Chapter 78: Mutation Part Three

Thirty minutes later, Mai entered the room in a full medical gown, complete with mask and gloves. There were bio hazard suits but none of them fit her and would get in her way as she was trying to figure out what was wrong with Ai. She had also brought in a tray with some other medical equipment on it. Although she had limited knowledge of medicine as it was now. She had been sure to learn things that she thought would be useful later on. 

"Eiji, I need you to roll up Mai's sleeve for me." Mai said as she got a needle ready to draw blood. "Just to make sure she fainted after she cut her finger right?" 

"Yes, that's right." Eiji answered as he was rolling Ai's sleeve up.

"Which hand?" Mai asked.

"The left hand's index finger." Eiji held up Ai's left hand but was shocked to see that her finger showed no sign of a wound. "What!? I was sure of it! I heard her say ouch and even saw the blood ooze out!" 

"Okay, let me draw her blood and then." Mai was nervous since this was her first time putting to practice what she had learned in books. Doing her best to not let her hands shake, Mai found a good vein and slowly inserted the needle. But as she did she felt a great deal of resistance. "What!?" Mai pulled the needle out to try again but when she did she was shocked to see Ai's wound heal instantly. 

"What the hell!?" Even Eiji was shocked to see what was happening. 

Mai fell into thought for a moment before making a firm decision. She picked up a sterile cloth and handed it Eiji. "Eiji, I am going to do a test, get ready to put pressure on her wound if it fails."

"Alright." Eiji said as he took the cloth. He knew what Mai was about to do. Although he did not want to see the girl he liked to get hurt, this was necessary to figure out if what they were seeing was real or not. 

Mai furrowed her brow as she took a scalpel and sliced it into Ai's arm. She didn't want to go too deep but she had to make sure the wound at least bled. "Okay let's se..."

Mai's words got caught in her throat as she watched the wound heal so fast that it was visible to the naked eye. "This… How!?"

Mai and Eiji were both speechless. Mai knew this was not some kind of ability that Ai had before because she had gotten cuts and scrapes many times while they were building the bunker. But those wounds took a while to heal. So what she was seeing was beyond belief. It was like magic.

"Mai, make another cut and get your blood sample that way. It is the only way since the needle was not working." Eiji suggested since they had to see what was going on.

Mai shook her head and did as Eiji asked and made another small cut on Ai's arm and carefully scooped up some of the blood that came out. She then put it in a petri dish and then took a needle to draw some of her own blood so she could compare them. When she put them both under a microscope what she saw surprised her. There were purplish cells eating the red cells of Ai's blood while hers had none. She looked over at Eiji and asked: "I need to take some of your blood as well."

Eiji nodded his head and held his arm out towards Mai. Mai drew some of his blood and looked at his. It was just like hers, seemingly normal. "Something entered Mai's bloodstream. Between the three samples and what I have read in books. Your blood and my blood are normal while Ai has a different kind of cell that is eating her red blood cells, or more like transforming her red blood cells into purple cells. It seems the white blood cells are not even reacting to it either."

Mai looked at Ai who was still sweating with a fever and tears began to well up in her eyes. "Eiji, I can not let you leave this room yet, just in case, but I have to get Ai cleaned up and changed. So I will ask you to look after her while I set up a screen so I can wipe her body down and try to reduce her fever. After which I will be counting on you to look after her."

"No problem. Can I brother you to get me some clothes as well? And a fresh rag to wipe down with?" Eiji asked. 

"Yeah, just take care of Ai for me while I'm gone. If she wakes up immediately call me on the radio." Mai said before leaving the room. 

Eiji sat next to the cot and held Ai's hand. Her hand was smaller than his, softer than his, and it seemed that if he squeezed it too hard it would break easily. He let out a sigh as he leaned the side of his head on the cot. He stayed like that until the door opened again and Mai walked in with clothes and also with Shogo decked up in scrubs, gloves, and a mask. "Shogo will help me set up the curtain, then he will go get the water." 

"Eiji are you okay!?" Shogo asked.

"It is not me who was hurt, why wouldn't I be okay? Asking something so stupid..." Eiji replied with a bit of annoyance in his voice. He was not in the right state of mind. He was worried about Ai and did not want people asking him dumb questions. 

"Shogo, get over here and help." Mai yelled. She knew Eiji was on edge because of this whole thing. "Eiji is fine but he is not in the best of moods right now. Just leave him alone."

***

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