Silent Hill fic: Outbreak - Chapter 17: Epidemiological Report (concluded) [fic complete]

[mistressofmuses]

In chapter 17: Anna completes her epidemiological report. Symptoms are "miraculously" in remission for the remaining patients... so why doesn't it feel like everything is over?

Anna Garcia’s Epidemiological report on unknown illness (concluded)

Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Official death toll: 57

This was the first day since September 11 that there were no additional fatalities attributed to the illness.

Naturally, testing continued on those who were hospitalized. No symptoms even escalated, instead it seemed that those who were infected remained stuck in a holding pattern of sorts. The tests became almost more frantic because of this, trying to isolate what had changed to halt the disease’s progression, though it was little surprise when nothing new was discovered.

Thursday, September 29, 2016
Official death toll: 57

In what was described as a “miracle” by many, there was a sudden remission of symptoms in most patients. DIC began to disappear, even from those who had been suffering the worst effects, blood flow and clotting patterns returning to normal. Patients who had been receiving respiratory assistance, in some cases for weeks, were suddenly able to breathe on their own. Skin lesions began to heal.

Testing continued, though samples taken after symptoms began to resolve and samples taken during the height of illness revealed no discernible differences.

Friday, September 30, 2016
Official death toll: 57

Improvements continued across the board for patients, with pain levels decreasing, and gains made in almost every possible measure of health.

There were some murmurings of this proving somehow that this had been a case of mass hysteria, though I personally do not credit those suggestions in the slightest. While so-called “mass hysteria” is suspected as a culprit of many bizarre cases throughout history, and while I recognize the power that the human brain has over the body… I simply do not believe that there is any way that an illness of this severity, which affected so many people in so many ways, can be attributed to collective delusion.

Others suggested that the sudden recovery was a miracle from God.

If God was present in the remission of a disease, why isn’t God blamed for its existence in the first place? Would we not then say that God wanted the disease itself to happen?

I heard at least one nurse mention that those who had died were “sacrificed” and God had now decided to spare the rest of the town. I didn’t confront the nurse—it’s not my place to reprimand hospital staff—but I would strongly suggest that Alchemilla discuss with staff the importance of watching what they say. That kind of statement, if overheard by someone whose loved one had died, could be taken as very cruel.

It puts me in mind of what Rebecca Shelredge’s (alleged) emails said she witnessed.

Saturday, October 01, 2016
Official death toll: 57

The quarantine was not yet lifted, and patients were kept for continuing care. While symptoms were improving, there was still a need for treatment of the lingering effects, such as wound care and hydration support.

I spoke to Alma Shorey about the nurse who’d spoken of those who died as being “sacrifices.” I framed my concern to emphasize that this would be inappropriate, if overheard by a relative or friend of one of the victims. It could even give the appearance of some deaths being somehow deliberate.

She told me that there are some folk in the town who may have taken something a bit more literally than she should have. She’s apparently a minister (Priest? Reverend? I’m afraid I failed to ask her specific denomination) at a church in the town. She said that she had spoken several times in the previous weeks about the necessity of self-sacrifice in times of hardship, and of trusting God. That God may take victims, and that death should be treated as an honor rather than something to fear. Of course, she assured me, she did not mean literal sacrifice; she merely meant it to be a comforting reminder of God’s plan, and she would speak with her congregation about proper interpretations and appropriate audiences for certain comments.

She invited me to attend church with her the following day. They would welcome me, she said, and I could try to understand their perspective on this illness, and what it meant, both spiritually and for the town as a whole.

I told her I would think about it.

In the interests of the broadest possible research, it would benefit me to do so, disturbing talk of “sacrifices” aside. I’d like to believe that Rebecca Shelredge misunderstood what she claimed to have overheard, and perhaps this would provide some closure regarding that.

I went back to the historical society. I’d hoped to speak to Tabitha again, to see if she could find anything more about the 1916 outbreak. I had begun to wonder if it had resolved as suddenly as this one had. How many had grown ill? I knew 67 had died, as the monument stated, but how many had been sick and required treatment at some point?

Sadly, no one was there, and there was no indication of when it might open again. I suppose it’s not surprising for a small town’s historical society, but there were no regular hours posted. Calling the listed phone number just reached a phone in the office itself. I could hear it ringing.

I searched online for any references to the 1916 illness, and even visited Silent Hill’s public library in the hopes of accessing more back-issues of the newspaper from that time period. Unfortunately, the librarian told me, it’s their policy to only keep microfilm records up to 50 years back. Anything older was given to the historical society. Of course.

Unable to check anything further there, I spent more time looking over the notes that I do have.

I even gave more thought to the idea of illness as sacrifice. Whether more literal, as the nurse’s statement implied, or metaphorical as Alma claimed it was intended. The idea of a certain number being taken, and the rest being spared in return. While I have a very hard time crediting that as an actual occurrence, it can be important to acknowledge these views from an epidemiological perspective. I can understand why and how people would want to believe it as true.

In many cases it has proven dangerous to the population as a whole when religious faith is so strong that it supersedes medical intervention, as we see with those who insist on not treating illnesses, preferring only to pray, assuming that their god or gods will determine whether a victim dies or is healed.

I wonder how prevalent the belief espoused by the nurse may be within Silent Hill. I also wonder if it’s possible it could create a sort of placebo effect. The placebo effect is in some ways related to the idea of “mass hysteria” or other psychosomatic conditions as a diagnosis: all deal with a “mind over body” scenario, where a patient’s belief creates actual, physical change. The relief provided by the placebo effect is real to the people who experience it, even if there is no physical mechanism to explain that relief.

If enough people were convinced that a specific number of deaths were a required sacrifice, when that number was reached, would it somehow convince the remaining patients that they were now safe, and no longer at risk? Could that effect be strong enough to create something like this apparently spontaneous remission?

Sunday, October 02, 2016
Official death toll: 57

The quarantine on Alchemilla was lifted. With no new information to explain the improvements in patients, I’m of the opinion that this was premature, but hopefully I’m simply overcautious.

The healthiest patients were cleared to go home, though under extremely strict orders regarding follow-up appointments. Others were kept for continued care, though they began to give time estimates for how long individuals would need to remain, with all but the most severe cases given tentative releases within 72 hours.

The historical society was still closed. My calls were not returned.

I’m not sure why I did it…

The police were still extremely cooperative regarding my investigation, and they let me view the evidence from the Kyle Ericson and Andrew Flynn disappearance case again. I just told them I had a few more things to check. In reality there was only one thing I was interested in, though I did spend some time looking over all of the evidence.

The crime scene photos of the shoreline, of the ruined campsite. The photo prints pulled from the recovered phones, showing the things they found on the island, and of the oppressive fog. I still strongly believe this was where the illness began.

100 years ago the bodies of 67 victims were cast into this lake. Two young men discovered bone fragments, with the photographic evidence indicative of them being human remains, though the bones themselves were never recovered.

100 is a powerful number in many cultures. The idea of something repeating every 100 years could be a powerful one.

Would this illness have come about if Kyle and Andrew had not gone to the island? Or would it merely have begun some other way: with a contaminated fishing haul, or something washed up on the shore near town? Or were the young men drawn there, because it was inevitable, and someone needed to find something to bridge that 100-year gap, the old victims and the new?

The police didn’t even insist that someone remain with me in the room while I reviewed the material. I wonder if I was on camera? I wonder what I will say, what excuse I will give, if I was?

It didn’t seem right to truly polish the bracelet, so it’s still tarnished. But I did clean it of the little remaining sand and dirt. The engraving is visible enough. “William” “1915” “Elizabeth”. The only two victims of the 1916 illness to have been mentioned by name in the article about the monument.

“...The once-prominent socialites have all but disappeared from the public eye after their only daughter, Elizabeth Moreland, was claimed by the disease, along with her new husband, William Moreland.

The memorial stands in Rosewater Park, along the southern edge of Toluca Lake, overlooking the resting place of the departed.”

So easy to slip into a pocket, not missed when I returned the rest of the evidence to a helpful detective.

I’ve been wondering about the cough I’ve developed. I called Alma Shorey at the phone number she had provided, and told her that I wasn’t feeling well as an excuse not to attend her evening church service.

She told me that it was all the more reason I should attend; they would pray for me, so that I could find comfort knowing God had plans for all, even through suffering and hardship.

I politely declined. She promised that she would have the congregation pray for me anyway.

Monday, October 03, 2016
Official death toll: 57

The cough has grown worse, prayer or no prayer.

Though oddly, I dreamed of attending a church, though it was an odd, underground stone structure, hung with tapestries. The air was thick with incense that looked like the fog from Kyle and Andrew’s pictures. I felt an oddly disconnected euphoria in the dream, breathing in the smoke. I can’t remember most of what was said. I remember being told, “Most beloved are the martyrs and the sacrifices, those chosen by God.” I don’t recall ever hearing anything quite like that, even as a child attending church with my family.

It’s odd, what the brain will conjure up when under stress.

I keep picking up the bracelet, from where it’s been sitting on the scarred hotel desk. I don’t feel the urge to put it on, just to… touch it. Hold it.

I wonder if Kyle felt the same after he found it on the island? I wonder if he knew just how much of a bridge it was, at the time? He’d hoped it tied to a missing boat, and yet it tied to lives lost in a very different manner.

How many sleep beneath the lake? More than just the 67, it seems.

But if a certain number of victims was required as a sacrifice made to or by way of this illness in order to keep the rest of the town’s inhabitants safe… then why would the number change?

We know that there were 67 who died in 1916. The illness claimed 57 this year. Why the discrepancy? Is it claiming 10 fewer souls each time, so that in 2116, only 47 will be required? I don’t believe so.

I believe the same number of sacrifices would be taken each time, appeasing whatever “God” this town believes in.

57 have died… as recorded deaths attributed to the illness itself.

But haven’t there been more?

Kyle Ericson (22) and Andrew Flynn (22), lost and never found on an island on Toluca Lake.

Marcus Clipsen (25), killed by his friend in a bout of paranoia that was later found to be a symptom of the disease.

Caroline Price (33), Keely Price (12), and Julian Price (08), killed by their husband and father, who was suffering his own paranoia, claiming to be protecting the family he murdered.

Lillian Harris (29), a nurse killed by a patient.

Rebecca Shelredge (27), another nurse, infected at the time, but killed on duty, allegedly also by a patient, though the mysteriously nonfunctional security cameras mean we’ll never have conclusive proof.

Jeremy Vick (43), who died in his own home, after having barricaded himself inside. He appeared to have also been infected prior to taking his own life.

Actual death toll: 66

66 have died, in ways at least tangentially related to the illness. Only one more is needed to ensure everyone else will be spared.

The spots on my arms appeared mid-morning, but have spread so quickly that I can almost watch it happen. They ache. My cough has grown worse as well, and has brought up blood in the last hour.

I believe it’s time for me to visit the island. I’ll take the bracelet with me, a sad relic of a young couple’s deaths 100 years ago. I still mourn the deaths of another young couple, even realizing I barely knew either of them.

I have done the best I could to compile all of my notes and research on this illness. I hope that it provides some insight, even if I can offer nothing conclusive. I believe that once I arrive on that island, those who remain ill in the hospital will be sent home, likely experiencing more “miraculous” improvements.

It is terribly unlikely that this will be remembered 100 years from now, though it is my hope that perhaps someone will find it, as they inevitably seek to discover if an untraceable, undetectable illness has ever occurred before on the shores of Toluca Lake.

Anna Garcia
October 2016

[Note: A bracelet that had been tagged as evidence with the Silent Hill Police Department was found to be missing, last known to have been in the possession of Anna Garcia at the police station. It appears she confesses in her writing to having stolen it, though it was not found among the belongings that had been left in her hotel room. She seemed to take nothing else with her; her laptop, cell phone, wallet, and all other personal effects were abandoned.

Anna Garcia herself was last seen on October 03, 2016, though her disappearance was not discovered until October 05, 2016, when her employer was unable to contact her for an update on the situation she was investigating.

On October 04, all remaining patients that had been receiving care for the unknown illness at Alchemilla Hospital were released. No further cases of the illness have been reported, and those who had been sick have made relatively full physical recoveries.

A new multi-day search was conducted on the island described in Anna Garcia’s notes, the same one where it is suspected Kyle Ericson and Andrew Flynn went missing, but no evidence of them, or of Anna, has ever been found.

It is the opinion of the supervisors responsible for Ms. Garcia that she may have been infected with this illness and been asymptomatic, suffering in her final days the paranoid delusions found to be indicative of previously-asymptomatic infection.

As such, the veracity of her report is unfortunately thrown into question, although the parts directly supported by external documentation seem valid. Unfortunately, it is impossible to say how many of her conclusions may have been the product of an illness already affecting her mind and perception.

After much thought, we have approved the document for release as a teaching tool. It should not be taken as a completely true account of the still-mysterious illness that affected the town of Silent Hill in the fall of 2016. However, it can be of use to those studying epidemiology and even ethnography, wishing to see the ways in which the researcher’s state of mind and personal biases can impact the research they do.]

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