Infection: the Beginning

Infection: The Beginning

8:00pm, +0 hours; First contact

The sun was getting close to setting and the small group of five friends were outside at the park in Towson, Maryland just north of Baltimore. The frisbee was flying after they ate a great picnic dinner. The summer breeze felt good as it drifted across their skin.

"Nice try, there, dumbass," Jerry joked as Sam tried to catch it behind his back, mistakenly getting hit in the back of the head with the incoming plastic disk.

"That's not the best coordination, there, Sam," Jo said, giggling. "Maybe you should stick with the normal catches."

"That's boring!" Sam yelled loudly, picking the frisbee off the grass.

A sudden flash of light from a fast-moving, flying object interrupted them as it ripped across the sky and crashed into a field just over the tree line. The ground shook a little at the contact creating a boom that sounded like an explosion.

"Whoa..." Ann said, raising her hand to shield her eyes from the glare of the sun as she looked where the item fell. "What the hell was that?"

"It was a fireball of some sort, too fast for an airplane..." Vince moved towards the crash site, walking. "I guess we check it out." He turned around, walking backwards and stared at his friends as they just stood there. "Come on, chickens," he taunted. "Let's see what it is."

The rest of the friends walked towards the site, following him, going through the grove of trees and emerging on the other side. When they emerged, they saw the spot of the crash, the dirt tossed aside six feet around the hole.

Vince kept moving, even after the other's stopped.

"Vince, you sure it's safe?" Ann asked, hoping Vince would come back and join the rest of the group.

Jerry had to agree. "Yeah, man, maybe we should wait for someone else before we go investigating."

Jo slid her cell phone from the pocket of her jean shorts. "Why don't we call the cops or something?"

Vince knelt by the hole, peering inside. "It's just a little rock. About the size of a baseball. It's no big deal." Vince put a hand out, testing the temperature of the rock. "It doesn't even feel like it's warm."

The four others moved a little closer as Vince reached down and touched the meteorite.

"It's barely even warm," he said, trying to wrap his fingers around it to pull it free. "I think I can grab it." He lifted it from the hole for the others to see it and studied its holed structure. "This is cool!"

"Wow..." Sam said softly. "This doesn't happen every day. Let me see it." He reached out and Vince handed it to him, standing. "And it's so damn light, too. Feel it." Sam held the rock out for them all to see.

Each of the friends extended a hand, touching it.

"You think it's real?" asked Ann.

The four friends looked at her in disbelief.

"You think somebody could just fake a meteor coming down like that?" Jo asked, surprised. "You saw it."

"Well..." Ann knew she was being stupid. But she didn't want to be caught in the middle of some stupid prank, too.

"Yeah, it's real," Jerry said, looking at his hand and noticing a black smudge on it. He swiped his hand over his shirt to clean it off.

"What should we do with it?" Vince asked.

Jerry smiled. "We keep it... maybe sell it online or something. Let's take it back to the car for now."

The others quickly agreed and, as the five walked back towards the car, Sam kept tossing it into the air, noting just how light it was. Jo was the second to notice a black smudge on her hand and wiped it on her pants.... There was some kind of dirt on the rock.

A few minutes later, Jerry was unlocking his jeep and Sam was setting the meteorite on the floorboards of the passenger side.

Vince noticed Ann sway as she raised a hand to her head, seemingly about to faint. He grabbed her arms from behind, holding her upright. "You ok?" he asked, worried.

"Yeah," she said, her hand dropping again. "It was just something sudden. I'm ok." She looked up at Vince and smiled, thanking him. But what she saw was not the Vince she normally saw. What she saw was someone that made her libido spike. What she saw made her extremely horny. At first she tried to fight it. But when Vince looked back at her the same way, and she felt the way his hands seemed to grab her... hold her... pull at her clothes...

Ann didn't even see the others reacting similarly, didn't see Sam and Jerry holding Jo tightly between them. She only felt Vince push her into the side of the car, holding her front against it with his body weight, her breasts smashed against the window. She didn't even try to protest or stop him. She felt him grab at her shorts and try to pull them down, only to be defeated because of the button fly. She heard him grunt in protest, felt him push his hard cock against her ass as he aggressively reached around and fumbled to unfasten it.

She was panting with need and dropped her hands to help him. Her face and chest were both pressed roughly against the rolled-up car window, now that her hands weren't in the way. Her hands fought with his to get her jean shorts unfastened and then she felt them quickly and forcefully pulled down, falling to her ankles.

She felt Vince grab her panties firmly, pulling them as if trying to rip them from her body. She felt the material slip between her labia, roughly sliding over her clit, pulling tighter and tighter, nearly cutting into her, until they finally ripped from her body. His animalism was driving her insane and she knew her pussy was absolutely gushing.

Vince grunted as he pushed his hips against her again. He was so hard and just had to cum. It felt so good to hump against her like this but he knew he had to be inside her. He grabbed her hair in the back, holding it tightly as he felt Ann adjust her position a little. His cock slid between her legs, the head sliding against her hot, wet pussy, sliding against her clit.

Ann nearly screamed when she felt the long, hard rod slide against her super-sensitive clit. She needed it... she had to have it inside her... she had to make him cum. She lifted her right knee high to the side, spreading herself open for him. By accident, one of his thrusts slipped inside her and they both froze in bliss.

He was so hard... so long... and so deep inside her. He seemed so much bigger than anyone she'd ever had before.

She was so wet... so hot... and so tight that his cock felt bathed in perfection. He couldn't believe how badly he had to fuck her.

He started thrusting, barely aware that she was thrusting right back into him, forcing him even deeper. Her eyes were shut tightly, enjoying the sensations his cock was giving her, enjoying how badly he had to have her.

Vince blinked and looked around suddenly, seeing the rest of his friends together, in different stages of dress, fucking right along with them.

Jo seemed blissfully content kneeling on the ground as Sam fucked her from behind and Jerry held her head, fucking her mouth, both thrusting hard and deep. He noted she could barely even breath, each gurgling exhalation dripping saliva down her chin. She started screaming, along with the loud grunts of both Sam and Jerry as they all came.

He felt Ann's pussy clench tighter around his cock, felt her body quivering and then heard her yelling as she came, too... sending him over the edge with his own orgasm pouring buckets of cum deep into her pussy.

*****

9:00pm, +49 hours after initial infection (2,389 infected)

"How was the steak?" Jim asked as he made his way around to all the party guests.

"Very good. Thank you for hosting this," Joseph said, putting down his can of beer and shaking the host's hand.

"No problem at all. We try to hold a party every year for the company. We have the space at least."

Jim was right about that, Joseph thought. He owned five acres of land and had built a pretty good-sized house on the property. The thirty or so guests were definitely comfortable here. Jim moved on to other party-goers as Joseph took another bite of his steak. From off to the side, he heard a small commotion.

One of the women, Ann, was really coming on to one of the saleswomen. And she didn't appear to want to take no for an answer. She was grabbing at her clothes, trying to remove them... she was trying to push and pull her into the darkness behind the house... and she was showing far too much of her own body. Joseph could see that her breasts were free of her dress.

Joseph was shocked... it wasn't that this was a family party with kids around, but it was a work party. The things you do at parties like this could affect your job completely. Some of the other people noticed, but only a handful.

"Joseph," Dean, his boss, said, his hand open and extended. "How are you doing this weekend? Enjoying the weather?"

"Yeah, Dean, it's been nice." He shook his hand, but tried to keep turning his head absently to see the scene of the two women unfold. Each glance saw more and more action. Ann had pulled the saleswoman against the wall of the house, pinning her body there with her own. The saleswoman seemed to not want to be there, but Ann was too forceful.

"It's been making my grass grow like crazy! Do you own a house? Have much yard to take care of?"

Joseph felt more and more distracted, but knew the conversation with his boss was important for him if he wanted to get that promotion.

"No, no... I'm in an apartment just outside the city. It's comfortable enough."

He could see Ann bend in and kiss her forcefully, slowly drifting down to her neck. He watched Ann pull the woman's dress down, exposing her breasts as well as she spent a lot of time there. He didn't really need to imagine what she was doing.

"This time of year, I wish I lived in an apartment too," Dean said, taking a bite of his shrimp after dunking it in the cocktail sauce. "Grass season and snow season... it's hell when you have to take care of it yourself."

"Yeah," Joseph said as he saw Ann drop in front of the woman, lift her dress up and obviously begin to eat her out, throwing her leg over her shoulder. The saleswoman was now enjoying the sensations and wasn't fighting at all. Her hands were entwined in Ann's hair, pulling her in.

"Hey, Cathleen!" Dean called, waving to another coworker. "Excuse me Joseph," he said, swiftly walking away.

When Ann finally pushed away from the saleswoman and the girl walked away from her, struggling to straighten her clothes, Joseph actually felt envious of her. Ann pulled the top of her dress back up over her breasts again and almost appeared drunk. When she noticed Joseph watching, however, her face changed to one of pure seduction. He watched her lick her lips through the dim outside lighting, then she waved him to come over.

He looked around to see if anyone else was watching and, seeing no reaction from the others, set his empty plate down, took a final swig of beer, and then walked over.

"Hi," Ann said softly as he approached.

Joseph smiled as she was obviously trying to seduce him. "Hi back."

"Joseph?" she asked. "Why haven't we ever hooked up? Huh?"

Joseph looked up and down her body. She was swaying slowly, almost like a snake hypnotizing it's victim to get ready to strike. She was definitely wanting to have some fun tonight.

"I don't know, Ann, timing I guess. Are you saying you want to?"

"I'm saying I definitely want to fuck," she said, backing up towards the darkened bushes by the wall of the house. "Why don't we... talk about it. Maybe we can find the time right now."

"I dunno Ann. Maybe we should find somewhere more private." Joseph was nervous... it was far too open for his tastes.

"I'd love to get you somewhere private." Ann pulled her dress down and off her shoulders, exposing her breasts, her hands massaging them roughly. "I think this spot right here will do just fine."

"Well, it's not exactly private since I just saw you go down on that girl."

Ann smiled, one hand snaking underneath her dress, obviously touching herself. "You watched that, huh? Did you like what you saw?"

Joseph took a few steps towards her as she leaned back against the wall.

"She tasted yummy, by the way. In case you wanted to know. You can taste her on my lips..."

She grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a fierce kiss, her tongue instantly invading his mouth. He could taste the woman's pussy on Ann's lips and tongue, much to his surprise. And then something different... and sweet... and...

"DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, DOWN!" a man yelled, suddenly springing from the darkness of the surrounding countryside. "Everyone on the ground!"

Joseph broke the kiss and looked around in disbelief at the nearly dozen, black garbed men with guns. They each tugged a flap in front and back of their outfits exposing the big, gold FBI letters. Two men grabbed him and grabbed Ann, forcing them to the ground, arms and legs spread. He scanned the grounds quickly and saw all of the other party-goers on the ground, too.

"Jacobs, find her," the man who appeared to be in charge yelled.

"Yessir." Jacobs produced a snapshot from inside his shirt and began walking around, comparing it to the women at the party. When he reached Ann, he tapped her shoulder. "This one, sir."

"Ok... separate the men and women. We only have to worry about the men, so let the women go."

It took a few minutes, but eventually, all of the women, except Ann were rounded up and escorted away from the scene. The men were herded into a small crowd.

"Ok, gentlemen, I'll only say this once. This woman has an extreme, highly communicable medical condition that is passed through sexual contact. If you have had sexual contact with her in the past forty-eight hours please raise your hand so we can get you medical help."

Joseph looked around, wondering how many people she'd had sex with at the party. One of the young mailroom guys tentatively held up his hand and one of the officers pulled him away from the crowd. No one else raised their hand.

"Ok. Gentlemen, this disease is life-threatening and if you are infected, you will require immediate attention from us or you will die. Do any of you want to change your vote now?"

No one else raised their hand.

"I'm authorized to tell you that if you're lying about this, it is a breach of national security and that you will endanger your loved ones, your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers. No one else?"

The officer could see that all the men had innocent, scared looks on their faces. He'd hoped to see a guilty face, someone who had a conscience nag at them. But he didn't.

"Jacobs, I want all their names, addresses and phone numbers. Then they're free to go."

"Yessir."

The man in charge walked away, another man joining him as all the other agents started taking the required information.

"You didn't want to interrogate the women, Sir?"

"No need... it's spread by sexual contact... I think we've contained it at this point. We have to catch Vincent Gandol yet."

*****

10:00pm, +50 hours (2,731 infected)

"Welcome to Atlanta, Colonel," Richard Johnson said crisply, as he shook the army man's shook and guided him to his seat at the table, his staff of four people sitting beside him. This was one of the nicer, small conference rooms at the CDC. It was late and while normally the building was empty, it was currently bustling with activity.

"It's my job, Agent Johnson. What do we know so far?"

FBI Agent Johnson shuffled through his papers and passed copies to the Colonel and staff, sliding them across the slick table.

"Approximately fifty hours ago, NASA recorded a meteor shower that was unexpected. While most of the small meteors expectedly burned up in the atmosphere, one or two made it through and actually struck the earth. NASA Teams in coordination with the FBI were dispatched and were on site approximately twenty-six hours ago in order to collect samples and determine if there was a radiation threat. When the team arrived, it was noted that a group of five civilians came in contact with the site and the meteorite itself."

He slid three pictures of the meteorite and three headshots of three individuals across the table.

"We didn't record any radiation from the site, so we took the meteorite into custody. Unfortunately, the team didn't think there was a potential for a biohazard and didn't follow the strictest protocols. The meteorite was delivered to NASA for further study.

"Approximately twenty hours ago, one of the agents in charge of the retrieval reported flu-like symptoms. During this time, he attacked and raped another one of the agents. Believing this was a simple matter of the law, she was promptly sent to the hospital to be checked out, while he was taken into custody.

"Six hours later, he was found... uh... masturbating uncontrollably. At the hospital, the female agent reportedly had the same symptoms. She attacked two nurses until she was forcibly confined to the bed and has since been shown to be gravely ill."

All eyes were on him now, and he was feeling very uncomfortable. Who would ever have expected some sort of sex virus?

"Two other agents have had similar symptoms. We've pulled all of the agents involved into quarantine and have performed a battery of tests on them."

"I hope you quarantined the hospital and have begun searching for the missing civilians," the Colonel said softly, his jaw becoming rigid with the incompetence this man was reporting. He never liked how the CDC did things. USAMRIID, being structured as the military, followed very strict protocols.

"Yes, sir. Unfortunately, we've only recovered three of the five civilians that originally found the meteorite. The others remain elusive. Of the hospital staff, we've located about eighty percent, with about three of the doctors and nurses who had contact with the patient still unaccounted for."

The Colonel shook his head slowly, closing his eyes. He held back his obvious anger, realizing that it wouldn't do much good. "What about the disease itself?"

"The first symptoms are flu-like... light headache... some minor fever. We believe it's like Herpes Simplex. With Herpes, following the primary infection, the virus enters the nerves at the site of primary infection, migrates to the cell body of the neuron, and becomes latent in the ganglion. The previously latent virus then multiplies new virus particles in the nerve cell and these are transported along the axion of each neuron to the nerve terminals in the skin, where they are released. Approximately every six hours after infection, the subject becomes libidinous, sometimes uncontrollably.

"Female subjects sexual organs become hyper-sensitive and they seem to crave male semen. They become very aggressive to obtain some. Once they ingest it, their symptoms subside immediately.

"Male subjects develop a severe penile erection and the penis becomes very sensitive. They produce far more semen than previous to the infection and after ejaculation, whether through masturbation or copulation, their symptoms temporarily subside.

"For both, until they fulfill their cravings the symptoms become very dire. Heavy fever after about eight hours... dangerously increased heart rate after ten hours... While the male agent has been progressing just fine due to his ability to ejaculate, the female agent has been increasingly losing the battle. Twenty-six hours after infection, her organs are beginning to shut down and it's anticipated she won't last more than a few more hours.

"There appears to be no physical symptoms to identify the infected persons, other than what presents itself during a craving. Once the craving is satisfied, the subject returns to normal, mentally and physically.

"We've taken specimens and have isolated the virus, attempting to come up with something to fight it. It spreads through direct contact of bodily fluids, saliva, semen, blood, sweat, whatever. If Herpes Simplex is any indication, we won't have a cure or anything more for prevention, other than abstinence. With the aggressiveness of those infected to get what they need, I doubt even that will help those uninfected."