Chapter 13: C.D.C Part 4
They all went into their separate rooms and took showers, all loving how the hot water felt since all of them hadn't taken a shower for weeks now. After Zane, Carl and Sophia had taken their showers they went to a room to play, with Carol Sophia's mom watching them.
Carol : "All right. Come on, Kids, It's bed time." They all sigh and say ok and walk off Lori who was walking by said "Carl, Zane. Go say your prayers. I'm gonna browse a bit."
Carol : "Come on." She says to the kids as she leads them into their rooms. This is the first night we might actually get some real sleep. It's a miracle, isn't it?" She says as she bops here daughter playfully on the nose. leading them into their rooms.
Zane and Carl had to share a bed while they were sleeping Rick walks in the room drunk and plops on the bed loudly waking Zane up.
Rick : "We don't have to be afraid anymore. We're safe here. All right?" He says to his crying wife as he cuddled her. This made Zane question if they were actually safe he thought to himself "Am I really gonna make it past twelve?"
The next day their eating breakfast and Rick walks in and says hello.
Zane+Carl : "Are you hungover?" they both say while smiling. Lori looks at them and they continue their sentence "Mom said you'd be."
Rick : "Mom is right." He says while sitting down.
Lori : "Mom has that annoying habit."
T-Dog : "Eggs. powdered, but - - But I do em good." He say while walking out of the kitchen area, While Glenn just moans in frustration with his hangover. But T-Dog finishes his sentence saying "I bet you can't tell. Protein helps the hangover." Glenn moans again.
Rick : "Where'd all this come from?" he says while holding up a pill bottle.
Lori : "Jenner."
Rick : "Could you help me, Please?"
Lori : "He thought we could use it."
Rick : "Thank you."
Lori : "Some of us, at least" She says while looking at Glenn.
Glenn : "Don't ever ever ever let me drink again."
Suddenly Shane walks in the room.
Shane : "Hey." he says while walking over to the cups.
Rick : "Hey. Feel as bad as I do?"
Shane : "Worse."
T-Dog : "The hell happened to you? Your neck." he says looking at Shane's bruised neck.
Shane : "I must have done it in my sleep."
Rick : "Never seen you do that before." he says suspicious.
Shane : "Me neither. Not like me at all." He says glancing over at Lori, and she quickly looks away. Then doctor Jenner walks in. "Morning." Shane replies saying "Hey, Doc."
Dale : "Doctor, I don't mean to Slam you with questions first thing - -"
Jenner : "But you will anyway."
Andrea : "We didn't come here for the eggs." He turns around and looks around for a second before finally taking them to the lab.
Jenner : "Give me playback of TS-19."
Vi : "Playback of TS-19." it says in a robotic voice.
While its loading Jenner says "Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few."
The computer shows them a brain and Carl says "Is that a brain?" Jenner replies "An extraordinary one. Not that it matter in the end. Take us in for E.I.V . ."
Vi : "Enhanced internal view." The camera starts zooming in showing the brain closer even going inside it showing sparks that happen inside the brain.
Shane : "What, are those lights?"
Jenner : "It's a person's life - - Experiences, Memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, All those ripples of light, Is you - - The thing that makes you unique. And human."
Daryl : "You don't make sense ever?"
Jenner : "Those are synapses, Electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death."
Rick : "Death? That's what this is, a vigil?"
Jenner : "Yes. Or rather the playback of the vigil."
Andrea : "This person died? Who?" She says walking closer to the screen, and Jenner and rick.
Jenner : "Test subject nineteen. Someone who was bitten and infected . . . And volunteered to have us record the process. Vi, scan forward to the first event."
Vi : "Scanning to first event." As the voice said this the vibrant blue lights from before started turning dark red almost a blackish color.
Glenn : "What is that?"
Jenner : "It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, The brain goes into shutdown, Then the major organs." He pauses for a moment just looking at the screen. before he finally finishes his sentence. "Then death. Everything you ever were or will be . . . Gone."
Sophia : "Is that what happened to Jim?" She ask her mother.
Carol : "Yes." she says nodding her head sadly then looking away. Everyone looks somber with Andrea looking like she's about to break down.
Lori : "She lost somebody two days ago. Her sister."
Jenner : "I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is." He says walking up to her. then going quiet for a second before walking away saying "Scan to the second event."
Vi : "Scanning to second event."
Jenner : "The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, It was two hours, one minute . . . Seven seconds." Suddenly the screen starts showing the lights again with them being bright red, with most of the upper stem being dark red almost completely black.
Lori : "It restarts the brain?"
Jenner : "No, Just the brain stem. Basically just gets them up and moving."
Rick : "But they're not alive?" Jenner point at the screen "You tell me." Rick shakes his head "It's nothing like before. most of that brain is dark."
Jenner : "Dark, Lifeless, Dead. The frontal lobe, The neocortex, The human part - - that doesn't come back. The you part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct." Suddenly it shows something going threw the brain.
Carol : "God, What was that."
Andrea : "He shot his patient in the head. Didn't you?" he doesn't answer and walks away. Before saying "VI, Power down the main screen and the workstations."
Andre : "You have no idea what it is, do you?" She says while walking closer to him with her arms folded.
Jenner : "It could be Microbial, Viral, Parasitic, Fungal."
Jacqui : "Or the wrath of god?"
Jenner : "There is that."
Andrea : "Somebody must know something. Somebody somewhere."
Carol : "There are others, Right? Other facilities?"
Jenner : "There may be some. People like me."
Rick : "But you don't know? How can you not know?"
Jenner : "Everything went down. Communications, Directives - - All of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month."
Andrea : "So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, Right?" Everybody starting feeling it there was no hope there was really nothing left anywhere.
Daryl : "Man, I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk again," He says while rubbing his face.
Dale : "Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, But . . . That clock - - It's counting down. What happens at zero?"
Jenner : "The basement generators - - They run out of fuel."
Rick : "And then?" he says worriedly, But he receives no answer and doctor Jenner leaves. so he says "VI, What happens when the power runs out?"
VI : "When the power runs out, Facility-wide decontamination will occur."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
They all rush to the stair while they are Glenn ask "Decontamination - -What does that mean?" rick keeps rushing and says. "I don't know." And Shane chimes in saying "I don't like the way Jenner clammed up. The way he just wandered off like that." T-Dog while walking down the last few steps says "What's wrong with him? seriously, man, Is he nuts, Medicated, or What?"
Rick : "In there." They go inside the room and the light come on rick says "Check that way." While he and Shane go the opposite way, He and Shane split up till rick finds something and Shane shows up rick says "Its empty." suddenly the light flicker off.
VI : "Emergency lighting on."
Shane : "What the hell is this?" Suddenly Glenn runs up to them shouting "Hey, You guys cut the lights?" Shane replies quickly while examining something "Nah, Just went out.'
Rick : "Anything?"
T-Dog : "Yeah, A lot of dead generators and more empty fuel drums than I can count."
Shane : "It can't be down to just that one." he says while looking at the last fuel can that is damn near empty itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Carl and Zane are sitting on the bed reading while their mother is looking for something. she is looking up at the ceiling. And carl was starting to worry about his mother while Zane who was bored kept reading not rally bothered.
Carl : "Mom? Something wrong?"
Lori : " oh Nothing. it's just . . . The air conditioning stopped."
Suddenly the light turn off and the air everything turns off which makes Zane look up from his book. He Carl and Lori walk out of the room and see everyone else.
Carol : "Why is the air off? And the lights in our room?"
Daryl : "What's going on? Why is everything turned off?" He says with a bottle in his hand, doctor Jenner takes the bottle Walking away.
Jenner : "Energy use is being prioritized"
Dale : "Air isn't a priority? And lights"
Jenner : "It's not up to me. Zone five is shutting itself down." He says after he takes a swig of the wine.
Daryl : "Hey! Hey, What the hell does that mean? Hey man I'm talking to you. What do you mean shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?"
Jenner : "You'd be surprised." As he said this Rick, Shane, Glenn and T-Dog run run by.
Lori : "Rick." He puts his hand out and Jenner walks down stairs with the rest closely following after him. of
Rick : "Jenner, What's happening?"
Jenner : "The system is dropping all the nonessential uses power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule." He says pointing to the clock that's counting down when the fuel goes empty. Everyone just looks around for awhile, Jenner hands Daryl back the bottle who snatches it looking at him disbelievingly.
Jenner : "It was the French."
Andrea : "What?"
Jenner : "They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, They stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution." he says and begins to walk away.
Jacqui : "What happened?"
Jenner : "The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, How stupid is that?" He walks away again making Shane angry "Let me tell you - -" Before he can finish his sentence or get to Jenner rick stops him grabbing his arm "To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care. Lori, Grab our things. Everybody, Get your stuff. Were getting out of here NOW!"
Suddenly and alarm starts blaring startling everyone and Shane says "What's that?" VI sounds on the speaker saying "Decontamination in thirty minutes." Everyone looks around frightened Daryl speaks out "What's going on doc?" Shane interrupts not even waiting for the answer saying "Yawl heard Rick. Get your stuff a Go and let's go! GO NOW! GO!"
Everyone starts heading to the doors when they suddenly shut Glenn looks at the doctor "Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!" Daryl gets angry trying to attack Jenner but Rick yells at Shane to stop him and he does with T-Dog helping him.
Rick : "Hey, Jenner, Open that door now."
Jenner : "There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed."
Daryl : "Well, Open the damn things."
Jenner : "That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, It wouldn't open again. You heard me say that." Everyone looks at him horrified before he continues "It's better this way."
Rick : "What is? What happens in twenty-eight minutes?" Jenner just begins typing on his computer again seemingly paying Rick no mind making Shane angry he grabs Jenner and rick angrily yells. "WHAT HAPPENS IN TWENTY-EIGHT MINUTES?"
Jenner : "YOU KNOW WHAT THIS PLACE IS?! WE PROTECTED THE PUBLIC FROM VERY NASTY STUFF! WEAPONIZED SMALLPOX! EBOALA STRAINS THAT COULD WIPE OUT HALF THE COUNTRY! STUFF YOU DON'T WANT GETTING OUT! EVER!" he sits down for a second calming his self "In the event of a catastrophic power failure - - In a terrorist attack, For example - - H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."
Rick : "H.I.T.s?"
Jenner : "VI, Define."
VI: "Hits - - High-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration of any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 degrees and 6,000 degrees. And is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structure is desired."
Jenner : "It sets the air on fire. No pain. An end to sorrow, Greif . . . Regret. Everything."
Daryl yell at him to open the door when Shane rushes at it with and axe and Daryl has another and they both begin pounding on the door. Jenner talks to rick while their doing that saying "You should've left well enough alone. It would've been so much easier."
Lori: "Easier for who?"
Jenner : "All of you. You know what's out there - - A short, brutal life and an agonizing death. Your - - Your sister - - What was her name?"
Andrea : "Amy."
Jenner : "Amy. You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that really what you want for your wife and son's?"
Rick : "I don't want this." Shane walks over not making any progress on the door.
Shane : "Can't make a dent."
Jenner : "Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Daryl walks over and starts swing the axe at Jenner saying "Well, Your head ain't!" but they stop him and T-Dog takes the axe out of his hand.
Jenner : "You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead." Lori looks at Rick disbelieving. While Zane is not surprised he figures he and his mom and his dad and carl are gonna die sometime during this apocalypse its just a matter of long will it be till they die he thinks to himself.
Shane : "What? You really said that? After all your big talk?"
Rick : "I had to keep hope alive, Didn't I?"
Jenner : "There is no hope. There never was."
Rick ; "There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, But somebody somewhere -What part of "everything is gone" Do you not understand?"
Jenner : "Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event." everyone goes silent while Carol cry's she says "This isn't right. You can't just keep us here." Jenner replies "One tiny moment - - A millisecond. No pain."
Carol : "My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this." This sentence makes Shane angry as he walks away while doctor Jenner replies calmly "Wouldn't it be kinder, More compassionate to just hold your loved ones And wait for the clock to run down?" A gun cock and Shane walks back with a shotgun and rick tries to stop him but he pushes him away. "Stay out my way! Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?!"
Rick : "Brother, Brother, This is not the way you do this. We will never get out of here." Rick say's trying to calm and persuade Shane.
Lori : "Shane, You listen to him."
Shane : "It's too late."
Rick : "He dies, We all - -" Suddenly Shane screams angrily putting the barrel of the gun on Jenner's face he points the gun toward the computers and shoots them over and over again while screaming rick quickly disarms Shane putting him on his back standing over him threatening to slam the gun into his face.
Rick and Jenner start talking and he reveals that his wife was test subject nineteen and that she was and Einstein in this field that she could've figured this all out. And rick and him talk and Jenner finally decides to let them leave. But Jacqui and Andrea decide to stay behind and die but Dale stayed behind to try to convince Andrea not to give up.
Topside they were trying to break the glass but it wouldn't budge even with them using axes. Carol gives rick a grenade and he tell everyone to back up and he throws it at the glass and it shatter with a big boom. They run to the cars killing the few walker in the way.
As they are about to leave they see Dale and Andrea coming out of the building they quickly jump in the R.V. And drive away trying to escape the bomb area and they do escape narrowly.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone