The Sickness

Dr Eva Lewis was greeted by reason number three-hundred of why she hated working in this town as she pulled into her parking spot.

LEZBO FAG, was spray-painted in huge words across the front of her clinic.

“Fucking Steward.” Eva growled as she exited her vehicle to assess the damage. It looked like just regular spray paint, that had been what was usually used. But she wouldn’t put it past the bratty, entitled son of their police inspector to have used something more permanent this time.

Luckily, she’d come in earlier than planned, mostly due to her not getting a wink of sleep that last night, the thoughts of that strange black insect had been on her mind. She’d sent it off to be examined yesterday evening after conducting her own tests on the small bug. It had seemed quite ordinary, the only thing that wasn’t, was the way that it insistently moved in the direction of the big house on the hill.

Why? Well, she had no fuckin’ idea. That was the jobs for the nut jobs like crazy Luke Mills to guess at. She’d seen the direction that they’d been heading towards back at the farm. And with her own discoveries proved that it was not just a coincidence, the bug that she’d taken back to her clinic, despite being on the complete opposite side of the town to the murder house, still tried to head in that direction.

As Eva, resigns herself to a morning of cleaning off the front of her clinic, all the while mopping sweat off her brow, she fantasies what she’ll do to the likes of Freddie Steward and his group of friends that she knew was responsible for this mess.

Calling the police was not an option, the last time she’d done it with tangible proof that Freddie Steward was behind the homophobic attacks on her business. She’d been told to stop wasting police time with the accusations against the Inspector’s son.

Just at the point that she’d finished washing down the walls, and deciding on which particular poison she’d use on that hell spawn if she ever got the chance, her phone began to buzz.

“What?!” Eva half screamed into the phone, then stopped at the sound of the voice coming through the other end. She recognised Ethan on the other end of the phone, and more importantly, one of the few people in this place that didn’t treat her like crap. In the farmer’s own words, he didn’t care who she slept with so long as she didn’t raise her prices, a deal that she’d accepted despite what her bank balance continued to scream at her.

He didn’t sound well either. The Farmer was coughing so bad that it took a moment for Eva to understand what he was saying.

“Yeah, Dr Lewis. I need you to come down here.” Ethan said, amidst a coughing fit.

Thinking that this was yet another busybody demanding to know why she hadn’t done something about that fuckin’ cattle herd, Eva struggled to keep her already fragile temper in check.

“Is it about the cows?” Eva asked in what she intended to be her best customer service voice.

Another coughing fit, it sounded like he was coughing his lungs up.

“Cows… Dead. Some… Ill-Illness.” Ethan managed to get through.

This stopped Eva’s rage in a heartbeat.

Leaving what little remained of the graffiti on the front of her clinic, Eva rushed inside, grabbed what she thought she might need, and hurried to her car, not even wasting time to lock the clinic door behind her.

Half an hour of frantic driving and several close calls with cats and birds on the road later, Eva gets out car and rushes over to the top of the hill, discovering that what had been said on the phone call had not been an exaggeration.

Eva stares down at the dead cows, her eyes wide. They littered the field bellow, blotting across the once perfect landscape. Quickly she gets out a cloth and holds it up covering her nose and mouth and descends into the Field, it might not work but it was protocol. That was where she meets up with Ethan who was staring at his dead livestock. The Farmer seemed almost catatonic at the sight of his dead livestock.

“Well. You weren’t fucking kidding.” Eva said as she examined the fields.

Ethan shakes his head in shock. As he does so, Eva puts gloves on, and begins to examine the nearest dead Cow. It was rock solid, the skin had gone rock solid. The animal had been here for some time.

“When were they last confirmed to be alive?” Eva asked, examining every inch of the dead animal. There were many diseases that a cow might contract, some of which were transmittable to humans. It was imperative to find out before they had a full-scale epidemic on their hands.

“Last night. I put the herd into the shed. And when I woke up this morning, the doors had been opened, and half the herd had left.” Ethan said, trying to keep his voice under some control.

Eva slowly moves around the animal, the animal had been alive last night, but it looked and smelled like, to her eyes and nose at least, that it had been dead for a week.

Then she saw it, a mark on the neck. Eva kneels down in the muddy ground to examine it. It was a bite wound.

“And they were healthy then?” Eva asked, touching the bite. She was no dentist, but she was ninety-nine percent sure that it was human.

At least human shaped.

Before Ethan could answer, the sound of a car pulling up, quickly followed by Elliot coming down the hill, followed closely by Leonard.

Like everyone else in Brookfirth, Eva hated the guts out of Leonard Davis. Everything, from the prissy smirk that constantly was plastered on his weak chinned face, to those idiotic three-piece suits that seemed to be his only fashion choice, even out here on the farm, to the way he walked about like he owned the place, he did, but that was no excuse for being a cunt in Eva’s opinion.

The inspector looked almost as out of place as the businessman, sweat was already starting to form on his thick head, and his heavy gut swinging from one side to another as he lumbered up the hill towards them both.

“What happened here?” Elliot asked looking at the field.

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ.” Eva swore to herself. The last thing she needed right now was that stuck up cunt, and the fat police officer coming here and potentially contracting something. Quickly, Eva got up and rushed over to them. “I’m going to have to ask you to stay back, Mr Davis, Inspector.”

Leonard looked annoyed that he had been told to leave. He was not a man that a lot of people said no too, Eva knew, but despite her less than warm feelings towards him, she didn’t want the man dead.

“What’s the problem?” Leonard asked, though ignoring the warning as he walked towards one of the dead animals.

“Look I just need you to stay back. Both of you.” Eva exclaimed. It was bad enough that neither of them respected her, even when she was potentially saving their fucking lives. But it didn’t help matters that at the moment, neither of them seemed to have a braincell between them.

“I was called out by Mr Barnes, something about a break in on his property.” Elliot said, putting on a pair of gloves similar to Eva’s.

Eva, for her part, could have killed someone in that moment.

“Look I don’t know what the fuck I’ve got here Elliot. Could be disease for all I know. So, if you wanna help, get some of your men, and block off this whole field, and keep people from entering.” Eva said, her temper getting the better of her.

Elliot looked around, saw the gravity of the situation, then slowly nodded. “Okay.”

Eva thanked fuck that the Inspector was finally listening to common fucking sense. “Thank fuck for that.” Eva murmured in an undertone that only Ethan could hear. Then she rounded on Leonard. “Alright he’s got a reason. What’s your fuckin’ excuse for being here?”

Leonard straightened himself up. Like a proud ostrich, and with about as many brain cells to boot.

“I’m a private citizen. And have every right to go where I please. Particularly since it’s my land. Or will be soon enough.” Leonard said, puffing out his chest importantly.

Elliot then walked over to converse with Ethan, taking down notes sporadically as the farmer told the inspector what had happened.

“Well. Even so. I’m asking you to not go near these animals unless absolutely fuckin’ required.” Eva said.

“I’m going to make that request into an order Leonard.” Elliot said, taking Eva by surprise. She’d never, in all her time in this town, seen the cop take her side on anything. “At least until we can rule out the possibility of disease.

Before Leonard could respond to that, Eva walked back towards where Ethan and Elliot were talking.

“I’m also missing half a dozen. If my maths is right.” Ethan said.

“Have any farm workers that you can get here Ethan?” Eva said, they needed to find that animal, and quickly, purely just so that they could make sure that it wasn’t infected like these ones.

“Yeah.” Ethan replied.

“Get ‘em here right now. Tell them to search the entire farm for any sign of badgers. I wanna rule out TB before I do anything else. I also wanna find the missing one.” Eva said. That was the first priority. She’d tested them only a few weeks ago, but it was better to be sure.

If it was some new strain of bovine TB, then they could have this whole situation sorted out by lunchtime. If not, then this was going to end up being a very long week.

“Think it could be that?” Elliot asked, and for the first time, he sounded scared.

Ethan, however, shook his head.

“No. We had them tested a few weeks ago after the last badger scare.” Ethan replied, gesturing at Eva, who nodded, not that it would prove much.

Despite her fears, Eva had to agree with the farmer. “Yeah. I don’t think this is TB. But I’ve gotta rule it out I’m afraid.” Eva said, looking at the dead animals.

Ethan didn’t look happy at this.

“Okay.” Ethan replied finally, accepting the inevitable.

“You said missing some of the herd, is that right?” Eva asked.

“That’s right.” Ethan said.

“Alright. If you find any of the lost ones alive. I want you keep them separated. Least until we can figure out what this is.” Eva said. That was important, the last thing she needed right now was the Farmer mixing his herd with the potential of disease in the air. Not that she thought he would, for all his faults, Ethan was no dolt when it came to farming.

Satisfied that she could do no more here, Eva began to walk off, not interested in another argument, before Elliot called her back. “What d’you wanna do with the dead ones. Burn them?”

Eva turned around and shook her head. Before returning to the dead cow.

“See that.” Eva said showing the Policeman the bite mark. Elliot came in for a closer look, though staying further back than was usual. “I don’t know what it is. A badger won’t have done that. I want the whole fuckin’ herd accounted for. Check to see if they have similar marks, alive or dead. Ones that do that are alive, separate them.” Eva said, releasing the cow and allowing the beast to collapse to the ground. Elliot nodded, even Ethan seemed more willing to do as instructed. “Elliot. I want that one brought to my clinic. I wanna get samples to send to the lab. After that. Burn them.”

“How the hell am I supposed to do that?” Elliot said indignantly.

“Jesus, Inspector. Rent a fuckin’ JCB, or put it on the back of that monstrosity you call a car. I honestly don’t care, just get it to my clinic.” Eva said as she walked off to begin her examinations of the rest of the heard.

This day was not going how Detective Inspector Elliot Steward would have predicted when he’d headed into work that morning. In a small town like the one he was one of the only cops in, his days were usually spent dealing with rowdy members of the public. Occasionally they’d get something interesting like a store break in, or a hit and run. But Margret had upended that that morning when she’d told him that she’d gotten a call from the Barnes farm.

So, he’d been on his way up here when he’d been flagged down by the town’s would-be owner, Mr Leonard Davis, demanding that he escort him to the farm. How the businessman had heard about what had happened up here, Elliot still didn’t know.

As he reached his car and opened the door, he saw something odd on the ground.

A single black bug crossing the farmyard, he hated insects of all shapes and sizes. Elliot quickly stamped down, hoping to squash it. But after pulling his boot up, he saw the insect completely unharmed.

Maybe it’d slipped under the grips on his boots. He watched, the insect heading directly towards the town.

Remembering himself, Elliot reached into the car and took out the radio. Hoping he had some form of signal this far away from the town, he radioed back to the station.

“Hey Margret. Could you have a JCB sent down to the Barnes farm asap.” Elliot said, looking around for any other sign of bugs, then returned to the radio. “We’re also going to need the fire brigade out here too, need a controlled burn. Over.”

A moments silence as the message went through.

“Sure. But we need at the church. Father Michaels called with some weird news.” Margret’s voice came back over the radio. Elliot stopped, what else had gone wrong, and what gone had this town seemingly annoyed.

“Can’t be any weirder than what I’ve got here.” Elliot said.

Silence on the other end, until. “I’m not going to hold you to that Elliot. But your probably goin’ to want to sit down.” Margret’s voice said over the radio.

There was already a crowd gathered along the road to the small church that was still the biggest building in the town, minus what some of the locals still called the murder house.

As Elliot stepped out of his car and walked through the crowd, he got an answer as to where one of the cows was now.

The cow, all six-hundred odd kilos was impaled onto the Church Gates, its blood dripping down the iron bars, landing in a pool right beneath it.

Standing a few feet away from the dead animal, and looking petrified, was the elderly Father Noah Michaels. He was a tall, thin man, his brown hair growing more and more silver every time that Elliot came to Sunday service. Lines had also grown across the priest’s face that had not been here when Elliot and his family had moved to this town all those years ago.

“Well… shit.” Elliot said as he looked at the dead animal. He didn’t mind swearing in front of priest. It was well known that just like their short-tempered and foul-mouthed vet, Father Michaels also had quite the potty mouth.

“I found it like this when I arrived this morning.” Father Michaels said as he gestured at the impaled animal.

Elliot took out his now well used face rag, and walked over to the dead animal, masking his lower face all the while. Despite what people said about him, he wasn’t an idiot, he knew about how this could easily lead to a disease outbreak, and he wanted to avoid it affecting him as much as possible.

“You don’t have a step ladder in there do you Father?” Elliot asked, remembering what Dr Lewis had said about the bite mark. He didn’t know what that all meant right now, but if the vet was right, they might be able to locate whoever had done this.

Father Michaels looked at him as if he’d gone mad.

“No.” The priest said, as his gaze flittered back and forth between Elliot, and the dead animal.

“Great. Alright, I’m going to need you to make yourself scarce for the next few hours.” Elliot said, first thing first, he needed to get that animal down. Which would inevitably require another JCB. This was turning into a very expensive day for his small police force.

At this Father Michaels seemed to have an aneurysm at the suggestion. He spluttered something incoherent, then pausing he managed to get actual words out.

“B-b-but. I’ve got to reconsecrate the church yard before evening service. This is all unhallowed ground now.” Father Michaels spluttered, he had never cancelled a service before this, and he would surely be dammed if he started now.

Elliot walked up to Father Michaels, removing his mask as he did so. And whilst he was not in the priest’s face, it was far off.

“Listen. I’m going to have to get that cow off your gates, Father. Then I’m going to have to have a vet come down here and check for any sign of disease.” Elliot said, before taking several deep breaths, and managing to calm himself down. This day was not going how he had expected when he woke up this morning. “I’m a religious man Father you know that. I’m sure given the circumstances that God will understand you delaying in order to protect his congregation.”

Father Michaels took one hesitant look at the dead cow, its dried blood staining the iron gates. Then he slowly nodded.

Elliot, seeing that the priest agreed, walked back to his car, before turning back around and smiling.

“God will understand, Father.” Elliot said, then as an afterthought he added, “And if he doesn’t, then he isn’t God, and we don’t need to worry.”

Before Father Michaels could react to that statement. Elliot sat back down in his car, and radioed the station once more.

“Could you get a JCB up to the Church, Margret. And call Dr Lewis as well. Tell her that she can stop the search for the missing cow.” Elliot said.

“Not another one?” Margret asked.

“Yes, another one.” Elliot responded, he had thought about waiting for the one now currently at the farm to get down here. But that would take too long, and the sooner he got the cow off the gates, the sooner he could move the ever-increasing crowd on.

“Sure thing boss. What’s even going on?” Margret asked.

Elliot glanced over at the impaled cow, it’s blood already dry on the church gates. He was starting to ask that very question. “I dunno. But we’ll get to the bottom of this.”