Jeevan Chaudhary wanders through Allan Gardens in a heavy snowstorm, replaying the night at the Elgin: Arthur Leander’s death, the strain of CPR, and Jeevan’s sudden certainty that becoming a paramedic finally feels right. He rides a nearly stalled streetcar toward his brother Frank’s lakeside tower, thinking about Kirsten Raymonde, Arthur’s last words (“The wren …”), and his strained relationship with Laura.

Jeevan receives an urgent call from Hua, his closest friend and an overworked doctor at Toronto General. Hua describes a frightening outbreak linked to a Moscow flight: patients develop symptoms fast, cases multiply across the day, and deaths begin mounting. Alarmed, Jeevan exits the streetcar early, newly aware of shared air and touched surfaces, and walks through the storm toward Frank’s building.

Hua calls again from the hospital and is more direct: this is a true epidemic with an unusually rapid incubation period, staff are falling ill, and Hua tells Jeevan to leave the city immediately—or, if he cannot, to stock up and isolate. In a nearby grocery store, Jeevan watches the news confirm the Georgia Flu outbreak and hospital isolation measures, and he commits to preparing as if time is running out.

Jeevan repeatedly loads oversized carts with water, canned food, toilet paper, bleach, duct tape, medicine, and other long-lasting supplies while Hua reports rising fatalities and urges him to take Laura and Frank out of Toronto. Jeevan argues he cannot move Frank quickly and realizes Hua may be getting sick when Hua coughs and abruptly ends the call.

Jeevan finally reaches Laura by phone, insists she turn on the news, and urges her to leave the city for her mother’s before roads clog; their conversation slips into hurt about Laura abandoning him at the theater, and Jeevan ends the call to finish buying supplies. After the store closes, Jeevan hauls seven carts through the snow, bribes Frank’s night doorman for freight elevator access, and arrives at Frank’s apartment door at 1 a.m., where Frank—surprised—observes Jeevan’s corridor of groceries.