Leslie and Tharus arrived at the village of Sol in the early afternoon.
It was sticky and humid as they stopped and asked an old woman where Dr. Lim's house was. The woman pointed to a medium-sized adobe house down the main dirt road.
They thanked her and moved on, with him leaning against her for support. She had one arm around him and was practically carrying him along. Both were naked. Leslie was a tall Asian woman with a thick, muscular build and had a light brown complexion and black shoulder length hair. He was black, a little shorter than her, and had white, angel-like wings protruding from his back.
When they entered the house the doctor was busy attending to another patient. When she was done, she helped Tharus onto a bed in her office. His face and neck were sweaty, and his eyes were closed as he kept mumbling gibberish. She put her hand to his forehead. It was warm.
Jesse Lim was also Asian, and was as tall as Leslie's 5'10" frame. Her physique was curvy and muscular as well, her black hair short, and her skin complexion a darker brown. She, like the other inhabitants of the village, was nude, too.
After putting a thermometer into his mouth, she wiped the sweat off his face with a towel.
"How long has he been like this?" Lim asked.
"About two days. Looks like it's the flu."
Lim nodded. "There's been an epidemic lately. I've seen many patients with the same symptoms. And it's not just affecting humans, but other species as well." She took the thermometer out and read it carefully. "Wow, one hundred ten. Has he been vomiting?"
"A little. He's also had headaches, muscle aches, and lack of appetite."
Lim nodded again, hooking him up to an IV machine, and covering his body with a thin blanket. "Let him rest for now. He's badly dehydrated."
They stepped into another room where Lim sat behind a wooden desk. "Luckily, I haven't come down with it, otherwise this village would be in trouble. I'm the only doctor in these parts for miles."
"I'm so glad we found you. You were highly recommended. Yet, I'm puzzled. Your knowledge of medicine seems way advanced compared to others that we've met. Where did you get the medical equipment?"
Lim suppressed a smile. "I'm originally from New Oakland, and was a physician there a long time ago. Yes, I know the society we're living in now is primitive, but we have to cope with it the best we can."
Leslie's eyes widened. "You're from there? So am I. I was a cop there. Seems like another life now. How did you wind up here?"
"I was doing research for my hospital outside the city's shield, got trapped and couldn't return. The Neanderthal took me and my team as prisoners. . .unfortunately, they didn't survive and I managed to escape with my boyfriend, running as far away from them as I could. We wound up here a couple of years ago and have been practicing ever since. The equipment that you saw I had with me during my expedition. Occasionally, I'll run into other items from the city. People are always trying to sell me something or barter."
Hope lit up Leslie's eyes. "Do you know the way back to New Oakland?" she asked optimistically.
She shook her head. "We tried many times to find it. This land is like a maze, with the jungles and forests. We found ourselves going in circles. It can be terribly disorienting."
Suddenly, the door to her office opened and a naked, stocky Asian man stepped in.
"Honey, I want you to meet someone else from New Oakland," Lim said to the man. "This is Leslie Chang. Leslie, this is my companion and partner in the business, Gerald."
The two shook hands. "Nice meeting you," he said.
"Likewise."
Lim filled him in on Tharus's condition, and he nodded. "It's good you were able to make it here," he said. "Many with this strain of flu don't live too long. Hopefully we can help. . .but I have some bad news. The vaccine we've been using to immunize people against this illness is getting low. We have to go back to the forest and obtain materials to produce more of it."
"We have to be especially careful when we go there. The Yalens guard it like hawks."
"Yalens?" Leslie asked.
"They're one of the species that is immune against this sickness," Lim said. "The ingredient needed to make the vaccine is found in trees in their part of the forest. Yet they've been so selfish as to not want to share it with those who desperately require it. Selfish and cruel to the point of killing those who try to take it."
"I'd like to help."
The next morning, Leslie and Lim hiked barefoot into the dense forest beyond Sol. Gerald stayed behind to take care of Tharus and other patients suffering from the plague. The two women carried backpacks. After threading their way through an area with green, leafy foliage, they crossed a calm, peaceful creek to the continuing wilderness on the other side.
Leslie wiped sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. "Do you miss the city?"
"Definitely," Lim replied, drinking water from a bottle. "I still have dreams of finding it one day. When that is I don't know, but I'm going to try again. I want to see my parents and friends. . .my colleagues at the hospital. I know they sent search parties to find us, but God knows how far they got. This land outside the city's shield is vast."
Leslie nodded. "Sometimes I feel like I have to accept this as my fate, my future."
The doctor looked at her. "Never give up hope."
Two hours later they reached a flat marshland that stretched for miles. Tall eucalyptus trees sprouted up from the ground here and there. Even though the skies were dark and cloudy, the warmth and humidity hadn't gone away. The two naked women were drenched in sweat.
"Looks like there might be a tropical storm on the way," Lim said, looking at the heavens. She slapped a giant mosquito off her bare thigh, smearing blood everywhere. She nodded at the trees and said, "The ingredient we need to make the vaccine is contained in the bark of those."
