Virus by Ifedayo Akintomide

She sighed looking
teary as he gently steered her towards the front door. The door
opened before they reached it and a mole like man hovered in the
entrance.
    He wore a long white lab coat
reaching his ankles, buttoned all the way down. He had big boots on
his feet shaped a bit like wellingtons. His head was large, his
nose shaped like a beak and his lips so thin they appeared to be
lines.
    A bright light illuminated the room
behind him. Standing with the light serving as a backdrop made him
look like a cross between an angel and a shadowy dwarf like
ghost.
    “Is she the one?” He asked pointing
a bony finger at Judith.
    Collins nodded slowly his eyes wary
and nervous. He had to admit, the man gave him the creeps. He could
only imagine what Judith would be feeling.
    “Come on in then and let’s be done
with it. Tit.there is so I have so much I still have to
do.”
    He shuffled back into the building
as soon as he finished speaking. The way he walked was even more
disturbing than the rest of him. He had a limping shuffle that made
him look like a stick trying to walk.
    Swallowing nervously, Collins and
Judith followed him pausing just outside the door.
    “Come in and lets be done with it.”
Desmond barked from inside the house. “I still have tons of things
to do.”
    The sharp scent of disinfectant hit
them as they walked into the spartanly furnished room. A television
set sat in the center of the room on a grey stand. Its screen and
plastic surface so badly scratched that Collins immediately
surmised that it was not working.
    As if to puncture holes in that line
of thought, it came on with a screech startling them. They did not
relax until they turned and saw Desmond holding the remote
control.
    He stood in front of another door.
Judith gave the room a somber sweep before following Collins who
strode into the next room under the man’s summons. Desmond brought
him to a halt by poking a bony finger into his chest.
    “You will stay here__” He barked in
a voice that brooked no argument. “You__” He continued turning to
face Judith. “Will come with me.”
    Swallowing Judith walked into the
room and Desmond shut the door after them with a loud crash. Relief
burst from Collin’s lips as he headed to the sofa to sit down. Its
surface was crème leather and very weather beaten. He was on the
verge of sinking on it when he spotted several brown stains on the
seat cushion. Wrinkling his nose in disgust, he edged to the left
side of the sofa and settled down to wait.
     
    Judith stretched out on the cold
surface of an aluminum table placed in the center of the inner
room. The quack, as she had taken to calling him in her mind,mind
loomed a few inches over her face. He did not have much in terms of
height, as his upper torso barely made it over the edge of the
table.
    “Are you comfortable?” He asked. He
sounded somewhat sarcastic. As if he knew she was not comfortable,
did not really care either way but was just asking out of a sense
of false charity.
    She nodded, seeing no other
recourse. Nodding with satisfaction, he reached for her arm. She
shrank away when his cold fingers touched her skin.
    His eyes became as hard as pebbles.
For a frightening second, Judith was afraid he was going to hit
her, or stab her, only just noticing the large syringe held in his
hand.
    “Hold out your arm__” He spat at
her. The fury she saw lurking in his eyes made her want to leap off
the table and run away as fast as her legs could carry her. It was
the thought of her parent’s disapproving stares that made her lie
back and hold out her arm.
    “What do you want to give me?” She
asked trying to keep the tremor out of her voice and not quite
succeeding.
    “Something to help you relax.” He
growled as he grabbed her arm and quickly stuck the needle into her
skin.
    He barely removed the needle before
the feeling of weightlessness began. She felt so calm, languid, her
body light as a feather. So light, in fact that it seemed as if