Sun Disease

Chapter One: Quest to Live Forever:

Summer 2020.

Nobody really wants to die. Two scientists may have found a way. Their craft led them down a deadly path. But first, let’s go back to the beginning. This calamity started out like how all things in science begins. The female scientist has always had a fascination with vampires. There wasn’t a day when she didn’t have a copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in her hands. Her scientist husband teased her about it.

“You know vampires aren’t real, right?” he would ask. His wife, Linda, would wave him off.

“I know,” she said. “But they are an amazing species.”

“But they aren’t real.”

“What if they were?” Usually, her husband would just laugh it off and tell her how much he loved her. This time, he sat down in front of her with a puzzled look on his face. Linda looked up at him from her book.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Why would you want vampires to be real?” he asked. She rolled back her shoulders in a shrug.

“I don’t really know,” she admitted. “I never really thought about it.” Linda had an odd way with pushing out her thoughts and ideas in an argument. Her husband sat back thinking as she eyed him. He rubbed his chin.

“That would be kind of interesting to see,” her husband said.

“See?” Linda asked. He gave her a strange look.

“Okay, how did you do that?” he asked. His wife gave him an angelic look.

“Do what?” she asked. Her husband frowned and shook his head.

“Never mind,” he muttered. The male scientist got up and walked out of their bedroom.

--------

Three weeks after that exchange, the wife’s question became a reality. She had just gotten out of the shower that morning when the news broke.

“Good morning, babe,” Linda said as she was drying her hair. Her husband’s eyes stayed fixed on the TV screen.

“Babe?” she asked.

“Shhh,” he said, waving her off. Linda walked around to the bed to look at the TV.

“What is it?” she asked. The news lady stared straight into the camera.

“Experts in Japan have now come to the conclusion that vampires are real,” she said. “After several years of testing, they found that vampires do exist. The government is debating on whether or not to consider them living beings.” Her tone was so deadpan too. Linda’s eyes widened as she looked at her husband.

“Is she serious?” she asked. Her husband sighed.

“Yes, dear,” he said.

“Wow,” Linda mouthed. She leaned on her husband as the anchor lady began talking about the latest in politics.

The news gave way to more curiosities. More and more scientists started capturing vampires to run experiments on their bodies. They had some many questions for the undead? Could they really not see their reflections? Was a garlic real repellent? Could they eat? How did they manage to blend in with humans without any trouble? Through all their questions, one myth proved to be true.

This got Linda to thinking.

“Babe,” she said at the table over breakfast one morning. “What if we could make vampires able to walk around in sunlight?” Her husband, Eric, gave her a strange look as he took a sip of his coffee.

“Uh… what are you talking about?” he asked.

“Think about it,” she said. “Wouldn’t it be cool to see a real vampire in the middle of the day?”

“Why would you want that?”

“Just see what would happen.”

“Why?”

Linda shrugged. “I just think it would interesting.”

“But how would you do that?” Eric asked. “What would you use?” He noticed a sharp gleam in her eyes. Right away, he regretted asking.

“Honey…” he said. Linda quickly took him by the hands.

“Let’s make a drug to make this happen!” she said. Just like that, Eric could feel the excitement building up inside.

“Yes!” he said. Linda broke into her cute little smile. This would be the same smile that would bring about the fall of mankind.