Part 1: Turning

Chapter 1

"Al, come on! We have to keep moving!" Fifteen year old Jake Harris called back to his brother, Alex. He tossed a quick glance down the alleyway to see his little brother limping slightly, and sweat causing his blond hair to cling to his forehead. The young boy winced every step or two, gritting his teeth and slamming his cerulean eyes shut in pain. "Al, what's wrong?" Jake inquired as he stopped near the end of the alleyway.

"I-I think I may have twisted my ankle," Alex forced out trough his clenched teeth as he stopped to lean against one of the alleyways dirty brick walls. "Are we almost there, Jake?"

The older of the two, a boy with gray eyes and brown hair that never liked to stay neat, nodded, hoping that his nod was indeed warranted. Truth be told, Jake had no idea when they would actually reach the place they were supposed to meet their parents at. He just didn't want to worry his younger brother. "We'll be there soon, Al. Do you want me to carry you the rest of the way?" He took a few steps towards the ten year old, only to freeze when he shook his head no. "Why not?"

"Because then you can't hold your bat." The boy answered simply, preparing to inch his way down the alleyway without putting too much pressure on his right leg. "Then we really will be in the hole."

Jake let out a laugh, the first either of them had uttered in days. "Alex, don't be stupid. You can just hold onto my back, and I will tote you along. Like how I use to give you piggy back rides when we were littler." Jake walked over and kneeled with his back to his brother, motioning for Alex to climb on. "That way, you can still shoot the pistol and if I need to I can still smack the fuckers away!"

"Jake!" Alex yelled indignantly, warranting a shush from his brother.

"Just climb on! It doesn't matter anymore if I say those kinds of things. There is no reason for us to worry about what we say! Our biggest worry is whether we can make it to Mum and Dad or not!" Jake hissed as his brother climbed onto his back timidly, feeling rather much like a child the way Jake had just scolded him.

"We'll make it to them, don't worry, Jake." Alex muttered reassuringly into his brother's ear as Jake began to stand and walk down the alleyway.

"I'm not worrying." Jake grumbled, contradicting how he actually felt. He felt nothing but guilt for what had happened as he trudged along, swapping stories with his brother. It was all his fault. Or, so he thought. If he had just stayed with his parents and Al the whole time, they would not have been separated by that horde. If Alex had not tried to come back and help him, Jake would have probably been the only one separated. But, a bunch of 'if's were not going to be any help to them.

"Jake, are you okay?" Alex's voice interrupted his brother's thoughts, pushing aside the 'if's as they trudged across a street to yet another alleyway.

"Yeah, yeah. Finish your story, Al." Jake urged, trying to ignore the weight of the younger boy on his back.

"Okay." Alex whispered somberly before continuing the story. "Well, then Brian decided that it'd be funny to..."

And on trudged the two boys towards a destination unknown by both. But, it didn't matter. They still had hope, and each other, and that was all that either of them cared about.

"Jake! Look out!" Alex yelled, shooting at an Infected person behind them. He clung tightly to his brother with one arm while trying to keep look out behind.

"Tryin' to focus on what's in front!" Jake grumbled, gripping his brother's legs with one arm and wielding the bat with another. He focused on the Infected before them, about five of them at the moment, and all common Infected, thankfully. "You get the back, I've got the rest!"

"Got i- Ah!" Alex cried out as a slimy, muscly appendage wrapped itself around the two boys and began dragging them back.

Jake wriggles viciously against it, trying to get at least one of them free. "Al- shoot- it! Shoot the- damn thing!" He commanded as he tried desperately to loosen the tongue that was dragging them back.

"I- I can't! I dropped the pistol!" Alex whined against his brother's back as he, too, began to wiggle insanely.

Damn it, Jake couldn't help but think. As a last attempt to free them of the deadly grasp that was dragging them ever closer to a Smoker, Jake wedged the baseball bat up between the tongue and his arm, and pushed it outward. "Al, run!" Jake ordered as his brother slipped out of the hold. He dropped the bat as the muscle tightened its grasp on the now alone victim and it began to pull him back even faster. "Run!" He managed to get that last command out before feeling the claws begin to drag along him, and teeth sink into his shoulder. He cried out in anguish as he try to force the claws, teeth, and tongue away from his weakening body.

"Jake!" Alex screamed for his brother as he stared transfixed at the going ons before him. He couldn't move, he was frozen to the very bloody concrete floor beneath him as a few common Infected charged towards his strangled brother.

"Run, goddamn it!" Jake choked out, trying to stifle the cries of pain that begged to escape him. He kicked one of his feet out at an Infected that tried to claw into him. Yet, he couldn't keep them all at bay.

Jake could just barely remember seeing Alex shakily grip the gun and pointing it in his general direction just before a loud bang sounded and his world was engulfed in the black.

Alex sat there and stared at the motionless body before him, his hand still gripping the gun. The Infecteds' attention was now on him, and they all quickly began to run over. The blond boy hurriedly tossed aside the pistol and picked up his brother's baseball bat from where it had fallen from Jake's grasp and swung, not really paying attention to what he was swinging at. His mind was to focused on what he had just done. He kept replaying the whole thing in his mind: the confliction that ran through him as Jake ordered him to run, his shaking hand reaching for the gun on the ground, turning, aiming, and then firing.

He didn't notice when all of the zombies were finally dead. It wasn't until he dropped the bat and collapsed to the cold, concrete ground that he finally realize that whole ordeal was over. He simply lay there for a moment, shaking as sobs racked through his scrawny form. He bit back a cry of pure anguish as he looked up to see his brother lying motionless on top of the Smoker's corpse.

"Oh god... Jake..." Alex crawled over towards his brother, his eyes leaking immense amounts of tears. "Jake, come on... Wake up... Jake..." He reached out and lightly shook Jake, trying to get a response from him. He gave another shake before he cried out and buried his head into his older brother's shirt, crying into the blood-caked fabric as he slowly drifted off to sleep. "Jake..."

Mags: Two ways to tell this is Kevyns'-

Kevyn: I will strangle-

Mags: One. It is very pessimistic!

Kevyn: HEY! SO ARE SOME OF YOUR'S!

Mags:Two. It is written in past tense.

Kevyn:... I am not offended by that. Anyways, I hope you guys like my story. It is written in a slightly style than my twin's stories. So, if you don't like her style, then welcome to the dark side! Here is a cookie!

Mags: -.- I resent that.

Kevyn: Please review if you liked it! Or if there is some grammatical error I missed!