S.H.O.T.

S.H.O.T., or Spread-Happy Organic Terror, is a sentient hybrid virus created by Dr. Mallory Practíce that turns its victims into shambling plague-factories bent on further spreading the disease. S.H.O.T. is fully sapient or may have become sapient following its exposure to alien biology. Regardless, it's both intelligent and malicious. S.H.O.T. and those infected by it serve as the primary antagonists for S17E03, "60 Minutes Later."

Symptoms
Upon initial infection, the victim begins to shake uncontrollably. After a few seconds of this, victims will either go into respiratory distress or begin to expel black, tar-like discharge from their mouths. Both symptoms occurring simultaneously is "rare, but possible," according to Practíce. Any victim who survives these first two stages will seek to spread the disease to other victims by spewing runny, water-like saliva at uninfected individuals. Victims who reach this stage are also subject to random bouts of uncontrollable screaming.

In the latter half of the episode, S.H.O.T. is shown to be sapient, and capable of controlling or even speaking through its hosts. This displays a level of consciousness far beyond any other virus. However, as all signs of sapience occurred after Nikki's infection, it's unknown whether this was always within the virus' capabilities, or if it was the result of a sudden mutation after it melded with Nikki's genes.

Creation
S.H.O.T. was created by Mallory Practíce, a virologist and former convict, after a year of experimentation following her release from prison. The idea was to blend together "every disease in the world," and then create a super-cure. The virus is a hybrid composed of numerous different diseases, including influenza, swine flu, West Nile, Zika, and smallpox.

Outbreak
At the start of the episode, Mallory Practíce is invited onto Capital Cineforum as a guest. She brings a sample of S.H.O.T. along with her in a briefcase, as well as a small sample of the cure. The vial of S.H.O.T. is stolen by Ariel, who mistakes it for alcohol, and she ends up infecting herself live on air. She then quickly infects Tori as the rest of the crew flees.

Shortly after, Neil is infected by Ariel, and then teams up with Tori to overwhelm Practíce herself. Later, as Renée, Maryn, and Nikki are wandering around the studio, Nikki is tackled to the ground by Ariel, and is quickly infected. Immediately, Maryn starts having some kind of seizure, and Renée has to pull her out of the studio.

Meanwhile, in the War Room, Joey is ambushed by Neil while monologuing. He shouts, "I really have to stop doing that," before Neil takes him to the ground.

In the Peace Room, as Renée is tending to Maryn, the hairdresser says that she can still see Nikki, going on to say that she's "cold" and "lonely." S.H.O.T. then starts speaking through Maryn, calling Renée a "fleshbag" and rambling about how "our organic terror will cast its dominion over the entire world." Maryn then falls into a coma, likely due to her separation from Nikki.

Out in the hallway, Renée, Jameson, and Chris run into Practíce, who is holding the briefcase. Instead of attacking, the infected doctor stands there for a moment before sliding the briefcase over to them and shambling off. This is revealed to simply be S.H.O.T. taunting the survivors, as the briefcase is empty.

Renée steals the cure vial from Ariel's back pocket and uses it on her. The cure doesn't work, however, and Ariel goes on to infect Jerry Lee. Stunned, Renée is tackled from behind by Joey. He infects her, and the two start to advance on Jameson and Chris. As the two survivors back up, Practíce rises up from behind them.

Self Destruction
Apparently, after everyone in the building was infected, the virus simply "wore off." Practíce hypothesizes that the different diseases that made up S.H.O.T.'s gene cocktail started to gang up on one another, and the virus essentially killed itself off. Practíce further justifies this by claiming that "the flu and the swine flu have some serious beef," and "the West Nile is probably still mad at Zika for stealing its rep."

Facts and Trivia

 * When Ariel's transformation scene was filmed, the black blood capsule that the actor used was put in backward, causing the ooze to shoot back down her throat and make her gag. This was the take used in the episode.
 * Of the diseases listed as making up S.H.O.T., the only one that's consistently lethal is smallpox. The rest are diseases that either have no existing vaccine (Zika, West Nile, swine flu), are highly contagious (influenza, swine flu), or are spread by other infected animals/the bites of other infected animals (Zika, West Nile, swine flu).