Black Patches

The Past

A moment later, the rush of wind stopped, and Glim was shaking my shoulder. "Hey, Dex, you're alive. You can stop looking like an idiot now."

I cracked open an eye and found my feet on solid ground. Slowly, my muscles relaxed, and I allowed myself to scan the area we landed in.

Glim and I stood in the middle of a dirt path that wound through wooden huts. There didn't seem to be any lighting or electricity, and the people who milled around the place wore dirty robes and rags. There was a small market on the other side of the road, where people clustered to trade food and other goodies. Through random allies, beggars sat on the dirt, coughing, black splotches covering parts of their body.

"Are we in Medieval Europe?" I asked, my words laced with dread.

"Yes, it seems like it," Glim answered. "Every time I jump through that hole, I end up in a different place at a different time." She glanced at her phone. "1348--where present day Milan, Italy is. Why do you sound so worried?"

I pointed to the black-patched beggars. One of them flopped to the ground and didn't get up. He coughed and coughed until his chest stopped moving. "That's why."

Glim's eyes widened as she spun to the portal. "We have to get out of here now."

Before she could jump through again, I grabbed her arm. "Why?"

She turned to me, her eyes charged with fear. "Those beggars over there are infected with the bacterium Yersinia pestis. When you get it, your flesh dies, turning black. It becomes hard to breath and you die only two days after initial infection. It caused The Black Death, the most devastating plague in history. We have to leave now, before we get the disease."

My grasp on her arm tightened. "No." Maybe I was the crazy one.

"No?" she repeated, her voice tight. "Do you have a death wish?"

"Glim, you said it yourself: these people will die in two days, in the meantime infecting even more people to die. These people need help. If we could cure this disease, maybe we can lessen the plague, or even stop it completely."

She yanked her arm from mine and rubbed her wrist. "And how do you suppose we do that?"

I shrugged. "You seem to know a lot about this plague. How do we kill this 'Yer-so pesty,' or whatever it's called?"

"We need supplies, first of all." She covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve, which muffled her voice. She was serious about not catching the disease. "Gloves, germ masks, disinfectant spray, soap--I don't know about curing these people, but we can certainly prevent the healthy people from becoming infected. There's no vaccine, but simply better hygiene could get these people a long way. I'll go get the supplies while you notify everyone that we have the cure. Set up quarantine areas while I'm gone."

I narrowed my eyes. "Wait, you're not just trying to escape this place, are you?"

"And leave you here to die? I don't think so." She flashed me a smile and jumped through the black hole.

I turned to the streets medieval Europe. "People," I announced. "I understand you are suffering from a horrible disease. My friend and I believe we have the cure to save you all."

The medieval citizens began to gather around me, hobbling along with mangled limbs or missing eyeballs. As I began to look closer, I noticed that almost every single person had black patches around their fingers or faces. Glim said she couldn't cure those who had the disease, only save those who didn't from further infection.

I took a shaky breath and continued. "We must first separate the healthy from the sick. Everyone who is sick please follow me."

"How can we trust you?" one of them yelled.

"Lies!" exclaimed another.

"You are only a child!"

"What do you know?"

"I-I-" I stuttered. How would I prove my sincerity to them? I did the only thing I could think of: I whipped out my phone and waved it around frantically. "I am a wizard!" I shouted as it glowed and buzzed. The people in the streets stared at my magical contraption. They looked confused at first, but eventually bowed their heads, respecting my word and authority as a magical being. "Follow me," I announced again, beaming. I was lucky medieval citizens believed in supernatural powers.

I wandered down the road with the crowd of sick behind me, searching for a good-sized building to hold them in. Finally, I came across a stone pub. The pub was teeming with people, many of them seemingly healthy. "I am here to cure your town's disease. All who are healthy please evacuate the area."

Again, I flashed my phone like a badge, sending the healthy to flee out of the building. The sick followed me in, dozens of mutilated bodies set to perish. I sighed, a heavy lump in my throat, and filed the sick in one by one. Soon, the pub's floor was covered in the sick.

Glim ran in carrying masks and bottles of spray. "Put these on," she muttered, handing me gloves and a germ mask. "I've already given the healthy some antibacterial soap and sanitizers. Help me spray this room with disinfectant to kill some of the bacteria."

I took two bottles, one in each hand, and jogged around the sick, spraying the walls and furniture with disinfectant. The sick still coughed, some bodies still. "So no matter what we do, these people will die?" I asked Glim. "There's no antibiotics or anything?"

She shook her head grimly. "There is, but there's no way I could get my hands on it. I mean, what would I do-raid a hospital? The people in the present would get too suspicious."

I nodded, my eyes fixed on the floor. A middle-aged woman with a black cheek and yellow teeth coughed below me. Her glistening eyes met mine as she mouthed the words "thank you." Then, her face went slack and the light left her eyes. I turned away. It was too much for me, way too much.

Suddenly, a heavy weight sunk in my chest. Lightheaded, I leaned against the wall and coughed. Blood spilled from my mouth and on to the floor. I held up my hands. Black lined the rims of my fingertips. "Glim!" I called, choking as more blood poured down my lip. I fell to the floor, and the world went dark.