Chapter 160: Chapter 157: Strange Illness (4)
The dawn often brought happiness to the survivors.
They survived another day, and that was a joyous occasion. However, that wasn’t the case this time.
The hunting party of ten stood in shock. The guards were dead. It was unlike anything they had seen before.
There were no signs of a struggle around the corpses. Even in death, their faces had peaceful smiles. It wouldn’t have been scary if not for the dried streaks of blood oozing from their eyes, faces, and noses.
"They must have passed in sleep," the one with the dreadlocks mumbled. "Boys, go inside and wait for instructions. The rest of you look for clues."
"On it, Dexter."
As everyone spread out, Dexter used his staff to turn over a corpse. He then looked under the man’s shirt and found that the man was covered in bloodied rashes.
It was the same case with the rest of them. They had literally bled to death without knowing it.
"What is going on here...?" Dexter wondered.
His thoughts immediately went to a disease.
So far, they only had to worry about mutants and zombies. Despite the difficulty, it was fine as they could see the danger. But what could they possibly do against an invisible foe?
"Dexter, there’s nothing in sight—ugh, what’s that smell?"
"Cover your noses and mouths!" someone yelled, covering them with his hands.
While it was the right thing to do, it was too late for precautions now. Dexter knew it. He had been a paramedic in the old world. Hence, he knew they were already infected with whatever the disease was.
Returning to the base is out of the question now.
He thought, shaking his head.
They were doomed. The least they could do was stop the spread of this strange illness.
He remembered the symptoms exhibited by the infected guards. Sudden weakness, fever, body aches, and rashes. Perhaps it was a more potent form of chickenpox or some related disease.
It can’t be smallpox... I think.
Rashes of smallpox generally developed around the mouth, palms, and soles of the feet. After inspecting the dead, Dexter could say it wasn’t smallpox. At least, not the one that humans knew about.
If it evolved, which it could have, then we have a problem at hand.
As the elders gathered around, Dexter turned towards the wooden outpost. He could explain the seriousness of the situation to others, but these teenagers would certainly act out.
He had two choices. Either take the risk by breaking the news of certain death to them, and hope they are mature enough to agree to die in isolation. Or, he could imprison them now and be done with it.
"What should we do about the corpses?" Someone asked, interrupting Dexter’s thoughts.
"Bury them," he replied.
The men nodded and got to work.
He didn’t know if fire would kill the virus, bacteria, or whatever had caused the disease. Besides, the smell of burning flesh would attract the mutants, so Dexter decided it was better to bury them.
He knew they had to be quick about it as the illness was yet to take effect on them. Once the lethargy kicked in, they’d be rendered useless.
This meant they needed to think of a method to warn the base about the illness without getting close. Dexter looked around and saw grass and wood all around him.
"Let’s do this," Dexter said, calling for the young ones.
Together, they worked on assembling wooden planks in letters, before tying them with vines. Dexter made the boys carry those strange letters for a hundred yards before dropping them.
"Yup, this should be good enough," he said. "Off you go now."
No one argued, and they turned to leave. However, one boy, Henry, couldn’t stay quiet anymore.
"Um, sir, when are we leaving for the base?"
"Soon."
Dexter didn’t even pay any attention to the boys and got to work.
As the sun glared at them from over the head, symptoms began to show. People were coughing. Someone felt lethargic and couldn’t even stand properly.
Dexter knew he couldn’t hide the truth anymore and told the elders about it. No one believed him at first, but as one of them developed a rash, the reality dawned on them.
It was then decided they would stay at the outpost. However, they were still worried about the base. They would inevitably send a search party for them, and if they stumbled on the corpses, the disease would spread further.
"I’ve taken care of that," Dexter announced, pointing far away. "I put letter posts using the codes we agreed upon a while back."
The elders nodded, thankful that Dexter had done something about it.
"You already knew about it, huh? You knew we’d become useless like those guards."
Dexter could only smile wanly while nodding along. Just then, he heard someone cough, but it wasn’t one of the elders. It came from the inside.
These got infected as well.
Dexter sighed. He knew it was possible, but he had hoped the stronger immune systems of the young ones would protect them. Sadly, that wasn’t the case.
"I’ll go check," he said, entering the outpost. "Who was it?"
None of the young said a word. They had overheard the elders talking and knew that anyone who had the disease wouldn’t be allowed to leave.
What they didn’t know was that Dexter didn’t intend any of them to leave the outpost alive.
"Brandon, lift your shirt," Dexter ordered.
"W-What? Why? I didn’t cough—"
"Lift. Your. Shirt."
Dexter’s tone left no space for argument. Brandon did so, and everyone in the room recoiled.
The boy’s chest was covered in sores. Blood was already oozing out of them. Contrary to what Dexter thought, the condition of these children was much worse than that of the adults.
"I-I didn’t know—"
"Shh... It’s alright," Dexter said and hugged the boy, trying to console him. "Everything will be fine..."
Brandon nodded, feeling warmth in Dexter’s touch. However, something felt off. The pressure... it was too much.
"Sir... it’s too tight—"
"Shh..."
"Sir—"
"It’s ok."
Suddenly, the sound of cracking bones echoed in the room. Brandon’s eyes bulged out as Dexter hugged him tighter. The boy tried to fight back, but in his condition, it was impossible to break out of the bear hug.
Crack!
With a final push, Brandon’s chest was crushed. His lungs, heart, and everything else were destroyed as he lay limply on the floor.
Dexter turned around. His shirt was drenched in blood from Brandon’s sores, as he stared at the kids.
"Everything will be alright now."