Brief Nine and A Half

(This is not based on a true story, rather, it's an elaboration on a true story, an attempt at the imagination running free...)

The disease resembled Ebola, but much worse. No one knew where the virus came from or how it spread and no one was willing to disclose that information anyway. The cough was the first real sign and symptom of the infection. Dry and irritating at first and quickly progressing to a mucosy, suffocating, blood-spitting wrenching. The rash followed, the skin boils which swelled and burst and spilled the virus out in a continued infection and re-infection process. Life drained slowly from the tortured body and in the end, there was only skin and bones lying in the hospital bed.

They had managed to isolate every single one of them. Everyone with a cough. Kept them in a special wing of the hospital. No one but a few top doctors and a couple of nurses were allowed in there. The families fought for the right to say one final goodbye, their requests denied. Rumors spread that not all the people in there were infected with the virus but the authorities were not taking any chances. They wanted to make sure the virus was eradicated. All bodies were to be burned and the ashes dissolved in acid and the acid neutralized with some kind of alkaline base and the liquid vacuum packed in air tight containers and taken to be buried at the bottom of the ocean somewhere far out from the shore and the city.

The last of the bodies waited in the hospital’s morgue that night. Matt’s brother and father were among them. Matt’s mother, a devoted Catholic, was unable to live with the disgrace of not being able to give her son and husband a proper funeral. Their souls were damned, she’d say. They were headed straight for hell, she‘d say. She deteriorated day by day from seriously disturbed to crazy to insane. Matt couldn't’t just stand by and watch. He had to do something. He knew the only thing to do was to get the bodies out of the morgue somehow. Burry them someplace secret with only him, his Mom and a bunch of his best mates present. That was the only way or he was going to loose his Mom right along with his father and brother.

The were all going. No one had the guts to admit they were scared shitless. I liked my reputation as a semi-tough guy but when it came to teasing the dead, I opted out…..

“Where the hell are you going?” Matt shouted at me. I kept walking. “Come back, you bastard!” he shouted again, “We’ve got to go back in there and get them, you hear??” I pretended I didn’t. “I fucking need you man!” Matt’s voice was shaky, like the voice of a man trying very hard not to let the tears out. I stopped walking but kept my back to him. “Come back Leo.” That sounded a lot more like a plea than an order. “Please.” Right. I turned around and began walking back. As I came closer to Matt, I could see the tears glistening on his cheeks in the moonlight. I placed my hand on his shoulder. “We can’t go back, Matt.” I said, “They’re guarding them. We’re lucky we got off so easy. If they catch us anywhere close to that place, they‘ll put us in there too, you understand?!” Matt looked at me without saying a word. He had his I’m-getting-my-way look. “I know” he said, “We know. But we’ll find a way around the guards. We can do this.” He looked back at the rest of the gang. They huddled together. They were scared shitless but they were willing to go in and try again. They were willing to do that for their friend. “This is wrong Matt.” I began, “The bodies are infected. If we burry them somewhere, the virus might leak back into the city. Are you willing to take that chance?” Matt stood there not saying a word. The tears streaked down his plum face. “Look man,” I went on, “I know how you feel, but you know we can’t do this. You’ve got to let them go, Matt. For all our sake.”

Matt buried his face in my neck and wept. I let him. Then I put my arm around him and lead him slowly back towards the city, the gang following behind.