The Alastair Files

REPORT #3 - IMMORTALITY

31st May 2017

Regrettably, progress with the Infecteds is slow as I can only advance with Project Epiphany outside of my working hours, as I must keep up the pretence of a regular job. That being said, I have been able to uncover further information about their nature.

Despite the myths, Infecteds do possess a reflection and can appear in photos. However, the key difference is that they cannot view their own reflection or that of other Infecteds. This is likely a camouflage mechanism, allowing them to blend in with humankind whilst being able to identify members of their species. I am told the Infecteds had no part in the creation of such myths surrounding their abilities, and they have no interest in changing them. Remaining inconspicuous is as vital to their survival as it would be to a criminal.

Advances have also been made with my research into their 'immortality'. Consumption of human blood gives the Infecteds remarkable healing capabilities. For example, provided the individual has fed recently, small injuries such as minor cuts and first degree burns take mere minutes to heal. The relationship between the severity of the injury and the time taken to heal is directly proportional, with broken bones taking up to a fortnight to heal, depending on the volume of blood consumed within the time frame. Of course, this is still at least three times faster than the average mortal healing time.

As expected, starvation causes a decline in this advanced healing. This shall be a useful tool in reaching the physical breaking point, at which they are beyond recovery, of the Infecteds, as it is my belief both the mind and body must be weakened to render the Infected soul sufficiently vulnerable to extraction.

So far, there is just one obstacle to physical torture: resurrection. At the time of writing, I have tested this characteristic on just one of my subjects, a man called Alex who appears to be in his twenties but claims to be one-hundred-and-three. (In fact, two-thirds of my subject group have the physical appearance of someone of this age, despite claiming to be significantly older. Whether this is due to their immortality is yet to be determined.)

As with many great scientific discoveries, I identified this characteristic by accident. While testing the healing capabilities of the internal organs, I made the mistake of accidentally severing a coronary artery, which, naturally, led to a heart attack. At first, I closed up the chest cavity and resolved to use this as an opportunity to observe the decay process, somewhat disappointed at how easily an Infected had been killed.

However, when I returned to the room some hours later, I found Alex sitting upright, dazed but otherwise unharmed. Upon interrogation, he informed me that once an Infected is killed – that is, once their heart has ceased beating and bodily functions have shut down – they remain clinically dead for anywhere between hours and days, after which they reawaken as if the injury did not occur. During this time frame, they enter a coma-like state while their body heals. Some, I am led to believe, experience dreams whilst unconscious.

This ability renders Infecteds effectively immortal, as the only scenario in which resurrection does not occur is if the body is entirely destroyed beyond possible repair. While that would be a quick way of rendering them vulnerable, I am unsure what would happen to the soul in that scenario, so will refrain from complete bodily destruction until at least one soul has been collected.

Although harnessing immortality could advance the human race to far beyond our current capabilities, it is not part of my current goal, and poses a threat to the experiment. For my efforts to be successful, this ability to resurrect must be weakened. Complete prevention of resurrection creates the risk of the subject dying before the soul is removed, so their immortality must be impaired, not destroyed, to avoid interference with reaching the physical breaking point of my subjects.

It does not prove entirely problematic, however, as resurrection of the subject expands the possibilities available with physical torture. Immortality always has a consequence, and I will exploit that consequence to the best of my ability.