“Have you checked her vital signs?” The doctor was making rounds from one patient to another. “Assess this patient,” he ordered, asking one of the nurses to assess the patient who was being transmitted to the ward before moving to check another patient.

It was early in the morning, and the hospital was in great turmoil. The medical staff was already looking exhausted in their PPE’s as patients were being rushed inside the hospital nonstop.
One nurse moved from one patient to another. “What a toxic day to start the day,” he mumbled and groaned to himself.
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“News Flash! Hundreds of patients had been rushed to the hospital at 8 a.m. this morning. Certain hospitals have already reached their capacity and are no longer accepting new patients on their waiting lists. In the meantime, patients continue to arrive and are being transferred to other hospitals that have vacancies. As you can see in the background, people no longer observe social distancing while relatives ask to take the patients inside the hospital. The cause of this odd phenomenon is still a mystery, and it is currently being investigated and diagnosed. Here’s the catch, every casualty has the same black-spotted wavy marks tattooed on their bodies, all inscribed in the same patterns. Experts are still trying to figure out whether or not the outbreak was caused by food poisoning, given that all reports reported the same thing—which is eating the cloudberry delicacies.” The reporter made an announcement and hurriedly moved up to someone who was with a patient to speak with them.
“Can you please tell us what happened?” the reporter asked.
“I—I don’t know. Last night we had dinner, and we thoroughly appreciated all of the food that we purchased at the market. After that, he vomited and claimed he was completely exhausted. I was concerned that the virus might cause it, but every one observed social distancing despite being vaccinated. I—I didn’t think much of it. I figured it might have been due to the heavy line the other day since we’ve waited for hours in line. He was fine by then. We went to sleep, and when I woke up, I noticed the dark patches on his skin. I was horrified when I saw that I had them too. I tried several times to wake him up, but he wouldn’t. My muscles were a little sore, but I was fine. When I held him, his torso was hot, but his hands and feet were as frigid as ice,” the woman cried out, tears streaming down her cheeks as she clutched him tightly in her arms. She then followed her husband, being taken inside the hospital.
The reporter signaled the cameraman to follow him and approached another person, asking the same thing.
The woman he was interviewing explained a similar story and had black wavy marks visible on her skin. Other than that, she is fine.
“Have you also taken your shot with the new vaccine?” asked the reporter.
“No, I just found out I was pregnant, so my husband was the only one who received the vaccine the day before yesterday. He was fine for the rest of the day and into the next day until… I—I don’t know,” the woman stated, sobbing. When she saw her husband lying on a stretcher outside the hospital’s door, she tried to fight back her emotions by gripping both of her hands together under her chin and acting frightened. She stood behind him as they waited in line to enter the hospital.
“Do you think this is another variant? Is this a new virus? Or the cause of the vaccines? What’s the story behind everything that’s happening right now? Stay tuned as DBV News will be right back. I am Marck Anthony, reporting.” The reporter ended his report.
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A group of people is protesting outside the MNV Laboratories, Inc.
“Money-hunger!”
“I’d rather take a slight chance of getting the virus than take your experimental drug!”
“Take responsibility!”
People are blaming the vaccines for what happened to their relatives who are currently confined in the hospitals. They are calling on the pharmaceutical corporation to be held accountable.
As a mob of people gathered outside, insulting and threatening them, the medical experts were enraged. They knew themselves that the vaccines were safer after conducting several kinds of research for the past few months.
Alicia’s lover was secretly watching the mob of people outside the window. He was tapping one of his feet and appeared to be restless.
To prove that the vaccines are not the cause of the chaos that is currently taking place inside the hospital, scientists gathered evidence and presented it to the public.
According to the report, most persons who recently took the jab but have not eaten a piece of cloudberry are doing fine and have not encountered anything like how the people confined in the hospital are experiencing right now.
The statistics show that all of the patients who were carried to the hospital had been vaccinated with the ‘Devaxx’ vaccine the day before yesterday and were all fine. Nothing went wrong until after dinner of eating cloudberries.
Another study found that patients who did not receive the vaccine but did consume cloudberries developed the same spots as those who did. They urged people to take a step back and consider the big picture before placing blame on them. They demanded that they stop tarnishing their reputation and that they refrain from referring to them as money-hungry.
The company also mentioned that all vaccines will be pulled from circulation and that anyone who refused to receive the shot would not be forced to do so. To end their statement, they wished them to be healthy and safe if they opted not to be vaccinated against the virus.
After a long day of debating what is really the root of the problem, the authorities are now looking into the cloudberries.
Some of the people who were directly affected by the curse given by Alicia have experienced the same symptoms after consuming cloudberry delicacy. Vaccinated or not, they are all conscious, with only having the black wavy marks inscribed in baybayin appearing on their skin have become much more evident and have spread a little more than previously.
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Mira was sitting in front of the television when she heard about the news. She frantically dialed Bella’s phone number as quickly as possible, but she received no response after several attempts.
“Hey! Are you awake?” She sent a text message. Mira and Bella used to nap in the afternoons every day.
Mira waited for a minute or two for her phone to buzz, but there had been no response yet from Bella.
As she paced back and forth, Mira thought to herself, “She might be asleep by now,” and dialed the same phone number once more. “Yeah, she’s all right. She’s fine, and she’s probably asleep.” Convincing herself while biting the tip of her thumbnail when the phone continued to ring.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to get her nervousness under control. She decided to drop by at Bella’s house instead since Bella’s residence is only a couple blocks away from Mira’s place.
She hurriedly ran down the stairs and grabbed her jacket. “Mom! I’m going to Bella’s place!” she exclaimed, trying to sound calm for her mother not to worry. She slipped her shoes on, tipping at her toes as she finished wearing her jacket before tugging the counter lining of her shoes.
“Okay! Say hi to them for me. Take care!” Shouted Anastasia, who was washing the dishes.
Mira then dashed off the street. Mirabella trailed behind her.