The Breeding Ward
The hum of machines was the only heartbeat left in Room 409 of Crestfield Memorial Hospital.
Inside, a man lay motionless beneath the sterile white sheets — Ethan Voss, 32, once a firefighter, once someone’s son, now a ghost kept alive by tubes and wires. Two years ago, he’d run into a burning house to save a child. The child lived. Ethan didn’t.
His body was perfect — strong, unscarred, almost angelic in the fluorescent half-light. The nurses called him “The Sleeping Hero.” Some left flowers at his bedside. Some whispered to him on night shifts, convinced he could still hear.
Then, the rumors began.
The First Signs
Six nurses from the intensive care unit reported something unthinkable.
Within a few months, all six were pregnant.
All six denied having sexual relations — with anyone.
They laughed about it at first, half in disbelief, half in fear. But when the hospital’s HR department quietly noted that each of them worked directly with Room 409, laughter turned into silence.
The administration tried to bury it.
Then the letters started arriving.
“Check the man in Room 409.
The truth is inside his blood.”
The Investigation
A task force led by Dr. Rebecca Harlan, a pragmatic bioethicist with a sharp mind and colder eyes, was formed to investigate. She’d seen scandals before — falsified drug trials, unethical transplants — but this was different.
The hospital’s genetic tests returned impossible results:
Every fetus shared identical paternal DNA.
And the match? Ethan Voss.
“Impossible,” Rebecca said flatly. “He’s brain-dead. No metabolic activity beyond reflex.”
But the data was indisputable.
The board called in the police. Reporters caught wind of it before dawn. By afternoon, headlines screamed:
“Coma Patient Impregnates Six Nurses – Science or Sin?”
Outside, crowds gathered — some praying, some protesting.
Inside, Rebecca’s investigation deepened.
The Horrifying Pattern
Security footage showed nothing — hours of static, corrupted files, timestamps missing only from nights when conception could have occurred.
Blood samples were taken from Ethan. When analyzed, they revealed unexplained regenerative properties — as if his cells were dividing faster than they should.
Then came the real shock.
When technicians compared Ethan’s genome to archived hospital data, it didn’t just match him — it matched no known human profile. Certain sequences were synthetic.
Rebecca froze. “Who authorized genetic reconstruction?”
A lab assistant whispered:
“No one. At least… not officially.”
The Truth Behind Room 409
Records showed Ethan had been transferred to Crestfield not after his accident, but before it. His medical file had been rewritten. There were traces of experimental funding from a private biotech firm — Lucentis Research Group — disguised as a charity.
Rebecca dug deeper. In old footage from his first admission, Ethan wasn’t in a coma yet. He was awake — terrified — begging not to be sedated.
“Don’t let them make me sleep,” he said, clutching a nurse’s arm.
“They said it’s for humanity. It’s not.”
Every hair on Rebecca’s body stood on end.
The Final Revelation
When she confronted the hospital’s director, he told her quietly:
“Ethan wasn’t just a patient. He was a prototype. The first man ever infused with regenerative DNA — to create self-replicating cells capable of reproducing without consent.”
Rebecca stared. “You mean… he’s impregnating them through contact?”
“No,” the director said, voice trembling.
“Through proximity.”
Ethan’s body, in its vegetative state, released cellular spores — microscopic carriers designed to bond with human ova and rebuild themselves into genetic copies.
The nurses were never assaulted. They were infected.
Rebecca fled the ward that night, but before she left, she looked through the glass of Room 409.
Ethan’s eyes were open — for the first time in two years.
And he was smiling.
Epilogue
Three months later, six infants were born in secret under government custody.
Each had the same striking green eyes.
Each grew at twice the normal rate.
Crestfield Memorial was shut down.
Room 409 was sealed, then demolished.
But on the final night before the demolition, the security guard swore he heard a baby crying — coming from beneath the concrete.
