“The whole house was full of cops and experts. It was an unreal situation for the frightened family. Oscar and Hilly found themselves less and less involved in the investigation and became concerned. It soon turned out that those concerns were justified.
Meanwhile, the police officer in charge arrived. He looked around the room with a serious face and had an obligatory chat with Oscar and Hilly. Unfortunately, he had little to say and tried to reassure them with empty words.
Oscar, Hilly, and Little Lily tried to get closer, yet they still couldn’t hear anything because the experts and the police officers were whispering. This was clearly information they could not share directly with the family. He saw how his eyes were wide open from shock because of this. Oscar ran out of patience and he joined the group. The officers immediately stopped whispering, but Oscar didn’t care. Oscar firmly demanded an answer from the officers, but as he spoke to them, all the police officers did something Oscar never saw coming. They stepped back and with many surprises they said, ‘Sir, stay there. You need to lay on the ground and don’t move.’
Oscar had no idea why he was ordered to lie on the ground, but he wasn’t in a position to deny an order, so he slowly put his hands in the air and got down on his knees. Hilly and Lily looked with wide eyes from inside the house. Was Oscar being arrested? Why would they do something like that? Police said they could be infected with something. Oscar couldn’t believe his eyes, but then all of a sudden he saw his little Lily crying outside of their house. Police officers were pulling their guns. Oscar could hear his daughter crying in the other car. The situation had gotten way out of hand, and looking at his house surrounded by cops and men in hazmat suits, everything they took out of his home was concealed in airtight Ziploc bags. As the car drove away, Oscar noticed that the driver was not a police officer, but rather a person in a white suit.
Confused and worried, he attempted to ask questions, but they remained silent. After a 2-hour drive, they arrived at their destination, which was an airport. Oscar was confused, wondering what was happening. Suddenly, he was escorted onto a waiting helicopter and taken away. He had no idea where they were going or why. ‘Where are my daughter and wife? Where are you taking me?’ he tried asking again, but no one answered. As Oscar flew through the air, his mind raced with questions. Where were they taking him? Was his family there already? Despite his curiosity, he knew asking wouldn’t work; no one would answer anyway.
A man spoke up, ‘We’re almost there, just 5 minutes away.’ Suddenly, he felt the helicopter descend. Soon after, Oscar arrived at a base camp that seemed like a military camp. Just 24 hours earlier, Oscar had been enjoying a peaceful dinner with his family. Now he found himself locked up in a cell. Was he under arrest, or was there something else at play? His biggest concern was for his family.
Two hours later, a man entered Oscar’s cell again, fully packed with a white suit. He introduced himself as Alex, who claimed to work for a secret forces team. He apologized for the situation but insisted their actions had been necessary. Oscar’s first concern was for his family. Before Alex could say something else, Oscar aggressively demanded to know where they were taken. He sighed, looked at the ground, and said, ‘I have to tell you something.’
Oscar’s heart raced as the words sunk in. He yelled, ‘What? What? What?’ Was something happening to Lily? He struggled to compose himself. Alex handed Oscar a glass of water, calming him down as he struggled to regain his composure. Oscar felt ashamed for losing control like that. Then Alex’s words hung in the air like a heavy fog. ‘It’s about your daughter.
His daughter had fallen seriously ill after they had arrived at the facility. It was probably the snake, Alex explained, his face etched with worry. But what did that mean? Oscar’s mind was racing with questions as he tried to process the news about his daughter’s sudden illness. What kind of snake could give his daughter such a bad reaction? Was she really sick, and if so, how serious was it? The uncertainty was suffocating, and he longed for answers.
Alex remained evasive about the virus, insisting it was top secret. Oscar’s priority was his daughter, and he wanted to see her immediately. However, Alex informed him that it was only possible after he had been tested for the virus himself. Oscar was anxious and afraid, but he had no choice but to agree.
Another man entered the room and conducted a few tests on Oscar. A long and dreadful hour later, they received the results, and thankfully, Oscar was not infected with the virus. He was relieved and eager to see his daughter again. He prayed to God that she would be okay. Alex explained to Oscar he had to go through some protocols. He wasn’t allowed to touch his daughter and had to wear a hazmat suit like everyone else. They told him his wife, Hilly, was still waiting on the test results, and if she were to be negative too, she would be joining him in their daughter’s room.
As Oscar walked down the long hallway, he bombarded Alex with questions, desperate for answers. What was the origin of the virus? Did it come from the mysterious snake? After several minutes of silence, Alex finally opened up a bit. ‘I can’t reveal everything to you, but since your daughter is severely affected, I’ll give you some information.’ But before I tell you more, we need to run some tests to be sure,’ Alex said, leading Oscar to his daughter’s room.
Alex continued, ‘This virus is fairly new, and there have only been three cases known in the world. We’re still testing various possible cures, but one really stands out.’ He paused and looked at Oscar; the silence was deafening, and Oscar couldn’t handle it anymore. Oscar’s heart raced as Alex spoke, ‘What is it?’ he asked urgently.
‘It’s risky, but there’s a chance it could work,’ Alex said, looking both determined and uncertain. Alex suggested that if Oscar’s blood was given to his daughter, her blood cells might adjust with his good blood cells, and it could possibly help save her. Without hesitation, Oscar agreed to do the blood transfusion and took a seat for the procedure. They needed to have the same blood type; otherwise, this wouldn’t work. And after some testing, it became clear they, in fact, had the same blood type.
After they successfully filled the bag with Oscar’s blood, they entered Lily’s room and hung the bag of blood to let it drip into her veins. They had to monitor Lily very closely. If something were to go wrong, they had to abort the transfusion immediately. Oscar sat by her bedside and looked at his daughter. How could it get like this so quickly? His daughter’s life was at stake, and there was no certainty that she would survive. Oscar agreed to sign the contract without hesitation, desperate to save his daughter.
