Chapter 36 part 3

Before long, the trees opened up to what looked like a small farm or something. The smell was terrible and Ralph couldn't help but wonder if maybe whoever lived here did something more than just farm. Though, aside from the smoke coming out of the rickety chimney, there wasn't any signs of intelligent life.

There were two buildings of note in the area. One was what looked like a single room house that was maybe twenty by thirty feet. It's roof was thatched and the walls looked like they were made of bundled branches or sticks. Ralph also couldn't help but wonder if a strong enough wind came along if it would just fall over. The only part that seemed to have any amount of sturdiness was the stone chimney that looked like it could also fall over with just a large enough shockwave.

The other building looked like it might be a workshop, but there didn't seem to be any signs of life in it, yet he was pretty sure that the foul odor he could smell was coming from there. It looked like it was built in the same manner as the house.

There were a few livestock animals roaming around, but he couldn't tell if that was by design or because of some other reason. There was at least a shelter fo the animals, and a fence that seemed to be falling apart.

If Ralph didn't see the smoke, he'd have assumed this place had been abandoned for a while. He couldn't imagine anyone living here with the way things looked. Though, the part the felt the most out of place was the orange paint or coloring that were painted on the doors of both the house that was ready to collapse and the workshop.

"We'll wait back here," Tim said. "Try not to screw things up. If nothing else, we can always try to work for any food."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to let you do most of it," Ralph said as he dropped his pack on the ground, trying to use his usual bravado to keep his apprehension hidden.

Nothing more was said as they approached the house. As they got near, Ralph could hear someone saying something in a quiet trembling voice, almost pleading.

"...don't know what else I can do. I don't know how long my father has left before he'll die. If he does, I don't know how to take care of my other siblings. What else can I do before you send help? I- I don't know what to do," the voice said, sounding like a child to Ralph. "And in the name of the Mother, the Daughter, and the holy spirit, amen."

Ralph couldn't help but wonder if he'd just heard the end of a prayer of some kind, though he couldn't say that he'd ever heard of one ending quite like that. However, he took what he'd heard to mean that there were others living in there. Not only that, but children too. If ever social services was needed, he couldn't think of a better time, although he also couldn't help but wonder if this dwelling was more common on this world than he would like.

Ralph glanced at Amelia and Wes, not sure if they shouldn't just back out and try somewhere else first, but both merely nodded, which he took to mean that they were ready to go forward with this, but he wasn't sure if he should give voice to his doubts or not. Especially since things were just starting to really feel weird to him, and not in a very good way either.

Sighing, he quickly pushed those thoughts away and knocked on the door, starting to get the urge to quickly hide. Even though that prank was incredibly childish and he'd stopped doing that sort of thing long ago. Well, at least when he wasn't doing a Secret Santa sort of thing.

"Wh- who is it?" the child's voice called out from the house. "Can't you see the orange?"

"Yeah, we have no idea what that means," Ralph replied. "We're not from around here."

"Then leave! There's nothing you can do here. Nothing for you."

"What did they say?" Amelia asked Ralph.

Ralph couldn't help but sigh, as he started to translate. Though, he merely translated the basics. He wasn't really interested in trying anything else. He mostly just wanted to take a nap if nothing else.

"Well, we'd like to, but we're almost out of food and were hoping to maybe try to make a deal for some food," Amelia said, looking at Ralph for him to translate. Ralph did so, without complaint as it was looking like she wanted to be done with this more than he did.

"If you wait, my sister will be around soon. She brings us firewood since she wasn't exposed to it," the child replied.

"Why can't we speak to your mother or father?" Amelia asked, waiting for Ralph to translate for her and what was being said.

"Because they can't," the voice answered, sounding rather emotional. To the point that the child was starting to sound hysterical.

"Look, you have some food growing in that field over there, right?" Ralph asked, not bothering to translate the last part. "How about you tell us what you'd like in return for some of it and we'll see what we can do."

"You can't!" the voice sobbed. "You shouldn't even be at this door. If- if someone sees you, you'll have to be locked in here too!"

Ralph was getting a cold feeling at the base of his back. It was sounding like there was an illness in this house and they were being quarantined. He didn't want any part of this, and was ready to just turn around and walk away.

"I'm coming in," Amelia said, her voice indicating she wasn't negotiating on the matter.

"What?!" Ralph cried, as he watched in horror as Amelia opened the door, which didn't even appear to have been blocked and just stepped in. She then turned to Ralph. "You're going to be coming in too. I'll need you to translate for me."

Ralph couldn't help but sigh. If it was Beth here, he knew that they'd at least be able to leave without any further involvement, but with Amelia, he was pretty sure it was the side of her that wanted to be a doctor that was forcing this issue in such a way.

"You can't come in!" the child cried in alarm, sounding like Amelia entering was the most unexpected thing they could do in the world. Amelia didn't respond, but Ralph was sure that it was because she couldn't understand what the child was saying.

The child looked to be around nine or ten years old, wearing a worn dress, that had a hood on the back. Her hair was a light brown and had bright pink eyes. She also had fading spots that were a dark rose in color.

As Amelia walked over to the girl, Ralph looked around. There was a fireplace with a small barrel that came up to Ralph's waist by the fireplace, a table with a few rickety chairs in a corner that held a few bowls, plates, and cups. There was an adult man laying in his bed, which looked like it consisted of just straw or something like it, clearly not well enough to get up. He had long black hair and light blue spots that were almost all faded away. His eyes were closed, so Ralph couldn't tell what color they were.

Then there were at least four other children in the room, most in another bed of straw. The youngest looked to be less than a year old, had it's own crib, and had dark brown spots. If Ralph didn't know the spots were different colors normally, he'd have suspected that it wasn't a good sign for the spots to be that color.

The other three children were like the man, who Ralph suspected was their father. Though, he couldn't be sure at the moment. So many things were happening so fast at the moment that he felt his mind was struggling to keep up.

"Ralph!" Amelia snapped, drawing his attention back to her as she was checking the vitals of the girl who stood where she had been when they first came into the room.

"What?" he asked, and wished he didn't sound so out of it.

"Tell me. This child in front of me," Amelia said, her tone making Ralph reel like he was about to be asked a trick question. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"A girl," Ralph replied. "Why do you ask?"

Amelia sighed. "Yeah, I thought so," she said as she used her magic to light up the tip of her right forefinger as she held it in front of the girl's eyes, one at a time. Ralph figured she was doing what he'd had doctors do to him when he went to the doctor's office for check-ups, though he never could tell exactly what it was they were looking at when they did that.

Ralph waited for Amelia to say more, but when it was clear she wasn't, he sighed. "Why did you ask such a strange question?" he said, wondering if maybe he should just leave and let Amelia do whatever she was doing and head back to the others.

"Well, I scanned this child, and there's one thing you should know," Amelia said, the amusement in her voice making Ralph a little uneasy. "She's a boy."

Ralph wasn't sure how to process what Amelia said for a minute. "Wait, what?!" he cried in surprise.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have expected it either," Amelia said.

"Any chance the kid's just trans?" Ralph asked, trying to wrap his mind around the situation. If the kid was trans then he was pretty sure he'd be able to deal with it much more easily than with how Amelia was indicating right then.

However, Amelia merely shook her head no. "Sorry, I can't say exactly how I know, just that's the sense I get when I scanned him," she replied.

Ralph wanted to say more, but suddenly realized that anything he said, the child could understand him. Which meant that if he didn't want to offend them, which at the moment was still in the air, then he'd need to come up with some way to ask Amelia what he wanted to without having to deal with that.

"Uh, guys?" Wes called from outside, sounding a like he wasn't sure if he'd been abandoned or not. "What should I do?"

"Go back to the others and get us some of the blue speckled mushrooms," Amelia told him. "Oh, and a bucket of water too."

"You're planning on treating these people?" Ralph asked, surprised.

"Of course!" Amelia said.

"What do you mean 'treat?'" the boy in the dress asked. "There is no 'treating' the spotted plague. Unless you survive it, there's nothing to be done."

Ralph glanced at Amelia, not sure if he really should translate that for her. Part of him felt like it wouldn't matter, but part of his felt like somehow he and his friends survived something that others would have given up on if they had been around anyone else in this world. Although, a sudden thought occurred to him. About why that man had pushed Charlie away. While he and his friends could barely move, that man and this boy didn't seem to have that same difficulty.

"Ralph, stop gawking and tell me what he said," Amelia demanded.

Ralph sighed and translated for her. He had a feeling like there wouldn't be a point not to with that demand. Yet, he was starting to wonder if maybe if they healed these people, that maybe they'd help his friends learn the local language. Which would mean he wouldn't have to act as a translator for much longer.

"Tell him this," Amelia ordered Ralph when he finished translating what the boy had said. "We've found something that can be helpful, though we're not sure if it's exactly a cure. Just something that will help you get better."

Ralph did so and he couldn't help but wonder just what kind of discovery Charlie had made with those mushrooms when he saw the boy's eyes widen in surprise. It made him feel like he was revealing something that might be better not shared. He also wasn't completely sure if this was the same disease he and his friends had, but felt like he should assume it was.

"How did you learn about such a thing?" the boy whispered.

"Well, my friend, Charlie, is the one who discovered it," Ralph answered, feeling a little uneasy about the subject. Especially with how he'd made Charlie feel like she should leave them.

"Is this Charlie?" the boy asked, looking at Amelia.

Ralph shook his head. "This is Amelia. She's better at this thing than any of my other friends," Ralph answered.

"Where is Charlie?" the boy asked, his eyes gleaming with a glint that made Ralph want to laugh at his enthusiasm.

"Well, we don't know," Ralph answered. "She disappeared from our camp a couple days ago, and all we could find of her was her clothing."

Ralph didn't want to mention her pack, as he wasn't sure how to describe it to the boy. Nor was he sure he should. He couldn't say what these people knew about or didn't know. As such, he thought that it would be better to just try to keep the information they gave to a minimum at the moment.

Though, as what he said sank into the boy, a look of fear crossed his face as he looked towards the forest they'd recently left. "Then she had to have been taken by the Lost," the boy said, sounding rather grave.

"What're 'the Lost?'" Ralph asked, feeling like he was about to step into something sticky and smelly, but had no choice but to do so. Local legends and myths always made him feel like he really should take a bath or shower just by listening.

"We really don't know what the Lost are," the boy said. "Just that every so often someone is taken by them. Sometimes they'll appear again far away, other times they're never seen again. We just know that if they do appear again, they're never the same."

Ralph sighed. It sounded like a ghost story to him, and this boy certainly was of an age where he'd believe pretty much anything an adult told him. "Well, we'll find her eventually," Ralph said, mostly to try to end this subject. It wasn't that he was scared, it was more that he'd rather not discuss things that sounded like they'd be from an episode of the X-Files.

Amelia seemed to finish checking the boy and moved on to the others, starting with the man. Though, Ralph couldn't say what it was, but he had a feeling something was starting here and he wasn't sure he liked the idea of being a part of it.

"So, if you have this disease, why are you able to have the energy to move around?" Ralph asked. "When me and my friends had it, we could hardly do anything without getting worn out."

The boy merely shrugged. "Some people just don't get like that," he merely replied. "No one knows why, just that they get the spots and it doesn't affect them past that until they die."

Ralph felt a little uneasy with how casually the boy had spoken about his own death like that. Maybe he had accepted it was inevitable, but it still creeped Ralph out. Not that Ralph could say he himself hadn't started to feel the same way before Charlie found the treatment for it.

Ralph looked back towards the door, which he just realized they'd left standing wide open. He felt like Wes should have already returned, but then again, he wouldn't be surprised if they had to go search for one of the mushrooms that they would need. Although, getting a bucket of water might take a little bit of time as well. It had been a while since they last passed a source of water. He couldn't help but sigh before he turned back to the boy.

"Alright, what would you like help doing?" he asked, determined to at least be helpful in some way, if only to keep his mind occupied and keep boredom away at the moment.

The boy looked at Ralph for a minute before looking at Amelia who was checking on one of his siblings. "I was about to get dinner ready," he said. "But we don't have much more than enough for ourselves."

Ralph shook his head in annoyance. This was just getting better and better. Not only were they helping these people out, they were clearly helping them for nothing more than so Amelia could feel good about herself for not abandoning them to their fate.

"What about the food in the garden or the animals I saw when we came to the door?" Ralph asked, not sure if that would be an option or not.

As Ralph expected, the boy shook his head. "We need those animals," he said, "and we've picked the garden clean. My older sister has to forage for enough to feed us."

Ralph nodded, though as the boy mentioned his sister, he looked back at the boy. "You mean your older sister isn't here?" he asked, wondering if he should be upset that the boy hadn't mentioned this until now.

"No, she wasn't here when the spots appeared, so she doesn't have to remain in here," the boy answered. "She comes every few nights and leaves water, firewood, and what food she could get on the doorstep. That way she won't get forced into staying."

Ralph sighed. While he didn't really understand what exactly the boy was saying, he couldn't help but wonder if the water his sister had last brought might be enough for what they needed. If nothing else, it would open the way to see if it could be easily replenished if they used it up for this.

"How much water do you have left?" Ralph asked, trying to do some calculations in his mind.

"Just what's in the barrel by the fire," the boy answered.

Ralph walked over to the barrel and saw that it was still half full. Plenty for what they'd need, but if a source of water wasn't nearby, then it might be a pain to refill.

"Is there a place nearby that you refill your water with?" Ralph asked, hoping there was.

"We get our water from the well in the village," the boy answered.

Yeah, like I know where that is, Ralph cursed in his mind, making sure not to say that out loud.

Taking a deep breath, he said in a much calmer tone than he was currently feeling, "How far is that?" he asked, hoping it wouldn't be very far. He didn't look forward to a long walk, especially carrying a load of water.

"About a day's walk," the boy answered simply. "Though, we normally use the cart to help bring the water back."

Ralph nodded. That was at least a good sign. Anything to help carry the water would definitely be useful. Especially if he could get the others to collect the water too.

"Where is the cart?" Ralph asked.

"My sister has it," the boy answered. "She keeps it with her so it doesn't get tainted with the spotted plague."

Ralph repressed the urge to groan. Of course his sister would have it. Why not? After all, she collects the water for them, among other things, so why wouldn't she have it? Where it wasn't of any use to them.