(You thought I'd leave Maria alone after yesterday? HAH!)

Shifting in her bed, she was restless. Completely exhausted, but she just couldn't stay asleep.

So, she shifted about, though she knew she shouldn't. The tubes and wires the doctors attached to her each night weren't to be moved.

Maria didn't really know what they did. Something to do with her NIDS-thing.

What was that all about?

Her eyes squinted open. There was a light on outside of her room door. She was too tired to sit up and close her door.

"It's just getting worse." A voice said.

Her hearing wasn't quite there, but she still heard.

"The doctors said she would at least get to fifteen." A voice she recognized more responded.

"They're thinking fourteen or thirteen is more likely." The other voice sighed.

Maria's brain took a pause, wondering what they were talking about.

"Maria has to live, I promised her parents- I promised my son."

"Gerald, you know how many lives NIDS has taken. The disease is terminal. Unless GUN continues to allow testing, she will not make it."

She felt her heart stop.

So that's what terminal meant?

Before her mind could convince her body to leap out of bed, her eyes closed and she fell asleep.