Reversion by Amy Rogers

Author:Amy Rogers [Rogers, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction / Thrillers / Medical Science Fiction / Genetic Engineering
Publisher: ScienceThrillers Media via Indie Author Project
Published: 2014-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Gunnar has rabies.

The proof was on the microscope slide.

Bitterness rose in Tessa’s throat. This emotional roller coaster was too much. Her thoughts flitted like mosquitoes.

When will he show symptoms? Is there any treatment we can provide? How much time does he have left?

One thing she did not wonder was how he got infected. She knew where the rabies virus came from. And she knew it was her fault.

Her imagination fast-forwarded to the future. Like Batten disease, rabies was uniformly lethal. The boy would die. His mother would grieve. Tessa would be consumed by guilt. Another child dead because of his association with her.

She put her hands on the side of her head to stifle the memory of Benjamin’s cries. Benjamin, her poor, beautiful, damaged child. She’d defiled his innocence with her flawed DNA, and he died. Now in her attempt to save another boy and spare another mother that cruel loss, she’d hastened the outcome she most wanted to avoid.

She’d given Gunnar the virus. Rabies virus was the cornerstone of her experimental gene therapy. In the laboratory, she had modified rabies to carry the healthy gene Gunnar needed to survive. She’d used every molecular safeguard in the book to disable the virus. As a backup, she’d also vaccinated Gunnar against rabies. Everyone working with the modified virus had taken the rabies vaccine too, in case through some one in a billion chance, the virus overcame its genetic handicaps and found a way to breed. In case the virus reverted to wild type.

All these precautions were in vain. Right in front of her eyes, on the microscope slide, was proof that rabies virus was growing inside Gunnar’s brain.

She bowed her head.

Sigrun spoke. “If this is what rabies looks like, I wish he’d gotten it a long time ago.”

Wallowing in despair, she’d nearly forgotten the boy’s mother was standing right there. “Sigrun, you don’t understand. This tissue section—”

“I don’t care about that. Look at my son. Not at some little piece of him. At him.” She pointed across the room. “He’s getting better.”

Sigrun’s eyes were bloodshot and her hair was disheveled, but there was triumph in her voice. “I’m not a scientist. I can’t explain why that thing you’re looking at is a lie. All I can say is I’m his mother and I know your treatment is working.”

“But—”

“But nothing. You believe what you want. Maybe that microscope knows my son better than I do. But my proof isn’t in there. It’s out here.” Her voice quavered. “I never thought he’d speak again. Last night he said, ‘I love you.’” She sniffled and rubbed her nose through the surgical mask. “Cristo might have some terrible germ. But not my son. He’s getting better.”

“Mama?” Gunnar’s voice across the room. He was awake. “I’m hungry.”

Tessa looked toward the small figure as he sat up in his rumpled pile of bedding. He held his head high. The boy who a month ago could barely keep himself up while leaning against a bedstead now sat bolt upright.

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