"Hey.... turn on the TV"
said Wang Wei to his brother Lie Jie, scrolling through his phone.
"Right now!... Why? also why can't you get your lazy ass up the couch, and turn it on?"
Replying to Wei, Lie switched on the television with a sigh, and c...
Inspecting the streets from the balcony of their apartment Wei said.
"I think it's all settled Lie... Now the streets are getting deserted, people are all inside their houses. Now is the best time to go get the supplies."
"Then let's get going... Take the masks and some hand bags, we don't want to take theirs..."
Replied to Wang, Lie got up from the chair and put down his laptop. Lie is one year older than Wei. He works in a nearby IT company, due to the virus outbreak, his office is temporarily closed. Even though he only needs his laptop and an active internet connection to do his job, so that almost all the time Lie's in his laptop working. Their parents have died a few years back due to illness. From then on they were on their own. Till Lie got a job, their cousins were taking care of them.
They got out of their apartment with all the necessary precautions. They wore masks and had hand bags with them to carry the supplies. They've reached the shop, it was all messed up outside the building. The junks outside the shop shows the situation in the evening.
"Hey Chen... "
Said Lie Greeting the shop owner. Upon seeing them, Chen raised his hands with a smile and replied.
"Nihau, Lie... Wei... How's everything?"
"It's all good right now Chen... Actually we came earlier in the evening, but due to the crowd we've decided to come now."
Said Lie. Chen came out of the billing area, and walked towards them.
"Oh guys... You should've come in the evening... Everything's sold out... Look around you... It's all finished."
Giving out a blank stare to wei, Lie asked Chen,
"Hey Chen... I know you understand the seriousness of the situation... Please do help us somehow..."
Upon hearing this, Chen goes into a deep thinking and replied.
"Okay... I have saved up some supplies for myself in the backroom. Come in, you can take whatever you want from it."
"thank you so much Chen... But what about you? What will you do?" asks Wei.
"Don't worry about that Wei, I'll fill it up when tomorrow's morning stock arrives. So don't worry."
Thanking Chen, they started to collect the supplies that they want to survive for a week.
January 11, Wuhan
"Wake up Wie... Get up, get up... It's late, we should go and get Ming, get up... Fast"
Lie called out to Wei, who was deep asleep in his room. They both got ready and get in their car to go and get Ming, their sister who was coming in a public transport bus. Ming is their 17 year old sister, who stays with their cousins in their native village because her schooling is done their.
The bus had already arrived when they got there. After searching through the crowd they finally finds their sister, sitting on a bench listening to music with her earpods on. They walked towards her... Lifting her eyes from the phone, she sees them in front of her. They all hugged and were very happy on seeing after a long time.
"I was scared to travel guys... Due to this virus issue..."
Said Ming while getting inside the car through the back left side door. Lie replied.
"You had the sanitizers and masks right? Then I believe we're all cool... Also there are no death till now... So it's curable I think..."
"curable? Lie... There is no vaccine for this virus... How is it curable... It's just luck and immune system..."
Replied Wei upon hearing Lie.
They got back to their apartment after a long drive from the bus station. Opening the door of the apartment Lie asks Ming,
"Are you scared of this new virus Ming?"
"Not really no... It's not that harmful right... No one is dead... And not so serious, so there is no reason for fear with proper, necessary precautions... Also it is a new virus... It will take time to find a vaccine right..."
Replied Ming switching on the TV and putting on the local news channel. Wie was changing his t shirt... Hearing what Ming replied, Wie said,
"New virus?... Nahh, it ain't new... Let me show you something..."
Wie took his phone from the table and started searching for something. Seeing this, Lie also joins Ming.
"Get ready for some conspiracy theory..."
Murmered Lie to Ming making sure Wie dosent heard it... After some searching on his phone, he found out what he was looking for and started talking.
"You know I heard what you said... Right Lee"
They all laughed low-key... He continued.
"Take a look at this report..."
He hands out his phone to them.
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"You see.... This scientific article published on 2007.... Hear me... 2007, is warning us about this new SARS corona virus which emerges from bats or other exotic animals. And also warns us about the consumption of these animals... It literally says that it is a "time bomb".... We had all the time in the world... But none of them listened. No one will, until and unless something happens right... Now the times up..."
Looking at this article, still shocked even from the Madonna's conspiracy, Lie said,
"Ohh... It was all right in front of us, and we didn't even pay any attention... But luckly it's not that bad right now, right... At least no one's dead... That's a happy news..."
After Lie replied, Ming turned up the volume of the TV. The reporter on the news channel started reading the main head lines,
"A 61 year old man is found to be dead due to the new coronavirus. The man who died was a regular customer at the market in Wuhan. Forty-one people have been found to have the new virus, a coronavirus, and seven patients are still in severe condition. A national emergency and a Lockdown is at its brink... Citizens should be ready and be prepared to face the coming days...."
