"So… Louisa's dead?" Marcus asked. He frowned. "I… don't know how to react to that."
Pain pulled at my heartstrings. I felt partly responsible for Lousia's death. I could've saved her if I tried harder. But no. I cowardered out… just like always. I looked away, spotting Chrissi's gang. Chrissi wasn't with them. They were eating their lunch slowly, like every bite hurt them. They'd been like this the past few days. Well, honestly, everyone in the school was shocked. The news of Lousia's passing had disturbed everyone. It was just so… unexpected.
The lie was that she had a mental disorder, ran away from home and starved herself to death, somehow losing her body in the process. It was a lie, but still sent chills up my spine. Lousia's aunt- who she'd been living with- had mentioned she'd 'disappeared for a week or two', and before that she was 'acting a bit strange'. But now she was gone. Only Marcus, Chrissi, her gang, Mom and me knew the truth. And none of us wanted to tell.
The police still wanted to investigate. They'd asked everyone a few questions, especially me and Chrissi's gang. Chrissi herself had been having therapy. Even though she'd been bullying me for so long, I couldn't help but feel bad for her. I'd had therapy. It's not fun.
"No one does, Marcus," I replied, sighing deeply. "No one does."
Virus Hunter Island doesn't exactly look like the place you'd expect to see a pandemic. It's a typical town, with brick buildings, a video store (well, you don't see those too often these days), a falafel restaurant, a fitness centre, an office called Globochem, and the least suspicious of all (not), the 'Pizza Delivery Company'. They drove past Fierce Fox and I in a grey van.
"This way," I told Fierce Fox. She followed me along the cement path, arriving at the fitness centre. It's called Waist Not Fitness Centre. It's your typical fitness centre: swimming pools, treadmills, so on. Fierce Fox and I approached a light blue resistance band, near this pool. Oh, the gym was having an open day, so anyone could come in. Anyway, Fierce Fox broke the resistance band. We got kicked out, taking the resistance band with us.
My friend followed me up a tree that's next to a brick apartment. We stood on a nest, peering at the roof of the apartment. There's a hook on the side. I slung the resistance band onto the hook; we climbed up. On the roof is this crazy guy who reports for a radio. He was going on about the government- these 'agents' of the 'new world order'- going 'underground' and working on a project of some sort. Thankfully I knew all about such project.
We questioned the guy. After a bit, he told us,
"Maybe we can help each other out. You get me proof that the agents of the new world order have set up shop here, and I'll get you inside. I see a mysterious van parked behind that condo. Check it out." The van belonged to the 'Pizza Delivery Company', which isn't actually called that, notice the quotations. Fierce Fox, with my instruction, checked the van out. She received a bag full of paper scraps. We sorted out the scraps, creating a blueprint for a secret laboratory.
"There we go." I said. I gave the map to the guy.
"So they're using the PDC as a front, eh? That helps us. I've got every phony government credential in the book." the guy said. He handed us two yellow phony IDs for the PDC.
"Thanks," I said. I nodded at Fierce Fox. "Come on." We jumped off the roof and landed on Main Street. We walked right, heading to the video store. I sighed. "So… remember Dr. Harold on Game Show Island? The guy that gave me that plane?"
"Yeah?" Fierce Fox asked. "What about him?"
"Well, he promised me to deliver this to his sister," I said, holding out Dr. Harold's letter. "Who's in the PDC."
"So… where is this PDC?" Fierce Fox asked, raising her brow.
"In here." I answered, pointing to the green video shop. It's pretty old and run down. The green wallpaper's fading, and the shelves of DVDs have cobwebs. Fierce Fox and I showed the employee our ID badges.
"Oh! I didn't realize you two were PDC," he said. "I thought you were weirdos who still owned a VCR. Come on in." He led us to this door with a sign saying 'Staff Only'. We stepped onto a shelf connected to a lift. I pressed the down button. We sank down into the laboratory. Excitement made my skin tingle. I just love labs! This one was amazing. There's a DNA structure hanging from the roof. Shelves are carrying microscopes and other scientific equipment. There's a large white bench, covered in computers, diagrams and more. Glass panes are pressed onto the stone outside, making the walls.
Fierce Fox approached a lady named Dr. Lange, standing below a shelf. "Hi, we're the immuno- the immunopath- the, uh-"
"Oh please," Dr. Lange said, rolling her eyes. "I can spot phony from a mile away."
"How did you know?" Fierce Fox asked.
"Your badges are written in crayon," Dr. Lange answered. She looked at me. "The prophesied hero? Hmm… It seems you and your friend have come on the right day. It so happens that I'm in need of a volunteer- or in this case, volunteers. Two brave- and maybe a little reckless- people."
"Count us in." I replied, feeling fear tingle my skin.
"Great," Dr. Lange said. She raised her brow. "I've been hearing rumors that you're psychic and already know what's happening. Is this true?"
"Yeah, that's me," I replied, biting my lip. "Hero stuff."
"Even better," Dr. Lange nodded. She frowned. "Though that seems impossible. Anyway… I'll give you what you need." She handed us a dossier about Patient Zero- this guy named Joe Stockman- and a camera. I sent Fierce Fox off with instructions to get Joe's photo. If you guys at home are confused, basically Joe is carrying this really deadly disease that could kill everyone on Earth. The PDC is trying to cure it, and the only way to do that is to shrink someone down, put them in Joe's body, and let them kill the virus. That person- or should I say people- was Fierce Fox and I.
"I have something for you," I told Dr. Lange. "It's from your brother." I gave her the letter. She raised her brow and slipped the letter into her lab coat.
"It's been a long time," she said, reminiscing. "How's his robot project going? Does he still live on Game Show Island?"
"Yes, he does. And it's going good." I answered. "Humans and robots are in peace. Well, thanks to my friend and I."
"Great," Dr. Lange said, sighing. "We haven't spoken for so long. I've been so busy with my virus-hunting project, and he's been busy with his robots, we haven't…" She looked away. "I can reminisce another time. Now's the time to fight the virus. Why don't you go wait in there?" She pointed to this room. "When your friend returns, she'll join you. Oh, and don't touch anything."
"I won't." I replied. I entered the room. There's a ginormous shrink ray- way larger than C.J's. It's aimed at a little space. On a pedestal, there's a microscopic ship on display. That's the ship we were going to use. A short time later, Fierce Fox entered. Dr. Lange said she'd shrink one at a time. Fierce Fox, being the courageous one, went first. The ginormous laser blasted a bright blue beam onto her, shrinking her until my eyes couldn't scan her form. Then it was my turn.
The laser felt tingly, like electricity was dancing over my body. The world seemed to grow around me, like on Shrink Ray Island. Except it was growing much faster and was much larger. Fear tingled me like the electricity. Doing it behind a screen was one thing. Doing it in real life was another. And I was terrified.
Fierce Fox and I were placed into the ship. It has four functions: this gun for shooting things, a laser for cutting through things, an electro-bolt for shocking things and a coagulant to heal wounds. We did a short tutorial and learnt the basic gist of the ship. Then it was time to go down the hatch.
The PDC wrapped our ship in a Chinese noodle, then placed us in a box. We were delivered to Joe Stockman's house as free Chinese food. Who wouldn't turn down free food? Joe accepted the food and chucked us in his mouth. We fell down into his stomach, which… is pretty gross. I feel a bit uncomfortable with describing the body, so I'll just keep the descriptions brief. There's a lot of food and a few openings that lead to different parts of the body. Little green spider-like creatures approached our ship. They were the virus. Using the gun, we shot them down.
Fierce Fox got a little cocky. "This is a breeze! We'll be out of here in no time."
"I'm not sure about that." I said. We got an alert from Joe's hand. He'd got a chopstick stuck in there. So we headed over to deal with the problem. Instead we just got more problems. Joe's white blood cells took our ship's functions away, even our shield and gravity core. The only thing left was the gun. Our job now was not only to save Joe, but to get our functions. So off we went.
The first function- the shield- was in the mouth. We traveled up Joe's disgusting esophagus to reach there. It was full of grape soda, since Joe decided to start drinking it. And I mean a lot of it. Anyway, we reached the mouth. We had to go there by foot- please don't make me remember that. I'm not really squeamish, but I do have limits. We jumped over the teeth- which Joe really needs to brush- and picked up the shield on the golden tooth. You don't see many of those these days, either.
The second function was in the intestines, below the stomach. You'd know that if you know your digestive system. Moving on, we entered the intestines. They're like a long, winding path, leading to places I'm not going to talk about. Harmful liquid drips from the walls. Blockage was in our path.
"Destroy the blockage." I told Fierce Fox. So that's what she did. Using the gun, she blasted through the blockage, until we reached a wide space near the end. A patch of the space was green. Then a thing of nightmares showed up- a virus. It was green, spider-like and had two heads and four sharp claws, attached to long, slim green arms. Those claws hurt.
I took control of the ship, despite my rubbish driving skills. I stuck around the middle of the space, the claws appearing around me. They rushed up. I fired repeatedly at them; they flashed red. They gradually got faster and faster, and started stinging us more. We were dying, and it was becoming harder to aim.
"Here, lemme go." Fierce Fox said, snatching the wheel. She drove all over the place, turning it into a dodgem car ride. She fired repeatedly at that crazy virus, until it was weakened. The white blood cells took care of the rest. They left behind the laser, so we could cut through fat again. Thank goodness.
The third function was in the heart. Unfortunately, it wasn't the only thing in the heart.
"What is that?!" Fierce Fox demanded in revolution. She was talking about the green monstrosity behind a wall of fat. We cut through the fat and entered a space. The creature looked like a green hermit crab with four long tentacles. Fierce Fox, being the natural driver, charged for the creature, laser out. We stabbed it. It tried to grab us with its claws, but Fierce Fox wasn't having any of that. She stabbed it until it ran away.
"Good," I told her. "Now we've got to follow it." So we drove through the heart, getting past a wall of fat. The virus was waiting near there, blocking our path. Fierce Fox charged for it with full throttle. We hit the virus. It pulled us in for a painful hug. Fierce Fox aimed the laser at it; it ran away in pain. We repeated this a few times, picking up some health on the way. When it was defeated, we got the coagulant.
The fourth function was in the arm. It would've been easier if Joe wasn't lifting weights. The muscles were contracting, making the journey very annoying. There were some wounds we had to heal with the coagulant, because if we didn't, their stream would stop us from moving. If that wasn't enough, the muscles have spikes on them. Great. Just what we needed.
We weaved our way through the spiky muscle maze, getting hit in the side by spikes and healing wounds. Personally, if my muscles had spikes on them, I'd get them checked out, because that's more abnormal than the killer virus. Anyway, after surviving the torturous muscle maze, we made it to another part of the arm. Beneath us was some tissue calcification, so we destroyed it with the laser. And then it was time for the scary stuff.
The muscles closed behind us, so we were trapped in a new space. Joe got a cramp, thanks to the virus. And the virus itself was disgusting. It had planted its… egg sacks on Joe's muscles. They spawned spider-like viruses to kill us.
"Okay," I told Fierce Fox, my voice shaky. "We need to distract those spider guys so we can destroy their… spawn point, I guess." Fierce Fox seemed okay with that. She drove up to some wounds and covered them in coagulation. The spider guys ran over to deal with them. We drove over to the first egg sac and blasted it with the gun, until the white blood cells took over.
The spider guys were coming back, so we covered up the wounds again. Then we focused on the second egg sac. We blasted it with the gun until the white blood cells arrived. We also killed the viruses. Joe was feeling much better, since his cramp had been healed. And we got the electro-bolt.
The fifth and final function was in… probably the body's most important organ: the brain. Fierce Fox and I entered the brain using the electro-bolt to pass a nerve. There are quite a lot of electric things and nerves in there. And there was a large green virus, sending minions to destroy us.
"Use the laser to destroy them," I told Fierce Fox. She held out the hot red laser, incinerating the viruses. I nodded. "Okay, now we're going to hook up all the nerves with the electro-bolt and shock the big virus." So that's what we did. This time, I was driving. A nerve was glowing with electricity. I shocked it with the electro-bolt and brought it over to another neuron. Now that neuron was shocked. Eventually, the chain reached Big Mama Virus. I avoided its claws and connected the nerve to the neuron it was standing on. It got shocked.
Big Mama Virus sent a wave of viruses at us. I destroyed them with the laser, then went back to making a nerve train. It's a bit boring to write about, since we had to do it five times and nothing exciting happened. So I'll skip to the end, where we defeated the virus and got the gravity core.
"Just one more virus," I told Fierce Fox. "And then we're getting out."
The final boss was in the lungs. We had to get there via the heart and fix some heart arrhythmia. The lungs are a wide space, covered in inhaled smoke. There are… alveoli, I think, on the sides and green waste from the virus. The virus itself is this big, green diamond with yellow tentacles. It was the largest virus so far, and we had to shoot it. It seemed to be feeding on the alveoli using its tentacles. Not good for Joe.
I was driving again. We stood near the virus, shooting at its yellow tentacle arms. One of them fell off. The virus ran away. We chased it. It started eating more alveoli, so I shot at it again. It ran away. Some viruses came over, so I shot them too. It wasn't actually that hard. The one in the brain was harder. In this one, you just had to shoot the virus' arms. That was all.
"Done." I said when the white blood cells took over. I gripped my arms. "Prepare for Joe to sneeze." Fierce Fox gave me a weird look. Suddenly, a wave of force surrounded our ship, propelling us upwards. There was a flash of light, something gross like nose hair, and we were in Joe's apartment. We were about the size of how small C.J's shrink ray could shrink you.
"Take a blood sample!" Dr. Lange and her assistant burst in. "We need to get the vaccine into production as soon as possible." The assistant rushed over to Joe.
"Hey, what's- ow!" Joe cried as the assistant vaccinated him. "What's going on?"
"Your body has manufactured a cure for the most dangerous virus we've ever seen!" Dr. Lange answered.
"Say what?" Joe asked in surprise.
"You're a hero, Joe!" Dr. Lange cried. "You've just saved the world!"
Joe leaped victoriously into the air. "Woo-hoo! My mom always said I'd do great things."
"Hey, don't we get any credit?" Fierce Fox asked, as we returned to normal size.
"Whoa! The prophesied hero!" Joe cried, looking at me. "I love this day!"
"That was a black op," Dr. Lange answered, biting her lip. "No one must ever know of your involvement. The best we can do is give you this." She handed us the medallion. And then it was time for the bonus quest.
Fierce Fox and I exited Joe's apartment and came outside.
"Belle! Belle, come back!" a girl cried, her dog running away.
"What's the matter?" Fierce Fox asked.
"It's my dog, Belle," the girl answered. "She's been acting crazy ever since she ate this out of the dumpster." She handed us a petri dish with the PDC logo.
"I'm sure the PDC will help us with this." Fierce Fox said, scanning the petri dish.
"Pfft," Dr. Lange scoffed. "We can't use our secret-multi-billion-dollar tech on a house pet. What's it got to do with us?" Fierce Fox showed her the petri dish. "Oh no, our weaponized heartworm! That canine is now a ticking time bomb."
"What does that mean?" Fierce Fox asked. I gave her a look that said nothing good.
"There's no time to waste!" Dr. Lange cried. "You've got to defeat the heartworm before it spreads. Contain the dog." She faced me. "Actually… uh, I think your friend can deal with the dog. I've got… a special mission for you." I shrugged. I told Fierce Fox what to do, then faced Dr. Lange.
"So… what's this mission?" I asked. Dr. Lange frowned.
"It's… not… really a mission," she answered, looking uncomfortable. "More of a… uh… favour." She pulled out a crisp letter from her lab coat. "Deliver this… to my brother, please?"
I bit my lip. "Uh… why can't you do it yourself?"
"I'm… too busy," Dr. Lange answered. She held up the letter. "But please deliver it. You'd be doing me a huge favour."
"Alright, fine," I said, accepting the letter. "Time to go to Game Show Island."
I climbed into the blimp and soared over to Game Show Island. It didn't look any different. Well, except for the relationship between humans and robots. Anyway, I found Dr. Harold and gave him the letter.
"Glad to know she cares." he said, admiring the letter. "Say thanks for me. Oh, and thank you to you as well."
"No problem." I replied. Sure, it wasn't as exciting as fighting a heartworm, but way less dangerous. And we all know it's better to be safe than sorry.