The subsequent morning, the ship appeared to have arrived off the coast of the fishing village.

Dr. Fernando observed that the sound of the engine had stopped and the view from the island from the cabin hadn’t modified.

When he went out on a deck the place the ocean breeze was blowing, he discovered troopers pulling out rubber boats and gear and making ready to go ashore.

[This…… doesn’t look like the place in the photo though.]

Fernando appeared round, however all he may see was a white sandy seashore and palm timber.

[Are we going to land here? I don’t see any villages nearby……]

In accordance with a soldier who occurred to be close by and answered his query, the plan was to land a brief distance away, construct a base camp after which for the village.

[After all, there’s a possibility that the information is a trap and we might be attacked.]

The soldier’s expression as he answered him was stern.

He should have been pondering that they have been in enemy territory.

Dr. Fernando later realized that he was a member of the Navy’s Elite Particular Forces unit referred to as SBS, the Particular Boat Squadron.

★　★　★　★　★

“”

Dr. Fernando volunteered to hitch the scouting celebration.

The captain of the unit was reluctant to simply accept it, however he satisfied him that “he was the one one who may medically confirm the situation of the corpse”.

The troopers have been amateurs when it got here to infectious illnesses.

He did give a lecture on board simply in case, however he nonetheless isn’t certain how effectively that might work within the subject.

[First of all, I want all the scouts to wear these.]

Useful full-body protecting fits, N95 masks, latex gloves, and boots that he had gathered from the college hospital.

He discovered it troublesome to acquire them although, as there are only some of them in all of Sri Lanka, in order that they now solely have 8 units of them in complete.

As well as, pattern assortment gear and firearms should even be carried by army personnel.

Since it could be impractical to stroll by way of a jungle in full protecting gear underneath the blazing solar, they determined the group to separate into three rubber boats and transfer ashore alongside the coast.

After crossing a small sandbar, the village lastly got here into view.

And there, additionally they noticed corpses mendacity on the seashore.

The knowledge in that picture was certainly true.

[……They’re all black.]

Dr. Fernando muttered to himself as he noticed these our bodies.

★　★　★　★　★

Earlier than touchdown, the staff members once more checked one another’s full-body protecting fits.

If the air tightness of their gear is breached, they wouldn’t be allowed to land.

With a splash, the troopers landed on the shallow sandy seashore, and with well-trained actions, they unfold out and moved to take precautionary actions across the perimeter.

In the meantime, Dr. Fernando fastidiously made his option to a close-by black corpse.

The corpse, a big man carrying a crude T-shirt, was mendacity face-down, together with his face not in view.

His proper hand is clutching on the sand, as if he had simply died.

[They don’t stink.]

If the data they obtained is appropriate, these corpses ought to have been useless for a number of weeks.

For the reason that corpses had been left underneath the new solar with out being buried for all that point, Dr. Fernando was ready to reach at corpses that have been in a horrible state of decomposition.

The N95 masks they introduced definitely was a high-performance masks, however even after all the corpses, the decomposition doesn’t seem to have progressed in any respect.

Is it attainable that some situations occurred to coincide and the decomposition didn’t progress?

Or maybe, may or not it’s that these corpses had truly survived till very just lately, and the corpse within the {photograph} was a distinct one from these?

As Dr. Fernando contemplated about this, he got here to the conclusion that there is perhaps different survivors within the village.

Having this in thoughts, Dr. Fernando referred to as the Captain on the radio and obtained a right away response.

[What’s the matter?]

[I think the corpses are too fresh. The decomposition hasn’t progressed. There may be survivors in the village.]

[Understood. What should we do?]

The Captain was fast to make his judgment.

Dr. Fernando, feeling reassured, issued a request and a warning.

[Call out loudly and ask if there are any survivors. However, don’t touch anything in the village.]

[Understood. There are Tamils in our unit. I will have them call out in Tamil.]

[Please do so.]

Half an hour later, 5 extra black corpses have been discovered within the village, bringing the entire to eight, together with the corpses on the seashore.

As Dr. Fernando collected samples from across the village, he laid the corpses on the seashore for a full-body examination and observed a number of oddities.

[……None of these corpses had decomposed.]

[Yeah. There are also not many of these. If the list is correct, there must have been 30 people living in the village. Judging from the number of houses, there certainly should have been at least that many.]

[The age and gender of the corpses also seemed to be one-sided. The corpses here are only middle-aged men. Where did all the women, children and elderly go?]

[……They may have made them escape? Or perhaps, they may be hiding somewhere.]

[Hiding? Where in the world would they hide……]

[These small northern villages were sometimes used as rebel strongholds. In such cases, the women, children and elderly who couldn’t fight in the village would flee to a shelter and wait for the men to return. Sometimes, they would even hide for weeks……]

The Captain glared sharply by way of the thick jungle behind the village.

[In that case, it will be impossible to find them right now. Let’s go back to base camp.]

[I suppose you’re right. We can’t go into the jungle with these god-awful clothes on. Well, I guess it’s a good thing you won’t be bitten by insects with this thing on.]

The Captain pleasantly laughed after insulting his full-body protecting swimsuit.

[So, what about these corpses?]

[It pains me to say this, but we will need to leave them as they are. The camp doesn’t have the facilities to keep such a large number of bodies sterilized. We will analyze the samples first.]

They’ll’t simply deliver the corpses and danger their camp from being contaminated.

At that second, somebody shouted “Uwaahhh!” over the radio.

[What’s the matter!?]

[No, I just felt like a corpse grabbed my leg……. It was just my imagination!]

[I think it’s that so-called rigor mortis. The rest of the team should check their boots. Check the rest of your clothing for holes too!]

The Captain has all members of the staff cross-check the airtightness of their full-body protecting fits once more.

[All clear. No holes found!]

[Alright! Be careful!]

[My apologies!]

The person who had prompted that ruckus breathed a sigh of reduction and thanked his fortunate stars that the floor of his ebook was solely blackened in what gave the impression to be a finger.