Infected Regression - Complete Series

Being ill can be pretty random

I'm sick, they tell me, I have an illness. But the illness is an unusual one due to what it does to those it infects.

And there is no cure.

~~

To say that health or illness, or perhaps both, has a smell would be defined as such: A strong smell of antiseptic and floor cleaner.

She didn't like these scents but she knew they couldn't be avoided. In an attempt to block the scents she listens to the other people in the waiting wing, all of them waiting to see one of the medical officials who were researching this unusual new illness which has a random infection rate, and tends to do two unusual things.

Children can be heard playing, fussy babies on her mother's laps, men and women of various ages coughing sometimes, some talking to their children. The sounds of phones ringing every few minutes can be heard, as well as the sounds of soft soled nurse's shoes on the plastic coated floors of the hospital.

Scents, noises, they all seemed to be part of place here. A young child, about two or three years old, runs up to her mother, arms open wide to be picked up. She looked bored and as she watches the mother tend to her child, she finds herself wondering if that child was really two years old, or was newly returned to two years old.

"Miss Carols" A voice says and she looks up, no one else moves. It was finally time for her check up. Getting up from the slightly uncomfortable chair, noting that her height has diminished a little in the past hour and her clothes feel a little bit loose, Maria Lisa Carols walks towards the doctor's office and hopes her age doesn't diminish any farther.

Behind her she can hear her mother getting up and following her, the support would do her some good, she hopes.

~~

Three weeks ago:

The doctor had to be wrong. This couldn't be happening, not when she was at the prime of her life.

"From what we have been able to ascertain from the blood samples, Miss Carols, the illness has settled into your cells. I am sorry, but there is nothing we can do" No, they had to be wrong.

Okay, sure, she had felt dizzy for a moment at work and according to several people she had suddenly, and inexplicably, began to behave much like an infant for around an hour. Which had in turn led to an embarrassing accident, and needing to be cleaned up and placed into a protective garment in case of farther accidents. But maybe it was stress, stress could do funny things to people.

But it couldn't be this. Life couldn't be that cruel.

"You're wrong" Maria whispers. "You're wrong!" Was this delayed shock she was feeling now? Or was she in denial of the bitter truth?

"The tests are conclusive, Miss Carols, you have the reversion virus" The reversion virus, a harmless virus in many ways since it didn't kill anyone it infected. Instead it did three things: One part of the virus caused their cellular aging to run in reverse at a fast pace, and it always infected one other who would become bonded to them as a kind of parent, biological or not.

The second part created a bond between two people, one would become the child while the other become the mother.

And the third part, which was the part that men feared - It caused the male sex and gender to change, turning any infected male to a female. If a cis male is a virus bonded child, they become female in full within two weeks of infection, with the first week being the physical change and the second week the mental change.
For trans men this was painful and sadly suicide rates have been climbing as the virus begins to do it's thing.  Trans women on the other hand are delighted at having their bodies finally realign to fit correctly as their misaligned body changes to fit their true selves as only their bodies are affected while their minds are finally given the freedom they long for to be free of society's oppressive demands based on their unwanted body parts.