Larry, Seth, and Mike were lying on beds side-by-side at The Fleece. However, it wasn't their deceased bodies lying there. Amazingly, all three men were still very much alive and improving in their conditions, if you wanted to call it that.
Larry should have died from an intracranial bleed, brought on by Rob, in Jay's body, slamming his head into the wall with great force. The blow actually sent pieces of Larry's skull into the back of his brain and the brain stem. He should have died days ago.
Seth's aortic arch had been severed by the bullet that penetrated his chest. That's instant death in most cases, but somehow he survived long enough to be whisked away by his assailant.
But neither of those compared to Mike. Mike, literally, had his brains blown out at point blank range. You can't get more immediate for death than that. Yet, his vital signs were low, but normal and his wound was healing. Both were impossible circumstances.
But nothing is impossible at The Fleece.
Pat walked into the recovery room, after having just left his son Rob from their little talk.
"How are our patients coming?", Pat asked.
A man, dressed in regular clothing with no identification on his being, stood over the monitors keeping an eye on the three men.
"They are progressing. No surprise, the one shot through the head is taking considerably less time to heal than the other two", replied the monitor tech.
Pat smiled and shook his head.
"Amazing! Brain and cranial matter is so much easier to heal than arterial damage."
"You'd think it would be the other way around though?"
"Yes, that's what our science tells us. But as you know, things have certainly changed."
The monitor tech paused for a moment and turned towards Pat. Pat looked back at him, a little stunned by the action.
"You do realize what we can do with this tech, right?", asked the monitor tech of Pat.
Pat simply knodded, giving his patented smile.
"We're looking at the cure for cancer, hepatitis, HIV, AIDS, ebola..."
Pat knodded to all, looking down at the monitors before both men.
"...even death."
"I hardly think we've found the cure for death, don't you?"
"When a man gets shot through the head at point blank range, he's dead. Yet that man is alive in there."
"He was in stasis, not dead. His brain activity had yet to cease and body was still warm. Had he laid there for more than five to ten minutes, then he would have been dead and there would have been nothing we could have done for him. Besides, you imply that death is a disease that can be cured. That's just a natural process of life. All things must end."
"But if we can regenerate tissue?"
"If you had started the regeneration cycle passed the ten minute mark, you would have brought something back far different than the man you shot at point blank range, Steven."
"Is that what happened?"
"What happened...to what exactly?"
"You know what I mean, Pat?"
"No, I'm afraid I don't, Steven. By implying something happening in past tense, you're suggesting this happened before. We have no way of knowing what happened before. It's all just an educated guess."
"But isn't that what this Trent guy was brought in for to begin with?"
"Jay was brought in because he might could set a new precedent. He's something...unique."
"And by unique, you mean expendable?"
"If it comes to that, yes."
"So who is the guy that's in him now?"
Pat took a deep sigh as he looked back down at the consoles beneath them. Steven never took his eyes off of Pat, trying to read his reaction.
"That man is an unfortunate case. He can't be helped."
"Why are you lying to me, Pat?"
Pat looked up at Steven, eye-to-eye, "I'm not lying to you, Steven. He's a lost cause. There's nothing we can do for him."
"Nothing? Is he as lost as these men here? Because I'll have to tell ya, Pat, you can't get much more lost than these three people lying in this room."
"Those are physical losses. We can fix the physical. But we can't fix emotions, mentalities, or time. That's still out of our bounds."
Steven looked back at the three men lying before them. Mike's healing was almost complete, while Larry and Seth were nearing completion.
"So what do you want me to tell them when they come around?"
Steven looked back at Pat.
Pat looked at the three men lying there and smiled. Then he looked at Steven, still smiling.
"Tell them, welcome to The Fleece."
With that, Pat turned back towards the door and exited the room.
The monitor began to beep wildly. Steven saw this and gave that particular monitor attention. He pressed a few buttons in sequence. The sequence manuevered a syringe into position over Mike's chest. The syringe was then shoved downward, directly into Mike's heart, and injected.
With in a few seconds, Mike's eyes were opened and he was breathing on his own once again.
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