The Beginning of An Apocalypse
Twenty

Marcus pushed himself from one tree to the next tree five feet from him. He took a step from that tree only to fall to the ground and roll down the small hill until he hit a root. He was covered in dirt, pine needles, and sticks. The small and larger rocks that he had fallen onto were not on his skin but they weren’t on the ground anymore. Marcus had the feeling that they were in his skin somehow.

He didn’t know if that was possible.

That thought was still one of the last thoughts he had. He didn’t have many thoughts anymore. He didn’t remember much either. One thing that never left him was the thought of what he was doing and how.

He was still alive. He cracked his skull on a rock and somehow he was still alive. He was impaled by a log and somehow he got out of it with no pain and no death. He was beaten to a pulp by an old man in the woods not long ago. That man was dead seconds after he threw the log anyway.

Marcus didn’t think of anything, but he found himself drinking the old man’s blood and eating most of his flesh.

Another thing that didn’t go away was the thirst. A thirst that nothing could settle. He ate and drank almost everything there. He killed any animal that he found. He ended up eating the dirt off the ground. He drank sap from trees.

He found that there weren’t any people there. There weren’t those tall clothes-wearing hairless people anywhere in here. He was pushed in here and he never seemed to replace his way out.

He was stuck in the woods.

Besides the thirst that killed him, there weren’t the noises that sounded like bombs going off. In these woods, he was away from that. There wasn’t anything stopping him or chasing him around.

Besides the magnetic feeling inside of him that told him to go a certain way. There was something inside of him and it wanted him to go in a certain direction to a certain place. He knew it wasn’t because of the thirst he was feeling, it was something else. Something much stronger.

But one of his lasting thoughts was that it was bad. And he’d rather not have that.

Marcus didn’t have a certain place he wanted to stay so he wondered. He was safe from the pointing and the screaming people. He was struggling to remain without the human blood, that metallic taste.

There was something about the taste that he couldn’t pass up. The more he got the less he felt he was losing.

He was losing what he was putting in. More and more.

The puking wasn’t stopping. It got to the point where he could use his hand and push it into his skin and he could grab out his bones. He was a hollow shell that was being destroyed. He was destroyed but still living. Always living.

Marcus continued to use the trees to get him to go places. He kept walking and almost didn’t notice the sounds coming from in front of him. He didn’t notice the sounds or see them. But he sure did smell it. It hit him like a brick wall.

Food.

He looked up through his darkened eyes. It was true, he couldn’t see more than a few specs from his eyes anymore. But every other sense was there. Especially his smell and his hearing. He could hear all the high and low vibrations of everything.

Of the wind blowing.

Of something falling.

He could see what things looked like without seeing. If that was understandable.

Marcus followed that vibration of sounds. He followed the sound of their heartbeats and the smell of their blood. The smell of the things he needed from them.

He kept walking without a stop. He only hit a few trees. He only fell twice and only broke his leg once. It was an easy fix.

He started to feel unnatural textures. It was soft.

It was a tent, he could tell.

The closer he got the more he could hear.

“What are we even doing here?” Man Number 1 asked.

“Looking for that Marcus kid,” Man Number 2 said. “Last the thing was seen was miles from the entrance of these woods. Nobody has seen him in the city so they assume he’s here.”

“So we get sent to replace him, lovely,” Man Number 3 replied with annoyance in his tone.

“At least we aren’t under Gabriel Everett’s orders,” Man Number 1 said. “All we have to do is see him, call it in, and stay far away enough but watch him. All it is is a touch.”

“That’s what the thousands of people who died said,” Man Number 3 said. “We’ve been here a week and haven’t seen anything. Even the animals have gone quiet.”

“Yeah,” Man Number 2 said, “It’s strange.”

Marcus pushed himself past the one tent-looking structure and to the point where he could see one of the guys standing there. They were sitting on a log watching another person reading a map and marking it down with a red marker.

The more he got closer the sweeter the smell was. The more his entire being wanted it and would get it no matter the cost.

Now the only thought in his empty mind was, Hungry.

He pushed himself past the tent and he made it without falling. By the time he got away from the tent is when he heard his first shout. “There he is! God! There he is!” Man Number 1 shouted. “Do something!”

“My guns in the tent!” Man Number 2 shouted.

“Stay back!” Man Number three shouted as he grabbed his gun from the side and tried to load it. Man Number 1 pushed himself up against the tree. He forgot where his gun was. He forgot where he was. He looked into Marcus’s eyes and he saw nothing. He saw a decomposing body that was covered in dirt, blood, black blood, or tar. It was terrifying.

“Call this in!” Man Number 2 shouted. “Go! Neil! Let’s go!”

Man Number 1’s hand reached into his pocket at the slowest speed they could think of. He grabbed his radio and now he had to do what they asked. He had to call someone and tell them they found Marcus.

He had to remember how to use the radio.

Man Number 3 got his gun working, he aimed and he shakingly fired. The bullets went through Marcus, but they didn’t stop him. He didn’t even know bullets hit him.

He walked towards Man Number 3 because the incessant noises were making something in his head hurt. Man Number 3 continued to shoot at him and the gun continued to shoot out loud noises. Man Number 3 stepped back when he realized Marcus was coming after him.

His back hit the tree and he tried to turn around it and walk backward. His finger stayed still on the trigger. The firing continued.

Marcus walked further and further. He pushed himself to go faster to get to him. Not only to fuel his hunger and his thirst but to stop the noise. To stop the ringing,

Man Number 3 continued to walk backward. He didn’t look where he was going and it caught up to him. Before he could realize what had happened, his heel bent backward and he started to fall on his back. His back hit the ground and his gun went to the side. His finger, still attached to the trigger, continued to fire.

Man Number 1 cried in agony and fell to the ground. He was shot by Man Number 3’s gun.

Marcus didn’t waste another second. He didn’t walk, he didn’t run, he jumped and fell. He fell onto Man Number 3’s leg and grabbed onto it. Man Number 3 screamed and it didn’t take long for his screams to turn into choking noises. His body started to shake and convulse while Marcus laid y his legs and ate the flabby flesh and pants leg. He licked up the blood and he let the feeling of ecstasy take over him.

There was no more noise. That was the other bonus of this, besides the feeling that he was getting from eating and drinking.

He had little time to rest with this because soon Man Number 2 ran to his gun which he had left in the poorly made tent. He was out and shooting it from afar.

Marcus’s neck snapped back a little too fast and the crack was audible. Man Number 2 stepped backward when he watched Marcus put his neck back in place and turn around. Man Number 2 saw Marcus’s face. Saw it covered in his friend’s blood.

Man Number 1, Neil continued to cry out as he held his hand to his thigh where he was shot. The smell of the blood was intoxicating to Marcus. He’d take care of it after he was done with Man Number 2.

Marcus got himself up and started to walk towards Man Number 2.

Man Number 2 looked over at Man Number 3 who wasn’t moving anymore. His deflated body was covered in the black tar that used to be his blood and insides.

He didn’t want to end up like him.

“Stay away!” Man Number 2 shouted.

Marcus pushed himself further completely ignoring the jibberish that came from his mouth. Marcus felt the tip of the gun barrel pressed into his chest. He knew it was going into his chest and Man Number 2 was shooting directly into him. It wasn’t doing anything serious. This time though, it was starting to hurt. He was shooting somewhere certain and Marcus was finally starting to feel it.

But Marcus didn’t care to be worrying about it. He kept pushing until Man Number 2 walked backward two far and fell on the poorly set up tent. It was poorly made and collapsed around him when he fell onto it. He was wrapped around it unable to move.

He was shouting and screaming for help, but it only turned to scream when Marcus got on his knees and bit into his ankle while his legs kicked.

And just like Man Number 3, his screams turned to choke and then there was nothing. Marcus didn’t stop this time. He only had little time to eat and drink all he could before the blood was gone. He wanted to get as much as he could before it was vomited out.

He ate almost an entire leg before there was nothing that tasted good. It lost its flavor and Marcus almost forgot what he was eating.

And now it was time for Marcus to go eat Neil. Neil was on the ground and trying to crawl away. He made it at least seven feet from the tree he was stuck to. But he wasn’t fast enough, of course.

Marcus got up and went after him. Neil shouted and kicked around. He grabbed logs and he delayed the inevitable death of his. If he wasn’t shot he may have been able to run away before Marcus was on top of him and eating the flesh of his stomach.

Marcus was busy taking in all he could until there was nothing more to take. Once everything was done and he was covered in enough blood to last him a while, he got up and started to look for another place to go.

With no goal in mind, he wandered off back into the woods and licked the blood off his fingers.

“These people are idiots,” Gabriel muttered to himself as he stood there kicking a pinecone away from him. He stood there in front of the deaths of Jacob Deeds, Neil Reese, and Sam Jean. They were a scouting group who was in the Sierra National Forest. They were looking for Marcus and from the looks of it, they must have found him.

But they were stupid and died.

Jacob’s deeds died because of touch and a part of his right leg was eaten.

Neil Reese was shot in the thigh by one of the two others and his entire stomach was eaten.

Sam Jean collapsed in a tent and most of his left leg was eaten to the bone.

Gabriel was astonished by it all.

In all of his other subjects they either died within the first day or the ones like Seventy, lived for a while and were deadly, but less effective. Seventy’s touch would get you sick and have you unable to move without puking for days. But only 2 out of 10 people who came in contact with Test Subject 7023 died.

This was amazing.

He wasn’t just trying to escape anymore. He was eating his victims to try and satisfy something. A hunger that he had inside.

None of the other victims of this virus acted in this way. Just when he thought that maybe Marcus would no longer be of use to him. Marcus opened new doors for him.

“I want the three bodies sent to my lab and carefully,” Gabriel said. “I want everything else bagged and sealed and also brought with you.”

“Yes sir,” Derek Stout said. He was the leader of the team he brought up here to help him go over the scene and bag the evidence and samples. With this, he felt he could finally start something. He could finally finish what he’s spent all of his life trying to do.

Gabriel watched as everyone collected everything and got the bodies in bags and were transporting them to the side-by-side they used to drive up here. By the time they were done, it’d be after dinner.

They drove out of the Sierra National Forest and transported everything into a secured vehicle that drove them back to his lab. Gabriel left them to get everything inside and everything secured. They were to immediately unpack everything and conduct every thorough experiment they could think of. It was time to get to the bottom of this.

He’d continue to work on trying to replace Marcus, but at the moment he was going to work with what he got.

And besides, he had another direction to go. He had Cas and she had the same DNA as her mother. It wasn’t as strong as it was with Marcus, but with everything that happened and could happen, there was no bad way to go.

He was curious to see what would happen with Cas anyway.

He went to the underground levels and he went through many time-consuming but needed security checks before he got to the level where he kept Cas. The level is just above Test Subject 7023 and all of the other failed experiment cells.

He walked to her cell and looked inside through the one-way glass window. He looked and saw her walking back and forth. She had her arms crossed and her head looking up at the light that was built into the roof and protected by a black grate.

He was happy that she stopped the phase of her banging, kicking, and throwing everything for attention. She had given up on that and started to pace back and forth.

Gabriel got the two men with guns to stand beside him while he grabbed the keys that only he kept and unlocked the door. Cas stopped pacing and jolted. She turned to face the door and eventually to face Gabriel.

“Now you show up,” Cas said. “After leaving me down here for how long.”

There were no windows she couldn’t be sure how long she was down here. It was driving her crazy. Crazy to the point she kind of wanted to bash her head into the wall and see if that would do anything.

“I just wanted to let you know of the update,” Gabriel said. “Three of the soldiers that the army sent out were found dead earlier. Marcus must have found them and he ate most of their flesh off and left their bodies for us to replace.”

“Oh my god, would you stop lying to me?!” Cas asked. “You can’t trick me into believing these things. Marcus would never do this.”

“He’s not Marcus anymore,” Gabriel said. “I’m sorry, but it’s true. And I can show you the proof that Marcus isn’t in that body anymore.”

“Why are you doing this?” Cas asked. She rested her arms down and she let all her fight going. going gulped down the air and tried to laugh off the feeling inside her. “Why are you trying to take everything from me? What did I do to you?”

“You did nothing to me, Cassidy,” Gabriel said. “I am not the best person to say these things to as I don’t understand what you’re feeling, but what I am doing is because I was allowed to and I can.”

“Who allowed you to? No one knows about the horrific things you do!”

“Not the things I’m doing, but to use you and Marcus as my test subjects, I was permitted in the form of a contract. Why do you think I went over to your brother in the first place? Because he was there?”

Gabriel saw Cas’s eyes widen a little. She looked as if she was no longer breathing. Her mouth was open but no air was coming out. She was stuck in the process of trying to figure out what he meant. She tried to ask and the words may have come out, but she didn’t know.

“Your parents,” Gabriel said. “They were the reason that–”

“Sir,” one of the guards behind him said interrupting him from speaking.

Gabriel closed his eyes and tried his hardest not to take it out on him. It could be important after all. “What?” Gabriel asked.

“I was told that Liza Locken is at the front door and is waiting to see you.”