Walking from home to home,finding some of her families already affected by the flu was emotionally draining for Matt. Every door she knocked on, or rang the bell, she hoped she would find everyone ok.But the reality of this illness was that it was moving fast,it was extremely contagious and it killed within days.

She did not find everyone well/. Of the 35 homes she visited, 19 were already affected. In a few of the homes it was only one parent that was ill, in other homes, it was both. Death hadn't hit these homes yet, but it was clear that it would soon would, and Matt's heart strangled, broke, twisted and constricted when she found some of the children sick as well. Her heart shattered when she found the one girl that hadn't come to school the day before laying dead in her crib. Her parents laying dead on the couch where they must have fallen asleep.

Matt supposed it was a small mercy that this was the last house on her list. She hadn't planned it that way. She'd simply arranged the homes in order of closest to farthest, and this one had been the last one. 

Because at least then she didn't have to force a brave face for the next home. She didn't have to pretend like she wasn't terrified. She didn't have to lie to parents that she thought everything would be ok. 

At least she could just sit on the front steps of the house and just cry as she called emergency services.

She was only partially surprised when the answer she got was a recorded message of 

" Due to the high volume of calls, we are currently unable to connect you to an operator. If you are experiencing any flu-like syptoms please hang up and report to your nearest emergency room, Otherwise please remain on the line and an operator will be with you as soon as one is available. Due to the high volume of call,we are currently unabl-"

Matt hung up and sighed. Wiping at her tears she took a deep breath and wondered if she should take officer Sehun up on that offer of his to call anytime if she needed anything.

She figured at this point she had nothing to lose, so she called him.

Sehun was at the hospital when Matt called him.

" Hello," he answered.

He sounded exhausted.

"Hello. I'm sorry. This is Matt, I called..."

" Hey,"he said, " I remember you. Is everything ok?" 

" Um.. no. Not really. I spent the day going to every house on my student roll. A lot of them are sick, parents and children. I just got to the last house on my list and the whole family is dead. I tried calling emergency services but..."

" But the lines are overloaded," Sehun finished for her.

" Yeah. I'm not sure what I should do. Should I just call emergency services again and wait til I get someone on the line?"

" Why don't you give me your address, and yes, call emergency services again, and stay on the line til you get someone. I'll see if I can come to you in the meantime,"

Matt gave him her address and promised him she wouldn't go back in the house. She promised him she'd stay outside, that she wouldn't wait past dark for a police officer to come to her.

" If you don't get an operator within a half hour then hang up and go home," Sehun said, " it will be dark soon and it won't be safe out here."

" Ok,"

So Matt hung up with him and called emergency services again. 

While she did that Sehun called Chanyeol.

" Hey. where are you?" Sehun asked Chanyeol.

" Just got done a call on 5th and Jujube" Chanyeol answered.

" Remember our teacher friend from the other night?" 

" Yeah?"

" She's at 11th and Baobam," Sehun said, " she just found one of her kids families dead. The whole family and she doesn't know what to do. I told her to stay on the line til she can get an operator..."

" I'm closer than you are aren't I?" Chanyeol said, already knowing what Sehun was going to say next.

" Yeah, do you mind?"

" No. 's hit the fan anyway. It's just a matter of time before brass figures it out. Aint like they're gonna be able to write either one of us up for not following protocol," Chanyeol said with a snort.

" Thanks. I owe you,"

" Make dinner tonight and I'll call it even," Chanyell said.

" Fine. I hope you like ham sandwiches. Cause that's about all I got energy for after this storm of a day," Sehun replied.

Chanyeol just snorted as he hung up.

It took Chanyeol about eleven minutes to drive to Matt's location. He found her sitting on the front steps, her phone still held up to her ear as she waited to get an operator on the line.

Matt looked up as Chanyeols car rolled up the driveway to her.

" Hey," he said, " Do you remember me from the other night?Sehun, asked me to come by since I was closer,"

" Oh. Hi," Matt said back, " yes, I do remember you. Thank you for coming. I just, I just don't know what the procedure is right now."

" No you're doing everything right. But, things are just kinda bad."

" How bad?" Matt asked in a whisper, almost like she was afraid of the answer.

Chanyeol sighed, then asked her if she'd looked at the news at all today. 

" Not since this morning," Matt said honestly. It just hadn't crossed her mind to check for news updates.

" Well," Chanyeol said, "between then and now, the hospitals have gotten to the point where they no longer have beds to hold the sick. Police officers are being drafted to help direct traffic to additional sick bays that are being set up in city halls."

" Oh wow," Matt whispered, " that's bad. That's really, really bad."

" Yeah," Chanyeol said, " can I ask what you were doing all the way out here? Sehun didn't say."

"Oh. Um. yeah. I... well I spent the day going to each one of my students houses to check up on them but also to kinda just warn them, I guess."

Chanyeol spied the notepad on Matt's lap, with the pen attached,and judging from the ink smudges on her hands he figured she'd been more than " checking in on" her kids.

" May I see your list?" he asked.

Matt nodded and handed it to him. Chanyeol was impressed. Not only had Matt listed addresses and the names of everyone in the house. She'd also listed what time she'd visited, who was sick and how long they'd been sick.

" This is impressive" he said.

" Huh?"

" This, it's detailed. Are you a public health major?"

" No, early childhood," she said.

Chanyeol was double impressed then, he wondered how many hospitals and clinics were even thinking to try and collect the same sort of data? 

" So what now then?" Matt asked him.

" We should probably get you home," Chanyeol said, " I've called in this house and reported the number of deceased. Do you know if anyone else lives here?"

" No, it was just, the parents and Lina" Matt whispered.

" Ok," Chanyeol said, " then come on. Let me get you home. It's getting dark and it might not be too safe after dark."

" Ok," Matt sighed. She got up and followed him to his car, getting in silently she directed Chanyeol back to the school. 

" To your house?"

Matt nodded, " If it's ok, I just want to grab some stuff and then I'm gonna head back to the school"

" You're not staying at home?" he asked surprised

" No.  I think I'm going to stay at the school," she said quietly, " there's a lot of emergency equipment here, and some of the houses that I visited had kids that weren't sick yet, and parents that were. If the parents are dead tomorrow and the kids aren't then I'm thinking I'll..."

" Bring them to the school?" Chanyeol asked.

" Yeah," Matt said quietly, " it's a central point for family and friends to come look if they're searching for them."

" Will you be ok doing that by yourself?" Chanyeol asked.

" I'll be as ok as you driving around without a partner," Matt quipped back and Chanyeols lipst twitched in amusement. 

Matt had put two and two together. Police officers, even detectives didnt' generally travel alone for safety reasons. But seeing as Chanyeol was, she could only assume that the demand for emergency services exceeded emergency personnel, hence officers riding one man to a vehicle.

" How will you get the children?" he asked.

" There's a school van," Matt said.

" Do you have a radio?" he asked.

"Yes, there's a few inside in the emergency backpacks," she replied.

" Is it ok if I come in with you so I can tune one to the police frequency?" Chanyeol asked, " this way you can keep it on you, just as an added precaution for when you're driving through the city tomorrow."

So Matt let him into the school once he'd driven her to her place and waited for her to pack a quick bag.  She led him to the back staff room, where she grabbed one of the emergency backpacks and handed him the radio, which he tuned to the police frequency then turned off so it wouldn't keep her up.

Once he was sure she would be fine by herself and  he'd given her his number, making her save them both hin her phone,he watched her lock up then made his way back to the station.