The Beginning of An Apocalypse
Twenty-Six

Agatha was not a human. Agatha was not an object It was not a machine. It was not a weapon.

From the first look, one might say that Agatha was a monster. Another would say it’s complete and total evil.

No matter what someone said it was, they knew it wasn’t human. What they could all agree on for Agatha, was the word, Alien. There was nothing left to say about it. It was big at one point and it squeezed its own body down to something as small as a fish. It continued to float around in the murky pink water. Whether that was Agatha’s color that made the water pink when the light was hit on it. Agatha’s skin was a scale of purples and reds. Its wide mouth grew when it expanded. Its sharp razor teeth continued to bash against the glass of the tank.

The noises it made when it bashed itself against the glass it would make a roaring sound. A sound between a banshee and Godzilla.

“What is that?!” Johnson shouted. What scared them all is not just the aline Agatha but the looks on everyone’s faces. The horror was nothing like the movies in the movies. They were real, people were stepping back and some were shouting. Others had already run instead of staying in this room with that roaring alien.

“It’s my alien,” Gabriel said. “Agathian 45-32C, Agatha for short.” Gabriel raised his shoulders back and stood up higher. He looked at all of them like they were two feet tall and he was as high as a mountain.

“This is what you used to create this world-ending disease isn’t it?!” Cas shouted at him. “To Marcus?!”

“Yes,” Gabriel said. “I took Agatha’s DNA and mixed it with his. That’s what I’ve done to all of them. To Seventy, to every other monster I’ve created.”

Gabriel threw the sheet away from him and wiped his hands. “The only reason Marcus was able to get out of here was that he had the right DNA. His DNA was strong enough to have a chance to stabilize Agatha’s DNA. It’s amazing!”

“Amazing?!” Cas said. The alien, Agatha roared as it crashed into the glass, interrupting Cas from her words. Cas stepped to the side twice, and Shane went with her. Not because he wanted to but because Cas’s hand was clenched around his arm. Neither Shane nor Cas realized it until she was pushing him around like a chain.

Her hand remained on his arm and neither of them argued with it. She pushed herself to stand beside him and they turned back to face Gabriel. “You killed thousands of people and you did it…” Cas pointed to Agatha. “With-with this!”

“Yes,” Gabriel said. “The deaths are a tragedy, really, but this is…” Gabriel let out a fascinated smile as he looked at all of them and especially at Agatha. “This was worth it. Not only can I have this, but I can also have everything I’ve wanted to be completed. Everything I’ve fought for, for my entire life.”

“Well, congratulations,” Cas said with a nod. “Now what are you going to do? Kill us all?”

Gabriel moved his head from side to side before he answered. He answered, “Yes.” He was a true psychopath, he had to. He said he’d kill Shane, Cas, Liza, his own cousin, Johnson, and several other people. All because he wanted a headline on a paper

“You’re sick and you won’t get away with this,” Cas said.

“Watch me,” Gabriel said with a smile before his smile turned grim. His eyes got serious and he looked at his own men. The ones they didn’t clear out. The ones that didn’t move. The guards with the guns. “Kill them.”

And they were all blinded by the lights. Their ears rang from the sounds, from the screams of all the people who were being slaughtered.

Cas didn’t know what happened. The last thing she saw was Liza. She was behind all of them and Cas saw her slowly getting herself into the background and then out the door. The door closed behind her and no one noticed.

Then she felt her body being held and then thrown onto a hard surface She heard someone screaming for it to stop. She heard another shouting for someone to stay down. Was this person telling her to stay down?

She didn’t know.

Cas felt someone’s crushing weight be lifted off her and the cold around her started to seep in again. She turned herself on her stomach and started to slide herself further into a safer place. Into a place where the noise would stop.

Her eyes adjusted and she was able to move once again. She was behind a table and guarded by a case. A case that looked just like the one Gabriel had when they were on the bridge. The gun wasn’t a normal gun. The gun had enough power to destroy an entire bridge. It broke Cas’s, Gabriel’s, and Liza’s bodies and killed so many others. It sent a helicopter flying into the water and drowned them all.

Cas grabbed onto it and pulled it out from under the table.

Shane ran behind the metal tank. He heard the gunshots rickashay off the metal as they shot for any other reason than to hit someone. They killed everyone. Everyone was dead.

Shane watched them all hit the ground. He watched Johnson go first. His head burst into a balloon filled with blood that now popped. A massive hole in his light grey hair. The many other people that he had sat with and learned very little things about, but also knew so much. Each of them went in here thinking that this would be easy. It’d be an in-and-out operation.

Pick up one guy and go.

They didn’t think it would be their last day. They didn’t think they’d ever see their family again. They probably never said what they wanted to say. They all were sure to have regrets and made mistakes that they weren’t able to fix.

Their lives were gone. And not just their lives, but their families lives would be forever changed. Forever devastated.

A tear fell from Shane’s eye fell down his cheek and stopped at his chin. He had so many more tears he could cry. So many more tears that were threatening, but he didn’t let any more than one get out. He still had to find some way out of there.

That was what was supposed to happen. They get in, Liza takes care of her job and he takes care of Cas. They were, or at least Shane was hoping that Gabriel would have been arrested and Shane would have been able to sneak her out. That was the plan, and it was supposed to work. There was never supposed to be an alien. There was never supposed to be a massacre. But here they were, in this place filled with death and pain and horror.

Shane turned his head wondering if they knew he was hiding behind the metal tank. If they did they were taking their time getting over here. Or they were waiting. There was no place for him to go. His weapon was by the seat Cas was strapped to. There were no windows, ventilation shafts, and no open doors. He was surrounded by more than ten military-trained soldiers with heavy-duty guns and a psychopath who had an alien he named Agatha.

“I don’t care about any of the other bodies,” Gabriel said. “Find me Cassidy, and make sure that Liza is not one of these deaths.”

“Got it,” they all said.

They must not know about him. Shane didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing. He was stuck here either way and sooner or later they were going to find him. With nowhere else to hide, they’d find him and the longer he waited the less time he really had.

Shane looked around the room as if a door would randomly appear and he’d be able to slip through. He looked over at where he hid Cas from the gunshots and he saw her. She was barely hidden from him, but in Gabriel’s angel, she was behind the open case. The open gun case was way too big for a normal gun. The open gun case that Cas was going through.

What was she doing?!

He wanted to call for her and tell her to either stop or hurry up and do what she was planning to do.

It was at this moment he knew he didn’t know what had truly happened throughout the last few months. Especially with Cas. He watched Cas look up at them and he saw the look in her eyes. The pure hatred she felt when she looked up at the men and especially at Gabriel.

He saw that her anger was becoming a part of her, but he could tell she wasn’t letting it control her completely. She was acting out, but not only out of hate Shane hoped.

He watched Cas grab something and struggle to pick it up. She dropped it down and started to poke the buttons on it. She was trying to move it while the guards came closer and closer to her.

They may not know she’s there, even though that was hardly possible, but they would know soon. They were only a few feet away from where they could see her from the gun case. That didn’t matter much when Cas grabbed onto whatever was in that case. She lifted her legs and then pulled herself up. Her head popped up from under the table and out.

“You always seem to live somehow,” Gabriel said to her instead of her being shot down instantly. Shane wondered what would happen if he jumped out and showed himself. He decided he won’t test his theories of what could and would happen.

“That’s just me I guess,” Cas said to him. “Or my life is being held for something else.”

“And what would that be?” Gabriel asked. “The only thing I need from you is your blood and your body as a host so maybe after I complete that, nothing will be looking out for your life.”

“Or I’m being held back from death so I can kill you,” Cas said. “Maybe that moment is right now. With…” Cas used every bit of her saved-up strength to pick up the gun that Gabriel once used. “...With this.”

She lifted up the gun and from the reflection of the metal, Shane saw the reactions she got. Gabriel’s men took steps back and Gabriel’s entire face stiffened. He didn’t say a word for what felt like a minute or two.

“What are you doing you, idiot girl?” Gabriel asked. “You have no idea what that is.”

“It’s a gun and you used it to try and kill my brother,” Cas said. “I have a little idea of what it can do, after all, it broke all of our bodies and killed a lot of people. I’m sure it would do some damage in here. Especially in here.”

“What are you gonna do?” Gabriel asked. “Shoot me? That’s killing us all, including you and your boyfriend behind the tank.”

Shane felt his head bang into the metal when he heard himself being brought into the conversation. He ignored the ‘boyfriend’ part and took deep gasps of breath. He felt like he was ripping himself from super glue when he pulled away from the metal and stepped out. He walked further to the right before he walked into a visible area to everyone. He made sure he was away from Gabriel enough that it wouldn’t be an instant hostage situation.

“So?” Gabriel asked. He turned back to look at Cas who gave Shane a few seconds of her gaze. “What’s it going to be?”

“Maybe it will kill us all,” Cas said, “And maybe it won’t. You don’t know for sure.”

“Oh, yes it will,” Gabriel said.

“It didn’t kill us last time,” Cas said. Yes, it felt like she was dying like she was going to die, but she didn’t die. He didn’t die. Liza didn’t die. Yes, they were in a bigger space and that could have been the only reason, but she had to have some kind of hope.

“You think we’ll be so lucky twice?” Gabriel asked. “You’ll kill us all and let Agatha get out of here! There will be no coming back from that, Cassidy!”

Gabriel took a deep breath, he knew that shouting was not going to help any. He would have to find a way to get through to Cassidy without threatening her. That could work, but he wasn’t the one with the gun capable of destroying everything that was irreplaceable.

“Then we better make sure that never happens,” Cas said. She stepped closer to them all but didn’t move the gun. She looked over at Shane and cocked her head back. Shane looked at Gabriel and at his men as he moved one step forward. He took the first step and when he wasn’t shot down, he moved another step. He continued to walk until he was behind the table and beside Cas.

“Are you trying to bargain with me?” Gabriel asked. He crossed his arms and waited for Cas’s demands on what he should do. He could already hear her nagging tone of what she wanted and the thing that he knew he wouldn’t and couldn’t do. Maybe if she asked him a long ago. Maybe if she had a time traveler and forced him to stay inside on a rainy day.

“Well?” Gabriel asked. “Tell me your demands.”

It didn’t take Cas a minute or even a few seconds to say what she wanted. She wanted the same thing since the start of all this. She wanted it all to end. She wanted everything that started because of this to end. She wanted herself to be left alone. She wanted to get her life back on track and maybe have Shane on her side when she did. Maybe even give Marcus the life that he should have had before he was born into their family before their parents were gone.

“I want me and Shane to get out of here. Safely. And when we are out you will never come near us again. And I want you to work, not on your own projects, but on saving my brother! I want you to repair what you damaged and when you’re done, you stop! You send this thing–” She shouted pointing her hand to Agatha before she caught the gun once again. “–Home!”

Gabriel looked down at the ground and back up at her. He brushed his hair from his eyes before he answered her demands. “Uh…No,” Gabriel said. “It’s not possible.”

“Well make it possible,” Cas said. “Because it’s the only way that I’m going to not kill us all with this gun.”

Shane looked at her and didn’t know if she was serious or not. He couldn’t tell if she was serious or not. Cas never seemed to have a death wish with him, but did he ever really know her? Until recently he didn’t even know she was homeless. Until a few days ago, he didn’t even know she was involved in all of this.

He didn’t even know all of this could be possible.

Kidnapping, evil scientists, aliens, a disease that’s going to exterminate the human race, all of these things that smacked him in the face. All of the movie things you never thought were going to come to life.

He had to get used to all of this, he supposed.

“I can’t just give up on everything that I’ve started,” Gabriel said. “Try again.”

“No,” Cas said. “That’s the only way that I’ll drop this gun. When I and Shane are out of here, and Marcus is saved.”

“You’re asking the impossible,” Gabriel said. He took a step forward with the hopes that Cas would not shoot on sight. She didn’t have it aimed directly at him, but from where he was standing, he’d be right next to the explosion. If he didn’t die, he’d be badly injured. He just got his casts off, he’d love it if he didn’t have to get another. “Let’s get out of this room and talk about it. I’ll even send them away for you, Cassidy.”

“No,” Cas said. “I’ve said what I want and until that’s accomplished, I will not be letting go of this gun and leaving.”

Cas stared Gabriel down and let him know that she wasn’t going to back down. She said what she wanted and she wasn’t going to get side-tracked again. She wasn’t going to let him trick her. There were going to be no more sidetracks, no more obstacles. Everything was going to be put to an end. Now.

Gabriel opened his mouth to say something, but Agatha decided to start banging against the glass again. Gabriel stood in place without moving or reacting to the aliens–Agatha’s outrage. Cas moved away as much as the gun would let her and Shane didn’t try to hide his moving away.

“Quiet!” Gabriel shouted after what felt like minutes of Agatha screaming. Agatha didn’t seem to listen to him or like him, but it could understand him and it did move away and shrink into a smaller size.

Cas looked up at Agatha and watched its body slowly turn and stop when it reached her. It stopped and it looked at her. Its entire body morphed with a painful squeal and it was turning into what looked like a human silhouette. Its face morphed for a second. In a single split second did its face look like it was Marcus’s.

In that split second that no one must have seen, the alien went back to its normal deformed circle that changed from large to small. That had arms and then no arms. Legs no legs. Everything continued to change except one thing, its teeth. No matter how small or how big it changed, its teeth were always visible.

Cas didn’t know what to make Agatha’s transformation. It changed into Marcus for only a second that only Cas could see. She could think of it as a warning or an opening to a new path. Cas didn’t know what this alien was and what it could do. She didn’t even know if it was good. But just like any creature that lived, it wanted something.

What it wanted was the question that they eventually had to ask. Whether it was something good or bad, it had to be asked and maybe even answered.

Gabriel didn’t even know it seemed. He was using this alien for his own purposes. His own agenda that he claims is not fame, yet there are no other hints that Cas could see to what it truly could be. She wished she knew that too. Thought for later, right now she had to do something.

She looked behind her and saw Shane looking at all of them. He was processing what was going on while he thought of what they could do. He was here trapped, just like her. They were stuck in one of the most dangerous places in the world. It could easily be their deathbeds.

Cas didn’t want that for him and yet here he was. All because of her. It wasn’t her choice but she was his motivation.

Cas looked away from him and back at Gabriel. He was thinking just as much as she had been. About what to do next. About what the next good move would be. If only they could figure that out.

“There’s got to be some arrangement that we can come to,” Gabriel said. “I can’t do anything without my side being benefited.”

Gabriel didn’t even know it seemed. He was using this alien for his own purposes. His own agenda that he claims is not fame, yet there are no other hints that Cas could see to what it truly could be. She wished she knew that too. Thought for later, right now she had to do something.

She looked behind her and saw Shane looking at all of them. He was processing what was going on while he thought of what they could do. He was here trapped, just like her. They were stuck in one of the most dangerous places in the world. It could easily be their deathbeds.

Cas didn’t want that for him and yet here he was. All because of her. It wasn’t her choice but she was his motivation.

Cas looked away from him and back at Gabriel. He was thinking just as much as she had been. About what to do next. About what the next good move would be. If only they could figure that out.

“Maybe you won’t go to jail,” Cas said. “I believe that’s benefit enough.”

Gabriel crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at her. This was not the time for jokes and if she was serious it would be even worse. “I’ll give you five minutes to put that gun down or my friends will shoot you both. I have no need for Mr. Wilgate and even though it’s going to be a pity to lose you, I’ll survive.” He’d worked without a lead for years. He worked until he felt like there was no longer any hope and he still made it.

He still made progress.

She and her brother may have been the only thing that could have helped push it along, but they wouldn’t be the ones to stop it.

“You will not kill either of us,” Cas said. “I have my finger on the trigger and if I even see one of them move an inch, I’ll fire.”

Gabriel looked at them giving them a warning glare. A glare that said if Cas shot it would be them subjected to years of misery if they hadn’t died from the blast. They all froze like they would win a million dollars.

Gabriel raised his arms up and he pressed forward. “I’m just walking closer, I have no weapons.” And that was the truth, the only remotely dangerous thing he carried was not something he could use at the moment without getting close. The other weapon he had was his words, but he was doubtful Cas would fall for his tricks again.

So he had to take another approach.

He turned to face Shane.

“Are you really going to risk Cas’s life?” He asked. “You came all this way, used Liza, to get to her and now it’s come to this. What are you–”

“Don’t speak to him! Speak to me!” Cas said. She kicked her leg back and hit Shane’s knee. Shane unfroze and looked at her. He would gladly have taken her place but yet she insisted on doing it all herself. Well, she wasn’t all that alone anymore was she?

Shane stepped forward. “Just let us go, man. We’ve done nothing.”

“And you think that matters to me?” Gabriel asked. “You are talking to the wrong person Mr. Wilgate.”

Shane looked at Cas who was preoccupied with something that wasn’t Gabriel. He followed her line of sight and found she was looking at Agatha. Agatha was moving around like a lunatic, but she was staring at it as if it was staying in one single place. As if it was staring at her too. But it wasn’t, so what was she looking at?

Cas held tighter to the gun when she felt the shiver run down her spine. She tensed when the voice started. Gabriel was speaking, but she tuned him out. His voice wasn’t the voice that was speaking to her. It wasn’t one of the guards and even though Shane was speaking it wasn’t him who was speaking to her.

It was a soft voice. It was a whisper that was faint to the point she could barely hear it. From what she could make out of it, she heard what it was saying. She looked at Agatha and saw it not moving and staring at her as it concentrated. It continued to move around in its own skin but didn’t change. Its black eyes trained on her. It’s mouth opening and closing.

It was talking to her.

Not a person. Not her own mind.

Agatha.

And it told her so many things she wanted to give in to. So many things that seemed so reasonable. The decision she would make started to weigh her down. Gabriel’s words and fake promises and her own promises filled her head. It subsided the voice only a little bit. And out of the thousands of ways she thought she could deal with this, she went with the strongest voice.

She listened to the voice and the first thing she heard was a scream.

It was a scream and then everything around her was blue. The crushing pain hit later and it hit her so hard that somehow, she could barely feel it. The screams continued and the cries for help. The sounds of sirens going off with a robotic woman’s voice saying to get out.

“Area not secure. Please stay calm and head to the nearest exit and get out. Area not secure.”

The robot’s voice was cut out with a loud roar that was much louder than when it was contained. This roar shook the entire building they were under and took over everything. Its crushing weight breaks through every sound and every object.

The blurred sounds of screaming and of people running were barely heard until a crash of bricks and rubble came tumbling down and hit with a louder crash. Everything that was once dark was filled with light. The colors of green and blue mixed in from whatever had broken.

The dust floating through the air being shown by the sun was the last thing she saw before she fell into unconsciousness.

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