Ozzy had an answer sooner than he wanted to. Heavy steps could be heard coming from the basement. Someone was stumbling up the stairs and was headed for the living room where Ozzy and Adem were with the Columbians. He dropped the papers and motioned for Mairos and Branco to aim their weapons at the basement door.
Dr. Muller opened the door. His eyes were somewhat dimmed, and his skin had turned dull gray. Mairos and Branco didn't wait for Ozzy to give the order. They fired their rounds right into Dr. Muller's chest.
No normal human could have withstood thirty bullets in the torso. But Dr. Muller was still standing, though his jacket had taken a beating. He grinned a little. Mairos looked down. The bullets were all on the ground, each with dented tips from colliding with a dense object.
"Mierda," said Branco. He turned to Mairos. "The bastard's already taken a shot of the meta-virus."
Mairos turned to Ozzy. "Any other ideas?"
Ozzy gave a pitiful look at Adem, who only shrugged. "I don't know," said Ozzy. "I make this shit up as I go along."
* * *
Dr. McGregor threw another needle into the biowaste basket. "Shite. This is not good. Let's go for the right arm this time."
Nurse Piper handed him another syringe. She tied off the right arm as Dr. McGragor stuck the needle into to collect blood. The trick with an IV injection was to find the vein and then pierce at just the right angle. It was harder on patients whose viens didn't pop up as well as others. McGregor missed, so he 'fished' for the vein by gently swinging the needle left and right as the tip was still in Lykopis's arm.
But for some reason, the needles weren't staying in. It slipped out, and because McGregor didn't apply pressure, the vein partially collapse. Now both of Lykopis's arms were bruised from impropper IVing. McGregor looked at the left arm, where he had first tried to draw blood. "Look at this. Her left's arms almost healed already."
Nurse Piper looked at Lykopis's chart. "She doesn't have any sort of superhealing ability."
"Not normally. But Gaunt said she was infected with the metavirus. So it makes perfect sense. The Miss here got stung by the a metagene that codes for superfast healing. Not unlike Mr. Baxter. Except that Lykopis's metabolism can't handle the new powers."
"Doctor...she's coming to..."
Lykopis opened her eyes wide. She looked at McGregor and was obviously trying not to wimper. "Shite...go ahead and bring the oxygen up to three...no...let's try two-point-five for now..." Lykopis rolled her eyes back and went down again.
"So what now, doctor?"
McGregor tossed the needle. Lykopis's system couldn't handle the virus, but the virus was preventing him from doing anything. "We can't give her any anti-viral injections, simply because we can't get a needle in long enough. And there's nothing oral we can offer her." He looked at the oxygen mask covering her mouth. Her eyelids were fluttering. "Best bet is to keep her sedated. We ought to have enough oxygen in that tank for another fourty-five minutes. Keep her under until Paragon says otherwise. I'll be back to check up on her later."
Nurse Piper brought the tank up to three before leaving Lykopis's room for other errands. Alone in her room, Lykopis slept, but as the virus in her body adapted to the high oxygen levels, her eyelids began fluttering again.
