After the Flood. Part 1

After the Flood (written and GMed by Keith Craig)

During the March 2019 flood event in the central plains, strong southerly winds shifting to powerful northerly and northwesterly winds created a “bomb cyclone” with blizzard‑force gusts that accelerated snowmelt, drove rapid temperature swings, and worsened ice‑jam flooding along the Missouri River and its connecting tributaries.

2 May 2019 Hooper, Nebraska. The devastating flood waters are finally receding, and the characters are tasked by the state to investigate possible health hazards. Such as a family death mentioned in the memorandum sent out by the Health Department:

Alexa Barnham- photographer (Sawyer): wears a NU sweater and bucket hat. She is VERY tall which tends to throw people off. “Field work sure beats being stuck taking pictures of our down-and-out football team.”

Estella (aka Estel) Avery- Botanist (Bill): 58 yo “old maid”. Married to her work and excited to prove her worth in the field to gain tenure at the university. The only male in her life is her toy poodle “Fluffy” whom she carries with her in a shoulder-bag.

Dr Gretchen Levard (Nathan): Mid-50s with greying hair. She works in the University of Nebraska (NU) hospital as both surgeon and teacher. Cold persona in her analysis.

Henrietta (aka Hen) Posch- Zoologist (Jen): bubbly personality. She currently lives in Lincoln, studying animal farming techniques at NU. But she travels back to Omaha on the weekends to visit her daughter Olivia.

Mark Lockhart- Forensic Scientist (Alex): Big, balding guy with glasses that slip off his nose due to his constant (nervous) sweating. Him the only male amongst the four women. That and the mention of a possible contagion has his pores gushing overtime!

Gretchen drove the lead government SUV north from Lincoln along highway 77 towards Hooper before turning west towards the Mattingly farm. Alexa rode shotgun taking photos to document the extent of the flooding. Mark drove the second SUV with Estel and Hen in the backseat playing with Fluffy. Both cars tuned in to the local radio stations already reporting about the farm and how a deputy was being transported to a Lincoln hospital for observations.

They arrived at the farm 90 minutes later, finding a news team recording their arrival. There were a couple of county sheriffs and other government officials (Emergency Management Team and Dept of Agriculture) already on site. Gretchen took the lead, introducing herself and her team to Sergeant White who was in charge. White gave Gretchen his report, “Deputy Buck responded to a wellness check request from Ann Rig (of Davenport, Iowa) whose family lives here. She hadn’t heard from her father for days and was worried. Anyway, Buck called in to report the family death. When we arrived, and him looking ill, I sent him to the hospital to get checked out.”

Meanwhile, Hen patted her cheeks and checked her hair in the mirror before approaching the TV camera. The reporter stepped forward with a microphone, “Leslie Woodword of Channel 7 news. Can you describe your purpose in this investigation? Is there any threat to our community of listeners?” Hen was all smiles and good nature in her answer before she called Estel forward for her opinion. “Realize the flooding swept thru pig pens, cattle fields, and unearthed septic tanks. So yes, there could be poo contaminated waters to be wary of.” Leslie summarized, “You heard it folks from Channel 7 first: Poo Poo on the flooding.”

As Alexa took pictures, she noticed a strange bald pattern out in the fields. The receding water uncovered last year’s cut cornstalks. But there was a large area to the north, within the corn fields, where the field was bare. It took 15 minutes for the Emergency Management Team to help them suit up in Hazmat gear. Before suiting up, Estel handed Fluffy to the government man leaning against his own car, “Would you mind? I’d hate to expose him to any toxins nor leave him in our stifling SUV.” Agent Isaac Cardona handed her his business card before he reluctantly took the poodle.

80% humidity was bad enough; the suits amplified their sweating. It was like Mark was wearing a swimming pool. The news team zoomed in on the action.

Gretchen sent the girls into the fields as she and Mark entered the farmhouse.

It was about a 50 yard tromp into the field to reach the bare spot. On her knees, Estel used her Hori-Hori trowel to carefully dig up a fungal root structure sample she placed in a Ziplock bag. Could anyone see her smiling at the realization she might have just discovered an unknown fungus? She mentally considered its name: Averyomyces neomorphus; “Avery’s new‑form fungus”. Knowing fungi absorbs nutrients from organic matter, she wasn’t that surprised to also find withered husks of small rodents (moles and mice).

Hen let out her own hoot as she dug around a small hump within the area. Expecting to find a rock, “Alexa, Estel! Was it premonition we watched ‘Pet Cemetery’ the other night?! I just found an unbleached skull of a German Shepherd. Its cartilage is already gone, replaced by some fungal roots. Wait, here’s the rest of its skeletal remains.”

Mark and Gretchen climbed the porch and noticed the security camera pointed towards the driveway. They bypassed the dining room table with an open book and ignored the kitchen with its crockpot still on the stove. Before entering the bedrooms, Gretchen warned per partner, “Remember, preserve evidence and document everything.” They’d seen death before and thus stoically entered the first bedroom with the pink colored door. The 7yo girl lay in her bed in her nightgown as if she’d just gone to sleep. Sweating heavily, Mark examined her closer, “No signs of violence. Phlegm on her lips as if she suffocated on water, but the flood stains barely reach the floorboards. Time-Of-Death about 5-days ago.” Gretchen puzzled at the sight of a patch of the girl’s bangs neatly trimmed.

Alexa read the text on her phone, “Gretchen wants me at the house to help document their discovery of the entire family deceased.” Estel continued to collect fungi samples as she moved outwards from the center to explore its growth. She already determined its root structure ran very deep. She remembered studying the “Humongous Fungus” of Oregon that reportedly span 3.4 square miles and was estimated to be 2-8 thousand years old.

As for Hen: she moved on to the barn now in fear for any farm animals. Thankfully, all she found was farm equipment.

Alexa arrived just as Gretchen and Mark entered the boy’s bedroom and began turning ‘green in the gills’. Which prompted Gretchen’s warning, “Don’t throw up in your suit!” The Dr checked the boy for cuts or infections which explained why she found nodules under his armpits. She cut one open: little black flecks (spores) poofed out. Mark cursed, “Shit. Airborne contagion. This could be bad.” The master bedroom with husband and wife revealed the same which prompted Gretchen to call for a field tent to be set up outside for an onsite autopsy. And to Sergeant White, “We need to quarantine this area!” White headed towards the TV crew to run them off but was stopped by Gretchen, “What part of quarantine don’t you understand?! We’re all stuck here until we find answers.”

Estel and Hen finally entered the house. At least they checked out the dining room table book and kitchen crockpot. Estel feared the crockpot contained corn cutting from the bare area which might explain the family death. It was a stew prepared by a kindly neighbor...

The book? Titled Plant Life of the Great Plains, opened to chapter 2: Fungus. Nothing new caught Estel’s eye on the topic other than a note…

Hen noticed dog dishes on the kitchen floor. Which prompted her to look for family photos throughout the house to prove the German Shepherd was their current pet. No such picture was found.

Meanwhile, Alexa paused in the master bedroom as he contemplated the desk with a computer and camera attached ready to download pictures. “Fuck! I’m not paid enough for this horror.” He steadied himself as he viewed the pictures. Pictures from the March flooding, progressing to images of the cornfield slowly becoming exposed. Then 3-week-old images of the circle bare of cornstalks but now with brightly colored mushy stalks. Another image with the Mattingly boy as height reference standing beside them.

A video: the triangular bloom opens poofing spores into the air. The boy coughing!

Gretchen and Mark in the tent, performed an autopsy on Mr Mattingly first. The “Y” cut to his chest…they gasp as they saw a fungal root system where his organs should be! “Damn it, the quarantine has been compromised when they sent deputy Buck to the hospital. Call the hospital to quarantine that area too! Call the CDC and the National Quarantine Center in Omaha to report our findings. Now hand me that bone saw so I can remove his cranial cap.” [Sanity check!] A void; the brain and brainstem missing!!

Estel exited the house. “What do you mean Cardona is gone? Where’s Fluffy?!” His barking from their SUV announced his presence. They all gathered to compile notes and discuss. Leaving Fluffy in Hen’s care, Estel went back into the house to collect spores (into a cryovial) from the boy’s armpit. Back outside, and in the tent, she used her hand-held loupe to examine minute details of her collection of fungi roots and spores. Her DNA sequencer failed to identify the molecular structure as anything on record.

Gretchen brought Alexa into the tent, “I need you to record my autopsy of Mrs. Mattingly. We need evidence for the CDC.” Same results. To the camera, the doctor exclaimed, “This is real!”

At least Sergeant White reported the callback from the hospital, “Deputy Buck shows no signs of disease nor reactions. Still he, his nurses, and anyone he had contact with are in quarantine.”

Alexa used the business card to call agent Cardona, “Where are you? North of the farm? You may have been infected; we instituted a quarantine. What do you mean you’ll go to Omaha and the National Q Center?” The line went dead.

Estel had tasked the other deputies (wearing Hazmat suits) to dig at the center of the circle, “Find out how far down it goes.” She had provided a screw-type core borer. Now an hour later, they examined the core. Hen was the one to realize, “See these markers from prior flood years? The fungal roots are fatter during those markers.”

Mark was distracted by the thoughts it all could be a ruse and thus actually a well-conceived murder. Was the brain cut out? Maybe a suction tube inserted through the ear canal. Meanwhile, the doctor headed to the barn to look for fungicide, “Surely the farmers dealt with weeds before.” Hen took water bottles to the barren area to experiment at reviving the fungal growth with flowers. Estel continued with her NU research into other sightings of the fungus.

After looking up the address in the paper phonebook on the kitchen wall, Alexa was all alone as she drove off to Jermiah Titus’ farm to the north. Smoke rising from the fields alerted her to the man walking and spraying…a homemade flamethrower with a large vat on a little red wagon towed behind him. He looked up at the approaching SUV. “Excuse me, I just came from the Mattingly farm. Did he ever call you about the fungus he found?” Jermiah kicked the smoldering dirt at his feet to confirm he burnt everything, “Yeah, I told him to burn it just like my Pa told me. Said it was dangerous if allowed to blossom. Weeks of water saturation trigger its emergence, just like the 17-year locust cycle they experience down south. Pa also told me not to go outside at night during the fungus season.”

As Alexa climbed back into the cab, Jermiah added, “There’s more of the fungal growth north of the river. The Knightons live there but they stubbornly refuse to listen to me.”

Back at the Mattlingly farm, Estel looked up from her phone google search. “Holy crap! How old would you say agent Cardona is? I just found records that mention a Dept of Ag agent Cardona back in1943! Also 1952 and 1993. Maybe his grandfather and dad; generational profession?”

Estel called the Dept of Ag, “May I speak to your agent Cardona?” In reply, “I’m sorry mam but the last agent Cadona disappeared in the field back in the 40s. If someone gave that name, they are guilty of impersonating a federal agent which is a federal offense.”

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