Military vehicles formed a barricade in the middle of the road, and upright floodlights had been set up in various spots to illuminate the area. Soldiers moved around with purpose, their murmured voices wafting into the open window of her pickup truck. She immediately recognized the uniforms of the soldiers belonging to the San Jose military, but other than their blue and gold uniforms, she also saw that there were those wearing...green uniforms?

Her eyes widened when she realized that the green uniforms were actually American soldiers. And every one of them is wearing a facemask.

"What the..." She trailed off, unable to tear her eyes off the confusing chaos up ahead.

She saw that it looked like she couldn't continue driving ahead, so she just stepped on the brakes to stop the car. But she just heard loud shouting around.

The next thing she knew, five soldiers were swarming her pickup truck like crazed fans surrounding a celebrity's car. They forcefully opened the driver's door, then immediately grabbed her by one of them and dragged her somewhere.

"Let go of me!" she ordered when a strong male hand circled her upper arm and squeezed it hard. She shrugged the hand off and staggered backwards.

"Who are you?" The soldier asked. She hadn't seen his mouth because it was covered by mask, but judging by his eyes, he seemed really angry. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm Dr. Thalia Ricafort. A colleague of mine was supposed to--"

Her voice died abruptly as she suddenly noticed something up ahead in the distance.

She frowned when she saw the rows of what smelled like... garbage bags? What the hell were these soldiers doing with-- Body bags. Oh no. Those are body bags.

As horror whipped up her spine, Thalia's gaze flew to the first person she saw. It happened to be an African-American soldier with shuttered brown eyes and a thick black mustache poking out from the top of his mask.

"What's going on here?" she asked, her voice sounding calmer than she felt.

The soldier did not answer her. Instead she was forcibly dragged again. "Please come with us, ma'am," he said in a monotone voice.

"What? No. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on here."

But he just ignored her protest. He even tightened his grip on her.

"I'm an American citizen!" She exclaimed. "You can't just detain me for no reason! I haven't done anything wrong, damn it!"

But no matter how many times she protested, it seemed that he did not hear her screams and continued to drag her.

-----

"What is your business here?" Thalia's jaws clenched. If they ask her again, she will surely scream.

For the past hour and a half, she'd been detained in a canvas tent, sitting on an uncomfortable metal chair in the middle of the dirt floor. The chair she is currently sitting on is the unique piece of furniture in such a tent. She wasn't tied or handcuffed, but she could tell that she seemed to be a prisoner because she was guarded by the soldiers outside of the tent, plus the two soldiers who were interrogating her now.

She didn't really have a clue what was going on, but she was sure it wasn't good. Those body bags out there...God, where is Kelvin? Why didn't she even see any civilians in that area? Because all she sees outside the tent are soldiers.

Esmeralda was deserted. No signs of life. As in nothing really.

"Answer the question, please."

She still kept her mouth shut, and she just stared at the eyes of the soldier wearing a facemask who dragged her to that place. The surgical masks everyone wore definitely indicated there was some sort of medical emergency in progress, but because nobody was wearing full hazmat suits, she thinks that the mysterious disease that had triggered these precautions probably wasn't airborne.

"I already answered your question," she said. "My name is Thalia Ricafort. I'm a doctor and I run the clinic in Valera. I came here to check on my colleague, Dr. Kelvin Carter."

"At this hour of the night?" The soldier's tone seemed suspicious of her. When he folded his arms, her eyes turned to the four stars on the shoulder of his uniform.

She scanned her brain, trying to remember what that meant. Goodness, it's general. That's why he seems authoritative while speaking. Which spoke volumes about the importance of this interrogation.

But she is still annoyed with him because he caught her even though she was innocent. "How many times do I have to answer these same questions? I told you, Dr. Carter radioed me. It sounded like an emergency. I was so worried. That's why I drove up here to check on him. The end."

"Watch your tone," ordered the second soldier.

She turned to the second soldier, and she thought he looked lower in rank because there were no stars attached to his uniform. "Geez, was I being rude? Are your other prisoners more polite and agreeable than I am?"

"You're not a prisoner," answered the general, it seemed that he was already irritated with her.

"Oh, right?" She raised an eyebrow, then stood up from her seat.

The two soldiers guarding the door instantly snapped the barrels of their assault rifles in her direction, their body language becoming menacing.

"That's what I thought," she said coolly, then sank back down.

The general's lips tightened. "Let's not play games, Dr. Ricafort. I need to--"

"Games?" She interrupted. "Are you kidding me? This isn't a game, for Pete's sake! Where is my colleague? Why is the village overflowing with body bags?"

As she expected, she did not receive an answer from him. Instead he asked her again.

"Did you inform any of the staff at the Valero clinic that you were coming up here?"

"No."

She was able to lie so quickly. Somehow, she'd known that answering yes to that would be the worst possible thing she could do. As it was, she'd only officially told Liza about her plans. He was afraid that if she told the truth - that there was a staff member who knew, they would send soldiers to their clinic to investigate her colleagues.

"You left Valera without telling anyone?" The second soldier replied that he was not convinced by what she said.

"I was alone in my tent when Dr. Carter's distress call came in," she answered. "My colleagues had their hands full in the clinic with some potential cholera patients, so I just left. I planned on radioing them when I reached Esmeralda."

The two soldiers looked at each other, then she saw the general nod to the second soldier which made Thalia nervous. Maybe they really noticed that she was lying.

She decided to distract them. "Why are you wearing masks?" she asked them.

"That is none of your concern," the general said sternly.

"Are you kidding me?" she said to them again. "I'm a doctor, and you're clearly worried that there's been an outbreak of something. Is it a bacterium or a virus? How is it transmitted?"

"Dr. Ricafort, we are the ones asking the questions here. Now please tell us, who in Valera knows you came here?"

She shook her head a few times, then she gradually began to feel fear. Her palms were sweating and her whole body began to tremble. It looks like something really bad is going on here.

Kelvin, where have you been?

"Dr. Ricafort," the general snapped.

"No," she snapped back.

He faltered. "No, what?"

"I'm not answering any more questions until I speak to a lawyer." She scowled at him. "Or to someone who's willing to give me some answers of my own."

She closed her mouth and folded her arms as she glared at the two soldiers.

After a moment, the general spun on his heel and stalked towards the tent's entrance. The second soldier immediately followed.

The two soldiers finally got out, but the guards were still outside the tent. She suspected the guards were right outside those canvas flaps, ready to shoot her down if she tried to escape.

Hmm...what if she did run away?

But in the back of her mind, she needs to know first what were the contents of the piled body bags. Because she thought that maybe the answer was there.

*****