As soon as I drop the oars and jump out of the lifeboat, I can tell that something’s wrong. The trailers are still in place a little way from the shore, but there’s no sign of anyone at all and a kind of hush seems to have fallen over the land. There should be a team here from London by now, the whole area should be buzzing with activity, and yet as I make my way toward the nearest trailer I realize the entire scene is eerily quiet. Even the seagulls have shut up and left. “Be careful,” Mark says as he hurries to catch up. “There!” I shout, pointing at a figure slumped on the grass near one of the trailers. Racing over, I crouch next to him and see that it’s one of the rescue workers, but he’s unconscious and even before I put a hand on his forehead, I can tell that he’s got a fever. Glancing over toward another of the trailers, I see that Mark has already found another ill man. It’s as if people just fell and dropped. We spend the next few minutes searching for someone who can still talk, but everyone is sick.
