It'll Be Okay

It had been 3 years since the world had come to a complete halt. First the stock markets crashed sending the world into a frenzy. No country had enough money for much of anything. So when the virus broke out, there was no way it could've been combated adequately. The news stations had tried to cover all the out-break stories all over the world but there were just too many. As a result quite a few of the reporters and their crew were among the first to die.
Everyone pretty much had one of two thoughts about the virus. The people commonly viewed as sensible and sane had simply thought of the virus as nothing more than a bad case of the flu. The people who were commonly viewed as slightly off their rockers had gone out and stocked up on can goods and ammo. The sensible and sane sat on their asses talking about this “virus thing” like it'll just pass over them while the slightly insane prepared for the worst. And guess what, the slightly insane were right.
My name is Wade and I was almost 9 years old when the virus first started to spread. My parents were part of the slightly insane group of people who went and stocked up on food, medical supplies, and weapons. I didn't think much of it at the time but now I'm glad they had done this.
I'm 12 now and the virus has killed millions of people. One of the last news reports had said a particulry bad strain of the virus had wiped out an entire town in one day. When the death reports first started coming my parents pulled both me and my little brother out of school. After awhile once it become clear that this virus wasn't just some flu many other parents followed suit and pulled their kids as well.
My brother was only 5 when it started and didn't understand why he couldn't go to pre-school and see his friends. Our parents had tried to explain to him that there was a bad cold going around and that they didn't want him getting sick from the other kids but he just didn't get it. Now three years later he's just beginning to understand.
We had been living in an abandoned farm house way out in the middle of nowhere for almost five months before the infected had found us. Our parents moved us to a slightly more suburban apartment building.
That's where we are now. In apartment 25 B.

“Where's mom and dad?” Jamie, my little brother, asked.
“I told you. They went on a supply run,” I said.
Jamie was quiet for a minute then asked, “When are they coming back?”
“In an hour or so. It just depends on how bad the stores were raided.”
“...I'm hungry, Wade.”
“I think we still have some re-fried beans,” I said walking into the little kitchen in the apartment.
“I don't like re-fried beans,” Jamie pouted.
“I know, Jamie, but it's all we got,” I said grabbing the can from the cabinet and the can opener from the counter. I poured half the can into a bowl and gave it to Jamie with a spoon. He pouted even more but ate it any way.
I grabbed a spoon and ate the rest out of the can. I glanced at the walkie-talkie on the counter that our parents had left for us. We hadn't heard from them for almost three hours. I was starting to get worried but the last thing I needed was for Jamie to be worried too.

“Can I have a water bottle?” Jamie asked bringing me out of my thoughts. I grabbed a bottle from the cooler in the fridge and set it by him. He gave a quiet thanks and took a long swallow from it.

A few hours later with no sign of our parents I decided to act like everything was normal and get Jamie ready for bed. As I was tucking him in I heard the static over the walkie-talkie. I told Jamie to stay there and ran into the kitchen to get it.

“Wa-Wade!” There was more static, then “Wade! Get out! Now!”
“Dad? Why?! What's going on? Are you and mom okay?”
There was a long pause then Mom's voice over the static, “Wade, grab your brother and go up to the top floor and find a safe place. Take what supplies you can! Please Wade. Just go. Its not safe anymore. We'll find you, I prom-” The talkie cut out.
“MOM?!” I yelled into the talkie.
There were some noises like they were fighting and then it went back the static.
Jamie walked into the kitchen and asked, “Was that mom and dad? Are they coming back soon?”
I turned to Jamie as the talkie in my hand yelled, “Wade, get your brother and run!” I couldn't even tell if it was mom or dad anymore. It was just a panicked scream, a last ditch effort to try and save us.
“Jamie, grab your stuff and pack up. Okay? We gotta move up to the top floor,” I said. Jamie ran back to the bedroom and I grabbed the cooler and the last two cans of re-fried beans and shoved them into a duffel bag. Then I ran into the bedroom and grabbed my bag and started to pack up my clothes.
“When you're done put on your shoes and meet me at the door, okay?” I asked as I grabbed my sneakers and pulled them on. I ran into the kitchen and grabbed the duffel on the counter and hooked the walkie-talkie to my belt. I rounded the corner and headed for the front door where Jamie was finishing tying his shoes.
“Ready?” I asked and Jamie nodded. I took the pistol out of my back pocket, checked the clip in it, and made sure the safety was off. I glanced back at Jamie and took a deep breath and opened the door.
Our floor didn't seem too bad at first but I could hear the sounds coming the first floor and knew It had to be crawling with the infected.
To be safe I lead us to the stair case farthest from the first floor stairs. I kept the gun at the ready just in case. Every few steps I would check behind us to make sure nothing was following. When we reached the third floor landing I made Jamie stay back while I checked to make sure it was safe. Once I was sure it was clear I went back to get Jamie. We had reached the fifth floor landing with ease. I had thought we were safe, and I was getting sloppy.
I was so relieved that we only had one more floor before we could find a room and stay there that I didn't check behind us as we made it to the stairs. Jamie was right behind as I started up them.
I heard the grunts before the footsteps but didn't think it was anything. I just assumed it was Jamie trying to keep up with me. Then I heard him scream and turned around just in time to see an infected try to take a bite out of his arm. I fired the gun at the infected thing and reached for Jamie's arm as the thing swung its hand out in pain. It's dirty and bloody nails scraped my arm and broke the skin.
I didn't think I just grabbed Jamie and ran up the stairs as the thing screamed in agony.

Once we were in the apartment on the sixth floor I sat Jamie on the couch in the living room and made sure the doors was locked and pushed a small desk in front of it for good measure.
Then I grabbed a water bottle from the duffel bag on the floor and ran back to Jamie.
“Are you alright?! Did it get you? Did it hurt you in anyway?! Jamie?!” I yelled frantically as I searched his arm for any injuries.
“I'm okay I think,” Jamie said. I turned his arm over and saw the small beginnings of what would have been a big bite mark. The skin was broken and bleeding in one spot.
“When did this happen?!” I asked as I poured some of the water on it to try and clean it up some. I knew when it happened, I was just hoping he would say he tripped on the stairs and it was from that.
“I-I don't know,” Jamie whimpered as the water hit the wound. He started to cry and there was absolutely nothing I could do.
Jamie had been infected. There was no way I could save him. Mom and dad are most likely dead. We have no supplies other than a few water bottles and some cans of re-fried beans. We only have about half a clip of bullets left. And to top it all off, my arm was killing me.
I glanced down at it and realized that there was a long gash running from my elbow to my wrist and it was bleeding heavily. The thing got me. That was it. I had been infected trying to save Jamie and now we're both going to die and come back as those things downstairs.
I grabbed a shirt from my bag and dressed my wound as best as I could. Then sat next to Jamie and pulled him into my arms to try and soothe him. He eventually stopped crying and yawned.
I got up to get a blanket as he lied down on the couch. I draped the blanket over him as he yawned again and curled up to go to sleep. I sank to the floor in front of the couch.
A few silent minutes passed before Jamie asked quietly, “Are mom and dad ever going to come back, Wade?”
Deep down I knew they wouldn't be back, but some part of me wanted to believe that they were on their way to get us now.
“Just go to sleep, Jamie,” I whispered in reply.
Another moment of silence then, “They ain't coming back, are they, Wade?”
“Just go to sleep.”
“But if they got mom and dad how are we supposed to have supplies?”
“It'll all be better when you wake up, Jamie. I promise.”
He seemed to have accepted this and promptly fell asleep.
There was no way I could cure him from the virus. I knew this. But I could make it so he doesn't turn into one of those things downstairs. I could make it so neither of us turned into one of them.
Once I was sure he was really asleep I grabbed the gun from the floor where I had dropped it earlier and stood up.
“It'll all be okay when you wake up,” I whispered, tears streaming down my face, and pointed the gun at Jamie's sleeping head, “It'll all be okay,” I repeated as I pulled the trigger.
I aimed the gun at the side of my head and whispered, “It'll all be okay,” as the bullet left the barrel.