SIXTEEN
This was not the end of the story. It could, in fact, have ended in any number of ways.
It was quite possible that Ebola would have its fill, or be struck by a sudden crisis of conscience and release its suffering victims. It had shown mercy to some in the past, granting them a humiliating but inauthentic deathbed awakening, before delivering them back to their wretched lives. The people were used to their miserable existence, and had been rather fond of it, before that unwelcome visitor had arrived in the libertine blood of a certain textile worker. Perhaps the misery of August would pass and by December the place would be clean again, despite the heat and humidity.
Perhaps the rescue team would return with the means to sanitise Ebola’s breeding ground, forcing it to flee to so
