Ryan wouldn't have turned around even if his body allowed him to. Jonas took one quick glance over his shoulder, and was about ready to give up himself.
A black-haired creature with a fiery mane, four big paws and sharp black teeth stood behind them. It licked its lips before roaring a second, even louder time. Jonas tightened his grip on Ryan's arm and they teleported further out into the savannah. The feline spotted them instantly. Its fierce gaze appeared to be mocking them, telling them there was nowhere to run. It picked up speed in their direction, and all Ryan could do was curse nonstop. Jonas watched as the big cat approached them in a manner of seconds, what would have been impossible for a real lion. Again they relocated near a small cluster of trees, only to have the animal corner them against the river once more.
“I have to fight it,” Jonas realised aloud. “There's no other way. You wait here.”
“What?” Ryan exclaimed distraughtly as Jonas walked away from him. “Hey, hey, hey, no!”
Jonas rolled up his sleeves and cracked his knuckles, ready to challenge the lion in unarmed combat. “Come at meh, ya little tiger,” he muttered. With no clue where Gary had gone, therefore no one to supply him with a weapon, he was left no choice but to defeat the Darkness with his bare hands. Clarisa would have done it without lifting a finger. Though well aware of who he wasn't, Jonas knew it was always better to die trying. He stood with his legs apart and clenched his quivering fists, ready to take the offensive. The creature took no notice of him, however, and bolted right past him, and there was only one target in that direction. Jonas whipped around, and though he was facing the lion's posterior, he could tell by the motion of its head that it was already digging into its meal. He tried to tear his face away, but his eyes were stuck like super-glue to the scene. He continued to watch it with his jaw on the ground, until the lion tossed its head, flinging some of the blood-covered flesh to the side. The sight repelled him harder than two like-poles, and he found himself face to face with a surge of black water, too near and too great to run from. His first instinct was to shield his face with both arms, and to think in that split second how he was about to become the next victim of the Darkness. To his surprise, the impact he braced himself for never arrived. He peeked one eye open, to see long flowing hair more golden than the savannah grass, and keen beautiful eyes even bluer than the sky. She contained the wall of black water with a raise of her hand, and in one hard shove sent it streaming back to the banks of the Nile where it belonged. She then walked towards the wild animal which had just finished savouring its prey. Her delicate fingers ran slowly through its long black mane, as if to stroke it tenderly, before it bounded off into the distance with its tail between its legs.
Panting wildly with sweat trickling down his sideburn, Jonas clapped one hand onto Clarisa's shoulder. Clarisa covered his hand with hers, and for a moment they let the African breeze and rustling grass do the talking. Shortly, Antonna and Gary appeared beside them, both gasping for breath. Before Jonas had even caught his, he told the others, “We gotta check if the Darkness in that water is cleared.”
They nodded in agreement, and the four reappeared at the White Nile, this time the water sparkling and clear as crystal. Gary slumped onto the grass and buried his head in his knees. Antonna threw her arms round Clarisa, and the gesture was returned warmly.
“We couldn't have made it out of there without you,” Antonna said, her voice swollen with gratitude. “Jonas and I knew you could do it. You’re such a badass.”
Clarisa grinned at the compliment, then closed her eyes and patted her on the back before letting go.
“Ryan didn’t,” Jonas pointed out bitterly. The image of blood and gore was still fresh in his mind. They lowered their heads in a mournful silence before Clarisa added,
“He’s not the only one.”
They turned to her worriedly.
“Damien and Ruth are dead, and there’s still Darkness in the village,” Clarisa reported. Jonas decided there was not a moment to lose.
“Let's go.”
They appeared in the midst of closely packed slums, and apart from a couple of villagers who went out to fetch water and tools, the place was mostly quiet. They walked past the straw houses and found families sitting together inside, talking. Even children weren't out and about with their fun and games. Fear had kept them indoors and shut out from the world.
“But where is the Darkness?” Antonna asked after they had scanned most of the area. In answer to the question, they heard a series of dry, violent hacks, which soon escalated to a coughing fit. They turned a corner to find the rest of the perceivers camping behind a house, most of them leaning against the straw and some even sprawled on the floor. They wheezed and groaned and stirred, none of them seeming very fit. Some even had small black spots covering their limbs and faces. Leo appeared to be the last man standing. Literally, with his arms folded and eyes watching the others with deep concern. He made to Clarisa and her group once he saw they arrived, and explained in a low voice,
“The Darkness is a disease. They've been coughing nonstop the second we got here. They complain of feeling feverish, dizzy, and goodness knows how many other symptoms. Ruth and Damien…” Leo’s voice broke off as he turned to the two bodies lying further out from the rest of the group.
“I know,” Clarisa whispered.
“We haven’t been able to do anything with them in this state. I tried looking for other forms of Darkness but I guess the disease is its only manifestation. I didn’t want to call you because…”
“We’re done with the savannah,” Jonas assured him, “But honestly, there’s nothing we can do for this village. What, learn to speak their native language and sell them vaccines?”
“You’re right, in this case the Darkness doesn’t pose a danger to the villagers, but to us,” Clarisa reasoned. “They will have to get over their wariness in the natural way. It’s our fear that’s the problem.”
One of the perceivers got up from the ground with his hand over his stomach, and limped over to the grass patch to disgorge. Gary watched this with worry, and suddenly held his own hand to his belly.
“Guys I’m not… I’m not feeling too well either,” he stammered, then staggered over to join the row of ailing perceivers on the ground.
“Oh no…” Antonna mumbled. “It’s spreading fast.”
“Any idea what microbe this could be?” Jonas asked.
“I spent the last three hours doing research,” Leo flashed his smartphone. “There’s no disease that causes all of their symptoms.”
“Try touching them?” Antonna suggested to Clarisa. The blonde walked over to one of the perceivers asleep on the ground and held his hand. It was burning hot. She squeezed it gently and called,
“Richard.”
The perceiver moaned and rolled over to his side.
“How are you feeling?”
Richard mumbled something inaudible before letting out a cough and drifting back off to sleep. Clarisa sighed and let go of him.
“I think he said he felt better,” Antonna told her. “At least that was what I heard.”
“Does he?” Clarisa said brightly, then frowned. In order not to demoralise the sick perceivers, she shared telepathically, [But it’ll take a couple of hours for me to heal them all completely, and I’m not sure all of them can make it by then.]
A brilliant idea struck Leo. It was the sort of idea Clarisa would have thought of, but he had beat her to it. He pretended to scroll furiously through the internet on his smartphone, then exclaimed loudly enough for everyone to hear,
“Hey, I’ve got something!”
Clarisa, Antonna and Jonas surrounded him at once. He eyed them and instructed them sternly, [Play along.] Then he said,
“The strain is H1K1, an extinct virus that attacked Africa in the eighteen hundreds. It transmits through the air. Symptoms include fever, dark, itchy spots, nausea, vomiting, strep throat, dry cough, dizziness, muscle fatigue and increased heart rate,” Leo made sure to list every symptom the perceivers displayed. “We now know that the cure is a single calcium dihydrogen phosphate pill, taken with or without food, and the effect should be immediate, recovery taking up to an hour at most.”
“Please get it we’re dying,” one of the perceivers gasped.
Her amusement well hidden, Clarisa improvised, “Jonas, isn’t your father a chemist?”
Jonas was nearly caught off guard. “Uh… yeah, well... I think he is!” he managed to respond, “He might have plenty of those.”
“I’ll go with you,” Leo said quickly, sensing the other perceivers’ suspicion. “We’ll be right back.”
Leo grabbed Jonas by the arm and they appeared in Leo’s neighbourhood shopping mall.
“Now that was spontaneous,” he scolded Jonas sarcastically.
“My father’s a gambler, you can’t blame me,” Jonas argued. “And how did you come up with all that? It doesn’t make any-”
“Kudos to you if you can think of something better,” Leo huffed. “They’re delirious anyway. Now tell me what a calcium dihydrogen phosphate pill would look like.”
“I’m guessing it’s white,” replied Jonas, “I don’t know, mentos? Tic-Tac?”
“Ah,” Leo decided. “Tic Tac it is.”
They headed to a supermarket where Jonas bought the candy. Leo saw that he had taken an extra pack for himself. Jonas opened the multi-flavoured pack and popped twelve colourful Tic-Tacs into his mouth in one go.
“You’d better not let them see you,” Leo warned. Jonas had almost finished them all, and laughed heartily once they were all down his throat.
“I finish sweets faster than you can come up with imaginary viruses,” he teased. “One problem though. What if they know Tic-Tac when they taste it?”
Leo frowned. “Let’s just hope their taste buds are impaired.”
They teleported back to the village, and the expressions on Clarisa and Antonna’s faces bore more bad news.
“Tina is dead,” Clarisa announced solemnly. The corpse had been shifted to join the other two next to the grass patch. Antonna’s eyes were red-rimmed from crying, as Tina had been a friend of hers.
“We got the pills,” Leo told them. Discreetly, he poured the sweets into Clarisa’s palm, and she distributed them to the remaining seven perceivers.
[Tic-Tac?] she remarked.
[I hope they never find out.]
To his relief, none of them did. In fact, they stopped coughing, the black spots faded, and all of them were up on their feet within ten minutes.
“What’s this calcium whatnot?” Richard exclaimed as he walked about energetically. “It works wonders!”
[The placebo effect.] Leo broadcasted to those in on the secret.
[That works wonders.]
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