The Adventures of Bacterio

Ebola at the Mall

The Adventures of Bacterio! Volume One

    Silent screams poured from the once perfect mouth of Molly O'Hara.  Lying on the cold concrete of an abandoned warehouse, she tried over and over again to scream for help, mercy, God, or death.  Long after the Ebola virus had liquified her organs, Plague smirked at the echo of Molly O'Hara's inability to scream.  It cheered him as he rapidly decomposed and consumed her flesh.  It sustained him as he killed the last particle of Ebola lurking on the concrete floors.  It almost allowed him to feel joy.

    "Susan, try not to start a hunger strike at school today." John Bright said as he dropped his sister off at Urbanopolis High, "I'm giving a presentation to the other department heads today.  I don't want a call from your principal's secretary."

    "Whatever," Susan said as she exited her brother's car and gave him the finger.

    "Ya, love you too, Sis."

    In a boardroom John finished his presentation.    "With our release of Curesue, not only will millions of people be helped, EqualFairness can then open another free cancer care facility." John clicked off the projector to the applause of the seated department heads.  "Are there any questions?"  John waited, prepared for anything.

    "What about MegaMedics new drug?  It targets the same symptoms.  How are we supposed to sell our product when their advertisements are much more aggressive?"

    "Mr. Cho, we're not interested in profits, we're interested in helping people.  And we have a higher rating from the FDA because our drug trials were more thorough.  Our product will sell, and it will sell at a significantly lower cost."   Just then, John Bright's  secretary flashed a signal through the boardroom window.  "Now, if you'll pardon me;" John left the room without explanation.

        John Bright rushed out of his presentation to meet with his sister's guidance counselor, Miss Alexander.  Susan had skipped third period, but sent a note to Miss Alexander about attending an anti-fur protest at the mall.  Susan might be rebellious, but at least she was responsible.  John tried to reach the mall in his car, but gave up after hearing the traffic report.  He pulled into the nearest parking lot.  Dang it all. This was a job for Bacterio. 

    Bored enough to regret cutting class, Susan wandered around the crowd of fur wearing bargain hunters in only mild distaste.  Only a handful of protesters had arrived; mostly she was surrounded by crazed, fur wearing shoppers.  They were the real animals.   Susan sighed, Might as well head back to school.

    Two men defied gravity as they hurtled towards the mall, Plague, hell-bent on releasing the Ebola virus, and Bacterio intent on returning his sister to school.  Plague was minutes in the lead.  However, even further ahead was Miss Alexander.  She had just parked her car and entered the fur discount store.  Miss Alexander was intent on her mission.  "Susan Bright!  Where are you?" Spotting a pair of fluorescent Doc Martin's,  "Susan, let's go wait by the entrance until your brother gets here."

    "Dang it, Miss Alexander, couldn't you just not care about your students?  The counselor I had last year never followed me to the mall."  Susan rolled her eyes as she stepped out from behind a rack of floor length mink coats.

    "Really, Susan, let's get going before..."   She was interrupted by a writhing, black cloud of matter that crashed through  the skylight overhead.  Panicked screams erupted throughout the store as the security gates crashed down trapping the helpless victims of Plague.  Trapping all-- but one.

    "Run Susan! Find your brother, and get out of here!"  As quick as the darkness had fallen, Miss Alexander had shoved Susan ahead of her through the nearest exit.          Plague spread his arms, one human, one mechanical, and sent a jet of angry grey vapor streaming across the ceiling.  A gentle rain of death fell on the unwary buyers in the mall that afternoon.  Plague laughed mechanically, maniacally.  He tasted their fear and hastening death.

    Coughing and wheezing, the masses of hapless shoppers writhed on the floor.  The  virus, accelerated by Plague's influence, attacked the organs of the crowd.

    Bacterio rocketed though the glass dome and careened into Plague breaking his concentration.  Bacterio filled the air with a rain of healing microorganisms to begin repairing the damage done by the Ebola virus.  Enraged by his set back, Plague directed all of his forces at Bacterio, slowly forcing him to the floor.  Panic tickled the back of Bacterio's consciousness, he could easily match Plague's power, but he would have to stop healing the crowd huddled amongst the racks of coats.

    Moments separated heroes from everyday men and women.  Bacterio, forced to his hands and knees, watched as the crowd in the store began to slink away to safety.  One man forced the emergency exit open; people made their way out in ones and twos, but still Bacterio had to hold his focus on the shop.  Plague pushed harder against Bacterio's microorganisms.  There was a miniscule, but vital, war happening, and if Bacterio diverted his attention to himself for a moment, all was lost.  Susan was lost.     

    Bacterio collapsed to his elbows.  Sweat beaded on his forehead as he maintained the purifying field around the store.   Shiny, black vinyl glinted in the corner of his sight.  Susan was standing beyond the storefront windows, her mouth an O of concern and worry.  John Bright smiled.  His sister was safe.

    Plague failed. None of the shoppers would die of the Ebola virus today.  His lip curled into a sneer as he prepared to jet off, away from the scene, away from Bacterio's cleansing influence when he felt one life force waver.  Bacterio himself was dying.  What sweet victory.  The crowd would escape this time, but they would soon die.    Bacterio would be no more.  A distant memory.  Plague focused the full measure of his power on the lone man collapsed on the floor.

    Gasping, Bacterio struggled to maintain his connection to the life giving bacteria that flowed through his existence.  He knew that he was seconds from destruction.  Warm, dry fingers wrapped around Bacterio's wrist.  Miss Alexander looked into the masked eyes of the man quivering on the floor near her.  "We're safe now; fight back."

    Bacterio felt a surge of energy as he launched himself high into the air.  "Plague, you won't win this time!"   Sending a stream of microbes at his nemesis, Bactero forced Plague back through the skylight and caused him to tumble willy-nilly through the afternoon sky. Knowing the game was up, Plague crossed his mechanical hand to his artificial heart.

    "You may have won this time Bacterio, but this is only the beginning!"

    Bacterio quickly pursued the villain, but Plague vanished into the distance.  It was okay, Bacterio would always be there to save the day.  He looped around and headed towards a nearly empty parking lot.

    John Bright pulled up to the front entrance of Urbanopolis City Mall at the same time that his sister, Susan, and her guidance counselor, Miss Alexander, walked out.     "Geeze, Miss, you act like it was a big deal, oh, hi John; I'll make up my English test tomorrow." Susan nattered on as she gave her brother a one armed hug.

    "Well, the principal has still suspended you for the rest of the day, and won't let you back in class until after he has a word with your brother in the morning." Miss Alexander gave John a pointed look, "You really ought to talk to Susan about the importance of attendance.  Maybe if she heard it from more than me, she'd take school more seriously."  John groaned internally.

    "I think Susan and I will have a very serious conversation.  Many times, actually, during the three weeks she's grounded."

    "WHAT!?". John chuckled at his sister's distress as he lead her to his car.  It'd be a long three weeks, but maybe this time she'd take him seriously.

    High above the skyscrapers, just below the clouds, Bacterio watched over his sleeping city, waiting for any trouble that might be brewing.  There is always trouble, and he'd always be watching.