Summary

Guided by an old aqueduct, the boy reached the woods adjoining the strange village at dawn. There were twenty houses but no signs of life. Still, the boy was nervous he might be accosted by a villager or guard dog, so he crawled on all fours to the village perimeter and through an abandoned church. Though the boy worried the village might have been abandoned because the well had run dry, he found the well in the village square was full of water. When he drew a jug of water up he saw it was filled with white larvae, but he was so thirsty he filtered it through his shirt and hoped for the best.

Though the boy had a violent attack of diarrhea shortly after drinking the infected water, he still decided to fill the flasks from the well. This was hard work...