Death of Cold

Not more than two nights before Hallows Eve, the night of October 29, the air outdoors had become the coldest recorded in the history of the region. Although both regional and national weather bureaus had warned of a change and that all residents should prepare for a possible long spell, many citizens, and particularly the children and the elderly, had become afflicted. They lay in their beds as though paralyzed by the cold and their eyes seemed to stare upward into the space over their heads. But among the more peculiar and more visible symptoms, such as fever, shivering, hacking, sneezing and a loss of appetite, there were certain changes. Whenever a patient sneezed or coughed, he or she ejected a heavy green slime from his or her nose and mouth, and it occasionally oozed from the eyeballs and ears The fever peaked to almost the height of brain fever. The relatives of the afflicted were stunned and at loss for what to do; but they eventually summoned the local doctor to examine the afflicted and analyze the symptoms. He concluded his analysis by warning,
 "In fact, these symptoms are neither in my range of knowledge nor like any symptoms of influenza known on earth. I will need much time to conclude about them, which we may not have. If anyone is left unattended within the fortnight, he or she will die."

The examiner moved the afflicted residents to the local hospital, which naturally created a sizable stir. Whereas the wards were almost filled and there were few empty beds in Intensive Care, the nurses and ward attendants on duty had to provide for the incoming sick. The sight of these new patients added to the panic. Nonetheless, the doctors on duty that night, including the examiner, needed to study the case closely. The team of doctors assembled to assist the examiner agreed unanimously that there was something emphatically unearthly about the illness; but nobody on duty had a clue as to the cause of it or how the symptoms had degenerated to that extent.

The medical staff on duty in the hospital had more to contend with than the mass panic stirred by the incoming patients. One of the doctors had gone online in the radio room to warn both visitors and personnel to safeguard against infection by wearing masks or handkerchiefs over their faces, and promised to dispense a tested antibiotic to all in due time. The uninfected were warned against visiting the wards holding the new patients. But, despite all normal precautions, the heaters throughout the premises of the hospital began to break down from unknown cause. Within one hour after after the panic had got under control, the air indoors was frosty cold. Everyone doubled apparel to stay warm and they donned scarves, mufflers around their faces and throats too.

In the wards holding the afflicted patients, a spell of symptoms erupted as previously described.  The ward boy doing rounds at that time dreaded to look into those wards. Furthermore, he was certain that  many of the yet uninfected patients had become infected. A nurse and a doctor accompanied him inside to examine all patients. After almost thirty minutes, the ward boy re-emerged in shock and reported fearfully that most of the formerly uninfected patients in Ward Fifteen B were infected and exhibiting symptoms. 

Both within and without the local hospital, the temperature of the air slowly continued to drop. The local mechanical engineer attempted to fix the hospital's heating system but he needed extra hands. He tried to telephone his office to summon help. Scarcely anyone around his office was available to answer his call; but, almost ten minutes later, someone reached the telephone and agreed to summon extra help. Meanwhile, he visitors and patients continued to endure, along with a few of the afflicted staff on duty. The recently interned patients had attained critical level and the patients who had been infected continued to exhibit the same symptoms.  When help finally arrived, casualties of the sickness had totaled almost thirty and the number of critical patients was almost fifteen.