We got home and I kicked off my sneakers at the bottom of the stairs. I started a jog up the steps only to spin around and snatch my footwear off the floor and continued my stride up to my room. 

I wrenched my jacket off my shoulders and tossed it onto my swivel chair, then I launched myself onto the bed. Yanking the covers over myself I sobbed uncontrollably in the darkness of my room. 

"I was infected with a virus that would do one of two things. Either I would be killed outright ...