Chapter 1: And It Begins

Intro

Aimee flopped onto her living room couch with a pathetic moan. She had been feeling under the weather for the past few days. The flu she was sure, it'd been going around for a few weeks now. Seemed like everyone she knew had it at least once already, if not twice. Nasty little bug, she thought. And nothing she had tried seemed to make it any better. Thankfully she only had another day until Monday and she could stumble herself into the doctors office. But until then, she was going to stay right there in the corner of her comfy couch, sipping hot coffee, and try to watch some TV.

Try, being the operative word. She sighed as the EBS (Emergency Broadcast System) blared its deafening signal at her. It seemed like every other commercial break was one of their signals, followed by a list of emergency government numbers. They gave no reasons for the sudden need to deafen everyone, which was the least they could do, she thought. And it didn't matter what channel you tried either. They were ALL doing it. By all she meant the ones that were still on. Definitely going to have to call the cable people Monday and find out what was up with that. But as of right now, she didn't really feel well enough to care. Let alone get up and actually walk back to her bedroom where she had left her cell phone. No, she decided, it could wait.

Closing her eyes she thought about her parents in the Bahamas. Nice sunny, warm weather. She bet they were having the time of their lives. They deserved it. Her dad worked hard all his life to support his wife and family. Aimee couldn't remember a day of work he missed. All so she mom could stay home with the kids while they were growing up. They weren't rich by no means. Two adults and six kids were a lot to feed and clothe, but they were comfortable. They didn't ever have everything they wanted, but they always made sure they had everything they needed. She smiled. Her dad had been so proud to surprise her mom with the trip. It had been along time in the making. Pinching and scrimping all those years had finally paid off. Speaking of, she groaned when she heard her cell phone ringing in her bedroom. She was not getting up to answer it. Either they would call back or call the actual house phone. And knowing her mom...

"Hi there." Aimee answered the house phone that sat on the table next to the couch. She curled deeper into her blanket and coughed.

"Still got the crud?" She smiled at her mom's question.

"I do." She rolled her eyes as the EBS came on the TV. "How's the vacation?"

"We are having such a blast. Dad got a little tipsy and feel asleep out by the water so he's a little crisp right now." She chuckled when she heard him in the background grumbling. "Other than that, it has been amazing."

"I'm glad." Aimee coughed again and cleared her tender throat."You all deserved it."

"We did didn't we?" Her mom giggled. Doesn't sound like dad is the only one a little tipsy. Her mom went on about how warm the water was, the people were so polite, and basically rambled. Aimee closed her eyes and listened. Lord the woman could talk! Years of being with her mom, had taught her it was pointless to try to get a word in edgewise until she had said her say. Which was okay for her. She didn't really feel much up to talking. "Oh! There's NyQuil and Vicks in our bathroom cabinet. Take you a good healthy shot of the NyQuil. And rub your feet down with Vicks. Make sure to put socks on afterwards. That should help with the congestion." Pause. "Then crawl into bed and get some rest. Unfortunately with the flu there's not much to do other than wait it out."

"I'm going to try to get to the doctors Monday morning."

"Good good." She waited with as much patience as she could muster for her mom to continue."I'm going to let you go so you can rest. I'll call back in the next day or so and check up on you."

"Okay mom. I love you guys."

"Love you too sweety. Take care of yourself." There was a slight pause."Bye bye."

"Bye bye." She put the receiver back in its cradle noisily, causing herself to start. She must of been further from the base than she thought. Peeking over the arm she made sure it had hung up and sighed. By the Gods, she felt bad.

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She was seriously considering throwing something at the TV. She had taken the NyQuil, opting to wait for the Vicks foot rub until bedtime. Something about having the slick slimy stuff squishing between her toes while she was awake, just didn't hold much appeal for her at the moment. The NyQuil had worked to knock her out for a few hours of blissful slumber, then they had to run yet another test. Though Aimee was sure they had run several in the few hours she was asleep, the most recent had woken her up. She began to glare hatefully at the TV, she stopped as the news story caught her eye.

As a rule, she never watched the news. Just so much violence an sadness in the world she didn't see the point. Not to mention her mom, watched it faithfully, usually had some kind of comments that lead to discussions about a news story. So, Aimee wasn't behind on the world news, but this was different. She reached for the remote and turned it up some.

"A quick recap: On May 26, 2012, A Florida man who was supposedly high on "bath salts" assaulted a homeless man on the MacArthur Causeway in Miami, Florida. During the 18-minute filmed encounter, The man (who was himself stripped nude) accused the other man of stealing his Bible, beat him unconscious, removed his pants, and bit off most of his face above the beard, including his left eye, leaving him blind in both. The assailant was then shot and killed on site.

More testing has been recently conducted, and it is now known that "bath salts" were not to blame. Traces of marijuana were found, but not high enough levels to cause such a response."

Interesting. She knew people who smoked marijuana and had never seen any of them have that kind of response no matter how high they were. Talk about an extreme case of the munchies. She snickered at her own joke and continued watching the newscast.

The other man, she thought, had survived. Come to find out he hadn't. Evidently, there had been some kind of bacteria or something the "bath salt" guy had been carrying and when he tried to "eat" him he had passed it onto him. The news said he died approximately 24 days later. But what was weird and why they were bringing it back up is because of what had happened before he died. He had gotten extremely violent, insatiable hunger, incoherent, convulsions, and finally had choked to death on his own saliva.

They are now concerned that this may be contagious?! Wonderful...The CDC has reported other cases have been surfacing all over the globe. And personally, She thinks at an alarming rate. What is it? Where did it come from? Is there a cure? They haven't said yet. They have even went so far as to close down all the public schools and several federal buildings. Saying they don't think there is a cause for alarm (?!), but would rather be safe than sorry. Aimee got that, but was that really all were going to give us to go on?

"The first symptoms seem to mimic the flu including general weakness or discomfort, fever, or headache. These symptoms may last for days. Progressing within days to symptoms of cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, confusion, agitation. Progression the person may experience also include, but not limited to, delirium, abnormal behavior, hallucinations, and insomnia."

What a wonderful time to get the flu. Now, she will be freaking out wondering if she is "contaminated". Though of course, she most certainly was not! But the thought will be there none the less...