Isolation

“How’s the patient doing?”

“Not well, I’m afraid.”

“What is he doing?” The medical specialist leaned against the glass wall separating him from the patient down below.

“We aren’t sure. He’s been making that tapping sound for several hours. It might be some kind of code or an attempt to communicate.”

“What about the periods of unconsciousness?”

“They appear to be normal.”

“Has he eaten lately?”

“We have provided food and fluids to replenish his output. He seems to be a carrier of considerable microscopic organisms. One of our technicians accidentally exposed herself to his bodily fluid and is currently being treated for some type of infection.”

The patient in the chamber below was busy tapping his hands against his knees while he sat on the edge of the cot. The chamber was practically bare, with just the cot, a table, and a chair. There was a chamber pot that appeared in a corner of the chamber just after the food appeared on the table. He wasn’t sure how long he had been there. He had gone to bed feeling a little feverish and woken up in this strange chamber. His fever had subsided days ago, but his cough remained.

He was certain someone was watching, but no one responded to his attempts to ask where he was. So, he sat on the cot strumming his fingers against his kneecaps and humming. And while he hummed, the cause of his mild fever was spreading. It had infected a technician who nicked her glove during a fluid draw. And from there, it spread to the two attending medical personnel who were caring for her. Within hours it had spread throughout the research facility and by the end of the day, it had spread to other areas outside the facility.

The patient reached into the air with his fists and yawned as he did before he went to bed to sleep. The lights in the chamber had already dimmed while he waited. The medical specialist watched as the patient stretched out on the cot before curling up into that same curious position that he maintained while unconscious. The medical team waited for the man’s staccato nasal emanation before entering the chamber.

The patient listened carefully for the footsteps of the beings who came in to examine him while he slept. This time, he wasn’t sleeping. He noted that they were being extra careful handling him while twittering away around him taking samples of his blood, urine, and stool. There was no one watching from above as she slowly rose from the bed and quietly followed them out of the chamber.

The lights in the hallway were brighter than the dim red glow of the chamber. His eyes slowly adjusted. He watched the group trudge down the hall toward the labs with their samples before heading in the opposite direction. It would be several hours before they noticed that he was missing. Even then, they would be too busy to search for him.

At the time of the patient’s escape, the virus had spread throughout the facility and the nearby environs. The sudden death of the infected technician raised concerns about the virus responsible. When several other technicians became ill, medical experts made an effort to determine how it was spreading. While those in charge were busy trying to stop the spread of the infection, the patient slowly made his way outside the medical facility.

As the patient passed through the exit doors, they locked behind him and a sign lit up indicating that the facility was under quarantine. He continued down a long hallway, past a series of door bearing strange markings. At that point, he wondered if perhaps he had actually fallen asleep and was only dreaming that he had escaped his cell. Until he reached the end of the corridor, he held on to that possibility. Peering out through the large window, the full gravity of his predicament hit him when the moon rose from behind the Earth.