3
The Dehumanizing Process
"How many times have I told you?" Katara exclaimed. "No! There is nothing in the world you can do that can make me change my mind."
Captain Unago looked dejected. Liu, the newly recruited medical assistant, walked into the tent at the same time Unago exited the tent, making it look like a circus rally. He set three more pieces of fruit on the stand beside Katara's bed, and was on his way out.
"Why do I have to eat so much fruit?" Katara asked, holding back Liu's departure.
"Fruit gives you water, vitamins, and nutrients," Liu answered in a monotone voice that sounded like he'd been training for hours for his dialogue. It'll also probably give a better attitude to replenish your damaged one.
"Why not any vegetable or grain?" Katara questioned.
Liu walked hard right at Katara, preparing to end the trivia. "Because there are dozens of wounded left in this medical camp that need it. And I believe you were the last one here." He answered the question in a way in which he didn't heat up the atmosphere. "And... vegetables don't grow in this part of the forest."
"And what forest would that be?"
Take it easy, Liu, he thought. She is just a kid. An injured kid who has come under our aid. "Li Mei."
Liu continued to straighten things out in the tent. He could feel Katara eating her fruit and drinking water out of her half-filled canteen, but all she was doing was just sitting there, looking down at her hands that were smoothing out her blanket and bandages. Then, Liu suddenly noticed something. Katara was sitting upright.
"Are you feeling better?" he asked.
"A little..." she managed to say, "My stomache doesn't hurt much."
Liu was finished cleaning the tent. At the same moment, a bell in the distance rang three times. Liu looked up at the walls of the tent in concern. Three rings... this is bad. "Katara, I'll be back."
"What is that?" Katara was confused. She didn't know the meaning of three bell signals.
Liu exited the tent without answering her question. Katara could hear a bunch of commotion and ruckus outside. Someone was screaming just like the way she screamed during her torture. She shivered. The medical officers were yelling at each other.
"Does he have it? Does he have it?"
"I don't know! I think he does!"
"Calm down! We aren't sure yet!"
Suddenly, Katara heard horrific screams, followed by a gurgling sound.
"Strap him down! He's infected!"
The petrified waterbender could hear metal clinging all over the place outside like a percussion ensemble, followed by a loud ripping noise. Suddenly, there was a burst of sound as a quarrel turned into a giant rampage. A splatter of silhouetted goo spurted onto the outside walls of the tent.
"Liu, give me the syringe and needle before he capsizes!"
The sound turned into silence. Everyone stood still. The "infected" man could be heard struggling on the gurney he was strapped on to. Katara tried to listen harder, but the entire scene became quiet. She could just picture them looking down at the bloody corpse...
The doctors began reorganizing the damaged scene. A medical officer was spraying some kind of unknown vapor on the outside walls of Katara's tent, presumably decontaminating it. An eternity later, one of the medical officers began talking again.
"...Just burn the body... clean the gurney while you're at it..."
After what seemed like hours, Liu walked back into Katara's tent, finding her completely frozen and frightened to death. Her eyes were glistening with tears of fear.
"I'm sorry you had to hear that, Katara," Liu finally broke the silence.
"What was that?" her voice was half-muffled and half-silenced.
"It's better if you don't know," Liu reluctantly answered.
"Tell me-"
"Anthanicitis," Liu loudly answered, not wasting any time to explain what it was. "After numerous hours of torture, the body is injected with quarts and quarts of chi blocker. It is highly possible for the body to drown at that time, but if lucky, it survives."
"That wasn't what I saw," Katara said.
Liu took a deep breath, knowing that the next part of the explanation would completely petrify Katara. "If the body does survive, the subject may tend to show irritability and rage before it... breaks out. If the body does break out its chi in unlimited amounts, then the subject turns inhumanly and goes on a rampage. In less than 60 seconds, the body... the body capsizes. Then the subject turns into something we have no knowledge of."
Katara put her hand over her mouth in horror. Liu continued.
"It is something that we hate to call, The Dehumanizing Process. A process in which the body slowly breaks down into the unthinkable and does unspeakable things."
Katara wiped the tears away from her eyes, straightened herself out, and just sat there in disbelief.
"I'm gonna have to transfer you to a different tent," Liu said. "Can you walk on your feet?"
Katara's feet shivered. She did what she usually did when she was speechless; just looked down.
"It's alright," Liu said. "I'll roll you to the tent."
Liu pushed Katara's bed on its wheels and exited the tent.
-
The waterbender continued to shiver. Liu gave her another blanket.
"It's a cold night..." Liu said, placing the blanket over her.
"Is that..." Katara began to speak, clearing her throat from the silence. "Is that going to happen to me?"
Liu stood by the crevasse of the tent. "I highly doubt it."
"How can you tell?" Katara asked.
Liu grinned. "Because... you've been eating your fruits." He finally left.
