am i alone: the story of a devastating virus  the late afternoon sun shone weakly through the window of the log cabin. illuminated on the floor inside, was the figure of a man stretched out on a well-worn braided area rug. the man’s face was gray, his lips tinged with blue and his chest heaved with each breath, in a valiant effort to feed oxygen to his ravaged body. from his throat came a gurgling wheezing sound that was testament to the amount of fluid now gathering on his lungs. he had lost consciousness about five hours earlier, soon after returning from the trip to the cave.