Read Aloud the Text Content

This audio was created by Woord's Text to Speech service by content creators from all around the world.

Text Content or SSML code:

PATIENT ZERO By KAREL D PEREZ CHAPTER 1 A New Beginning The sun was at the highest position in the sky, and strong rays of sunlight penetrated through the windows of the room. Looking towards the window was a man who had just woken up and opened his eyes to be greeted by the blinding light. He slowly turned his head away from the window and looked around the room. It is a hospital room, and there are machines to which he is connected. The IV bag connected to his arm is nearly empty. There is a bright spot of sunlight on his right arm, and he noticed the many tiny dark-red spots, which were leftover marks of blood-pulling. At this moment, he is unaware of what is happening or why he is in this place. A short and stocky nurse lady passing by his room looked his way and noticed the man’s confused face. Through the glass door he noticed her talking to other staff members, and in no time two nurses went inside the room. They were both wearing protective gear, such as masks, gloves, and white suits that covered their entire bodies. To the man, at this moment, nothing made any sense. There were no thoughts in his mind, to whether there was something wrong with him. His thoughts were as calm and clear as if he had been heavily sedated. But he was not; his brain was just running blank, due to lack of mental stimulation. A clicking sound from the opening of the door in his room drew his attention. The stocky nurse-lady stepped inside with a clipboard on her hands. The man looked at her slowly, wondering what’s going to happen next. “Mr. Wiseman!! It’s good to see you finally awake! You’ve been in a coma for a month,” she said. The man had no idea what she talked about. And every word that came out of her mouth took a few seconds to be registered in his mind. She continued making conversation with him, as she checked the machines, took some notes, and observed his overall condition. He did not reply to her because he could not think of anything to say. Then, he heard more sound coming from her mouth. “Don’t worry Mr. Wiseman, the doctor will be here any time now to see you. And if he says so, you could be going home soon,” she said. Right after finishing her sentence, the door opened one more time. This time, a tall white man wearing a long white coat came inside. He spoke to the nurse for about 2 minutes and then proceeded to get closer to the man on the bed. “Kyle, it’s good to see you have recovered! Not many people of your age make it through the first round of this virus. I’m going to check your vitals now and ask you a few questions. Then, I will see you again tomorrow when you’re more aware and feeling better,” the doctor said. After checking the vital patient’s vitals, the doctor tried asking him a few questions. But as many questions as he asked, there were no answers to them. Eventually, the doctor moved away and talked to the nurse again for a few seconds, then left the room. Then, the nurse said she would bring him some soft food in a few minutes, and walked out the room as well. PAUSE (TIME SKIP/ A BRIEF MOMENT OF TIME PASSES) The next morning, Kyle is watching the television in his room, while slowly eating his breakfast (orange juice, turkey sandwich, and 5 freshly-cut apples pieces). It took him one day, but he was now more aware and in his full senses. As he watched the news on TV, he became informed about a virus that had taken over the country and had already caused many deaths. The entire country was under distress and chaos. Streets were empty of people walking, driving, and commuting about. Businesses and stores were closed, except essential working places like hospitals, pharmacies, police stations, and fast-food businesses that served by drive-thru. As his memory slowly came back, he remembered that this was not the country he last saw a month ago. He took the last bite of his sandwich, when all of a sudden, the same doctor from yesterday walked inside. “Good morning, Kyle! It’s nice to see you recovering so fast. I’m Dr. Richard Ward. But you might not remember me right now because your memory is slowly coming back. We thought you were going to die. But you overcame the virus,” the doctor said. “The virus? The same on the news?” Kyle asked while chewing his last bite. “HA! I see you’re finally talking. Yes... the same virus. The problem is, it never really goes away,” he said. “Never?” he asked again. “Never. And those who recover from it the first time, see it coming back a second time. We still have not seen a case where a patient outlives the second round, since by then their bodies have suffered serious damage… mainly in the lungs, heart, and other organs. So their weak bodies can’t fight it anymore the second time around,” he explained. “How long do I have until it comes back?” he asked. “I don’t know that. But what I do know is that you might have two to three weeks, until its return inside your body. By the way, none of your family members came to see you this whole time,” he said. After hearing these words, Kyle lost his appetite and didn’t finish the rest of his food. Then he asked the doctor to be released as soon as possible. He knew he didn’t have much time left, so he wanted to make sure he could make the best of it. And to him, finding his family right now was more important and the only thing that had meaning. He also tried asking Dr. Ward for information about his family, but he said he didn’t know anything about Kyle’s family except for the home address. PAUSE (TIME SKIP/ A BRIEF MOMENT OF TIME PASSES) A day after, Kyle was released from the New York Presbyterian Hospital. As he looked around the streets of the usually busy city, everything looked very different to how he last saw it. The first detail he noticed was the emptiness of the streets. Never in his life, had he seen so few people walking around New York. He walked two blocks away from the hospital, as he headed to 72 Street Subway Station, and only met two people on his way. Another detail he noticed was how dirty they were with waste and scattered pieces of trash everywhere. Upon arriving at the subway station, he walked downstairs to the platform, where he could take the train. The entire station was empty and there were caution-tape around the turnstile gates that read “No Trespassing.” Some of the tape had been broken, and were flying all over the place with every gust of wind circulating from within the tunnels. The moment he observed the scenery, he realized that transportation had been cut off, not only with the subway, but possibly with buses and cabs. So, he walked back upstairs to the street in hope to find another way to get home. But once he was in the streets once more, there was not one soul to be seen. Then suddenly, a car approached from his far right. This was his chance to try to get a ride home, or he might have to wait for another chance. In an instant, he looked at the traffic light at the end of the corner, and noticed that it was flashing yellow, and it would not change. There was no way for the driver to even bother stopping at the light anyway because the street had no traffic. Kyle quickly moved to the center of the street and started to make waving signs for the car to stop. The car kept approaching and it didn’t seem to be slowing down. But Kyle did not move one inch, despite the fear that soon possessed him. He was either getting ran over by this vehicle or he wasn’t. The vehicle kept approaching to a distance of about twenty feet in front of Kyle, then quickly made a drift-turn to the left of Kyle and made a full stop. A man came out of the car slamming the door behind him. The man was wearing a black mask that covered the bottom-half of his face. “What the hell is wrong with you, man!?” the man shouted at Kyle. “Hey, I’m sorry…,” Kyle replied before being interrupted. “Yeah, you better be! If I had not drifted, you wouldn’t be standing there right now,” the stranger said. “Look, I just got off the hospital, and I just want to get home. Please help me!!” “Why the hell should I care!? “I get that you’re angry right now. But please help me here. I need to get to my family. I haven’t seen them in more than a month. I need to know how they are doing” The man calmed down from his furiousness and stayed silent for a few seconds. Then, he looked at Kyle and noticed he wasn’t wearing any face covering. Adding to his anxiety, Kyle appeared to have been patched up really bad all over his arms with bandages and first-aid-patches. The look on the man’s face screamed rejection. If he wanted to convince him, he needed to do it now or it would be too late. Kyle, kneeled down in front of the man, placed his hands together as if he were to pray, lowered down his head, and begged the man for a ride.