Working seven hours a day from nine to five just wasn't cutting it. The money that I have been saving up in the bank was showing it, too. At this rate, I won't ever get to afford my dream wedding dress. I had over a thousand dollars saved up and most of it goes towards my bills every week.

My fiancé, Kurt Woods, is doing the best that he can with the decent-paying job that he has. I, however, am stuck at an eight seventy-five an hour full-time job. I work at Virginia's local Hospital, on the floor where all the cancer patients stay on.

I could've worked at the nursing home, probably for more pay, but I stayed. I stayed for some odd reason. I still can't figure it out, to be honest. Somehow, I make the best of it everyday.

   As of late, however, I definitely really wished that I wasn't working here. With this weird virus going around, everyone is coming directly to the hospital to somehow cure them. Most have died. Actually, all of them have died, as far as I know.

Everyone was required to wear masks, no matter what level you worked on. My patients weren't exactly the real sick ones. Just the ones with cancer and things such as that.

With a tray of medication in my hand, looking lore like a waitress than a nurse, I turned the knob to one of the many rooms on my floor, and entered. I smiled, even through my mask, and greeted one of my patients. "Hello there, Don," I greeted the old man sitting up in his wheelchair. He didn't like being called Mr. Bennett. It's Don or nothing. "Ready to take your medicine today, sir?"

   He slowly lifted his head up and nodded. He gestured for me to come further in, so I cracked the door behind me, just like I normally do. "Yes, ma'am," he croaked with a smile. He didn't have to wear a mask because he's always in his room.

Don was only in his late sixties, but he had stage-four lung cancer. It was just eating him up, but I prayed every single night for him and the rest of my patients to get better. He's just so nice, gentle, and funny. He'a definitely one of a kind, I tell you what.

He lifted his head up and held his mouth open for his daily medication. He knew the routine. I dropped them in and, immediately, helped him gulp down some water.

Suddenly, I heard some loud racket coming from the hallway, but didn't think much of it. There's always something going on, like somebody having some sort of problem.

I focused back on Don and sniffled. "So, has your kids come to see you any this past weekend?" I asked, thinking back to the time he told me that he had two kids around my age.

"They, uh...," his voice trailed off when he coughed once to through his throat. "They haven't been by in a while. They're living their lives, miss."

I placed my hands on my hips, still holding the tray, and sighed. "Well, if you were my daddy, I would come and see you every single day." I was being dramatic about it, but in a humorous way, of course.

He chuckled and softly said, "Well, you do. Always."

With that said, I smiled again underneath my mask and watched him for a minute. Closing his eyes with a smile on his face. He wasn't going to sleep, just sitting there and enjoying the moment.

Abruptly, I heard something very uncommon in these mysterious halls. I heard yelling and loud stomping, enough to wake up the whole floor and the one underneath us, too.

"Get down!" I heard some angry and loud tones echo throughout the hallway, carrying down all the way to Don's room. "Put your hands up where we can see them! Now!"

Don perked his head up and asked nervously, "What's that noise, miss?"

I glanced from him back to the cracked door. Shaking, I answered honestly: "I... I honestly have no idea, Don. Let me... Let me go check."

Nervously, I slowly walked to the cracked door and peeked my head out. Of what I could see was, at the end of the hallway, was military men – all dressed in black from head to toe – with their huge guns raised and pointed directly at most of the staff.

"Check all the rooms," I heard one of them bark out, signaling down the hallway where I was located at. "We kill the infected and anyone who could be exposed to it, too. Now, go!"

"Shit," I cursed silently and took a step back. I closed the door silently and began to lock it from the inside.

"What's going on?" I heard Don ask me, unsteadily. "Miss Tess?"

I turned towards him and held up my right index finger, signaling him to be quiet. I turned off all the lights and, then, headed directly towards Don. "Hey, could you do me a favor and just be quiet, okay? I'm going to make sure that we're okay, Mr. Don. Okay?"

With a gulp, he nodded in understanding. That's when I took his wheelchair and started to pull him into the bathroom with me. We shuffled in and parked him in front of the shower. I turned and locked the door as good as I could, considering.

I didn't know what in the bloody hell was going on, but I didn't want to figure it out, either. Military men with big guns pointed at the staff? What the hell is that all about? Then, they wanted all the so-called 'infected' dead, too. Had this infection turned everybody freaking crazy?!

My phone was buzzing in my pocket, but I had to ignore it for the time-being. It was probably my twin brother, Paul. My only real family, that is. I wanted to answer, but I couldn't, due to the incoming danger.

I heard the knob to the door twist, but not open, due to it being locked, of course. That's when I, then, heard the door come down, thanks to somebody's boot, most likely. I heard a few footsteps shuffle in and some talk, but I didn't dare stretch my ear to hear, either.

I heard them aching closer to the bathroom door as I held on tightly to Don's hand behind me. I sucked in my breath as they reached closer for the handle. Were we about to die?

With a hand on the knob, I shifted quietly and squeezed Don's hand even tighter. Oh, dear God... Please save us from being killed today. Please?

I gulped quietly and that's when, just as I thought my life was over, I heard some guns going off in the hallway somewhere. The guys that were currently in his room flew out and out towards the noise.

I took a deep breath and leaned back onto Don's chair. When I officially didn't hear anything else from those men and only the sound of guns, I quickly took out my phone to see who called. As I recalled, it's my twin brother, Paul.

I turned my head to Don and said, "Hey, I'm calling my brother back real quick. We're going to get out of here today, Don. Okay? We are." He nodded slowly with tears already forming in his eyes. I turned back forward and swiped the screen to call him back.

His name popped up on the screen as Brother Jesus. Then, it began to ring and I pressed the phone to my ear. "Pick up, Jesus. Pick. Up," I growled into the phone, calling him by his infamous nickname.

After three complete rings, he picked up with: "Tess? Hey, twin, are you okay? I just heard on the radio about the military bashing down the doors of the hospital. What's going on? Talk to me, Tess. Talk to me!"

"Paul, I'm so scared," I whimpered, now with real tears in my eyes. "I've locked myself in one of the bathrooms with a patient of mine. They didn't get to us, but there's a lot of shooting, though! What do we do?!"

"You know what to do," he simply said, like that was his ultimate answer. "If you can, Tess, try to get one of their guns. If you can't do that, then wait for me. If you can get a gun, then the plan changes."

My teeth started to chatter and I had this sick feeling in my stomach, like I was about to puke everywhere. Good thing there's a toilet nearby. "Tell me, Paul. Tell me, please. I'm scared. We're both very scared."

I heard a noise, like the static of a radio, and, then, this: "If you manage to get a gun, then meet me out front. If not, stay where you are and I will come and get you exactly where you are."

More gunshots echoed throughout the hall, reaching us here in this little bathroom. Each shot definitely sent chills down my spine, resulting in me gritting my teeth. "Paul, what in the bloody hell is going on, though? I herd them talking about killing the infected and all that. What does that even mean?"

My brother didn't have all the answers, but I was definitely hoping he would for my sake. I heard him grunt and say: "I honestly don't know, Tess, but we will be okay. Alright?"

"Alright," I muttered back, very quietly. He probably didn't think that I believed him and I didn't blame him, to be honest.

"Tess?" His voice reached me, as if, it was carrying throughout the air instead of over the phone. "I love you and I will see you in a few minutes, alright? I love you!"

I sniffled, trying to hold back the forbidden tears that were starting to form. "I... I love you, too, Paul," I gulped with another shiver of some sorts. "Please don't forget about me..."

"Never," he promised me quickly. "Be there in a few. Stay safe and don't let anyone come near you."

With our conversation now dead, I turned to Don and whispered: "My brother is going to come and get us. We'll be much safer with him."

Don smiled, but I could still see the hurt in his eyes. He wanted to know if his children were alright, too. He didn't have to utter the words before I handed over my cell phone to him. Taking his time, he dialed up a number and pressed the phone to his ear. He sat there for the longest time, hoping for an answer. When he didn't get one, he dialed up another number. Again, there was nothing on the other line, but a voicemail. It wasn't looking good.

I found his hand and gave it a squeeze. And, with a reassuring smile, I promised: "We'll track them down and find them, alright? I swear, Don."

He seemed to now be at bay, but he wouldn't be official alright again until we figure out what happened to his kids. Where are they? Are they infected from this virus? How are we going to survive this?

• Let's try again with this story... Shall we? 🙃 •