As consciousness slowly returned, there was a brief moment of disorientation before Wayne realized where he was, locked behind the containment door with Anna pacing outside. In the same way as Anna had done when revived, Wayne examined his hands. Tears had opened up the flesh of his hands to show the bone and muscle underneath. He flexed his fingers, watching the gray tissue move and pull within his hands and finding it both creepy and fascinating at the same time.

Anna had stopped her pacing when she noticed him aware of his surroundings again.

"How long has it been?" Wayne asked in a voice raspy with a combination of disuse and decay.

"You 'died' early this morning," Anna told him through the speaker in the transparent containment wall. "Following your notes and instructions, I fed you the warmed food, and you've come back."

"Did you do any testing?" he asked.

"Yes," she confirmed. "I placed my hand on the glass as you did, but you didn't respond. When I opened the door, you wandered out into the lab, taking no notice of me at all."

"If I was outside, why am I back in here?" Wayne inquired.

"You started bumping into tables and cabinets," Anna told him with a giggle. "I put you back in confinement for the protection of our equipment."

Wayne chuckled. "Good call. You can let me out now."

As the containment door raised, Anna didn't wait for it to finish before ducking underneath and rushing in to hug Wayne.

"I was so worried the revival process wouldn't work on you," she confided to him.

"I'm glad it did," Wayne replied. Reluctantly, he pulled back from their embrace when he noticed something. "I don't seem to have a sense of smell anymore."

"Well, there's one problem dealt with," Anna replied. "How long before we can start helping the people outside the city barrier?"

"It may be some time," Wayne stated. "We have a reason to keep going despite our deteriorated conditions. I'm not sure everyone would have the same reaction. I'm fairly certain most people who found themselves trapped in a rotting body would go insane. I don't think we should bring anyone back until we're certain we can restore them fully."

"How exactly are we going to do that?" Anna prompted.

"I'm not really sure," Wayne admitted. "The disease has resisted almost everything I could throw at it."

"That was when the body was still alive," Anna pointed out. "What about if the body is already dead? You wouldn't need to worry about killing the patient."

"I've already tried some of that," Wayne told her. "It's still a problem as I can't afford to damage the organs or cells with the chemical mix, or the body wouldn't survive after it's cured."

"Fair point," Anna accepted. "When do we start?"

"If you're well-rested, I don't see a problem with right now," Wayne said.

"I haven't slept since my revival," Anna countered. "I haven't even felt tired."

"The undead don't need sleep, and apparently we won't either," Wayne concluded. "This should give us extra time to work. Let's get started."

***

Anna looked up from the microscope and sighed in frustration.

"This isn't working," she complained.

"Don't give up," Wayne encouraged. "We've only been testing chemical combinations for a month."

"Neither of us are getting any younger," Anna said only partly in jest. "I think we need to admit this disease just won't die."

"Maybe it doesn't have to," Wayne suggested as an idea sprang to life in his mind. "So far, all our efforts have been geared toward trying to kill the disease, but we didn't need to in order to restore our minds. What if eliminating the disease is unnecessary in order to repair our bodies?"

"An interesting thought," Anna agreed. "We'd have to introduce enough nutrients to provide for the body's repair of all the damaged tissue and organs. Getting a nonfunctioning body to process those nutrients would also be of paramount importance. There's also the matter of restarting the heart."

"Electrical shock from a defibrillation unit should do the trick if it's needed," Wayne offered. "However, I'm not sure it will be necessary. Think about what we've experienced so far. Our brains, once provided with enough nutrients, restarted on their own. The only thing we may need to do is expose the organs to what they require. Come with me."

Wayne led Anna to the storage facility inside the lab. Digging through numerous crates and boxes, he retrieved a multitude of items, handing them to Anna, who stacked them in a pile at the center of the room. When Wayne thought he had everything, the two of them transferred the pile of smaller boxes and plastic containers to a pair of carts, wheeling them back to the work room of the lab.

Anna and Wayne crushed and mixed various vitamins, minerals, and a few chemical boosters together into a singular concoction. The final result was dark black with the consistency of melted rubber.

"Let's give this a test," Wayne suggested. He tried to use a tongue depressor to dip some of the contents out of its container, but the mixture was too thick, causing the wooden stick to snap in half. Wayne cautiously tapped his index finger against the surface of the black substance. When nothing horrible happened, he pressed his finger into the mix. "Seems alright."

Scooping some of the sludge out, Wayne smeared it into the open place on the back of his opposing hand. The reaction was startling in its swiftness. The wound closed before their eyes and was completely gone within five seconds.

Anna shrieked with delight, and Wayne found himself unable to stop laughing. The answer had been in front of them the whole time.

"We've got it," Anna said, taking hold of Wayne's shoulders and shaking him. "We've got it!"

"I hate to kill the mood here," Wayne countered as a possibility came to mind. "We'll need to test this more and find out duration and any possible side-effects before we go any further."

"Killjoy," Anna teased with a smile permanently fixed on her face.

"Just you wait," Wayne encouraged. "If this works on us, the next step will be fixing those outside the city barrier."