The shrill ringing of the telephone awoke Kylie from a shallow doze, It took her several seconds to establish the whereabouts of the phone before she picked it up, careful not to let too much of the apartment's icy cold air anywhere near her flesh. “ ‘Allo?”
“Kylie, get over here STAT. And bring Eduardo, AND HURRY UP!!!”
“ Janine, what time is it?”
“ As a ghostbuster you have no right to be asleep.” Her voice changed from brisk to sympathetic and weary. “ It’s two thirty-nine in the morning.” The line went dead as she hung up.
Groaning Kylie stood up, shivering violently as the cold air hit her like a sledge hammer. Rather than stop she kept shivering hard as she got dressed, the sound of her teeth chattering eerie in the almost empty room. “ F-F-Fifteen minutes S-S-S-leep in f-f-f-orty-eight hours. It’s a miracle I’m not d-d-d-ead.” She got a grip on herself and forced her voice into steadiness. “ It’s going to be a long night, and I’m not a morning person.” Pagan’s only reply was a solitary ‘miaow.’ (Well what do you expect he is a cat.) Her head felt stuffed full and her legs shook with every step, but she couldn’t call in sick, whatever she had been called for sounded important. Looking back at her cat she asked, “ Does STAT mean I don’t have time to apply make-up.” Taking her pets silence for a yes she muttered at her reflection. “ I thought so. Great. Wonder how many sarcastic, scummy comments I’ll get.” Staggering across the room she made her way out of the door and into the cold empty street still managing to walk steadily, but only just.
By the time she got to Eduardo’s apartment every bone, muscle, sinew, and nerve protested to any movement what so ever. The temperature seemed to drop a degree a second, threatening to freeze her in a solid block of ice. “ Rivera.” She said through the door. No reply, silence. EDUARDO WAKE-UP! She hears a muffled yell, a thump, and a loud stream of cursing. Eduardo opened the door and stood there rubbing his head. “ What?” Kylie looked him over, still in his work clothes, in fact he looked as though he’d got in and fallen asleep on the nearest soft surface. “ Janine told me to get you and be at the firehouse STAT. That was 45 minutes ago.”
“ You look weird.”
“ Gee, thanks it’s probably the lack of make-up.” Ed gave her a closer inspection, Going through a swift checklist in his head Make-up? No. Nail polish? No. Exhausted? Yes. Pale? Definitely. Gorgeous? Yep, even a mess she looks cute. “ No, it’s something else, You look kind of ill.” He didn’t quite catch the words that she muttered by somehow he doubted they were particularly complimentary. She gripped his wrist with her small, cold hands and dragged him off to the firehouse.
The second they walked through the door they were confronted by Janine. “ Kylie, when I say STAT. I mean it!!!! What were you doing, Painting your nails?” Looking up she saw Garrett and Roland were looking at her funny and she felt the beginnings of anger warm her half frozen blood. Her head felt worse and she wondered if this would take long, because the thought of a warm bed and an aspirin or two was like paradise. “ Yo Kylie,” Garrett said, She could tell he was going to make a snide remark, the anger turned into rage. “ I’m amazed at you speed, and your sacrifices. 55 minutes and no make-up, you really must have moved like the wind.” The leash on her temper snapped completely. “ I’M COLD, TIRED AND HUNGRY. I HAVEN’T SLEPT IN 48 HOURS, SEEN A WARM RADIATOR OR EATEN IN 24 SO GET OUTTA MY FACE! She decided to shut up before Slimer’s chin went through the floor or the looks that the others gave her got any more wide-eyed. Egon surveyed the situation and interrupted calmly.”There’s no time to argue. There is a class twelve viral demon in New York.” Eduardo felt a jarring shock go through his system when he realised that he could actually understand. For once the others wouldn’t have to explain it to him! Kylie’s run down brain rejected everything he was saying as too long and complicated to begin to comprehend, it ordered her to go and sleep, it knew that she definatley was not well, she should have listened to it. “ A what?”
“ It attacks people through a virus. For Example, The Common Cold” Roland whistled, “ That would make this ‘Flu epidemic a highly volatile situation.”
“ Precisely.”
“ So what does this demon dude actually do?”
“ It infects the brain and releases poisonous toxins that slowly and agonisingly kill the victim.”
“ So what signs of Mr. Gross infestation are there?” Garrett put in. “ Very small things at first, like Influenza symptoms. “ Drowsiness, short tempered. It attacks twice. The first to strengthen any existing virus, the second to release the toxins. As soon as the toxins are released the victim goes into a coma.”
“ So where’s the first address?” As Janine gave it to Roland he said, “ I’m driving.”
“ Hey, no fair!” Garrett grinned at his colleageus and added, “ Does this mean I won’t need my helmet?”
* * * * *
They all stood in the bedroom of a victim. The man’s wife stood beside him, “ He moans in his sleep about blackness. When I came in half an hour ago I thought I saw a black figure in a cowl leaning over him. But it vanished, leaving these marks. They’re like burns and I know they weren’t here before.” Kylie’s P.K.E was going mad. “ I’m picking up some readings that sre going off of the scale here.” Roland turned to the woman. “ Would you mind if we searched your house Ma’am?”
“ No, please do whatever’s necessary, what should I do about my husband?”
“ It might be best if you take him to hospital. We’ll deal with things here.”
“ I’m taking the top floor.” Said Eduardo. Kylie added. “ Basement.” Garrett turned to the oldest ghostbuster. “ Looks like it’s the ground floor for you and me Rolo, Let’s Roll!”
Eduardo finished checking the top floor. “ Nada, Not a blip.”
“Nothing here”
“ Not a nibble.”
Down in the basement Kylie feels like somethings following her, breathing down her neck... A movement in the shadows made her flick the torch beam onto it. Her P.K.E. goes ballistic. Pulling out her blaster she scans the area, panic scrambling to take over and make her run. She doesn’t see the cloaked figure behind her and it grabs her shouldes. “ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! The scream cuts off as abruptly as it started.
The other three charge down into the basement, at first there’s nothing to see but junk. “ Kylie? Kylie where are you?” Eduardo shouted scanning the area. There’s nothing to see. “ Maybe she’s dead.”
“ Can’t you think of your own lines Roller Boy?” Roland shines the torch ahead. The light hits a prone figure. Eduardo bent down beside her, his mind becoming a jumbled mess as fear began to set in. Kylie, don’t go, you can’t leave me, not on my own, I love you.’ He kept repeating it over and over in his head until Garrett said. “ Someone Check her pulse!” Eduardo searched frantically and finally located a weakly throbbing vein in her neck. The terror abated slightly. “ She’s alive, but her pulse is real weak, you can barely feel it.” Roland looked at the bare skin of her right hand and saw the angry red marks. “ It’s the viral demon, it’s got her.” Garrett swallowed a knot of panic that had formed in his throat. “ Come on guys. Lets get her to the firehouse already!” Eddie picked her up unconciously cradling her light form against his body. As though he can protect her, even though he knows there’s no way he can help. “ Why didn’t I take the basement?”
“ Hey, peach fuzz, come on. You weren’t to know. Spengler’ll help.”
Back at the firehouse the situation got worse. Egon checked her pulse, breathing, everything. They’d put her onto a life support like they had with “ The Pod Person.” and now he walked back, shaking his head. Janine came with him, wringing her hands whilst tears threatened to flow from her eyes. “ I’m sorry boys,” Her voice broke, “ There’s nothing we can do.” At their pained and disbelieving expression Egon intervened. “ She’s too far gone. The virus she had was strengthening and the demon hit her when she was weakest. The effects are irreversible.
END OF PART 1.