Chapter 10

The germs I had recruited for my job were…disappointing to say the least. They lacked brains and brawn, but at least they were all desperate. I'd had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find these germs- those ready and willing to do anything to make a quick buck. I had the obvious adrenaline junkies and pan handlers sitting around the table, twitching at every imagined noise or infecting the room with their odors. With a deep breath, I pushed my dreads back before facing them.

"Alright. Listen up. You're not what I had in mind when it came to getting the job done, but we will get it done. Capiche?" I started.

"What is the job exactly?" one panhandler asked in a gravelly voice.

"Y-yeah. A-and how much does it pay?" a germ stuttered while twitching violently.

I rolled my eyes. All these single-celled germs were so…small-minded. They only cared about the next gig and getting paid. Does no body care about the kill anymore? Would all the real infections please stand up?

"The job is Mary Beth and her…unfortunate demise," I replied with a grin. As I paced the room, I made sure to make eye contact with every germ sitting at the round table. "Lucky for you cats, you get to work with a real professional. I'm going all the way to the top at the same time that Mary Beth will be dragged down to rock bottom. Then, I'm taking this show on the road."

"So, wait… There ain't any pay?"

Is it possible for a virus to commit apoptosis? I was sure as spit about to try. Before I could make a violent mess all over the room, the door swung open and a light voice started humming. I grinned widely. Fever. "That you, baby?" I called out.

I heard Kat hum as she entered the room and shut the door behind her. Once again, she commanded the attention of every germ in the room, effectively stealing it away from me. She strutted towards me, ignoring the leering looks aimed at her. When she stood in front of me, she lifted a large, brown paper bag into my line of sight and a newspaper.

"Thank you, baby," I said as I took them from her and took my seat at the head of the table. Not bothering to remove her large coat, Kat took a seat on the edge of the table next to me. "New dress?" I asked idly as I sorted through the contents of the bag. I couldn't care less about what Kat did with her share of the goods. But asking made her feel good and a Kat in a good mood was easier to work with.

"Oh! You noticed, Thrax? It's nothing special. But you have to admit, I know how to make it look good," she said and shrugged her shoulders out of her black coat to expose the top of her backless, gold dress.

"You sure do, baby," I responded while pulling a watch from the bag to examine it. It was a nice piece. Would look real nice on my wrist. When I turned it over and spotted familiar, cytoplasm stains, I smirked. Would I find anymore of the owner in this bag?

"I think you look amazin'," one of the germs said in the loudest whisper I'd ever heard.

Instantly, my yellow eyes flashed as I zeroed in on where the sound had come from. My membrane crawled as my cytoplasm boiled within me. Quick as a whip, I chucked the watch in my hand at the head of the germ still leering at Kat. I hadn't noticed that I'd managed to heat up the watch and leave it glowing an angry red. The cretin cried out in pain with the watch hit his membrane before falling backward and sprawling out on the floor. I could hear his groans with a few sniffs and sobs mixed in.

Slowly straightening out with a deep breath, I started to move toward the fool. "I'm not unreasonable. You can't get sometin' for nothin'," I said and pulled a thick roll of bills and held it up in my hand. "You want pay. It's a reasonable request. So, Big Daddy Thrax is gonna provide."

When he looked up at me looming over him, the germ on the floor whimpered a bit before scrambling off the floor. He watched me with wide, fearful eyes and I responded with a wide grin. I picked the watch up from the floor and examined it. "Still tickin'. Your head's not as thick as it looks," I said and pushed the watch into his chest and knocked the wind out of him.

"No, B-boss," the germ wheezed and hung his head.

I smirked. "And my girl Kat here was nice enough to bring home more than enough to cover your fees and then some," I said and gestured to Kat. She turned slightly to look over her shoulder at the germs present and gave them all a wink. One by one, I pulled out rolls of bills and tossed them around the room. Every germ had weary eyes on me, waiting for the other shoe to drop. They obviously don't know me. I'm an understanding virus.

Reclaiming my seat, I held up the newspaper for everyone to see the headline.

NEW ANTIBIOTICS MEDICATIONS WAGE WAR ON COLON BACTERIA

"As you can see, Mary Beth decided to visit the doc before her trip to Detroit, Motown. This is perfect for us. These antibiotic stooges will wipe out every bacteria in this body and leave behind a playground for us viruses," I said and leaned back in my chair. "With the niche open, we're gonna take advantage. I've wasted enough time as it is. I've got three days to take this city down so listen up for your jobs. Go in groups of three and cause as much trouble as you can along the respiratory tract. Got it?"

"Yeah, Boss."

Once again, I got up from my seat to pace around the table. "This has to look coordinated. Runny nose, sore throat, sneezing, coughing-"

"That sounds like a cold though, Boss."

I let my eyes slide over to the germ who had actually raised his hand. He froze up on the spot and lowered his arm. "Exactly. While Immunity is busy getting ready to fight off a cold, I can make my move. And with all the noise we make, it'll be easy to escape in a cough. Any questions?" I asked and stopped.

Eleven sets of eyes looked at each other before staring at the unfortunate germ in front of me. I let my hands rest on his shoulders and could feel him tense as he gripped the watch tightly in his hands. "You got all that, Artie?" I asked.

"Y-yeah, Boss. But my name's not Artie," he replied.

"You sure? You looked like an Artie to me."

"It's Zoster."

"Zoster?" I asked in my most soothing tone. "You from the Varicella family?"

I could feel him slowly starting to relax under my light grip. He looked back at me with a hesitant expression on his face. I could see the spot on his membrane that was slowly oozing cytoplasm from my attack earlier. I nearly chuckled. Oops. Guess I was too harsh on the cat.

"Y-yeah. On my mom's side."

"Oh, word? That's real nice," I said and squeezed at his shoulders. I could feel everyone's eyes on me. From across the room, I made eye contact with Kat. She raised a brow at me before moving over to sit in my chair and make herself comfortable. She crossed a leg over the other and folded her hands in her lap and a smirk on her face. With a vicious sneer, I heat up my claw and swiped it across Artie's throat in one swift motion.

"Holy Mary!" a panhandler shouted.

"Spit!" another shouted.

They all had sprung up from their chairs and were watching me with fearful expressions. I ignored their looks before walking back over to my seat. Kat hadn't moved an inch.

"If anyone wants Artie's share, you're more than welcome to take it. I don't think he'll be needing to tell the time anymore."

~:~

With my stooges out and about causing havoc in Mary Beth, my plans were running smoothly and right on time. I could kiss Mary Beth for her help cleaning up the streets of this city. The dam in the nose had ruptured and Mary Beth had a runny nose for hours. A shootout in her lungs had left six of my men dead but had caused enough coughing to aggravate her throat. I could probably hit the hypothalamus sooner than planned. As a matter of fact…

"Why are you up, Thrax? Mary Beth isn't even up yet," Kat pointed out as she rolled over on the bed to face me. She rested a small hand on my chest while wriggling closer to me.

"Just plotting, baby. Go back to sleep," I said and took her hand to kiss her wrist.

"Plotting, huh?" she asked before sitting up and moving over to straddle my hips. I raised a brow as I stared up at her and put my hands behind my head. I stared up at Kat who was presenting quite the picture of sex appeal. Her tousled hair hanging over one shoulder and her full, red lips, were already more than enough to drive a cell wild. It didn't hurt that she was only in her undergarments. "You better be careful. Your goons look ready to run out on you and save their own membranes."

"More Arties, huh? Not surprising. Some people just can't hang," I said with a chuckle and closed my eyes.

"Not like me, Thrax?"

I felt her shift and opened my eyes again. She was leaning over me now with a new light in her eyes. I noticed one of the straps of her bra had fallen off her shoulder. I almost believed that she was doing this on purpose. No one could be this good. "No, baby. Not like you. Why don't you tell ole' Thrax what's got you in a mood."

She huffed softly before sitting back on my hips again. "You gave away all my hard-earned cash to those lowlifes. I was gonna get my nails and hair done today."

My eyes moved over her hair. It looked fine to me. I raised a hand to run my fingers through it, feeling the strands slide through like silk. More than fine… I lifted her hand to examine her nails. Her hand was tiny in mine. Soft, too. But I knew just how rough these hands could get…

"Why don't you shelve those plans, baby? Spend the day with me instead?" I asked and pulled her towards me.

I caught her by surprise. She fell onto my bare chest with a soft 'oof' before looking me in the eye. "What's up with you? This is new."

"What are you talking about, baby? You don't like being around Big Daddy Thrax no more?"

"Not that, Thrax. I meant this," she said and ground her hips down onto mine. I hissed softly. She raised a brow at me. "I didn't think you cared about stuff like this," she said with a smirk.

I'd done a decent job of ignoring Kat's unintentional seduction for this long. It'd been easy. There was always the next human, the next body to take down. Saving my own skin and procuring my fame were my only concerns. But things were getting easier now. There was time for other, more distracting thoughts. I grimaced.

This could go one of two ways. I could push Kat off me, get dressed and ignore that this had even happened. It wouldn't be hard. I'm the deadliest virus known to man. I have one goal and one goal only. I could walk away from this now with no consequence. Kat would understand. She probably wouldn't care or take offense to my rejection.

Or…

"Do you know what happens when I'm with other cells, Thrax?" she asked me as he leaned over me again to bury her face in my neck. I stared at the ceiling motionless.

"You're going to tell me about how you treat other cats in bed while trying to seduce me?" I asked her skeptically. She ignored me.

"They don't make it through the night," she whispered in my ear. "I can't get too close to another cell without infecting them the way you did me. But I'm not good at controlling it like you, Thrax. I always end up making a mess."

I couldn't help it. I shivered underneath her. "Some white blood cell you turned out to be," I muttered into her hair. I could feel her lips on my neck as one of her hands buried itself in my dreads.

"You and I both know that I'm not innocent."

"You sayin' that's my fault, baby?" I asked as my hands found their way to her hips. I hadn't decided if I was gonna push her off or not.

"Hardly. I was like this before I met you. I just like that I don't have to hide it from you," she said and leaned back to look me in the eye. Her hand cupped my cheek and her thumb rubbed along my lower lip. The way she stared at me, I could see lust, trust, and even admiration. I refused to believe it was love.

This was important. What I did next was going to change things in the future. Nothing was going to stop me from taking down Mary Beth, the next human, and the next one after that. But at times like these when my plans and schemes didn't need my full attention… My lips parted slightly and she slipped her finger in my mouth. The smug look in her eyes told me that she thought that she had me. My eyes narrowed as I bit down on the appendage. She cursed loudly and pulled her hand away from my face with a glare. I gripped her hips before throwing her off and onto the empty space on the mattress. "Thrax-" she started, but I covered her mouth with my hand as I loomed over her.

"Shhhh, baby. Just let Big Daddy Thrax take care of you," I grinned.