Chapter 16: Wildfire
Perspective: Daniel
"This is it." Gordon said as I climbed into the back of the nondescript van. "Ready?" he asked me.
"Not sure 'ready' is the word I would use." I said, chuckling nervously.
"It'll be fine." he assured me. "It's a quick mission, in and out."
"Yeah, but this isn't like other missions, is it?" I said.
"True enough." he said, handing me the soda can.
"So, this thing really works?" I asked.
"Eddie told me it would and I trust him." Gordon said. "That innocuous little can contains a full 12,000 ccs of aerosolized, bonafide second strain. Pop the tab and it'll infect an entire area. So don't drink it. I mean, it probably won't hurt you, just spray you in the face with a virus you've already got. What I meant was, you can't actually drink it."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Right." I said, taking it with a nod. "You're sure you don't want to come?" I asked.
"Oh, I wish I could, but I can't." he said. "Facial recognition systems have gotten more advanced—started to look for anthros. I can't set foot in public without being grabbed by a swat team. You, on the other hand, have never been in public, at least not with this face."
He gestured to me and I glanced down at my anthro form.
"Well..." I sighed. "Let's go."
——
The event was advertised, among other places, on r/inhumans. We portrayed it as a simple convention, a lone get together for anyone and everyone who still considered themselves furries who hadn't yet turned anthro.
I checked the comments on the latest post and people seemed excited about the event. Logical, since we hadn't seen any kind of official con since the first strain broke out and the right to public assembly was temporarily revoked due to quarantine. There were a few unsanctioned cons set up to spread the first strain—massively illegal, because the first strain killed by the dozens. This one would be different. This one would spread the second strain.
This wasn't the only spreader event we had organized. Operatives were positioned all over the world to spread the new virus at the same time, stationed in airports and train stations, anywhere we could get the new virus out. They may have developed a vaccine for the first virus, but it wouldn't work on the new one. The second strain had passed the clinical trials—of course we couldn't get a sample size of more than a few hundred to test on, but it hadn't killed anyone... yet. Hopefully it wouldn't.
——
I got to the event early, the con crowded with hundreds of participants, some anthros, but mostly humans, in fursuits or not. It was more crowded than I’d expected, but then I had never actually been to a convention before. I didn’t expect to ever go to one, let alone as an actual anthro.
I gripped the soda can. This was mostly just for show; The event itself had been planned and set up by FSF agents, so the sprinkler system was rigged to dispense the new virus onto the convention’s attendants when ready, but Gordon felt there should be a more celebratory way to release the new virus. I was supposed to go in, pop the tab in the middle of a crowded area of wannabe-anthros, and let the change take place.
But then, something occurred to me. I looked down at the inconspicuous soda can, labeled with a brand that wasn’t even real, meant to seem like an off-brand Dr. Pepper, just unappealing enough that no one would think to try and drink it if I happened to lose it. I glanced around, then pulled out the knife tucked into my pants leg, and cut a small incision on the side of the can. I’d half expected it to explode on me, but instead it released a clear, watery liquid. I allowed it to drip onto my hands, then shook them off and tossed the can in the trash.
Then I walked over to a group chatting near the back of the convention center; None of them wore fursuits or anything, just normal clothes. One of them looked up and saw me and I recognized the look of envy on his face. That must have been how I looked the first time I met Eddie, I realized, back at the bus stop in Alberton. How far I’d come…
"First strain passed you guys over, huh?" I asked.
"Yeah." one of them sighed. "Damn, what I’d give for your luck."
"Yeah, well." I said. "Something tells me your luck is about to change."
I held out a hand and the guy raised an eyebrow, but reached to shake it regardless of his suspicion. As soon as his hand touched mine, the change started, a coat of soft beige fur rippling over him. His body changed quickly, almost astonishingly so, and he looked down at himself in shock—now in the form of an anthro feline with a slender tail and twitching ears.
"The hell?!" one of his friends blurted. "Dude, are you magic or something?"
"Nope." I said. "Just a carrier of the second strain. Patient zero, you could say."
The others looked at each other, grins breaking across their faces. I held out a hand and they reached out, one touching it hesitantly while the other grabbed for it and nearly dislocated my fingers. Soon, each of them had their own anthro forms and the others in the convention center had started to notice. A crowd gathered and I just started reaching out, touching as many people as I could while they reached for me. I almost felt like some kind of wizard or even a god, transforming people with a single touch.
When the crowd had grown into a mob and I started to be afraid of being crushed, I clicked the button in my pocket that would signal the sprinklers to activate. In moments, the entire convention center was populated with new anthros—carriers of the second strain.
——
News of the outbreak had gotten across the world and back by the time I got back to base. FSF members were gathered near every available screen; TVs, phones, and computers, all watching the news coverage. Someone had called the police and paramedics to the scene of the convention, probably fearing another deadly strain, but so far the new strain was non-lethal.
"No fatalities yet." Gordon was saying as the group welcomed me back from the mission. "This is a big win."
"Damn right it is." Eddie said. "This is everything we’ve been working toward. This is it!"
The others laughed at his enthusiasm and even I couldn’t help but laugh at how giddy he and the rest of the science team were at this.
"We couldn’t have done it without you guys." Jess said. "Really."
"I agree." Eddie said, looking around at the FSF team members. "I was unsure about all of you at first, but… people like you are who this virus was made for. Our people." He looked at me.
"Especially you, Daniel."
"Really?" I asked.
"Hell, yeah." Gordon said. "I might’ve taught you how to shoot, but everything else? That’s all you. You’ve turned into a real badass."
"That means a lot, coming from you." I said. Gordon chuckled.
"Once people find out it’s non-lethal, everything will change." Eddie said, looking back at the news channel on the screen. "The second strain will spread like wildfire."
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