Tadeus Floyd slowly opened his eyes. He was laying in a hospital bed, his gaze wandering on the ceiling.

"Oh! It's good to see you're awake, sir." turning his head to the right, Tadeus met eyes with a nurse by the name "Richardson" if one went by his nametag.

"Wh- what happened? I remember going to my bed, and then I woke up here."

"You've been hit by a drunk driver, mister…" the nurse stopped to read the name off of the hospital bed "...Floyd. And it seems your head was hit pretty hard. Though when we found you, you had no external wounds. We took you in only because the witnesses saw you getting hit, and you were unconscious. Do you feel any pain or discomfort, sir?"

The patient moved his arms an legs a bit, and found he was feeling perfectly fine.

"Well then, I suppose we can discharge you, mister Floyd. Though if you experience anything unusual, please let us know."

"I have a question, how long was I unconscious?"

"The accident happened yesterday, around 8.30 in the evening, and right now it is half past noon."

"Crap, I'm late for work. I gotta-"

"Sir, you apparently had a concussion that knocked you unconscious for almost 20 hours. I strongly suggest you take a few days off, just to be safe."

"Right, I'll take a few days off. Health is what matters the most, after all" Tadeus replied, fully intent on breaking his word.

-Three days earlier-

Doctor Tadeus Floyd was studying the specimen of an apparently dead microorganism under the microscope provided to him in the field lab. It took him a few minutes to figure out exactly how it worked, since he was not used to the newest, state-of-the-art equipment. The campus he worked on was severely underfunded, as microbiology wasn't high on the city's priority list. It was a wonder he still had a place to work in.

But that changed when an infrastructure overhaul dug up a very peculiar chunk of rock. Indeed, it was determined to be a meteorite, fallen on Earth long before any civilization had even started. More importantly, researchers found signs of organic matter hidden within. It was then that Tadeus was offered a job on-site to study their findings.

Floyd realized, after a bit of experimentation, that the organisms, none larger than half a millimeter, weren't dead; they were merely hibernating. After receiving stimuli by being prodded or experiencing a sudden temperature change, they resumed activity, eating, multiplying, degrading, dying, and being eaten by the others.

Worth noting was that they never tried eating still-living matter, unless directly attacked. Dead cells were fair game, but bacteria colonies or algae went completely ignored until they perished.

Tadeus knew this was a very important discovery. The microbes - dubbed floyda concordis - could be useful for disposing organic waste, or even administering treatments to patients without fear of an adverse reaction.

What he didn't know, is that he accidentally touched the Petri dish with the specimen, transferring some microbes on his finger.

He also didn't know he then ingested this colony of concordis, and that it started gestating, soon covering most of his body inside and out.