As the rain subsided, the quarantine zone inside the wooden barriers was beginning to take shape.

Grace trudged through ankle-deep mud between the makeshift shelters. The hem of her white dress was soaked with blood and grime, but she couldn't spare a moment to care. Even the herbal paste crusted at the corners of her mouth went unnoticed.

She jabbed a silver needle into a child's purpled fingertip, then squeezed out half a bowl of foul-smelling, dark blood. Without missing a beat, she poured