The Zeroth Patient (Maya Krishnamurthy #4)
2049
Maya walked happily, her high-heels click-clacking on the road, two shopping bags hanging from each hand. As she walked, she gazed at the roadside shops selling fancy accessories, handbags, casual wear, and back-cases for smartphones. Though her shopping bug prodded her to buy some accessories, she was running late. She got several calls from her home. Mom. Sister. Dad. Uncle. Aunt. She patiently answered each call and assured them of her safety.
She stopped at a sugarcane-juice shop and ordered a cup. Taking little sips, she revelled in its sweetness. Just as she was about to throw the disposable cup into the bin, someone patted her shoulder. She turned and came face to face with an old woman. The woman was dressed in a black sari; her mane was completely white. A huge red bindi adorned her forehead. Thick black beads decorated her neck and wrists. It was obvious that she was a fortune-teller, for she had a bejewelled stick in the right hand, and held a brown leather-bound diary in her left.
Maya did not like such people. She wasn’t superstitious, by nature inclined towards science and maths. Before she could speak, the woman spoke in a shrill voice, “You must be Maya Krishnamurthy.”
Maya let out a tiny gasp. “Excuse me?! But how do you know my name?”
“I know the names of everyone in this town,” the woman replied.
“How is that possible? Parilaya is a small town, but you cannot know the names of the thousand people here.”
“Parilaya is a small but unintelligent one. These thousand you speak about are the ones who migrated here in 2022, because this town perished due to people’s reckless nature. They never listened to what the world said. They thought that they were clever. They believed that eating bats would bring them good luck. But, what did it do? It created a pandemic that lasted a year and wiped out half of the world’s population-“
“Okay, I know about that. Coronavirus and all. My mother was eight months pregnant when she migrated to Parilaya in 2022, after the pandemic ended and this town was completely disinfected. But what that has got to do with me now? I am running late. I have to go home. Here, take this hundred-rupee note. I don’t want your fortune-telling, or hear about my future or anything. I am not interested.”
Maya thrust the note at the woman, who declined it. She said, “You don’t want fortune-telling. But you’d want to hear something scientific.”
That stopped Maya on her tracks. She stared at the woman, wondering how much she knew about her.
Maya placed the shopping bags on the floor and folded her arms across her chest, nodding at the woman to go on. Her family could wait, but this could not.
“Here, take this diary. It is not as ordinary as you think.”
Maya was reluctant to take the diary. Not being superstitious did not mean that she shouldn’t be afraid of inexplicable things.
“Go on, take it. Only you can do this. You could save the world if you prevent the zero patient from spreading it. This diary allows you to travel back in time. This was given to me by a higher official, who said that Maya Krishnamurthy from Parilaya can travel back in time and save the world from the Coronavirus. When I asked him why he chose you particularly, he told me that you were born with a rare time-travel gene and only needed an object to activate it. So he prepared this diary for you. The instructions are on the first page. And yes, I tried, but I couldn’t travel back in time. If you succeed, please stop those stupid people from selling bats.”
“This is so ridiculous! How can I save the world? So, if I travel back in time and stop that single event from happening, the world should never have heard about the virus. But here we are, talking about it. So, my experiment was a failure. Somehow, the virus will come and wipe out half the population. I don’t want to experiment with this.” Maya withdrew her hand.
The old woman heaved a sigh. “Maya, I know you will say this. But I have another explanation. This diary was created just a few days back. So if you use it to travel back in time and save the world, it will create another timeline – where the world remains unaffected. You’ll leave the timeline which has experienced Coronavirus and create a new timeline which hasn’t experienced the virus. When you come back to your present, all the information about the virus would have vanished. Only you’d know about its existence. In that new timeline, I will not even recognize you. Understood? Please take it. You have to do this for the world.”
That explanation convinced Maya and she took the diary. At that moment, her mother called her phone.
“Yes, Ma! Sorry, sorry. I will get a taxi and come in a few minutes.”
*****
Maya placed the diary on the desk, and settled on a chair beside it. She turned the first page. Handwritten letters stared back at her.
“Hello, Maya. Since you have been identified as having the time-travel gene, I have chosen you for this task. In the middle pages of this diary, you will find a sheet made with handwoven paper. Write ‘Nov 11th, 2019. Parilaya wet market’ on it. You will then be engulfed by a force which will take you back to that date and place. You cannot write any other date or place, as I have programmed this diary so that it takes you only to that date. Good luck!”
Without wasting another moment, Maya did as instructed. A moment later, a force engulfed her and she vanished from her desk.
*****
N ov 11th, 2019
Maya’s feet touched the ground. A few raindrops fell on her face as she opened her eyes. She was at the edge of the Parilaya forest, near the wet market. It was drizzling, but a few people were still about. Fortunately, no one had seen her appear out of thin air. She walked briskly towards the market, clutching the diary in her hand. She looked around and read the boards which displayed the types of meat sold in the corresponding shops. But she couldn’t see any mention of a ‘bat’. Intrigued, she approached the shop that sold mutton. A butcher was cutting up pieces for a customer.
“Excuse me. Do you know anyone who sells bat meat here?” she asked, her voice low.
The butcher looked up in disgust. He spat, “Bat meat? Are you out of your mind?”
“No. But listen… Someone is going to sell bat meat here. If they do that, we’re doomed. The world is doomed.”
“Hey, madwoman, what are you saying?”
“What’s going on here?” A woman came out of a storeroom.
“I’m looking for someone who sells bat meat in this market.”
“Oh, yes! Lalitha was telling about it. She said that some astrologer told her that selling or eating bat meat will bring good luck. So she’s going to hunt for bats tonight.”
“What the fuck?!” Maya swore. “Where is this Lalitha?”
“Over there.” The woman pointed to a store two shops away, which sold turkey meat.
“Thank you.” Maya broke into a run, reached the shop, and demanded to meet Lalitha immediately. A woman in her late 40s came out and shook hands with Maya.
“Ms. Lalitha, you don’t know me. But I should warn you about something disturbing. I know more than the astrologer. Please listen to me. Don’t sell bat meat. You are going to unleash something that will abolish this entire town, bringing about millions of deaths!”
“What are you saying, madam? Really? My husband and I were going to hunt bats tonight.”
“Don’t do that, Lalitha. Please.” Maya begged.
“Okay, madam. You look like a scholar. I will listen to you.”
“Thank you, Lalitha. Does anyone know about your plan other than the mutton woman?”
“No one else knows. I was about to tell them after catching the bats.”
“Okay, don’t tell anybody, and don’t sell bat meat.”
“Sure, madam. I promise. You can rest in my guesthouse tonight and keep an eye on us, so we don’t go hunting.”
“Haha, okay. Thank you. I’ll stay tonight and leave tomorrow.”
*****
Maya did a mental jig, having accomplished her mission. It was 9 PM and she was taking a walk on the forest road. It was dimly lit, but she used her phone’s flashlight. Crickets were chirping and a slight breeze was blowing. Maya shivered and hugged herself for warmth. Suddenly, she heard a strange sound, like a child rubbing his molars together. And the next second, without warning, a bird flew at her. She ducked on time, but ended up with a nasty cut on her cheek; the bird’s claws had scraped her skin.
She went back to Lalitha’s house, where the woman tended to the wound. After a sumptuous dinner of chicken biryani, Lalitha and her family went to sleep, while Maya watched over them.
The next morning, Maya took leave. She opened the diary and followed the instructions to return to the present.
*****
2 049
A gentle sobbing sound filled the entire room. Maya was sitting on her bed, surrounded by newspapers with articles about Coronavirus. She was still in Parilaya. Coronavirus had won, even though she had found patient zero. The articles still pointed to Parilaya’s wet market as the origin, though Lalitha was not mentioned. She tried to go back once again, but the diary did not help. Apparently, it was just for one-time use.
“I failed in a mission that I never wanted to undertake. And that still hurts.” She spoke to herself in the mirror, passing her fingers over the scar on her cheek.
She locked herself in her room, wanting to be left alone. For two days, she feasted on the biscuits and chips that she had stocked up. On the third day, something happened to her. She found it difficult to breath. All her joints ached. Before she could even process what was happening to her, she collapsed on the floor.
*****
“How is it possible? How was she affected by the virus after thirty years?” Maya’s mother asked the doctor, a week after Maya’s death.
“It’s so strange. Your family of seven has been tested negative. We traced her contacts over the past two weeks. The sugarcane juice vendor, a fortune-teller who was seen speaking to her on the road, her friends… they all were tested and found negative. But the potency of the virus inside her was such that she couldn’t even experience gradual symptoms. It led straight to her death. It was like she had come in contact with the original virulent strain of the virus.”
Maya’s mother cried. Her daughter’s death in 2049 due to Coronavirus would remain a mystery forever.
*****
“How could you do this? She was a poor girl. She would have been a gift to the scientific world if you hadn’t messed with her life,” the fortune-teller yelled.
“Some things are destined. We cannot change them. This pandemic had to happen. Earth had to heal. Maya had to start it.”
A wave of shock caught the woman. “What are you saying? Maya was patient zero?”
“Yes, she requested Lalitha to not sell bat meat, but she herself went on to become the zeroth patient. On the night of Nov 11, 2019, Maya was taking a walk on the forest road. An insane bat with this new virus clawed at her cheek. Then she came in contact with a lot people that night and the next morning. She touched so many places with her bare hands and-“
“The rest is history,” the sad fortune-teller nodded.
FOOTNOTE: Wrote this one for WattpadShortStory ‘s Imagine Contest for the 3rd prompt. This story is a part of A Time Damsel (Maya Krishnamurthy series).
