On the tenth anniversary of Day Zero, Marcus stood once more in the renovated subway station, but this time as a guest speaker rather than a private visitor, invited to address an international conference on outbreak prevention held in the very place where everything had begun.
"They asked me to speak today," Marcus said, standing at a podium set up on the platform itself, marble memorial plaques visible behind him. "Ten years ago, I was a subway maintenance worker who knew nothing about engineered pathogens, conspiracy, or global catastrophe. I just wanted to reach my daughter."
The audience, filled with delegates from dozens of countries, listened with the particular attention reserved for testimony that carried genuine historical weight.
"I didn't become someone extraordinary that ni
