Jordan wanted to go home. He felt sick in his tummy and his eyes were itchy. He wanted to lie on the sofa with mommy and watch cartoons, but the teacher wouldn’t believe him when he said he was sick. It was because he was always fibbing and trying to go home. He hated school and missed his mommy. Today, though, he wasn’t lying. He really was poorly.
It was the last break of the day and there was only English class to sit through before he could go home. He didn’t mind English – it was much better than Math. Maybe, if he wasn’t feeling better later, mommy would let him have tomorrow off.
His friend, James, was nearby, playing games on his mobile phone. James’s dad worked in a phone shop so James always had the latest ones that were out.
“Can I have a go, please?” he asked.
James smiled and handed the phone right over. James was a good friend.
“You still feeling poorly?”
Jordan tapped at the touchscreen and nodded. “Yeah. I want to go home, but the teacher won’t let me.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Jordan started a puzzle game with fruits. The flashing colours hurt his eyes slightly but he didn’t mind. He wanted to play.
“What lesson do you have next?” James asked.
Jordan didn’t reply. He was too engrossed with the flashing fruit. Usually he found games like this boring, but somehow the movement held him captive. His hearing went dull.
“Hey, Jordan, did you hear me?”
Jordan was busy. He moved the fruit about, matching colours and winning points. Time seemed to slip away as a headache took over the small spaces inside his skull.
The movement. I like the movement. I like things that move.
When the lesson bell sounded, Jordan didn’t hear it. Neither did he hear James ask for his phone back. When the other boy snatched at the phone, to take back what was his, Jordan was surprised by the rage that filled him. He leapt at James and managed to catch his finger between his teeth. James pulled his hand back and immediately started crying.
I’ll kill you…
What…what am I doing?
Jordan put his hand out in desperation as his friend ran off to tell the teacher. He didn’t know what had happened. He had just felt so…mad. Something inside of him had made him bite his friend and now that it had happened he felt dizzy. His headache had suddenly gone, leaving behind an all over numbness. His vision had gone a funny colour, too, and it was hard to catch a breath. Most of all, though, Jordan just felt scared.
He curled up on the floor and started to cry. He didn’t know what was happening to him as he waited for the teacher to come and tell him off for biting James. He just wanted his mommy to make it all better.
But she never would.
CLOSURE
Treadwell examined the bank of television monitors displaying news feeds from all four corners of the Earth. The explosion of the Spirit of Kirkpatrick in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea was an unforeseen complication. The spread of the nano-virus throughout mainland Europe had been vastly hindered by the ship’s failure to reach land – but the Easter-Virus had managed to get out anyway. Its eventual spread would be unstoppable. The ominous news reports flashing on the television screens made this clear.
It will be unstoppable.
Most of the news station were reporting early occurrences of the virus, but they were yet to understand the full ramifications of what it could do. They had no idea what the Easter-Virus was designed for – what it was engineered for. The self-replicating nano-delivery system was working perfectly, making sure that every single victim got a massive and immediate dose. Symptoms would occur in less than one hour in most cases. Full presentation of symptoms would take up to a full twenty-four hours, though. That was when the virus would become truly unstoppable. That was when patients would start to actively hunt down anyone healthy and deliberately infect them. The virus would become less infectious in itself at that stage, but its carriers would become far, far more deadly. Even killing them would not stop them – the nano-virus was programmed to maintain a clumsy, yet effective control over the carrier’s motor functions even after death.