Their driver turned out to be none other than Dan, garbed in his neon green hazmat suit.

“Have you been wearing that all day?” Leah asked, sliding into a seat next to May.

“Nah, I just threw it on again when they sent me to pick you up,” he said. “Man, I can’t imagine if they made me wear this all day. That would be the worst.”

“Not as bad as you driving us around without it,” Noah said lightly.

“You haven’t worn one of these things. I wouldn’t be so sure,” Dan laughed.

“Hey, what’s up?” Leah said suddenly. Noah glanced over to see her looking at May in concern.

May was clutching the armrest in a white-knuckled grip and staring at their driver with a confused expression. Noah glanced up at Dan, expecting to see something amiss, but he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He looked back at May.

“I feel kind of weird,” she said slowly. She looked around, seeming unsure of what exactly was wrong. She rubbed her arm unconsciously, then looked down in surprise. “Woah, guys, look at this,” she said quietly, turning slightly in her seat with her sleeve pulled up to give them a view of her shoulder.

They all craned their heads to look.

“Well, holy crap,” Brian said. “That was fast.”

May prodded at the spot where Dr. Jansen had cut her arm, but the mark had nearly disappeared. A faint pale line was all that remained of the wound. She lifted her leg and they saw the same had occurred on her calf.

“The spots feel warm,” she said in surprise. “That’s the first thing I’ve felt all day.”

“No way,” Brian said. “Is this the first sign of our return to normal?”

“It’s already starting to cool down,” May said glumly. “So probably not.”

“How would that even work, anyways?” Leah asked. “Is it even possible for us to go back to normal now that so much of our regular vital functions have been dead for so long?”

Noah nodded with a frown. “This is pretty much worst case, but what if the illness is the only thing keeping us alive, somehow? And when we don’t have it anymore, we just die like we normally would have without a pulse?”

“You’re saying that we need the sickness now,” Brian said, not seeming fond of the idea at all. “That our only two options are to die or to be stuck like this forever. I’m not liking the lack of a ‘continue life as normal’ alternative.”

“Yeah, but who knows. That’s just my theory,” Noah said.

Brian shuddered. “I hope you’re wrong.”

“I’m hungry,” May said.

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“Good luck with that,” Brian said. “Food tastes terrible right now.”

“Oh, that’s right,” May said, frowning.

“You just healed two wounds within the span of a few minutes,” Leah pointed out. “That’s kind of incredible. Maybe that’s why you’re hungry.”

“Hey, that’s right,” Brian said. “Damn. Now I wish another one of us took the crazy doctor up on her offer. We could compare how we felt.”

“We could do it ourselves,” Leah said.

They all looked at her, and she shrugged. “It was just a suggestion. We don’t have to, obviously.”

“No, it’s not a bad idea,” Brian said. “Especially if there’s decent evidence that we’ll immediately heal from it anyways. Which is rather awesome, by the way. I know it could randomly kill us at any moment, but now that I’m thinking about it, I’m starting to come around on this whole sickness thing.”

Noah glanced between them. “You do realize how insane it sounds when you say you don’t mind the sickness that’s getting you to purposefully wound yourself.”

“Hey, does it really count as a ‘wound’ when it’s totally painless and heals within minutes?”

“Yes, it does. I’ll pass on this group activity.”

“Eh, suit yourself,” Leah shrugged. “We only really need one of us to do it to see what happens.”

Brian glanced at her. “Hey, how do you suppose we should go about the DIY method?”

“There’s probably a knife in the kitchen that would do the job,” Leah said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Hey, Dan, I don’t suppose you have a pocket knife on you?”

“I think I’ll keep myself out of this project of yours,” Dan said.

“Aw, don’t worry, it’s doctor-approved,” Brian said.

“Psycho-doctor approved,” Leah said under her breath.

“She’s scared,” May said. “She doesn’t know what’s happening to her. Or to us.”

“That doesn’t make it okay for her to throw us into the wringer,” Leah said heatedly. “Those scientists at Insight Labs have been cracked down on a dozen times for breaking all sorts of safety laws. They keep saying they’ve fixed themselves up to standard, and then they’re in the news next week for lobotomizing somebody.”

The van slowed and pulled to the curb. “We’ve arrived,” Dan said. “Not sure what’s going on with you guys, and to be honest, I don’t want to know. I wish you the best, though.”

They clambered out onto the sidewalk.

“Thanks for the ride, Dan,” Noah said.

“Of course. You seem like a nice bunch of kids. Try to stay out of trouble, yeah?” He held his hand up in a wave as he pulled away.

“I like that guy,” Brian said after he was gone.

They walked up to their respective doors, only to discover they didn’t have their keys.

“Oh man, we left the keys inside,” Brian said, watching Noah tug ineffectually on the handle. “How do they expect us to get in?”

Noah looked around. “Do you know how to pick a lock?”

Brian rubbed his hands together. “How hard can it be?”

Noah glanced over to see what the girls were doing, just in time to see them disappear around the side of the building.

“Uh, I think May and Leah are walking around back,” Noah said. “I guess the back door should be open, right?”

“Oh. Good idea,” Brian said, pulling his eye back from the keyhole. They followed the girls around the building to the back entrance, which was indeed unlocked.

“That’s not very secure,” Noah said as they walked inside.

“It’s convenient for us,” Brian said with a shrug.

Noah noticed his cold bowl of ground beef and green beans was still sitting on the table. He grimaced at it and quickly threw it in the trash.

“Hey, I was going to eat that!” Brian complained, then laughed at Noah’s incredulous look.

“Yeah right,” Noah said. “I bet you wouldn’t eat that for a hundred bucks.”

“That sounds like a great deal. A minute of pain and misery for that much cash? Easiest decision of my life.”