Once Bitten: Twice Mad

Chapter Five

Ox smiled proudly and sat up a little straighter. Almost a week ago his pa had gotten a shipment of elixir in from up north. The box had come all the way from New York City according to the label and it had been a medicine. An elixir guaranteed to keep you from ever getting another cold, fever or illness again in your life.

Ox hadn't taken it because he'd never been sick a day in his life and hadn't figured he needed it and he knew that Evangeline hadn't taken it either. She'd refused just for spite since she was angry at their ma and pa, but right now Ox was glad she'd been childish. He sure would hate to see his sister looking like his pa and the hands looked right now. He and Evangeline were the only people, out of the twenty that lived at or worked on their plantation, that hadn't taken the elixir. Ox wondered if everybody was this sick come today? Was that why only these men had been willing to even get out of their beds this morning.. maybe they were the healthier ones. Ox chewed on the inside of his cheek hoping he was wrong. That wouldn't be good at all.

"Pa, maybe you should go see the doc." Ox offered as they rode onto the first dusty streets on the outskirts of Hagatha. Hagatha was a booming town at the center but the outskirts were all rickety buildings and dirt streets full of holes that jarred the cart Ox and his pa were riding in.

"I..I might..." Ox's head turned quickly toward his pa when the man began to stutter and then Ox nearly screamed when his pa began to shake violently. The reins fell from his hands and Ox was quick to grab them as his pa convulsed on the seat beside him.

Thuds around Ox had him realizing that the ranch hands had all begun to do the same thing as his pa and they had fallen from their horses.

"Pa!" Ox called when the man's face began to turn blue and it became clear that he wasn't breathing. He was just shaking, drool pouring from his mouth.

Ox cried out and then urged the horses into a gallop. The cart jarring and jumping along the bumpy dirt road. Ox held on to his father's jacket to keep the man from falling from the cart and he shouted for people to get out of the way as he raced down the streets and then turned onto the brick main street, nearly toppling the fast moving cart as it went up on two wheels.

He yanked up on the reins bringing the horses to a stop outside the docs and yelled for the old man as he jumped from the cart and pulled his pa down into his arms. His pa was convulsing so hard in his arms that it was hard to hold him, but luckily Ox was big enough to simply clutch the sick man to his chest.

He burst into the docs, causing the doc's wife who had apparently been filling the tea cups on a tray in the sitting room, to scream and drop her tea kettle, shattering it and sending pink and white ceramic shards scattering across the polished wood floor.

"Help my pa....!" Ox begged, tears filling his eyes and emotions clogging his throat as his pa continued to shudder in his arms. His pa's eyes had rolled back in his head, leaving nothing but white visible as he shook and his swollen tongue hung from his mouth.

"Vernon!" Clarice screamed and her husband came running into the room on his aging legs and gaped at the sight of Augustus in Ox's arms.

"Bring him in here and lay him down!" Vernon ordered, leading Ox into the bedroom he used for treating patients. Ox laid his father down on the bed, his father's body thrashing violently as his fingernails dug into his clenched hands so tightly that blood began to drip from his palms.

"What's wrong with my pa? Help him please!" Ox begged, ripping off his hat and clutching it tightly in his fists. Vernon pointed at the door.

"Get out. Go sit with Clarice." He ordered. Ox wanted to argue but Clarice grabbed his arm and tugged and he was too scared to fight her. His boots dragged on the floor as he made his way to a tiny arm chair and Clarice closed the door to the patient room.