Gasping breath filled my lungs, warm, humid. My eyes flew open and I saw red. I panicked, eyes widening, trying to thrash and get away. I couldn't move though, my heart beat along steadily, and my breathing was slow and even. I could move my eyes though, and I rolled them around to take everything in. They fixed on a tearful Amy Dallon, a little redder than normal.

  “...” I squeaked, making her flinch. She looked at me and I couldn't tell if her eyes were red from the fog or from crying.

  “Lia,” she croaked, her gaze flicking down towards my side. “Sorry.”

  I followed her gaze and would have gasped if I could control my breathing. A long, skin-coloured tube extended a few inches from my forearm, pinched between Amy's fingers. I felt a tickling on my skin where it passed through my projection, but it did pass through. I could still hear my alarm ringing and tried to shake my head to clear it, but still couldn't move.

  “Sorry,” Amy repeated. “Just blocking the signals, you're not hurt...well, okay, so, there's a problem. Do you know what a prion is? Okay stupid question, basically a misfolded protein that forces other proteins to fuck up around it; that's an idiot's explanation, but it's what we have time for. I...there are parasites in your body producing them, I've been working on stopping them but I was a little busy.”

  “You went into cardiac arrest,” she continued after a moment. “It was a pretty close thing, your projection meant I couldn't just heal you like that, I had to get...creative. Um, this is just skin, don't worry, nothing important. And your heart's fixed, I made sure it's healthy this time so that shouldn't happen again anytime soon. Now...there are some complications. I didn't give it much chance to get bad, but you have lesions on your brain and I can't heal that.” I tried to argue that point, but my vocal cords wouldn't respond. “Oh, sorry Lia. Try again?”

  “Can't you?” I managed to murmur out. My throat felt raw and I coughed. “Brains, I mean.” She flinched.

  “No,” Amy replied firmly, shaking her head. “I can affect brains, yes, but I can't let myself do that Lia. I...I already know what happens if I do.”

  “I...” I sighed. “So what, I just have brain damage?”

  “It will heal,” she countered. “I just...I'm working on the best way to do it. This mist is everywhere outside, I think the whole city is covered. Need to work on something for that but I need to stop it working in you and figure out a way to get your brain to connect to old pathways on its own, encourage plasticity; a counter-agent, virulent but not dangerous, make the parasite produce it...” She trailed off, eyes glazing over.

  “That's a lot,” was all I could manage. Amy nodded.

  “A hell of a lot, too much really.” She sighed, staring at the umbilical of skin connecting us. “And then you have to go spread it. Sweat, spit, urine, it'll get into the water and override the other parasites. It's gonna take a minute sorry, I haven't worked on a problem this scale before.” I just nodded and let her work.

  I felt exhausted, despite apparently being healed. I could still hear my alarm like I was waking up for the first time again and it made me want to throw up. Paralyzed as I was, all I could do was stare at Amy while she stared at my arm. I knew inside of me a war was raging on a scale I couldn't imagine, and she was readying me to be the patient zero of a counter-epidemic. From the outside though, it just looked like a girl staring intently at my arm.

  “Okay,” Amy sighed and ran her bandaged fingers through her hair. “That should be good, I'm going to unblock your nerves, let you up. Sorry.” The umbilical thinned then disintegrated, and suddenly I found my legs and arms responding to my whims once again.

  “Don't do that again,” I said once I'd gathered myself and sat up.

  “Wha--”

  “Paralyze me when you're healing, I mean,” I explained quickly. “That was...if you hadn't been managing me, I think I'd have had a heart attack.”

  “I mean, you did have one,” she said with a grimace. “A bad one. I told you to stop drinking caffeine for a reason.” My eye twitched.

  “Are you still on about that?” I asked, exasperated. “Coffee isn't going to give me a heart attack, Amy, not having one cup a day.”

  “No it won't,” Amy agreed far too easily. “But your heart was already pretty badly strained. Not sure why, but I'd guess you have a history of panic attacks?” I grimaced and nodded. “Yeah, that checks out. Strain was too much this time, probably.”

  “You said my heart is healthy now though, right?” She nodded. “So that means--”

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  “I didn't fix whatever's giving you panic attacks, dumbass,” Amy cut me off. “And considering caffeine raises the odds of that, and that's what's messing with your heart...lay off the coffee.”

  “This is bullshit,” I grumbled, crossing my arms as I leaned against the back of the couch we were sitting behind. “My one joy in life and you go and take it away. Whatever, I'll just switch to cigarettes.”

  “Are you an idiot?”

  “I've never claimed otherwise,” I retorted, a tired grin growing on my face. A moment later, Amy smiled too. With a grunt, I pushed myself to my feet, frowning and testing my ankle. “Hey did you...”

  “Oh, yeah, sorry.” Amy flushed red enough that I could see it through the mist. “Uh, I figured since I was already healing you I'd just...heal you?” I stretched and found there wasn't even the littlest twinge.

  “Being honest,” I said with a sigh. “I can't really complain. Thanks.”

  “It's fine.”

  "No, thank you Amy. You...you saved my life." Saved a hell of a lot more than that.

  "You're...welcome."

  I left her and walked to the front door, opening it and gazing out at the city drowning in what looked like a fog of blood. I could hardly see the houses across the street, just silhouettes illuminated by scant light. How the fuck had I managed to forget this, the Nine's coup-de-grace? Only now, with it slapping me in the face, could I recall the agnosia plague Bonesaw whipped up. Being at least a little fair to me, I'd been...focused.

  Skitter was going to be out there somewhere, fighting through to find Amy, to fix all this. Well, maybe this was a good thing. After all, Skitter was nowhere to be seen, but I was here and apparently full of virulent, counter-agent producing parasites. I just had to go sweat, spit, and piss all over Brockton Bay until everyone was cured.

  “Hey,” I called over my shoulder. “Should I like...go spread this?” Amy looked back at me, a barely-featured shadow.

  “I...I don't know, it isn't safe right now if other people are being affected.” She shuffled from foot to foot. “Can we just...stay here for a bit?” I frowned.

  “Amy, there are a lot of sick people out there and you just gave me the cure.” I turned and looked out the door. “I don't think we have a choice.” She let out a noise halfway between a squeak and a groan. “Believe me, I wish we didn't have to either.”

  With a deep breath, I took a step out onto the street. Nothing happened, not that I expected it to of course but the outdoors looked like a horror movie; I wouldn't have been surprised if something had. I glanced back and found Amy sticking close behind me, eyes wide, head whipping back and forth. Well, at least she'd come along. Out here I had a feeling I'd need all the help I could get.

  We headed down, towards the still-flooded streets at the bottom of the hill. I took it slow, trying not to let the near-zero vis conditions get to me too badly. I could still see, still recognize Amy, so it was fine. Everyone else was in the same boat, it wasn't like I was playing at a disadvantage. Once I got to work, it should clear up fairly quick at least. At least these streets were quiet.

  “Sorry,” Amy spoke up quietly as we walked. “Um, I should have asked about healing you.”

  “I told you it was fine,” I replied, shrugging. “Like really, 'oh no the great and powerful Amy salved my wounds'. It's kinda stupid to be ungrateful.”

  “I uh...” She huffed. “Well, I take back some of the idiot comment earlier. Still, I need to stick to my rules and I didn't, so I'm sorry.”

  “I wasn't exactly in a place to respond either, right?” I asked. “I get it, sort of, but I'm pretty sure I died back there.”

  “You...” There was a beat of silence. “...did. Only for a couple seconds but...” But I could still hear my alarm somewhere in the back of my head.

  “Fuck,” I swore. At least I hadn't woken up...somewhen else. “Then I'm all the more thankful you didn't wait, Amy.”

  “I should have asked when you woke up,” Amy muttered, almost to herself. “Just resuscitated you and left it at that, but those lesions were growing by the second, if I'd delayed, I don't know how long I'd have delayed your recovery.”

  “Sounds like a shit sandwich all around,” I said with a sigh. “Anyway, apology accepted and I forgive you. What you said sounds like a good idea though, the waking me up to ask first. That said, I don't think anyone would fault you saving their life first.” She nodded and I though I saw a faint smile through the mist.

  Finally, we got to the bottom of the hill. I slogged into the ankle deep water, pulled down my mask, and gave and almighty 'pitooie'. My loogie flew a good few feet before plopping down in the midst of the water that looked more like blood. Well, at least until my spit began to work. I did it again at another spot, and another bloom of clearness appeared and grew rapidly. It raced away from us, faster than I could run on a good day. Well...that was done.

  My stomach groaned and cramped, making me wince. Ah, well, that was fair. Beckoning to Amy, I turned around and headed back towards home. Sure I'd said all the food would be rotten, but surely there was something non-perishable. Mom hadn't been a doomsday prepper or anything, but we lived on the coast in a world where a monster frequently annihilated port towns; she'd have something.

  We made good time and soon turned onto my street again. The air was starting to clear, but the mist seemed to enjoy clinging to the streets and making everything more difficult. Figures something designed by Bonesaw would make life shitty, who could have seen that coming? I squinted as we approached my house, trying to focus. I could see silhouettes out front and paused.

  The Protectorate? Could be, but they should be under the effects of the miasma still, at least until the cure could take effect. I was hoping the fog clearing was a sign that the counter-agent was getting spread through that. But if it wasn't the Protectorate... I drew my gun and ignored Amy's frightened squeak, then carefully walked forward to find out who the fuck was waiting for me.

  “Hello Lia,” an awful, smug, confident voice boomed as I stepped onto my front lawn. “Welcome home.” I grimaced and raised my pistol, clicking the safety off.

  “Hi Jack,” I replied. The mist had cleared enough that I could see him grin.