JUNE – and The Aeternae - S01 E15

Story 3 years ago

JUNE – and The Aeternae - S01 E15

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 15

THE WORM'S ORIGIN

Bourbon’s Grill, Grenville, Tennessee.

“An official death toll of the Grenville invasion has been released and it is said no fewer than 104 persons were confirmed dead at the newly launched ocean’s bay hotel. Speaking to the press earlier today, Grenville chief police, Larry Forbes confirmed a team of 30 special forces were confirmed dead at the Sinclair facility grounds which brings the total death toll to 134 people killed at the night of the zombies attack. This is coming four months after the attack at the Grenville powerhouse cinema which claimed the lives of 95 persons. These are hard times for everyone in Grenville and we urge everyone to stay strong and stay safe. We will get past this. May their souls rest in peace.”

The news broadcast of the evening announced from the small sized CRT TV placed on a slab edge behind the bartender.

“Your brother is a hero Scott. He saved us all.” Scott’s best friend and crush, Brooklyn said to him as they both sat on a stool watching the news broadcast with a bourbon whisky in Scott’s hand. Brooklyn had only water on her part.

“I didn’t tell you about his powers to go around yapping about it.” Scott whispered.

“Plus, He’s not my brother.” He mumbled and gulped down his bourbon.

“Why not?” Brooklyn asked.

“Screw you Brook!” Scott Growled.

“I was only asking a harmless question. He’s your brother. What is wrong with you?” Brooklyn responded gesturing her arms in the air.

“He ain’t my brother. We don’t even look alike, we’re not even the same complexion and we’re of different races.” Scott spited.

“So it’s about his colour and race huh? I’ll tell you what, The Bourbon’s messing with your head Scott.”

“No it’s not, I’m just trying to make a point. He ain’t my brother so shut the f--k up.” Scott said and slide over his empty glass cup to the bartender for a refill.

“I’d love to have a brother like that tho.. He’s so super cool and he’s handsome as hell.” Brooklyn said and licked her lower lip as Scott shot her a wicked glance.

“What?” She asked and rolled her eyes.

“Handsome?” Scott asked.

“Yeah.. He’s super hot and handsome. More than you in fact.” Brooklyn said and smirked.

“Say that again…” Scott Growled and shot her a wicked glance.

“Better than you.” Brooklyn said again as Scott hit his fist on the table in anger.

“Geez what the hell Scott!” Brooklyn said as everyone turned their attention to them.

“I’m sorry Brook. Please.” Scott apologised immediately.

“You’re so messed up Scott. I’m out of here.” Brooklyn said and walked out on him.

“Brooklyn please I’m sorry.” Scott apologised once again and stretch out his hands to stop her from leaving but his hands slipped past her and she left the grill. He sat back on the stool and gulped down his bourbon, he sighed and buried his face in his palm.

Scott arrived at the Griffith’s home late at night after the drama at the Bourbon’s grill, he got to the living room and met Alexa awake. She appeared to be waiting for him as she sat on the couch, legs crossed. He looked shocked for a second before composing himself.

“Hey” He said.

“Hey.” She responded. Scott didn’t say a word back, he turned to head upstairs.

“You were out getting drunk all evening.” Alexa said and stood up from the couch to face Scott who also stopped to turn back to Alexa.

“What?” He asked.

“You heard me!” Alexa snapped.

“Our brother saved the city, he saved your life and you can’t even pretend to be sympathetic by going to pay him a visit at the hospital.” Alexa said as Scott clenched his jaw in annoyance.

“He’s not our brother Alexa.” Scott Growled.

“You’re crazy!” She responded.

“You’ve lost your mind Scott. You’re a drunk, your life’s a mess.” She added.

“Watch it!” he warned.

“Or what? You’re gonna hit me! I dare you to even try it.” Alexa warned back.

“You little piece of shit. You’re my sister which is why I’ll let this slide. The next time you to talk back at me in this foolish manner, I’ll f--k you up so bad.” Scott warned and pointed at her face.

“I’m your sister huh so what is Dominic to you?? Your brother is fighting for his life and you’re getting yourself drunk.” Alexa said and shake her head in disgust at Scott.

“He’s not our brother, how many times do i have to f-----g tell you!” Scott barked.

“You’re an a-----e and just so you know, he’s twice the brother you’ll ever be and I’ll always choose him over you. No wonder dad likes him than you, you’re a shame and a disgrace!” Alexa said as Scott’s eyes widened, he landed a hot slap on her face.

“You hit me!?” Alexa said in shock, half her face instantly tinted red, Scott’s fingerprints were clearly visible on her face.

“Alexa I’m-” Scott said and motioned his hand to touch her.

“Don’t you dare touch me! Don’t you!” I hate you so much and dad will hear about this!” Alexa said and ran up the stairs crying.

“Alexa please, i didn’t mean it. I’m sorry.” Scott said apologetically but Alexa had gone.

“Gosh I’m so stupid!” He said to himself and hit his fist.

**********

Grenville Central High School.

“You brought the masks right?” Rose asked sorting out the books in her locker, next to June’s.

“Oh shit! I forgot it at home. We’ll stop by at my house and get it before heading to the hole, okay?” June responded.

“Hmm Okay. I still don’t feel good about this tho.” Rose said and turned to June.

“Relax, we’re not getting inside the hole. We are just gonna see if we can find anything around the hole to give us an idea of what we’re up against. I have this feeling the hole has something to do with Dominic’s nightmare and all these happening around.” June responded and touched Rose’s chin playfully.

“Okay, fine. First period is in 5 minutes.” Rose said shooting a glance at her wristwatch.

“Let’s go.” June said as they both closed their locker and walked down the school’s hallway.

“Isn’t that Alexa?” June asked, spotting Alexa walking down the opposite direction along the hallway, she was covered up in a black scarf and dark sunglasses.

“Yeah that’s her. Why is she covered up in a scarf and what are the glasses for?” Rose asked turning to June.

“I have no idea. I’ll ask her.” June whispered as Alexa got closer to them.

“Hey Alexa” June greeted.

“Hi June, Hi Rose.” Alexa responded forcing a smile.

“Are you alright?” June asked taking a closer look at Alexa’s face.

“Yes i am.” Alexa muttered and turned her face away from June’s gaze.

“No i don’t think so. What happened to you?” Rose said also scanning Alexa’s face.

“You can tell us anything Alexa.” June said and held Alexa’s hands.

“It’s my brother.” Alexa muttered facing down.

“Dominic?” June asked curiously.

“No, Scott.”

“What’d he do?” June asked.

“He hit me.” Alexa muttered in a teary voice.

“What?!” Rose exclaimed.

“May i see it please?” June asked softly and tried to shift a part of the scarf covering Alexa’s face.

“There are too many eyes around June.” Alexa said softly.

“Come, We’ll use the girls restroom.” June said and held Alexa by the hand as they all went into the girls restroom. Rose locked the door to avoid any unwanted barging in.

June took off Alexa’s scarf and sunglasses to reveal red stripes of fingerprints on Alexa’s face. Her right eye was bloodshot.

“Oh my God!” Rose exclaimed burying her mouth in her palm. June Scowled at the sight of what Scott had done to Alexa’s face, she clenched her teeth in anger.

“I’m so sorry about this Alexa. He has no right whatsoever to lay his hands on you. He’s a filthy a-----e and he will pay for this. This will be the last time he ever hits anyone.” June said with an expression Rose had never seen in the 10 years of their friendship. June was furious, she was trying to contain the fury within her but it was evident all over her.

“Please don’t tell Dominic.” Alexa said sniffling as June pulled her into a hug and caressed her back.

“Why? He deserves to know.” Rose said.

“No, please don’t tell Dom. I couldn’t tell my dad too, he’d kill Scott! Dom would be mad and he might hurt Scott unintentionally, I’ve seen them fight and it wasn’t good.” Alexa said.

“Wouldn’t that be great? Scott deserves whatever Dom or your dad would do to him.” Rose responded.

“No Rose, please don’t tell him. This will heal up, What Dom might do to Scott may be irreversible and i wouldn’t want that. Please you both promise me Dom wouldn’t hear of this.” Alexa pleaded.

“I promise.” Rose said.

“June?” Alexa asked noting June’s silence.

“I won’t tell Dominic, I’ll deal with Scott myself.” June said and wore Alexa’s sunglasses back for her

“Please be easy on him. He’s an a-----e and a jerk, he’s all sorta things but he’s still my brother.” Alexa muttered.

“Take some medications to relief the pain Alexa, you’ll be alright. I assure you, this will be the last time he hits you. This will be his last!” June repeated.

“Thank you June. Thank you Rose. I’m really grateful.” Alexa said thankfully.

“We’re late for class Alexa. We’ll both check up on you later.” June said and pulled Alexa into a hug.

“Thanks a lot June.” Alexa whispered.

**********

“7 days Doris, 7 days to loose my company and everything I’ve built. It’s never gonna happen!” Patrick said pacing up and down the living room.

“What are we gonna do now?” Doris asked.

“I don’t know yet Doris. I can’t think of anything yet.”

“Have you spoken to Dylan about it?” Doris asked.

“Not really. Do you reckon he’ll have something to share?”

“Yeah, he’s your personal assistant. You can’t do this alone, you need to seek every advice you can get. Especially from him.”

“Dylan suggested we purchase Octagon, it’s gone now and I’m gonna get axed for it.” Patrick said.

“That wasn’t Dylan’s fault Pat, it turned out well and you know how much revenue it generated before the attack.”

“You’re right Doris. It’s not Dylan’s fault.” Patrick agreed.

“Ouch!” Doris suddenly winced in pain, placing her hands on her forehead.

“Are you okay sweetie?” Patrick asked.

“No honey, I’m having this sharp pain in my head.” Doris said.

“Come on, you need to get some rest. Patrick said and pulled Doris up from the couch.

“Thank you.” Doris said and held Patrick for support.

“Ouch!” She winced in pain again and fell to the ground, loosing Patrick’s support.

“Doris! Doris honey are you okay!?” Patrick asked shaking her head hoping to jolt her back to consciousness, this time Doris blacked out without any response.

“Doris please stay with me.” Patrick said and carried her in his arms to the bedroom.

**********

Grenville Central High School.

“Hey guys” Hugo greeted as June and Rose both arrived at the school cafeteria for lunch.

“Hey” They greeted back in Unison.

“I heard Dominic has been sick. What happened?” Hugo enquired.

“Uhm-” June scratched her head for a compelling lie to tell Hugo.

“He had a fever. He’s recovering really quick.” Rose chirped in to help June respond to Hugo’s question.

“Yes-yes terrible fever! It’s so terrible he pukes greenish stuff.” June added as Rose shot her a glance.

“Oh my God! That’s really awful and sad. I wish him quick recovery. I miss him a lot and not seeing him with you both looks really weird and incomplete.”

“He’ll be back to school soon. Don’t you worry.” Rose assured as Hugo nodded.

“Hi June! I’m Avery, A junior student.” A sharp voice greeted from the left. June turned to see who it was.

“Hi” June responded and scanned Avery’s look. She was quite shorter than June, her red hair was packed in a messy bun. She was dressed up in a white turtleneck long sleeve, a skirt with red and black stripes and a black knee-high boot.

“I know you don’t know me but I’m a big fan of Dominic, he’s the hottest basketball player I’ve ever seen and you happen to be his girlfriend or sort of so i-”

“I’m not his girlfriend. He’s my friend.” June responded with a frown.

“Oh I’m sorry. Please send my well wishes to him. I’m representing his fan club and we all miss him.” Avery said.

“Dominic has a flan club?” Rose asked and let out a laugh.

“I sure will. Thank you Avery.” June said and turned to Hugo to place an order for lunch.

“One more thing June.” Avery said again, June hissed and turned to her.

“What?”

“Could you please give this to him?” Avery said handing over a small gift wrapped up in a gift pack.

“What’s in it?” June asked and raised a brow.

“It’s uhm- It’s a a retro style camera and uhm a-a card.” Avery stuttered.

“Please just give it to him. Thanks” Avery said walked away in a haste.

“Dom’s got a couple of admirers.” Rose said and laughed, June didn’t find a humor in what Rose had said. She kept a straight face and placed her lunch order.

**********

School had closed for the day, Dylan was already waiting at the parking lot to pick June up.

“Seems Dylan is picking you up today.” Rose said spotting Dylan standing next to a shiny black Toyota 4runner SUV.

“Yeah right.” June said and rolled her eyes.

“We’ll get the oxygen mask and head for the hole. We don’t have much time, it’s almost nightfall.” June said as Rose nodded. They both approached Dylan as he rushed to open to back door for June.

“Thank you.” June whispered to Dylan’s surprise. She had never thanked him for anything over the years of his services to the Sinclair House.

“You’re welcome.” Dylan responded as June hopped in.

“Hi Dylan.” Rose greeted and hopped into the car as well. Dylan slammed the door and rushed to the driver’s seat. He kicked the car engine to life and sped out of the Grenville Central High premises.

**********

“Doris are you okay?” Patrick asked holding a glass of water.

“I’m fine-I’m fine” Doris mumbled.

“This will help.” Patrick said handing over the glass of water.

“Thanks.” She muttered and gulped down the water.

“How do you feel?” Patrick asked.

“Like my head’s gonna explode.” Doris responded and rubbed her forehead.

“You’ll be alright. Maybe it’s just stress, I’ll leave you to rest well. Let the Cook make dinner, you need to rest Doris.”

“I will. Thanks honey.” Doris said and lay flat on the bed. Patrick covered her up in a duvet and left the room.

On walking down the stairs, June and Rose came into the living room with Dylan standing behind.

June and Rose both looked Startled, they never thought Patrick would be at home during the day.

“Hi Mr Sinclair.” Rose greeted and grinned.

“Hello Rose.”

“Dad? What are you doing?” June asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re home at this hour. It’s so unusual.”

“Why? You weren’t expecting to see me? What are you up to now June?” Patrick asked with a smile.

“Nothing dad. I was only curious.”

“Talk to me honey, I know there’s something.” Patrick persisted. June turned around to Dylan and turned back to Patrick. Patrick understood that look.

“Dylan please excuse us. Wait in the car, I’ll be right there.” Patrick said as Dylan obliged.

“You could say it in front of him tho.” Patrick said as June rolled her eyes.

“You know, I still can’t figure out why you don’t like him so much.” He added.

“Dad, we’re heading to the hole.”

“What?! You can’t be serious?” Patrick responded.

“I’m serious dad. Dominic had a terrible nightmare and he accidentally created the hole. I think it’s connected to him sort of.”

“No! I won’t let you go anywhere near that place. Do you know what has happened to people who’ve been there?” Patrick asked.

“No.” June responded softly.

“Dead! That’s what happened! You saw what happened to Thomas? He went there. You kids honestly thought of going there? What if i wasn’t at home to stop you?? You guys really need to be careful. It seems you’ve forgot so soon you both collapsed just at the sight of it.” Patrick warned.

“Sorry dad. I just thought if we had a close inspection of the site, we could get something.”

“I do have something from the hole, it’s sort of an alien microorganism, it’s like a worm but it doesn’t belong to any specie we have a record for. You both could follow me and I’ll show you. That’s much safer than going to the hole directly.” Patrick said as they both nodded.

“Come on.”

“I’d like to say hi to mom first.” June said.

“She’s resting upstairs. She has been through a lot of stress and it’s taking a toll on her. She’ll be awake when you get back.” Patrick responded and led the girls out of the living room to where Dylan parked the SUV. They all hopped in as Dylan sped out of the Sinclair mansion.

**********

Sinclair Pharmaceutical HQ, Grenville, Tennessee.

Dylan drove into the HQ premises, he pulled the car to halt as Rose and June got down. Rose stared at the humongous skyscraper, it was her first time at the Sinclair Pharmaceutical headquarters.

“Follow me.” Patrick said and led them to the building. They approached the sliding door operator as the doors automatically slid open. The first floor had lots of cubicles and scientists in their white lab coats walking around. Patrick led them to an elevator and pushed a red button on the elevator keypad. It was a special button for a special floor, it didn’t have quite the numbers like the rest of the buttons.

The elevator went up slowly and let out a ding sound, indicating they had arrived at their designated floor. The elevator doors slide open and they all walked out.

“Welcome Mr Sinclair.” Vivian greeted, she was dressed up in a black skirt and blouse with a white lab coat on the outside.

“Girls, this is Dr Vivian Bridge. She’s a microbiologist. She’s currently handling the case of the organism i told you about.” Patrick said introducing Vivian to the girls.

“Hi, I’m Rose McCarthy.”

“Pleased to meet you Rose. I was a friend of your dad’s. He was such a good man.” Vivian responded.

“I’m June Sinclair.” June said introducing herself.

“Who wouldn’t know June Sinclair? Haha” Vivian said and let out a laugh.

“I’ve heard a lot about you June. It’s nice meeting you in person.” She added.

“Thanks.” June responded softly.

“Vivian Please could you brief them about the hole’s creature?” Patrick said.

“Sure, this way.” Vivian said and led them to a part of the laboratory. She opened a cold storage facility where the organism had been habituated.

“Why is it kept in a freezer?” June asked curiously.

Vivian let out a laugh before answering. “It’s not a freezer, it is but not the regular freezer you find at home. This is a scientific freezer which is capable of freezing specimens at minus 80 degrees. We keep the organism here because we noticed a rapid increase in it’s cells and tissues when exposed to our atmosphere. That made us come into the conclusion, it isn’t one which belongs to our atmosphere. But when kept in the freezer, it tends to be stable.” Vivian answered.

“This doesn’t make sense, I mean, it originated from the hole right? The worms originated from the hole. So how are they more stable in a cold environment?” June asked.

“We’re yet to get a precise answer to that June. It’s a weird creature really, I’ve never dealt with such in my years of experience.” Vivian replied and picked out the moving worm from the cold storage and placed it in a glass jar. The worm was moving in it’s random state.

“You might wanna take a look.” Vivian said and placed the glass jar beneath a microscope. June took a look at the microscope just as Vivian had instructed.

“Woah!” June exclaimed observing the work from the microscope.

“What do you see?” Patrick asked.

“It’s moving faster than what we could see, it’s speed is insane. Also i can see it’s got fluid at the tail end” June said and took her eyes off the microscope.

“This creature’s speed is identical to the speed at which the zombie’s move.” Patrick said as June nodded.

“That’s true dad. But how?”

“We extracted the fluid from the worm’s tail, hoping we could make good use of its unique features but we were wrong. The first sets of trials we had killed the patients in 9 minutes after the serum were administered into their system.” Patrick explained.

“The big question now is, how Dr Thomas was able to keep the zombies alive whilst the serum was in their system.” Vivian said.

“That’s it!” June said and clenched her jaw.

“You got something?” Patrick asked.

“Yes dad. You all were getting it wrong all along. The zombies were never alive. We could see them moving but they no longer have the attributes of a living organism. Their red blood cells were gone, Dominic sliced a couple of them and there was absolutely no blood. I bet they won’t have a heartbeat. They wouldn’t be a zombie if they were alive would they? June said.

“That makes sense. But it still doesn’t answer the big question.” Vivian said taking notes in her notepad.

“How long did you observe the patients after the serum was administered?” June asked.

“30 minutes.” Patrick answered.

“What if the patients actually rose up after you guys stopped watching?” June asked.

“That’s true. I can remember we had a couple of weird attacks and missing trials. We were never patient enough to keep a close watch on the trials.” Patrick admitted.

“The largest quantity we could extract from each organism for the serum was 1 millilitres.” Vivian said.

“That makes sense. The serum passed down its attributes to the body of the new host.” June said as Patrick nodded in affirmation.

“We still haven’t figure out how they could move at such a speed, it’s scientifically impossible. Our observations have linked their superspeed to the speed of light which is of course impossible to achieve in real sense, that is if we’re to say Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity is correct. E = mc²” Vivian said.

“Energy and mass are interchangeable, they are different forms of the same thing. The amount of mass needed to reach the speed of light determines the energy needed to do that. No living being of this world has an energy sufficient to achieve this.” Vivian concluded.

“That’s because they’re not of this world.” Rose said.

“June, remember the story of the Greek mythology i once told you about?” Rose added.

“It’s a mythology. It is doesn’t exist.” Vivian argued.

“Rose is right, I think it does. In the book, we read something about the underworld, I thought it was a myth but we have a creature from the underworld right in front of us now.” June said gesturing her hands at the worm in a glass jar.

“They are able to get their superspeed in our world due to the extra dimensional forces they have inside of them.” She added.

“June, these are children’s stories.” Vivian countered.

“No they’re not. My friend Dominic accidentally opened the hole, he once told us the Aeternae attacked his uncle. The hole is the portal to the underworld. The Aeternae is real and that worm is a product of the underworld.” June concluded.

“We don’t know what the Aeternae looks like, but if we guess right we think it’s a 10 feet tall creature with a facial horn and possesses the special ability to invade its victim’s mind.” Rose said as Patrick nodded in agreement to their analysis.

“So if all you both said is true, the hole is a portal to the underworld, it means this Aeternae creature could be anywhere around us as we speak?” Patrick asked.

“Yes dad. It’s not a coincidence, Dr Thomas stabbed himself and before that, he said his assignment was complete. At the restaurant with Alex, the waiter told us “He is coming” before stabbing himself too and we had a hell of an accident on our way back. This is the Aeternae invading it’s victims mind and using them to pass a message across to our people.” June said. Instant sweat began to pour out of Vivian’s head.

“Frightened?” Patrick asked noticing the distress on Vivian’s face.

“No at all sir.” Vivian said and shake her in disapproval.

“We’re gonna seal the d--n hole with the best concrete we have. No bastard is coming out of that hole. We’re gonna seal the portal.” Patrick said.

“Lets hope that works. I’ll let Dominic know of our discovery.” Rose said.

“Thank you Miss Vivian, you’ve been really helpful to us.” June said thankfully.

“I’m proud of you both. I should be the one to thank you guys.” Vivian responded.

“Dad, Rose and I gotta pay Dom a visit at the hospital and feed him in on our discovery.” June said.

“I’ll be home shortly, Dylan will drive you both to the hospital.” Patrick said as June and Rose head for the elevator.

June and Rose stood in the elevator, waiting patiently to get down to the first floor. Just then, June’s cellphone rang.

She flip open the keypad cover and answered. “Hello” She said to the caller.

“Hey June, it’s Bran.”

“Hi Bran. What’s up?”

“I’m great June. I need your help please.” Bran said over the phone. The elevator let out a ding sound as the doors slid open, they had arrived at the first floor and head for the building exit door.

“How may i help you?” June responded.

“It’s uhm, I have this weird thing with my computer. I believe you’re the only one who can help me. I have lots of shits on it and i can trust no one with it except you. Its urgent please.” Bran pleaded over the phone.

“How urgent? I’ve got somewhere to be now.” June said.

“Like right now. Please June, my life literally depends on this. Please come alone, remember i told you i can only entrust this on you? Please do this for me.” Bran pleased over the phone.

“I’ll be there shortly.” June responded.

“Thank you so much June. I honestly don’t know what I’ll do without you.”

“You’re welcome. Gotta go.” June said and hung up. They had walked to were Bran had parked the black SUV, awaiting them.

“I gotta go somewhere really quick. I’ll catch up with you at the hospital.” June said to Rose.

“We’re going to see Dominic remember? What could be more important at this point?” Rose said and furrowed her eyebrows.

“Rose, please just go with Dylan. I’ll meet you guys at the hospital. I promise.”

“Fine, don’t be late please. Be careful.” Rose said and pulled June into a hug.

“I will. I won’t take long, I promise.” June said and pat Rose’s back.

“Dylan, please take her to see Dominic. I’ll be taking a public cab, I’ll meet you guys at the hospital.” June said to Dylan. He nodded without any protest and head to the driver’s seat.

Dylan kick start the car and made a reverse to exit the premises, Rose waved at June through the car’s rear windshield. June waved back and smiled at how much Rose cared for her protection.

**********

Bran stood in his bedroom shirtless, staring right at the front of his mirror. He ran his fingers across the burning tattoo on his chest. His iris were bright red. He dropped his cellphone on the bed after he had ended the call with June. He crunched his knuckles and let out a devilish smile.

**********

Author's Note: I’m sincerely sorry for taking this long to update. I’ve been really busy lately and i promise to improve better. This chapter is long and i feel it’s really one of the most awful chapters I’ve written. Haha. What do y’all think of this chapter and the story so far? Thanks a lot for readings. I love y’all.