Under the over hang as the soldiers start to unload another round of stretchers from the back of the military truck, Dr. Aster stands observing quietly. A young woman in her late 20's with a thin, athletic frame, brown hair in a ponytail, small light pink plastic glasses on her face and a ID badge that reads Dr. Susan Aster on it. " How is it going out here dear?", said Dr. Susan Aster. " Fine just a little bender bender, but nothing too major!... How is it going inside!", said Dr. Kevin Aster. " " Not as exciting as you!... The latest cure serum has failed again!.. I'm beginning to think we might never find any solution to this before the population dies out!.. We have to go back to the drawing board again, and by time we get another viable serum, our test subjects will die off!", said Dr. Susan Aster. " What attempt was this?", said Dr. Kevin Aster. " It was number 931!... I'm not sure we can find one in time!", said Dr. Susan Aster. Dr. Kevin Aster looks down at his clip board and says," I know someone who might be able to help!"
Back in 2177, The Group Leader continues to remain unconscious, hanging from the hook on the motorized conveyor line in the old hotel laundry room. Like a drunk trying to stay awake after a night of hard drinking the Group Leader fights to open his eyes as the stress of the the numerous beatings and the torture he has endured is just too much for the rapid healing cells in his body to take. His body and mind both stretched to it's limit, the Group Leader starts to rifle off unclear gibberish out of his mouth. " The brbrbradadada, the Grmmmm is......door....home.... end...hmmmmmm!", said the Group Leader. Axel watching patiently from an old plastic faded yellow mild carton, staring on at some sign of opportunity to get at least a glimmer of hope for the information he is hoping to extract from the mind of the Group Leader. The Group Leader slowly lifts his head up for a second looking around, his eyes half open as if he were squinting at the sun, he looks on at Axel and straight through him and a half smile comes over his face. Axel notices these actions and stares right back at the Group Leader, turns his head and looks behind him to see if anyone was behind him or if there was something else the Group Leader was studying. " What are you looking for?.. Or is there something you have to say to me oh fearless one!".. Either way you look like you have something to say to me, so what is it?.. Are you going to tell me what I want to know?", said Axel. The Group Leader just stares blankly at Axel , he turns his head to the side and back up, still with the same half smile on his face. " What is it?.. You know that your actions are not going to keep me from asking, so you might as well keep faking this act and tell me all I want to know... To know about the journals, where they are, the serum, the blueprints to the machine, what it is and just who the fuck you actually are?... Because I think there is more to you then we know!.. I think you hold more interesting secrets then anyone of us!", said Axel. Axel slowly walks up to the Group Leader as a faint whisper comes out of the mouth of the Group Leader in hopes of hearing his answer."2022....hahaha!...dude,brlrrrrrbbbbbada...grrrrrrhaamm..hme!"
The Group Leader smiles closes his eyes, and slumps his head back down as he slips back into an unconscious state. " Oh for fuck sakes!!!!!... I will get what I want out of you old man!... You cannot keep resisting forever!"
Keith walks up to the railing on landing of the broken south stairwell, joining Maria and Paulina who are looking out into the dark void of the treacherous abyss. Maria holds out her lantern over the railing, her and Paulina look down and around in search of the next stairwell landing. " What's the good word ladies?", said Keith. " Well, look who decided to join us!.. Guess your erection finally went down and you could finally walk here!", said Maria. " I don't know what you are talking about?.. I just needed to regain my composure with all the Axel shit!", said Keith. " Oh please!.. I could feel it spring to attention the moment I kissed you!... I am impressed, but keep the beast caged until we get out of here if you can?.. I know it's hard, the trying not to get excited.. not your erection!.. We all saw how hard it gets!', said Maria. Keith looks at Paulina and he said," You told?" Paulina turns around and replies," Dude, I didn't have to say anything, Maria brought it up when I met up with her here!.. We just talked about it, don't worry though you still have a chance with her!" The two women giggle like a couple of school girls looking at a high school crush. Keith rolls his eyes as his face turns a light shade of red from the embarrassment he is feeling and says,"Well, this may just be the most embarrassing moment of my life thus far!" " Oh I'm sure there will be something to replace it!... Don't be too embarrassed though, you're not the first person to have that happen and surely not the last!.. Like Paulina said it didn't ruin your chances at all!", said Maria. " Really!", said Keith with a tone of relief to his voice. " Yes!.. Now come over here and help us find the next landing, we can't seem to find it, we can get back to what is going on here with you and me later!", said Maria as she turns, looks at Keith with sweet and sexy smile. Keith looks down the empty, dark stairwell and says," This looks worse then I thought it would be!" " Yes,it does!.. We can't seem to locate another stairwell landing, it seems that this stairwell could be without no safe landing to climb down to!", said Maria. Maria keeps shining the light down, she pulls it back up and says," I just don't see anything!... If there is nothing there then we have no where to go and if there is it could be further down then we made the rope." " Well there is only one way to check!", said Keith. " How, the gamma lantern only shows so much?", said Maria. " Like this!', said Keith as he picks up a small piece of concrete and drops it off the landing to the void below and patiently listens for a sound. Within 45 seconds a sound of the small concrete rock hitting a landing surface is heard. " There we go!.. There is something down there!... It's not hopeless yet!",said Keith. " Yeah, but that could be 4 or five floors down, I don't know if we have enough rope?", said Maria. Keith grabs the makeshift rope and securely ties it to the metal railing with a constrictor knot and throws it over the railing and said,"There is only one way to find out" "You're loco!.. If the landing is too far down you could be hanging there and could not have enough strength to get back up!.. You could fall!", exclaims Maria. Keith climbs over the railing , holding the rope and says as he is about to decent down it," We have to take that chance!...There is no telling what is being done to our friends right now by Axel!" Maris leans over and kisses Keith, he smiles, winks and begins to slowly descend down the makeshift rope made up of old linen.
Axel slaps the face of the unconscious Group Leader hanging helpless from the conveyor hook, his head slumped down, not feeling the blow he just received, totally unaware. " Come on old man!.. Wake up!..I know you can hear me, now wake up and tell me what I want to hear and not another Pops Brilliant story, yet!.. I will need that later, but for now I need you to tell me who the hell you exactly you are?.. Are you Patient Alpha, the one who supposedly has the power of a god, the power to heal instantly and from what I heard live forever!.. Because I believe you are!.. If so, you are proof that the stories are not just a tall tale told to treasure hunters and children.", said Axel. The Group Leader continues to hang totally unconscious, with no response to Axel's demands. Axel reaches back and strikes the Group Leader in the rib cage and as his fist hits the sound of cracking bone echoes throughout the quiet, abandoned laundry room. "SON OF A BITCH!!!!!!!", said Axel. Greg stands behind Axel as Axel continues to hit the Group Leader with body blows like he was Rocky Balboa. " And I thought I had anger issue!.. Why do you get to hit him and I don't?", said Greg. Axel turns around, his face looking straight into the massive chest of Greg. He looks up and says to Greg," Yeah, well he was going to say something in his last story, I could feel it and then he passes out!.. Now all that comes out of his mouth when he is partially conscious is the odd actual word and the rest a bunch of gibberish!" " What do you hope to get out of the Group Leader while he is in this state anyway?", asks Greg. Axel turns to the unconscious Group Leader and replies," I hope that in his state he will slip up and mention something, that his mind will be too weak and that he will tell us where exactly where those journals are, they hold the keys to make more of that serum we have and to so many other things like what in the hell is the machine in those blueprints!... But, most of all I am hoping that he is the myth come to life!...Patient Alpha!" Greg rolls his eyes and replies," Oh come on!... You don't really believe that shit!... I mean the journals I can see, the serum, yes because I have seen it!... But, to actually believe that he is the one who lives and continues to live until the end of time is ridiculous!!!" " Oh, he is! I can feel it!.. It is not a myth just like the other things!", said Axel. " For god sakes!.. The actual story of Patient Alpha, is that after some residual signs of speed healing & a chance of a longer life, the serum mutated, making him insane and burning down the entire research facility with him in in it!", said Greg. "Then how did they cure the remaining population and stop the plague if that happened?", asks Axel. " The scientists escaped and had all the info, they just altered it!",said Greg. " No!.. You are wrong my large mountainous friend!... That story is the myth, they used that particular serum just that once and then altered it so no one could have this power!.. Then they hid him so no one could find him and use Patient Alpha to try and make more!", replies Axel. "You have the serum, why not try it and find out if it is the real thing and not just a joke!", asks Greg. " No, that's for The White Dragon, he paid me, but if I could find the journal that has the formula I could make it and not just be immortal, but sell it!", exclaims Axel. " I think this basement air is getting to you bro!... Just tell me one more thing, how do expect to get him to say anything to you in this unconscious state, it's just as bad if not worse then when he was awake resisting my torture techniques?", asks Greg. " Oh it's only a matter of time!.. It will happen eventually!", said Axel. Axel and Greg stand and stare at the Group Leader unconscious, Greg said,"What do you think is going on in his mind right now?" " I don't know, could be anything!", replies Axel
The sunlight tries to breakthrough the vertical grey fabric blinds that hang over the sliding doors to the small wooden balcony of the back unit of the fourplex Jack lives in on the 4th of June in 2022. The living room, it's light tan carpeting catches the little bit of light that manages to creep its way in throughout the blinds revealing a scattered array of photos on the floor, some DVD's and a pile of dirty clothes against the light brown wall. On the white leather couch James sits, his once fit body frame now sickly and weak turned white from the plague and from the lack of sunlight. In front of him on the light oak coffee table with a glass insert sits a half drank bottle of 12 year old scotch and a glass that has just recently been poured a shot in it. His green eyes that were once full of light and life, now have red in the iris, a partial effect from the sickness that is ahold of him and from the excessive drinking to drown his sorrows. Jack holds in his hand the photo of himself all healthy and fit, a light beard with shades of grey in it not dealing showing his 45 years of life and a freshly shaved bald head wearing a burgundy t-shirt with a faded symbol of The Flash on it. In it he is smiling mischievously, his eyes wide open as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. Next to him a petite,yet fit girl with long blondish brown hair sits next to him in white tank top that shows clearly the black lace bra underneath and circular tan polished stone necklace around her neck. Her face is turned kissing Jack on the cheek passionately. Jack grabs the glass of scotch and takes a big swig from it finishing it in one sip. Tears flow down his eyes and he begins to cough uncontrollably, he holds his right hand in front of his face as he does so, removes it to see a handful of blood in the palm of his hand. Jack gets up from the couch and to the small white wooden island with greyish pink countertop while still holding the picture in the other hand Jack gently places it down on the countertop, turns the tap to the sink on and washes the blood from his hand. As the blood completely disappears from his hand Jack starts to cough again spitting out even more blood into the running water of the sink. As the coughing finally starts to subside, Jack places his mouth under the running water, wetting his bushy greyish, brown beard and swishes some of it around and spits it back into the sink removing the excess blood from his mouth and watches it swirl in a counter clockwise motion down the drain. He shuts off the water, grabs a nearby t-towel and wipes the water off his right hand and then proceeds to wipe the water tom his face. Jack looks down at the picture on the countertop and says," Not much longer my love!.. Soon I will see you again!.. This plague will soon take my life and we will be together again!...... Come on death what are you waiting for?... Just do it already because when you do I will finally see her again!"
The mixed sounds of the wind howling outside, the rain hitting the weathered old concrete walls and the thunder booming echoes throughout the hollow, dark south stairwell. Raindrops come pouring in through a hole the size of a 75cm swiss ball like a waterfall against the back wall. Keith slowly moves his hands down the make shift rope inch by inch, careful not slip with the gamma lantern hanging from the clip on his backpack. He suddenly stops a third of the way down the rope, the light from the lantern not yet showing any sign of the next available landing. Keith closes his eyes, breathes deep, still clutching onto the makeshift rope. " ARE YOU ALRIGHT?", yells out Maria from the the 9th floor stairwell landing. " Yes, just needed to take a small breather!", replies Keith. " I think you should have let me go first!", exclaims Maria. " Yeah, I think you should have let Maria go first!", repeats Paulina. " You're just so brave there Paulina!", said Maria. " Hey I was just agreeing with you!", replies Paulina. " Okay, it really sounded like it!", said Maria. " Hey, if you two are going to have a girl fight can you at least wait till I am on solid ground and can enjoy the hair pulling and possible clothes ripping!", yells Keith. " Men!.. Your mind always goes straight to the sexual!", said Maria. " No arguments there!... I admit it, it's our little head that does that thinking for us!", Keith said with a chuckle. Keith slowly starts to climb down the rope again inch by inch looking down as he descends to catch a glimpse of an intact stairwell landing. " Well in your case that would be the big head by the size of the erection you had!", exclaims Paulina. Keith starts laughing and has to stop his descent, he shakes his head and replies," And you called me a pervert!" The sound of the walkie talkie crackling adds a new sound to the empty stairwell with the sound of Axel's voice echoing out of it." How close are you guys to finishing that rope and making your way down?...Because I am beginning to think that you are lying to me!", said Axel. Maria takes the walkie talkie off her belt and replies," We are not lying to you!... We want to make this rope right or it could break and we would fall down the stairwell and then where would you be without our help?... Nowhere that's where! Because we would be dead and you would be screwed and die down there, so give us a break already!!!!.... And if you want to really go there, we still haven't heard the rest of that story you promised!" " Okay, take it easy there!! I believe you!... You latino women sure do have a temper!..The rest of you rest of your story will be told when the Group Leader wakes back up, I just wanted to check!", said Axel " Okay good and the rope will be done in about a couple hours, if you stop disturbing us!", said Maria. " Man you have a temper!...That timeline sounds good, just let me know when you are done it as I have shown you the same courtesy with the progress on the stories!", said Axel. " Fair enough!... We will do that, if it keeps you from breaking our concentration!", said Maria. " You are all heart!....... By the way why isn't Keith talking to me?", said Axel. " I am going to do the talking from now on, you just get him so mad that he can't work and it slows us down!... Is that cool with you or do you not like a woman putting you in your place?", said Maria. " No, I mean yes!... You know what I mean!... I'm gong to go now so that you all can get finished!", said Axel. " Well it's about time, I don't have time to fuck around with you, we have a rope to make!", said Maria. The walkie talkie goes dead and Maria places it back on her belt. Keith looks up the rope and says," I have never enjoyed any conversation more then I have enjoyed that one!... You are my hero!" " Thank you, I enjoyed putting that little shit in his place too!", said Maria. Keith starts climbing down the rope again and says, " I wonder how his fragile ego is going to handle that!"
" FUCK!!!!...COCKSUCKING, MOTHERFUCKING ASSHOLES!!!!!... How the fuck long does it take to make that rope?", yells Axel. " You know they are stalling you, trying to figure out a way to stop us!..Don't you?", said Greg. " No!!!!.... I was yelling at the top of my lungs for the hell of it!..Of course I knew!",said Axel. " Then why are you yelling if you knew they were stalling you?",asks Greg. " Because they keep using the same excuse and because the Group Leader is still unconscious thanks to you, and he can't give us any info!... I just want to get the fuck out of this crappy basement, find those journals to get the info I needed!", said Axel " Hey, don't forget, you told me to torture him to get the info out of him but he never cracked!.. How was I to know that this would happen!", replied Greg. Axel grabs a cigarette out of his pants pocket along with a silver lighter and lights his smoke, he takes drag of the cigarette to calm his nerves and says,"You didn't, there was no way of knowing!... I don't mean to get to lay the blame on you, it's just that all of this is just getting so frustrating!" " It's all good bro!... So, what's the plan now?", said Greg as the two men look on at the Group Leader still hanging front he hook unconscious. Axel sticks out the pack of cigarette's in Greg's general direction offering him a smoke. Greg removes a cigarette from the package, Axel lights it for him and the two men stand staring at the Group Leader as if he were a painting hanging in an art gallery. " I don't know, I guess I just keep asking him and hopefully he might say something!..That's all I can do, because no one else here has the info we want!", said Axel. " Sounds like a decent plan!...Let's go out into the hall and finish these smokes, he's not going anywhere!", said Greg. " Okay!.... I do have to admit one thing though!". said Axel as he and Greg start to walk out of the room towards the exit door. "What's that?", asks Greg. " You did a hell of a job, I mean I think you knocked him into another reality!", said Axel as he and Greg exit the room, shutting the door behind them and laughing. The Group Leader hangs motionless like a slab of beef in a meat packing plant. Samantha's ghost appears again hovering in front of the Group Leader, tears flow down her face as she looks on at the beaten, exhausted and tortured body of her love. She places her hands on the cheeks of the Group Leader and kisses his lips in hopes it would wake him. The Group Leader continues to remain unconscious so Samantha's ghost tries again and says," Come on my love!... Wake up, I need you to wake up!... Don't let them break you!.. Please says something!" The Group Leader's eyes open slightly and look at the bright green eyes of Samantha and he starts to mumble," Hmmmmmmmm, pretty, brrrrbaaabbbrrr!... frrrrnnniieed Graaaahmmm!"A cloudy expression with a half smile covers the face of the Group Leader as he looks on at Samantha's confused look. After thinking for a minute the answer comes to her on what the Group Leader was trying to say. " Okay, I will my love I will do that!" ,said Samantha's Ghost. The Group Leader smiles and falls back asleep, Samantha strokes her ghostly hand across the soft skin of the Group Leader's bald head and says,"Rest my love, I will be back!" Samantha smiles and disappears and the room falls silent with only the faint sound of Greg and Axel laughing outside the door to the laundry room.
The scene changes back to 2022, a dark blue Dodge Ram extended cab truck, pulls in off Highway 12 and into the city of Martinsville, Sask., it drives past the lights on 4th Street, passing the Vet Hospital and turns left. The truck keeps going down to the end of the block until it reaches four plex situated right beside a medical clinic and stops, parking across the street from it. Out of the truck cab a large, well built man resembling a professional wrestler with short black hair with a touch of grey in it wearing a some tan cargo shorts, a t-shirt that clings to his muscles that says RCMP on it and a pair of black sandals on his feet makes his way across the street. The man gets halfway across the street, stops and looks round, not a single person is in sight, no sounds of children playing, music blaring or cars driving around. On several front doors on the adjacent blocks there is a large red P in a circle signifying that the plague is in that home. The silence is broken by the sound of CH-149 Cormorant Search and Rescue helicopter flies overhead in the red sky. The man closes his eyes for a second, takes a deep breath and makes his day towards the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road. The man walks up to the walkway on the left side of the of the four-plex and approaches the back unit that also has the large red P in a circle on it. He rings the door bell and waits. The phone in the man's pocket starts to ring and he answers it saying,"Yes! Good!.. Glad I could be of use and hopefully it works!...I don't know!...I think so!" The man impatient by no answer walks to the back of the four-plex, he see's the black Honda Civic sitting in the parking stall, looks up at the balcony and see's the blinds are closed. He makes his way back towards the door while still on the phone saying,"You have one!...That's great!" The man knocks aggressively at the door and rings the doorbell too and within a few seconds Jack answers the door in a pair of grey boxer briefs and a black tank top, both with holes in them in all the wrong places. A grin of amusement comes over the face of the man who says to the person on the phone," I don't know, I will let you know!...I am going to find out for you in a bit!...Goodbye!" Jack looks surprised to see the face of his good friend Graham standing there and he says,"What the hell are you doing coming to the door while in my underwear?" Graham laughs and replies, " Well, you could have put on some pants!" "What are you doing here?.. You shouldn't be here, you will get sick!", said Jack. " It's alright, I have been immunized!...You look like shit though!", said Graham. Graham walks up to Jack and embraces him in a manly embrace saying,"It's good to see you bud!" " You must be immunized because no one else would risk that with someone who has the plague!... It's good to see you too!... What brings you here?", said Jack. " I need to talk to you, I need your help!", said Graham as he releases Jack from his hug. " Jack opens the door to his home and says," Come on in and tell me!" Graham walks in and Jack closes the door behind him.
Back in 2177 Axel walks back into the old hotel laundry room, followed by Greg, he finishes the remaining cigarette from in his mouth and drops it on the concrete floor and crushes it under the his left foot. " Well, what do you propose we do now?", asks Greg. " I am going keep trying to see if I can get anything out of him and you are going to go an check on Hannah and Grace to make sure they haven't killed one another!" ,said Axel. " Okay, but if you need me to come back and help , just radio me on channel 4!", said Greg. Axel nods his head in agreement as Greg walks out of room and walks up to the unconscious Group Leader and throws a small pebble from off the ground and says,"Wakey, wakey!... Come on you asshole let's see those green eyes of yours, I want to talk to you!" The Group Leader opens his eyes a bit, struggling to keep his head up and says," Huh!" " That's better, now where are the Pops Brilliant journals?... Come on tell me!", exclaims Axel. "brbbbbaa, haha, hey Graham!... Graham, journals?", said the Group Leader and falls back asleep. "Fucking son of a bitch!.. What the hell does that mean?", said Axel. Axel picks up chunk of broken concrete from off the ground and throws it across the room saying," Fucking Greg!... His brain is so scrambled!... I don't even know what the hell he is saying and who the hell Graham is!"
Graham walks up the tan carpeted steps up into the small living area with the kitchen attached. He stops and looks around at the dust covered 55inch flat screen Samsung television screen, a pile of dirty clothes lying on the floor in front of the brown cloth couch that sits in front of the kitchen island. On that couch a pile of notebooks, and photos lie scattered across it. Under the coffee table sits a couple of pizza boxes, and numerous food wrappers. The only thing on the coffee table is a pile of kleenex with blood stains on them, the half drank bottle of 12 year old scotch, a whiskey glass beside it and a silver MacBook Pro open with a screensaver flashing numerous pictures of Jack and the girl from the picture. " I can see you are doing well, and living the dream!", said Graham. Jack laughs and starts to cough as he does, he runs into the kitchen and coughs out more blood into the sink again, Jack lifts his head, runs the water in the sink washing the blood down the drain, grabs a glass from beside the sink, fills it and takes a mouthful of water swishing it around and spits it back into the sink. Jack shuts off the tap and says,"You know it!... It's the only way to live!... Like a rock star!" " Haha! fair enough my friend, but seriously how have you been?", said Graham. " I'm fine, just dying a bit!", said Jack. " Yeah, I see that!...... I see you have been writing?", said Graham. " Not really, just a little biographical screenplay! It's just for me, the world is ending anyway, so it doesn't seem to be any use to make after all Hollywood has halted all productions, if you haven't noticed the world is a ghost town!.... But you seem to be one of the lucky ones getting immunized before the virus could infect you!", said Jack. Jack walks towards the white leather couch and plops down on it as Graham stands in silence at the words of defeat that came out of Jacks mouth. "Yes I am, but I was....", said Graham before Jack interrupts him saying,"If you say you were one of the lucky ones, you can leave right now, no offence but all my life I've seen the lucky ones always on top, while others suffered!" " Someones a little touchy!... This isn't the Jack I knew, the one I called my friend!", said Graham. " Yeah, well when you have someone take away your entire world, then you would be a little irritated!",exclaimed Jack. Graham stands in silence for a minute not knowing what to say and to also regain his composure knowing that his longtime friend has been in a lot of pain. " Look bud, I didn't come here to argue!.. What's happening out there right now in the world is an extinction level event of humanities own doing!... But we still have a chance to save the world, to let the human race survive!", said Graham. " So, is this what you came here to talk to me about?.. The possibility of a cure that doesn't exist!", said Jack. "It does, the smartest scientific minds have been working tirelessly and they think they finally found a cure.", said Graham. " That's really comforting, they think!... They thought they found one before and it didn't work!", said Jack. " No, this time they really did!", said Graham. " Why do I feel a but coming on here!", said Jack. "You are right there is a but!.. They are short of people with advanced plague, in fact they have none!..Most of the test subjects have died or don't want to volunteer...It seems that the remaining population has resigned to just dying out!", said Graham. Jack starts typing in his laptop furiously and within a few seconds is finished and closes the laptop and says,"So you want me to be the guinea pig then!", said Jack. " Yes, I came here to ask that!... If it works then you can live on and help restart a whole new chapter in the human race, if it doesn't then you will get what I see you want!", said Graham. " What's that?", asks Jack. " To finally die, to be with Samantha again!", said Graham. Jack musters the strength to get up off the couch and walks up to Graham with a purpose, points his finger towards the door and in a quiet, but yet stern voice says,"Don't you dare say her name, you have no right!... You can leave now!" "You are still blaming me for what happened to her aren't you?... I told you I had no control over how people are prosecuted, I called in many favours to people I knew at the detachment here to help find those responsible!... I thought you would let that go, but you are just a selfish bitter man!", exclaims Graham. " LEAVE!....NOW!!!!", yells Jack. "I am!.. You used to be the nicest person I knew, someone who would always help anyone, but now when the chance to help the world comes along you just want to sit here, feel sorry for yourself and wait to die while others are dying as well!", said Graham. A look of intensity comes over the face of Jack as he looks at his longtime friend Graham with a glare that could cut glass and says," You know it!... The world has always been a messed up place!... I used to think it was full of hope and good people, but the fact is that it is a cold, selfish place!... Let it die, let it all die!..Now I'm not going to ask you again, please leave!", said Jack. Graham starts to walk away, he takes two steps down the stairs, stops, turns his head and says,"That must also mean my daughter too you selfish asshole!...She has early signs of the plague, but I guess her life is insignificant too!!.. You aren't the only one who has lost someone you know, she is all I have left, but that doesn't matter to you!!!...You really aren't the person I used to know, I hope you enjoy what's left of your life you prick!", exclaims Graham. Graham walks down the carpeted steps in hurry and out the door, slamming it behind him. Jack stands for a second motionless in the middle of his living room, he looks around the room, starts to make his way towards the bottle of scotch and out of the corner of his eye catches a glimpse of a picture of himself and Samantha, Graham and his wife Jessie and their daughter Heather all on vacation together in London laughing and smiling in the Tower Of London. Jack picks up the picture and looks at with a smile on his face, and he notices another picture from the same vacation. He picks up the small stack of pictures and as if being given a kick in the ass by god he notices all the pictures are all the happy times the two couples had together. Jack puts the pictures down on the counter top of the kitchen island, runs down the stairs and out the door after Graham.
Jack runs out of the side entrance door to his four-plex living accommodations, the screen door swings in the wind and finally starts to close slightly with it sticking an inch open in the door frame. The sickness in his body makes it hard for him to run, winding Jack instantly as he exits the house. Jack momentarily catches his breath, coughs and coughs standing on the raised piece of concrete in front of his door and spits out a small amount of blood and mucus onto the brown grass outside the neighbouring chain link fence. Jack catches his bearings and begins to move again in order to catch up with Graham who has gotten a good 2 min head start on him and in Jack's condition seems like 15min. Jack reaches the sidewalk in front of the four-plex to see Graham entering the driver's side door of the dark blue Dodge Ram 4x4 extended cab. Knowing that he only has minutes to get to Graham's truck before he drives away, Jack musters what energy he has left in his body and runs like a marathoner finishing that last few feet to the finish line. Inside the truck Graham buckles his seatbelt, and skips through songs on the flash drive he has plugged into the stereo system. He pauses for a second, pulls a picture out of the wallet he has situated in the console beside him of himself and his 13 year old daughter Heather. As he stares at the bright and happy face of his daughter in the picture he knows that soon the effects of the plague will take over and her once long brown, wavy hair will grow thin and stringy, her skin pale , eyes bloodshot, fits of coughing which eventually lead to the coughing up of blood and then a mixture of blood and mucus. Finally the body cannot stay hydrated and you dry up like a raisin and die. All these horrors that await his only child brings tears to the eyes of Graham and he balls up his fist and starts beating on the dashboard of the truck in anger. Graham leans his head, face down against the steering wheel of the truck and starts to cry. Graham is shaken out of his moment of sadness by the sound of fist knocking on the window of the driver's side door. He looks to see the sickly, pale face of his friend Jack standing there all out of breath and starting to cough up blood & mucus again on the asphalt. Graham wipes the tears from his eyes and presses a button on the door and rolls down the driver's side window. " What do you want?", said Graham. "I am going to help you!", said Jack. " Not that I am not appreciative but what changed your mind so quickly?", asked Graham. Jack starts to cough again and spits out another pile of mucus and blood, he wipes the residue off on his right arm and says," You know how I said I had no one left!... Well that's a lie, I realized I do!.. It's you and Heather, you two are the only family I have left!.. Can you forgive an old fool such as me?", said Jack. Graham exits the truck, wraps his large muscular arms around Jack and replies," Of course I can, your my friend and my brother from another mother!...Now let's get you in the truck and to the testing facility before you collapse in the street!" " Agreed!... There is no time to waste!..We need to get going!", says a weak and fatigued Jack. Graham wraps his right arm around the waist of Jack to help him stay balanced and mobile, Graham helps Jack to the passenger side of the truck, opens the door and lifts him in the cab and shuts the door. Moving as fast as The Flash, Graham runs around the front of the truck and quickly hops in the drivers seat, spinning the large tires of the truck as he speeds away from the small quiet city.
The hotel walls shake furiously from the rapid thunder strikes that boom across the sky as dust comes off the ceiling and the walls inside the walls of the hidden corridors. The Shadowy Figure, his backpack strung over his back tightly slowly climbs down the iron ladder passing the 6th floor he loses his grip slightly as the shaking gets rougher and rougher. The Shadowy Figure falls from the ladder and lands on his right shoulder on the concrete landing in front of the iron ladder on the 5th floor. The Shadowy Figure groans in agony at the pain from the fall, he clutches his shoulder with his left hand and rolls around in pain as dust falls from the ceiling above onto his face. "ARGGHHHHH!!!!!", yells the Shadowy Figure as he tries to get up from the ground. He slowly sits up still clutching his right shoulder, the Shadowy Figure tries to lift his shoulder with no luck. He glances it over and notices his shoulder is dislocated, The Shadowy Figure slowly lifts himself up off the ground inside the hidden corridor of the 5th floor and imitating a scene from Lethal Weapon 2 slams his dislocated right shoulder into the brick exterior wall popping it back into place letting out a scream that would wake the dead. The Shadowy Figure fighting the pain from the fall and from putting his own shoulder back in place walks very gingerly towards the exit from the hidden corridor. As he approaches the secret door to the 5th floor entrance from the hidden corridor, the Shadowy Figure sits down for a second in front of it to regain his strength. After 5min the Shadowy Figure stands back up and opens the secret door and walks into darkened 5th floor room. Leaving the door to the secret corridor open the Shadowy Figure lights the gamma lantern on his backpack and makes his way towards a large leather armchair, he removes his backpack placing it beside the chair, places the lantern on a small oak desk beside the chair and sits down in the leather armchair resting his sore and tired body. He reaches into his backpack and pulls out a first edition copy of John Milton's Paradise Lost and starts to read it. As he scans through the pages of the classic book a female voice says," There you are Graham!"
Maria and Paulina stand, looking over the legal railing of the 9th floor landing shining their respective gamma lanterns over the edge to illuminate the darkened void of the damaged south stairwell. Below them about three floors down to be exact, Keith descends down the make shift rope, his gamma lantern hanging off his backpack, inch by inch stopping he stops every five meters to check the surroundings below him to see if there is any sign of an available and safe concrete landing to one of the other floors. Up above on the 9th floor Maria holds her breath every time that Keith stops scared that he might lose his griper that the rope might break sending him plummeting to a certain death. "Is everything alright there, do you see anything?', yells Maria. Keith looks up, suspended over the void of uncertainty below and exclaims," For the hundredth time everything is alright!... I am glad that you are worried about me, but asking every time I stop really doesn't help!" " Sorry, I was just checking, this is making me nervous!.. More nervous then when I had a match!", said Maria. " I totally understand, I'm sorry for yelling!... I'm just used to people second guessing me, this is actually the first time someone has been concerned about me!", said Keith. " Oh my god!...Can you two continue this when we get down from here, so that when I puke it won't fall on Keith's head!", said Paulina. Maria starts to chuckle at the comment from Paulina and Keith says," Yes!..I really don't feel like wearing your lunch on my head!" " Good, now like Maria asked, do you see any safe landing?" Keith looks down below him noticing nothing but a yet another unusable and missing landing and stairs. " There is nothing here just more of the same as the last two floors!", said Keith. " Shit!!!!.....How much rope do you figure we have left?", asks Maria. " I figure that we have enough left to reach the next floor!....Just barely though!", said Keith. Maria turns to Paulina and says," This is not good!... If we don't find a safe landing on the next floor I don't know if Keith will have the strength to make his way back up!" " Oh, I'm sure he will, he's a lot tougher then he looks!", said Paulina. " Hey, you may be way up there but your voices still echo in this stairwell and I can hear you!... Don't worry I can make it back up if I have to!... I have faith there is a landing below!", said Keith. " Okay!.. But be careful!", yells Maria. " You are sweet to be concerned about me, but like I said I am f...", said Keith as he slowly climbs down the rope and loses his grip slipping down it another couple of meters before grabbing ahold of it. " Oh my god!!!!", yells Maria. " Before you ask, I am alright don't worry!", said Keith. Keith slowly starts to climb down so more, up above him near the 7th floor a small tear appears in the rope unheard by the commotion below.
"Haha!...grm, grm!... You've got to know when to hold'em,haha!", mumbles the Group Leader still in his half conscious state. " What?... What are you saying?... You make no sense!", said Axel in frustration. The Group Leader, his eyes half open look at Axel and starts to laugh, then begins to break out into a verse of Kenny Rogers, The Gambler. Axel's face turns red with anger, walks up to the Group Leader and yells," What the hell is that supposed to mean!... Are you mocking me or do you think that you can put your answer into a riddle in hopes I won't be able to figure it out!... You're not so smart! I will figure it out!" The Group Leader continues to sing the chorus to The Gambler and then laughs again. Axel looks around the laundry room, beside the old rusted out industrial washing machine a metal stepping stool sits, Axel makes his way over to it and grabs the stool. The Group Leader with a dazed look on his face as if he had just smoked a big bag of weed and continues to sing the same chorus over and over again," You've got to know when to hold 'em! Know when to fold 'em.Know when to walk away.And know when to run.You never count your money,when you're sittin' at the table! There'll be time enough for count in',when the dealin's done!" Axel places the stool in front of the Group Leader and slaps him across the face and yells," WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN!!!!.... I will figure out your little code!" " It's not a code!...It's a song!", said Greg. "What?", said Axel with a surprised look on his face. " It's an old song lyric from a popular country song called The Gambler by Kenny Rogers!", said Greg. " How do you know that?", asks Axel. " My dad got the album from his dad before the plague and used to play it quite a bit, it's actually quite the catchy tune!", said Greg. " You mean he is not giving me some secret code to the journals?",asks Axel. " Nope, I'm afraid that he is still so out of it that he is singing!", replies Greg. "Son of a bitch!... This is your fault!", yells Axel. " My fault, how is it my fault he is singing an old country song?... Could be worse he could be yodelling!", Says Greg with a laugh. "You think this is funny?... If you hadn't have beaten him so bad we would be actually be able to get some information out of him!", exclaims Axel. " My fault!... Look it was you that told me to keep torturing him in hopes that he says something, not to mention the fact that you wanted to see if he was Patient Alpha!...Besides he wasn't giving any info when he was coherent, so keep lying to yourself and blame me!" " You can leave and don't come back until you have something beneficial to help get the info I need!", yells Axel. Greg clenches his large fists in anger, walks up to Axel, looks him straight in the eyes with great intensity and turns and punches the Group Leader in the face as if he were a punching bag hanging there. The Group Leader falls back into an unconscious state and Greg starts to walks away, but then pauses and says," Try and get your info out of him now asshole!" Greg walks out of the laundry room and Axel turns and yells at him," Fuck you, you fucking asshole!... When he wakes up again I will get that info!" " I just have to figure out what in the hell he is talking about!", says Axel to himself.
Jack sits silently looking out at the water droplets that are starting to appear on the side of the passenger side window slowly at first an then start to pick up speed as Graham's truck accelerates down the Highway 12. Graham switches on the windshield wipers as the windshield becomes difficult to see out of. The silence between Graham and Jack has become awkward with not a word being spoken to each other since they left the street outside of Jack's house in Martinsville 10min ago. In the background of the silent truck cab the Johnny Cash song"Hurt" plays at low volume, Jack starts to sing along with the song at a low vocal tone.As the song finishes Graham adjusts the setting on the windshield wipers to high, which is still not enough to keep up with the ever increasing ferocity of the storm. " This is sure some storm!", says Graham breaking the awkward silence. " Yes it is!, they have gotten worse since the conflict!",exclaims Jack. Graham looks out of the windshield not knowing what to say after Jack's comment. " Hey bud, I want to say thank you again for agreeing to do this, it means a lot to me and to Heather!... She always thought the world of you!", said Graham. " Like I said earlier, you are the closest thing I have left to family!.. Everyone else has been taken away by the plague or the conflict.", replies Jack. Graham speeds down the highway, swerving back and forth to avoid the cars that litter the roadway as if he were in a high speed chase in a Hollywood action movie. "I need to say one more thing!", said Graham. " What is it?",asks Jack. " I want to apologize for not being there for you lately!.. You went through a lot with losing Samantha, the trial, it wasn't easy on you!!.. Then you get the plague!... You were, are my brother!... Hope you didn't feel like I abandoned you and I understand why you are upset, you went through a lot!... I'm sorry for rambling on here, I just don't want to be any hurt feelings between us brother.", said Graham. " There is no need for an apology bud, you did lots for me to try and help bring Samantha's assailant's to justice!.. When they got off I was looking to blame someone for it and sadly I blamed you bud, I have been living in a whirlpool of self pity and anger....You should be the one angry at me!.. Because if I hadn't been in that state I would have been there for you and Heather when Jaylene was taken by the plague, I was a fool, can you ever forgive me!", said Jack as tears start to flow down from his eyes. Graham turns down the stereo as he continues to accelerate his speed in the blue Dodge Ram as he enters the city limits of Saskatoon heading south down Idylwyld towards the downtown core and the Sid Buckwald Bridge. " Oh my friend, I have to be honest I was a little angry at you, but then I remembered that you were going through things to!...It just kills me to see you so defeated, it's totally not the Jack I knew!", said Graham. " Guess we are both guilty and being angry and bitter!", said Jack. " Yes, we are just a couple of fools!... But that is behind us now, all that matters is that we have made peace, Jaylene would want that!", said Graham. " As would Samantha, she would have kicked me square in the balls for acting this way!", said Jack. A moment of silence continues as Graham and Jack approach the incline to the Sid Buckwald bridge and Graham says," Almost there now much further now!" " Thank god I wasn't sure if we would make it there alive with the way you were driving!", said Jack. Graham looks over at Jack and the two men start to laugh.
" This is a surprise!... I didn't think I would see you, like ever!... I only thought that He saw you and not me!", said the Shadowy Figure. " Oh I can make myself known to whoever I want, not just my love.", said Samantha's Ghost. " Well you can just go, because whatever you want to tell me I am not interested in hearing!", said the Shadowy Figure as puts down his copy of Paradise Lost on his lap. " You're still mad, is it at me or at him?.. I thought you guys got past that stupid shit years ago!", said Samantha's Ghost. " Oh we did!", exclaims the Shadowy Figure. " Oh, I see you are mad because he can see me and you can't see your love!", said Samantha's Ghost. " Yes, it's not fair!.. He at least gets to see you, what do I get?... Nothing, that's right and after all the sacrifices I have made, I get an eternity of loneliness, while he gets to have people around him!", exclaims the Shadowy Figure. " You both agreed on that arrangement years ago!...And the only reason he gets to see is me because of how I died , your wife died peacefully, I didn't, so I am stuck here!" , said Samantha's Ghost. " You aren't going to leave me alone are you?", said the Shadowy Figure. "Nope, not until I talk to you about what I came here for!", said Samantha's Ghost. " Fine, go ahead and say what you have to say!", said the Shadowy Figure." He needs your help, two of the group , well actually three but Hannah I think is on the fence about deciding to side with the other two, anyways Axel this despicable little man and I'm sad to say your great nephew Greg have him strung up and are torturing him to get him to tell them where the journals are!", said Samantha's Ghost. " What do you want me to do about it?",asks the Shadowy Figure. " I need you to come help him and help the others that are trapped down in the basement, there are lots of lives at stake here!", said Samantha's Ghost. " Sorry, I can't do it, I warned him before not to come back here looking for the TAU!.. The best I can do is keep the journals hidden so that no one can use whats in them to hurt what's left of humanity, they have already done enough damage!", said the Shadowy Figure. " So you are just going to sit here and watch people get hurt or die!.. You selfish bastard!", said Samantha's Ghost. " Look, he never should have brought people out here!.... He put their lives in danger, especially seeing as how this place is coming crashing down!", said the Shadowy Figure. " You son of a bitch!.. You shut off the generator, it didn't fail!.. You want this place to come crashing down, why?" "Yes I did!.. The rubble will burry these god forsaken journals forever and god willing finally let me be at peace!...I'm sorry, but I am tired, tired of guarding these things, tired of watching time go by and and I continue to live on!.. It's time for it to all end!", said the Shadowy Figure. " So you are going to let all these people die , including your best friend, a man you called your brother!... You used to help people and now you want to hurt them!", said Samantha's Ghost. " Like I said he never should have brought them out here!.. I told him the last time he was out here to never come back, that I was going to do this!....You can leave now because no matter what you say nothing is going to change my mind on my course of action!", said the Shadowy Figure. Samantha's Ghost starts to dissipate slowly and before she fully fades out Samantha's Ghost says," After He helped you all those years ago, this is how you repay him!.. You are acting just the same way he did that day!" Samantha's Ghost fully disappears, the Shadowy Figure picks his book back up and starts reading it again, pauses and puts it down and picks it back up continuing to read without a second thought.
The headlights of the 4x4 blue Dodge Ram Extended Cab show nothing but a wall of water heavily falling down from the dark purplish sky of the night, Graham slowly pulls into the driveway of the Prairieland World Trade Centre. Like a scene out of Gone With The Wind, the 136 acres are lined with scores of bodies of victims of the plague, covered in a layer of thick clear plastic. "Sweet mother of mercy!... How many test subjects did they use Graham?", asks Jack. "I don't know the exact number but I believe it is somewhere in the vicinity of 931, most of these people died while they waited for the next testable cure!", said Graham. "This is comforting!... The fact that I am going to die waiting for them to make another cure attempt!..I'm beginning to think I was better off dying at home with no hope!", said Jack. " Oh there is a cure to test, there's no worries about that my friend!..The only down side is that if the cure doesn't work it could kill you or mutate you!", said Graham. " What?... Mutate me?..Into what?", asks Jack. " I'll explain later!", said Graham. " No, you'll explain now!.. I need to know everything!", said Jack. " Okay, well on try number 666 the serum worked at first and then within a half an hour the test subjects all turned into greyish creatures with purple veins sticking out of them and bright red eyes and incredible strength!", said Graham. "That's not so bad!.. An improvement on what the plague does to you!", said Jack. " Oh and it turns you into a carnivorous beast eating the flesh of its victims to the bone!.. And if they have nothing to eat they eat one another!", said Graham. " Well at least you don't have to worry about them surviving seeing as how they will eat one another if you starve them. " Yeah you would think that, but their flesh regenerates, the only way to kill them is to explode the skull!", said Graham. " Oh great, one just needs to carry a rocket launcher around to kill one those fuckers!", exclaims Jack. " No need to, a small electronic explosive charge was implanted in their heads!", said Graham. "Are you saying that they are still alive?... And how in the hell did you guys get an explosive charge in these whatever you call them?", said Jack. " Scavengers, the military is calling them Scavengers!... And to answer your other questions they get disoriented by loud high pitched noise which made them easy to subdue to inject the implants and the reason they are being kept alive from what I heard is that if this cure works on you it might work on them to make them human again!", said Graham. "I'll take death than if this cure doesn't work!', said Jack. " Yeah I would too!...Well we're here!...Lets get inside!", said Graham. Graham puts the truck into park under the large metal overhang and gets out of the truck. He makes his way around to the passenger side and helps Jack out and the two men make their way towards the sliding automatic glass doors and enter the building.
Soldiers in hazmat suits guard the entrance to Hall C and the other adjacent Halls. Graham has his large muscular arm wrapped around Jack, who is barely able to walk under his own power. A Female Soldier with short red hair and a muscular yet athletic build,walks up to the two men, puts her hand out to stop them, Graham evades her and continues to walk on towards Hall C with Jack in tow. The Female Soldier yells out," Sir stop!" Graham stops for a second, turns and looks at the Female Soldier and responds," I don't have time soldier!" Graham turns back around and continues to carry a weak and frail Jack onward. The Female Soldier motions to a two male soldier one African Canadian and the other Indo-Canadian, both very large mountainous men that would put Dwayne Johnson to shame, they step in front of Graham and Jack stopping them in their tracks with their intimidating size and pointing their C7A2 5.56-mm Automatic Rifles. "Please move soldiers!....Soldiers, I said MOVE!", exclaims Graham. The two male soldiers stand there unmoved, not saying a word, The Female Soldier walks up behind them and says," The won't move sir, now I asked you to stop and you didn't!....Can you explain yourself before I have you arrested or shot, because you were awfully close to that happening, we can't afford any outside saboteurs trying to infiltrate the facility, there are enemies out there you know!" " I'm not an enemy!.. I actually brought a test subject for the new serum!", said Graham. " I'm sorry sir but I don't believe it!...A saboteur could say that to get in here!... Even carrying someone pretending to be sick with the plague just like you are!... Soldiers take them away!", said The Female Soldier. The two male soldiers start to nudge Graham and Jack back towards the exit when Graham yells out," Are you willing to risk it!... Get Dr. Aster she will tell you who I am!" The Female Solider motions the her colleagues to wait and she gets on her walkie talkie and says," Can someone go and get Dr.Aster and ask her to come to the front entrance there is a man here who claims that he knows her and that he brought a test subject for the new serum.... Roger that, I will have them wait here!" An exhausted Jack looks up at Graham and says," You sure have friends in high places!" Dr.Susan Aster quickly walks out of the decontaminated zone wearing a yellow hazmat suit of her own hiding her thin athletic frame, she removes the mask from her face and and stops 2 feet away from Graham and Jack and says," It's okay soldier, he is okay!... You can let him in!... Follow me Graham and don't forget to bring your friend!" The soldier move out of the way and Graham supports Jack as they follow Dr.Susan Aster towards the decontaminated zone and stop right before entering and she says," Now before I get my attendants to help bring you in, I need to explain to you the risks that might happen such as..." Jack interrupts her and says," That's okay Graham basically gave me the gist of it all, the whole possible death or purple people eater creature side effect!... But if the later happens and I turn into something, just kill me immediately please!.. I don't want to live that way!" " Well looks like Graham made my job a little easier! Guess there is nothing more for me to do then have you brought in and we see if this latest cure works!', said Dr.Susan Aster. " Oh, it will work!", said Graham. "Easy there Graham, lets not get ahead of ourselves, it is untested only theorized by one of the most brilliant minds!", said Dr. Susan Aster. "Exactly!.. That's why it will work!.. Now are we going to stand here all day or get this test underway!", said Graham. " Yes, you go and grab a hazmat suit in Hall A and the attendants will take your friend in!", said Dr.Susan Aster. " The name's Jack!", exclaims Jack. "Sorry, the attendants will take Jack in!" A group of 4 other scientists, all wearing full hazmat suits, come over and escort Jack away to prep him to be taken into the testing area. Dr. Aster looks on and says to herself," I sure hope this works and that he was right about this being the cure!"
The light from the gamma lantern finally catches glimpse of hope that Keith needed as he stops to look down the rope. The sight of a partially intact, but secure stairwell landing a good three feet from the rope's end. Keith lets out a sigh of relief and says," Finally!.... Hey, I found a safe landing, I will have to swing over a bit to reach it, but it's all that we got!" Maria and Paulina look over the railings edge to see the partial concrete stairwell landing of the 5th floor and Keith looking up at them. " Are you sure that it is safe to jump on to?", yells Maria. " It looks totally fine for only having a half of its landing structure left from what I see!", said Keith. " Are you sure you need to swing and jump, what if the remaining concrete crumbles?" , said Maria. " It should hold!", said Keith. " Can the rope handle that kind of stress?", asks Maria. " If it is able to hold me this long and that little fall then it should be able to handle the stress of me swinging on it a little to be able to jump off it!", said Keith. " I don't know, I'm a little...", said Maria before Paulina interrupts her and says," Easy mom!... He said it's good and besides there is no other way down!.. For a fearless fighter, this little endeavour sure has you scared!" " I'm not scared, just concerned!", said Maria. " It sounds more like you are afraid of heights!", said Paulina. " I'm not afraid of heights, I'm just afraid of falling!', said Maria. " Hey!.. If you guys are done arguing I'm going to swing onto the landing now!", said Keith. " Okay, sorry!..Go ahead!", said Maria. Keith positions himself a bit lower on the make shift rope that his waist is below the end of the rope and he starts to use his momentum to swing the rope towards the partially broken landing of the 5th floor. At first the rope moves ever so slightly, but as Keith kicks his feet out like a child on a swing set his bodies momentum draws him closer and closer. As he draws ever closer the space below him becomes a blur and looking down, a foot before he reaches the concrete landing, Keith lets go of the rope which rips a little more,sails through the air towards the 5th floor stairwell landing and lands with a bit of a stumble on the concrete rolling as he impacts towards the door of the 5th floor entrance. Up above Maria lets out a the breathe that she was holding and Paulina says,"Yeahhhhhh!!!!!.... My turn now!.. Oh sorry, I should have asked if you want to go next, I was just getting caught up in the moment!" " No problem, you can go first I will last!" " Great!..Are you sure!", said Paulina. " Yes I am!.. Go, before I change my mind!", said Maria. Paulina turns on her lantern, and starts to climb down the rope unaware of the damage to it! Paulina carefully but steadily makes her way down the rope as Maria watches from above and Keith watches from below. Keith still watching as Paulina makes her way down the rope removes the walkie talkie from his hip and says into it," Hey Axel!... Are you there Axel?" a brief moment of silence ensues and then Axel's voice comes through the walkie talkie speaker saying," Yes!...What do you want Keith?.. I thought your bodyguard was doing your talking for you these days?" " I was but I decided to tell you personally that we are almost done the rope and will be making our way down in about 30min!", said Keith. " That's great!... Here I thought you were trying to stall me!", said Axel "Oh no!.. Just needing some peace and quiet while I make this rope!", said Keith. "I look forward to seeing you down here and fulfilling your end if the bargain!", said Keith. " Okay and I look forward to you fulfilling your end with more Pops Brilliant stories!... Or has something happened to the Group Leader, because if it did the deals off asshole!", said Keith. " No nothing has happened, he is still asleep, we have tried to wake him up but he drifts in and out of consciousness!.. When he is fully able to we will continue with the story!", said Axel. " That's fine and Axel two things!", exclaims Keith. " What is it!", asks Axel. " One if he is not able to, I won't need no one to help me take care of you and secondly be glad it would be me because I don't think you would last that long if Maria came after you!!!!!",said Keith. The walkie talkie goes silent for a few seconds and then Axel responds," Roger that!" The walkie talkie goes silent as Keith looks up to continue watching Paulina climb down the rope and he says to himself," I sure hope nothing more happens to the Group Leader!
Concrete dust falls from the ceiling above like a shower as the on going storm outside shakes the Bessborough Hotel to its core. The impacting dust lands all over everything including the incapacitated and unconscious Group Leader still hanging by his wrists to the large laundry hook. Axel and Greg stand a foot in front of him, as the concrete dust subsides Axel shakes it from out of his hair, Greg wipes it from his clothing. " That is getting worse, we better get out of here soon before this place crumbles to the ground!", said Greg. " Not to worry we will!..I know it!", said Axel. "What are you fucking psychic, because the last I looked we are trapped down here, no way out to get these weapons out either and no hope of ever finding those journals!..We are going to die down here!", exclaims Greg. Axel turns around, places his small fat hand on the chest of Greg and calmly says,"No, I'm not psychic!...But I do know that Emil will get that generator turned back on and this place will be up and running again!" " That is if Preston doesn't kill him first!.. But at the very least the generator will be turned back on either way!", said Greg." Exactly!.. But, I like to think it will be the other way around, but enough of that I need that utility knife you used earlier!", said Axel. " Why?..What do you need it for?", asks Greg. " I want to see if I can do a juggling act with it!.. Why does it concern you, just give it to me now!", said Axel. Greg takes and reaches into his left pants pocket and pulls out the large dark blue utility knife and hands its it to Axel. " Try and not cut your fingers off prick!", said Greg. " Haha!.. I won't asshole!", said Axel. " So what exactly are you doing here?.. Your not going to try and see if the Group Leader speed heals again, because we already saw that!", said Greg. "Yes I am!.. But I want to see just how quick it does now!", said Axel. "Why do you need to do that?", asks Greg. "I am thinking that the more physical damage done to him also takes a huge mental stress on him too!.. Thus causing him to heal slower and putting him the state he is in!", said Axel. " What does this prove, we do that and it puts us backwards!", said Greg. " No, his body is healed and his mind is like some super computer and just needs to be rebooted, eventually he will be fully healed and come out of this state. This will see just how far along it is if the outside heals in seconds rather than hours!", said Axel. " I see, well go ahead and do it then, lets see if your theory is right!", said Greg. A devilish grin comes over the face of Axel as he extends the blade of the utility knife and walks up to the Group Leader. He begins to make small one inch cuts on the legs of the Group Leader and then starts to make longer 4 inch ones on the arms, Axel gets up on the small step ladder still in front of the Group Leader and makes two long deep cuts down the entirety on either side of the face of the Group Leader and one across the chest. Blood flows out like water on low setting of a tap from the body of the Group Leader. " Axel steps down from the ladder, retracts the utility knife and puts it in his left jacket pocket. " Look at the time on your watch, lets go for a smoke and come bad to see if this is fully healed.", said Axel. Greg looks at the watch on his left wrist and nods his head, the two men walk out of the room closing the door behind them. Samantha's Ghost appears before the unconscious body of the Group Leader, ghost tears fall from her bright green eyes.She levitates towards the Group Leader places her hands on his face kisses him,she then takes the walkie talkie from the Group Leaders belt and says," I hate seeing you like this!...I was going to tell you that he said no and a bunch of other stuff but seeing you like this I am going to go back and try and convince him!.. I have an idea on how to now!" Samantha's Ghost disappears immediately and the cuts that Axel inflicted on the Group leader's body immediately start to close and heal with no sign of scar. " Whatever it takes.", mumbles the Group Leader in his unconscious state.
Scientists in white hazmat suits strap down Jack's frail, sickly body to the exam table and place small suction cups with sensors in them to test Jacks vitals to either side of Jacks forehead. " All the vitals seem normal for this stage of the virus, we have maybe a good 4-5 hours before it goes into complete shutdown and we can' administer the cure!" says a tall skinny male scientist with pale white skin, with slicked back jet black hair and large black plastic glasses like the kind you would see in the 1950's." Behind the glass of an observation room stands another scientist of average build, standing about 5ft 6, thin arms, a small roundish mid section, curly blondish hair that is partially long in back resembling a mullet, a cherub face with acne scars and round metal glasses on his face and a name badge that says Dr.Darren Larson. Dr. Larson holds a large metal clipboard in his hands and writes down the information he heard on a piece of paper on it. The door to the observation room opens and in walks Dr.Susan Aster with Graham following close behind her. " Good day to you doctor!..So what's the prognosis?" , asks Dr.Susan Aster. "The test subject is right on par for this stage of the virus and we will be administering the cure attempt in a hour while we gather more info on his vitals!", said Dr.Larson. " Is that standard?.. Will it make a difference, can't we do it now?",asks Graham. " We need to be careful and make sure his vitals hold steady before then!.. Pretty standard stuff, but also incase this one doesn't work we can use the info for another cure attempt.",said Dr.Larson. " Alright I was just wondering, I thought you just looked him over and injected the cure attempt!", said Graham. " No fault in asking Graham!... How in the hell are you? I haven't seen you in a coons age!", said Dr.Larson. "I've been better, this plague has taken its toll on things in my life, it took my wife, almost got me but was caught in the early stages and cured, but sadly it is now affecting my daughter!.. Other then that I am just fine!... How are you?.. Been on any road trips with friends lately?", said Graham. " Umm no!.. And I don't think I will for a very long time!", said Dr.Larson. "What's this all about?.. Do you guys know each other?", asks Dr.Susan Aster. " "It's nothing, a very long story in fact, Graham's father and I used to know each other a long time ago!", said Dr.Larson. " Oh I see!... Have you seen Kevin?",asks Dr.Susan Aster. "He's in Hall C observing the Scavengers... If this cure works then we might be able to use it on them!", said Dr.Larson. " Alright,well I am going to go and see if he needs any help if you don't need me then?", asks Dr.Susan Aster. " No, I think we are fine here!.. You can go!", said Dr.Larson. A big smile comes over the face of Dr.Susan Aster as she begins to walk out of the observation room. Dr.Larson and Graham stare out into the exam room, sitting on the counter in front of them is a large brown leather journal, Dr.Larson slides it over towards Graham and says," Thank you for giving this to us, it really helped!.. I know you want to keep these things from doing anymore harm!" " I really hoped I wouldn't have to, but when your cure attempts failed and you called me, I had no choice the fate of the world is at stake!... After all it was what was in these books that started this and I didn't want whats left of society knowing it was my family that made humanity an endangered species!", said Graham. Inside the exam room Jack's vitals start to crash rapidly, the doctors inside scrambled to stabilize him. " What's going on in there!",yells Graham. " He is crashing, for some reason the virus has mutated again!", replies Dr.Larson. " Well what are you going to do?", asks Graham. Dr.Larson pushes the intercom bottom situated in front of him and says Inject him with the cure pronto!!!" " But sir his vitals are unstable!.. The data!",says one of the scientists. "We don't have time for that inject him now or we will lose him and who knows if we can find anymore willing test subjects you fucking mama's boy!!!!", yells Dr.Larson. The tall skinny male scientist grabs the large syringe from the counter by the observation window and quickly injects the light blue fluid of the cure into Jacks right arm. As the vitals continue to crash, beads of sweat come down from the forehead of Graham knowing that his long time friend may just die or worse become a Scavenger. Within a matter of 45 seconds the vitals stabilize becoming increasingly stronger, the blood clears from his eyes and pigmentation returns to his skin. " Dr.Larson, it worked!.. This is amazing!... I have never seen anything like it! It's like the virus was never there at all!", said the skinny male scientist. " Dr,Larson presses the intercom button and replies," Easy now!.. We have to watch closely, we have seen a sure work and then quickly turn!.. In 48hrs we will know for sure!" Dr.Larson removes his hand from the intercom, turns to Graham and says, "It looks like we may have found it! Thank god!" A big smile comes over the face of Graham, knowing a glimmer of hope has just entered the world to save his daughter. All of a sudden, Graham starts coughing uncontrollably spitting up blood, he falls forward and passes out. In a semi conscious state he hears Dr.Larson say," Crap, the mutated virus must be immune to the early cure attempts! .. We need to take you into the testing area with the others and stabilize you!... Then if the cure is usable we will give it to you!" " No!.. Give it to me now!..I can't leave my daughter alone in this word if that cure works!.. Give me the cure I can take it!", whispers a dying Graham. Dr.Larson asks," Are you sure?" Graham nods his head in agreement and Dr.Larson presses the intercom button and says," Bring me the second vial of the cure pronto?" " But sir, there are protocols and..." ,said the skinny male scientist before Dr.Larson interrupts him saying," Look you fucking mama's boy bring that cure in here now!.. There is a man about to die!.. It looks like another victim of the virus mutation!" The skinny male scientist nods his head and grabs another syringe filled with the cure attempt and quickly brings it into the observation room, handing it to Dr.Larson. " This is totally against protocol sir!.. There are others we can test it on, what makes this man so special?.. Plus this is not a regulated clean zone!", said the skinny male scientist. " Fuck that!.. If you don't like it then report me and they can find someone else to solve this virus!.. Otherwise shut the hell up and let me do my job!" The skinny male scientist stands in silence and nods his head. Dr.Larson injects the syringe into Graham's arm, the light blue liquid quickly rushes into his arm as Graham blacks out.
Paulina looks down at Keith standing on the partial concrete landing of the 5th floor watching every move she makes to climb down the makeshift rope. As she inches her way down the rope Paulina pauses as she approaches the 6th floor doorway, completely void of any intact landing. " Are you alright!", yells both Keith and Maria at the exact same time. "Man you two really do need to be together, you are so in-sync with one another it's scary!...Don't worry though I am fine, just needed a little breaky, break and I will be on my way!", said Paulina. " Okay, just take your time and when you get closer I will help guide you in and catch you!.. Then you can make your way down Maria!",said Keith. " Okay, IIII"mmmm sooooo looking forward to it!", Maria said sarcastically. " Haha! I can tell!", said Keith. Paulina, suspended in mid air, shakes her head and rolls her eyes then says," Oh my god!... Okay I am continuing my way down, guide me in as I get closer!" "No problem!..That's it just keep slowly down!....Good, your doing good!...Now you are getting close to the end of the rope and keep going until your waist is past it!... Great!..That's it!.. Now start swinging the rope like I did and then when you reached enough momentum release as you approach me!..Awesome!.. You almost have it!... Now let go!!!", said Keith. Paulina swings back on the rope back and forth and lets go of the make shift rope which slightly tears a bit as she lets go of it and flies through the air like a wrestler doing a drop kick! Paulina lands perfectly like a cat on the half piece of flat concrete, Keith places his hands on her right shoulder bracing her and steading the momentum. " Thanks Keith!.. That was fun!!!", exclaims Paulina. " Maria looks down from above and lets out a scream of joy in the successful jump. " Alright my dear, it is your turn now!.. Make your way down and I will guide you in just as I did for Paulina!",said Keith. Maria nods her head in agreement, she climbs over the metal railing of the 9th floor stairwell landing, she grips the make shift rope,looks down, takes a deep breath and starts to climb down the rope ever so slowly. Every inch she moves down the rope Maria looks down below, not just at Keith but at the dark void below that could be her ultimate demise if she loses her grip and falls. " She will be a while, can you keep an eye on her for second Paulina, I need to make a call to Axel and see just what's gong on with the Group Leader!", said Keith. " You got it!.. I will let you know how she is making out here if need be!", replies Paulina. Keith grabs the walkie talkie from his belt, walks into the 5th floor hallway and says," Hey Axel, was just checking in and I wanted to tell you we will be ready to go in 15min, hows the Group Leader?... We are itching for another story here!" The voice of Axel quickly responds through the speaker of the walkie talkie saying," Good to hear that, I should expect you in a few hours then?", responds Axel. " Yes, maybe about 5 or 6 depending on how intact the south stairwell is!", said Keith. " Okay, just so long as you are on your way and not keeping your word!", said Axel. "Oh I am a man of my word!... Are you? .. You didn't answer the rest of my question which begs me to think that you are avoiding keeping your part of the bargain!", said Keith. " No, I am not avoiding it!.. You will get your precious Pops Brilliant story soon enough, the Group Leader just woke up and we were going to get him to tell you that story you wanted!", said Axel " Good I look forward to it,let me know when it is happening!", said Keith. " For sure, just finishing up something now and going to get that story for you!.. The Group Leader can't wait to tell it!", said Axel. The walkie talkie goes silent as Keith puts it back on his belt and makes his way back to Paulina on the broken concrete landing. " How she doing?", asks Keith. " Fine!.. But, it could be about 15 to 20 min the speed that Maria is gong down the rope before she even gets close!",replies Paulina. " That's fine, I would rather she get down here safe then fall!...... You are doing fine Maria just take your time!", said Keith. Maria nods her head and continues to slowly climb down the make shift rope, as she slowly climbs her way down the rip in the rope expands and another one appears a few meters above it!
" For fuck sakes!.. We need to wake up that son of a bitch already!..This is ridiculous!",exclaims Axel. " Why, because Keith said so?.. You have the upper hand, not him!", exclaims Greg. "It's not that!.. It guarantees that he will be here and not try anything, plus there might be something in that story to help us with our quest for the journals!", responds Axel. " Here I thought you really wanted to hear another one of those stupid stories!", said Greg as he throws his cigarette to the ground and crushes it under his left boot. " Are you kidding me!.. No!.. But there is some sort of connection and I will figure it out! Even if I have to sit through another one of those ridiculous stories!.. Now lets go and wake up that ass-hat and get it over with!... He's rested long enough!", exclaims Axel as he too crushes his finished cigarette under his left boot. Axel and Greg walk back into the quiet, old laundry room of the hotel, walks up to the Group Leader and Axel very carefully looks over the Group Leader noticing that the cuts he inflicted on him with the utility knife have now completely healed. " Son of a bitch!.. I knew it, they are perfectly healed!", said Axel. " Holy shit!.. That means he is Patient Alpha!", said Greg. "Yes it does!.. This changes everything!", said Axel. " How so!.. All it proves is that he is older then shit and can take lickin and keep on ticking!", says Greg. " No what it means my giant of a friend is so much more!.. You see according to legend Patient Alpha knows the location of all the journals!..This is a fantastic day!",exclaims Axel. " Yeah, now all you have to do is get him to tell you which he won't, but first you have to get him to wake up!", said Greg. "Well, let's just try again shall we?", said Axel. Axel climbs back up on the ladder and starts to shake the Group Leader with no luck!. He does the same action again and again, only getting some partial grunts and groans from the Group Leader. Finally Axel so frustrated slaps the Group Leader across the face a few times and says," Come on you son of a bitch!.. Wake up already!" The Group Leader remains in an unconscious state and mumbles something with only the name Graham coming out of his mouth. A perplexed look comes over the face of Greg as he says," What the hell is he talking about?" " I don't know!.. But every time he does that he falls back asleep!", said Axel. "That must be one hell of a dream he is having!", said Greg. " What ever he is dreaming about, hopefully he finishes it soon so we can get that stupid story out of the way!",exclaims Axel.
A bright white light from a small medical flashlight from the hands of Dr.Larson causes the pupil on the eyes of Jack to constrict. " Good you are fine, just needed to check you hadn't been conscious for a while and I thought the cure might have given you brain damage.", said Dr.Larson. Dr.Larson continues to shine the light into the eye of Jack who is now fully aware and awake." Yeah,I'm fine, say can you please stop shining that, masturbating isn't the only thing that can make you go blind you know!", said Jack. Dr.Larson shuts off the light and puts it in the front breast pocket of his medical coat. "Sorry, but I needed to check!.. Can you sit up please we need to check out your physical nature and your mental.", said Dr.Larson. Jack sits up and hangs his feet of the bed in the recovery room of the testing facility. "Okay!... What do you want to do first?", asks Jack. " Well, first we are going to check your memory and then we are going to test your strength, reflexes and lastly your mobility!", said Dr.Larson. " Fire away Doc!", exclaims Jack. " Can you tell me what your name is, your age, where you live and what the year is please!", said Dr.Larson. " That's easy, my name is Jack Chomblowitz, I'm 45, I'm in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, but I live in Martinsville just outside the city and the year is 2022!... Oh yeah and if you wanted the date it is June 6th!", said Jack. Dr.Larson looks at his clipboard and checks off every question that he asked as correct and the fact that Jack has an exceptional memory. " Very good Jack, may I call you Jack?", asks Dr.Larson. " Of course Doc!...Shall we continue?", said Jack. " For sure Jack!....We are going to test your reflexes now!", said Dr.Larson. Dr.Larson grabs a reflex hammer off a metal tray and walks up to Jack and he swings the reflex hammer in an arc like motion lightly, hitting Jack on the Patellar Tendon. Jacks leg immediately moves his leg signalling his reflexes are totally normal there and proceeds to do the same on the lateral epicondyle of Jack's elbow, which shows the exact same results proving that he has no abnormalities in his central or peripheral nervous system. "Very good!.. You would never know you were on deaths door a few hours ago!.. Just a couple of more tests to do!", said Dr.Larson. "Sounds good!..Let's finish then!", said Jack. Dr.Larson takes Jacks right hand and grips it as if they are shaking hands and says," Now I want you to squeeze as hard as you can!..One..Two..Three. Go!" Jack begins to grip Dr.Larson's left hand so tight it starts to turn red then a dark shade of purple as the blood flow is constricted by the pressure.A small crackling sound starts to be heard as Dr.Larson exclaims," Okay!... Please let go!...You are breaking my hand for fuck sakes!" " Sorry Doc, I guess I don't know my own strength!", said Jack. Dr.Larson flexes his left hand to get the feeling back into it as the blood flow begins to return and his skin returns to it's normal shade. " If you guys want to continue holding hands I can leave you alone!", says Graham as he sits up on his hospital bed hangs his bare feet off the side. " I was just testing Jack and he seems to be in exceptional health!.. One might say super!", replies Dr.Larson. " How do you mean?", asks Graham. His reflexes, memory, and now strength are right off the charts!... I just have one last test to do and that is the mobility and then I will come and test you!",said Dr.Larson. " Well don't let me stop you!.. Take your time, I'm not going anywhere!", said Graham. Dr.Larson nods his head, he turns his attention back to Jack and says," Alright Jack!.. I am going to need you place your feet on the ground and walk to the door and back please!" " Not a problem Doc!", said Jack as he jumps off the bed like a jack rabbit and starts to slowly walk towards the metal door of the recovery room. " Very good!.. A little faster please!", said Dr.Larson. Jack nods his head in agreement and begins to walk back and forth a little faster and faster each time. " Okay Jack not so fast!.. That should be good, you can stop now!", said Dr.Larson. " But I feel great and can go much faster!",said Jack as he continues to sprint back and forth at an increased pace that you would swear he was running a race. "Jack, please stop!...Graham can you get him to stop please?", asks Dr.Larson. " Hey, show off, I know you are anxious to get back to running again, but the doctor asked you to stop!",said Graham. " Okay, just one more time back and forth!", said Jack. As Jack makes his last pass he is startled by the door to the exam room opening with a nurse that looks almost identical to his long lost love Samantha, causing him to run into the metal medical tray, knocking the numerous medical tools to the floor and falling to the ground hitting his head, which knocks him out and leaves a gigantic cut on his forehead that would require 10 stitches at the very least. Dr.Larson, Graham and the nurse all run up to Jack. Dr.Larson rolls Jack over and takes some smelling salts out of his pocket placing them under the nose of Jack who immediately wakes up feeling a slight bit stunned. Jack sits up as the blood from his head wound pours down in his eyes, the cute, young, petite nurse with brownish blonde hair wipes the blood from his face. "I think that you did that on purpose to get some medical attention!", said Graham. " Not really!.. Thank you miss but I am fine!", exclaims Jack. The nurse stops wiping the blood from the face and forehead of Jack, she backs away with a shocked look on her face. " I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you!.. It's just that I am fine and can wipe the blood away.", said Jack. "It's not that!...Look!", exclaims the nurse pointing her index finger on her right hand at Jack's face." What I know I cut myself but I am not that hideous looking!", said Jack. "I'll be the judge of that!", said Graham. " Asshole!", said Jack. " No, it's not that look Dr.Larson!", said the nurse. "Son of a bitch!... Now that is something I have not seen before!", exclaims Dr.Larson. The large wound on Jack's forehead starts to quickly close up on its own showing no sign of a scar that it ever existed. " What the fuck!", said Graham. "What?.. What is it?", said Jack. "See for yourself, sorry Graham but I have to do this!", said Dr.Larson as he takes a small scalpel lying on the floor and quickly slashes Grahams right arm, spurting out blood."What the fuck Darren!",said Graham. Within 10 seconds the wound starts to quickly heal itself the same way that it did on Jack's forehead. " Holy shit!... You mean that happened to me too!", asks Jack. "Yes, this is an interesting side effect!... We are going to have to do more tests to see what other side effects there are!", said Dr.Larson. "This is heavy!... I think I need to lie down for a bit, if that is all right?", said Jack. " Sure, you both can, all I need is a sample of your blood which I now have anyways and let you know!", said Dr.Larson. Jack and Graham both get up off the cold, sterile concrete floor and make their way back to their hospital beds. As Jack closes his eyes he hears Dr.Larson say," I will come back when I have the results to let you know!..I apologize in advance as i may have to wake you up!" The door to the recovery room shuts, shaking the room slightly.
The thunder shakes the hotel even more and sways the Group Leader hanging from the laundry hook. A feeling of a hand slapping him across the face startles him, and he opens his eyes when he hears the words from Axel's mouth say,"Wake up already!" " What?.. Do you have the test results already?",asks the Group Leader. " What test results?... What in the hell are you talking about?", said Axel. " Nothing, just a stupid dream!.. What do you want Axel, to inflict more useless pain and torture on me by the sound of your voice, because your physical torture is really lame!",said the Group Leader. " If I didn't need you I would hit you so hard and then I would let Greg do the same until your face was unrecognizable!", said Axel. " That's comforting!... I mean it, you two need to work on your torture techniques, they are really subpar!", said the Group Leader. " Don't tempt me!", said Axel. " So, what exactly did you want and don't say the location of the Pops Brilliant journals because I already told you I don't know!", said the Group Leader. " No, it's not that!.. I need you to tell another Pops Brilliant story!", says Axel with a tone of utter contempt in his voice. " And here I thought you didn't like my stories!", asks the Group Leader. "I don't!.... It's Keith and the others who want to hear them!... Personally they are torture for me!", exclaims Axel."Well, so long as I am entertaining the others and causing you some torture then I will gladly continue!", said the Group Leader. Axel rolls his eyes, grabs his walkie talkie from his hip and says," Here's your stupid fucking story Keith!" Keith's voice immediately comes over the speaker replying," Thank you!.. And FYI we will be done the rope in 5-10 min!" " Good, now listen to your stupid story, keep working and get your sorry asses down here to help me or I will kill a team member!", said Axel. "No need to do that we will be down as soon as we can!", said Keith. Axel takes the walkie talkie and places it in from of the face of the Group Leader who says," If you thought the last story was good then you are going to love this one!"
Rain pours down cooling off the hot June day, trains pull in and out Toronto's Union Station on 61 Front Street West. People constantly come in and out of the metallic green glass doors. Those who are leaving the station quickly open umbrellas or place newspapers over their heads as they step out from under the over hang and walk past the large limestone column pillars. Scores of black umbrellas and wet newspapers move past each other in opposite directions. As they make their way past the columns passengers lower their umbrellas and newspapers shaking ten out and folding them up. Rick Brilliant, with his jet black hair slicked back, dressed in a white dress shirt, premium quality wool jet black water resistant suit, matching polished black wing tipped dress shoes and trilby hat that makes him look like Frank Sinatra enters "The Great Hall". Pops closely follows behind him in a light grey premium quality wool sport coat set with a broken check pattern on the jacket that is two button has a three patch pocket model, dark grey pleated slacks of twill gabardine, that has a water repellant silicone finish and saddle stitching. Pops shakes some water off his pants leg and says," Son of a bitch!.... These fucking slacks aren't water repellant!.. I call bullshit on that!" " Language Pops!.. You are in public!",said Rick. A husky woman in a long dark blue dress that ends an inch below her knees with gold buttons, greyish brown hair tightly placed in a bun, black glasses and a string of pearls around her neck resembling a posh librarian, stares at Pops and shakes her head in disapproval of his language. Pops catches the look from the woman and embarks," What the fuck are you looking at you busy body? You aren't no prize yourself to look at, so I wouldn't be criticizing me!" " You are one rude little boy!... Your parents ought to be ashamed for your behaviour!", said the woman. " And god ought to be ashamed for letting you walk around and scare people!", said Pops. " Someone should spank your bottom for speaking to a lady and an adult young man!", said the woman. " What lady I don't see no lady!... I do see a witch though!... Why don't you go and find your broom and fly back to Oz!", said Pops. The large woman's face gets red with anger and she replies," Someone needs to teach you some manners!" " Sorry to tell you, you are too old for me lady!",said Pops. Rick quickly approaches the large woman and says, " I am sorry ma'am, he never should have talked to you like that and rest assured he will be disciplined as soon as possible!" " You are his father I assume!", said the large woman. " What did you think he is my pet human?.. God you are quite dense lady!", said Pops. " Pops that is enough!... Now apologize to the lady or else!", said Rick. The large woman stands with her thick arms on her hips, tapping the toe of her black 3inch heels, Pops looks at Rick who has a cold serious look on his face. Pops walks up to the lady and says," I'm sorry!.. I can't control what comes out of my mouth, but don't blame me my father taught me all that I know!" A stunned look comes over the face of Rick, the large woman takes her left-hand and slaps Rick across the face knocking him off balance and sending the trilby falling to the ground." You ought to be ashamed of yourself!", said the large woman as she walks away toward the doors to the street. "Have a nice flight, hopefully that broom you ride on can hold all that weight!", yells out Pops as the large woman walks through the doors to the street ignoring his last words."Yeah!!!!!!", yells out Pops as Rick bends down, picks up his black trilby hat garbs Pops by the right arm and says,"You are getting such a spanking when we get back to the apartment!" " Just try it!... What do you think Pervert will say to you doing that?", said Pops. " I'm your father not him!.. And I do the disciplining not him, he's only your boss!", said Rick. " True but he is your boss too asshole!.. And if you want to get out of the CBC you need to treat me with respect!... I'm more valuable than you and can get him to have you work for them till your ball hairs are grey!", said Pops. Rick stops and thinks for a second and says, " Okay, but remember that I am your father and deserve some respect!", said Rick. " Well, you may be but a real father would not hide secrets from his son and as soon as we stop Harold I don't want to see you again!... Now lets go, the train to Vancouver is about to leave and we I want to say goodbye to Raymond.
Keith's right hand holds the greyish green walkie talkie in his hand and moves it close to his mouth immediately saying,"What the hell!!!... I thought RayTay and his family were staying to help find Harold?.. Did you skip something, Axel if you caused brain damage to the Group Leader then I will be giving you that too!". " Hey, I'm just as surprised as you are!... Old man I think you might be having a little memory trouble!", replied the voice of Axel over the walkie talkie. " No, I haven't, this is what happened!.. If you guys would let me continue I can tell you the rest and you will find out what happened!", said the Group Leader. " Okay, we will not interrupt you!", said Keith. " Now Pops and Rick were running through Toronto's Union Station...", said the Group Leader.
Pops follows close behind Rick as they run through the crowd of people and towards platform 5. In the distance they see the large sign showing the platform number, running as fast as they can the sign gets larger and larger with each step like the sun rising in the sky. As Pops moves past the people in the train station he continues to look up at the platform number, totally unaware of those in his way, a few times he even bumped into them, but quickly apologized for his actions, totally unlike his character. Just wanting to get to his destination Pops dispatches with his usual unpleasantries and keeps going. As he and Rick approach the gate to the platform Pops notices Peter and Ray standing in line to get onto the platform. Completely oblivious to the oncoming stampede approaching him Ray is broken out of his trance by the sound of Pops' voice saying," Hey Raymond!!!.. Don't get on the platform yet!" Ray notices Pops and Rick, he drops his small suitcase and walks up to meet Pops still moving at high speed. Moving like a charging bull Pops does not stop even with Ray out there to greet him, Pops collides with Ray knocking him to the ground and causing himself to lose his own balance and fall to the marble floor. " What the fuck Popsie!.. You saw I was out there to meet you and you tackled me to the floor!", said Ray. " Jesus Ray that's the kind of thanks I get for coming to see you off!.. You asshole!", said Pops. " Thank you, but why did you knock me to the ground?",said Ray as he sits on the floor of the train station looking at Pops waiting for an answer. Pops looks at Ray with a blank expression not knowing what to say, the two young boys stare at each other in silence until it is broken with the sound of a loud echoing fart from Pops that causes most of the people to stop and stare in shock. The shock of the fart is soon broken and the people who were all staring at Pops and Ray now make faces of disgust from the foul sour smell, many of them start choking searching for fresh air to breathe, some throw up right there on the floor of the train station. Soon enough the hundreds of people in Toronto's Union Station begin to run for the exits as if a fire had just broken out, pushing to get by one another in a panic. An elderly grey haired woman in her early 80's who was walking with a cane quickly turns into a olympic track star, holding her cane like a baton, she uses it to hit a tall, fit, blonde haired man in a three piece black suit saying," Out of my way asshole, it's ladies first!" Pops and Ray sit on the train stain floor watching the commotion going as does Rick and Peter. As the train station completely clears out Pops looks at Ray and starts to laugh uncontrollably. " Oh hell Pops I could never stay mad at you!... That was fucking funny!", said Ray. " It's a gift!.. I always give it my all to do my best to make others feel uncomfortable!", replies Pops. Pops and Ray stand up from and dust their pants off, and Pops says," Sorry Raymond, I just was glad to see that I didn't miss saying goodbye to you, that I got all excited and couldn't stop my momentum." " Aww, its okay cousin!.. I get it, I'm going to miss you too!", said Ray. " I can't believe that they are sending you to the Vancouver station to do your training!... Now we won't get to work together like originally planned, but it's a good place from what I heard!", said Pops. " I thought you had been there?", replied Ray. " No, just in Ontario and New York!", said Pops. " It sounds like a great place, and I heard the winters are not that bad!.. It's better though because I fucking hated the cold Saskatchewan winters!", said Ray. " Did they tell you how long that you will be there for?" ,asks Pops. " They said that it was going to be a long term west coast assignment after the training is done!", said Ray. " That's too bad now we won't be able to work together!... That fucking Pervert sending you there instead of having you stay here and help me with Harold!", said Pops. " Oh, I'm sure you can handle him all on your own!.. You've got your old man, Pervus and Agent Greene to give you all the help you need!.. It's better that I go, but I am sure we will work together somewhere down the road.", said Ray. A loud male voice comes over the loud speaker of the train station saying," It is now 3:30pm and the 4pm train to Vancouver is now boarding, please make your way onto the platform!" Ray looks at Pops, he extends his right hand and the two boys shake hands with a form masculine grip. Behind them Rick does the same with Peter and Peter starts to make his way towards the platform gate. Unable to release their collective grip Ray quickly yanks Pops towards him and the two boys engage in a powerful hug. " I am going to miss you, seriously!.. You are my best friend and the only person my own age that doesn't run away from me!..I'm going to miss you!", said Pops with tears in his eyes. " I will miss you too Pops, I always have a lot of fun with you!", said Ray. Ray and Pops let go of each other and wipe the collective tears from their respective eyes. " Good luck Agent Ray Tay, you show them just what you can do!" "Oh I will!.. There is now worries about that!.. You show Harold that he can't mess with our family!", said Ray. Pops nods his head and says,"You can count on it!.. His ass is toast!!!", said Pops. The two boys start to laugh, Ray looks back to see his father Peter leaving without him and says," I better get going, my old man's in a hurry to get to Vancouver and meet up with mom!.. He says that there is a whole community out there called swingers and he can't wait!", said Ray. " You mean that they like to play on swing sets?", said Pops. " Oh Pops!... I've got so much to teach you! I will explain it another time, I really have to get going!" Ray makes his way towards the gate of the platform and shows his ticket to the platform conductor, stops, pauses, turns around and looks at Pops. Ray takes his thumb and forefinger making them into a circle and places it on his large curved nose saying," Hey Pops have you ever seen the inside of sex!" The two boys laugh while others waiting in line behind Ray to get onto the platform are appalled. Ray walks away onto the train platform waving goodbye as does Pops until the figure of Ray disappears from sight. Pops hangs his head in sadness, Rick walks towards him and embraces his son to console him.
Miss.Sutherland dressed in a long black skirt, light blue blouse buttoned to the top with long sleeves, her jet black hair up in a bun and her black plastic glasses hanging off the edge of her petite nose walks in Mr.Pervus' office carrying a white tea cup filled close to the top with Earl Grey in one hand and a letter in the other. She makes the long trip towards the desk of Mr.Pervus who sits totally unaware in his large brown leather chair sifting through some papers from an open file on his desk. Miss.Sutherland carefully sets the white tea cup with gold trim down on the desk in front of Mr.Pervus along with the letter that she is carrying. "Thank you Miss.Sutherland!... Is that another letter from Harold?", said Mr.Pervus. "It appears to be sir, may I ask how did you know without even opening it?", asks Miss. Sutherland. " The scent coming from the envelope!', said Mr.Pervus. " The scent sir?... I don't follow!", said Miss.Sutherland with a confused look on her face. Mr.Pervus puts the papers he is reading back down in the file folder in front of him, closes it and picks up the envelope. Mr.Pervus holds it three inches from his nose, sniffs it and holds it up 30 inches away from Miss.Sutherland who leans in and takes a whiff of the strong pungent smell emanating from the letter and says," As can quite certainly tell, Harold's letters always smell of bagel with a heavy schmear of cream cheese loaded with smoked salmon... Now by this deduction, I would have to say that Harold is in New York, in a Jewish American community and if I were him I would be going to the Goldman's Delicatessen it has the best bagels in all of New York!" Miss Sutherland stands with a further confused look on her face as Mr.Pervus removes the letter from the path of her nostrils and opens it looking over the letter. " You got all of that from just a smell?.. Sure I could smell the bagel, cream cheese and smoked salmon!.. But how did you know the rest?.. Because that's amazing!", said Miss.Sutherland. Just as Mr.Pervus is about to answer the question posed to him by Miss. Sutherland, the large door to his office is flung open hitting the wall behind it and making a huge hole in the wall from the impact of the handle colliding into the drywall startling both Mr.Pervus and Miss.Sutherland. Rick Brilliant strides with intent towards the large oak desk, his fists clenched and face red with anger. Mr.Pervus noticing the on coming locomotive of a possible ass whooping coming his way, stands quickly and holds his left hand up saying," Just stop right there Rick!... I know why you are here and I can explain!" Rick slows his stride, unclenches his fists a bit, he makes his way around the large desk and grabs Pervus by the collar of his dark grey suit and says," You've got less then two minutes to, otherwise I am going to find out if you fly asshole when I throw you through your window to the street below!!!" " I had to send Ray and his family to Vancouver!... It was the only option!", said Mr.Pervus. " You need to do better then that you lying prick!", said Rick as he slams Mr.Pervus against the large wall sized window behind Pervus' desk, shaking the glass. " Easy, Rick I was getting to it!... Harold!!!", yells out Pervus. " How the hell does Harold have anything to do with it!", said Rick as he pulls Pervus close to him and slams him back against the glass. " Pops asked me to send them there because of Harold!", said Pervus. Rick slams Pervus against the glass again causing a small crack to appear in the glass and says, " That's bullshit!.. I was just with my son and he was upset about Ray leaving so don't give that crap!" " Pops told me after that meeting we all had that he didn't want any harm to come to Ray and his family because of Harold!.. To send them to the west coast, because he he can't worry about them and all of you while looking over his shoulder for Harold!", said Pervus. Rick pauses for a minute and lets go of Pervus, and takes a step back. " I never knew this?.. Are you telling me the truth or just telling me another lie?", said Rick. "Miss.Sutherland was in here when he did, she can verify it!", said Prevus. Miss. Sutherland nods her head and a confused look comes over the face of Rick and he says," But why would he do that and not even tell me about it!" " He said it was part of his plan to keep his focus on Harold and that if Harold defeats him, then at least he has Ray on the west coast to go after him!", said Pervus. " But, I don't understand!.. Why?", said Rick. " He is just being as protective as he can!", said Pervus. "Okay, but do we even know where the fuck Harold is?.. I don't want my son harmed!.. He's only a child!", asks Rick. " We do now!.. Harold fucked up!", said Pervus. " How did he do that?",said Rick. " He keeps sending letters ripe with the smell of bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon from Goldman's Delicatessen!.. We've got him and I have informed Pops about it!.. Soon he and Agent Greene will take him down and bring him in!...Pops has a plan to trap him by using his show,he sent him a letter daring him to come to his show!", said Pervus. Rick stands and thinks for a second and says," You are a first class fool Pervus!... Harold didn't fuck up!.. He set a trap, and you just sent my son into it!" A look of shock comes over the face of Pervus. "When are they doing it?", asks Rick. "Right after Pops show in couple of hours, but you will never make it!", said Pervus. " Well, lets just hope that your train can get me there in time!.. Tell them to get it all fired up!", said Rick as he makes his way towards the elevator door to the left of Pervus' desk and climbs in.
Pops sits in his casting chair in nothing but a white muscle shirt and a pair of tighty-whities, a piece of toast on his lap, looking into the make-up mirror as a young auburn haired woman in her mid-twenties, wearing a blue and white, long sleeve boat-neck top and cotton-knit ankle pants applies make-up to Pops face. On the corner of the make-up table sits an open letter from Harold, having just been read by Pops. The make-up artist starts to apply some eye-liner to Pops and accidentally touches Pops right eyes scripting it. " Holy fuck!... That hurt!.. Can you watch what you are doing there I don't want my eyes all red and bloodshot looking like some drunk!", exclaims Pops. The Make-Up Artist takes a step back not saying a thing and a look on her young face as if she is about to cry. Agent Greene walks up from behind Pops out of the shadows and appears, he clears his throat and in his deep baritone voice he says, " Now, now Pops be nice to the young lady!.. No need to be rude!" " Hey, Hoss!.. There you are!.. I was wondering what happened to you asshole!", said Pops. " I've been around, making sure that we can keep our eyes out for Harold in case he shows up!", said Agent Greene. " Not if, but when!.. He will show up, I've planned it perfectly!", said Pops. " He may and he may not!.. If he is as smart as you then he might be able to see right through your plan and in my experience sometimes things do not go as planned!" The Make-Up Artist stands still unsure of what to do and Pops says," What are you standing around for?.. Finish up here, I have to get on the air soon!.... And my plans always go perfectly!", exclaims Pops.The Make-Up Artist slowly continues to apply make-up to Pops' face. " When you write Harold back and basically tell him to come to the studio so that you can kick him square in the balls and shove a bagel so far up his ass really isn't a plan!.... It's a dare, it throws security for a loop, because we don't even know what he looks like at all!", said Agent Greene. "Yeah!!!!.. It is a plan, I've got damn near a decade of experience! A decade!! How much does he have?.. A decade and 2 years which isn't much and bagels really?.. They pale in comparison to toast and couldn't hold a candle to it!.. I wipe my ass with bagels!!", said Pops. " You can't be so arrogant Pops!.. Age means nothing whether you are old or young, Harold has nothing to lose and he knows you do and is going to use it to his advantage!", said Agent Greene. The Make-Up Artist slowly finishes applying the eye liner on Pops eyes, pauses to see her finished work staring at Pops. " What the hell are you looking at?.. I'm not a painting to stare at!", exclaims Pops. Tears start to flow down from the eyes of the Make-Up Artist as she breaks down from Pops words. " What the hell are you crying for?.. There is no crying on the Toast Time With Pops Brilliant!" The Make-Up Artist just stands there and sobs for a second and then runs away crying. " What the hell was up with that?.. Some people can't take a little criticism, I liked the last Make-Up Artist better she didn't cry, she just hauled off and hit Bastard!... Yeah!!!", said Pops. " She quit!.. Saying and I quote that if that rude little shit ever says something ignorant to me or grabs me I don't care how old he is I will give him such a spanking he won't know what year it is!... You can't quit torturing our staff Pops, especially the Make-Up Artist!.. Now after the show is done I want to you to apologize to that sweet young girl!", said Agent Greene in a stern tone as he places his large hand on Pops right shoulder. " Alright Hoss, if you say so I will apologize, but first I need to get my clothes on! Elvis Presley is going to be on the show!", said Pops. " I saw that, he is one of the hottest singers right now Ed Sullivan had him on his show!", said Agent Greene. " Pffft!... Ed Sullivan isn't worthy to wash my crotch!.. After Elvis is on my show he will never want to be on any other show!.... Have you seen him perform Hoss he moves around like he has to scratch his dick but can't so he tries to by shimmying around!..Yeah!!!",said Pops. " Haha yes I have Pops!.. That is quite the assessment!", said Agent Greene. Pops grabs a red leather journal sitting on the make-up table in front of him and the letter from Harold, jumps off his chair and makes his way to his dressing room to get ready." Have a good show Pops!", said Agent Greene. Pops sticks his hand up and waves and then gives Agent Greene the finger and laughs not turning or stopping at all. Agent Greene laughs, a man in his early 30's with slicked back brown hair wearing grey sport pants and a blue cassino style t-shirt carrying a clipboard approaches Agent Greene and says," A message from Mr.Pervus, apparently Rick Brilliant is on his way to stop you guys from catching Harold!.. Mr.Brilliant thinks its trap and Pops is in danger!" "Thank you!.. You can go back to the control booth, I will take care of this!", said Agent Greene. The man walks away, Agent Greene takes a deep breathe and says,"I think Rick might be correct!"
High on a catwalk above the soundstage the high pitched voice of Harold whistles away at a low tone as to not attract any attention to the CBC agents working below preparing for the start of Pops' show. The lighting near the ceiling is at a low light and no face or figure can be made out even if anyone where to look up. Harold disconnects a five light bulbs pointed at the desk that Pops sits at, drills a small hole in each of them, fills it with some gun powder and screws them back in. Harold then pulls the plug from the lights slightly and makes his way down the ladder from the catwalk and then proceeds to walk towards the Pops' stage desk, he walks by many agents and sprinkles some powder laxative on Pops' toast that sits on a plate waiting for him and his guests. Harold's skinny frame of his 4ft 11inch body walks away his hands in the pockets of his dark brown flannel dress trousers concealing the vile of powdered laxative in his pants pocket. Harold pulls out his left hand from his pants pocket and runs it through the lush head of thick blond hair and the promptly fixes the orange tie on his white dress shirt. He nods and smiles at a young male stage hand in his early 20's saying,"Good day to you!" The stage hand nods back and says," Thank you!.. You too!" The stage hand continues on his way as does Harold who walks away whistling the tune to Tennessee Ernie Fords " Sixteen Tons" and walks to the control room and places a metal chair against the door trapping the agents inside including Agent Greene who had just walked in the control room. Harold continues to whistle his tune and walks towards the set and sits on a chair situated behind the the painted city scape scenery of the New York skyline that sits behind Pops' stage desk and guest chairs. Harold continues to whistle Sixteen Tons and suddenly stops, looks at his watch and says, " Almost showtime!... This is going to be one hell of a show!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!.. Are you telling me that Pops met the one and only Elvis Presley?",says Paulina. " Yes Paulina, he sure did but you won't believe what happened when he did!", said the Group Leader. " Wait, wait, wait!... Who exactly is Elvis Presley?",asks Greg. " I can't believe I am partnered with you!... He was the greatest singer of all time, the king of rock n' roll!!", said Axel. "I'm sorry, I don't know ancient history I'm sorry!", exclaims Greg. " If I was down there right now I would slap you Greg, Elvis is a legend!.. Not ancient history!", said Paulina. " Now, now Paulina we all can't know the great singers of the past!", said Axel. " How do you know who Elvis is anyways?... I thought that there weren't too many who did, most people like the stuff from the second decade of the 2000's!", said the Group Leader. " Yuck!.. Not that there weren't some good singers then but really music seemed to die in the 21st century it all sounded synthesized and computer generated...I prefer the classics of the 20th century when musicians didn't need a computer to help make their music!!.. Thank god those things died out with the plague!", said Paulina. " It's not that I don't know he was, it is just not my style of music!", exclaims Greg. " Then what is?",asks Paulina. "Can we answer that question at a later date, and let me finish my story here as I am getting a little tired and not sure how much longer I can talk!",said the Group Leader. The speakers of all those talking on their walkie talkies goes silent and the Group Leader continues to weave his tale of the latest Pop's Brilliant adventure! " You see we now need to flash forward about 2hrs and Pop's is about to start his show and Harold, well Harold is still sitting behind the set waiting!"
Pops makes his way to the soundstage from his dressing room wearing a white dress shirt with an orange tie, a pair of dark brown flannel dress pants with a matching sport coat,and a red leather journal in his left hand. Pops, his thinning brownish hair styled in a comb over style, walks to his large light brown wooden desk made out of steps on some stepping stool to help his 4ft 8inch bearish frame climb up onto the leather arm chair with a booster seat in it to be able to sit with his chest above the desk top. Pops pauses on the second step of the step, glances around the room with a look of discomfort on his face. A male stage hand with slicked back dark black hair who is there to assist him in being seated whispers with a strong French-Canadian accent," Is everything all right Pops?" "Not much I haven't been able to take a shit in almost 2 days and I am having some stomach pains!... Remember to keep an eye out for anyone who doesn't belong here or anything suspicious, it could be Harold!",exclaims Pops. " Don't worry Pops!.. We have our eyes peeled for that, Agent Greene told us to be ready!", said the male stage hand with black hair. " That's awesome!... What's your name buddy, so that I don't call you guy with black hair?", asks Pops. " It's Guy actually!", said Guy the stage hand. "Haha!.. Then it is guy!..That's some hair style you got going on there guy, do you use 30 or 40 weight?.. Hahaha!" , said Pops in his deep baritone voice sounding like Randy " Macho Man" Savage. " It's Guy, not guy Pops!.. And I use Stevenson's Brill Cream, so it is kind of like 30 weight! Haha!", said Guy the stage hand. Pops takes his bare right hand and slaps Guy square on the backside saying," It's nice working with you Guy!" A look of confusion and discomfort quickly appears on the face of Guy the Stage Hand who quickly helps Pops onto the booster seat and pushes the chair in behind the desk. Pops, places the journal down on the desk in front of him and reaches for the plate with six slices of thick Texas style toast on it, not knowing that Harold had sprinkled some powder laxative on it all. Pops grabs the top slice and takes a huge bite from the toast, a loom of extreme happiness comes over his face and Pops says," That's some great toast, quite possibly the best toast I have ever eaten!.. This must be what great sex will be like when I'm an adult!" The stage director motions to the the cameramen to focus on Pops and begins to countdown using his right hand from five and as each second goes by he puts a finger down to signal the start of the show. Pops watching this thinks that the stage director was giving him the finger and just as the live feed kicks in and viewers tune in from coast to coast in the U.S.A and Canada,the first thing that everyone sees is Pops flipping the bird to his viewing audience. Pops seeing the sign reading on the air lit up in red quickly puts his hand down in a small moment of regret saying," Shit!.. I'm sorry, are we on the sir now?.. Oh crap, I just swore, sorry!.. Oh man, seems like I did it again!", said Pops with a loud chuckle. The stage director slaps the palm of his right hand against his head in frustration saying,"Oh brother!!!!!!" Pops takes a huge bite form his toast again and with a partially full mouth garbling his speech he says," Welcome to Toast Time With Pops Brilliant!.. It's been a while since I have seen you all, this is my first show in a year and a half!.. I'm not going to get into why I was away, but I am back now and here to make Steve Allen's Tonight Show my bitch!" The Stage hand and Agent Greene simultaneously slap there palm of their right hands to their respective foreheads. " And tonight we have one of the biggest names in rock n roll here to shake and shimmy all around the stage like he has something in his pants, I really think he might have crabs, because who else would shake their body around particularly their crotch area around like that!.. Oh yeah, sorry, I got off topic , but we will ask him that question later after he sings for us!.. The person I am talking about is a man who has had one hell of a year, none other then Elvis Presley!!!!" The crowd of people in the sound stage all clap and cheer loudly with a few screams of excitement from the young girls in the audience! The entire crew of CBC agents on the soundstage behind the cameras and in the booth all slap their hands on their foreheads. " Yeahhhh!!!!!!... You know the last time I was on the air we didn't have an audience, but I have to say that this is great to have you cheer for me and a little for Elvis!.. Haha! Just kidding I know you were all cheering equally for the both of us, but do me a favour and cheer a little louder for Elvis though!", said Pops. The girls in the audience scream even louder and Pops gets a big grin on his face and says," So without further ado I give you Elvis Presley!!! YEEEAAAAHHHH!!!!!!" The crowd in the soundstage seats erupt into a large deafening collective scream. Elvis appears on stage in a pair of tight black pants with Hollywood pleats, a white dress shirt with the top button undone exposing a small portion of his chest, a charcoal grey sport coat and his Gibson J200 strung over his shoulder, ready to play in front of him. The crowd in the soundstage goes completely nuts screaming so loud that it shakes the walls. Elvis' band strikes up the tune immediately as Elvis starts playing his guitar, breaking into his hit single "Don't Be Cruel", driven gut cows into a frenzy. But even more so as he starts to shimmy and shake his pelvis around from side to side, front to back and sliding his legs around with his pelvic dance. Pops sits behind his desk bobbing his head to the music throughout the entirety of the song. As Elvis finishes the song and bows to the audience, the screams in the crowd continue to ring out. Elvis hands his guitar to a stage hand and makes his way to the red cloth chair beside Pops' desk and sits down. Pops extends his right hand and shakes the hand hand of the future king of rock n roll. " It's damn nice to meet you Elvis!.. You seem to have quite the fans, think a lot of those girls in the audience want to have sex with you!.. They seem very horny by the sounds of their screams!" A shy and embarrassed look come covert the face of Elvis and with his southern drawl says," Thank you Pops!.. What they say about you is true, you do say whatever comes to your mind for such a young man!" " Well, thank you Elvis!.. I always have and always will!", said Pops. The crowd laughs in agreement with Pops' comment, Pops picks up the plate of toast and extends it to Elvis saying," Here have some toast Elvis!" Elvis reaches and grabs a slice of the Texas toast, takes a bite and says," Thank you Pops!.. This quite good!.... You have great taste in toast!" " You're welcome Elvis!.. If it's one thing I know it's toast!!!....If you like good food you need to try the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich I invented! It's not toasted but it is still pretty damn good!", said Pops. "You will have to give me the recipe for that!.. It sounds great!", said Elvis. Pops grabs another slice of toast and quickly inhales it, within a few seconds Pops stomach starts to rumble and grumble from the laxative starting to work its magic. " So, Elvis I want to know..." , says Pops who suddenly stops from the upset stomach, all of a sudden as Pops is about to talk again he starts to fart loudly and uncontrollably.Elvis plugs his nose and says," Little man, don't be cruel, , those farts are burning my eyes!.. Are you all right?" " I'm fine just a little gas!", said Pops. The crowd starts to gag as Pops continues to fart more and more sending people running and screaming for the doors almost trampling one another. As Pops continues to fart even more he stops suddenly catching himself and jumps off his chair quickly saying," Oh no!.. I think my constipation is over and he runs to his dressing room faster then The Flash! From behind the curtain of the stage set Harold appears, and steps behind Pops' desk and says," Thank you Pops for your own musical melody from your ass, you really left them screaming as well!.. Elvis I think you should probably find a bathroom too!.. After all you did eat that laxative flavoured toast I made for you both!" Elvis' stomach starts to rumble and he runs off the stage to find a bathroom. Harold looks into the camera and says," I think he is about to visit Heartbreak Hotel!" Agent Greene tries to open the door to the control booth with no luck and tries to continually force it open with his body weight. " I am going to keep this quick because the agents that run this show are bound to break out of the control booth soon and the laxative should be wearing off soon Pops!.. And if any of you others here in the studio try and stop me I will blow this entire studio to kingdom come with us all in it!", said Harold holding up a radio detonator in his left hand. The stage crew and interns all stand frozen as Harold looks into the camera and says," I'm going to keep this short, so here goes!..Pops, dear brother you thought you could trap me but you see I am smarter then you!.. And the reason no one ever saw me as someone strange around here is because while you were away I was the one who filled in for you!.. Now when you are done taking that massive shit, then come and get me if you can!" Harold starts to walk away, but quickly turns back around, grabs Pops' red leather journal from off his desk and says," Oh by the way thanks for leaving me your journal!" Harold looks at the agents, winks and presses the detonator's red button causing the lights to explode sending sparks everywhere as he runs out of the studio.
Agent Greene takes a running start and shoulder checks the wooden door to the control room so hard that it not only bends the metal chair, but also breathe door of its hinges. Agent Greene runs down the stairs from the control room like an olympic track athlete, then proceeds to run across the audio floor towards the exit. As he passes by Guy the stage hand Agent Greene yells out," I'm going after Harold!... Tell Pops as soon as he comes out of the bathroom and not while he is in there!.. Believe me you won't want to be in the bathroom while he is shitting, it is worse then the farts!" Guy the stage hand nods his head in agreement,Agent Greene sticks both his hands out in front of him and with his momentum pushes the crash bar on the heavy, metal stage door and out onto the streets of New York. He looks around as crowds of people pass by him at a hurried pace. " Where the hell did you go Harold?", said Agent Greene. Spinning in a circle like a top surveying the crowd Agent Greene is suddenly startled by the impact of a small stone hitting the back of his head and the sound of a high pitched whistle. Agent Greene turns around to see Harold standing 8ft away from him, Harold said," Looking for me fucker!... Now I would love to see if you could play catch me if you can, but instead I want to wait!...I want to start the game when you both are out here and then we will see just which one of you loses me first!" " You are one strange, twisted kid Harold!...You should be hanging out with kids your own age bike riding, playing outside and fishing, not trying to kill your brother!", said Agent Greene. " Fuck you asshole!.. That is the pot calling the kettle black, from someone who chaperones a 9 year old boy to be a government agent!.. But if you are looking for someone to blame then blame my father! He created me and then when he saw a flaw he locked me away and forgot about me! If it wasn't for the double agent that stole the vile that contained my DNA components then I never would have been born!", said Harold."Now just calm down Harold, we can talk about this, there is no need to play cat and mouse!..I'm sure your father got scared, thought what he did was right and now regrets it!", said Agent Greene. "Screw you!.. Pops got everything! Father thought he could do better, I know he was going to have me destroyed but the CBC decided to keep my DNA components in stasis!..Now, I am going to start taking back what I want and fuck shit up for my dear brother destroying all that he loves!... By the way where is he? How long does it take to take a shit, I can't keep monologuing forever!", said Harold as he looks at his watch.
Pops walks out of the bathroom whistling the tune Happy Trails, his fly still undone. Guy the stage hand runs up to him and says," Pops, Agent Greene went out the door after Harold, he said to tell you!" " That son of a bitch!.. Here, I thought that I got some bad toast!.. Which way did he go?", said Pops. Guy points to the exit door directly to the right, two feet away from them both. Pops slaps Guy on the ass again saying," Thank Guy!" Pops runs out the exit door out on to the city sidewalk, and Guy with a look of indifference on his face says," I really wish he would stop doing that!"
Pops runs out onto the sidewalk promptly colliding with Agent Greene, knocking Pops to the ground. " Holy shit Hoss!..I thought you went after Harold, why are you still standing with your thumb up your ass?", said Pops. Agent Greene points to his left at a laughing Harold who says," Oh my god that was fucking funny!.. You two are like a comedy duo, well maybe just you Pops!.. How in the hell would they make you an agent, you are so pathetic! I obviously got the brains and the looks and well the personality! As a matter a fact I am the perfect specimen and you are nothing more then a little piece of shit because you look like it and damn you sure as hell have the smell for it!" Pops pulls himself off the ground, dusts off his black pants and says," Fuck you Harold!!!!.. Fuck you!... You are the piece of shit and I am going to do to you what I do to all pieces of shit and that is flush them!...I wipe my ass with you and your so called perfection you megalomaniac!" " Oh Pops, you can try but I will always win, you know why?", said Harold. " Why you bagel eating asshole!... Bagels, really Harold bagels?... They pale in comparison to the sheer fantastic heaven that is toast!", said Pops. " That's where you go!.. Really brother!... You truly do have one track mind!...The reason I will win is right there, your anger and arrogance and the fact that we basically share the same mind, what ever you can think of, I've already thought of it!" Harold holds up Pops' red leather journal in his left hand, opens it, glances at the first couple of pages, closes it and says," Thank you for this by the way, I am going to make a fortune on the ideas in here by the way!.... I guess you do have some good ideas after all!" " You son of a bitch!.. When I get my hands on you I will put you in a hole so deep you will be roommates with the devil!", said Pops. " So long as it is not how you were on that poor stage hand, I think you traumatized that him!... But seeing as you think you can catch me in your less then athletic state I will give you a little help, I will make my way to the subway station two blocks down from here and wait for you and then we will see if you can catch me!", said Harold. Out of the metal stage door comes Rick who stops right beside Pops and Agent Greene. " Oh look the gangs all here!..Hi dad, bet you thought you would never see me did you?... Well now the three of you can try and catch me then!", said Harold. " Harold come on son we can talk this out I never meant for this to happen, if I could take and do it all over again I would have had you with us not stored away in some test tube!", said Rick. " The time for that has passed old man!.. You had your chance, don't feed me your lies, I am not some sort of idiot! You should know that, you created me!", exclaims Harold. "There is no use dad, he obviously wants to play a game of catch!", said Pops. Harold points his index finger at Pops in agreement, looks at the gold watch on his left wrist and says," Exactly, now enough talking!... Catch me if you can!" Harold takes off like a shot out of hell with Agent Greene hot on his trail, Pops starts to run after him and Rick places his hand on his shoulder stopping him and said," You stay here let us get him!" Pops looks at Rick with a indifferent glare and says,"But he wants me to get him and I need to catch him!.. Let me go and get him please!" " Look this is my mess I need to help stop this before it accelerates, you stay here and stay safe! I don't want Harold to do anything to you, you need to stay safe the world depends on it!" Pops nods his head in agreement, Rick tussles Pops thinning brown hair and runs after Harold and Agent Greene leaving Pops standing watching.
Agent Greene chases Harold down the busy city sidewalks of New York, weaving in and out of the people waling down them and a 10 feet behind them Rick follows. Harold looking over his shoulder tosses a handful of ball bearing from his pants pocket on the ground behind him secretly. Agent Greene not noticing steps on them and falls as do a few of the people on the city sidewalk. Agent Greene lets out a scream of pain as he lies on the ground holding his right knee. Harold stops at the stairwell to the Broadway subway station grins a devilish grin and laughs. Rick having caught up with them stops to check on Agent Greene and says," Are you alright Lorne?" "I'll be fine, just twisted it really bad!.. Go get him!" Harold smiles at his father and waves, then quickly runs down the steps of the Broadway street station. Rick gingerly steps to avoid the scattered ball bearings and quickly disappears down the steps towards the subway. Pops not being able to stand around no more says,"Fuck it!.. I am going!.. There is no way I am standing here like a useless tit!" Pops makes his way down the street as fast as his chubby little body can takes him. As the adrenaline surges throughout his body, Pops moves with great ease like he is running on air through the crowd of people. He comes to the entrance of the Broadway subway station seeing Agent Greene who quickly says," I'll be fine!..Your father is down in the subway station after Harold, go and get him!" Pops nods his head and quickly makes his way down the steps of the subway station.
Pops runs down the stairs of the subway station, he stops, puts some money in the turn style and enters. Pops makes his way down towards another set of stairs to the bowels of the grand old city where a subway car has just pulled up over loaded with passengers. The car doors open releasing the passengers who rush out like a stampede of cattle who rush up the stairs, pushing their way past Pops. "Fuck!.. I can't see a thing!",said Pops as he makes his way to the subway platform. Crowds of people move past him escaping the confines of the subway station allowing the ones waiting on the platform to board the empty subway cars. Pops stands looking around in all directions for some sort of sight of Harold and his father. As the platform clears, thinning out his view Pops catches a glimpse of Harold at the far end of the platform near the motorman's car leaning against the white tiled wall, reading the red leather journal that he stole of Pops studio desk. Pops makes his way towards Harold who knowing the imminent arrival of his little brother continues to stare into the journal. Pops moves faster and faster avoiding the people crossing his path while still keeping his eyes on Harold. As Pops is 3ft away from him, Harold casually closes the journal, and looks at Pops saying," I knew you couldn't stay away!..Here I thought when Agent Greene and dad were both chasing after me with no sign of you that you had no balls!.. But I guess I was wrong!" " You thought wrong Harold!.. You aren't too smart just standing here waiting for me!.. You would have to be the worlds dumbest villain ever!", said Pops. " I think not!... Once again your anger and over confidence is your achilles heal, twice in one day, this has to be a record for you!", said Harold. " How do you figure that Harold, I have you cornered, there are no subway cars coming for about 10 min, CBC agents are on their way to arrest you!.. I think that your over confidence is your achilles heal asshole!", said Pops. Harold starts to walk back and forth along the white tile wall and he says," You know this is one interesting journal, it has some great ideas in it! In fact I see one I know a client will be interested in buying!..... Did you think I would lead you down here without bringing some sort of back up!", said Harold. Harold lets out a high pitched whistle and five men in charcoal grey suits brandishing the 45 calibre ACP's, a large sixth man resembling Dwayne Johnson holds Rick close at gun point next to the subway platform. " What the hell are you doing here Pops?.. I told you to stay by the studio, now he has us both!", said Rick. "I couldn't stand around with my dick in my hand doing nothing!.. I had to catch him!", said Pops. " See, and that is what I was counting on!..You thought you could trap me in the studio but I have turned the tables on you and have you trapped now!", said Harold. " What the fuck do you want now that you have me Harold, if it's to stand and talk me to death then you might as well quit now because I could do that better then you asshole!", said Pops. " Oh Pops, your wit is just like your imagination.....still very unoriginal!... No I have a better idea, lets see just how much you want dad back!.. The next train is do to arrive here in about 3 minutes, so you have to decide quickly, if you let me have this journal that you covet,then you can have Rick back safe and sound!.. But, you have to pay me a genuine compliment first, if not I will kill our father!", said Harold. Pops looks up at the seconds tick away on the clock, he looks back at Rick and then at Harold, the sound of an approaching subway car echoes in the distance and he says," Okay, you win!.. You are better then me, more attractive, smarter and the number one son!", said Pops. " Very good! Now say something nice about bagels, because your insult to those truly fantastic things hurt not only my feelings but theirs as well!" Pops struggles to let the words out but seeing the large henchman hold Rick out over the subway platform he says," Bagels are better then toast, in fact I wish I could have one right now!" " Very good!.. I am so proud of you!", said Harold who lets out a whistle as the subway train approaches. The Dwayne Johnson like henchman throws Rick out on the platform in front of the train striking and killing him instantly, dragging Ricks body under it. Pops lets out a bloodcurdling scream and cries uncontrollably, then Pops says," You son of a bitch Harold, you are nothing more then a bagel fucking psychopath!.. How could you do that?... You gave me your word!" "Fuck, you are stupid Pops!.. I just taught you your first lesson and that is to be careful to trust people!.. You see I was always going to do that at some point but when dad came to your rescue it showed me he loved you more then me and he had to be punished for his sins!" , said Harold. Harold and his henchmen start to make their way up the stairs of the subway station, Pops yells out," I will get you for this Harold, if it takes me 100 years I will get you!" Harold stops half way up the stairs, grins menacingly and says," I look forward to your efforts, we will see how much you are willing to risk!... Au revoir Pops!" Harold makes his way up the subway steps quickly surrounded by the henchmen. Pops kneels down on the subway platform crying uncontrollably as people quickly get off the train cars and subway workers look under the train at the mangled dead body of Rick.
Close to 50 people stand with umbrellas over their heads in the confines of Woodlawn Cemetery in Saskatoon, as rain pours down from the gloomy and grey sky. Along the roadside black sedans are parked under the trees. Seated on some folding wooden chairs sits Pops, his head leaned in against Karens right side with her arm wrapped around him in comfort as tears stream down from his eyes. Seated in the other chairs are Ray, Peter and Quinn. Standing directly behind Pops is Agent Greene with his large hands on the shoulders of the young boy. Thunder claps up in the sky above as the priest closes his bible and the coffin is lowered into the ground six feet below. Tears of sorrow flow intensely from the eyes of Karen, Pops, Ray, Peter and Quinn. tears can also be seen coming from the eyes of Agent Greene and Mr. Pervus as well as Miss. Sutherland. The caretaker for the graveyard, a portly middle-aged man in his early 50's with a bald head, a snow white beard that resembles Santa Claus wearing overalls over top of a dark black t-shirt takes the the spade in his hand and starts to throw some dirt on the open grave. Karen lets out a howl of grief, Agent Greene takes his left hand of Pops' shoulder and places it on Karens to console her. The mourners start to make their way towards the cars parked under the trees as the rain starts to pour down even harder. Agent Greene watches as Pops and Karen get in the black cadillac with Peter, Quinn and Ray. Pops looks out the rear passenger side window with streams of water flowing down it and waves at Agent Greene who returns the gesture in kind. As the cars pull away only Mr.Pervus, Miss. Sutherland and Agent Greene are the only ones left standing out in the torrential down pour under their respective black umbrellas. "Poor kid!.. To have to see something that horrible at such a young age, I never should have let Rick leave my office!", said Mr.Pervus. " Don't blame yourself sir!.. You wouldn't have been able to stop Rick anyway!", said Agent Greene. " He has been so quiet from the shock, this is the first time I have seen Pops speechless!.. Agent Greene he looks up to you, you will need to be for him, all of this trauma could eat him up!.. The agency will have a psychologist come and talk to him, and as of now Toast Time With Pops Brilliant is on hiatus until Pops is well enough to come back!..As is the tour of Europe!" " That sounds like the best idea, for how long?", asks Agent Greene. " Next spring, lets not rush Pops back he needs to be with his family right now!", said Mr. Pervus. " That should be enough time and I will do whatever I can to help, but if Pops feels like he wants to get back to work sooner it will be hard to stop him!.. I've seen that look of revenge in his eyes before, but never this intense, I would hate to be Harold when he catches up with him!" , said Agent Greene. "Do we have any idea where Harold is?", said Miss. Sutherland. "The last I heard he has disappeared into Europe somewhere!.. He's going to be hard to find, like a needle in a haystack!", said Mr.Pervus. The rain continues to pour down from the sky at an increased pace and Miss. Sutherland says," Can we get going and get out of this rain before we get washed away?" " I agree with Miss.Sutherland lets get out of this, we can talk more about this back in Toronto!.. Maybe we can even find Harold!",said Agent Greene, Miss.Sutherland and Mr.Pervus make their way to the last black cadillac parked close to the gravesite and get in and drive away. On the other side of the graveyard in a big black plymouth sits Harold in the backseat watching the aftermath of his handiwork and he says," Check mate!.. Your move Pops, now lets see what you can really do!"
Tears flow down the eyes collectively of Keith, Maria, Paulina and even Greg had a tear or two escape the confines of his eyes. In the mechanical room Grace is bawling like a baby and Hannah stares off in the distance deep in thought turning her head away from Grace's view as she starts to sob. Up on the roof top for some unknown reason the reception from the walkie talkie has come through and Priya and Preston both are shedding tears of their own. Emil sits stone faced emotionless and he says," Don't know why you are crying at some stupid story!... I happen to like that ending!" In the basement Axel too stands emotionless as he looks at the Group Leader who has now passed back out from exhaustion and says," Hey,are you done?.. Well, that was the stupidest ending to a story I've ever heard, If I wanted to hear people cry I would just take all their money like I always do!" Axel looks over the Group Leader and notices that his walkie talkie is missing from his belt and he say," Now where did your walkie talkie go to?.. Maybe it got knocked off when Greg was torturing him, it's got to be around here somewhere!" Axel takes his walkie talkie off his own belt and says," Sorry Keith, but story times over!.. The Group Leader has gone back to sleep!" The voice of Keith replies over the walkie talkie speaker," Alright, let him rest!.. We need to test the rope anyways to see if it is safe and if it is we will be making our way down!... We will let you know our progress, just don't hurt anyone!" "That's a deal!.. And I always keep my deals when they benefit me!", said Axel.
Up on the 5th floor in the dimly lit hotel room The Shadowy Figure sits deep in thought, his eyes red from the tears that flowed out of his green eyes and onto his weathered face. In front of him the ghost of Samantha stands holding the walkie talkie out in front of her that she had taken from the Group Leaders belt. Samantha lowers it, smiles and says," So, are you going to help him now?" The Shadowy Figure gets up from the arm chair, takes his large right hand and clears the tears from his eyes and says," I've heard all I need to hear, excuse me please!" The Shadowy Figure, picks up his backpack and walks out of the 5th floor hotel room and stands out in the hall and turns to his left.
In 2022, Jack and Graham sit in the recovery room of the testing facility, Jack sits on the edge of his bed like a child rocking his legs back and forth. The stainless steel metal door opens and in walks Dr.Darren Larson, all excited that his cherub face is now rosy red and holding his metal clipboard. " You won't believe it, but the rapid healing is not the only side effect!... In fact from your blood tests we have found that your bodies have now stopped aging and your organs are completely healthy!", said Dr. Darren Larson. " That is interesting Darren, so we will look this hood when we do die one day?", said Graham jokingly. " You don't understand Graham, you may never die, that cure you gave us has given you both immortality!.. This is the biggest discovery of a lifetime, I mean one minute the world is dying off and the next it is seems that humanity will live on forever!", said Dr.Darren Larson. "Wait are you telling me that I am not going to die, ever?",said Jack. " I am about 98% certain!.. There is one drawback to your new gifts and that is the more injuries you sustain could make you weak, which in turn could cause you to slip in and out of consciousness while your body heals!.. But, if it were to sustain a rapid amount while the body is trying to heal in its resting state it might be the 2% that does kill you as the cells would be working overtime and like any machine that works at too high of a speed it breaks down!", said Dr.Darren Larson. Jack and Graham sit in silence staring at one another from their respective beds and Jack said,"So, what you're saying is that I can go from total Wolverine to a corpse under the right circumstances?.. Oh, great!" " Darren I need you to do two things for me?", said Graham. "What is it Graham?",replies Dr.Darren Larson. "One, make each of us some sort of serum to use in case that happens and two destroy this cure!", said Graham. " What?.. Why would you do that, this is what we have been waiting for!", said Dr.Darren Larson. " This is too dangerous a gift to be given to the whole of humanity, we were not meant to live forever!.. People could not handle this gift it would be disastrous on a whole new level, worse then the plague!", said Graham. Darren stands and thinks for a minute and he looks at Graham and says," You are right Graham!.. I will get on that serum for you guys and this cure will be destroyed!", said Darren. " I guess this makes us the last people on this planet in time!", said Jack. " Not necessarily, I have been looking at the lazarus compound, it's what I call it, and if I tinker with a few components it could be a potential cure with no side effect!... But, if we are going to make this all happen I need to get on it immediately, time is of the essence!.. Excuse me gentlemen!", said Dr.Darren Larson as he leaves the room in a hurry. Jack looks at Graham and says," So, you gave them a cure did you?....I didn't know you were a geneticist!", said Jack. Graham gets up from his hospital bed, walks towards Jack and says," You know I'm not bud, you know there was only one place that I could get it from, from the same place that the plague came from!", said Graham. "I knew it!.. Those journals, those things have caused a lot of fucking problems in the world!", said Jack. " I know!.. That is why I have to make sure they never fall into the hands of anyone else, there are some things in there that could really change the course of humanity both for good and bad!"
Maria slowly climbs down the make shift rope inching ever closer to the 5th floor landing that Keith and Paulina stand awaiting her imminent arrival. Up above her the weaving starts to tear even more. " That's it you are almost here, now start to swing and when we tell you let go and we will catch you!" said Keith. Maria frozen with fear shakes her head from side to side in disagreement and says," I don't know if i can do it!.. What if I miss or let go at the wrong time and end up falling?" " You won't just trust me, please I promise!", said Keith. Maria starts to swing the rope building its momentum more and more, up above the rope tears quickly from the stress of the weight and sudden movement on it. " That's it you are almost there! One, two three and let...", said Keith as Maria swings on the fragile rope. Just as Maria is about to let go of the rope it completely tears under the stress and Maria starts to scream as she starts to fall. Keith yells out," MARIA!!!!!!!..... NOOOOOO!!!!!'
