"That's where the complications set in." And his eyes aren't glazing, or emptying, but resettling into that terrifying calm, as if he's dead himself, or adrift at sea.

"All bodily functions cease as normal. No respiration. No heartbeat. No metabolism of any kind. Except the brain and the nervous system don't shut down; they continue on a low-power mode. And a few hours later—" no panic, no fear, nothing but a void—"the patient reanimates."

He meets her stare. "Do you understand me?"