A/N: Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard own The Walking Dead. Not me. I own Alex though. This is my latest story. If you read what I have posted already and are waiting for me to update it. I will as soon as I get the inspiration to write the chapter that needs to written. Have some faith in me please? And as always read and review please. Italics are thoughts. Underlines are flash backs/dreams.
I apologize for only now updating. I have been working a lot to where I have been exhausted, plus I am having some medical issues that I am having to take care of. Thank you for all the support and for sticking with me.
Chapter Eleven: Now They Just Want to Consume Flesh
Alex couldn't help but laugh as she took a bite of the eggs as Rick entered the room as well. "Morning Rick." Alex greeted him as he sat down. Rick looked up and gave a smile to Alex as he sat down next to Lori.
"Morning." Rick replied as he gave Lori a smile as Carl asked if he was hung over, since Lori said he would be. "Mom is right." Rick said with a smile to Carl as he took a sip of coffee.
"Mom has that annoying habit." Lori said as Alex smiled at Carl before going back to eating some of her eggs as Daryl poured her a cup of coffee and placed it in front of her. Rick picked up a bottle of pills and held them.
"Where did these come from?" Rick asked as he watched Daryl press a kiss to Alex's forehead before standing behind her as he ate. Lori explained that Jenner gave it to them as Glenn groaned in pain at his hang over. "Can you help me please?" Rick asked as he held the bottle out to Lori to open up.
"He thought we could use it. Some of us at least." Lori said as Glenn once again mentioned how he was not allowed to drink again.
"Shouldn't have taken Daryl's challenge then Glenn." Alex said as she pushed the plate of food she had away and sipped more of her coffee. Daryl saw how much was left on her plate and frowned.
"Baby, please eat a little more." Daryl whispered to his wife as he leaned down. "I know you don't eat much, but please, eat a few more bites of the eggs or a piece of toast. I'm worried about you." Alex looked up at Daryl and nodded her head before taking the toast and putting a couple pieces of egg on it and folding it in half. "Thank you. I know I'm asking a lot by you doing this, but it makes me feel better knowing that you are getting the nutrients that you need."
"I'm sorry I'm worrying you." Alex said as she looked up at him as she took a bite of the toast. "Just, not used to having so much food around me."
"I know Baby. I know. Not used to it either. Even when I go hunting before this hell happened I didn't get much so it didn't go to waste." Daryl said as he pressed his lips to Alex's temple. "I love you Cheetah."
"Mmm. I love you too Daryl." Alex said with a smile as she closed her eyes, enjoying the attention she was getting from Daryl at the moment.. She then went back to eating her toast as people started to file in more. Shane came in and greeted everyone as he went to get some coffee.
"Man, what happened to your neck?" T-Dog asked Shane as Alex looked up to see three scratches on Shane's neck. Alex looked over at Daryl with a cocked eyebrow before glancing over at Lori to see her looking intently at the food on her plate.
"Don't know. Must have done it in my sleep." Shane said as he rubbed his neck where the scratches were, his eyes on Lori briefly before looking down at his cup of coffee.
"Never seen you do that before." Rick commented as he looked at his friend with a confused look on his face. Rick remembered the times when Shane would stay at his house when they were kids to the times when they would crash at the station when they were working long shifts. Never in those memories did Shane ever scratch himself like he claims to have done last night.
"Me neither." Shane said as Daryl stood up from where he was sitting and pressed his lips to the top of Alex's head. Jenner walked in a few minutes later, greeting everyone as he walked to the coffee machine. Alex stood up and went over to Daryl, who was in the same spot as he was last night.
"How long until Rick figures out that Shane is lying and Lori is hiding something from him?" Alex asked as she stood next to him.
"He knows, just doesn't want to say anything." Daryl said as he stood up, noticing that everyone else was following Jenner out of the room. "Let's go get some answers from this guy." Daryl held his hand out to Alex, pulling her to him and pressing his lips to hers once she put her hand in his. Alex smiled softly into the kiss before they pulled away and followed the rest of the group, entering zone five. Alex frowned as she watched the screen of the things that were happening to the person Jenner called 'Test Subject 19'.
"What are those lights?" Shane asked as they watched millions of lights travel along the inside of the brain, located near the brain stem.
"A person's life. Experiences, memories… Its everything." Jenner replied, looking back at the group for a bit before turning back to face the screen. "Somewhere in all that… organic wiring and ripples of light is you."
"Don't you ever make sense?" Daryl asked the CDC doctor as he held Alex close to him. "You understand this Cheetah?"
"Somewhat… We hadn't started studying the brain in anatomy yet." Alex replied to Daryl as she looked up at him. "The lights are what the brain creates as a way to store what we experience, a happy thought or a sad moment. Impulses in our brains that carry messages, pain to the arm when shot, tears of joy when the one you love proposes to you, tells you when you have an itchy arm." Alex noticed that most of the group had their eyes on her as she talked. "I was studying to become a doctor when the world went to hell."
"She's right though." Jenner said as he looked at the group, his eyes lingering on Alex for a moment more. "They determine everything that a person does, says, or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death."
"Death? So that's what this is? A vigil?" Rick asked as he walked towards Jenner some from where he was at. Jenner confirmed that it was, or a playback of one instead since TS-19 had passed away awhile ago.
"This is too messed up…" Alex muttered as she leaned against Daryl some. Andrea asked who the person who died was, though Jenner was very cryptic on his answer.
"Test subject nineteen. Someone who was bitten and infected. They volunteered to have us record the process." Jenner replied before he told Vi to scan to the first event. They all listened as Jenner explained how whatever caused the walkers invaded the brain like meningitis.
"Oh God…" Alex breathed out as she watched the brain darkened. "The brain is dying… The darkness, as it spreads… more and more of the brain dies…" Daryl frowned at Alex's words and wrapped his arms around her to hold her close.
"The brain goes into shut down, then the major organs." Jenner stated as he looked back at Alex. "Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be… Gone."
"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked her mother innocently. Carol confirmed what everyone was thinking before the room lapsed into silence. Andrea took in a shaky breath, causing Jenner to look at her.
"She lost somebody two days ago. Her sister." Lori explained as Daryl pulled Alex close and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"I won't let this happen to ya…" Daryl whispered to Alex as he held her close, the two of them ignoring what was going on in the room at the moment. "I promise ya… We'll die old together…"
"I know…" Alex said softly as she glanced over her shoulder to see that the brain stem of TS-19 was active again. "It restart's the brain stem?"
"Yes. It basically-" Jenner started to say before Alex cuts him off.
"Gets them up and moving again…" Alex trailed off as she looked at the brain, watching as millions of red lights now shot around the brain stem. "The control of our limbs is in the brain stem… Its why many people who had a broken neck are paralyzed from the neck down and can't move their arms or legs." Alex explained as Daryl ran his hand over his face.
"But they are not alive?" Rick asked Alex, since she seemed to understand what Jenner was trying to explain.
"No… The brain is all dark, dead." Alex said as she directed Rick's attention back to the brain activity of TS-19. "TS-19, is no longer who they used to be alive. Now they want just one thing… to consume flesh."
