Bone Fever. Bone Fever. I searched all of the memories that had been downloaded into my mind, but I couldn't find anything about Bone Fever. Most of the memories I had were jumbles of numbers and scientific information. I didn't have anything useful. Nothing that told me about the outside world. Nothing about relationships or how they worked. Nothing about Bone Fever.

I slid out of bed and opened the door. The hallway beyond was dim. Everyone had gone to bed, exhausted after the panic of the day. Four more scientists had been diagnosed with Bone Fever. Doctor Elsa was the only one allowed near them, but I couldn't understand why. If Bone Fever was such a big deal, weren't they afraid she would catch it?

I walked down the hall, heading in the direction of the Memory Chamber. There was a chance that something there would tell me more about what was going on. I passed a window which I had never seen before. It didn't lead to the outside world. It showed what was inside the Medical Bay.

The scientists with Bone Fever were stretched out on beds. Doctor Hetori was in the worst condition. His arms and legs were twitching, and his veins were clearly visible beneath his skin. I turned away and hurried onwards.

The door to the Memory Chamber was cracked open. Blue light spilled out. I could hear a male voice speaking. I hesitated only a moment before pushing it the rest of the way open.

Doctor Elsa was kneeling on the floor, staring up at the walls if charts and numbers. Death counts. A list of victim names. Medical reports. Hundreds of articles and news reports. One video was enlarged, showing a reporter in front of a hospital.

"What should have been a miracle has transformed into a catastrophe," he was saying. "Dozens of victims have been admitted to hospitals with a new, previously unknown condition. Experts are calling them Phronemophics, or Prones."

"Doctor Elsa?" I called softly. She didn't move.

"The victims are expected to enter critical stage at 11 pm this evening. The question remains: was the Bone Fever Case a fluke, or did something go wrong? More on the medical trial this evening."

The footage froze, leaving the room deathly silent. I waited by the door. Was Doctor Elsa asleep?

"Three billion deaths," Doctor Elsa murmured. I had to strain my ears to hear her. "Three billion deaths in four months. That's what Bone Fever did to us."

Her voice dropped to a whisper.

"We were only trying to help."

I entered the room fully and knelt beside her. Her eyes were red and a trail of tears marked her face. But she was still beautiful to me.

"There was a test subject, and the cure worked fine on her," Doctor Elsa continued. "If she could recover from Bone Fever, we could save the world from it. We would be heroes. But the cure backfired. It turned out to be the biggest disaster of all. Prones. They should have called them Walking Death."

"You're not responsible for whatever happened," I assured her. She turned her head away. It was obvious she didn't believe me.

"Did the girl die?" I asked. Doctor Elsa didn't reply. I studied her. I'd never seen Doctor Elsa like this before. She was probably delirious from exhaustion and stress.

"You should probably get to bed," I suggested, standing up. She grabbed my hand.

"What if they all die tomorrow?" she asked. "What if the infection spreads and everybody died? Then I'll be all alone . . ."

She shuddered and closed her eyes.

"I see them in my nightmares, Jack. They're blaming me. Blaming me for causing this. Blaming me for being the only survivor. Blaming me for letting them die. And then I see your white, dead face . . ."

Tears were streaming down her cheeks again. I wrapped my arms around her and rested my head on hers.

"It's just a nightmare. You won't ever be alone. I'll be there. I'll travel through time or something. I'll always be there for you."

She opened her eyes and moved her head to look at me. Her eyes were shining in the blue light, filling with hope for the first time.

"I think I'm in love," she breathed. "Even though that's a really sappy thing to say right now."

"Just don't tell me it's Doctor Bentley," I teased. She laughed.

All of the lights turned red and the memory chamber screens changed to dozens of the same message box.

Containment breech: Inner wall damaged. Unidentified life forms entering facility.

"No, not now!" Doctor Elsa cried, launching to her feet. I followed het as she threw herself into the hallway.

All of the lights in the facility had turned red and an alarm was screaming above. The beg metal door at the end of the hall was tipped on its side and things were crawling through.

They could have been people. They should have been people. But they weren't anymore. Their skin was sickly white and their eyes covered in a white film. They stumbled and shambled their way down the hall towards us as Doctor Elsa took off running in the opposite direction.

"There's no time for anything else," she panted as we ran. "Everybody will be dead in minutes. We need to get you to the machine. Hopefully your memories will protect you."

"You're sending me away?" I asked.

"I'm sending you to save us," she answered. She pushed open the door to a room I had never been before. A control panel was propped against one of the walls. In the center of the room was a glass cylinder which took up most of the remaining space in the room.

"In the tube," Doctor Elsa ordered, darting over to the control panel. I stepped into the class cylinder but left the door open behind me.

"I'm sending you back to just a few days before you need to be there," Doctor Elsa explained. "You'll be at a farmhouse. It's pretty isolated there. Your mission is to stop the virus before it's created. The virus was originally a cure. It was developed to cure Bone Fever in a girl. It worked and she became immune to Bone Fever. You can't let that cure get out into the world. You have to stop it before then."

Something banged against the door to the hall. The smoky glass cracked slightly under the pressure. Doctor Elsa typed even faster.

"Her father is the cure developer," she explained quickly. "He'll keep it in his secret bunker. You have to earn his trust. The way is through his daughter. You should be fine. I'm sure she'll love you."

Doctor Elsa slammed her hand down on a button as the door to the hall smashed open. The glass tube I was in sealed, separating me from what was going on as more of the creatures stumbled into the room.

"Elsa, look out!" I called. She turned a dial on the controls as the monsters closed in.

"Do what has to be done," Doctor Elsa told me, turning to face me. Tears were in her eyes. "Let me die and destroy the cure."

"Elsa!" I shouted as she vanished under the swarm. I pounded against the glass, but it was useless. I felt a tingling feeling erupt throughout my entire body. The last image I saw was her white, empty face in a sea of darkness.