The Beginning of An Apocalypse
Twenty-Nine

“You’re lucky you know,” Liza said. “I may have said it before, but you are.”

“I am lucky for Marcus,” Cas said. She could only think that is what Liza was trying to get at. That she was lucky to have a family. Lucky to have someone she would risk everything for. And someone who would do the same. That was how this entire thing started. “He’s—”

“I’m not talking about Marcus,” Liza said. “I mean, yes, you are for your family, but I’m talking about Shane.”

“Shane?” Cas said before she nodded. “He’s a good friend. I don’t deserve him.”

“You pretending not to know that he loves you?” Liza asked. “Don’t tell me that’s the case, because that’s… sad.”

“We’re friends,” Cas said. “Love is something…” Cas’s eyes drifted out of the helicopter and towards the storage rooms. Where she looked and saw Shane helping Gabriel grab a large case and hold it with a few other boxes that they had. She could tell he was getting frustrated and Gabriel was pushing his buttons, but he was keeping it in.

“When this all ends, please don’t keep that guy in the friend zone. He’s a keeper.” Before they could say anything else, Cas jumped out and helped Shane get everything inside. They got in and comfortably sat down before Gabriel turned to the pilot.

“To San Fransico Bay. Land wherever, but get us there.” The helicopter took off with his order and they were on their way.

This was it, they all thought. The end of everything that was started what felt like years ago. In reality, it had only been a few months. Everything had changed over these few months and none of them knew for good or bad. Many people suffered and will continue to suffer for this. Depending on how this turns out today they could also be suffering.

Gabriel was dying and Liza’s future was unknown. Shane would be left with this entire experience and have to watch Cas from afar. Depending on how this turned out, she could end up being happier than she’s ever been or further into the darkness than she’s ever been. And it’d be torture. It’d be hell.

Gabriel tried to explain how the guns worked. Cas and Shane were the ones that tried to listen to Gabriel’s course. They weren’t nearly as familiar with guns as they were. Liza was in the military and Gabriel has been in his fair share of fights. His entire place is guarded by guns, it’d be dumb if he didn’t know how to use one either.

They had no alien fighting weapons. They had a small slightly alien-charged gun. It was a dark shade of blue with a few bits of green glowing into the grey metal.

Gabriel said the last time he used it, it blew up one of his colleagues. He had a hard time washing the guts out of his hair, he said.

Gabriel had thrown it to the side and without him looking, Cas took it. She put it in her belt and kept it for whatever they may need it for.

The helicopter started to land and like before, the realization of all this was sinking in them. The realness of what they were going to do without much professional help. Most of them had a full idea without a doubt of how this day was going to end. A few of them, Cas, wanted to believe that they had a chance. A small chance, but a chance it was and it was going to be a good chance. She wasn’t going to let it go.

The helicopter landed and they all climbed out.

Cas walked over to Shane while he opened the gun cases they got. Before a year ago she could never think of owning a gun, but now all she could think about was taking the guns and having all that protection.

And ending this all with hopefully, just one shot.

“Gabriel said that these guns would be our best chance,” Shane said with a not-so-subtle eye roll.

“He knows more about this than us,” Cas said.

Shane opened his mouth to say something against that. He had a million things he could say about all of this, but he wasn’t going to. He knew it was as important as getting this over with. Whether that meant them succeeding or failing. Maybe it would give way to other people who could successfully do something.

“Do we have a plan yet?” Gabriel asked while Shane was letting Cas choose a gun. “We can’t go in empty-handed.”

“How did you get the alien down into your lab anyway?” Cas asked as she aimed the gun and then set it back on her side.

“A lot of time and patience,” Gabriel told her. “And it was living in its element with its own power so all I had to do was hit it enough with that and eventually it’ll be weak enough to be dragged down. But it took months.”

“You didn’t tell us that earlier?” Liza asked.

“You didn’t ask,” Gabriel said. “Well, maybe you did but I went with the likely-to-succeed option, not the impossible one.”

“Every possibility is a good one,” Liza said. She walked on her crutches to the pile of guns beside Shane and Cas. Shane didn’t say anything about her presence and didn’t hand her a gun. She believed they were going to leave her out of most of this since she can’t totally walk. Her spine is not in the best shape and even without the crutches, she’d be slow.

“So we need alien-charged power,” Cas said to herself. “Where do we get that if we don’t have it with us.”

“My lab, oh wait! It’s destroyed. No thanks to a blonde-haired brat,” Gabriel said and they both gave each other the evil eye.

“We all don’t like this,” Shane said. “So let’s stop fighting and deal with this. You—”

“FREEZE!”

The sound of guns being clicked and trained on their target stopped them all. Shane dropped his gun and held his hands halfway up. Gabriel rolled his eyes but he didn’t fight the orders. He raised his hands over his head. Liza raised her hands up the best she could and Cas did the same. She didn’t let go of her guns though.

They looked around them and saw the soldiers coming out of the palm trees. Sand kicked up as they walked through. “Stop right there all of you.”

“Who are you?” Gabriel asked. He kept his hands up as he walked over. “I’m—”

“We know who you are,” One said. “And there’s a warrant out for your arrest. We will be taking you in.”

“Of course,” Gabriel muttered. Gabriel stepped back and let the rest of them deal with this. It was clear he wasn’t going to be a free man for much longer. Then again, he wasn’t much of a free man before.

A man with more metals on his clothes than strands of hair on his head walked over. “Cassidy Jones Tyler. Shane Willgate. Liza Locken and Gabriel Everett. Anyone else?” He asked.

“No,” Cas said.

“You already know our names, tell us yours,” Liza demanded. She wasn’t going to be taken in by some force she didn’t know.

“Rick Sandler and I’m here to clean up the mess that you all created,” Sandler told them. He looked over at the guns and then at the one beside him. Two soldiers came over and started to clean them up. They collected them all and brought them back into their lines.

“We don’t have time for this!” Cas said. “We have to get my brother! If you know who we are then you know—”

“Your brother is dead Mrs. Tyler,” Sandler said formally. “Our assignment is not to do anything with that thing created by your brother, but to get rid of the alien…” Sandler looked at Gabriel. “....That he created.”

“I didn’t create it,” Gabriel said. “I took it.”

“And we’re taking it back,” Sandler said. “Take them. It’s time to bring this back to the professionals.”

Sandler turned away and four soldiers came over to them. Handcuffed them all and held them by their arm as they carried them to the start of a base.

They brought them to an already set up tent that had a large whiteboard, a phone that was connected to a box, and more things that Cas couldn’t identify.

Gabriel looked at the boards. He stared at all the research they’d been doing. Pictures of Agatha and of him. Of everything. There were documents of everything that had gone on. Of things that he knew only he knew.

“How did you find all this out?”

“We’ve been trying to shut you down for months so it was easy to find out,” Sandler said. “We figured you were behind this as soon as it came out. We just needed the proof.”

“If you knew, why’d you let it get this far?” Gabriel asked. “You could have shut me down months ago.”

“Greed maybe,” Sandler said. “Don’t ask me, I was the one trying to push for your execution.”

It made most of them sick that people chose to leave Gabriel to do what he wanted when they knew exactly what was happening. When they could have stopped so many casualties if they did what they should have done from the beginning. So many reasons to be angry just kept piling up.

“It comes to my attention that you are trying to… Confront the alien, but what for?”

“To get rid of it,” Cas said. “We want to send it away and get my brother back.”

“You are not going to let that go are you?” Sandler asked. “I know it’s hard. I lost my brother in battle and I get the pain you are feeling, but holding on will do nothing, I assure you. Please, let us take over and make this pain easier.”

“He’s not dead,” Cas said again. She wasn’t going to let them make her believe that Marcus was gone. Marcus wasn’t and she was going to get him back. No matter what.

“Believe whatever you must, but when it comes to the battle ahead, we will not be looking for the safety of it.” ‘It’ was clearly Marcus.

“How are you going to get rid of it?” Shane asked. “The alien,” he specified when Cas gave him a raised eyebrow look.

“We are going to hopefully, blow it up enough to send it into a dizzy state. Get control of it and send it back where it came from. But killing it is more what we’re pushing for.”

“It’s never going to work,” Gabriel said. He crossed his arms and shook his head. In truth, he never tried to kill Agatha. He needed it too much. But he had tried to kill its creations. It went nowhere. No amount of blowing up and destroying and wishing for its death would do anything. They needed to send it back to wherever it came from and pray that it never comes back.

Then Earth would be done for good.

“Maybe,” Sandler said. “But maybe with this, we can have a shot.” Sandler went under the table and grabbed something. He struggled to get it up and put it on the table. A few papers flew to the ground when he set it on the table.

“That’s—”

“Your radioactive-powered weapon,” Sandler said with a nod. “It is. We collected it from the rubble. Not the one that one of you used to blow up the entire place and let more of those monsters out, a different one that—”

“Could kill an entire planet,” Gabriel said. His eyes were wide with fascination and fear all at the same time. It was hard to distinguish how he felt about it. “I’ve never used it. I don’t know what it could do.”

“But I was told that you took a lot of alien life force and other things you’ve collected from your space travels to create it. It could give us a chance.”

“Yeah, or it could kill us all,” Gabriel said. “That was something I made power crazy. It’s not something to be actually used! You can’t be serious.”

“We’re completely serious,” Sandler said. “I have no choice, you made sure of that.”

Gabriel shook his head and turned around. “Then get me out of here, I will not be a part of a death mission.”

“You weren’t going to be a part of it in the first place,” Sandler said. “You were—”

“AAAAAGGHH!”

All of them jolted to look outside the tent. Enough of them had heard screams to know that something bad was going on. “Stay in the tent!” Sandler ordered. “Watch them!” He said to the other soldiers. He grabbed his gun from his belt and walked out. He was gone from their sight and whatever happened to him was unknown.

“We have to get out of here,” Shane said to Cas. “Whatever is out there is probably those monster things. They’re going to kill us.”

“If they came that means Marcus would be here too,” Cas said to herself. She didn’t look at Shane when he tried to get her attention. She could see the danger and she felt it and it quickened her heart, but it also gave her hope. Right outside, Marcus could be somewhere.

“I’m going to find him,” Cas said. “We can still complete the plan.”

Cas moved away from where she stood and closer to the door. Two soldiers stepped forward, but she didn’t seem to notice them. She kept walking. All she could think about was outside and who could be out there.

“Cas!” Shane grabbed her arm and spun her. He shook her and got her to look at him. “Stop thinking so recklessly. You can’t just go out there!” Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ Findɴovel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“I have to!” Cas shouted back.

“Mam, you can’t—” And suddenly the soldier wasn’t saying anything. One screamed and gunfire went off. Shane grabbed Cas and pushed them both back. Gabriel went to the back and found his way to the edge. He tried to get under the tent, but with the cuffs on and it being nailed into the ground, he was stuck.

Cas opened her eyes and looked at where the gunshots were aimed. Where the soldiers once screamed and now were silent. The sound of choking was the last thing they heard before it all went silent.

Cas went from breathing heavily to not breathing at all. Or breathing and not knowing. She almost couldn’t feel it. She almost fell backward in all attempts to get away from this.

In front of her stood Marcus. Or what used to be Marcus.

He was there above both of his new victims. Marcus stared at the soldier that was now falling to the ground that he was gone. No thanks to Marcus’s touch.

Cas stared at what he had become. His entire body was hollow and almost see-through. His skin was completely dark, grey. His eyes were gone and the insides of his sockets were gone. His hair was gone. There were only a few strands on his head that went down past his ears. His clothes were ripped to tatters and barely on him. His body was dislocated and not human at all.

Cas watched as Marcus glanced up at them, but didn’t go after them. He dropped down and clawed his claw-like fingers at the flesh of the soldier’s face.

“Oh—” Shawn grabbed Cas’s arm and pushed her back. She didn’t have to see this. He could barely stand it, but he guessed that wasn’t saying much. He pulled Cas back and tried to get her to look away, but she wouldn’t. Or couldn’t.

She had heard everything that everyone said about Marcus, but she didn’t let herself see it. She didn’t let herself think of what Marcus was or could end up being.

Cas didn’t have the time to process her thoughts. Before she knew it, Shane had dragged her to the edge with Gabriel. “We have to get out of here,” Shane said to Gabriel. Cas was going to be no help and Liza could only help with so much. Gabriel was the only one who could help.

“We need the keys!” He said. “We won’t be able to do anything in these!” Gabriel held up his cuffed hands.

“They’d be on the soldiers,” Liza said as she watched in horror at what that thing was doing to them.

“How do we get that?” Shane said. He didn’t know why he was being so loud, but he could have a few guesses.

“Get him away from us,” Liza said with the full intention of getting rid of him. She walked to the table where the case that Sandler left behind. She grabbed it and realized she wasn’t strong enough a little too late. The case dropped and her back felt like it was on fire. It would have crushed her feet if she had not been saved by Shane who caught it with her.

“Move it with me,” Liza said. She got him to push it with her. They carried it together closer to Marcus who was feasting on the neck of one of the soldiers. Shane had no idea what she was doing or why, but they had no better plan.

“Hey!” Liza shouted. She gulped down the air and hoped Marcus wouldn’t charge them. Marcus lifted his head and straightened up his back.

Liza looked over at Shane and back at the monster that was Marcus quickly. “Throw it onto him on three,” Liza told Shane. “One. Two—Three!” They threw the case and it hit Marcus in the chest. Marcus fell back and was crushed by the case. His arms and legs flung around and clawed at the case, but could only lift it some way before it fell back.

They watched as his body was crushed and deflated only to puff back out and have it happen again. It was a fact, he wasn’t human anymore. Marcus was now an ‘it.’

“Get the keys!” Liza shouted to Shane. “Hurry up before it breaks free of that thing!”

Shane dropped down beside the soldiers. He made sure not to touch the kicking feet of Marcus. He went to the soldier that he knew cuffed him. He started to go through the pockets. He went through the vest next when he couldn’t find the keys in the pants pocket. “Hurry up!” Gabriel shouted. Gabriel had his arms around Cas and she was fighting hard to get away.

“Got them!” Shane said. His hand dug into the pocket of the soldier’s vest. He dug out the keys and got up. Marcus threw the case up at least a foot before it fell back down and crushed him. Shane fell on his back and kicked himself backward. He got up and ran with Liza back to the group.

He took Cas’s hands and uncuffed her. Liza was next, Gabriel, and then Cas uncuffed Shane while she wiped her tears away.

“Okay,” Gabriel said. “We need to get out of here. Or that thing will kill us.”

“Right,” Shane said. “Let’s go.” He pushed them forward. “We have to jump over Marcus.”

“We can’t leave him,” Cas told them as Gabriel held his breath as he prepared for his jump. He waited three seconds and then jumped. He jumped past the first soldier and fell against the pole that held up the tent.

“You better help me,” Liza said to Gabriel. She moved as far away as she could and Gabriel held out his hand for her. She looked up at him and almost didn’t take it. It wasn’t until Marcus had pushed the case to focus on one side and some of his body was free that she took his hand and jumped. He caught her and she was able to back away.

Shane nodded to Liza and turned back to Cas. “Your turn.”

“No,” Cas said. “You get out of here, I’m going to stay here with—”

“You will die if you stay, Cas. We have to go!” Shane said and pushed her forward. “I’m not leaving you here to do that.”

“I won’t die,” Cas said. She grabbed Shane’s arm and tried to get him to let her go. She couldn’t leave him again. Leaving now meant anything could happen afterward. It meant Marcus could be gone again and this time, he’d be gone forever. It meant Sandler could come back and finish what he planned to start.

“Stop being stupid and let’s go,” Gabriel said. “He’s going to get out from under that case! The only reason he’s still there is because of the alien power within the gun!”

Shane grabbed her and thanked god he worked out every few weeks. He had enough strength to pick her up and charge forward. He tripped over the leg of one of the soldiers and they both fell forward.

Liza caught Cas and grabbed Shane’s arm. “Now let’s go!” Gabriel urged. Liza and Gabriel started walking away. They looked around to where all the other screaming and gunfire were going off. There were the monsters that Gabriel had created running around and chasing after frightened soldiers.

“We need to go!” Shane said. He had his arms gripped on her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “We. Have. To. Go.”

Cas stared at him and saw the expression on his face. She looked back at the thing that barely looked like Marcus. Only a few faint characteristics made her know who he is. And the feeling, but a feeling wasn’t true.

She looked back at him and nodded. “Okay.”

Shane let go of her and they both ran up to Gabriel. “Which way?” Liza asked.

“Head to the beach,” Shane said. It was a clear shot from the camp to the beach. The monster was chasing after other survivors and they needed to be the final survivors. “Go. Go!” Shane said. Cas and Shane picked up speed while Gabriel stabbed his hand into his chest and ran. Liza was the slowest, but she had no intention of becoming food for those monsters.

They pushed through. Past two bodies until they made it to the beach and closer to the water.

“We need to get out of here!” Gabriel told them.

“There’s a path into the trees that way,” Liza said pointing to the right side of them. It would be their best escape if they planned to get out there.

Cas looked away from her and around them for a different way out. The last time she heard a scream, it came from the direction Liza had pointed. She spun around in a circle until she came to a stop. In front of the beach was what used to be Marcus.

“Guys!” Cas said. She walked backward and hit Shane’s shoulder.

Shane turned around and looked where Cas looked. He saw it too and soon Gabriel and Liza did too. This time, Marcus wasn’t stopping or going after someone else. It saw them and it wasn’t going after anyone else.

Marcus continued until it was slipping on the sand.

“What do we do?” Liza asked. “What do we do?”

They went forward and formed an almost half-circle. Marcus came forward and didn’t stop. It started to speed up and the wind around them pushed it forward.

“If we’re going to run, we need to do it now,” Gabriel said. He walked back until his feet touched the water and seeped into his tattered-up shoes.

Marcus kept going. He didn’t stop for anything. He went for them and he was in the middle of them. He headed towards Shane. Not near Cas or Liza or even Gabriel. He went for Shane. Shane took steps back even if he tried to pretend like this wasn’t scaring him at all.

Marcus kept going.

Cas watched as he got closer and closer. Soon he was getting closer and closer to them. Cas tried to look for something to get him to stop. A stick or log or anything. She found nothing on this beach that could help. Her hands fell to her hips and she stopped. She lost her breath as she grabbed the handle and pulled it out.

Marcus was closer and Shane had tripped. Liza tried to get Shane to move, but he had already fallen. Marcus got closer, almost six feet. He leaned down for Shane who was soaked in water now.

Marucs’s fingers were too inches from him when the blast of green light burst from the left and Marcus was whipped five feet from all of them.

Shane, Liza, and Gabriel looked over after they recovered. A steaming small blue and grey gun was laid in the sand while Cas was on the ground. Half her face became covered in sand like most of her body.

Cas looked over at Shane and Marcus both in shock. Her breaths came out uneven as she realized what she had done. And it was all for nothing, she realized when she found the strength to stand. To even process what was happening. Marcus pushed itself up and stared down at the melting hole in his chest.

“Marcus,” Cas muttered to herself.

Marcus didn’t seem to like what Cas had done to him. He pushed himself up and after a few looks around, he charged forward. After Cas this time. Not Shane now. Not any of them.

Shane kicked himself out of the water and into the sand again. Marcus pushed itself forward and Cas could do nothing but crab-walk back. She tried to kick herself back and away from what would happen to her.

“Marcus! It’s me! You don’t want to do this,” Cas pleaded. “Marcus! Listen to me, it’s me.”

Shane glanced up and saw that Marcus wasn’t stopping. No matter how much Cas would try to reason with him, it wouldn’t matter. Marcus would kill her.

Shane glanced down at the gun and back at Marcus. At Cas, at Marcus, and back at the gun. Shane scurried for it and grabbed it along with a handful of sand. Shane focused the gun on Marcus’s head. He brought it down and within that single second everything around them sounded like a million roars altogether. That was not the end of it. The ground shook around them and none of them knew what had happened.

They were all on the ground when the ground shook. Gabriel couldn’t keep hold of Marcus and they all lost sight of him.

“Cas!” Shane shouted from somewhere. Cas looked around her, she looked for him and Marcus. She had to wipe the sand from her eyes and when she looked up to find Shane or Liza, Gabriel, and even Marcus, she saw not any of them.

She saw Agatha. The alien that was once small and circular. It could turn from big to small, but not as big as it was. Like two normal-sized buildings on itself, it landed above the water. Its razor-sharp teeth are stained in a blackish color. It’s purple to almost maroon in some places. It’s big wide eyes that no iris was there. Just darker shades of black.

Its mouth opened and roared again.

This was not like when it was held captive in that water tank. It was louder and it was free. It was able to grow in sizes that no one expected it to be. Now it could kill them all.

“Holy–” Agatha jumped up from the water and pushed closer to them. Shane wasn’t able to finish any of his words, he was knocked onto his back once again.

Gabriel realized the position he was in and knew it was best for him if he left. He got up on his hands and knees and started to drag himself away.

Marcus was in the middle of all of them. His arm bent around his back to where they were sure his arm was dislocated. Marcus slid his arm off his back and onto the sand. A groan came from him as he pushed himself up.

All of them kicked their legs until they were far enough away from Marcus. Marcus stood and turned to face Agatha. Agatha didn’t move, it stood there and watched as Marcus struggled to move through the stand. His roaring became lower in volume like it was talking. Agatha must be talking because Marcus was acting as if he understood.

“Marcus!” Cas shouted. Marcus was moving closer and closer to Agatha. His feet dragged in the sand. “Marcus stop! Marcus, please!” Cas grabbed Gabriel’s coat without a thought. He ran after Marcus who was moving closer and closer to Agatha.

Agatha moved closer, its mouth opened wide. Its teeth are sharply guarding the inside that was pitch black. Its mouth opened wide like it was ready to swallow. Marcus stood underneath the shadow of his alien aspects.

“Marcus!”

Cas looked up and Agatha was turning its body and its massive body was going down. She didn’t run fast enough to stop it. Agatha’s mouth slammed down into the sand. Massive amounts of sand blew up. The massive gust of wind sent Cas fifteen feet back. She landed on her back and was left with a crushing feeling as she landed on glass.

“Cas!” Shane was beside her in an instant. He held her arm and gently pressed her arm against her back. He helped her sit up and wiped the sand from her face. She slapped him away and looked up. She watched as Agatha pushed its body back up and it began to hover over the sand again.

Cas looked through her tearing eyes from sand, pain, and grief. She looked to where Marcus stood only seconds ago. But he wasn’t there anymore. There was nobody. There was nothing left of him. Cas looked up with her mouth open wide even though she couldn’t let any breath out.

Agatha’s mouth continued to open and close as if it had just finished a meal. And that meal was Marcus.

Agatha’s mouth closed and then opened one more time. In a second something small shot from Agatha’s mouth. Something that was silver shimmering in the sunlight. It hit the ground just a foot in front of Cas and Shane.

Cas wiped her eyes and looked at what the alien was giving her. It was a necklace. It was her necklace. Well, it wasn’t her necklace anymore. She had given the pendant with the tree that laced throughout the heart ring. It was their mother’s and she had kept it only because of that. Marcus had found it and she had given it to him.

Cas pushed further and she grabbed it with no hesitation. She held the chain in her hand and looked at it. She traced her thumb over the tree. Dried blood was covering part of the necklace chain.

Cas clenched her fist around it. She rested her fist on her forehead. Her eyes closed tight as if she could somehow manage this ripping-apart feeling that was taking place inside her. Shane was there, but she could barely feel him.

She opened her eyes and looked up. Agatha wasn’t away from them anymore. It wasn’t in the air hovering over the sand. It wasn’t swallowing the corpse of Marcus anymore. The alien was small. It was at least a foot tall and in the shape of a small circle.

Cas was pushed back, mostly by Shane who was pushing her away. Agatha stayed there hovering over the sand looking up at her. An empty-eyed look on its face. Cas pushed Shane’s arm off her and she sat up. A few tears dropped from her face as she looked at its face. She looked for any indication of a response. She looked for anything that Agatha may be trying to tell her.

What it did next could have been some kind of response. Its body started to move and break and turn. Its entire body started to transform. It grew, but not in the way it did so many times before.

The more Cas watched the more she realized what it was turning into. It turned its body into the shape of a human being. There was no face besides its mouth. Its razor-sharp teeth showing brightly.

Agatha moved one leg up and onto the sand. It got used to walking within the few steps it took past Cas and Shane. Shane looked past him and saw where Agatha was headed. Towards Gabriel.

Gabriel was stuck frozen in the sand. He was pushed into a crab-walk position while he looked at Agatha with wide eyes. His mouth gaped open. His throat choked him out as he tried to beg. He wouldn’t let himself stoop that low, not yet.

Cas and Shane watched as Gabriel spun around and stood up. His feet kicked him up as he tried to get up. The sand wasn’t giving him any help for his escape.

Agatha wasn’t giving him any chance to get away quickly either. The more it walked the faster it could go. It kept going until it was halfway to Gabriel. By that time, Gabriel was standing and moving. He ran for the exit between two palm trees.

In a second there was a flash of light and Gabriel shouted an agonizing scream as he hit the ground. Agatha stopped and they all looked up. Just seven feet from Gabriel, Liza stood. Her eyes were wide and her hands shook a little. She looked down at Gabriel who held the gunshot wound on his leg.

“Liza!” Gabriel shouted. “I-I’m…” He looked back at where Agatha stood. The gunshot did nothing to stop it from coming after him. He tried to drag his body closer with his bleeding useless leg.

Liza raised the gun again and aimed at his arm this time.

“Don’t!” Gabriel shouted. “Liza, we’re family! Family!”

Gabriel looked back behind him and saw Agatha coming closer to him. Its long hands getting closer to him. Gabriel moved his hands to keep moving in the sand. He dug his fingers into the sand and dragged himself closer.

“Family?!” Liza asked with a sick laugh. “You think that matters to me? It doesn’t even matter to you!”

“Liza please,” Gabriel begged. “Don’t let it kill me.”

Liza hung her gun to her side. She took a deep breath in and looked into Gabriel’s wide eyes. He didn’t want to die and he was for what felt like the first time, begging her for something. Begging someone for something.

But he wouldn’t get anything from her.

Liza looked up and saw Agatha standing above him now. Gabriel didn’t notice, he looked at Liza in hopes she would change her mind and save him. Liza didn’t answer his wish.

They all watched as Agatha grabbed Gabriel by the ankle and drugged him back. Gabriel’s head scratched up on a rock in the sand. Agatha spun Gabriel on his back and then let him go.

“Don’t do this!” Gabriel shouted. His pride and ego were gone, he knew his life was going to be gone in seconds. He had to resort to his last chances. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry I–” Agatha grabbed Gabriel by his neck and flung him up off the ground. His feet didn’t touch the ground as they hung there trembling in fear.

Agatha was crushing his throat with one slimy hand while the other went to grab Gabriel’s other arm. It held Gabriel’s arm by his fingers and held out his wrist. Gabriel looked at Agatha and saw its face or what is most likely its face, looking directly at his wrist. Gabriel tried to move his arm.

Its mouth opened and its teeth grew in its ever-morphing body. “No!” Gabriel shouted as Agatha’s mouth came down and dug into Gabriel’s wrist. When Agatha’s head snapped back a pool of blood came with it. Agatha’s mouth opened and the patch of Gabriel’s skin fell off its teeth and into its mouth.

Its clawed hand let go of Gabriel’s throat and he fell to the ground. His attention went immediately to his wrist. The gaping hole in his wrist allowed the blood to spill out. Gabriel slapped his hand over it and tried to hold in the blood. The thick hot blood dripped through his fingers and down his arms. Somehow, it reached his elbow.

Agatha raised its leg and kicked Gabriel. It looked almost like a robot was controlling Agatha. But it wasn’t a robot, it was an alien. Gabriel was kicked on his side and the sand covered his wound. The blood started to seep into the sand and dye it.

Agatha started to change from that human figure. It started to push back into the ball it was before. It’s a possible original state. It formed into a ball no bigger than two human beings together. Its mouth opened and its teeth showed brightly.

Gabriel lay under Agatha’s shadow too weakened to do anything. He was already feeling faint and possibly seconds away from death.

The last thing he saw was the opening of Agatha’s mouth. Its sharp teeth raised and ready for its next meal. Before any of them knew it, Agatha was up in the air again and all that was left of Gabriel was half a leg.

Cas almost forced herself to watch it all happen. She held on tight to Shane as she watched. Cas watched as horror crossed Gabriel’s face and he begged for his life. She saw the second he knew he was gone and when it was way too late.

A few more tears fell down her cheeks.

Shane held her tighter. He watched it too and even though he never thought of murder, he didn’t see what other option there was. For all the things Gabriel had done, maybe this was the fate he deserved. He deserved it for a long time now, Shane supposed.

There was no movement between any of them. They were all frozen in space. Even more so when Agatha started to move again. It hovered its way past Cas and Shane. Its body is pulled back and forth and into spikes and back to a circle. It got into the water and let itself stand there for only a second longer. With one push down the alien, Agatha started to go up.

Two feet. Five feet. Ten feet. Thirty. A hundred. On and on until it was only a small circle and then a dot. A flash of green and red light in the sky and then nothing.

Cas, Shane, and even Liza all had their head pushed back. They all stared up at the sky where the alien had disappeared. They didn’t even notice the number of soldiers and government officials surrounding them. They didn’t notice until they were grabbed by people in big yellow radiation suits.

They ripped Cas from Shane and forced them to go their separate ways. Soon the entire area was in lock down and so were they.

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