What is a Virus?
In a pandemic, every option on the table is total shit, but we have to choose the least shit option. We need to be all done with version one of this virus before version two comes next winter, to have some herd immunity built-in.
They are cold. So cold. The life that had dwelt within them has gone, and they are safe from the perils of this world. No harm can come to them now. Hearts that used to beat with love are still. Minds that felt so many emotions are blank. We dig the graves and pray their spirits are well-received in the afterlife. Their limbs are soft, the time of rigor mortise has passed. We lay them on their backs, feet together, arms folded over their chests and eyes closed. We make a cross with daisies over each torso and blow them a kiss for the journey. Then with heavy hearts, we take our spades and begin to cover them in the black earth.
But not with these dead.
They had a sloppy gait as they approached slowly. Their jaws dislocated showing their torn tongues and blood-stained teeth. They moaned as they smelt the blood in the air and ate those who fought pinned on the ground. Skin peeled away from their bones and organs, showing their black hearts. Although they did not beat, you could see that organs were torn, how their blood had turned in to a thick turbid brown and how their stomach slowly digested the flesh that was their own.
And I was one of them, well partially.
My name is not important, what is important right now is to explain to you how this shit actually went down and why am I calling myself 'half Zombie'. It was September 18th, 2020. My mom and I decided to spend a day together for her birthday but something happened at her work, requiring her to go immediately, so she decided to take me with her. The secret underground lab called Red Snake that studied BIO weaponry where my mom worked was a huge chamber, the walls - half-naked rock, half polished steel - lined with computer equipment, electronic meters, machines that blinked and flickered with a life of their own. It was staffed by forty or fifty people, some in white coats, others in overalls, all wearing armbands of different colors: red, yellow, blue, and green. Arc lights beamed down from above. Armed guards stood at each doorway, watching them work with blank faces. I remember seeing a few cages containing fat, white rabbits with doctors injecting them with some kind of red liquid from big, glass syringes. I remember my mom putting on a mask and giving me one instructing me to stay put and not to touch anything. I wandered through the lab until I ended up near the cages, that was my mistake. One of the rabbits that were injected last started acting strange, first, his body dropped on the ground stiffen and not giving any sign of life than after few seconds he jumped smashing his head in my direction which scared the shit out of me, so I jumped back tripping over some big pumps laid on the ground. My hand accidentally knocked down the syringe table asking for support but I ended up on my butt, sharp pain wobbled through my hand, examining my palm I noticed I broke one of them allowing the red liquid to enter my wound. Noticing the big commotion and team of a scientist coming my way I jumped wiping my hand off my jeans kicking the broken syringe under one of the glass refrigerators next to me.
Before I could answer any questions, the alarm sounded like the horn of a juggernaut. Blaring. Unceasing. Crippling my thoughts and assaulting my ears. Panic was all over the place, I remember my mom coming out from some room on the end of the hallway dressed in biohazard yellow suit screaming at me to get out with her.
The next few days I spent in agony.
First, it was the fever; Even under a light cotton sheet, I was radiating heat like a brick right out of the oven. I ate nothing but the most watery of soups, so diminished was my appetite.
Second, it was vomiting; With one violent contraction, the congealed contents of my stomach emerged in the morning light, nothing digested since the evening before. I wiped at my mouth, acidic residue forming a shiny patch on my sweater sleeve.
And the worst, the pain; I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out. Sharp pain lanced through my head and colorful spots flashed in front of my eyes, it felt like my whole body had been beaten and every movement caused some muscle or bone to ache. The pain was throbbing in my guts, it was deep and warm, but not in a nice way. It felt like someone has their hand in there and are squeezing my organs first gently and then as hard as they can. When it wanes I can move, when it returns I can only hold still and breathe, breathe slow and deep until it has passed. There is no blood anywhere but my abdomen was purple and lumpy where it should be smooth. Every step feels like a nail bomb exploding in my innards.
The last thing to change was my eyes, they became red, it was the color of blood, the vivid red of the freshly spilled blood.
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