ts-19
we all shoved ourselves into a small elevator, my body being squished between sophia and glenn.
"doctors always go around packing like that?" daryl questioned jenner, referring to the huge gun he was holding.
"there were plenty left lying around. i familiarized myself." jenner responded, glancing around at all of us, "but you look harmless enough, except you. i'll have to keep my eye on you." he joked with carl, causing the small boys lip to tug on each side.
the elevator dinged, letting us all out, soon following jenner as he led us down a hallway. "vi, bring out the lights in the big room." jenner ordered as we walked into a huge office.
bright lights flashed on, pulling us all out of the darkness. i squinted, not quite used to the bright light. once my eyes were adjusted, they scanned the room, not seeing any sign of life, except us.
"where are all the other doctors and staff?" i asked, walking beside rick. jenner stopped in his tracks, turning around to face us, "i'm it. it's just me here"
i shifted uncomfortably at his words, crossing my arms over my chest, "what about the person you were speaking with, vi?" lori questioned, hauling a big bag over her shoulders.
"vi, say hello to our guests. tell them.. . welcome."
"hello guests, welcome" the animated voice greeted, causing our eyes to scour the place, looking for a person or speaker.
i shook my head, "he's all that's left, its advanced technology" i muttered, earning a small nod from jenner, "i'm sorry." he mumbled before turning around, ushering for us to follow him somewhere else.
my eyes shifted to glenn, once again giving him an unsure look. "i don't trust him, something's up" i whispered, trying not to catch the attention of others as we walked.
"at least give him a chance." glenn scolded, pushing me along.
everyone sat around a huge dinner table after getting our blood drawn, which i might add was not a fun experience. i panicked, but luckily sophia distracted me, showing off her dance moves.
glasses clinking and laughter filled my ears as the others drank and made toasts. the wine tempted me, but i decided not to drink, knowing i made bad decisions while intoxicated.
even carl had more wine to drink than me, "well, just stick to a soda pop there, bud" shane suggested when carl had turned down the wine, saying it tasted bad.
"not you two, glenn. melanie" daryl teased, snapping us both out of our thoughts and back into the conversation.
his words caused me to roll my eyes, "what?" glenn questioned, a smile from embarrassment appearing on his face.
"keep drinking, you two. i wanna see how red your faces can get" daryl bothered, causing everyone to laugh. everyone except us.
"so when are you gonna tell us what happened here, doc? all the uh- the other doctors. that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?" shane questioned once that chatter dialed down.
everyone's mood changed at his words, turning their expressions into frowns because they didn't wanna hear it while they were "celebrating", even though shane was right. we came here looking for answers.
"well when things got bad, a lot of people just left. went off to be with their families. and when things got worse, and the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." jenner informed, his words making eyes flicker in every direction.
"every last one?" shane asked, relaxing back into his seat, "no. many couldn't face walking out the door. they..." jenner started, pausing in between his words, "opted out. there was a rash of suicides. that was a bad time"
jenner slowly ended his speech, becoming sad as he looked down to his glass of wine. "and why didn't you leave?" i asked, wanting more answers.
"i just kept working, hoping to do some good" jenner replied, his words sounded as if they would be droopy.
glenn rolled his eyes, standing up from beside me to walk away, "dude, you are such a buzzkill, man." glenn mumbled, referring to shane who brought the whole conversation up, which i wasn't mad about. we now had answers. somewhat.
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after we had all finished our meal and ended our conversation with jenner, he guided us down another hallway, showing us a tour of where we'd be staying.
"most of the facility is powered down. including housing so you'll have to make do here." jenner started, informing us of the situation, "the couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like."
i nodded, placing my hands on sophia and carls shoulder as we walked, letting them know i was behind them. "there's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. just don't plug in the video games, okay?" jenner asked, bending down a bit to get on there level.
they both nodded, looking back and forth at each other.
"if you shower, go easy on the hot water."
i turned to see glenns eyes widened, smiling towards me and the others, "hot water?"
i chuckled, smacking his shoulder before i walked down the rest of the hall, claiming my room. i smiled, throwing my bag onto the couch, also letting myself fall back onto it.
my body rested for a bit, taking in the comfort prior to heading into the bathroom where i stripped, turning on the water in the shower.
while i waited for it to heat up, i took a step near the mirror, tracing my reflection with my eyes, scanning over the bruises from ed. i sighed, turning my attention back to the water, stepping in.
my mouth dropped open naturally, feeling a comfortable sensation as the water trickled down through my hair.
once i was done, i got dressed and decided to pour a glass of wine anyway. "who gives a shit" i mumbled to myself, taking the wine like a shot.
my mind forced me to do a couple more before i finally was drunk. i felt my head hit a pillow, and i was out like a light.
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a loud knock on my door awoke me from my slumber, causing me to let out a loud groan, "go away!" i yelled, pissed because it was too early.
my door swung open, revealing dale, "come have breakfast, todg made powdered eggs."
i was now sitting up, facing the fact that i wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. i acted like i was throwing up from his mention of powdered eggs, causing him to chuckle.
i swung my feet over the side of the couch, stretching my arms above my head, "i thought you weren't gonna drink." dale muttered, pointing to the empty wine bottle laying on the floor.
"im regretting my end decision now." i mumbled, now following him out of my room and to the dining room where the rest were gathered.
"you look like a ray of sunshine" daryl commented, watching my sluggish body move slowly into the dining room. i smiled sarcastically, flipping him off as i took a seat by glenn and dale who soon sat down after me.
i laid my head down on the table, trying to sooth the horrible headache. "here" rick stated, motioning for me to take the pill bottle of his hand.
"thanks, where'd it come from?" i questioned, popping two small pills into my mouth, followed by some orange juice.
"jenner, he thought we could use it." lori responded, earning a small nod as took two more out for glenn, who looked worse than i did.
i nudged his shoulder, making him slowly look at me. i placed the pills down in his hand, pushing another glass of juice in his direction.
"don't ever ever ever let me drink again." glenn whined, causing me to chuckle, "yeah, me too."
my head turned in shanes direction who was now just walking in, i waved, greeting him. "feel as bad as i do?" rick asked him, watching as shane grabbed a cup of coffee.
"worse"
dale nudged my shoulder, handing me a piece of buttered toast, "here, eat something."
i smiled, "thank you." he nodded, taking bite of his own.
"morning" jenner greeted, also just now walking into the kitchen/ dining room. "morning, doc" i stated, earning a nod from him as he passed.
"doctor, i don't mean to slam you with questions first thing-" dale started pausing to turn and look to where jenner stood.
"but you will anyway." jenner finished his sentence, pouring creamer into his coffee cup.
"we didn't come here for the eggs." andrea chimed in also turning to face him.
jenner turned around, pausing to look at all of us for a moment before nodding, "follow me."
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"give me a playback of ts-19" jenner commanded as he began typing. my eyes wondered around the huge room, stopping when they landed on the huge screen.
"playback of ts-19" vi replied, loading a data set on the screen.
"few people ever got a chance to see this. very few." jenner explained, causing us to look suspiciously at each other.
"is that a brain?" carl questioned, referring to the picture of someones head upon the screen. "an extraordinary one." jenner answered, looking at carl.
"not that it matters in the end. take us in for e.i.v."
i fiddled with my fingers nervously as i watched the mri screen.
"what are those lights?" shane asked, causing me to answer on instinct, "life" i uttered, seeing peoples faces turn to me.
jenner nodded, " correct, it's a persons life- experiences, memories, it's everything." jenner started, pointing his finger at the screen, "somewhere in all that organic wiring. all those ripples of light, is you. the thing that makes you unique and human"
"you don't make sense, ever?" daryl claimed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"those are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. they determine everything a person says does or thinks-" jenner stated, causing me to nod, joining in.
"from the moment of birth" we said in unison, now looking at each other.
"this person died?" andrea questions, focusing on the screen. "test subject nineteen, someone who was bitten and infected and volunteered to have us record the process."
jenner paused, trying not to stammer his words. i looked over at him suspiciously, noticing his change in energy when he mentioned test subject nineteen.
'vi scan to first event" jenner ordered, causing vi to obey has she scanned the first event.
"what is that?" glenn asked anxiously from beside me.
"it invades the brain like meningitis. the brain goes into shut down, then the major organs, then death." jenner started, looking down from the screen to the ground, "everything you ever were or ever will be... gone."
i shifted uncomfortably, looking to glenn who was looking almost mesmerized by the pictures. my mouth let out a sigh before looking at the second event.
"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."
i watched as a fast line shot through the brain. i scrunched my nose in disgust, assuming they killed the patient.
"god, what was that?" carol asked, a sickening facial expression forming on her face.
"he shot his patient in the head. didn't you?" andrea questioned, only to be ignored by jenner as he powered off the screen, shifting uneasily.
"you have no idea what it is, do you?"
jenner turned to face her slightly shrugging his shoulders, "it could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal-" before he could finish, jackie cut him off, "or the wrath of god."
to some up the rest of our conversion, there wasn't anything left, or anywhere that he knew of. everyone had cut him off, leaving him in the dark.
my mouth gaped open, running my hands through my hair as i thought about how my future would play out, now knowing of this information. it didn't seem bright.
"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." dale started, pointing to the countdown on the wall, "what happens at zero?"
jenner hesitating, "the basement generators, they run out of fuel."
rick looked at jenner suspiciously asking what happened after they did, only to be ignored by him again. "vi, what happens when the power runs out?" rick questioned, standing with his hands on his hips.
"when the power runs out, facility wide decontamination will occur."
everyone's facial expressions turned into worry, looking to jenner for answers in which he closed up about, ignoring everyone.
glenn and rick assured me they would be back after checking a few things out in the basement, i nodded deciding to stay with the others.
"why is everything turned off?" daryl questioned, hanging his head out the door, as were the rest of us.
i shrugged, moving out of my room to walk beside daryl who was chasing after jenner, "zone five is shutting itself down."
he continued to fight with jenner, trying to pry answers out of him, but he still wouldn't budge.
"rick?" lori yelled, causing me to look over the railing, seeing the guys were back. i smiled, seeing them at the bottom.
we all hurried down the stairs, joining the guys sides as we followed jenner to where he was walking. "the world runs on fossil fuels, i mean how stupid is that?"
i gave jenner a weird look, turning my head to rick, shaking my head no. "lori grab our things. everybody, get your stuff. we're getting out of here now!"
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2/13/2021