Tallahassee, United States
7:45 p.m., August 20, 2010
For a moment, no one said a word.
Dr.
Eleanor Tyler stood motionless, looking back and forth between Melody and Jason as though trying to determine whether they were really there.
Melody was the one who broke the silence.
“Mom!”
She ran forward and wrapped her arms tightly around her.
Eleanor took several seconds to react, still unable to believe what she was seeing.
Then she returned the embrace.
“Melody…
my God…
what are you doing here?”
Tears immediately filled the girl’s eyes again.
“You disappeared!
Your phone was off!
The university wouldn’t tell me where you were!
No one knew anything!
I thought…”
Her voice failed her.
Eleanor gently stroked her daughter’s hair.
“It’s all right.
I’m all right.
I’m sorry I worried you.”
She held Melody closer.
“They took our phones as soon as we arrived.
Since then, no one here has been allowed to contact the outside world.”
Melody breathed a sigh of relief.
“I went to the university.
I asked everyone, but no one would answer me.”
Eleanor gave her a weary smile.
“It wasn’t because they didn’t want to.
They simply weren’t allowed to.”
She pulled back just enough to look into her daughter’s eyes.
“But you still haven’t answered my question.
How did you get in here?”
Melody discreetly pointed at Jason.
“It was his idea.”
Eleanor turned toward him.
“So the two of you broke into a hospital under lockdown?”
Jason offered an awkward smile.
“In our defense…
it was a better plan than it sounds.”
The researcher released a sigh that carried equal parts relief and disbelief.
“I was walking down the hall when I noticed the lights were on in this room.
I thought it was strange because no one was supposed to be in here right now, so I decided to investigate.”
She looked at them again.
“I never imagined I would find my daughter and her boyfriend hiding inside an isolation ward.”
Jason waited respectfully while mother and daughter embraced again.
He didn’t want to interrupt the moment.
But time was running out.
When they finally separated, he discreetly cleared his throat.
“Ahem…”
They both looked at him.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I need to ask you something.”
Eleanor’s expression became serious again.
Jason discreetly pointed toward the creature still throwing itself against the glass.
“What have you discovered about…
them?”
The researcher remained silent for several seconds.
Then she looked toward the patient.
“So you’ve seen them.”
Jason nodded.
“Enough to know that isn’t an ordinary patient.”
Eleanor drew a deep breath.
“No.
It isn’t.”
She turned her attention back to Jason.
There was something strange about that boy.
Anyone else would have been shocked or panicking, yet he appeared to be gathering information.
As though he had expected to find exactly what stood behind that glass.
“Jason…
how did you know something was happening here?”
He held her gaze for several moments.
He knew he couldn’t tell her the entire truth.
But he also knew that hiding everything from her now wouldn’t help anyone.
“Because the signs were everywhere.
And because…
unfortunately…
I think this is only the beginning.”
Jason fell silent for a few seconds before stepping forward.
“Dr.
Tyler…
I need you to trust me.”
She frowned.
“Jason, everything happening here is classified.”
“I know.
But in a few days, that secrecy won’t matter anymore.”
Eleanor stared at him.
“How can you possibly claim that?”
Jason took a deep breath.
“Because you failed to contain it, and I’m almost certain there are already more cases outside this hospital.”
Eleanor said nothing.
“You can hide this information from me,” Jason continued, “but that won’t stop what’s about to happen.”
She looked at Melody.
Her daughter slowly nodded.
“Mom…
I trust him.”
The researcher closed her eyes for a moment.
At last, she released a long sigh.
“Come with me.”
Eleanor led them into a small observation room.
Computers, monitors, and medical test results covered the counters.
She sat in front of one of the computers, entered her password, and opened a file labeled only Patient 14.
“What I’m about to show you must never leave this room.”
She pressed the play button.
A three-dimensional reconstruction of a brain scan appeared on the screen.
The brain glowed brightly.
Tiny points of light flashed throughout its structure.
“This is a healthy human brain.”
Eleanor pointed at the screen.
“These electrical signals represent everything that makes us who we are.
Memories.
Emotions.
Reasoning.
Language.
Personality.
Every light represents billions of neurons communicating constantly.”
Jason and Melody watched closely.
A few seconds later…
The signals began to disappear.
The lights flashed less and less frequently.
Until…
All brain activity ceased.
The screen went almost completely dark.
“This is when clinical death occurs,” Eleanor explained, her voice growing heavier.
“The brain stops functioning.
Consciousness disappears.
The person ceases to exist.”
Melody wrapped her arms around herself.
Then…
Something unexpected happened.
A tiny point of light appeared.
Faint.
Almost imperceptible.
Then another.
And another.
Within seconds, dozens of dim lights spread across one specific region of the brain.
Jason leaned closer to the screen.
“The nervous system…”
Eleanor looked at him in surprise.
“Exactly.”
She pointed at the image again.
“The activity doesn’t return to the cerebral cortex.
It never reaches the areas responsible for memory, language, or consciousness.
The rest of the brain remains biologically dead.
Only the structures connected to the most primitive reflexes begin showing activity again.”
The dim lights were concentrated near the base of the brain and along its neural pathways.
“In other words…”
Eleanor took a deep breath.
“Whatever wakes up…
is no longer human.”
Melody felt a knot form in her throat.
“Then…
if I were infected…”
Eleanor gently took her daughter’s hand.
“It wouldn’t be me anymore.”
The researcher looked back at the monitor.
“They don’t feel pain.
They display no empathy.
They don’t recognize their families.
They have no memories.
No personality.
Everything that made that person an individual disappeared at the moment of death.”
She paused the video.
Only the faint, irregular electrical activity remained on the screen.
“What remains is nothing more than a biological shell driven by the most basic instincts.”
Jason finished her thought in a low voice.
“Hunger.”
Eleanor nodded.
“Only hunger.”
Silence settled over the room.
After a few seconds, Jason asked another question.
“Have you discovered how it spreads?”
The researcher opened another file.
Clinical photographs appeared on the screen.
The patients had deep wounds on their arms, hands, and necks.
“We still don’t know what the causative agent is,” Eleanor explained.
“A virus, a bacterium, a fungus…
or something else entirely.”
She advanced to another image.
“But every confirmed case follows the same pattern.”
Jason remained motionless.
He already knew what her answer would be.
“Bites…” Eleanor said.
Another photograph appeared.
“And deep scratches.”
She folded her arms.
“In almost every patient, the infection progressed rapidly after this kind of contact.”
Jason closed his eyes for a moment.
The theory had been correct.
But hearing it from a researcher made everything far more real.
The world truly was about to end.
Jason released a long breath.
It confirmed a suspicion he had carried since the night he watched the video Todd sent him.
They were still far behind.
Based on Eleanor’s explanation, the entire research team believed transmission occurred only through bites and scratches.
No one had even considered another possibility.
So they still haven’t discovered it…
His mind raced.
In the show, the infectious agent already had a name.
Wildfire.
And the most terrifying detail was the one almost no one knew.
Everyone was already infected.
A bite didn’t transmit the pathogen.
It merely caused an infection so severe that it killed the victim.
And once death came… Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
Reanimation followed.
Jason folded his arms, deep in thought.
If I know this, then the government should know too.
It didn’t make sense.
If the military had been involved from the beginning…
If hospitals were being placed under lockdown…
If researchers from multiple fields had been called in…
Why conceal the most important piece of information?
Why not tell the scientific team that anyone who died would come back?
Why allow researchers to continue working with an incomplete hypothesis?
Jason looked at Eleanor.
She appeared genuinely committed to understanding the phenomenon.
She wasn’t hiding information.
On the contrary.
She seemed frustrated by her lack of answers.
So even she doesn’t know…
An uneasy chill traveled down his spine.
Perhaps the government knew.
Perhaps it didn’t.
Perhaps only a highly restricted group had access to the truth.
Or…
Perhaps the information had never reached that hospital.
Jason considered telling them everything.
It would take only one sentence.
Everyone is already infected.
That information would completely change the way they handled the patients.
But he hesitated.
What if he was wrong?
What if his memories of the show didn’t perfectly match the reality of this world?
So far, almost everything had happened as he remembered.
Almost.
But not exactly.
Besides, Eleanor was a scientist.
She would demand evidence.
And Jason had none.
Only memories of a past life.
Memories he couldn’t explain.
After several seconds of silence, he made his decision.
He said nothing.
His eyes returned to the computer screen.
For now…
He would keep that information to himself.
It was a risk.
But at that moment, he believed it was less dangerous than revealing a truth he had no way to prove.
Jason remained silent for a few more seconds.
Then he looked back at the creature repeatedly slamming itself against the glass.
He took a deep breath.
“Dr.
Tyler…”
She raised her eyes.
“Have you discovered any way to…
kill them?”
The researcher held his gaze for a moment before answering.
“We’re not certain yet.”
She opened another file on the computer.
This time, photographs and short video clips from tests performed at the hospital appeared on the screen.
“We tried sedatives.
They had no effect.”
She switched to another video.
A patient remained completely still while a medical team tested different stimuli.
“They also don’t respond to pain.
Or fractures.
Or blood loss.
Or severe damage to internal organs.”
Another video began.
In it, a researcher used a metal rod to stimulate different parts of the creature’s body.
It continued trying to bite him, completely indifferent to its injuries.
“Eventually, we discovered that destroying muscles or vital organs merely reduces their mobility,” Eleanor explained.
“It doesn’t stop their activity.”
Jason watched closely.
Then a final video appeared.
A researcher used a device resembling a captive bolt gun to pierce the creature’s skull.
The instant it penetrated the brain…
The creature collapsed.
And it didn’t move again.
Eleanor paused the recording.
“So far, all the evidence indicates that only the complete destruction of the brain permanently stops these creatures.”
Melody turned pale.
“Then…
there’s no cure?”
Eleanor lowered her eyes.
“We’re still looking.”
She took a deep breath before continuing.
“But so far…
not a single patient has returned to normal.”
Jason slowly clenched his fists.
It confirmed another of the rules he already knew.
Even so, hearing it from a researcher made everything feel far more real.
“There’s something else,” Eleanor added.
Jason and Melody turned toward her.
“The more recent the reanimation, the faster they appear to be.
As the hours pass, the body’s deterioration gradually reduces their mobility.
We’re still trying to understand why.”
Jason immediately committed that information to memory.
It wasn’t something he remembered from the show.
Perhaps it was a difference unique to this world.
Or perhaps it was simply a detail the show had never revealed.
Either way…
It was valuable information.
“Thank you, Doctor.”
Eleanor regarded him curiously.
“May I ask you a question now?”
Jason nodded.
She narrowed her eyes.
“How did a fifteen-year-old boy ask the exact questions that took our research team two days to begin asking?”
Jason took a deep breath before answering.
“A few days ago, videos started appearing online showing alleged cases of cannibalism in rural Georgia.”
Melody immediately remembered Todd’s conversation at lunch.
Eleanor remained silent, listening closely.
“At first, I thought they were just rumors or the work of some kind of cult,” Jason continued.
“But then I watched the videos carefully.”
He placed his hands on the table.
“I noticed details that other people had overlooked.
Some of the victims kept moving even after suffering injuries that should’ve been fatal.
In another video, a man was shot several times in the chest and continued trying to attack the people around him.
There was also footage of extremely aggressive people completely ignoring their own pain.”
He paused briefly.
“The strangest part was that the videos disappeared from the internet only a few hours after they were posted.”
Eleanor frowned.
“We noticed that too.”
“That was when I started connecting the dots,” Jason continued.
“The rumors.
The videos.
The disappearance of news reports.
Then came the hospital lockdown, the researchers being summoned without warning, and now…
this.”
He pointed toward the creature trapped behind the glass.
“If these cases have been occurring in different places for days, then the problem isn’t limited to this hospital.”
The researcher didn’t respond.
“That’s exactly why I don’t believe you’ll be able to contain it,” Jason continued.
“You might manage to contain one outbreak.
Maybe two.
But not all of them at the same time.”
He looked directly at Eleanor.
“All it takes is one infected person slipping through unnoticed.
Or one patient being transported to another city.
Within days, there will be new outbreaks.
Then dozens.
Then hundreds.”
Silence filled the room.
Melody looked at Jason.
She had never heard him speak with such conviction.
Eleanor remained motionless for several moments.
At last, she rested one hand on the table.
“That…
unfortunately…
is exactly the team’s greatest concern.”
She lowered her voice.
“We’re still trying to determine how many cases exist outside this hospital.
And to be honest…
I’m afraid of the answer.”
Jason remained silent for a moment.
Then he gathered his courage.
“Dr.
Tyler…”
She looked at him again.
“Come with us.”
Melody’s eyes widened.
“Jason…”
He continued before she could say anything else.
“There’s still time to get out of here.
I can protect both of you.
You don’t have to stay.”
Eleanor gave him a sad smile.
“That’s precisely why I have to stay.”
Jason frowned.
“If all the researchers leave, who will find a cure?”
The question plunged the room into silence.
Eleanor walked to the glass wall of the containment room and watched the creature continue throwing itself against the transparent barrier.
“I’ve spent my entire life studying for moments like this.”
She took a deep breath.
“There may never be a greater need for everything I’ve learned.”
Eleanor turned toward the two teenagers.
“If there’s any chance of understanding this phenomenon or developing a treatment, then this is where I belong.”
Melody approached her mother.
“Mom…
I don’t want to lose you again.”
Eleanor gently cradled her daughter’s face.
“You won’t.
I promise I’ll take every possible precaution.”
She smiled, trying to reassure her.
“We’re working with some of the best researchers in the country.
The government has mobilized enormous resources.
I still believe we can contain the situation before it spirals out of control.”
Jason discreetly lowered his head.
He wanted to believe her.
But he knew she was wrong.
And because he knew…
The pressure in his chest grew even stronger.
After a few seconds, Eleanor glanced at the clock on the wall.
Her expression changed immediately.
“You need to leave.”
Jason and Melody looked up.
“It’s already very late.”
Eleanor walked toward the door.
“The security shift change will happen soon.
If they find you in here, I won’t be able to explain your presence.”
Melody embraced her mother again.
This time, she held on a little longer before letting go.
“Promise me you’ll be all right.”
Eleanor kissed her forehead.
“I promise.”
Then she looked at Jason.
“Take care of her.”
Jason nodded solemnly.
“With my life.”
Eleanor gave him a faint smile.
She opened the door and carefully peered into the hallway.
Then she gestured for them to follow her.
“Come on.
I’ll show you a way out without drawing attention.”
As they walked through the hospital’s silent corridors, Jason couldn’t drive one thought from his mind.
That might have been the last time Melody would embrace her mother before the world changed forever.
By the time Jason finally arrived home, it was already late.
As soon as he opened the door, he found Jennifer standing in the living room with her arms crossed.
Her expression said everything.
“Jason Miller.”
He froze for a moment.
It was never a good sign when his mother used his full name.
“Hi, Mom…”
“Don’t try that ‘Hi, Mom’ with me.”
Jennifer stepped forward.
“You are still grounded.
That means coming straight home after school.”
Jason opened his mouth to respond, but she continued before he could say anything.
“First you disappear for hours.
Then you take the truck without a driver’s license.
Now you come home late again as though nothing happened?”
“I can explain.”
“You’d better be able to.”
Before Jason could say anything, Robert appeared in the kitchen doorway.
“Jen.”
She turned toward her husband.
“What?”
Robert remained calm.
“I asked him to stop by the shop after school.”
Jason blinked in surprise.
Jennifer frowned.
“The shop?”
“Yes.
Dennis was working on the motorhome, and I wanted Jason to check a few things before they finished everything.”
Robert briefly glanced at his son.
It lasted only a second.
But Jason understood.
His father knew he hadn’t been at the shop.
Or, at the very least, he knew there was more behind Jason’s late arrival.
Even so, he was covering for him.
Jennifer took a deep breath, trying to decide whether she believed them.
“You could’ve called.”
Jason lowered his head.
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s what your phone is for, you know.”
“I know.”
She continued staring at him for several seconds.
At last, she released a weary sigh.
“Go upstairs to your room.
We’ll discuss this properly tomorrow.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Jason silently walked past her and headed upstairs.
Before reaching the hallway, he discreetly looked back.
Robert was still in the living room.
Their eyes met.
His father said nothing.
He merely gave a slight nod, as though saying:
We’ll talk later.
Jason swallowed hard.
After entering his bedroom and closing the door, he released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
“Thank God…” he murmured.
For the first time, he was genuinely grateful that he had sent his father that message the previous night.
If he hadn’t, Jennifer probably would have discovered far more than she was supposed to know.
Jason sat on the bed and rubbed both hands over his face.
The lie had protected him for now.
But it had also made one thing clear.
Robert was watching him.
And Jason knew that, sooner or later, he would have to face a conversation he couldn’t avoid.
While Jason dealt with his parents’ concern at home, Melody faced something similar.
When she opened the front door, she found her father waiting in the living room.
Donald Tyler was sitting on the couch, but he stood the instant he saw her.
Deep circles darkened the skin beneath his eyes.
He didn’t merely look angry.
He looked exhausted from worry.
“Melody Anne Tyler.”
She froze.
Just as it did with Jason, hearing her full name was never a good sign.
“Dad…”
“Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?”
Donald walked toward her.
“You disappeared for an entire day.
You didn’t answer your phone.
You didn’t leave a message.
You didn’t tell me where you were going.”
He took a deep breath, trying to control his voice.
“You’d better have a very good explanation for disappearing like that, young lady.”
Melody tightened her grip on her backpack strap.
She had considered several ways to begin that conversation.
None of them seemed good enough.
So she decided to get straight to the point.
“I found Mom.”
Donald’s expression changed instantly.
All his anger vanished, replaced by an almost desperate shock.
“What?”
He grabbed her shoulders.
“Where is she?
Is she all right?
Why didn’t she call?
Melody, talk to me.”
Melody took a deep breath.
“She’s alive.”
Donald closed his eyes for a moment, as though those two words were enough to let him breathe again.
“Thank God…”
But Melody wasn’t finished.
“Dad, before I tell you anything, I need you to promise me two things.”
Donald frowned.
“Melody…”
“Please.”
The seriousness in his daughter’s voice silenced him.
“First, you need to promise that you’ll keep this a secret.”
She hesitated.
“Second…
you need to promise that you’ll try to believe me.”
Donald stared at her for several seconds.
As a doctor, he was accustomed to receiving bad news.
As a father, he wasn’t prepared to see that kind of fear in his daughter’s eyes.
“All right.
I promise.”
Melody slowly nodded.
Then she began to explain.
She told him about the university.
About the staff members who had evaded her questions.
About the missing researchers.
About how everyone appeared to be repeating the same rehearsed answers.
Donald listened in silence, growing more serious with every word.
Then she told him about the hospital.
About the armed guards.
About how she and Jason had managed to get inside.
At that point, Donald opened his mouth to interrupt, but Melody raised her hand.
“Dad, please.
You promised.”
He closed his mouth, although his expression made it clear that the subject wasn’t over.
Melody continued.
She told him about the isolation ward.
The white room.
The patient trapped behind the glass.
Her voice faltered several times, but she didn’t stop.
“Dad…
that wasn’t a sick person.”
Donald remained motionless.
“Melody…”
“I know how it sounds, but I saw it.”
She wrapped her arms around herself.
“He was dead, and he was still moving.”
A heavy silence descended over the living room.
Donald didn’t respond immediately.
The rational, medical, scientific side of him wanted to reject every word.
But Eleanor’s disappearance, the hospital lockdown, and the excessive armed security were already pieces that didn’t fit into an ordinary situation.
“And your mother?” he finally asked, his voice lower.
Melody swallowed hard.
“She’s working there.
She said they confiscated her phone and those belonging to the other researchers.
No one is allowed to communicate with the outside world.”
Donald covered part of his face with one hand.
“Eleanor…”
Melody stepped closer.
“She said she still believes she can help.
That she might be able to find a cure.”
Donald clenched his fists.
His anger returned, but this time it wasn’t directed at Melody.
It was directed at the hospital.
At the government.
At whoever had taken his wife without giving him a single explanation.
“They’re holding her there,” he said.
Melody hesitated.
“She didn’t put it that way, but…
yes.”
Donald walked to the window and stared at the darkened street.
For several seconds, he appeared to be fighting the urge to leave immediately and drive to the hospital.
“Was Jason with you?”
Melody nodded.
“Yes.
He helped me find Mom.”
Donald drew a deep breath.
“Then I’m going to speak with him tomorrow.”
Melody’s eyes widened.
“Dad…”
“Calm down.”
He turned toward her.
“I’m not going to accuse him of anything.
But if even half of what you told me is true…
I need to understand how much he knows.”
Melody lowered her eyes.
“He knows more than he should.”
Donald fell silent.
That sentence was enough to confirm what he had already begun to suspect.
This wasn’t merely a crisis at the hospital.
It was something far greater.
And his family was already involved up to their necks.
He approached his daughter and wrapped his arms tightly around her.
“Never do something like that again without telling me.”
Melody closed her eyes, finally allowing the exhaustion of the entire day to settle over her.
“I’m sorry.”
Donald kissed the top of her head.
“I’m relieved that you found your mother too.”
He looked toward the window again.
The night seemed far too peaceful.
After everything he had heard, however, that peace no longer felt real.
“Now tell me everything again.
From the beginning.”
This time, Melody obeyed.
Donald listened to every word with the attention of a frightened father…
And of a doctor beginning to understand that something impossible was happening.
I’m using AI to translate this story.
English is not my native language.
If you would prefer to read it without an AI translation, you can find the original Portuguese version on this same profile.