A forum was created just for the occasion. On the fourth of September, to commemorate the anniversary of PAX-12's discovery, a twenty-one year old girl decided to create an online site for people to discuss about the disease, and get support from each other. The site had an unusual large number of administrators and moderators, as many were just disappearing overnight. The girl, often referred as The Founder, was the first one to succumb to illness; not without leaving her mark on the world.

One of the hot topics was how to stop the disease from home, yet so far they hadn't found anything of interest.

Here and there, there was an argument between two and more members. Even though it was often eased by moderators, they were either skipped or it was too much for one person to stop alone. A policy from the site was to never ban someone, unless it was especially necessary.

Of course, Neuren had his own place in the forum, as he played a critical role. Often mentioned, there wasn't a single person who doubted that he had anything to do with the disease, everyone knowing that Spalin was wrong. As well not even a single person spoke well of him, nor tried to understand his reasons.

The last section added was the wiped out countries; in other words, countries in which every person died. So far there were very few, yet others had a population of less than seven people. Those people, with the last of their strength, wrote messages in the forum, hoping they would be read in the future by people who survived.

I hope you remember me by how much I fought against PAX-12... A boy wrote. He was fifteen and the last inhabitant from a small country in Europe. His house was enveloped in darkness, with only the dim light from the laptop screen illuminating the walls. His parents, still lying on the kitchen floor, where like a feast to ravens. His younger sister, in a room with hungry wolves. And he, inside his room with the door closed and broken windows. He didn't dare to come out from his room to look at the mutilated corpses of the ones who he had lived with his entire life. Now the crows were waiting in line to make a feast out of him too.

Outside, a few birds shrieking, dogs growling and flies buzzing. The earth was becoming property of animals, just like thousands of years ago, when humans were struggling with the cold harsh ice ages.

When he posted his online letter, he had no regrets. He had lived a great life; happy, fun, with sad moments that made the happy ones even sweeter.

He closed his eyes, his belly growling from starvation. He heard a black bird screaming, alerting the others, and a loud fluttering of wings. Then silence, his conscience faded away into nothingness.

Caroline was asleep inside her room. With so many people dead, she was surprised that she was alive yet. The girl longed to speak with her best friend once again, but Sharon went to the doctors, believing she was Patient Zero. Must be horrible... she thought with a sigh. Knowing that you caused the disaster of today.

She looked at her phone. No messages, no calls, no nothing. She wanted to call someone, anyone, but either no one would reply or the signal was playing with her. Calling to another country would cost too much, and apparently it was being reserved to people who needed it; the police, the doctors, the government...

She went to the kitchen, hungry. There was only one sandwich, and that was everything she could eat. If she wanted anything else, she would have to leave the house and buy it; specifically, steal it. The stores were almost empty, but a few cans remained intact. Disease didn't kill plants or vegetables, for their luck. But nobody knew how long that would last.

The bread was hard as stone, inedible. Cheese, musty. The fridge, empty. Guessing it was time, she took the keys and left, without locking the door behind her. After all, who would be there to steal anything? There wasn't anything to take from her home after all. Besides the laptop…

Some parts of the street were surprisingly clean; the rest had the remains of marches against Spalin and his unjust war, sometimes with corpses with awful scars that Caroline wouldn't dare to look at. She didn't even want to think about it, so she focused on the path ahead. There, almost in the horizon, there was a figure outlined against the rising sun. The girl looked at her wristwatch, remembering suddenly it broke a long time ago. But at least she could be sure that she had been sleeping soundly that night.

The figure was an old woman wearing a nightdress. With a broom on hand, she was taking away all the dust that had been accumulated through the days. Caroline hoped to initiate a friendly conversation with her, maybe ask about why was she doing that, but the woman eyed her with such intensity that Caroline recoiled, turned around her head and continued walking to the store.

As expected, empty. A rat was nibbling a nut that it got from god knows where. Alerted from the human's presence, the rat ran away looking for cover, and disappearing through a small crack on the wall.

Most shelves were empty. Caroline managed to find two cans, and decided to leave the rest for the next person that walked through the door. It always felt bad leaving a store without paying but, being unemployed, she was eventually forced to. However, whenever she found a coin just lying on the floor, she went to a store and left it there to whoever would be working later. It was naïve, she knew, to think that normal people would just walk away without taking the coin; as little it was, it was money.

Two men walked into the store, arguing. For the look of it they seemed to be discussing about something for a long time. They too were looking for something to eat, as they were so thin that Caroline believed she could see their ribs from beneath the shirts. She dropped to the floor and hid next to the counter. However the two men were so immersed into their fight that they probably wouldn't notice a tree standing in front of them.

As Caroline waited for them to leave, she couldn't help hearing what the problem was. Both said that they had families to feed (referring only to themselves) and that they should take a larger amount of food. Much to Caroline's despair, that argument easily evolved into aggression, as both men tried to hit the other at the same time. One fell with a hard sound, footsteps warning that the other was approaching. Caroline thought quickly about how to stop them before a tragedy happened, but what could a small girl like her do against two grown men? If one of them spotted her, it was almost sure that they would try to steal the cans she was carrying, and they wouldn't say please.

As much as it bothered her, she had to run away from there. Hopefully they would end with just a few wounds, but that was no more than hopeless dreaming.

Upon returning, the door was open. Because of the shock, a can fell off Caroline's hands, then the other. She rushed to grab them and waited by the main entrance, scared of what or who might be inside. There wasn't any noise, making her own breath sound loud, echoing around the street.

People from the movies do this all the time… She encouraged herself, swallowing, taking a timid step forward. But it was impossible, as she had no ways to defend herself, no ways to attack whoever went into her house. Now she regretted not having locked her door when she could,. In the movies, the good always wins… She continued. But looking around her, she knew that reality wasn't a fairytale made true. It was harsh, difficult, unjust and confusing.

She saw briefly a flash of white, disappearing quickly. A person was indeed inside, but they seemed to be walking around, waiting. She was curious, but terrified at the same time. She left the cans on the floor and grabbed a long branch lying beside a tree. Then she walked in. Again, two men, though these two looked much more healthy. The one who had been walking turned around, first surprised, and then relaxed. The other was just sitting comfortably on the sofa, and gave a warm smile. He was the first to speak.

"Good morning. Miss Caroline, isn't it? We've been waiting. You've made quite a ruckus there."

Caroline kept silent, alert and confused, and slowly raised the branch she was carrying. The stranger was nodding, as if she was allowed to dispose of her weapon, and reassuring that they wouldn't harm her.

"Let me introduce ourselves. My name is Zachary Nora. This is my good friend Keita." Keita nodded respectfully in greeting. "You could say we are of the best doctors in the world."

"We were of the first researchers of the Neurax Worm, PAX-12." Keita interrupted, seeming slightly annoyed by the arrogant tone in Nora's voice. Before Caroline could ask, he spoke again. "We need you to come with us."

"Why?" She asked defensively, raising the branch again. "Where to?"

"To England. Don't you want to meet your friend again?" Nora replied, amused. "What was her name again? Sharon?"

The branch fell off Caroline's hands. Her heart was about to jump out of her chest, though not of excitement. Of terror, fear that anything happened to her friend, and fear for herself. Why would they want to take her, of all people? The doctors were keeping silent, too; a very tense silence.

"Your friend is okay, if that's what worries you." Keita replied coolly. However, his next words came out in a murmur. "It's you who we are worried about."

"What, me?" Caroline said, prompting them to continue.

Nora gave a heavy sigh and stood up, stretching his legs. He grabbed a coat that was hanging from the window and went to the door, Keita closely following him. Without turning around, Nora urged crossly:

"Come on, Patient Zero. We need to know how to stop this stupid disease."

When Sharon saw her friend coming through the door, she was tempted to rush over to her and hug her for all the months they spent away, not knowing whether the other was alive or not. However, one glance at Caroline's face was enough to tell her to stay away. Sharon looked up at Derek, who was waiting by her side, but he said no word as he walked to the returning doctors. They exchanged quick words in hushed voices, probably discussing what to do next. Caroline was just looking away, frowning, without speaking at all, nor trying to listen what the others were saying.

After a while, Keita patted her on the shoulder and signaled her to follow. Caroline obediently did so; however her furious expression remained all the way to the lab.

"What did you tell her, then?" Sharon overheard Derek speaking, but she wasn't interested in the two men's conversation. Instead, the girl turned on her phone, putting old music she had stored in it, and began listening to it with headphones.

"The truth. That she is Patient Zero." Nora shrugged. Then he gave a deliberate contemptuous look at Sharon. "What's that spoiled brat doing? This is a great discovery."

"Well, first of all, we don't know if she truly is Patient Zero or not. Second, it's her best friend after all; she must be bothered by the whole situation."

Nora looked away, clearly bothered, and clicked his tongue disdainfully.

"We haven't slept in days, yet we're keeping a girl safe and fed for whatever reason. I assure you I am more bothered by this." He turned his head around again, this time looking into Derek's eyes. "You might be skilled, but too soft. That slows you, and that's exactly what we don't need right now." They both stared at each other for some seconds, until Nora sighed and walked past him. "I'll tell you if we find anything."

Derek didn't reply. He wasn't angry, just dumbfounded. So it's because of me that we are losing? He wondered, his mind reeling. He shook his head, trying to clear it. No, he's only tired, and says those things without thinking…

After some time, and a quick glance at Sharon (who still was listening to music, apparently asleep), he followed Nora into the meeting room. Whatever the outcome to Caroline's inspection, they had to keep working.

"Buenos dias!" Luan continuously repeated that phrase, as if practicing. Kazuki, at his side, offered help from time to time; yet Luan insisted that he could speak without his translator. Now they were in Spain, and the doctor always remembered how Spanish just was a slightly weirder Portuguese. He could do this. "Buenas noches!"

Kazuki seemed about to say something, but preferred to keep quiet. He had noticed how terrible he was speaking, but it was strange to see Luan being so enthusiastic with anything, so he let him be. That, and he would be in a terrible mood all day.

They were waiting in a bench besides a large building, just like the one in Brazil and England, the one that they always used for meetings. Kazuki found himself wondering why the buildings looked so similar from the outside, yet different from the inside. They had been in many countries already; from Canada to Russia to Australia.

Their latest trip to South Africa had been certainly bothersome. Not just for the arid heat and the ridiculously high amount of mosquitoes, but because Luan couldn't leave without touching a certain subject: the execution of the infected population, some years ago.

And even though the country had been infected again, they didn't seem to regret it. The countries all around them had been wiped out, yet they still had a considerable amount of people alive. They stood by the argument that those people would have died a long time ago if it wasn't for what they did.

Luan hated to admit that he, in part, had been right. According to the records they had, the amount of people alive was just below the one of his home country. However, was it because they executed a few infected people a while ago, or was there something else?

The door opened and a middle-aged man stepped out. Smiling, he invited the two guests to go inside.

"Buenos noches!" Luan said, hearing a snort of laughter coming from Kazuki. The translator stepped forward, standing beside his client.

"He means to say good morning." He said in fluent Spanish. Luan crossed his arms and answered in his mother language:

"I could understand that."

"Good morning to you too." Said the man. "Come inside, we have much to discuss today."

"Tell him our names." Luan instructed, getting over his pride. Kazuki nodded, and proceeded to introduce both himself and Luan to the new person. After that, he asked for his name.

"Demián Tapia. Pleased to meet you. Now that introductions are over, let's proceed."

They followed through a large corridor, full of windows to see the outside. This wasn't in the other buildings… Luan realized, taking a glance at the exterior.

When he was waiting outside with Kazuki, he was surprised to find that everything looked colorful and full of life. Under the sunlight, the trees sparkled with dew and the streets were illuminated with a delicate tone of orange. The whole place, as expected, was deserted. Yet it seemed as if no catastrophe ever happened, and the world was contently living a normal life with their families at home. Perhaps that was the reason Demián was so cheerful. Perhaps that was the reason they had a calm afternoon.

And perhaps that was why he felt so dreary when he looked through the window. People were lying there, probably homeless, and probably dead. He had ignored what the world was really like for a second, enjoying the warm breeze and sunlight on his eyes, when just around the corner people were blinded by the sun, burned alive by the overheated wind.

At the end of the corridor, Demián was waiting next to a door labeled "Lab". Luan went inside, and before Kazuki could go in, he was instructed by another doctor to wait inside.

"You see how nice the day is today?" Demián spoke, and Luan found himself wondering what to say. Now he wished that Kazuki had followed them. "Oh, sorry. I forgot you don't speak Spanish."

"I can understand that…" Luan murmured, while Demián looked at him slightly amused.

"Okay. I can speak your language. Now follow me, there's something you need to see."

Luan was still processing his words when he saw the doctor walking to the other end of the room. He walked quickly to catch up, careful not to trip on anything. There was a large door there, and he could hear squealing and scratching on the other side. He didn't need to be told what was behind that door.

"Rats." Hearing that sound so many times in his own lab, he became so used to it that he barely noticed when he entered the room, but now it was loud, and he could guess that there were many, too many rats trapped there.

"Countless. Beautiful white rats with red eyes. Perfect for experiments. Now…" Demián grabbed a small cage standing on a table beside the door. A smaller door was on the wall, just a few inches tall. Demián placed the cage at the entrance. The door was opened from above, and then from there a tiny, white rat appeared, clearly terrified. The man closed the door before many more could get through.

Luan raised an eyebrow, his arms crossed.

"How many rats, exactly?"

"For starters, if you opened that door right now you would be drowned in a sea of rats." Demián pointed with his finger to the larger door. "Millions I'd say."

"And what is this you were so eager to show me?" Luan asked, anxious to drop the subject. Though he made experiments with rats too, he considered the method they were using to be extremely ineffective, not to mention cruel. Yet he was in no position to judge, and decided to remain silent on that matter.

"This!" He left the cage on the table, making sure Luan could see it. Yes… He thought, inspecting the white creature closely. This one is infected with PAX-12. "You see it's blinking? Now, look what happens when I do this."

He took a bag of something from under the table. Brown pellets that looked more like dog food and nothing like something rats would eat. But Luan guessed they were starving and would eat anything that they offered them.

Demián then took a jar of transparent liquid and a dropper. On a small plate, he put some pellets of food and damped them slightly with the dropper, now full with whatever substance was on the jar. Then he gave the food to the rat, making sure it wouldn't escape, and waited.

The rat sniffed curiously, and began eating almost at once. It was so hungry that it probably didn't care whether the food had poison or not. Maybe it realized that it was that or dying from starvation, inside an ocean of other rats. When it was finished, the small creature went to the corner of the cage, its whiskers twitching nervously. Luan noticed how, gradually, blink by blink, the rat's eyelids were moving slower, until it could blink normally; as if the worm was gone. Luan stared, amazed, at the creature as if it just turned into a demon. It was still alive, though it was unknown if it made the worm disappear or not.

Demián answered that question for him:

"Our analyses revealed that the Neurax Worm is still resting inside its brain; yet with this and following this formula, we might be able to lessen the symptoms." He shrugged, placing every object where it was before. "It's a lead, at least."

"And a good one, I'd say. However, how many rats died from that liquid?"

"Very few. We didn't try it on more than fifty, and about three to five died."

"I see…" It wasn't safe to release that kind of drug to the public: more people could be lost before they had the chance to save anyone. Yet Demián was right; it was a lead. He handed Luan a smaller jar of the same liquid, inside a box and covered in papers.

"You know, this could fall while you're on the plane."

Luan nodded his thanks, taking the envelope. Then he followed him outside, where Kazuki was waiting, back against the wall, clearly bored. When both men came out, he straightened and gave an inquiring look at Luan.

"It was brief, but enough." Demián said, returning to the language he preferred, Spanish. "I hope this is enough to help on your research. Good luck, and tell me if you find anything else. Remember: we're working on parallel."

Kazuki repeated everything he said in Portuguese, and Luan nodded without any more words. That kind of communication was too slow, and there was no time to lose. He turned around, the translator following him, and Demián taking the rear.

Good news, finally. Luan thought to himself. What a waste of rats though. They looked pretty.