used in the army, such as dogs, horses and cows. They are also responsible for inspecting the Army’s food. The chapter continues by describing the Jaaxes’ (including their two children, Jaime and Jason) appearance, history and personalities.
The setting of this chapter is in the Jaax kitchen, and Nancy is preparing dinner for her children. In doing so, she receives a deep gash in her hand and immediately cleanses the wound and places a bandage on it. It is discovered that Nancy has a strong dislike of blood, even if it’s her own, and is very cautious when it comes to her children. Such is shown when she doesn’t give her children their daily bath in fear of her cut passing bacteria to them.
“Project Ebola”, the fifth chapter, is mainly about Nancy Jaax and her training for veterinary pathology. The chapter begins with Nancy’s morning routine of going to her study, waking her children and leaving for work after the babysitter arrives to ensure that Jaime and Jason receive their breakfast and make it to school on time. Information about the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), or the Institute, is described in this section.
The information that Nancy could not continue working with the Level 3 agents due to her body’s intolerance to the vaccinations is revealed in this chapter, as well as the fact that she was moved into working with the Level 4 agents because vaccinations are not needed due to the fact that vaccinations for these agents have not yet been discovered. Information about Ebola, such as the first emergence of Ebola, the transmission of the disease, composition of its virus particles and the effects of the illness are also mentioned in this chapter.
The civilian biohazard expert, Eugene Johnson, is introduced in this chapter and is described to be large with a broad face and his reputation is described as wild and mysterious. In this chapter, Nancy receives confirmation that she can work on the Ebola Project. The chapter ends with Nancy and her superior, Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Johnson, preparing to enter the “hot side”, by putting on their protective gear and getting ready for the “decon” (decontamination) shower, of which cleanses them of any outside particles with the use of powerful chemicals.
The next chapter, titled “Total Immersion”, begins with Nancy and Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Johnson on the “hot side” and they begin to prepare to visit the Ebola monkeys. Once the officers come into the monkeys’ room, the two control monkeys (monkeys not injected with the Ebola virus) began to howl and leap around in their cages because humans in space suits seem to make the monkeys nervous. Under normal circumstances, all of the monkeys would have acted like that of the control monkeys at the sight of the officers.
However, the Ebola virus had already begun to take effect on the monkeys injected and the symptoms were easily observed. The monkeys injected with the virus remained quiet and withdrawn, and they did not eat their monkey biscuit. Of the different Ebola types, the monkeys were injected with Ebola Zaire, the most fatal strain of Ebola. Gene Johnson had injected the monkeys with the strain and after the symptoms of the virus could be observed in the monkeys’ behavior, he gave them a drug in hopes of curing them of the disease. Unfortunately, the drug did not seem to be curing the monkeys.
Nancy and Tony made their way around the monkey room, observing each monkey and inspecting the two monkeys who had bled to death. Pinching one of the monkeys’ toes to make sure that he was indeed dead, Tony gave Nancy the order to open the cage and move the monkey to the biohazard container. They then made they way to the necropsy room and laid the monkey on a table, getting ready to dissect the deceased monkey. Ebola blood covered every part of the monkey’s body cavity, and Nancy used small sponges to mop up some of the excess blood.
It wasn’t until after they used the “gnawer” to crack open the monkey’s skull that the small hole in Nancy’s glove was noticed. With that in mind, she was told to hurry up and get out of the necropsy room. She got out of the “hot side” as fast as she could, worrying about if the blood had soaked through her last glove and bandage from her cut prior, and hoping she wouldn’t have to be separated from her children and her husband because she had caught Ebola.
She pulled the cord for the “decon” shower and couldn’t wait for the seven minutes for the shower to be over so she could observe her glove and her cut, which she hoped would be free of any Ebola blood. When the shower was finally over, she threw off her suit and rushed to look at her glove and her hand, of which blood and baby powder were mixed. However, the blood, she decided, was her own so she did not have to worry about leaving her family while she spent time in the Slammer. Gene Johnson’s drug did not help to save any of the infected monkeys, and the only two that did live were the control monkeys. However, a few weeks later, the control monkeys died also, leaving people to suspect that Ebola could travel through the air.
The seventh chapter, “Ebola River”, begins by describing a salaried man named Mr. Yu. G. , of whom was a storekeeper in a cotton factory. He worked at a desk in the back of the factory where the bats hung in the ceiling. No one is quite sure how Mr. Yu. G. got the virus, but nevertheless, he died as is normally the result of a virus as brutal as this one. Mr. Yu. G. is considered the primary identified case in an outbreak of an unknown virus. The identified case, or index case, later became known as Ebola Sudan.
This chapter describes the Ebola Sudan strain and mentions its attack on the hospital in Maridi, where it killed the people quickly through dirty needles and left patients mentally deranged, psychotic, depersonalized and zombie-like. The Sudan strain was said to be twice as lethal as Marburg and killed fifty percent of the people infected with the virus. Descriptions of earlier cases of the virus attacking are also depicted in the chapter, such as the Yambuku Mission Hospital. This chapter also illustrates the various effects caused by Ebola Zaire and the severity of its presence within one’s body.
Nurse Mayinga’s story is also told in this chapter. Mayinga N. cared for Sister M. E. despite the fact that she was extremely ill and eventually died from the disease herself. “Cardinal” begins with the event of Eugene Johnson waiting in the airport for the arrival of a passenger with the blood serum of Peter Cardinal, a young boy who died of symptoms suggesting the presence of a Level 4 agent. As Johnson makes his way to the Institute from the airport, he contemplates what he should do with the infected serum, all the while keeping in mind that the majority of the blood samples sent to the Institute were found to contain no unusual, unknown viruses.
Once at the Institute, after finalizing his decision to analyze the serum, Johnson takes the necessary precautions for working with Level 4 agents and begins the analysis. By affecting living monkey cells with the serum o the young boy and with the isolation of the Cardinal strain, Johnson was not only able to verify the presence of a Level 4 agent, but was also able to confirm that the agent was Marburg. This chapter also includes a description of Peter Cardinal, the Cardinal’s whereabouts in Kenya while on vacation and the effects of the virus multiplying other virus particles within Peter’s body.
The chapter ends with Johnson being informed that Peter Cardinal’s whereabouts, prior to becoming ill, was at Mount Elgon. Serving as the ninth chapter, “Going Deep” mainly describes Gene Johnson’s experiment at Mount Elgon to try to find out the origin of Ebola and Marburg and how they were transmitted in the cave. (By air or by contact with the crystals in the wall are just two examples. ) Since Johnson didn’t discover anything new about the viruses, he didn’t publish anything about his expedition, partially because he was too disappointed.
The chapter ends with the Jaaxes, after moving from Thurmont to pursue a different position in the field of pathology, moving back to Thurmont to fulfill higher and much needed positions at the Institute. As the first chapter of Part Two, “Reston” begins with a depiction of the town of Reston, Virginia and introduces the company, Hazleton Research Products, of which is associated with the importation and sale of laboratory animals. Dan Dalgard, veterinarian at the Reston Primate Quarantine Unit (monkey house), was accountable for caring for the monkeys in the instance they became ailing or in need of medical attention.
This chapter describes Dalgard as a tall man in his fifties with blue eyes, and a shy manner, as well as being even-tempered and a “daydreamer. ” During this chapter, large amounts of crab-eating monkeys are brought into the monkey house and suddenly become ill, dying off in unusual numbers. The death of John Jaax, Jerry Jaax’s brother, occurs in this chapter. Bill Volt, manager of the monkey house, notices the deaths of the monkeys and keeps Dalgard informed of this off amounts. The chapter ends with Dalgard beginning his diary and preserving anything alive in the monkey’s mucus.
“Into Level 3”, the next chapter in Part Two, is about Dan Dalgard presenting his monkey problem to USAMRIID, with hopes that their experts may be able to inform him of the identification of the ailment affecting his monkeys. After a phone call with Peter Jahrling, a civilian virologist well-known for his knowledge of monkey viruses, Jahrling agrees in helping Dalgard find out the cause for his sick primates. After receiving the serum and throat wash samples, as well as a piece of monkey spleen, from Dalgard’s infected monkeys, Johnson begins to inspect the samples in a Level 3 Laboratory.
A description of Peter Jahrling’s appearance, family and personality are found in this chapter. With the information that his monkeys are believed to be infected with simian hemorrhagic fever, an illness lethal to monkeys, Dalgard thinks of what can be done to prevent the disease from spreading to the other monkey rooms and to salvage the remaining monkeys. Beginning with a description of Thomas Geisbert, an intern for the Institute, the chapter titled “Exposure” is mainly about Geisbert and Peter Jahrling becoming exposed to the deadly virus associated with the numerous deaths in the monkeys.
With a love for his occupation, Geisbert enjoyed looking at various samples of virus as a way of improving the skills needed for the use of an electron microscope. After hearing word of the sick monkeys in Virginia, Geisbert became interested and was eager to take photographs of the infected monkey meat in hopes of possibly identifying the cause. Looking through a light microscope, Gesibert notices that the cells look very sick and he compares the condition of the cells to “moth-eaten carpet.
” Believing that the virus responsible for these ill looking cells was not SHF, but instead a new, unknown virus, he decides to take the flask to his boss, Peter Jahrling, for another opinion. After observing the appearance of the contents of the flask, the two men wave the fumes of the flask towards their nose, hoping to receive a scent of which they recognize, however, the two men notice that the flask is odorless. The chapter ends with Geisbert preserving a button (pill of dying cells). “Thanksgiving”, chapter four of Part Two, begins by describing the Jaax family’s Thanksgiving holiday.
Traveling first to Wichita, Kansas to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal with Nancy’s father, Curtis Dunn, and her brother. Suffering from cancer, Curtis spends the majority of his time lounging in his recliner and continuously smoking, despite his lack in health. Although Nancy is sympathetic for her father’s condition, she is easily angered by her father’s wild ideas. After the dinner with Nancy’s relatives, the Jaax family heads to Andale Kansas to eat another Thanksgiving dinner with Jerry’s widowed mother, Ada. Time spent at Ada’s resulted in telling jokes, sharing stories and trying to have a good time.
However, the cheerful atmosphere was abruptly brought to an end at the mentioning of the death of Jerry’s brother. The Thanksgiving holiday of Dan Dalgard is also depicted in this chapter. Other than traveling to Pittsburg to spend time with his wife’s parents on Thanksgiving Day, Dalgard spent the rest of his holiday awaiting any news from Jahrling regarding his monkeys’ deaths. After the Dalgards’ arrival back in Virginia, Dalgard checks up on his primates in the monkey house and is shocked to find that the virus is killing monkeys in rooms other than the Room F.
In the chapter titled “Medusa”, Tom Geisbert eagerly looks forward to observing the button of dead monkey cells in hopes of finding visual verification that simian fever was the cause of the infection of the cells. With the help of his electron microscope, Geisbert was able to view the cells found in a miniscule button slice, the result of the diamond knife cutting the button, and scan for any viruses destroying the cells. In doing so, Geisbert observed virus particles shaped like the snakes in Medusa’s hair, leading him to conclude that the filovirus Marburg was behind the destruction of the cells.
With pictures of these Marburg-infected cells, Geisbert noticed the virus’s ability to transform the healthy cells into inclusion bodies. ” Chapter six of Part Two, “The First Angel”, is about Tom Geisbert printing out the negatives of his photographs of the cells infected with Marburg and presenting his pictures to Peter Jahrling. After comparing the pictures of Marburg to that of a textbook, Jahrling decides to take this information to Colonel Clarence James Peters, the chief of the disease-assessment division at the Institute.
Hesitant in believing that what the pictures portray are accurate, C. J. Peters asks for more proof from Jahrling and Geisbert, such as the results from Jahrling’s tests and a picture showing the agent growing in a monkey liver from Geisbert. After their meeting with Peters, Jahrling and Geisbert decide to keep the fact that they had inhaled the flask containing Marburg a secret in fear of ruining their reputations, being put in the Slammer and not being able to perform further research due to their time assigned in the Slammer.
They also decided to test their own blood for any sign of being infected. The chapter ends with Geisbert looking for pickled monkey liver to photograph in order to obtain the proof requested by Peters. “The Second Angel” is about Tom Geisbert slicing the monkey liver and preparing to observe the slices under the electron microscope. Seconds later, Geisbert took a picture of the liver and observed inclusion bodies within the liver cells, thus giving him the proof asked of him by Peters.
While showing the pictures to Jahrling, the two gentlemen head to C.J. Peters’ office to present the new evidence. Convinced that the agent grows in the monkeys, Peters is left waiting only for Jahrling’s results. With this news, Jahrling calls Dalgard to inform him that a second agent could be responsible for his monkeys’ deaths. Jahrling spent his afternoons using his tests to make his samples glow with ultraviolet light. Hours later the strain of Ebola Zaire was the only virus tested glowing brightly on his samples, telling Jahrling that is was Ebola Zaire, not Marburg infecting the monkeys.
“Chain of Command” is the chapter about Jahrling retesting his experiment to make sure hat his results are correct and that he did not mix up any vials. However, even after the experiment was conducted again, the results remained the same. He quickly contacted C. J. Peters and informed him of the results of his tests. Unsure of what to do next, the two men go to the office of David Huxsoll, an expert in biohazards. Within moments of hearing their news, a call to Major General Philip K. Russell and a call to Nancy Jaax were made telling them that a meeting was needed to take place.
As the officers sat in Russell’s office, the pictures of the virus taking over the monkey house and the results of Jahrling’s test were discussed. The officers also discuss biocontainment and whether or not the Army should be involved in helping to achieve the containment of the virus. The chapter ends with Nancy agreeing to accompany Peters on his trip to meet Dalgard to view monkey tissue. “Garbage Bags” is mainly about Nancy, C. J. Peters and Gene Johnson’s trip to Virginia to observe the infected monkey tissue.
While Nancy looks at some prepared slides of infected monkey liver, Peters and Johnson question Dalgard about the use of needles in the monkey house. Dalgard then tells them to drive to a gas station by the highway and the monkey samples would be brought to them there, wrapped in plastic. After waiting a while, a blue, windowless van pulls up and opens up its side door, revealing seven garbage bags of which their monkey samples were contained. Inspecting the bags for any holes, Peters placed the bags in the trunk of his car and the officers head back to Fort Detrick. The chapter titled “Space Walk” is about the arrival of C.J.
Peters, Nancy Jaax, Gene Johnson and the seven bags of monkey samples to the Institute. With help the seven garbage bags were carried into the building and taken to the Ebola suite. Preparing to head to the “hot side” to inspect the monkey tissues, Nancy asks Colonel Ron Trotter to be her buddy in the hot zone. Once suited up and ready, the two people grabbed as many of the garbage bags that they could and pulled the chain to begin the decon shower. At the end of the shower, the two officers entered the hot side and placed all of the garbage bags in the freezer except for one.
The remaining garbage bag was carried into the necropsy room and the monkey was laid on the table, ready to be dissected. As she cuts his abdomen, she observes everything for any sure sign of Ebola contamination. “Shoot Out” is mainly about a meeting between the Army and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) over who should be in charge of the biocontainment of the monkey house infected with Ebola. After much arguing over who would take full control of this project, General Philip Russell outs an end to the discrepancy by suggesting the two forces make a compromise of the management of the outbreak.
The General and Fred Murphy were the two in charge of the negotiation because of the conflict between C. J. Peters and Joe McCormick. The splitting of the management of the outbreak was as follows: the CDC would be in charge of human-health aspects and directing the care of patients and the Army was in charge of the monkeys and the monkey house. “The Mission” is the chapter of which focuses mostly on C. J. Peters beginning to organize their mission-action unit in order to finally be getting their assignment in progress.
Peters had already decided that Jerry Jaax would lead the mission because of his understanding of monkeys. Soon after Jerry was informed of his role in the mission, Peters told him to begin assembling teams of civilians and soldiers to be ready for action in 24 hours. Gene Johnson and Jerry Jaax then came up with their priorities of their biohazard operation. The chapter ends with Dan Dalgard updating his diary and being informed by Nancy that the results of the necropsies of the seven animals are vague and the cause of deaths was still not clear.
From her testing, the deaths could be the result of either SHF or Ebola, but she still had yet to identify exactly which of the two was the cause. The chapter titled “Reconnaissance” begins with Dan Dalgard finally agreeing to allow the Army into the monkey house to begin their mission and notifies C. J. Peters of his decision. Jerry Jaax held a meeting with other officers asking if they would like to be the core of his team. After informing the officers of the risk at hand, he asks if there was everyone wanted to be involved and to his surprise, no one backed down.
In this chapter, Gene Johnson is gathering all of his biohazard equipment from his previous experiment at Mount Elgon. Gene was also trying to get a layout of the monkey house so that he would know where to put the air lock, gray zone, and where to send in their troops. With a general idea of where everything would go, Gene instructed the monkey workers to seal off the back areas of the building as well as taping the door leading to the monkey rooms shut, leaving the building one step closer to being able to succeed as a hot zone. Nancy, C. J.
Peters, and Joe McCormick are all found speaking to a group of Hazelton workers exposed to the tissues and blood of sick monkeys trying to find out if dirty needles were used or if any of them had been bitten by a monkey, so as to tell others of those currently infected. The Army officers involved with the biohazard operation all met at the monkey house, observing the facility and animals of which they would soon be working with. The chapter ends with the news that Nancy’s father becoming exceedingly close to passing away and Nancy’s decision to stay in town to help with their operation, rather than be by the side of her father.
“Insertion”, the first chapter of Part Three, is mainly about Jerry Jaax’s team of officers being inserted into the monkey house. At their meeting place at the dock of the Institute, the officers were seen in civilian attire and numerous trunks of Gene Johnson’s biohazard gear, which included space suits, syringes, needles, scrub suits, battery packs, as well as many other items of precaution. By this time, newspaper articles were being printed of the virus’s unpleasant effects and participants of the operation had to be careful with what details they revealed to the media. C. J.
Peters comes to the Institute to see Jaax’s team off into the monkey house, but soon leaves for the Institute to deal with the media and government agencies. Once at the monkey house, Jaax studies the map of the facility and prepares to be the first one inside, accompanied by Captain Haines. Making their way to the supply van, the two men strip themselves of their clothing and put on surgical scrub suits, and then head onto the staging area where they put on their space suits. The two men felt around in the dark for the entrance to the hot zone and then made their way to the infected room, Room H, where they observed they dying monkeys.
Nancy Jaax eventually made it up to the monkey house to participate in the operation. She made her way inside the facility and found Room H, full of people in space suits. As she glanced around at the monkeys and other officers’ suits for holes, she noticed a rip in Sergeant Curtis Klages’ suit, of which she covered with a piece of brown tape. During her time in the hot zone, she removed four dead monkeys and placed them into bags. After doing so, she was then decontaminated and left for Fort Detrick for analysis and observation of the monkeys.
In total, Jerry counted a total of 69 monkeys that had been removed, and by the end of the day, the remaining monkeys in Room H had all been put into a deep sleep and then injected with the lethal drug, T-61. The chapter ends with Dalgard witnessing a man, Milton Frantig, vomiting into the grass. “A Man Down” begins by describing Dan Dalgard’s feelings regarding his two employees being sick and depicts how Dalgard feels as though he could have done something to prevent his friend Milton Frantig from becoming ill.
Frantig is described as a devout Christian who, in a way, isn’t afraid to die because he believes that it is his time to leave the earth and be with his Lord. Dalgard deeply cares for his friend and feels bad that his employees are becoming ill, which leads him to order the monkey facility to be evacuated and shut down. However, the people of CDC did not agree with that decision. Afraid for things to get further out of control, Dalgard places the responsibility of the facility and the animals in the hands of the Army.
The chapter ends with the remaining workers of the monkey house leaving the building because of things becoming so chaotic. “91-Tangos” begins with Dalgard feeling as though he has lost control of everything and sensing C. J. Peters a fax turning the facility over to the army. Jerry Jaax is found in this chapter to be asking for volunteers for participation in the operation and receives many volunteers, but has to refuse the entrance of a pregnant woman because of the drastic effects the virus has on pregnant women.
He tells the volunteers to wear civilian clothes, as to not lead people into panicking, and for them to meet him at the dock. Gene Johnson is found in this chapter to be thinking about procedures in his study for the operation. He jots notes on paper, and emphasizes the importance of being careful with one’s hands in the hot zone by imagining himself in the hot zone and performing the correct and calm motions with his hands. At the dock of the Institute, everyone is told of the procedure and goes into the facility in pairs, suited up and ready to go.
The different volunteers are given various jobs, such as injecting the monkey and dealing with body. Officers emphasize taking breaks regularly because they believe that being tired increases the chances of mistakes. “Inside” begins with Jerry Jaax constantly asking people if they need breaks and encouraging the people to take breaks. The television crews are described to be outside, waiting for any type of information of which to cover about this monkey house operation. After a long day of working, the chapter nears a close with the soldiers going out to eat tacos at Taco Bell.
Missing the presence of one another, Nancy and Jerry go to sleep holding each other. “A Bad Day” is about a monkey escaping its room and the difficulty people had capturing it to kill it. They had to be careful when trying to capture the monkey because these monkeys are said to be very aggressive and violent, and when attacking, always aims at a person’s face. C. J. Peters observes the facility on the outside and is able to assure the media that nothing is going on, especially since he is not in uniform and is wearing civilian clothing.
Inside the facility, the monkeys are extremely agitated. In one instance, a volunteer “bleeds” a monkey and notices that he is still alive and attempts to bite her. Urgent requests for Ketamine are heard throughout the facility. Jahrling determines that he is not infected with Ebola and neither is Geisbert. The chapter ends with a specialist named Rhonda Williams being chased by a monkey with a syringe filled with a hot agent. With her suit slowing her down, she begins to lose hope. Then she wakes up.
“Decon” begins with Nancy’s father calling her and saying his last few words as his dying day approached. Later, she remembers spending her time on the farm with her dad and working together in a partnership. Arriving at his funeral just as it was beginning, Nancy takes notice of a flag draped on the casket and weeps at the fact that her father had been a veteran after all.