Part One
The Shadow of Mount Elgon
Before Preston even starts “The Hot Zone,” he gives the readers a quote from Apocalypse. “The second angel poured his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a dead man.” I am sure that I, like other readers thought, “What a way to start a book! What is Mr. Bryant making us read?” At the end of Chapter One, I realized that this was not going to be an even remotely pleasant book. The description of Charles Monet dying was graphic and horrifying. One such quote from his death sticks in my mind is, “having destroyed its host, the hot agent is now coming out of every orifice, and is “trying” to find a new host” (24). After reading the vivid descriptions of the infected peoples deaths, I was having a hard time thinking this was real and it actually did happen. It seemed so science fiction that even though on the cover it says “a terrifyingly true story,” I just could not think of it as one. The readers also meet Nancy Jaax and Level 4. This information was very interesting, especially learning about all the procedures and conditions of Level 4. The fact that such a thing as Level 4 has to exist was also frightening. I imagined myself in Jaax’s place and I knew that if my suit had been ripped and how much of a close call I was to being infected by this virus, I doubt that I would want to have anything to do with Ebola or other hot agents. I admired everyone’s courage for putting themselves in ultimate danger in order to save other people’s lives.
Many people do not know how amazing and powerful something like a virus or bacteria can be. I think we, as people, are very quick to forget that which we don't see and as people we tend to put ourselves in the role of Master of the Earth, which we are not.
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