Fifteen minutes later, Dr. Carrio breezed into Dr. Andres's office, where the younger man had just settled in after giving the orders he thought necessary.“And what do you think you're doing, young man?”“I'm sorry sir,” Dr. Andres rose up to accord the man the respect he desired, not so much as deserved. “You should understand that this is a virus which spreads fast, and something has to be done.”“Now that you have them in one ward, what is your next step?”This was the part the younger medical practitioner hadn't thought of, but he managed to make something up on the spot. “We quarantine them.” “And?”“Figure out a way to combat the disease. Find a cure. Watch the symptoms. Anything that gets those three men in there back to their normal lives.”Dr. Andres liked his answers. They made a lot of sense to him as he said them.“And you want to do it here?”“What would you rather have us do, Doctor.”“Euthanize them.” Dr. Carrio answered, his voice cold and unfeeling as he said the wo

With members of the press sitting down on seats that filled the room while holding several cameras and microphones, Dr. Luis Rizzi felt his chest constrict. There were only three people left of the seven he had been with earlier, and these were sitting behind him. Painfully, he looked at their faces, noting how the governor's and Jose Mateo's faces were not among them. One of them shot him a stern look he felt the glare of despite the sunglasses covering his eyes, and before he could turn away, the man pulled up the side of his suit. There was no mistaking the black outline of that gun as it pressed against the white undershirt, waiting for him to do something stupid.He turned back, pulled out a white handkerchief and mopped his face before mounting the podium with the papers in his hand, everything directed at him from the microphones to the eyes of the waiting journalists. Then, he put on his reading glasses and started to speak.The greetings and genuine wishes to the people of I

“They were going to die, anyway,” Julian Hernandez muttered to himself as he walked along the streets of Ioso. People were all over, speaking animatedly to each other without taking notice of the rough looking man in dirty clothes.He had been with them until their smell became unbearable for him. The smell of rot and death and the absence of life that brought worms. And the reactions of the governor and his retinue that came to see them reinforced the thought in his mind. He was not like them. His leg was the only affected thing. The rest had bites from head to toe.Again, he went into an alley and hid, pulling up the oversized trouser that covered where his bandage had been, but had since been lost. The grey was there, glaring back at him, and smelling. It had spread far beyond where the frog had bitten, the colour almost the length of his hand. He had no inclination in his heart to want to touch it, but he felt the need to, and felt no pain when he did. All that happened was that

If any of the security men were flabbergasted to see the World Commissioner for Health who was supposed to be happier and with a pay package high above theirs crying over a fall, they did nothing to show it.She was lifted to her feet and then led to her office, where she sank into her seat, weary. Her body was weak, and she was in no mood to lift a muscle. Somehow, she wanted to die and leave everything behind.The handle of her door turned, and in crept Gloria, a worried look on her face as she drew even closer. “What did you do?”“Nothing.” Dr. Elizabeth answered, her eyes simply gazing into space.“That wasn't the speech I gave you. You just said something different from a certain part.” “I know,” the doctor cried, frustrated. She had not even said anything different, or even done anything at all. Something stood in her place and with her image and had said the rest of it.Gloria was unrelenting, and she moved even closer, reaching to hold her lover's hand with a gentle touch as

Moving on the sea, the ship named the Giant Waterdrop pushed her way through the waters in one smooth, sailing motion, leaving the white bubbles frothing in the water where she passed.Her captain stood alone on her first deck, staring into the darkness with pride. There was every reason for him to, as he was the captain of the world's biggest cruise ship, and one of the biggest ever built by mankind.“And keep us safer than the Titanic, my Lord,” He whispered, inhaling the sea breeze as he prayed. It was his usual prayer, which he believed had kept him safe through all his years as Captain.One of the staff captains came close, and he turned at the sound of the man's footsteps.“Anything for me, Larry?”“No, captain. I only wanted to get a feel of the wind up here, and half expected to meet you.”He nodded, continuing to stare into the darkness. “You could find anybody here. There are 4,102 other people on this ship besides us, and any one of them can be anywhere.”“Not you, Captain,