It's well documented that the cases further up North tend to lean more towards the liquidated end state whereas the Southern cases calcify and end up resembling geodes. I remember one case I checked into several years back (one of the worst yet) where the boy in question looked more like a loose pile of flesh than anything, far beyond any curable stage and well into the terminal side of the spectrum. He was the first I'd ever seen that bad, his parents had tried some new and untested cure that turned out to be quite the catalyst.
You never forget the look on what remains of their faces. Their eyes just seem so resigned and old, no matter the state of the rest of them. Even if the case is mild they have that same look. It's almost like they know what they could turn into and accept it as certainty. No matter how many times you tell them they're going to be cured they just look at you like they're the adult and you're a child who's promised to not make a mess with paint.
They just don't believe it,not even after they're cured. We've had reports of self-induced relapses popping up all over the country. They either go back to wherever it was they contracted the illness or they find another who has it. All of them, even the barely infected, know where other infected children are and they can hone in on them within days of contracting it.
You have no idea how many clusters of these kids we've had to disband and return to their homes, only for them to run right back as soon as they can. There's been talk of just letting them do this and observing the outcome but their parents won't hear of it. They'd rather have little Timothy home so they can smother him and then turn their back a week later to let him get worse than let him be where his instincts are telling him to be and letting trained professionals observe and treat them.
In my patch they all try to get to Farhurston Lake. Just dive right in and liquify to the point where they look something like beige jellyfish with an old man's eyes. Honestly I'd be fine leaving them there to do their thing but again they have to be dragged out to slowly die on land because their parents never read the leaflets they were given that clearly state the following:
Once in the latent (commonly known as "terminal") stages, the body loses it's ability to self sustain on land and much like a whale the equal pressure displacement on the body allows them to survive beyond any surface treatments.
Patients have been observed ten to twelve years post diagnosis in such states, living far beyond hospital expectations.
However when attempting recovery on these patients death follows in approximately eight to nine hours.
The cause? Asphyxiation induced by their own weight, again, much in the way of a beached whale.
In the latent stages the body loses all rigidity and relies on the buoyancy of water to keep their lungs open.
Of course they wash up sometimes, huge sacks of flesh where a seven-year-old once was, spread over nine or more feet.
I know there are calcifying cases, seen a few of the photos and kept a diagnostic list on my tablet just in case one stumbles this far down but they don't seem to be able to make it in warmer climates. From what the studies have concluded they rely on the cold to keep a certain amount of pressure on their spines, keep the area around there almost as hard as a diamond and prevent the stony growths from piercing and severing the nerves there.
The further down South they wander, the softer they become, like walking piles of mould. At least until the interior growths hit the nerves and cause paralysis in most cases, sometimes severe seizures but always resulting in death. there are too many replicas of scans going around, showing their little heads riddles with razor sharp calcified tumours.
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