The slow beat of a heart monitor and silent sobs dispel the quiet in the room. A man in his early-mid thirties is the source of the latter. He sits in a bedside chair and leans over to his daughter in the bed.
And what a sorry sight she is. 10-year-old Gemma fell from a building the other day; the impact shattered many of her bones including parts of the spine. Add to that hemorrhaging and renal failure and you can figure she is pretty high up on Death's to-do list. Gemma has had surgery straight after admittance yesterday and she is due for another round later today. Her arms and legs are all in casts
Alan, her father, catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror and slightly recoils at his tear-stricken face. "Letting people see me like this won't do" he softly says to himself and goes over to the sink to wash his face, not for the first time this day. After cooling his forehead (and taking a drink), he sits right back down to grab his daughter's hand as he has done for the better part of the day.
"Damn it, I'm not going to lose you too", he says, more to himself than to Gemma, who is unconscious anyway. "I told her not to climb around there for a reason." He lifts his head to look at her. "You and your damn bullheadedness!" Just now, a single fresh tear drops onto her hand that he has rubbed leftover moisture from washing his hands into. Just for good measure for the infection that has already taken place.
And the reinforcements are needed. There is much work for the virus to be done. This body will need to be 'fixed' in more ways than one. Fortunately, a virus does not feel daunted by the magnitude of the task; it just chugs on.
After a few minutes, Alan feels tremors run through Gemma's hand. These are markedly stronger than earlier ones, and they are accompanied by quiet, but growing crunching and sloshing sounds from all over her body. Alan lets go of her hand and stands from the chair, ready to get help. "This is definitely not normal..."
Her heartbeat rises to an almost normal level, and he can see some colour returning to her skin. "Whatever's going on, it's healing her" he mumbles dumbfoundedly. Little does he know that the cause and downside to the miraculous event will become apparent shortly...