CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ATHENA'S ARMS WERE TUCKED underneath each other as she slowly walked into the large room that had computers and desks everywhere she looked. The brunette recalled being in the room the previous day when they had first arrived, where they were introduced to Vi, the computer operator. Usually, Athena would of left her suspicion of the man go by now but her gut wasn't giving up on the feeling that something wasn't adding up. All she could do was pray that the answers she'd been looking for would come out, but only time would tell.
As the group filed in and scattered themselves throughout the room, Jenner initiated Vi and brought up data and images on the screen that Athena did not understand at all. "Few people ever got to see this. Very few."
"Is that a brain?" Carl questioned as everyone studied the screen intently.
"An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for the MRI." Jenner commanded VI before she zoomed in to the anonymous persons brain activity.
Athena narrowed her eyes and turned her head in many positions, trying to figure out what exactly was going on inside the persons brain. Or more importantly, who that person even was. All she could see was a variety of blue flashes that were magnified the closer VI went in.
"What are those lights?"
"Its a persons life. Experiences, memories — its everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you — the thing that makes you unique and human."
"You dont make sense, ever?" Daryl remarked with crossed arms, saying exactly what Athena was thinking.
Jenner raised a brow "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."
"Death?" Rick repeated, making his way over to Jenner. "Thats what this is? A vigil?"
"Yes. Or rather, the playback of the vigil."
Athena edged closer, leaning against one of the desks and looking to Jenner with a worrisome look. "Are you saying this person is dead? Who was it?"
"Teat Subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected and volunteered to have us record the process." He paused, glancing off into the distance in thought. "VI, scan forward to the first event."
"Scanning to first event."
Athena's attention was now drawn back to the screen, watching as it scanned before it showed the image of the same persons brain, except this time Athena noticed a large black spot in the centre. Causing her curiosity to furthermore grow about what had really happened.
"What is that?" Glenn asked.
"It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands haemorrhage. The brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs." Suddenly the brain went black and Athena could see the all to familiar snapping jaw of a walker. "Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be, gone."
Andrea's face began to falter as water welled in her eyes. Jenner took notice of this and a wash of concern passed as he looked to one of the group.
"She lost someone two days ago. Her sister." Lori explained.
"I lost someone too." Jenner reassured as he stood beside Andrea, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I know how devastating it is. Scan to the second event."
"Scanning to second event."
Seeing someone transition and how it worked put Athena into a disorderly state of mind. Never before had she seen something like this or anything remotely similar to it, making her unsure about how to react. It was easier not knowing when they were out in the real world, just killing walkers because it was a means of survival. Now she understood how it worked, and being aware that all traces of their past life would be gone forever, it gave her a sort of sad, melancholy feeling.
"The resurrection times vary wildly. We have 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."
"It restarts the brain?" Athena queried, referring to the red sparks that were now igniting in the brain.
"No, just the brain stem. Basically it gets them up and moving."
"But they're not alive?"
"You tell me."
Rick shook his head, putting his hands on his hips "Its nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark."
"The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part, that doesn't come back — the you part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct."
In the blink of an eye, a bright white flash sliced between the brain, causing everyone to be slightly startled. "What was that?"
"He shot his patient in the head. Didn't you?" Andrea stated with an uncertain tone, a large part of her hoping he didn't.
"VI power down the main screen and workstations." Jenner commanded aloud, blatantly ignoring Andrea's statement which led Athena and the rest of the group to believe that what she had said, was in fact true. "You have no idea what it is, do you?"
"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal."
"Or the wrath of god." Jaqui chimed in with a sour look on her face.
"There is that."
Athena ran a hand through her hair, pulling herself out of her thoughts as she stood upright and moved in closer. "Surely somebody somewhere must know something. I mean, there's other places like this, right?"
"There may be some." His hesitance and lack of confidence in his tone wasn't making the group feel better at all, if anything it made them feel a whole lot worse. "People like me. But everything went down — communications, directives, all of it. Ive been in the dark for almost a month."
"So theres nothing left anywhere? That's what you're really saying isn't it?"
A less than comfortable silence filled the room as the tension in the atmosphere grew, each person individually thinking a variety of different things. Athena, however, was stunned. Any hope that she did have of being saved from the hell they now lived in had completely diminished. It felt as though the whole room had deflated.
Daryl started to pace back and fourth with a groan. "Man, I'm going to get shit faced drunk again."
Athena stuck her tongue in the inside of her cheek, a foul expression glued to her face as she slumped into the nearest chair. "I second that."
"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you, and i hate to ask one more question. But that clock is counting down. What happens in zero." Dale's question drew everyone's attention to the large clock ticking away. To Athena, it seemed as though her streak of questions had been never ending ever since she walked through that door.
"The basement generators, they run out of fuel. "
"And then?" Rick pressed, but he received no response. "VI, what happens when the power runs out?"
"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur."
━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━
Whilst Rick, Shane, Glenn and T-Dog went in search of the generators to find answers for Jenner's less than helpful statements, Athena and the others returned to their rooms. Currently, the young woman was pacing back and fourth in her room at a rather quick pace, racking her brains in attempt to figure out what 'decontamination' meant. Her nail was wedged between her teeth, anxiousness building up about the pending fate of the group. What did it all mean?
More questions and theories were racing through her mind when suddenly it became really quiet. Athena looked up, eventually noticing the instantaneous silence. The woman lifted her hand to the ceiling and realised there was no air conditioning like there was before. A scowl formed on her face when all of a sudden she was surrounded by darkness and a sinking feeling initiated in the bottom of her stomach.
Athena immediately headed towards her door and poked her head into the hallway to see the rest of her group doing the exact same thing.
"Why is the air off? And the lights in our room?" Lori interrogated as Jenner walked down the hallway without even batting an eyelid.
"Yeah whats going on? Why is everything turned off?"
"Energy use is being prioritised." Jenner stated as he snatched the bottle of whiskey out of Daryl's hand.
"Air isn't a priority and lights?"
"Its not up to me. Zone five is shutting itself down."
Athena began to follow with a face of anger, the more he avoided their questions the more agitated she became. "Hey. What does that mean?!"
Daryl caught up from behind, speaking with a similar harsh tone as Athena. "Hey we're tryna talk to you. What does it mean, its shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?"
As they came to a staircase, Lori shouted to Rick, alerting her that the men had returned from the basement. As she reached the bottom, her harsh glare on Jenner had trailed off to Shane, her expression softening a little. It stayed like that for a couple of second before she forced herself to look away and return to interrogating Jenner. She had to focus on the problem at hand.
"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick stormed over to the man with an intolerant tone.
"The system is dropping all non-essential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. It starts as we approach that half hour mark. Right on schedule." Jenner took a large swig of the bottle before handing it back to Daryl, who took it with a foul look. "It was the french. They were the last ones to hold out as far as i know. While our people were bolting up the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs until the end. They thought they were close to a solution."
"What happened?"
"Same thing thats happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?"
"Let me tell you something!" Shane lunged forward, his whole body raging with anger as he neared Jenner.
Rick gripped onto Shane's arm in attempt to hold him back. "To hell with this, Shane! I dont even care. Lori get our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here, now!"
Athena took a breath, unable to comprehend what was happening before she shook herself back into reality. Just as she was about to take off towards her room, the room began to flash red and a loud blaring siren rang throughout the CDC.
"What was that?"
"Thirty minutes to decontamination." VI said over the intercom as the clock now appeared on the screen.
"Whats going on, Doc?"
Shane raised his voice as he marched over to the group. "Everybody, ya'll heard Rick. Get your stuff and lets go. Go now! Lets go!"
Athena raced over towards the door, adrenaline pumping through her veins, but before she could get there she stopped abruptly. The only exit had been blocked. "Did you just lock us in?"
As all hell broke loose in a matter of seconds, Athena remained at the door, looking for anything that would open it. Panic was starting to seep in and everything she saw was a blur. Athena didn't know what was going on behind her, all she could hear was shouts and yells from Daryl, Shane and Rick.
"I told you, once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that. Its better this way."
"What happens in twenty eight minutes?" Rick questioned. This caused Athena to stop what she was doing and listen carefully. For the first time she dreaded his answer.
"You know what this place is? We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponised smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff that you don't want getting out, ever! To prevent any organisms getting out, it is programmed to release HIT's."
"HIT's?"
"VI find HIT's."
"HIT's — High Impulse Thermo baric fuel-air explosives consist of a two stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum pressure effect ignites the oxygen between five thousand and six thousand degrees, and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."
Athena let her head hang, freezing on the spot as VI spoke. This was it.
"It sets the air on fire. No pain. An end to sorrow, grief, regret...Everything."