Undead Fate

Chapter Three

APOLLO'S GIFT

I woke up with a head-splitting headache. Tentatively, I pulled myself up into a sitting position and propped herself on a wall, wincing from the movement. My head felt like it was about ready to detach from my neck.

I didn't know how much time had passed already, but I supposed it was already night since darkness bathed the cramped place where those villagers placed me. It was pitch black and I couldn't see anything but I knew from how it stank that I was in a shabby small excuse of a cell. I could almost hear the rats and all other unimaginable rodents pretty much sniffing me.

It irked me that they unceremoniously knocked me cold without even giving me a chance to explain myself. Well, not that I could explain much.

But it was surely vexing that this peculiar dream I was having was taking too long to end. One thing good about that, though, is that having a long dream means having a long nice sleep.

However the bone weary tiredness that was emanating from my body didn't seem to be caused by surviving a nearly drowning incident in an unknown lake, then being doused by suspicious looking water, and finally being hit at the back of the neck. I was tired because I pulled straight duties for two days.

That was the most disconcerting of all because it could only mean that I wasn't dreaming. One couldn't possibly feel this tired inside a dream. It defied all logic, I thought sleepily.

I woke again with a start, this time from a loud, grating voice. The glaring sun vetoed me from opening my eyes wide, so I blearily eyed the offending person rousing me from the longest, uninterrupted sleep I ever had. All at once, the memories of the previous day came barraging at the forefront of my mind.

I was in the locker room, preparing for a surgery...then I was here, in this eccentric place.

Someone had opened the door of the cupboard size shack, and he bent over to peer at me, blocking most of the sunlight.

"Get out!" he barked.

I found it important to keep my mouth shut until of course, I had assessed my situation. I didn't want to make the same mistakes as yesterday.

Don't make the same mistakes.

The familiar voice came unbidden in my head. I couldn't remember who said it. But I heard it in the lake.

When I didn't move as fast as the offender wanted, he grabbed my elbow and dragged me out of the shack. He threw me on the rough ground. I managed to scrape both of my elbows. Great! I was so sick of being treated like a prisoner!

The same man tied my hands together at my back and gagged my mouth with a dirty rug. Oh no, you didn't!

I started screaming bloody hell, only muffled. And as though I was some kind of a freak show, people had started to gather around me. Everything and everyone in this village looked disgustingly dirty!

For the first time, I had the chance to take in the appearance of the village people past their shabbiness. They were all, comically, wearing some kind of costumes. I couldn't believe my eyes. They were all wearing what I ought to be clothes of ancient Greek people!

I scrambled away (or as much as I could) when the people parted to make way for a beautiful lady. This lady would be a knockout if she only learned the art of taking a bath.

She wore a plain, rag-like cloth that was tied in a knot on her shoulder, covering her lithe body. A makeshift belt tied around her waist. She must be someone of a higher position or something. Because compared to everyone else, at least, this person looked one percent less shabby.

"You perpetrated our lands. You wear outlandish garments," I looked down at my now murky looking gown and even dirtier light blue scrubs. "We need to know who sent you here. Is it Apollo himself? Or Hades?" The lady finished, her voice ringing with authority. My eyes scanned the people around me and I noticed that the people were terrified...of me.

Were these people serious? Apollo? Hades? I felt like I stumbled in the middle of a movie shooting or something. I even looked around to check for hidden cameras or microphones. Nope, these people were serious. They were crazy.

But I being here was as crazy as these people. I wasn't supposed to be teleporting from one place to another, too. My mind reeled. My head hurt. My heart hammered.

"Nobody sent me here," I gulped, "I-I don't know how I came here...I swear! I am at work and next thing I knew I was pulled here...I mean there... at the lake!"

"Lies! She's cursing us!" a woman shrieked. There was madness in her eyes that sent icy fingers trailing down my spine.

"N-no, God, no! I am not cursing anyone!" please let me wake up, please, please, I begged inwardly.

"Let's stone her to death! If she is truly sent here by Hades then we are condemned. The Gods are turning their back on us!" Another one cried. The people around me broke into fits of hysterics.

My eyes widened when I saw the small boy from yesterday. He looked worse.

"That kid!" I exclaimed pointing at the little boy who was curious about me but just as terrified.

The woman he was clutching onto wailed, "Don't take him! Take me instead!"

"I am not taking anyone! I need to see that kid! He is having a..." my eyes wandered around the terrified faces of the adults gathered around me. God. They were all ill!

"You are all ill," I breathed in horrified shock.

"Indeed, a plague had befallen our land. The Gods cursed us." The lady, who was most probably the chieftain, confirmed my fear. If all of them had incurred the disease, and with all the dead bodies scattered around, then this must be a highly communicable disease. I needed to know for sure.

"W-why are you all not being treated?" I asked while I was watching them all.

"No treatment is working, unless we make a sacrifice," the chieftain answered again. This time, I met her gaze with a determined look.

Sacrifice? What the heck, I thought. "If you just let me look at the infected, I might be able to help..." it wasn't necessary, really. What I actually needed to do was get out of that place, or better yet, wake up. But I couldn't do that. I vowed to help people regardless of their race, color, etcetera, etcetera. Even if those people had treated me like a criminal and imprisoned me.

Moreover, I couldn't bear to turn a blind eye to that pitiful boy who might end up dead if I didn't do anything.

"I-I am a doctor from where I came from." This didn't rouse any positive reaction from the people. Lest they just became even more terrified. "I'm a doctor...we cure people."

The chieftain perused me with her unnerving, wide, brown eyes for a long while before she gave an imperceptible nod. "Bring the boy forward!" she ordered.

The mother of the boy wailed even louder as she held her son firmly, trying to drag him away.

With great reluctance, some men pried the boy away from his mother. Feeling the distress, the boy answered his mother's wailing with his own terrified cries. They brought the boy near me but the men stayed close. I felt oddly reassured that my neck would break if I made only one wrong move.

"Can you heal the boy?" the loftiness in her voice grated on my nerves.

I looked up to the chieftain, "untie me, I need my hands."