Not A Flu

"Come on love, wake up." He whispered lovingly into her ear. She felt him kiss her earlobe sweetly, his velvety lips trailing down the side of her neck. She yawned blissfully and stretched her arms over her head. She smacked her lips, staring up into his playful brown eyes.

"Up you go!"

"Wait, Obi, NO!" She squealed, giggling as he scooped her up in his arms. He twirled around the bedroom with her in his embrace, her head lolling back and a beaming smile on her face.

"Okay, okay," she laughed, "I'm up, I'm up!"

Obi grinned from ear to ear. "Here comes the landing!" He gently sat her bottom on the edge of the bed, smiling all the while at her sparkling blue eyes. Her beaming smile turned smaller, more genuine, as her lover leaned into her. Their lips found each others like two magnates. It was like an electrical charge surged it's way through every nerve ending in her small body. It was love, it was bliss.

It was ecstasy.

Obi pulled away, causing her to whine and pout.

He gave her that gentle, yet shy smile she always loved. "Lets get going Liz, we both have stuff to do that we don't want to be late for, right?"

Liz closed her eyes, smiled, and nodded her head. "Right, right." She said, getting up and starting towards the bathroom.

Obi gave her a mischievous grin as he watched her hips sway. "Hey Liz, can we take a bath together," his mischievous look turned to a begging one. "PLEEEAAAASSSSSE?"

Liz sent Obi a look and laughed, shaking her head with disbelief. "Pervert. But honestly Obi, I don't even know what you see in my body." She began as she walked into the bathroom, beckoning him over with a 'come heather' gesture. Obi giggled like a school boy as he rushed into the bathroom with her.

"I mean," she continued, while pulling her t-shirt over her head, exposing her Victoria's Secret bra and panties. "my boobs aren't very big, I'm all gangly, and I sound like a twelve year-old. I'm damn near twenty-six years old!"

"BUT," Obi interjected. "you have the legs of a supermodel, your skin is flawless, you have the face of a goddess, AND you have the most shiny raven black hair I have ever seen!"

Liz chuckled, sat on the side of the tub and turned on the bathwater. "You're so sweet, and such a flatterer." She gazed at the ceiling and let out a frustrated sigh. "I can't see how my dad doesn't like you! You've treated me with nothing but respect from day one, and then some! Cooking all the meals. Breakfast in bed. A diamond ring. Paying the whole apartment rent. You even drive me around like you're my personal chauffeur!" She counted the fingers on her hand as she said all this, listing the things Obi has done for her. He laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"You know, I've been saving up some money to by you a new car… You know, that fiery Dodge Charger you've been talking about?"

Liz sent him a look, which made him clench his mouth shut.

"You see," she started, her eyes hardening. "That's what I'm talking about. You've done nothing but give and give." Liz sighed tiredly, placing a hand on her forehead. "And all you ask for in return are these little things." She said, turning off the faucet. She stood and gave Obi a wonton smile.

"Can you help me take this thing off?" She asked, gesturing to her bra. Obi gave her small smile.

"Sure my Princess." He replied. As he undressed her, he began to nuzzle the nape of her neck, causing her to moan passionately.

"Liz, you know how fathers are, right?" He asked her, running a hand through her short yet luxurious onyx hair and messaging her exposed breast with the other.

Liz nodded, sighing in euphoric bliss.

"He's just trying to protect his baby girl," Obi went on. "That's all."

"Yeah, I know…"

Liz broke away from Obi's embrace, turning to face him with her thumbs hooked onto the straps of her panties, and began to tug downward.

"But here's the thing: I'm not a baby girl anymore."

Obi took in the full form of her marvelous naked body. "I'll say." He remarked, looking her up and down. "You're all Woman!"

Liz cracked up in a fit of giggling. "Flattering gets you everywhere!" she said, still laughing. "Now get in the tub and I'll scrub your back!"

"When are you going to teach me how to cook like this?" Liz asked, as she swallowed down a mouth full of chocolate chip waffles. Obi laughed sheepishly from his spot at the sink, washing the dishes as Liz ate her breakfast.

"I'm serious Obi, these are better than Eggo Waffles!" She declared as she took another mouth full.

"Aw, you're making me blush! It's an old family recipe my mom-mom taught me. Don't worry, I'll teach you everything I know."

"Awesome." Smiling brightly, Liz grabbed the T.V remote and switched it on. The channel was on Fox, causing her to frown.

"Were you watching Fox News?"

Obi gave her a playfully insulted look. "Do I look Republican to you?"

Giggling, Liz surfed the channels until she found CNN. "Well sorry! I just hate those guys. Their always bashing the President! Its always Obama did this and Obama did that!" She rolled her eyes and sighed. "And people actually freaking fall for it!"

Obi laughed.

"You know it's true!" Liz started. "That's just how lazy we've become. Instead of doing the actual research we believe whatever the media tells us. The freaking MEDIA…who lie constantly. Now those crazy asses are letting the country go to hell! Their laying off teachers, cops, firefighters, what the hell?"

"You and I both know their bat shit." Obi muttered as he continued to scrub the dishes.

"No arguing there." Liz sipped a bit of her orange juice. "Who's going to keep the streets safe? Who's going to teach our children? Who the fuck is going to stop our houses from burning down? 'If your house catches on fire then just on your knees and pray to God' what the hell kind of stupid shit is that?"

"Very stupid."

"Exactly! Do you know what Wisconsin is going through right now? Their fighting tooth and nail to get a Democratic official into their offices. That's what we all need to be doing right now because honestly, we're all fucked if we don't."

"Utterly fucked."

"But no! Our stupid asses always have to wait until the last minute…and by then its to late! Those stupid ass Tea Baggers were going to let us go into default! De-Fucking-Fault! And there are people out there still listening to them! Now, the credit unions are giving us a downgrade! If we had just supported him, if we had just let the President do his fucking job, we wouldn't be in this mess! But no, just listen to the media, listen to the media!" Liz shook her head in exasperation. "Honest to God…we're like fucking zombies."

Obi sent Liz a look. "Liz, you're acting like a crazy political chick again." He said, smiling.

"I know, cause I am a crazy political chick."

"And I'm glad for that, because honestly I wouldn't be keeping up with all this stuff if it weren't for you."

Liz beamed at him.

"There's been a major news update regarding the Fairfield, Pennsylvania incident." The anchorman stated, urging Liz to turn up the volume.

"Reports of riots and mass murderers have been going on for a little over two weeks in the city of Fairfield, and now journalists are telling us that this madness has spread all over the state."

"I know this is a messed up thing to say, but I'm glad that we live in South Carolina." Liz's death glare urged him to shut up.

"The Military has set up blockades all around the state and helicopters roam the skies searching for survivors. Virologist experts are telling us that this mass psychosis is a result of a virus, a pathogen. People have been calling it the Green Flu, aptly named for how quickly it has spread and the greenish fluids it's victims regurgitate."

Liz made a face. "That doesn't sound good."

The anchorman went on. "We have here the University Of Miami's Professor Cindy Andreansky to tell us more about the virus."

The camera paned out, revealing the curly blonde haired glasses wearing Professor in a white lab coat. She smiled in politeness.

"Hi, Tom, it's great to be here."

The anchorman shook her hand. "Now, Professor Andreansky, what information can you give us on the Green Flu?"

"Well Tom," The Professor began, her face turning serious. "the CEDA Organization are the ones who have given it the name 'Green Flu', and let me tell you all that this is definitely NOT a flu."

Liz scoffed. "I figured CEDA was lying, their majority Republican."

"Have you done any studies on the actual virus itself?" The anchorman asked.

"Don't need to. Just by observing the victims of the disease on video one can immediately throw the H1N1 virus out the window." The Professor sighed tiredly and her voice grew more grave. "I have with me…some footage of the horrible things that are presently happening in Pennsylvania. It was recorded from a journalist helicopter just before…it was forced to retreat. If you have any younger viewers present…I suggest that you usher them out of the room, and if you fall ill at the sight of blood…I suggest you change the channel. This footage is not for the light hearted."

A 'Viewers Discretion Is Advised' warning popped up on the T.V screen, and after a minute it was replaced by rooftops and empty streets.

"I don't see anyone, Alexia, the streets are completely empty!" A male voice boomed out. "It's like everyone disappeared all at the same time…"

The camera zoomed in on the empty streets, it's insanely high definition now clearly capturing the abandoned cars and numerous bodies lying on the roads.

"My God…" A young female voice said hoarsely. "There's bodies everywhere…a-and look at all the blood!"

Liz's eyes were wide and her hand was covering her mouth in pure shock and horror. "Obi…"

Obi turned off the faucet and sat at the table, watching the footage with his lover with growing terror in his wide eyes.

The camera captured everything. The bodies of the young and the old. The men and the women.

Even the children.

The door to a building to the right of a pile of bodies suddenly exploded outwards, revealing a young African American female that probably wasn't even in her twenties bolting out of the darkness. The top portion of her long flowing hair was raven black but dyed red the rest of the way down. She wore a black tank top that showed off her belly, a jacket tied to her waste, dark blue skinny jeans, and black and white sneakers. She clutched what looked like a battle whip in her hand as she sprinted down the corpse filled streets. The camera was able to perfectly capture her blood stained face and it's expression of desperation and terror. Two women and two men suddenly dashed out of the building the girl emerged from.

You could immediately tell that something was horribly wrong with them. Their movements were inhumanly spastic. Their bodies twitched and their heads jerked. You could see the bile and blood dribbling from their mouths, and their eyes…

Their irises were a dull gray, as if they were completely soulless and dead.

"Get lower towards the ground!" The woman in the helicopter demanded.

"Alexia, are you sure that's such a good idea-"

"Cole Andrews, I am not going to sit here and watch someone be killed right before my eyes!"

Cole growled in frustration but said with more than a hint of fear: "Lana, Dave…bring the chopper down!"

A feminine voice that sounded as if it was over a headset responded fearfully. "Cole, I don't think that's such a good idea. We could get killed, or worse, infected!"

"I'm with Lana," a male voice spoke out. "I've heard that if ya get one bite, one scratch, even ONE drop of infected blood on ya…you're done for!"

The homicidal maniacs were gaining on the half redheaded African Goddess, their movements becoming more excited and spastic. They moved like a person whose body was surging with adrenaline and hopped up on drugs.

The woman whose name was Alexia popped up on the screen. Her deep brown eyes were narrowed and her thin lips were twisted into a snarl. Her raven crimson striped hair flowed in the gale like whirlwind caused by the helicopter's rotating blades. "Svetlana, David" She roared into Cole's now bent up headset. "Just bloody do it! They're going to kill her!"

Alexia moved her head away from the lens, the camera focusing back on the young black woman.

She hopped over the hoods of the numerous cars and weaved through them. If she were in a wide open field with no obstacles, she would have long since been caught. The Infected moved with superhuman speed, and judging by how easily one of the women tossed what had to be a 200 pound lawn mower into the air, they had superhuman strength too. The only thing that was saving the girl were the Infected's lack of fine motor agility.

But the African Goddess was tiring, and the Infected didn't even seem winded.

As the chopper descended, one could hear the girl's cries.

"Devin, Indie, Charlie, Chloe, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS!" The young teen screamed out.

"Chloe?" Alexia uttered the name with wonderment and joy. "Cole, she knows Chloe! She could be here! Hey down there!" Alexia screamed at the top of her lungs. "We're gonna pick you up, we're gonna get you to safety!"

The half redhead looked up at the descending helicopter as she ran, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"NO YOU IDIOTS!" The girl screamed out between breaths. "NOT HERE! DON'T LAND HERE!"

The journalist group either didn't hear her or ignored her, for they continued to descend.

"Damn it!" The African beauty swore. "Devin, Indie, Charlie, Chloe, BRING YOUR ASSES!" She screamed. Her rage and terror surged through her voice, urging on the crazed Infected. The chopper was merely a couple of feet from the ground, Alexia extended a hand out to grab the girl. She sprinted for the chopper, her hand outstretched.

"I said don't land here-"

She was silenced as an Infected man tackled her to the ground. As he began to strangle her, he began to shower her in a sickly dark green vomit.

"What the hell!" Cole bellowed. He dropped the camera, giving viewers a shot of the floor and feet, but the audio was still working perfectly.

Liz flinched at the sound of gunfire.

Guttural screams of hatred and rage rang through the air, melding with the journalists' terrified ones. The guttural hissing noises of the Infected sounded closer than ever before. To close to be outside.

They were in the helicopter.

"Get off me, get off me! COLE, HELP!" Alexia shrieked, she sounded on the verge of tears.

"ALEXIA!"

Blood spattered on the camera lens.

"What the fuck." Obi muttered in horror.

"Why won't they go down? WHY WON'T THEY FUCKING GO DOWN!" Cole screamed in panic, gunshots still blazing in the background.

"Aim for the fucking head!" The half redhead's voice shouted out.

Gunshots continued to blaze, but they were suddenly deafened by numerous guttural screams of pure hatred and rage that came from everywhere at once.

"Aw shit, they're coming!" The African Goddess bellowed. "We have to get out of here!"

Both Obi and Liz flinched at an agonizing scream.

"C-Cole I-I c-can't m-move… M-my leg! IT HURTS, IT HURTS! MAKE IT STOP!" It was Alexia's shrill voice. She was wounded.

"Lana, get the hell out here with a med kit!" Cole hollered into his headset.

"But Cole, she was bitten-"

"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT! GET THE FUCK OUT HERE!"

A flash of converse sneakers appeared on the screen, echoed closely by an exerting grunt.

Liz blinked, the horror in her eyes growing by the second. "Did she just getout of the chopper?" She asked above a whisper.

"The maniacs must have dragged the Alexia girl outside." Obi theorized. "That's why that Cole guy jumped out."

"Cole," The woman named Lana started. "we need to get the fuck out of dodge. Even if I can stop the bleeding, she's still Infected-"

"I'M NOT LEAVING HER!" Came Cole's defiant reply. Though you couldn't see him, one could imagine the terrified look on his face.

"Cole, if we don't leave her behind she's going to end up killing us all!"

"We need to get the fuck out of here!" Dave screamed from the chopper.

The sound of guttural panting and numerous footsteps began to grow louder and louder.

"Aw shit…" The half redhead uttered.

"GET ON THE FUCKING CHOPPER!" Dave yelled, his voice borderline hysteria.

The crackling of gunshots began again.

"IT HURTS, IT HURTS!" Alexia screamed and shrieked.

"COLE, LEAVE HER! SHE'S AS GOOD AS DEAD!" Lana screamed.

"GO TO HELL!" Cole bellowed.

A rumbling roar reverberated through the T.V speakers, causing Liz and even Obi to nearly jump across the room. It was deep, primal, animalistic.

Angry.

"FUCK THIS SHIT! FUCK THE STORY!" Dave howled. "I'M NOT DYING FOR YOUR ASSES!"

The camera shifted, giving viewers a shot of the ground below. Four filthy faces stared up at the ascending camera, three of them shocked, one indifferent.

The footage cut to static.

Liz and Obi sat there, their wide eyes still fixated on the T.V and their mouths open in shock.

"He left them…" Liz stated in a frightened whisper. "He really left them for dead."

The T.V cut back to the Professor and anchorman. The Professor had her head bowed and the anchorman's face was ashen white.

"W-when was this footage taken?" The anchorman asked, his voice shaken.

She stared grimly at the anchorman. "We received this footage just yesterday."

"Fuck." Obi said aloud.

"I've never seen anything like this before," The anchorman stated, regaining his bearings. "what is this thing? What kind of virus is this? I know rabies can make a person turn violent, but this…"

"This is something humans have never encountered before." The Professor began. "This is either a new mutation…or a genetically engineered super bug."

"What do you mean, Professor?"

"Well, viruses are constantly changing. It's why people go to get new flu shots every year. Viruses are always seeking ways to bypass their hosts' defenses and spread. You don't see many rabies outbreaks in North America because it honestly isn't that contagious. When a human is bitten by a rabid animal of some sort and contracts the virus, the cycle usually stops there. It could take years for rabies to incubate and take effect, and even after it does, the human host dies in less than a week."

"So if this isn't rabies or a flu," The anchorman began. "then what is it?"

The Professor gave him a grim look. "It seems like both. For a rabies virus to spread this fast, it would have to be airborne, which is how the influenza virus, a.k.a the flu, is spread. All rabies has to do is go airborne and you have…the rage virus like in the movie 28 Days Later. I know I might sound crazy comparing this situation to a movie, but that's basically what we have here."

The anchorman stared at her with horror in his eyes. "It's actually possible to fuse different viruses together?"

The Professor nodded. "It's possible, but extremely difficult. Imagine a scenario where you mix rabies with a flu virus to get airborne transmission, a measles virus to get personality changes, the encephalitis virus to cook your brain with fever-and thus increase aggression even further- and throw in the ebola virus to cause you to puke your guts out. Combine all these and you'll get something like what we have here."

"The victims of the virus exhibited a type of enhanced speed and strength," The anchorman started. "is it possible that a virus could increase it's hosts' physical abilities?"

"None that we know of," The Professor responded. "but it's possible that this virus has caused it's hosts' adrenal glands to pump adrenaline constantly. You've heard of people performing feats of hysterical strength, such as lifting cars, correct? This is all caused by adrenaline. Adrenaline increases every aspect of the human body. Sight, hearing, smelling, strength, speed, and the pain receptors are dulled. So, we basically have homicidal superhuman super contagious rabies patients who can ignore all physical wounds except for the most severe. You heard the girl on the video yell out 'shoot them in the head', right? That's because with adrenaline pumping through the nervous system, all nonfatal wounds can and will be ignored. The only way to pull the plug on these things before they pull the plug on you, is to remove the head or destroy the brain."

"Like a (BEEPING) zombie?" The anchorman said in disbelief.

The Professor smiled grimly. "Yes, like a zombie."

"Liz?" Obi called out. Liz's terrified blue eyes were glued to the T.V.

"…Yes?" She answered above a whisper.

"I'm going to head over to my dad's gun shop and get some guns later on. Is that okay with you?"

Normally Liz would have said no, but in this case: "Bring as many as he'll allow. I'll go to the grocery store and stock up."

Obi nodded. "That's a good idea." His cellphone started to ring, and he dove a hand in his pocket. Liz glanced at him.

"Who is that?"

Obi looked at the caller I.D. "It's my mom, hold on a sec."

He flipped the phone open. "Hey mom…wait, what?"

Liz slowly stood from the table.

"Mom, calm down and talk slowly…. Take it from the top."

Liz wondered what the hell was going on. Obi's face suddenly turned from a confused look to enraged.

"He did WHAT!" He bellowed, causing Liz to jump. "Why the hell would he go…. For that? Figures. Mom…I'll figure something out." Obi closed and pocketed his phone, turning to Liz with a grim look on his face.

"W-what happened?" She stuttered out.

"You know my brother, Shaun?"

Liz rolled her eyes. "The one who tried to hit on me?"

That caused Obi to smiled softly, but the smile quickly disappeared. "Yeah…well, he's in Pennsylvania."

AN: Characters mentioned and featured in the video recording belong to Rockubyebaby, Apocalypse Survivor, Espadalover, I'm A Lover Not A Hater, Saxvalent Plight Of The Light, Annomis1117 and Chris 'Stryker' Andrews. Theses characters will be playing a VERY important role in the story and I hope that their personalities are realistic enough. I'm sorry that I've taken so long with this promised story and I know that I painted a very different picture to you all, but I figured this seemed more realistic. Anyway, the info on the viruses is from National Geographic 'Flu-Rabies Hybrid.' Its very scary yet very cool stuff. Till next time! ~Dreamscape1993~