Forsaken

[Guessmyname]

Ethiopia, Red Cross Hospital, Humera outskirts.
2001. July 8th. 12:03pm.

Rain fell from the sky. It pattered upon the roof of the tent and poured away into the waiting buckets. Lanterns hang, tied to the poles that kept the tent fabric ├óÔé¼╦£ceiling├óÔé¼Ôäó from sagging too much, lit the scene in a dull yellow and filled the air with a thick, scented smell, like some sort of overdone perfume. It was nice enough though, and didn├óÔé¼Ôäót inhibit breathing else the doctors wouldn├óÔé¼Ôäót dare use it. The fuel the lanterns burned was also fairly cheap and locally available. But the main reason they used scented candles was to disguise the damn smell. The rain drummed upon the fabric. Upon the roof, attached to one of the corner poles, a flag fluttered in the breeze ├óÔé¼ÔÇ£ the red and white, universally known flag of the Red Cross.

It hardly ever rained here. Tafari Oqubay stood next to one of the many beds in the hospital. So many beds, so many ill! He couldn├óÔé¼Ôäót explain it. It was similar (frighteningly similar) to polio... except that that had been eradicated in 1992. No polio cases for 9 years ├óÔé¼ÔÇ£ more than enough to consider the virus effectively ├óÔé¼╦£dead├óÔé¼Ôäó. If it was polio, finding the source would be problematic with it├óÔé¼Ôäós incubation period of little over a month before the onset of symptoms.

Except that it wasn├óÔé¼Ôäót polio.

In all forms of polio, the early symptoms of infection were fatigue, fever, vomiting, headache and pain in the neck and extremities. These people had these symptoms and a little bit more. Tests had shown that this strain was transferable through the skin, though thankfully it wasn├óÔé¼Ôäót airborne. Polio├óÔé¼Ôäós month long incubation period simply complicated things even more.

Tafari wiped the trickle of vomit from the young boy├óÔé¼Ôäós mouth with cautious precision. He wore latex gloves and had pulled them over his shirt cuffs to ensure no contact with his skin, but with polio ├óÔé¼ÔÇ£ particularly this polio ├óÔé¼ÔÇ£ one couldn├óÔé¼Ôäót afford to be careless. The boy ├óÔé¼ÔÇ£ a Christian-faith Mahmoud Aweke ├óÔé¼ÔÇ£ was 9 years old with black hair shaven down (the hospital was having some trouble with lice) and a round face, his skin polished and shining with sweat caused by his fever of 39*C. His eyes were closed and his shirt had been cut away and burned by the two nurses here. He had been brought in by his mother, who had been nigh-hysterical upon arrival. Knowing of the contagious nature of the disease, Tafari had her put in immediate isolation. Later checks showed that she too had a fever of 39*C, and she was moved to a bed of her own.

Tafari lifted the little boy├óÔé¼Ôäós arm with care and put two fingers on his wrist. Through the plastic of his gloves he could feel no pulse. He put the fingers against the boy├óÔé¼Ôäós neck. No pulse, once again. He carefully pushed down the child├óÔé¼Ôäós eyelids
├óÔé¼┼ôBrittany?├óÔé¼┬Ø He called. He had a soft, but authoritative voice. He was an Ethiopian, and had managed to get a good education and became a doctor. Now he worked alongside the Red Cross. He had short hair, black, and a small goatee beard, and he was 31 years young.
Brittany Reno, a 19 year old America girl from Miami with her hair tied in a bun, ran over. She was one of the two Red Cross volunteer nurses. Like her fellow, July Tatterson (what a stupid name...) she was a medical student. Unlike her fellow, she didn├óÔé¼Ôäót vomit at the sight of death.

Come to think of it, if July was vomiting...

Brittany interrupted his thoughts. ├óÔé¼┼ôDoctor?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôMr Awke is dead. Burn the body. I├óÔé¼Ôäóll tell the mother├óÔé¼┬Ø
Brittany nodded. Tafari spotted tears. ├óÔé¼┼ôBrittany...├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôNo, I├óÔé¼Ôäóm okay├óÔé¼┬Ø She interrupted ├óÔé¼┼ôI know why├óÔé¼┬Ø
Tafari nodded. He didn├óÔé¼Ôäót like it much either ├óÔé¼┼ôI├óÔé¼Ôäóll go tell the mother├óÔé¼┬Ø he repeated, before walking away.

Mahmoud Aweke├óÔé¼Ôäós mother took it surprisingly well. Though, thinking about it, she must have known. Disease was a thing unfortunately common to Ethiopia. Not many child survived. The death rate of the under-10s was high enough as it was without this new polio strain. They├óÔé¼Ôäód already sent some infected blood off to the labs, but they hadn├óÔé¼Ôäót got word back yet. Tafari checked her vitals again. The same blood pressure and the fever. He looked out the tent. A line of people were waiting to come in, many trying to catch the falling raindrops in their mouths.
Too many. He thought. There├óÔé¼Ôäós just too many!

Brittany walked back into the tent having putting the boy, corpse ├óÔé¼ÔÇ£ he was dead, he was...
Being burned.
He had to be burned
That doesn├óÔé¼Ôäót mean I like it
If the contaminated bodies aren├óÔé¼Ôäót burned, the infection will spread, and other bugs will arise because of the decomposition
I still don├óÔé¼Ôäót like it
Well at least you├óÔé¼Ôäóre not as weak-stomached as July
I. Don├óÔé¼Ôäót. Like. It.

She went immediately to the sink, tore off the plastic gloves, threw them in a bin and washed her hands.
They hadn├óÔé¼Ôäót come into contact with the boy ├óÔé¼ÔÇ£ body ├óÔé¼ÔÇ£ but having seen the wrath of this... plague... she really didn├óÔé¼Ôäót want to take any chances with the infected.
She pushed her hands under the thin trickles of water and scrubbed hard with a nearby rag. July walked in. She had long black hair tied back behind her head (both women had refused to shave their heads to help with the lice problem) and her white lab-coat was getting rather dirty.
July walked straight for the water bottles, opened one and drank deeply, feeling the cool water pour down her throat. Her face was slick with sweat ├óÔé¼ÔÇ£ it was so damn hot here!
├óÔé¼┼ôAre you alright?├óÔé¼┬Ø Brittany asked her as she passed, with concern for her friend
July nodded ├óÔé¼┼ôIt├óÔé¼Ôäós just so damn hot!├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôYou├óÔé¼Ôäóll get used to it├óÔé¼┬Ø
July shrugged ├óÔé¼┼ôUrgh. I can├óÔé¼Ôäót sleep very well in this├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôYou├óÔé¼Ôäóll get used to it├óÔé¼┬Ø Brittany repeated encouragingly, putting an arm around her and giving it a squeeze. July nodded. Brittany sighed slightly. ├óÔé¼┼ôIf you├óÔé¼Ôäóre really tired, take a seat over there. I├óÔé¼Ôäóll help Tafari├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôNo.├óÔé¼┬Ø July said, shaking her head. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo, we can barely manage as it is├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôYou sure?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôYeah├óÔé¼┬Ø
Brittany walked out, with July following after her.

July walked over to another patient in the corner, rubbing her temples as she did so. Her head felt like it was imploding, crushing in on itself, as though her skull was slowly shrinking. Paracetamol hadn├óÔé¼Ôäót had any effect. Her stomach felt like crap and she was so tired and stiff! It was the heat. She felt like she was burning up. It was stopping her from sleeping and was slowly killing her. She snatched up a bottle from a table and downed the contents. Got to keep the fluids up...

Tafari watched July with concern. Was she sickening, or was she just not used to the climate? He hoped she wasn├óÔé¼Ôäót sickening. He├óÔé¼Ôäód have to put the hospital under quarantine. And with the government staunchly denying anything was wrong whilst forbidding anyone to leave or come in, things were worsening. Though, thinking about it, their policy did make some sense ├óÔé¼ÔÇ£ containment and the prevention of fear from the outside world. Except that the UN was threatening to force entry, believing that the people were starving without any food imports.
├óÔé¼┼ôJuly, we have an extra bed. Let in another patient please├óÔé¼┬Ø Tafari asked her. She nodded and walked across to the tent flap
├óÔé¼┼ôBrittany?├óÔé¼┬Ø Tafari continued, leaning forwards to talk quietly into her ear ├óÔé¼┼ôKeep an eye on July will you?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôJuly?├óÔé¼┬Ø She asked confused. She turned to watch her friend lead in an old woman by the hand to the bed that the boy had taken. ├óÔé¼┼ôStop!├óÔé¼┬Ø She shouted to July, before spinning around to face Tafari, suddenly furious ├óÔé¼┼ôDoctor, that bed hasn├óÔé¼Ôäót been cleaned yet!├óÔé¼┬Ø
Tafari realised the implications and nodded to July, who directed the woman to a seat instead. Brittany turned back to face him, arms crossed.
├óÔé¼┼ôYou were saying?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôHave noticed anything... odd... about July?├óÔé¼┬Ø Tafari asked her
├óÔé¼┼ôNo...?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôShe├óÔé¼Ôäós not constantly too hot, or stiff or tired or anything?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôWell, yes, but...├óÔé¼┬Ø Brittany cottoned on ├óÔé¼┼ôYou think she├óÔé¼Ôäós infected?├óÔé¼┬Ø She asked with urgency
I just put my arm around her! And I haven├óÔé¼Ôäót any gloves on! Shit!
├óÔé¼┼ôIt├óÔé¼Ôäós possible. How long have you two been here?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôTwo months...├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôLong enough├óÔé¼┬Ø Tafari concluded, nodding.
├óÔé¼┼ôAre we infected?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Tafari sighed ├óÔé¼┼ôProbably├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôWhen will we start to sicken, do you think?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Tafari shrugged. ├óÔé¼┼ôSoon, I├óÔé¼Ôäód imagine.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôDo you think the other aid stations are contaminated├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôProbably├óÔé¼┬Ø
Brittany sighed and collapsed in a corner.
I├óÔé¼Ôäóm going to die. I├óÔé¼Ôäóm going to die and be burned after I pass. And so shall the world.

==================================
PRODUCTION NOTES

Whee! New story! Knowing me it will take about 40 rewrites to get it good, but this sort of prologue is pretty solid

Spot the Darkside: Extermination reference

[Zoombie]

I was waiting for the dead boy to bit the fingers off the doctor. But your probebly not doing a zombie story...


yet.

[Guessmyname]

If I did I'd deliberately add an extra 'o' everytime I said zombie

EDIT: Ooh! Trivia! Forgot the trivia!

1. Humera is a real place, and it is in Ethiopia

2. The name of the two Ethiopians (The boy and the doctor) are made from mixing the first and last names of people on this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ethiopians

3. There is no 3

4. Brittany is from Miami, and her name was generated via this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_Miami

5. Infact, the only name I made up for this was that of July Tatterson

6. The symptoms of the disease are akin to that of real polio, as is the incubation period. The only change is in how easy it is to transmit from person to person

[Zoombie]

Huh.