Really, I AM Dying! (pt. 4)

Back at the Institute . . .

Wanda arrived, via taxi. She was relieved to see her father was all right, but she was terribly worried about her brother.

She approached her father and Professor Xavier. "What's going to happen? To Boo, and the rest of them? Are they going to die?"
"No, of course not." Xavier smiled sympathetically. "The quarantine is just a precaution. Most of them might not even get sick . . ."

"Let's hope so." Wanda said.

Unfortunately, that proved not to be true.
In the next 24 hours, there were three new cases of the flu/measles hybrid. It seemed to be especially virulent in the younger students.

Kitty spent half the next day coughing . . . and so did Pietro, and Spyke.
"This is too scary," said a visibly distressed Toad.

With the latest developments, the situation was getting worse by the minute. They were running out of beds already, and if anyone else got sick, they'd have to sleep on the floor.

"Oh, man." Toad groaned.

He and Brenda had given up on reading, for now, and were using up too much energy just trying to stay awake. "You OK, Brenda?"

"No, I'm not," she grumbled. "I'm tired, I ache all over, and I have these horrid spots on my face. I shouldn't have come home . . ."

"Now what kind of talk is that?" said Toad.

Brenda looked at him, and then started to cry.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm in such a rotten mood, I'm sorry I made everyone ill, I'm sorry--"
"Hey, hey! It's not your fault!" He offered her a Kleenex.

She blew her nose with an unladylike snort.
"How bad is it down there?" she asked.
"Pretty bad."

"Is anyone dead?"

"No, nothing like that. But some of them are pretty miserable."

"Ooh."

Actually, the most miserable ones were the ones who weren't sick.
"There's nothing to eat in this place!"

"Of course not, Fred, you ate it all!"

"Woulda been nice if you'd saved some for us."

"Hey! I was hungry!"

"We're all gonna be pretty hungry in a while," said a somewhat woozy Cyclops.

"Are you okay?" Rogue asked him. "You don't look so good."
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just haven't eaten in about twelve hours."

"Twelve hours? Uh oh."

Meanwhile, Lance and Kurt were fighting over who should take care of Kitty. And it was driving Kitty up the wall...

"She likes me!"
"No she doesn't, she likes me better!"
"Stupid blue plush toy!"
"Rock head!"

" BOTH OF YOU JUST SHUT UP!!!!"

They turned and looked at her.
"Like, I'm not feeling good as it is, and you two are just making me feel worse."

They both blushed.

"I'll go," Lance said.
"No, I'll go."
"No, you stay with her. I'll go."
"No, you can stay."

"Lower the volume, guys." Kitty groaned. "I have a headache."

The argument then turned to rude gestures, and then to pushing and shoving.

"Knock it off!" Kitty snapped. "Why don't you both go? You're driving me crazy!"

Lance and Kurt flinched.

"It's your fault!" Lance snapped, as they walked away. "You upset her!"
"No, you did!"
"No, you did!"
"AAAGGHH!" Kitty exclaimed, and buried her head under the pillow. "BOTH OF YOU JUST GO!"

Elsewhere in the house, the doctor was examining Fred.

"I'm okay," the boy insisted.

"Let me be the judge of that."

When he had finished, he actually had some good news. "You seem to be on the way to recovery."

"But I wasn't even sick!"

"Wanna bet?" Lance quipped.

Not since the Virus 10 thing, and that was weeks ago!"

"Keep it down, Fred." Toad groaned. "I got a headache, yo."

"Why don't you stay upstairs with your girlfriend?"
"Hey, don't yell at me!"

"Why not?"

"Cause I'm sick and I'm miserable and I've had enough!"
"Oh."
The doctor, meanwhile, had turned up one more case of the disease--in the most unlikely person.

"What?!!"

"I'm sorry," he said, "but you've got this illness yourself."

Cyclops almost had a stroke. "But I..."

"Get the sleeping bags," Lance ordered.

"This should be fun." Rogue quipped.

"I'm not finished," the doctor said. "There's still one more person I have to examine."

"Who?"

Lance slowly backed away from him. "Oh, no. No. I'm fine. Just fine . . ."

"Come on, this won't hurt at all."

"Don't touch me!" He tried to run, but tripped over Toad, who was lying limply on the floor, and landed face-first in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room.

He got up and tried to run again. Fred knocked him down and sat on him till the doctor came over. "Sorry, man, but it's for your own good."

The doctor approached Lance. "This won't hurt a bit."
Lance had heard that before. He tried to squirm free, but Fred wouldn't budge.
The examination was brief, and the doctor concluded, "Yours is a mild case compared to the others."

"What? But I'm fine! I don't even--" He stopped short as he looked down at himself.

He had spots.

"I'll, um . . . share with someone," he offered. "I've got a queen-sized bed in my room. As long as you don't steal the covers, it's okay."

"Just as long as it's not Kitty's room." Kurt piped up.

"Actually, I was thinking we'd put Kitty in with Rogue . . . whose room is she in?"

Fred scratched his head. "Uh . . . I dunno."

"Uh . . . go find out?"

Fred reluctantly got up.

"Well, this has been fun," said Rogue.

"Hey," Toad said suddenly.
They all looked at him.
"Wasn't Mystique with us when we came home?"
The rest of the Brotherhood looked at each other. They thought she had been . . .
"Where'd she go?"

(Where indeed? We shall see in the next chapter! Stay tuned!)