Rising Shards

Oka, Kalei, Iris and I were hanging around at a little lounge area inside the auditorium building. I was the only one standing from anxious energy. I didn’t feel different yet, but the spot where Ema Kari had bitten me was feeling a little tingly, which I very much did not like.

“Zeta, relax,” Kalei said. “It’s just a little Feral Flu.”

“Thanks, that makes me feel so much better.”

“You’re welcome,” Kalei said as she strummed on her chair. “So what’s the plan, do we just wait for it to kick in then we go back to the fair?”

“No, what we gotta do is be kinda close to the nurse’s office.” Iris said. “Then when it starts to kick in, we go there, get it verified, and get a sick day pass to just be stuck up in our rooms for a day!”

“It only lasts a day?” I asked. I rubbed the bite spot on my forearm.

“Maybe, last time I got Feral Flu it was just for a day.” Iris said.

“Seriously, how many times exactly have you given yourself Feral Flu?” Oka asked.

“I remember at least three,” Iris said. “And even then, they lasted at most it’s like three days, I think. But in that case, that’s three days off for us.”

"You only remember at least three?" Oka asked.

Iris shrugged.

“Is Maia gonna be mad she’ll be stuck with you all feral?” I asked.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Iris said. “Maybe. I dunno. We’ll work it out.”

“Do you feel anything yet?” Kalei asked.

“Don’t say that, that makes it sound like we just took drugs are something, and drugs are illegal!” I said, flailing my arms around.

“You are such a nerd, Zeta.” Kalei said.

“I’m really hungry,” Oka said. “That’s the first thing, isn’t it?”

“Did we even have breakfast though?” I said.

“Oh no,” Kalei said.

“What? What is it?” I said.

“We didn’t have breakfast!” Kalei said.

“Did any of us eat that banana you got us?” I asked.

“No, Oka lost it.” Kalei said. "And it was an orange."

"Was it?" I asked.

“I had breakfast, but I am kinda hungry,” Iris said.

"I don't remember," I said, fighting a sudden urge to cry. "I'm so tired."

We continued to self-diagnose for a few minutes, none of us experiencing anything too out of the ordinary. I got out my phone and went to my trusty website, What’s Wrong With My Body.

“OK, I’m looking at the 3WMB article on Feral Flu…” I said.

“Oh boy, here we go,” Kalei said.

"What?" Iris asked.

"She does this." Oka said.

"A lot." Kalei said.

“It says that Feral Flu is a condition that can only affect Cani and the Cani subcategories,” I read, ignoring Oka and Kalei. “It is transmitted via a Cani bite, and symptoms can manifest within a few minutes. Symptoms include an agitated state, heightened animal-like Cani features, and intense hunger. Feral Flu is not dangerous to the Cani afflicted with it, but those around are advised to keep back as they can turn violent.”

“Nobody asked you to read that whole thing,” Iris said. “And yet, you did.”

“Hey, sometimes reading out loud helps me,” I said.

“Uh…” Oka pointed at me suddenly. “Zeta…your tail is kind of…poofed.”

I looked, and my tail was indeed poofed. I still couldn’t really control the thing, but it generally only poofed up when someone surprised me. This felt different.

“Does it feel weird?” Oka asked.

“It feels kinda…different.” I said. I didn’t have good control over my tail, and still had a general hope it’d turn out to be a stress tail and fall off. But with the Feral Flu coursing through me, my tail had poofed up and become even less controllable and started swinging around.

“Ow,” Iris said as she bit her lip. “Oh, yep, here we go.”

She showed her teeth. Her fangs looked longer in her mouth and a bit more menacing. “My fangs get bigger when I get Feral Flu. Aaaand there’s the hunger. Can we get food before we go to the nurse’s office?”

“Yeah, I’m feeling like an intense need for beef,” Kalei said. “I hope they’re serving pretty much every kind of meat today.”

“Oh man, do you think I’ll get a tail?” Oka asked. “Then Zeta won’t be alone in tail having.”

“3WMB didn’t say anything about tails,” I said.

“Yes it did, it said ‘heightened animal-like Cani features.'” Oka said. “I better get a tail.”

On the way to the cafeteria, I had a sudden urge to run around outside, which was definitely from the Feral Flu because I never wanted to run anywhere.

After getting our brunch meals, loading up on as much food as we could without drawing suspicion to ourselves, it was time to go to the nurse, as our symptoms were really starting to kick in.

“I’m…itchy.” Kalei said. “Am I supposed to be itchy like…all over?”

“I don’t know,” Iris said. “I just get bigger fangs and really hungry.”

“I actually feel very…sleepy. And hungry.” I said.

“I’m not at all full from all that food,” Oka said. “I had like twelve breakfast sausages there. I feel like I’m starving. What do you guys think about losing an arm? Like we each get an arm from the other. No judgments. Or you each give me an arm and then that might satisfy the meat craving.”

“We’re not too desperate as to give in to cannibalism, Oka.” I said.

“And we don’t have time to stop again,” Iris said. “It’s hard enough not wanting to climb up on the ceiling here."

We were hustling to the nurse’s office, not wanting to get delayed anymore by hunger before we got less in control. The idea of me going like full feral with Feral Flu was scary, but also because I had Feral Flu all up in me, it was also an exciting thought.

By the time we were in the waiting room for the nurse’s office, I was definitely feeling it. My vision, hearing, and smell felt like they were on high alert. My mind wanted me to focus on everything edible, mainly looking for any source of meat. There wasn’t any outside of my friends and the staff, technically speaking. I had enough self-control to not lunge at them. I don’t know if my eyes were playing tricks on me either, but the others all definitely had more of a bestial look to them. Oka was still cute, but her fangs were out, and her brow was furrowed as she fidgeted around. They all just looked more dangerous.

There was special room we had to sit in when we were getting checked over. We each had to sit in a chair that magnetized our power blockers onto the arm rest.

We had Nurse Lyla Cadence look us all over. She had to take out temperatures and get a sample of blood that she put into a small canister. It was just the same amount we’d need for a bloodsaber charge, just a drop or two from a finger.

Lyla plugged the canisters into a small machine that whirred, adding some substance to the blood that turned it into a lighter shade of red.

“Yep, definitely Feral Flu,” Lyla said.

I expected her to interrogate us on how we got it, or more particularly why we suddenly had it during the Fang Fair, but she didn’t. She just clicked around on her wristband and opened up the nurse’s inventory, marking down that she ordered four packages of something with a complicated codename.

“You sure get Feral Flu a lot,” Nurse Lyla said to Iris as she finished getting her blood. Iris laughed nervously.

“Ouch,” Iris said. “I bit my lip a little there.”

“You know the drill,” Lyla said. “Lock your room down, stay away from Oloro, et cetera.”

“Yep!” Iris said. “Can I go, then?”

“Wait until I can get a hold of some hall monitors for everyone,” Lyla said.

Lyla moved over to us.

“And you three…” Nurse Lyla said. She scanned our wristbands and looked through our info. “Oh, you three are roommates?”

“Y-yeah?” Oka said.

“Is it a problem?” I asked.

“No, just another thing to deal with,” Nurse Lyla said. “Alright, one of you needs to stay here until I find you a suitable room.”

“Huh?” I asked.

“Three Cani with Feral Flu can’t stay in the same room for the duration of the condition,” Nurse Lyla explained. “Too much of a chance for injury, property destruction, that sort of thing.”

The three of us looked at each other.

“Well, who stays behind?” Kalei said.

I knew what I really wanted; I’d be fine staying with either but if I had to pick one to weather the Feral Flu storm with, it’d be Oka. I didn’t want to just say that, though.

“Kalei, remember that graphing calculator incident that I took the heat for?” Oka asked. “I’m cashing in that favor.”

“And you’ll never speak of said graphing calculator incident again?” Kalei asked.

“That was the deal,” Oka said.

“I’ll stay behind,” Kalei said eagerly.

“Wonderful,” Lyla said. “Now if we can just get some hall monitors to escort you already.”

We had to stay in the Feral Flu room for a good twenty minutes before we finally got a hall monitor.

“Fortunately, the hall monitor in your wing is free right now,” Nurse Lyla said.

“Great,” I blurted out the second Naomi Ratuna stepped into the room. I was hoping that somehow, despite being both a prefect and general pain, Naomi would somehow not be the hall monitor that would guide us back. She did not look amused by my comment.

“I know you may not be entirely in control of your actions because of the Feral Flu,” Naomi said. “But I don't have the flu, so I am entirely in control. And if you lash out towards me, I will knock you out.”

I already thought Naomi was scary, but her directly threatening us with violence only increased that fear.

“I’ll have your advisors stop by with care packages that’ll help you through.” Lyla said.

“Hey, so, this might be a problem.” Kalei said, holding her right hand up, which now had claws.