Fifteen kilometers away from Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, in the southwest corner, there was a village that was far away from the hustle and bustle of the world.
It had a very beautiful name — Bergland Village.
This was a village of songs and dances.
Five kilometers to the west of Bergland Village was the mother river that nurtured several nearby villages — Bergland River.
Every morning, many youths would wake up early in the morning and trudge forward with earthen jars on their heads to fetch water from this river.
This was because in the local culture, the river water in the morning was like morning dew. At that time, the river water was at its cleanest and sweetest.
Among these countless people who fetched water, Ossas was one of them.
Ossas' original name was Eumu Wilwyn Enyeertwon Wilwyn Muben Ossas. However, for convenience's sake, the villagers would simply call him Ossas.
Every morning before the sun rose, Ossas would head to the river five kilometers away with his earthen jar on his head to fetch water. Each time before fetching water, Ossas's mother would carefully stuff two pancakes into his pocket as snacks on the way.
These pancakes were carefully selected by Ossas's mother. They were made from the best deep-rooted soil.
The soil would be sterilized with fire and then sifted through a sieve to remove most of the impurities. Finally, it would form a fine, dense, loose soil.
Finally, the soil would be mixed with water to form a slurry. Butter and salt would be added to the slurry and stirred to form round pancakes that would be exposed to the sun.
After drying, they would become pancakes that could be used as snacks.
Of course, these fragrant pancakes could only be used as snacks. If one ate too much of them, their stomach would swell up and their body would become weaker.
However, on the east side of the village, there was a vast and dense forest. When the villagers of Bergland were hungry, they would go to the nearby forest to pick wild fruits. When they were thirsty, they would go to the river to drink water.
In the evening, when their stomachs began to growl, Ossas would call up his childhood playmate, Ido, and the two of them would go to the forest to eat meat.
In the forest that nurtured the entire village, Ossas and Ido had trained their skills since they were young. Not only could they identify a variety of wild fruits and fungi, but they could also occasionally catch a few mice or bats to eat.
The whole of Bergland Village lived happily in such an environment, free from worldly strife.
But just a few days ago, Ossas suddenly heard from his playmate that a villager who returned from Windhoek suddenly fell ill on the night of his return. He kept vomiting and could not even eat.
However, Ossas did not care about this. After all, as a Namibian, Ossas had long known that many people in the village were destined to not live long. The infected person was one of them.
However, the real nightmare came without any warning …
In the evening, Ossas rested for the whole day. When the sun was about to set, he walked toward the east side of the village. Every day, Ido would meet him there and the two of them would head into the forest to look for food.
However, when Ossas arrived at the east side of the village, Ido was nowhere to be seen.
"Huh? This kid is late?"
Ossas was a little surprised. The other party was younger than him and was still growing. Every time he went to the forest to eat meat, he would be more enthusiastic than Ossas. It was rare for him to be late like this.
Ossas didn't mind. Instead, he sat at the entrance of the village and waited silently.
However, even when the sun had set and the sky had turned from blue to indigo, Ido was still nowhere to be seen.
"This guy, what the hell is he doing?"
Ossas was a little annoyed. Although he could catch mice and birds at night, it would be difficult to find wild fruits. Thinking of this, he simply walked in the direction of Ido's house.
Ido's house was not far from the entrance of the village. Soon, a house made of mud appeared in front of Ossas.
The door was not closed. Ossas walked directly to the door and was just about to knock when he heard a violent vomiting sound coming from the room.
The sound came from the inner room. Ossas quickly ran in and saw Ido standing in front of the bed, bewildered. His mother was lying on her side on the bed, vomiting into a basin placed in front of the bed.
"Blergh —!"
Like a fountain, a stream of black filth spewed out of her mouth. Although most of it was vomited into the basin, there was still a lot that splashed out and splashed all over the bed.
A unique stench wafted from the direction of the bed. It smelled like the mixture of blood and internal organs that Ossas smelled every time he dissected a small animal.
Ossas subconsciously covered his mouth and nose.
"Ossas, why are you here?"
At this moment, Ido happened to turn around and see Ossas, but he seemed to be in low spirits.
"Ido, about our trip to the forest …"
Ossas asked helplessly.
"As you can see, my mother is sick. I have to take care of her." Ido shook his head and rejected Ossas without hesitation.
"Alright …"
Seeing this, Ossas didn't say anything else. He took one last look at Ido's mother. At this time, the woman was still retching and spitting out dark brown mucus from time to time. It was as if she was about to vomit out her entire internal organs …
Not only that, in Ossas's eyes, his mother's eyes had already turned bright red due to bloodshot eyes. He could even faintly see two streams of dark red blood flowing down her cheeks. It was a very strange and terrifying sight …
For some reason, Ossas suddenly felt flustered. Before he could say goodbye to Ido, he hurriedly ran out of the room and returned home.
At first, Ossas thought that this was just a small interlude. However, when he woke up the next day, he found that the atmosphere in the entire village had become tense.
It was not just Ido's family. More than a dozen families in the village had similar symptoms. These people's symptoms were very similar to Ido's mother's. They all had a high fever and would constantly vomit. Some of them even had symptoms of bleeding in their eyes.
Their horrifying appearance was like a curse from hell.
The appearance of these symptoms immediately caused panic among the villagers. Everyone understood that this was a sign of the emergence of a plague.
Therefore, there were no longer idle villagers at the entrance of the village. Some people simply left the village to avoid the plague and went to the nearby towns to hide.
However, families like Ossas's did not have the ability to leave the village. Therefore, Ossas's mother could only close the door and try her best to prevent the plague from entering the house through the door.
On this day, Ossas only went to the river early in the morning to fetch the necessary water for the day. After returning, he locked himself in the house.
This response was the only way that the Namibian officials could deal with all the plagues.
However, this method did not seem to be very effective for Ossas's family...
It was the third day.
After a night of anxiety, Ossas woke up from his sleep only to hear a moan coming from outside his room.
The moan came from his mother's room. It was accompanied by the sound of pain. At the same time, there was a intermittent dry heaving sound.
After hearing this sound, Ossas's heart tightened. He quickly got out of bed and went to his mother's room. However, he had only taken two steps when he felt that his muscles were aching terribly.
Not only that, but Ossas's head was also groggy and he had a splitting headache.
Still, Ossas could not care less about these. He quickly ran to his mother's room and saw his mother curled up on the bed. There was a large puddle of dark brown vomit beside her.
As Ossas entered, his mother slowly opened her eyes.
At this time, his mother's eyes were bloodshot and there was a faint trickle of blood...
Seeing this scene, Ossas's heart sank. He quickly ran out of the room, intending to go to the village chief's house to seek help.
However, just as he stepped out of the door, Ossas's footsteps came to a halt.
At this time, along the entire road of the village, more than a dozen villagers had collapsed in the middle of the road. The village road was covered with dark brown vomit. In just one night, the situation in Bergland Village had uncontrollably deteriorated.
The air was filled with a thick stench. At this time, Ossas finally understood that the smell of blood and internal organs mixed together was the smell of death...
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