I'M DYING 4: FLU MISERIES

Chapter 5

"KURT!"

They couldn't put him in the medical ward because of the quarantine, so he was taken to the hospital. Mystique insisted on going with him.

"Muzzer . . ."

She took a good look at him. Under his blue skin, he was turning pale. Was it just food poisoning, or could it be . . . something worse?

They'd find out soon enough.

In the meantime, the patients at the X-Mansion were getting restless.

"When can we eat?" said Toad.
Lance groaned. "Sometime around next Christmas, I think."

"If we're lucky," Brenda sighed.

"Don't even mention food!" Pietro groaned. He was looking slightly green, and his temperature was on an upswing again. In fact, it was so high now it was entering the brain-frying range.

"Uhhhhhhhh . . ." Fred groaned.

He had eaten his way through an entire bag of cheese curls, two boxes of frozen pizza, a package of cookies, and some leftover takeout food in the back of the fridge--he thought it was some kind of seafood. Clams or something.
Now it was starting to catch up with him.

Oh man, was it catching up with him!

He just barely made it to the bathroom before everything came up . . . was it gross!
And where was Mystique? How could she just go off and leave him alone while he was--
The phone rang.
Fred couldn't move until the fourth ring, and then the machine kicked in. When the greeting message was finished playing, he heard Mystique's voice.
"Fred? Are you there? Pick up." There was a pause. "Okay, I just wanted to let you know I may be a while . . ."

"Oh, no." Fred groaned.

"I'm at the hospital . . ."
"Take me with you." Of course she couldn't hear him, but he answered her anyway.
"I probably won't be home for another hour or two. Or until Kurt is finally seen by someone, whichever comes first."

"Aw, man." Fred sighed. Then something struck him. " Kurt? The fuzzy guy? What's she doing with him?"
Fred was so utterly clueless, he didn't even know that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father.

"Uh, Mystique . . ." But she had already hung up.
"Great." Fred rushed to the bathroom to vomit, again and again. Finally he just lay on the floor, unable to move or get up.
And that was where Mystique found him when she came in several hours later. "Fred?"

"Huh? Who's that? That you, Mystique?"
"Of course it's me! Who were you expecting?" She looked down at him. "What are you doing lying on the floor?"
"Trying not to throw up."

She helped him up to a sitting position. "How long have you been on the floor?"
"I dunno . . . three, four hours?"
Mystique was glad she hadn't put her car keys away. The only problem was trying to stuff Fred in her back seat. "Come on," she said, and helped him all the way up.


"Hey." Brenda looked over at Todd.
"Hey," he said.
She reached for his hand. "Feeling better?"

"Maybe a little. You?"
"My head hurts . . . I can't keep my shields up, and I'm getting bombarded with everyone's thoughts . . ."

"That must be a pain."

"Yes, it--" She broke off suddenly, and a strange expression came over her face. She looked at Todd, then over at Wanda, who was wiping down Lance's face with a wet cloth.
"What?"
"Why are you so interested in Wanda all of a sudden?"
"Interested? No! I'm grateful to her for helpin' us out here, but interested? No way!"
"I know what you're thinking! You think she's pretty!"
"No! Well, yes . . . kind of . . ."
"Prettier than me?"
"Of course not!"

Brenda just stared at him. "Beware the wrath of an angry telepath," she said ominously.
Todd shrank back, convinced she was going to let him have it . . . and then Wanda came over. "Everything all right here?"

"Uh . . ."

"Yes," Brenda said. She forced herself to smile, even though it made her headache worse. "Everything's fine, isn't it, Todd?"
"Yeah," he agreed. "Except she's got this weird idea that you and I like each other or something--"

Big mistake.

"Ow!" Toad rubbed the top of his head. "What was that for?"
"You know what that was for!"
"But I didn't do anything!"

Brenda gave him a death glare.

"Hey, I can't help what I think!"
"Just try not to think so much of it, will you?"
"Oh, okay, I guess." Todd fell back onto the bed and counted all the parts of him that hurt, in one way or another.

Lance was sleeping, and Pietro tried to call out to Wanda only to find that his voice was gone.

As for Fred, Mystique had taken him to the same hospital where she had just brought Kurt. In fact, he was still there when they arrived.

"I'm gonna barf." Fred moaned.

"Me too," said Kurt. "Again."
"Haven't you seen a doctor yet?" Mystique asked.

"I'll tell you when the room stops spinning." Kurt groaned.

Someone came in.
It wasn't a doctor. But Mystique knew this person.

"Ms. Darkholme?"

"Taryn? What are you doing here?"
"I'm volunteering tonight."

"Volunteering?"

"Yeah, I work here two or three nights a week. What are you doing here?"

"Long story."

"Well, don't plan on seeing a doctor for a while. They're all tied up with a busload of tourists that got sick after eating at some seafood place . . ."

"It wasn't the scallop, was it?"

"Uh . . ." Fred said. "There was some kind of seafood in the back of the fridge that I ate. I don't know what it was."

"Back of the fridge?"

"Yeah, why? How old was it?"
"Who cares now?" Kurt moaned. "Ve're gonna die!"

"Three weeks, I think." Mystique had, in fact, been about to throw it out. "It's a wonder you're not dead."
Finally, a doctor came in to look at the boys.

Sure enough, both of them had a massive case of food poisoning, and would have to stay for at least a few days.
But that wasn't the worst of it.

The worst of it was at the X-Mansion. Someone else had eaten the bad seafood . . .

(And we'll find out who that someone is next chapter! Sorry to do this to you, but I promise I'll have the next part up soon!)