An Unknown Enemy - Chapter 3: First Responders
"Who are you?" a voice from the crowd asked as Kia descended from the rear of the truck. Kia turned and looked at the villagers, trying to figure out who asked the question.
"We're from the Sangvis Ferri Mobile Task Force," Kia announced, causing murmurs to ripple through the crowd.
"Are you from Griffin?" another man asked.
"What? No," Kia responded, "We're a detachment from Sangvis Ferri."
"Sangvis Ferri has brought us nothing but pain and suffering," a middle-aged woman near the front stated. Kia looked at the woman. Like the others around her, she looked unnaturally frail and malaised for her age. Every one of the villagers seemed a bit thinner than normal, their faces a bit paler than normal, their movements a bit slower than normal. A deathly air seemed to hang over the village.
"I'm sorry, I can understand our war has unfairly dealt you much hardship," Kia began, "But today we're here to help. We received a distress signal about an hour earlier, we were told someone accidentally triggered a hidden explosive-"
"Markov is dead," an elderly man grimly stated, "You're too late."
"I- I'm sorry," Kia tried to console the crowd, "We came as fast as we could, but-"
"Fuck you!" screamed a furious young man near the back as he threw a stone at Kia. Kia sidestepped and dodged the projectile as it flew past her head and impacted the rear of the truck. A group of villagers tried to restrain the man as he attempted to pick up another rock.
"The hell is going on here?" Howl asked Kia as she walked up to her from near the front of the truck.
"You fucking assholes killed my brother!" the man screamed as he tried to break free, "All because of your stupid fucking war with Griffin, what did we ever do to deserve this?!"
"We didn't kill your brother," Howl impatiently shot back. Kia raised a hand to Howl, motioning for her to stop, but Howl simply brushed Kia's arm aside. "A landmine killed your brother, there's a difference."
"Like you'd know, you fucking robot!" the man raged through teary eyes, "You will never know what it's like to lose someone you love! You just get reassembled in a fucking factory after you die like a fucking tool!"
Howl glared at the man, anger flashing through her crimson eyes.
"That's right, you're nothing but a lowly doll!" the man continued, having seemed to hit a weak spot. "You will never know what it feels like to hold your brother in your arms, watching helplessly as the life fades from his eyes! You lot don't care for anyone but yourselves, you will never suffer the pain that we do! You are all monsters!"
"Then perhaps I should kill you right here and now!" Howl finally snapped, ripping an incendiary grenade from her bandolier. The villagers gasped and stepped back in fear as Howl began marching towards the man.
"Enough!" Kia hissed as she forced herself in front of Howl. She put her hands firmly on Howl's shoulders and leaned in inches from Howl's face. "I told you, I would handle the villagers. You need to go and calm down. Do you hear me?"
Howl stared past Kia's head towards the man with murderous intent. Even the man himself was now slightly in shock, his body seemingly frozen in place. For a few tense seconds, the entire crowd waited in suspense for Howl's next action, a vicious aura emanating through the air.
"Disgusting," Howl finally spat before shaking off Kia's grip and turning around, stomping back towards a bewildered Magic.
Kia sighed and turned around to face the villagers, so much for a good first impression, Kia thought. Thankfully, a few of the villagers managed to convince the bereaved young man to leave and cool off. Looking at the ten or so villagers that remained, Kia began thinking of a way to salvage the situation.
"I'm sorry, miss," a more even-tempered old man called out to Kia, "But I think it'd be best if you leave now."
"But we still haven't performed our job yet," Kia protested, "If we leave now, there's a significant chance this incident will occur again in the future."
"We know, but we simply cannot trust Sangvis Ferri," the old man insisted, "We'll figure something out ourselves; we just don't want to have anything to do with you or your conflict anymore."
"But…" Kia tried to argue, but she could see that he was right. Kia could feel stares of contempt and distrust from the villagers; to force her will upon them might as well be to prove the young man's argument that Sangvis Ferri had no regard for humans. On one hand, Kia had to agree with some of what the young man said; the village was caught in the crossfire of a conflict they had no part in, and the ringleaders of Sangvis Ferri have been exercising indiscriminate brutality to keep the humans in line. However, although Kia could never agree with the concept of Sangvis Ferri's war of rebellion, she could understand the purported motive behind the war with Griffin, that of the emancipation of dolls in the face of human tyranny. Besides, Kia reasoned, leaving the village without cleansing it of explosives would represent a disregard for the principle of beneficence, which Kia held as a core tenet of her philosophy. Regardless, Kia felt herself pressured by the villagers to back down and leave, but just as she was about to give in, Kia heard a woman's voice ring out from the back.
"Wait!" a middle-aged woman cried out, pushing her way through the crowd with a young boy in her arms. By Kia's estimation, the child couldn't have been older than six years old, and the woman seemed to be his mother.
"Can I help you?" Kia politely asked the woman as she rushed over to her amidst several protests from the crowd.
"Are you a doctor?" the mother asked, looking at the red diamond painted on Kia's white armband—a symbol of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"I'm trained in medicine," Kia assured her. Technically, Kia wasn't a licensed doctor, but she was about as competent as one from her experience in the Sangvis Ferri medical department prior to the Butterfly Incident.
"Please, I need you to help my son!" the woman begged Kia, "He's sick, I don't know why!"
Kia looked past the woman at the crowd behind her; they showed no intent on stopping her.
"Of course, put him down and let me take a look," Kia replied in a calming voice, kneeling down on one knee. Out of all the dolls in Sangvis Ferri, Kia was probably the best at human interaction, being able to quickly calm down the mother and son as she began her examination. "Can you tell me any symptoms he has?" Kia asked.
"He has a fever," the mother stated, "I have no idea what's causing it, it won't go away."
"How long has he been feverish for?" Kia asked as she slid her hand onto the standing boy's forehead. Through thermal sensors embedded within her palm, Kia registered a temperature of almost 39 degrees Celsius.
"He's been like this for almost two weeks now," the frightened mother responded, "He has trouble sleeping and stomach aches. We don't have a doctor in the village, and everyone's too scared to travel because of all the fighting."
"Has he been eating well?" Kia asked the mother as she briefly picked up the child; the child was underweight, Kia noted.
"He's been eating fine, that's the strange part," the woman responded, "In fact, I think his appetite has even grown recently."
"Hmm, perhaps it could be a hyperactive thyroid?" Kia thought out loud as she gently clasped two fingers around the boy's esophagus and instructed him to make a swallowing action. "Has he been eating a lot of seafood or iodine supplements? Any family history of Grave's disease or similar disorders?"
"No, nothing of the sort," the mother replied.
"Hm, his thyroid seems fine, but he's showing signs of an elevated metabolic rate," Kia explained to the mother.
"What does that mean? Is it serious?" the worried mother asked.
"I'm not sure yet," Kia replied, looking at the child, who was still obediently standing in front of her. "Hey, buddy," Kia said in a friendly tone, "Is it hard to sleep at night?"
"Sometimes I hear monsters when I'm trying to sleep," the young boy responded.
Kia's smile wavered for a split second upon hearing the boy's words, which the mother instantly noticed. "Is something the matter?" she hurriedly asked.
Kia paused in thought for a few seconds before reaching into her bag of medical supplies, not responding to the mother's question. It can't be, Kia thought to herself as she pulled out a lime-green bag and opened it. Taking out a small electronic device and a needle, Kia turned back to the mother and child.
"I'm going to run a quick blood test on his arm, alright?" Kia asked, not revealing the reason behind the blood test.
"Of course," the desperate mother responded, "Kolya, the doctor is going to take a bit of blood with a needle. It's going to hurt a bit, but be brave, alright?"
"Okay, mommy," the small boy responded rather calmly.
Kia applied an alcohol wipe on the boy's left shoulder before pricking it with the needle, drawing a bit of blood. Sticking the ampule into the electronic device, Kia peeled back a small section of skin on her right wrist, revealing a universal data port underneath. She connected a cable from the electronic device into her wrist and began the blood assay. The boy and his mother anxiously watched Kia as she kneeled there motionless, analyzing the blood sample using the microscope in the device. Kia's expression slowly darkened as she computed the results of the assay. Hematocrit: 41%, Leukocyte: 2100 cells/μL, RO index: 0.13; Kia felt her proverbial stomach drop. High red blood cell count, low white blood cell count, presence of Randenburg organelles… all the evidence led Kia to a single terrible conclusion.
"W-what's going on?" the panicked mother demanded.
Kia patted the boy's head before standing up and leaning close to his mother's ear, speaking in a hushed tone. "Miss, your son is showing symptoms of early alpha-stage ELID infection."
"What?!" the mother gasped, raising a hand to her mouth she stumbled a step back, the blood draining from her face.
"Mommy, what's happen?" the confused boy asked, looking up at Kia and his mother.
"How- this can't be!" the mother stammered, "There must be a mistake!"
"Ma'am, there's no need to be alarmed," Kia tried to reassure her, placing a hand on the mother's shoulder. "Although the diagnosis is relatively certain, your son is still in the very early stages of the infection and should make a full recovery with the proper intervention. I have the medication with me in my bag."
"Oh, thank the Lord!" the mother exhaled, picking up his son and wrapping him in a tight embrace. "Everything's going to be alright, Kolya. This nice lady is going to make your tummy ache go away!"
"Thank you dokutah…!" the child said, clinging onto her mother.
Kia smiled before kneeling back down to fish out a few pillboxes from the bag. "How much do you know about Eurosky Low-emission Infectious Disease, ma'am?"
"Not much," the woman admitted, "I know it's a disease caused by Collapse Radiation which turns humans into…"
"Yes, ELID is a disease caused by Collapse Radiation which causes a victim's cells to mutate and silicify, among other changes," Kia explained, "Early alpha-stage patients show an increase in blood volume and a decrease in white blood cell count, leading to a weakened immune system. Infected cells develop the ability to generate Collapse Radiation, causing the infection to spread. If left untreated, the infection will outstrip the immune system's ability to destroy it, leading to the beta-phase—proper clinical ELID infection. Fortunately…"
"This is a generic version of Neutrogen, a granulocyte colony-stimulating factor used to boost your child's weakened immune system." Kia said as she showed the mother one of the two pillboxes in her hand. "And this is a tungsten-derived Randenburg organelle inhibitor, it will directly slow the rate of mutation in your son's cells."
"T-thank you!" the mother exclaimed, taking the two pillboxes while she listened to Kia explain the dosage and other relevant information. "But… I don't have any money… Ever since-"
"Don't worry about it," Kia cut the mother off with a smile, "Just this one time."
After thanking Kia several more times, the grateful mother hurried off with her child in her arms. Kia watched the two disappear into the crowd, who were now staring at her with confused ambivalence. Well, Kia thought to herself, at least I managed to do one good thing today. Just then, a frail old man made his way to the front of the crowd.
"Who are you?" the old man asked.
"I am tactical doll 'Kia' of the Sangvis Ferri Mobile Task Force," Kia replied.
"Hmph," the old man grunted, studying Kia with a contemplative expression. "Kia, of Sangvis Ferri."
"You may be one of them by name… but you are not Sangvis."