The front half of the room, the part he was in, was where he’d previously found the nurses, and where he’d obtained the vaccine that he’d taken himself and given to Kusum.
He tried to remember exactly which of the cabinets along the wall it had been stored in.
The…center one.
The doors to all the cabinets hung open, the shelves inside mostly empty, their contents pushed to the floor. As he started going through everything, he already knew what he would find.
Nothing.
He grunted in frustration.
Returning to Kusum and her family without the vaccine was not an option. He was the only one standing between them and death. He had to get it.
He thought for a moment. There was one more place he could check. If the vaccine was anywhere, it would be there.
“What’s going on here?” The man who’d been sitting upstairs stepped into the room. “What happened? The door is broken!”
“Sorry,” Sanjay said as he pushed past the man.
“Sorry? Sorry?” the man said, waddling after him. “You have to fix that! You have to pay!”
“Pishon Chem will take care of it.”
“Wait! You will stay here until I talk to them.”
Sanjay rushed past the broken door into the common corridor.
“Wait!” the man called out, his voice growing farther away. “Wait!”
Sanjay didn’t.
The car Kusum’s father had planned on using belonged to a man who owned a small shop about a kilometer away. Kusum’s father had done some work there on and off, and knew the man hid the car keys under the dash near the steering column.
“I should not be gone more than an hour,” he said. “I will push the horn three times. When you hear it, come down.”
“No,” Kusum said. “We all go.”
“This is not up to you.”
“I’m not trying to fight you. We should go together. It will be faster. You and I can carry Panna and Darshan. Jabala and mother can help masi.”
Her tone was forceful and direct in a way she would have never spoken to her father before. But now was not a time to worry about what was appropriate. She kept her eyes locked on his, knowing he wanted to argue the point and put her back in her place, but instead he frowned and looked away.
“If you are all coming with me, why are you just sitting there?” he said.
They gathered what food they could carry, then left the apartment, not knowing when or if they would ever return. As they neared the end of the alley, Kusum’s father set Darshan down, and moved ahead to look around the corner and make sure the area hadn’t been sprayed.
After a moment, he waved at them. “Come on.”
From that point on, he and Kusum would take turns scouting each intersection to make sure they were clear. Luck stayed with them until they were only three blocks from where the car was parked. That’s when they saw some of the men spraying the road.
Panna, riding on Kusum’s back, started shaking. Though she and her brother had not been in the room when Sanjay told his story, they’d overheard enough of the conversation between Kusum and her parents as they were walking to know there was something wrong about the men holding the sprayers.
“Don’t worry,” Kusum whispered. “We won’t go near them.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Panna fell silent, but she continued to shake.
Kusum’s father studied the area for several seconds, then turned to his family and said, “This way.”
Unlike Sanjay, who’d been able to find an untainted path to the building across town, the way to the car turned out to be completely blocked by the spray.
“What are we going to do now?” Kusum’s mother asked.
“Let me think,” her husband said.
“Think about what? We use another car,” Kusum told them.
“What car?” her father said.
She swept out her hand, taking in the whole street. “Any car. We just need to get away.”
Her mother looked uncomfortable, but instead of voicing her concern, she remained silent.
“We can’t just take any car,” her father countered. “We must be able to start it, and we must be able to get away before anyone notices.”
One that started, yes, but Kusum didn’t care if anyone noticed. As long as it would carry them, that’s all that mattered.
For the first time since they’d left home, her great aunt spoke. “What about a taxi?” She gestured at two cabs parked along the side of the road in front of a restaurant. Each was empty.
“We don’t have enough money for a taxi,” Kusum’s father said.
“Who said anything about paying?” Kusum’s masi said.
Kusum looked at both taxis again, then set Panna down. After telling the girl to hold on to Jabala’s hand, she headed across the road.
“Kusum?” her mother called out.
Kusum batted a hand at her, telling her to be quiet, and kept going. When she reached the other side of the street, she walked past each cab, glancing through the driver’s-side windows. The keys to the second cab, the one in back, were just visible on the floor in front of the seat.
She glanced into the restaurant. There were two men at a table near the middle. They were the only customers, and their eyes were glued to a television on a shelf near the back. She was sure they were the drivers.
Looking back at her father, she motioned to the second cab, and moved her hand in front of her mouth in a broad gesture she hoped they’d understand to mean they needed to be quiet as they entered the vehicle. After her father nodded, she walked into the restaurant, and passed the table with the two men. There she stopped and looked up at the TV. The news was the same as it had been before, so while she pretended to pay attention, she wasn’t really listening.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her family approach the taxi.
“Have they found anything here?” she asked, not having to fake a concerned tone.
One of the drivers looked at her, then back at the TV. “Nothing yet.”
“You think they will?”
“I hope not.”
A sound from the back of the restaurant caused her to look over. A woman wearing an apron and carrying two bottles of beer came out through a door and walked toward the occupied table. Kusum quickly repositioned herself to block the woman’s view of the cabs out front. The woman set the beers down, and looked at Kusum.
“Sit wherever you want. I’ll be back in a moment,” she said.
“I’m, uh, just watching the TV.”
A moment of displeasure crossed the woman’s lips, but she shrugged and hurried back the way she’d come. Just before she passed through the kitchen door and out of sight, the woman coughed twice, deep and wet.
Kusum stared after her, momentarily frozen in place. She turned back toward the street, searching for any of the sheen from the spray, but there was none. Maybe the woman just had a cold.
Or maybe, Kusum thought, she passed through an area that had been sprayed on her way to the restaurant.
Kusum glanced at the taxi and saw that everyone was inside. Her father gave her a quick wave and a nod from the driver’s seat, indicating they were ready. As casually as she could, she stepped back until she was no longer in the men’s direct view. She then turned and hurried to the cab.
Jabala, in the front passenger seat, had left enough room for Kusum to squeeze in beside her. As Kusum reached the open door, her father turned the ignition.
“Go!” she yelled as she jumped in next to her sister.