The Fog

Ch. 1

"Wake up!" A familiar boy's voice yelled as I felt a hand grab my arm, fierce nails digging into my skin.

"What?" I murmured groggily, as I rubbed my eyes with the other hand. "Is it morning already?" 

Finally, a blurry image of my brother's face appeared. He had inherited our Father's dark hair and blue eyes and although he and I were siblings, we looked almost nothing alike. 

"Of course!" He answered impatiently, "We've been up for hours!" He gestured wildly to my younger brother as I attempted to crawl out of my bed. My youngest brother, like me, had inherited most of his appearance from our mother. With his blond hair and blue eyes, he looked almost feminine in the darkness of the room.

"You know you shouldn't be up that early, you need your sleep." I scolded lazily, my voice nonchalant, "Anyways, where's Mum?" I asked, pulling on my work clothes. 

"She's still asleep. She's not feeling well." 

I glanced at Samuel at his last few words, pausing slightly, before quickly recovering in hopes that my younger brother would not notice.

"I see. Did she take her medicine?" I asked hopefully in return. My voice cracked a bit at the end and I coughed slightly, waiting for his answer. 

"No." Samuel shook his head slightly. His gaze was crestfallen. I sighed softly and continued dressing, a pool of dread forming in my stomach. 

"What's wrong?" Alex asked, his small voice sad and confused at my seemingly strange behaviour.

"Nothing, it's nothing," Samuel answered for me and we exchanged glances. I knew what he meant.

About four years ago, the discovery of Hydrobugs outside the outer walls had been ill news for the Factory District. Since our district was located closest to the outer walls we were the most vulnerable for any of the insect attacks. Once the news had been released, it had already been too late. Samuel and I had been at school that day in the Fabric District, not knowing anything, but when I came back home, everything had already been ruined. Somehow a part in the outer wall had collapsed, letting in the Hydrobugs into our district.

Hydrobugs were tiny little insects that fed on human blood, monsters that existed outside of the walls. Once they found a target, they would latch their little teeth onto their victim's face and worm their way to the blood system, where they would feed until their target had no blood left. 

The attack had lasted on the residents of the Factory District for three days. Three days where the Factory District had been sealed off, only military personnel allowed to enter or leave. Three days where the Hydrobugs had free rein to do whatever they wanted: eat, kill and multiply. 

Our mother had been preyed on, there was not a single soul who remained untouched after the attack. There was no way to hide from the intelligent insect. They were small and could squeeze in the smallest of cracks—a common thing in the Factory District. My father too had been ravaged on, but unlike my mother, he had not survived. The Hydrobug Control Unit (or HCU for short) had arrived to save my mother when a scientist had invented an antidote to kill the bug. 

It was a type of liquid medicine that would force the Hydrobugs to release their tiny claws from the human face when the liquid was sprayed on them. It killed the bug, but sometimes had side effects on the human body, like coughing, nausea, speaking problems for younger children, blurred vision and loss of balance. It also made them lose their appetite, so many succumbed to starvation even though they survived the Hydrobug infestation. 

Alex had been born after the attack so he had no idea why Mother was so weak and no one had bothered to tell him. And why would they? We all wanted to leave the past as it was. The past.