There was a momentary delay, then the door flew open, and her mother rushed out.
“Where have you been?” she asked. She touched her daughter’s face, and pulled her into her arms.
“Kusum!” the voice of her father boomed out of the room. “Answer your mother’s question. Where have you been?”
Kusum pulled back from her mother’s embrace. “I…I…”
She glanced toward Sanjay, who had stopped several meters away. Her mother followed her gaze. Her father stepped into the hallway and did the same.
“You!” her father said. He started marching toward Sanjay. “What have you done?”
Her father was not a particularly large man, but at the moment he seemed like a giant to Sanjay. Fire raged in the man’s eyes, and his nostrils flared in anger.
“I can explain,” Sanjay said, backpedaling.
“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say!”
As soon as Kusum’s father was close enough, he grabbed Sanjay’s shirt with one hand and struck him across the face with the other.
“You have ruined my daughter!”
“No!” Kusum told him. “That’s not true.”
She reached out to stop him, but her mother pulled her back.
“I have not,” Sanjay pleaded. “I was only—”
“Shut up!” The man slapped Sanjay. “You expect me to believe your lies?”
Down the hall, a few doors opened and people peeked out, but none seemed willing to come to Sanjay’s aid.
“Nothing happened,” Sanjay said quickly. “I have done nothing to her. You can ask her.”
As Kusum’s father raised his hand again, Sanjay prepared to be hit once more, but the blow never came.
“Father, please.” Kusum had broken free from her mother, and grabbed her father’s hand. “Sanjay did nothing wrong. He was only trying to save me.”
Her father whirled on her as if he’d hit her, too.
“No!” her mother yelled. “Don’t.”
“He was trying to save me,” Kusum repeated.
Her father’s anger seemed to lose a bit of focus, the tension in his upraised arm wavering. “Save you from what?” he said, his tone all but accusing her of trying to fool him.
Kusum’s eyes moved past him down the hall toward their neighbors, who continued to watch the spectacle. “Please, Father. Let’s go inside. We can talk there.”
For a moment, it looked as if he wasn’t interested in going anywhere, but then he took a deep breath and nodded. Yanking on Sanjay’s arm, he shoved him toward the door. “You first.”
The apartment was predictably small. The main room served as the kitchen, dining, and living area.
In addition to Kusum’s parents, her younger sister Jabala was there, as were three others Sanjay didn’t know. One was an older woman, and two were young children, a boy and a girl who were about five or six.
The most expensive thing in the room was the television. Like the one they’d seen when they’d stopped for gas, it was tuned to BBC International.
Kusum’s father entered last and slammed the door behind him. “Saved you from what?” he demanded.
Sanjay pointed at the TV. “From that, I think.”
Her father looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “What do you mean?”
“Maybe we should all sit down,” Kusum suggested. “Jabala, could you take Panna and Darshan into the other room?”
“I want to hear what you’re going to talk about,” Jabala said.
“I know,” Kusum said softly. “I will tell you everything after, okay?”
Not looking happy, Jabala grabbed the hands of the two children and led them through the doorway at the far end of the room.
“Please, Father. Sit down,” Kusum said.
After a moment’s hesitation, her father did, and the others followed suit.
“I don’t understand what you mean,” her father said, looking at Sanjay.
Sanjay glanced at the floor, unsure how to begin.
“You need to tell them everything,” Kusum said. “Just like you told me.”
She was right, of course. It was exactly what he had to do, so it was exactly what he did.
If it weren’t for the crisis playing out on TV, he was sure they would have dismissed his claims immediately.
“The malaria spray?” Kusum’s father said when Sanjay finally finished, anger no longer underlining the man’s voice. “Are you sure?”
“I am as sure as I can be. It’s what was told to me.”
“And your cousin?” Kusum’s mother said.
“I saw Ayush with my own eyes.” He paused. “By now, I am sure he is dead.”
Both Kusum’s mother and the old woman — her aunt — looked visibly shaken.
“Then why did you come back if you were trying to keep her safe?” Kusum’s father asked. “You are saying they are spreading this…disease through the city right now.”
“The vaccine will protect her.”
“Are you sure?” Her father was starting to become angry again.
“Yes,” Sanjay said. About as much as I can be.
Before her father could speak again, Kusum jumped in. “He didn’t want to bring me back. I forced him.”
“But why?” her mother asked. “If he’s right, it’s too dangerous here. You should have stayed away.”
Kusum looked at her with surprise. “I came back for all of you. You are my family.”
“And what could you possibly do for us?” her father asked.
“Warn you. Save you.”
“Save us how?”
“We should all leave the city. Now.”
“This disease, it will be everywhere. Do you have vaccine for us?” he asked, sounding as if he already knew the answer. “How are we supposed to stay alive?”
Sanjay leaned forward. “We don’t have more vaccine. Not yet.”
The others all looked at him.
“What do you mean, not yet?” Kusum’s father asked.
“Do you have a car?”
“Do we look like we can afford a car?”
“But you can drive, yes?”
“Of course.”
“Then we will steal one.”
“Steal?” Kusum’s mother blurted out. “We are not thieves.”
Ignoring her, Sanjay said, “I have a plan that I hope will save all of you.” Plan was probably a little generous. “Get a car and take everyone out of town.” He looked at Kusum. “Do you think you can find your way back to where we were last night?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Go there.”
“What about you?”
He was silent for a moment. “I will go back to where I found Ayush. There might be more vaccine there.”
Kusum brightened. “Do you think so?”
“There is a chance.”
“I know where we can find a car,” Kusum’s father said, no longer sounding as if their fate was inevitable.
His wife looked at him, wide-eyed. “You can’t be serious.”
“We’re talking about saving our family. Of course I’m serious.”
“What about Chandra and Rochi?” she asked.
Sanjay looked at Kusum, confused.
“My mother’s brother and his wife,” she whispered. “Panna’s and Darshan’s parents.”
With a nod of understanding, Sanjay said, “You’ll have to leave them behind.”
“What?” Kusum’s mother said.
“They’ve been through the city. There’s a chance they’ve already been exposed to the spray. If they have, then they are as good as dead.”
“We can’t just leave them here.”
“We can, and we will,” her husband said. “We can call them, give them the chance to get away, but Sanjay is right. We cannot tell them where we are going. If they are alive when this is over, we will find them then.”
Sanjay stood up. “You cannot wait here any longer. There is no telling how soon it will be before the sprayers arrive.” He also had to get going himself. The sooner he finished, the sooner he could be back with Kusum and make sure she was all right.