Corona Man Alex Bixner 4/23/20
Today was the big day. It was January 21st, Jerry Timble’s big interview was going to happen at 3:00 sharp. If he got the job it would be the biggest accomplishment in his family line. He was trying out to be a doctor, which he had spent 4 years in college, 4 more years in medical school, and 5 years of residency training to even try to be one.
He dressed really nice and drove down to the hospital just before his interview was supposed to start. He knew if he messed this up he would be considered a disgrace to his parents. On top of that, there was a virus outbreak happening all over the world and being in a hospital was not a good idea at the moment. However, he had no choice. This was his dream and he had been studying forever, so he couldn’t just let it all go to waste over a stupid virus.
He entered the building just to be immediately greeted by security. They told him he had to stay behind the lines and he could only come forward if he was sure he was experiencing symptoms for COVID-19. Infuriated, he pushed past the security and ran up the flight of stairs. He knew which room he was meeting in, all he had to do was get there before security could catch up to him. When he finally made it to the right floor, he shot down the hallway until he reached the room. He opened the door and the interviewer, Mrs. Stellar, turned around in complete confusion. “Mr. Timble, correct?” He nodded his head, completely out of breath. “I could have sworn I messaged you to tell you the interview was put on hold,” she explained. She showed him her recent texts and sure enough his number was on the list. He was dumbfounded. All of his hard work for nothing? He heard security stumbling just down the hall, so he quickly waved goodbye to Mrs. Stellar and ran back into the hallway.
Lost in thought, he hadn’t realized he stumbled into a scientist lab instead of the stairs back down. On the brink of tears, he tripped over himself into a table filled with samples of COVID-19 from the human body. The tubes smashed onto the ground splattering DNA all over him and into his mouth. He rolled over on the floor right into the point of a needle, which injected him with a liquid below his elbow. His arm began to grow numb and he couldn't feel his tongue anymore. He got up and tried to open the door, but before he could he grew dizzy and blacked out.
Jerry woke up on one of the hospital beds, strapped down with tubes hanging all over him. He looked over to the table next to his bed and tried to read the paper. It had someone’s handwriting all over it, but all he could make out were three words. “Patient...severe...mutation.” He felt really light headed and could not work up enough power to lift his head more than 2 inches from the pillow. He noticed his tongue and arm were no longer numb, but he noticed something else fairly peculiar. He could taste the air. Not just the cold particles of the air, but the actual flavor of the scent from the food lingering outside his room.
The nurse, realizing he had woken up, rushed into the room and shut the door. She quickly checked his temperature and checked some of the tubes wired up to his arm. She asked, “Are you feeling alright? Does your arm feel weaker than usual, or does your mouth feel sore?” He shook his head no. She started to explain what had happened to him, and told him how the needle that punctured him mixed with the COVID-19 samples that entered his body.
The mixture created a mutation within him, causing his sense of taste to grow by enormous proportions. It also gave him the ability to release COVID-19 toxins from his arm every time he flexed the muscle, and he could also breathe in any poisonous substance and be completely immune to it.
Supposedly, they wanted to use him as a cure for the virus because with his power he could absorb the virus from other patients by grabbing them with his hand. It would give everyone a better chance of survival. They offered to pay him if he offered to help, and he took the offer. After a few more hours of laying in the bed, they guided him to the next room over and instructed him to place his hand on the patient's chest. He did, and he felt a warm cluster of air particles rush through the patients chest and into his arm. They ushered him out and ran more tests on the patient to see if anything had happened. After a few checks, it showed the virus had completely left his system and he was completely fine! Jerry felt like a hero knowing he could actually save everyone from a possible future pandemic.
He began to talk to some other doctors about what had happened, when he suddenly heard a loud beeping noise coming from one of the rooms. He looked over and looked back but nobody else seemed to be phased by the sound. He looked around and slowly realized that time had frozen and nobody was moving except him. Cautiously, he walked over to the room where the beeping was coming from. He slipped his hand over the doorknob and twisted, slowly opening the door. Just as he did, everything went black.
Jerry woke up in his bedroom, the alarm on his phone beeping beside him. He silenced it and looked around. His phone let out one last ding. Looking over to check what it was, it was a message from Mrs. Stellar. “Hey Mr. Timble, I am deeply sorry to tell you that our interview had to be called off today. Hopefully we can reschedule next week!”