The Virus

Chapter Seven

When I awoke, I was curled up against Carter’s chest. He was clearly still asleep so what happened next caught him by surprise. I screamed. He jumped so far away from me that he fell onto the floor with a loud THUD! I suppressed a giggle and sat up.

“What the hell?” I asked, expressing my distaste.

“I should be the one asking that,” said Carter, lifting himself off the floor.

            He sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at me. I got uncomfortable and started looking around, finally noticing the thing attached to my arm. I was getting ready to rip it off when Carter stopped me.

“Don’t do that unless you want blood gushing from your arm.”

            I let my arm fall back to my side. What was going on? Why was I hooked up to all these machines? This wasn’t even a hospital! I felt panicked and caged.

“Where’s your dad?” I asked.

“In the office.”

“What time is it?”

He glanced at his watch. “A few minutes after ten.”

            I’d never woken up so late before. What were they pumping into me? I eyed the I.V. suspiciously. The liquid was clear. I had no way of telling what it was. There was a label but I had to get close to read it. I read it but it wasn’t like I understood what was in the bag. Defeated, I laid back and stared up at the ceiling. I was suddenly really hungry. Carter obviously heard my stomach growl because he laughed.

“You want a sandwich?” he asked.

“Sure.”

            I didn’t like having him wait on me but at the same time it was kind-of nice. I liked not having to do stuff myself for a change. After I finished eating, Carter took my plate away and replaced it with a can of soda. I gulped it down and handed the can off to him, already in the rhythm of him taking care of my trash. I held back a belch that was working its way up my throat. The belch won that fight.

“Excuse me,” I said quietly.

“Nice burp. I thought you were a guy for a second.”

“That’s the kind of compliment a girl wants to hear,” I said, sarcastically.

            I watched some television, Carter changing the channels on my command. I asked him why he was being so nice in the first place, I could change channels myself.

“I just want you to be comfortable.”

“I get to go home today right? I don’t need to be comfortable.”

            Carter looked at me uneasily. Was I not going home today? I was about to ask when Carter’s father entered the room looking tired and grave.

“I’ve figured out what the problem is,” he announced.

“Lay it on me doc,” I said.

“Carter, you should listen up too.” Carter’s ears perked up and Dr. Torrent continued. “You two have a virus. It’s very rare; it isn’t a virus found in humans. It’s found only in wildcats such as cheetahs and jaguars. Your bodies aren’t made to handle such a virus and it is killing you, from the inside out.”

“Is there a cure?” was the first thing to fly from my mouth. Never mind the fact that he said it’s a cat disease.

“Not that I know of.”

“So we’re just going to die?” asked Carter.

“I have been working on an antivirus that can keep it under control but I don’t know when it’ll be finished. I’m inexperienced when it comes to animal diseases.”