Phoenix


Chapter 12


One week turned into one month, and one month turned into two with no sign of the Governor or their own people.

Based on information given to the Governor, they were searching any medical facilities they could find. They were sure he had to be somewhere that he could use that information. They continued to search, split into pairs to cover more ground. Several from PRD volunteered to help with the search. They were able to pair one in their group with one from PRD. This allowed them to cover more ground and for that they were grateful. They returned to PRD on a schedule to compare notes and map out the next assignments. If a pair found them, they were not to engage. They were to return to let the others know so they could come up with a plan.


WELL DONE

Hershel, Maggie, Beth and Carl remained separated and had not had contact with each other or any of the other prisoners since they first got there. They were unsure of how long they had been there, or even where "there" was. They were blindfolded when they arrived and were being kept in windowless rooms. They were given minimal food and water, just enough to keep them alive. The Governor's men controlled whether it was light or dark, hot or cold, wet or dry. The sensory deprivation or overload as the case may be was having an effect on all of them.

The Governor's men continued to test on Daryl and the women. Eight out of nine of the women infected had survived to be test subjects. However, they continued to use Daryl as well. He was weak from hunger, dehydration and sedation. They didn't sedate him enough to keep him from feeling pain, only enough to keep him in line.

The Governor approached Dr. Kendall one morning.

"I don't understand what is taking so long," he stated.

Dr. Kendall looked at him. "Governor, it is a long process to test, make changes and retest. There are a lot of factors involved."

"Even so, I believe you should be making more progress," the Governor responded.

"We are working as fast as we can. I will keep you updated. If we find anything, you will be the first to know."

The Governor glanced at Victor who made a small nod of his head indicating that he believed Dr. Kendall was telling the truth.

"Fine. I expect results soon. If you can't handle this, I may have to work on finding someone who can."

Victor had indicated to the Governor that he thought Dr. Kendall was being truthful about how long it was taking, but Victor was beginning to wonder if he was dragging it out because he was enjoying his work so much. Victor certainly knew he was having a good time.

It was a week later when Victor happened to be looking over Dr. Kendall's shoulder as they witnessed something significant. They accomplished their goal. At that point, they advised the Governor of the status of their little project.

They had developed a serum that, when given to the test subjects, disintegrated the capsules within a few hours leaving the person unprotected. Anyone given the serum and then bit, would react as before the capsules generated. They would die and then come back. For those already with bites, when given the serum, once capsules degenerate to a point that the person is susceptible, the virus was allowed to overwhelm the victim as it would have if bit prior to the capsule generation. Once given the serum and the capsules disintegrate and the person is not bit, eventually enough of the capsules would be recreated by the virus to make the person immune again. Then the serum could be re-administered to destroy them again.

The Governor ordered his men to dispose of the test subjects and gather everyone together.

"Welcome to another one of our little assemblies. As you can see looking around, our guest count has dwindled by a great degree. However, those most important are here," he said indicating the four from the prison. "True to my word, I reward excellence. Dr. Kendall and Mr. Hertz have achieved their assigned goal and will now be justly rewarded. Dr. Kendall, you may choose first."

The doctor looked between the three "prizes."

"I select Beth," he stated much to Victor's disappointment.

"A fine choice," the Governor acknowledged with an evil grin. The Governor indicated to Victor to make his selection. He selected Maggie.

The Governor walked up to Carl. "Aw, pity. Maybe next time, yes?"

The women are led out by the men, along with armed escorts.


RECON

T-dog and his partner from PRD, Emily, approached the complex as carefully as they could. They needed to get close enough to do recon, yet not get caught. After watching for full day, they determined that this was the group they were looking for. Even though they had not seen any of the prisoners, they had spotted several men that they recognized from the prison attack so they knew they were in the right place. They needed to get back to PRD.


REWARD

As soon as they returned to Beth's room, Dr. Kendall pressed her up against the wall with his hand over her mouth.

"You need to calm down and quit fighting me. I'm not going to hurt you. If I remove my hand, will you do that?" She nodded in agreement but he still saw the fear and hatred in her eyes.

"My name is Chase Kendall. I am a doctor. I was doing my residency at Emory University. That's where we are, at the medical school. After this all went down, I escaped with a few other people. The Governor found us outside of Atlanta. He killed my entire group, except for me and my daughter Leigh. He has kept her as an incentive to work hard and be loyal to him. I tried to stall creating the serum as long as I could," he said. She looked confused.

"What serum? I don't understand."

"The Governor found out that the virus was encapsulating making it dormant and basically providing immunity against bites. It's why your man Daryl wasn't affected when he got bit. He put Victor and me to work to figure out how to disintegrate the capsules. That way he can control who is immune and who isn't."

"Oh, God," she said wide-eyed. "And you were able to do it?"

"I had no choice. I stalled as long as I could. Victor saw something I was trying to hide and I knew I had no choice but to tell him we had found what he was looking for. When he offered to give us a reward, I chose you to help you. Victor had his eye on you. I couldn't let him have you. He is a very bad person. I'm sorry I couldn't help your sister. At least the boy is safe, for now."

Beth nodded. "Thank you," she whispered.

"It's not over yet. We need to pretend. Do you understand?" She nodded. "We need to make it look good. They're going to want to see it." She nodded again.

"Do what you have to do," she said.

"It goes both ways. Hit, scratch, bite…whatever," he said.

He cringed and backhanded her across her cheek. She lunged at him screaming. They struggled back and forth hitting, kicking, scratching, and making a lot of noise. After a while, they stopped and collapsed. They were both significantly disheveled, bruised and bleeding.

"You ok, doc? Got kind of quiet," said the guard outside the door.

"Shut the hell up and mind your own business!" Chase yelled. The guard heard Beth yelp and start to cry. The guard outside the door grinned lasciviously, adjusting himself as he heard the noises coming from inside the room.

The next morning they were summoned to the gathering area along with everyone else. Chase looked at Beth and told her to act broken.

Once the Governor saw their condition, he smiled. "Well, Doctor, looks like you might have had a fun night. Looks like she put up quite a fight."

"She did," he replied. "But she knows her place now. She probably will need some recovery time. Needs to heal some, if you know what I mean," he said trying to buy some time to keep her safe.

"Yes, I do understand," the Governor said, "however, it really isn't going to be a problem." Dr. Kendall looked at him in confusion.

Beth was unceremoniously pushed toward Hershel who enveloped her in a hug. To Chase's relief, Beth almost collapsed and broke down crying in his arms. 'Good girl,' he thought.

The Governor noticed that Victor had not returned with Maggie. He instructed one of his men to fetch them, thinking Victor was just trying to get in some last-minute fun with his prize.

The man returned with Maggie and the guard. He turned to the Governor.

"I heard them last night. Thought Victor was just having some fun. Sounded like quite a struggle. She apparently had the upper hand. Turns out she killed him," he said to the Governor.

He approached Maggie. "I'm impressed. I knew you'd be a spitfire. I'd love to have some more time to test that theory, but I have a new plan. Time to have some fun," he said sadistically.


CELEBRATION

Hershel, Beth, Maggie, and Carl were tied up in front of the group. The children were brought in escorted by the lone surviving Woodbury woman and grouped off to one side.

Michonne and Daryl were then brought in. Michonne was tied up next to Carl and Daryl was placed on the end. This was the first time the other four had seen Michonne or Daryl since this whole thing began. Michonne had a bandage over one eye and they could see that one side of her face was carved up, yet still was still stoic. Daryl was beaten, bloody, shirtless and his arms were covered in bites at various stages of healing. Even in his state, he was obviously pissed off and fighting against the restraints.

"Welcome, everyone," the Governor said in his grandiose manner, addressing his troops. "It is a time to celebrate our greatest achievement: the ability to determine immunity. Immunity is now a privilege that can be taken away at any time. If the serum to take away immunity is administered and then the person is bit, they will react as they always have: they will change and return. Most interesting, though, is that when administered to someone who has already been bit, the reaction is immediate and the person dies and reanimates without needing a new bite.

"Now, on with our show, so to speak." He unveils a display showing six syringes filled with a clear liquid. "The serum will be given to all of the people on this little stage of mine. As the first five here…the Greenes, the boy, and Michonne…they will lose any immunity they may have. That will make them susceptible to bites. Now, here's where it will get really entertaining. Mr. Dixon down there on the end…well, as you can see, he has already been bit, a number of times. Once he is given the serum, we will be able to see as the virus is reactivated. We will be able to watch him change, although this will be a long, painful process. And, for the pièce de résistance, he will bite the rest of them."

The doctor approached each and injected them. As he injected Beth, he could see the betrayal and hurt in her eyes. Once the five had been injected, he approached Daryl with the sixth syringe. Daryl continue to struggle even as he could feel the needle pierce his skin and the cold fluid flow into his vein. He was grateful Glenn was not there to see what was about to happen.