LezVirus

001: THE BEGINNING

Anya opened her eyes, the grayish blue orbs staring into nothingness, they were classically beautiful but tired. Rubbing two slender fingers to her creased temples, it was impossible to sleep. The incessant mechanical groan, constant and unwavering added to her sleeplessness. Unlike most of the passengers around her, who had seemed to be lulled to sleep by the artificial hum and rush of wind encompassing the winged metal tin can, they were all stuck in.

Anya had always hated flying, but the anxiety and motion sickness that had plagued her as a teenager was not the cause of her unease in this flight. No, something far worse than that now haunted her mind...

She hadn't slept in days, the literal weight of the world resting all too heavily on her shoulders. Though even all the while she looked somewhat stressed, Anya was still a beautiful fair woman, no one could really tell the magnitude of pressure she felt, delicate features hiding most of it behind a mask of beauty.

Hugging the only carry-on bag she'd brought with her closer to her chest, her thin fingers gripped it a little too tightly. From an outside perspective, one might think it was just nervousness about flying or doing so alone, for that matter.

No one else on that cursed metal bird knew what a weight the small worn leather portfolio held, not just to Anya... But to everyone.

Anya had always tried to do what was right, she was the sort of person to go out of her way to help people, even when it cost her extra time, whereas most others would just pass by, pretending not to notice.

This quality in her in part is what lead her to her profession and what made her so good at it. But she was leaving that life behind now, her future uncertain, still even if it cost her everything, she was doing the right thing.

At least, that's what she told herself, over and over in her head, more to convince herself that the situation was real and actually happening than to convince herself that she was right. Having never stolen a thing in her life, what she was stealing today, the knowledge she gripped so tightly against her chest would likely be the one thing she did in life that would define her. Ironic how life works sometimes, a person can do good deeds for all their years, but in the end, one not-so-good deed can be what that person is remembered for.

Still, even though it was stealing classified information, it was the right thing to do. Right and wrong however are always subjective, given on which side you ask. But this... This was too big to be covered up and brushed over.

Russia wanted to blame it on being a political stunt, viewing it as an almost militant radical stance on obtaining what the rest of the free world would view as rights and not an actual outbreak. Considering Russia's well-known history regarding homosexuals, it really wasn't that much of a surprise thinking about it.

But no, this wasn't the long-coming sexual revolution the Russian government so feared, it was a virus. Anya knew this first hand, but she and her team were all gagged on the matter, not allowed to make any sort of public announcements, to start what was really needed, quarantines, not hostility. Not content to sit back and let the world fall, Anya was going to do something about it.

Since America was liberal and the information she was now holding came from there... Medical information, classified to Anya's superiors, stating it was pretty much 'what was feared'.

Being one with a direct understanding of symptoms of the virus and what the early warning signs were, she was going to tell the world before it was too late. Helping to decipher the medical language of the files and fill in the gaps of information with what she knew first hand.

Coming out with this information in her mother country however was not an option unless she wanted to risk being killed, or worse, locked in prison with the infected. No, the Americas would serve as a better medium to get this information out, safer for her and a more foolproof way to actually have her message heard.