© Andrew Cannon. All Rights Reserved 2015
“We are going to lose her!” one doctor exclaimed as he waited for the defibrillator to charge.
“1, 2, 3” he zapped the woman on the operating table, but the readings on the computer did not change. Once more he counted and zapped the woman, but she lay there in front of him, lifeless.
The doctor stepped out of the operating room, removed his gloves and made a call.
“Hello?” said the voice on the other line.
“Yes, this is Doctor White at Southern. Have we been cleared for the trials of the nanite injections?”
“Hold on, sir,” came the voice, “Let me check for you. I haven’t heard anything.”
A few seconds elapsed and all that could be heard was the clicking of the keys on a keyboard. “Sir,” the voice came back, “It is cleared for recently deceased injection only, all animal tests were positive.”
“Thank you”
Doctor white rushed back into the emergency room and took the injection to the woman on the operating table and injected the yellowish liquid. Four minutes passed as the operating staff crossed their fingers and all watched vital signs on the monitor. Slowly, the woman’s heart rate began to rise. This was a medical miracle!
The woman opened her eyes and began to look around the room. Her body was warm but her gaze was cold, almost like she was a hollow vessel. Had the doctors brought her back to life, or had they somehow created something new?
“Shawna?” one of the doctors said her name, “Shawna, can you hear me?”
The woman responded by shaking her head slowly, “Shawna’s not my name.”
“What is your name, sweetie?” one of the other doctors asked.
The woman turned to face her, “I don’t know, but Shawna left; stepped into eternity.”
The doctors stood the woman up and escorted her out of operating room so that they could run some tests. They did not yet know what they would tell the family, but were excited that the nanites at least appeared to rebuild the body, just as they were designed to do.
In one instant, the woman shook free of one doctor’s very light hold. She ran down the hallway and turned the corner. Shortly after, screams could be heard throughout the emergency wing.
The doctors turned the corner. There was one lifeless body in the floor and the woman could not be found. A news program came on in one of the rooms and every doctor was dismayed at the claims:
“All over the nation, what seem like super-humans are escaping from hospitals leaving tens of thousands of bodies behind. Late last month, an experimental injection was approved that was said to bring people back to life, but something is happening to these people. While the injection seems to have repaired the body, what some might refer to as the soul is completely absent. Some have called them Zombies, but our enthusiasts here in the newsroom say that they are something completely different. We are going to go, now, to Jessica…”
The newsfeed stopped, and the television was blank. What disaster had these people brought about? The world seemed to have ended, and it did so in only fifteen minutes… A man there, a visitor by the looks of him, was the first to break the silence, “I can’t imagine the next car insurance commercial.”
© Andrew Cannon. All Rights Reserved 2015