*hack hack*

Jack spit the gob of mucus in the bedpan creating a dull thunk.

"I've never seen anything quite like this," said the veterinarian as he peered through his magnifying glass. He was examining the small pustules that had slowly began to spread across Jack's left forearm below the rolled up sleeve of his coat. The vet dabbed at one of them with a cotton bud causing Jack to flinch slightly. The vet pulled it away, a thin strand of mucus stuck to it. He placed it in a petri dish before placing a glass lid over it. "What is it that you do Mr. Flanigan?"

Jack pulled the collar of his coat tighter and cleared his throat. "Factory work," he said flatly without elaborating. Jack was beginning to regret handing over the stone to the father. Since then he had been plagued by dreams of a horrible leech-like... thing... with six long tendrils extruding from it's body, It skin jet black as if the antithesis of light. He could feel it trying to draw something from him, some essential part of his being. Each morning he woke up nauseated, heaving until there was not even bile left. And then there were the...

"I supposed it could be mercury poisoning, But this isn't really my specialty. A dog with mange, a cat with worms, that I can do. You should really see a doctor." Jack barely listens as the vet drones on.

It has all started on ship. It started at the first dinner as they passed around the dry rations. Taking a bite of the hard dry biscuit Jack nearly choked. It was like attempting to swallow a mouthful of mud. Sputtering and hacking Jack desperately tried to scrap the taste off his tongue.

"Aye, you'll have to be getting use to 'em laddie. The only thing else we got is this," said the ship's Bosun as he ladled a thick gray stew into a bowl and pushed it into Jack's hands causing it to spill onto his gloves. As soon as the putrid smell of the salted herring reached his nose Jack felt his mouth begin to water. He had never experienced such a delicious odor. Throwing aside his wooden spoon Jack dripped his fingers into the bowl and began to...

"I can give a call down to a friend at the local hospital," said the vet again interrupting Jack's thoughts. Thumbing through a small pocket book the vet absentmindedly reached for the phone on his desk.

"NO!!!" shouted Jack grabbing the veterinarian's wrist

A pained shriek fills the night as the vet jerked back from Jack's touch, clutching his wrist. Between the man's fingers Jack could see burned and singed skin. Turning his hand over Jack found more weeping pustules.

Jack barely felt the impact of the door as he burst into the night.