The Curse of the Red Death | Hiatus

2 | Death Becomes Us All

A week later, Jane had forgotten the conversation regarding the mysterious illness in the upback entirely. Life pressed on and with no startling realizations, there was no reason for concern. Her days droned on as they always had.

Wake up. Get dressed. Feed the animals. Make the half-hour trek into town with the family, open up the shop, and immediately dive into butchering fresh meat. Dried blood, sweat, and aching muscles. Her fingers often ached from the laborious work. But, after years of doing it, she was quite nimble with a blade. She knew how to carve along the bone without nicking it and dulling the blade. She knew how deep to cut along the ham and how to curve the blade to separate the joint from the socket. In her younger years, when butchering was still new, she had been fascinated by the process. Everything fit together like a puzzle and she was expertly taking it apart.

It had since lost its intrigue.

Today was no different than the previous one hundred. She shuffled into the shop early in the morning, following her parents, and stifled a big yawn. What she would give to fall back asleep right now. Fresh meat, brought the previous day by local hunters and trappers, was already laid out and ready for prepping.

She stretched and rolled her neck. Another boring day.

By the time the sun rose, a few people had stopped by the shop to buy their usual order. Something tickled the back of her mind. A silly, random thought.

Something about today was off.

Jane couldn't put her finger on it, but something was not quite right. The customers seemed fine. Her family seemed okay, not counting their usual bickering. She tried to ignore it, but the tiny ball of worry had already made its home in her ribcage. Part of her wished she could carve it out, but she knew better than that.

One-Eyed Looney made her appearance at the shop around mid-morning. Her long, black skirt rustled and the various bottles of tinctures on her belt jostled with every step. Jane watched her approach with her head tilted. The strange woman seemed to be in a hurry, bustling toward the shop with determination in her dark eyes.

"Good mornin', Looney," Jane called out to her with a tight-lipped smile.

"Good. Bah! Ain't no thing good 'bout this here mornin'." The woman pressed in close to the counter as if trying to shield herself from the rest of the world. Her eyebrows pulled together tightly and her teeth were grinding so loud even Jane could hear them. "I take it ya ain't heard yet?"

It took all of Jane's willpower to not shake the woman. "No, I haven't. What's the news?"

"Ole Alma's got whatever it is them upback people had." She worked her jaw and then spat a fat glob of saliva onto the ground. "They done give it to her an' I ain't seen hide nor hair of her outside her house in near on three days. That'll work a body, ya know?"

The ball of worry in Jane's stomach began to grow. "What do you mean? Hasn't anyone been up to check on Alma? She's an old woman. If she falls ill, she can't take care of herself."

Looney's eyes bugged out. "Are ya mad, child? No one's seen that upback family neither. Rumor is they're all dead from whatever it is that struck'em. If Alma has it, then she's no better off than them an' made even worse off! Ya'd be a damned fool to go up there an' try to nurse her."

"Surely there's something we can do, though? We can't just leave her out there all alone..."

"There is somethin' we can do, yeah." Looney leaned over the counter and whispered, "We can leave."

It took Jane a minute to process what had been said. "Leave?" she whispered back. "What do you mean, leave?"

"I'm headin' for the capital." She pulled away from the counter and patted her full satchel. "Got everythin' I need right here. Figured it'd be best to just get out afore it gets too bad. I'd suggest you and yours do the same."

They couldn't just leave, could they? Their shop, their life, everything was here. Jane stared at Looney for a hot second. It wasn't until she shut her mouth and felt how dry her tongue was that she realized her jaw had been hanging. "Is anyone else leaving?"

The woman shrugged, clutching her satchel to her side. "Don't know. I reckon we all leave or we all die." She scanned the shop with narrowed eyes before she fixed them on Jane. "Ya do what's right for your family now, ya hear? Get out while ya still can. Don't want to be stuck here when all hell breaks loose. That'll for sure be the end of everythin'." She patted the counter. "I'm headin' out. I hope to see ya in Dorn, dear."

She walked away and the sound of her bottles jostling together was eerily loud against the quiet town.

"Momma!" Jane called out and turned around. They needed to talk about some things. She hurried toward the back. "Momma, Father!"

The rest of her family met her halfway, eyes wide in alarm.

Her mother held her by the shoulders, looking her up and down quickly. "What is it? What's the matter, Jane?"

"I'm okay, Momma." She held onto her mother's arms, gaze darting between the three different faces. "But we all might not be soon. There's an illness spreading our way. I heard about it last week, but it didn't seem to be a big deal. Some of the upback people fell victim to it and now Alma's been absent for three days. Word is that it killed the upback family."

"Illness?"

"What kind of illness?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure. From what I remember, Alma said that the man she met looked bad off. Shaking, pale. Probably a fever. Farther, Looney's leaving. She says we should get out of here, too, before it gets bad."

Her father, a tall man with thick grey hair, frowned and his bushy eyebrows knit together. "Now hold on. Let's not rush into any rash decisions. Looney's always been a bit off her rocker. We shouldn't base anything we do off what she suggests."

"I agree." Merle nodded and looked up at her husband for support. "I know illness is always a scary thing, but we've always been fine before. Besides, we can't just leave the store. What would we do for money?"

"I'm not sure, but Looney is heading for the capital." Jane hugged herself. "I kind of want to go check on Alma. Make sure she's all right. Momma, would you make me a satchel of stuff to take with me? Food and supplies."

"Do you think that's a wise idea? I'm not too worried about the illness, but I don't know if we should be getting in close contact with anyone who might have it."

"She was here last week and that was after she'd been in contact with the upback man. I figure if I'd have gotten sick, it would've been then. But, I'm fine. Someone needs to go check on her and see what we're dealing with, right?" Jane followed her mother into the back.

Merle took a plain satchel and began to pack it with greens, goat cheese, and some cured meats. She slipped it over Jane's head and rested it across her shoulder. "You be safe, all right? Don't get into any trouble if you can help it and don't do anything your father and I wouldn't."

"Of course, Momma." Jane smiled at her mother and then her father. "I'll be back as quickly as I can with news."