Free Dead Water Zone by Kenneth Oppel

discernible symptoms or observations so far.
    “When I first saw him around the old boathouse, I didn’t think he was a stranger,” said Monica quietly. “I thought he must have been a Waterdrinker—some crazy who didn’t know better. You still see them around sometimes.”
    Paul nodded, mute.
    Day 2
    Muscle pain. I’m assuming it’s an initial reaction to the dead water. Slight fever. Heart rate up. Am continuing the dosage. I’m frightened—should I stop, do more tests, take my data back to the university before going any further?
    Some people could take the water, others couldn’t—that’s what Monica had told him. Which way would it go for his brother? Didn’t he know how dangerous it could be?
    Day 3
    I lifted things today I couldn’t have lifted before. At first, the objects seemed too heavy. But then, with some effort, it was possible. I felt as if Iwas able to instruct my body what to do, redirect all my strength to the active muscles.
    Paul thought of his nightmare—Sam, curling barbells, mysteriously strong.
    Afterward, fatigue. I slept deeply for two hours. This is in accordance with my theory that the dead water acts as a metabolic accelerator, which fuels the body faster but also exhausts its energy reserves faster.
    I continue to take samples from various regions of Watertown in the hopes of learning more about the dead water. Is there a source? What is its exact nature?
    Day 4
    A thrum. A buzz in my head. It’s always there in the background. It changes when you move, altering pitch with every motion of your body. It is sensitive to other things, too: when something enters your field of vision, when an object moves around you.
    A bird flew into the boathouse through a window and panicked, swooping madly through the air. I watched until it flew close to me, and then my hands darted out with perfect timing and caught it gently. I don’t know who was more surprised—the bird or me.
    “Do you have that?” Paul asked. “A sound in your head?”
    “I’d never thought of it like that before. There’s a part of me that can tell when something’s going to happen. Say I step on a rotten piece of wood. I can feel it start to give before it actually does. Or when I pickpocket someone, I can tell when the person’s body has noticed, even before his brain has. But it always comes like a sound in my head.”
    My eyesight has also improved dramatically. With my glasses on, things seemed slightly skewed at first; now everything is distorted. The lenses are overcompensating. I don’t need them.
    You just left them behind, thought Paul. Nobody abducted you. You just discarded what you didn’t need. But your clothes, what about them?
    I feel as if I’m being recalibrated, remade. I’ve been losing weight. My clothes barely fit. At first, this upset me, but now I can’t help finding it exhilarating and liberating! When I was younger, I thought what I wanted was to be bigger, heavier, with more muscle and fat to insulate me against the world. But now I see that weight works againstyou, pulls you down to the earth. Refined to the bare essentials, with less weight, you can see, hear, feel things more intensely!
    What was he doing to himself? Paul touched the keys, and more text climbed the screen.
    Day 5
    Waking, I was aware of my body as never before. I could feel every artery pumping blood out of my heart, every vein bringing it back. In my mind’s eye, I saw the configuration of my tissue and muscle, sinew and bone. With concentration I could sense my cells dividing, multiplying, feel the work going on within me, like a piece of miraculous machinery! Just lying still, listening to my body, I’m learning things—things no textbook or lab experiment could teach.
    “He’s gone past us,” Monica breathed. “I haven’t felt those things, not ever.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “Yeah. I only got the water secondhand. He’s taking it directly. It’s bound to make him change, fast.”
    Paul fought