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of six passengers on flights from New York and Los Angeles. Three were businessmen, and three were students returning home. All six were in the early stages of the infection when they boarded their flights. By the time they got off their planes in Beijing, after more than twelve hours in the air, most of the other passengers on both flights were also infected. They took the infectious SDC virus into the crowded city of Beijing, with a population of more than fourteen million people. The results were inevitable. The people of Beijing began to die from SDC in ever-increasing numbers two days later.

      By Monday morning, more than ten thousand people had died in Beijing, and a panicked flight from the city was well in progress. As in most other big cities around the world, people fled by whatever means were available to them. It was all in vain. Most of the people who succeeded in fleeing Beijing died in their sleep during their first night away.

      Within a week, Beijing was fairly well deserted, and the population of the city was reduced to the fewer than a hundred and fifty survivors who had the rare genetic immunity to the deadly effects of the SDC virus. Among these survivors was Lui Lian, a twenty-five-year-old who had recently married her childhood sweetheart, Wu.

      They had lived together in a small two-room apartment in the western outskirts of the city, in the Shijingshan district. They both worked as cleaners in the large hospital that was just a short walk from where they lived. Up until the virus reached Beijing, they were a very happy couple, excitedly planning to have a baby in the next year or so.

      They first became aware of the rapidly spreading SDC virus on Sunday, July 19, when three early victims who had expired on Saturday night were brought into the hospital by their families. The word spread quickly around the hospital and the television reports of unexplained deaths in North America and Europe were much more of a cause for concern.

      As Lian and Wu went to work as usual on Monday morning, they noticed the unusual heavy flow of traffic in the wrong direction, leaving the city. When they arrived at work, they were surprised to find that many of their colleagues had not come to work at all. During the day, more and more of the staff deserted their jobs to return home. The discussions between the staff and the patients were getting more and more disturbing, as reports of thousands of deaths came in from around the city.

      When they left the hospital in the evening, Lian and Wu both were suffering from early cold like symptoms, with running noses and mild headaches. They were now very fearful for their own safety but were not inclined to flee the city. Their parents lived in the small farming village where they had grown up. However, the village was a full day’s bus journey to the south of Beijing. They were not even able to get in touch with their parents, because their parents did not have phones. They decided to stay together in their apartment until the crisis was over.

      They skipped work the next day and spent a happy, loving day alone together in their apartment, trying to ignore what was going on outside. They felt a bit guilty about deserting their work at the hospital, but their fear of SDC overcame their consciences.

      They went to bed together very early that night and largely succeeded in forgetting about the world outside, as they found pleasure and excitement in their lovemaking. They were both fast asleep by ten.

      By midnight, Wu was dead; his breathing and heartbeat had slowly stopped because of the toxins produced by the SDC virus in his bloodstream. Lian slept until morning, when she discovered her beloved husband’s body cold and lifeless beside her. In panic, she tried to get help from the neighbors. She was shocked to find that she seemed to be the only person alive in the building. She felt desperately alone and helpless.

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