His little brother is sick, he doesn’t know if its sickness like their aunt or if it’s just a cold. He hoped to god that it was only a cold and not something serious like what’s going on. He heard noises from his aunts room and decided to check on her, only hesitating a moment. Then opened the door, she was laying in bed motionless. It seemed she passed in her sleep, her food remained uneaten like the many other times he tried to keep her fed. He closed the door and locked it, not wanting his little brother to wander in and find her like that.

He opened his little brothers room and seen him resting as peacefully as he could with his sickness. He touched his head and he was burning up, he walked to the bathroom and dampened a face cloth and put it over his forehead.

“Brother?”

“Yeah, Blue Jay. I’m right here, how are you feeling?”

“My throat still hurts, everything hurts Robin,” Jay started coughing.

“Ok, I’ll get you some more medicine and some water ok, I just finished boiling some. Aunt is also still sick, I’ve taken time off work to look after you both.”

“You shouldn’t.”

“For you, anything. There’s lots of people out there but only one of you.”

“Each person is one of a kind.”

“But you only belong to me and I don’t want to loose you, they can wait they all can wait. I only care about you,” Robin kissed Jay’s forehead and went to get the medicine and water. He took out a bottle from the fridge and put some on the stove to warm it. He put the power medicine in the bottle and poured the warm water in and shook it. He walked up and gave his brother the water bottle, helping him sit up so he could drink it.

He didn’t like the taste but still drank it quickly either for the warmth or to get it over with it didn’t matter. He gave the second water bottle to him and watched him drink at a more slower pace.

“Thank you, Robin.”

“Your voice sounds better now, get some more rest, I’ll make you something to eat. When you come out, look both ways and listen. Check the doors, rooms and windows before you come down.”

“Ok,” Jay said not questioning the rules anymore and closing his eyes to sleep.

He walked down into the kitchen and started warming up a small pot of water, he poured some chicken soup base into it and added some macaroni. He hasn’t gone out in a while, last he checked the streets were empty and when he looked four mornings ago there were people walking around slowly and aimlessly. He didn’t trust them and started telling his brother on how to exit his room so that he would remember when he leaves the house. When he was going to the academy he taught his brother some of the defensive moves so that he would be safer out there. But he always insisted on dancing when he got bored.

He made it more interesting when he taught him with dance moves, it was also fun with him. Sighing he poured some broth out and a few noodles for him to chew on and walked up with the bowl in hand. He opened the door and seen that he wasn’t there so he placed the bowl on the night stand and stepped out and listened to where he could be.

Bathroom.

He stepped back into the room and silently watched his brother open the door slowly and look around before exiting. He figured that he checked the rooms but he decided to check again. He walked to the stairs and listened for a few moments before going back to hi room.

“Oh, Brother!”

“Good job, here you go,” he pulled out a strawberry hard candy and put it in Jay’s hands and helped him to bed. “Do you know why I give you candy when you do something right?”

“I’m not a dog.”

“Heh, no, it’s so you’ll remember. Lemon is for fighting, Strawberry for being cautious, Raspberry for dancing. I’ll bet you anything that when I give you one of those flavors you’ll remember everything that you learned.”

“Really?”

“No, I just like giving you something sweet for all your hard work. You’re doing so well Blue Jay. Eat up, when your ready come down and have some more, alright right?”

Jay nodded and Robin got up and did a quick search before leaving the room and looking down the hall before closing the door and doing his own search around the house. He made sure that he could hear every step and door close before leaving down stairs slowly. He did a quick search of the dark house and went to the kitchen to make a small cake for his brother’s birthday. July 8th, his brother just turned 15. He took the small cupcake out and iced it with chocolate and put pieces of chocolate on top and the sides. He put a candle on top and lit it just as Jay walked in.

Robin smiled and started softly singing, his little brother was shocked but smiled and walked up to the island quickly. Jay hugged him and then blew out the candle, Robin pushed the whole cupcake to him but noticed that he was ripping it in half and gave it to him. They shared the cupcake in silence before he pulled out Jay’s present.

It was in a small red box.

He opened it and in there was a Metal Dragon and a Metal Knight. He took both and hugged them, he was worried that it wouldn’t be enough but seeing him love them immediately chased those thoughts away.

“Happy Birthday Jay Knight, may you have many more.”

“Thanks Robin,” Robin gave the rest of the soup to him and the last bite of the cupcake to him after it. He carried his little brother back to bed and they stayed in his room for the rest of the night.

Jay woke up to the usual, Robin checking his temperature and going to get him a bottle of water and medicine. Robin left again saying that he was going out to get some more medicine and food. Jay nodded and went back to sleep.

He woke up a few hours later and listened for his brother in the now dark house. He got up and drank the rest of his water and started checking for strange sounds and for intruders in the house. He found none and went to the bathroom then went downstairs to check the house. Once that was done he went to the kitchen as the last place to look. He seen a dark spot on the floor and wondered what Robin could have spilled to make that big of a mess. He went to the other side and to the fridge to get some water. He seen that the mark was heading towards the backyard, he didn’t want to check but he had to make sure of the backdoor’s lock.

It was locked so he went back upstairs to get a bit more rest. When he woke up his brother still wasn’t back yet and he repeated the process as last light. He was feeling much better now and searched the kitchen for something to eat. The spill was still there, he wasn’t sure what it could be. He decided to ignore it and eat in peace in his room. Robin hasn’t been gone this long before and he was starting to worry, but he knew that his brother could look after himself so tried not to worry too much about it.

Going to the bathroom again he decided to wash up properly and change his clothes. He wanted to keep his brother clothes and stole one of his jackets from his room. It was a black jacket with a skeletal print on it, he also noticed that his brother kept his lousy paper dragon by his bed. Shaking his head he went back to his room and waited for his brother’s return.

When he didn’t return he gathered what he could and went out to see what was happening outside that could delay his brother for so long. Then he noticed them. There were people walking about but something about them didn’t look right. He closed the door and went towards the back to camp out in his tree house. He opened the back door and found his aunts clothes on the ground. He walked closer and discovered that it was his aunt. Or at least half of her.

He went up the tree house and looked around for his brother. The streets were covered in those things. What they were he didn’t know.

They were no longer people, that’s for sure.

He stayed up there for a day and a night, and out of pure boredom he found a book about Morse Code. He started practicing it using different tones and noticed that his aunt reacted to each one, until he started clicking. He practiced until he memorized each letter without having to think. Soon he started talking like that to his aunt, he wasn’t sure why clicking was overlooked by them. It could be that it was because of the grasshoppers? The birds? Was it a natural sound out here that they didn’t pay much attention to it?

He gathered his things together and went back to the house and searched it and grabbed what he could and quietly made his way along the backyard to search for his brother. He figured he would start with the stores as his brother said he was heading to, the closest one was Save The Day.

He walked in and searched as he was taught and started gathering supplies, he left the store in search of his brother’s return route. He went back to the house and searched the place before settling to eat and rest.

It was a few days later that he realized that his brother won’t be returning.

He left the house with a few possessions and started his search for a more stable lookout location that overlooked the whole town.