The Vaccine

By summers end the Death Angel had killed an estimated 27 million people in the Americas. That's nearly 1/3 of the total population. The quarantine had prevented the spread of the disease but it still hadn't stamped it out completely. Just as the government had promised a new vaccine was developed by Pfizer and was set for distribution starting September 1st. Before Dan was killed in the medical center raid he had sent me some copies of all of his research on the virus and the vaccine. I think he must have known he was being watched and that his life was in danger. Dan's research was indicating that the vaccine could have possible adverse effects on those of us with the mutated DNA. It was suggested that the vaccine carried a component that directly attacked the Indigo Gene and destruction of this gene could lead to serious injury and potentially even death. Not a reassuring feeling when the nation, feeling an increased aggrivation from being isolated in their homes, was eagerly awaiting their Salvation Vaccine. The magical shot that will make everything that is wrong in this world all better. I knew this was a great fantasy that would probably not end in a happiness and dancing unicorns. At least not for some of us. The media had announced that the President herself would be addressing the nation Friday evening. One could only assume it was about the vaccination programs and the details on the process. We all gathered at our house to watch.

It was all too reminicent of that night where we sat in Reubens family room and listened as our lives changes irrevocably. This time the children did not go outside and play, they each one sat in nervous anticipation. We had all changed together and their young lives, we knew, would never ever share the innocence of the world we had grown up in. The news channel hushed as the screen changed to the President, sitting at her desk in the oval office. To her one side the director of the CDC Charles Clifton. The camera panned into President Dobson as she smiled for her big moment.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the American Allegence after several months of dilligence on the part of the American people we have seen a drastic dip in the occurances of RV 16-1. While we have lost so many and nothing can be done to console those who lost loved ones to this terrible disease. We can say that we have seen 1/3 less loss of life to the virus than the rest of the world suffered in the earlier outbreaks. While dealing with a stronger virus that adapted before it reached our shores we still fought hard and won the battle. Now it is time to win the war! This week, most of you have heard that Pfizer has announced the production of a successful vaccine for Rv16-1. Here today to speak to you about the plan being set for by the CDC to get every single citizen vaccinated and protected is Director of the Center for Disease Control Mr. Charles Clifton."

The camera then panned over to the frumpy black man who was wearing a peculiar pale green tie. "Good afternoon. This is the most pleasing announcement I have had to give in a very long time. Ain't that a blessing from the Lord? We are so very proud to have this week approved the vaccine that our partner company Pfizer has produced. We have had several successful rounds of testing done on the vaccine and have seen nothing but positive results. I am certain that this drug will irradicate this disease just as we stamped smallpox out of existance a quater of a century ago. Just how even farther back we stopped polio right in its tracks from continuing to cripple American children. This vaccine will bring a victory to the human race once every single American has been dosed. That brings me to the next part, how do we vaccinate the entire remaining population? Well, believe you me, we have a plan. Just as we have ensured that every single person was provided for with food, water and the necessities to live during this tough quarantine, we have a strategic plan to see to it that every household is vaccinated by the end of this year. That is correct, we believe we can have this quarantine lifted possibly as soon as Christmas. I would like to see to it that every one of you have the ability to spend the holiday reunited with the family you have all had to be separated from for so very long. So how do we do that? Well we have labs across the nation currently producing this vaccine as quickly and massively as possible. We will then begin, on Monday, sending out trained medical personel along with the ration deliveries who will immunize each household starting with the most vulnerable, children under the age of 12, elderly over the age of 65 and immune system compromised adults such as pregnant women, or those with medical conditions. Once we have the most vulnerable vaccinated then we will proceed to the adults by a birthdate. Now I know there has been some speculation around the internet as to the safety of the vaccine and I am first and foremost going to assure you that I am so certain the vaccine is safe that I am going to have myself vaccinated right now for all of the world to see." He smiled as he lifted his arm sleeve and a nurse stepped into the screen.

"Hi, my name is Tara and I have been working dilligently to care for the sick and dying during the past four months. It is such an honor to finally feel I can say that we are fighting back." she smiled and held a package up to the camera, "As you can see this package is marked DAV Vaccine and it is labeled with the dosage for an adult over 100 lbs. I think you qualify Chuck." they laughed, "it gives me an expiration of `11/2020 so we have a nice fresh vaccine ready to be administered." she opened the packaging and took out a strange looking device that didn't look like any sort of needle I had ever seen before. "Some of you may notice that this is an unusual form of vaccination, not your typical intra muscular needle. This actually is far less painful that a typical shot. It really just has these thirteen small needles that merely prick the skin. " She took the device and placed it on the CDC directors inner wrist, "This vaccination will bubble up with a blister similiar to the blister the disease itself produces and it will leave a scar after the blister dries up and falls off. Some of you older vaccinated Americans may have a similiar scar from the smallpox vaccines you recieved when you were young. This one will leave a scar that will look like this." she held her arm up and showed a triangular shaped scar that had the thirteen prick marks darkened around it. "Well that is it, Mr. Clifton, you will now be completely protected against the Death Angel Virus."

"Thank you Tara and I hope that this will help set the minds of each and every one of you at ease that this vaccine is not only harmless but life saving." he smiled sickeningly. "So lifesaving that we cannot allow even one person to go unvaccinated. We cannot give this killer disease the ability to keep going. In order to ensure that exact thing, we will be imposing some strict standards when it comes to this mass vaccination. Every single person will be required to submit to the dosing and we will not hesitate to arrest anyone not willing to be vaccinated. Parent considering to resist allowing their children this life saving vaccine will be considered a danger to their childs well being and the children will be removed from the parents home. I know that some of you might cry a violation to your civil liberties but I say this is a matter of national security and we cannot allow uneducated ideals to compromise the health and well being of this great nation."

At that point Sage, of course, went into melt down mode and there wasn't anymore watching of the broad cast in our house. "No way! They cannot do that! they can't force us to put that poison into our children!" she screamed. And while I agreed that it was a gross injustice and that acording to the late Dr. Dan probably truely a poison to those who were like us. I also knew that there was no way we would be able to fight the government on this one. They were serious about moving forward and nothing anyone would say or do was going to stop them. And in all reality, who would back us up if we did try to fight it. Most people were so terrified of contracting this disease that they would most likely sell their souls to try to get their hands on this salvation. We were going to have to find a different way around it.

"What exactly do you propose we do? We can't fight them and we can't run away from them since a quarantine is still in effect. This is a loose-loose situation." I groaned.

"We could fight them, were the ones with powers, not them!" she argued.

Reuben jumped up furiously, "You're a complete idiot! If that component in the vaccine is in there because they want our kind dead do you think exposing ourselves and our powers is the way to save ourselves? You give them proof we are who we are and they will kill every single one of us right then and there! This isn't some conspiracy theory bullshit, this is real shit with real consequences!"

"Hey! Don't talk to my wife that way!" Jack shouted.

"You need to set your wife straight. If we don't handle this situation in just the right manner were gonna end up like the Dirty Doctor, with a bullet through our brains!" Reuben had never been a fan of Sage, much like the rest of us but he never hesitated to be vocal about it. My brother never was one to worry about whether he hurt someones feelings or not, especially when the safety of his family was at stake.

"How can I set her straight when I agree with her, we can't let those people give our kids that vaccine," Jack argued.

Reuben threw his arms upin the air, "I am not saying we should let them vaccinate us, I am saying we need to figure out the best way to avoid the vaccinations. A way without exposing ourselves and our abilities."
"Who cares if they know who we are, there are some people out there showing the world that we exist and that they are not ashamed. This group I have gotton into contact with on Skye Net called Leigon. They are fighting back and we can fight back too!" Sage huffed loudly opening her laptop.

"Leigon? What the Hell? We aren't Super Heroes, we are joining a group of radicals who are parading around in capes and fighting the corupt government! We are just a family who happens to have ended up with some weird shit we can do. A family who wants to see their children grow up and have a safe place in this world. A family who wants to survive. That's it, all that other bull shit doesn't matter. That baby, right there, that your niece is holding, your son, he wants to survive. That's what matters. Nothing else!" Reuben stormed off, Sam, Beth and Liza quietly gathered up the kids and headed back down the trail to their house.
I could tell that Jack and Sage were carrying on a conversation in their minds which I assume was them judging our lack of bravery and our lack of compulsion to fight the powers that be. Jack was probably tucking his testicles between his legs and telling her how right she was and how cowardly we all were being. Jack grabbed the boys and they headed downstairs without much to say out loud. We all just sat there stairing at eachother wondering, "Now what?" We had until Wednesday when our block would be serviced to figure that out.

Most of the weekend was spent largely divided. Jack and Sage stayed to themselves, Jack didn't even come up and practice with Sol wich I could see was quite bothersome to my husband. Sage mostly worked in the garden harvesting as much food as she could. Harper came home Saturday morning and we occupied our time over at Sam's mulling over possible ideas of how to handle the situation. We thought possibly we could hide ourselves away and not be there when they knocked on the door but that would only buy us a small amount of time and would likely raise huge red flags. We were at a loss.

I had a web chat session with everyone I could reach to try and appeal to them to not allow vaccination. Oteika and Jesse seemed in wonderful spirits. They were having far too much fun together apparently Jesse had introduced her to XBOX 360 and she was hooked. I hadn't heard from Marta and May in a while and wasn't at all sure whether they made it through the virus or not. I was assuming not.

Josslyn and Rosie were still tucked away the mountains. Apparently they weren't too worried about the vaccine since they hadn't even seen rations, they didn't believe anyone knew they were up there. Josslyn told us they had been living off the food stored in the kitchen of the restaraunt and that there were a few other campers in the campground who were huntersand fishermen and that had kept them stocked in elk, venison and lots of salmon. Josslyn told us that they were staying at a hot springs resort. It had a main lodge where there was a restaraunt and gift shop. Then it had probably 30 cabins of various sizes and an RV campground also. It sounded like they other campers were like minded and all ended up having the virus and coming out of it, much like us. She said that if we could make it up there somehow that there was ample room and resources to handle the entire group. A very good option if we could find a way up there. She even said that the main road in could be completely blocked off with enough man power. Something to consider we thought but how could we get 9 adults, 11 kids, a dog, a cat and 3 frogs up into the mountains without detection?
The outlook seemed bleak, good thing we had until Wednesday to come up with a plan. So far, it was looking like the best idea would be to hide out in the woods and buy ourselves some time. We started working our way into the deep forest finding trees and hide-aways for each of us so we could get there quickly and easily. We thought that Tuesday night we would camp out in the woods so when they came Wednesday morning they would find an empty cul de sac. We began taking food and water down to our hidden camp and various other supplies. In fact, that is what most of us were doing when our plan went terribly awry!

Later afternoon on Monday all of the kids were over at our house with Ember and Azure while the adults (minus Sage who was refusing to participate in cowardly hiding) worked hard on our hide out. Ember came running into the woods crying hysterically, when I finally calmed her down enough for her to catch her breath she wheezed, "They took them! Mom, the kids, they took them!"

"What do you mean they took them? Ember, who took them?" I asked, I couldn't comprehend what was being said, it made no sense.

"The people, the government, they came to vaccinate the kids and then Sage...she...oh God Mom they took them!" she cried. Reuben began to run up the trail and we quickly followed.

When we got inside Ember was sitting at the table reading some paperwork that had been left with them, Sage sat in the chair next to the play pen blubbering how sorry she was over and over.

"What the fuck happened?" Sol demanded, he was a man of few words but when he spoke he made it count.

Azure spoke up, looking up from the documents she was examining, "They came to vaccinate the kids, Sage told them no and they argued, then they zip tied her hands and lined all the kids up against the wall."

"Argued? You argued with them! Jesus! What did I tell you, IDIOT!" Reuben ranted.

Azure continued, "They took down all of our information and called it in, they took all the kids except Jasper and Shiloh because they couldn't facilitate that young immediately."

"Why didn't they take you girls? You're still children." Sam inquired holding Shiloh so tight it looked like she was squeezing the life out of her.

"They said we could make the choice for ourselves whether we would take the vaccine or not and that if we didn't we would be tried as adults...we had to say no, right?" Ember quivered.

I hugged her, "You had to, you did the right thing."

"So Hami's...gone?" Harper said with a look of shock, her face was drained of color. Hami had been the only man in Harpers life that had stayed with her through thick and thin. Hami was her Little Man and she wouuld be lost without him.

Azure knodded sadly.

Sam teared up rocking Shiloh, "Gabe and Zeke. My babies are gone..."

"No, fuck that, I'm getting my shot gun and I'm going to find my boys!" shouted Reuben.

"You can't go after them Reub, thats not going to help. Anyways you won't have any clue where to find them. The police will have you arrested for breaking quarantine before you get out of the neighborhood." Reasoned Bethany.

"She's right." I added noticing something odd. I walked over to the terrerium. I have no idea why I was counting frogs but there was definitely four, not three, four, "Griffen." I whispered tapping on the tank. Suddenly one of the frogs sprang out of the tank and shifted into my grinning little boy. I grabbed him about as tight as Sam squeezed Shiloh, "you clever, clever boy!"

"Jonah is clever too aren't you Jonah!" Griffen said looking over toward the tv.

I heard his voice reply but I had no idea where it came from, "Ya me too! We tricked them, Griffen and I, we tricked them." Slowly I was able to make out an outline of my nephew appearing from thin air. Jonah had finally discovered his special ability and in the most spectacular way, invisibility...brilliant!

The good news that Jonah and Griffen had fallen under the radar faded quickly into the realityt that we still had five children to find.

"They have to have some place they take them to for holding. How would we find that out Harper? You work in a medical center, where do they send the people to they come take?"

"Um, there's a database that finds placements for certain patients and they send out trucks to pick them up. But I only get a truck number assignment, it doesn't tell me where the trucks go."

"Marco! Marco is a hacker, he can hack into the database and find out where they were taken! I will go email him right now!" I hopped on SkyeNet and preparred an email:

RICKY: Hey little brother we have run into a problem! The CDC showed up early to vaccinate and there was an altercation. When Sage refused to allow them to vaccinate (which in her defense it was the right choice) they rounded up the children and took them in. Need Marco's help hacking into the data base that Harper uses at work to have people placed into CDC holding facilities. I know its dangerous but it's our only chance! Have him look for Sebastian and Alexis, Hami, Gabriel and Zeke Talk to you soon. EZ

He messaged back immediately:
Nothing is too dangerous for our niece and nephews! We know if it were Fiona, Adele or Nate you would do the same. Marco said he needs you to link up to him from your work computers so he can gain access to the system. From there he said it, being a government agency, will like be heavily encrypted but he will do the best that he can. When is Harper going to be working? You need to get out of the cul de sac ASAP! They will be back to arrest or possibly kill the rest of you. It happened to other Legion members. Get Marco access then get out of town! Take care Sis! Ricky

I replied:
She works tonight, we will leave in the AM. Not sure where we will be headed but we will stay in touch. And tell Marco Thank You and that we love you all! EZ
　

Aftermath 2

Over the next few months we spent our time discovering our new powers and working very hard to hide them away. It became apparent very soon that whatever the reason was that our government was lying to us, they were willing to kill to keep their secrets. In late July, luckily when Harper was off for a few days, the clinic was raided by Homeland Security. They were looking for something specific and Dan must have known they were there for him. He locked the door to his lab and carried out what we all could assume was his plan B. When Homeland made it to Dan's lab they found him dead from a single gun shot wound to the head. His computers were in a barrel burning along with all of his research files and anything else reguarding his work. Dan had warned Harper that if the government that we needed to consider disappearing. It left me with a very uneasy feeling! When Harper returned to work she had to put her heartbreak away. When questioned by Homeland Security about her involvement with Dan she merely said they were having an affair and she knew nothing about his personal work. They seemed to buy it, they wrapped up their investigation. They confiscated everything in Dan's lab and then was on their way.

Jack and Sol began training us on how to develop and better control our skills. Which was crucial training to a few of us, like Ember who seemed to keep setting herself on fire with her new pyro abilities. Luckily, Azure had developed a hydro abilities and promptly put her twin sister out each and everytime.

In fact, I had nic named our five kids the Elementals because while Ember mastered fire and Azure water, Sebastian found the ability to move the earth by magnetically manipulating the metal minerals in the rock and soil. Alexis seemed to have some control over the air element, where she could use the air to do spectacular flips and occasionally could even levitate. Griffen, I labeled the Spirit Master, could somehow channel the spirit of any animal he came into contact with and transform into them. We realized this when we found two Olivers asleep together in Griffens bottom bunk bed.

Our powers weren't limited to one either, most of us seemed to be blessed with a physical and a mental enhancement. I felt that our abilities were in areas we already excelled in before our change. Like Ember, who was a great cook before, also had a sort of kitchen witchery ability where she could cook up all sorts of natural healing potions, tinctures, and ointments. Sebastian could pick up a book and learn or memorize every detail. He had developed a flawless memory and could absorb just about any information immediately. Alexis seemed to be able to speak to any animal telepathically which didn't surprise me since Alexis had always been an avid animal lover. At least now the animal could tell her when her hugs and loves were cutting off circulation or choking them. We always said she was like that little girl on Looney Tunes who would love them and hug them and kiss them and squeeze them.

Reuben's powers were essentially no surprise to us. Reub spent alot of his free time tinkering around in his garage working on his Nova or rewiring some gadget. He seemed to spend even more time out there now that we were basically on national house arrest. Reuben just didn't seem to know what to do with all of this time on his hands. During one of his ADHD moments he discovered he had taken his tinker to a whole new level, designing his own miniature Tesla coil out of stuff laying around the house. He seemed to even be able to use himself as a sort of super conductor which I found to be terrifyingly amazing. When one of his electronic gadgets went awry one day and knocked the Nova straight off the lifts Reuben found he also had strength abouve normal human capacity. Reub caught that Nova with freakish ease. He was quite proud of that particular accomplishment and spent the next few weeks after that lifting and moving everything he should not have been able to lift or move.

Sam probably had the most entertaining ability of all of us. She found she could make people physically do things she wanted them to just by mere will. We call it the "Puppet Master" power, and she wasn't afraid to use it either. Often, when rations would be delivered we would notice the delivery people digging obnoxiously in their noses, ears or asses. Looking over to Sam's house there she would be laughing hysterically!

Sol was pretty excited about his new skills, other than enhanced martial arts he had also been blessed with telekenisis. Which he referred to as "Using the Force" He's such a nerd. I would find him playing video games with only his mind or we would frequently witness a random object floating across the room towards his lap or hand. Luna, the cat, told Alexis that she found this ability to be quite entertaining as sometimes sol would dangle a string in mid air for her to play with. Oliver on the other hand did not care for his ball floating above him where he couldnt quite reach it.

Jack was given the gift of telepathy and he and Sage would carry on silent coversations, presumably about those of us in the room with them. This skill made me the most uncomfortable. I had to suppose he could read my thoughts which I often preferred to keep to myself especially when it came to my increased irritation with his wife Sage.

Sage who had always had a green thumb now could command plants at will. Which was very cool for our community gardening needs but she was very arrogant about her powers and constantly reminded us how we wouldnt be eating certain things if it werent for her. No wonder her other power was poisonous, toxic skin. It matched her personality. And now that her skin caused a rash she had an easy out on shrugging off any other responcibilities she would have had. Her skin was her excuse to not help anyone, do anything. The rest of us had completely taken over the responcibilities of caring for Jonah and Baby Jasper.She couldn't seem to even glove up and change her own sons diaper or feed him a bottle. Luckily Ember and Azure were at the age where they loved playing Little Mama's to him. Oh and speaking of Baby Jasper, he had found himself capable of a sonic scream. His little body could produce a screech that could knock most people within 100 feet completely unconscious. Hami seemed to have a similiar thing with a sonic laugh. We could at least appeal to him to keep his power under control whereas we were powerless against the wrath of Baby Jasper!

We had three different charmers in our group, or at least thats what I would classify them as. Liza, who was now a 20 yr old sex symbol seemed to have an uncombatable allure over the men of the group. No matter what she wanted or needed the guys would be tripping over their own feet to accomodate her. They described it as if she smelled of the loviest honeysuckle and they wanted to do was make her happy. Sam and Beth were thouroughly irritated by their gorgeous mothers new found pheromone manipulation ability.
Shiloh was alot like her Mimzy in the way that she also held a charm over people. It didn't matter what she asked for or demanded and we just could not say no. "You want to give me ice cream and brownies for breakfast" and there we were baking brownies and scooping ice cream. Then later on going "why did I do that??" Shiloh used her powers often and often for no good. But she was three and who could blame her.
And as if my lovely little sister Harper couldn't get any lovlier she found herself with a singing voice that could hypnotize a room full of people. We found this one out when we decided to occupy ourselves with a Rock Band night and when Harp began to sing everyone in the room became so mesmerized they didn't recall a thing that had gone on.

Beth who couldn't walk without crutches before RV16-1 now not only could walk but could run and not only could run but could move at such a high rate of speed that we couldn't see more than a blur.
And one day Gabe and Zeke were outside in their back yard play wrestling on their trampoline things got a little bit out of hand (as they so often do with boys being boys). Gabe somehow hurt Zeke doing a high flying trick and Zeke went berzerk breaking both of Gabe's arms, cracked a few ribs and bloodied his face up pretty badly. It was like he had his dads super strength but only in a moment of rage. But Zeke's super strength didn't turn out to be the biggest discovery during that event. When Gabe was brought in and made comfortable we went to assess the damage to his arms and we watched them heal up right in front of our eyes. It was most miraculous but then again everything that had happened to us lately seemed to be miraculous!

Our world had changed around us and our lives had literally transformed from the inside out. The rumor around the net was the government was on the verge of completeing testing on a vaccine that would give hope to an eventual end to this quarantine. Then we would have to figure out how we would integrate back into a world that we no longer fit into anymore.

Egypt

I was walking down a dark corridor. I wasn't entirely sure where I was headed or what was waiting on the other side. Yet still I moved forward. There was indeed a light at the end of the tunnel, a light, bright and colorful, not like the traditional white light you expect to see when you die. "Was I dying?" I suddenly thought to myself. I couldn't really remember the moments before entering the corridor. Perhaps that was for the best, what if I had been killed in some horribly tragic way. I wouldn't want to remember that. I tried to think about where I had been but I just couldn't remember. All I could think of was the spetacular light up ahead. It was drawing me in, that psychadelic rainbow, calling to me like a siren at sea.

The closer I came the warmer I felt. I hadn't realized I was cold until I felt the warmth. It seemed as though I could reach out and touch the radiating bursts of color. I could clearly see there was an open doorway where the light was coming from. Naturally, as if I didn't even know the feeling of fear, I stepped into the colorful array. The feeling of pure euphoria flooded my soul. I closed my eyes and basked in the ecstasy of that one pure moment. Music filled my ears like a rock opera, a symphony like no other. Electric guitars entwined with violins and bass. I opened my eyes and to my disappointment I merely was standing in a room with several doors. The music faded and silence filled the room.

All the doors were closed but each had its own unique size and style. Seven doors, there were seven doors. I counted them aloud. My curiosity was getting the best of me, were these doors locked, I wondered. What was behind them? Why did they feel so...familiar? I carefully inspected each one.

The first door was green covered in vines of ivy and had a single eye centered on the door. Bizzarely it seemed like a real eye that followed me as I passed it.

The second door was gray and had a solid white star on it. It dripped as if covered with condensation. The door felt icy to the touch and invoked a feeling of sadness and panic. I didn't want to go through that door.

The third was a beautiful royal blue and had a silver fleur de lis adorning it.

The fourth was black and had a pentacle upon it made of wooden sticks.

The fifth door was an aged all white door with a chalice on it. I could have taken hold of the chalice and drank of it had I choosen that door. But I did not this time, I merely moved on.

The sixth seemed to glow more so than the others, it was solid gold and had an ornamental Ankh. I felt awefully compelled to open this door but I thought I should inspect the final door before making a decision.
The last door was Indigo and had a glimmer to it. It held the Omega symbol upon it. I wasn't sure which door to try and open, they all seemed to be intriguing in their own way.

My glance returned to the illuminated door with the ankh. I stepped up to it and touched it's smooth golden surface. It was cool and inviting. Without applying much pressure the door began to slide open. As I stepped into the entryway. I could not have imagined what I experienced next...

With complete weightlessness I glided through time and space. Images filled my head faster than the speed of light. It was as if I watched a movie of an entire life time at warp speed. Yet every detail was engrained in my mind as if I, myself, had lived it. It slowed down and I hovered above a sacred chamber.

ANCIENT EGYPT - YEAR 10,500 BCE
The room was dark, only lit by a small torch. The walls were covered with slots that contained rolled up scrolls. Each were labeled with heiroglyphics. A woman sat at a makeshift table writing on a hemp scroll. Next to her, proped up against the table, was a staff topped with a serpent that seemed to have glowing eyes. I heard a shuffle coming down the corridor towards the chamber. I looked at her closely and the resemblance was uncanny, she was me. She was adorned with a golden head band in the shape of an asp. Her hair was braided and hung down over her left shoulder. The man that entered the room was a familiar face too, Reuben, my brother. It was comforting to see his face.

"Preistess Senephra, the great pyramid is nearing completion." Reuben (or whatever his name was) knealt down in respect to her. "My Priestess, our legacy will be preserved, until Atlantis rises again"

"I certainly hope the future will handle this knowlege more responcibly than our people did." she said with a bitter sadness.

"It is my prayer also." Reuben concurred.

As I took a closer look at the chamber I noticed 12 slots around the circular chamber. All but one held a human size crystal quartz skull. Sitting beautifully upon the table was the twelveth skull, it was a reddish orange color. Senephra picked it up with such love and care, polished it off with a soft cloth and placed it into the empty slot. In the middle of the room I noticed a strange golden chest. Two angels faced one another atop the beautifully ordained chest. My study of world religion certainly paid off this time, I immediately recognized the chest as the Ark of the Covenant. What was perplexing was the fact that the ark should not have existed during this time period and even stranger, why was it in a hidden chamber in ancient Egypt? The mention of the ark seemed to be exclusive to the Hebrew based religions(ie: Judaism, Chrisitanity and Islam). I had never heard of the mention of the ark in Egyptian mythology. This time period seemed to pre date the ancient Egyptians written record so perhaps the Egyptians didn't even realize the ark was there. Moses was legened to have been ordered to build the chest and used it for communication with God. A silly concept when you think about it, why would God need a communication devise to begin with.

Senephra opened the ark with the help of Reuben and removed a beautiful purple amethyst skull. She placed it into the center of the ark between the two golden cherubum. What happened next was astonishing, the skull seemed to activate. It lit up with amazing colors flying everywhere. Then each skull around the chamber began to glow with a stream of light connecting each to one another and a spoke came inward to the skull housed in the center of the ark. It was reminessant of a chain of Christmas lights being plugged into the outlet for the first time of the year. The Priestess placed her hands upon the energized skulls and spoke, "Lord Enki, I call upon you. We, the final reminants of the sacred Priesthood of Atlantis, ask for your presence here on Earth. We have activated the gateway so that you may pass through."

The skull illuminated even more and eerily opened its mouth and began to speak, "My child, I see you and I hear you, and my blessings I bestow upon you. Your work will be the saving grace of humanity for the next time the skulls are reunited much will be at stake. We shall take the skulls and deliver them to the sacred people all across the Earth. The hall of Records that have been preparred shall be sealed until the proper time."

Senephra bowed her head and asked, "And what, my Lord, of the Ark?"

The skull replied, "The Ark shall remain in the chamber beneath the great Lion along with the records of my holy people the Atlanteans. The chamber is to be sealed and hidden until the appropriate time."

"My Lord, how will we know when the time arrives?"

"The skulls will find their way back to one another. The portal will be reopened and the final battle will occur. This will be many lifetimes from now my child. As for this lifetime, when the chamber has been sealed your work will be complete."

A sound like thunder cracked and a bolt of lightening flashed then the room fell completely dark. When Reuben lit his torch all 12 of the skulls and their coinsiding scrolls were gone, as if they had disappeared into thin air. Left in the room was the Ark and the 13th skull. Ezra sighed as a tear fell upon her cheek. She placed the skull and her sacred serpent rod into the ark. Took a bow of reverence. Then she and Reuben left the chamber for the very last time. They did as they were asked and sealed off the tunnel, they never spoke of the ark nor the skulls or the chamber again...at least not in that lifetime.

Before I came back to this lifetime, I noticed the angelic being that I had seen knealt down next to my bed. He stepped up to me and placed his hands upon my skull in the way that Senephra had placed her hands onto the magical crystal skull. Images forced their way into my mind. I saw the tall beings with the elongated skulls coming out of a sort of space craft and handing each skull to different native people from all across the globe. Not just people, but my people, my family, as if we have been here for thousands of years working towards the same mission, lifetime after lifetime. A Mayan woman who was clearly Ember with dark hair and eyes, Sol and Jack were no surprise, two monks in Tibet, a Japanese young girl was Alexis, Harper and Azure (who seemed to be Jaspers mother) lived the life of two native American women, Cherokee I do believe which happens to be a tribe our family descends from, Griffen and Zeke were two young boys on an island that would someday be known as the easter Islands, Sam was an older Celtic or Gaelic woman standing on a site that would eventually become Stonehenge, Sebastian and Shilohstood as a married couple with their children Gabriel, Jonah and Hami in an Incan village in Ancient Peru, two Russian men I didn't recognize made me assume they would be a part of our lives someday, Ricky and Marco looked like they were in an Aztec village, Beth stood near the banks of the Ganges in India, Liza was a Sumerian queen, and the final skull was taken by my neices Fiona and Adele (Ricky and Marco's adopted daughters) into the blue-green waters of the Caribbean and tucked it safely away.

Somehow, I knew for sure that these visions were not just the hallucinations of a sick woman or the bizzare dreams that had flooded my subconsciuos throughout my life but rather memories. Memories of lives I had lived before, lives that WE had lived before. Not only lives we had lived but purpose driven lives and this present lifetime was the culmination of the work over those thousands of years.

John and the Little Book

John and the Little Book

The beautiful angel I was begining to know so well stood beside my bed. I thought I should speak to him but before I could utter a word he placed his index finger to his mouth and shh'd me, reached out, took my hand, closed my eyes and suddenly, like magic, I was no longer in my bedroom. Rather I was standing upon a familiar Pacific Northwest beach. I thought to myself how strange it was that we had not been to the beach at all this summer. It was so unusual for our family, who typically took the hike down to the beach weekly during the summer months. The Death Angel had not only taken the lives of so many it had dramatically taken the quality of life of those who had managed to survive. I missed the smell of the salt water and the feel of the wet sand between my toes. The sounds of sea gulls and the incoming waves. The feel of home. I looked out into the ocean night and wondered when, if ever, would our lives return to some sense of normalacy. I sat down on a log and took in all that I could. The sky was clear, I could see each and every star. I noticed a strange object in the sky. At first I thought it was an aircraft but then it occured to me that planes had not flown since the quarantine had being in effect. I was awed by the sight, as it came closer and closer it was clear that it was another Angelic being but this one was far larger than the one who sat next to me. In fact, this one was a giant! He seemed to be surrounded by some sort of a mist or cloud. A glowing arch adorned his head. His face was so brightly illuminated I could hardly look at him. His legs, that appeared like fiery pillars, came down to Earth with a great thunder. With one foot in the water and one on the sand he bellowed out, "There will be no delay!" He raised his right hand towards the sky and in his left hand he held a little scroll.

In an instant, the beach was filled with freightened people. They were lining up to recieve something from the giant being. The Angel who stood next to me spoke, "Go. Take the scroll." I trusted his urging, walked over and took my place in line. Each person went up and was given a piece of the parchment scroll. They were all very happy and gracious to recieve the gift. They then took the scroll piece to their mouths and ate it. When it was my turn the being uttered to me "Take it and eat it!" I did as I was told and I found the parchment to taste sweet like honey and I felt satisfied when I was done just as those before me had. I could not comprehend what the meaning of the strange experience was. But when I stepped away and looked again closely at the giant being I was able to make out a face behind the light, it was Charles Clifton the director of the CDC. I looked around to the others whom I had followed and I saw three clusters of red dots now marking their foreheads. They were moaning and groaning in pain and agony. Writing in the sand of the beach vomiting and crying. It was not long before I knew why. My stomache became bitter and sour. A sharp pain resonated in my abdomen. I crawled over to the Angel who had brought me here and I cried, "What have you done to me? Why did you tell me to eat that posion?" The people around me were falling over dead in pools of their own bile.

The angel picked me up and placed his hand upon my abdomen which relieved my pain momentarily. He looked me deep into the eyes and spoke, "Because Ezra, you must be warned. Even though the vaccine will be recieved eagerly by the people, you must NOT take the vaccine. You must go out and prophecize concerning this to your people."

He then placed me on the ground and the pains returned. I knew I was dying just like the others, yet people still continued to line up for their portion of the posionous scroll. I gathered what energy I could and screamed out to them, "Stop! It is a trick! Do not eat of the scroll for you will surely die!!!" The pain then overwhelmed me, I vomited profusely and then my body gave out. I fell into unconsciousness once again.

The Martyre's

The Martyre's

As I entered slumber I was greeted by the familiar face of the beautiful angelic being I had been visited by so many times before. I had concluded that this frequent visitor was not part of some strange dream but rather a sort of spirit guide. He had shown me things that I never could have known without him. He warned us that the vaccine would ultimately lead to our death, advice that Dan's science proved sound. This time I took his hand without hesitation, he smiled a half smile and led me up and out our second floor window. This time he held me protectively in his arms and we flew across the night sky. I didn't seem to fear anything when I was with him. Ultimately I hoped he would lead me to my children. Flying felt incredibly liberating. I had never really thought about how truely free it would feel to soar along the skyline. We were headed south towards Seattle. I was eager to see the Space Needle from above rather than from the familiar below. It was truely as breathtaking as I had imagined it to be. The cityscape reflected off the water of the Puget Sound. The boats that were usually all over the bay sat docked in the harbor. It wasn't long before we began to descend into the city. It was a peculiar sight to see the city streets so empty. Seattle always seemed to have a hustle and bustle about it no matter the hour of the night. But with the quarantine, the only people on the streets were military and police adorned in haz-mat and riot gear, the routine "Death Trucks" that drive around collecting the dead, and a few vehicles with travel privilidge like Harper.

We came to a beautiful Presbyterian Church in downtown. As I began to worry that we might be seen his touch reminded me that it would be ok. He opened the front doors and we entered the church. It was a richly decorated church. Above the altar was an eerie life size Jesus statue hanging. His martyred face silently, suffering upon a cross. My angel friend walked up to the altar and swiftly shoved it forward revealing a hidden stairwell. The secret passageway must have been there since the church was built in the early 1900's. I wondered if it had been used for trafficking alcohol during prohibition or was it something far more sinister. Nothing intrigued me more than a good mystery. The hallway lead to a large wooden door which gauging from the commotion there seemed to be a large group meeting behind it. He pushed the door open and I followed him in. No one seemed to notice or care that we were there. We seemed to blend in with the hodge podge of people that filled the room. In fact, the room was filled with all sorts of unusual folk mingling. Some arguing about different topics, others laughing and carrying on. It was clear at least some of these people were like us...evolved. I saw a man with hair like an ape but it was green like grass, one man stood on long legs like stilts, another fat man seemed to have the tusks of a wild boar along with the piggy nose. Made me wonder what you possibly could do with piggy powers. As I scanned the room, watching the people I paid close attention to the details of the room. It didn't take me long to realize what this secret room had been used for, or at least by whom it had been used. The chisel and hammer, the pyramid atopped with an all seeing eye, a compass and square with a G in the center. This had been a Masonic Lodge.

The crowd began to hush as a tall man with long, black, curly hair and a handle bar mustache walked up to the podium beneath the sign that read LEGION.

"Family, friends, Legion Members, this is a very critical time in our lives. We are being faced with some very difficult decisions. Our kind is under attack by this New World Order. They have waged war on us. They have put forth a plan that ensures the survival of their kind and the complete annihilation of ours. We have, as I see it, two choices. The first being a route of inaction. We can hide ourselves away, in caves or warehouses or secret chambers. We can try to forge fake identifications and bare false markings so that we may attempt to blend in with the human race. Those of us who still look human. Yes, we can hide ourselves away, hide our new found powers, hide away our children, give up our every right, give away our very dignity. But that isn't much of a choice is it? That is more like a prison sentence than a life. But I do believe there is another choice, a better choice. We can chose a plan of action. We can choose to fight." the crowd began to cheer and I found myself cheering along. Perhaps partially to blend in but part of me was moved by the words the charasmatic man was speaking.

He continued, "To fight for that which is inheritantly ours. It is, after all, Survival of the fittest and we are, by far, the fittest. These powers are our birthright. God gave us these gifts, not to hide away, but rather, to display with pride! Who among you is proud of who you are? Proud of who your children are?" the crowd roared.

One man shouted, "How long until we judge the inhabitants of this Earth and avenge the blood of our fallen brothers and sisters?"

The man at the podium answered, "Soon, my brother, very soon. In fact the counsil and I have devised a plan. We will unite our people and rise up against this corrupt world government that is trying to exterminate us! We will destroy them as they are trying to destroy us! An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!"

He grinned as the whole room rallied behind him, "Are we not the ones with powers? Are we not the ones who have been given the gifts. We are the ones intended to inherit the Earth and they are the ones intended to die off"

A group of council members began to walk up to the front of the room. They were all dressed in white robes with the Egyptian eye of Ra upon them, "To show our unity, we will all, each and every one of us, from here on out, wear the same white robes. White robes representing the purity of our blood, the holiness of our DNA. They will be a symbol that will be associated with us. Associated with our fight. A symbol that not only says YES, we are different than you, but also says YES we are better than you!" The counsil members began dispensing the robes and people were slipping them on eagerly. "They will say "I AM NOT YOU and that YOU CANNOT BE ME! Nor can you eliminate me or defeat me! We will respond with vengence for our people. We will stage strategic attacks on this dictatorship until it falls on its knees and begs us for mercy...Mercy, which we will not give! For we are Legion! We do not forgive. We do not forget! We have been given no other choice. No viable choice. We, have been left nothing. Nothing, but, fight."

I was so swept away by the moment that my angel friend had to grab me by the arm tightly to avoid me being carried into the chaos. Suddenly we were no longer in the hidden hall. We were in a city square with hundreds, no maybe thousands of people wearing the same white robes. They were marching upon an army of soldigers. They were using various powers against an arsenal of military retaliation. They all, on both sides, were killing anyone in sight. Some of the civilians in the crossfire quickly became casualties. It was a massacre and Legion was giving those soldigers quite the fight. In fact, the soldigers really had very little defense against the various skills of the army they battled. The soldigers suddenly began to retreat and Legion took it as a sign that they were achieving some sort of a victory. I could see how they might thing so but I sensed something more was on the horizon. I could hear the roar of jett planes in the distance. Those soldigers werent retreating but rather were pulling back because they had called in back up.

"They called in an air strike!" I shouted to the angelic being beside me. "We gotta get out of here!" but he shook his head no. This guy seemed to enjoy subjecting me to rated Mature violence for the sake of a lesson learned. I stood and watched as bombs dropped all around us. It was a horrific sight, the Legion members seemed paralyzed but some kind of nerve toxin that was being dropped. They were helpless when the nerve gas was followed up by bombs, missles and gun fire. One by one they fell down dead. I buried my head in my guides shoulder and soon there was silence. I opened my eyes and found myself back in my bed. Sol was snoring loudly. I knew I wouldnt be getting back to sleep anytime soon. I got up and went to the kitchen to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I sat down at on the couch and turned on the television. And old episode of Perry Mason, why the hell not.