Hot Heels

Chapter 2

A week had gone by with not much happening, except more information​ about the R Virus. Magerette came down with a cold two days after we went to lunch. I just thought that she got it from a person since we were in public. My dad began to show signs of it as well.

They were both working late that night. It was a Friday night and I just whipped up something quick. After eating, I cleaned up the dishes and put them away. My parents wouldn't be back until around twelve.

Allan wondered down the stairs, rubbing his eyes. This was the third time I had to put him to bed.

"What's wrong this time?" I asked, a little annoyed.

"I had another nightmare..." He mumbled. For the past three nights, he'd keep waking up from these gruesome nightmares. I suspected he was watching things he shouldn't have been instead of cartoons.

"Alright, you can sleep with me tonight." I smiled lightly at him.

He nodded his head, as tears streamed down his face. I left the room to brush my teeth, since I was going to bed, so that Allan could get some rest. I dressed quickly, and opened the door to let him in. He crawled into the bed and I crawled in next to him. He snuggled against me and I put a comforting arm around him.

About ten minutes past and he was out like a light. Not to long after he passed out, I dozed off as well.

We woke up to screams. I jumped up in my bed. Allan jumped as well, accept he fell out of bed.

"Stay here, I'm going to go see what that was." I looked to him. He gave a slight nod, and I leaved, closing the door.

I slowly walked down the stairs. I entered the living room, to see my dad and Magerette, starring at the TV in horror. I walked over to see what the problem was.

On the screen was a breaking news report. The words that were at the bottom of the screen spelled out the problem Clearly.

R VIRUS HAS LEAKED AND SPREAD GLOBALLY...

My mouth hung wide open. What did that mean?

"The government is trying it's best to figure out what happened and how to stop the Virus from spreading. We have figured out that the only way to catch the virus is by injection, or consumption... Symptoms include a headache, soar throat, cough, and aching joints or mussles." The reporter said with a shaky voice, "If any of these symptoms occur, go to treatment facilities. The locations of these facilities will be posted shortly."

The scary thing was, was that those were some of the symptoms were that my parents had been facing. The worst part was that their jobs required them to get a flu shot every year, meaning that they either had a cold or the R Virus was mixed in with the vaccine.

"I think the best course of action is to find these purification sites, and get tested." My father said.

Magerette began to son uncontrollably. She looked so much like Allan. Allan was her son, and my half brother. He pretty much looked like a smaller male version of her.

That's when I remembered...Allan was still upstairs hiding...

"I'll be right back, I have to go get Allan." I said, before any of them were able to say a thing, I dashed up the stairs.

Allan was under the bed, hiding.

"It's alright, you can come out. Come down stairs, mom and dad need to talk to us," I always called Magerette mom around Allan.

We both headed downstairs, where we saw my father on the main computer, looking up a treatment site. We were all going to be there, since they had areas for family members to stay while their parents or spouses were treated.

My father got the location, and we started packing. Magerette began to grab photo albums. I packed my clothes and a charm bracelet that my mom gave to me before she left. She left it on my bed, and I woke up to see it, with a note.

"My dearest daughter,
I'm sorry I have to leave. You're so young and have the world in front of you. You may never forgive me, but that's okay. I'm doing this for your own good. I leave you the same charm bracelet that your grandmother gave to me when I was your age. Keep it with you. What ever obstacles you face, know that I love you with all my heart. Hopefully, we'll meet again. I love you, goodbye my only daughter.

Love, Helen"

That's what I woke up to. My dad didn't tell me why she left. He knew, but he never said a thing. It seemed like he hated her, and he yelled at me for wearing the bracelet in public, so I hid it. He knew I still had it, but he didn't do anything. I decided it was best to shove it in my bag of clothes.

I joined my family in the living room. My dad began to pack up the car, and we were given the okay to climb into the car. The nearest purification site was about a six hour drive from where we lived.

My brother was playing on his DS. Some pokemon game if I was correct. I blasted my music and watched the houses as they pasted. Some of them looked abandoned, others looked like the families that resided in them weren't even awake yet.

I wondered if they would know what was going on when they did wake up. Would they know why the neighborhood was so empty? Would they know if they had it or not? Would they even know where to go? Would they even find out if this was happening?

"How long until we get there?" My brother was looking up from his game.

"Three more hours," Magerette replied from the passenger seat.

We had already traveled for three hours, but it seemed like we had only been on the road for an hour. This trip was going to go faster than I thought, but then fear filled my chest.

What if I was infected? What if they can't cure us? What if this was the last time I'd see my family?

That's when my phone went off.