Viral Pandemic

Chapter 10 (Part I)

Dr. Austin had been staying inside her room the whole time, only going out to eat and to get a short dip at the swimming pool. Her days had become increasingly boring now and even though it was just her second day there, she felt that she had been there forever.

Her level of fear of the virus increased every six hours when the short news segment was held on television. The news wasn’t that good and Dr. Austin had already witnessed a field reporter being attacked by a zombie from nowhere while being on live TV.

She still felt that she was guilty but the feeling had powered down a little, as she is able to be happy again. However, she was now desperate to leave the country to a safer place, where she could protect herself.

She had no confidence that the hotel doors would hold attacking zombies. There was also no defence as the military had been placed only at the terminal and not around the hotel.

Nearing midnight of her second day at the hotel, Dr. Austin emerged from the bath and pulled the plug to drain the water before drying herself. She dressed up and went outside, intending to go to the bar and catch a few drinks.

As she entered the bar, she saw her new friend, Jazlyn. Jazlyn was a Malay-Chinese girl aged only twenty. She used to work at the airport in the immigration department but left because of no work. She also had a lot of knowledge about radios and stuff like ATC.

“Jazlyn! Hi, so nice to meet you!” Dr. Austin exclaimed at her sight. Jazlyn turned around and gave a short yelp before hugging Dr. Austin, as though as they were long lost, friends. The pair walked into the bar, giggling and laughing.

Around one-thirty in the morning, both of them were chit-chatting about a lot of stuff already. Both girls had been drinking the same drink since they got into the bar.

“Dr. Austin, here I have something for you,” Jazlyn said and pulled out a contraption and gave it to her friend. Dr. Austin took it in her hands and examined it. The thing had antenna-like stumps, and also a digital screen together with some knobs and dials.

“Oh my gosh, Jazlyn. I have no idea what this is. Tell me what is it?” Dr. Austin inquired.

“I call it a radio catcher. Honestly, I too don’t have any idea what it is called so I just gave it that name. You can use it to intercept radio signals and see what is being said. Meaning, you are a spy now. You can have it, I made it for fun and now I have no idea what to do with it. It has a speaker and also a headphone jack for convenience.” Jazlyn explained with excitement in her voice. Instantly, Dr. Austin had an idea. She said thanks and finished the chat before going back to her room.

In the room, Dr. Austin turned on the radio catcher and turned the knob until she reached a certain frequency. True enough, it worked pretty well intercepting the transmission. This meant that her idea would work.

Dr. Austin was planning to leave the country but the trouble is she does not and cannot know when there will be an opportunity. This way, she could tune in to the radio frequency of the KLIA ATC and know when there is a flight coming or going. The only thing she had to do was to stand by and be fast when a flight is available.

Dr. Austin laid the radio catcher on her pillow and laid down beside it, ready to catch some sleep. She didn’t expect to have a flight coming in or out in a few hours but, it may happen.

The following morning, she woke up with a start, as there was a knock on her hotel door. She remembered that she had asked for a wake-up service and proceeded towards the wardrobe for a tip.

She glanced at the screen of the radio catcher. It was blank meaning that the antenna had not picked up any transmission from the tower. She was surprised at the fact because there were plenty of flights coming in and going out of KLIA. She checked the screen again, only to find out that the frequency had been changed. Maybe she had touched the knob while sleeping and changed the frequency accidentally.

Dr. Austin readjusted the frequency and laid it on the table, before going to the bathroom to have a nice long bath. She liked baths very much and would spend an hour or two while doing so.

Using the telephone that existed in the bath, she ordered food through room service and told them to send it after an hour. Putting back the telephone, she turned on the taps and clambered onto the bath.

An hour and a half later, Dr. Austin was sitting on her bed while watching the television. The food had arrived moments ago, and she had not yet started on it. The radio catcher was still on and it delivered radio transmissions every other minute.

Through the radio catcher, she had learned that the flights leaving KLIA were only domestic ones. There were no international flights coming in or going out. She was holding on to hope that there will be a flight out of the country. Hopefully so. She couldn’t book a ticket because her passport was left at her home.

Her luck came later that night after dusk. She had tuned into Lumpur radar for the whole day for any signs of a flight. Fortunately, she had caught a flight which was an international one. She turned her attention towards the flight. It was an Etihad A380, and it was a connecting flight to Geneva.

As soon as she heard the phrase connecting flight, she jumped up and rushed around the room to pack up her things to go to the airport. The flight was about to land in around an hour and a half or so, depending on which way it was coming from.

Dr. Austin packed her things quickly and after making sure she had everything with her, she ran out through the door and walked quickly to the elevator. At the reception, she cancelled her two-week stay and said that they could keep the extra money she paid. With that said, she rushed out of the hotel building and went into the bridge that connected the hotel to the terminal building.

Halfway through the bridge, she turned right to a doorway that would lead her past the security checks at the terminal, making her life easier. The doorway is reserved for VIPs and it required the ID card or a nametag for entry and very few people knew about it.

Dr. Austin flashed her HKL ID card and the door slid open, letting her in. She walked quite hurriedly because it won’t be long before the airport authorities notice that someone had used the doorway.

After a few minutes of walking, she reached the end of the tunnel and again flashed her ID card to open the door. She emerged into the KLIA VIP Lounge, which was around the viewing area on the topmost floor. From now on, absolutely no one would know that she had smuggled her way into the airport.

She sat down at one of the seats there and enjoyed the view of the apron. For a while, she thought of nothing. Then came her second stage of the plan, working out the location of the aircraft.

She opened her backpack and laid it on her hips while rummaging inside for the radio catcher and her headphones. Once she found them, she looked around and noticed that two policemen were patrolling the area.

She turned on the radio catcher and plugged in her headphone. She put away the radio catcher inside her bag and rocked her head a little with a beat, pretending to be listening to music. Surely, she would look suspicious if someone found her with the machine.

An hour later, the Etihad flight that she was looking out for finally landed, and just when she was about to stand up, she noticed someone tapping her on the shoulder. She turned around and saw the two policemen.

“Good day ma’am. Can we help you with anything? If you need a resting place, you can head to the arrival halls. Plenty of beds are available there.” one of them said. Dr. Austin just nodded.

“What are you listening to ma’am? Can you pull out your phone?” the other one asked. Instantly, Dr. Austin knew that the policemen were suspicious. She quickly turned off the radio catcher, pulled out the headphone, and plugged it into her phone which was also in the backpack. She pulled out her phone and showed her the lock screen, which stated the name of a song. The policemen smiled and went away.

Dr. Austin re-plugged in her headphone to the radio catcher and turned the knob to Lumpur Ground frequency. She stood up, jammed the earphones to her ears and proceeded to walk towards the inter-terminal train station.

While she was inside the train, she heard that the A380 was parked at Gate C6, which was nearby the train station. Once the train stopped, she got out and started to walk towards Gate C6, only to find that there was a boatload of people there. Dr. Austin estimated around a thousand people, and she was pretty sure that all of them wanted to get on this flight.

Not being sure what to do, Dr. Austin simply rushed on towards the crowd, planning in her mind how to get past the crowd. As she came close to the crowd, people at the front of the congregation began to shout. Dr. Austin assumed that the passengers had been let out from the aircraft.

The situation went out of control when several people of the crowd began to push and collide with the barrier. The police there threatened to arrest them and then they cooled down. Dr. Austin went back and sat on a chair beside the prayer room. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes as a buggy zoomed past her.