To survive without them

chapter 1

I clutch my mother's fragile little hand as she slips into a deep sleep she will never wake up from.Death. " Be Strong" she murmurs "for them" her head tilts back to point in my twin brother's direction and my dear Little sister. They cant handle it. I can barely handle it myself. My twin brother has always looked after me. He has always treated me as if I were his younger sister which I am but only by five minutes, and now he does nothing but sit in the corner with tears streaming down his face, trembling like a leaf. His chocolate brown hair in a mat and his clothes ripped and dirty. He looks up at me with eyes full of water and gives me a quite nod. I turn to look at my little sister she's only seven her delicate young fragile body has been turned into such a state I dont even recognise her anymore. Her golden hair is bundled up in a three day old bun and her roesy red cheeks have turned into a ghostly white colour.

I look down at my mother, lying in her sleeping bag on the floor of our garage. She looks about eighty in age when she is really only forty-two. But its not me over exaggerating, she literally has the body of an old women. Some people may say its the depression and stress that some people undergo through work, but its not. It's the virus.

*************background info/ flashback*********************************

Five months ago in January the top scientists of the world had been working on an anti aging lotion that stopped people from getting older. It sounded great at the time but something went wrong in making the first batch of the lotion. It was going to be the first batch to hit the shelves around the world, well it did get sold but their was a different reaction with the lotion, than the reaction from when they had tried it on the lab rats. People started coughing and sneezing constantly, sometimes unable to stop. And that was when the virus was born. It didn't matter if you had even been in contact with the lotion, if you were over nineteen you were bound to catch the virus. First it would start with a sky high temperature for the first two days, then you coughed constantly on the third day, by the forth the aging would start. The grown ups skin would peel and wrinkle. By the end of the week you were sure to be dead.

******************end of info/flashback***********************************

My mother was the last adult left in my whole state. Almost every adult in the population of the world had died out. One by one they would die, leaving children to fend for themselves. Any adults left have been forced into hiding, to try and preserve them, my mother is one of them or was any way. Only staying locked up in a concrete garage for two months with your whole family dieing around you, doesn't make you live any longer. Even some kids are starting to get it. My older brother for instance he was only eighteen but he caught it off my fathers dead body when he was burying it, he died a week later. The memory still hurts.

My mothers near the end now and we have to leave the nest. She gives my hand a tight squeeze, it will be the last time to see her beautiful hazel eyes even though the skin is wrinkled around them, they are still there. Her chest rises and falls so slowly. I squeeze her hand maybe it will keep her with us, make her pull through. But it doesn't. My mother takes in one last agonising breath and her eyes close forever.

Her hand stiffens around my hand and I have to wriggle my hand free. I carefully pull off my plastic gloves, making sure not to touch anything that has touched my mother even though I wish I could run up and hug her to bits. I cant I would catch it and I need to be here for my siblings, to be strong for them.

But right now I take some time for myself. I walk over and sit in Jacob's ( my twin brother) lap. He cuddles me and I cry out all my tears until there is no more left. Jacob and Rosie have no more tears to cry either so we sit there, huddled together, not saying a word.

It's Jacob who gets up first, maybe I stopped the circulation in his legs from sitting on them for almost three hours. " We need to go" he chokes out and he reaches down to help me up. Soon, very soon we will need to re-enter the streets, which are death threatening, unless your in a tribe,which we are definitely not. I pick up my backpack and check through my supplies: a water bottle, numerous changes of underwear, some little food and my mothers old locket with a picture of my family in one half. I place it around my neck.

Jacob is ready and is helping Rosie with her My little pony backpack. I stand there watching. Finally he straightns up and gives me his pack. I fling it over my shoulder and he picks up Rosie on his back. "Let's go" he mumbles.

"Where too?" I reply as he places his handkerchief over my mothers face.