The Beginning of An Apocalypse
Twelve

Gabriel got past all the security once again. He hated going through all the checks, but he knew it was for a reason and the reason was too good to not do.

He came up through the halls to the one room he wanted to get to. With everything back at the bridge taken care of, he could take care of what he needed to do. He told the guards who stood there to back up and leave until he was done. They did as he said, of course, they did.

He opened the door and walked in. He watched as a scientist stood there and took blood from test subject 7032. Seventy for short.

“Ah, look at you, back already,” Seventy said. He was looking as dead as he did the last time Gabriel saw it. It had the same harsh voice that made everything it said some like a threat. Its body was less than it was before. Its soft breakable bones show through. It was a miracle that that thing was still alive somehow.

“How are the experiments going?” Gabriel asked.

“We have split our team into groups sir,” the scientist, Andrew Elsher said.

“Groups? So you are working on this separately now?” Gabriel asked. “Some sort of idiotic competition?”

“No, no, sir,” Elsher assured him. “One of our groups is working on how to…” Elsher looked over at Seventy who stood there listening to them carefully. “On how to kill test subject 7023 while our other team is working on a cure for it.”

Elsher was unsure of how Gabriel would react. Gabriel didn’t give him any hints either. His facial expression remained neutral while he waited for Elsher to elaborate more. Elsher knew that he was either going to be fired or killed depending on the results and which words he choose to say.

Elsher looked back at everyone in his group, the ones looking for the cure, for an answer to his prayers but they all ignored him and continued to work. Even though they all were too shaky to do any work.

Elsher looked back at Gabriel and with a deep breath he tried to elaborate further.

“We thought dividing our energy to replace both possible solutions would be our best option. You wanted this done quickly so we are trying our best, sir.”

“I want more than your best,” Gabriel snapped. “I want results and I want them now.” Gabriel stepped forward to stand in front of the glass door.

“Has anything changed?” He asked.

No one knew if he was talking to Elsher and the scientists or Seventy. He was looking directly at Seventy. They had to guess and guessing was not something that was considered good with Gabriel Everett involved.

“I’m talking to you, 7032,” Gabriel said cleaning them from continuing to guess. Sometimes he really couldn’t take being beside these people.

“B-besides them taking my blood?” Seventy asked. It forced itself to sit on the bed that was supplied when it was first put in here. “I don’t feel different from the hell I-I’ve been.”

“The experiments you are being put through, does it do anything?” Gabriel asked.

“No,” Seventy said. “I puke more if that’s what you’re looking for.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes and went to look for answers in Elsher. “Which ‘group’ do you think will come up with better results?” He asked.

Elsher looked at his group and back at Gabriel. He wanted to say his own, but in the years of them doing this, they haven’t found anything. They’ve found ways to contain the alien inside the test subjects. They’ve found out that the alien part of them loves water.

“Eradicating the virus,” Elsher said, “Sir.”

“Then get on it.” Gabriel walked back to the door and stood there when he opened it. “It doesn’t matter which group prevails. All I want is either killing or curing to be able to work. We need to get this over with as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir,” Elsher said. “We will get back to work right now.”

With that, Gabriel closed the door behind him and left test subject 7032 with the scientists. He let the guards take back their place and after many security checks, he was back out of the underground levels. He went to check on a few more things in his own office before he got his things together and got back to his car outside.

The sun was coming up in the next few hours and that would mean putting his plans into action. He would get back to Cas and make sure that she was ready for what she had to do. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy and frankly he didn’t care. All he needed was to stop the apocalypse before it started. To get his name far away from the suspicion of the world.

He was driven back to the front of the Golden Gate Bridge where nothing new happened. He got out of his car to see people sitting around and waiting for orders. He saw people sorting through equipment and replaceing places for them to go. Gabriel gave a pleased smile to himself and then he walked back to the tent of all the generals and everyone that would have a say in what could be or couldn’t be done.

“Get the troops ready. Once the sun rises we’re going to start moving,” Gabriel told them. He didn’t wait long for them to say anything back to him. He had to go get Cas ready for what was ahead of her.

As he stood there he realized he only had one problem. He didn’t know where she was put to be resting. Gabriel looked around as if he would see her and then he realized that he knew who he sent to give Cas a place to rest.

“Liza!” Gabriel shouted. He looked around and found her laying against three crates stacked up and eating a package of crackers. As he walked over to be able to talk to her, Liza looked at him and smiled. She set her crackers down and stood up to face him. She wasn’t taller than him, but she also wasn’t shorter than him.

“Yes?” Liza asked.

“Where did you put Ms. Tyler to rest?” He asked. “I need her now.”

“In the supply tent just at the edge,” Liza said.

Gabriel gave her an exhausted look and then turned around to go to the other side of the camp. He walked to the supply tent and stood in front of it. “Cas, it’s time for you to get up.”

“Cas,” he said again when she did not get up or reply. “Cassidy,” he said once again and this time louder. After three times of trying to wake her up, he didn’t care to stay outside anymore. He walked in and searched every inch of this small tent. She wasn’t there. She wasn’t hiding under the table or behind all the supplies.

He looked around and this time he was almost desperate to see her here. The only thing he found that could remotely mean Cas was here was the white case that had the radiation suit specifically made for this. He grabbed it out of the box and realized that she had taken three of the pieces of the suit.

Gabriel couldn’t help but laugh. He had to laugh otherwise he didn’t know what was going to happen.

He kicked the box to the ground and stormed out of the tent. He stood in front of the tent and looked for Liza again. She stayed in the same place she was, her legs and arms crossed and she stared directly at him with a smile.

His fists clenched to the point he was hurting himself, but he didn’t realize it. Gabriel forced his first foot to move and then he continued to move and he walked over to Liza. “What did you do with her? Do you think this is a game?” He grabbed Liza’s shirt and forced her up off the crates and closer to him.

“Do what Gabriel?” Liza asked. “And why do you think that I know where she went? I dropped her off as you said.”

“Because nothing ever happens without you knowing something about it,” Gabriel snapped. “So tell me what you did with her, what insane idea of rebellion have you put in her mind? Where is she?!”

“If she had any rebellious thoughts, she already had them,” Liza told him. “And she probably already acted on them. You were gone for what… four hours.” Liza grabbed Gabriel’s arm and forced him off her. She fixed her clothes and they ended up staring at each other.

Gabriel could read her mind, he knew everything that she had done. He knew that she helped Cas do something. He knew she knew about it. He just had to figure out what and how long ago.

“Tell me, Liza. I don’t have time for your games,” Gabriel said.

“You know exactly what she did. What has she been trying to do since the moment you met her?”

“Trying to replace her idiot brother,” Gabriel said. He was about to say more when he stopped in his tracks. Cas had continuously tried to get her brother back. She had fought anyone and tried to push Gabriel to put the action of rescuing him in effect. So there’d only be one thing she’s trying to do now.

“She did not,” Gabriel said out loud. He looked over in the direction of the bridge, he saw that none of the new people that he had gotten specifically to guard the bridge, was guarding the bridge. “You helped her get through my guards and she’s on that bridge right now isn’t she?”

Liza shrugged but the smile on her face says otherwise. “You would have killed her little brother. She knows that but she’s pretending she doesn’t. So, she’s going to get him herself.”

“She’ll be killed!” Gabriel snapped.

“And why do you care?” Liza said. “You never care for the life of a mere human that you don’t need. All you need her for is a distraction which wasn’t a good plan in the first place.” Liza shook her head since she had nothing left to say. She walked over and patted his shoulder. “Good luck. She’s been gone for a while now.”

Liza turned her back to him and continued to walk like she had not just committed a possible crime. She walked back into a tent to replace herself something to eat and drink.

Gabriel continued to mutter curses as he stomped his way through to the tent he had been in before he had left.

“...I was talking to the CDC and we will get–”

Gabriel walked in making everyone go silent. “I left you guys in charge for a few hours,” Gabriel told them, “And you already managed to ruin everything.”

“You were never in charge, to begin with,” The commanding officer Davis said.

“And this shows exactly why I should have been,” Gabriel said. “Your guards aren’t guardians of the bridge, you let Ms. Tyler slip away and she is now on the bridge with her dead brother and probably going to die. Your men are committing crimes and you don’t even notice.”

“You brought the civilian here,” Davis said. “Stop blaming us for your mistake. How long has the girl been on the bridge?”

“From what I heard, hours,” Gabriel told him.

“Okay,” Davis replied. He looked around and told one of his officers. “Go get some soldiers and get them on the bridge. They are to replace out if Ms. Tyler is dead. Only to replace out if she is dead, if she is, leave the body.”

“No,” Gabriel told him. “If she’s dead I want her brought to me.”

“Why would you want such a thing?” A woman named Tanya asked. “What sick experiments are you planning with a dead woman’s body?”

“Hopefully to replace something useful,” Gabriel told her. He did not waste another moment with those people he thought of as idiots. He walked out furious about everything that was going on. He stomped his way to somewhere he could get himself a drink and then get himself ready to go on that bridge.

Not only to see if his one last chance was still alive, but also for himself. He wanted to see what it was like on there. He wanted to see up close just how much damage he had caused.

He wanted to see the effects in every possible way up close.

And if he had the chance to get rid of what he started easily, he could do that too.

“Are you going to?” Liza jumped out of nowhere and began to walk beside him. “I’m coming with you.”

“No,” Gabriel said. He didn’t care to elaborate any further than the one-word answer. She was the cause of all this and she would only get his goal further and further away from him. “If I could I would fire you from all of this.”

“Why don’t you? It’s not like our parents are around,” Liza said.

“I won’t because it’s not one of my top priorities. I have to get on that bridge to replace the girl that you let get there. She needs to be back here before anything else starts,” Gabriel said as he went searching for a mask to bring with him.

“Aren’t you the one who brought her here to put her on the bridge?” Liza asked.

“Yes, I did, but it was going to be thought out and planned and she wasn’t going to sneak off and destroy any chance I had.”

“Hi there, greed didn’t know you were back,” Liza said. “A real human is being on that bridge who is more important than your name being on a paper.”

He turned to look at her making her stop. She saw that he had had enough of her and the thin line of control was going away. Her safety was too. “Sometimes you just don’t think,” Gabriel said. He turned around and tried to get rid of her. He didn’t want to face her and gave himself doing something he would possibly regret. The last thing he needed was another problem. Another issue that he would have to resolve before he could get onto what he wanted to. What he needed to do before everything came crashing down.

It would not be safe for the people that caused those delaying issues, he was sure.

“Half of me hopes you get the death touch!” Liza shouted from behind him. She stared at him and watched him walk off. She took a deep breath as she watched him. She crossed her arms and tried to think of how all this would play out. It didn’t look like it was going to end well for anyone. Especially not Cassidy Tyler.

“I just wanted to sleep today,” Liza muttered to herself and walked off to go replace something she thought she may or may not need.

Gabriel found a calm place where there were no listening ears and he grabbed his phone. He dialed a private number and waited for him to answer.

The man picked up the phone and his first words were, “What is it, sir?”

“First of all, how is the clean up going along?” Gabriel asked.

“We’ve cleaned up most of the bodies, we’re disposing of most of them. We’ve got people informing the families as we speak, sir.”

“Good, Lowe,” Gabriel said. He moved out of his hidden area and looked to make sure no one else was there before he went back into the shadow between blockades. “I want the charged Gatling gun to be brought to me. Now.”

“But sir,” Lowe said, “The gun hasn’t been tested yet. It could be dangerous for you.”

“I need the gun and I want it brought to me within the next thirty minutes or you’re name can be on the list of families to contact. Would you want your two little daughters to have to hear their father either abandoned them for his work or that he was killed in an explosion?”

Between the second that Gabriel let a smile crease on his face and for Lowe to upload and understand what Gabriel said, he answered. Lowe answered, “I’ll have the gun to you in twenty minutes.”

“Good.” Gabriel hung up the phone and shoved it in his pocket. He stayed there for only a minute longer before he walked off and went to make the small group of soldiers that would be entering the plagued area which was the bridge. He would stall them for only twenty minutes when he would get what he wanted and be able to walk into the unknown with a little more reassurance than what he had.

All he had to do was get Cas back. He could gain from this even if she was dead, but he would gain so much more if she was alive. Just like he would gain a lot more if Marcus wouldn’t die, he could still gain with him being dead.

He was going to stick to them being alive until he spent all of that chance and death was the only answer.