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being a hothead with a huge anger-management issue. Behind his back, some people had nicknamed him “Crazy Ted.” Someone else said his temperament was due to “roid rage.” Judging by Ted’s acne and body-odor problem, it seemed that Ted was shooting up too many illegal, muscle-enhancing drugs.
    Soon, a Phi Delta appeared out the back door and approached Michael. He apologized to Michael on behalf of the entire fraternity and told them that what had happened was inexcusable. He seemed sincere and upset, and he promised that Ted would be dealt with. After a few more humble apologies, he left.
    “What did you say to him right before he threw the punch?” Scott asked Michael after he left.
    Michael just gave him a knowing smirk.
    “You provoked him on purpose?” Scott said, amazed.
    “Yep.”
    Michael found out later that Scott had been the one responsible for gathering reinforcements after Crazy Ted had pushed him away.
    Scott made sure that Michael got back to the apartment safely. They also had to carry Brian back with them. Brian had had too much, and after barfing in the bathroom sink, he had managed to pass out in one of the toilet stalls. Too bad no one got a picture of that. They would never have let Brian forget that night for the rest of the year. Even without a picture, they still had ample ammunition.

    A much happier Victoria sat in her prized first-class seat after switching planes in Japan. She was amazed that she had had the strength and perseverance to endure the regular coach seating on the other flight. Never again, she vowed to herself. Although she was immensely relieved to finally be where she belonged, she wasn’t feeling too well. Of course, after sitting near all those dirty commoners, she wouldn’t put it past them to have given her a cold.
    Her first bit of coughing and congestion started when she was in the VIP lounge in the Tokyo airport waiting to board her connecting flight. She had been watching the breaking news about an explosion in a lab in Malaysia. The newscaster was speaking in Japanese, but at least the station had enough common sense to include English subtitles. They were saying it wasn’t terrorism but some sort of accident with chemicals that had not been stored correctly.
    Thank goodness it wasn’t another idiot terrorist , Victoria thought grimly. Then she erupted into a spastic coughing attack. She quickly put a handkerchief over her mouth to stifle the noise and looked around to see if anybody had noticed her embarrassing outbreak. Thankfully, no one paid her much attention.
    What the television news did not say and the authorities did not know was that the explosion had originated in Dr. Curtis Freeman’s office, and the charred remains of the doctor concealed a bullet lodged in his brain.
    Victoria later boarded her plane without any further coughing outbreaks, but halfway into the flight, she started feeling very hot and dizzy. Her thoughts were becoming jumbled. She just wanted to get home and crawl into her oversized, plush bed. She tried to lie back and relax in her seat. She felt as if an elephant was sitting on her chest. It was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe. This cannot be the flu, she thought, because she had received the influenza vaccine prior to leaving the United States.

    The virus had reproduced itself to the extent that the body’s defensive mechanisms could no longer ignore the threat. Finding its way into the oxygen-rich lung tissue, the virus multiplied exponentially until the body’s killer cells, macrophages, started to attack the infected cells. The macrophages were the only part of the immune system that wasn’t inactivated by the hidden genetic code in the vaccine.
    Unfortunately, it was too late. If the body had recognized the virus during the beginning stage of infection, then it more than likely would have rid the body of the virus in seven to ten days. But because the virus had gotten a head start due to the influenza