Sam flipped through the channels on his television with gusto only momentarily stopping the read the headline of a news report about the Monster Virus, before scowling and turning it back to Family Guy for some mindless entertainment. While there had been at least five reported cases within New York City, where he lived, the concept of someone's body getting transformed into something completely different was still science fiction in his eyes. There was no way something like that would happen to him.
Hearing the sound of the door unlocking, he looked behind him to see his father entering their apartment. His father, noticing his son staring coldly at him, smiled sheepishly and held up a large paper bag. "I brought Chinese food from down the street."
Sam just wordlessly nodded and got up to sit at their small dining table, as his father sat across from him placing the food onto the table. "It's a lot," Sam noted, raising an eyebrow.
Will Turner, his father, nodded tiredly rubbing his eyes. "Yeah," he said with a yawn. "I feel like I could eat a horse so I bought extra."
Sam nodded, not really complaining, since he was starving too. He grabbed some Kung Pao Chicken and began to devour it.
They both ate silently, not a word passing between them. This was your typical family dinner in the Turner apartment ever since Sam's mother died last year. Since then the father and son had grown apart talking less and less with each other.
"So…" Mr. Turner adjusted his glasses. "How's school?"
Sam shrugged. "Just hanging out with my friends." A lie. Ever since Sam had come to this new school about a couple of months ago, he had became a loner.
"That's nice…" His father said without much enthusiasm. "My work is going well." Another lie. He could tell from his much he messed up and the constant glares that his supervisor was giving him that he wasn't doing so well.
Both son and father continued to lie to each other, before they said, "good night," to each other and went to bed. But not before downing two bottles of water each.
_____
The next day, they both found they had overslept and now had a high fever. Both still attempted to go to school and work respectively, but once Sam vomited all over the floor, Mr. Turner decided to call it in and go to the doctor.
They each had their temperature taken and did some tests, before they were asked to wait outside in the waiting room. It was pretty much empty given it was a Wednesday afternoon, so whenever the nearby nurse would give them a worried look it was pretty noticeable.
Finally they were called back in together into the main office, where a doctor was sitting. He gestured for them to sit into their own chairs and they followed the instructions. "What's this all about?" Mr. Turner asked, coughing into his hand.
The doctor folded his arms. "Tell me… have you two heard of the Monster Virus?"
Sam's heart nearly stopped. Fuck. FUCK! This couldn't be happening.
His father swallowed. "Yes," he answered for both of them. An obvious answer really. Who hadn't heard of it? "May I ask what's going to happen to us?"
The doctor nodded. "Well… you two are turning into…"