A to Z: Double R Day

Double R Day

Rabies and Rainers

Rabies:

“an infectious disease of dogs, cats, and other animals, transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected animal and usually fatal if prophylactic treatment is not administered: caused by an RNA virus of the rhabdovirus group; hydrophobia.”

Dictionary.com

Rainers:

“Pubescent children, infected by a rabies mutation, that are drawn outdoors when it rains, the indigo mucus secretion from their eyes, mouth and nose deadly.”

Sandra Cox

Excerpt From Rainers

“I’ve gotten way off topic. You were telling me about Rainers.”

“Rabies had gotten so out of hand…”

I interrupted again.  “Didn’t you vaccinate?”

He gave me a look that radiated impatience. “Of course. We even put out salt blocks with serum for the wildlife, but the disease became resistant to our cure. Our scientists were desperate and came up with a strong airborne anti-pathogen to kill it. It had side effects but nothing could be worse than watching people die from rabies. Or so they thought.”

I held up a hand to stop him. “But don’t you have shots for rabies?” Pressure built between my eyes. I was getting confused.

“We tried that. You have no idea how strong the strain was. Nothing annihilated it.  So the scientists figured they had nothing to lose.” He snorted and shook his head. “All the anti-pathogen did was mutate the virus.” He waved toward the window. “You’ve seen the results.” He gave a bark of laughter that held no humor. “But we did get rid of rabies in its original form.”

“I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. “Not your problem.”

A chill crawled up my spine and settled at the base of my skull. “It could be though, couldn’t it?”

His chin jerked up, his expression arrested. “If you are telling the truth and not totally delusional, yes, I suppose Rainers could find their way into your world.”

“The,” I cleared my throat, “Rainers that you shot were all children.”

“Pubescent children. It’s a weird disease. If the stuff gets on an adult or young child, that person will be dead within hours. But pubescents act as hosts. The disease will live out its short life and when it dies, it takes its host with it, the death agonizing.”

The chill on my neck deepened going straight to the bone. “My sister is twelve.”

“Then you better hope I find a cure or no Rainer finds its way to your world.”