When I reached the hospital, I found white tents with medical insignia, but they were empty. There was intact medical equipment, almost absurd amidst the chaos. I approached the main entrance, precariously blocked with a plank. I forced it gently and saw two "crazies" fighting violently inside. I waited motionless until one prevailed. I watched, paralyzed by horror, as, in a desperate outburst, he dug his fingers into his own eye sockets, finally falling to the floor, defeated and exhausted, until he stopped breathing.

  Inside the hospital, I only found piled corpses, some wrapped in bags, others simply abandoned, all inexplicably looking upwards. The windows were covered with cardboard and medical sheets. I vaguely remembered the issue with the light, so I smashed the lamps with the same plank I used at the entrance. I turned on my flashlight and walked carefully among the inert bodies, guided by an increasingly fragile hope. A faint smell of industrial cleaning product strangely lingered in the stale air. Turning a dark corner, I heard a rhythmic scraping, like a mop, followed by the soft click of a door closing at the end of the hallway. I stopped. Silence. Only my own heart.

  Finally, I reached the area where my brother worked. I crossed silent, deserted corridors until I found a closed door. Inside, I saw a living person praying and repeatedly making the sign of the cross, as if trying to ward off something invisible.

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  "Hello," I whispered softly, trying not to startle him too much. Still, he reacted with panic.

  "Easy, I'm looking for my brother," I said, trying to calm him.

  The doctor spoke with difficulty: "Who's your brother? How are you still alive? I don't understand... the protocols failed, everyone is dead. That... it's everywhere. It makes no sense."

  I mentioned my brother's name. After a pause, he seemed to recognize it:

  "They left," he finally said. "They went far away, there was no reason to stay here. Wait, I think I know who your brother is. He said he had a son, that they were heading to some town in the south."

  I felt a strange, bittersweet relief, understanding that my brother was probably alive. I checked my watch: one-thirty in the afternoon. Outside, inexplicably, dawn was beginning to break.