Of all the pandemics and epidemics that flash up at different points throughout history, among the rampant death tolls and pain and sadness that ensued from the brutal attacks from the microscopic life forms, very few of the death tolls have passed the overall death toll of WW2 such as the devastating Spanish Influenza and the Black Plague that ravaged Medieval Europe.
But while current illnesses like the various bird flu strains and the MERS virus are under tight watch from disease control authorities and scientists, they have failed to spot and prevent a spread of a simple virus…
It started out in China's home city with what seemed to be a surprise protest. At least, that's what the world media is saying, but what actually happened was that 20 people fell ill to a mysterious disease that caused them to have coughing fits, fevers and swollen necks. The hospital shut down immediately to keep visitors out, but people in the crowd already got the symptoms and panic exploded into a lynching of a small child, which cause retaliatory attacks onto them by other people. The army was sent in instead to deal with the fighting while the police escorted disease control experts into the hospital by helicopter. The government was blamed for withholding information of a new illness from the world, but it was already too late.
It was as if out of nowhere, this new illness swept across East Asia and infected over half the populations in a span of 2 days. This prompted borders of all countries to close down as well as shipping ports and air spaces, but panic still ensued and random riots broke out. People cannot leave their countries and nobody can enter. Some governments managed to take control of their people and imposed curfews. But while armed groups decided to run rampant and gain support throughout around the world in their own countries, some countries have populations of wary sick people who have not yet rioted, but would rather spend energy getting better.
Somewhere in the chilly no-man's land of Siberia, Liechtenstein nervously wandered through the snow while carrying her gun in her hand. The wind whistled, but she was grateful that the blizzard finally subsided earlier, but she's alone in the middle of nowhere with a gun for defence. Ahead of her is a deep-looking forest of gigantic trees and she hurried her steps, wishing that she wasn't so short that the snow was up to her waist. Her fever is cooled down thanks to the chilly winds, but now she wishes that she is wearing another thick coat on top of hers so she isn't going too cold. Her little nose has gone bright red from the chilly wind earlier.
As she entered the forest, she quickly checked her gun to check for ammunition and saw that she only has 5 bullets left. The only other objects that she has in her pockets are a couple of chocolate bars (courtesy of Russia from when she met him at the world meeting in St Petersburg), a few Russian Roubles and her mobile phone, which ran out of charge ages ago. Her last text message from Switzerland, which was very brief, says: "Trust nobody and get to Iceland ASAP."
"Okay… plan…" the little girl whispered and walked on, looking around warily, "get as further north as possible, then go east… no wait, if I go far west, I'll end up walking in this country for days, but I'll at least get to Finland and I might find him and he might help me... It's too cold…" She sniffled and rubbed her nose, shivering all over. She took her finger off the gun's trigger just in case. "Okay, instead, I'll keep going east, and then somehow cross the sea to get to Canada… I can handle the cold… nobody else will think of going the same way as I am, so I should be completely alone…"
While snow melted in her boots, she took deep breaths to stay awake but stopped to cough into her glove while her forehead burned with a fever. The nipping cold isn't cooling her fever down, but now Liechtenstein's fingers feel stiff as if they're going to snap any second. The thought of that happening terrified her and she flexed her hand, swapping the gun between her hands so she's always holding it while walking slowly.
A branch snapped and she sharply looked up ahead, seeing some deer-like creatures just milling around in a group of 6. They seem to be reindeer. Looking at them made the girl smile and she watched them glance around when one caught sight of her and stared, pulling its ears back. They all have guide ropes attached to harnesses on their bodies.
"Oh! Are you Santa's reindeer?" Liechtenstein spoke softly and walked towards them with light steps, pushing through the deep snow.
The reindeer snuffled and backed up, when someone approached them to calm them down by holding the guide rope in place. Liechtenstein froze, grip tightening on the gun while the reindeer's owner seemed oblivious to her presence. She raised her gun at the person, but the thought of running away instead didn't seem like a bad idea. The reindeer person doesn't seem to be armed.
"Could ya put that gun down? You could hurt someone," their deep voice suddenly spoke and turned around. He is a tall blonde man with thin-frame glasses and he is wearing a thick black coat with sheepskin lining underneath it. Liechtenstein stared, lowering her weapon.
"A-are you Mr Sweden?" she squeaked, coughing into her hand.
"Ja, I am. Are you Liechtenstein?" the man asked. The girl nodded, wiping her nose on her sleeve. "What are you doing here?"
"B-brother told me to get to Iceland as soon as possible…" Lichtenstein sniffled.
"Come over here, the deer were only frightened because ya have yer gun out," Sweden spoke encouragingly, holding his bare hand out. The girl looked at him nervously, but walked over anyway and put her gun into her pocket. At that, the reindeer seem to calm down.
"Don't you have any gloves?" she asked. Sweden shook his head.
"I was in a rush. Things just went out of control quickly at Moscow. Priority was to get the diplomats out of there as soon as possible," he spoke.
"Oh…" Liechtenstein muttered. "I was in St Petersburg with my brother. The world meeting was there, but only a few of us turned up when the riots started outside, and… brother got separated from me." She looked down at the snowy ground, breathing shakily.
"I'm sorry," Sweden murmured and reached over to brush some snow off the girl's head. "If you like, you may travel with me until we reach Iceland. I needed to get there first before going to my country."
"R-really? You'd let me come with you?" she looked up at him hopefully. Sweden frowned a little, seeing how red her face is from the cold.
"Ja, you can come with me. But you should rest. You might be sick," he spoke, walking to one of the reindeer to adjust the saddle. "You can ride on Dancer." Liechtenstein giggled at the name.
"Are these your reindeer?" she asked, smiling as she stroked the neck of the ungulate. The Swede beside her held the guide rope in his hand after untying it from a tree trunk.
"No, but… I got them just in case of emergencies." He didn't look at her as he said that, but Liechtenstein let it slide and she looked at the saddle a little helplessly.
"Uhm… can you help me get onto Dancer please, Mr Sweden?" she asked shyly. The man smiled very slightly and he kneeled down by the reindeer, cupping his own hands together while holding them out towards her.
"I'll give ya a boost," he commented. Liechtenstein carefully stepped on his hands and he stood up a little; but the girl wobbled at the unexpected move and gasped, quickly clambering onto the saddle and breathed quickly. "Are you alright?" Sweden asked blankly and the girl nodded.
"S-sorry, I didn't know you were so strong, I felt surprised…" she panted before coughing again and the animal made a noise, uncomfortable at the girl's apparent sickness. Sweden patted the reindeer's side and held its rope in place to wait for it to calm down.
"Don't worry. We'll get you to your brother soon," Sweden said and he began to walk the reindeer in a line as they are all connected to each other by the guide rope. Liechtenstein relaxed and looked around as the reindeer walked along.
"Mr Sweden, you said you got the reindeer for a reason… Are you going to eat them?"
Sweden noticed how anxious the girl sounded and replied, still walking. "Most likely not."
"Why?" Liechtenstein asked, blinking.
"I'll probably need to trade them in exchange for a boat ride to get to Canada. There could be people who'll gladly have their items traded in exchange for them," Sweden explained. The girl looked at him in horror.
"B-but what will they do to the deer?" she asked, sounding distressed. She was leaning over to hug the animal's neck. The Swedish man watched her, feeling like hitting himself for upsetting her.
"They'll… There'll be other people who want animals to ride on," he lied and walked on, looking ahead. He heard the girl breathe out in what he assumed as a sigh of relief.
"That's good… I hope they look after the reindeer well if we do any trading," Liechtenstein smiled, still hugging Dancer's neck and she shut her eyes. Sweden felt a pang in his heart at the sight of innocence beside him, but kept a stern look.
While it is currently daylight, they both know that the evening is crawling in with darkness spreading over the land slowly; and it will soon put them both at risk of attack from bandits or wild animals. Sweden's starting to get tired from all the walking, but persisted and carried on with the reindeer until they stopped.
"Mr Sweden? Why have we stopped?" Liechtenstein asked and coughed a little, shaking. At that, Sweden reached over and lifted the girl off Dancer with ease as if she's a doll; Liechtenstein blushed lightly when the tall man held her against his chest, carrying her.
"We're stopping fer the night. It's best to rest now," he replied and walked over to the bottom of the tree where some of the massive tree roots made a natural arch. The tree looked as if it was almost completely blown over as a sapling, but now grown at an awkward angle so it's leaning to one side, but some of its roots have crawled over some large boulders to form a small cave. It looks too small for Sweden to go inside, however. Liechtenstein could fit in easily.
"But where will you sleep?" she asked as the man let go of her and she stood up. "I can't sleep knowing you're getting cold…"
"I'll be fine. You take priority," Sweden simply answered. "Let me have your gun. I'll stand guard."
The girl looked at him worriedly and thought of Switzerland's last text message to her. 'Trust nobody.' But Sweden helped her so far and gave her a ride when she felt too tired to walk on her own and now she's got small shelter thanks to him – did he just want the gun off her all along so he has something to protect himself and do a runner with the reindeer?
Sweden still stared at her, glancing at her pocket where the gun is kept. At that, Liechtenstein decided to put her hand in her pocket, but took out a bar of chocolate instead, handing it over to him.
"Eat something first," she began, "but let me keep the gun, please?"
"Alright," Sweden shrugged and he sat down on a rock in front of the tipsy-turvy tree. "Go and get some sleep, and I'll wake ya up before dawn. Up nice and early."
"O-okay… goodnight," Liechtenstein looked at him warily before kneeling down to crawl into the space. It wasn't very big, but it's not too small for her to fit in either. It's just big enough for her to sit up straight inside.
"G'night, Liechtenstein," she heard him speak outside and she curled up on the soft ground, hugging herself. She took the gun out of her pocket and placed it beside her so that she doesn't accidentally set it off in her sleep and she shut her eyes, finally feeling sleepiness take over and drip into her conscience before she fell into a deep sleep.
When Liechtenstein woke up, she yawned softly and her stomach rumbled loudly. She noticed the bright sunlight cutting through the gaps in the roots over her head and she gasped, wondering what time it was. She hurriedly grabbed her gun and crawled from under the shelter, but the reindeer are still sleeping on the ground together. Sweden is leaning back against the tree behind him, sleeping peacefully. The girl sighed in relief, but Sweden did tell her that he'd wake her up before sunrise. It's obviously past that now.
But now she feels worried, looking at the man and the chocolate wrapper slightly sticking out of his pocket. Yesterday, he wanted her gun, Switzerland told her to not trust anyone. But so far Sweden made her feel safe and gave her a ride on the reindeer.
Liechtenstein looked at the guide rope on Dancer's neck. The saddle is still on him. She can just leave with Dancer instead. Sweden did tell her that he can trade the reindeer for important things, so she'll just leave him with the remaining 5. Besides, she more or less knows how to ride a horse or anything horse-shaped.
Quietly, she reached over to where the guide rope is tied at a loop hanging from the harness. She fumbled with the tight knot and finally undid it. Dancer looked at her with its brown eyes while she tied the loose guide rope onto a tree branch, mimicking Sweden's knotwork.
"Come on, Dancer, we'll go together," she whispered and climbed onto Dancer's back and held his reins. Dancer stood up and she straightened her back, hoping that she doesn't fall over. Liechtenstein glanced to where the sun is rising at before she lightly touched the sides of the reindeer with her heels, and Dancer immediately walked on. The rider is happy that the snow is muffling the sound of the hooves and she rode on.
So far, nothing has happened to the girl and reindeer, but the cold is still bitter and chilling to the bone. As they rode along, Liechtenstein ate some of her chocolate, but stopped halfway to wonder where Dancer could eat at. There's no sight of fresh grass anywhere and the snow seemed too deep to forage through. But she pushed the thought away and carried on riding until they left the forest and into a wide, white wintry wasteland with howling whistling winds dashing around.
"Oh my goodness…" the girl whimpered, trembling all over, "we'll have to grit our teeth on this one, Dancer, we'll make it if we keep walking, okay?" The reindeer's pace slowed down and it huffed, raising its head high, but it still carried on.
Fluffy white clouds floated about in the sky, accompanied by some black smoke in the distance. Liechtenstein is on alert and she carried on riding towards the destination of the smoke. Who would be making a campfire all the way out here…?
As they closed in, Liechtenstein saw a small cabin and a clear space for sleighs and a group of white-coated dogs feeding on some bones, but they saw the reindeer and they started to snarl and bark loudly, pulling at the chains that are attached to their collars. The reindeer almost reared and threw the girl off, but she managed to calm him.
"Calm down, Dancer!" Liechtenstein ordered and made him carry on walking towards the small log cabin, but not directly towards the dogs. At that moment someone walked out of the cabin. They had a rifle in their hand as well as a scarf wrapping around their head to hide their face but not eyes.
"Who goes there!?" they shouted and aimed the rifle at Liechtenstein.
"I need some help!" Liechtenstein called out, with her hand in her pocket. She's shaking from nervousness and the Siberian cold. She's never good with negotiations. She feels that she always gets talked over. "Where could I go to cross the sea to Canada?" she asked loudly.
"You're nuts, lady!" the man shouted, still aiming at her head. Dancer became unsettled, moving his hooves about but the girl kept him in place with one hand on the harness. "I got nothing that can help you get across that water! Just give up or get shot!"
"Do you have a boat or anything?" Liechtenstein spoke urgently. "Anything! Even a couple of planks of wood! I NEED to get across the sea!"
"No can do!" The man suddenly fired his weapon, but he deliberately shot it in the air, but the noise caused Dancer to buck and panic. Liechtenstein shouted at Dancer, yanking his harness, but it is no use; he's going to bolt if she doesn't take control. She's starting to feel like throwing up with all the rough motions like sea sickness. The man smirked under the cloth of his scarf and aimed at her again. "My dogs could do with some more food!"
Suddenly, another reindeer charged past her and Liechtenstein gasped. Sweden sat on the back of the other reindeer with pure confidence as he aimed a rifle at the man ahead and they both simultaneously fired. The man cried out as he got struck in the chest and Sweden fell off the reindeer and into the snow, lying still. Liechtenstein let out a small scream and she threw herself off Dancer, collapsing into the heavy snow before stumbling to her feet to run over to the Swede and kneeled beside him and held his face. His eyes are shut.
"Mr Sweden? Mr Sweden!" she cried out, feeling hot tears warm her cheeks up. "Please wake up! Please don't leave me, please!"
Her breath hitched before she coughed into her hands and she looked at the white fabric, stained with a couple of droplets of blood. She paled, smearing the liquid with her other hand to make sure its fresh and it's actually hers – but they are. More tears fell and she looked up and down Sweden's body, but she couldn't see where he got hit at. She sniffled, crying again. "I'm so sorry, Mr Sweden…!"
The man coughed and Liechtenstein gasped, staring at him as he opened his eyes slowly and he rubbed his right ear sluggishly in an uncoordinated way like he's drunk.
"Liechtenstein…?" he murmured, blinking as he focused on her with blurry eyes. Blood ran down the side of his head.
"Is your e-ear alright?" she sniffled and looked. His ear is bleeding, but only at the lobe. "I-I think some of your ear lobe is shot off… w-why did you come for me? I left you!" she began to cry again, hugging him tightly around his chest. The taller man sat up and wound his arms around her, hugging her small body close.
"You did…" Sweden breathed out, "but I didn't want anything to happen to you… so I came to find you…" He let go of her to cough into his hand and he quickly wiped it on his dark trousers, but Liechtenstein saw the bloody smears on his bare hands and her eyes widened.
"Mr Sweden! You're coughing up blood!" she exclaimed worriedly, "we need to keep moving and get you something to make you better!"
"I know," Sweden let out a breath and coughed again in his hand, looking at the girl, "but we lost too much time already. Let's salvage supplies from that hut and then we'll try and make a boat together or at least find one."
"B-but that man said there's nothing useful that can help me cross the sea!" Liechtenstein explained and her hand wandered to touch his bleeding ear, and the man sucked in a sharp breath; she immediately withdrew her hand. "Sorry."
"Don't apologise," he murmured and moved to stand up. At that, Dancer the reindeer walked over hesitantly and he nudge the Swede's shoulder. Sweden patted his neck. "Good Dancer." Liechtenstein walked past him to hug the animal around his neck, saying; "thanks, Dancer."
Sweden turned to the log cabin 10 feet away from them and he walked towards it, followed by Liechtenstein as she held the reindeer's rope. She doesn't know where the other one went, but she pushed that thought away for now as they passed the dead man and walked up to the log cabin. It's built on stilts so that it couldn't get buried due to snow. Liechtenstein didn't notice until now, but there's a small shed besides the cabin that looks more like an outhouse with a cast iron bathtub inside as well as a lot of tools. There are also 12 dogs tied to the stakes in front of their kennels on the other side of the cabin and a large pile of meat and bones that they could all reach. But on the other side of the hut is a sleigh that can be pulled by those dogs. Liechtenstein looked at Sweden's head, disturbed by the blood draining down his head from his destroyed ear lobe.
"L-Lets go inside and clean you up…" she muttered, grabbing his hand and Sweden followed her quietly as she knocked on the front door.
"Uh, Liechtenstein… the owner of the cabin is dead. You don't need ta be formal," Sweden blinked. The girl's face flushed in embarrassment.
"U-uh, sorry… force of habit," she stuttered before pushing the door open.
Nobody else seemed to be in the cabin since it's really just one large room with a single bed in the corner, but there's a cosy fireplace at least which is still burning some firewood. There are a lot of blankets on the bed too with a mix of different fabrics; some are cotton sheets but most are fur from skinned animals. Liechtenstein felt a tight knot in her stomach at the sight of furs and looked away.
"I don't like hunting… I hate the idea of being chased for skin…" she mumbled, holding onto Sweden's shirt sleeve. Sweden patted her head gently and walked her to the sofa in front of the fire, before they both sat down together. The Swede was going to go fetch the first aid kit off the hook on the wall by the fire, but Liechtenstein got to it first and opened it up. She's glad that the kit is completely full with essentials, there's even some antibacterial cream and it looked like there are other essentials added in there like extra plasters and a couple of bottles of saline.
"Perfect," the girl smiled and looked up at Sweden. "Go sit down, relax and I'll heal your ear in no time."
At that, Sweden let out a small chuckle and the girl smiled brightly, feeling warm deep down. Sweden sat back down on the sofa facing the fire while Liechtenstein put on a pair of disposable gloves and tugged out a wet wipe from the packet, wiping the blood off the side of the man's neck and head. She discarded the soaked wipe to the bin and got out another one, carefully dabbing the burnt skin and exposed flesh and the Swede let out a sharp hiss of pain. "Sorry!" Liechtenstein apologised, carrying on wiping away excess blood. "I don't actually know THAT much about first aid… nothing about being shot at…" Sweden hummed in affirmation and the girl searched through the box, glad that he's not bleeding so much, but he'll need something to stop too much blood being lost again… aha.
"Are you feeling okay?" the Swedish patient asked.
"Ja, I am," she replied, "oh, and I'm going to have to wrap this bandage over your head and under your chin…"
"That's fine."
"Oh, okay…" Liechtenstein took out a pad of bandage, cut out a square and took some sticky tape; pressing the thick bandage in place while putting the sticky tape on, but it covered Sweden's right ear completely. "Oh hold on, I won't need to put on the bandage around your head after all," she chuckled, putting the first aid kit away. "Does it feel alright?"
Sweden clicked his fingers by his covered ear, sighing a little. "I think my hearing's a little shaky. But at least I'm not bleeding, thanks to you."
Liechtenstein blushed a little, smiling as she threw her gloves away.
"So what shall we do now? Keep going? Oh wait!" she gasped, "where are the other reindeer?"
"Don't worry, I kept them safe somewhere sheltered, but I'll bring them to this cabin. The cabin's got an outhouse they could stay in," Sweden replied and he patted her head. "But I want to have a word with you first…"
Liechtenstein sat down, feeling nervous as she faced him.
"You left me without telling me," he began, and the girl lowered her gaze.
"I know…"
"If the reindeer hadn't woken me up, I wouldn't have saved you in time," he spoke again sternly, "I won't be lying when I say that its best for us to stick together at all times. If I tell you to run, you run, if I tell you to stay, you stay, but whatever happens you must do as I say until we find your brother, understand?" Liechtenstein looked down at her lap, nodding quietly. "I said; do you understand?"
"Yes, Mr Sweden…" she murmured.
"I understand that it was wrong of me to ask for it off you, considering that my rifle was in a case carried by my reindeer and that you feel secure having something to defend yourself with, but it's your hesitancy that I don't trust. Not one bit," he carried on. "Because of your hesitation, you could've been killed. Do you know how to use your gun?"
Liechtenstein looked at him. "I only had a few practice sessions with big brother…"
"How many?"
"At least 4…"
Sweden shook his head. "That's not enough. You'll need regular training. And a back-up plan in case something happens to me. This will sound bad, but…" his voice dropped, "I'm infected with that illness. I don't know how long I'll last, but I'm not leaving you until you're well defended."
"S-Sweden, I'm infected too…" Liechtenstein's voice cracked a little as she shut her eyes tightly. Sweden scooted over and pulled her into a gentle hug.
"I'm sorry… but you still have a chance," Sweden murmured and pulled back. "We have 3 things to do then. The first is to get you accustomed to firing a gun; I won't always be there to pull triggers for you."
"I guess I could do that…" the girl sounded nervous, wiping her eyes.
The Swede nodded. "You will. I promise. Step 2; hunting." Before Liechtenstein could complain, Sweden interrupted, "there's no other way of feeding you besides that chocolate you got, and that can't last forever. You need to learn how to hunt so you can eat properly."
"But I don't want to kill an animal…" Liechtenstein's voice wobbled anxiously.
"They won't feel any pain unless you shoot them in the right place," Sweden spoke in a gentle way, "they'll feel nothing if you shoot them right."
"B-but…" the girl gulped, "what if I miss or hit them in the wrong place?"
"Then you can just finish them off quickly so they won't suffer any more."
"I-I don't think I could do this," Liechtenstein shook her head violently and curled her hands into fists on her lap. Sweden rested his hand on her back.
"You can," he spoke encouragingly, "and I'll make sure you learn how to shoot well. I won't let you shoot an animal unless I'm confident that you can do the job right. Step 3… it's more like a step for me. I noticed that there are spare planks in the outhouse along with tools; in order to cross the sea, we'll need to make an efficient boat." Liechtenstein stared at him.
"You can make a boat?"
Sweden chuckled. "Ja, I can. If I'm lucky, all the tools I need will be in that outhouse and I'll have the boat ready within a month." His companion smiled brightly.
"May I help then?"
"Ja, you may," he smiled.
"Oh, and Mr Sweden?" Liechtenstein suddenly asked.
"Ja? And jus' call me Sweden or Sve."
She nodded. "When we get to Iceland… do you think my brother will be there?"
"If he asked you to go there, then he definitely will be waiting for you," Sweden nodded.
"What about the other Nordics?" Liechtenstein tilted her head.
"Possibly…" But Sweden didn't look as optimistic as he said that.
"W-well hey, at least we have each other," the girl smiled.
"When yer not runnin' away, ja," Sweden laughed.
"I'm glad you're not as scary as people say… I love your smile."
