The Early Medic Days - D25/M01
Day 25 / Month 01
3.Theodas of Lisanu 1082 When the sun finally had dawned and the rats had retreated, I checked a last time on the two adults and the 4 children. Their situation had not grown better at least not noticeable. But I had given them the antidote and the vaccine so the rays of the sun would not harm them anymore. I was able to leave them alone, if at least for a short amount of time. I ran out of the city and back to my boar. I am not quite sure what I was thinking about doing then. Travelling back to Canero and back here would take far too long. But the Great Patpat in the Sky was on my side today, it seemed. Dúath awaited me when I arrived were I had left the boar yesterday. Unfortunately when I asked her for help she said she would not use dragon magic to completely heal my patients. They were not her business. But she agreed to fly them to Canero where my Mentor could take care of them. It would require her 2 hours to get there and 2 to get back. That was the best I could get out of this. These poor people would be in the hands of a professional within 2 hours. Better than anything I could do for them. Dúath disappeared and I mounted the boar to ride it into the city. If there were people alive in the outskirts, chances were I would find more. I hoped so much to find more survivors. The rustling noises and slight squeaking was still to be heard everywhere. Also I saw the creatures in more shady places, gnawing on less fortunate people than those Dúath was currently bringing into safety. I had not noticed it yesterday but the plants here now even grew in the sun. In puddles of blood as a form of moss, while those in the shadows sprouted big healthy, rich leaves... There was a chance that the houses with cellars had still living people in them. Cellars were relatively easily to be barricaded... But they were also places that had no sunlight to them, ideal for the rats. I would have to check on those later when my motivation was a bit higher. Currently I was somewhat weary from yesterday and the night. The marketplace had a city-hall. It was a big building, very sunny with tall windows and open doors. Not many plants grew there, it was simply too bright in this abandoned building for them. The Travelling Medic Guildhouse also situated at the marketplace was... abandoned as well. Had I hoped to find help there or at least material, I was forced to let go of these thoughts now. This building was overrun by rats, plants growing everywhere. Even in the sun with lush leaves. It seemed the epicentre of the whole catastrophe. I did not even go near it, it was too dangerous. Though I was immune now against it, my Mentor had told me that the pain would grow with every bite I received. And I did not want to risk anything. I was these people's only hope... Another building was a museum of local history. These were the only two houses on the marketplace with a cellar. There was a little store with weapons and useful things, that I did not take a too close look at either. I was still searching for houses that looked like there could be people inside. I found 15 houses with cellars, including the Travelling Medic Guildhouse and the Museum,... and 32 houses with closed windows, though I could with none of them be sure if they were just closed or really barricaded. I decided to check the houses in the outer parts of the North of the city. At least I wanted to. But then again, I probably should have waited for Dúath... Waiting for the very helpful dragon was surely a better idea. After all, what could I do to help the people? I did not even have antidote anymore. I had no water with me, no food, nothing. I had not slept since more than 36 hours... I should have waited. But I was devastated and I wanted to help the people. I wanted to do it now! They did not have time. I could not let them wait. They needed my help! So I headed into town again, somewhat dispirited but determined... The first house I checked had windows on the second floor that seemed blocked. I went to the main entrance and removed the panels over the door's hinges, so I could lift the door to open it. When I jumped back I saw at least five rats in the darkness of the entrance room. There was nothing I could do here... The next house had its door open, with at least five rats running around from what I could see. But there was another room with barricaded first floor windows. I tried to open them... and found nothing but dead people and rats. Apparently the door of that room had been open to the other rooms... My will to continue and my hope for survivors receded by the minute. I was so tired and almost apathetic... But the house had an inner courtyard with a second building. And there were windows blocked in the second floor of that building. And a little shed... I tried to pull myself over the gate of the fence. It was not exactly easy but the bandages at my arms gave my body more weight in that direction so it was less difficult to push the rest of me over. I broke the padlock out of the ramshackle door of the shed, hoping to find something useful inside... like a ladder or a crowbar or just something useful. As expected, five rats attacked me. They seemed to always gang up in groups of five. Some bit me, some ran away... I think I killed some. It felt as if I was not even really there... I found a small stepladder which I used to get to the second floor of the building and I opened the window panels with a metal ruler I also found in the shed... A rat leaped over my head into the courtyard... I did not even look inside before I climbed down again... Another failure... I did not know what to do anymore... This city was too big... How was I supposed to find survivors. I could not possibly check all the houses... and even if I did... in the time I wasted on those that were infested by rats I would probably loose half of those still alive... Dúath showed up at my side... Telling me that I did not get very far. Oh really? Really now? What a surprise!... I was at the end of my powers and will... She wondered why the plants were running around. Being too tired to grasp what she meant, I needed her to explained that plants usually did not spread in the form of animals, e.g. rats. She wondered why the plants had developed such an extreme way of spreading their genes. I did not really care why, all I cared about was to save people. Which I could not... I was not good enough. I was just a small Sídhe... technically a teenager compared to humans... What could I do to save these people... Dúath suggested I should do something against the plague of rats and plants. But how? It would be impossible... There were at least 20 to 30 rats in each house and this city had more than a hundred houses. I could never defeat so many rats... It was too much. And there was no alpha-rat, no 'motherbrain' so to say that could be defeated and they all would die at once. It was illogic that something like this existed so defeating the plague meant killing each and every single rat and possibly burning and razing the town to the ground. I was a Travelling Medic... I was here to help the people, to make sure they survived. What Dúath expected from me was the task of an adventurer. I was only a Travelling Medic Apprentice... barely a week in my apprenticeship... I could not do that... And my hopes to help just anyone decreased to zero as Dúath told me there were at least 33 people all over town that were still alive. How was I supposed to save 33 people! So few alive, but so many to save and so many rats to fight off in the process which would cost important time... It was impossible. And then,... Then Dúath proposed a deal. She did not care about any of the people but it was fine for her if it made me happy. She would save them all, right now... heal them enough for them to be brought to Canero... And then she would give me two weeks to find out what had happened in Arduni... If I did not come up with something within these two weeks... She would kill all of the 33 people... That was unfair! She could not put so much responsibility on my shoulders! I wanted to save them all... If I started searching now I would probably save 4 or 5 of them, but those would survive for sure... On the other hand I could save 33 but... I was sure I would not be able to find out what had happened. My body felt horrible, I could barely move and my eyes burnt. Thirty-Three... So many people and I could save them with a simple word... and I could doom them... Their life would depend on me in a way that had nothing to do with Medicine... Dúath wanted me to be an adventurer, something I was not, something I would never be. It was impossible to do that... "Two of them will die in the next five minutes..." She had said that a while ago and was now counting down the seconds of the last minute. It was unfair to demand a decision from me. How could I decide about the fates of 33 people. Who was I to decide about their life? Her voice grew louder in my ears, my heartbeat banging in my head, my mouth was dry. This was too much... I could not... There was no way I was able to save them... They would be save... for 2 weeks, yes, and afterwards?... I was not good enough... I could not do this... I did not want to be responsible for 33 deaths... I... I "Fourty-two... fourty-one... fourty..." I agreed... She grabbed my hand and shook it with a smirk on her face before teleporting away. What had I done? Oh Great PatPat in the Sky what had I done?... I broke down, I fell on my knees, feeling tears rushing to my eyes. Oh God what had I done. "It would have been such a waste..." She said as she returned with a newborn baby. It was one of the two that would have died in 40 seconds... She put it in my arms and teleported away again to save the others... It was too much... I cried... I just cried... I could not take it anymore... I held this tiny life in my hands as a symbol of those 33 people I had doomed... and I could not stop myself from crying. I was so tired and exhausted. I had saved 33 people but I would never be able to save them in 2 weeks... never... Then the child started to cry... apparently copying me... Oh god, I had made a child cry... I tried to calm it, tried to swallow my own tears... I took it with me as I stumbled back to the boar, sitting down in the shadow the giant animal cast... I condemned 33 people to death... The shadow was so cool and refreshing... and the little life in my arms needed me to be calm. If only it knew that I was its murderer... ...
End of Day 25 / Month 01
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