The Infection
By: Meeko
Part One
"Tonight I've realized...There's something
out there that's stronger than the Yeerks, Andalites, and the
Animorphs. There's something out there
that is driving me slowly crazy. And, god help me, I like it..." Tobias's
Journal
"In the darkness, there's always light
When all hope is lost, there's a soul
that fights,
When it rains, there's a dance to be
done,
When death comes, love must be won..."
-Rachel's Book of Poetry
Prologue
*Tobias*
The sharp branches
of the trees slapped against my face, leaving stinging red marks across
it. The world was a racing blur as I ran as fast as my human legs would
carry me. They knew who we were. They knew who we were! There was no escaping
the Yeerks wrath now. I stumbled. I had gone too long without food, without
water, without resting. Ever since the Yeerks had found us. I ran. Ran
until my lungs seemed near to burst. My steps faltered.
"Caught."I whispered
to the silence around me.
My legs cramped
up and caused me to fall onto my face in the mud and decaying leaves of
the forrest floor. Warm tears ran down my cheeks, dropping onto the rich
floor beneath me. There was nothing to do but wait to be massacred now.
Or worse, made into Controllers. The Yeerks wouldn't wait long. Then
I saw it.
A brilliant white
light in front of me. Like a minature sun it glowed in the pale moonlight.
I crawled over to it and gazed at what looked like a large diamond, except
for the blue whirls that almost seemed like gas inside of it. I saw my
reflection in it. I was a mess.
Dirty blonde hair,
grown long now,wrapped in a hastily made ponytail that was now knotted
with branches, oozing red welts across my face and puffy red eyes.
"My god..."I whispered
as I leaned over it and gently picked it up, nearly dropping it as
the coldness from the thing crept into my skin.
The thing pulsed in
my hands and began to glow brighter...as if it were alive.
I have to get this
to Ax...he may know what it is...I thought, in a sedated, disembodied
voice. Then thing began to grow colder and colder, burning my hands until
a scream burst through my lips. I tried to drop it, but it was as if the
thing were fused to my hands. I screamed louder now as the thing burst
open. Tiny cords that looked like long tendrils of ice shot out from the
thing, tattering my clothing and ripping my skin. A scream burst out of
my lips as the blood coursed out of my wounds. I felt the icy-cold tendrils
attatch themselves to the ends of my nerves, pain like I never had felt
before wracked my body. And yet, I couldn't even scream. I was paralyzed
in fear and by my own muscles and nerves, which were now under control
of the thing. The misty-blue chemicals seeped into my skin.
Then, a hologram flickered.
I struggled to raise
my head as fire seared my flesh and bone.
"Visser Three!"I yelped
as the image took shape, a cruel sneer forming on the half-deer-human-scorpion
creature that leered at me like a spider
cornering it's prey.
"So we meet again,
Tobias. No one to save you this time, poor bastard."Visser Three smiled
cruely, then
the hologram flickered out a view. A spiteful
message sent to harrass it's prey further.
Again I went to scream
as my body began twitching and convulsing under the influence of the cold
thing. And then, darkness slammed down on my senses like a harsh wave.
Chapter One
*Rachel*
Trapped. Utterly and hopelessly
trapped in a psychedelic maze that there was no way out of. The war was
lost. Hell, everything was lost. By now my family would have been
made Controllers. I pushed along, ignoring the sharp cramps that were gradually
seeping the precious energy out of me. Cassie, Marco, and Ax stood next
to me, staring at the sight that was beheld before us. I gasped in terror
and tried to turn my head from the horrific sight. Tattered pieces
of cloth littered the ground, ripped into shreds. But that wasn't what
struck terror in my heart at the moment. A crater was formed in the ground,
obviously from a large animal struggling against...something.A large,
glittering puddle of dark red liquid had formed in the crater. It's thick
rotted smell told me what it could be. Blood. And of either of Jake or
Tobias.
"What the fuck happened
here?"Marco whispered hoarsly, fearing the answer to his own question.
Cassie walked over on wobbling legs to where the blood had formed and got
onto her hands and knees. I joined her.
"Look here."Cassie
called over to us. I crawled over to where she was pointing.
"There's nothing there."Marco
said lamely.
Cassie rolled her eyes.
"That's my point. There's no sign of the dragging of a body, and only one
set of footprints. There's no body near by, either."Cassie pointed out,
her voice tense.
I heard a sharp snapping
behind me and whipped around to see what it was. I was hoping against hope,
as sick as it sounds, that it would be Tobias, and not Jake. It was Jake.
He surveyed the sight,
his eyes blank and his face an ashen white. "So where is he?"Jake asked.
That was the million
dollar question.
* * *
We didn't have much time.
The Yeerks would be combing the woods soon. They were desperate to find
us, now that they knew who we were. Or rather, what we were. We
formed two search parties. Cassie, Jake, and Ax, and me and Marco.
My eyes were bloodshot
from days without sleep and without rest. My body was wracked of all energy
and it took all my concentration to keep pushing myself forward, forever
forward.
"Don't worry Rachel,
if whatever attacked Tobias tries to attack us, I'll protect you."Marco
said to me, trying to comfort my tears.
"If it took down Tobias
so fast, do you think you could honestly protect me from anything?"I asked,
sounding much more harsher than I had intended.
I caught a look of
hurt on Marco's face and he looked down at his tattered shoes, ashamed.
"Look...I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, really, I didn't."I tried to console
him. Marco forced a smile and we continued walking.
And then I saw it.
A body lying on the edge of a small clearing. I closed my eyes, hoping
that what I saw had been an illusion from my ill-nourished body.
"Look, over there!
What's that?"Marco asked.
I was wrong.
I closed my eyes tight,
afraid to look at the body I knew that would be lying before me. Afraid
to look into the face of a friend... and more.
Chapter Two
*Jake*
We gathered in Tobias's
old meadow. Marco and Rachel had carried his seemingly frozen body to where
we were supposed to meet and we all looked down at him. He looked... as
if he were sleeping. Perfectly normal. Rachel reached down and tenderly
stroked a strand of brown hair off his forehead, tears ran down her cheeks
and onto Tobias's.
"What could have happened
to him?"I asked, my voice quiet. I felt a cold feeling across my body,
a sick, naseauting feeling of raw terror and rage. Cassie had bent down
and was looking, puzzled at Tobias's wounds.
The cuts were made
almost parallel with one another and ran from the bottom of his wrist to
his neck. Cassie shook her head, puzzled and looked up at Ax, who had also
began to examine Tobias's corpse. "I...I don't know what could have made
these marks in his skin, human or otherwise. They were obviously made before
he-"Cassie's sentence was broke short by rapid, struggled breathing. And
it came from Tobias
"W-what's going on
here?"Marco stuttered, gazing at the body which had began to twitch.
"I'm so cold. So cold..."Tobias
moaned, his teeth chattering so violently his tongue began to bleed, and
his lips were indeed turning white as if something were freezing him from
the inside. Rachel looked at Ax, her eyes wide in amazement...or fear.
< I don't know how
this could happen... He wasn't breathing, nor did he have a pulse a minute
ago. scientifically, he can't be alive, and yet... >Ax whispered in thought-speech.
Suddenly, Tobias's
eyes snapped open, filled with such an eerie inrecognition I took a step
back. Ax was
indeed right. This wasn't Tobias. Tobias's
arm shot up and grabbed onto Cassie's wrist. Cassie screamed and then began
to whimper as ice-like bonds leapt out of the incisions of Tobias's wrists
and began tearing into the tender flesh of her arm.
Hurriedly, I pulled
her away. In that second, Tobias had disappeared back in the woods.
We all looked at one
another, wondering what had happened, but one thought echoed through each
of our heads.
There was something
going on. And we had no clue what....
We went to the Hork-Baijir
colony. Not that it was a safe haven for us; Tobias knew exactly where
it was. I shook my head, shuddering.
"Hello, Rachel, Cassie,
Jake, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, Marco."Toby greeted us as we landed,"Where
is Tobias?"
We were silent for
a long time. How were we to answer when we didn't know ourselves?
"He's dead, Toby."Marco
said, after a long silence.
Rachel spun around
to face Marco and smacked him squarely across the face. "He is not dead!
He's alive! Okay? OKAY?!?!"Rachel yelled at him, their noses only inches
apart.
"Well what do you want
to call him? He was dead, now he's alive and trying to kill us!"Marco retorted.
She narrowed her eyes
and stormed away.
The silence echoed
behind her.
* * *
I was suprised, as we entered
the caves which we had originally thought would be used for the Hork-Baijir's
homes, before we realized they lived in trees, to see Erek the Chee and
a few others gathered in the cave.
"I knew you would come here. They know
who you are. And they have found a new weap-"Erek stopped in mid-sentence
and sighed.
"I see you've already
encountered it."Erek sighed, "Tell me what happened."
So we did.
When we got to the
part where Cassie was attacked with those...wires... Erek's eyes grew wide
in alarm.
"Dear Gods, no."Erek
whispered and pulled Cassie's arm up. He ran his hand over it and brought
his eyes up to meet ours. And I saw fear, fear that he didn't need to create
himself for our benefeit, in his eyes. "She's infected too. In a few hours,
she will be similar to Tobias."Erek whispered.
"With what?!?! What
is she infected with? Why?"I questioned.
"Last night, the Yeerks
learned your true identity. Your families have already been made into Controllers.
They found a new technology that canlatch itself onto it's victim's nerve
system and take control. It realeases a gas, which they got from a species
more ancient then the Pemalites. The gas, not only eats away at the structure
of a being, but destroys their soul."Erek explained.
"That's no possible!
Nothing can destroy a persons soul! Scientists aren't even sure it exists!"Cassie
cried
out.
"The soul exists. And
somehow, the Yeerks managed to use the same gas as found in the Yaargro's
body and used it to make a...shall we say,...bomb. Tobias, evidently, stumbled
upon one. The bomb should more likely be called an internet, for it links
the victim's memories to a main computer. Tobias is slowly dying within
his own body. And there's nothing you can do to stop it."Erek finished
and looked at Cassie.
"You say the wires
only touched your skin?"He asked.
"Yeah..."Cassie replied,
fear evident in her voice.
"My scanner says that
it's only present in your lower arm. If we amputated it, you would still
live."Erek offered gently.
Cassie agreed.
A Hork-Baijir was called
forward. Erek gave her a novacaine shot. I turned my head away. Cassie
whimpered in fear and remote pain, and then there was silence.
Chapter Four
*Tobias*
The darkness slowly lifted
to a light haze. I looked around at my surroundings. I could see a mountain
range in the distance and acres of acres of trees surrounding me on all
sides.
I felt dizzy, wobbling
on my two human legs. I didn't bother trying to demorph to hawk. Something
told me it was too late anyways.
Where was I?
More importantly, how
did I get there?
I stumbled forward
through the dark trees and my eyes came to rest on a strangely familiar
mountain. Something inside me told me not to trust the way my eyes slid
away from the left hand side. Suddenly...
FLASH!
Lizard-like creatures
running and swinging through the branches of trees.
Two beaming Hork-Baijir's
showing me Toby.
A story that was told
one cold night around a campfire.
The adoring eyes of
a species I had saved.
A narrow opening in
the side of the mountain leading to a beautiful valley.
FLASH!
I fell through a crack
in the mountain. A beautiful valley was laid out before me.
They'll be at the
cliffs.A monotone voice told me.
Who would be? The Animorphs?
The Hork-Baijir?
I headed towards the
cliffs, a nervous panic flooding through my system. It was bad. It was
very, very bad. A sick feeling crept into my stomach, causing my legs to
shake violently. I was so cold. My bones felt like an icy hand had gripped
and shook them.
I tripped over a branch
on the forest floor and heard a loud cracking as my ankle broke, pain so
intense and definite I yelled for help from my friends, before realizing
I was all alone...
I crawled forward on
my hands and knees.
FLASH!
The tears streamed
down my face as the tenticles of the thing connected themselves to my nervous
system.
The pain...So intense...
It caused me to gasp in agony. What was happening to me?
FLASH!
"Dear God,"I whispered,
my eyes growing wide in fear as the realization sank into my mind, "They're
inside me..."
As I passed out from
pain again, I heard gravely, but gentle voices above me, and strong hands
wrapped
around me.
* * *
I felt warmth. I clung
to it as gentle images of my room, my tree, and a warm, whole, tender feeling
of being in my mother's womb filled my dreams.
After a while, the
images grew colder, as did my body.
Images of my uncle
beating me, of the lonliness I felt as a hawk and as a human, of hearing
Rachel cry for me, pitying me.
Then, the warmth returned
as I was set down. I opened my eyes, unwilling to leave the warm, peaceful
dreams and looked tiredly up into my friends faces.
I was suprised to also
find a dracon beam pointed in my face.
"Don't move, or you'll
fry."Jake, the holder of the dracon, growled at me.
I felt a coldness seeping
into my body, and I had to fight with every ounce of my strength to keep
from fading into the coldness, for fear of what I might do to my friends.
"Please...Help me...
They're inside of me. They're trying to take control."I rasped, forcing
the words painfully out of my cracked, bleeding throat.
They looked at me sceptically.
I could see Rachel darting glances from me to Jake, wanting desperately
to untie the ropes that bound me.
"I'm so cold..."I whispered,
and couldn't fight the tears that welled up in my blood-shot eyes.
Erek came over to me
and ran his hand from my forehead to my feet. He looked over at the Animorphs.
"It's everywhere. The
infection has spread throughout his body. For right now, the disease seems
to be recessive."Erek murmured to them.
I felt a sinking feeling.
I knew what was happening to me. I was slowly dying. And under the control
of the Yeerks...
Chapter Five
*Rachel*
Erek walked over to me
and placed a hand gently on my shoulder. "Rachel, I need to talk to you."He
whispered in my ear.
"About what?"I asked.
"Let's step outside
for a second."
I look down at Tobias,
who was still tied with his arms behind his back. Precautions.
"He'll be fine. He's
out cold right now."Erek reassured me. I followed him out the entrance
of the cave and he looked at me.
"Rachel... I can't
be sure, but I think your pregnant."Erek told me in a low voice to keep
the others from
hearing.
We had thought the war
was over. The Andalites had sent us a message: they would be there in two
weeks. We celebrated.
Tobias often hung out
at my apartment when he wanted to be human. I didn't mind. But one day
he came while I was in the shower. And that led to a whole scene...
I came out of the shower
with the towel wrapped losely around me, and shrieked when I saw Tobias
lying on the couch. He yelled and pulled a pillow over his head.
"What the hell are
you doing here?!?!"I screamed.
"I was just waiting
for you to get home! I didn't even know you were here!"He yelled
back at me, his voice muffled by the pillow.
I giggled at this scene.
I was standing in the middle of the room, half naked, with Tobias lying
on the couch, a pillow covering his head.
Tobias started laughing
too. He got up and wrapped his arms around me and pressed his lips against
my
ear.
"Do you want to know
a secret?"He whispered in my ear.
I nodded my head.
"I love you. And I
always have..."
The Andalites had never
come. We waited. Two months went by. And I began to become sick... "A-are
you sure?"I asked, my hands trembling and the color draining from my face.
"Besides being an all-knowing,
handsome, wonderfully smart, and modest android, I'm all-knowing too. I
was also a pedidiatrician in my previous life.And I can guess who the father
is."Erek said, keeping his voice low.
I felt a blush creep
to my cheeks.
"Is it true that Tobias
will die?"I asked Erek, and couldn't help the tears welling up in my eyes.
Erek looked at the
ground, avoiding eye contact with me and nodded his head slowly.
"Let's go in and check
on him, okay?"
I nodded my head slowly.
A wave of panic hit me like a sledge-hammer.
Dear God, no. Not
right now. Not. Right. Now.
We walked into the
cave, where Toby was hunched over, looking at Tobias's face. She turned
to look at us, her eyes wide in shock and pointed down to him.
His eyes were bruised
and tiny cuts etched a spiderweb across his face. His arms, black and blue,
looked
like someone had beaten him. I gasped.
"Dear Gods..."Erek
whispered,"It has begun."
To
Part Two
Back to Journal
Back to FFAP