The Beginning of the End Page 10

  Raven had yet to look away from the television, and Gabe couldn’t help feeling as though she did not understand the gravity of the situation.

  “Wait, he’s not the only one getting a vaccine?” Raven’s voice held a note of disbelief as well as something like awe.

  Gabe turned his full attention to the television. She was right. Lined up behind Dr. Goodman were several prominent members of congress as well as a few other doctors who had been spouting the same nonsense Dr. Goodman had.

  “Some of those people aren’t even in the high-risk category,” Gabe said softly. “Why are they getting a vaccine first?”

  He rose from the desk and moved to the couch to get a closer look at the television. Something about this had his bones buzzing. Why would they be vaccinating people on camera? Sure, he knew there were those in the world who believed vaccines were more harmful than helpful, but could there be that many?

  “How do you feel, Dr. Goodman?” the doctor giving the dose asked as soon as the shot was removed from Goodman’s arm. Wait, shot? Weren’t they supposed to be using the human application system he had researched? Had that been a ruse? A ploy to throw them off track?

  “They’re using a needle,” Raven said as she sat down beside him as if catching his mental thoughts.

  “Yeah, why? Does that mean they aren’t using Lucerifase?”

  From the corner of his eye, he could see Raven shake her head, but like himself, her eyes were still glued to the screen.

  “Dr. Goodman?” the doctor asked again.

  “Huh, I’m sorry, what did you say?” Dr. Goodman asked.

  “I asked how you feel, sir?”

  “Feel? I feel… amazing. Almost as if I can feel the vaccine working.”

  Gabe had never been a big fan of Dr. Goodman who had always seemed like he cared more about publicity than health in Gabe’s opinion, but this reaction was weird. The hairs on the back of his neck joined his bones in voicing their apprehension.

  The doctor administering the vaccine stared at Dr. Goodman for a moment before he was heard whispering, “You’re done. You can go now, Dr. Goodman.”

  “Go? Yes, of course. Thank you for your service, and thank you Daman Caturix for the financial backing that made this day possible.” The smile that split Goodman’s face as he stood reminded Gabe of Jack Nicolson in The Shining. On the outside, there was nothing wrong with it, but on the inside? Well, he didn’t know what was wrong with it, but something definitely was.

  Dr. Goodman moved off stage, but Gabe watched his demeanor as he did. He would have to find old footage of Goodman to be sure, but he had a hunch that this time had been much stiffer, more mechanical. Why?

  The next patron, a senator from New York took the spotlight. Once again, the doctor prepared the syringe and then stuck her arm. Gabe didn’t focus there though. He kept his eyes glued on the woman’s face, and when he saw it, he shivered.

  “Hand me the remote,” he said to Raven, still not taking his eyes off the screen. He had to be sure.

  “Why? What did you see?”

  “Nothing good,” he said as she placed the remote in his hand. He backed up the screen and then pushed the button to make it play forward screen by screen. “There! Did you see that?” he asked when it crossed the screen again.

  “Her eyes.”

  Gabe knew from the fear in Raven’s voice that she had seen the same thing he had. There was a moment, a single moment after receiving the vaccine that her eyes had rolled back as if she’d passed out or fainted. The next moment, she was staring at the camera again. He punched the rewind button to replay Goodman’s scene and was not surprised to see the same reaction.

  “What does it mean?” Raven asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Gabe responded. He had a few guesses, but they were just that - guesses. “I need to get my hands on a dose of that vaccine to be sure, but I think this may not be the mark of the beast. At least not yet.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “The next step to controlling people.”

  He was reminded of a novel he’d read in high school, the story Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In that book, the government had used seashell radios to inundate people with propaganda they wanted them to believe, to make them behave the way the government wanted. What if, instead of a seashell radio, they had put something in the vaccine? Some invisible element that would alter people’s minds, their perceptions? What if this was how they convinced masses to tattoo the numbers 666 on their hands or foreheads and believe it was a good idea?

  “Do you think Candace would be able to get me a dose of the vaccine?”

  “There’s only one way to find out.”

  14

  “You want me to do what?” Candace hissed into the phone. She was locked inside a private bathroom in the hospital where she didn’t think anyone would hear her conversation, but she still kept her volume low. There was no telling how much could be heard outside or if anyone had seen her enter.

  “I need you to get me a dose of the vaccine,” the man on the other end said.

  Gabe Cross. At least that’s who Raven had said he was. A well-known and well-respected virologist who had recently lost his status after declaring the virus to be man-made and not natural. But Candace had never met him. She had no idea if this man was who he said he was or if he was a spy working for someone else. Now, he was asking her to try and steal a vaccine dosage? One that would draw suspicion when it showed up missing?

  “I could lose my job. I know I said that I’d have to stop one day, but I’m helping so many people on the inside here. Not only am I actually treating patients, but I get to talk to them about God and the disappearances as they recover.” She sounded like she was making excuses, but she couldn’t help it; she did feel like she was helping this way. How could she help if she lost her job and therefore her hospital privileges?

  “And that’s important, I know, but if I’m right, this is even more important,” Gabe said. “I think there is something in that vaccine that is brainwashing people, allowing them to be susceptible to propaganda. You think the denial of true information is bad now, but it will only get worse if I’m right.”

  Deep down she knew he was right. After all, this wasn’t normal life. Everything from here on out had a much deeper purpose, deeper meaning. It probably had all along, but she’d been too busy to see it. Too busy. She paused. Was she falling into the same trap again? Was she putting her security with work over the more important spiritual matter?

  “There has to be another way.”

  There was a pause, but she could hear Gabe’s soft breath on the other end of the line. When he spoke, his tone had changed - softer, more serious. “There might be one other way, but it’s a huge risk, Candace.”

  “What is it?” He might be right, but didn’t she at least deserve to hear both options and decide for herself?

  “You could get the vaccine and then send me some vials of your blood to study.”

  Well, that sounded much simpler. Why hadn’t he suggested that in the first place?

  “But that comes with a possible heavy cost,” Gabe continued. “If something in this vaccine is altering people’s minds, it could happen to you and might cause you to take the mark without even knowing it.”

  Candace chewed on her lip as she thought about the choice. Did she really want to jeopardize her soul just to work a little longer? Besides, there would probably be people in the TruthSeeker group who would need a doctor. She would be of no help to them if she was brainwashed. “Okay, I’ll try to get a vial of the vaccine. If that doesn’t work, then I’ll take the vaccine and cross my fingers that I’ll be okay.”

  “I know neither of these are great choices, but it’s a new world.”

  Indeed it was, and one that she was no longer sure she liked.

  Katie stood on the curb as Lily pulled in, bouncing slightly on her toes. Though not visible, Lily could feel the cloud of nervous energy that buzzed around her as she climbed ou
t of the car and pulled her mask on. She had always enjoyed Katie meeting her in the morning, but now a trickle of irritation ignited in her belly. Not so much at Katie, but at the predicament. The school had stressed the need to wear masks even outside if students were closer than six feet. The walk from her car to the front door was less than a hundred feet, but it was a hundred feet of fresh air before she was forced to stifle her breathing all day. However today, Katie meeting her in the parking lot robbed her of that hundred feet, and even the coffee she offered didn’t totally abate Lily’s irritation.

  “Did you hear?”

  They were three innocent words, but when Katie said them, they held the weight of the world, and it seemed like she was saying them a lot this year. Lily shook her head. After Katie had left her house last night, she had curled up with a book and passed out. No news, no internet, no depressing virus stories - she’d had enough of those to last a lifetime.

  “So, you know how some of the states in the east and south already opened up?”

  Lily nodded. There was a part of her that wished she lived in Florida. They had shut down initially, like the rest of the states, but a few weeks later when they realized the virus mainly affected older people or those with pre-existing conditions, they had opened their economy back up. There had been a spike in cases, but their governor had kept them open, and now they were completely open for business. Schools were in session, sports were occurring, and concerts could even take place. They were even back in their churches.

  “Yeah, I wish we were there, but I’m assuming that’s not your story.”

  Katie shook her head as they walked toward the front entrance for their temperature check. “Not at all. There are stories online this morning that students back east were kicked out of school for not wearing masks or following the six-foot distance rule. And,” she emphasized the word drawing it out, “our governor just declared that students in dorms have to wear their masks in every place except their own room.”

  “That is so dumb. Haven’t they read the stories about apartments and people getting sick who never even went out?”

  A few months ago, just after the pandemic struck the whole of the United States completely, results began trickling in of people in apartments getting the virus even though they’d never left their house. At first, the people in charge had blamed it on food deliveries, claiming that those people must have ordered groceries or meals that were infected by the delivery drivers and then gotten infected when they touched the items to bring them inside.

  That was later debunked though, and the only logical conclusion they were left with was that apartment buildings shared heating and cooling vents which meant that if someone in one apartment was sick, their germs were going into the vents and then being pushed out into everyone else’s houses. With that logic, it made no sense to require masks in a dorm building but not in a dorm room because students would be exposed to the virus when they went into their rooms, but they couldn’t very well mandate that people wear masks in their bedrooms. Lily could barely function all day wearing one; she could not imagine trying to sleep with one on.

  “Who knows?” Katie said with a shrug, “but this does not bode well for us. If they are enacting crazy rules like that in states that have opened up more than we have, what does it mean for us?”

  A heavy sensation settled in Lily’s stomach. Nothing good. That was for sure.

  They reached the front door of the school and waited for one of the teachers to open it. Lily sighed as she thought of last year when the doors of the school had been unlocked. Students had been free to enter and leave as they pleased during certain times, but now, the school was more like a prison. Only one entrance was allowed to be used, and they had to be let into it by the people in charge.

  The door swung open, and the two girls stepped inside. Mrs. Brinkley, one of the math teachers, was checking temperatures today, but after marking them clear, she handed them a sheet of paper. Lily’s eyes scanned the print. A mandatory assembly had been called today - by grade levels of course because, even though the school was small, it was impossible for all the grades to be socially distanced in the gym at one time.

  “What do you think this is about?” Lily asked as they continued to their lockers.

  “I don’t know, but I doubt it’s good.”

  Katie was prone to exaggerations, but this time, Lily wholeheartedly agreed.

  The Senior assembly time was right after lunch, and Lily’s nerves tightened with each class. Even the short mask break lunch afforded did not entirely calm her nerves. A feeling that something bad was about to be disclosed cloaked her shoulders like an invisible blanket. Katie must have felt the same because for the first time since the two had been friends, she was quiet the entire time.

  When the lunch bell rang, the girls tossed their trash away and then returned to the table. The rest of the Seniors and Juniors filled in around them. A moment later, Mr. Shane, the principal appeared with a microphone in hand.

  “Thank you all for staying. This won’t be a long assembly, but we’ve noticed a few things we need to address, and we have someone we’d like to introduce you to.”

  Another new person? Lily raised an eyebrow in Katie’s direction.

  “First, I want to say how good most of you are doing with the new requirements. I know it isn’t easy to wear a mask all day, but most of you are doing a great job. That being said, we are still seeing some people wearing the mask below their nose or around their chin. It is important that the mask be worn correctly. As you know, we are treading a thin line being open like this, and if we are caught not following the rules, we will be shut down and forced to return to online instruction. Also, some of you are moving chairs closer at lunch. It is especially important during lunch that you stay six feet apart as this is when your mask is down and you are eating. That makes you more susceptible. Along with that, it is important that you put your mask back on as soon as you are finished eating. Finally, we have seen people congregating in the hallways. It is important that we try to keep social distancing measures in place, and for now, that means no hugging and no congregating in hallways.”

  For now. The words irked Lily. How long had they been hearing them? At first, the people in power had stated these measures were needed for two weeks to flatten the curve. Then, they had said the measures needed to continue to keep the case load down. Now, there were even annoying commercials reminding them that they might be missing birthdays, weddings, and funerals, but that it was only temporary. “Locking down saves lives,” the woman on the commercial said, “not forever, but for now.” However, it was beginning to feel very much like forever to Lily.

  “Now, I’m sure many of you know that we have never had an on-site nurse. However, due to the pandemic, we will this year. Her name is Ms. Dickens, and she is going to discuss some new policies with you.”

  He stepped back and a woman Lily hadn’t noticed before stepped forward. She was dressed all in black, except for the red belt that circled her waist. Her hair was so blonde that it almost appeared white - a stark contrast to her dark clothes. She moved with an effortless grace even though she carried a bulky box under her arm. After setting it on the table, she took the microphone from Mr. Shane and stared out at them. When Mr. Shane stepped away from her, she took off her mask and laid it on the table.

  “I’ll put that back on as soon as I’m done here, but I wanted to make sure you can all hear what I have to share today. First, it is nice to see you all. I hope I have the pleasure of spending more time with you in the future.” Her words were pleasant, but there was something about her voice that sent the hairs on Lily’s arms and the back of her neck standing at attention like soldiers in formation. “I see that you all have some face covering, and most of you have masks. That is good. However, it has come to our attention that plastic shields are not beneficial at blocking the virus due to the open sides and bottom. Therefore, we will no longer be allowing them. If you have one, please stay afte
r we are dismissed to pick up a mask from me.”

  She opened the box and pulled out a surgical mask which she held up. “We will have a box of these in the office and in every classroom. If you forget your mask at any time, you must get one of these to remain on campus. Are there any questions?”

  Her eyes scanned the audience, and Lily followed her gaze. A few of the unfortunate students who had been wearing a shield squirmed as her eyes landed on them, but no one raised a hand. Whether that was due to no one having questions or everyone hoping to get out of this room quicker was a toss-up.

  “Very well then. The next piece of news I have for you is good news.” She smiled out at the crowd, but it did not feel genuine. “I’m sure many of you have been following the news and heard that a wonderful philanthropist named Daman Caturix planned to use his own money to fund vaccine research.”

  Lily glanced over at Katie, her eyes wide. Daman Caturix? What did he have to do with this assembly?

  “I am pleased to announce that the first vaccine has been approved and because you are in school unlike many of your colleagues, you qualify to get the vaccine right after our first responders.”

  A girl a few rows over from Lily raised her hand. “What if we don’t want the vaccine?” she asked.

  Ms. Dicken’s eyes darkened for a second, and a chill ran down Lily’s spine at the change in her expression. But just as quickly as it came, it was gone, replaced with her forced smile.

  “Of course no one will force you to take the vaccine. However, we will not be able to lift the mask and social distance restrictions until everyone in the school is vaccinated. I’m sure none of you want that to continue.”

  Her eyes roamed the room again, and Lily’s heart stopped in her chest when the woman’s eyes met hers. She had never felt true evil, but she was fairly certain she was in the presence of it now.