Absent Link

Chapter 4: Symbiosis

The Reid's car pulled up to the parking lot of the FAC hospital. The Investigation and Recovery building was large and ring shaped surrounded by lights that illuminated the night air. The car stopped and Dylan got out, followed by his father. They walked down the parking lot and into the hospital, feeling the light breeze of the air conditioner. Charles quickly found the front desk and they came to it.

"Hello." Charles said, nervously.

"Hi," the lady sitting behind the desk said with a smile. She glanced over at Dylan and with a little hint of curiosity, asked "Ohhh, is this Dylan?"

Charles glared down at her. "Yes. We're here to see Doctor Frost."

The lady seemed to light up, and she glanced at the computer in front of her, quickly scrolling down to something important. "You must be his dad."

"I am."

She punched a few keys into her computer and looked back at Dylan. "Cindy will take you up." she said as she led them to one of her assistants. Looking at said assistant, she instructed, "Sector 3, room four." Her assistant nodded and took over the lead with a friendly but nervous smile. She brought them down one of the hallways and into an employee door. They walked down until they reached a lift, which took them up two stories. This eventually led to a locked door which she opened with a card. Dylan stepped out of the door and onto the glass walkway he had seen yesterday. It overlooked the beautiful fountain courtyard, lights emitting from the dark waters. They walked around the glass to the other side and down the hall to the right. After a moment or two of more walking, they reached a room labeled '4'. Opening the door, they saw Doctor Frost waiting for them. He was sitting on a chair, looking intently at a sheet of paper, and sitting behind a white desk. He looked up at them.

"Oh, you're here finally." Frost got up urgently. He walked over and shook both of their hands, then invited them to sit down at the other side of the desk.

"I'm just going to get to the point. Mr. Reid, we need to run some tests on Dylan. We had thought he was a host, and for good reason, I mean, all the evidence lined up with what we knew. That evidence however, we now know contains... loopholes." Frost's eyes narrowed. "If we were wrong, Dylan doesn't have much time left. I approximate about four hours. He'll need to undergo dangerous surgery. It's technically a cure but— well, his odds might just be better off with the alternative."

Charles looked back and forth from Frost to Dylan. He felt his body tense, as he tried to think of something to say. He finally spat out, "What? Do you think that's enough of an explanation?" He slammed his palms on the desk, "Tell me exactly what's wrong with him! If you want me to trust anything you say, I want to know everything!"

Frost leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Your son was infected by a parasite. It makes its victims insane for a few hours in an attempt to spread itself. The victim will often try to bite other people to spread the parasite, like rabis. Once the insanity stops, the victim will usually die. This only happens if they are a non-host. If they are a host, they will survive and form a mental link to the parasite."

Dylan's mind was focused on one part of Frost's explanation. He hadn't tried to bite anyone, he was running, running from something potentially harmful. Frost continued.

"Since this is what happened to your son, it seemed clear that we had found a host." Frost paused for a moment to think. "Dylan never reached the final step of symbiosis, the second consciousness, so last night I ran a test. I wanted to know what happened when an infected organism was tranquilized before the parasite was established. I thought it could explain why Dylan had never finished evolving, and it did. We showed that if a non-host organism is infected, but then tranquilized before dying, the victim will experience a short period of time after they wake up where the parasite is still numbed, and the organism feels fine." Frost suddenly snapped out of something and asked Dylan, "Wait, just to confirm, you still haven't heard any voices?"