The Moral Bioterrorist

I was about to become a walking, talking biological weapon. I had terminal cancer and had nothing to lose. There were two viruses infecting our country. One was a lethal variant of Covid, and another was fascism. The virus came first and was rapidly spreading and killing millions. It caused its victims to drown in their own blood as their lungs liquefied. Fascism caused its victims to drown in violence and lawlessness while their rights liquefied. Ironically, cancer was slowly liquefying my organs so I could identify. I sat in an infusion center weekly while I received chemotherapy designed to liquefy or kill cancer cells. I was surrounded by the dead and dying whether it was my fellow cancer patients, democracy, or victims of Covid and fascism.

If I was younger and a brilliant scientist, maybe I could have found the cure for Covid. That would have been noble and helped mankind. Unfortunately, I was just a retired optometrist who had only cured astigmatism. My science background didn’t involve medical research. I was a member of the SDS during my college days and a political activist. So, I was much better suited to find a cure for fascism. My time was short and the mission was daunting, so I needed to be quick and efficient.

Infusion suite discussions with other patients had been interesting and enlightening. Two of the participants were doctors who were also patients. Interestingly, one, Richard, was an Infectious Disease specialist. He insisted that one of the drugs we were receiving had antiviral qualities and coupled with the newest vaccine, it could make us immune to the symptoms of Covid. More importantly, we could contract the virus and infect others without becoming symptomatic ourselves. Wow, what a concept! It had inspired an old revolutionary like me to formulate a plot to take down the government. We would recruit an army of bioterrorists from the infusion suites. Instead of suicide bombers, we would be human weapons of mass destruction infecting and ultimately assassinating the president and his enablers. There were just a few minor details that needed to be worked out. How would we get infected? How would we gain access to the president and his enablers? How would we protect innocent bystanders? Finally, how would I recruit the other members of my team? Not so easy, eh?

***

My Infectious Disease (ID) friend, Richard, rebuffed my first overtures. He laughed and thought I was crazy or demented. I assured him that I was neither, but I was desperate and morally outraged. I even offered to undergo psychological evaluation. He laughed again and I wondered if he was laughing at the offer of a psychological evaluation or at the absurdity of my initial suggestion. I didn’t pursue my attempt to recruit him until several sessions later. A constitutional lawyer with Leukemia expressed her frustration about failed lawsuits against the administration. In fact, she and several other lawyers were arrested during a protest against color bans. Yes, you read that right. The Justice Department had banned clothes with the colors of the Ukrainian flag. That’s not all, they had been book banning and setting up concentration camps for Ukrainians. It was Nazi Germany all over again. Several constitutional lawyers pleaded their case in front of the supreme Court but were rebuffed. The court was in the President’s pocket.

Legal attempts to reverse fascism and overthrow an authoritarian government had all failed. The discussion in the infusion suite revolved around alternatives but none sounded viable. I stared at my Infectious Disease friend until he smiled and told the rest of the group about my absurd idea. They didn’t laugh.

A former senator, Gregg, with ties to the Justice Department asked if there was any validity to my theory. Richard, my ID friend, replied that the studies were small but very suggestive. Lisa, an ER doctor with melanoma added that she had read the same studies and they seemed valid. Sam, a biomedical engineer with prostate cancer, loved the idea and claimed he could design a mask with a two-valve system that allow its wearers to protect innocents and alternatively infect others. Rudy, a comedian with lymphoma, claimed he had access to members of the administration at the White House Correspondence dinners and other media events. His jokes would carry an extra sting if they also carried viral particles. Ha ha. Game on!

Richard was shocked by the group reaction. He cautioned them that besides the questionable validity of the studies, I was advocating assassination and murder. Morally and ethically, he couldn’t commit to such a plot. After all, he was a doctor and not a sociopath or psychopath. All the others also had misgivings and were morally conflicted but didn’t dismiss the possibility.

The next week when a chemotherapy patient was shot and killed by a member of the president’s private army during a protest, the mood changed in the infusion suite. Rage swept through the room as the news that the perpetrator escaped any legal consequences circulated. As poisons dripped through their veins, each member of the infusion group decided it was time to act, ethics and morality be damned! Richard and Lisa formulated a plan to become infected, and Sam designed a prototype for the two-valve mask. Immunosuppressed cancer patients needed to wear masks and couldn’t possibly spread viral particles. It was the perfect cover and the basis for plausible deniability. The game was indeed on.

Richard and Lisa visited a Covid ward at the local hospital, wearing the new masks. They flipped the valve that allowed them to inhale Covid particles and became biological weapons. Days later, later they infected Rudy after two hours of close contact at Richard’s house. The Correspondent’s Dinner was a laugh riot but the term die laughing never seemed more appropriate as several cabinet members of the Cabinet died from Covid weeks later. The death toll was ten. Rudy had had twinges of guilt but was able to rationalize his actions. He was a revolutionary saving democracy and fighting evil. Richard had to repress his feelings and ignore the Hippocratic oath. They all lived in a state of cognitive dissonance.

One month later, Gregg was appointed Assistant Attorney General. Five days before his final interview with the president, he sat in Richard’s home inhaling viral particles. He entered the Oval Office with his mask in weapon mode and had a lengthy and amiable discussion with the president at close quarters. The president was unmasked and unvaccinated. Silly boy! Two weeks later he drowned in his own blood. The Vice President, a moderate, was sworn in as president and democracy was restored. Concentration camps were closed and bans were overturned. Investigations into the deaths of the president and his cabinet members proved fruitless. After all, they were all unmasked and unvaccinated during a pandemic. The final diagnosis was stupidity.

Months later as I lay on my death bed, I wondered if I was a hero or a murderer. My co-conspirators probably had the same thought as they passed from their respective cancers.

Revolution is messy and ambiguous, but fascism is worse.