Survivor's Benefits

[New readers may want to have a look at the Reader's Notes, which gives an overview of what's in this story without significant spoilers.]

The light burned David's eyes. He groaned and shut them against the blinding brightness.

It took a few seconds for the shock of the light to be replaced by the pain. His head throbbed. He tried to remember where he was. What had caused this? It was like the worst hangover of his life had a hangover.

After wrestling with reality for a few more seconds, the world swam into focus just enough that he could see the room he was in. It was cold and sterile. A hospital?

An intrusive beeping alarm confirmed his suspicion. He groaned again as the unwelcome noise stabbed at his brain.

After a few seconds of the beeping tearing at his senses, it stopped and he heard a female voice yell, "doctor!"

Darkness descended again.

Consciousness returned when David heard another female voice, "David? Are you with me?"

"Ungh," he replied.

"Take your time. You had a rough go of it."

His eyes slowly focused and he looked up to see a woman standing above him wearing a white coat. In his fog, he decided to confirm the one thing he seemed to know about the world, "doctor?"

She replied, "yes, I'm Dr Sanders. You're at the hospital. The virus hit you hard, but you managed to pull through it. Here, take this. It will help."

She offered David pill and cup of water. He swallowed it without asking questions. Any port in a storm.

"Virus?"

Dr Sanders explained, "do you remember men getting sick?"

"Yeah... I think so. Guys everywhere were passing out? Then I guess I did too?"

"That's right. All men were infected with the virus."

David was struggling, "all men?"

"Actually, everyone was infected. The virus affected men and women differently. Women were believed to be asymptomatic. Infected men quickly lost consciousness and, I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you this but, most men suffered heart failure soon after and died."

"Wait, what? 'Most' men died?"

"Yes. It had flared through the global population so quickly that the medical community could barely respond. Most men had contracted the virus and lost consciousness before it even had a name. No treatment seemed effective, and most men's hearts failed before they ever woke up. Only approximately one in 25 survived. You were one of the lucky ones."

David tried to understand, "all the men just... died?"

"Sadly, most did, yes. There seemed to be a natural immunity among a small percent of the population. You weren't fully immune, but your heart managed to pull through somehow. It was touch-and-go for a while, but your cardiac function has recovered nicely. You have been here, in a coma, for three years."

The shock pushed back the fog in his brain, "three years?"

"There was no other option. Every treatment we tried for the virus was unsuccessful. You are one of the last patients we have had in a coma and all we could do was wait."

With his head clearing, David started to notice how MILF-y hot the doctor was. She was probably in her 40s, but surprisingly firm. He tried to focus.

"Okay but... men? Women didn't get the virus?"

"That's what we thought at first too. It seemed like women weren't being infected, but after testing became available, we realized women were being infected but the virus wasn't fatal for them."

David struggled to keep up, "it had no effect on women?"

"It didn't seem like it, but eventually we realized there were," she paused, "behavioral changes."

"Behavioral changes?"

She paused, but put on her clinical voice and explained, "significantly increased libido. Lack of modesty. Compulsion for sexual satisfaction. Obsession with bodily fluids, particularly semen."

It wasn't possible for David to think through all of the implications of that list, but he got the idea. He felt a twitch below the thin hospital sheet, but tried keep focus.

"Um, what was the pill you gave me?"

"Fortiphine. It was a created in the hopes of treating the virus. It didn't cure the virus, but will help you now that you're conscious, and it blocks long-term effects. You will have a significant boost in energy and stamina now. Almost everyone takes it daily. The benefits are both individual and... societal."

"I think it's working. I feel better. More alive."

David looked up at Dr Sanders. She was staring down at the tent growing in the sheet covering his body, "yes, I can see that."