Larry Trudeau had come home from the hospital after having been bitten by a vagrant of some sort, and decided to take a nap immediately. He wasn’t too worried about the bite. He’d already been vaccinated against rabies a few years back so he knew he wouldn’t need to worry about that. The doctors had checked the bite out, dressed it, given him some antibiotics, and told him to schedule a followup with his regular doctor. It probably wasn’t going to be a big deal.
A few hours later his roommate Derrick came home from work to find an obviously dead Larry shambling around the kitchen preparing a snack of raw ground beef. “You look terrible.” He’d said, “Dressed for a zombie pub crawl or something?” He’d asked hopefully. It wasn’t like Larry to participate in that sort of thing, but there had to be some reason other than the obvious for his pale, waxy looking flesh.
“Oh, thanks.” Larry sort of growled sarcastically, putting on a grotesque show of rolling his dead eyes. “No, I got bit by some freak at work and I’ve been feeling a little under the weather.”
Derrick paused for a moment, trying to process Larry’s words. It wasn’t like Larry to B.S. like this. “Pfft. Whatever man. Just let me know if you’re going to be coming back late.” He left him to go and take a shower.
Larry’s condition worsened over the night. He awoke, took one look in the mirror, and called in sick to work. He also called and scheduled an appointment with his doctor. There wasn’t really any pain in the bite, but it showed no signs of healing, and he kept getting large bruises on his back and legs whenever he sat or layed still for a long period of time. After his shower, Derrick passed him in the hall on his way to their shared bathroom. “Jeez, dude, take the makeup off.” He said as he passed, and exclaimed, “Oh, man, what did you eat?! It smells like death in here!” as he closed the bathroom door.
“Nothing dude, I’m just sick!” Larry had growled back roughly. His tongue felt heavy and a little numb. It was hard to pronounce clear words. He was starving, though, and all he could think about was the rest of that raw ground beef. He made a plan to stop at the store and pick up some more meat on the way back from the doctor’s appointment, he’d need his strength, after all, to beat this… sickness… whatever it was.
