Don't expect anything normal from Wufei. He's crazy. But he's still my favorite! Raise your hand if you hate this site. All my reviews are gone.

Virus

Continued

7. Yin and Yang

          Wufei groaned in pain. He opened his eyes and watched his second eyelids flash out of his line of vision. 'Disgusting…' he thought, frowning. The first thing he could see was a shattered light fixture. The room was well lit, in fact brighter than he could have imagined it to be. But all the lights had been destroyed. More pain tore through his body as he sat up. He was surrounded by the scenes of a massacre. He leaned forward dizzily. 'I can't see…but just a moment ago…' Filthy black hair was hanging in his eyes but he didn't realize it for moment. When he did, he lifted a hand to run a finger through it and push it back. The hand stopped short. 'My fingernails… claws…' Truly his fingernails had become sharp, curved claws – blood stained claws. As he was staring at his newly formed claws he felt something drip from his chin. Fearing what it might have been, he hesitantly moved the hand to his chin then glanced at it. Fresh blood came off on his fingertips – but it was not his own. He became aware of a strange taste in his mouth.

          Wufei pinned the human to the floor. The screams were music to his ears. He laughed and when he closed his mouth there was flesh, blood… so much blood…it tasted so good…

          Wufei glanced down at the rest of his body. His once white pants were almost completely red with blood and his shirt was stained too but since it was of a dark color, the stain wasn't so noticeable. His arms were covered with the liquid…

          "What…" Wufei's voice was hoarse and trembling. "What did I do?" He regretted speaking immediately. The taste of the blood increased. It was sweet like sugar…like candy…it was good…too good. At that moment he went into mild shock. 'God…dirty…so dirty…filth…' Wufei spied a full water jug. He reached for it and with shaking hands unscrewed the lid. He ignored how soothing the water felt as he poured it over his head and scrubbed his face and arms mercilessly. 'So dirty…get it off, get it off…nasty, dirty…filthy…' Rumbling within his chest caused him to stop. He had begun to growl unconsciously. Silencing the noise, he tilted the bottle and sucked water into his mouth. He gargled and swished it around then spit it out.  Another sound made him cease his actions. It was breathing, shallow breathing. Sitting the bottle down, Wufei crawled weakly towards the noise. He reached a pile of twisted metal and fragments of other items. The pile moved. It rose slowly then fell and rose again. There was a person under it. Wufei pulled away the rubbish to see who it was. Emerald green eyes met his. A hand reached for a near by gun but didn't make it.

          "Trowa…"

          Trowa threw a punch. Wufei caught his hand. Trowa was flying through the air in seconds. He hit a wall…

          Wufei dragged Trowa out from under the rest of the scraps and laid him against a relatively clean wall. He limped over to the bottle of water and dragged it back to where Trowa sat. Trowa gave him a suspicious glance as he offered the water. 'I'm hurting people…what's happening to me?' Wufei thought to himself. His thought seemed to echo. Trowa's eyes widened slightly. Wufei was a little taken aback. 'Did he hear? No he couldn't have…'

          "Y-you don't…remember, do you?" Trowa asked.

          Wufei laughed at the injured soldier on the floor. He spoke. He was mocking him, insulting him…but his mouth, his throat…neither were moving…

          Wufei shook his head. Trowa's head rolled away from him and his eyes closed. A small smirk crossed his face. 'Almost killed me…doesn't even remember…' he thought. He coughed, blood splattering his skin and clothes. Wufei resisted the urge to sample the ruby red substance. He sat back, crossing his legs and folding his arms. Trowa turned back slightly.

          "Wufei?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

          "I won't pretend I don't know something's wrong…" Wufei said. "I have huge gaps in my memory…and my body is…" Wufei's eyes wandered to the floor. He noticed the claws on his feet.

          "Are you afraid?"

          "I don't know what I am anymore. A part of me wants to rip your head off…"

          "What about the other part?"

          "The other part wants to strangle you with your own intestines." Wufei looked up at Trowa suddenly. "I'm leaning towards that part…" Trowa started to stand.

          "Sit down. You're too weak to try to walk." Trowa ignored this statement and continued his efforts. However, Wufei proved to be correct; Trowa's injured muscles gave out and he slid back to the floor.

          "Where's Heero?" he asked. "I can't see anything…"

          "What do you mean you can't see anything? I can see perfectly fine. There's enough light."

          "You can see…in the dark…" Wufei's eyes widened. The eerie glow they gave off intensified. Trowa watched with mild interest as Wufei's pupils contracted into small slivers. 'Like a snake…' he observed. Wufei blinked and looked away. His pupils dilated back into a more or less round shape. 'Like a dragon…' he added onto his previous thought. Wufei's head rose sharply. He was looking for something. Still sore and limping, Wufei made his way to where Heero had pushed a piece of metal off of himself. The resulting sound had not been loud enough for even him to hear but Wufei's sensitive ears picked it up. Heero ran a hand through his messy bed of dark brown hair. He glanced up into two yellow eyes. A gun barrel was pressed into the soft flesh below Wufei's jaw in a split second, making him tilt his head back. Apparently, Heero had not been as badly injured as Trowa. Wufei's eyes narrowed. He growled deeply. Heero clicked the safety off.

          "Heero…" Trowa called weakly. "He's back…it's okay…" Heero glared at Wufei for a moment, trying to decide for himself if Wufei was back to normal – mentally at least. Wufei ceased his growling. He seemed to be becoming afraid. Heero lowered his gun but left the safety off. Before he had time to react, Wufei raked all five of his claws across his right cheek. Heero drew his gun once more but Wufei ducked out of the way and seized Heero's arm.

          "I didn't do it on purpose, idiot!" he snarled. Some of the anger disappeared from Wufei's face. "I don't have complete control right now." Heero glared at Wufei and touched his cheek gingerly.

          "Hn…" Wufei limped back over to Trowa as Heero unearthed himself. Limping just as badly, Heero made his way towards the two of them. He swore as he stubbed his toe on a chunk of wall. He let himself fall to the floor when he reached the others. Settling into a sitting position, he picked up the water jug and took a few gulps.

          "Why did you stop?" he asked after he had had his fill of water. A puzzled look came over Wufei's face.

          "What do you mean?"

          "You were trying to kill us. Why did you stop?"

          Wufei advanced on Heero. He was smiling, laughing…then pain, suddenly, unexpected…visions…a world not his own…his head, it was pounding, the pain, the pain…make it stop…

          "I…I don't know…" Wufei shook his head but the memories wouldn't come to him. Everything that made him who he was – his attitude, his seeming disregard towards others – was gone. But it could come back at any moment, amplified by a hundred. Then instead of a confused and scared child he would be a crazed and vicious beast. His mind and personality were completely out of balance. Heero and Trowa exchanged meaningful glances and struggled to their feet. Heero pulled out the hand restraints Dr. J had given him. He could see only Wufei's eyes in the pitch black room and he followed them as they moved from the hand cuffs to his face. Heero was unmoved by the pleading gaze. Slowly Wufei stood and held his wrists out. Heero pulled his arms behind his back and cuffed them. Once Wufei was secured Trowa led the way out into the hall. They proceeded in dead silence. Upon rounding a corner they came upon a straining light. It was blinking on and off and sparks flew from it every couple of seconds. Wufei halted immediately. Heero tried to push him forward but with all his wounds, he failed miserably. Wufei hissed at the light. His fangs and slit eyes seemed to make it more powerful. Wufei's fangs were bared again as his face twisted into a horrid smirk. Heero was sent sliding down the hall. Trowa stared at the growling Wufei before him. He caught sight of the broken chains hanging from his wrists. Trowa dove for Wufei as he bolted and caught his ankle. Wufei hit the floor. He blinked then rolled onto his back. After looking around for a moment he seemed to realize that Trowa had a hold of him. He kicked his leg.

          "Let go of me! What are you DOING?!" he growled. Trowa blinked in confusion. He narrowed his eyes in thought. It was only seconds before he reached a conclusion – Wufei had developed a split personality. This was certainly a problem. While he was thinking, Trowa loosened his grip and Wufei freed himself. He stood and glared down at Trowa. There was movement behind him. A quick flip and Heero was flat on his face. Wufei smirked at the two floored pilots then noticed that something was off. They were too far away and they were upside down. No…he was upside down. He was stuck to the ceiling.

          "What…how?" he wondered aloud. He pulled his hand away from the ceiling and watched as a thick, dark green residue formed strings between the two. As Wufei stared at the substance the reality of what was happening to him set in. He fainted. Trowa and Heero saw his body go limp but he remained adhered to the ceiling. Exchanging confused glances, the two soldiers stood and edged towards Wufei. Trowa gave Heero a look that seemed to say, 'Now what do you think of that?' Heero looked up at Wufei. There was, as always, not much of an expression on his face but truthfully, he didn't know what to think of Wufei's hanging upside down by his own bodily secretions. What can one think about that? He shrugged it off and reached for Wufei. Two pairs of eyelids snapped open and glowing gold met Prussian blue. The rapidly disappearing figure that was Wufei stirred up a strong wind as it raced along the ceiling, leaving dripping foot and hand prints behind. Heero's eyes were slightly widened. He was still staring at the place Wufei had been only milliseconds ago, his hand still partially extended to pull Wufei down by his clothing. Trowa turned and shined his flashlight down the hall Wufei had disappeared into. 'We better go get him…' he thought.

***

          Dr. J, Duo and Quatre finally reached the main control room. The echo of dripping water could be heard all around them.

          "Why is there water dripping here?" Quatre asked.

          "This part of the building is beneath a large lake," Dr. J explained. "Didn't you notice your ears popping as we went?" They entered the room without hesitation and set to work. Dr. J explained how to use the numerous computers to turn on some lights and turn off others. This way they could set up boundaries of a sort. Quatre moved toward a computer near the far end of the room. He cried out in horror as he spun the chair around. Duo glanced over at him and his face paled. Dr. J walked towards the dead body. It was swollen and green besides severely mutilated. He pulled out a spare oxygen mask and leaned forward to examine the man. After a moment he turned back to the two pilots with him.

          "This man was poisoned." he stated.

          "How can you tell?" Quatre asked.

          "His body is swollen and discolored. This would indicate that his antibodies were trying to swarm around the poison and cut it off from the rest of the body. Also, the discoloration is due to lack of oxygen prior to death. My opinion is that the poison paralyzed him so that he couldn't move or breathe.

          "What a way to go…" Duo said vaguely.

          "So that means Wufei is poisonous?"

          "Yes, I'm afraid so. We have to be very careful. We don't have an antidote and if one of us was to be bitten we would surely die."

          "How fast do you think this stuff works?" Duo asked.

          "I am reluctant to guess. This man wasn't dead very long. He could have been killed by the poison or by Wufei. The poison could work very fast…or it could work very slowly. Neither one is better." The three of them stared blankly at the corpse for a moment before Dr. J broke the silence once again.

          "Come on, we haven't a moment to lose. We need to get those lights turned on." They turned their attention to the computers once more and began to work. A loud wail went up in the room. The words 'naughty, naughty' flashed on every screen.

          "Wufei may be turning into some kind of monster but he ain't stupid!" Duo growled, throwing his hands over his ears. Dr. J scowled at his ruined computers. Wufei had hacked the system and set up boundaries of his own. Now getting those lights on would take even more time – time they didn't have. It was already 7 o' clock. That left them with just three hours before Wufei would be completely transformed. Not to mention the fact that they still needed to create a vaccine to kill off the organism in his body and possibly one to combat the poison his body now produced. The way things were looking, the virus had already won.

          "Damn it!"

***

          Wufei scrambled back and forth, toting miscellaneous items to his hiding place. 'My lair…my territory…' He was constructing something, he didn't know what, but he felt that he should. 'Building, building…what am I building? I don't know, I don't know…build it now…' He had discovered that he could will the sticky slime to come out of his hands whenever he wanted and he was using it as a sort of glue. He threw an ooze-drenched lab coat onto the structure. 'I need this…it's good for me…' He sat back on his haunches, much the way a dog would, and gazed admiringly up at his creation. Its thick vines stretched to almost every wall in the area, each dripping with the molasses like substance. It strongly resembled a large spider web with a knot in its center. The knot was spherical in shape but had a small chunk missing just big enough for Wufei to fit in. 'What is it?' he wondered. 'It's beautiful…it's my home…' Wufei had no idea that his thoughts were incorrect. He believed what he was doing was the right thing, that he should be building a nest, that he should be killing off humans…he had forgotten what he was. He had forgotten who he was. A rat chanced a mad dash past Wufei. A claw lashed out with lightning speed. Only a desperate squeak and the rat was gone, its spine having been severed. Wufei picked it up and calmly bit off its head, acting as though he were merely watching a movie and enjoying a bit of popcorn. Obsidian blood seeped out of his nostril. It stained the fangs that were exposed because of his grin. 'There's no place like home…'

***

          It had been over half an hour and Trowa and Heero still had not found Wufei. They were following the trail of hand and foot prints Wufei had left behind. Just when they were about to stop and rest for a moment, the prints changed direction suddenly. They led into the ventilation shaft. The grate which had been covering the opening was lying torn and dented on the floor. Trowa bent to offer Heero a step up but the Wing pilot only grunted and jumped up high enough to reach the entrance himself. He pulled his body in swiftly. Trowa shrugged and followed suit, only performing the task with far more grace and speed than Heero had. Once inside the shaft Heero gave Trowa a look as if to say, 'show off'. Trowa replied with a small smirk. They continued.

          Heero led the way through the twisted and turning tunnels of the air conditioner. The two boys crawled determinedly onward, still hot on the trail of prints – until they reached a puddle of slime, slipped and fell flat on their faces. Heero tried to lift his torso out of the freezing cold fluid. But as soon as he got himself out his hands slipped out from under him and he was face down in the goop once again. Trowa rolled into his back so he could breathe. His long overhang of hair stuck to his cheek. As he stared up at the ceiling of the shaft an idea entered his mind. He pulled himself forward by pushing against the clean metal of the ceiling. When he reached Heero he told him to do the same. After a moment of brief disorientation, the soldiers were on their way again. Luckily, they reached their destination in only a few minutes. The air duct opened abruptly into a wide hallway. Here they could stand and the slime was even thicker but it was, in fact, so thick that it actually held their feet down rather than make them slip. It was like walking through extremely dense quicksand, but they couldn't sink past their shins. Even worse was the dangerously low temperature of the liquid; it was numbing their legs. But they fought on, not willing to give up so easily. Though Heero was shining his light before himself, he jumped slightly in surprise and something brushed over his face. He swiveled around to see what it had been. He saw Trowa behind him and nothing else. Trowa shined his light onto Heero's face.

          "What is it?" he asked. As Trowa's light moved Heero saw the object – or objects, rather. There were gossamer thin strings of slime hanging from the ceiling. They could easily have been taken for spider webs. He reached for one and took it in his hand. It became liquid on his skin; his body heat had melted it.

          "Hn." he grunted. They resumed their search and came to an enormous opening. It contained a huge structure and randomly positioned vines hanging from the ceiling. The entire room was covered in slime. Trowa and Heero's eyes fell on a small figure sitting before the abomination. It turned slowly. Its manner was calm, unshaken by the monstrosity it had created. Somewhere in the building blonde hair stood on end as the body it belonged to stiffened. Blue eyes stared unseeing straight ahead. The same words filled the air, formed by the voices of both Wufei and Quatre.

          "My time…is coming. But your time…has come." Slick tentacles came at Trowa and Heero from every direction. They fought against the murderous vines cutting off their airways, squeezing their bodies almost to the point of bursting. But gradually their struggling became slower, weaker… Two flashlights fell in the darkness. No one was around to hear it. Did it make a sound?

*Now THAT'S a chapter! Please review if you like this! It's getting good! My previous reviews may be gone, but the story goes on my friends, the story goes on!*