The rich aroma of the coffee woke Omar up. His movements were still laggard as his hands gingerly accepted what Mira offered him. His chin inclined slightly downwards out of silent appreciation before he pinched and pulled down the hem of his woolen mask with two fingers. Lifting the cup towards his face, Omar immediately slurped down the steaming black liquid. The caffeine scalded his tongue bitterly as he inhaled in to take a whiff of the earthy vapor. He exhaled out as the coffee worked its magic, the world around him becoming less of a blur and sharper, as if it was under a magnifying glass. 

“ Small mercies,” Omar replied back, mouth muffled by the coffee cup. His eyes flickered towards Mira as he took another sip, watching as she drove out of the station onto the slick street. For the last 3 weeks, Omar had heard rumors from the other officers about Feng’s reputation since his induction at the Lambour County Sheriff’s Office. From what scant details he could put together, the common denominator between all the far-fetched tales he’d been told was that it had something to do with her conduct during her time at Williams County. 

Plus, any officer who bought him coffee before patrol duty was alright in his books. 

Rain cascaded down outside the car, shrouding the empty horizon in a thick soup of grey mist. The sugar maples and sycamores on the boulevard drooped down, their skeletal branches signifying the beginning of winter. At this hour, you would see some cars rolling down the street, maybe, a couple of people pulling out their umbrellas on the sidewalk. All Omar could see was mostly empty streets, windows wrapped with wax paper and closed doors. The scene reminded him more of a gh It made him shiver. On most days, Omar would be relieved but last night’s news report still troubled his mind.

It has first began as a series of coincidences, most chalking it up to the winter flu season. In less than 12 hours, Lambour Lutheran Hospital emergency departments were swamped with crowds of people all experiencing the same symptoms. They’d called it a flu at first but no flu caused this many people to become sick at the same time. When the first deaths were reported and Mayor Kilburn issued a state of emergency, Omar was more annoyed with the deluge of phone calls he’d received from Mom and Dad and Arat and Tomar and everyone else in his family. They’d urged him to move out of the city and Omar simply told them he couldn’t. The reason was simple. Law enforcement officers weren’t immune to whatever filled the halls of Lambour Lutheran and almost half of their officers were on paid sick leave. It’d left the other half to pick up the extra slack. 

“ Other than what’s already been told to us by the mayor?,” Omar questioned, lying back in his seat. Contrary to Mira, he looked nonplussed about the events of the last 24 hours. He scratched his chin, deep in thought, before shrugging his shoulders. “ Every person I’ve spoken to has a different crackpot theory,” Omar lifted up his fingers and began counting them out one by one. “ Food poisoning. Some sick guy from overseas. Lab leak. God’s judgement. I think it’s almost easier to ask them what it isn’t than what it could be.” 

Omar then looked at Mira, wondering if his words were reassuring enough, before clasping her shoulder briefly. “ Look, it’ll all blow over by the time spring comes around. Just between you and me, personally?  I think I’m going to spend my salary on a vacation. Somewhere warm, like Hawaii -SLOW DOWN!” 

Omar jabbed his finger towards the front of the patrol vehicle with urgency. They’d just turned the block and immediately, they met a swarm of dogs and cats that occupied the street. Lambour was no stranger to strays but Omar was confident today that the crowd of animals in front of them encompassed the entire population of missing pets in Lambour. The swarm paid no heed to them, scampering past their vehicles in one unified direction. Omar could feel the patrol vehicle vibrate as the column of animals marched past them. 

“ Probably should call in animal control. ,” Omar breathed in shock. His eyes then squinted and pointed into the misty outlines of Lambour's inner city. “ Say, isn’t that where Lambour General and Lutheran are? Do you think that has something to do with them?”