by DB Daglish
“Did you talk to someone over there?” Harry asked.
“There is no one to talk to over there!” he announced.
“This is Gail. She said a sickness came upon them all about two weeks ago. Within three days everyone…everyone…” he repeated, “was showing signs of spots.”
“Like this?” Lenny asked as he pointed to his neck.
The woman nodded. “How did you get it? You guys were gone before the ones from down south arrived!”
“Not exactly,” Lenny announced to everyone. “Remember I stayed back to listen to...ahh...Forty and whatever her name was. I must have got infected then.”
Don rubbed his face with his hand in exasperation. After all the years of survival, another plague was going to get them in the end. Suddenly a thought popped into his head.
“Hey hang on,” he asked of Gail. “How come you and Charlotte here are still alive then?”
“I recovered, and Charlotte never got it at all,” Gail replied pointing to the girl. “Willo, Jake and Ron are at the gardens at the moment!”
“So there are five of you. Is that all?” Geo asked.
She nodded. “Two percent. Better odds than the first one apparently,” she said. “Oh, I don’t like your chances then.”
“Yes. Don’t rub it in. We are painfully aware now that Lenny has signs of it.”
“Hang on?” Don interrupted. “Charlotte…” he said turning to the girl of about age twelve. “You say you had no sickness at all?”
She shook her head but wouldn’t say much else.
“At all? No rash, no bleeding, no pain, no vomiting…nothing?”
She shook her head again. She was still traumatized at being in the midst of so much death. Her life was never one where talk or pictures of death were presented to younger ones, unlike the old world.
“So…” Don mused, “If we were in the pre-death days of years ago, your blood could save anyone not already dead?” he said to the girl who didn’t understand any of it. But everyone who was in their thirties and above knew of what he spoke of.
“Good God Don. How do we do that?” Ryan asked. “Gail, don’t we have to create a serum first? We can’t just pump her blood unto everyone else.”
At that Charlotte cuddled into Gail and began to cry. “I don’t want to die!” she wailed.
Rita immediately crouched down and spoke her softly. “Sweetie. You are not going to die. Shhhhh,” and she gently stroked her hair. When the girl had settled down a little she asked her some questions.
“Sweetie. Have you ever fallen down and hurt yourself so that you bled a little?”
She nodded. “I cut my knee last week on a fence,” she said pointing to a partially healed gash.
“And the blood dripped out?” Rita asked.
“Yes.”
“And did you die?”
“No,” she said quietly.
“Well, if we were to take a little of your blood, and it could heal everyone here, would you want to help us? Would you like to stop us from dying like everyone else?”
“I guess?” she said hesitantly.
“Well. That is all they meant, because your blood is very special blood Charlotte,” she said in a quiet soothing tone. “I don’t even know if we can use it properly, but if there was a way to help - would you let us? Now remember - it is your blood. No one will take a single drop of it without you saying so. Ok?”
The girl nodded but was still a little scared. Don pulled Gail aside as Rita began to befriend Charlotte, asking her about things she used to do in Manly.
“Does she know what syringes are? I’m sure you still have a few but has she ever had a needle…what am I saying, we don’t even know if direct blood to blood transfer will have any effect. Man. Settle down mind,” he said to himself as his hands clasped his head. So many jumbled thoughts ran through his mind. ‘One step at a time’ he thought.
He called for Ryan who came to Don with a questioning look on his face.
“Yeah?”
“Andy is the medic at home. Did you learn anything from him that would help us here?”
Ryan shook his head. “I wish I knew Don. But even if we found a way, do we have the time to deal with all of us, even if the girl lets us take some of her blood. And besides, who has the slightest idea of what we are doing? Don’t you need a serum of some sort - whatever that is?”
“Oh I don’t know. It all seems so urgent and I’ve just remembered blood types, you can’t mix them either, how do we test for those?”
“I have no idea Don. I know if you get it wrong you kill them!” Ryan said.
“And if we don’t do we will almost certainly all die!”
As Don finished that sentence, the realization that there was no hope, finally sunk in. He turned to Rita and called her over. Standing to her feet and leaving Charlotte. Gail again Rita approached.
“She’s ok with it now I think?” she said with a look of triumph. But no one else seemed excited.
“What’s wrong? She is ok with it!”
“Rita – we can’t do it. We don’t have the equipment. We can’t even check blood types for those that don’t know what theirs is and we probably don’t have the time left to organize it - even if we had all those things.”
“So what are you saying Don, is that there is no hope?” she asked as an indignant look came across her face.
“Yes.”
“Yes. There is hope, or yes there’s no hope?”
“There is no hope Rita. We may have a week or two at most ourselves.
“So after all we have lived through, we will all die anyway?” Rita asked.
Don nodded. Others listening in were staggered. Those who had not survived the first death were the most scared but they followed the lead of the older ones. Tia already felt dead with the sinking and emotionally she welcomed an end - but she said nothing.
Ricki asked about those still alive here. “If the girl is clean and the younger boy and she have children, then at least they will breed an immune race. But that reduces this land to a single breeding pair of humans. Quite a critical situation don't you think?”
“Worse than that,” Ryan offered. “If in time those back home come over here, even in a thousand years, or those at Lord Howe for that matter, they will not be immune to this strain if it still exists.”
“How do you know that?” Ho asked.
“Because those that died here, all survived the first one!”
“My God!” Faith said. “We can’t go home! And that means Fallon and Donny can’t have contact with you. In fact you can’t make contact with your people either!”
“You mean we can’t go home?” shrieked Rosa. “We’ll never see home again - or mother or father?”
Faith looked toward where Rosa and her partner Dirk stood and shook her head.
“You were the one that talked me into this!” Rosa screamed at Dirk, punching him in the chest and storming off into the trees. He turned to follow but Faith caught him by the arm.
“Let her go Dirk. We each have to deal with this our own way. Give her some time alone first. Eventually she’ll realize that if you two had stayed behind at Manley when we went north, you would both be dead now anyway!”
Much discussion followed on the edge of the beach. Deciding there was nothing they could do; some proceeded over the hill to the town center, eventually finding the only other three survivors; once they had returned from their day in the gardens.
Lenny recognized one immediately.
“You!” he said pointing at him. “You…you’re!”
The man motioned him to the side at the same time he discovered who these new people were.
“You recognize me?” he asked of Lenny.
“Yeah, I do now. You had arrived the day we left. It was you that brought this death here!”
“I know,” he said in a hushed tone. One came to us down south and he had it, we thought we’d be ok, but…” and he shrugged. “Now - having brought death to al
l these people, I find I survive. How ironic is that?”
“Weren’t those four angry?” Lenny asked pointing to the only other survivors at Manly.
“Yes. At first no one spoke to me. But in the end…what could they do. I was an innocent party too!”
Gail now came over and joined them. “The human race is in real danger Lenny. Isolation is our only hope. We are safe from you, but no one else is, and you will die soon too. You can warn them somehow but don’t get anywhere close or you’ll kill them all.”
That evening it was Don who suggested they go nowhere near the paradise of Lord Howe Island. “Let’s give them a one hundred percent chance of survival,” he suggested.
“But what about Donny and Fallon? How can we tell them what happened?” asked Nim. Over recent years he had become a good friend of Fallon.
“Maybe we don’t. They can assume that we are all lost, it’s better that way,” Don advised.
“Well it’s no good staying here and we can’t go to the island, we can’t even go home now, what do we do…or should I say; where do we go to die?”
Chapter 9
“Hang on Nick,” Bryce interjected. “Are we convinced Lenny has it and the rest of us have it as well? We have no symptoms of it so far?”
“Ask Gail, she’s seen a couple of hundred die of it!”
“What was that?” she asked as she heard her name while talking to the others.
“Are these marks on Lenny’s neck what all the others had?” Bryce asked as he sought confirmation.
“No doubt about it. If you are questioning it…?”
“Bryce. My name is Bryce.”
“Well Bryce. Sorry to be so brutal about it, but you probably have…let’s see…” and she looked toward the sky while thinking and counting? “Twelve days!”
“And I will be dead?”
“Unless you are one of the few who can beat it - Yes!”
The boat crews were flabbergasted. They had been on a hell of an adventure over the preceding months, but the last two days had brought much heartache. As nothing could trump your own death, no one cared what else lay ahead anymore, and it was as if everyone was content to sit down and die.
They were discussing this around a large fire now lit and roaring on the beach. By now the four of the five remaining survivors at Manly had gone away to sleep, leaving those that were dying to reflect on their own fate. Many spoke of their fear or their acceptance of death in general. Some cried, some laughed. Some did both. But it was an awesome time of release for all, and it lasted deep into the night and well into the morning.
Ryan told everyone the story of Michael at the old folk’s home many years ago when he was affected by his lack of medication. The arguments, the fight in the pool, the reunion and the bonding the whole emotional deal brought to them all.
“You know…” he said, “having disagreements is natural. We are all friends and in fact we are all family…and you Dirk - even you. I know you are sad and you are not with those you grew up with. But you can feel free to say anything and not be judged by it.”
“Well not for long anyway,” Ricki said, gaining some laughs around the fire. “Hey, come on now. You’ve heard about our life from most of us. You’ve hardly said a word. Tell us some stories from the island.”
“I was enjoying listening to you guys. Your experiences were vast and different. Ours…or should I say mine, only span twenty one years. I know nothing of the past. But do I know life continued the way it had for many years after the elders were aware something had happened to the outside world.”
“You call them elders?” Ricki said. “My race had them too, but they were called Kaumātua. That was a traditional Maori name but I take it the term elder was only since the event?”
“I’ve heard the term ‘the event’ used a few times. Do you mean the dying off?” asked Dirk.
“Yeah.”
“Oh, okay. Well, we call the older ones ‘elders’ and treat them with respect. They made the decisions for most of us and younger ones are invited onto their council to learn and help. To be honest, there is not much to decide unless there is an emergency.”
“Like when we arrived?” Don asked.
“Yes. We talked about how to deal with you all. We discussed many options for two days until Shelly volunteered to be the one to take the risk,” Dirk said.
“You mean to see if there was any disease on board?”
“Yes. If she had died, we would have forced you away.”
“We would have volunteered to do that anyway,” Harry said. “There is no way we wanted to jeopardize anyone who had no antibodies to resist the first death.”
“What are anti-bodies?” Dirk asked.
“Something the body produces to fight infection - or something like that. I know what they do, I don’t rightly know what they are!” he laughed at his own lack of knowledge.
“So how are they formed?” he asked.
“Oh man. Don’t make it too hard for us. Let’s see. All of us have survived the first death. We got sick but survived. So our blood is...better than it was I suppose?”
“But you are dying now. So I don’t understand?” Dirk expressed his confusion.
“To be honest Dirk, either do we. It is true that the sickness from twenty seven years ago did not affect Shelly - God! I hope it hasn’t taken longer...But no, we were there five weeks, so probably not. Look, you haven’t shown signs yet, but you will. We…” and he stopped. “You know what? - I am as confused as you now!”
At that moment Gail arrived back at the fire, having sat at Charlotte’s bedside until she had fallen asleep.
“She has been crying knowing she has what you all need, but there was no way everyone could have it in time,” Gail reported. “She finally fell into a deep sleep out of exhaustion and stress.”
“You know what scares me?” Gail said. “Is that when you all die…that unless Ron and Charlotte have children, there will be no immune human beings left in this country.”
“She’s only twelve!” Geo said.
“Yes but in a few years, if it doesn’t happen, or she can’t have children for some reason…”
“What about you?” Ricki asked. “If you don’t mind me asking?”
“Not at all. It’s just that life is now too harsh to be too precious about things like that Ricki. But I can’t have children,” and she frowned. “Even if I could, at forty-four the age barrier for safety has long passed me by in this environment,” and she waved her hand around her. “Besides - me and Willo?”
“Me and Willo what?”
As they looked around they saw one of the men come out from the darkness of the trees and into the light of the fire.
“Where have you been?” Gail asked.
“Listening. I’ve been back there for an hour or so. So - me and Willo what?”
“Have children,” she said without an embarrassment.
“If we have to!” he said.
“Oh thanks,” she said beginning to laugh. “If you have to…” she mocked in a funny voice as if he was being forced to do something he didn’t want to do.
“I didn’t mean it like that!”
“I’m just poking the stick at you,” she laughed. “He’s so easy to dig at!” she said to everyone there as she laughed. It was obvious to all, that she held no ill will toward him for bringing the new sickness to her home. ‘After all’, she had reasoned, ‘someone else may have brought it anyway’. She had not considered they had never seen anybody else.
“Hey Dirk!” Ricki interrupted. “We didn’t let you finish your story!”
“I’m not sure if I started one did I? Anyway, not much out of the ordinary ever happened on the island. You have to remember that I knew nothing outside of that small island, other than what I could read of books and magazines; and they were getting quite tatty in recent years. I was hoping to bring some new stuff back with me, but that won’t happen now,” and he sighed. “But there is one funny story I can
tell…”and he grabbed a stick and poked the fire as if to prepare himself.
“We often climbed up Mt Gower. There were some old ropes that are still strong enough, and over time we’ve cut away some better paths. But one day old Gower; we called Bill that because he’d climbed the darn thing more than anyone else and almost every day at that; well - he had a mishap. We noticed him missing at dinner time. No one could recall seeing him since early that morning, which meant he must have fallen off the cliff or so we thought. It can be a dangerous place in the wind. Anyway, the next morning as the sun rose, we took off up the trails and began climbing the mountain. Eventually we found him hanging upside down on a steep portion with his foot wedged between two ropes. Some places need ropes to hold onto for safety. Turns out he’d climbed up higher to see a gecko, slipped, had his foot slip through the ropes and then went over backwards.”
“Down the cliff?”
“No. The rope around his foot held him, but he was knocked unconscious and when he woke later that day he was upside down and looking out to sea. The blood rushing to his head caused him black out a few times and he drifted in and out of consciousness a few times until nightfall. Despite the throbbing in his head – and he had lost blood from a head wound as well – he fell asleep. He was out to it when we found him in spite of us calling all the time we were looking for him. Once we reached him, it took some time to sort him out but his balance was all out. He had injured his knee in the fall as well so we had to carry him down. He never went up after that!”
There was a silence until Ryan spoke up.
“Ah, sorry but I can’t see the funny story in that?”
“Yes, when I started telling it I had the image of old Gower hanging upside down with a large drop below him, but as I told the story I realized how bad it could have been. The sight was funny, but I didn’t do as good a job at painting that picture did I?”
“That’s ok,” Ricki said trying to give Dirk some slack. “Anything else of note happen as you grew up there?”
“No. Not much…oh, there was a time a huge bang was heard in the sky. We watched as something hit the sea to the east of us. The elders said it was probably space junk going through the…what do they call it?”