The room was dark and seven torches unlit lined the stone wall
Milo DiMarco sat among the others, all of them wearing red cassocks. Nobody spoke nor did they look at each other. The only sound was the hum of the ventilation system somewhere above them.
The door opened and their leader walked in.
He moved to the head of the long table, reached forward, and sparked a single flame.
The fire traveled from one torch to the next to the next until all seven burned simultaneously. Their combined light illuminated a symbol on the wall behind the table.
The seventh seal.
Everyone took a seat.
The leader settled at the edge of the table, his face half-shadowed and the others filled the adjacent seats on both sides. Milo took the last available chair.
"Kaiser's scientists have completed their work," the leader said with an unhurried voice. "The serum sequence is ready for mass application. What we need now are subjects."
