Chapter 1

Gaining notoriety was a lot harder than you'd think. Viruses only care about who you know, whose strain you came from- that's sort of jazz. As you know, my pops was a nobody scrambling to stay alive- worthless to most. My mama's side at least had some credibility. Riding the family coattails for all they were worth, I made my way around different viral family circles.

It was humiliating relying on other viruses appease that unquenchable part of me that thirsted for murder. I'm a virus. My only job is to kill. And there's nothing I love more than watching a city go up in flames thanks to my handiwork. Not some lazy, fat cat who-

"Boy! Are you listening?"

I resisted the urge to roll my yellow eyes. Slowly, I looked away from the wall I had been glaring at to stare at the virus sitting at the head of the table. I was currently sitting with a Rabies family. They'd been kind enough to take me under their wing and show me how the game works. Every member of the family was glaring heavily at me now, their faces fixed in frustration. I smirked before pulling myself up in my seat to sit at attention. "I'm listenin', Lyse," I soothed in my most charismatic tone.

Lyse had been head of the Verde family for several years now. He was a balding, stout virus in a cheap, green suit. It looked like most of the dark green hair on his head had moved down to his upper lip. Like the rest of his family, he had a sickly green tone in his membrane. I'd never thought about it before, but after meeting these cats, I started getting real fond of my red skin.

Members of this rabies strain had a strong foothold in almost every rodent in the area. There were a few other strains trying to overthrow the status quo and the Verde's family altogether.

"Good. I don't keep you around just so you can fool around. I'm teachin' ya the ropes," Lyse said before rising slowly to pace around the long, round table slowly. His hand pat the shoulder of each male virus he passed while he continued to talk. "The Viola family thinks that they can just intrude on the family turf and everything will be all hunky dory. It's time that we put them in their places."

While the others started mumblin' and grumblin' in agreement, I stared at my long, red claw in fascination. Such a deadly weapon. Then again, everything about me was deadly. I smirked.

"Thrax, you'll go with Bruno. Don't screw this up," Lyse said and pointed a stubby, sausage finger at me. I gave him an uninterested stare. Like I really cared about family control over a bunch of rodents. I could be making a name for myself in the big leagues. No one gave a spit about rodent viruses.

"Lyse, remind me. How long have I been here?" I questioned while turning my hand around to admire my greatest weapon from all sides.

Lyse was stumped. Everyone else in the room looked around at each other with sighs and rolls of their eyes. To them, I was a bit of a scatterbrain- never focused on the "ultimate" goal of rodent domination. "Six months and don't forget it. Now, can I count on you to back Bruno up?" Lyse repeated. Bruno was easily the real muscle of the family. He was a bulky fool with nothing more than his brawn going for him. It was astounding how much he actually looked like a gorilla (mutant viral recombination?).

"No problem, Lyse. I'll get it done," I smirked. Lyse nodded before moving on with assigning jobs. Six months, huh? I frowned deeply. I'm the perfect killer. I'm not meant to incubate. And I sure as spit wasn't meant to incubate in a rat. It was time for a change of scenery.

~:~

I truly was the perfect killer. I was a genetic cross between two of the best killers in history- a virus capable of travelling and living without a host and a bacterium with some of the deadliest genes available to bacterial kind. I was meant for more than hiding out in rodent. If I was gonna make my move and break out of this rut of a life, I would need to act fast and smart.

I walked behind Bruno slowly with several others following behind. Our matching green suits signaled to any cell who spotted us that we were not to be interfered with. I held back a grimace. I'll always hate the color green. I'm sure of it.

We were headed out on our assignment. Lyse expected us to take care of the head of the Viola family and his relations. We'd gotten hold of valuable information on the Viola family's whereabouts. They'd been struggling to maintain their growing army of rodent hosts. They'd had to make cut backs and were all cooped up in one rat licking their proverbial wounds. Now was the best time to strike.

Bruno and I were easily Lyse's lead guys. He'd always count on us to handle to big jobs. Bruno because he was some serious muscle and me because… Well, I'm me. I wasn't just deadly to cells. I could take down any virus if I put my mind to it. Lyse was lucky to have me. But not for long.

"The boss expects us back once the job is done. Don't waste time. Knock out these fools and get back," Bruno said in his deep, slow voice. I rolled my eyes at him before walking ahead. "Thrax, stick to me."

"Whatever you say, Big Man," I chuckled and continued on. I could hear him exhale loudly behind me, but he eventually caught up to me. We were in the rat's spinal cord headed up towards the brain now. It was a few more seconds before I could hear the telltale sounds of fighting and gunfire. "Looks like the party's getting started."

"Let's get moving," Bruno grunted.

With Bruno's muscle, I only had to stand back and watch him plow through Viola family members as if they were nothing. He would be a good workhorse for when I got out of this life, but I couldn't trust him. Bruno isn't smart, but he is loyal to Lyse and his family. He'd rather take me down than aid in my goals. It's not like I need the help anyways. I would make history alone.

After Bruno took down the last of guards outside the mayor's office, I pushed the door open with a wide smirk. Shaking behind the desk was a lean, young virus in a navy suit. "You know, when I picture the professional head of the Viola family, I was pictured more," I taunted while examining my claw. I started to heat up the appendage.

"Don't do this. You're not like them. Just let me go and we can work together. I can recognize potential. We can work together as partners," Victor Viola bargained for his life.

"Partners?" I questioned in my sweetest tone. Even then, it still left Vic trembling. I chuckled lowly before approaching him, my claw glowing brightly. "Sorry, Vic. I work alone."

I'll never get tired of the rush I get after a kill. I don't get to do it as often as I'd like, but the feelings never fade. Killing another virus was always difficult. I could only attack them in the head, directly on the genetic material. Destroy that and they were gonners. I stepped back from the boiling, red mess formerly known as Victor Viola.

"Alright, let's go," Bruno grunted from his place by the door. I smirked and turned to follow him out. In the long run, I wasn't going to miss the gorilla. Packing as much heat into my claw as I could, I pierced the back of the gorilla's skull and watched him stumble and fall. He made several groaning noises before they faded into gurgles and he too boiled away. With a smirk, I stepped over him and moved towards the hypothalamus.

Lyse wasn't going to let me go easily. I was the best man he had. I'd have to make my own way out. What better way than to knock out most of the family in one fiery blaze? "It's time to turn up the heat," I chuckled as I broke into the hypothalamus. The scientists monitoring the rat's body temperature froze up at the sight of me, but I smiled at them in return. "You're being discharged, friends. I'll take over from here," I said before posing a claw to strike. They screamed in terror, but their screams were cut short by my claw slicing through their membranes.

Looking up at the DNA turning before me, I chuckled again. "You are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," I said before reaching in towards the genetic code. I could spot the portion of the DNA responsible for temperature control easily enough. It stood out in the sequence like a beacon. Plucking it from the strand, I admired it for several seconds before watching the helix twist and morph out of shape. I tsked at the sight before turning to leave. I could easily tolerate the heat, but that didn't mean that I wanted to be here when things went up in smoke.

"Freedom's never tasted so good," I mused as I made my way towards the rat's outer ear. I could go wherever I wanted. I probably should go back to Lyse one more time. I would need to finish the job. "Then again, what's Lyse got going for him? Most of his strain's about to go up in flames," I chuckled while shrugging out of the green jacket and tossing it away behind me. I'll need some new clothes. I'm done wearing green.