Virus.snz

I’ll be honest and say I can’t really remember when exactly this happened. I just remember this was some time after our experiences in District 23, after dealing with Ellie’s little brother in the Pet Sematary. Beyond that, I can’t really tell you how long after all of this happened. I mean, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Just… Really scary, I guess.

I’ll come out of the gates and say that the Sinners have all gotten sick at one point or another. Usually a cold, maybe a small virus, pneumonia, nothing too crazy. None of them certainly haven’t died from whatever sickness they’ve gotten. I think the earliest case of this was a few of the Sinners having some really bad sniffles after the events in the dungeon from District 10– if not mistaken it was Ishmael, Hong Lu, Yi Sang, and Gregor. Nothing really crazy happened besides needing to open a few tissue boxes here and there.

This case was worse than that, though. Far worse. And it wasn’t even because the Sinners all were incapacitated or dying, it was just the fear of it all. While we were in District 23, Ellie had told us all stories about something that infected the entire district. A virus called “Captain Trips”. Captain Trips started as a pretty average common cold, but then eventually just spiraled into painful swelling, delirium, and of course: death. Ever since we left the district, oftentimes when a Sinner would sneeze– or break out into a sneezing fit– there would always be the one person that would say: “Oh, looks like you’ve got Captain Trips!”  It kind of just became a running joke amongst us, and we never really thought much of it.

I was sitting at my usual spot near the front of the bus. It was really early in the morning, and I was going to start doing the opening roll call to begin the day– which, at the time, I remember being a bit redundant as we weren’t really doing much besides just being in our seats waiting to get to the next destination. That’s when I heard the distinct sound of Heathcliff sneezing.

“Hiih– ITchYEAH!!!” 

“Gah! Heathcliff, can you not be so close to me?” it was Ishmael, who he was sitting next to. He sniffed hard. He hadn’t said anything, but I could hear the congestion in his voice.

“Sorry, lass. My usual spot was taken.”

“You sound… Horrible.”

Rodya called from right behind, “Oh, looks like he finally got Trips, Ishy!”

“Don’t…! Don’t say that, Rodion, that’s not funny!”

Ishmael was one of the Sinners that most hated getting sick. Which was a bit ironic because if someone caught a cold, she would very very soon follow suit, despite her best efforts at keeping healthy.

Heathcliff blew his nose loudly into a handkerchief. Ishmael was very visibly shaken. Ever since Ellie told us all about the virus, Ishmael was always on-edge whenever someone would get sick, even though by that time we were far gone away from District 23, where the outbreak had hit hardest.

“Calm down, Ish, you always get like this, Captain Trips hasn’t been a thing for years!” Ellie laughed.

“Ok, but do you know the numbers? A virus never truly goes away, y’know. I’ve heard stories– stories about viruses always surfacing even after centuries of being gone. There are some viruses even the Head can’t deal with. F-Faust. Faust, c’mon, I’m sure you know the numbers, right? The symptoms? Ellie lived through it, but you’re the genius here, right?”

Faust looked at Ishmael with a deadpan expression.

“Hm… Captain Trips was indeed most common in District 23. As Ellie had told us, it began as a common cold, with sneezing and nasal congestion, which eventually led to an increasingly worsening fever, among other symptoms.”

“HIH’TCHYE!!” it was Heathcliff again, muffled into his handkerchief.

Ishmael crossed her arms.

<Ishmael, calm down, I don’t think Heathcliff has Captain Trips.> I said.

“...I hate being next to sick people…”

A day passed, and the next morning came.

“Kh…Kh’CHssTtT…!” Ishmael sneezed into a folded-up tissue. She sounded equally as congested as Heathcliff did the previous day, who was now sitting next to Faust. Ishmael was sitting next to Ryoshu.

“Guh… Fuck…” Ishmael rested her elbow on the window of the bus, her fist against her forehead. She was very visibly angry.

“Orange hair. G.R.O.T.T.” Ryoshu pointed at Ishmael.

“Sinclair…?” Ishmael asked, annoyed.

“She said: ‘Get rid of that tissue’.” translated Sinclair.

Noticing the possible spread of a cold on the bus, as their manager, I took the time to bring it up:

<Remember, guys, if you’re feeling sick, do your best to keep it to yourselves…>

“That’s what I did, Clockhead, whatdya think I have this for?!” Heathcliff raised his handkerchief for me to see.

“Apparently you didn’t do a good job, H– HeaAth’TCHST!!” Ishmael was scolding, looking behind her, a sneeze interrupting her mid-sentence. She made sure to cover her sneeze with another tissue, as the previous one was already ruined.

“Ah… Mayhaps the sick should sit with the sick…?” proposed Yi Sang, raising his hand.

<That might be the best…>

After the proposal, Heathcliff and Ishmael were sitting together as they had the previous day, Ryoshu and Faust sitting next to each other.

The rest of the day continued as normal, mostly just the Sinners and I discussing our next steps in the coming district. It wasn’t till towards mid-day when I heard:

“TCHU!” It was sharp, sudden, and quick. It was Ryoshu. Faust side-eyed her.

“Haah… Y’know manager-bud, they say that smokers have worse immune systems, right? Do you think she caught it from the brief time with Ishmael?” asked Gregor.

<I mean… It’s just one sneeze, right? How do you feel, Ryoshu?>

“Tsk. Fine.” 

She didn’t sound any bit congested, nor did she look any different from this morning. I figured she was fine as she said. 

“Hh…HhTcH! HHTcH!! IhhTCH…!!!” A fit of three sneezes eventually erupted from Ryoshu. I saw Faust’s face turn visibly annoyed almost as if you shared an incorrect piece of information that she knew more about. Ryoshu sniffled with audible congestion. She continued to do so for several minutes, audibly getting worse.

Faust eventually just sighed. She took out a packet of tissues from her coat pocket and gave it to Ryoshu, not saying a word. Ryoshu loudly blew her nose. I could hear the snot shoot out of her nose and into the tissue. She sounded the worst of the three. It was pretty rare that I saw Ryoshu like this.

“Heeey, Dante, are we gonna have to separate the sides of the bus from sick to non-sick?” asked Rodya with the usual perkiness in her voice. Hong Lu, sitting next to her, let out a small giggle.

<I… I hope not.>

The next day came. The plan was to have Ishmael, Heathcliff, and Ryoshu sit next to each other. Alright, no big deal, they sit towards the front of the bus, their backs towards the people behind them, and they’ll be able to–

“Hih’tshu…!”

A very quiet, dainty sneeze came from the back of the bus, next to Hong Lu.

It was Faust.

<... Oh no…>

“Woaah, Faust are you OK?” Hong Lu asked in wonder. I don’t think we’ve ever heard her sneeze before. And if we did… we forgot.

Faust looked awful. Her nose was as red as her cheeks normally were. She didn’t look at Hong Lu.

“Faust is fine.”

<Uh, no, Faust is not fine. This… this isn’t good, guys. Four of you are sick now…>

“Could it really be Captain Trips…?” asked Don Quixote, audible nervousness in her voice.

“That’s highly improbable, as we are approx…imately… HIH’tCHuuU…!!!” Faust sneezed again into a tissue. Or at least, she tried to. I saw the mess come out of her nose, spilling onto her sweater.

“HiTHCH’YIIEA!!” It was Heathcliff, this time not into a handkerchief.

“This is ridiculous. How reckless are you all to get so sick with the Executive Manager so close to you all?!” Outis barked out, angrily.

“Shut it, ya git.”

“All of you just stop talking… I have a headache…” Ishmael rubbed her temples.

“This is the first time so many of us have gotten sick… In such a short time as well…” Yi Sang curled his hand under his chin, pondering deeply.

“N-None of you are getting any better, either… Even with Dante sending you to your rooms to rest… Doesn’t Captain Trips just worsen over time, Ellie?!” Sinclair asked, his voice beginning to panic.

“Uhh… I mean, yeah… Yeah it just gets worse… And the probability of it spreading uhh… It’s really high. Like really really high… There’s no way, though! Hah… Right…?” 

No one sat next to Ryoshu, instead in someone’s place was a box of tissues that she kept pulling from. This wasn’t good at all.

<Alright… Hong Lu… Ok, no matter how you feel tomorrow, I think we’re going to have to have you sit with the infected Sinners… Since… You’re next to Faust.>

“Ahah, it’s no problem, Dante~!” Hong Lu gave me a thumbs up. Faust just blew her nose next to him. She was visibly embarrassed. 

“Well ain’t this jus-UHh-st a dog’s dinner, ain’t it…” Heathcliff groaned, almost sneezing, arms crossed. His naturally parting hair was more messy than I’ve ever seen it.

“Hey uh, are we going to need to drop by H Corp to get some boluses to cure this uh… Thing? Hong Lu- bud, if this is Captain Trips, do you know if there’s a bolus for it?” Gregor asked, turning back to Hong Lu. A small drop of sweat rolled down his face, his eyes shifting from left to right. I could tell everyone was starting to get paranoid.

“I’m going to be honest, Gregor… I didn’t even know about this virus until Ellie brought it up in District 23…”

“Ahah… So… Wait, what uh… What happened to this virus, El…? There’s a cure, right…?” Rodya asked half-heartedly.

Ellie sighed heavily.

“No.”

I saw all of the Sinners grimace at her answer. I don’t think they minded much the fact that they could die, besides it being very painful, I think they were all just more concerned with me possibly catching it. Or Vegilius. Or Charon. Those that weren’t sick were the ones that were fighting to get more fuel for the bus, so we weren’t too concerned with that spreading… But just because they weren’t visibly sick didn’t mean that they couldn’t spread it…

As the days passed, more and more of the Sinners got sick. Not even the ones that were sick from the beginning seemed to be getting any better. Three days passed, and by then, the only ones that weren’t sick were Meursault, Sinclair, Rodya, and Ellie.

I felt like I was going to go crazy. Not a single second went by without hearing someone sneeze, cough, or blow their nose. We were all just waiting for one of the earlier sick Sinners to just start convulsing, or passing out, saying that they felt like they were somewhere else, at a different time, at a different place– which was one of the effects of the virus. The bus was mostly segregated between sick and non-sick, with the healthy ones staying at the back of the bus, as far away from the infected as possible.

The only shred of hope that we had that this wasn’t that virus was the fact that I hadn’t caught it yet. Neither had Vergilius nor Charon.

Fueling the bus had become increasingly difficult, only having the four Sinners with me. Sure they had strong IDs, but their morale was incredibly low. They were exhausted, and it got to a point where even just fighting Backstreets rats was a chore.

After the last fight for the day, and hefting the bodies into the grinder that was Mephistopheles, I just sat on the ground.

<Guys… What are we going to do…?>

“Hey, big guy, didn’tcha mom ever make ya soup when you were a kid? Why don’t we give that to everyone?” Ellie asked.

Meursault stood in deep thought.

“Perhaps, although the probability of the Sinners getting better just from mere soup alone is slim, especially if this sickness is indeed Captain Trips.”

“I think we just need to wait it out… And hope we don’t get sick…” said Sinclair.

<Haah… Alright, well, it’s already getting to be night… I guess we’ll all just retire to our rooms. I think I’m going to call off all of us gathering together in the morning…>

“I can’t believe we’re going to have to quarantine ourselves… This is just like when the outbreak happened…” Ellie sounded in shock.

<It’ll just be for a few days. I’ll be checking on everyone every now and then. At the very least… If you guys start dropping… Uh, we won’t be able to see it…>

“So that’s the plan…! Alright, quarantine it is! Who’s… Who’s going to tell Verg?” asked Rodya.

<Meursault, think you can translate for me?>

“It will be done, Manager.”

<I’ll be the only one at the front of the bus, Charon will be able to tell me we need fuel… And then I’ll come get you four so we can get more… Ellie, how… How long did the quarantine last when the outbreak happened?>

Ellie sighed.

“A while… Like, at least two years… I had to have been like… 10 years old?”

I dropped my head in defeat.

“B-but that’s an entire district, Tick-Tock…! This is just… Uh… Nine people…! Look, if they die, that’s it, rewind the clock for all of them and… Let’s just hope they come back healthy…”

<Dammit…>

“Just a few days, Dante… We can do that… R-right…?” Sinclair put his hand on my shoulder, he tried sounding optimistic. The other three stood next to him, surrounding me.

I just nodded.

We set the plan into action.

I periodically checked in with the sick Sinners to make sure they were still alive.

As time progressed, I actually eventually started noticing them getting better. The first one was Hong Lu. He actually wasn’t sick for very long, compared to everyone else at least. He even sneezed the least, actually. I think at most I just heard him blow his nose a few times. At times I questioned if he was even sick…

After Hong Lu, it was Gregor… Then Outis… Then surprisingly Heathcliff… Yi Sang… Faust… Don Quixote… And finally Ryoshu and Ishmael got healthy around the same time.

We didn’t gather around each other again even if I just heard a single one of them sniffle or cough. It took more than a week for everyone to get better. These were some of the worst colds I had ever seen any of them catch. Everything eventually went back to normal… Almost as if nothing happened…