Chapter 11: On Your Marks, Set, KABOOM!
Chapter 11: On Your Marks, Get Set, KABOOM
As Ben got up, he couldn't help but think to himself; I am going to kill Daryl. Ben had one of the worst hangovers he had ever had, he had the usual cotton mouth and enough dehydration to want to drink an ocean dry, but his HEAD, it was like a sumo had jumped up and down on his head, singing an awful song, off-key and set off a fireworks display by his ears, x10 and you have his hangover.
I need black coffee, water, aspirin and a shovel to beat Daryl over the head with. He shambled into the dining hall where people looked up and laughed, T-Dog placed some powdered egg in a place for Ben making a remark about protein being good for the hangover, which made Ben want to smack him.
"If anyone raises their voice over a whisper, I will not hesitate to slap you" groaned Ben as he slumped in his seat, out of the people who had participated in "Daryl's Drinking Olympics" the only one who looked worse off was Glenn who was clutching his head as if it might fall off, he groaned every few seconds and the moment water was placed in front of him he grabbed it as if it was a lifeline to salvation, he looked over when Ben waved and saw a pack saying 'aspirin' he damn near threw himself at Ben with his hands outstretched.
"Here you go" said Ben giving him two tablets; he also gave tablets to Rick, Andrea, T-Dog and Shane. Dale didn't participate, neither did Jenner and Ben wanted Daryl to suffer for bringing this on him.
Speak of the Devil, in walked Daryl himself; who looked none the worse for wear which was strange, he drunk more than most of them, him Glenn and Ben were the last men standing at the end of the night.
Thanks to him, my liver must look like Swiss cheese right now...
"Hey numbskull, why aren't you hung-over?" Ben asked
"I made sure to stock up on aspirin before starting" smirked Daryl
"Git" Ben replies
The doctor walks in with many "Hey doc!" And "Morning doctor!" Being called out
After recovery, the doc takes us to the main room where he shows a video clip from an MRI showing 'TS-19'
"Test Subject -19" Ben remarks
"You know your acronyms don't you?" Remarked the doctor
"Nope, I did science at school and college" said Ben
"What type?" Asked the doctor
"Core at school, applied at college" said Ben
"So you know your human biology huh?" Asked the doctor
"Mostly" Ben replies
The doctor begins playback showing us a human head, then moving deeper inside the brain showing strands of light.
"I assume those are our synapses?" Asks Ben
"You do know your biology. That's good; do you want to explain what synapses are?" Asks the doctor
"Alright, synapses are basically; us, our thoughts, emotions, actions, feelings are all governed by these from birth to death, they could be called our personality" says Ben to the group
"A+ explanation" enthuses the doctor "This subject was bitten and volunteered to let us record the process"
The video continues showing the group that the brain shuts down then somehow restarts but only a certain section of the brain, not the part with the synapses just the motor skills. Then the subject is killed by a bullet in the brain.
Then Dale notices a countdown clock.
"What happens at zero?" Asks Dale
The doc remains silent
"Vi, what happens when the timer runs out?" Asks Rick
"At zero, the facility will be decontaminated" replies the computer system
"Oh God" says Ben
"What, what's wrong?" Asked Dale
"In science, decontamination usually means destruction" said Ben
"I still don't see your point" said Shane
"Facility will be decontaminated" Ben persisted "and what does decontamination usually mean in science?"
"Oh my God" said Rick
"Everyone grab your stuff and get the Hell out!" Yells Shane
They all sprint to their rooms and gather their gear, Ben shoves everything into his duffel bag and runs to the lift, most people are there already, and the stragglers bring all of their equipment within the next thirty seconds.
"Dale, how long do we have?!" Asks Rick urgently
Dale glanced at another countdown clock by the lift.
"We have ten minutes" says Dale
Shane hits the door of the lift with his shotgun butt, like that is going to help. The lit makes it down with 9:21 on the clock.
"Is there anything that is non-essential that we don't need to bring"? Asks Rick
"The only things I can think of are Glenn's guitar and my electric piano" replies Ben
"Right, leave them here, if we find another we will bring them back for you, but we need to go NOW!" said Rick
Ben reluctantly drops the piano while Glenn all but hurls his guitar away as they cram into the lift.
They reach the top floor with 3:27 on the clock.
The men try to open the door which refuses to budge; they next try to open the window by breaking and shooting the glass but that still refuses to work. With 1:34 on the clock they are desperate, Carol walks up to Rick.
"I don't think nail clippings are gonna help us Carol." Said Rick.
"No, I found this in your pocket when you got back to our camp." She said, fishing out from her purse an M67 frag grenade. He takes it and yells for them to get into cover, he pulls the pin out, then sprints away.
BOOM!
The glass shatters in a million small fragments like snow, the survivors look up and see the glass has shattered, they all run out and kill any walker that gets in their way as they hurl themselves towards the vehicles.
They all get in their vehicles as a deafening KABOOM shatters the silence, the sound of screeching metal, fire roaring and falling debris fills the air as the building implodes then explodes violently in a fantastic release of energy.
The survivors look up tentatively from their hiding spots and see the building has disappeared and been replaced with a towering inferno, a glorious mix of red and orange gives way to black smoke as the fire dies out.
The survivors immediately start their vehicles and drive out of there like demons fleeing a holy man as they do NOT want to be there when the walkers investigate the ruins of the CDC.