After the sudden outbreak of a lethal disease titled Carsania, everyone in the west has been living in campsites as the town isn't fit for anyone. No one's aware of where and how the disease came about but one thing's for sure: once you have it, you're already dead.

It takes about four days -five if you are unlucky- before one dies and those days are full of endless suffering. Doctors have claimed that this disease may be the worst homo sapiens have ever been infected with.

The first day, an infected human is itchy everywhere -including eyeballs. The second day, the person has huge red bumps all over their being, each of which provides an agonising sting. On the third day, the itch returns and the bumps remain. The fourth day, the bumps are gone as well as the itch, however, the human's skin becomes bright blue -despite the original race of the sapien- and the person begins to crave human meat. Their teeth become sharper and stronger than swords, being able to cut through bone in one bite. Their eyes and mouth become completely black, without a hint of white, and hair falls off. By the end of the fourth day, the human is dead or if they exceed the fourth to the fifth, they pass on during the day.

Doctors say that pharmacologists all over the globe have begun to test out possible medicines to heal the disease. However, how many people would they have to sacrifice to make one and how many people would have to die before they finally find a cure. No one's sure especially since the source of the disease is still unknown.

"Danica!" Chris yelled as he approached the younger girl. She sighed before averting her gaze from the notebook she wrote in, to him. He smiled, taking a seat beside her on the cliff to look out at the camp. "What you writing there?"

"Nothing," she told him, hiding the book.

"Come on, let me see." He outstretched his arm to take the notebook but Danica simply extended her arm even more.

"No." He instantly stood up, to get a better advance but Danny was quick to do the same.

"Seriously?" She grinned when he pouted.

"Sorry, Chris," Dan apologised sarcastically, sprinting away. He simply huffed in disbelief before chasing after her. The girl was indeed fast but Chris was a lot faster, catching up with her within several seconds. He immediately snatched the book looking at the drawings and writing. A frown instantly formed on his face.

"Danny..."

"I can explain," she said hurriedly as wary began to consume her.

"How many times have I told you not to involve yourself?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"Look, I can do something about it."

"No, you can't,  Dan."

"I can! If only I had-"

"Why can't you get it over your head that you can't do everything?! Just face it, you can't the world. You can't save the villagers! YOU CAN'T SAVE US!"

"AT LEAST I CAN TRY!"

"YOU'RE JUST GOING TO KILL YOURSELF TRYING!" 

"I'D RATHER DIE TRYING THAN DOING NOTHING AT ALL!!"

"WHY CAN'T YOU BE LIKE EVERY OTHER GIRL YOUR AGE? WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO EXTRAVAGANT!"

"I JUST WANT TO HELP!" Danica screamed as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I don't want anyone else to lose their parents like us, Chris." Her voice was quiet, weak and she was sure he heard it crack a bit.

"You don't realise, do you? There are just somethings you can't control, Dan."

"And there are things you can. There's a cure out there somewhere, Chris. Someone's got to save these poor people."

"And someone will...just not you."

"Why not me?"

"Because before our parents went insane, they told me to look after you...to keep you safe."

"But this isn't how." She shook her head. "Interfering with my dreams isn't how."

"As long as you are alive, I know I'm doing my job right." He looked down at the book. "I'm sorry, Danica, but this is for your own good." With that be began to tear each page out of it, throwing them into the air where they were blown elsewhere. At first, Danny watched in horror, taken aback by his actions before she began trying to collect the papers.

"STOP!" She yelled as she began to cry again. "PLEASE, CHRIS! PLEASE STOP!" A lot of her pages where too high for her to catch so she ended up having to attack the boy. He didn't budge though, not until every page she had used was gone. He looked down at her, his gaze soft. She took several steps back, shaking her head as if she was refusing to process what had just happened. 

"Dan-"

"YOU'RE A MONSTER!" She cried before sprinting back to the camp, leaving Chris alone on the cliff.

Another meeting was called by the policeman as the President was back at the camp after being gone for almost a year. It was a huge celebration with a whole buffet of food served for the six hundred thousand people who found a place to stay at the camp.

Everyone seemed pleased and happy except for one person: the President. Last time he visited the camp almost two million people were living there. The population had dropped by approximately one-point-two million people in ten months due to the disease spreading.

The celebration went on into the wee hours of the morning but the President had disappeared half-way through. Dan watched as Chris danced with his girlfriend, Paris, and played with his best friend, Changbin. She stayed put in her tent as tears continued to roll down her cheeks just thinking of the book. She had been using it ever since her mother passed on two years back through to when her father died six months after. Chris' mother died around the same time as her father and his father died only days later. The girl and the boy had been close since they were kids and Chris was basically the older brother she never had.

The break of dawn signalled the start of the first day. The President seemed in a good mood as he ran up and down, preparing stuff for the meeting that was to be held later that morning. Trucks entered the camp, importing boxes which the policemen helped the President carry to the stage. 

Not long later, the meeting between the President and civilians started. Questions were asked to which many had answers. However, when a little girl by the age of seven raised her hand up and asked what the boxes were, the President clapped his hands in delight.

"Last night I got a call that a vaccine against Carsania has been made and tested. The results were shocking as it actually worked so today we are going to vaccinate all of you against this horrid disease!" There were cheers from the crowd and Dan could see Chris smiling at her in her peripheral vision as she simply frowned.  "In fact, why not vaccinate you now? Everyone form a line please...and no pushing." Instantly, everyone did as he said.

After about three hours of waiting in line, Dan was about twenty people away from the stage and the vaccine. She bit her lip slightly as she gazed around the campsite. 

Suddenly, her gaze landed on an old man that had been one of the first vaccinated. He was scratching his skin violently, often rubbing his eyes as well. Her gaze shifted to the lady next to him who did the same. The longer she stared the more people she began to see doing the same. Something wasn't right. 

Without the person behind her noticing, she stepped out of the line, walking away stealtily. Once she was a good distance away from the line she headed toward the crowd of people scratching themselves.

"Argh! I'm so itchy I think I'll die!" One lady yelled.

"When will this feeling just go away?" Another asked.

"Someone please prepare hot water for me!" the man shouted. 

Dan's eyes widened as she headed towards her tent. She pulled a diary out of her closet: her mother's diary. Flipping to the page she marked with a yellow highlighter, Danica scanned the page carefully until her eyes landed on three specific phrases: 'Argh! I'm so itchy I think I'm going to scratch my skin off until I die', 'When will this feeling leave?' and finally, 'I've already taken a bath in hot water but I'm still so itchy!'. 

Danny slammed the diary closed, breathing heavily before sprinting out of her tent. Immediately, she bumped into Changbin.

"Oh, my gosh, Changbin! Thank goodness I found you! Have you gotten vaccinated yet?" 

"No, I'll go when the line's short. Ain't got the time to wait for three hours in a line," he responded, snorting upon seeing everyone that was waiting."

"Good. There's something I have to tell you about the vaccine."

"What? It makes you immune to Carsania? Already knew that, Danny."

"Not that...and it doesn't make you immune."

"What are you on about? Didn't you hear the President?"

"I don't know whether the President is in on it or not but the vaccine actually gives you Carsania. If you don't believe me then at least read my mother's diary and apply it to what's happening to everyone at this very moment." Changbin chuckled before ruffling Danica's hair.

"Oh, Danny, what shall we do with you?" The girl huffed before flipping the diary to the correct place and handing it to him.

"Read this, I'm going to go warn Chris." With that, she sprinted to the camp centre, where the vaccinating was taking place.  After searching the whole line, her gaze landed on the boy who had just exited the toilets. 

"Chris!" She screamed as she caught up with him. 

"Yes, Danny?" He asked with a smile.

"The vaccine...it isn't supposed to make people immune to Carsania but instead have it." Chris laughed.

"Why can't you just be happy that someone else found the cure instead of you?"

"I'm not angry about it. Didn't your parents go through stages of Carsania?"

"Yeah?"

"What was the first stage?"

"Excessive scratching and extreme itchiness."

"Look around. What is everyone doing?" He immediately stopped smiling.

"...Scratching." His gaze landed on Dan once again. "Did you get vaccinated?" 

"No," she shook her head. "Did you?"

"No." 

"Thank goodness, I was worried," she smiled but his expression remained serious.

"Dan, you need to leave." Her grin faded into a frown.

"What?" 

"Everyone's going to become a man-eating creature by the fourth day. You need to leave before they kill you."

"You mean we need to leave."

"I want to die here like my parents. You need to go and stay safe."

"I'm not leaving here without you."

"You have to."

"No, I don't. If you aren't coming with, then I'm not going."

"Dan-"

"I believe you," Changbin interrupted as he handed the diary back to the girl. "And I'm willing to leave with you and as for you," he said, turning to Chris. "I'll make you come whether you want to or not because I'm not willing to lose my best friend to  a strange blue creature." 

"Guys, I-" he stared.

"-am coming," Danica finished his sentence before pulling him to his tent which was adjacent to hers. "Pack your stuff, okay? Same applies to you, Changbin," she mentioned as she headed to her tent to pack as well.

After packing everything necessary, they headed to the gates without anyone noticing. The policemen who were supposed to be guarding the gates were getting vaccinated so it was easy to leave the site. Changbin and Chris both looked back as soon as they were on the other side but Danica didn't. She continued walk despite knowing the boys weren't behind her.

"Wait! Danny!" Changbin yelled as he sprinted to her. Chris remained for a while, staring at the campsite as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled under his breath before walking toward the other two.