Viral

All characters in this story are ACTUALLY over the age of 18.

*****

Sasha clicked the button on her car key before she was to the door. She didn't quite understand why the community college administrator had suddenly dismissed all classes and was quite unnerved as people rushed to the parking lot. Couldn't they have just explained the reason for the sudden dismissal? Her phone was dead and being her 2nd week at school she hadn't made any friends in her 9am psych class. So, she had no way of knowing what was going on.

After snapping the seatbelt and pressing the ignition button, she noticed people starting to run out of the school in a panic in her rear-view mirror. She put the car in reverse and started to back up when the collision warning alarm went off and her car jerked to a stop. A large white pickup truck sped past her rear bumper, nearly taking off the back-end of her new Camry.

"SHIT!! ASSHOLE!" she screamed.

Suddenly she heard the all too familiar buzzing of the emergency alert system through the radio speakers.

'It's just a test.. It's just a test...' she thought repeatedly as the sequence of alerts seemed to drag on forever.

"This is NOT a test! Please seek shelter immediately. I repeat, please seek shelter immediately. At 10:07AM pacific standard time, NORAD detected a massive ballistic missile launch from the eastern coast of Asia. Inbound missiles are due to arrive within the next 10 minutes. Please seek shelter in a fortified structure, preferably one with an air filtration system... This is NOT a test..."

"Oh Fuck, Oh Fuck, Oh Fuck..." Sasha muttered to herself in a panic. She slammed on the gas and spun the car out of the parking spot. As she peeled out of the parking lot, she was nearly sideswiped by a red sedan speeding by. The 2 mile drive home proved to be treacherous as people raced like ants on a freshly smashed ant-hill to reach safety. Car accidents piled up in intersections, pedestrians were running everywhere, oblivious to their surroundings.

At one intersection a woman dashed out across the street and was struck by a speeding compact car. Sasha shrieked in horror as the woman flew through the air into a light pole and fell limp to the ground. Tears were streaming out of her eyes as she navigated the intersection which already had two wrecked cars in the middle.

As she finally rounded the corner of her street, the haunting whine of air sirens filled the air. They seemed to be coming from everywhere as Sasha screeched into her driveway. She almost found herself in another accident as her Dad's truck was parked almost sideways across the driveway with the driver-side door open.

She slammed on the brakes and jerked to a halt.

She made a dash for the front door, which was also wide-open.

"Dad!? Dad!?" she pleaded.

"I'm down in the basement Sasha! Hurry!" she heard her father's voice drifting up from the stairwell behind the kitchen. "Close and lock the door!"

"Where's Mom and Alex?" she yelled as she dashed through the house after securing the deadbolt on the large metal front door.

"Mom just texted, they are hunkered down at city hall." he replied, his voice much closer as she rounded the entrance of the dining room and sprinted across the tile floor of the kitchen.

As she reached the basement stairwell she found it covered in plastic sheeting, duct-taped around the door frame on all sides but one.

"Careful not to yank it down baby, just slide in on the left side. It's open." Her dad's voice was steady and calm. Sasha pulled back the flap on the left side of the door and carefully stepped sideways through the door. As she descended the stairwell her dad threw her a roll of duct-tape.

"Here baby, take that flap of plastic and pull it into the door. Then tape it to the inside of the door-frame from top to bottom. Don't leave any room for air."

She obeyed instantly, taking great care to cover every inch of the plastic border with tape while her Dad performed a similar task on the door frame at the bottom of the stairs.

"Ok let's get inside babe" her dad said calmly.

As she slipped through a similar plastic sheeted gap in the door to the basement, she immediately noticed all of the supplies that lined the walls. The dim light overhead cast long shadows on water barrels, shelves lined with canned goods, a large cot with pillows and a stack of blankets. It was much colder here than the kitchen had been. Sasha's dad (Frank) sealed the plastic sheeting over the door frame after following Sasha in.

"There we go, good as it gets I'm afraid."

"Daddy! I'm so scared! What's going to happen?" Sasha shrieked as she turned and bear-hugged him.

"Baby... Baby.. calm down.. We're safe here. Your mom and brother are safe in the fallout shelter downtown and we are all going to be fine" Frank assured her.

"What's happening Dad? Why are they bombing..." Sasha was unable to complete the thought before a large shockwave hit this house. The sound was horrendously loud and the vibration nearly knocked them to the ground.

"Hunker down here with me" Frank calmly knelt down and covered his daughter with his body.

Two more large explosions rocked the house in rapid succession. Dust was knocked loose from the ceiling and the single greasy l.e.d. light bulb went out, plunging them into darkness. Sasha screamed and curled up in a fetal postion as her dad kneeled over her, half-laying across her body.

"Are we gonna die Daddy?" she sobbed.

"No Baby, those weren't nukes, they're conventional" Frank sounded puzzled. "If those had been nukes we would probably already be done for" he muttered to himself.

All of Frank's years in the Marine Corp had prepared him for this situation. He knew exactly what he needed to survive and keep his family safe. Even though he was scared shitless himself, his ability to stay calm was his greatest weapon.

As the vibrations stopped, so did the air sirens and an eery silence filled the dank air of the basement. Frank decided he'd better play it safe and stay in this position for a little while longer, just in case.

To Sasha it felt like hours were going by as she sobbed in the warm embrace of her father. She could smell his Old Spice and the fabric softner on his shirt. They just lay there on the floor together in silence. Eventually Sasha stopped sobbing and adjusted her knees as the concrete floor was quite uncomfortable. There were no more explosions.

After he felt it was safe, Frank sat up and fumbled his way around in the dark. After bumping into a chair, the cot, and eventually the shelves on the wall, an ultra-blue light lit up the room. Frank sat the l.e.d. lantern down on a small table in the corner of the room and made his way over to the portable radio on the wall. Sasha stood up and made her way to one of the folding chairs setup near the far wall.

After clicking the radio on, Frank pulled two bottled waters out of the store-bought case, handing one to Sasha. He pulled a folding chair out of the corner and sat next to her as they listened to the static of the radio.

"This is the emergency channel the corp uses for civilian outreach, someone will be on soon to tell us what's going on okay baby?" he reassured.

Another eternity passed as they waited for something... anything to break the monotonous hiss of the radio. They were both in shock. Frank kept checking his smart phone for texts, but there was no signal. The silence and isolation was maddening.

"Do you think our house is destroyed Dad?" Sasha asked.

"Oh no baby, those explosions were loud, but they weren't the kind that knock buildings down."

"Oh.. Can we go upstairs to see?" she inquired.

"No baby, we don't make a move until someone gets on that radio and tells us what's going on. There are too many things that could hurt us up there to go exploring."

So the two of them sat there for hours and hours. The last time Frank checked his cell phone before its battery died, it had been 7 hours since the explosions and that had been at least an hour ago. Frank heard Sasha's stomach growl and realized it had been a long time since either of them had eaten anything. He unwrapped two MRE containers that he pulled out of a plastic crate under the shelves.

"This won't be a gourmet dining experience, but it'll stop your tummy from growling so loud" he smiled at her in the dim blue-ish light. Sasha giggled, a little embarrassed.

They ate in silence, still waiting for someone to say something on the radio, but noone ever came on.

A few hours later, they decided to lie down on the cot made for two. Frank turned off the lantern to conserve battery. They both lay there worried about friends and family, but said little.

-----

By Frank's calculations they had been huddling in the starch silence of the basement for 4 months now. He had tried every channel on the radio 3 times a day and still there was nothing. He was now gravely concerned for his wife and son's safety, but he didn't want to panic Sasha.

It was a rough guess, but Frank thought it was now January, evidenced by the cold temperatures that kept them bundled in blankets day in and day out. They were doing their best to conserve on supplies but were quickly running out. All but one of their large sealed water barrels was empty or being used for waste and their food supplies were down to near depletion.

He turned on the radio (again) and cycled through the channels. The familiar hiss had become something of an enemy. He hated that sound now and almost didn't want to turn the radio on at all because of it. As he pressed the seek button, he heard a blip in the static. His stomach lept into his throat. The static went silent as they prayed they'd hear a voice.

Sure enough, an older male voice broke the 4 month radio silence.

"eghmm.." the man cleared his throat. "My name is Dr. Javier Alvarez. I'm the head.. Well.. Only physician at Memorial Hospital here in San Antonio. If you're hearing the sound of my voice it means you're either very lucky or you have made extreme preparations to survive. 4 months ago we suffered a catastrophic biological attack. At this point, it seems the attack was thorough and much (if not all) of the U.S. was impacted. The biological agent was apparently a new designer airborne virus that decimates the neural cortex of the brain within an hour of infection. Secondary infections of the lungs and kidneys kill the survivors of the first phase four hours later almost without fail it would seem. The virus is highly contagious amongst humans. Our tests have shown that the virus can be infectious for up to 12 hours on a dry surface. I'm sorry to say that at this point it would seem much of the population here has expired as a result of the attack. Almost all staff here at the hospital died 2 or more months ago as a result of exposure to patients and particulate left from the bombs. Those of us remaining have undoubtedly been exposed to the virus and suffer from what may be other long-lasting effects including severe muscle atrophy, impotence and infertility.

On to a little bit better news. A few of us here in the lab have been able to identify the toxic agents the virus produces and have developed an anti-viral serum that all but entirely erradicates the virus once infected. Sadly we've have few patients to test it on in recent weeks, hence this broadcast. If there are any of you out there that can hear me, I implore you to make your way to Memorial Hospital in San Antonio, TX. We've not seen any new cases of infection in weeks now, mostly due to depopulation. We believe the virus to have self erradicated due to the lack of hosts available. That said any at-risk population should be treated immediately to prevent death in the event of infection. I will repeat this broadcast each day at this time with updates as we get them."

The radio clicked and static filled the room. Sasha was sobbing in Frank's arms. Frank was stunned. This is far worse than any nuclear holocaust. He could only think of his poor wife Mary and son Alex. Surely they had succumbed to the virus in recent weeks. The finality of the news sunk in slowly and he too felt warm tears running down his cheeks.

"Dad are Mom and Alex dead?" Sasha shook, crying.

"I don't know baby. We are going to have to find out." Now that he knew the dangers he was facing, he could finally take action and leave the prison of their basement.

----

After a day of mourning and preparation, Sasha and Frank made their way out of the basement lugging large military backpacks, water, food and clothing with them. The light from outside was blinding, even in the relative shadows of their house. Sasha pillaged her bedroom for personal effects and returned to the living room wearing oversized shades.

Frank was going about another mission, arming himself. After donning his full-body tactical armor, Frank fetched his shotgun and two pistols from the gun cabinet. with the holsters strapped to his belt and an ammo strap around his shoulder, he looked every bit the part of a soldier. He grabbed his helmet and goggles before finishing loading the car. He was very upset with himself for having left his truck door open as the battery was now completely dead. Without a new battery, they would be stuck driving Sasha's Camry.

It was now late in the day and fairly cold. Frank thought it best to travel at night for now, just to reduce the amount of attention he might draw.

The months in the basement had rendered both of them lean, but well toned. Every day they spent in the basement they had stuck to a strenuous regiment of excerise. While he didn't want to deplete his food supply too fast, he also couldn't afford to become weak. So he and Sasha worked out for over an hour every day doing strength training and in-place cardio in the dark.

At night they slept together in the cot, snuggling for warmth. On a few occassions Frank had found himself aroused by the warmth of his daughter's body, but he had never succumbed to the temptation and simply turned his back to her. Beyond that, they had just existed mindlessly in the darkness.

There was no running water, so there had been little in the way of bathing. Needless to say, aside from the effects of a few rare sponge baths, Frank and Sasha stank to high heaven. Sasha was looking forward to the first opportunity she could get to find a tub (or a river or pond to take a swim in) even as cold as it was outside.

As they piled their belongings into Sasha's Camry, Frank caught a glimpse of his daughter in the fading sunlight and it gave him pause. Like her mother, Sasha was about 5'4" with long brown straight hair. Her body was shapely and while lean from 4 months on a reduced diet, she had beautiful curves and a large chest. Sasha had never been skinny, but she wasn't overweight either. Her green eyes seemed to glow as she cleaned her glasses with her light-blue jacket. Frank was struck by her beauty and instantly longed to see his wife.

"Let's go sweety" he said strapping himself into the driver's seat. Sasha was quiet and followed suit.

They listened to an Eagles cd as they slowly plodded their way through banks of stalled cars, trucks, and motorcycles. The streets were littered with decaying bodies, but surprisingly, there was no smell. The scene on the streets of San Antonio was straight out of a post-apocalyptic movie. It took them nearly 5 hours to reach the hospital, but they did so without incident.

As they approached the hospital, Frank readied his shotgun.

"Do you think you'll need that Dad?" Sasha asked timidly.

"I doubt it Sasha, but it's entirely possible this is a trap. Better to be safe than sorry."

To their surprise, the hospital had lights in a number of windows and even the front hall had one lonely flourescent overhead in operation. As they walked up to the double sliding glass doors of the ER entrance, they heard a voice emitting from an overhead speaker.

"Good Evening" a female voice with a heavy southern accent declared. "We're so glad to see that you're alive and got our message."

"Hello, my name is Captain Frank Allister and this is my daughter Sasha. We heard your message and have come hoping to be given your vaccine" he spoke directly into the security camera on the celiing to the right of the door.

"Frank, my name is Evelyn and I'm the on-duty nurse here. Most everyone has gone to bed, but I'll ring Dr. Alvarez and let him know you're here. I'm afraid however that I must ask you to return your guns to the car and prepare to be searched."

Frank scanned the area. There was no sign of anyone besides the ghostly voice in the box. That didn't mean anything to Frank though. Any good ambush looks just as desserted as this place.

"If it's all the same, I'll be keeping my guns until I verify our safety" Frank said flatly. There was no emotion in his voice at all.

There was a long pause from the speaker. After a few minutes Evelyn spoke again.

"Frank there's no way we can let you inside this hospital bearing arms. We have too many precious lives to consider. Dr. Alvarez is coming down with Damon and they're going to walk you through some tests. But you're gonna have to put those guns down first honey."

Frank growled in discontent. This went against every security protocol he'd ever learned. A few minutes later, Dr. Alvarez and a tall black man in scrubs rounded the corner into the forer of the ER. They were unarmed.

"Frank. I'm Dr. Alvarez and this is Damon Jones, one of the orderlies here" Dr. Alvarez yelled from behind the sliding glass doors. "I need you to put your guns down and step 3 steps towards the door with your lovely daughter."

"How do I know there aren't armed men right around the corner? How can I guarantee my daughter's safety?" Frank barked. Sasha was taken aback by the intensity of her father's response. He sounded forceful and intimidating, a demeanor entirely unfamiliar to her before this moment. Her dad was tall, strong and down right scary right now.

Dr. Alvarez paused and said something to the orderly. "Frank, we're going to just have to trust one another for right now. Believe me when I say I want nothing more than to protect you and your daughter for more than one reason."

'That was a strange thing to say' Sasha thought.

Frank stood stoicly in the driveway of the ER, debating his options. At long last he unslung the shotgun and unholstered his pistols. He looked up at Sasha with deep concern in his eyes and his lips slightly pursed with aggravation.

On queue, the two of them took three steps forward.

"Ok Frank, that's good, we're starting to build a little trust here. That said, I'm going to have to ask to do something you might find strange... " There was a long pause. "Frank you and your daughter are going to need to disrobe entirely so that we can inspect your bodies for signs of contagion."

This was getting weirder and weirder by the minute. Frank and Sasha looked at each other. In the past few months, they had seen each other partially nude for a minute or two here and there, but nothing like standing stark naked outside.

"Uh.. Dad? What do you think?"

"Ugggh.. I don't like this, but it makes a certain amount of sense from a medical standpoint.. Go ahead." Frank began unbuckling his tactcal gear, his eyes and ears tuned sharply for the first sign of anything out of sorts.

Sasha timidly took off her shoes, socks and jeans. Her pale legs bumped up in the cold night air. As her dad dropped his trousers, she got a good look at his bulging manhood. Her shirt came off exposing even more skin to night air and her nipples went hard as stones. Frank glanced over at his daughter just as she unsnapped her bra and revealed her perky c-cup breasts. Her nipples were hard and even aimed slightly upward. As he pulled his boxers off, he could feel his dick stiffen slightly, though he didn't know if it was the cold air or the sight of his beautiful nude daughter standing next to him.