The Virus

Ronda awoke with a pounding headache. Moaning, she rolled over and buried her face in the pillow. She couldn't believe her luck. Today was the day of her six-month performance review at work. She sat up slowly, and squinted at the alarm clock. 6:00. She had two hours to get ready and rid herself of what was quickly becoming a full-blown migraine.

Stumbling to the bathroom, she rummaged in the medicine cabinet until she found her Excedrin. Popping three tablets and washing them down with a Dixie cup of water from the sink, she criticized herself in the mirror.

Great, I look like death warmed over.

With a sigh, she stripped out of her mint green teddy and stepped into the shower stall. The hot water felt fantastic and she stayed in much longer than she normally would. As the water started to cool, she turned it off and stepped out onto the bathmat to towel off.

The Excedrin kicked in as she sipped her morning coffee and at 7:30 she drove the ten blocks to her office on Main Street.

"Congratulations, Ronda. You've proved yourself to be a valuable member of the team. I'm promoting you to the lab."
"Thank you, Mr. Rodriguez!" Ronda beamed. She loved her job at Rodriguez Pharmaceuticals. They had started her in the office as a receptionist, but her major had been in chemistry and pharmacology. She was thrilled to finally be able to work in the lab. She just knew she could make a valuable contribution.

"Check in with Lois. She'll show you where you'll be working and explain the rules."

The day went by quickly. Ronda learned how to prepare various medications and properly package them. She finished her daily tasks early and went to look for Lois, hoping she'd give her something more to do before it was time to clock out and go home.

No one paid any attention to her until she tried to open the locked door on the far side of the room. An alarm sounded.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lois snapped from behind her.
"Oh! I'm sorry. I was looking for you. I'm done and..."
"Well, you can't be going near this door. You don't have proper clearance. Can't you read the sign?" Lois looked extremely angry.

Ronda hadn't noticed the sign, but sure enough, it was right there on the door.

Authorized Personnel Only. Protective gear MUST be worn at all times!!

"What do we make in there?"
"That's none of your concern," Lois snapped. "Go make sure your paperwork is in order."

Ronda blinked back tears, but did as she was told. Great job, stupid. They'll probably demote you now.

The next morning, Ronda awoke with a headache again. Job stress, she thought. Nothing to worry about.

That day at work she did her job and stayed far away from the locked door. She was afraid that if she got in trouble again they would send her back to work in the office. She tried not to think about what might be in that room. Curiosity killed the cat.

"Where's Lois?" Ronda asked one of the other women who worked at a nearby counter.
"She called in sick. Migraine I guess."

Ronda glanced over at the locked door. It looked so sinister now. She knew she was being foolish, but it bothered her. Why couldn't anyone go in there? Why did they need protective gear? What was going on in this place?

She dropped a tray of Lithium Carbonate on the floor. "Shit!" It took her about ten minutes to find all of the pills and pick them up. She had just stood back up when Mr. Rodriguez entered the room.

"Ronda, could I speak with you a moment?" his voice was stern.
"Yes, sir." Her knees started to shake as she followed him to his office.
"Lois tells me you were trying to get into Lab 21."
"No sir, I was just looking for her, to find out what else she wanted me to do. I didn't mean to try to get in. Honest!"
"Very well. I'll let it go this time. We have to be very careful who goes in there. Corporate espionage is rampant in this country. If our competitors found out what we were doing... Well, no matter. Just stay away from Lab 21."
"Yes, sir."

That afternoon, her headache returned with a vengeance. Throbbing and pounding, light hurting her eyes, her stomach rolling. Ronda leaned against her workstation and moaned.

"Are you ok, honey?" an older woman was standing beside her, feeling her forehead. "My goodness, you're burning up! You'd better see the nurse."
"Ok," Ronda moaned softly and crumpled to the ground.

When she awoke she found herself in a strange room. It looked kind of like a hospital room, but it was too quiet to be a hospital. She found a call button and pushed it.

"Feeling better, Ronda?" a woman in a nurse's uniform stood over her.
"No, I feel horrible. My head still hurts, my stomach hurts. What happened?"
"You seem to have picked up a virus, dear. Don't worry. We'll take good care of you."
"Where am I?"
"You're in the medical building."
"Shouldn't I be in a hospital?"
"No, no. It's not that serious dear. You just fainted. The company has three nurses and a doctor on staff at all times. You'll be just fine. You rest now."

Ronda dozed off. When she woke up again, it was dark. All was quiet. She tried to get out of bed, but couldn't. Her arms and legs wouldn't move! She began to panic. Oh my God, I'm paralyzed! Then she felt the straps.

"Nurse!" she screamed. "Nurse!"
The woman came running in. "What's wrong?"
"Why am I tied down?" Ronda yelled. "What the hell is going on here?"
"Shhh, shhh. It's ok, dear. You had a seizure. We strapped you down so you wouldn't hurt yourself."
"Seizure? I've never had seizures," Ronda said, suspiciously.
"Your fever peaked at 106 degrees. We assume that's what caused the seizure. Don't worry. As soon as your temperature drops back below 102 we'll unstrap you."

Ronda cried softly after the nurse left. She had to get out of this crazy place. But how? She was strapped to the bed and didn't even know which building she was really in. Something was very wrong with this place. She wished she'd never applied, never been promoted.

She slept fitfully that night. Strange dreams haunted her. She dreamt that men in white coats were chasing her. They wanted to give her something. They all had long needles and they were laughing as they chased her all over the building.

She awoke in a cold sweat. Shivering, she tried to pull the covers up, but couldn't reach them.
"Nurse!"
"What now?" the nurse was irritable. "I have other patients to tend to, you know."
"Please unstrap me. I won't go anywhere."
"Fine, whatever. If it will make you stop bothering me." The nurse unstrapped her and stomped out of the room.

Ronda stood up and nearly fell over. Her head felt like it was full of sawdust. Her stomach was still nauseated. What was wrong with her? She was very frightened.

She snuck out into the long hallway. Lights were on in a few of the rooms. She could hear two nurses talking in low voices in the first room. She edged closer and was shocked by what she heard.

"It's getting worse, Lucille. I don't know if they'll be able to stop it from spreading."
"They should have warned us. We've been exposed already. They'll never let any of us leave."
"All of the employees. How are they going to keep this a secret? People will notice they're not coming home."
"Most of them have no family. That's why he hired them. Still, you're right, someone will get suspicious."
"Do you think they caught it in time? Or did it already spread to the outside?"
"How the hell should I know? No sense worrying now. Let's get back to work. Mustn't let the patients suspect."

Ronda shuddered. She quickly slipped back into her room and laid down on the bed. What did she have? What had they done? She had never felt more frightened in her life.

That night, Ronda's fever spiked to 108.8 degrees. She had a grand mal seizure and died.

The next day, twenty-four more employees of Rodriguez died as well, including the two nurses.

By the time the government realized what was going on, it was too late. It had spread outside the walls of the pharmaceutical company. No one was sure what kind of virus it was, only that it was very efficient at its job. 100% fatality rate. 100% communicability.

The army denied knowledge, but everyone knew that they had funded the research. It didn't really matter anymore, anyway. Within two weeks, the world was dead.

1500 words