The Beginning of the End by Lorana Hoopes (readict txt) 📕

“What am I looking at?” she asked, pushing up her thick black glasses. Celia was no supermodel in the looks department, but she was smart - the smartest associate he’d ever worked with.

“I don’t want to tell you yet. You just tell me what you see.” He hoped he was wrong. He was tired after all, having spent the last two months in a deep depression over the loss of his family and the last two weeks working nearly nonstop studying the NCAV. The first few samples they had received had been too small or too damaged to see much. Thankfully, or perhaps unfortunately depending on how one looked at it, there were now many more cases of NCAV in the states which meant more samples to analyze.

Celia lifted an eyebrow but obliged his wish and leaned into the microscope. “Whoa, what is that?”

So, he wasn’t going crazy. Gabe ran a hand through his dark hair and sighed. “I’m not sure, but that doesn’t look like any natural virus I’ve ever seen.”

She pushed back from the microscope and chewed on her lip. “No, it doesn’t, but what are we going to do about it?”

“We have to tell someone, right? Everything I’ve heard is that they think this came from an animal, but this proves that’s not true. Won’t that change the way we need to combat it?”

“Maybe, but…” her eyes shifted to the floor and she twisted her hands together in her lap. The moment of silence dragged out until she finally looked back up at him. “Did you lose anyone in the disappearances?”

Gabe tensed as if she’d pulled a knife on him instead of posing a simple question. Yes, he’d lost someone, three someones to be exact. The love of his life and his two children. He never spoke of them anymore though they plagued his thoughts constantly. He still wondered what had actually happened to them. The only scenario that seemed to fit was the one that sounded craziest to most people - the rapture. He knew Melinda had attended church as had his kids, but he’d attended church with them on occasion, so why would he have been left behind? Perhaps it was his scientific mind - the mind that had grappled with the idea of God’s existence and now grappled with the thought that God had taken his family away.

“I can see by your expression that you did,” she said, continuing, “I’m not surprised. I think almost everyone did. I lost my whole family.”

“I’m sorry, but what does that have to do with this?” Gabe didn’t mean to sound heartless, but he didn’t want to hear her story or reopen his own wounds. It would do neither of them any good.

“Do you remember how after they first disappeared, some people were claiming it was due to the rapture?”

Gabe would never admit it, but though many dismissed it as rubbish, he still found it the most plausible explanation. “Yeah.”

“Well, do you remember what happened to those people?” She pushed up her glasses and stared pointedly at him.

Suddenly, he understood where she was going. “They were labeled as crazy people.”

“Not only labeled. They were vilified and discredited. Some of them will probably never get a job again. I’m not saying we shouldn’t say something eventually, but we need to think about the best way first. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to keep my job.”

As would he. It was all he had left, really. “Okay, we’ll sit on it. For now.” But Gabe wondered how long he could agree. He might have a lot of faults, but integrity was one thing he prided himself on, and the churning in his gut told him he wouldn’t be able to stay silent for long.

7

“I’m sorry, sir. The virus isn’t quite as deadly as we’d hoped.” Fear billowed around the demon who cowered before Samael and Daman, and his eyes stayed glued to the ground as if he was afraid even looking in their eyes would mean instant death.

“And why is that?” Daman asked. He’d wanted the virus to be a force, to run through the population at will, so that no one felt safe, but now this man was telling him otherwise.

“I’m not sure, sir. The scientists have said that it might be that some people already had immunity to part of the strain they used to modify it. Evidently, they had to pull from old viruses to make something that would work. And it is still working,” he added quickly as if to soften the blow. “The elderly are hit especially hard as well as anyone with immune disorders. It just isn’t affecting the young and healthy in quite the same way.”

“I see.” Part of Daman wanted to rip the demon to shreds right then. He did not like being disappointed, but perhaps there was a way to play up what they could. “You say the elderly are affected?”

“Yes, sir.” The demon finally lifted his eyes as if sensing the change in Daman’s demeanor.

“And humans love their elders, correct?” Daman stroked his chin as he ran through scenarios in his mind.

“Most do, yes.”

“So, most would do anything to try and save them?” Pieces were falling into place for Daman. If the deaths alone didn’t break them, maybe he could find another way.

“I suppose so.” The demon glanced to Samael as if looking for a clue as to what Daman was thinking.

“What would inconvenience them to the point that they’d be willing to do anything to get back to quote normal?” Daman flicked his bony fingers in the gesture of quotation marks that he had seen the humans do time and again.

“Besides the lockdowns? Most places are shutting down businesses to try and stop the disease.”

“Not all places though,” Daman said quickly. “Make sure they leave the right places open. Abortion clinics, bars, drug shops, anything that appeals to the base nature of humans. Those must be allowed to continue.”

“Of course,