Sypnopsis {AKA: How the fuck did this happen?!}

It started in a lab, like almost all apocalyptic, world-ending bacteria and viruses do. But this particular sample- Toxoplasma Gondii- was none of these things.

For one, it was neither bacteria nor virus. It was a parasite, far more complex than a simple bacteria. Slower to evolve, but by far more durable. It could not be treated with one simple vaccination, nor could it be waited out.

It was also hardly apocalyptic. With nearly 40% of the world’s population serving as unknowing hosts, as well as scores of rodents and felines, it was hardly noticed. The human immune system could easily keep it in check, so far as the host will not notice its presence. No symptoms, save for those with immunodeficiency diseases like AIDs.

In fact, the most Toxoplasma could do to a healthy host was make you popular. It altered your brain, made you more reckless. But only to a tiny degree, in a slow, slow process.

But Toxoplasma was not innocently minding its own business in your skull, under siege by your immune system and losing. This particular sample of Toxoplasma Gondii was currently taking up residence in the mind of a simple, short-lived lab rat.

Funny, how it always starts with rats.

They’re the perfect test subjects- short-lived, small, virtually brainless, and extraordinarily easy to breed. It was in the fleas of rats that the Black Plague spread; it was through the bite of a rat that rabies exploded.

The perfect vectors.

They were testing rabies vaccinations. There was a particularly violent, resistant strain making itself known, and the vaccinations were not working effectively. People were getting sick.
Something had to be done.

They were expecting a quick fix- a simple change in the virus in the vaccine’s compounds

They hadn’t expected anything out of the ordinary to occur.

Toxoplasma does not like the rabies virus. Rabies attacks the nervous system, and kills its host; Toxoplasma needs a host to survive. In order to breed and spread, to obtain nutrients, Toxoplasma needs a living, feeding host.

So, while the rat’s immune system was compromised by the vaccine and the weakened virus was attacking, Toxoplasma struck back. It became active, striking where the virus had taken hold.
Toxoplasma has a fascinating effect on the brain of a rat. It makes the scent of cats- the parasite’s optimal host and the rat’s most feared enemy- intriguing to a rat. The rat catches scent of the cat; it goes searching for the source. The cat eats the rat, and Toxoplasma ends up in the optimal host. The cat hardly notices.

It’s a win-win situation.

Except to the rat.

If Toxoplasma could make a rat look for its death while the rat’s immune system did its best to eliminate it, Toxoplasma could do so much more with that immune system gone.

The rabies virus killed the rat.

Toxoplasma brought it back.

Toxoplasma did not need oxygen. It created cysts in the rat’s brain tissue, in its body. The cysts trapped necessary oxygen to make the rat’s body function.

The scientists noticed nothing. The rat acted no different from its fellows. It still fed, still moved around. When the scientists withdrew the antibodies and the now-dead virus from the rat’s blood, they did not perceive a difference.

But they did not just draw out a cure for rabies. They got a mutated, adapted, actively virulent Toxoplasma Gondii specimen as well.

Because, with no immune system left functioning, Toxoplasma had spread to the rat’s body. The brain-altering parasite fed from everything the rat ate, dictating every movement of the rat through its presence in the dead brain.

The new vaccine- Toxoplasma inside- was tested next on dogs. After dogs, it was used on monkeys. It drew positive results- a dead rabies virus- on every test.

The drug was already distributed to the general public when the rat began to consume its peers.

Nothing was noted.

When a dog was attacked by another dog, it was given the vaccine as a precaution. When the dog later took a snap at the family cat, nothing was amiss. When the cat dug her fangs into her master’s hand, she was taken to the pound to find a more suitable home.

When her ex-master ate his wife, he was arrested for murder.

And so Toxoplasma spread.

With nearly half the population already hosting Toxoplasma, it was child’s play for the virulent Toxoplasma to change the already-present parasite to emulate it.

Most of the population that has Toxoplasma has some sort of mammalian pet.

All are susceptible to rabies.

All that had become in danger of being infected- wildlife rescuers, animal control officers, police dog handlers- were vaccinated against the strain of rabies.

All received mutated, adapted Toxoplasma.

All died from the rabies virus.

All were re-animated shortly after total system failure.

Human brains are more complex than those of rats. When it is cut off from oxygen, it goes into an emergency survival state. It shuts down all unnecessary organ functions, trying to preserve some oxygen.

When humans were re-animated, their brains were still alive.

None noticed the change. No one noticed that they slowly grew hungrier more quickly, or no longer felt ill. Viruses and bacteria had no reason to infect Toxoplasma-ridden bodies. No one noticed that, as the cysts in their brains and bodies ran out of air, they started to lose consciousness while they slept.

No one noticed the difference until there was no brain left, just dead matter going through the motions. No one noticed until there was nothing left inside the body but Toxoplasma and sluggish, black-brown blood and dead tissue.

And Toxoplasma still needed to feed.

So the re-animated corpses with their parasite-filled minds proceeded to feed on their fellow, non-infected humans.

A single bite could infect a human. A bite could spread rabies and Toxoplasma. It meant death.
By the time this was realized, all that was left were non-functioning bodies that still needed to supply their ravenous parasites with nutrients.

And they did this in the most brutal way possible, without fear or regret.

The dead do not feel emotion. They do not tire. They will never stop hunting their prey.

Zombies.