Elli related herself to Nosophoros, the disease bearing, a Greek myth about disease born vampires she used to explain away her conditions. She swore she was changing, but her boyfriend, John, tried to ignore the degenerative nature of her illness; her tiredness, frailty and thinning hair.

She was always sensitive to pesticides. Food additives and GMOs made her sick not long after eating them.

Exposure to a weed killer derived from Agent Orange in a Sunflower field put her in the hospital for days. After a lifetime of failed doctor visits Elli left town to stay with her aunt who had similar symptoms – she wore a full veil of dark clothing to hide from bright lights and daily toxins.

John felt like the answer to Elli’s sickness was obvious, but the doctors wouldn’t go near it. They refused to buck up against the big chemical companies.

In the end she went to her aunt’s and he was left behind to field the snide comments, sidelong glances and vehement gossip of the townsfolk of Adelaide. A few months after Elli boarded the bus to leave town animals started dying for no good reason, turning up in alleys and in fields.

People in town quickly speculated the worst imaginable scenarios, fearing that an outbreak equal to SARS or that a Bird Flu epidemic was on the rise. A creature had been seen lurking in the bushes, giving birth to a new theory of a wild beast that left the bodies of its prey behind.

Talk of Elli and her sickness started to spread too, faster than the feared viruses on wet, wagging tongues. John hoped the events would lead to the diagnosis of Elli’s lifelong disease.

His answers lurked nearer to him than he believed though; hidden in a nearby barn in a woman’s withered shell. .