Of the Flesh: 18 Stories of Modern Horror

Mouse

She creaks to her knees to search in places she doesn’t always look. Behind the old cat food (it died) in the bottom shelf of the cupboard under the failing boiler there are a great many little black pellets and the nasty sweet smell. She vacuums, wipes, sprays everything with disinfectant, gently stuffs wire wool into the corners. Latex gloves and a mask, as experts recommend.

‘It’s nice how you do whatever I want,’ he says, looking at the telly. He’s dropped the remote. She gives it to him.

Hantaviruses infect the lining of blood vessels in the lungs, causing them to leak. Fluid fills the lungs so you can’t breathe. Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome is a severe sometimes fatal disease spread by rodent saliva, urine or feces. Inhalation is the most common way to become infected; other contamination routes include bite, touching, touching your mouth or eating food. Also known as Sin Nombre Virus, Convict Creek Virus, Muerto Canyon Virus, Four Corners Virus and colloquially Navajo Flu. Hantaviruses cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. The virus infects the heart, reducing its ability to pump blood leading to the failure of most or all of the organs and death. Symptoms: abrupt onset of fever, chills, weakness, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain followed by difficulty breathing, illness, death.

Who Is at Risk?

I am at risk, she thinks. All the symptoms are how she feels anyway. She laughs.

‘What are you laughing at?’ he calls from the couch. ‘Nothing,’ she says. He doesn’t like it when she says that.