The Green Flu

Chapter 4 - Micheal

I sat down at the kitchen table with my early morning cereal. When I can't sleep during nights like these eating cereal always helps. I flipped on the tv, though I left it quiet because my roommate, Will, was sleeping. He was really sick and needed his rest more than usual today. And from the way he was coughing, I hope he gets better soon. Mostly because he's my pal and I care about him, but also because I don't want to get sick.

The news was on, just a rerun from yesterday's stories. The one they are talking about right now is the flu that's going around. It got so bad they brought in some government organization to deal with it. I think they're called CEDA? I'm not sure what it stands for but it's probably just some medical control company or something.

The news reporter was saying that CEDA has set up stations all over Philadelphia and they're supposed to be helping people who got the worst of the flu. Finding no pleasure in watching CEDA inject a bunch of needles into people, I shut off the tv and ate my cereal in silence.

***

Just as I was finishing my midnight snack, I heard movement from Will's room.

Crap! I must have woken him up! I thought to myself. As quietly as I could, I put the dishes away and cleaned up. When I turned around to sneak off to my room, I saw Will in his dark room.

His door was open and I could see him sitting up. He got out of bed, but he was moving slowly and clumsily. Once he was standing, he half-stumbled, half-walked behind where I couldn't see him. Concerned for my friend, I walked closer to his door.

"Hey, Will?" I said quietly, but loud enough for him to hear. "Are you feeling any better?" I could see his silhouette come back into view, but it wasn't how he usually moves. He was slower and seemed dizzy. Maybe it was just the fact that he was sick, but I doubted it. Even when I get really sick, it doesn't effect how I move.

Will didn't say anything as he walked closer to the doorway. And as he got closer, the more I felt that something was wrong. It's 5:40 something in the morning and Will's just getting out of bed. Something didn't add up right.

"Will?" I asked again, hoping he'd just say something. That was when he stepped into the light of the kitchen and I gasped at what I saw before me.

Will didn't look like himself. It was him though, I could tell by the structure of his face and his hair and clothes. But his skin was totally different. It was so pale grey that it looked almost like a shade of white. And his eyes weren't their usual blue, they were yellow. The iris' were yellow and the white was a dull grey. Will opened his mouth and gave a loud, inhuman shriek and then ran at me.

I gave a small yell myself and then backed away from...whatever that thing was. It wasn't Will anymore, that's for sure. But what do I do? More importantly, what was the Will-but-not-Will creature going to do to me? It seemed pretty aggressive and it looked like nothing I've ever seen before.

It was quick. Soon, I realized that I couldn't back up much more and that the creature was coming at me too fast. Looking around for something to defend myself with, I looked back to my room. I could retreat and hopefully find something useful there. The creature was getting too close and I had to shove it away before I could make my mad dash. It yelped and stumbled backwards, but I didn't stick around to watch it recover. I turned on my heel and ran as fast as I could to my room.

As soon as I was in the room, I shut the door and locked it. I don't know if that creature can open doors or not, but I'm not taking any chances. Not wasting any time, I started searching my room for a weapon and it turned out to be surprisingly hard. I glanced at my lightsaber and Final Fantasy sword, knowing it would be useless. Sighing, I looked for something more realistic to use. Then my eyes fell on my baseball bat. It was just a small one, which wouldn't be very helpful in an actual game. But it was perfect for if a burglar decided to try to steal anything from our apartment. And also perfect for if my roommate became some weird...monster in his sleep.

No, monster wasn't the right word. Monsters weren't real, they were just something you were afraid of as a kid. And this creature outside my door, this thing that my friend had become, was very real. It could do real damage to me and other people. I'm against killing, like any other non-murdering human being, but I don't think I have any other choice here. I doubt this creature will just stop and leave me alone.

A hard bang on the door made me jump, pulling me out of my thoughts. Right, the deadly creature just chilling in my kitchen. I forgot about that. The banging continued, and I could hear the creature's shrill screams. It took me a few minutes to pluck up enough courage to actually go and open the door, facing the creature without the wooden door to protect me. I took a few quick breaths, then opened the door.

As soon as the door was open wide enough for me to get through, I rushed to the creature and shoved him back. It stumbled back like before and I raised the bat, ready to swing it down and end this creature forever. But I didn't. I couldn't, not when I knew this creature was once my roommate and good friend. I was never into hunting or anything, in fact the only lives I've probably ever taken were just bugs and maybe the occasional animal on the road. I wasn't a killer.

As the creature got up once again, I kept the bat up, wondering if I could really kill it if I had to. Then before I could react the creature attacked me, rushing at me and wildly swinging the claw like hands that it had. While it was shrieking, I just focused on not getting my throat ripped out. Which turned out to be hard. The creature got a window of opportunity as I had to turn my arm a certain way so the weight of the bat didn't break my wrist and I couldn't defend myself. It took that opportunity to lung forward and reach for my face, trying to rip it off. I fell down as I couldn't get my footing right and the creature got a good hit on my left arm on the way down.

I gave a short shout of pain from the claw marks along my arm. As they started bleeding I knew that the creature wouldn't stop until it has killed me. So I had to kill it first. And with that thought in mind, I took a swing with my bat.

Since I was on the ground, the bat only hit the creatures legs but it did knock it to the ground. Before I could think any better of it, I got up and took another swing, one to the head. The creature yelped as the bat connected with its head and stopped moving for a moment. Before waiting to see if it would move again, I took another swing. I kept going until I was certain it wouldn't get back up.