Chapter 6
The coolness of night once again engulfed the forest. Dark trees passing by. Footsteps close behind me. My heart in my throat. Sweat pouring off my face. A tree comes into view. I quickly climb its branches and steady myself above the ground. Down below I see my mother running through the fog.
"Mother up here!" I call out, but she can't hear me. "Mother!" She looks around her and heads in a different direction. "No!" Next comes Emily. She stands at the base of the tree. "Emily!" She looks up at me, but she just slides down to the ground. She has tears bursting from her eyes. "Emily, come up here!" I hold down my hand to her, but I'm too far away. That's when I realize, she isn't looking at me, she's looking past me. She can't see or hear me.
In the distance I see a figure appear. It walks slowly towards us. It steps into the close moonlight. "DAD!" I cry. "Dad, please! Please dad." I sob. He looks down at Emily and hurries to her and bends down. What I thought was a hug was actually the bite of a hungry monster. He bit into Emily's neck, ripping off her flesh. She looked up towards me, screaming.
"Lucy!" she howled as she cried. Now I wasn't sure if she could see me or not. Blood poured from her opened wound, as what used to be my father took another bite from my sister. I cradled myself in the tree.
I looked back down a few moments later. Now my mother was there with my father, devouring my little sister, their child. In unison, they all looked up at me, and I was sure they could see me. All their eyes were flaming red. "Lucy, you did this to us." they all said. I slowly shook my head, no.
"No, no I couldn't have." I whispered.
"Lucy, don't you love us?" Emily's voice came out of the monster below me.
"Oh Emily." I cried. They held their hands up to me, but I just climbed higher. "No. NO!"
Another figure came into view. It was Jim. He had turned and was joining the group below me. He was reaching up to me with this claw like hands. There was a piercing scream that came from their caved mouths full of rotting teeth.
"Why did you do this to us?" Jim asked.
"No, Jim I tried to save you!"
"No Lucy, you ran to Daryl, while I was being bitten."
"Lucy, you left us behind." My mother's sweet voice swam around me.
"You could have saved us all, Lucy." Father said.
"You left us and lost us." Emily cried.
"You will lose more. More then you know. Just as I have lost everything." I wasn't sure what Jim was referring to by everything.
"If only you hadn't caused this." Emily started to climb the base of the tree.
"No. I didn't."
"We could still be together Lucy." Mother said.
"NO!"
"NO!"
"Hey! Hey! You're okay! You're okay." Daryl was yelling above me. His hands were on my shoulders, trying to hold me still.
"What?" I asked, out of breath.
"See you're fine." He put his hand to my face.
"What happened?" I asked.
"You were freaking out in your sleep again." he said breathing heavily. I must have scared him awake. I looked over at the clock on the wall. It was just after seven thirty A.M., and there was no point trying to fall back to sleep. Daryl fell back onto his cot and asked, "What time is it?"
"7:32." He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. I chuckled, bent down and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
"What?" he asked, putting a hand on my arm.
"No more sleep for you." I laughed.
"Yeah, no kidding. What were you screaming 'bout anyway?"
"I don't remember." I didn't like to lie to anyone, especially Daryl, but he didn't need to know what went on in my dreams, real or fake. I reached over to my bag and grabbed a clean pair of clothes and hopped over the side of the couch to get to the bathroom. I closed the door and looked at myself in the mirror. The girl that stared back at me looked just like the girl that I had left at home before everything happened, but I felt so different from her. She was a girl that was normally carefree, but didn't like the world she lived in. Now she would give anything to get that world back.
I then thought of Daryl. If it wasn't for all this, I would have never met him. I guessed this world wasn't as bad as it seemed. As long as I wasn't alone, this world was okay. Sure death was chasing us and there was danger at every turn, but I wasn't going through it alone. I was brought to these people who lived the same terrifying life I did. It gave me a sensation of relief just thinking that I was here with them, safe.
I finished changing and brushed out my hair. When I went back to the room we had slept in, I looked over at Daryl, who had rolled over and tried to fall back to sleep. I could tell by his breathing that he wasn't asleep, so I knelled on the floor next to the cot. I stroked his hair and he turned over to face me. It was quite clear to me that I had basically fallen in love with this guy in only three days, and that was kind of stupid, but he also felt something for me, so I wasn't the only stupid one here.
He halfway sat up and put his forehead against mine, then slid his arms around my waist and pulled me on top of him. "Daryl, stop. Your going to brake the cot." I laughed.
"I got a feeling the cot's going to be fine."
"Hey you brake it, you're telling Jenner."
"I'll take my chances." he said pulling me into a long kiss. After a few seconds we pulled away and I sat up.
"Come on. Time to get up." I said pulling on his arm as I stood up. He get up and threw on another sleeveless shirt.
"Hey, watch before you step out there." he said.
"What?"
"Remember Glenn puked out there last night."
"Oh right." I hit the on switch for the lights and opened up the door. Sure enough, there was a stain from the puke puddle from last night. It had been cleaned up, but you can only get so much of it out of the carpets.
We went back out into the dinning hall where Dale, Andrea, Glenn, Carl, and Lori were sitting with some plates of bacon and cups of juice. "Mornin' everyone." I said before taking a seat next to Dale.
"Well, someones in a better mood today." Dale said. "It was the shower, wasn't it?" I smiled as if I was agreeing with him, but the shower had ruined my mood completely.
I got up, grabbed myself a cup and poured some orange juice in it, then took a little plate with some bacon and toast. I hadn't had a real breakfast in a while and it tasted so good. Daryl sat down next to me with his own plate of bacon, and gobbled it down. I looked over at Glenn, who was leaning on one arm over his plate, making little moaning noises. Bottles of aspirin were scattered around the table. Luckily I wasn't a drinker so I had no need for them.
Soon, Rick joined us. "Morning."
"Are you hungover?" Carl asked. We all looked at him a laughed. "Mom, said you'd be."
"Mom is right." he smiled.
"Mom has that annoying habit." Lori said, ripping up a piece of bacon. Jacqui came from the kitchen with the salt and pepper, and sat down across from me.
"How'd you sleep, honey?" she asked me.
"Like a rock." I said. Daryl scoffed at me, knowing that I had had one of the worse nights ever.
"Eggs. Powdered, but I do them good. I'll bet you can't tell" T-Dog said coming from the kitchen. Glenn moaned again. Dale and I laughed at him. Daryl had warned him last night about that. "Protein helps the hangover." he said as he scooped some eggs onto Glenn's plate.
"Where'd all this come from?" Rick asked, holding up a bottle of the aspirin.
"Jenner thought it might help. Well, some of us at least." Lori said, opening the bottle for Rick.
"Ugh. Don't ever, ever, ever let me drink again." Glenn said as Shane, Carol, and Sophia walked into the room.
My mood went sour when he walked into the room. He went behind us to grab some coffee when Rick asked, "You feel as bad as I do?"
"Worse." he answered.
"The hell happened to you? Your neck?" T-Dog asked when Shane turned around and we saw the marks I left on him. Three large scratch marks burned red on his face and neck.
"Must'a done it in my sleep." he said, sitting down.
"Never seen you do that before." Rick said.
"Me neither." he sighed into his cup of coffee. He looked over at me when he said, "Not like me at all." Suddenly I wasn't hungry any more.
I stood up from the table and Jacqui asked, "Where are you going?"
"I need to feed my dogs. T-Dog how much of those eggs do you have left?"
"There's a whole 'nother pan of them on the stove." I went over and filled two little plates of the eggs and went back into my room, where Lucic and Luna were still sleeping. I set down the plates and watched them jump up to eat. I wasn't eager to go back to the table.
There was a knocking at my door. I turned and found a very sorry looking Shane standing in the door way. "What do you want?" He stepped in and half way closed the door behind himself.
"Look, Lucy. I didn't mean any of what happened last night."
"No I got that at the table, you weren't like yourself at all." I quoted.
"Lucy, you should know me by now that I would never do something like that." he stepped closer to me.
"Well, you clearly would. You did it last night." I spit calmly.
"But I wouldn't have ever done it to you." he tried to get himself off the hook.
"No. You would have done it to Lori."
"Listen, I didn't mean it like that."
"No? How did you mean it? Shane, you say would wouldn't have done what you did, but it's too late. You did it." I was getting very angry with him now. I didn't particularly like Lori, but she didn't deserve it either.
"Lucy, you're being unreasonable."
"I'm being unreasonable!? After what you did last night, I'm the one being unreasonable?! You're acting like you accidentally stepped on my shoe, Shane. I can't forgive you for that. Yes, you were drunk, I get that, but the liquor didn't make you come after me."
"You think I'm not hurting? I have these huge scratches on my face from you!"
"That was your own fault. You should have never gone into the bathroom with me! I tried to make you stop, but you wouldn't!"
"You did what!?" Daryl slammed the door open and stepped into the room. I had the cold sweat growing on my neck again, knowing this wasn't going to end well. "What the hell did you do to her?!" he yelled.
"None of your damn business." Shane hissed raising a finger at Daryl. Shane could get aggressive when fighting, but no one could match Daryl now. He wasn't just fighting for himself now, he was fighting for me.
He stepped in between me and Shane and said, "No, it is." He charged after Shane and the two men started to wale on each other. "What did you do to her?!" he screamed over and over.
"She's fine." Shane would say between his teeth as he punched. Soon, footsteps came from the hallway, as the two fought on the floor as the two ally cats fought it out.
Rick, Dale and T-Dog ran into the room and pulled the two men apart. "I'm not finished with you. I'll get you for this!" Daryl yelled as Rick pulled him into the hall. No one had to keep Shane restrained. He knew he was in the wrong.
They pulled Daryl into the Dining hall and sat him down. "What the hell was that about?" Rick asked him.
Still breathing heavily, Daryl answered, "That sorry prick raped Lucy." Everyone turned and looked over at me.
"Is that true?" Lori asked. I just looked down.
Jacqui ran over to me and held my hands. "Oh my god. Are you okay, baby?"
"I'm fine." I said pulling one of my hands back.
"That would explain the scratches." T-Dog said looking down at my long nails.
"What are we going to do about him?" Jacqui asked.
"Your a cop. What happens to people who commit rape?" Dale asked.
"I'll go talk to him." Rick said.
"Better do more then talk, cause I'll beat that fucker's ass." Jacqui snapped. I was shocked to hear her say something like that. As my babysitter, I always thought of her as the perfect mother that never swore. Dale came over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. Even Andrea who was still very quiet came over and asked me if I was alright. No matter what anyone said, I couldn't be alright. Yes, physically I was fine, but no one could fix gash in my mind. Not even Daryl, who was still sitting in the chair looking at the floor. I didn't really need the comforting by my group, but I was grateful for it. I only wished I could have gone to Daryl and comforted him. He looked like he needed it much more then I did. Anyone else would have said to leave him alone, so he could blow off steam, but I knew that he needed me more then anything else right now, but I just couldn't bring myself to it. I felt ashamed of myself.
A few minutes later, Rick came back in the room. "What'd he say?" Jacqui stood up.
"He said it was an accident." Rick sighed.
"Accident? How can something like that be an accident?" Dale asked.
"He didn't elaborate." Rick said.
"We'll we can't let him off the hook, just because it was an 'accident'." Andrea stood up.
"Something needs to be done Rick." T-Dog agreed.
"What do you want me to do? Throw him outside?" Rick asked.
"Cuff him." Carol suggested. "We're clearly not safe around him." Rick didn't want to turn on his best friend, but Carol was right, he could do it again. The next time he drinks, he could go further then he went the night before.
"Do we really have to go that far?" Rick asked. He looked around the room at his friends. They were all nodding their heads. "Alright. I'll do it." He left and soon returned with a handcuffed Shane and sat him in one of the chairs. His left eye was swollen and starting to turn purple. Daryl looked as if no one even touched him, other then a cut lower lip, but Shane's face was all red and puffy. Like Daryl, he just looked at the floor, not wanting to meet our angry gazes.
"Good morning." Jenner said, walking to get his coffee. "Whoa, what happened?" he asked turning to see a beat up Shane.
"We had a bit of a confrontation." Rick answered.
"I see. Hey, follow me, I have something to show you." Everyone but Daryl, Shane and I followed Jenner into the main computer room. When it was just us three, I ran over to Daryl with a wet napkin. He was hunched over in his chair, keeping his face hidden from anyone who'd walk by. I knelt down in front of him, but his eyes were closed. I put my hand on his face to let him know I was there.
"Hey, are you okay?" He opened his eyes and just glared at me. When I was sure he wasn't going to answer me, I dabbed the napkin on his bleeding lip. After the first dab, he turned his head from me, not allowing me to help him. I rolled my eyes. He was acting like a child. "Really, Daryl?" I asked annoyed. "Okay, what is it?"
"You couldn't bother to tell me." he said softly, sounding more hurt then angry.
"What would it have mattered? It wasn't going to fix anything, and the same thing would have happened, just last night instead of now."
"Lucy, I'm sorry." Shane said from across the room. Daryl looked over at him and just as he started to stand, I put my hand on his chest, holding him in the chair.
"No Daryl. It's over." I said to him. "Shane I don't want to hear it." I said over my shoulder.
"Why won't you let me teach him a lesson?" Daryl snarled.
"What good would it do? He's cuffed." I could see the rage starting to build up in Daryl's eyes, so I cupped his face in my hands and said, "Daryl, look at me. Hey, look at me, not him." When his eyes did as I commanded, I relaxed my hands a bit. "Daryl, it's over. What's done is done. I'm fine and he won't hurt anyone again." I picked up the napkin from my lap and dabbed at his lip again. This time he let me get all the blood, while he brushed the hair out of my face. When I was done, I kissed him then took hold of his hand, and led him to the computer room with everyone else.
Jenner had a close up of a human brain on the large projected screen. I led Daryl to the front row of computers for a good view.
"What are those lights?" Carl asked.
"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." Jenner said.
"You don't make sense ever?" Daryl asked beside me.
"Those are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages." Jenner went on about how they controlled everything we did, think, feel, from birth to death.
"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" Rick asked.
"Yes. Or rather the playback of the vigil."
"This person died? Who?" Andrea asked, stepping forward.
"Test subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected, and volunteered to have us record the process. VI, scan forward to the first event."
"Scanning to first event." the computer's voice made me jump a little. The brain on the screen lit up less and less, until it went completely dark. There were dark veins starting to grow in it.
"What is that?" Glenn asked, sounding like the eggs were working.
"It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs, then death. Everything you ever were or will be... gone."
"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked.
"Yes." Carol answered softly. Jacqui and Andrea shed a few tears, as I looked down at my feet, in sadness. Jenner looked over at Andrea.
"She lost someone two days ago." Lori told him. "Her sister."
"I lost somebody too, I know how devastating it is." Jenner said to her. "Scan to the second event." He said how the resurrection time differed from just just three minutes to eight hours. "In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute, seven seconds." The screen showed the dark roots of the infection start to light up red, but it was only in a small part of the brain.
"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked, sounding shocked.
"No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving."
"But they're not alive?" Rick asked.
"You tell me."
"No, it's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark." Rick said.
"Dark, lifeless, dead." Jenner sighed.
"The thoughts and memories are gone. The individual isn't there anymore." I said stepping closer.
"Exactly. It's just a shell, driven my mindless instinct." A bright light passed through the brain and left a hole through it.
"God, what was that?" Carol asked.
"He shot his patient in the head, didn't you?" Andrea looked over at Jenner.
"VI, power down the main screen and the work stations." All the computers went black.
"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asked, accusing. Jenner listed all the possibilities. "Somebody must know something? Somebody somewhere."
"There are others right? Other facilities?" Carol asked.
"There may be some. People like me."
"You don't know. How can you not know?" Rick asked.
"Everything went down. Communications everything. I've been in the dark for almost a month."
"So it's not just here. There's nothing left, anywhere." Andrea pointed out the sad fact.
"Man, I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk, again." Daryl said rubbing his eyes. I had yet to see him drunk, and I wasn't sure I wanted to see anyone drunk anymore.
"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 said pointing to a lit up red clock on the wall that said one hour, one second, and continued to count down. "What happens at zero?"
"The basement generators run out of fuel."
"And then?" Rick asked. Jenner refused to answer him. "VI, what happens when the power runs out?"
"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." the computer answered.
Glenn, Rick and T-Dog went down stairs to check on the generators. I did not like what the computer said so I ran to my room and packed my bag up. Daryl ran into the room behind me.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"You were right about Jenner. Somethings wrong and I don't like it." I threw the bag over my shoulder and left the room down the hall with Lucic and Luna right next to me. I went into the computer room and put my stuff down. I sat leaned up against one of the computer desks on the floor with my dogs next to me. Everyone walked in, following Jenner about twenty minuets later. He was going on about how we just hit the thirty minuet mark and zone 5 was shutting down.
"It was the French." he said.
"What?" Andrea asked.
"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people where bolting out the doors, they kept working till the last possible second."
"What happened?" Jacqui asked.
"The same thing that's happening here. Fuel ran out."
"Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!" Rick commanded. A loud alarm sounded and a thirty minuet count down started on the main screen.
"Doc, what's going on here?" Daryl yelled.
"Everybody get your things lets go!" Rick command again. Jenner pushed a few buttons and the steel door slid shut.
"Did you just lock us in?" Glenn asked. "He just locked us in!" Jenner just sat down and started to record himself. Everyone ran over to him, Daryl leading the pack with a killer look in his eye.
"You son of a bitch!" Daryl yelled. "You locked us in here!"
"No, stop!" T-Dog grabbed him before he could reach Jenner. "No, don't do it." Daryl hissed and spit like a wild cat in T-Dogs grasp.
"Jenner. Open that door now." Rick said to him.
"There's no point, everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed."
"Well open the damn things." Dale said.
"That's not something I control, the computers do."
"Shane is locked out there." Rick said.
"So is Lucy." Daryl hissed, still being held down my T-Dog.
"Over here Daryl." I waved my hand behind him, still siting in front of a computer desk, on the floor. He slipped out of T-Dogs arms and ran to me, just as I was starting to stand up. He wrapped his arms around me. My head was against his chest and I could feel his very fast pulse, beating next to my ear.
Jenner said how he had told us that the doors weren't going to open again after they closed upstairs. "It's better this way."
"What is? What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick questioned. Jenner didn't answer so Rick asked again more forcefully.
"Do you know what this place is?! We protect the public from very nasty stuff! Diseases that could wipe out half the county, things you don't want getting out! Ever!" he sat back down in his chair and continued. "In the case of a catastrophic power failure, a terrorist attack, for example, H.I.T.s are deployed to keep any organism from getting out."
"H.I.T.s?" Rick asked.
"They are highly explosive bombs that set the air on fire." Rick hugged Carl and Lori as Carol cried and held Sophia. I held my dogs closer to me as Daryl got up. "No pain."
"Open the damn door!" Daryl howled. T-Dog threw Daryl and ax to hit the door with. He sliced at it, but not even a scratch was left.
"It's so much easier." Jenner said "Out there is a brutal death waiting for you. Your sister, what was her name?"
"Amy." Andrea answered.
"You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that really what you want for your wife and son?" he asked Rick.
"I don't want this." he hissed.
"Those doors are built to with stand a rock launcher." Jenner motioned towards the doors.
"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl was running towards Jenner with the ax.
"Daryl! Daryl!" Rick, Dale and T-Dog had to hold him back again.
"You do want this." Jenner and Rick bickered on about something Rick had said when he was drunk.
"There's hope out there, somebody somewhere." Rick said.
"What part of 'everything is gone' do you not understand?" Andrea barked.
"Listen to her. She gets it. This is what takes us down."
"This isn't right. You can't just keep us here." Carol cried.
"One tiny moment. No pain."
"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this." Everyone was silent.
"I think your lying, about no hope. If that were true, you wouldn't have stayed. Why?" Rick questioned.
"It doesn't matter."
"It always matters, you stayed when everyone else ran. Why?"
"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise, to her, my wife." He pointed at the screen.
"Test subject 19 was your wife." Lori said.
"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?"
"Is this what she would have wanted?" I asked. "To hold us here, when out there is the chance for life, what you and her had been working for? Do you think she'd want this?"
"I should have been on that table, I was no one, she was a loss to the world."
"Would she have wanted death for everyone? All the people that she worked with, you, would she have wanted his for you?" A tear ran down his face. "Do you want Test Subject 19 to have been meaningless? If not, then let us go." I stood up and walked over to him. He looked up at me with shining eyes and sighed.
"I told you topside was closed, I can't open those. He scanned his ID and punched in a few numbers causing the door to slip open again.
"Thank you Jenner." I put my hand on his shoulder. Everyone ran out the doors except Jenner and Andrea.
"You won't be thanking me one day." he went over to Rick and whispered something to him. I grabbed my things and called my dogs who quickly followed me.
"I'm staying." Andrea said sitting down.
"No Andrea!" Dale said turning around. "Just go!" he yelled at us.
In the dining hall, Shane was still cuffed to a chair. "What's going on?"
"The whole damn building is going to explode in five minuets!" T-Dog yelled. Rick uncuffed him and dragged him up the stairs with us. People scattered to grab their stuff as quickly as possible. When we got out to the top part of the building, we couldn't get any of the doors or windows open. They were all locked. Daryl and T-Dog tried to bust them open with the axes, but they wouldn't brake. I scanned around for something to use. Rick ran over with a chair and tried to smash the window, but again, nothing.
"The glass won't brake?" Sophia asked.
"Rick, I have something that might help." she pulled a small, round, mettle ball from her bag. "You're first morning at camp, when I washed your clothes, I found this in the pocket." When I Realized what it was I ran around the corner of the wall and held my dogs collars. It was a little bomb.
"Look out!" Shane shouted. Daryl ran over to me and pressed his body against my own, shielding me. Everyone ducked as the little explosive went off. The glass shattered and we were free. Rick and Shane jumped out first then me. Daryl passed my dogs to me through the window and I helped get the kids out. With only around two minuets left, we hurried as fast as we could. Daryl ran ahead with Rick and Shane to clear some walkers. When the kids were out I helped get bags out through the window. Still no sign of Andrea and Dale yet, and I was starting to worry they weren't coming. I looked over for my dogs they were next to a fresh looking body. "Come here!" I shouted. They wouldn't budge. Jacqui handed me my bag and ran for the cars along with the kids. When everyone was out, I went to grab my stupid dogs.
"What is wrong with you two? Go!" I roughly nudged them with my feet. They still wouldn't move. I could hear a noise that wasn't coming from my dogs. I looked down at the body that they wouldn't leave and saw a large white towel. From under it was coming the noise. I lifted the towel to find a baby, not older then a few days. The body on top must have been it's mother. I quickly grabbed the baby and the towel as Dale and Andrea came from the window.
"Lucy, hurry up!" Jacqui called from the RV.
Andrea and Dale ran beside me along with my dogs. "Get down!" I yelled. We jumped over a sand bag barrier, just in time for the explosion. I held the crying baby right to my chest, shielding it's vulnerable body from the heat. We had to been over a hundred feet away from the explosion, but it felt as if we were in it.
After what seemed like hours, it was safe to get into the RV. The baby quieted down as I pressed it to me and sat down with the dogs in the sheltered vehicle.