• Prologue

    It was an average summer break. Every year Lea would travel with her boyfriend, Alex, to wherever he needed to go. In ways it was exciting but in others she was never sure what she was going to get into. After all the shots needed to counteract all the possible contractible diseases out there she hoped it would be a good trip. Every summer Alex was sent to some unknown place in some forgotten country for research on sudden breakouts of environmental conflicts. Let it be sickness or drought it had always been Alex to go and figure it out. This year though was a change. For once they were heading to a place in Syria. A place Lea knew from teaching her grade four about in geography. For being a teacher and traveller she had many stories to tell her students when she was to return back to Canada.
    This was her fourteenth time on a plane, and the fourteenth time travelling across the world to help Alex with his work. His work had always interested her but not enough to go into it as a career. It was fun to travel but it had confused her many times when Alex had gotten into one of his scientific conversations where all the words seemed to succeed passed the regular everyday vocabulary Lea heard in her classroom. Her job, although not considered important to science was exciting to her. She had always loved taking pictures of the places she went with her boyfriend. Most of them wouldn’t have made Natural Geographic but to her they were impressive for someone who never took classes.
    Peering over her sunglasses Lea looked out the window of the small plane. It was Alex’s company plane, which let them fly for free anywhere in the world. The land below was full of trees and soon buildings. Desert appeared every so often and after losing interest she turned back to look at the back of the seat in front of her. Alex had gone with someone else to sit. Lea noticed the tall, skinny man from some of her boyfriend’s conferences at Gulph University. It had been the same man to ask Alex and his boss to check out Syria in the first place. Closing her eyes she wanted to get to Syria faster even though they were going as fast as the plane could go. Not having anyone to talk to was annoying and boring. The reason why she went into teaching was because she loved to talk and help people. Moving the leather chair back she was able to hear the chair squeak as the un-greased gears moved slowly as she tried to adjust it enough for her to be able to sleep. Resting her hands on her stomach Lea took slow, deep breaths. After being on a plane as much as she had there were now ways she could relax.
    Everyone on the plane either worked with Alex or were people that worked for the plane. Turning to look out the plane window again she was able to see clouds pass over the wing. The sun was on the other side of the plane so it didn’t happen to blind her like it had with the others on the other side. Looking at the ceiling of the plane the small knobs that controlled airflow or the mask were chipped while others were twisted off. A brown stain was on the ceiling near the panel holding the knobs. It was probably coffee or tea being that was the only thing the plane had ever served. Turning her head again she was able to see the people sitting in the seats next to hers. They were scientists like Alex. Nerdier then her boyfriend was as well. The two wore glasses and had pocket protectors. It was obvious this was their first time travelling as far as Syria being that they seemed nervous. Sitting up Lea moved herself over a seat to be closer to the two nerdy men. All they did was glance at her as they continued to tap their fingers against their briefcase of bite their nails. Smiling at how terrified the men were of being on the plane Lea went to pat the man closest to her on the shoulder. Watching him jump up in his seat it startled her as well as the man beside.
    “I remember the first time I was on a plane,” Lea muttered seeing the nerdy men glance at her again, “it scared the s**t out of me.”
    “We aren’t scared of the plane miss,” answered the man who had jumped at Lea’s shoulder poke, “Mr. Curn told us about this sudden break out of an unknown bird virus. Henry and I are nervous about what it might be.”
    “A bird virus?” Lea was surprised at what the men had said. Alex hadn’t told her anything about a bird virus. “Do you now anything about it?”
    “Only that it hasn’t mutated,” replied the shorter man near the window. He had his hair greased back and wore a striped red shirt. “Most viruses don’t in animals mutate but with sudden dead birds popping up everywhere it gets us thinking.”
    “I wouldn’t worry much about it. Alex has dealt with so many of these things he’ll figure it out,” she assured the men as she eyed her boyfriend standing from his seat, “out of all the scientist’s I met Alex is the most thorough.”
    A smile was on his face as he held on tightly to the seats. It was obvious that he wanted to sit with her. Alex was much taller then she was and stronger as well. Standing around six feet high he towered over her five foot two inch stature. On his head was a baseball cap and his polar lens glasses were in their sunglasses stage. Tuffs of dark brown hair came out of his hat covering the tips of his ears. Leaning on the seat, which Lea had moved to he, grinned as she moved back to her seat near the window. To anyone Alex looked like an average person because of his t-shirts and running shoes he seemed to wear everywhere. Only a few people knew how brilliant the man was and only those few knew that if Alex couldn’t figure it out no one would be able to.
    Placing an arm around Lea’s shoulder Alex couldn’t help but feel relaxed. He hated not being with her and when he had to travel it would only be if Lea could come. It’s not like he couldn’t trust her alone but it was just that after being in a long distance relationship during university he wanted to make up for the time they didn’t get to spend with one another. Resting his head back he glanced through the opening in the side of his glasses. Lea had her eyes closed again. It was her usual thing she did when on planes. Sleeping or talking was the only ways to keep her calm. Her long light brown hair was tied back in a navy blue bandana while her silver loop earrings shone in the light that came through the other side of the plane. Wearing a yellow tank top and dark brown shorts she seemed to be comfortable enough for any kind of warm weather. Lea had always been prepared for anything. She had every translation book in the world and every kind of medical supplies in her first aid kit. Even things you wouldn’t even think of like rope or a flashlight was also in her bag of wonders, which was the name most of his team gave her bag.
    Also it seemed everything he had forgotten to pack Lea had just in case. For being complete opposites in so many ways they fit together perfectly. Nudging her head with his nose Lea glanced up at him. A little smirk was on her face as she looked into the brown eyes that came over the glasses.
    “We’ll be landing soon in a small place called Ar Raqquah, or at least that’s what Curn said. Then we’re taking a jeep to where they are taking all the birds. Some place called Madinatath Thawrah near the Euphrates Darn.” Alex explained seeing Lea sit up in her seat when she heard what he was saying.
    “You mean the infected birds that you didn’t bother telling me about?” She replied seeing her boyfriend turn back to look at the ceiling. “It’s okay if they are I’m not worried about some bird virus as long as it can’t infect humans.”
    “Well that’s what we’re going to find out,” Alex answered ending any more future conversation about where they were heading.
    Just as he did the captain came over the radio announcing to put on the seat belts because of landing. Lea once again looked out the window of the plane and watched as the plane slowly descended to the small runway. Something about this trip wasn’t sitting right with her. Something wasn’t going to go right.