At sunrise the army and the members of the CDS were waiting for the one who gathered them in the meeting hall, to speak up. Everyone had a job, and then needed to get back to it as soon as possible or else they would be wasting precious time. Time was the most important thing they had, and so it couldn't be wasted on something that has no meaning, no purpose.
The soldiers could not understand why they were called to that particular meeting, where only the doctors and scientists belonged. Their only job was to keep the remaining population safe, to make sure the generators worked and to make runs in larger cities for certain things. The members of the CDC were the smartest and the most valuable people the small city of survivals had. After the world went to hell, every doctor from big cities was brought to Newberg, and they formed a small army of doctors who became the most valuable people they had; they formed the new CDC. But they were the exact opposite of the soldiers. Harmless but too kind, very intelligent but untrained.
Newberg was the only city populated by humans, not Walkers. The city was standing where Mathews County stood once. When the madness begun and people came back from the dead, the wealthy part of the population got sent to Newberg. The members of the government, musicians, actors, doctors and everyone else who paid one million dollars for a place there. The disease was discovered by the CDC six months before the plague took over the America. Mathews Country got demolished and in its place four large buildings got built, each of them having the capacity to give shelter to thousands of men, children and women. Another building was dedicated to the doctors who never stopped looking for a cure.
When rich people found out that The End of The Days was coming, they paid large amounts of money for their space in Newberg. They paid for themselves and for their families and because of that, every building had special equipment, weapons and luxury. No one here could say they were in the middle of the Apocalypse. Every Walker who crossed the paths of the city got killed immediately; there was no reason for anyone but the military to worry.
The small army of doctors couldn't understand the purpose of the gathering either. They needed to be in the laboratories working to find a cure, not in a hall where everyone was confused. As the crowd was getting louder and louder, a man wearing a white lab coat stepped in front the people and he was soon joined by a taller and more muscular man, wearing a military uniform. The solider clapped third times to get everyone's attention, and then turned to the Doctor.
"Right." the doctor said, clearly intimidated by so many pair of eyes. He coughed one and continued. "I'm Doctor Hawks but you probably know me already. This is Sergeant Addams. I know all of you are wondering why I organized this meeting, and made you abandon your work." There were nods of approval and some murmurs in the back, and Addams continued.
"We are sorry for that. You will get back to work right after the meeting is over." he addressed to everyone, but mostly to the other soldiers. The silence allowed one of the two men to explain everything, so Doctor Hawks coughed again and spoke loudly:
"We managed to connect with someone who has been testing the Infected for a while now, and he believes he found something that might help us find a cure." After his words were heard, the entire crowd started asking questions but the noise was too loud and no one could understand each other. Whistles made everyone calm down and turn their attention back to the men who were standing in the front.
"Thank you, Sergeant." the doctor gave the other man a nod and then turned back to the agitated crowd. "In order to do that, we need him and we need every note he ever made in this period of testing the Infected."
"That's when the army is needed. We must travel to Georgia, find this guy and bring him back here." the Sergeant spoke in a deep voice.
"We will need a group of people, whiling to risk their lives to bring this guy to us." everyone shared scared looks, neither of them wanting to leave the city and risk their life on the road. "Does anyone want to go on that mission? We will need two members of the CDC and five soldiers."
No doctor moved. The soldiers didn't move either. Even if they had special training, knew how to use weapons, how to fight and how to survive, they would rather do all that from the city because that was safe. And people needed safety these days.
For a couple of minutes, no one said anything. Then, a solider took a step forward and saluted the Sergeant. Two more soldiers followed him, mirroring his moved, then walked behind the two leaders. The Doctor was the leader of everyone working for the CDC and the Sergeant lead the army.
Somewhere in the back, a woman began to walk towards the front of the hall apologizing to anyone she pushed by mistake. She wanted to leave Newberg and see how the less fortunate coped with the plague. She hated the idea of the one million rule; she hated it since she found out how every person there got in. The woman got in based on her job at the CDC, not because she paid an exaggerate amount of money. In her eyes, these people were wrong and cruel because they had thrown a chance to survive in front of the most important people of America, and took the chance from every other decent, normal person.
"I'm going with them." she finally reached the front, and everyone turned their attention to her. She was wearing a white lab coat, similar to the doctor's, but shorter. The soldiers who volunteered to join the mission were smirking and looking at her with amusement. There was no way a woman would join them on a dangerous job.
"Are you sure?" the Doctor asked her.
"One hundred percent sure. I'm going to Georgia." she said with determination written all over her face. There was no way she wouldn't take an opportunity to leave Newberg and try to help some survivals. Some real survivals.
"Alright then." the leader of the smarter half said and gave her a sign, telling her to join the soldiers. She ignored their looks and focused on what was going on. Two more soldiers volunteered and joined the small group: one of them had curly hair and blue eyes that didn't pass unnoticed by the woman. The other one was one of her friends; he walked towards her and she could swear he was going to grab her by the hand and push her back into the crowd, but he didn't. Instead, he stood next to her and looked straight ahead.
"No one else is joining them? We need one more scientist and the rest of you will be dismissed." The Sergeant said. There was a loud sigh, followed by giggles, and then a handsome man walked towards the group and saluted the two leaders. He had blond hair and defined cheekbones, green eyes and a smile that could bring out the sun even in the darkest times.
"Alright then, the five of you follow me to my office. The rest of you, go back to your daily work." the Doctor said and then began walking towards an elevator, with the five people following him close behind. The handsome doctor led the way and the other volunteers stayed behind. The elevator doors closed after everyone got inside, and the youngest soldier counted every level as they kept going up.
Five minutes later, Doctor Hawks was sat at a large desk and the five adults were standing in front of him. "I'm glad you are whiling to help me with this job." He said. Three men nodded and the woman continued looking out the window to the apocalyptic city. The grey buildings, the lack of vegetation, the dirt and the talks that stood at every entrance in Newberg, the tall walls that isolated the city from the rest of the America. "I haven't got the chance to find out your names, so please introduce yourselves." Doctor Hawks added.
The curly man straightened his posture and responded in a formal way "My name is Andrew Rothrock and I'm thirty three years old" Hawks nodded and then turned his attention to the next in line: "The name is Charlie Davis and I am thirty five. Also, I'm honored to help you on this mission, Sir." He saluted and Hawks smiled and gave him a firm nod. The next one in line was the handsome doctor. "My name is Cody Palmer, I'm from New York and I am thirty nine." He smiled and leaned over the table to shake Hawks's hand. His action got a few ever rolls, but Cody didn't seemed to be bothered by that. The last soldier's voice managed to interrupt Cody's ass-kisser move "My name is Nathan Wilson and I am thirty one years old." He said shortly and gave the Doctor a nod, which he returned quickly. The last person to introduce herself was the only woman who volunteered to risk her life just for research, as everyone thought. "My name is Blair Fields and I am twenty nine." She said and gave Doctor Hawks a firm nod.
"Alright then, you will be leaving tomorrow as soon as the daylight hits. Blair, Cody you two stay here because I must discuss the details of the mission with you; the rest of you, Sergeant Addams is waiting in the training hall." He dismissed the three soldiers and they left the room. "As you know, a man began to test some Infected a while ago, and he kept me updated via the only remaining computers they have back there. He believes he found something and I need you two to see if his research is alright, real and possible. Can you do that?"
"Of course we can, we will do our best and we will keep you updated, Sir." Cody spoke before Blair even got the chance to nod her head. "But, Sir, are you sure Blair is a good option?" Cody added and the woman felt her blood boil.
"Why wouldn't it be a good idea? Because I'm a female?" she snapped.
"No, but maybe what's out there isn't safe for you."
"Newsflash! No one is safe out here!"
"I believe she will be just fine, Mister Palmer. Plus, she is great at her job; you will need her once you're in Woodbury." Doctor Hawks spoke before the small argument got the chance to grow into something bigger.
"Woodbury?" Blair turned her attention to the man.
"Yes. It's a small town, ruled by a man named Philip. He managed to keep a group of people safe for over a year so that is a huge achievement. I want you to see how the town is like; how the people are feeling and how safe it is there, alright? Can you do that too?"
Both of them gave Hawks an affirmative response and the man gave them specific information about how the man's rapports should be, and told them to ask him to demonstrate one of his experiments. They also learnt that the man's name was Milton Mamet and he was aware that a group was coming from Newberg. By the time the two were dismissed, it was already noon.
They went in separate directions, both of them heading to their bedrooms to pack clothes for the journey they had to face in a less than twenty four hours. Blair packed more clothes than she needed, thinking about the women she might encounter on their way to Woodbury and about how much they would appreciate a set of clean clothes. Cody on the other hand, packed only what he really needed, not more. Three clean shirts and pants, a hat and a jacket, two pair of shoes and something more comfortable so he could sleep in them. He was relaxed, even eager to meet new people and maybe, who knew, even create a bonding with the younger woman accompanying them.
Blair left the medical building as soon as she finished packing, jogging to the building made for the army. She flashed her ID to the guard and he moved out of her way after a friendly greet. "Is Nath inside?"She asked the older man, and he chuckled, familiar with her daily question "He is in there, packing I believe." He responded. "Thank you, Dan." She waved and jogged up the stairs, all the way to the dorms. The building was smaller than the other five, but in her eyes it was the best. The walls were painted in a light shade of grey, there were no elevators, no gigantic windows that made her think of some big mansion that belonged to the Kardashians, the majority of people there were nice and friendly, and she could get in and train whenever she wanted. Training was her way to forget about the responsibility she had, the pressure to find a cure. No one seemed to be aware that it didn't matter how much everyone tried, there was no way to find a cure for the plague.
She knocked twice on the metal framed door and stepped back. A couple of seconds later, the door was opened by Nathan, her best friend. "Hey, stranger." She winked and walked in. The sight of Nathan's army uniform, civil clothes and some pair of shoes thrown around the room hit her immediately, and she thought of the battlegrounds she used to see in movies.
"Sorry, I'm trying to figure out what should I pack." He murmured.
"We're going on a mission, we will encounter walkers and things will get messy, we're not going to the prom. Pack something comfortable which allows you to actually move." Blair turned to face Nathan. He was wearing a pair of glasses, something he wore during his free time because he needed to correct his sight. His hair was messy and he was wearing a pair of jogging pants and a plain grey t-shirt.
"You're right." He said and picked up a few t-shirts, two pairs of pants and a pair of shoes. "Wow, you're modest." Blair laughed. "What? I can't take my entire wardrobe now, can't I?"
The woman laughed and grabbed Nathan's army uniform, to fold it.
"Why did you volunteer?" The man asked after minutes of silence.
"I just want to see how it's outside, you know that." She shrugged.
"You can die out there, you know that!"
"I am not going to die. I can fell that you'll protect me all the time, prince charming." Blair rolled her eyes and continued to put her friend's clothes back where they belonged.
"You can still tell Doctor Hawks you changed your mind and that you're not going." Nathan suggested.
"I'm not going to do that, Nathan! I'm going with you, end of discussion. "
Nathan didn't know how to convince the woman to stay at home because he never had to worry about her safety before this day. His best friend was always in the laboratories, working. When her free days finally came around, she usually sat on the top of the CDC building, reading or just sleeping. Sometimes she trained with him and persuaded anyone to teach her use a weapon; Blair was nothing like the rest of the women and Nathan liked that a lot. She also earned the respect of his fellow soldiers just because of her tough personality and her ability to fight and take down walkers.
"Fine." He sighed loudly and Blair kissed his cheek. "I will be alright, I promise." But the soldier couldn't believe it because no one could be sure about their fate once they were out there. Even if Blair had training, she was not safe. "I'll go to sleep now, Nath. See you in the morning." Blair said, hugged him and walked out of his room. He went to bed not long after that, trying not to think about where they were going in less than ten hours.
