Kain thought that things were finally looking up.
He had just finished his third year of college after having taken the previous year off due to his entire family, both of his parents and paternal grandmother, passing away in a car accident as they drove down to visit him.
He took a year off to grieve, but that was all he could allow himself.
It hurt to say, but he was an orphan now, and he had nobody to rely on but himself.
Therefore, he needed to make something of himself, not only for the income but also to make his deceased loved ones proud.
He worked his ass off the past year and achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA.
Thankfully, one of his professors noticed his hard work and hired him as a research assistant for this summer.
This professor happened to be one of the most famous in his field, infectious diseases, and so working with him could be a huge boost to his resume.
'I can practically have my pick of graduate or medical programs with a reference from him…'
Furthermore, Kain was getting PAID to travel with his professor to Brazil.
Some outbreak of some unknown disease had occurred there, and so his professor was asked to see if he could identify the disease and possibly come up with a treatment.
Of course, as an undergraduate student, Kain wouldn't be of much help.
He was practically going there just to fetch his boss drinks, take notes, and organize samples. The rest of his free time he could use to check out the beaches.
"Ahhh Brazil…the land of supermodels," Kain thought in anticipation.
They had just arrived at the airport and he had already spotted several women at the level of a Victoria's Secret runway model.
'This may just be the best summer ever. And after what I went through I more than deserve it…'
However, first he had to do some work.
After being picked up from the airport they were driven to a remote village surrounded by trees.
Strangely, the village looked kind of new.
"This is a temporary village they set up out of the city to quarantine all of the infected identified." A local translator explained to them.
His professor nodded, "Smart choice. Currently, this illness has a 100% death rate. Are there still no clues as to what it might be? Virus? Bacteria? Maybe even a Prion?"
One of the local doctors looked embarrassed, "No clue. Which is why we are so grateful to have you here Dr. Blackwell."
"Here will be your accommodations." The translator said while walking them towards a two-bedroom shack
'Not quite what I imagined as my living conditions for this trip. But I guess it'd do. At least everything is clean and all of the furniture and appliances even look new'
The local doctor and translator were still there once they had finished putting away their bags in their respective rooms.
The doctor spoke anxiously, "I know you must be incredibly tired from the long plane ride over, Doctor, but is there any chance you could begin looking at the patients from today? After all every second we delay may be the difference between life and death for one of our citizens"
'Well if you put it like that…'
They both nodded in understanding and followed the two men to what looked like a military tent with medical personnel covered from head to toe running in and out of it.
Inside were dozens of hospital beds with groaning patients.
'Ugh…it smells like death in here. I see why they treat them where they have access to fresh air'
Kain tried his best to maintain his facial expressions so as not to offend any of the patients.
His professor on the other hand immediately put on a fresh hazmat suit before marching over with no hesitation to one of the patients.
As Kain was not essential personnel and shouldn't be directly interacting with the patients, he did not have access to one of the limited hazmat suits. He had to make do with a lab coat, gloves, and mask.
Splat
Suddenly a loud exclamation came out of his professor before several medical staff rushed over to the patient he was examining.
In front of Kain was a bright yellow dotted line that only those in suits could pass. Therefore, he stood on the tips of his toes to get a better look at the patient.
Kain could see a brown and black blob lying on the patient's lap.
When he looked at the patient's face he realized what it was—his nose.
His nose had rotted and fallen off of his face.
'What the f-'
"Aahhh!!" the patient screamed in pain as the medical staff attempted to clean the gaping hole in the middle of his face.
'Flesh-eating disease…although not uncommon, it's not an unheard of disease. They shouldn't have had to fly us out for that'
Kain continued to watch for clues.
As the patient thrashed about in pain, his gown opened to reveal large black bulges all over his skin.
'The Bubonic Plague?' Kain thought feeling as though he was transported to a medieval-themed hell.
Then, the bedsheet on the patient's lap fell to the ground as he thrashed about revealing his deformed legs. 'Elephantiasis?'
Kain looked around in horror as he backed away towards the entrance of the tent.
'What the hell is this thing?! It's like some mad scientist decided to combine the most horrifying diseases mankind has ever experienced into some kind of freak-disease'
The patient's eyes quickly clouded over into white before he fell back and began to have a seizure on the bed. The staff held him down to prevent him falling to the floor.
'I need to get out of here…' Kain felt as though he was going to throw up.
As he rushed out he bumped into an entering nurse who happened to cough on him at that very moment.
'Ugh… Forget beaches. Forget Supermodels. I want to go home right now'
Unfortunately, his wish was never granted. Kain's body, or at least the ashes it was burnt into, never left Brazil.