Michael found other bodies below decks. Nearly all were in their beds. He didn’t linger, merely added them to the count, forty-two corpses in all. Had they killed themselves? The orderliness of the bodies said so, yet the method was not apparent. Michael had seen this sort of thing before, but never so many, all in one place.

Traveling downward into the ship, he came to a room that was different from the others, with not one or two beds but many—narrow bunks attached two high on the bulkheads, the space bisected by a slim corridor. The crew’s quarters? Many of the cots were empty; he counted only eight bodies, including two that were naked, their limbs wound together in the cramped space of a lower bunk.

This space was more cluttered than the others. Rotted articles of clothing and miscellaneous objects covered much of the floor. Many of the walls beside the bunks were decorated: faded photographs, religious images, postcards. He gently freed one of the photographs and held it up to his lantern. A dark-haired woman, smiling for the camera, cradling an infant in her lap.

Something caught his eye.

A large sheet of paper, thin as tissue, taped to the bulkhead: at the top, in ornate lettering, were the words INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE. Michael loosened the tape and laid the paper across the bunk.

HUMANITY IN PERIL

Crisis Deepens as Death Toll Soars Worldwide

Virus extends its deadly reach to all continents

Ports and borders overrun as millions flee the spread of infection

Major cities in chaos as massive blackouts darken Europe

ROME (AP), May 13—The world stood on the edge of chaos Tuesday night as the disease known as the Easter Virus continued its deadly march across the globe.

Although the disease’s rapid spread makes estimates of the dead difficult, U.N. health officials say the toll numbers in the hundreds of millions.

The virus, an airborne variant of the one that decimated North America two years ago, emerged in the Caucasus region of central Asia just fifty-nine days ago. Health officials have been at pains to identify either a source of the virus or an effective treatment.

“What we can say at this point is that this pathogen is unusually vigorous and highly lethal,” said Madeline Duplessis, Chairman of the World Health Organization’s Executive Board, speaking from its headquarters in Geneva. “Morbidity rates are running very close to 100 percent.”

Unlike the North American strain, the Easter Virus does not require close physical contact to pass from person to person and can travel great distances attached to dust motes or respiratory droplets, causing many health officials to liken it to the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918, which killed as many as 50 million people worldwide. Travel bans have done little to slow its spread, as have attempts by officials in many cities to prevent people from congregating in public places.

“I fear we are on the verge of losing control of the situation,” said Italian Health Minister Vincenzo Monti in an extended press briefing, during which coughing could be heard throughout the room. “I cannot stress enough the importance that people stay indoors. Children, adults, the elderly—none has been spared the effects of this cruel epidemic. The only way to survive this disease is not to catch it.”

Absorbed through the lungs, the Easter Virus acts swiftly to overwhelm the body’s defenses, attacking the respiratory system and digestive tracts. Early symptoms include disorientation, fever, headache, coughing, and vomiting with little or no warning. As the pathogen takes hold, victims experience massive internal hemorrhaging, typically leading to death within 36 hours, though some cases have been reported in which healthy adults have succumbed within as little as two hours. In rare instances, victims of the illness have exhibited the transformative effects of the North American strain, including a marked increase in aggressiveness, but whether any of these individuals have survived past the 36-hour threshold is not known.

“This appears to be happening in a small percentage of cases,” Duplessis told reporters. “Why these individuals are different, we simply don’t know at this time.”

WHO officials have speculated that the disease may have traveled from North America via ship or aircraft, despite the international quarantine imposed by the United Nations in June two years ago. Other theories of the pathogen’s origins include an avian source, connected to the massive die-off of several species of migrating songbirds in the southern Ural Mountains just prior to the disease’s appearance.

“We’re looking at everything,” Duplessis said. “We’re leaving no stone unturned.”

A third theory is that the epidemic is the work of terrorists. Responding to continued speculation in the press, Interpol Secretary-General Javier Cabrera, the former United States Secretary of Homeland Security and a member of the U.S. government in exile in London, told reporters, “At this time, no group or individual has claimed responsibility that we are aware of, though our investigation continues.” Cabrera went on to state that the international law enforcement organization, with 190 member states, possesses no evidence that any terrorist group or sponsoring country has the capability to create such a virus.

“Despite the many challenges, we continue to coordinate our efforts with law enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world,” Cabrera said. “This is a global crisis warranting a global response. Should any credible evidence arise that the epidemic is man-made, rest assured that we will bring the perpetrators to justice.”

With most of the globe now under some form of martial law, riots have engulfed hundreds of cities, with fierce fighting reported in Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Athens, Copenhagen, Prague, Johannesburg, and Bangkok, among many others. Responding to the rising tide of violence, the United Nations, meeting in an emergency session at its headquarters in The Hague, urged the nations of the world to exercise restraint in the use of deadly force.