The Beginning of An Apocalypse
Twenty-Seven

Marcus found a road that he had been walking along for a while now. His eyesight was completely gone, the only thing he saw was black. Moving, even on a clear path, was challenging. The last meal he had, two idiot people who were sitting on the grass, had given him enough strength to move, but not his eyesight back. They didn’t even taste like anything anymore, there was only that little sense of fulfillment.

And he stopped puking so much.

He searched endlessly for another meal as that is all his mind would register now. Hunger and thirst was the only thing that pushed his body. The little strength he had was there and trying to get him to move. The tiny voice in his head has been growing louder and louder telling him to go in too many directions.

He had a goal, there was somewhere he had to be. Somewhere he had to go. But he didn’t know where and he didn’t know how to get to that place.

In some places he went gave the little voice more power and it screamed and in some places, he could barely hear it.

He continued to walk down the swirling road knowing he was heading somewhere with humans. Somewhere were he could settle the hunger inside him for only a little. Each time he ate the satisfactory feeling got shorter and shorter. It used to be days. It used to be hours. Now it’s minutes. It’s seconds sometimes.

It would be a few hours before he really needed to eat something. Before everything he ate and kept inside started coming up again. He barely had to feel anymore, but the wrenching feeling of puking was excruciating.

Marcus continued on his path and before he could tell what had happened. The voice was silent, the sounds around him were silent and then instantly everything around him came crashing down. Every possible sound you could think of went off and he fell to his knees.

The initial blast was the worst of it. But the familiarity of it let him be able to ignore the deafening fact and listen to the voice. The voice he knew. The familiar voice felt like warmth. Its screeching call forced him up and without any hesitance, he moved forward. He walked until he was running down and chasing the call.

Its scratches became words and it told him to come. It told him it was time to go home.

The itching feeling didn’t stop, instead, the feeling grew. It grew and grew till it was no longer able to be ignored. Shane pushed his head across a hard surface in hopes it would subside the itching feeling. All it did was hurt him and wake him up more.

He pushed his head up and the dust from the broken rock fell from his head and into his eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut when the stinging became too hard to bare. He shook his head while his body started to wake up. The major pain he felt was in his leg. His head throbbed and continued to hurt more or less depending on how he moved his head. There was nothing on his shoulder that made it easier for him to get up and move.

As he squirmed around like a worm coming out of the ground, the memories of what happened started to come back. He remembered it all in flashes as it came together. Him and Liza walking in here with a mission to get Cas back.

They found Cas and before they could get out Gabriel ordered his men to shoot and kill everyone. The alien Gabriel called Agatha for short. He remembered Cas having the gun and threatening to fire.

He remembered her spaced-out face as she stared at a place in the tank for the alien. And then there was the shattering sound that sent them all back. And then it was dark.

Shane pushed his body to turn on his side. He gritted his teeth to the point his jaw was the only pain he could feel. It was only minutes longer before he had to release his jaw and another minute before he felt like he could talk again.

“Cas!” He shouted out. He turned his body to look for Cas where she would have been if the place had not exploded. All he saw was the broken table now turned grey and a large chunk of wall. A large chunk of the wall was moving.

He looked back and saw it was moving.

“Cas!” He cried desperately. His voice cracking he inhaled the dust fumes that were surrounding him. He pushed his body as much as he could. He got his feet out from under the rubble that he could. “Cas!”

Shawn finally saw someone. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure that it was Cas. He forced himself up on his aching knees. He looked over and if there wasn’t a giant boulder behind him, he would have fallen over.

It was a monster. A human in a monster form. Not like Marcus, more deformed, mutated. His slimy falling-off skin made his human features barely known. The tall creature was holding someone in his arms.

Its body moved one part at a time, it waited for his body to align before it moved his leg. It put its foot on one of the large concrete squares. When it shifted to face the concrete, Shane was able to see who it held.

Cas was passed out in his arms. Her face was covered in little nicks and cuts that were coated in dust. Shane couldn’t see any serious injuries from where he was sitting, but he couldn’t be sure. If she didn’t have any now, she may have some life-threatening wounds with that monster carrying her.

“Let go–” Shane coughed up more air than he was breathing in. By the time he recovered the monster had Cas past him and towards the blinding light of the outside. “Let go of her!”

It didn’t listen to him. Shane didn’t even know if it could hear him at all. All Shane knew was that it picked up Cas and it was taking her away. It was leaving him behind and taking her for God knows what.

Shane lost her once, he wasn’t going to lose her to another monster again.

Shane forced himself up. Once he stood he realized where he had been hurt. The left leg had a deep wound at least seven inches long. His pants were dripping in blood and sticking to his leg. He forced himself to walk even through the pain. He followed the path that the monster took Cas across. He had to go around a few of the rocks because of his leg. It was time-consuming but he was able to gasp out in relief when he was close to the broken-down wall. He made it to where the alien had dug a large hole through the dirt that had been underground. Shane walked up the hill and into the grass. He moved past other parts of concrete until he was seven feet from the gaping hole of the building.

He looked out into the sun after his eyes adjusted to staring outside into everything that wasn’t dark.

He saw the monster not far from where he stood. It was sitting by a fallen-over log and Cas was laying on the ground in front of him. Cas lay there without moving, at least from what Shane could tell. From what he could tell, the monster was staying still and not trying to hurt Cas. But what were the odds that something that came out from Gabriel’s lab is good? There’s no way that Shane could see there was no man-eating drive in there.

Shane took the first step away from the broken-down building and into the dusted grass. He pushed himself further on his limp than he thought he could. Every step hurt agonizingly, but with Cas in his mind and the need to save her, somehow he made it through.

“Cas!” Shane shouted when he was halfway there. It may not have been a good idea considering the monster that was sitting just two feet from Cas. He didn’t want that thing to have any reason to go after Cas, but if Cas woke up then she could have a chance to run away.

Then he would never have to go near it and Cas would be able to get to him. Shane kept walking and more than halfway there, the monster had now seen him. It looked over and stared at Shane who was struggling to get to Cas.

It looked down at Cas and back at him. It saw what Shane wanted and that he was determined to get it.

The monster also understood why Shane was in such a hurry. “I’m not going to… hurt her,” It said.

Shane stopped in his tracks almost making himself fall to the floor. He stopped his balance from going uneven and he stood up. “You can s-speak?” Shane asked. Its voice was very scratchy and always cut off, but it could speak. It could speak and he could understand it.

“Yes,” It said. “A-and like I said…” It snapped its neck to look at Cas and back at him. “I won’t h-hurt her. I saved her.”

“Are you like… Marcus? Doesn’t your touch kill people?!” Shane asked. “How is that saving her?!”

Shane looked back at Cas. She wasn’t doing what all the other victims that fell to Marcus’s touch did. She wasn’t convulsing and puking up her charred insides. She was, hopefully, just sleeping.

It laughed painfully. It rubbed its slimy skin until it started to peel off a little bit. “I’m not like that kid. I only make some people sick.”

Shane found that hard to believe, but he could see that the thing wasn’t lying. And then again, what left did he have to hide? He’s been in a cell for how long and experimented on. That could have made it crazy to the point of unhelpfulness or helpfulness.

“And,” It added. “I h-have control over my body and my mind. I speak, smell, and hear. I do not need to eat though.” It looked almost saddened by that. “Or drink. I can’t feel much either.”

Shane moved back a few steps to move to the side and eventually to stand on Cas’s side. The side that wasn’t in front of that thing.

“I can’t remember my name,” It said. “But Everett calls me test subject 7032. Seventy for short.”

Once Shane got passed the horrible screeching noise Seventy’s voice made, he was able to relax. If he didn’t look the way he did, with the flakey tan skin the black veins, and all the other disabilities, he’d be like a human. He acts almost like a human.

“If you can only make some people sick… How did you know you won’t make her sick?” Shane asked. He said he only made some people sick but knowing who would be a gamble. Looking at Cas and deciding to leave her or take her would be too risky. It’s a fifty percent chance that she would die.

Seventy chuckled to the point his chest rose and fell but not like it should have.

To Shane, it looked like stacking cups on one another. It would stay halfway on the cup and then suddenly fall completely. You’d put a third one on the cups and push it in to reach the end of the other cups. It was like that and it was painful to watch.

“One of the many things I didn’t tell Everett is that you humans… you give off certain smells. She… she smells like death and you…” Seventy looked up and gave a short smile. “You smell like food. That’s how I know I won’t get her sick, but you…” Seventy leaned forward. “Might want to stay away from me.”

“Will you…” Shane took a small step back. “Will you just suddenly try to… eat or kill me even if I stay away from you?”

Seventy laughed again. “I won’t. I have control.”

“Good.” Shane took a step closer to Cas and then another. “I’m going to help Cas now so don’t… don’t eat me,” Shane told him as he lowered himself painfully onto his knees. He moved closer to Cas and sat down.

He started to wipe the dust and small pebbles from her face and neck. He hoped that she would wake up soon. Every second she didn’t give him a terrible gut-wrenching feeling in his stomach that was hard to bear. He didn’t want to have come all this way, this terrible long mission, for nothing. He didn’t want to have left everything he knew and every bit of safety he had to realize it was all for nothing.

He muttered the words quietly, “Please wake up. Wake up.”

He checked her pulse on her neck and her wrist and he knew now that she wasn’t dead. Cas was only knocked out by the gun she fired. The gun she used to let out that alien into the world. He didn’t know what she was thinking and if she was thinking something good either. Either way, he couldn’t ask her about it now and he didn’t want to.

Cas must have had a good reason.

“She’s a strong woman,” Seventy said. “I was surprised she didn’t die sooner with all her impulsive choices though.”

“She was just looking for her brother,” Shane said. Shane knew that there was nothing Cas wouldn’t have done for Marcus. That was the greatest and worst thing about her in his opinion. “And yes, she is a strong woman,” he added eventually.

Shane checked her for any life-threatening wounds, but the only thing he could replace was cut on the back of her neck. It was bleeding and would possibly scar, but it wasn’t that deep or serious. He wasn’t a doctor though, so he could never be sure. Shane got covered in rubble, a destroyed leg, and possibly a concussion. The only thing Cas got away with was some dust, a few scraps, and a small cut on the neck.

“Wake up, Cas,” He said, “Please.”

“I don’t think word-words with help the girl,” Seventy told him.

“Then what would you suppose me to do?” Shane asked. “It’s not like you have healing powers. Do you know anybody who does?” Shane asked and Seventy shook its head. “Exactly. So… So shut up.”

Shane ignored everything Seventy started to say after that. Shane focused on Cas now. He needed to wake her up and then they needed to get out of there. To get away from this place. If it was possible, out of the country.

They’d have to replace a way to sneak out of California first since it’s on complete lockdown. Then Shane had a little more optimism for getting out of the country since most of the rest of the world wasn’t quarantined and fearing for their lives just yet. They still were able to take vacations and flights and go outside without worrying about their death.

That was the plan. All he needed to complete the first few steps of that plan was for Cas to wake up.

“Maybe if you hit her,” Seventy suggested. It threw its shoulders up making more of its peeling skin fall off. Shane ignored Seventy’s suggestion but not completely.

He grabbed her shoulders firmly and shook her a little bit. He wasn’t going to hit her or perform CPR. He was going to try his best to get her awake without the cause of physical damage. At least not a lot.

Shane let go of Cas after shaking her for the third time. He was gifted with a reaction from her. Cas groaned and her arm went up a little bit. Her arm tried to reach her face but failed halfway. Her chest started to rise higher and fall lower.

“Cas,” Shane said loudly. He didn’t shout it in her face, but he was nowhere near close to whispering.

Cas’s eyes squeezed shut before she relaxed. Her head turned the other way and her hand finally made it to her eyes. She rubbed her knuckle into her eye until the pain made her open them. The first thing she saw was Seventy’s foot which was terrifying enough. Seventy didn’t have feet anymore. He had the shape of a foot, but there was no separation of toes. It was like his toes had melted together and a bunch of flakes grew over them.

Cas turned the other way to be comforted by Shane’s hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw him. The dust on his clothes and face glowed in the sun.

“Shane?” She asked. Shane helped her up when she started to move more. He held her up for support and dusted her off in hopes it would help too.

“Yeah,” Shane said. Shane looked over and saw that Cas was trying to get up now. She wasn’t taking any of this lightly and giving herself time to ground herself. “Maybe you should–” Cas pushed his hand away before he could tell her what she needed to do and what he didn’t need to do.

Cas grabbed onto the log that she was close to and she used it to help push herself up. Standing up was the worst part. Her mind was blank, her eyes were hurting, and her entire body was popping around.

Within a minute, Cas was bent forward and puking up pink water. Her entire body was going all over and attacking itself.

“Let me help you,” Shane said less than politely. He grabbed her and got her to it down on a piece of concrete that fell far from the building.

“Thanks,” is all Cas said as she gave in. She rested her hands on her head and tried to stop the headache. As she sat there, the memories of everything that had happened, that she had done filled her mind. When it all came to remembering she didn’t feel the weight of it. Now that the memories of everything settled, she felt all of it. The crushing weight of it all.

The realized that none of this was a dream and she had to do something about it.

Cas looked over and saw Seventy sitting there not even ten feet from her. Seventy sat there like a civilized. She had the brief thought to grab Shane and get away from it, but for some reason, she stayed put. From the first impression she had of Seventy, it seemed to be not the most dangerous creature in the world. Gabriel didn’t have him with the monsters in his lab. He was somewhere different entirely.

Thinking that thought, she thought about the alien. Agatha, remembered its name to be. It escaped when she shot at its cage. Seventy escaped because of it. That rose so many questions and so many horrible fears inside her all at once.

“Did anything else escape?” Cas asked. “Like…” She looked at Seventy as if her question was based on him anyway. “...you?”

“Any monsters?” Seventy asked in that harsh tone it seemed to be stuck with. “The dangerous ones? No, I don’t believe so. Little projects of Everett’s, possibly.” Seventy shrugged its shoulders. “If you are worried about the deadly-deadly ones, they are intact. The guards are probably dead, but they’re buried under floors of rubble.”

“Good,” Cas said.

“What do you mean ‘deadly-deadly ones?’” Shane asked with his arms up. “Isn’t everything we’ve seen more dangerous than anything else in the world?”

“Sadly, no,” Cas said. “Gabriel created all these sick monsters, turned my mother into one, and…” Cas bit her words back and shook her head. “He’s sick,” she concluded. Cas forced herself to stand like it would help clean off this stuck-on dust feel.

“Cas…” Shane said. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine, Shane, geez,” Cas said. “My father always said she was going to be killed by her work, we all believed that to be true. It just… happened now.”

“You’re father tried your hardest to get us all out actually,” Seventy said as it finished observing the two of them.

“What do you mean?” Cas asked. She knew her father was the less crazy one out of all of them, but when she heard the news she could see him being okay with all of this. She pictured him signing the paper that gave Gabriel permission to ruin Marcus and her life even more.

“I was… there still halfway human, and your father tried to save us all. Get us out so we could get help. He ended up having to leave his mother because she decided to stay even though she knew she was going to be used as a test subject. But he turned around and Gabriel shot him. We were all back in our sales after that.”

Seventy looked up at Cas in some expression that Cas and Shane couldn’t decipher. They couldn’t tell if he was trying to smile or if his smile just looked light and loose. “He was a… flawed but good man.”

And in the same way, Cas could imagine her father doing all the things Seventy said he had done. She smiled when she thought of that, but she couldn’t help but let that smile be filled with anger. It was another reason that was piled onto her heart for what Gabriel did. The list of how Gabriel destroyed everything. How he tricked, used, hurt, and killed, everyone and their loved ones live. How he justified his greed and went and did something that no human should have ever gone near.

Agatha was an alien. Seventy was a test subject gone wrong who could kill people. Marcus killed people out of touch. But were any of them the real monsters?

“Thank you for saying that,” Cas said. She looked away from Seventy and back to Shane. “We need to do something to end this now.” She wasn’t going to put up with any of what happened again. She wasn’t going to become a prisoner or someone who could end up being a monster trapped underground for eternity. It was time to end this.

“I don’t know how we’re going to do that,” Shane said. His hands hit his sides and he sighed. He looked around like a book would be here telling them what to do. He looked up at the constantly crumbling building that used to be the strongest place in the world. “I guess we could go back in there and look for weapons or something. The gun you used didn’t kill the alien and didn’t kill…Marcus when Gabriel shot. But there’s got to be something.

“Yeah, good idea,” Cas said. “And I’d love to see Gabriel’s head smashed with a concrete slab of his building.” Cas was the first to walk before Shane followed her.

They stopped halfway when they realized that Seventy wasn’t following them. They only figured it out only because the crunching noise that Seventy made when it walked, wasn’t there.

“Are you not coming?” Cas said.

“We can’t do much, but I’m sure there’s something we can replace in there to help you too,” Shane added to Cas’s side. Maybe Seventy would think about it then. Even though being beside Seventy was like a constant reminder that you could end up dead in seconds, a non-human super-alien thing would be helpful.

“No,” Seventy said. “I’ve had enough and I will look around and see if there is something or someone to end my life.”

“Are you sure?” Cas asked before Shane could get out of his long argument. He had only gotten to open his mouth before Cas had moved in. He looked over at her and saw that she agreed with what Seventy was saying. Shane guessed he could not say anything either, even if it felt wrong.

Seventy nodded. “Go save your brother.” Seventy forced itself up from the log it sat on and looked around to choose its path. Seventy chose to go northeast and see where that would lead. It didn’t spend another second looking at Cas or Shane or saying another word. Seventy looked at peace and they guessed that was the best way to go.

“Let’s go,” Cas said before Seventy was out of sight. Cas walked up past the rubble and into the building. Shane followed behind her and carefully watched where he stepped. “We have to move fast,” Cas told Shane and reminded herself. “I’m sure the entire government knows about Agatha the alien and Gabriel’s lab being destroyed. They’ll be here any minute.”

“What should we look for?” Shane asked. “Just anything that looks non-human and glowing?” He chuckled at his own words, even though Cas didn’t. She just nodded her head and continued to walk and search for something. Shane couldn’t tell what exactly she was looking for.

After a few minutes, Shane and Cas were in two different parts of the room and were looking around. Cas was over by Agatha’s tank and where Gabriel was once standing. He walked over to where Cas had shot the gun and where he stood. There was too much rubble that they couldn’t go in any other room besides this one. The one that was opened because of Agatha when Cas shot her free. She wasn’t open to talking about that either.

Shane looked around and jumped over the concrete that had blood covering it. He had a limp leg so he wasn’t the fastest person, especially when he had to get around the big boulders. He saw something green under a rock which saved him the time of jumping around other large bolder-like slabs. He got down to a clearing and crouched down to see it closer. He put his weight on one leg hoping it would be easier to move around. He wiped the small pebbles off the green piece of something and touched the green part of it. It was something metal. Maybe a sign or a smashed pancake table.

Shane got his fingers underneath it and began to pull it up from the dirt.

“Get off” Cas screamed suddenly. Her voice went off like a gunshot in a room of silence. Shane snapped his neck back too far and looked to where he last saw Cas. He didn’t see Cas anymore, he saw a dark figure moving around on top of what must be Cas.

“Cas!” Shane shouted. He let go of the green piece and got himself up to stand. The pain in his leg was only barely felt as he pushed himself over the rubble. “Cas!”