He saw the deadly liquid below him rushing to meet him. With his left hand stupidly stuck in the thing Jones had called a 'falsie,' he could do nothing to stop himself from slapping hard into the small cup of cleaning alcohol. He felt the air leave his lungs painfully; followed by the intense burning as he accidently inhaled the deadly liquid. His hand becoming dislodged from the falsie, he kicked and flailed his way to the surface as he felt his membrane begin to dissolve. Just as he was sure he would go crazy from the agony he was suddenly shifted hard to the left and falling through the air again.

His consciousness left him when he slammed into something hard.

…

Some time later he woke up, a raging headache making his vision blurry. Jerkily, he crawled to his hands and knees, unsure of where he was. With a jolt that cleared his thinking slightly, he realized he didn't know who he was. Breathing deeply, he glanced down at himself, seeing reddish skin that was splotched with green decay. It hurt to move his hands and arms, despite his eyes being open he felt like he was seeing everything in a tunnel. Movement startled him. Losing his already off-kilt balance, he fell back on his ass and noticed an older scruffy cell. The old man shuffled towards him, his mouth moving but he couldn't hear what was being said. He was speaking to him. Unable to form words, his chest, throat and own mouth scorched; he could only sit dumbly and mutely. The old cell seemed to see he wasn't getting anywhere and offered his hand to him, indicating he would help him stand up. Shaking, he reached out to the guy….

The Brain: The East-Side

2:35am

Osmosis slowly came to, not recognizing where he was at first. Then he remembered. One might have thought he and Leah were moving too fast by visiting each other's beds so soon into their relationship, perhaps the old-timers would have made their disparagements known. But he, Jones, felt it was just the right speed especially since they had been faced with certain death a little more than a few weeks ago. There was that saying, trauma brought people together. Cracking his neck, he glanced over at the sleeping form of Leah beside him. For a moment her beauty captivated him before his pager went off.

He groaned, throwing the blankets off him unceremoniously. "This had better be damn good," he growled; aware the alarm had wakened Leah too. "I'll be back," he said, pulling his pants and coat on.

"Sure," she replied sleepily. "I'll keep the bed warm," she added with a mischievous grin.

He smiled too, before bending down to kiss her forehead. Then he left the room, set the alarm system and left the apartment.

…..

The Mouth: left bottom molar

3:05am

Traffic had been horrendous, in a healthy body there was bound to always be movement, cells moving about their business. No one was asleep at the same time. It made Jones's travel annoying especially on the backside of the brain stem and navigating through the side streets to get to the mouth in the least amount of time possible. His pager had said level 4, which meant a possible virus break-in. Jones hoped not, after the El Muerto Rojo aka Thrax, Jones was happy to chase the occasional low level germ for the rest of his career.

"What we got?" He asked, marching up to two fellow officers.

"Not sure yet, some old guy employed with the cleaning crew had a beeper that went off. Foreman came up here to see what the problem was and found him dead, his insides apparently sucked out."

Jones coughed on his drink, "s-sucked out?"

"Yeah," one of the cops replied, his tone grave.

A whistle drew the attention of most present, definitely Jones and his two informants. "Got something here," the voice echoed off the teeth walls. Pulling out his gun, Osmosis and the other two cops followed the source of the voice. An FCSI (Frank Crime Scene Investigator) techie was bent down, shining his light into a rather impressive cavity. Jones made a mental note to tell Mayor Colonic the next time he saw him.

"Its alright," the techie was saying soothingly. "Can you come out? Come on."

Something shifted in the dark crevasse, obviously hesitating due to the sheer number in cells around. Then a large slender hand with sharp looking fingers emerged, gripping the edge of the cavity wall. Even in the bad light, Jones could see it was a germ of some sort. Though it wasn't any germ he was ever aware of. Usually they were itching to get the upper hand of any immunity they came across, this one was clearly afraid. Then the creature slid out, his feet alighting the mouth floor and slowly drew to his full height; his leg muscles tensed to bolt the moment he needed to.

Jones felt shock freeze his body before he realized his cop buddy next to him recovered from his own astonishment and grabbed his gun. He had just enough time to knock his aim off kilt as he fired at Thrax, his shot flinging above them and ricocheting off Frank's uvula and down his throat.

"The hell you doing Jones!" The cell seethed. "That asshole killed my brother!"

"I know, we need to bring him to the precinct, we need to figure this out." Osmosis tried to pacify the cop but it wasn't working.

"The hell we do, I'll save us the trip and can him now." The cell raised his weapon to Thrax's chest and then his head.

Jones growled and jerked the gun out of the cell's hands. "No." He stormed forward. "Turn around," he snapped at the virus who didn't act as if he heard him. "I said turn around!"

The virus's yellow eyes simply studied him, no trace of the arrogant, charismatic evil that Jones had had the pleasure of knowing less than a few weeks ago. Weird, Jones thought. Still he left no opportunity for the homicidal virus to get one over on him. Pushing the virus around, he cuffed him, staying clear of that dangerous finger of his.

"We're going on a little field trip."

…..

Frank Precinct

5:00am

Jones reclined against the wall, listening to the chief and the mayor duke out who, what, when, why and how the virus on the other end of the one-way mirror was still alive. Since the techie had found Thrax, he hadn't put up a fight or said anything. It made Jones wonder if the conniving virus was simply waiting for the opportune moment to strike. The door opened, and Leah walked in, her eyes immediately drawn to the virus sitting dejectedly.

"It's true then," she murmured. "He's really alive."

"Yes, it's true, yet I don't understand it," Tom Colonic jabbed a finger at the one-way window. "I read the report Jones, you said he fell into the rubbing alcohol."

His ego slighted from the questioning remark, Jones crossed his arms. "He did. This is unbelievable."

Colonic sighed, his hair drooping more so over his forehead and into his eyes.

"I wanna talk to him," Jones said suddenly.

"What?" Leah asked, her hands reaching out to him. "Ozzy."

Jones tried not to meet her gaze because he knew her worried eyes would make his resolve shake.

The chief scratched his head uncertain, "fine Jones. Ten minutes, then you're out of there whether or not you got an answer. I'm not gonna lose any people today over a no-good freak like him."

Jones nodded and took a breath, squeezed Leah's hands and then entered the interrogation room; feeling claustrophobic as the door shut behind him and sealed him inside with his nemesis.

Thrax looked up, his face blank as he stared at Jones and Jones at him. Taking a breath, Jones took a seat intentionally farthest away and reclined in it, trying to act causal.

"You're afraid," Thrax finally spoke, his voice rough compared to the last time they had encountered each other, hoarse. "I don't understand why."

Jones fought the urge to snort. The virus didn't know why after nearly putting Frank six feet under.

"No?" He took a second to really study his adversary. He hadn't paid much attention to psychology when he had been in school; but even he could tell that Thrax wasn't pretending; he truly was genuine. "Wanna tell me what happened up in the mouth?"

Thrax lowered his eyes for a moment before meeting Jones's gaze. "Will it change me being here?"

"Probably not."

"I was falling…I was in pain, so much pain. Then I was falling again and I hit something hard. When I woke up I was there, in the mouth, a man was talking to me but I couldn't hear him. Then he gave me his hand and I took it, I didn't know it would happen…I'm sorry it happened."

"Sorry what happened?" Jones demanded perhaps a little too harshly, the virus didn't seem to notice.

"-I killed him, I didn't mean for it to happen. He just melted into me as I touched him. I tried to pull away but I couldn't." Thrax fell silent, silent for so long Jones wasn't sure he would continue before his ten minutes were up. "-afterwards I could hear again, my skin returned to normal. But not who I am."

The last comment struck Jones's interest. "What? What did you say? You d-don't know who you are?"

Thrax shook his head slightly.

"You're kidding me." The door opened, the chief jerking his head. His time was up. Stunned, Jones stood and stumbled out of the room.

"A virus with amnesia," Colonic muttered, "that's the first. Well there goes any chance of justice."

"Why?"

The mayor turned to them, "I was a lawyer before I became mayor, it's in the books that germs are protected as long as they are bound by an ailment that hinders them from being dangerous. Looks like we have our first case since our ancestors coming over on the umbilical cord." Colonic glanced at Jones, his eyes weary from the mess he's had to clean up after Mayor Phlemming's terms in office. "Jones."

"Sir?"

"Do you feel comfortable housing our guest for the time being? I'd put him in lockup except in his weakened state, he'd be killed off before we figured this out."

"I don't suppose I have a choice." Jones tried to ignore Leah's indignant noises next to him.

"Thank you, we'll be in touch. Be careful with him. I want him reviewed by a specialist later today at 3:00pm."

"Yes sir," the chief nodded.

The three watched the mayor disappear out of the room and down the hall.