The Beginning of An Apocalypse
Nine

“Did you see the news today?” The older woman told her a little younger friend.

“Yes,” the younger one said. “About that disease-ridden boy. It was so sad.”

“Yeah,” the older woman said. “Everyone’s saying it’s no big deal, but five people on the interstate are dead. I think we should get out of this city and far away...”

The conversation that those two old ladies had said before. She didn’t know why it popped in into her head now. Maybe because she was going over everything in her memory like it would give her some way out. Or something to say to the man in front of her. Gabriel sat there staring at her waiting for her to be able to digest all of this.

She didn’t even know what she had to be focused on right now. Gabriel hoped that he was making the right decision in bringing her into this. He knew that getting Marcus back quietly was the best way to go about this, but if it caused more problems for him to get Cas involved… This wouldn’t work.

“Tell me what you mean when you say he’s sick,” Cas said. She crossed her arms and tried to reframe from giving in, but she was already at the edge of her seat. The look on her face gave Gabriel everything he needed to know.

“Your little brother got mixed up with things that he shouldn’t have. He got sick and now…” Gabriel grabbed his phone from his pocket and put it on one of the news channels. It was on every single one. “And now he’s become this.”

Gabriel handed her the phone and let her press play to the video of her brother on the interstate. She started to watch closely when she saw her brother standing beside an open car. A reporter must be hiding somewhere close enough to catch this.

Cas looked closer at her brother and that’s when she realized something was wrong with him. Dripping from his mouth was something black fell from his mouth onto his shirt. Clothes that Cas realized weren’t his.

She looked at the feverish look on Marcus’s face as well as the fear. He saw Marcus leaning against open cars trying to get himself to move. Another hand was on his stomach as he continued to puke up big and small bits of blood it looked like. Black blood.

“What’s wrong with him?” Cas asked looking up at Gabriel for answers.

“Continue to watch,” Gabriel said without asking her question. Cas stared at him only a second more before she looked back down at the screen. When she looked down she saw that Marcus was moving now. He was moving towards someone who was trying desperately to get himself up but for some reason, he couldn’t. There was something wrong with his leg.

Marcus was pushing himself forward trying to get to the man. His grey-coated eyes were wide while he looked all around as if he could not see.

Cas held her mouth tightly trying to watch through this. He told her that Marcus was sick but she didn’t know he was that sick. So sick that he looked like that. That black puke or blood or something was dripping down his shirt. That his eyes were greying and almost black. That he was chasing a man who was screaming for his life.

So sick that reporters were standing in the front row and people were saying they felt sorry for him and the people are apparently dying because of him.

She watched as the video played. The man that lay there not able to get away was grabbed onto by Marcus. Marcus screamed something inaudible and the only thing that was left of the man was a corpse.

Cas stared at it, her arms pressed tightly against her sides. Her wide eyes filled with tears, but she didn’t let them fall. She held her small gasps and she tried her hardest to calm her heart. She smashed the screen into the leather seat of the chair. “I can’t look at that anymore.”

“That’s understandable,” Gabriel said. He leaned forward and gently got his phone out from under Cas’s crushing grasp. “He is your brother.”

“What made my brother be like this?! And what happened to that man in the video?” Cas asked. She knew deep down, but there was still a part of her that thought this could be fake. A part of her believed none of this was real.

She wished to be outside this car. To forget that this ever happened and look for Marcus out on the streets with the idea he ran away. That was easier.

“We still don’t know,” Gabriel said. “But what I do know is that he is killing people and he needs to be stopped.”

“He’s right there, why won’t someone just go get him!” Cas argued. “If you already knew about this!”

“Do you think it’s that easy?” Gabriel sat himself up and rested against the chair. “He kills everyone he touches. They die. You can’t just… grab him. And the police have already shot at him, he takes the bullets in, and does he die? No. Does he bleed? Barely.”

“That’s not possible,” Cas said. She didn’t care about what she saw. She didn’t care about what Gabriel was saying. She knew Marcus and she knew that this wasn’t him. She knew that he wouldn’t mess with anything that would make this happen. Marcus isn’t stupid.

“And yet it is,” Gabriel told her. “Driver, pull over.”

The driver nodded his head and he pulled up against a sidewalk and the engine was cut. Gabriel opened the door and held it there. “Since he can’t get him and it’s too dangerous to get him with our own hands, I thought that getting him to come willingly would be a good idea.”

“Since you are his only family and sacrificed so much for him, I’d thought you would help me get to him before a stupid government official said that he should be killed. Because they are thinking of every possible way to eradicate him.”

“He’s only sixteen!” Cas said. “He doesn’t know what he’s doing, they can’t just destroy him!”

“And yet they are doing it,” Gabriel said. “Your sixteen-year-old is not the only sixteen-year-old in the world, Cassidy.”

Cas turned to look out the door. She knew what Gabriel was doing. He was giving her a choice. She could leave and let them deal with it... She could let the scared people convince the world that Marcus needed to die. Military and police would try to kill him. They weren’t on her side.

Her other choice was to close that door and talk with Gabriel. To go with whatever plan he had to get Marcus back.

When she took on the responsibility to take Marcus in her care, she never in a million years thought it would bring her to this. To make this choice. To be in this situation.

“Well?” Gabriel said. “I don’t have all day for you to make a decision.”

He couldn’t be more obvious about how he wanted to get this over with. Whatever he wanted from this wasn’t for the sake of her brother, she knew that. But what did he want? Was it safe for her to even trust this man? Was it safe to believe a word that was said to her? To believe the video she saw.

Cas looked at the door one more time and with a quick pull, she closed the door. She looked back at him and said, “Take me to my brother.”

Gabriel grinned. “Good.”

He snapped his fingers and the engine was back on. They started to drive again and smoothly they were taken away.

Gabriel sat there and talked to her about all he knew. He told her that he saw Marcus first on the news. He said he was interested not only because he was asked to help in the investigation but because it was Marcus Tyler and he was friends with their parents. Cas wanted to argue about that, but she stayed silent and listen.

Her resentments were not what was important.

After he saw it was Marcus and that he kills everyone that he comes in contact with, Gabriel said he started thinking of other safe ways to get him. He said not only for the safety of the surrounding people but for the safety of Marcus.

From everything that he said and after Cas absorbed it all she started to think about what she should say. She looked up at Gabriel who didn’t seem so worried about the situation that was at hand. Well, he was a professional, but she still didn’t trust him.

“Wanting to help out is all good and well, but why?” Cas asked. She crossed her arms and looked at him seriously. She waited to see for any tell that Gabriel was lying. He lied perfectly, but everyone had something that gave them away. What did he have?

“Is there always a why?” Gabriel asked.

“Yes,” Cas said. From all the experiences she had no one did something without wanting something in return. Whether it was a feeling or something psychical. Everything was for something and no one, not even her, was excluded from that. “So why?”

“Why…” Gabriel looked the other way only to look back at her and say, “...Maybe I want to find a reason for whatever is going on with your brother.”

“You want your name in big bold letters across the world,” Cas said. “I know who you are and I know exactly how you think. Don’t try to fool me.”

Gabriel chuckled. “I’m not trying to fool you. Do I have a little greed for the matter, absolutely, but trust that I’m going to do whatever it takes to get your brother back.”

“I won’t be my parents,” Cas said. “You get my brother back, you fix him then you give him back to me and you stay out of our lives. Forever.”

“That’s all you want?” Gabriel asked. “Simple.”

“And a million bucks,” she said, filled with sarcasm.

“Done,” Gabriel said. He extended his arm for a deal-making handshake.

“I was just joking,” Cas said. But she didn’t take longer than a second to take his hand and shake hands.

“Good,” Gabriel said when the deal was made.

The two of them sat there talking over what they already knew while Gabriel’s driver drove them to a base that was just off the path of the Golden Gate Bridge. That is where Marcus was last seen, Gabriel said. They flew helicopters over to try and find him and see what he was doing, but they didn’t find anything.

Gabriel was to be alerted of anything new and his phone hadn’t rang the entire drive.

Gabriel tried to prepare her as they got closer to their destination, for what she was going to see. She was going to see the many destructions that her brother caused. Not just casualties from his fatal touch, but casualties because he scared people and they drove off the bridge. To the places that weren’t guarded. People jumped off the bridge thinking they would survive. They didn’t.

He told her she had to be ready to see Marcus whom she never thought he could be.

Cas told herself she was ready. That since she already heard all about it, and saw it on video it wouldn’t be the same when she got there. And maybe that was true, but there was also the chance it wasn’t. Her brother was all she had and he had become this?

Did he know what he was doing? She didn’t think so. Marcus would never hurt anybody, he loved humanity. He would never hurt another person unless he had to.

But if he knew that his touch killed people, why did he go after so many people?

Cas watched the video she saw that man crawling for his life and Marcus charging towards him and grabbing him. She watched as the man started choking and black blood came from his mouth and slowly his nose and eventually his eyes. It all came out till there was nothing left and he fell to the ground. Dead.

That’s why she was sure that he had no idea what he was doing. Whatever sickness he had was taking over him. It was controlling his body by taking over his mind. It made him scared and when you’re scared you unconsciously reach out to someone.

Cas calmed herself down with that thought. She thought maybe that would give her reason for this. And even if Marcus knew what he was doing, she didn’t know much about the situation. She didn’t want to say she understood what was going on when the top scientist in the world didn’t even seem to know what was going on.

Cas looked out the window and saw she was getting closer to the Golden Gate Bridge. She had been there more than once. When she turned eighteen and was going to leave San Francisco and go to Stanford. Her parent’s so, but she didn’t care because she was going to get out of San Francisco. Out of her old life and into her new one.

With new people and new scenery. It was exciting.

And then, even before she could start packing, her parents were gone.

Cas brought her mind back to Marcus. About this crazy day of hers. First, she thought that she was dealing with running away or kidnapping. She was walking and driving around with Shane looking for Marcus when she never would have found him.

Her mind snapped back. Shane. Her job. Shane.

She didn’t know if he knew about what was going on or not, but she was still going to act as if he didn’t know. Either way, he had to know she wouldn’t be at work for at least a week or two.

Cas grabbed out her small cracked phone and unlocked it. She went to her contacts and before she could tap Shane’s name, Gabriel stopped her. “What are you doing?” Gabriel asked.

“I need to call my boss. I need to tell him I won’t be going to work and that he doesn’t need to help me look for Marcus anymore.”

“So, that was the man you were with earlier,” Gabriel said.

“Spying on me?” Cas asked. Gabriel shrugged his shoulders. He could tell her the truth and say that he was, or he could lie and say that he wasn’t. He was going to go with option number two. Obviously.

“We’ll take care of the contacts, let’s just focus–”

“No,” Cas said. “Do you think I’m going to trust you to do something? If you think that you’re naive. Now I’m going to make this phone call and don’t worry because I won’t say anything about what’s going on.”

Cas pressed Shane’s number and waited for it to ring.

“You can not tell your boss about anything that’s going on,” Gabriel told her. He watched as she nodded and picked up the phone. he stared at her with his jaw tightened and his arms crossed. He turned his head to look out the way and then back at her when she began to speak. He annoyingly listened to the phone call.

“Hi, Shane,” Cas said. She looked up and saw that Gabriel was glaring at her as she made her phone call. She could not deny the fact that she enjoyed it. He’d never been talked to like that and it was probably hitting him hard.

Good.

“You okay?” Shane’s voice came through the phone after a long pause because he was turning down his TV and walking into a quiet place. He sounded like he was watching some action movie with tons of explosions. “Did you find Marcus?” He asked.

“No,” Cas replied. “Not yet.” She hated lying to him. She hated lying to her friend and also her manager who could easily get her fired if his feelings were hurt enough.

“Oh, are you okay then?” Shane asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” Cas glanced up at Gabriel who rolled his eyes and shook his head. Cas smiled and turned her head back to the window. “I’m just calling to say I won’t be making it to work for a while. I don’t know how long.”

“Why?” Shane asked immediately. “Did something happen?!”

She could hear the worry in his voice and she almost felt bad. “No, I just need to look for Marcus more. Myself.”

“I’m not doubting that you can find him yourself, but I don’t think it’s wise to do that,” Shane said. “I’m only going to work for a little while tomorrow so we will look for him together.”

“Shane, thank’s for your help but I don’t need it. He’s my brother, I’ll find him. Thank you, have a good night.” Cas hung up the phone and pushed it back into her pocket. She looked up at Gabriel who was still shaking his head in protest.

“Could you stop? I didn’t say anything to him besides that I’m taking off,” Cas said to Gabriel.

Gabriel sighed and instead of saying anything, pushed himself up. He looked outside and started at the darkness around them. “This isn’t the time for you to be at the bridge. Let’s get you somewhere to rest for the night and–”

“What?!” Cas said. “No!”

“Cas, you need to listen to me,” Gabriel said. “You are no good–”

“Don’t tell me that,” Cas said. “I’m sorry I made the call but do not punish me for that. I need to see Marcus now.”

“I’m sorry, but you also aren’t even allowed to be there as you are only a civilian. So, I suggest–”

Cas pushed herself to sit at the edge of her seat. She looked at Gabriel desperately. “If he was your brother. Your family, wouldn’t you want to go? Wouldn’t you do anything to save him? Please.”

Gabriel’s expression softened. For only a minute his expression changed before it went back to his professional self. He took an audible deep breath in and sighed. “Fine, but you will stay by my side and you will do what I say. You go against me or pick a fight, then you are done and I can’t help you anymore. Got it?”

“We’ll see,” Cas said, “If my brother needs saving and you men are too much of a coward to go get him, I’m going with or without your permission.”

“This is not a game, you will die,” Gabriel said. He could live with her dying without much of a care. She was never the one he needed. He could live with her getting her brother back. What he could not live with was her taking over what didn’t belong to her. Going over him like she was the leader.

He would not have that.

“I know it’s not a game,” Cas said. “And I will work with you, I will not work for you.”

“If you say so.”

That was the last time they spoke. The two of them rested against the seats and waited for their drive to be over. Cas couldn’t get Marcus out of her mind. What she saw on that news report. She wondered what was going to be waiting for her and soon she would find out.

“We’ll be there within the next few minutes sir,” the driver said to Gabriel.

“Okay,” Gabriel said after barely looking up from his phone. He continued to read through important documents, but more of the updates on his confidential experiments. Or in other words, problems.

The driver brought them to their destination and the suffocating feeling in Cas’s chest became solid. When the door opened, she forced breath through her solid chest and pushed herself out of the car. She looked around to see the blocked area around the start of the bridge. It was more like twenty feet from the bridge on both sides. There was military transport all around and a tent send up where people were arguing with each other.

That must be the people in charge because Gabriel gestured for Cas to follow him in that direction. Gabriel walked in first and told Cas to wait while he settled things down enough to introduce her.

Gabriel cleared his throat to stop the bickering and half of the group under the tent sighed and others awaited his words. He seemed to have mixed opinions about him. “I’m sorry but we will have to take a rain check on your bickering and bring our attention somewhere.” He turned around and looked at Cas.

“This is–”

“Cas Tyler,” Cas said and stepped in. She glanced at the sharp warning look that Gabriel gave her. He bit back his words and let her go as he wasn’t going to make a scene. Watching him glare at her made her smile a little bit. “I only barely know what is going on with my brother, Marcus from Everett. I want to know what is happening, now and why.”

“Who said she could be here?” An older man who seemed to be needing to retire said. He looked at Gabriel for the answer.

“Yeah. I don’t think that the thing’s relative should be here. It will not end well,” A woman said who sat there looking at a file.

“Excuse me?” Cas asked. “That thing? That thing is my brother and he has a name. His name is Marcus and if you even call him a thing one more time I–” Gabriel pushed himself beside Cas and nudged her foot with his boot.

“You’re very funny, Ms. Tyler,” Gabriel said. “I brought her here as only a way to make a plan as we won’t risk our men to get the–The boy.” Gabriel stopped himself from saying anything that he would probably wish he didn’t say afterward.

“She knows the boy and is the only living person that he trusts. We put her in there, get him to stay put and calm enough for us to get him and we will easily be able to take him away from the bridge and into a secure facility.”

“That’s too dangerous,” Another said. “She needs to get out of here and we need to take care of this now.”

“I suggest we take every weapon we have and destroy whatever this thing is before it eradicates the entire human race.”

“You will not kill Marcus!” Cas shouted. She pushed herself forward and she didn’t stop when Gabriel grabbed her arm and tried to put her where he thought she should be. “You go anywhere near his head and I’ll use whatever gun you have and point it at your head. And I do not care that you are some big shot in the U.S. army. He’s my brother and I’m going to get him off that bridge!”

Cas turned herself slantways and she pointed her arm to the way of the bridge. She looked back at the man in front of her, at all of them to let them know she was serious. “I will bring him back home and you are going to fix him.”

“I am willing to bet my entire life that one of you, the government created this. Made this possible and now are trying to destroy it before everyone knows about it. So if you want to save yourself, then you better get me on that bridge and do it now.”

They all stared at her in silence. They could throw her out and force her to never step foot within miles of this area. They could even go back to bickering and ignore her like they wanted to. Cas didn’t care which one they did as long as Marcus came back. As long as she got her chance to find him, bring him home, and get him healed.

Whatever happened to make him this way could be reversed. She believed that.

“This is your big idea?” The man, cas looked more intensively and found out his name tag said, Davis.

“Why were you put in charge of how we do things when the one thing you do causes us more problems?” Davis asked him.

“Yes,” A woman said. “I do have to agree with him.”

“Do I admit that she’s uneducated?” Gabriel asked, “Yes.” He moved in front of Cas to take her attention. He had a feeling this would happen, but he hoped Cas would have had some more self-control than she had.

He was losing hope in her.

He didn’t like that at all.

“She is not here to put in her opinion. She’s not here to tell us what she wants.” Gabriel turned back and looked at her. She looked directly at him and almost walked out without saying another word. “She is here for one reason and that is to distract the boy. Unless you want to kill him and cause an uprising that the government doesn’t need now?”

Davis gulped down his words and crossed his arms. He looked the other way and back at Gabriel. “So what are we going to do with her? What’s the plan?”

Gabriel smiled knowing he had won. This warm feeling that spread over him, made him feel like he stood on a stand that was way too high for them to reach. He could do anything for this feeling.

He looked back to Cas and with a grin, he said, “She’s going to be bait.”

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