The Beginning of An Apocalypse
Four

Gabriel didn’t take Marcus to his sister like he said he would before. As soon as Marcus said that he would help Gabrial in his experiment, Gabriel had the car turned around they drove off. Marcus hated the secrecy of his sister, but what else was he supposed to do? He had to do this and he was excited to.

Out of all the dreams he had for himself, his sister, and the world. He always dreamed of the day when people would stop losing people. When people would diminish their greed and people would stop hurting others. Especially the ones they care about. He knew that he could not complete all of these dreams, but he knew he could complete some of them.

He could complete the unnecessary death that illnesses bring. He could cure cancer before cancer even took hold of someone. That he was excited about. As much as he had planned once he got the money and gave Cas and himself a stable life, this was also really important.

And how Cas always told him to do good for others as well as himself, she would even be proud of him. Marcus sat there imagining what he would do. How he would run to her with the cash in a big white envelope. He would flash the money around to her and she would ask if it was real and where he got it. He would tell her everything and she would be so happy Cas would wrap her arms around him and she would cry and he would cry.

Cas could stop looking for a second and maybe even a third job and take a break. He could go to school. They both would have a normal life or at least take the building blocks of a normal life. It’s a start.

Gabriel had explained a lot to Marcus while they drove. Gabrial explained to him that all they needed him to do was to follow instructions and relax. He said that all Marcus had to do was sit and let them take some of his blood. And if his blood reacted well to Gabriel’s cure for diseases, then they would inject it into him and see how it reacted within Marcus.

That was something that made Marcus a little more hesitant about this. He asked Gabriel many times why he had to be injected with it, why it had to be him. Gabriel reassured him that it was all because of his parents and because many people in Marcu’s family have died of cancer, so Marcus may have the risk of cancer in the future.

That was not an easing thought that he had lingering in his mind.

After at least almost an hour of driving, the driver finally pulled into a parking lot of a big grey building. For someone as rich and important as Gabriel Everett, Marcus thought he would have a bigger lab. It was a dome with a ring of windows around the top half. There were too long rectangular buildings behind it that were connected and the dome as well.

The place was highly restricted, Marcus knew. He saw the security guards going through the stretch of woods that surrounded this place. Marcus gripped his bag tighter around his chest. He bit the inside of his cheek until he was sure that at least a drop of blood was there. Marcus closed his eyes and took a long breath. He let himself relax and the next thing he knew he was out of the car and Gabriel stood beside him. Gabriel fixed his white button-up shirt as he looked at his building and smiled.

“Did you get someone to tell my sister where I was?” Marcus asked. Thinking of Cas and what Cas would do made him calmer than he was before. Cas would know what to do, he just wished he knew what she would do. Because this didn’t seem like it would be something she would do.

Gabriel nodded and answered, “I did. They are on their way to tell her now.” Gabriel stood there and continued to wait for Marcus to stare into the ground and then look up and accept his answer. “May you leave your bag in the car? All your things will be returned to you after the trials are completed.”

“Okay, yeah.” Marcus turned around and Gabriel opened the door for him to throw his bag in. Marcus set his bag gently on the seat and stepped away. He wished he could bring it with him, but he knew Gabriel was not going to let him. This seemed to be a situation where everyone around him was right and he was wrong.

It is only a little longer, he told himself, only a little longer.

Once Marcus completed this he and his sister would be living freely. And with that thought, Marcus followed Gabriel through the doors and there was no turning back. Gabriel said that before anything was decided or started happening, they needed to go to his office to sign the paperwork. Gabriel rolled his eyes and said, “So everything is recorded and official.”

Gabriel’s office was in one of the rectangle buildings, one of the top levels of it. His office was big and had a view of the entire property of this isolated lab. Gabriel moved to his empty office to replace the paperwork. While Gabriel went to replace the paperwork, Marcus sat there on the brown sofa and looked around the office. He expected to see medals and pictures of him on the walls. He used to watch movies with scientists and they were all so proud of their achievements they had to advertise them on the wall. But Gabriel didn’t. He had a few awards on his desk far from his name, but there wasn’t anything else.

It was a plain office.

“Ah!” Gabriel said as he held a packet of papers over his head. “I have found them. He grabbed a pen from his pants pocket and handed it over to him. “Take your time to read through it and then sign where it says to and we are all set to continue, alright?”

“Alright,” Marcus said with a smile. He nodded his head as he took the paper and began to read through it.

He started to read it and was forced to stop when Gabriel started to cough. He looked like he was about to puke up his lungs. Once he was finished he looked over and saw that Marcus was staring. Gabriel shook his head, smiled, and gestured his hand for Marcus to continue.

Marcus looked at him only for a second before he dropped his head back down and continued to read. He started to read it and saw that the main points of this were confidentiality and consent to what was going to happen. The experiments and the testing that would be run. He had to accept not speaking about this to anyone during the treatments and after the treatments. He could not tell anyone close to him, and no one that didn’t know about the testing that was in the process of happening.

Marcus read through the confidential sections and went to the rest. He had to say that he knew what was going to happen and he had to say he understood the terms and the risks. It was telling him that the company and scientists could not be sued or arrested as he knew what he was signing up for and he knew the risks to it as well. Marcus read all the scary risks and all the ones that he didn’t think mattered. He read to the very end before he saw the signature lines. But something confused him.

There were two signatures that he knew. “D-did my parents sign this paper too?” He looked up at Gabriel who stared at the two signatures.

“They did,” he said. “Do you think I would go to a minor and ask for you to do something like this? I would be arrested instantly without question. But if I get parental consent, I am allowed and so are you.” Gabriel took the paper to look at the signatures closely. More to remember the people who wrote them. He remembered when he sat there and told them everything and how they eagerly signed the papers. If they couldn’t be a part of the tests, they had someone else.

He handed the paper back to Marcus and now he sat there eagerly waiting for him to sign the paper. “Your parents were afraid they couldn’t continue with the research so they told me that if they couldn’t you or your sister could. But you were the likelier choice because you had your mom’s genes.”

“They were afraid they couldn’t do the tests? Why?” Marcus asked. He didn’t remember his parents being nervous or scared of something before they disappeared. But if they were scared they couldn’t do the research it was possible that they didn’t run away but were worried about something else.

“I don’t know,” Gabriel said. “They didn’t say, they just came to me with this and here we are.”

Marcus nodded and looked back to the paper. He looked at his parents’ signature and looked at the line that he was supposed to be on.

He stared at the same black line till his eyes hurt and he was forced to look somewhere else. He wished Cas was here, she would know what to do. But this was for her, he told himself. This was to help her. This was to help him. This was to help millions.

Marcus looked back down at the printed black line and he stopped the pen from hovering over the line. He pressed the pen to the page and he wrote his name. He closed the pen and put the pen and paper together to give to Gabriel all together. Gabriel grabbed the pen and signed his name under Marcus’s and then he nodded his head. “This will do wonders for the world and you,” he said. “Thank you,” Gabriel said with a satisfied smile on his face. He put the paper down on his desk. “This will be the greatest thing that happened to the world. I promise you.”

“Yeah,” Marcus said not knowing what to say or how to match the look of excitement on Gabriel’s face.

Marcus couldn’t help but smile as Gabriel’s smile seemed to be contagious. He couldn’t help but feel better about this. He put the thoughts and questions of his parents and their involvement in this. Why they wanted him to be a part of this experiment, to begin with? Even though that thought made him feel a little better, they would never submit him to something dangerous.

They were his parents.

Gabriel had called George Barlowe a member of his security staff to come to his office. At least fifty-year-old George Barlowe walked through the doors. “Yes, sir?”

“Take Mr. Tyler to his room,” Gabriel said to one of the security team staff. Gabriel turned back to Marcus and bent down to be face-to-face with Marcus. “We are not ready for you yet. Why not go to your assigned room, take a shower, and rest before we call for you? Sound good?”

“I guess, yeah,” Marcus said. “Can I call my sister though before I go… rest? I want to say goodnight to her.”

Marcus looked at Gabriel and saw the look in his eyes. It was an obvious know, but Marcus was sure that he could convince him otherwise. Or at least try his best to. “I won’t say anything about this. Just to say goodnight and that I’m fine.”

“I am truly sorry, Marcus but I can not allow that.” Before Marcus could argue with him Gabriel nodded to Barlowe and Barlowe got Marcus to turn around and didn’t move until Marcus started to move.

Barlowe led him down through the halls of the main building to the elevator on the other side of the room. They took the elevator to the seventh floor where they continued to walk through a hall with grey rooms and darker doors that were spaced at least seven feet apart.

Barlowe opened the seventh to last door on the right side and let Marcus inside. Like Gabriel’s office, the room was without life. The bed was a metal frame with what seemed to be uncomfortable blankets and pillows. There was a framed photo of a bird diving into the water to catch a fish on the wall. There was a bathroom on the left wall by the photo of the bird.

“There are clothes in the dresser,” Barlowe said. “Take a shower and then get some rest. You will need it,” he told Marcus.

Marcus turned around to face him. “Did other people do this research experiment? The one I’m going to do?”

Barlowe looked away and then back at him. “Don’t worry about anything else. The faster you get this over with the better.”

“Why aren’t you telling me?” Marcus asked.

“You signed a contract, you have to do this now. Don’t act childish and get scared. Take a shower, get dressed, go to sleep, and when you are called for, do what they tell you to do. Alright?”

He hated the fact that everyone was telling him what to do but he reminded himself of why he was there and he was able to comply. He nodded his head and with another second wasted, Barlowe closed the door when he left.

Marcus stood there silently for a minute before he scratched his side and walked to the dresser to replace the apparent clothes in them. He opened the first drawer and saw what looked like prison clothes just with no stripes or orange. It was a black short-sleeved shirt and grey sweatpants. There was the black short-sleeved shirt with the grey pants and then there was a red shirt with another pair of grey pants. There were three other outfits inside the first drawer as well.

The next drawer had socks inside it and the next had underwear.

The clothes were a size too big for him, but they would do perfectly. And to be honest, Marcus was happy to get out of his dirt and rainwater-covered clothes. He took the black shirt and grey sweatpants and went into the bathroom. There was a small bottle of soap in the little space on the shower’s wall. A black brush with a gold handle on the sink.

He missed bathrooms.

He brushed his hair, which seemed to take forever, and then he turned on the water. The excitement and eagerness to get into the shower and stand under the hot water were eating him from the inside. He had been able to shower throughout his and Cas’s homelessness in different places, but not as much as he would like to.

Marcus stayed in the shower till the water was almost cold. He got dressed and went to go get some rest like they said he should. He laid down on the bed and got under the covers. He let out a long-needed yawn and got himself comfortable after a few stretches.

He rested his head on the pillow and before he even knew it he was sleeping.

Marcus dreamed of something running through the world. What he saw was from someone else’s eyes. He saw the trees that passed them as they ran. He saw the greying sky and the darkening path. He saw as they ran through the woods to a waterfall. They didn’t stop, they continued to run and jump off the cliff into the water. But as soon as their foot touched the water they weren’t in the water. They weren’t even in the woods anymore.

They were in a middle of a busy street. Cars were swarming them and people were staring, things were too loud and too crowded. There was a constant ringing that was getting louder and louder. But there was also a voice. A voice of someone else that was calling his name. Not whoever the character in the dream was, but Marcus. He heard it and until it was screaming for him, he let go of the dream and he woke up.

Marcus woke in the room that Gabriel had sent him. He was lying at the edge of the bed with someone standing over him. Their hand was on his shoulder. Marcus pushed them away because for the moment he had no idea why he was there. All he remembered was getting here. And as he sat there with his hand on his head, he remembered everything else that led him to this moment.

Marcus looked up and saw that it was Gabriel who was standing there above him. A woman also stood there. Marcus couldn’t tell whether she was a scientist or if she was part of security. She wore a blue long-sleeved blouse and jeans. An ID on a string wrapped around her neck said, Dr. Caroline Pen. She must be another scientist here.

“What time is it?” Marcus asked as he pushed himself out of the bed.

“It is late,” Gabriel said. “9:42.”

Marcus thought of Cas at that moment. By now they would have been sitting there eating whatever Cas stole or bought from her work and wondering if they should both go to bed or if one should stay up and take watch. It was easier that way so the things they had weren’t stolen. They learned their lesson once.

“Is it time to start the… research or whatever?” Marcus asked.

“It is,” Gabriel said. “Caroline Pen will take you to get ready, to check your vitals, and give you everything you need before we start. I will be there when you are ready and we can start. Sounds good?”

Marcus shrugged, “It’s fine.”

Gabriel nodded and Marcus walked to Dr. Pen. She shook his hand and thanked him for stepping up to do this and then she led him down the hall. Marcus looked back to see if Gabriel was still there. Gabriel stood there outside Marcus’s room and waved to him before Marcus was out of sight.

Marcus wished that they would stop making a new person meet him every chance they got. He’s a social person, but he hates faces that always change.

Dr. Pen took him down to a room that looked like a regular doctor’s room. He was always getting hurt when playing outside so his mom ended up taking him to the hospital a lot. And his parents were big on flu shots and vaccines so they were always going to get shots to protect them from crazy almost impossible illnesses.

Marcus sat down on the seat where he was told to and Dr. Pen gave him a check-up. She checked his heart rate and his weight. She gave him a shot for something she didn’t say and then took some of his blood as well.

She wrote down everything and when she was done filling out the papers on her clipboard she left. She told Marcus to sit there and wait and she would be back for him in a nick of time.

Marcus sat there waiting patiently for someone to come in and tell him where he should go and what he should do. He hoped either Gabriel or Dr. Pen came back.

Marcus sat there for almost seventeen minutes before Dr. Pen came back. Now she had a lab coat on.

“It’s time,” Dr. Pen said.

“Don’t say it like that,” Marcus said to her. “You make it sound like it’s scary. It’s just an injection and I’m done.”

Marcus waited for her to reply to his words, but she said nothing and that worried him. She just kept a smile on her face, her bright pink lipstick making her look more doll-like and untrustful. Even with hesitance, he ignored Dr. Pen and followed her down a flight of stairs and through two halls with heavily guarded and password-protected doors they made it to a large room where Gabriel was.

Gabriel stood by three computers with two other scientists. They were talking and by the looks of it, something serious. Everyone else in this large blue room seemed busy. Everyone was running around with boxes and bags and masks in their hands. People were doing so many different things, but the one thing they all did was stare at him. They all stared at him with fear, curiosity, pity, or nothing else.

Marcus couldn’t help but move closer to Dr. Pen. He thought maybe he was hidden from everyone around him, but they could still stare at him with those three emotions and he didn’t like them.

Every step felt like he was walking closer and closer to a dark pit; that was the last thing he needed right now.

Dr. Pen walked him over to Gabriel who was now alone. “How did everything go?” He asked Dr. Pen and not Marcus.

“Just fine, Everett,” she said. “He was a champ and he is ready.”

“Wonderful, thank you,” Gabriel said. Dr. Pen nodded to both Gabriel and Marcus and walked away. She left through the locked doors Marcus and she came in through. Gabriel turned to Marcus with a contempt smile. “How are you feeling?”

“Weird,” Marcus said. “Why is everyone staring at me weirdly? It’s not making me feel that… confident in this.”

“They are just nervous,” Gabriel said. “They don’t know what to expect with this research. It could end in a bust or in something that changes the world and they will be a part of that. It’s a big thing, Marcus, for everyone.”

Gabriel wrapped his arm around Marcus’s shoulders and got him to walk. “Don’t mind them and worry about this. The faster we do this, the better we do this you can get back to your sister sooner and tell her all the good things that will be happening for you two.”

“Yeah,” Marcus said. He took a deep breath and then smiled. “Let’s do this.”

Gabriel walked Marcus to a seat between a computer, a table of syringes, a bottle of water, and a surgical knife. There was a vital monitor right beside the chair. Marcus gave a reassuring smile when Gabriel looked at him for one and then he sat down where he was told.

Two different people walked up and connected the vital monitor to him and then put two patches on his temples. Marcus didn’t know much about science or what was happening and he wished he did. He wanted his heart to stop beating so hard.

Gabriel was staring at the monitor looking at his racing heart rate. He held onto Marcus’s arm and said, “It’s okay. In a few minutes, this will all be over. Think of your sister. Think of yourself. Think of the people you will be saving. Let that help you get through this.”

Marcus pressed his head into the cushion of his seat and nodded. He gripped the seat’s arms and took a breath. Everything is going to be fine, he said to himself again and again till it was a mantra for him.

He saw people swarming around him and running back and forth. He saw the people that were sticking an IV in his arm sweating. He asked Gabriel why he needed an IV in his arm, he said that when they tested this out before one person began highly dehydrated so they were hoping that they would have better success if Marcus was hydrated.

Marcus thought about how he wasn’t the first one to be a part of this research. These experimental trials. He knew they probably started on animals and then they would start on humans, but he didn’t know there were other humans.

That made him calm a little bit. If someone else did this before, it wouldn’t be so bad. The first person would get the worst of it since they were the first person. The people here could perfect what they got wrong the first time around for the second time.

“We’re going to take a few vials of your blood and then we will start on the next step okay?” Gabriel said.

Marcus looked to see the calmness on Gabriel’s face and he matched the calmness. Marcus nodded his head and Gabriel patted his head and thanked him again. “Okay,” Gabriel said. Gabriel looked to one of the doctors who stood by the table and he took a syringe as well as a small testing tube. He walked over and cleaned the spot on Marcus’s arm where the blood would be taken from. He tied a band around Marcus’s upper arm and then searched for his vein. Marcus waited for the sting of the needle.

He felt the little sting of the needle and waited more than a few seconds for a test tube to be filled. The tube was filled and the needle was gone from his vein. They wiped his arm and then he felt like things had just begun even though he had started how long ago.

Marcus looked over and he saw the same thing happen to Gabriel. In his arm, blood was taken from him and when it was done they took the syringe and walked off. Gabriel shook himself and nodded. They waited for something to be ready. The little Marcus knew scared him a little.

There was a loud ding and then everyone seemed to stop slacking and started paying attention.

“We can go ahead,” Dr. Adam Elsher said to Gabriel. Gabriel grabbed his phone from his pocket and called someone, “Bring it in,” Gabriel said and then hung up.

Marcus looked around the room as they seemed to be waiting before they continued with anything.

He looked at all the equipment that was neatly piled together. There were at least seven doors that connected to this room, but most people only went through two of the seven doors. Everyone went through the front door to this room and the third door on the left wall. And that was where someone came out from and heeded Gabriel. There was a black suitcase in his hand that he held in his trembling hands. The man looked exhausted and his hair was a mess.

That was not comforting to him in the slightest.

Before the exhausted man could make it to Gabriel there was a loud shriek coming from the door the man came from. Someone was shouting and there was a roar-like sound. Something crashed and Marcus didn’t know if it was a gunshot or not.

“Wh-what was that?!” Marcus asked lifting his head from the seat.

“It’s nothing,” Gabriel said quickly. He turned back to the exhausted man. “Hurry up,” he snapped.

“N-No, Mr. Everett… What was that? Why are people shouting?”

Gabriel didn’t answer Marcus this time, he ignored him. Gabriel snatched the briefcase from the exhausted man’s hand and laid it on the table. He flicked it open and took out a syringe with a bottle connected to it. Inside the bottle was a blackish-purple liquid. It looked almost like dyed corn syrup but with more liquid.

“That… I don’t think I should be injected with that,” Marcus said. “Maybe we should st-stop and talk this over. Talk about… that!” Gabriel was getting closer to him and more eager to inject him and get this over with. With every step, Gabriel made Marcus squirm and think about running even more.

Gabriel’s calm composure and smile were changed. He was in a hurry and he was angry and in no way the same person he was moments before.

“I-I’m sorry! I can’t do this! Stop!” Gabriel was seconds away from him and didn’t stop even when Marcus shouted for him not to. Marcus had no other choice but to get away forcefully.

“Grab him and hold him!” Gabriel shouted to the two security guards who stood there. They grabbed Marcus’s arms and threw him back into the chair. Marcus screamed and he tried to break free from them.

“Calm him down! He needs to be calm!” People shouted around him.

“Stop it!” Other people shouted. There was a mix of roars from the other room and shouts from people and the cries of Marcus that nothing made sense anymore. Everything was a blur.

He felt the sting in his neck and what felt like fire being injected into him. He tried to push away. But someone had their hands on his forehead holding him down. The thought about the money and his sister and everyone else slipped his mind. His mind was telling him to fight and get away. He was trying, but it was too late.

It was too late to do anything. The fire-like feeling only spread and got more intense than it was before. The hands that held him down let go and he fell to the ground. He felt the cold wash over him but the searing pain stayed in his neck.

Marcus held onto his neck and held himself up with his free hand. He saw the people around him moving around like Marcus was a spilled drink and they were moving to stay safe from the mess. He tried to reach out to someone, anyone.

“G-Gabe–” His plea for Gabriel ended with a scream. The pain was rising and this time it wasn’t staying in his neck. It was spreading to his shoulder. Marcus fell to the ground and hit his side. His hand was tightly attached to his neck that his nails had dug into his skin.

He cried for someone to help him but no one came.