Bit confused by the military base at the beginning

**nerdmom** · March 2nd, 2013

In the beginning of the book, shortly after the scene where Campion arrives (and dies) in Arnette, there's a scene with Starkey looking at a bunch of monitors. In one a biologist is dead on the floor of a lab. In another, the cafeteria shows people with their face in their food. Yet another shows people crumpled in front of a vending machine.

Is it to be assumed that because they were at ground zero of Captain Trips, those at the base essentially just dropped dead from it instead of getting the flu symptoms?

This is the 5th or 6th time I'm reading it and I just realized that (at least as far as I can recall) there's no reason given why these people died immediately instead of getting sick first. I know that Starkey's inner monologue (when he is explaining his son-in-law's suicide to his daughter) says that there was a breach and Campion happened to see the numbers go red with just enough time to escape the base. However, I'm still curious about those I mentioned above.

**Sundrop** · March 2nd, 2013

I always just assumed that the people at the army base probably did have flu symptoms, and might not have died immediately..... It's been a while since I've read the book, so I could be wrong

**GNTLGNT** · March 2nd, 2013

....I had always gathered the unfortunates within the base got real up-close and personal with the Captain, before the breach occured....in other words they had succumbed before all hell broke loose in "The World"...

**nerdmom** · March 3rd, 2013

Hmm..good thoughts. The way I interpreted it this time around (honestly, I never gave it a lot of thought before this go-through) it almost seemed as if they'd dropped like puppets whose strings had been cut. Considering there's no mention of the black neck markings, and later descriptions of those who died from CT are that they went into comas/convulsions, the idea that those on the base had simply crumpled over seemed odd.

I'm probably over-analyzing; I tend to do that the more I re-read a story

**not_nadine** · March 3rd, 2013

I wondered about that too. I agree with GNT, they must have gotten the big whiff.

**doowopgirl** · March 3rd, 2013

Originally Posted by GNTLGNT

....I had always gathered the unfortunates within the base got real up-close and personal with the Captain, before the breach occured....in other words they had succumbed before all hell broke loose in "The World"...

Exactly what I always assumed. Great minds think alike.

**GNTLGNT** · March 4th, 2013

Originally Posted by doowopgirl

Exactly what I always assumed. Great minds think alike.

**Chuggs** · March 20th, 2013

Perhaps, they were victims of an attempt to kill the flu before it could escape. Some type of poison or something. Kinda like how the CDC was burned up in The Walking Dead.