The grocer looked up at his neighbor's screams and glanced at his son, who had come out of the building, while some people came out of the street to help.
He called out to Wael.
"Wael, come here. What's wrong?"
Wael looked up, leaning towards the grocer's shop, clutching his arm.
"What's wrong, son? Why are you holding your arm?"
Wael looked at his father. "I don't know, Dad. The man looked really sick and scratched me.
His bathroom was covered in blood, so I got scared and came down."
"Show me your arm, boy." He looked at the scratch and yelled at him, "May God burn you! I hope it's not some plague or something!"
He yelled at the owner of a shop next door, "Uncle Saeed, keep an eye on the shop until I get back!"
He grabbed his son's arm. "Come on, boy, let's go to the hospital." The boy stopped him, trying to delay him and not make a big deal out of it.
"Dad, be patient. It's just a scratch."
Suddenly, they heard screams from the top of the building, voices saying, "The boy is dead. He was so young."
The man was terrified. He rushed his son to the hospital.
As soon as he arrived, a few minutes later, he asked about their relative's doctor.
By chance, the doctor was right in front of them. He looked at them and asked, "What's wrong, Haj? Is everything alright?"
He pointed to Wael's hand and told him what was going on. The doctor looked at Wael's hand. "Look, Haj, he doesn't seem to have anything wrong with him, but I can do a blood test and see what's going on."
He asked them to follow him to a room so he could take a blood sample.
Wael's father looked at him and said, "Please, I need to know what's happening now. Is it an epidemic or something? We need to deal with it quickly."
They said, "Try to see if I can find out right now."
As soon as the doctor left, Wael's father looked at him. "Don't worry, your friend studied in America and stayed here because his family is taking care of them. He's a genius. He was one of the people who worked on the coronavirus cases and was very famous there in America."
Wael looked at him. "I'm not scared at all. You're the one who's scared.
And I don't think there's anything wrong. He looked tired, but it's nothing serious."
Wael looked at his phone. It was The girl was checking on him after several videos went viral online, garnering millions of views, showing the horrific death of soldier Nasser.
"Are you okay? I think this is the building across from your shop, right?"
Wael was silent for a moment, looking at his hand. A voice rose, questioning the doctor and cursing the hospital. After a few seconds, she asked him, "Are you in the hospital? Are you really okay?"
Wael hung up.
The voices were deafening; it was like a war. "We need a doctor immediately! The Pasha is bleeding heavily!"
The doctors came out arguing. "What's going on?"
At that moment, Dr. Nadi entered, holding his father and moving away from Wael. Tension was evident on both their faces, and anger began to show on Wael's father's face. "What are you saying?" "Are you drunk?"
Then he went back to Wael, holding his hand, saying,
"Let's go, boy. I must have made a mistake and thought you understood."
The doctor tried to contact the hospital security.
That's when Wael sensed something was wrong, especially when his father gripped his hand tightly and started running out of the hospital.
On their way out, they heard screams.
"Get away from me, you son of a bitch!"
Wael looked towards the screams. It was a man with epilepsy who was biting people in the hospital. He had grabbed an elderly patient by the neck and ripped her throat open amidst her cries and screams. His father shouted, "Don't look back! Run with me!" It was the first time he had seen his father like this. Although he was usually temperamental, he had never before witnessed such a sight.
Gunshots rang out inside the hospital.
Wael looked ahead, realizing that things were getting out of hand. He started running with his father. His phone rang again; it was the girl.
He didn't want to answer, but he felt he had to as he ran. His adrenaline was high, and he wasn't thinking straight.
He replied to her.
The girl yelled at him, "Don't hang up on me! Listen to me! Don't go back to your shop because it's in chaos there. It looks like the police have left, and they're saying there are a lot of deaths." He replied, not understanding what was happening, "Where are you?"
She replied, "My family and I are thinking of leaving now to go somewhere far away."
He replied, confused by the rapid pace of events, "What are you saying? What's going on, guys?"
She replied, "It looks like an epidemic, and my dad, who's a doctor, says we should avoid contact with anyone right now."
He looked at his phone and shouted, "What do you mean? Is there something on the news?"
She replied, "Someone's calling her. No, but it seems like a big deal because some people called my dad and advised us to leave now before things get worse and we can't get out of the crowds."
She looked at her phone. "I'll have to hang up, but if you can get anywhere far away from here..." "I'm doing this now," he said, and hung up without another word.
Wael saw police vans approaching the hospital and the streets slowly descending into chaos as people fled.
After the police arrived, as Wael and his father ran, they heard some officers threatening to shoot anyone who left the hospital.
Press vans began to fill the area as they ran.
They finally reached their house, which was a little way from the grocery store. The father rushed inside to a large suitcase under the bed and started filling it with clothes, ordering Wael to get his. While Wael was on his way to his room, his father opened a safe and stuffed a lot of money into every available space in the suitcase, along with his own clothes, which filled the hidden pockets.
Wael rushed to his room and put everything he needed in, especially since he'd heard his father tell him not to pack too much for ease of movement. As he packed, Wael asked,
"So, where are we going?"
His father replied Hey, hurry up! We're going to the farm. Far from this madness.
At your uncle's.
On the other side of the square, hours before the incident, the police station was in chaos with the number of calls from citizens.
Meanwhile, Pasha Omar locked himself in his office after learning what was coming and began gathering as many weapons as he could.
While he was doing this, the situation was even more dire in the other half of the police station. The doctor began to tremble, and his assistants were terrified, trying to get away from him. One of them shouted, "Open the door! We're going to die!"
He repeated it several times.
A soldier replied, "What do you want? Why are you shouting?"
"Get us out of here! This doctor has an epidemic!"
He looked at him, trembling. "What do you mean? Aren't you doctors?" Don't help him!
He looked at him as he screamed, "I'm telling you, open up, you idiots! We're going to die! Call Pasha Omar and tell him the doctor is transforming!"
The soldier laughed. "Transforming? What are you guys on?"
Another soldier entered after hearing their screams.
"Why are you screaming, you idiots? Pasha Adel is coming!"
Pasha Adel entered and looked at them as they pleaded with him. "Get out, Pasha, right now! Tell Pasha Omar the doctor is dying!"
Adel looked at the soldiers. "Can't you see the man is dying? Open the cell!" One of them came out in a panic, after having been trembling and screaming.