The Territory, Escape by Sarah Govett

Author:Sarah Govett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: epub, ebook, QuarkXPress
ISBN: 978-1-10080-47-4
Publisher: Firefly Press Limited

Small and deadly.

A swarm of mosquitoes came in the night. We must have been dead to the world as I only woke when our mosquito net was shaking from side to side as millions of tiny wings brushed past. Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Their horrible cry. I shook Raf awake next to me and we just lay there, rigid, holding hands and praying that the net had no holes and that we’d put enough repellent on. And it felt so unnatural to just lie there. Your body wants to fight danger, or at least to flee from it. But you can’t exactly fight a swarm of mosquitoes and if you get out of the net, you’re way more likely to get bitten up.

I have no idea how long we stayed there. We waited till we couldn’t see or hear any more of them and then waited a bit more after that just to make sure.

The first of the dawn light was cutting through the sky as we finally stumbled outside. On the street, all around, were other dazed people. Everyone was checking themselves. Had we been bitten? I felt all over my body, terrified that I’d find one. That they’d got me.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Then a bump. On my thigh. Oh God. I checked and nearly choked on my relief at finding it was an ingrowing hair. Disgusting but in that split second I loved it. I could hardly bear to meet Raf’s eyes in case he’d been got. He finished checking a few minutes after me and I don’t think I took a single breath in all that time. Just as I was about to die from lack of oxygen, Raf announced, ‘all clear’, in a small, shaky voice.

Others weren’t so lucky. Loads of the mosquito nets were really quite old now. They had holes that people’d tried to tape or sew up over the years, but it’s so hard to make sure you’ve got every gap. And mosquito repellent might keep the odd mosquito away or even a small group, but it’s not going to hold up against a swarm.

There was a meeting at the Barn. Everyone who’d been bitten had to stand on one side so we could count them. Twenty-seven. Including Ben and two of the kids from the school.

I heard someone cry out, ‘No!’ and it took a moment for me to realise that it’d been my voice. I think my brain was trying to go into a protective disconnect mode. For once Ben’s face had no trace of a smile, like it wasn’t him but a much more serious identical twin up there. Raf looked as upset as I felt.

More shelters were going to be turned into wards to observe and care for them, Annie continued, taking charge in her gentle yet authoritative way. Being bitten did not necessarily mean the person was going to get malaria or any other virus, she stressed. But, the strain of malaria the mosquitoes out here carried was a particularly nasty one. Symptoms normally

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