I'm doing this story in honour of my favourite strategy. Plague Inc.

Summary: Two years ago, everything was fine. Two years later, everything is gone. All because of a stupid disease!

I also feel like making a sad story. So here it is.

This is first person POV. I haven't written in this POV in a while. So I want to practice it. For reasons…

OC alert! Only one, for one scene.

Out Of Character character(s)! But I don't think it's a lot.

Warning: Character death, diseases, tragedies, OOC, etc…

Hetalia nor Plague Inc. are mine.

xXx

America's POV

And to think, two years ago, everything was normal. And now, two years later, everything is gone. Because of a stupid plague, everything would be over. Because of a stupid plague, the world would break down. Nations would collapse. There has been so much destruction in two years, and so little hope of a better future.

Now here I am, next to my shivering brother, whose high fever won't go down, trying to contact England. It's been at least two month since we last contacted him; he didn't sound so good. We have been trying to contact him for two weeks. But things are rough; people have stopped working in most places. Many others are running rampage. Life is tough.

Life is tougher for us nations. At least our people don't have to suffer so long when they get infected. We have been suffering of it for two years. Non-stop fevers, headaches, nausea, and much more. For two entire years. It's hell! I haven't felt this sick in decades! Not to mention how many nations have completely crumbled already; France, Japan, North and South Italy, Spain, and much more. I've lost count. I'm afraid England had joined that list. I feel like sick little Canada next to me and me are going to be next too. Both our countries are in the brink of anarchy. Any day now, anarchy will take over, just like it has taken over many other countries.

"Any luck?"

I looked at Canada, and shook my head, "None." He looked at me. He held his warm blanket tight, and sighed, "Calls won't get through these days, eh?" For some reason, I had to laugh, "No shit, Sherlock." Canada rolled his eyes, but smiled. Then, he started coughing hard. "How come you're not in any pain?" Canada asked when he stopped coughing. I shrugged, "I don't know, bro. Probably 'cause I'm the strongest." Canada patted my shoulder weakly, "Keep telling yourself that. There are other countries better than you and me." I just grinned, "No there is not."

In reality, I felt terrible. I had a headache and my body hurt all over. It also pained to see Canada so weak, but that's how life has been now a days. I felt like, as my duty as the hero, I had to keep everyone well long enough for the cure to be completed. I never thought that job would be so hard. I barely have money (All it has been spent on researching a cure for the plague). Communication has been really tough. The only one I could actually take care of is Canada, and it's because he's so close to me. I would also take care of Mexico, but he's was a goner when I got there. It really hurts to see my friends die, countries disappearing, people, my people and others, dying. But I had to be happy, and help the people that I can.

Canada's face changed. Now he's serious, "You're lying." It's a good thing Canada can see right through me. Wait… or is that a bad thing? I gave a small smile, "You can always see right through me, can you?" He shrugged, "I guess it a gift or something…?" I sighed, "Okay, there's no reason to hide it. I feel like shit." "We all do, Alfred. You don't need to hide it. Why don't you go rest?" He said with a reassuring smile, but I shook my head, "No. I'm not going to rest. Come on. Let's try to call Arthur again." I dialed England's number. "But-" Canada got cut off by the ringing coming of the phone. The phone rang and rang and rang… Then, the voicemail appeared. "At least, we know the phone is not dead." I said. Then, I coughed, and sneezed, and sniffed. "Go rest, Alfred," Canada commanded as he slowly stood up. "No, Matthew!" I yelled. I didn't meant to, but it just came out that way. "Why? Because you have to take care of me? Because you have to call Arthur? It's late. I'm going to bed, and I bet Arthur is sleeping right now." Canada stood silently. I decided he was right, so I stood up. At that moment, I found out how weak I was. I fell back to the sofa, because my legs were weak. I couldn't believe it. Now I knew Canada was stronger than me. But how? Unless my country has gotten weaker and lost a lot of people, I can think of anything. The last time I communicated with my boss was twenty-four hours ago. A lot can't happen in twenty-four hours, right?

When I finally could stand up and not fall, Canada and I went to the stairs. I helped him up the stairs, and he helped me… But I helped him most of the time! It took a lot to take the flight of stairs. Eventually we made it up the stairs. It made me sad that it took us a lot of time, but I can't really do anything about it. Canada and I said our goodbyes, and Canada went to his room while I went to the guest room. I sat in bed for what seemed like hours.

I guess I was just thinking on how things changed so much over the past two years. Everything was going fine two years ago; new technology coming out, new ways of life, and much more. I miss back then. I don't like it now. This time were seeing a corpse in the middle of the streets is normal. When seeing people drop down on the streets and the first thing you think is, 'Another one today… What a pity.' I want to go back. To a time where burning corpses wasn't the only option, or when it wasn't even an option because there were no corpses to burn. The times were we didn't have to distribute face masks, or put curfews on places. A time where we didn't have to exterminate rats and birds, or close airports, shut down ports, or close down land borders. I don't care if that time was three years ago, or if I have to go back when I was a little child and running through the prairies of my undiscovered land, or when I was mad at England and started throwing tea off the harbor. I know I can't lose hope now. Canada keeps telling me that. So those England every time I can get a hold of him. France used to tell me that too. Italy yelled it happily at me while Romano would scream at him to the background to shut up because he had a headache. Everyone says the same, "It will get better. It will get better. It will get better." But so many have died already. How can I keep when half the world is already dead? I know other countries are working hard to cure the plague. But more countries are falling into anarchy, or just completely dying off. No wonder some many people have gone insane. It explains why the asylums are full, but there is no one there to take care of them. So they run around the streets crazily. And that explains why people don't go out anymore. They are afraid of the insane. Who can blame them? Maybe… Maybe everything will be fine in the morning. If I keep telling that, it might come true.

I kept telling myself that while I slowly got ready for bed. Each action I did, each time I set it, it became more and more false than the last time I said it. I tried to just think of what I was doing instead of thinking of the crumbling world around me. It didn't work. I couldn't keep my mind in one thing and one thing only. I growled. Why couldn't I just stop thinking at this moment? 'Just finish. Everything will be okay. Just finish. Everything will be okay…' That's what I was thinking; over and over and over again. Once I finished, I went to bed. Finally, I'll have some peace!

xXx

"…And that is how we can stop air pollution." I said with a smile on my face. My plan is awesome. I bet everyone will love it. Instead, everyone was quiet. All that was heard England face palm. "That was the stupidest plan I have ever heard," he growled. I just laughed. He was kidding. I know he doesn't mean it. "Whatever you say, dude!" I yelled. "Why can't you actually think of something smart for one?" He whispered. I did hear him, but I decided that it was better to ignored him. "So, who's with me?!" I yelled around the room. I waited for someone to say something. 'Come on, come on, come on,' I kept thinking.

"I agree with America," Japan held his hand. 'Yes!' I mentally yelled. "Well, I still think it's bloody idiotic." England crossed his arm. I heard Switzerland's voice, so he probably said something to Japan. I was too busy mentally praising myself for someone agreeing with me to notice the room becoming a mess. I guess I just stood there with a retarded smile for a few minutes. When I finally opened my eyes and saw all the chaos, I asked myself on thing, "How did I bloke out all the noise?" Seeing the room like this didn't surprise. It almost always happened. I would normally go annoy England and France and wait for Germany to snap and yell at everyone to sit down, but I felt like doing something different.

"Hey Egypt, what are you doing?" I asked when I was standing right behind Egypt. Egypt coughed, "Nothing." He coughed again. It was a small cough. Nothing to be worried about. But just in case, "You okay, dude?" Egypt nodded. He never really did talk, did he? I decided it was better to walk away. Let's who else I could annoy or talk to.

The scene changed. I was on my car. I had my phone in my hand. I was trying to dial England, but failed every time. I was trying to get home and watch the news, but the outside world was so distracting; people were on the floor, people were next to the ones on the floor in complete awe and gasping, and other were on top of the ones on the floor trying to resuscitated them. There was a terrible accident a couple of cars away from me. Things took a terrible turn this morning. There was a small disease detected in Egypt a week ago. Many countries, including me, started reporting that disease. It wasn't taken as important. Nobody exactly new how many people were infected. All that was known is that a lot of people were infected, and more research of the disease was needed. This morning, we found out how dangerous the disease really was. A person in Sudan had died of it. Suddenly, people all over the world started getting really sick. Apparently, people started dying all over. I just don't know what to think, and I'm getting impatient. I called England again, but no answer. I grumbled and put my phone down. This is going to take a while.

The scene changed again. I was sitting in my couch, and looking pretty pissed off. I just arrived at home. I grabbed the remote control and put on the news. I was right. People were dying. They did say something I didn't know. When the disease was first found, a huge percent (more than ninety percent!) of the world was infected with the disease. One week later, and everyone in the world was infected. That scared me. The world infected, people dying, no cure. What is this? The end? It better not be. I called England again. This time, he answered.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Britain?"

"Yes?"

"Dude, did you hear what's going on?"

"Who hasn't?"

"True. I don't know what to think about it."

"I don't think we have to exactly worry about it much. Countries, including mine and I hope yours, started researching a cure. I think we just need to worry about keeping people alive."

"I guess you can be right."

"Exactly."

"Okay."

"Anything else?"

England could the never so wrong. Over the days, the death rate of the plague kept increasing. In days, in just mere days, paranoia increased. People stopped trusting other people. They isolated themselves. Many others kept dying. Countries themselves cut tides with the rest of the world. Little by little, countries could only communicate if it was to talk about the cure. But being me, I couldn't really stay isolated. I tried the best I could to help the other nations, but many of them told me they didn't need help or anything else. Some accepted me though…

Once again, the scene changed. Mexico was sitting on the sofa in his house. He was hugging his knees and playing with the thermometer in his mouth. A blanket was wrapped around him. "Dios mío, will it ever stop?" Mexico closed his eyes and groaned. "Your headache still hasn't gone down," I said, standing right in front of him. "No!" Mexico looked at him. Then, he rested his head on his knees. "How much longer until the cure is done?" he asked. I shrugged and mumbled an 'I don't know.' Mexico sighed, "I do not think I'm to make it." I sat next to him, "Aw, don't say that." I really didn't know what to do. I'm not the consoling type. I can't say things are going to be better, because I'm losing hope. "You can't be a pessimist now," it was the best that came into my mind. "Just think about it," Mexico looked at him, "I am really weak. I can barely stand up. I end up throwing up most of my meals." He sighed and groaned again, "And I feel like my head is going to explode." I tried to say something, but I couldn't really think of much. And so, I ended up patting him on the shoulder.

The scene changed. I sat on my couch, looking at the news. Sudan, Egypt, Arabia, Spain, and Mexico were in anarchy. I sighed. I failed to help Mexico. Nothing really can be done lately. Almost no one worked. I found it quite surprising that the news were on. The woman giving the news looked terrible. She looked like she hasn't slept in weeks. She looked skinny and slightly annoyed for some reason. I have been watching the news more and more as the days pass. Although, I think they are they're going to stop broadcasting it soon. This world is falling apart. I have nausea, because of the plague and a bad feeling. I have a headache, a fever, insomnia, and much more. I hate life right now…

The scene, it changed again. I just got off the phone with England. France, Spain, Italy, and Romano are gone, banished, not a trace left behind. I couldn't believe it. I thought it would never happen. It wasn't supposed to happen. How could we lose more nations? It was enough with Mexico, who had died just a week ago. I tried to be strong. I really did, but it was too hard. I just couldn't. I let it all out. I cried…

xXx

I finally woke up. "That dream again," I whispered. I have that dream almost every day. I think it's more of a nightmare, but nightmares are also dreams. I checked the digital clock. It was two-thirty in the morning. "That's just great," I said sarcastically and rolled over. I'm tired, but I don't want to fall asleep. I yawned, and then started coughing. I sat up in bed and touched my forehead. When I felt my hot skin, I scolded. "Aw man, I have a fever." I finally paid enough attention to realize it was freezing in here. I wrapped a bunch of blankets around me, but that wouldn't help. I started shivering. I tried to tell myself that it was the environment and not the fever, but I knew I was lying to myself. I felt like I was going to freeze to death. I felt like the end of me was coming. I laid down on the bed and hug my knees. I had I lot of blankets on top me, but I still felt so cold. I didn't want to get out of bed to get the pills on the kitchen was going to be one hell of a night…

I fell asleep at around three in the morning. I couldn't really fall asleep completely. I kept waking up every once in a while; feeling better or worse than the last time I woke up. At around eight in the morning, I gave up on falling asleep completely. My fever wasn't so high anymore. Now I just had to worry about the massive headache and stomachache I felt. Slowly, I got out of bed. I got dress slowly too. With body aches, a massive headache, strong stomachache, and a regular fever, I just want to stay in bed, but I couldn't. I'm here to take care of Canada. I'm not here for Canada to take care of me. I'm not going to fail him like a failed Mexico, because in a way, I feel like Mexico's death is my fault. I don't want to feel guilty for Canada's death. I sighed and went downstairs.

I heard Canada go down the stairs. When he entered the kitchen, I turned around to greet him, but I couldn't. He looked better than he did yesterday. Of course, you can easily tell he has a fever, but other symptoms went unnoticed. He didn't need help walking or going up and down the stairs like yesterday. The blanket that was wrapped around him wasn't as thick as the one he had yesterday. He had a hand on his hair, and he had an irritated look. "How I ever told you how much I hate headaches?" He asked me. I did the best I could to put on a smile, and succeeded, "Nope!" He looked like he wouldn't find anything humorous today. "A lot. I hate them a lot." He then said. I rolled my eyes, "Just go sit down. I'm almost done with breakfast." He nodded before he sat down on a kitchen chair. He rested his head on his hand and sighed. I turned around and continued making breakfast. When I finished, I put a plate in front of Canada and he thanked me. Then, I put the pills (for the fever and headache, I didn't know if he had a stomachache so I didn't put that one there) he had to take next to the plate. He grumbled. "You know you have to take your pills, Mr. Grumpy pants." I started poking him with my spoon. He grabbed the spoon, "Don't do that, Alfred. I'm not in the mood." I let go of the spoon and shrugged, "Fine then." I sat down on another chair, and we ate breakfast in silent.

Pills don't heal a nation's pain, but they maintain the pain tolerable. So after a while, Canada was in a better mood than he was this morning. I felt much better even if I still felt a lot of pain. I wonder if Canada's feeling a lot of pain. Maybe I'll ask him later this day. We sat in the couch, with the phone in hand, ready for the same routine as yesterday. I already had England's number dial. I had a good feeling about this one, so I decided to take advantage of that. "You have to give me ten buck if he answers." I said with a smile. Canada rolled his eyes and sighed, "Deal if you gave me ten bucks if he doesn't answer." "Duh!" I yelled, "Deal!" We shook hands and smiled. Then, we called England. The phone rang for a while. Canada and I kept our fingers crossed. It like forever until…

"Hello?"

I felt a rush of relive past through me. "Yes!" I yelled at the top of my weak lounges. Then, I started coughing. "Bloody hell! Shut up! I have a headache!" England yelled through the phone. "Dang… I owe you ten dollars." Canada pouted. "Hell yeah you do!" I laughed. The world might be coming to an end, but hey! Ten dollars! "Aw man, I should have bet more!" I frowned. "Hello? I'm still here you know!" England yelled through the phone. "Sorry Artie," I apologized. "Yeah, sorry," Canada whispered. "We just wanted to know how thing were with you and with the rest of Europe or the world. We can't really communicate with the outside world, you now," I laughed sheepishly. "Okay then, are you ready for the news?" England sounded really serious. Matthew and I looked at each other and nodded, "Yes, we're ready." England sighed before he coughed.

"Here we go then. We have lost communication with every Nordic except Iceland, who is in anarchy. Most of Central Europe is in anarchy. There are only a few hundred people left in Germany. Asia has been pretty terrible. We don't know what has happened to China, but we're pretty sure he passed away. Pakistan is in anarchy, and so are Afghanistan and Iran. Many countries in East Asia are paranoid. They have reduced their research effort, and they don't trust any other countries. We pretty much don't know anything knew about Africa. All those countries that were in anarchy over there died, but you already knew that. What else? Oh… Austr-"

"Stop it already!"

I looked around the room. Canada was looking at with sympathetic eyes. That's when I realized the person who yelled was me. I guessed I never would expect so many things could go wrong. "Are you okay, Alfred?" England asked. He sounded concerned. I cleared my throat, "Yeah, I'm fine. What about the cure? How long until it finally comes out?" I was hoping for a tomorrow, a next week, or this week. "Our research is not done. We almost are, but cure efforts have plummeted so fast I really don't know what to hope for." England paused. "And?" I said impatiently. "Our best hope is that cure will come out in a few months; three, the least." He finished. He started coughing. The coughs were strong. They sounded like they were going to last a while. Canada and I gulped. England really didn't sound good. "You okay, Artie?" I asked after the coughing surpassed. "Damn that bloody coughing," he mumbled. "Yes, yes, I'm fine; you don't to worry about me." He said a little louder. I nodded. I didn't want to believe him, but I felt like I had no choice.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain on my side. I didn't let anyone know about it though. Then, the pain got stronger. 'Why now?' I thought as I bit my lower lip. The pain seemed to spread all over my body. I used to have a bad feeling these last few days, but it disappeared. Now, I felt like it came back; stronger than ever. The pain got really intense. I never felt anything like it. 'Maybe if I drink some pain relievers, everything will be just fine,' I thought.

"Are you okay, Alfred?"

Matthew's voice snapped him back. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Here!" I handed Matthew the phone. "What?" Canada asked as he grabbed the phone. I stood up, "I'll be back, Mattie. Don't worry, okay?" I gave a reassuring smile and started walking away. "I'm not worried, Al." Matthew told me before he continued talking on the phone. I couldn't help but smile.

"Have you ever taken pain relievers, Arthur?"

"Those bloody things won't the pain away, Matthew. I find them a waste of time for nations."

I limped slowly. Canada was too consecrated on his conversation with England to notice. The pain got more intense every other second. I had sworn I felt tears creating. What's happening to me? 'Just go to the kitchen. Take pills,' I reassured myself. I placed one hand over my chest; were the pain was the most intense.

"You have new information, Arthur? What's happening?"

I felt weaker as I kept walking forward and hearing Matthew speak.

"What?"

I stopped walking. My legs were too weak to continue on.

"What?! What do you mean the US is in anarchy?!"

I was too weak. I fell. My eyelids were too heavy. I closed them.

"Alfred? Alfred!"

Le Fine

xXx

I'm done with this one-shot. I guess I felt inspired. And I also wanted to practice first person POV. I hope everything is pretty clear. Does the ending seem too rushed?

Alfred is in denial during the meetings. Headcannon, maybe? Meh… I have too many.

England is the messenger. He knows everything going around the world... In this story, of course.

America is in OOC. But come on, if you were in that kind of situation, were the world was dying around you, how would you react?

Boston Tea Party. I just had to mention it.

Mexico… I believe he's a boy. For those who say Mexico is a girl, he's a boy to me.

Plague Inc. is an awesome game to me. You basically have to infect the world, and then become a deadly plague.

I have to work on story chapters.

Bye~