Member-only story
The Night the Plague Doctors Came to Town
They were on the prowl for something; we just didn’t realize what.
No one ever expected the apocalypse to come to their doorsteps.
But in the little suburb of Jennings, where breakfast cafes and small kitsch shops littered the downtown area, the people had become accustomed to hard times. An economic downturn had caused the crime rate to rise, and fathers watched their sons smuggle drugs and court thieves while mothers kept their daughters close to their sides.
Then the outbreak occurred. A local librarian fell ill with fits much like seizures; the local news caused it “the anomaly” — even though, days later, others came down with the same symptoms.
The more superstitious citizens of Jennings were all the ready to blame the matter on dealings with the devil in an increasingly sinful world. And the tumultuous rumors only grew more rampant once the government officials started to sniff around the epicenter of the uncontrollable illness — the library.
Except they found nothing of note to put down in their reports.
Disease and sickness were matters of science — and the anomaly worked in mysterious ways, not being able to be mapped on any brain scan or sampled blood work.