"Several months ago?" Wu Ling spoke up for the first time, interrupting Mrs. Winter's recollection.
Mrs. Winter nodded. "It must have happened in May, or maybe June. That was probably when the Jackson boy first got sick. He became so ill that he had to stay in bed. The doctor didn't know exactly what was wrong with him."
May or June... We'd still been busy with the demolition work then, and the world hadn't deteriorated to its current state. But from what Mrs. Winter said, the toy plague had already begun in Tissent Town by then.
"Other children got sick too, not just the Jackson boy. The central hospital contacted the Ministry of Health to ask for further tests. Before they got a reply, the children seemed to have recovered. Not completely, but they no longer had to stay in bed." Mrs. Winter looked sorrowful. "But even then, I noticed that the children who recovered weren't acting like themselves. They became quiet and listless. That boy had been a lot like Charlie Jackson—cheerful and outgoing. As a child, he'd been even more lively. He loved playing outside, and often played with a big dog. The dog got sick too, but recovered before the boy. Afterward, though, it was the same—it didn't want to move, and often sat in one spot without budging. It was as if... as if it were dead..."
This had to be the toy plague.
"After that happened, everyone in the neighborhood grew uneasy. It wasn't just one or two children who got sick. They fell ill one after another. Later, even the adults got sick. I realized something was wrong. I thought... there was something strange about it. The people who recovered were very strange. They were so strange..." Mrs. Winter could only describe what had