A few phone calls placed to others in the industry reveal a few details: Magnanimous Adult Industry Medical, the adult industry’s HIV/STD testing center, has released Daniel’s real name to the general public; M.A.I.M. also set up a quarantine list for the people who have worked with Daniel since his return from Brazil. This list is posted on the Internet for all to see; Porn industry message boards are filled with rumors, half truths, fear mongering, and blame. Everyone from industry members to fans has their opinion, but nobody knows what’s going on.

I’ve been spending the past few days hanging out at home with Amanda. Right now, she out grocery shopping and I’m playing an online game of Counter-Strike.

My phone rings. It’s Dana Divine. I log off and answer.

“What’s up, Dana?”

She says, “Remember Eris, that girl you and Julio had fun with on Flea’s set?”

“Yes.”

“Daniel worked with her before you fucked her. She’s HIV positive--”

I feel like I plunged through thin ice and into a freezing lake.

“--you need to retest right away, and--Tyler?”

I say, “Yeah...yeah, I’m here. Are you’re sure?”

She says, “Alpha Man shot her with Daniel and Mitch Adams right when they returned from Brazil--I think it was a double anal cream pie scene. The quarantine list just got updated. It says she’s positive.

Anyway, Flea took some pictures of you and Julio having your way with her. Flea shared the pictures with Alfred and I saw them, so that’s how I know you’ve been exposed.”

Flash!

“Thank you for telling me, Dana.”

“Just so you know, Alfred posted pictures on the Internet of you fucking her. I told him not to, but he never listens to me...”

I say, “I gotta go, Dana.”

This has to be a mistake...confusion about what’s going on...

I Alt/Tab away from Counter-Strike and log onto the quarantine website. The list is a chart of sorts. Daniel’s name is at the very top as “Patient Zero.” Below his name are the names titled “First Generation”, people who have had direct sexual contact with Daniel. Now, there’s a “Second Generation” list of people, those who have worked with the first generation, adding scores of people to the list. Eris’s name, like Daniel’s, has its own branch.

This can’t be happening to me. This isn’t real. Okay, relax, calm the fuck down and think...Wait, she did seem different when I saw her last...thinner...those sores! But, that can’t be from HIV...could it? There’s no way she’d be symptomatic that fast...right? What the fuck do I know? Nothing. Fucking HIV...Why me?

The girl who answers the phone at M.A.I.M asks for the names of everybody I’ve had sex with since my HIV exposure. It’s impossible to remember everyone because of the sheer volume of work I’ve been getting lately, and even if I could, I don’t know all of their names. Often times I don’t bother to ask the names of everyone on the scene because I don’t care. I can’t think straight, and after I give her a few names I draw a blank. We schedule an appointment for me come into M.A.I.M. tomorrow morning to retest tomorrow.

Amanda...We had unprotected sex many times since my exposure. Goddamn it! What do I know about female-to-male transmission? What are the odds of me getting HIV from Eris, then me giving it to Amanda? What’s the incubation period? From what I understand, it’s extremely difficult for a man to get infected through vaginal sex with an AIDS infected woman. A lot of good those odds did for Daniel...assuming he got it from a woman...I don’t know a damn thing about how he may have been infected. If it turns out that I’m HIV positive, I’ve put Amanda’s life at risk the same as if I took a loaded gun, spun the barrel and put it to her head. Christ, the only thing she’s guilty of is loving me. I’m probably fine, so she’s fine, too. No need to panic, I’ll just wait until more information comes out.

I call Amanda’s cell, but I hang up before it rings. I need to tell her in person.