Hey everyone! Here's chapter 4! I hope you enjoy. Once again, the English translation to the Swahili will be in italics inside of parenthesis next to the statement!
RPGPersona: I thought about having Starfire help out with the language barrier, but ultimately decided against it. I figured the villagers would be less than thrilled to willingly accept her language learning kiss, and if she did it without their permission, it would no doubt increase hostilities. As for her and Beast Boy, I figured his and Raven's relationship was enough persuasion to go against that idea, especially since they already have a native speaker/translator. And yeah, I made the welcoming quite harsh. I felt like it worked in order to prove Beast Boy's fears and worries to himself, as well as to shock the team into realizing just how bad the tribe's hostility has been and will be towards Beast Boy. And thanks! I figured that the chapter was pretty heavy and I wanted to include cute/light BBRae in it to help balance it out. :)
Please continue to read and review! Thank you :)
The next morning, the teens rose from their chambers and sleepily met outside of their tents.
"When we arrive in the village today, we're going to go see the victims and see if we can figure anything out from that. There is a makeshift medical facility set up on the east side of the village where they are attempting to treat the victims," Robin announced to the team. "After that, we will split up and continue our search. Raven, you'll stay behind at the medical facility and see if you can heal them. Cyborg, you'll study the records of who has been infected and see if you can decipher some sort of pattern. Starfire and Beast Boy, you two will interview the villagers and get any information you can about Dr. Register. I will meet with Abioye again and see if I can get any information from him. Then, we will meet back up and discuss what we've discovered, okay?" The teens before him all nodded. "Okay, let's head out."
The teens headed back out towards the village. They were more familiar with the path now, but they still had Beast Boy lead them so they wouldn't risk getting lost. It was early in the morning, casting the sky with a pale yellow and green as the sun rose from the horizon. Birds were chirping and flying through the trees, some with berries and twigs in their beaks. Soon, they arrived at the village.
When they entered, they were greeted by Abioye. He was still wearing the same purple and teal robe that he had been wearing yesterday.
"Welcome," he said to the Titans. He was acting friendly enough, but his face had a somewhat angry expression on it; he wore a scowl, the light wrinkles that covered his skin intensifying his glare. "How do you wish to proceed today? I trust that you will not be too much of a nuisance for my people."
"As was discussed yesterday, we are here to complete our mission and nothing else. We will avoid being a bother to your people as much as we can, and try to complete our mission as soon as possible. We want to visit your medical facility that you have set up on the eastern side of the village," Robin announced, trying to be as civil and respectful as possible. He was angry at Abioye and the villagers because of the way they had treated Beast Boy, but he couldn't let his personal feelings get in the way of the mission; there were too many lives at stake.
"As you wish," Abioye stated as he lead the teens towards the makeshift medical facility. As they walked, the villagers who were outside stared at them. Most kept silent, speaking only with their expressions and actions. A few spat out hateful remarks, some in their native language that only Beast Boy knew how to speak, but some in English that the whole team could understand. All the remarks, for the most part, were directed towards Beast Boy.
They soon arrived at the medical facility and stood outside of the walls. They could hear low moaning inside, but nothing more. Abioye turned to the teens.
"Our people who lay in there are gravely ill. Do not strain them too much," he said to the team as a whole before turning to Beast Boy, "especially you." He then turned and walked away back towards the main village.
The Titans walked into the facility and were immediately saddened by the sight before them. There were easily 20-something people in the facility, all children and teens. They were all lying on thin, dirty mattresses that were lined up on the floor. There was no medical equipment in the facility; the victims were being treated with bags of ice covering their bodies as nurses tried to treat their pain and fevers. Some of the victims were bleeding, mostly out of their noses and mouths. One of the nurses approached the Titans.
"Hello," she said. Her voice was quiet and tired, the front of her dress covered in blood and vomit. "Can I help you?"
"Yes," Robin said, his voice quiet and comforting in return, "We are here investigating the outbreak of Sakutia. We thought coming to this facility and seeing the victims would be a good starting point in our investigation."
"Ah, yes," she replied.
"Is there anything you can tell us about the outbreak? Any information at all would be very helpful," Robin asked.
"We started seeing victims approximately two weeks ago," she started, "At first, we just had one victim. Young boy, age ten. It wasn't out of the ordinary. We see Sakutia on occasion, although we haven't seen it in our village in about a decade. Then we received another victim. Young girl, age five. Not long after that, victims started appearing more rapidly. At the moment, we have 22 infected people. The oldest is 17, the youngest is only three," she said, taking a moment to let out a sigh, "We have buried seven children in the past two weeks, and more burials will soon follow."
"We are sorry for your losses," Robin said, "Is there anything odd about the outbreak, besides the number of victims?"
The woman thought for a moment before responding.
"Only a few of the victims have been bitten. The rest are free of bite marks. We have found injection wounds on the rest of the victims; they were all either injected in their neck or in their arms. Those who were injected are experiencing more severity in their symptoms and are succumbing to death faster," she responded, "We do not know why they are more severe, but we have kept them separate from the bite victims." She pointed towards the ill children behind her. "Over there are the bite victims, and over there are the injected victims."
"Thank you so much for the information you have provided. May we talk to some of the victims and get their firsthand accounts on the incidents?" Robin asked.
The woman nodded.
"You may, but I can't promise how much information you'll be able to get out of them," she said.
"Thank you," Robin said, giving the woman a small, consoling smile, "You have been a great help for us."
The woman smiled back and nodded before returning to her patients.
The teens walked over the victims who were bitten. Out of the 22 victims, only eight were bite victims. Only a few of the victims seemed somewhat alert; the others were either asleep or were delusional from fever. They walked over to a boy who looked to be about 13 years old and alert. He had two, deep puncture wounds on his left shoulder, obviously bite marks.
"Habari," he said, his voice pained and raspy. He was sweating profusely and had a trail of dried blood coming from his nose. (Hello.)
Beast Boy kneeled down to the boy and starting speaking to him.
"Habari, jina langu ni Beast Boy, na hayo ni marafiki zangu. Sisi ni hapa kukusaidia na kijiji yako," he said calmly, "Je, wewe kuzungumza Kiingereza wakati wote? Mimi naweza kuelewa, lakini marafiki zangu hawazungumzi lugha hii." (Hello, my name is Beast Boy, and these are my friends. We are here to help you and your village. Do you speak English at all? I could understand, but my friends do not speak this language)
The boy nodded.
"Yes, I speak little," he said, each word a struggle to produce. The other teens kneeled down beside him as well, joining Beast Boy.
"Can you tell us anything about how you got bitten?" Robin asked.
The boy nodded.
"I was walking in jungle at night. I heard noise behind me. It sound like animal, but I saw none. I heard noise again, but before I could turn around to see what it was, it attacked me," he turned his head to the side and coughed violently, blood trickling out of his mouth as he did so. "It bit my shoulder. I have never felt as intense of pain as I did that moment, not even now. It removed his teeth from my skin, and I saw it run. It was small monkey, and his thick fur was green and tangled. There was something odd about the monkey though. He had thick silver collar around neck."
Robin exchanged a look with his teammates, mentally noting the silver collar.
"Is that all you can remember?" Robin asked, and the boy nodded. "Thank you for the information," he gave the boy a consoling smile. The teens all stood back up except for Beast Boy.
"Asante sana," Beast Boy said to him before standing back up. (Thank you very much.)
The teens interviewed the other bite victims that were able to be interviewed, and all of their stories were very similar. All were bitten in the same part of the jungle, and all the monkeys had a thick silver collar around their necks. They then moved onto the injection victims.
When they reached that side of the room, they could see that those victims were significantly worse off. They were all coughing violently and throwing up. Many of them were bleeding, some profusely. One young girl who looked to be about ten eyed the teens suspiciously as they neared.
Beast Boy kneeled down to the girl when they arrived, the other teens soon following.
"Habari. Sisi ni hapa kwa msaada. Je, kwa bahati kuzungumza Kiingereza?" he said to the young girl. (Hello. We are here to help. Do you speak English?)
She nodded.
"Yes, I speak English," her eyes hadn't left Beast Boy since he entered the facility. "I have heard stories about you. Some have said that you brought this curse upon the village. Is that true?"
Beast Boy looked sad as she told him that.
"No, that's not true. What's happening here isn't a curse. There's a bad guy out there trying to hurt you all, and we're here to stop him. I'm not a threat, I promise," he said, his voice carrying sorrow in it.
The girl stared at him in thought for a moment before nodding, and then looked at the rest of the teens.
"Can you tell us anything about how you got injected?" Robin asked the girl.
"I was walking in the jungle, and I went down near the river. It was starting to get dark, so I decided to start to head back home," she said, taking a break to cough violently, blood spewing out with each gag. Sweat dripped down her face, soaking the mattress below her. All the ice that had covered her body was completely melted. "I heard a sound in the trees. I thought it was an animal and left it alone. When I turned to head back home, a man jumped out of the trees. He grabbed me by arm and gripped my neck. He then pushed a needle in my neck. It burned a lot," she took another pause to cough, but this time it sounded more like choking. "He threw me on the ground and I saw him sprint away. He ran towards the waterfall. It was too dark though, so I couldn't see who it was. He was a white man though, and tall," She started coughing again, gasping for breath between coughs.
"Thank you, that was very valuable information," Robin said, concern covering his face.
The girl nodded and started coughing again. She couldn't breathe, and she kept coughing up blood profusely. Her eyes were large and fearful as she screamed in pain. She grabbed onto Beast Boy's hand, and he accepted it graciously. He placed his other hand on top of their intertwined hands and gave it a comforting squeeze. He knew what was coming, as did the girl. Tears started welling up in her eyes at the amount of pain she was feeling, pouring onto the sides of her face. The coughing intensified for a brief moment before ending completely. Her lifeless eyes stared up above at the ceiling.
Beast Boy took in a deep breath and released it slowly.
"Na uwe na amani sasa," he whispered quietly to the lifeless girl before releasing her limp hand. The nurses rushed over and covered her body with a blanket before picking up her mattress and transporting her out of the facility. (May you be at peace now.)
The teens watched the nurses do this, speechless at what had just occurred. After a few moments, Robin shakily spoke up.
"Let's hurry up and talk to more of the victims. We need to end this crisis now."