Coughing, throwing up, rashes -- These were just the first of the symptoms. After the first 2 hours, new problems would show up; swelling in the mouth, eyes, and above the torso would be followed by the lungs cramping and the heart being ruptured. Within the first 5 hours, people died. The process happened so quickly that there was no known cure.

The disease was called Petrifying Rage for its swift killing. It swept the entire globe, as cases popped up in every continent in the known world. With over 65% of the population deceased, communication plummeted. At this point, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing because all of the media showed was gory and grotesque images of humanity being erased. The world was a gray and a dismal place.

James looked through teary eyes at the tiny village where he was located in Africa. It no longer held the smiling faces of village people. To think, just a few short months ago he was stationed at this village to administer basic immunization shots. As he thought about his co-worker, Ryan displaying symptoms of Pertrifying Rage, more and more tears poured down his face. He could no longer distinguish the tears from the sweat that had covered him.

Eventually, James wiped the wetness from his eyes and decided he would do anything he could to make the last of Ryan’s life enjoyable. James got up and ran to the tent where his friend was staying and peered in. It was too late, Ryan was gone.  Incensed, James fell to the ground and apologized to the corpse that was once his best friend. Ryan was dead and James didn’t even get to say good-bye.

Pitifully, James laid on the ground pounding it, thinking of Ryan, his mother, his wife, and most of all, his children. They had all passed due to the epidemic. Dirt covered his face, turning his normally blonde hair to brown.  His ragged clothes were tattered and torn, he hadn’t changed them since the disease started to spread. After a short while, however, he looked up and saw his family photo hanging on the wall, he imagined his little girl saying “Daddy, save the world for me.” He immediately felt inspired and decided that he would do everything in his power to save as many people as he could. Afterall, he had been the lead scientist at AM Memorial Hospital for the Disease Control Center.

Slowly getting up, James walked to his medical tent, got his notepad, gathered his tools, and began to brainstorm his ideas. As he worked, his thoughts slipped from the past to the future. His eyes cleared and hands steadied as he ferociously took notes in his notebook. James was determined.

After working hard, restless nights in his labs and not letting himself get carried away with anything else, he finally made something in which he believed was a cure. Now, he had to find something or someone to test it on. He was nervous to test his experimental drug on someone or something because if he failed, it would kill the subject. Just then, someone started banging on his tent door. It was a mother who was begging him to try the cure on her child but James refused in fear of killing the young boy.

James explained a countless number of times that one mistake would surely mean death to the child. Eventually, James reminded the family one last time about the dangers but they still insisted. So james rushed to his lab room, got the syringe, and gave the vaccine to the young boy.

James knew that the symptoms would be the same in the beginning whether the treatment worked or not. There would be the typical rash, then a sore throat, and then some mild side effects. The cure was only supposed to stop the major symptoms, as they were the only things that were life threatening. James stared intently at the patient as he waited for the symptoms to dissipate. Then as quickly as the symptoms appeared, they went away. The family cheered ecstatically.

As the family celebrated, the only thing on James’ mind was how to get the vaccines to other people. Then he hear the tiny boy’s voice ask, “What is that?” James looked to see what the curious child was pointing towards and only then did he realize the rash on his arm. At first, james thought that it wasn’t anything major. Just a rash from overworking. But then, he got a sore throat and the other symptoms fell in line. James finally realized that he had obtained the new disease and the only sample of his cure was used on the child.

He was pronounced dead 3 hours and 13 minutes later.