Vanessa was the early bird getting up 7 a.m.

"Good morning" Vanessa greeted.

"Good morning Ms. Olson" Kyle greeted back.

"Oh, no need to be formal. Please call me Vanessa" She replied. "Would you like some coffee? you must be tired working through all night".

"Plain coffee would be nice. Thank you" he said.

"Were you able to find out what's in it?" Vanessa asked peering at his laptop screen from behind.

"Not yet Ms. Olson" Kyle answered.

"Vanessa please" She reminded him, smiling. Kyle nodded.

"It might seem simple but I'm going to need more time" Kyle explained.

"Oh, then I guess you'll need a lot of coffee" She said, looking a bit disappointed. "I'll make breakfast, you must be hungry. That would help as well" Vanessa added perking up a bit. Somehow she thought feeding Kyle would magically help speed up the process of decoding the contents of the micro chip.

Twenty minutes later Kyle was eating his second plate of pancakes and sipping his coffee at the kitchen table.

"I'm glad you ate the lasagna. Feel free to help yourself to anything in the kitchen when I'm not around" Vanessa suggested.

"Thank you, I will" Kyle replied, munching on his pancakes.

"Good morning" Nina greeted while walking into the kitchen with her laptop.

"You're up early! Isn't it your day off?" Vanessa asked.

"Thanks to Ashley with her procrastination" Nina explained, rolling her eyes. She placed her laptop on the counter then noticed Kyle sitting the same place he did last night.

"Let me introduce you to Kyle. He's working on your dad's network security" Vanessa chimed, observing her niece only now noticing Kyle's presence.

Nina blushed a bit for not noticing him right away. "Good morning" She greeted.

"Good morning. How's your foot?" Kyle asked.

"Much better" she answered.

"What happened to your foot?" Vanessa asked.

"It was my fault. I didn't mean to scare her. I was resting my eyes in the dark. She didn't notice my presence when she came down to have a glass of milk. She ended up dropping the glass and stepping on one of the pieces" Kyle explained.

"Really!" Vanessa exclaimed.

"It's fine. Kyle treated my foot. It's just a small cut" Nina affirmed.

"I'm glad you're fine" Vanessa relieved. "Thank you Kyle for helping her. I think you might be pushing yourself too much. I'm sure Mark wouldn't mind you taking a nap for a while," noticing the slight dark circles under Kyle's eyes.

"I'm sure Mark wouldn't mind at all but my boss would. He wants the work to be done as soon as possible" Kyle agreed.

"Here eat more. You'll need the energy but you really need to take a nap later on" Vanessa insisted, adding more pancakes to Kyle's plate.

"Thank you" Kyle said.

"Nina leave your laptop and stop checking your phone. Come here and eat" Vanessa ordered placing a plate of pancakes with maple syrup on the table across Kyle.

Both ate silently while Vanessa continued making more pancakes until Kyle's phone rang.

"Could you turn on the TV" Kyle asked Nina.

"What's the matter?" Vanessa inquired. While Nina switched on the TV.

"There's something going on the news. CNN!" Kyle explained.

People looking so sick in stretchers and hospital beds were flashed on the news. Kyle's eyes widened as he noticed their complexions were so pale that they looked like they were grey with their veins visible as severe black spider veins that engulfed their entire bodies and even the white of their eyes. He remembered similarities of the symptoms with the sick people in the pictures that Jacob and Terrence showed him yesterday.

"An unknown virus is spreading across Danskork Republic. Around 6 a.m. this morning hundreds of people across the country arrived at medical centers and hospitals with severe cases of black vein syndrome along with cold symptoms such as high fever, aching joint, dizziness and loss of appetite. Medical personnel are baffled and are still studying the situation before declaring an epidemic case in Danskork Republic. Stay tuned for more updates" The news reporter announced.

"What could have caused that?" Vanessa uttered while her eyes glued to the TV screen.

"Several factors in general but it could be anything" Nina answered.

"They should declare it soon as an epidemic with that large amount of sick people" Vanessa noted during the footage of more sick people and medical staff with facial masks.

"I wonder if it is airborne" Nina said.

"Medical personnel are advising people to wear masks and avoid the sick. Stay away of public places and if possible keep indoors. It is still unknown of how contagious this new sickness is" The reporter added.

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Author's notes:
You can't imagine how excited I get whenever I read or write something about zombies (⌒▽⌒)