In downtown Austin, towering buildings stood tall.
The roads on both sides were crowded with people and bustling with traffic, yet for some reason, ambulances kept speeding past on the streets.
Even amidst the extreme noise of the surroundings, one could clearly hear the painful wails emitted by the patients inside the vehicles.
“Are you sure about choosing this place?” Looking at the large shopping mall with people coming and going before him, Brian asked Sarah, who was beside him, with some uncertainty.
He knew that the things inside were not cheap.
“Of course.” Sarah pulled 50 dollars out of her pocket and said somewhat smugly: “I’ve been saving up for a long time for this day.
Dad has been complaining that his watch is broken, so I can just buy him a new one.” “Uh…” Brian looked at Sarah’s 50 dollars with a very strange expression.
If converted to Chinese currency, 50 dollars was actually only a little over 350 yuan.
Expecting to buy a decent watch with that amount was really just wishful thinking.
“Sarah, this amount of money seems…” “Ah—!” Just as Brian was about to remind her that it wasn’t enough money, a sudden commotion erupted on the street opposite them.
Both of them were drawn by the noise and turned their heads to look in the direction where the sound came from.
They saw a large Black man kneeling powerlessly on the side of the road, his chest heaving violently as he gasped for air.
He was trembling all over, the veins beneath his skin bulging, his eye sockets blackened, and bright red bloodshot lines spilling out from the corners of his eyes.
The series of symptoms made him look incredibly terrifying.
People standing around him knew that this man had contracted the recently emerged new type of infectious disease, and one by one, they covered their mouths and noses and moved away from the area.
“Calling headquarters, a symptomatic patient has been found, requesting the dispatch of an ambulance.” The incident here attracted a nearby patrolling police officer.
He was seen running while calling for an ambulance on his walkie-talkie.
When he reached the large Black man, he pulled out his handcuffs without a word and cuffed the man’s hands behind his back.
This action by the police officer caused strong dissatisfaction among the surrounding Black people.
Those with better tempers were trying to persuade the officer to release the handcuffs, while those with worse tempers were cursing and swearing on the side.
Some even held weapons, as if they were ready to rush out of the crowd at any moment to rescue their fellow countryman.
The officer looked coldly at the surrounding crowd, silently pulling out his pistol as a warning for the people around not to take any extreme actions.
Before long, the “wee-woo, wee-woo” sound of an ambulance approached from afar and stopped next to the police officer.
By this time, the large Black man seemed to have lost his sanity; his body twisted frantically as he roared loudly.
It took a great deal of effort for the people on the ambulance to secure him to the stretcher and shove him into the vehicle.
As the ambulance left, the onlookers, seeing that the spectacle was over, gradually dispersed.
The street returned to its usual scene, as if nothing had happened just a moment ago.
Witnessing the entire process, Brian suddenly felt extremely terrified.
A voice in his ear seemed to be telling him that something bad was about to happen.
He muttered: “Why do I always have such a foreboding feeling?” On the other side, seeing the onlookers disperse, Sarah also withdrew her gaze.
Such things happened every day, and everyone had become accustomed to it.
She took Brian’s hand and started walking towards the large shopping mall, smiling cunningly: “Let’s go in quickly.
It’s a good thing you’re here, otherwise, I wouldn’t dare to come here to shop.” “Huh?” Brian, who was still surrounded by unease, instantly threw all his anxiety to the back of his mind upon hearing what Sarah said, looking at the girl in disbelief.
“Seriously?
You didn’t just call me over here to cover the bill, did you?” “You got it right.” She snapped her fingers loudly, ignoring the surprised gazes of others.
Sarah wrapped both her hands around Brian’s right arm, rested her head on his shoulder, and looked at him with full anticipation, saying: “You won’t let me down, right?” Looking down at that cute little face and those expectant eyes, Brian covered his forehead with his palm and sighed helplessly: “Oh god!
My poor allowance.” …
By the time they returned to school, it was 2:30.
School was about to let out, and the students in the classroom were packing their bags.
Brian and Sarah snuck into the classroom while no one was paying attention.
Back at his seat, he glanced at Sarah, who was holding a watch box and a greeting card with a cartoon dinosaur cover, giggling to herself.
Brian couldn’t help but curl his lips; this was his allowance for several weeks.
When Ms.
Judy returned to the classroom, everyone had packed their things.
They then followed her to the school gate and boarded the school bus they had arrived on.
At 3 o’clock, the two returned to the suburbs.
After playing with Jimmy’s dog for a bit, Sarah invited Brian to visit her home.
Brian thought about it—he had nothing to do at home anyway—so he readily agreed.
Upon entering Sarah’s home, he discovered, well, the interior was very neat and clean.
To be honest, he had expected a single dad’s house to be messy.
“You sit for a while, I’m going upstairs to change clothes.” Watching Sarah’s figure disappear up the stairs, Brian wandered around the room out of boredom.
There were many photos of Sarah and her father, Joel, on the table.
In the corner, there was a soccer ball with signatures from Sarah’s team.
“This is…” On the refrigerator in the kitchen, Brian saw a note left by Joel for Sarah.
He glanced at the content: I will be home late tonight, order takeout yourself, see you in the morning.
Dad “Clomp—clomp—” Hearing footsteps coming from the stairs, Brian knew it was Sarah coming down, so he pointed at the note and said towards the stairs: “Sarah, it seems you won’t be able to give your birthday gift today.” “Huh?” Sarah, who had just come down from upstairs, was stunned by Brian’s words.
Then, seeing the note he was pointing at, she seemed to realize something.
She walked up quickly and read the content on it.
Not a few minutes later, Sarah, like a deflated balloon, sat down heavily on the living room sofa with a long face, having completely lost the happy smile she had a few hours ago.
“So, what are you going to do about this gift?” Brian watched this scene with some amusement, not knowing how to comfort her.
“If you give it tomorrow, it shouldn’t be too late, right?” “No way.” As soon as Brian finished speaking, Sarah immediately stood up from the sofa, puffed out her cheeks, and said angrily: “Who gives a gift a day late?
I’m just going to wait here for him to come back.” “…” “Alright.” Seeing her determined expression, Brian shrugged, not knowing what else to say.
After all, this matter had nothing to do with him in the first place.
“Have you thought about how to handle dinner?” Sarah pointed at the note Joel left and said: “Didn’t it already say?
Order takeout.” “You ate takeout yesterday too, right?” Brian scratched his head, walked to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and seeing that there were still some ingredients inside, he said: “Forget it, I’ll cook for you instead.
Eating takeout all the time isn’t very good for your health.” “You know how to cook?” “Of course!” Night fell.
Brian paced in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of the room.
The moonlight shone through the window onto his slightly anxious face.
The nanny, Josie, had long since left and would only come back tomorrow morning.
Staring at the night scenery outside the window, recalling the situation of the large Black man falling ill during the day, he couldn’t sleep peacefully even though it was already close to 12 o’clock.
He looked at Sarah’s house next door.
There were lights in the living room.
He had just seen Joel return home, so he figured the gift should have been given by now.
Thinking of this, the corners of Brian’s mouth couldn’t help but curl up slightly.
He picked up the remote control by the bedside and turned on the television.
There was no other way; since he couldn’t sleep and didn’t have a mobile phone on him, watching TV was a decent way to pass the time.
“Beep—!” The suddenly ringing phone woke the sleeping Brian.
He slowly opened his eyes and sat up from the bed.
The display screen of the landline phone next to him was flashing continuously.
He had been watching TV earlier and had fallen asleep without realizing it.
He glanced at the time on the clock; it was already 2 o’clock in the morning.
“Who is calling so late?” Muttering to himself, Brian, still bleary-eyed, reached out and picked up the phone by the bedside, putting it to his ear and saying: “Who is this?” But as soon as he spoke, a woman’s voice, crying with joy, came from the other end of the line.
“Oh my god, it finally connected.” Upon hearing the voice on the other end, Brian’s previously groggy head instantly cleared.
He was all too familiar with this voice; it was none other than his mother in this body.
Just as he was planning how to phrase his response, the voice on the other end spoke again: “Brian, you must listen carefully to what I am about to say.” “This world is about to fall into a catastrophe.
The infectious disease is completely out of control.
These lunatics are constantly hurting others.
There is a black box in the closet of our room with a pistol inside.
Your father and I are in Washington and cannot get there.
You go find…
beep…
beep…” Before the other party could finish speaking, the phone suddenly hung up.
Seeing this, Blake hurriedly put down the phone to call back, but only a series of busy signals came from the line.
The foreboding feeling in his heart gushed out uncontrollably.
Staring blankly at the lights constantly flickering in the darkness outside the window, he knew that an unknown storm was about to sweep across the whole world.