Hollow Hearts

Rings, Roses and Pockets

'Ring around the roses,' she whispered as the group of people formed a circle around a rose bush. The smell of death was too powerful, and even the scent of sweet nectar couldn't mask the stench.
'Pocket full of posies,' and they all ripped posies out of the dug up earth that once housed a small child, now a piece of fertilized land.
'Ashes, ashes,' the billowing smoke filled the air as dozens, no, hundreds of bodies, all small children were piled into the streets and burned. The smell of burning skin and rot will not be able to leave the nostrils of the living.
'We all fall down.' And the small group of survivors left, leaving the dead and dying where they lay.
The small team of four didn't speak to one another for an entire two days as they traveled outside of their dead village to other towns. They hoped that they haven't contracted even the slightest of sickness as it would ruin any chances of a new home. They came up to a small river and made camp near the bank. They drank from the river and ate any animals they could trap.
Night came fast that day, and they each took turns staying up, waking the other so they could rest at regular intervals. Emanuel, the last to keep vigil, was thinking of his daughter who lost her life to the Black Plague. 'Death,' he thought, 'death came swiftly to everyone I knew and loved. Those I am with now are strangers.'
There was an itch in the back of his throat, and a small cough escaped his lips. It scared him just a little, this cough, but he brushed it aside like it was nothing. But another more violent cough left his lungs and sent him into a frenzy. Emanuel's body went into convulsions. He stood up shakily and ran into the river. He knew he couldn't endanger the group, that they needed to live, so he left.

Dolf woke up smelling defecation in the air. He woke the rest of the group and noticed that Emanuel hadn't woken anybody up on time, nor was he among the woken and ornery people.
'Emanuel?' He shouted. No answer. 'Emanuel!' He tried again. Nothing.