A/N: Hey everyone, I am sorry that I haven't updated for awhile. I have been very busy lately, but now I am back with a new chapter. I hope you guys enjoy! ;D

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

Lost Hope: The Beginning

Chapter Eleven

I was so happy to step into the shower and feel the warm water run down my body. It felt so good. I wish I could stay in here forever, but I knew I couldn't because the man said to go easy on the hot water and also others were waiting their turns. I quickly washed my hair and body and stepped out letting the next person have their turn, which was Carl.

I walked over to where the man said the game room was. There was an air hockey table, a fuse ball table, board games, comfy couches, and a TV with movies and video games. I wish I could turn the TV on and watch a movie, but I couldn't because it took up power.

I sat down on one of the couches and then Carl walked in. He was wet from taking a shower but had gotten into more comfortable clothes.

"Whoa, this place is cool." Carl said looking around the room and taking a seat next to me.

"I know! I want to sleep in here on one of these couches; it feels so comfy." I said patting the couch.

Carl laughed. "Me too; I get the other couch."

I laughed to and pulled out some board games. "Hey, do you want to play one of these with me?" I asked him.

"Sure, which one?" he asked

"What about Monopoly?" I suggested.

"Sure." He replied. We both sat down and I set up all the pieces for the game. Then we began to play. "I'm happy we are safe now. We don't have to worry about walkers anymore." Carl said smiling at me. "What about you? Are you happy?"

"Yes, I am happy, but…." I started saying, but then stopped.

"But what…?" Carl asked me.

"I don't know, it kind of seems like one of those things that are too good to be true, you know?"

I rolled the dice and moved my piece over six places.

"I guess it kind of seems like that." Carl said. "But I don't want to think like that. I just want to forget for a night about what's going on outside and go back to the way out lives use to be before."

"I'm sorry for bringing it up." I told him looking down.

"It's alright, but let's just forget about what's going on outside of this place." He told me rolling the dice and moving eight places.

"Deal." I told him smiling.

"You know, there is one good thing that came out of all this." Carl told me smiling.

"What's that?" I asked looking up at him.

"It brought all these good people together." Carl told me. "And it brought you to me."

"Yeah, you're right." I said smiling. "I'm glad that I'm with you guys. You guys are like my big adoptive family now."

We laughed and Sophia and Carol walked in.

"Oh, I love Monopoly! Can my mom and I join in?" Sophia asked sitting down on the ground next to us.

"Sure." I told her smiling. Soon we were all playing and enjoying ourselves. Carl was right; we needed just forget about everything going on for one night and just have fun and enjoy ourselves. Lori walked in and began watching us with a smile on her face. I could tell she was happy to see everyone happy. After we played for an hour Carol told us it was time for bed. Sophia got up and headed off with her mom into a different room. Most of the other adults were all still drinking and getting drunk.

"Mom, would it be okay if we slept on the couches in here?" Carl asked Lori.

"Sure. I will go see if I can find you some blankets." Lori said beginning to look in cabinets and drawers. "Ah, here's some." She handed some to me and some to Carl.

"Thanks." I told her smiling. I laid the blankets on one of the couches and Carl did the same with the other.

"Okay, your father and I will be in the room right across from here if you need anything." Lori told Carl. "You too, Erin. Goodnight, you two, sleep well." She kissed Carl's forehead and walked out of them room, shutting off the light as she left.

"Erin?" I heard Carl say I name.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Do you think that after this is over, that we will still be friends?" Carl asked me.

"Of course." I said. "We've already been through so much together; you guys are all I got now. I don't know what I will do if I was ever separated from you guys."

"Good." Carl said. "Goodnight, Erin."

"Goodnight, Carl." I told him and then I fell asleep.

Then next morning Carl woke me up like he normally does and we walked in to the cafeteria area and sat around the big table to eat breakfast. Some people were already there and getting their breakfast. T-Dog had made eggs, bacon, and hash browns. I got a little bit of each on my plate and poured myself a glass of orange juice. Then Rick walked in.

"Are you hung-over?" Carl asked his dad smirking. "Mom said you would be." Lori looked over at her son with a funny look. I started laughing.

"Mom is right." Rick said taking a seat. I began laughing even harder. Most of the adults around the table looked pretty sick from drinking last night.

"Protein helps the hangovers." T-Dog said putting eggs on Rick's plate while chuckling.

"Don't ever, ever, ever let me drink again." Glenn muttered with his head in his arms.

Then I saw something on the counter near where T-Dog cooked the food and gasped.

"What?" Carl asked me.

I pointed at what I saw. "Fruit." I told him springing out of my chair and piling fruit on my plate.

"Somebody likes fruit." Dale said laughing.

I stopped piling fruit on my plate and look down embarrassed. I walked back to my seat and sat down. "Fruit is good." I mumbled and some people started chuckling. I looked over at Andrea, who still looked really depressed about Amy, and frowned remembering how she died.

"Morning." Jenner said walking into the cafeteria.

"Morning, Doc." Rick replied.

"Doc, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing…" Dale started saying.

"But you will anyway." Jenner mumbled putting food on his plate.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea told him. We all wanted to know more about the disease and what was going on outside. We wanted to know if anyone had gotten close to finding a cure. After breakfast, Jenner led us all into a big room with monitors and a big screen in the front. He opened a file and played it on the big screen. It showed an x-ray video of what looked to be like someone's brain.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked wanting to confirm it.

"An extraordinary one." Jenner answered smiling at him. "Not that it matters in the end." He told him sounding sad. He showed us the process of how people became walkers and what happens to the brain. She told us that when a person becomes infected, the part of our brain that makes us human shuts down and then they come back as something completely different from what they once were. It takes control of the brain and kills them, later waking them up as something else.

"Is that what happened to Jim and Amy?" Sophia asked her mom.

"Yes." Carol said, nodding sadly.

Andrea started crying.

"She lost someone two days ago." Lori told Jenner.

"I know how devastating that can be; I lost someone too." Jenner told Andrea, looking at her with sympathy.

We watched on the screen as the re-awakening started to happen with the test subject. It looked almost as if the brain was restarting, but not quite.

"It's restarting the brain?" Lori asked Jenner.

"No, just the brain stem." He replied. "Basically it gets them up and moving, but…."

"They're not alive." Rick finished.

Jenner gestured towards the screen. "You tell me."

"It's nothing like before. Most of the brain is dark." Rick said.

"Dark, lifeless, dead; the human part doesn't come back; the part that makes you, you." Jenner told us. Then we saw a thing blow through the head of the test subject and it died.

"What was that?" Carol asked.

"He shot his patient in the head." Andrea said. "Didn't you?" Jenner began powering off the screen and the monitors in the room. "You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asked crossing her arms.

There was no one left; no one that could find a cure. Jenner didn't even know what the disease was yet, or what caused it. I felt hope drain out of me of anyone ever finding a cure.

Jenner started listing things it could possibly be.

"The wrath of God?" Jacqui interrupted him.

"There is that." Jenner said.

I started getting uneasy again. I felt kind of like I did right before the walkers had invaded the camp, but not as nervous. I shifted uncomfortably where I stood.

"Somebody must know something." Andrea told them. "Somebody, somewhere."

"There are others, right?" Carol asked. "Other facilities?"

"There could be some people like me." Jenner told her.

"You don't know?" Rick asked. "How can you not know?"

We were stuck in this world with no cure; no hope of helping people once they were infected.

"Everything went down." Jenner told them. "Communications and everything. I've been in the dark for almost a month.

"So it's not just here?" Andrea asked. "There is nothing left anywhere? That's what you are really saying right?"

Jenner stayed quiet and looked at the ground. People looked like they were all losing hope of ever getting back to their regular lives. I looked up and saw a clock; it looked like it was counting down. That made me very uncomfortable so I left the room and sat down on the ground with my legs to my chest outside the hall way. The other people in the room seemed to be getting nervous too and asked about the clock. Jenner said that the generators will run out of fuel and then decontamination will occur. That didn't sound pleasing. Rick ran out of the room and down to the basement where the power generator was. I stayed where I was in that hallway and shut my eyes trying to shut out what was going on.

Carl walked over and sat down beside me.

"I think you were right about the "too good to be true" thing." Carl said shakily.

I leaned my head on his shoulder and said nothing. The lights turned off for a second then came back on.

"I'm going to go get my bag." I said standing up and running back to the game room. Carl followed me and grabbed his stuff.

"Do you really think that we will be leaving?" Carl said like he was reading my thoughts. Then the air conditioning shut off completely.

"The whole place is shutting down." I told him. "Something big is about to go down; I can feel it. I don't want to be around when that clock reaches zero."

"What do you mean?" Carl asked me confused.

"It's like a warning keeps going off in my head; a red flag sort of thing." I told him. "It happened when the zombies invaded the camp and right before everything went wrong."

Then Lori walked in. "What are you two doing?" she asked.

"Mom, what's going on? What is happening to the CDC?" Carl asked.

"I don't know, probably nothing serious though." Lori lied. "Here, come sit down." She sat on the couch and patted for us to come over and sit with her. Carl dropped his stuff and went over and sat by his mom. I hesitated then set my stuff down as well and walked over to where they were sitting. I took a seat next to Carl, but didn't get comfortable. The lights in the room suddenly turned off. I stood up and began pacing back and forth.

Lori and Carl stood up and peaked outside. They saw Jenner walking by and began asking him questions. They followed him out of the room and into the room with all the monitors. I stayed on the outside, not wanting to be anywhere near the clock. I sat down on the ground with my bag of stuff where I did before with my knees to my chest.

The others were getting nervous about the clock too. Jenner explained to them what was going on and that the power was turning off parts of the building that were not essential. I heard him tell Andrea that the French were the last people to hold out and that they stayed in the labs till the end. Apparently they had lost power too.

I tapped my hand nervously on the ground. Rick was beginning to realize what was going on, he told everyone to go get their things, but before they could get out, an alarm started blaring. Jenner turned off the alarm and people started running towards the exit. Then a door lifted up between me and them. They were blocked in.