When the Dead Rises

The Sickness

Chapter One

I sit in my room staring out the window... Nothing, as usual, only my boring leaf covered back yard, I sigh.

Mum calls me from downstairs, "Jamie, I need you down here, come quickly!" I run downstairs, I need to see what's happening, my mum never calls me down stairs, not in the way that she did, she calls me again louder this time "Jamie hurry" "I'm coming as fast as I can" I yell back to her. When I'm finally at the bottom of my staircase she is holding my eight year old brother Kyle in her arms. "What happened?" I ask astonished, "he walked over to me and said he didn't feel well, I walked over to him and he collapsed" my mum said a bit hysterical and almost in tears. "Mum calm down, let's take him to the hospital, if he wakes up before we get there we'll take him to the doctor and ask what the cause was, okay?" I say this calmly so I don't worry my mum, she's already upset and I don't want to make her worse, "okay. Let's go" she replies and we leave.

When we get there we go to the the desk, "he needs help, he collapsed and I don't know why" mum explains. "Okay, I will get you a doctor right away, can I get your name please?" The desk lady asks, "of course, ah, ummm, it's..." She get flustered and I interrupt her, "Aubrey Morgan" she looks at me and nods, nod back to say your welcome. "Thank you mam, please take a seat over there"

We walk over to the seating area and sit near the children's books, "Kyle?" Mum shakes him gently, "Kyle please, Kyle? Kyle your going to be okay, when the doctor comes he will help you, everything will be okay..." The doctor walks in, "Aubrey Morgan?" I put my hand up and get out of my chair, my mum gets up as well and we both follow the doctor into the hospital room.

I sit in one of the hospital room chairs near Kyle's bed - mum is right next to it - I'm tired, I want him to be okay, I want to go back home with a healthy giggly, fun-loving brother. He breathing, but he's not awake, he's barely made any movement since he was placed in the bed. I stare at him, wake up, I need you here, I want you here, I love you.

He starts to breath heavier, then he moans and rolls onto his side, towards me and my mum. Open your eyes Kyle, please, open your eyes. His eyes stay shut, he rolls again, followed by a toss, facing towards us again.

He blinks his eyes open, slowly then all at once, he see's me and my mum and his face lights up, then he looks confused, "where am I mummy?" He asks, barely able to speak, "we had to take you to the hospital honey, but don't threat, your okay now" she smiles at him and gives him a hug.

I check my phone, 5:09 pm, the doctor will be here shortly, he comes and checks Kyle every hour at ten past. I check my phone again, still 5:09, 'don't get ahead of yourself Jamie, be patient', I wait a few minutes feeling more tired by the second.

The doctor walks in, "anything different?" He asks without looking up from his papers. "Well, he's woken up" my mum says with a smile, "thats fantastic, just let me check him over and you may be able to leave tomorrow."

When he's finished we are informed that Kyle is fine and we are able to leave tomorrow, the doctor doesn't know why he fainted but is sure it won't happen again.

"I'm going to go get some water from the vending machine down the hall" I say to my mum, she says it's fine and I go, on my way back I see a shadow walking around, it's walking towards me and I don't want to be rude, "do you need any help?" I call out, no reply, I keep walking slowly, just incase, I couldn't make out the persons face, I'm not sure if it was a doctor or if it was a lost patient, I stop for a few seconds and watch the person limp towards me, must be a patient. I stay still and wait, maybe they need help? As the figure starts to walk into my light I can see that he is not a patient at all, he's dead, and he's walking!

I run back to my brothers hospital room and close the door behind me, and lock it. I turn to my mum "we need to get out of here! Now!"

They're sick! It's some sort of sickness, but what sickness? There is no name for it

It's just 'the sickness'.