The Libido Virus: Outbreak

"I'll take questions now," the man said, shifting his weight as he stood behind the podium. He looked uncomfortable and pale in the camera lights.

The pool of reporters roared with questions. The man at the pointed squinted and pointed at one, "What is causing this?"

"We don't know. At this time it would be inappropriate to speculate, as I said in the briefing our main concern right now is containment." His eyes scanned the crowd again, worried he might see one of the things sitting among the reporters. "Yes, Carol, go ahead."

"Is it a viral infection?"

"Again, we don't know. We have ascertained that it is transmitted similarly to a virus, including a high rate of infection, but we don't know if the underlying cause is actually a virus. Pete."

"Is this primarily a national health concern or a military concern? Do you think this could be a biological attack by a hostile nation?"

"Both, to answer your first question. At the moment, we have nothing to indicate that this is an act of terrorism or an attack, but it hasn't been ruled out. As you'll understand, the national security concerns are not my department. Uh, you miss, yes."

"Where did the outbreak begin?"

"We're not using that word. Two incidences were simultaneously reported, one in New York City and one in Houston. Chinese authorities have also reported two cases in Beijing."

"Mr. Secretary, there are reports of the infected exhibiting severe physiological changes. Particularly, the eyes turning a bright color and even mutations to the physical body.. Can you comment on these or other symptoms?"

The man sighed and removed his glasses, his hand trembling slightly as he placed them on the podium, "Yes. A discoloration of the eyes is a precursor to the infection, likely due to some interaction with the liver. Other physiological changes are inconsistent." He coughed. "I'll direct this line of questioning to the CDC from here."

"Are they dangerous?"

"Not directly. The danger is in the infection. Again we urge the public to be cautious, if you see someone exhibiting strange behavior, do not approach them."

A woman leaned forward and whispered in the man's ear while placing a note in his hand. He picked his glasses up from the podium and put them back on. "Ladies and gentleman, the president is ordering mobilization of our armed forces in conjunction with the National Guard in the following cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Memphis, Nashville, Richmond, San Diego, and the District of Columbia. Also, all military forces worldwide have been put on high alert. Finally, the 42nd Infantry Division of the New York State Guard are being deployed to assist local authorities in the evacuation of the island of Manhattan. I can't take any further questions at this time, thank you."

The room burst into yelling as the officials were ushered out of the room by soldiers.

***

"Stay close to me," Martin said as they approached the checkpoint. Lucy hefted her bag on her shoulder and squeezed Martin's hand tighter. All around them, people shuffled in an uneasy pace, funneling slowly past armed soldiers. The soldiers periodically ordered people to look up. A few people had even been shuffled off discreetly to one of the white tents which dotted the checkpoint lines. Despite the number of the crowd, people maintained a small distance from one another.

Lucy's heart pounded in her chest. It had taken them hours to get this far. Things were much worse behind them. The radio reported widespread rioting and looting. Everyone told rumors that infected had been spotted all over the city, yet no one had actually seen one. The soldiers had arrived suddenly and with an unnerving precision. From the moment the announcements began, trucks were moving through the streets. Checkpoints appeared in minutes, and men in hazard suits started examining anyone who tried to pass. Martin and Lucy passed through two already on their way out. Both times felt like executions. Lucy had seen the look of panic and confusion come over people as they were escorted out of the line.

"Next please, quickly," said the guard.

Three people were in front of them in the line. Martin shook his free hand nervously. This point was different. Armored cars created a metal wall in front of the open maw of the Lincoln tunnel. The hundreds of evacuees funneled into five single file lines. The men and women in white hazards suits were doing rapid physical examinations of each person, but so far no one had been detained. Between the barricade and the tunnel entrance stood a much larger white tent. Silhouettes created by the massive floodlights moved around inside clearly preparing for something.

"The president is on Air Force One," a man behind them said. "Heard it on the radio. Him and his staff were put on the plane a few hours ago. It's worse than they're saying. Something's worse than they're saying."

Martin eyed him. The man's wet eyes rolled around to look at everyone with suspicion, and his brow beaded with sweat. Martin pulled Lucy closer to him.

Two lines over, a commotion drew everyone's attention. A middle aged man was arguing with the soldiers. It ended quickly. The man was thrown to the ground and swarmed by the guards. His hands were zip tied, and he was carried away. The entire encounter took less than two minutes. "Step forward," said the guard.

The crowd went quiet. Martin and Lucy did not see anything to cause this, but a hush fell over the hundreds of people. The lights of the city were going out. Buildings flipped off wholesale as if someone turned a massive light switch. The streetlights around them winked into darkness, leaving only the floodlights providing any illumination. Behind them was the blackness of a city without power. The silence of the nothingness washed over them and then, screams.

The wet eyed man let out a nervous laugh, "They are coming."

As if an unseen force had suddenly pushed them, the crowd surged towards the barricade. Martin grabbed Lucy's arm and pulled her forward. Guards lined up with raised rifles.

"Stay behind the barriers!" they shouted. "We will fire on you!"

The back of the crowd cried out and went silent in waves. More gunfire, but this time from the white tent in front of the tunnel. The guards turned to look, and the crowd surged forward. Hundreds began streaming towards the tunnel. The armored cars closed ranks and metal reinforcements were going up behind them, blocking the entrance entirely.

Lucy saw the first one. It was a man moving incredibly quickly. He fell upon a woman and they disappeared into the dark crowd. All around her, people were being snatched out of the crowd as it moved forward. She caught sight of another, a woman, tearing the mask off of a soldier.

From the white tent, an inhuman roar bellowed across the crowd. The side of the tent ripped open, and a monstrous man emerged. He towered above the soldiers who ran to stop him, his body thick with muscle. The crowd yelled out for them to shoot, but the soldiers could only stare, blank faced. A strange miasma flowed out from the tent, stunning everyone in the vicinity of the creature. Martin watched as a woman ran forward from the crowd, tearing open her blouse while her husband shouted after her. In moments, she was on her hands and knees before the monster trying to fit a twelve inch cock in her mouth.

"Jesus Christ," Martin whispered. He tightened his grip on Lucy and pulled her away, back into the dark of the city.

***

"Ladies and gentleman," the anchor began, "we apologize for the interruption. We've been able to verify that the entirety of the Northeastern seaboard is without electricity. Our studio is operating on an emergency generator, and that can sustain us for a relatively lengthy period of time. We will stay with you as long as possible."

He shuffled the papers on his desk. His tie was undone, and his eyes showed his lack of sleep. "We have several new reports and, I'm not going to sugar coat it any more. For my whole time with this station, I've maintained the air of objective disconnection one expects from this chair. But I cannot separate myself from this. At this point, I'm not the anchorman for this station, I'm just myself reading the news. Forgive me, like so many of you, I am worried and tired.

"The checkpoints are closed. Thirty minutes ago, the President gave the order from Air Force One to close all routes out of the city. Our best advice to you now, if you are still in the city, is to get to the roof of a tall building with an open space. The military is arranging for rescue missions as we speak. Procure a source of fresh water and as much food as you can, then barricade yourself in. Do not open the door for strangers, and do not let them touch you."

The anchor leaned forward in his chair, "The government has released some numbers. I'll get to those in a moment, but I want you to know that we had a reporter on the Brooklyn Bridge. She was able to get a message to us before...well, before we lost contact. One of our audio engineers is getting it ready for the broadcast. I have been told that the content is disturbing. Until that's ready I have some numbers to go over."

"The President authorized the CDC to give out these numbers, and they are not good. The infection is spreading rapidly, very rapidly. Data models are showing that by the end of the hour, over 60% of the population of any major city will be infected. Rescue centers are being set up around the country as quickly as possible. We urge anyone who can to get to these safety zones. Quarantines are being constructed and, this is interesting, the President has ordered all nuclear facilities to shut down operations. You should have a map on your screen now showing the area of infection. If, if you can't see it then, well the entire eastern seaboard. Most of California has fallen as well. So far the infection has been halted outside of Atlanta and Chicago. No reports are coming in from Texas." He paused. "They're telling me we are ready now to go to that audio. I'll remind you that the content of this can be disturbing. This is from Channel 17 reporter, Audrey Ramirez, who we should have an image of on the screen. Forgive us folks we're operating with very few personnel. Ok, it's ready, we've cut to the relevant portion. Let's listen."

".....something is happening. There seems to be a commotion at the checkpoint. Kenny, hey Kenny! Let's get off the street. .... In here, come on. We're inside of a pharmacy now, it seems to be deserted. The shelves have been looted, but it was all done in a hurry. Windows are all still in tact. Check for a back room, would you? ... I was able to talk with one of the CDC workers named Dr. Richards. They've been monitoring the infection for some time now, and there's things not being released to the public. Whatever is causing this, it's causing an incredible physical change to the human body. He spent a lot of time talking about pheromones and a 'hive mind'. I wanted to talk with him more, but we had to keep moving. Apparently, the infected have their own status structure. At the top are highly mutated males being referred to as Alphas. One of the Alphas is being taken out of the city, he didn't know which route. The Alphas are incredibly dangerous as they can more or less drug people just by being close to them. That's why there has been so little violence. They're exuding some kind of....oh, Kenny! Kenny! Shit. Shit shit shit. One of them just walked in, but I don't think it saw me. It's a female, she's...smelling for something? Oh, fuck, Kenny...don't! Ahhgg, I...Kenny has been attacked. I can see more of them outside. I can try to get out the back maybe. The creature is...my god, the creature is taking off Kenny's pants. He seems to be in some kind of trance. Oh....she's now, um, copulating with him. The woman's body is gorgeous, that's the only way to describe it. She's completely naked, and I can see the green glint in her eyes. Watching this is...it's making me feel warm. I can't remember why I wanted to leave now. I think I'm getting wet from watching this. God....no....I was too slow. I wanted to fuck Kenny for years and now this stranger has his cock inside of her. Oh...I am so wet, these panties are ruined. Unghhh, I need to get these clothes off to fuck...what are all these wires f--"

The anchor shook his head. "Um, apparently the feed cuts out there. Well, this is the first time we've had any on site description of the infected. It's clear from that exchange that the creatures are exuding some type of chemical that renders their prey helpless. It confirms that the infected are moving with a mindless need for something. From this description that something is sex. Perhaps that is a more direct way of transmitting their infection or that the infection is causing a primal --"

A loud crash came from the left side of the studio. Yells of dismay started to fill the room. "It seems," the anchor said with a slight break in his voice, "that we are about to end our broadcast. I hope that you all stay safe. Emergency stations are up and running, please keep those rolling so that survivors know where to go." He took off his tie. "They're in the next room now. It won't be long. I'm going to ask that the camera remain on me until the end. At least this might give someone an idea of what these attacks look like."

A moment or so passed with the anchor holding his hands clasped before him. Then a woman walked into the frame. Her hourglass figure slowly walked over to the anchor. She delicately pulled his head up to look at her. His eyes drank in her voluptuous figure as his hands began to explore her body. Pressing his head into her breasts, she reveled in the feeling of his hands groping her thick ass and hips. The smell of her sex pervaded his mind, driving out all thoughts of decency or morality. She pushed him back in his chair and knelt down behind the desk, in seconds she had stripped him from the waist down and was bathing his rigid cock with her tongue. As she worked, age fell off of the man. Wrinkles faded into smooth skin and grey hair regained its luster. He moaned as she popped his cock out of her mouth. In a quick motion she hopped on top of him, impaling herself and pulling the man's open mouth onto her tits. As they began to vigorously rut, the camera fell over and the signal went black.

***

Sharp pain stabbed at Martin's side as he collapsed against the door. "We, we made it," he stammered, trying to catch his breath. "We fucking made it." He laughed.

The others were all bent over trying to catch their breath. All except one, a man in scrubs. He was going from person to person, grabbing their face roughly and looking at their eyes. He got to the only other man besides Martin and was pushed away, "The fuck are you doing?"

"Checking for the infection," the man in scrubs said. "All that running was fucking pointless if one of you is already turning."

Martin stood up and looked the man in the eyes, "There, satisfied? My name is Martin. That's Lucy."

"Everett," the man in scrubs said. "And that," he gestured to a young Asian woman in the corner, "is Lien. We were part of the initial response team."

"She speak English?" the gruff man asked.

"Yes," Lien replied sharply. "For now at least. I don't think the infected can use their tongues for much other than sucking cock."

"This is insane," Lucy said as she came to stand by Martin. "All those people started having a giant orgy. Why would they do that?"

"Yeah, Doc, why would they?" the gruff man said. He was lewdly eyeing Lien until Everett stepped in front of him.

"Didn't get your name, did we?" the smaller man asked.

"Nick." He was a big man with a broad build. As the room sized each other up, an uneasy sense of danger filled each of them. While Martin had never thrown a punch in his life, the pocks and scars on Nick's face indicated that he hadn't been so fortunate. Nick was clearly considering the same things. He'd spotted the group duck down an alleyway when the barricades were overrun and followed.

Lien spoke, "The sex seems to be their primary motivation. Once the infection has set in, that's all they can think about. It's helping to drive the outbreak. Which one of you would have denied a sex goddess who climbs on top of you naked?"

"You got a point, lady," Nick said, moving further into the room.

They had taken refuge in a small tourist shop on the corner of a cross street. The shelves were mostly undisturbed, since no one had thought stealing tiny Empire State buildings would be that useful in an apocalypse. Martin walked around the shop and found an array of candy and other snacks. He threw some to Lucy and the others. Everett delivered bottles of water from a small cooler.

"Anything stronger back there?" Nick said as he took two bottles. Everett ignored him.

Martin sat down next to Lucy. He offered a packet of M&Ms to Everett. "So you were studying this before everything went to hell?"

Lien glanced at Everett, then nudged him with her knee. Everett swallowed a mouthful of the candy and then spoke, "Yeah, we arrived yesterday morning." He didn't continue.

Lucy huffed in frustration, "You know more than that. Why keep secrets now?"

Everett sighed, "I don't think you'll want to hear anything I have to say, but fine. My team arrived, and we were shown six patients. All had absolutely bizarre vitals. Heart rates that should kill you. Levels of hormones that should cause a toxic shock more than anything else. Nothing about their condition indicated that they would be contagious. They showed no signs of any kind of viral or bacterial infection. This was just the human body going insane. After a few hours, several of the hospital staff that had interacted with them were starting to show signs. That's when the quarantine was ordered. We put them all in sedation and kept them in joint isolation."

He took a long drink of water. Everett was a middle age man, but the hours had not been kind to him. His normally fit and dapper style had been deteriorated to a shabby, stooped look. "Around 1900 hours, something happened. Like a switch had been flipped. The original six started seizing. We intervened with the one we thought was Patient Zero. Once he was controlled, we packaged him up for transport. The other five were females and their seizing led to a distinct physical change. Before they had been of various ages and physical makeups, but after, their bodies had transformed into, well I guess you would call it the ideal woman. Large full breasts, full pouty lips, wide birthing hips and a rear to match. Their skin was free of blemishes of any kind, any kind of defect seemed to vanish. Like someone had hit the copy button on a lingerie model. They retained their differences, but all conformed to that ideal. Sex goddess."

Lien picked up the story for him, "We left with Patient Zero. Our intent was to transport him to the CDC for a more secure area to test him. We didn't realize that male transformations take longer. Or at least his did. He was that creature you saw at the tunnel. Removing him from the transport was a mistake. I think the Alphas can attract the others."

"Alphas? Plural? You mean there's more than one of those guys?" Nick asked.

Lien replied, "Yes. We have reports of others even here in the city. The infection reacts differently to the different bodies. Some become drones, some become Alphas. We had some reports out of China about a possible hive mind operation among the infected. The Chinese believed their outbreak was being orchestrated by something at the top, like a queen. Which means we're getting our very own here in New York. Either one already exists somewhere or one hasn't catalyzed yet."