The Fate of the Andrews My Family & The Shrinking Virus chapter 1 by TheGiantGambit

Note: Be sure to read the prologue at the beginning of this interacting for full context of this chapter and interactive.

The afternoon of the 17th, everyone in town got a notification on their phones. Contact tracers had been alerted of a positive case of SRK19 in the Andrews town. The positive subject was a local cashier and had already reportedly shrunk while walking into work just hours before. The notification linked to 20 nearby testing centers for infection and immunity and detailed instructions on how to safely retrieve test kits for their household…

Steven returned home and took off his mask. He looked down at the large box labeled with the CDC logo. “SRK19 infection and immunization testing kit” was written in large yellow font across the box face. Steven looked up the stairs and cupped his hands to his face “OKAY EVERYONE, COME DOWNSTAIRS WE HAVE OUR KIT” his voice echoed and was soon followed by the 3 sets of footsteps belonging to his wife and two kids.

His wife was the first down the stairs, her face showed concern as she laid her eyes on the kit for the first time. She felt a swelling dread in her throat, finally seeing a testing kit in person instead of online or on TV. She’d hope to never need to see one in person. She looked at her husband, whose expression only seemed scared, as he continued looking at the box without noticing her.
“Don’t we need to plug it in? It might need to be charged. We have no clue where it was shipped in from.” Mara probed at her husband as he looked down and inspected the latch on the box. “Well I’m no expert but I don’t think they gave me a cable for it so, we’re kinda SOL if it actually needs that” Steven mumbled back.

“Did they not tell you how to use it? Did you not ask?”, Mara probed further at her husband. Her worry and stain had clearly spiked from the turn of events that had unfolded and she always felt the need to ask more questions when stressed, something that annoyed Mathew. “Listen, I don't know, they just left it outside in a pile with our name on it. How should I know?” Steven said back in a slightly more abrasive tone. Mara rolled her eyes at his tone shifting with such little inquisition from her.
“Hey I’m just asking okay? Especially if we need to hook our kids up to it I kinda would like to know more about it” Mara attempted to explain before he retorted again. “I know you’re stressed but we’re all going to have to figure it out as we go its not like we have much time right now to discuss how some giant computer crate works while our lives are at risk” Steven rebuttaled, Mara just exhaled and watched as her husband fiddled further with the latch.

Next down the steps came Mathew, he looked at the table and his parents surrounding the giant wooden box. “Geez that's intense…. You know, do we really need to do this? I’ve seen people online taking this test and it looks like it hurts alot… do you even know how to open it?” Mara rolled her eyes as her son interjected with the same doubt she was already feeling about this whole ordeal. She preferred when the Shrink was happening to others and not her. “Matt you’re gonna be fine, besides its likely just a precaution, we haven't left the house since last night so its impossible we have it. If anything this will hopefully tell us if anyone here is immune.”
Mathew chuckled, “I’m 100% immune, the amount of people I see even since getting back from college I would’ve 100% shrunk by now, hell the fact no one here has shrunk up until now I bet we’re all immune guys can we not do this?” Mathew tried to continue to dodge this test as now both him and his mom watched Steven fiddle with the latch which seemed to be stuck shut.

Finally Maddy stepped down as she listened into her parents and brothers' conversations. Maddy was not surprised to see the CDC crate on the counter and didn’t react much to its presence. She had already seen one at school in person once before. Online she saw it at least one hundred times. Maddy was pretty dedicated to tracking the virus progress and researching information about the virus, including some tiny content she knew her parents would not approve of. She couldn't really help it as classmates had often gossiped about it. Often showing each other vids of tinys and teasing each other about how hot they looked.
Maddy couldn’t help with feeling out of place in the room. The tense vibes of all three of her older family members did not match her calmness. At least that was until Mathew noticed her and greeted her as he usually does. By being an ass, “You know I don’t know why you're getting tested, I think you already qualify Tiny reclassification at that height” Mathew snickered as he gave her a playful shove as she attempted to pass by him. Steven looked back at both of them and stood up in front of his family.

“WOULD YOU GUYS STOP THIS IS SERIOUS. LOOK I HAD TO TAKE A TRAINING AT WORK ABOUT THIS VIRUS THIS IS SERIOUS STUFF, IF WE DON’T ACT NOW WE COULD ALL BE IN VERY SERIOUS DANGER ALRIGHT. YOU GUYS ARE ALL GETTING THIS TEST ITS NOT A DISCUSSION” Steven lectured down at them, Maddy rolled her eyes not knowing how she ended up getting lectured for something she didn’t say. Steven noticed and didn't like this rebellious behavior “DON’T ROLL YOUR EYES AT ME YOUNG LADY YOU’RE STILL ON THIN ICE.” Maddy didn’t have the energy to fight him, nor did she have the patients to wait for him to plug in the damn device. She walked up to the box and pulled a retractable cable out the back and plugged it into the wall. The latch immediately lifted as the crate opened and lit up. The screen inside listed instructions for how to use a nasal swab to test for the virus, and how to then have the computer analyze it.
Maddy turned around towards her family and clapped her hands with a fake smile. “So! Can we get this damn testing over with so I can get back to homework?”

Over the next ten minutes each family member swabbed each other and placed their samples into the machine for analysis. As Steven finished his swab and placed it into his pertaining sample port. The machine closed its tray and a loading bar appeared on the screen, counting down the estimated time for the completed results. Steven sighed as watched the progress bar slowly load in. “Well it might take a while guys, let's do a family meeting in the dining room in 30 mins, we can all read out our results together…” Everyone nodded and went into different rooms, except for Mara who stayed looking at the progress bar with a tear in her eye. Her husband noticed and walked up to her, trying to console her. “Mara, what's wrong talk to me??” Steven inquired.
Mara looked up at her husband, her voice cracking “What if I shrink down? Is this how I want my life to end? I feel like there's so much I never finished achieving and so much I needed to prove before I could close the book on my life. What will I do if everything I’m working on stops because I'm some bug???” she sobbed softly as her husband hugged her.
Steven tried to find the words for his wife, but he could only muster “I love you, and regrets are part of life. Regretting things that can’t be wont fix the past, you just need to roll with the cards you’re given.” Mara rolled her eyes at his pathetic response and said nothing else.

In the other room Mathew looked at his phone as he scrolled his favorite fetish forum, liking a bunch of posts about this new video from a creator he liked who started using tinys as part of her content. She showed off a wide variety of ‘toys’ she had in an array of jars under her bed. In one jar he spotted a crumpled white sock with a massive yellow sweat stain in it, and a tiny curled up in ball next to it. Another one had two tinys tied together by a white string connected with several beads throughout. His eyes widened and his crotch swelled, right as his sister entered the room.

“HEY why dont you find some stupid shit to do other than being near me!” Mathew barked at her again trying to get a rise out of her. Maddy rolled her eyes as she thought of a rebuttal. “You know if you shrink, I’m thinkin I'm gonna sell you to our neighbor… I bet he’d pay top dollar for you, may even trade me for his sister if she shrinks down too, that way I can have a less annoying runt to torment..” Mathew chuckled, poking the bear once more. Maddy snapped internally at this comment but kept her composure, calmly walked towards him on the couch and bent down towards his face and whispered to her brother calmly..
“If you shrink, I’m gonna turn you into my slave for the rest of your pathetic little life. I'm gonna make you regret every single thing you’ve ever done to me. You’re going to wish that I was never born and you’re gonna wish that you’d stayed at college instead of coming back home to me…” Mathew scoffed and awkwardly looked back at his phone trying to ignore what she said…. In reality Mathew had heard what she said and was honestly weirded out by her demeanor.

Thirty minutes past and the family all sat around the dining room table. The device printed individual results for each member of the family, and member each held the folded papers, looking at them and each other.
Mara looked at her kids and her husband who all shared mixed faces as they waited anxiously for the meeting to start. “Listen everyone, we need to keep sight of one thing in this, and I'm sure your father will agree with me on this, no matter what these papers say, we are a family, the fate of the Andrews isn’t some internet horror story. We are all capable of taking care of anyone here who may or may not shrink. We will stay strong and navigate every hardship together, because that's what families do and-” Matthew didnt wait for her to finish “Can we just fuckin look already Jesus” he blurted
“HEY” Mara snapped at him “Show me some respect, young man I’m trying to keep our family together right now.” Nobody listens as they all unfold their results.

HOW MANY OF THEM TEST POSITIVE??