Read Chapter 2: — THE RUMOUR

By the next morning, the illness had a name in every group chat and no name on television.

People called it the winter pneumonia, the airport bug, the new flu, the thing from Ward Seven. Half the posts contradicted the other half. One message claimed the city hospital had closed an entire wing. Another insisted there were only six cases. A grainy photograph of staff in protective suits was shared thousands of times before somebody pointed out that it was three years old.

The one thing nobody disputed was that masks were becoming difficult to buy.

Ethan and Maya woke before dawn on the day they had planned to leave. The car was packed by six. Their suitcases were wedged between gift bags and food. Frost silvered the windscreens along their street.

At the corner, they saw their neighbour Tom Harris dragging a suitcase towards the main road.

"Airport?" Ethan called.

Tom turned. He wore a respirator mask, gardening gloves and swimming goggles.

Maya stared.

"I know," Tom said. "I look ridiculous. I also look less ridiculous than a man who misses his flight."

No taxi had stopped for him in forty minutes.

The airport was in the opposite direction from the motorway, but Ethan waved away his protests and loaded the suitcase.

Once inside the car, Tom handed them each a sealed respirator.

"Put these on. Keep the windows cracked. Wash your hands whenever you can. Don't touch your faces."

"You sound like a public-health leaflet," Maya said.

"My sister works in pathology. She scared the life out of me last night."

He told them the illness was spreading between people. Hospitals were seeing more respiratory admissions. Staff had been told to conserve protective equipment.

Maya stopped scrolling on her phone.

"How bad?"

Tom looked out at the pale road.

"Bad enough that I'd rather look stupid in swimming goggles."

At the airport, the usual Christmas chaos had been replaced by something stranger. People stood farther apart than normal. Families hugged quickly. Staff disinfected trolley handles. Several departure boards showed cancellations.

Tom gave Ethan a bag containing fifty surgical masks.

"Take them. I've got more in my suitcase."

"You need them too."

"I need ten. You two are driving six hours. Take them."

He disappeared through the sliding doors.

For a moment Ethan and Maya sat without speaking.

"Motorway?" Ethan asked.

Maya nodded.

Then someone knocked on the passenger window.