Leaving his mother downstairs, he and Zack slowly made their way to Luke's bedroom, one shaky step at a time. Luke held a tight grip on the railing as they stepped up. "Your turn... Hold on... Now me... I still have the railing... Come on..." they spoke back and forth to one another. The constant prompts and brief explanations of what each did seemed to help them keep their balance. "I got the door... step now... to the desk... sounds good..." Their teamwork paid off as they finally dropped into Luke's desk chair.
"Well, we made it..." Zack finally said through several breathes.
Luke felt the same tiredness that his friend did. Their movements being so rigid and forced, made walking up the stairs seem like jogging on their school's track field. "Yeah... We make a...."
"Don't finish that sentence." Zack spoke over him. "I'm still pissed at you for lumping me into all of this."
Luke tightened his jaw. "How long are you going to hold that over me? I had not idea this could happen."
"You had no idea, no inkling that something bad could happen..." Zack glared at his friend.
"No, I didn't." Luke grunted. "Those directions appeared from no where... Almost like they were sent as an after thought."
Zack did not answer and simply turned his head away.
Luke was about to continue with an excused, but he let the words die in his mouth. Realizing that his fist was clenched, he forced the muscles to relax. "Look Zack... I'll keep apologizing. I am sorry that you got dragged into this!" His friend still did not respond, but he felt a tension in his chest release, tension he assumed was from his other half.
"I know you didn't do this on purpose... but I'll still need time to let this go..." Zack finally said. "I just... I just need a distraction."
"A distraction..." Luke repeated. He felt that he could use a distraction as well, and the computer was behind them. "Well not exactly a relaxing activity... we could try to research... us."
Zack turned his head, seemingly peeking his interest. "Research us..."
"Your brothers' theory is just that, a theory. We should look into this, see if there is anything in the local paper." Luke said. "Your mom thought nothing of us... sharing a body. Why is that?"
"Fine... that sounds like something to do at least." Zack agreed.
Turning around to face the computer, Luke and his friend turned on the computer and began searching the web. And, it did not take long for them to find a very curious article: "Resurgence of Dicephalparagus Virus"
The article explained that the Dicephalus Virus was an unusual, almost magical disease that appeared to 'pop up' every few decades. Most recently, it had appeared again in their small town. Infected people would feel no sickness and there was currently no medical test to determine if the virus existed in a person's body. The virus's only symptom occurred when two infected people made skin-to-skin contact. An immediate and permanent reverse-mitosis would occur, completely fusing the two individuals into a single body. It was estimated that 17% of the wold population had been afflicted. Despite the staggering statistic, it mentioned that afflicted people seemed to be accepted by most of the population, and new regulation protected their rights.
The article continued with several popular conspiracy theories as to its origin, but towards the bottom Luke's and Zack's hometown was mentioned by name. Their town, apparently, had been hit with the virus on a few occasions. The first was about 29 years ago, and the most recent was a day ago when a local Youtube star and his friend suddenly merged in second period, Luke Fisher and Zack Williams.
"Thats us!" Luke and Zack both said at the same time. "So... according to the article, we merged yesterday from this funky virus. Guess that explains why we can barely walk together. It just happened!"
"Well, I guess that means my brothers' theory might be right. This is some virus that covers what happened to us, but does that mean others have been afflicted elsewhere?"
"Look at this, there's a link." Luke clicked it, and his Youtube page appeared.
The video started with an image of Luke's face taking up most of the screen. "Hey guys and gals, its your man Luke here. Sorry for the close-up of my face, but I have a bit of a surprise for you all. You guys all remember this guy..." The camera shifted over and Zack came into view. "What's up guys, I'm Zack." Luke reappeared on the screen. "Cutting to chase, Zack, one of my best friends, is going to be joining me on these crazy adventures... kind of permanently." The camera panned out to include both of them in the frame. Luke and Zack each had a hand spread outward as if to say ta-da. They were wearing a single shirt between them, with their heads nestled on the same shoulders. "This is not a prank or CGI, my friend and I were really just afflicted with the two-headed virus." He and Zack then lifted the shirt to show a single stomach and belly button underneath. Releasing the shirt, Zack then spoke, "Yeah, it happened just before the start of period 2. Luke and I were meeting outside, and I gave him a bear hug. Only this time... we didn't come apart." Luke then continued, "We'll have to cut this short since Zack and I are still acclimating. But don't you worry, we'll be back with more content soon. If you're curious on joining Zack and I on this new adventure, be sure to like and subscribe." Both Luke and Zack waved and said, "See you next time."
"Apparently it filled in a bit more... I don't remember making that video." Luke said.