During the final thirty minutes of the drive, I struggled to hold down that last greasy burger. I thought it might be a touch of bad chow until I realized that I was feeling chills. Chills that no one else seemed to notice. It was at that point that I knew it was some kind of bug. Since there was a new strain of flu going around, I expected the worst.

They opened the van's rear door just in time to save the interior. I didn't make it to the bathroom, but I did make it away from the pavement before I lost my last meal. I felt the world begin to spin a little as I began to empty my stomach yet again. I also shivered hard and shook. It was an altogether bad feeling.

I managed to get off my knees without any help. That was probably a good thing since it was unlikely that any members of my little band of cut throats was the sympathetic type. I made it to the bathroom by the office before I began to lose fluids from all my orifices.

I was suddenly a very sick old man. I thought I might be headed for an imminent death. No one came into the bathroom for a long time. When someone came in, it was the staff medic. He wasn't a doctor but I trusted him with my life. He had actually had it in his hands on at least one occasion. His tourniquet both cost me part of my leg and saved my life.

"Ricky are you alright?"

"I've been a hell of a lot better."

"Do you think it was something you ate?"

"No, I've got chills. I think it is some Cuban germ. They probably have a whole list of nasty shit."

"Yeah, did you cut yourself down there?"

"No, but I probably got a mosquito bite while laying in the sand on that sand dune."

"I guess that's possible, but it is awfully soon after the event. More likely something you came in contact with before you got here even."

"Could be." I turned my attention back to the toilet bowl and made yet another contribution.

"I got some stuff that will help with the nausea and the shits. Do you want it in a shot or try to wait till you are empty."

"Let's hold off. I'm scared to death of needles. What I really want is to lay down somewhere."

"There is a team in the big cabin, so go on down to the blue cabin." I nodded after I managed to stand.

The cabins were named for the color of the front doors. The cabins had three quarter walls with the top forth being nothing but glass. Originally the glass had been screen wire. They had never been insulated or had any heat until Swamp Thing bought the camp. They were still pretty much nothing to ewrite home about, but they did have heat and air conditioning. As a boy scout retreat they each held ten kids. Each small cabin was setup for four men after the Swamp Thing renovation.

To get to the bathroom one had to leave the cabin and walk to the bath house in the center of the compound. I counted the steps as I rushed to empty my bowels yet again. I had to walk fifty one steps to get to the bath house door.

I went back and forth from the cabin to the bath house all night. The overt symptoms ended before down. I managed to get to sleep about half an hour before the medic came with the pills. I washed them down with a Sprite. After giving him a blood sample I fell sound asleep.