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

planned to put the mark of the beast in the vaccine. The time crunch pressed down on him, an invisible weighted blanket that held no comfort at all.

“They are televising him getting vaccinated?” Raven asked, leaning forward in her chair. “This has got to be a part of it, Gabe, getting the masses to want this. I can’t remember a time they’ve ever televised a vaccination before. Have you?”

He bit the inside of his lip as he mentally reviewed the information again. An increase in cases but lower deaths and hospitalizations that were being hidden. A rushed vaccine that could be associated with the mark of the beast. A televised vaccination to portray the message that the vaccine was safe. He had to find out what was in the vaccine.

“No, I haven’t either,” he said, answering her question, “but I still have nothing, Raven. Nothing that tells me how they’re putting the mark in the vaccine, how to replicate it, nothing.” He wasn’t used to feeling like he had no control, and he didn’t like it.

“It’s okay. We’ll figure something out. It will take some time to get it to the people on the front lines who want it before they start mandating it.”

“Yeah, but what about Candace? She’ll be one of the first pressured to take it, won’t she?” Gabe had yet to meet the beloved doctor, but she was forefront on his mind in all of this.

“Candace has the same information that we do. She may not have been able to make it down lately, but we’ve been emailing. She’s prepared to quit if she has to when the time comes. Until then, let’s just pray we figure something out.”

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