Two hours had passed since Francis left the palace, and now the aircraft was making its descent toward the capital city of Languedoc. He leaned back in his seat, notes in hand, reviewing the information for what felt like the hundredth time.
"The first case, the one who started it all... what do they call it?" he muttered to himself, then nodded, recalling the term. "Patient zero."
His eyes scanned the documents, searching for any lead on this initial case. But there was nothing—no name, no profile, only numbers and locations of those infected. The details on paper were cold, and clinical: the number of cases, the areas most affected, a brief on the symptoms. Yet the origin, the very start of the outbreak, remained a mystery.
