Tears of Blood

The Middle East is quarantined as a result of a devastating disease rises from the desert sand.

From his Humvee, Dave watched another person drop.  It wasn’t from the heat beaming down at them from the Middle Eastern sun.  The person wasn’t dehydrated.  They had just joined the thousands of dead, killed by Malvolio.  The disease appeared first in the deserts of Iraq, among the nomadic tribes.  It eventually spread to the cities.  As more people died, the rest of the world decided to quarantine the entire Middle East.  No more trade, no more immigrants, and for America, no more war.    

            The United Sates government decided to pull all of the soldiers out of Iraq, the healthy ones that is.  That’s where Dave was heading now.  The U.S. Army set up an evacuation center, where big bellied airplanes waited to be filled with healthy and uninfected soldiers, after they had their temperature taken and passed a brief visual examination. 

            The evacuation center was a few miles from the Army base where Dave was stationed, so he had some time to think while the Humvee sped through the desert.  The Malvolio virus was like nothing he’d seen before.  The time from infection to death was five days, but the victim only had a slight fever until the final day when they started showing symptoms, and the symptoms were horrifying.  They include hallucinations, vomiting, delirium, until finally the victim’s capillaries burst and they bleed out from every orifice, most noticeably the eyes. 

            Finally the Humvee screeched to a halt at the evacuation center.   The soldiers formed huge lines that poured out of the building and into the surrounding desert.  Men in hazmat suits hurriedly scanned each soldier with a remote thermometer. It would beep once if the temperature was normal, twice if there was a fever.  Dave stood in line and waited. 

            Dave tried to control his fear.  A few days ago, he had a confrontation with an infected woman.  She begged for medicine as blood leaked from her eyes.  He didn’t know what to do, so he just shoved her away and gave her two water purification tablets.  He feared he may now be infected as well.

            Finally it was his turn to be scanned.  The hazmat man stood before him ominously.  He raised the scanner to Dave.  Beep, beep.  Dave’s stomach twisted.  “Please,” begged Dave, “I have a family.  Please scan again.”  The man sighed and scanned again.  One beep.  He was free.

            The next day, Dave stepped off the plane and into the USA.  It smelled like home.  He spotted his wife amongst a crowd of anxious families.  He ran to greet her.  She and Dave embraced as the mass of humanity buzzed around them.  He was so glad to be home.  He released his wife and looked into her eyes, and tears welled up in his.  He quickly wiped them away on his sleeve . . . leaving two red smears.

            He was crying tears of blood.

Author's Note

This was a rushed job for a contest in high school. It's short. It's rough. But I still love it.