Some people are simply born bad and Brian McCallum was one of those people. He was born into the wealthy McCallum family, a family that owned one of the most profitable corporations engaged in global trade. McCallum Industrial specialized in innovative technology such as microchips and satellite hardware. During the Gulf War, the company merged with Walton Enterprises becoming the single largest munitions and military supplies dealer in the world.
Despite the company’s tendency to enable genocide and other crimes against humanity, Brian’s parents were relatively good people. Katie McCallum came from a well to do family of philanthropists who were dismayed by their daughter’s marriage to the McCallum heir, Jonathan Brian McCallum the third. However, Jonathan Brian, known to his friends and associates as JB, was caring and kind to Katie. He served as the CEO of McCallum and later as the CFO of Walton Enterprises but he never fit the archetype of the greedy businessman. He enforced a strict work hours policy. Employees were to arrive at 8am and they were to be out of the building by 5pm. Under his leadership of the company, he expanded benefits, eliminated mandatory overtime, and raised wages. He followed the same hours and was home by 6pm every night so as not to miss dinner with his family. By all measures, Brian’s parents were good people and outstanding parents.
Brian was the second of four children. He had an older brother, Jonathan, and a younger brother, Dennis, and sister, Isabella. The McCallum siblings all got along with each other, except Brian. When he entered his toddler years, he became an aggressive child and his older brother began to avoid him. By the time Brian was a preteen, not a single one of his siblings engaged with him unless required to. It wasn’t just that Brian was the single most disagreeable person that his parents had ever encountered, it was also the fact that Brian seemed to delight in harming others.
On more than one occasion, Brian enacted revenge against his siblings for their perceived wrongdoings against him. Once when they were both in middle school, Jonathan started going out with a girl that Brian had taken a liking to. The day after Jonathan told the family about his new girlfriend, he went to put on his tennis shoes and shards of glass stabbed into his toes and the soles of his feet. Katie suggested that Brian be put in therapy to her husband but when they brought the topic up with their son, he stabbed his father in the leg with a pen which led to an emergency room visit and an awkward conversation with the treating doctor. Brian was sent to boarding school the following month.
Unfortunately for his parents, boarding school only made Brian worse. At the boy’s only preparatory school, Brian was surrounded by wealthy boys from families more cutthroat than his. He was surrounded by the very people he aimed to become. Brian quickly established himself through brute force and cunning. He soon developed a posse that both feared and respected him and the school grounds became his to run.
On paper, the decision to send Brian to boarding school appeared to lead him in the direction his parents hoped it would. By the time he reached highschool, he was excelling in his classes and he led several organizations, including as captain of the football team. Katie and JB McCallum finally were able to brag about all of their children rather than having to dodge questions about Brian’s most recent suspension from school.
Brian returned home for Christmas in his sophomore year after spending his fall break playing for the football team when they made it to the championships for the first time that year. This Christmas was going to be a special one because it was a celebration of the McCallum children. Jonathan was in his senior year of high school and was in the midst of applying for college. Isabella was in her final year of middle school and would soon attend the same high school that Jonathan was graduating from and Dennis had just received his first role in a play with the junior theater company he was a part of. And Brian’s football team had made it to the championships which Katie and JB considered a huge accomplishment even though the team was narrowly defeated in overtime.
Brian, however, was in a foul mood. In his mind, winning was the only option and the fact that his team had lost was unacceptable. The headmaster of the boarding school had to expressly forbid Brian from keeping the entire team through winter break to run drills. Now Brian sat silently at the dining room table as the family talked and laughed.
Katie talked with her parents and inlaws, “Brian is the first team captain to lead the Pumas to a championship. They’ve made it to the playoffs before but never all the way like they did this year. Isn’t that right Brian?” she asked, looking to her son.
“Fuck off,” Brian muttered. The table went silent and everyone looked at Brian,
“E..excuse me?” Katie stammered, shocked. Brian stood up and slammed his palms against the table.
“I said, fuck off!” he yelled. Both his father and older brother stood up and glared at Brian. Katie was speechless. No one spoke. Brian waited for a moment before leaving the room with an exasperated groan.
JB’s father cleared his throat, “I see Walton had another stellar year…”
Brian stormed outside and Jonathan followed him. His older brother grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around to face him.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Jonathan asked, getting in Brian’s face. “Mom and dad give you everything and you can’t even act like you care about them.”
“Back up, Jonathan,” Brian warned. Though Jonathan was older than Brian, Brian was taller and more muscular. Brian stepped into Jonathan’s space, their chests nearly touching.
“Or what, Brian? You’re going to hurt me? What could you possibly do to me now that you haven’t already done?” Jonathan taunted, jabbing a finger into Brian’s chest.
Brian bent his knees and grabbed Jonathan around his midsection. He hoisted his brother in the air and then slammed him down onto the ground. Jonathan’s head hit the edge of the sidewalk and he went limp. A crimson bloom began to spread from the back of his head. Brian stared down at his brother silently. He walked down the driveway and got into his car, pulling out so fast the tires squealed, and drove off, leaving his brother unconscious and bleeding on the frigid ground.
Jonathan was brought to the hospital by their parents who had come outside after hearing Brian drive off. He was held for an overnight stay and diagnosed with a severe concussion but the doctor said they were lucky it wasn’t worse. Brian stopped coming home for the holidays and his parents hardly heard from him though they didn’t reach out either.
Brian graduated at the top of his class and was accepted into Dartmouth where he pursued a business degree. He was driven by spite, hoping to graduate and launch his own business to rival Walton and reduce the market share of the conglomerate. But before Brian could finish his degree, his father unexpectedly passed away. Brian found out from a phone call with the family lawyer who requested that he attend the reading of the Will. For his own selfish reasons and the burning desire to find out what would happen to the company, Brian returned to his hometown.
The meeting with the attorney was the first time in seven years that Brian had been in the same room as his siblings and mother. They looked at him in astonishment but no one spoke. Brian sat silently and refused to acknowledge their existence.
The attorney entered the room and she opened the sealed blue envelope that contained the original Last Will and Testament of JB McCallum. She unfolded it and began to read it aloud,
“I, Jonathan Brian Dennis McCallum, do hereby declare this to be my Last Will and Testament revoking all prior wills and codicils made by me. I hereby name my son, Jonathan McCallum Jr. as Executor of this Last Will and Testament.”
Jonathan exclaimed, “Me?” and the attorney paused,
“Yes, Mr. McCallum. You have been named as the Executor of your father’s Will. Do you understand what that means?” she asked. Jonathan replied affirmatively.
“Good,” she replied before continuing, “I leave all property I may own at the time of my death, real or personal, to my wife, Katie McCallum. I leave 25% of my shares within Walton Enterprises to my children, Jonathan McCallum, Jr., Brian McCallum, Isabella McCallum, and Dennis McCallum, to be distributed equally. I leave an additional 20% share to my wife, Katie McCallum. The remaining 55% of my holdings shall be sold back to Walton Enterprises at market value and disbursed among the Board of Executives. It is my wish that an election be held to appoint my successor as Chief Financial Officer within a year of the final sale of said shares.”
Brian was shocked. His father left him a share in the company, he would now be a voting member of Walton Enterprises. He looked around and saw the same expression of surprise on his siblings’ faces. His mother only looked sad. The attorney finished reading through the Will and had each family member sign their assent to install Jonathan as administrator of the estate. Brian hesitated but signed the assent. He didn’t speak a single word to any of his siblings or his mother before leaving to return to New Hampshire.
Brian finished his final year at Dartmouth and graduated magna cum laude with his degree in Business Management. A few months after his graduation, he received a letter from Walton Enterprises informing him that he was now a shareholder and of his voting rights within the company. The letter listed the contact information of the CEO, James Darnell, and Brian sent him an email.
Mr. James Darnell,
My name is Brian McCallum. I am the son of the late JB McCallum, former CFO of Walton Enterprises. I am a graduate of Dartmouth with a degree in Business Management. I am also now a shareholder within Walton. Considering my family’s storied history within Walton and my tie to the company as a shareholder, I feel an obligation to continue the work of the McCallum family and work within Walton as opposed to working within another company. Please let me know if there are any openings within the company that I may apply for.
Sincerely,
Brian McCallum
Within two days, he received a response from the CEO.
Brian,
Please send me your resume.
-James
Brian sent his resume directly to the CEO and received a phone call from his assistant asking for an interview. The interview was scheduled and Brian flew back to Chicago the following week to interview at the company’s headquarters. He didn’t tell his family that he was back in Chicago. He hadn’t spoken to them since the funeral.
Brian walked into the towering building that was home to Walton Enterprises. He checked in at the front desk and rode the elevator up several dozen floors before reaching the floor that contained the office of the CEO. He stepped out onto the spotless tiled floors and walked up to the assistant’s desk,
“Brian McCallum, 2:30,” he said. She didn’t even check the computer before leading him to the CEO’s office,
“Mr. Darnell? Brian McCallum is here,” she said. James Darnell waved for her to allow him in and the assistant stepped to the side and ushered Brian into the office. She quietly closed the door behind him as he took a seat in front of the CEO’s desk.
“Brian, James Darnell,” the CEO said, extending his hand. Brian shook his hand firmly before retaking his seat,
“Very nice to meet you, Mr. Darnell,” he said.
“Likewise, Brian. Alright, I’m going to get right to it. This interview is a formality. Your family’s name used to be the name of this company and Walton and McCallum have been synonymous for years. Your resume is impressive and your pedigree is impeccable. But I have one question for you kid, are you like your father?” Darnell asked.
Without missing a beat, Brian replied, “No, I’m a shark.”
“You’re hired. Talk to Becky at the front desk, she’ll get you credentials and set up the meeting with HR.” Darnell said.
Brian left the office triumphantly. Now he had a new plan. Instead of taking down Walton Enterprises, he would take it over.
He moved up through the ranks quickly with James Darnell as his mentor. The CEO was a sleazier type than JB McCallum and he and Brian hit it off immediately. Within two years, Brian was voted in as acting CFO after the resignation of the prior one when rumors of an affair began circulating through the tabloids. Rumors that happened to come from a “high level official within Walton.” At only 27 years old, Brian was the youngest member of the executive board and one of the youngest CFOs in the country. He was featured in Forbes 30 under 30 list and was a frequent contributor on financial segments on national media.
In 2018, at the height of the MeToo movement, James Darnell was named as a Defendant in a sprawling sexual harassment suit that had 42 Plaintiffs, each one a woman who had worked at Walton Enterprises. The court filings alleged a toxic work environment, unwelcome advances from the CEO and other executives, harassment and inappropriate comments, retaliation, and at least one instance of stalking. Walton Enterprises hired top attorneys and worked with their media connections to bury the stories but the impact of social media was too great. Feeds were filled with stories from women who worked or previously worked at Walton and their stories of harassment. The outrage caused what the Board referred to as “stock shock” and the value of Walton’s shares plummeted. James Darnell held on until the district judge overseeing the suit allowed for the unsealing of Court documents and a video that had been produced in discovery made it to the internet and went viral.
The video showed James Darnell drunkenly stumbling into the elevator where a woman was already inside. He pinned her against the wall and began groping her as she struggled against him. At one point, Darnell attempted to shove his hand down her waistband and she swiftly kicked him between his legs and ran from the elevator as the doors opened. Further documents released by the court and the Plaintiff’s attorneys showed that the same woman had been fired the next day without severance for “insubordination and violation of her contract terms” and Walton had produced an alleged log of said misconduct and violations that was discredited by other workers. The day the video went viral, Walton’s top investors called and informed Darnell that it was either him or them. The Board of Executives held a vote of no confidence and Darnell was deposed.
One of the executives who had not been named in any of the filings was Brian McCallum and as Chief Financial Officer, he not only was one of the most well known members of the company, he was also one of the most knowledgeable about the financials. He was voted in nearly unanimously though his siblings tried to leverage their votes and influence against him. After Brian became CEO, Jonathan and Isabella liquidated their stocks and had nothing further to do with Walton Enterprises. Only Dennis remained.
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Brian’s first test as CEO came quickly when he was subpoenaed to appear before the House of Representatives’ Equal Employment Opportunity Committee and testify about the culture of Walton Enterprises.
Brian took his seat in front of the House committee and was introduced by the Parliamentarian before questioning began. Seated at his right was one of Walton’s attorneys and in the gallery was a member of Walton’s social media management team. The Board had prepped Brian and informed him of each of the committee members, many of which had accepted donations from Walton in their elections. Brian entered the hearing confident and assured that his performance would be able to set aside the drama and put Walton back in the public’s favor.
“Mr. McCallum,” a man said. The plaque in front of him read Mr. Lucas Powell. “Walton Enterprises recently named you as the CEO after the resignation of James Darnell, correct?”
Brian leaned toward the mic, “Former CEO Darnell was actually removed by a vote of the Board of Executives, myself included, Congressman.”
“And you were named as CEO following his removal?”
“Correct.”
“Mr. McCallum, who was it that was involved in your hiring at Walton? You were hired in 2010, correct?” Congressman Powell pressed. Brian’s eyes narrowed,
“Roughly, yes.”
“And which members of the company were involved in your hiring?”
Brian hesitated, “I don’t see how that’s relevant, Congressman.”
The congressman pulled out a poster with an email printed on it, “It’s relevant because in this email obtained under a search warrant, you reached out directly to James Darnell after you received your share in the company. Is that correct?”
Brian looked to his attorney, “Can they have those?” he whispered and the attorney nodded. Brian grimaced and leaned towards the mic again, “Yes, Congressman, he was the CEO at the time and his contact information was included on the letter that informed me of my share within the company.”
“Again, who was involved with your hiring at Walton?” the Congressman pressed.
“I was hired under James Darnell.”
“Was James Darnell the only person involved in your hiring at Walton?”
“I cannot say for certain. I don’t know what the internal policies were at that time.”
“Did you meet with anyone other than James Darnell before being hired?”
Brian pulled on the collar of his shirt, “No.” he replied.
“Mr. McCallum, you were CFO for six years prior to being named as CEO. You were named CFO after the resignation of your predecessor. Today you are in a similar position. Is this indicative of the culture at Walton Enterprises?”
“No, Congressman. Unfortunately we’ve had a few bad actors who have been removed from their positions.” Brian responded coolly.
“Except you didn’t consider James Darnell a bad actor. In depositions and other testimony, you have been described as his protege. And it wasn’t until the investors at Walton placed pressure on the board that they removed Darnell and appointed you, is that correct?”
Brian was flustered, “I…” he looked to his attorney.
“Mr. McCallum, can you confirm or deny this?”
Brian could feel every eye in the room on him.
“Mr. McCallum?” Congressman Powell pushed. “Did the Board move because investors in Walton placed pressure on them and not because they felt a need to correct a serious wrong?’
“I…yes the investors called to let us know that they would pull their investment and shares if Darnell was not removed but I think…”
Congressman Powell cut him off, “So the Board would not have done so were it not for the pressure from the investors?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you have any plans to call for a vote of no confidence?”
Brian threw up his hands in exasperation, “No, I didn’t. It’s business. We weren’t going to gain negative publicity by showing that the company was in disarray.”
There were audible gasps in the chamber and Brian’s attorney was holding his head in his hands,
“Except Walton was in disarray. Forty-two women were harassed and the environment at Walton that you were a part of for nearly a decade now has been toxic, has been one of harassment, and has been one of retaliation. You may not have been named in the court documents, Mr. McCallum but your silence has been complicit in creating the culture that exists at Walton today. I yield my time.” Congressman Powell finished.
Brian was fuming and he huddled with his attorney following the hearing,
“So that didn’t go great, here’s a few things the company will need to prepare for.” The attorney advised.
Brian called an emergency meeting of the Board that night,
“I want that motherfucker defeated,” he ranted.
“We’ve never funded him,” one of the board members said. Brian looked at him,
“Great, but we better be funding his challengers. Now here’s the plan, we’re going to utilize the media. I want our contacts from every single media network that will take us. We are going to flip this around if it kills me. Get our social media running, put up some bullshit about new initiatives. I want testimony from our female employees about how this is the best goddamn place they’ve ever worked. And I want our contracts revised with ironclad NDAs that will be signed this fucking Monday.”
Brian’s plan went into effect that week. He made the rounds through the media, promising changes and promoting the company on hostile networks and attacking Congress and dismissing the hearing on friendly ones. He chastised Congressman Lucas Powell as another “deceitful anti-capitalist Democrat” on rightwing networks and questioned where the Congressman received his donations from. He dismissed allegations of a toxic workplace saying they had put in the necessary changes and pointing to the testimonials that had begun populating on Walton’s social media. Within three months, Brian had polarized the issue to such a point that Republicans in Congress were openly chastising their Democratic colleagues for their investigation into Walton and Democrats were disavowing any connection with the company, completely ignoring the fact that the House had just approved arms purchases from Walton by the US Government in a bipartisan fashion just a few weeks prior to the hearings.
With public sentiment split right down the middle, Brian continued his domination of Walton Enterprises. He funded challengers against the Congressman who had grilled him but came up short every election. Powell, for his part, continued to lambast Walton and Brian but it only made the company more popular with the Republicans.
Then came the war. Walton became the preeminent arms and munitions dealer and the US sought to monopolize them when it became clear that tensions were escalating. Brian, however, only cared about the money. Walton sold to the US and its allies and they sold to Russia and its allies in the Iron Alliance. Walton branded bullets killed thousands. But the company remained safe, shielded by the crossfire of its clients.
The war raged on and heated up quickly and it became clear that Russia’s Iron Alliance would soon make a move against the US led Allied Forces. Walton never paused in dealing arms even as the news broke of the company’s doublecross. Brian maintained appearances by insisting that the company was committed to the defense of the United States and the preservation of peace. He spun some story about how the company sought to defuse tensions by operating as a common ground for the opposing powers. All the while, the countries kept funneling money into Walton for the never ending stream of munitions they received in return.
Lucas Powell remained a thorn in Walton’s side. His move for a subsequent investigation into Walton regarding their sale of arms to the Iron Alliance was shut down by the Republican led House. But he remained in the public eye and became a hero as he negotiated a ceasefire between the factions as they erupted into war. Powell led envoys into the neutral state of Belgium and met with the leaders of Russia and China to push for peace. He used the media to call for calm and plead with the heads of each government to understand that continuing the war was mutually assured destruction. He was a welcome face for the public during a period when every person on the air either clamored for war or were in hysterics over the possible apocalypse. An agreement seemed within reach. And then Brian stepped in with the full might of Walton Enterprises behind him.
Brian knew that peace was bad for business. If the factions stopped fighting, the demand for munitions would decrease and so would Walton’s market share. So he hired lobbyists that pushed Congress to reject the deal, calling it bad for America and referring to it as a surrender of the country’s sovereignty. Brian again took to the media and blasted the agreement.
“The issue with this agreement isn’t the fact that it wants peace. We all want peace but do we really think that these enemies of America are going to honor that agreement? We’re going to have an attack on our soil that will make 9/11 look tame if we submit to these terrorists. It is really a disgrace to the men and women who have fought for us and died that Congress is willing to let us just roll over and take whatever kicks these countries give. I mean, there’s not even punishment for the attacks that the Iron Alliance has launched against us since the war started.” Brian said on a nightly news network. His comments were the first story on nearly every webpage the next day and soon the same congresspeople who had defended Walton were parroting Brian’s talking points.
The deal collapsed. The House failed to pass the agreement and instead passed an authorization for war. Lucas Powell resigned from Congress the day the Senate sent the authorization to the president and Brian hired a professional chef to cook wagyu steaks in celebration that same night.
Brian’s celebration was short-lived as the scrutiny of Walton increased as public sentiment began to shift as the war went from cold to hot. He received another subpoena to testify before Congress but before he could appear, North Korea launched their first successful IBM and struck Maui. The death toll was catastrophic and it caused the war to superheat. The US pounded North Korea with their own IBMs as Russia worked to intercept them and respond in kind. Air raids became commonplace in major cities and Brian shelled out millions for the expedited building of an underground shelter. It was clear that the war was not going to end the way that Brian had hoped it would. Chicago was now being bombarded with Walton branded bombs.
Brian shut down Walton Enterprises the day that D.C. was attacked. The news barely covered the story, instead focused on the bombings that killed nearly two-thirds of Congress as they gathered to vote on further funding of the war effort. The attack led to the US dissolving into chaos. The loss of their government caused a widespread panic and the general feeling that the US would soon lose the war caused anarchy to spread.
And then the internet went down. Something had happened to the satellites and nobody knew what. There were rumors that the US had disabled them to prevent further attacks but there were also rumors that the Iron Alliance had developed technology that disabled them. Some speculated that it was a solar flare or an errant asteroid that knocked out the global network. Regardless, the world was made silent. There were no longer communications between the Allied forces or the Iron Alliance. There was no more news or mass media. Phones stopped working and soon the rest of society faltered and collapsed.
Brian holed up in his shelter the day the network went down. He had enough food and water to last for two or three years. He took no one with him. He hadn’t even contacted his family to make sure that they were alright before he was completely unable to do so. And for once, Brian was satisfied. He no longer had anyone left to stand in his way. The apocalypse suited him.
A year into his isolation, Brian became curious about the state of the outside world and so he unsealed the door to his bunker and stepped out into the sunlight, blinking in the bright natural light. As his eyes adjusted, he looked over the grassy field, far removed from the city and noticed the eerie silence. No birds chirped and even the wind seemed to have disappeared. There were no sounds of airplanes overhead or any sort of indication that anything had survived other than himself. He did notice that the car he had driven to the shelter and parked several hundred yards away was gone.
“Shit.” he muttered. The city was some distance away though he could still see the outline of the remaining skyscrapers on the horizon. He started to turn and re-enter the shelter,
“Brian McCallum, born October 28th, 1983 to parents Jonathan Brian McCallum and Katie Elaine McCallum” a voice recited.
Brian turned around and saw two men standing in the field. They were both wearing suits, one navy blue and the other an emerald green. Both of them wore dark sunglasses and they were both imposingly tall. Brian ran inside the shelter and grabbed a shotgun from the mini arsenal he kept inside the shelter, he ran back out and pointed it directly at the men. The one in green smirked.
Brian yelled to them, “what do you want?”
“You should put that down before you get hurt,” a voice whispered in his ear. Brian whirled around to see the man in green standing beside him and he fired the gun. The recoil knocked him back and he fell to the ground and watched in horror as the hole in the man’s chest closed back nearly instantly. He leaned over Brian with a menacing smirk and pulled the shotgun from his hands. The metal barrel began to bubble and warp and it oozed to the ground, singing the grass beneath it.
“W..wha..what the fuck…” Brian stammered and the man in green laughed. The man in blue had made his way across the field and was now standing to the other side of Brian,
“Are you done with your theatrics?” he asked dryly. The man in green straightened up and extended a hand to Brian. Brian scrambled backwards and stood up, his eyes darting wildly between the two men.
“Interesting how scared these powerful men always are,” the man in green remarked. The man in blue looked to Brian and pulled off his sunglasses,
“Indeed,” he replied. Brian felt his heart leap into his throat as he stared into the man’s eyes. They had no pupils and were entirely white yet Brian felt them boring into his soul. The man in green took off his glasses as well, revealing the exact opposite. His eyes were dark and black with no whites.
“Shall we go inside?” the man in blue asked as he gestured to the door.
“Uh…” Brian was at a loss for words.
The man in green spoke, “If we wanted to kill you, we wouldn’t wait to do it inside.”
Brian bit his bottom lip so hard he could taste blood. Against his better judgment, he opened the door and allowed the two men inside. He followed in after them and shut the door.
The man in blue looked around the room, “Roomy” he remarked, “You could fit, what, three or four people in here?” he asked.
“And yet you saved only yourself,” the man in green remarked. Brian stared at him wordlessly, “Oh, I’m not judging you, I’d have done the same.” the man in green said. His tone was light but Brian was petrified.
“Brian, will you please calm down?” the man in blue pleaded. He sat down on the couch that extended from the wall and looked at Brian with his white eyes.
“This isn’t a congressional hearing,” the man in greed chided. Brian whipped his head around to face the green suited man,
“How do you know about that? Who are you?” he asked, an accusatory tone in his voice. The man in green’s eyes flashed,
“There’s that fiery spirit,” he said hungrily and Brian shrunk back. The men were deeply unsettling and Brian was beginning to feel trapped.
“We have a proposition for you, Brian.” the man in blue said, clasping his hands together and leaning forward. “You have doubtlessly determined that there is no society left to salvage, correct? No vacuum for you to take advantage of and take control like you’ve always wanted.”
“I don’t know, I haven’t left here in a year.” Brian replied.
“Two years, actually. Though there’s not much difference from year one,” the man in green said.
Brian looked at the calendar on his wall, had it really been two years?
“Yes, Brian. Indeed it has. Now, enough with the pleasantries, let me give you the short of it. My brother and I are in need of assistance. I won’t bore you with the specifics but we are your ticket to survival in this new world. We are not mortal as you may have been able to tell from my brother’s antics and your gun. But we have a vested interest in this mortal plane as it were. And unfortunately, so do the rest of our siblings.” the man in blue stated.
Brian was completely lost but he knew better than to ask questions.
“So here’s the deal. We need to move faster and cover more ground than our siblings if we hope to be rid of them. The only way to do that is with the help of individuals like yourself. Driven people with a lack of morals,” the man in blue paused but Brian was silent. The blue suited man smirked, “Good, you already know it. I’m rambling so I’ll go ahead and put forth the general deal, you do as we ask and in return, we grant you abilities to fulfill those tasks and ensure this little setup,” He whirled his index finger around in a circle, “never runs out of the supplies you need to live comfortably.”
“What kind of abilities?” Brian inquired.
“Well that depends, Brian. Are you willing to trade your soul for powers beyond your wildest dreams?” the man in green asked. Brian brow furrowed,
“My soul?” he asked. The room darkened and the men’s shadows seemed to reach towards Brian. The man in a green had a particularly menacing smile on his face,
“Yes, Brian. Your soul,” he replied.
Brian had never been religious but he felt an urge to pray at that moment. A competing thought also crossed his mind though, the promise of power was appealing.
“No,” he replied. “I won’t trade my soul.”
The two men shared a knowing look before the man in blue spoke again,
“No matter. You help us and we’ll uphold our half of the bargain by giving you the abilities necessary to complete your tasks and ensuring your cushy lifestyle sustains you through your lifetime.”
Brian thought for a moment. If these men were being truthful, all he had to do was say yes. He had already seen glimpses of their power and there was nothing in the world he wanted more than to have the same. He knew from the business world that it was better to have powerful friends than to make powerful enemies. He looked at the man in blue,
“Deal.” he said, extending his hand. The man in blue stood up and grasped Brian’s hand firmly, extending his fingers so they reached Brian’s wrist. Brian felt a growing warmth and watched as a dark tattoo etched itself into his skin. A snake swallowing its own tail surrounded a bursting star. The man in blue released his hand and Brian gingerly touched the tattoo before looking up at the two men,
“What’s next?” he asked.