Currently reading a Batfam series that got into The Clench arc, and I forgot how much ingrained dread and fear I have for ebola. My mom works as a med tech. Her dream job, if life had gone differently, was working for the CDC. Stuff like ebola was dinner talk in my family growing up. There was a movie based on one of the small but real outbreaks in the USA that I watched far too young. (I can't for the life of me find the name of it, but I cannot forget that the family dog died. It ended with military or maybe National Guard finally detaining the 2 still alive fugitives who were infected just before they could reach a major urban center by way of tire spikes across the highway--you can see the city only a few miles away as they move in to detain the couple.)
I can feel the stress thrumming under my skin, but I can't stop reading. I think I understand now why so few write about this arc, especially after covid. It's...too real. (The ironic thing is they were writing this fic right before and during the initial USA covid outbreak and lockdown.)
