Those close to you

Its been about a month since the outbreak of the green flu. The government, CEDA, and everyone else said that the green flu was a simple "Influenza mutation." They said that getting the yearly flu vaccine would work just fine. But in the coming weeks, everyone saw that a mere vaccine could not fix what was to come. The first week was when everything shut down. Schools, businesses, and even the government were out of commission . This was also when my wife Mary and my daughter Victoria contracted the disease. Fortunately, I never got sick. I was immune, but that meant I had to take care both of them, with very little supplies. At one point I had to steal from the supermarket, just for some canned food. I was nearly caught, but escaped none the less. Even with their sickness, the two girls were still optimistic about the whole thing. Victoria would constantly ask me if she could go to her friend's house.

"Come on dad, just let me see my friends down the street. They have the flu too, so how much damage could I possibly do?" Victoria begged, Her sixteen year old self wanting to be free from the bondage of bed and constant stale indoor air.

"Look Victoria I'd love to, but there have been reports of multiple people being beaten to death out there. Some people say its because of the flu, screwing with their minds. The last thing I need is for you to get hurt, or worse. If I can get the Wifi back up, you can Skype to your friends all you want."

"Thanks dad. I Love *cough* you. Just hurry please, pretty please?"

" Okay, I'll get on it as soon as I can, I love you baby, now get some rest. Its late." I closed her bedroom door and and walked into the living room. Mary was sitting on the couch, watching the news about how the government shut down...again. I sat next to her and listened to her tangent about the government shutting down

"Goddammit it hasn't even been one year and the government is shut down again." Mary grunted in annoyance.

"You feeling alright?" I said, trying to get her mind off all the horrible news she was watching.

"I am now since you walked in." She said, kissing me on my cheek.

"Hey Jack" she said "I want you to keep and eye on Victoria." Her request worried me, so I turned off the TV and let her explain.

"Whats wrong with her, besides the constant diarrhea and snot rags?" I asked.

"Well, she been complaining that the lights are hurting her eyes. She refuses to open her curtains, and keeps wearing the same hoodie everyday, always wearing the hood."

"Yeah, I noticed actually. Anything else?"

"Shes getting really skinny. I mean, REALLY skinny. Borderline anorexia by the looks of it."

"Okay. Well, you're not to good either. I'm no doctor, so all I can recommend is for both of you to eat more." Mary put her hands on my shoulders and looked directly into my eyes and said

"Jack, we NEED to get to the hospital." she said " Eating more isn't going to help us. We need real medical help."

" There is nothing I would love to do more. But I saw, and you saw too, on the TV that the hospital so packed, that the hospital staff had to install more seats outside just to accommodate everyone. But trust me, I'll go through hell and back to see that you and Victoria are taken care of."

"That determination. That's why I love you." I kissed her one the cheek, and went to my room. It was late, 11:00 P.M. Mary said that we shouldn't sleep in the same bed, she said I might get infected, even though i kept telling her i was immune . I couldn't sleep that night. I was acting tough for them, but deep down I was scared. I had never seen Mary or my baby girl in such a bad condition. As I laid there all alone, I had images in my head of burying the two of them in the back yard.

"Come on Jack, don't think of such things. Everything will be okay, everything WILL BE OKAY!" I whispered to my self. After praying to every god I could think of for help, I finally dozed off into a deep slumber.

Over the next few days, Mary and Victoria's condition worsened. Mary out right wouldn't respond to me talking to her, even if I was standing three feet away from her. Victoria was even worse. During the rare times she would leave her room, she had sudden episodes of rage, followed by massive guilt. One of the times she did this, she called me a good-for-nothing lazy prick and scratched me on my arm just because we didn't have enough food. I couldn't blame her. I knew my baby girl isn't like. It was the damn flu. Once she realized what she said to me, she ran back to her room, crying. She constantly yelled "I'M SOOOOOOO SORRY DAD!" I went up to her door, but it was locked. I stood outside the door, trying to calm her.

"Victoria please calm down. Its okay. You didn't hurt me." I Softly said

"YES I DID!" she screamed. "YOU'RE BLEEDING FOR GOD'S SAKE DAD!" she said, breaking into more tears. She was right actually, and it was a bit deep too.

"I'M A FREAK. OH GOD, I CAN ACTUALLY SMELL THE BLOOD!" right at that moment, something in me snapped. I let my fatherly instincts take over. I was sick and tired of my baby girl being in so much pain and suffering. So I picked up booby pin on the ground right in front of her door and used it to pick the lock. I opened the door, only to welcomed with a hiss. Victoria grabbed the hood of her hoodie and pulled it over her entire face.

"Stay...stay away dad... I might hurt you...again.." I rapped my arms around Victoria who was sitting on her bed, pulled her hood off of her face, and gave her a mini speech.

"Look at me Victoria, you are no freak. I love you. This damn disease that's making you outburst. Its not your fault. And don't you think for a goddamn second that I don't love you. I'm taking you and your mother, and I'll get you all the help you need. Before we do that though, just let it all out. I'll stay here as long as you need." She went limp, and quietly sobbed into my chest. I sat there with her for a good half hour before we left for the hospital. I don't think I had ever been so loving before with her since she was little. When she was done, I got up, and got Victoria and her mother into my truck, and drove off to the hospital. The trip was mostly quiet, until Victoria told me something that scared me straight to my core.

"Dad, if I die from this stupid flu, I just want you to know.." I stopped her mid-sentence and said

"Don't say things like that Victoria. I will make sure you'll be fine, or I'LL die trying to do so." She looked down to the floor, and but the hood of her hoodie over her head. I didn't need that image in my head while i was driving, I had to concentrate on the road. I noticed there were numerous abandoned cars on the side of the road. I knew everything bad, but no this bad. There was no traffic, and that worried me. I felt like I was doing something wrong, or that I was being watched. I looked up at one of the buildings and saw someone up there, with what seemed like smoke radiating from his body. I couldn't tell, he was too far away to get a good look at. We finally reached the hospital and went inside, to find a surprisingly few amount of people were their. Of the few people there, there was a hillbilly with a giant tumor on his right arm, or was is actual arm? There was a fat man, constantly puking into a bag that looked nearly full, and a humpbacked midget constantly talking to himself. I walked up to the receptionist and checked in.

"Name please." she said, wearing a cough mask.

"Jack Greenwall." I said.

"Age?"

"42" I responded. Hell am I really that old?

" Is there anyone else you would like to check in with?"

"Yeah, my daughter Victoria and wife Mary."

"Is your daughter a minor?" she asked

"Yes, why?" I asked in return

"Minors are a first priority here. A doctor will be with you shortly." I let out a breath our relief as we sat down. Maybe things would be okay after all. Since the seats had no dividers, I guess to seat more people, Victoria laid down, resting her head on my lap. As we waited for the doctor, she pointed out a man sitting in the very back of the waiting room. A young man, probably early 20's. He was short, maybe around 5'8, and wore a light gray hoodie, with the hood over his eyes.

"He's cute" Victoria said quietly.

"I don't see what you see in him. Literally. I cant even see his face."

"Well, he's still cute in my opinion." The man looked over to us, I felt Victoria tense up.

"Oh my god, he looked at me."

" *sigh* Girls." I said to myself. After a few more minutes of waiting, a doctor called on us. He escorted us to his office and he started a medical exam on all three of us. I went up first. He measured my height, 5'11, and my weight 150 pounds. I noticed I was skinny too. As I looked into the mirror in front of the scale I saw that my hair had bits of gray in them. My usual all brown, short cut hair was fading away from all the stress of caring for my two greatest priorities. My goatee was still black, so I guess that's a plus. The doctor did the same to Victoria and Mary, and gasped at how little they weighed. Victoria was a staggering 108 pounds, and Mary was a slightly better 114 pounds.

"Its a miracle you two are still walking" He said, entering the data into his computer. While he entered the data I noticed Victoria's hair was a different color.

"Hey Victoria" I said "Did you dye your hair?"

"No, why?"

"Your hair is black." She grabbed the long, straight hair dangling from her head and saw that I wasn't kidding.

"Well you always said you wanted black hair." I chuckled, masking the fact that I was worried. Did this "flu" have any limits? The doctor finished entering the data into his computer and pulled out some syringes from a locked cabinet.

"Okay, now I need to take blood samples from the three of you." He said, getting his syringe ready. Victoria cringed, and squeezed me with surprising strength. I made her let go of me so I could have my blood taken. I let the doctor do his thing, clean my shoulder and what not, and he took some blood. He rapped my arm with some bandages and moved on to Mary. Still unresponsive to everything around her, the doctor held up her arm with one hand and drew blood with the other. Now it was Victoria's turn. She always hated needles, ever since she was six, when a nurse was impatient and jabbed a needle straight into her arm. I held her arm and doctor began to draw blood. The next that happened was almost unbelievable.