New Rabies

Brennan

We didn’t even know what the damn thing was, much less what it did.

Ok, well that’s not entirely true. We knew that it was a virus and that it had escaped from Genomex. We knew that Ekhart had a hand in it and whatever the reason for its creation wasn’t going to be pretty. We knew that we had to stop it, but what the hell do you do against nothing?

See, every mutant that had been infected, all ten of them, had nothing happen. They didn’t get deathly sick, or grow horns and a tail or even develop dangerus mutations. Nothing happened, nothing at all. Adam even quarantined them all in one of the safe houses for a week and still nothing. Never in my life have I been so paranoid about nothing.

So after their week was up, each of the new mutants were allowed to go on their merry way and we were left scratching our heads trying to figure out what the hell blindsided us. And that’s when Jesse pointed out that none of the infected mutants had been feral.

Turns out that was the key.

When the virus infects a feral it sets off a chemical reaction that basically makes them crazy. Combine an injured predator, an angry mama bear, a territorial cat, and a hormonal woman and you’re about half way there. The exposed ferals went ballistic! One moment they’re perfectly fine, the next they’re hunting down and killing any new mutant in their ‘territory’. It was not pretty, one fuck of a mess, and guess who had to clean it up.

It was bad…. taking a feral on, there’s like a thirty to seventy chance of victory on a good day. Taking a feral on when they’re exposed to the ‘New Rabies’ virus is like trying to stop an act of god with toilet paper. And did I mention the best part? The ferals get so enraged and so violent that the adrenalin produced explodes their heart. Needless to say, we were taking on these ferals without Shal, making things just that more a pain in the ass.

Adam’s been working on a cure at some lab owned by Jesse’s grandfather, he almost has one; Emma’s bringing him the last thing he needs. I hope they hurry, because it’s all going to hell here. Jesse’s locked himself in the med lab with Shalimar, who, despite our best efforts, has been infected, and is past the point of rational. She’s trying to kill him, Jesse, her ‘cub’. And the only damn thing I can do is sit here and watch as my lover tries to sooth the savage beast with out getting killed.

Jesse’s not doing well. He can’t take much more; Shal’s beating the crap out of him. He can barely stagger to his feet and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. I’m getting familiar with this helplessness stuff since meeting Jesse. I was helpless to keep him from Eckhart, I was helpless to save him from his father, I was helpless to save him from phasing away…. yup, it’s a nice long history developing here.

I try the door again, and again I’ve found that Jesse did a perfect job of smashing it to bits. Even zapping it has no effect. And to add to it, Shal just tossed Jess across the room like he was a rag doll. And I can’t see if he’s getting up.

“Damn it Shalimar, It’s Jesse!” I yell, not knowing what I could do. I know she can’t hear me through the glass, not to mention the virus. But I can’t help it. I can’t stay quiet. I can’t lose either of them and that’s exactly what I’m watching happen.

I told Jess that Adam was on his way. He had a cure and he was coming fast. I told Jess to hang on. I told Adam to hurry the fuck up.