The Dead are Walking
chapter 14: Explosion
Hey guys, here I am with another chapter. Didn't get many reviews, but that's okay. I really like writing this story. Thank you to those who reviewed...and thanks for the people who are reading.
I finally saw Star Wars Episode I in 3D. It was so cool. I can't believe it took me so long to see it in 3D. Just as good when I first saw the movie when it first came to theaters years ago...yeah i'm a star wars geek.
Pretty long chapter. Over 4,000 words. Longest chapter I've ever written.
Have some big changes coming up. There's one in this chapter and a couple of others over in the next few.
I had the best sleep of my life. I slept like a baby. Andrea told me it took her forever to wake me up. I must of been real tired. I woke up refreshed. We walked to the dining hall to eat some breakfast. Mostly everyone was down there.
"Gooood morning," I said dragging it out. I was in a happy mood.
"You look happy this morning," Rick said.
"Oh I am my darling brother. I had the best sleep of my life."
"Yeah, took a while to get her up," said Andrea. We sat down at the table. Everything was already out. The juice, eggs, bacon, etc. I grabbed a plate and started packing food on there. T-dog came over with some more eggs and bacon.
"Yes," I whispered. I was going to eat this day up. Glenn was moaning and growing from his hangover. It was a pretty funny site to see. I couldn't help but laugh.
"Protein helps the hangover," T-dog said giving him some more eggs.
"Where did all this come from," Rick said holding some pills.
"Jenner. He thought we could use it."
"See, this is why I don't drink so much," I said with a mouthful of food.
"Don't ever, ever, ever let me drink again." Poor Glenn. By now everyone was in here. Sophia sat in between me and Carl.
"Hi Sophia. Did you like the shower."
"Yeah, I did," she said shaking her head. "It was fun. But I really want to go swimming." I gave a little chuckle.
"You're not the only one."
"Hey," said Shane walking in. The last one to join the party.
"Hey," Rick said back. Shane went straight for the coffee. "Fell as bad as I do?"
"Worse." I titled my head to the side. Shane seemed a little..distracted. Seemed like he wasn't really here with us. I looked over at Lori. She was staring down at her plate, hard. I narrowed my eyes at her remembering hearing what she said about still having feelings for Shane.
"What the hell happened to you," T-dog asked Shane. "Your neck?"
"Must of done it in my sleep." Shane sat across from me. He looked at me for a brief second.
"Never seen you do that before," said Rick. Because he probably didn't. Someone else did.
"Me neither," he replied looking at the table. "Not like me at all." He looked up, but looked at Lori. Lori looked away and continued to eat. I looked at my plate in thought. Lori had to have done it. Who else. Shane didn't have any scratches the last time I had seen him. Lori would be the only possible person to have done. I mean the woman was acting strange. She was fine till Shane walked in the room.
"Morning," said Jenner walking into the room.
"Hey, doc."
"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing-"
"But you will anyway." Jeez, the man hasn't even eaten yet and Dale was already wanting to ask a question.
"We didn't come here for the eggs," said Andrea. Jenner fixed himself a coffee.
"Follow me," he said walking in the direction of the big room. Man, I wanted to finish eating, but I didn't want to miss anything. I got up and put some bacon in a napkin. About all the bacon that everyone left behind. What can I say, I love bacon.
"Give me playback of Ts-19."
"Playback of Ts-19." The computer brought up different stuff up on the screen.
"Few people ever got a chance to see this." There were different images on the screen of a person you could say. Shane stood next to me, coffee in hand. I gave him a small smile as I chewed on my bacon.
"Is that a brain," asked Carl.
"An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for E.I.V." The screen shifted to just a video of the person with the extraordinary brain. It zoomed in all the way to all the nerves and things inside the brain.
"What are those lights," asked Shane.
"It's a person's life. Experiences, memories, it's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, is you. The thing that makes you unique and human."
"You don't make sense, ever," said Daryl. I rolled me eyes and gave a light smile. "Those are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages." I remember having to study this in Psychology class.
(A/N I really did have to learn all about the brain and how it works in that class. It hurt my brain trying to remember all that stuff.)
"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?"
"Yes. Or rather the playback of a vigil."
"This person died," asked Andrea. "Who?"
"Test subject 19. Someone who was...bitten and infected, and volunteered to have us record the process." A chill went up my spine. It had never really hit me what has really happened over the past month. Even when our camp was ambushed by the...zombies. I'm sorry, but I have to call them that. Cause that's just what they are.
"Vi, scan forward to the first event." The screen changed again, but this time, there was a dank part where the spinal cord started. It looked real nasty.
"What is that," asked Glenn.
"It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands, hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown." The person on the screen looked like they were in real pain. All of a sudden, the brain went dark. Like the life just disappeared. Maybe because it did.
"Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be...gone."
"Is that what happened to Jim," asked Sophia. I gave out a short sigh.
"Yes," said Carol. Andrea looked like she was about to break down. I felt so sorry for her. I really did not want to feel what Andrea was feeling at the moment. Jenner looked at her with worry.
"She lost someone two days ago. Her sister," Lori said
"I lost someone too," said Jenner. I wonder who. "Scan to the second event. The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours." I sat down in a chair. As much as this was sad, I just wanted this brief history lesson to be over. Would it seem bad if I walked out? Hmmmm, better just stay put.
"In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minuet, seven seconds." We watched as this purplish, pink light started to show up in the brain. It was weird watching someone come back to life.
"It restarts the brain," asked Lori.
"No, just the brain stem. Basically it gets them up and moving."
"But they're not alive."
"You tell me," Jenner said looking back at Rick.
"It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark."
"Dark. Lifeless. Dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex- the human part, that doesn't come back. The you part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct." I bit my lip as I watched the patient move about. Probably saw something it wanted to eat. There was a light and there appeared a long tare. Like a tunnel. The body went limp.
"God. What was that," asked Carol.
"You shot it in the head," I exclaimed. I wasn't gonna lie. It looked pretty cool watching it on the screen. It was different looking at it this way then seeing it in real life. Almost like a video game. Wow.
"Don't get too excited," whispered Shane. I just hit him in the stomach playfully.
"Vi, power down the main screen and the work stations." Almost everything went dark, except for the ceiling lights.
"You have no idea what it is, do you?"
"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal."
"Or the wrath of God," Said Jacqui. I like that answer. I'd be pretty pissed with the people down here too.
"There is that," said Jenner.
"Somebody must know something," exclaimed Andrea. "Somebody somewhere."
"There are others, right? Other facilities?" Jenner looked tired and annoyed. As would I
"There might be some. People like me."
"But you don't know? How can you not know?"
"Everything went down. Communications, directives-all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month."
"So, it's not just here," asked Andrea. "There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?" Jenner didn't say anything, just looked around. Well, i'm not surprised with the way things turned out.
"Man, i'm gonna get shit-faced drunk, again," said Daryl. Well, I hope my brother has another brilliant plan inside that big head of his. I sighed and sunk down in my chair.
"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. What happens at zero?" I face-palmed my face silently. Wouldn't it just be simpler to ask why the clock is counting down? Not ask why, in a paragraph.
"The basement generators...they run out of fuel," said Jenner like it was no big deal.
"Then what," I asked curiously. Jenner just waked away. Thanks for answering.
"Vi, what happens when the power goes out," Rick asked.
"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur."
"Well, that doesn't sound good," I said.
"We, need to get to the basement, Now," Rick said. I waited with the rest of the girls, while the men, except Dale, went to the basement to see what they could do. We just went back to our rooms as we waited for news. What does decontamination mean? Will we be sprayed down? Will the whole place just shut down and lock up. Or will we...blow up? I would hope not.
Twelve minutes had gone by and nothing had happened. Well except for the air going off. I could just feel it getting hot in here already. I started putting all of my things in my bag in a hurry.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like, Andrea. I'm getting out of here."
"Wha..why?"
"Because something bad is gonna happen, and I will not be here when it happens. You either come or you sit here and mope and feel sorry for yourself." Andrea looked down at the ground.
"Look Andrea, I'm sorry. I really am. Amy is gone and you're just gonna have to accept that. I'm not saying forget about it, just accept it. I hardly think she would just want you to give up. You're alive and should be grateful for that. Live for Amy, please."
"Okay," she said after a couple of seconds. "Okay."
"I'm gonna go find Jenner. I'll be back." I walked out of the room in search for him. Where the hell would he be at. Maybe in an office? Hmmm. I went to the big room in case he would be there, but he wasn't. I looked up and saw him through the glass. He was sitting down I guess what would be his office. I hurried and made my way there
I gave a light knock as I entered. Sure enough, there he was holding a picture frame and staring at it deeply.
"Umm, hey Jenner." He put the picture down and stood up. I walked over to his desk not sure what to say.
"Can I help you," he asked. I looked down at his desk and pointed. "Is this the person you lost?"
"um, yeah..it was when this whole thing started."
"Sorry. She's really pretty. Hey, look. I need you to open those doors and let us go. Or whoever wants to go. I don't mean to be pushy, but I'd like to go, now." He didn't say anything, just turned around and looked out the big glass window.
"We always think there's gonna be more time," he said.
"Huh?" The lights started to power down.
"Then it runs out."
"Well, that is life," I said giving a nervous laugh. "So about leaving.." He turned around and put on his lab coat.
"Follow me," he said walking out.
"Why is the air off," asked Lori.
"and the lights in our room?" Everyone came out of there rooms to see what was happening.
"What's going on," asked Daryl popping out. "Why is everything turned off?" Jenner took his bottle of wine.
"Energy use is being prioritized."
"Air isn't a priority? And lights?"
"Andrea get our stuff," I said walking in the room. She grabbed her bag and mine and handed it to me.
"It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down." We all followed Jenner out to the big room.
"Hey, what the hell does that mean?" Jenner just ignored Daryl. "Hey, man, i'm talking to you. What do you mean it's shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?"
"You'd be surprised."
"Rick," Lori called out for him. He and the rest of the guys came running out.
"Jenner, what's happening?"
"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half hour mark." Everything started to turn off, and I mean everything. "right on schedule."
Jenner stopped before going over to the computers. He took another drink and handed the bottle back to him.
"It was the French."
"What?"
"they were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the door, they stayed in the labs till the end."
"Till the end," I asked more to myself.
"They thought they were close to a solution?"
"What happened?"
"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?" Pretty stupid if this place is shutting down now.
"Let me tell you som..." Shane said going up to Jenner, but was interrupted by Rick.
"To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care Lori, grab our things. Everybody get your stuff. We're getting out of here NOW!" This is why I told Andrea to pack up. I knew we should of gotten out of here. An alarm started to go off. Everyone was looking around in a panic.
"Thirty minutes till decontamination," said Vi. A timer popped up on the screen.
"Oh God," I said. It felt like we were in a movie. We're gonna die.
"Doc, what's going on here?" Jenner went to the computers and started pushing all these different buttons.
"Everybody, you heard Rick," Yelled Shane. "Get your stuff and lets go! Go now!" Before they could go anywhere, the entrances were being blocked off.
"Did you just lock us in," asked Glenn. "He just locked us in!"
"Oh, joy. We are going to die." I sat down on the ground going through my life. The things I did or didn't do. Things i'll never get to see or experience. The things I did get to experience.
I watched as Daryl tried to bash Jenner's brain in. In any other time, it would be amusing, but seeing as I'm here in this situation, it's not at all funny.
"Hey, Jenner, open that door." I got up and slung my book bag over my shoulders. I was going to get out of here. No matter what.
"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed."
"Well, open the damn things."
"That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you. Once that front door closed, it wouldn't happen again. You heard me say that."
"Well you could of been more specific," I shouted at him. "We could of left a long time ago!"
"It's better this way," said Jenner.
"What is? What happens in 28 minutes?" Jenner went back to the computer. Shane gave me a look I didn't understand and banged the desk.
"What happens in 28 minutes!"
"You know what this place is? We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weponized smallpox. Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country. Stuff you don't want getting out, ever!" He sat back down and sighed.
"In the event of a catastrophic power failure... in a terrorist attack, for example- H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent organisms from getting out."
"H.?"
"Vi, define."
"H.I.T.s- high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear." I felt my heart drop.
"We're going to blow up," I asked myself. Is this really how i'm going to die? In an explosion? I was going to explode in less than 23 minutes. I looked up and saw Shane looking at me like he wanted to say something. Well if he did, what would it be? Now I just have to know.
"It sets the air on fire," I heard Jenner say. "No pain. An end to sorrow and grief...regret. Everything."
"Sorry, I know you feel sorry for yourself and all, but this is not how I want to die," I said crossing my arms. "You can sit here all you want, but I, we need to get out, now. I love these people right here," I said pointing to Rick, Carl, Shane, and even Lori. I'd be damned if this is the last time I get to see them." I turned and looked away huffing. He was lucky I wasn't a violent person. I would of already put a bullet in his head right about now.
Daryl ran to one of the doors and threw the bottle of wine at it. "Open the damn door!"
"Out of my way," I heard Shane yell. I looked back and saw him hitting the door with an ax. Daryl was thrown one and he started chopping away at it too. The kids looked scared out of their mind.
"You should of left well enough alone. It would've been so much easier."
"Easier for who?"
"All of you. You know what's out there..." I sighed and stood by Andrea where she sat. I didn't want to hear any of what he was saying. He was being a real nut job. I don't care what's out there. I want to live for as long as I possibly can.
"Can't make a dent," Shane said coming over.
"those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher."
"Well, your head aint," Daryl said coming and swinging the ax.
"Daryl! Oh my god!"
"Back up. Just back up."
"You do want this," said Jenner. "Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."
"Rick," I shouted. "what the hell?"
"What? You really said that," asked Shane. "After all your big talk."
"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I."
"There is no hope. There never was."
"There's always hope. Maybe it wont be you. Maybe not here, but somebody somewhere-"
"what part of "Everything is gone" don't you get," Andrea said.
"No, no,no. Don't try and drag us into your sad pitty party," I said getting frustrated. "Didn't I just have a conversation with you about living for Amy?"
"Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event." What the hell? I felt tears come up behind my eyes. I was not about to let them go. I was not going to cry and feel sorry. even if this was the last time I would set eyes on the faces I loved and had come to like.
This was giving me a headache. Either he was going to open the doors or not.
"This isn't right," Carol cried out. "You can't just keep us here."
"One tiny moment-a millisecond. No pain."
"My daughter doesn't deseve to die like thie," yelled Carol with a fresh load of tears.
"Oh god," I said turning around into Shane's arms. He held me tight as I fought back the tears.
"Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?"
"No! you asshole," I said trying to keep calm. Shane gave me a tighter squeeze before he let go. He grabbed a gun and cocked it.
"Shane, no!"
"Out of the way, Rick! Stay out of my way! Open that door. Or i'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?" Shane was pointing the gun right at his head ready to shoot. My eyes went wide. Not with fear, but with surprise. Rick tried to calm him down and to get him to back down.
"Shane you listen to him," said Lori.
"He dies...we all die." Shane let out a big, long yell.
"Shane!" He shot at the computers. I got behind a desk. Rick got the gun away from Shane and hit him with it. Shane fell to the ground.
"Rick," I yelled at him.
"Are you done now? Are you done?"
"Yeah, I guess we all are." Rick gave T-dog the gun and I ran over to Shane to help him up. He was just letting out his anger... in a very dangerous way. I sighed and held onto Shane's arm. Nobody said anything for a couple of seconds.
"I think you're lying."
"what?"
"You're lying about no hope. If that were true, you'd bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You chose the hard path. Why?"
"It doesn't matter."
"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when the others ran. Why?"
"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise... to her. My wife."
"Test subject 19 was your wife?"
"she begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no. She was dying." Daryl went back to trying to get the door open. I should of been on that table. I wouldn't of made a difference. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just...Edwin Jenner. She could of done something about this. Not me."
"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. that's...that's all we want. A choice, a chance."
"Let us keep trying as long as we can." Jenner sighed.
"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." Jenner went over to a pad thing and scanned his badge and pressed some buttons. The doors came open. My spirits lifted higher.
"Come on!" Everyone ran to get there stuff. See, that's why I was prepared. Lori Handed me Carl as she went back to get their things.
"Come on Carl." I held onto his hand as I waited for them to hurry.
"Come on. We got four minutes lets go!"
"I"m staying," I heard Jacqui shout. I halted.
"What," I said.
"I"m staying sweetie."
"What, no come on."
"that's insane."
"No, it's completely sane. For the first time in a long time, i'm not ending up like Jim or Amy. There's no time to argue and no point, not if you want to get out."
"Jacqui..."
"Get out! Just get out!"
"Blair, come on lets go," Shane said grabbing my arm. "Blair." I turned and walked with Shane holding onto Carl's hand. I pushed Carl forward to go with his mom.
"I'm staying too," I heard Andrea say.
"Andrea, no," said Dale.
"Andrea. Andrea," I said trying to walk back to drag her out if I need to.
"Just go," yelled Dale. Shane grabbed my arm and pulled me to the front entrance.
"Andrea," I yelled.
"Come on, just walk," whispered Shane. We raced up the stairs as fast as we could. I couldn't believe we were leaving behind two people. Three, if Dale stayed behind. My heart felt heavy.
"Get them doors open!" They tried just about everything to break the glass, but of course nothing was working.
"The glass wont break," exclaimed Sophia.
"Rick, I have something that might help," Carole said digging through her bag. She pulled out a grenade. "When I washed your uniform, I found this in your pocket." I wasted no time in finding cover.
"Look out!" Rick came running like a mad man.
"Rick,"I yelled as he tumbled down. A glass window blew open. I would celebrate later, but right now I was getting my ass up out of here. There were a bunch of walkers roaming around. Great. I pulled out my hand gun ready to shoot. I didn't have tie to think of the smell that was hitting my nose. We had to get to the cars and fast.
I ran to Shane's car as fast as I could without tripping over the dead bodies. As I looked back I saw Andrea and Dale come out. Well thank God for that, but there was no Jacqui. Damn it. I sunk down in the seat. I heard a horn being blown, which was probably rick.
"Get down," I heard Lori yell. Shane covered me a second right before the blast happened. It was loud and it was mean. I could feel the heat coming from it. I couldn't even think. My mind was blank. I sat up as I felt Shane rise up off me.
"Gone," I whispered and looked at Shane. His eyes were wide and looked like he was trying to figure out what happened.
"You okay," I asked. He nodded.
I watched Dale and Andrea run to the RV. There was a figure on the sidewalk that was moving. When it got up, my eyes almost popped out of my head. Jenner?
Dun, dun, dun. What is Jenner doing on the sidewalk? We'll just have to see. I wont be updating for awhile. That's why this chapter is really long and because I have to get episodes of second season and then I have to figure out what I want to do. So I will see you guys again soon...maybe in a week and a half or two.