The gangs followed through on their word, spreading out in all directions along the wall. They visited the sick, questioned the adults, and worked on narrowing down a source with only a little bickering. It was a damn miracle.
Unfortunately, I was too busy to participate much. I had expected the number of sick to decrease as we searched for a source, but it seemed like there were even more today.
We had over a hundred infected now. This could be catastrophic if it continued. We could lose an entire generation if this weren't stopped. On the positive side, the gangs working together had gotten enough attention that the elders and even normal civilians were helping now as well.
It looked like we would have an answer soon enough. I kept trying different combinations, doing everything in my power to keep the sickest alive.
"Bubba is worse. He throws up all the time, and he is so hot," Mira said, clinging to me when she showed up late. She clung to me like a lifeline line trembling against my skirts.
"Tell your momma to bring him to me before it is too late. I will help her. She will owe me nothing," I promised, stroking the girl's soft hair. She looked up at me with big watery eyes and nodded.
I gave her some small tasks to do, to distract her more than anything. She worked, still sniffling now and then. I frowned. She was too young to live with this kind of fear. It wasn't fair. I hated the Alpha for putting us through so much heartache.
The door swung open, and Cinder walked in, looking pleased with himself, a large bag of something slung over one shoulder. He strolled up to me and plopped it down on my empty workbench.
I had seen the last customer, a few minutes ago; thankfully, I am not certain he would have cared if someone was lying there or not.
"There you go, the source," he declared, waving his hand over a bag of normal-looking flour. "Everyone I spoke to said they nicked a bag off a wagon on the way into the city from the south farm lands."
"Was it intentional?" I asked warily, rolling a pinch of the flour. "It looks completely normal."
He slapped my hand, making me drop it, looking slightly pale, "You can't change either, remember, don't get infected on me."
"I don't plan to eat it. I am not stupid," I grumbled, but washed my hands.
"Momma got some flour real cheap from a vendor, but I wasn't hungry," Mira said, eyes wide.
I took a deep breath and walked over to her, mussing her hair affectionately. "I've got to talk to Mr. Cinder right now. Can you make it home alright?"
"I can take her," Hux said, grinning at me so big and wiggling his eyebrows in a way that made me frown.
"Do you play pony?" Mira asked him incredulously.
He neighed dramatically, stomping his foot. She giggled and climbed onto his offered back, riding him out of the shop.
"You play pony?" Cinder asked, eyes burning with mirth.
"Shut up, and tell me what you found."
He laughed and pointed to the logo, "This was from the Blackspire. It was obviously a trap meant to kill some of us off. How disgusting is it that the Alpha would target children and the elderly?"
He slammed his fist on the bench, leaning in, "We will get payback, your brother is already organizing a strike team."
"Wait! We can't do that! Last time an entire pack was wiped out down to the last member. We could all die for this revenge. I think we should regroup and look for a cure before someone dies."
"You work with Quill; he has some old medical stuff he is going to use to look at the contaminated flour to see what is causing it, and then you can find a cure."
"We still can't retaliate. Think for once, Cinder, more people will die if you go through with this."
"Look, Lilliah, my Sunshine, you are sweet and good, but you are wrong. We can't let this go. He will do it again if we don't show them we still have teeth."
"Can you please just wait until we know more? I think jumping into a fight before knowing for certain it was intentional would be a terrible idea. What if it was just bad wheat?" I asked, grabbing his hand.
He was quiet for a moment, staring down at my hand on his, and slowly nodded, "Fine, I can agree to that at least. But if we lose even one more person, we will act. All of us agree on this."
I swallowed, bile rising in my throat. They agreed? That was bad. This could turn into an all-out war. And my brother was trying to encourage it.
"Alright, I will go meet with Quinn. Thank you for being reasonable."
"I want my reward," he said, smirking, running slow circles around my hand with his thumb.
"What do you want?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.
He tapped the side of his smooth cheek, "I want a kiss and for you to say that you couldn't have done it without me."
I ground my teeth at the amused look in his eyes. I leaned in to peck his cheek, but he turned his head at the last second, catching my lips against his. Just a small brush of lips.
"Bastard," I grumbled, pulling away, wiping my mouth.
He laughed like it was the funniest damn thing he had ever seen, and tossed my hair before walking away, leaving me with the tainted flour and still no idea what to do.
⋆···✦···⋆
Quill was bouncing on his heels like an excited child when I met him at his house an hour later. He gestured around the room excitedly.
"Please feel free to ask about anything. I am happy to show you how they work," he said, beaming like he was showing off his children.
"Cinder said you had a way to figure out what was causing the wheat to make people sick? How?" I asked skeptically.
He led me over to a strange machine perched on a makeshift desk. He picked up a small piece of glass and handed it to me.
"That is a slide, and this is a microscope," he said, acting like it was his prized possession.
"A what now?" I asked. raising an eyebrow.
"Basically, it is a tiny-thing interrogator."
"I still don't get it."
"You know. You put really small things on this glass here and slide it under these lenses, and it will make it aggressively large until it gives up its secrets."
"That sounds like torture," I said, frowning at him.
"For you? Yeah. You will see things you are really not ready for. You will never look at dust the same way again."
"And for the tiny things?"
"Oh, they hate it. Wiggling around all over the place, yanked into visibility with no warning. Absolutely bullied."
"I'm sorry? Your human technology bullies dust?"
"Exactly, now you get it!" he said, sliding the glass into place.
"I can assure you that I don't."
He waved me over, peering into the device, "Here, see for yourself."
I hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. He did it, and he seemed fine. I looked through the strange little lenses and saw what looked like long tube things wiggling all over the place.
I jerked back in surprise, nearly falling over. He caught me bracing my back, "It is alright, they can't hurt you. They are trapped in the glass."
"That is in the flour?" I gasped in horror.
"Those wiggly things are in a lot of stuff, but the tainted flour is crawling with them, and they are very aggressive. I think it is a living organism that is making people sick, bacteria."
I knew what bacteria were in general. That was why my mother had me wash my hands so much, but no one ever said exactly what it was.
"So now that we see it, what do we do?" I asked, still trying to process that tiny creatures were making everyone sick.
"Well, according to the human books we found, we introduce new things for the bacteria to eat until we find something to kill them. Humans used to have this medicine called antibiotics that they used to treat infections, which were also caused by these little guys."
"And you think we can get enough of that for everyone?" I asked, heart racing at the thought of being able to cure the infected so easily.
"Well, I hope so. We don't have a lot of time. Wolves are naturally immune to most of these creatures, so I never tried to make it before," he sighed and stood walking over to a strange metallic box.
I followed, curious, despite myself. I may not have liked seeing the little creatures in his microscope, but I couldn't deny that it was useful.
A wave of cool air brushed me as he pulled out a tiny glass vial of some kind of liquid. It didn't look like much; it could have passed for water. But he filled a single drop from the container and opened the slide, dropping it in.
"Take a look now," he said, and I obeyed, looking at the horrors once more.
The tiny creatures seemed to pop as the wave of liquid passed over them, dramatically expanding behind the glass.
"So they are dead now, did it work?" I asked excitedly.
"Yup, this stuff is extremely potent. I think we can cure people pretty well if we can make enough, but that is the problem. I am not sure how to make more. This is all I have."
"Well, how did you make this one?" I asked, picking up the tiny bottle and swirling the liquid around.
"You are going to think it is gross," he cautioned, face beet red.
"Don't worry about that, we need to know."
"Fine…" he grumbled, leading me into a side room where several loaves of bread sat in the dark, covered in mold.
"What the hell?" I asked, pinching my nose.
"I was playing around with the creatures in the glass, and I found this murder mold kills them. Then I found a book about medicine, and it said they were antibiotics."
He scooped up a piece of the mold on a stick and went back to the microscope, adding it to a fresh batch of the floor. "Look, see? Muder mold."
I looked and sure enough, the bacteria were dead again. I backed up and frowned at him. "I hate it, but I think you might have just saved us all."
He looked so happy that I decided to hold my tongue and not tell him I did, in fact, find it gross.
"Maybe people don't need to know how we made it."
"Oh, alright," he sighed, but agreed.
"How much can you make with what you have now?"
"Well, I got ten loaves; it takes a lot to make a really potent one, so maybe a few weeks."
"We don't have that much time," I frowned, tapping my chin, "Plus, we don't know if it is safe for wolves. What if it was only good for humans?"
He nodded gravely, "I think we should get some blood from the infected and see what happens."
"Alright," I agreed, turning to leave, but he held my arm.
"First, let's have dinner, you did say you would, and I got more to tell you about." He grinned at me, pleading with his eyes.
"Oh, right, I did, didn't I?" I said, curious what else could be in that chaotic brain of his. "Well, let's have dinner then."
He led me past room after room packed full of gizmos. I sat at a small counter watching as he turned on lights that were so bright I had to cover my eyes. They weren't gas lamps, but some kind of fire trapped in glass.
"What are those?" I asked, shielding my eyes, trying to see it through the glare.
"Lightbulbs, the humans had them all over, so much you couldn't see the stars at night," he said, rubbing his hands together, a huge grin on his face.
"I think I would rather see stars," I grumbled, blinking away the burn in my eyes.
"Honestly, me too, but I think they would make life a lot better," he said, pulling out bits and bobs, moving around his kitchen like an expert.
I was not a good cook; I preferred to just grab something quick and cheap or just roast something. It was too time-consuming to waste time on elaborate meals, not to mention expensive.
Quill seemed to like it a lot, humming to himself as he chopped and stirred. I watched him curiously, trying to be patient, but I felt guilty not actively working on something productive.
"Can I help?" I asked, reaching for a carrot and a knife.
"Nope," he said, scooting it out of my reach, "this is my gift to you."
"For what? You don't owe me a gift," I grumbled, resting my head on my chin.
"I disagree, you helped me the other day, remember," he said, pointing his spoon at me. "I pay back my debts. Besides, it is nice having someone to talk to who doesn't think I am a weirdo."
I didn't add that I did, in fact, think he was a weirdo. That seemed a bit cruel even for me. Instead, changing the subject, "You mentioned more medical knowledge, what was it?"
He pushed a rather large book my way.
I opened it frowning, "I can't read, not well anyway."
"Wait, what!" he asked, whirling on me, "How do you keep track of everything? Can you write?"
I shrugged, "Nope, can't do that either. I can do some, like I mark things with a certain symbol if they are similar, but mostly I just keep everything in my head."
His mouth hung open, eyes wide, dripping spoon forgotten at his side. It was starting to become a bit insulting. I tapped the book again, "What does it say?"
He opened and closed his mouth several times, then shook himself, "Uh, it talked about various diseases and treatments, I can read it to you sometime if you want. I could also teach you to read."
"You can just read it to me. I don't have time to learn," I said, sighing wistfully. I always wanted to learn, but no one had thought it important enough. I was a healer, not a scholar.
He turned back to his pot, looking slightly disappointed, "Well, if you change your mind, the offer stands."
"Alright, thanks," I said, but I had no intentions of taking him up on his offer.
Dinner was good, if not a bit awkward. He made a pretty decent soup. It had some sort of poultry and noodles in it, as well as a few vegetables that seemed to warm from the inside out.
We spoke little; Quill tried to start conversations, but they died off after a few sentences of polite small talk. After we ate, I got up feeling full and warm.
I had refused to take Cinder's offered clothes; it was a bad idea to take things for nothing. Gifts often came with hidden strings attached, and I wasn't willing to fall into his trap.
"I'd better get back, it is getting late," I said, stretching my entire body. I felt stiff after all the work.
Quill nodded gravely, cheeks slightly pink as he turned away. "I will let you know what else I find."
"Sounds good, and Quill," I said, stopping at the door. His head jerked up, meeting my eyes, "Thanks, really, you have been a lifesaver."
He stammered something incoherent as I closed the door gently behind me, trudging through the now falling snow, shivering like a leaf.
I stopped dead as I turned the corner. Someone was leaning against my door, huddled around a tiny figure. Brina looked up, tears spilling down her cheeks, "Please, please help me!"