6TH DECEMBER 2034

11.55 AM

...........................................................................

St. Luke's Hospital

Lagos, Nigeria.

By the time we arrive St Luke's Hospital, Ann and Fil have drifted into a long sleep. I exit the red Tesla which has been properly parked thanks to auto drive.

Looking around I can see that no one is paying attention, not even to admire the expensive red Tesla I just drove in, hence, I start screaming;

"Emergency! Emergency! Help!" To the numerous people in front of a white colored three-story building — St Luke's Hospital.

There are many vehicles parked in this parking lot but non beats the multi-million dollars worth, customized Tesla parked behind me.

It is obvious that the hospital is very busy today — sadly because of the virus and the  explosion. Some nurses and attendants in white and blue uniforms are littered around the compound attending to people urgently.

I am dressed in plain white shirt and black ripped jeans with a red colored loafers shoe — Ann does well in spoiling me with expensive clothing. My outfit and car simply smells of money and wealth, hence, I am quickly paid attention to. I see an emergency team rushing towards me so I rush to the Tesla and open the doors, welcoming their help.

"Sir, please wear this nose mask." One of the nurses instruct me, offering a white nose mask to me.

"I don't know what happened, they suddenly started burning up and lost consciousness!" I complain to her as I collect it.

"It is alright, the doctors will do a good job..." She assures me as the team of nurse attendants in white begin to lay Ann and Fil on stretchers and carry them away.

I follow closely beind them, walking briskly in pursuit as we make our way hastily into the glass door entrance of the hospital.

In my heart I am certain that the fever resulted from that portion they drank. I wonder what chemicals my father put in it to elicit this kind of body response but whatever it is, I am lucky I did not drink it as well. I am sure my father had good intentions but this is the worst time to be experiencing this.

We are inside the building now — a large hospital indeed. The interior is painted white and the floor tiles are hard and white as well. They are so clean that they reflect the white lighs above. There are also lots of people sitting in the waiting room, most of them looking sobber and sad while others are busy with their phones.

A nurse approaches me with a chart in her hands. She stands in my way, stopping me from proceeding any further. It displeases me because I am more interested in where they are taking my girlfriend and daughter to.

"I am sorry sir but you should wait here." The nurse instructs me.

"Fuck!" I yell in frustration, stamping my feet on the ground. I know I do not have a choice but to wait in the waiting room as well.

This is not supposed to be happening right now. Not right now!

What a miserable day today is turning out to be.

I halt, watching them take away Ann and Fil.

"You have a few questions to answer sir, could you please cooperate with me?"

I am pacing around impatiently with my arms akimbo. I begin to talk to myself in my heart.

I have to calm down, I have to breathe.

I do not know why but a part of me wishes to take Ann and Fil back into the car and zoom off but...

"Okay... Okay. But where are they taking them to?"

"Sir you have to relax and let the doctors do their job okay? We felt their pulse and they are still alive. They are alive sir and they are going to be alright so you need to calm down." She gestures at me to wear my nose mask.

I do not know why I feel like this nurse is lying to me but I try to suppress that feeling.

"Okay" I agree without much of a choice as I wear the nose mask over my nose.

"That is your wife and kid?"

"Yes nurse." I lie.

"Alright. You just sit in the waiting room an assistant will meet you there and help you fill in a form and purchase an emergency card okay?"

"Okay nurse..."

"Calm down, it is going to be alright." She assures me with a smile before walking away into a lobby.

Fake fucking smile!

***  **** ................................................. ****  **

St. LUKE'S HOSPITAL

6TH DECEMBER 2034

2.00 PM

Three hours pass and still no word from the nurses or doctors. They just keep passing me by at intervals and each one I call asks me to take a sit and be patient.

I have to be gentlemanly and calm my nerves but my mind is not at rest, not with all that is going on today.

I look around at the faces of the numerous people who sit with me in the waiting room, waiting for their loved ones. All of us have been here for hours but still no information on the status of the ones we brought here for treatment. Some new cases are even coming in adding to the number of people in the waiting room.

What is happening?

My mind recalls the previous  incident — an explosion from no where — and a shudder travels through my body followed by a wave of goosebumps. I remember the horror and heat of the fire and the fact that my father was there...

I trace my sides with my hand to emerge with my cracked glass phone to distract myself from these thoughts. The phone comes alive when it recognizes my face.

I stare at my screensaver for a while; it is a picture of Annaliese and I cuddled up together in bed. She took that selfie while we were still in the University, when I used to sleep over in her room during weekends.

I smile with teary eyes.

In the picture my eyes are closed in peaceful slumber while Ann lies on top of me with a smile that can earn her a tip in a bar.

"Good old days" I mutter under my breath before switching on my wifi for Internet connection. A high pitched beep follows when my phone connects to an active WiFi in the hospital.

Thousands of notifications then begin to pop in non-stop with my phone vibrating in response. Usually, I would get five or ten but today my phone would not stop vibrating. The beep sound is almost annoying the people around me — beeps from text messages from my roommate and other strangers, news alerts, low battery warning, and so on.  The one that catches my attention is the notification that says;

Z-Virus confirmed in Nigeria; eighty dead already.

The deadly Virus has just entered the country even after my outburst last night warning the government to ground flights and close the boarders. I shake my head in displeasure.

What a useless country!

Then another notification pops up following the previous;

Explosion rocks Mushin Estate; kills retired biochemist, fifty others.

My eyes tear up instantly for I am certain that it is my father in the news, he is the retired Biochemist. I try to hold in my tears but I no longer can so I burst into audible tears, even while in the waiting room. A dark, chubby man sitting next to me is attracted by my sudden outburst of tears but I do not care.

"Are you okay sir?" He asks me compassionately but I cry even more with my face buried in-between my laps.

The compassionate man pats my back softly trying to console me to no avail — he probably understands that I just lost a loved one.

I cry non-stop until someone finally calls my name.

"Mr Zachariah Orji!"

It is the attending nurse.

"Yes! That is me..." I spring up from my chair to identify myself wiping off my tears swiftly with my palms and surprising even the compassionate man.

"You..." I hear the man say, "you are the young man in the news."

Then I flash a puzzled glare at him but before I can say a word or take a mental note of his face, he takes a picture of me with his phone. I simply shake my head in disappointment; I do not have time for this.

"Zachariah Orji... that is your name" He says but I ignore him make my way to the counter because I am in no mood for fake familiarities.

I approach the nurse assistant who calls my name; it must be because of Ann and Fil.

When I reach the fair, chubby, middle-aged nurse who sits accross the counter with her large rectangular spectacles, she simply passes an android tablet to me with a page of a form displayed on it's screen.

"Fill that please..." She instrusts me.

However, as I pick up the tablet to appreciate the form on it's screen, I observe how she stares at me like I look familiar to her.

"You are the man from the news?" She asks me but I do not respond, I am focused on the form before me because below it is an outrageous hospital bill.

My face folds in anger;

"You got to be kidding me — "

"Mr Zachariah Orji" The nurse calls my name again and I turn to look at her with that angry face but the flashlight of her phone almost blinds me because she is recording a live video on social media.

"This amount is outrageous for a small issue; what happened to my wife and child?"  I ask furiously.

"The doctor will explain everything soon sir, please just make the payments." She replies with the camera still facing at me.

"Everything is so frustrating in this country." I mutter under my breath as I reach for my side pockets to search for Ann's debit card but instead my hand emerges with a piece of paper having my father's handwriting in it.

I am surprised but I am sure that my genius father must have slipped it into my pocket the when I held him to kiss him goodbye. I unwrap the folded paper to reveal the message he wrote in it. It says;

"Find Professor Joe Felix of The University of Sydney. Find him son, he will lead you to Notre-Dam. That is the only place where you can find safety and all the answers you seek..."

My heart leaps.

How do I even begin?

I am certain that my father for some reason knew he would die that is he asked me to leave. I am also sure that he has worked with top class medical practitioners in world class  biomedical researches and projects, hence, he knew a lot of genius minds in biochemistry and ...

"Everything alright Mr Zachariah Orji?"

My thoughts are interrupted by the nurse so I turn to her and nod, pretending that is is well with my soul while in truth it is not.

Suddenly my phone beeps again. I check to see if it is important; it is a notification from a popular human rights activist online whom I follow on social media. It says;

"Mr Zach Orji... The T.V guy is at St Luke's Hospital, let us do well to pay him a courtesy visit. #TVguy #ZachOrji"

What?

As I am still in a perplexed state, the emergency alarm of the hospital begins to beep.

There is danger.

The alarm is like a loud siren with a pre-programmed voice blasting a warning repeatedly through a loud speaker;

"Initiate evacuation procedures..." It warns!

The nurse quickly stands to her feet and begins to scurry away leaving me standing alone in front of the counter...

"Wait, please!" I call her but she waves at me gesturing that I should leave immediately.

Her phone's video camera still pointed at me beholding my mouth with is agape in wild wonder.

"Please evacuate this premises immediately!" I hear her shout as a chaos ensues in the waiting room as the numerous persons in it begin to scurry to leave.

No one knows what is going on but it is almost as if there is fire on the mountain and everyone has to run for their lives. Nurses, doctors, security personel, begin to evacuate the building dragging along as many patients as they can — some carry patients on wheel chairs and stretchers. Some other random people just run helter skelter pushing other people out of their way in the process.

This is serious!

"No! What about my wife? What about my daughter!" I yell in the midst of the sudden chaos but no one gives a damn anymore, no one is even listening, everyone is busy running to safety.

I decide to go on my own because I can never leave Ann or Fil behind. I start running towards the lobby leading to the wards. I am bursting into random people who are escaping to safety. I trip and almost fall at intervals but I don't mind.

My mind is thumping in fear; not in fear of deathor harm, but in fear of loosing the two most important people in my life.

"Ann!" I yell.

Then suddenly I behold a masked man in black. He appears before me carrying an AK-47 gun so I screech to a hold so that I stand staring at him in shock while he stares at me. I feel a chill in my spine as he corks his gun — He does not even mind killing all the people running all over the place.

He stands at a distance away from me looking like a dark shadow as people run across us screaming in fear. I am stunned to a halt because he is particularly staring at me.

He then reaches for his belt and throws a gas cylinder towards me and a cloud of red smoke begins to rise. I begin to cough violently as the pungent smell of the gas tears through my nostrils and irritate my lungs.

I am coughing uncontrolably but then I can still see him through the red smoke as he points the AK-47 rifle at me. My heart instantaneously jumps into my mouth!

I turn around and begin to flee, racing towards the exit of the hospital.

Gunshots echo!

The sound of people shouting and screaming combining with the loud emergency alarm deafens me. I am running for my life nonetheless; running faster than I ever have because andrenaline rushes through my veins.

When I am close to the exit, I begin to hear several rounds of gunshot so I dive impatiently  onto the glass even before it automatically goes ajar so that It breaks into pieces on impact with me.

I find myself outside the building, tumbling and rolling on hard coal tar with bruises and wounds all over my body and my white shirt stained with dirt and black tar.

"Urgh!" I grunt severally in pain.

I am lucky my head did not smash against this hard floor; I would have been dead by now.

I force myself to rise to my feet because an urge to find my babies pushes me on and the fear of loosing them fuels my energy. I am staggering and limping but I cannot leave Ann and Fil behind.

I have to find a way inside.

I decide to go around the building and find a way in through the back. I am staggering and limping towards my goal when I hear the sound of vehicles screeching towards me in full speed.

I begin to run faster but then I turn backwards when a noise attracts me — It is the sound of a crowd of violent protesters running towards the hospital carrying daggers, machette, metal rods, chains, clubs and wooden planks. They must have been tipped off by someone in the building.

Thank goodness they were close already!

The strangest thing about the whole thing is that these violent protesters are chanting my name as they march to war!

"Zach Orji! Zach Orji!"