She didn't lower the blind again, which he took to be a positive sign. He was able to see into her room if he knelt down, but it wasn't comfortable and the view wasn't perfect. He could see at least two pairs of white wellingtons in there so he surmised that the doctors had arrived to take samples. He wasn't sure exactly what they were going to test for. It was too soon to check for a decrease in platelets and lymphocytes, maybe this was a control sample. All these horrible viruses were pretty tricky to diagnose anyway, the only certain thing was that most of them killed you.

He threw himself on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He wondered if he could have done anything differently had he known, or suspected. He wouldn't have invited Nikki to join him on the PM that was for sure but other than that there was nothing. There was no one to blame for his incarceration, no one to be angry at who had caused the exposure. Only the dead man, and he was most definitely dead and from the brief examination he had given him Harry knew that his last days had been agony. It left him feeling helpless, with no one to direct his anger at it was left to leech into his own system. He thought about the note Nikki had written him. At least she did have someone she could be angry with.

Eventually the doctors made it to his room, the nurse could hardly see to take his blood, through the face mask; and the gloves and protective overalls made her movements seem clumsy.

"Would you like me to do it myself?" Harry asked her pointing to the needle.

"That would not follow procedural guidelines," the other doctor interrupted and Harry spotted a look of disappointment cross the nurse's face as she realised she would have to manage herself.

"Can I get something to do?" asked Harry.

"The TV works," the doctor replied flatly.

"TV, seriously?" Harry asked. "Any chance of a book, you could burn it afterwards, it's not asking for much is it?"

"We don't have any at this facility," the doctor replied unfeelingly.

"Nothing?" asked Harry incredulously and winced as the nurse finally plucked up the courage to insert the cannula.

"A medical journal then? Hazmat procedures, health and safety manual there must be something here?" Harry begged.

"This is an isolation facility not a holiday camp," the doctor replied testily and retreated.

"I'll see what I can do," whispered the nurse

"My colleague I'm sure would appreciate something too," Harry said and gestured to the next room.

The nurse just nodded slightly and followed the doctor out.

Twenty minutes later half a pad of lined paper and a pencil were passed through the hatch in the door. The nurse had obviously burgled the stationery cupboard.

It was going to be a long weekend.