Living Dead Week

Zarbon rushed over to the professor and calmly explained that his loved one must return to bed because of her severe condition. The professor nodded, he had received the call from Techno and was wondering why the girl had shown up for the test. Zarbon thanked him and headed toward his girlfriend.

Tonya glanced sleepily up from her test, and smiled slightly. "Zarbon? Wha..."

But before she could finish, Zarbon had thrown her book bag over his shoulders, and was picking her up into his strong arms. She squeaked in surprise, her braid whipped at his shoulder as he started to carry her up the stairs and out of the room. Realizing she still was clutching her test, she weakly threw it at the professor. Once outside he set her into the passenger seat of his Jaguar and was about to pull away.

"Zarbon...You could have waited two seconds for me to hand it in. I was done." his lover chided.

"Well, you can retake it when you are feeling better. We've already made arrangements with the professor." And with that he put the car in gear, and vroomed away into the sunrise.

Inside, Professor Lamb had picked up Tonya's test and began to grade it. Surprisingly, he discovered she had managed to ace the test. He decided to call her after the test to give her the good news.

- - - - - -

Zarbon rubbed his sleepy eyes as he walked down the hall to his lover's room. He wasn't used to getting up this early, even thought it was only just a minute or so before 7 am. He usually was up until the girl on rounds came back, and then didn't get out of bed until about 10 am or so.

Last night he hadn't slept well and now he was a bit grumpy as he opened the door. He eyed the empty bed with a look a look of pure malice, wondering where the girl was now. Techno's comment on how the girl seemed to function the best half dead came to mind. An odd noise came from the bathroom, and Zarbon went to check it out.

Flipping on the lights, he was surprised to find Tonya much in the same position he had been in the morning after Dee's mixed drinks. Her twin braids were tied back with another hair band, her eyes were squeezed shut, and she was breathing hard. She relaxed slightly; chin resting on the edge of the bowl staring blankly at the contents.

"Tonya?"

She didn't move. Zarbon pulled a clean washcloth from the stack and wet it. Dropping to his knees, he gently pulled her back against him and wiped her face. He saw the glass of water sitting on the floor and helped her rinse her mouth. She was practically boneless as he did all of this, and he was beginning to worry.

"Let's get you back to bed," he said starting to stand up, "you look exhausted."
"No." she protested weakly, trying to pull away, "I'm staying here."

Zarbon sit back down, "Why? Wouldn't your bed be more comfortable?"

"Yeah, but I'll just be back in here in about 30 minutes anyway, why wasted what little energy I have walking?"

"Why are you going to be in here?"

"This is the third time so far. I've probably got what I had the last time this happened. So I'll most the likely be in here about four to six more times." Tonya sighed, "I wish I wasn't so dizzy, then I could just go back to sleep.", she whimpered, "I hate this."

Zarbon hugged her gently, "What did you do the last time you had this?"

"Mom gave me something called Antivert, and I went to bed and stared at a spot on the wall chanting, 'I am not spinning, I'm lying perfectly still', over and over until I fell asleep."

"Ok, I'm going to talk to Techno. You just relax, and I'll be back soon."
- - - - - - -
The guys had gotten Tonya some anti-dizzy medicine and she was finally asleep again. But now they had to deal with another problem. Sally and Poopsie had returned from their respective tests and weren't feeling so good.

Poopsie had flopped onto the couch in the TV room with Alec, who had immediately notice she was running a fever. He carried her off to bed while Sebastian and Zarbon went in search of more blankets.

Sally walked though the front door looking pale, with a very concerned Daniel by her side. Techno was just coming out of the TV room, headed for the cave, when Sally passed out in the foyer. Daniel caught her and slid her to the ground, his gray eyes worried. Techno quickly found her pulse; noticing she too was burning up. Daniel helped her up carefully and escorted her to her room with Bowie trailing behind.

Techno stood in the foyer thinking. He couldn't believe that it was a coincidence that three of the five girls were suddenly ill. He remembered the machine Robert had used to diagnose illnesses and poisons was still in the cave. Deciding this would be a good time to see if it still worked, Techno headed downstairs.
- - - - - - -
Jessica and Dee had returned by the time Techno had gotten the machine to work. Jed was complaining of a headache and being cold, but Dee was the picture of health. Whatever was infecting the other four girls hadn't made it past her hyperactive immune system.

He frowned as he realized needed a blood sample from each of the girls for the machine to give him the information he wanted. He took the blood tubes from the machine, inspecting the sterile packaging for holes or rips. Then he headed up to the mansion, intended to practice on Dee first as he hadn't done this for quiet a while.
- - - - -
Sally, Jed, and Poopsie had protested against having their blood drawn. They weren't sure Techno knew what he was doing and didn't want to be his test subjects. Finally they agreed, and were surprised at his skill. Now he paused outside of Tonya's room. The door was open slightly and he could see Zarbon sitting by the bed watching the sleeping girl.

Techno once again wished he didn't have to do this. Tonya was the sickest one so far and he didn't want to wake her, but probably would. That brought up the problem of Tonya being afraid of needles. While he wasn't using a hypodermic needle exactly, he was sure she wouldn't be very happy.

Zarbon looked at Techno as he came in, noticing the equipment in his hands. Raising an eyebrow, Zarbon looked at Techno questioningly, but didn't speak. Techno showed him a full blood tube clearly marked with Poopsie name, and an empty one with Tonya's.

Nodding in understanding, Zarbon moved onto the bed letting Techno have the chair. He picked up the girl and moved her closer to the side of the bed where Techno was sitting. Then he grabbed a piece of ice from the bowl sitting on the nightstand that had been used to wipe Tonya's forehead to bring down her temperature. He held it against the inside of her elbow, numbing the skin so she wouldn't feel the needle.

Techno blinked then nodded. He got his sample without waking the girl and left to go run his tests.
- - - - - -

"Well, they've all got the same thing." Techno said tossing the print out onto the table in front of Alec, Sebastian, and Zarbon.

"All of them?" Sebastian asked, "Even Dee?"

"Yes, it's just not making her sick. It's just a harmlessly floating there, slowly being eaten by her immune system." Techno replied.

"Man, that Dee is one hell of a woman!" Alec shook his head. "Have you ever thought about dating her, T?"

Techno's face contorted into disbelief.

"Oh come on, T," Sebastian egged him on. "We all can see the way you treat her is just a cover for what you really feel about her."

Techno shot his one eye over to Zarbon for some confirmation that the other two were crazy. But Zarbon only folded his arms across his chest and shook his head in agreement with the other guys.

"You three are nuts," Techno stated flatly as he turned to leave. "You must be spending too much time with those fanciful, imaginative girlfriends of yours' if you think that I have a more than platonic relationship with Miss Pimp." He sighed and left.

Alec turned to Sebastian. "It's worse than we thought."

Sebastian smiled, "He's a goner." Zarbon nodded in agreement.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Don't you throw that mojo at me!" Dee yelled as she slammed the door behind her.

Techno, who was standing outside in the hallway looked at her quizzically.

"Oh, Sebastian is trying to butter me up, so he doesn't have to leave his girlfriend to get some food." She turned to leave as she shouted. "MEN!"

Techno shook his head as he rapped lightly on the door.

"It's open," came Seb's voice.

"Everything okay in here?" Techno asked as he handed a bottle of Advil to him.

"Yeah. Thanks." He took the bottle and emptied out a couple of pills, and popped them in his mouth.

"Um... those are for the invalids, Sebastian."

"You sit here for awhile, and I'm sure you'll be needing them too."
- - - - - -
Techno knocked lightly on Sally's door. He heard no answer, so he opened the door and stepped inside. Walking over to the bed, he noticed Sally was sound asleep. Sitting the bottle of Nyquil on the nightstand, he glanced at the sleeping girl. He did a double take and raised an eyebrow. On her pillow was a large wet spot starting at her mouth. Techno smirked as he realized the girl was drooling. He shook his head and left the room.

- - - - - -
Quietly opening Poopsie door, without knocking, to avoid drawing the girl's wrath, Techno walked into the room. She was asleep and Alec was sitting next to the bed. He was washing her forehead with a cold washcloth trying to bring her fever down.

Alec glanced up as Techno approached. He sighed a sat back looking up at the other man expectantly. Techno handed him a bottle of Nyquil and some Tylenol pm. Alec nodded, sitting the bottles on the stand next to the bowl, and resumed his task of tending the love of his life. Techno watched for a minute, then turned to complete his rounds.
- - - - - - - -
Tonya's door was open slightly, so Techno just walked in. She was still asleep, curled up on her side facing her lover who sat in a chair next to her bed. Zarbon was also asleep; his arms folded on the bed with his head resting on them.

Techno sat the bottle of Tylenol pm on the stand and placed a hand on Zarbon's shoulder. Zarbon raised his head, blinking sleepily at his still sleeping angel. He rubbed his eyes trying to dispel the sleep clouding them and yawned. After a minute, he noticed Techno was now next to him.

"Hello," Zarbon said softy before yawning again.

Techno watched the other man closely, noting the obvious signs that Zarbon wasn't getting much sleep. "Zarbon, go to bed. She's not going anywhere."
Zarbon frowned, "That's what we thought on Thursday. And she slipped out and went to her final anyway."

"Then tie her to the bed or something." Techno said with a shrug, "Just get some rest. We don't need you incapacitated." He turned to leave.

"Techno," Zarbon stopped him, "You said this wasn't contagious, right?"

"It doesn't appear to be. You have to eat it or breathe it in to catch it." Techno replied.

Zarbon nodded and looked thoughtful, "Okay, thanks." Techno watched as Zarbon kicked off his shoes and joined the girl in the bed wrapping an arm around her waist. "Wake me if you need something, Techno." Zarbon mumbled before falling asleep again.

Techno rolled his eyes and left the room.
- - - - - - - - - -
Dee watched with a mixture of disgust and longing as the men made the girls comfortable in the den. Most of the pillows and blankets of the mansion had been brought there to make it more suitable for their loved ones. Alec pulled the curtains closed to shut out the sunlight so they could sleep. Then the boys and Dee left the girls to their rest.

"I wish we could actually do something for them." Sebastian complained.

"Like what?" Zarbon asked, "We've tried every earthly thing possible to cure their illness, and some unearthly things too. Nothing's worked."

"Maybe we could track down the source." Alec suggested.

Everyone looked at Dee. "What? Why are you looking at me?"

"You the only one coherent enough to talk to." Techno replied. "When was the last time you five were together outside the mansion without one of us?"

Dee thought hard for a moment, "Well, we had pizza at Paul's Perfect Pizza the Wednesday of dead week."

"Was there anything odd about it?" Alec asked.

"Ummm...some chick with big breastises grated cheese on our pizzas." She replied.

"Let's see what we can find at Paul's." Techno said.
- - - - - - -

Dee stayed behind at the mansion to keep an eye on the other girls while the boys headed to Paul's. Alec and Sebastian were carrying their badges, pretending to be on duty. Techno and Zarbon were pretending to be Crime Scene Investigators working with a case with the others.

All they found out from Paul was that the girl had only worked one day and her name was Foxy. The address she had written on her application was a vacant lot, and the phone line was disconnected. Zarbon managed to find the cheese grater with some ungrated cheese still in it in the back of the fridge.

Alec raised an eyebrow, and Zarbon smiled wryly, "Tonya's a cheese fiend remember. I'm constantly trying to find the grater when I need it. The fridge is the best spot." Alec nodded.
- - - - - - -
"Well," Zarbon said peering through the microscope, "I'd say this is how the girls got infected. It has some spores of the disease imbedded in it."

"Now we just have figure out why they were and by whom." Sebastian said.
Alec came back from checking on the girls. "They're all asleep." he reported, "The thing I don't get is why the other three aren't dizzy like Tonya was. I mean they're at the same stage she was at when that happened."

"Tonya has a preexisting condition." Techno replied, "When her immune system is weakened severely, like with this disease, it emerges from dormancy and makes her dizzy."

"Sick as a dog, you mean." Alec said.

"Basically." Sebastian shrugged.

The computer beeped and the guys looked at it curiously.

Zarbon grinned, "Finally," he jumped into the chair and hit a few keys.

"What?" Techno asked as a screen displaying a dizzying amount of information pooped up.

"I hacked into the phone records of Paul's." Zarbon said quickly scrolling down the list of numbers, dates, and charges.

"What are you looking for exactly?" Alec asked.

"One thing I've noticed about pizza places is that you call them, they don't call you." Zarbon replied, "They only call back to verify the order and address. I'm looking for a call out that didn't have a matching call in on that Wednesday. I was hoping that the girl called someone to tell them the plan had been implemented."

The lines of text flew by. Sebastian, Techno, and Alec looked away.

"I don't see how you can even read anything on the screen." Sebastian said, "You scrolling way too fast, even for a speed reader. It's not humanly possible."

Zarbon smirked, "You're forgetting. I'm not human. There!" He pointed to the screen, "I'm willing to bet that number is our ticket to some answers." Tapping a few keys, he pulled up the address.

"That place is supposed to be deserted." Alec said, "It's an old research lab."
"Let's check it out." Sebastian said checking his gun.
- - - - - - - -

The four men approached the building carefully. Only Alec and Sebastian were armed, but Zarbon didn't have much need for any weapon other than his ki. They found the main door unlocked and slipped inside. Techno found a light switch and flipped it. Glaring white light blinded the men for a second. They stared in surprise at the sheer number of containers marked with the Death's head symbol.

"Looks like they've got enough here to take down the entire city." Alec said quietly.

"More like the country." Techno said.

"Actually the World." Came a female voice from the next room. Two well-endowed women entered the main lab carrying very large guns. They were rather scantily dressed; their tops making Brittney and J Lo look like nuns and the shorts would have made a girl from the 70's blush.

"I believe you boys are trespassing," the blond purred.

"You should leave before you get hurt." the red head smirked.

The guys had overcome the shock of the severe lack of clothing the two girls wore, and glanced at each other in disbelief.

"We're the police." Sebastian said, "And you're under arrest."

"On what charge?" the blond asked.

"Biohazard charges." Techno replied, "You infected four people with a flu like disease of your own creation. That qualifies for arrest."

The girls smirked. "So only four of the five are out of the way." the red head sneered, "Father wouldn't be happy with that, Bunny."

"You're right, Foxy. That's only a 80 percent success rate." She leveled the gun at the boys, "Let's see if we can improve our accuracy."

The guys dove behind the tanks as the two women opened fire. They were pinned down and could see no way out without being shot. Zarbon signaled to the other men to cover their eyes, then threw a ki ball into the air. It quickly grew brighter then vanished.

Bunny and Foxy cried out in pain. The sudden light had blinded them, but they kept shooting. Some bullets accidentally hit some of the tanks rupturing them, spilling their contents into the air. Everyone began to cough as they breathed the spores in, covering their mouths running to get outside.

Alec and Sebastian tackled the girls as they tried to run and handcuffed them. Techno called the police on his cell phone, then him and Zarbon slipped back to the car to avoid the other policemen.
- - - - -
Alec yawned, "Well, we caught the bad guys."

"Yeah, and possibly became infected ourselves." Sebastian sighed, "At least, Foxy and Bunny are going to jail and won't be let out again for a very long time."

"Too bad they can't join their father in the Looney Bin." Zarbon said.

"Those girls aren't crazy, they just wanted to help General Hawke and take revenge on the Others for putting him away." Alec said.

"We should probably get some rest," Techno cut in, "If we are infected, we're going to need all the sleep we can get."
- - - - - - -
The next morning, the guys had no doubt that they had successfully contracted the disease. One by one they stumbled into the den to join the others already present. Sebastian curled up with Jed on the love seat, Alec cuddled with Poopsie on the Futon, and Techno took over the recliner. Zarbon was the last one to show up, and he collapsed on the couch where Tonya lay. Wriggling a bit, she managed to get him under the blankets with her and snuggled against him.

"So this is what dying feels like?" Sebastian mused.

"I'm going to die a virgin." Tonya moaned jokingly.

"Yup." Zarbon answered, his voice muffled by the blankets.

Techno, Alec, and Sebastian found the energy to snicker at this exchange.

Jessica tried to comfort her friend, "There's still time."

Tonya opened her eyes and shifted to look at Zarbon who looked at her, exhaustion etched in his eyes. She smiled slightly before snuggling again and repeating, "I'm going to die a virgin."

"Yup."

Bowie trotted into the room and paused as he realized the guys were now present to. He cocked his head, "What? Now all of you are sick?" he sighed, "This is gonna be fun."

Everyone stared at the dog. "Umm..." Poopsie began, "You guys heard that right? I not hearing things, right?"

"He can talk?!?!" Tonya exclaimed in disbelief, "How?"

Bowie shrugged, "I don't know. I just do it."

"Makes sense to me." Techno grumbled, "Like attracts like, so freaks attract other freaks."