Black death

redblood

Anxious Tomato Will Bite You!
Original poster
MYTHICAL MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per day
  2. One post per day
  3. 1-3 posts per week
  4. One post per week
  5. Slow As Molasses
Online Availability
Afternoons, evenings and nights.
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
  3. Advanced
  4. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
Genres
Historical, fantasy, magic, horror, supernatural, survival, vampires, demons, pirates, mutants, ghosts, romance (FxF, MxM, MxF) (Romance should be part of the plot and not the whole plot in itself), etc.
It is the end of 1348 and the plague has come to England, people are dying all around the country in a sickness that tortures them to death. It starts out with headache followed by a fever, within a day or two hard swellings starts to appear on the body. Just a short while after they appear they turn black and split open, blood and pus starts to ooze out from the black swelling on the body that can become as big as an apple. Some lucky few would survive this horrorful torture but the most people passed away.

People were laying dead all over the streets and some few men were putting the dead bodies on trolleys and took the bodies away from the town. Eve didn’t know if they would take the bodies to a graveyard to bury them or if they would just take them out of town to throw them away in a trench close by. The only important were to get the bodies away from town as fast as possible so that they wouldn't lie around there and rot.

Eve started to feel sick from the smell in this new town they just had entered, she and her companion had been walking for weeks and tried to stay away form the bigger cities as much as they could. Actually the only one that stayed away from the cities were her, but her companion had stayed with her for some weeks and hadn’t minded that they avoided all big cities. She had told her companion that it mostly were to avoid the sickness even though that was a lie. Eve didn’t fear the sickness as the other people did, if God wanted to kill her then he could do it whenever but she wouldn’t let them burn her to death for something she hadn’t done.

It was just some month ago, a man had proposed to her many times but she had told him that she weren’t interested in him. If her father hadn’t died in the sickness then he would probably have made her marry the man, but because he were dead her brother got to decide and he wanted her to choose herself what she wanted to do. But that man wouldn’t accept a no for an answer, just one day later some men knocked on her door and told her that she needed to come with her. She asked them why but they didn’t tell her. They took her to the man that had proposed to her and left them alone, he told her that if he wouldn’t marry her then he would tell everyone that she were a witch and had spread the sickness. Because of his status everyone would believe him and she would get burned to death or maybe even beheaded before her body got burned.

She still didn’t agree to marry him and he held his promise to accuse her for being a witch, she got locked up and as she waited for her death sentence the man came many times to offer to help her if she just did as he said. Eve rejected the man everytime, she wouldn’t be someones property just to save her own life. The man was certain that she would give in just before the execution and he could save her anytime before the fire had started to burn her. But the night before the execution Eve’s brother sneaked in to the jail she were locked up in and helped her escape. They were able to catch her brother and he were put in jail because he helped the witch. If he were killed or not were unknown for Eve, she could only hope God were merciful enough to save her brother.

Since then she have been on the run, both from that man and from the sickness that they say is her fault. Just some weeks ago she were able to find a companion that she now travels with, she haven’t told her companion anything about what happened to her and hopes that she never will need to do so. They have both heard that the sickness isn’t higher up in the country so they are trying to find a place were the sickness haven’t gotten to, but litle do they know that the sickness will spread threw all of England in just a few month.

Eve was disappointed that even though they had walked so far up in the country they still just came to cities that were devistated by the sickness, some people didn’t dare to open the door for anyone because they were afraid of letting the sickness in to their house. Some people just walked around outside and hoped their faith in God was strong enough for them to survive. Eve herself prayed every night, day and morning, even in her sleep she prayed, both for herself and her family. Were anyone in her family still alive? She would probably never know, because she would never be able to go back home, not if she wanted to survive.


“Exactly the same as the other one” She commented mostly to herself, this was the third town she had been in since she met her companion and still just death as far as they went. It was the eleventh town she had been in since she started to travel, everyone had been filled with nothing else but death. Eve had cried in many of the places she had been in because of the scene she had seen, but now she were to used to it to even feel anything from it. Maybe that feeling were wrong and a crime towards God but if she always cried over death then she wouldn’t get anywhere in this hard time, she just prayed that God would forgive her for her coldness.

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As she is out traveling she is wearing men clothing because it's easier to walk in and has a brown hood over her clothes
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Sludging through the mud in thick-soled boots, Silas Archer- more commonly know as just plain 'Archer'- studied the town before him; he watched the people bustling to and fro in a great hurry to rid themselves of the corpses. Corpses that were spread out across the street, starting to stink as they rotted but with black swellings still oozing the acrid pus.

He noticed with sardonic interest that most if not all the corpses had a look of surprise upon their faces as though asking a higher being- God, prehaps- why they deserved a death such as this? Archer himself had stopped questioning the reasons for death and had developed a cold disentachment to it. He had seen so many die already so what was a few more? The only death he really feared was his own. He was not a vain man, far from it, but he did not like to think what was waiting for him in the afterlife awaiting to punish him for his countless sins. His father no doubt, waiting with a belt to strike him with. This caused Archer's lips to quirk upwards in a slight smile as he thought of the lecture and beating he would get from his strict yet fair father- now dead- for how he had led his life.

Talking of his life brought Archer away from his thoughts and back to the present moment. His gaze fixated on his companion. He didn't know much about her, only her name and a few other useless facts but she had been good enough company so far. He wondered sometimes at her history for she seemed to act the role of a Lady but why would a lady be wandering about the country as she was? He didn't care if she chose not to tell him, that was fine with him, after all, he hadn't told her much of his past and she hadn't pried. He had also noted the way she seemed to veer clear of cities and larger towns when she could but he hadn't bothered to ask her about that either, she didn't want to tell him so that was fine with him too.

He looked at the buildings, many with closed doors and wondred at the families huddled behind them far from the doors as they could be, mothers clutching their children close as though to protect them from death's knock while the men ventured outside for food.
Speaking of food, he thought silently, they were running low on supplies themselves. he could hunt well enough but since the disease animals had made themselves scare. The disease had spread so far and so quickly that Archer wasn't sure when they would reach a habitable place.

"Exactly the same as the other," his companion commented at his side. He supposed she was thinking of the other towns she had seen where the rotting bodies were scattered almost carelessly across the streets. He had become so used to it he had taught himself to block it all out. It seemed Eva had managed to do the same too.
For a moment he contemplated whether to help the people move the bodies but no, it wass not his business and it would be getting too peronsal for his liking.
"It looks like it's not going to stop spreading," he said to her, "and it's getting worse."
Not only was the death count continually rising but the fear stank more than the stench of decay.

 
He were right, it didn't seem like it would stop spreading anytime soon. How could God let this happen? So many lives, so many families that had been destroyed. What was the plan with all this suffering? Had the devil become so strong that God couldn't do anything to help his people? No, there must be a purpose for all of the suffering that had happened, soon it would all be over, God would help them in all the ways he could. As long as they didn't waver in their faith towards the lord, then the sickness wouldn't harm them. He would protect everyone that believed enough.

"I wonder what the lord have planned for us, when will this madness stop?" She held tight to the cross she had attached to her necklace as she talked to herself. She didn't want to doubt God but sometimes even her belief wavered for a second.

Eve noticed that it came smoke a bit away from the town, too much to be a camp fire. They were probably burning something, maybe it was the dead bodies, maybe it was Jews. She had heard rumors about Jews, they had poisoned the wells so that people would become sick. That's why some people and some towns treated them in the exact same manner as they would treat a witch if they found one. If they found her. That could be her one day. She could only imagine how the flames slowly tortured her to death while she screamed for help without anyone moving a finger to do something.

"We should probably find a place to stay for the night, now when we have come into a town we should probably try to sleep in a real bed." Eve suggested, but she knew that it wouldn't be easy. Everyone were afraid, especially for people that they didn't know because they had no idea if they had the sickness or if they were a witch that spread the sickness. It would be hard to find a place to stay, it could take hours and maybe they still wouldn't find someone that dared to take them in. The more infected a town were the less people would dare to let strangers inside their homes.

A cough made Eve turn her head just slightly, just to see everyone backing away from a woman that had coughed. It always started with a cough, then it would turn into a fever and not too long afterwards they would die. Eve remembered every time she had coughed, she got afraid and almost thought God had abandoned her, she thought that she were going to die. But she never got sick, even though she had been around so many sick people. Sometimes she thought that she actually were a witch, maybe she spread the sickness without knowing it. No, it was impossible.

All she could do were pray for the woman, hope that she wouldn't become sick like the others. She turned her concentration back to Archer, trying to escape the scene before them, the memories in her head and the horrible future she imagined.
 
Archer took back his previous thought about Eva blocking the sickening deaths out; it affected her alright, but it seemed she was an expert at hiding it.
HIs eyes noticed the way she clutched her cross and he had to swallow back a snort. God- if there could be a God after all this- obviously did not care enough to help. Archer had long ago lost his faith in the diety and now belived that if there was one he was a contemptuous, well, ass. God could not be so benvelont if he allowed this to happen. Some might say that if was the Devil but had God not overthrown Lucifer once already- wh ycould he not do it again to save those he had created and apparently cherished?

He kept silent. Thinking of the past caused a heavy weight to press down on his shoulders and bile to rise in his throat yet his gut felt empty. A flash of a woman lying on the floor with blood dripping from the corner of her mouth, eyes vacant and a long delicate arm reaching out, in death and despite the stench of burnt flesh still beautiful, flashed through his mind. Pushing it away, Archer turned back to the matters at hand.

"We should ask if there is a inn," Archer said, thinking that was if the owners were not corpses. He felt his purse, musing that he might need to find some things to trade for more coin. He was running low and it was always best to have enough to bribe someone or to pay for accomodation.
If the inn keepers were still alive they would probably be glad of guests as hardly any stayed in strange houses anymore unless urgent. If they weren't alive it would be a hard task trying to find a place for the night. Trust was spread thin these days.

He had taken a step towards a man scurrying past when a cough caught his attention. By the time he turned to look at her she was alone, people straining to get away from her. Her face was drawn- blank-, realising she coould not escape but her eyes shined with tears and Archer felt a slight tug of sympathy. One look at Eva showed sympathy reflected in her eyes.
For a monent or two he debated whether to turn away from this town and carry on their way but he was tired and needed sleep. Besides, he had already breathed in the air the sick had breathed out into. It didn't matter now, even if he walked away he still was at risk of catching the disease. At least he had realised this even if those here still refused to acknowledge that fact.

"Let's find a place then," he reached out to grasp Eva's arm and steered her furhter into the town, not because she didn't know her way or was reluctant to go but because he felt the rare need for comfort.
 
Eve got a bit surprised when Archer took her arm and started to steer her into the town. In this world people tried to stay as far away from each other as possible so that they would not contract the disease, but now he were holding her arm. They had been traveling together for a while so it wasn't that weird that they started to get closer. But people didn't even want to look at their family members anymore, they didn't want to be close to their lovers anymore, they didn't want the disease that God or the devil had brought upon them.

Eve didn't mind the closeness though, she actually liked it. She wished she could feel her fathers hand again, but she would never be able to. She wished she could see her brother again, but it would probably take a long time before she could see him again if she ever would. For the moment she had to accept the little comfort she could get, even a strangers touch would help her from going insane in this wicked era.

Everywhere they went they could see scared people looking at them. No one liked people that didn't come from town, it was like that in every town. They could never know if people from the outside had the sickness or not, if they hadn't then they would probably get it soon so it was better not to talk with the outsiders that soon would die anyway. After some times walking Eve saw a sign over a door, it was a inn sign. Pretty old and half of the words weren't even visible but it was clearly a inn sign. "We should try that place." Eve suggested. Even though it didn't look like a good place, if someone were alive in there then it would be better than nothing.

Eve released herself from Archers hand and knocked on the door, it didn't take long before they could hear a man coughing from inside. It didn't really sound like a cough from someone that was sick, it sounded more like it was an old person. And when the door were opened her suspicions were proven to be correct. It was a old man, he didn't look sick just a bit pale, it wasn't that uncommon among old people. He looked at them as if he had seen a spirit for the first time. He probably hadn't had any guests for a long time since not many people traveled during such a hard times.

"Do you have a room to rent us?" She asked the man to get him out of his shocked state. "We have walked a long way and are in need of some rest." She then told him, for the most during these kind of times people often asked to see the money before letting people in because many people didn't have money but this man didn't. He probably didn't care if he got payed or not, he seemed to be happy that someone came at all.

"Yes of course, come in. All rooms are available at the moment, I think you can guess why. We can't give you any food though, because of the poor income during the latest months since the sickness came we can't afford the food for the customers." He told them with a tired wheezy voice. His age would probably kill him before the sickness got him, he were so thin, he probably hadn't been able to eat much because of the money problems.