Noah looked back at the display on his watch and regarded the numbers. He still felt normal, but the heart rate was starting to get awfully low, and he was a little nervous at what would happen if it hit zero. He put two fingers on his wrist for a few long moments and held himself motionless as time stretched on without a pulse. Just as he was about to panic, he smacked himself as he remembered he wouldn’t be able to feel anything regardless of whether his pulse was there or not. He flipped his wrist over and saw the bpm value was still at 8.

Feeling quite silly, Noah decided to go downstairs to eat something. He typically never missed a meal, so it was strange that he still wasn’t especially hungry. He would have already called Dr. Jansen about it if Brian hadn’t beaten him to the punch.

He found Brian slumped in what would probably have been an uncomfortable position in one of the chairs in the sitting room, eyes closed. As Noah walked past him into the kitchen, he realized he should probably check that his friend was alright.

“You doing good?” he called. He opened the fridge and panned his gaze over the neatly packaged bowls and plates. In normal circumstances, this would have been a dream come true. Free food, pre-made for his convenience. Maybe someone like Brian who liked to cook would wish for more options to make something himself, but Noah himself had never seen the allure of the culinary arts.

Instead of feeling pleased, though, he felt only reluctance as he grabbed a dish with some kind of ground meat and vegetables and carried it over to the microwave. He set his food to cook for a minute, noticing that May and Sophie were still outside at the table. He suddenly became aware that Brian had never responded to him.

“Brian?” Stepping quickly into the sitting room, he grabbed his friend’s shoulder and shook it roughly. Brian’s head rolled to the side lifelessly.

“Oh, no.” Noah looked around as if he would see someone or something to help laying around nearby. He picked up Brian’s limp arm and turned it so he could read his heart rate. The number wasn’t read 0, but it was uncomfortably close, at 5. Noah couldn’t see Brian’s chest moving and tried to feel if he was breathing, putting his hand in front of his slightly agape mouth for a second. He let his hand fall down in frustration as he immediately recognized he wouldn’t be able to feel any breath.

Panicking and feeling useless, he ran into the kitchen and picked up the card on the table with Dr. Jansen’s phone number. He pulled his phone from his pocket and began to dial.

As he was entering the numbers, his food finished cooking and the microwave beeped loudly.

Noah ignored the sound and moved his finger over the dial button, only to pause as he heard a sigh from the other room. He turned to see Brian shifting in the chair, pushing himself upright and yawning.

“Brian!” he yelled, dropping the phone in surprise. “Are you alright?”

“Shh,” his friend said, peering over at him. “I’m just resting.”

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“At this hour? It’s the middle of the day,” Noah said, feeling relieved. He left his phone on the table and crossed the room to retrieve his food.

“We’ve had a busy day,” Brian grumbled. “Can’t I have a minute of sleep without you freaking out about something?”

“It can’t hurt to be cautious,” Noah said. “It looked like you had, well, died.”

“Don’t be dramatic,” Brian sighed. “We’re still around as of yet.”

Noah set his bowl on the table beside his phone and took a seat. He looked at the mound of food, feeling not a trace of an appetite, and told himself it was for his own good.

He picked up his fork and took a bite. He chewed without feeling or tasting anything at all, and then forced himself to swallow.

“I’m beginning to see why you were so upset when you tasted that mac-and-cheese,” Noah said.

“Don’t remind me,” Brian sniffed.

Noah glared down at the bowl like it had personally wronged him and tried another bite. Before he could swallow, a wave of revulsion passed through him and he spat it out involuntarily, gagging.

Noah pushed the bowl away. “Dr. Jansen would be happy; I think I finally feel as sick as I’m supposed to be. That was awful.”

“That’s what I said, but you only mocked me,” Brian said, placing a hand in mock grief over his heart. He walked into the room and dropped into a seat at the table.

“If the sickness doesn’t kill me directly, I might starve to death,” Noah said. “I won’t bring myself to eat anything else. I don’t think I could even if I wanted to.” He looked outside at the two girls sitting together at the table. “I wonder if Sophie feels like eating another unwanted meal.”

“Just throw it out, don’t be weird,” Brian said. “It’s ground beef and green beans; who would want to eat that, anyway?”

Noah looked at him. “Just because it’s not mac-and-cheese doesn’t make the food worthless.”

“Hey, I like other foods. I have quite the open mind when it comes to culinary options.”

“Says the guy who literally only eats pasta and one specific kind of sandwich.”

Brian drew himself up indignantly and opened his mouth to respond, only to stumble and grab the edge of the table with a dazed look. “Woah. What was that?”

“What was what?” Noah asked worriedly.

Suddenly, for a split second, he felt all of his limbs go slack. He regained control of himself before he toppled completely off the chair, but he was left with an odd feeling. He sat there with a distracted look in his eyes, trying to figure out what exactly was different.

“Something’s wrong,” Brian said. He looked at Noah, brows furrowed, then shifted his gaze outside. Sophie was helping May sit up out at the table. She must’ve been leaning a little too far back, because she had fallen backwards to the ground.

A few seconds later Leah ran out from her own housing unit. She raced across the field towards May and Sophie, and they shared a few words between them before looking anxiously over their shoulders at Brian and Noah’s unit.

“Come on,” Noah said, leaving his nearly untouched food on the table to hurry outside towards the girls with Brian in tow. They drew up beside the others and slid breathlessly onto the bench opposite them.

“Did you all just-”

“Yeah,” Noah nodded at Leah. “What do you think that was? And why did it happen to us all at nearly the same time?”

“I don’t know why it was so synchronized, but I think I know what it was,” Leah said darkly. “Look at your watch.”

Noah glanced down.

The screen displayed two flashing zeros.