"The disease has been spreading for over a couple of weeks now, but they still haven't found a vaccine yet. Let's bring it over to Rick at the Capitol Building."

A pause.

"Thanks, Jeff. Now I'm here at the Capitol Building where the streets are just completely deserted. The street lights are just broken and lying on the street and I-" There was a noise. "What was that?" The camera turned to a corner in the street. "Oh my goodness, this just in, a kid, I repeat a kid, has just been found in the corner of the street by the Capitol Building. He looks terrified, and let's go see if he's alright." The camera got closer to the small child as they walked toward him. "Son, are you alright?" He held out his hand. "C'mon, lets get you somewhere safe." The kid looked at the hand and then looked up to the news reporter. And suddenly, he jumped up from where he was standing and began pounding the news reporter. And then, the child began eating him alive. "Ah, ah ahhh! Get him off! Get him the hell off!" The camera man was terrified. He began running back to the car. "No, don't go! Don't go! Please, help me! Ahhh!"

The camera man didn't risk looking back as he stumbled into the car. He then realized the keys were with Rick. "Dammit." He locked the doors and sat there, looking at the windows for any sign of the kid. When he realized he was gone, he decided to go back outside. As he got out, he heard a growl. He gulped. "Is. . . Is anyone there?" Another growl. Time to go back in. He grabbed the handle and pulled. He then realized he had locked himself out. "No... no, open, dammit!" He looked back and saw the kid walking toward him. "Open, please!" But he knew it wouldn't open. He was doomed. He screamed as the kid reached him and the whole time the camera was on the ground, filming everything.

Disease

1

Two months earlier

"So tell us what you have been working on, Dr. Martin."

"Well, what I've been working on is a cure to cerebral hypoxia without having to go through the restoration of the disease. The brain cells are very sensitive, so once they start getting less oxygen, they start dying, and then the brain starts dying itself, and then. . . well, you can guess what happens next."

"Sorry to interrupt, but tell us about this 'cerebral hypocksia'."

"Hypoxia."

"Right."

"Well, cerebral hypoxia is a lack of oxygen to the brain, and usually happens during birth. If not, the adults will be given oxygen to the brain. In babies that are starved of oxygen during birth it is proven that hypothermia therapy for neonatal encephalopathy applied within six hours of cerebral hypoxia effectively improves survival and neurological outcome. But, of course, everyone knows that."

"Uh, right."

"Anyways, I have come up with a vaccine so that adults will not have to go through the long restoration of cure. And it is called CHC."

"CHC?"

"Cerebral Hypoxia Cure."

"Oh, right."

"I'm. . . I'm sorry, but am I boring you?"

"No, Doctor, not at all."

"I am, aren't I? Forgive me, I get rather excited when I get to tell people this."

"No, it's perfectly fine."

Cody Martin, famous scientist, sat in a room with an interviewer and a camera man. Cody Martin tried to act natural. But cameras always made him nervous.

"Let's go into your personal life a little bit, Dr. Martin. . . If that's okay with you."

"Of course."

"So, are you married?"

Dr. Martin looked at the interviewer with a shocked expression, as if he didn't know that question was going to be asked. "Uh. . . me and my wife are in sort of a. . . phase right now."

"What's that phase?"

"Well, uh. . . thoughts of divorce."

"Oh. . . forgive me, I didn't know-"

"That's quite alright. . . as you said, you didn't know."

There was ten awkward seconds of silence in the room. Thankfully, the silence was saved when the door opened. It was Dr. Martin's assistant, and he looked terrified. "Sir, there's been a spill! A spill! C'mon!" He ran out the door. Dr. Martin's face held no expression as he stood up, walked to the door, closed it, and locked it. Seconds later, a knocking sound. "Sir! Sir, open up! It's starting to. . . to. . ." There was more banging on the door, but a few ten seconds later, the banging stopped, and then. . . nothing. No sound. No screaming. It was as if the three- Dr. Martin, the interviewer, and the camera man- were the only people alive in the lab now.

…...

"What. . . Dr. Martin, what's going on?" the camera man asked.

"There's been a spill."

"Which means. . ."

"One of the tubes in the main lab contains a chemical reaction formula. Someone must've dropped that, broke the tube, and that formula must have spread into the air and across the lab, killing everybody."

"Oh, so. . . that liquid. . . what is it?"

"You know, Dale," he said to the camera man, "that's the one thing I don't know."

"What? What do you mean you don't know? This is your experiment, for Christ's sake!"

Silence again. This time a good twenty-five seconds. Then Brenda, the interviewer, broke the silence when a thought came to mind. "Wouldn't the formula go under the door too?"

Both men looked down at the opening space between the floor and the door. "Oh," Cody Martin said, "I didn't think of that."

Dale said, "Here, lets-"

"No time," Cody Martin interrupted. "It's probably spreading in the air right now as we speak. Quick, out the window!"

"We're on the fifth floor!" Brenda said.

Cody Martin cursed. "Climb out anyway!"

"Are you mad?"

"Yes! Now c'mon!" He opened the window, looked down at the street, and shivered. He had always been afraid of heights. He looked to Dale. "Uh. . . you first!"

Dale shook his head. "Uh-uh! Brenda goes first!"

"What?"

"Everybody in favor of Brenda going first?" Dale and Cody both raised their hand.

"Fine! But when we get down there, I'm going to kick both your asses!"

"I can deal with that," Dale said. Brenda looked down, shivered, and put her foot on the ledge. Next, much to the disappointment of Dale, Dale had to go second. Then, Cody was up. He looked down, and much to his shock, Brenda was on the sidewalk, smiling and waving. Dale was about half way down. If she can do it, I can, Cody thought. Keep that in mind when your five stories up. No, no! Think of it as going down a slide. A very tall, steep, stomach-grabbing slide. He gulped. He put his foot on the nearest ledge, and allowed his hands to grab the edge of the window. I can't do this. I'm going to throw up. And sure enough, much to the disgust of people watching, he blew chunks, watching it go all the way down to the sidewalk. Brenda ran like hell, Dale, luckily, made it to the ground just in time to join Brenda in running like hell, and the people watching shielded their eyes. When he was done, he fainted, dropping out of the window and to the sidewalk.

I hope you liked the first chapter of this comedy/drama. R/R. Next chapter is in a couple of days.