Zach heard the voices drift in and out. He wanted to call out to them but as he parted his lips to speak a darkness swallowed him.  Slowly his mind  drifted.  Like a small boat lost at sea in the night.  Thoughts and images flashed past him in a blur. .  Slowly he drifted farther away as if there were large waves tossing the tiny vessel. Suddenly he began to see  familiar faces of family that had passed.  A fear swept through him as the images faded into a darkness that hovered around him.

Was he dying he wondered.  Was he already dead.  Was this the place you go to wait to cross over.  He remembered feeling pain and that to had now faded. He tried to open his eyes, but they felt heavy.  He felt to weak to fight anymore and let the darkness envelope him.

Doc placed a hand over Zach's forehead and then listened briefly to his heart and lungs.
 His body felt hot and damp from the perspiration of the fever.  He lay motionless except for the occasional jerkiness of contracting  muscle as they spasmed and then  stiffened.  Slowly he lifted and eye lid open, to examine the whites of  his eyes. He let the blood shot eye close. and wiped at his own brow.  The fever had spread and his heart rate was growing weaker.   Doc looked over at Josiah.  His face told him it was not good.  Most likely time was running out fast and Josiah did not need words to tell him that.  He stepped over to where Eve worked with the vials and a microscope.  Everything was depending on her now.

Images began dancing in front of Zach again.  Images of when he was a child, perhaps around ten.  He could not see his face but he knew it was himself.  He was laughing as he was running through a field.  He felt the warmth of the sun  and an occasionally tickle as blades of tall grass brushed against his bare legs.  He was certain it was summer but he could not make out where he was.  But he felt safe and happy.  Something was running close behind him. It ruffled through the knee high grass, keeping stride with him. The bark of a dog caused him to turn and he saw his child hood dog, 'Share".  She bounced along following in the wake of his path. He smiled and called her name.

Out of know where an image lunged at Share. She yelped as the dark figure grabbed her.  Zach stopped. The sun quickly faded and shadow of darkness surrounded him.  Frozen he watched as a hideous man beast shook his beloved pets  tiny body as his gnarling teeth clenched down on her throat.  Zach screamed as he trembled in shock.  The human monster turned toward him with blood splattered across its unsightly face with Share still clenched in his blood stained hands.  He tossed her  tiny lifeless body and took steps toward Zach.