Chapter 1: Where It All Began

It was a warm summer in April 2035, where the doctor was attending a conference in a distant town. He was already there for three days, when a call prompted him to leave the town.

“Doc, Wellsworth’s in trouble,” the caller said. It was the first time he heard those words, and he knew it meant something. Within the day, he was informed by his colleagues that their stay was to be cut short, and they were to depart within the day.

After a meeting that day, Doc packed up his things, and at 3:00 p.m., he was already waiting to depart in the bus home. Three hours later, the bus already reached Wellsworth.

“There were no signs of a problem,” he thought. It was like a normal summer day, where the children play outdoors and the adults do their daily errands. “But she said there was,” he further thought.

When he reached home, he passed the night sleeping, readying for another day tomorrow.

Doc woke up, did his routine, and went straight to the hospital. When he reached the hospital, he was stopped, the security guard telling him that he should wear a mask. Doc, not wanting to go back to his home again, requested a mask from the security guard.

And there he saw lying on the hospital bed, Patient 1. Alice White, a resident of Finburg. She travelled by train two days ago, where she sneezed consecutively until she finally dozed off.

“It wasn’t the common cold,” the doctors at the hospital said. “If it were the common cold, she should be awake hours after she dozed off,” Doc thought.

Unfortunately, it was summer time; some tourists were flocking the town. And travelling with Patient 1 were 35 people, 11 of whom are in the cabin with Alice. Those with Alice were in the hospital also, the doctors said. 2 were asleep, 6 were sneezing consecutively, and 3 seemed to be unaffected at all.

Surprisingly, on the other cabin was an ambassador, whom together with an entourage, travelled to visit the mayor. None of them sneezed or dozed off, fortunately.

As a doctor, Doc will participate in researching the cause of what happened to Patient 1 and others. After that, they will try to research on treatments to the cause. One doctor contacted his friend over Finburg, and told him that research would be started there.

For now, that’s what Doc and doctors at Wellsworth knew. What’s important is, all should wear a mask so as to avoid getting a cold.

The information was already on its way to the mayor’s office, where the mayor will announce the news on live television tomorrow.