Oakaigus #1: Red Bloom Page 2
Jogen forced his eyes shut, digging through his memory. “What’s that place,” he says while snapping, “uhhh...Needlot Town! That’s it!”
Jogen ran to his cart, heaving Lilah along. He stepped to the back of the cart and gently placed her flat down. He ripped off his shirt and wrapped it around her leg. “It’s all I’ve got.”
Jogen leaped to the front of the cart, whipped his safety belt on, and pushed down on the pedals as hard as he could, taking heavy breaths as he sped up his pace down the dusty road.
“Why,” he thought to himself, “why am I so weak? I couldn’t even help my little sister…”
Jogen felt the force of gusts blowing against his body as he trucked through.
His mind flashed grey images of Lilah’s leg bleeding, making him cringe every time. “It’s all my fault,” he thought as he slapped himself in the face, “I’m so useless. I promise, I WON’T let this happen again.”
CHAPTER 4
Jogen arrived at a town with a sign that said, “Welcome to Needlot Town! Home of the Merry-Merry Steak!” The town’s buildings were carved in light-grey marble with accents of silver on them, shimmering in the sunlight.
Jogen stared at the townspeople dressed in white robes, carrying sacks of books and pots of clean water.
He rode past a man surrounded by a small crowd, flailing paper slips in his hand, yelling, “Felorra lottery tickets! Your chance to win free resort passes!”
“Must be nice,” Jogen mumbled to himself.
Jogen stopped by a town map plastered on a stone board. “Let’s see…Inppo’s Steakhouse…Hub Galleria—blah blah blah…Oh! Found it!”
Jogen forced his feet down on his pedals and sped down the street.
Jogen pedaled until his eye caught a sign that said “Needlot Care Center” in front of a large, white building upheld by four pillars.
Jogen parked the cart and hopped out as quickly as he could. He ran to the back to carefully pick Lilah up. When he positioned her comfortably in his arms, he sprinted up the marble stairs.
Inside the care center, draped with silk, violet fabrics around the windows, Jogen came storming through the mahogany doors. He ran straight towards the front desk, occupied by a fawn-skinned woman with sandy-brown hair.
“Welcome,” the receptionist said, “how can I-“
“SHE’S DYING,” Jogen yelled, breathing hard, “These things attacked her and now she can’t move!”
The receptionist caught a tiny glimpse of the gashes in Lilah’s flesh underneath the bloodied shirt-wrapping.
“I’m very sorry,” she said softly, “we should have an emergency room open. Let me check.”
The receptionist flipped through the thick stack of canvas paper on her wooden desk.
“Perfect,” she said, “two rooms are open in the back. Just let me get your names first.”
“I’m Jogen Yemo, she’s Lilah Yemo.”
The receptionist wrote their names in the book. “Alright,” she said, “follow me.”
“THANK YOU!”
The receptionist lifted the draping behind her to the emergency hall entryway. Jogen followed in after her.
In the hallway, illuminated by blue crystals, chattering men and women in red robes were reading stacks of paper while transferring carts of supplies in droves. Jogen looked up at the glowing crystals embedded in the walls, raising his eyebrow.
“Are these crystals really glowing on their own?” he said.
“Yes,” the receptionist said, “they’re rare finds from Kengongbo. These possess piezoluminescence.”
“Piezolumi-what?”
“Piezoluminescence, meaning if you apply enough pressure to it, it lights up on its own. How strong the light is depends on the crystal.”
“Ohhh. Never knew about that.”
“It’s a rare sight, but Kengongbo’s said to have crystals like these all around there. Only problem is, no one wants to go there ‘cause of all the big beasts running around.”
“Really? Huh…”
The receptionist led Jogen through all the commotion as he kept Lilah steady in his arms. Jogen could feel Lilah’s breathing slowing down. “Hang on,” he thought in his head.
The receptionist stopped at a wooden door at the end of the hallway, knocking three times.
“Come in,” said a high-pitched voice inside.
Jogen and the receptionist stepped in the room occupied by three physicians. Their nametags read: “Dr. Eslia,” “Dr. Ghrebor,” and “Dr. Teli.”
“Good morning,” the receptionist said, “this girl really needs your help. She was attacked and seems to be paralyzed.”
Dr. Eslia wrapped her long, black hair into a ponytail. “Lay her on the table,” she said.
Jogen took a couple steps forward and gently placed Lilah down.
All three physicians put rubber gloves on. Dr. Eslia removed the shirt wrapped around Lilah’s leg, revealing her ripped wound.
Dr. Ghrebor closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.
“What happened,” Dr. Eslia asked.
“Well,” Jogen replied, “we were out picking berries, and then she got a small cut. Next thing I knew, these eight-legged bugs jumped on her and started eating her.”
“Eight legs?” Dr. Ghrebor asked, “What color were they?”
“Ummm…red, I think? Wait—no, they were white with red spots.”
“Hmmm,” Dr. Teli said as she rubbed her chin, “white with red spots…”
Silence swept the room.
“Wait,” Dr. Eslia shouted, “you mean rhokuji?”
“Rhokuji?” Jogen asked.
“From what you described, they have to be rhokuji. They’re some of the few carnivorous insects, and the only ones with those colors.”
“Hold on,” Dr. Teli said, “I’m confused. I thought they--…you know what, never mind. We have to get started. Now.”
“Right,” Dr. Eslia said, “since rhokuji are poisonous, that’s probably why she’s paralyzed. We’re gonna’ have to use the laser treatment.”
“Aye aye, Doctor,” Dr. Teli and Dr. Ghrebor said in unison.
“This may take a few hours,” the receptionist said to Jogen, “are you going to wait in the lobby?”
“Actually, there’s something I gotta’ do. Can I come back?”
“Of course!”
“Got it!”
Before Jogen left the room, he stopped to take another look at Lilah. “…I’ll be back,” he said. He sprinted back down the hall and stormed through the front doors.
CHAPTER 5
Later that morning, back at the diner, Mr. Singu was busy cleaning his pots. No customers were in at the time. He hummed rhythmically, rocking side to side while cleaning one small pot in his hand.
Suddenly, Jogen came bursting through the door, taking deep breaths, in and out. “Mr. Singu!”
Mr. Singu turned around with a slight jump. “Jo,” he said with his hand on his chest, “you scared me. You two done already?”
“It’s Lilah!”
“Hm? What’s going on?”
After a brief talk, Jogen and Mr. Singu were on the road as Mr. Singu pedaled the cart and Jogen, with a new shirt on, talked while riding in the back.
“Rhokuji, huh?” Mr. Singu said.
“Yeah. At least that’s what the doctors told me.”
Mr. Singu breathed out and shook his head. “Man,” he said, “I seriously hope she’s alright.”
“Yeah…”
After sharing a moment of silence, Mr. Singu perked his head up. “Wait a minute,” he said, “I just realized something.”
“What?”
“They said rhokuji, but the thing is, rhokuji can’t live in this type of climate.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, but you said you saw a whole colony?”
“Yup. At least 60 of ‘em.”
“Interesting. First the berries, now this. Something weird is going on…”
“What do you
think it might be?”
“No clue. Nothing like this has ever happened before. We’ll just have to see.”
As they rode further down the path, they passed by Badigeon Fields.
“Oh yeah,” Jogen said, “I left the other cart here when I took Lilah to the hospital.”
“Okay, then you hop on that one and we’ll ride together.”
“Got it.”
CHAPTER 6
After more of the morning had passed, Jogen and Mr. Singu parked their carts in front of the care center. They rushed up the stairs and through the front doors.
As they ran to the front desk, they saw the receptionist talking to a woman wearing a silk, burgundy robe adorned with golden shoulder patches that were slightly covered by her coiled, grey hair.
“Hey,” Jogen said, “how’s Lilah?”
“We’re actually almost finished with her treatment,” the receptionist said, “so it’s all up to the Grand Doctor now.”
“Grand Doctor?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, let me introduce you! This is the region’s Grand Doctor, Yanja Kosungo! She was elected by the region’s Health Association.”
“Aw, come on,” Dr. Yanja said as she rubbed her neck. She turned to Jogen and Mr. Singu with a smile and said, “Please, just call me Yanie.”
“An honor to meet you,” Mr. Singu said, “I’m Remi Singu, Lilah’s guardian.”
“A pleasure,” Dr. Yanja replied, “so, let’s cut to it. Right now, we’re running an analysis on Lilah’s blood. I was called over because there were some ‘strange’ things they noticed before it finished.”
“Strange?” Mr. Singu said.
“Yup. They said they’ve never seen this before, so they needed me to see the results myself and go from there.”
“Is it almost done?”
“Just about. If you don’t mind, could you two wait here while I finish up?”
“Of course!”
“Perfect! I should be done in about 40 minutes or so.”
“Okay.”
Dr. Yanja rested her hands in her pockets and made her way to the emergency hallway.
CHAPTER 7
An hour later, Jogen and Mr. Singu were sitting in the lobby, slumped in chairs near a window. Jogen stared out below at the children playing with their mothers.
Jogen then overheard the passing voices of a physician and a patient as the physician rolled the patient’s frail body in on a wheelchair.
“How’ve you been holding up, Ms. Jemenba?” the physician said.
“Eh,” the patient said, “my PID’s been acting up alot lately, but it’s nothin’ I haven’t dealt with the past 14 years. Could always be worse...”
“Good to see you still fighting.”
As they passed by, soon afterwards, Dr. Yanja finally came back with her hands in her robe pockets.
Jogen and Mr. Singu saw her from the corner of their eyes and rushed out of their seats.
“How is she,” Mr. Singu asked.
“…Follow me,” she replied.
The three of them walked to the emergency hallway. In the midst of the chatter surrounding them, Dr. Yanja led them to a right turn down a quiet, stone hallway.
After another turn to the left, followed by another to the left again, Dr. Yanja led them to an empty room with only a large desk, a couple chairs, and crooked stacks of paper scattered around the room.
“So,” she said with a sigh, “There’s a lot of stuff I have to go over before my next meeting, so I apologize in advance. Please bear with me.”
Jogen and Mr. Singu felt tiny knots well up in their throats after they seated themselves. As their heartbeats pounded harder, beat by beat, they stared into Dr. Yanja’s eyes.
“Alright,” she continued, “here’s Lilah’s situation: the crystal laser treatment killed most of the poisonous bacteria in her blood. Her breathing’s back to normal too.”
Jogen and Mr. Singu released long sighs as weights of tension lifted from their chests.
“But,” she resumed, “there were traces of other strange bacteria left still attacking her. Somehow, they managed to survive the entire treatment.”
“Will she live,” Mr. Singu asked.
“At this rate, with nothing we have to fight it, I estimate that she has about six months to live.”
“No…” Jogen mumbled as his body fell into a slump.
“W-Wait,” Mr. Singu said as his voice cracked, “is there ANYTHING left to do?!”
“Well…there is one thing. That’s why I called you back here. This is mainly for you, Mr. Singu, but before I ask, you have to promise to not mention this to any other doctor, okay?”
“Sure.”
“Alright. Quick quiz: have you ever heard of the Salei Study incident?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Not many people have. So, about six years ago, a man named Dr. Salei was studying remedies from the Kengongbo region. Every other doctor was afraid to go because of all the vicious beasts there. But he didn’t care. Before he went, he was so dedicated to his work, he would sleep on the floor in the lab for weeks on end, only seeing his family two days out of a month.”
“Question,” Jogen said.
“Yes?”
“If the beasts were so vicious, how’d he manage to survive?”
A grin grew on Dr. Yanja’s face.
“Let’s just say he developed a special ‘talent.’ It’s honestly way too much to explain right now on top of what I already have to say. Maybe someday, you’ll find out.”
“Oh, okay…”
“Where was I? Oh, right—so while researching there, he came across a strange fungus. He called it ‘babaseing.’ This thing changed everything!”
“How?” Mr. Singu asked.
“Another quiz: is the PID virus curable?”
“No, but who doesn’t know—“
“Wrong.”
Jogen and Mr. Singu’s eyes perked up.
“This fungus,” she said, “completely killed the virus within 3 hours.”
“WHAT?!” Mr. Singu said as he rose out of his seat.
“Not only that,” she continued, “but 27 other bacteria strains that also withstood laser treatments, were instantly wiped out by babaseing.”
“B-but, why—“
“—aren’t hospitals using it? Well, a problem came up. During Dr. Salei’s tests, this stuff did in fact kill all these viruses, no doubt, but, he missed something. He didn’t realize that babaseing also had compounds in it that made the patients hallucinate for 83 hours.”
“Whoa.”
“Granted, a couple of the patients’ depression was cured from this, but on the flip side, the majority of the others were driven insane. They could never form a complete sentence ever since.”
“That’s sad…”
“Yeah…after that, babaseing was banned by the Association from every care center in this region.”
“So, what happened to Salei?”
“Well, around that time was the time I was elected Grand Doctor, so I heard debates in the Association between people wanting him fired, and others who just wanted him on probation. But after a while, he just disappeared. Nobody’s heard from him since.”
“I see. So, what exactly does this have to do with me?”
“I wanted you to see that there’s some hope for Lilah. Babaseing is her best bet…that is, if you’re willing to go for it.”
“Of course I’m will--…wait a minute. Didn’t you just say that this stuff made people go crazy?!”
“I did, but, I know a guy that finally found a solution to this.”
“Really?! Where is he?!”
“Kengongbo. When the incident happened, my friend found out about it and said he saw potential in babaseing. Problem was, he couldn’t get around the hallucinogenic compounds in it, so he told me was going to find a way to extract compounds he wanted, and leave the rest behind.”
“Did he?”
“Yup! Matter of fact, he visited
me two weeks ago to give me his notes. He wants me to submit his technique for peer review. Crazy thing is, he wants me to take credit for it.”