The Walking Dead: A New Day Gone Bye

Chapter 28 –Countdown To Hell

When Jenner said that they had to take an elevator to the lower levels, everybody knew it would be torturable. They had to squeeze to fit in, and they barely did. Plus it was quite uncomfortable, as they always felt somebody breathing on their neck or pushing them.

"I have to say. Your group is remarkably big." Edwin observed with a surprised tone.

"That's sort of our running gag now." Lee replied with a brief chuckle, that faded away. "There were more of us though."

Edwin didn't say anything else, lowering his head in comprehension. Daryl leaned against the wall of the lift and noticed with a frown the assault rifle the doctor had on his back.

"Doctors always go packin' heat like that?" Daryl enquired.

Edwin turned around as best as he could and glanced at him. "There were plenty left around. I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough."

Edwin bent over a little and looked at Carl with a smile. "Except you. I'm gonna have to keep my eye on you."

Rick bore a serious expression and scratched the back of his head. If only Jenner knew what had happened with Carl a few days back. Carl just stared at the ground in a depressive demeanor.


Edwin led the entire group down a hallway. The passage was symmetrical to a perfect level, having an equal amount of doors and lamps on both sides at the same position. Their footsteps echoed through the facility. Edwin just looked forward and avoided eye-contact with the rest of them.

"Are we underground?" Carol asked.

"Yeah." Edwin said. "Why? You claustrophobic?"

"A little." Carol confessed.

"Try not to think about it." Edwin conveyed the first thing he could think off.

They entered another room. This vast space was round, and curved rows of computers and terminals occupied it. "Vi, bring the lights on the big room."

The lights switched on as if in by magic, illuminating the room. "Welcome to zone 5." Edwin welcomed with little enthusiasm.

Rick gawked around the room with a twisted frown. The room was quite emptier than he had expected it to be. Apart from them, there wasn't a single shred of life visible. "Where is everybody? Y'know, the doctors, the staff."

Edwin stopped in the middle of the room. He returned Rick's gaze, and after a long silence, he said. "I'm it." Rick was petrified and didn't budge a brow as he heard those words. "It's just me here."

"What about the person you were talking to?" Lilly quizzed, folding her arms and keeping a straight posture. "Vi?"

"Vi?" Edwin shouted, looking at the ceiling. "Vi. Say hello to our guests. Say…'Welcome'."

"Hello guests. Welcome." The voice resounded through the hidden speakers. Dale looked around in surprise, not used to such fancy technologies.

"I'm all that's left." Edwin disclosed with his eyes locked on the sheriff. Rick lowered his head with a stiff neck, before passing his hand through his rough face.

"I'm sorry." Edwin added. He spun around and continued marching through the room. "Now, what about that blood test?"


"Look, is this really necessary?" Lee asked Jenner. Clementine was beside him, sitting in the chair in front of the table that hauled samples of everyone's blood. The others had all passed the test and now sat in the stairs of the paltry room. "She doesn't like needles."

Clementine had sweaty palms and her facial expressions changed and twitched. Edwin prepared the syringe. "I've already broken every rule in the book by letting you in here. I just wanna be sure. Look, Clementine, it's not gonna hurt a lot. Promise."

Clementine looked at Lee with puppy eyes. "Do I have to?"

Lee sighed, not knowing what else to do. "Yes. We do if we want to stay. But you're a tough cookie, Clem. It's just a little sting."

Clementine finally drew a breath, closed her eyes and turned her head away. "Okay."

Edwin punctured her arm with the needle in a precise and professional manner. "Ow!" Clementine cried.

Lee gulped as he saw the syringe's transparent contained being filled with blood. After a finger-worth of blood was extracted, Edwin took away the syringe and wiped the small stain of blood sprinkling on her arm, before applying a Band-Aid. "See? All done."

"It wasn't so bad, was it?" Lee inquired with a smirk.

Clementine twisted her mouth and covered her arm with her hand. "It didn't hurt too much, actually."

"That's my girl." Lee said, followed by a giggle.

Clem hopped out of the chair and he directed her towards the rest of the group. She sat on the stairs beside Carley. Lee sat in the chair next, and the doctor did the same drill.

Lee rolled up his sleeve. Edwin sterilized and cleaned the needle, before making another incision near the articulation between the arm and the forearm and sucking out a few drops of blood.

"Okay, I'm all done here." Edwin stated as he finished his work. Lee pulled his sleeve back down whilst Edwin stored all of the samples inside a metal case.

Lee was about to stand up, when his vision became blurry. He blinked twice to cleanse his vision, but the blurs insisted. He looked down and was dazzled to see double Jenners. His body felt lighter, softer and his stomach area began aching. It was like he was both tipsy and sluggish. He placed a wobbling hand on the table and forced himself up, but his arm gave in and he fell back on the chair that rattled, causing most of the group to jump in a startle.

"Are you okay, Lee?" Edwin asked with a confused expression.

"It's just…I haven't eaten in days." Lee informed. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples to calm himself. "None of us have."

Edwin looked at the ground in a thoughtful manner. "Lee, Daryl, Rick, come with me. I have something to show you. The rest, go to the big room and we'll meet you there soon."

The doctor took off his coat and folded it on the table, before the three called men exchanged looks.

"What for?" Daryl asked.

"You guys said you're hungry. I still have a stock of food in the back." Edwin claimed.


Lee, Daryl and Rick marched behind Jenner, as he led them into another hallway. They didn't have a reason to distrust him, but they still kept wary. In the past, they never had any chance with strangers. The St. Johns, the bandits…and they couldn't lose everything now. They couldn't lose someone else.

They stopped dead in their tracks once they saw that the corridor around the corner was immersed in darkness.

"Why are the lights out here?" Rick asked.

"I shut the power on most areas to conserve power." Edwin explained while fishing a flashlight out of his pocket. He switched the device on and casted the light towards the obscure passage. They continued through the now lit hall, towards a door at the end.

Edwin revolved the knob of the door and let it swing on its hinges. Once he directed the flashlight inside the room, Lee saw mountains of crates and boxes stacked on one another, filling the room, all of them labeled and organized.

They entered the room, one by one. "This is the storage."

"Is there food in here?" Rick asked. He clutched his belly once his guts growled loudly. "Sorry."

"It's okay. And yes, there are a few emergency rations in here. They were placed here for worst case scenarios. And it's enough for all of us." Edwin elaborated.

Daryl spotted a dolly on the corner of the room. He placed himself behind it and arched it with his knee to make it roll on its wheels. "Alright, let's get loadin'."

Daryl already had a box in his hands, but Edwin stopped him. "Stop! Not all of the boxes in here have food. Those have medicine."

Daryl looked back at the crate and put it back where it belonged. Edwin beamed the light towards a pile of three boxes in front of him. "These are the ones with the food and drinks."

Rick, Lee and Edwin all picked a box each one, and stacked them on the dolly. Daryl gripped the dolly's handles and then conducted it out of the room, whilst Edwin closed the door and illuminated the dark path ahead of them.


"Allen, look, stay with the group." Jacqui told Allen, who was surrounded by Ben and Billy. They were chatting in a reserved space, away from the group who waited and paced back and forth.

"I…I can't…y…I can't…" Allen stuttered with watery eyes.

"Allen, just know that I've been where you are." Jacqui asserted, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I thought isolating myself was the best thing to do. I truly did. But…"

"Jacqui, I just…can't…focus right now." Allen insisted. "I…have to be alone."

"I know you're suffering. I don't want to pull you out of your grieving." Jacqui said. "Grief is a part of life. How you get past it is the most important aspect. Socializing with the group, sticking close…it'll distract you, help you heal…eat with the group, Allen…please."

Allen looked at Jacqui for a few seconds, but eventually faced away. "Kids, c'mon."

"They need to eat too." Jacqui remarked.

"I'll get something for them." Allen maintained, departing into an adjacent room.

"Do you even know where the rooms are?" Jacqui enquired, which caused Allen to halt. "At least wait for Jenner to get here. He'll show you the way."


Daryl and the others drove the dolly back to the big room. Once the group laid eyes on the promised food, they worked with velocity, fueled by the hunger. They dragged a table to the big room and looted the break room, which contained plates, forks and knives and chairs that were now scattered around the table. Jacqui told Edwin that Allen didn't wish to participate in the communal dinner, so he showed him the way to the quarters and then returned.

The ambience was jovial for once. Most of them had one too many glasses of wine, but they were joyous, laughing. It was a fantastic pause from all the shit going on outside. It was goddamned awesome.

Dale was standing up, giving Lori a refill on her glass. "Y'know, in Italy, kids have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France."

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then." Lori replicated in a half-serious, half-frisky tone, despite causing a row of chuckles across the table.

"What's it gonna hurt? C'mon." Rick insisted, with a smile that went from ear to ear. "C'mon."

"Yeah, Lori! Let the tyke have a drink!" Larry spat across the table. Larry's arms moved in the air in slow motion and his words were slurred. Lee laughed hysterically and buried his head in the table due to Larry's inebriated figure. "Y'know, back in my day, we gave kids wine for breakfast!"

Lilly gave herself a face-palm and blushed in embarrassment. Lee detected something weird about her tonight. She was very uptight and refused to relax or drink wine. She didn't participate in the group's conversation and she kept to herself.

Lori smirked. Her arms flew in the air as she gave in in defeat. T-dog grinned and raised his glass, before having another sip. Dale poured a few drops onto Carl's glass. Rick felt a tingling sensation of joy to see that his son was smiling for once.

"There you are, young lad." Dale said, giving the cup to Carl. "What about Kenny Jr. and Clementine?"

Katjaa and Kenny both grinned. "My boy isn't gonna turn into a drunkard like his father." Kenny said.

Lee wouldn't consent if he was clear-headed, but the alcohol running through his veins was about to make him say yes. What would the worst thing that could happen? He opened his mouth, but stopped once his reasonable side came to him. He remembered, like in a thunderbolt, that Clementine wasn't his daughter. He recalled that he was trying to find her parents. And that giving Clem wine probably wasn't the best choice.

"I don't think Clem's gonna want alcohol." Lee said, motioning his hand in a denying gesture.

"Yeah. I don't want any, thanks." Clementine said with a wise manner.

Seeing that the other kids weren't drinking, Carl inspected the liquid with close detail. An absolute silence had tumbled upon everyone, awaiting to see his reaction. Carl hesitated for a bit, seeing all of those sets of eyes laid on him, before he brought the cup to his lips and allowed just a bead to fall onto his mouth, just to taste it. He then took a larger sip, and he posited the glass on the table with a thud, swallowing the wine.

"It's good." Carl finally announced, nodding in approval. "Could've been sweeter, though."

The group broke into laughter. If they weren't inside the thick walls of the scientific building, all of the walkers in Atlanta would've heard them.

"This is not the boy I raised!" Lori joked followed by a cackle, slapping her own face with both hands.

"Can I drink the rest?" Carl inquired.

They laughed a bit more, but Rick picked his glass up and poured the remnants of his drink onto his glass. "That's enough for you young boy." Rick quipped. "Maybe when you're twenty-one, then we'll talk."

Glenn was about to have his very first wine sip, but Daryl stopped him. "Not you, Glenn!"

"Why?" Glenn quizzed, looking up at Daryl.

"Keep drinking, little man!" Daryl encouraged with a taunting expression and a snicker, as he filled his cup to the border. "I wanna see how red your face can get!"

Doug was eating his dinner with no interruptions, his glass empty. "What about you, dough-boy? Why you ain't drinkin'?" Daryl questioned.

"I don't consume alcohol." Doug said with some insecurity.

"Too strong for you?" Daryl snorted.

"No, just sour." Doug explained.

Rick dodged his gaze away and spotted Edwin sitting at the end of the table. He was cold sober, chewing on a nail as he stared into nothingness and meditated with the concentration of a monk.

Rick grabbed his fork and banged it against his glass thrice, silencing the crowd with the tinkling sound. He stood up before clearing his throat. "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly."

"He is more than our host." T-Dog stated, reclining in his chair with drowsy eyes.

"Hear hear!" Dale cheered, elevating his glass. Everybody else repeated his words except for Lilly, raising their glasses.

"Here's to you, doc. Booyah!" Daryl shouted, waving in the air a bottle of booze.

"Booyah!" The mob repeated after Daryl.

"Thank you." Rick thanked, but in a deliberate tone.

"You're welcome." Edwin said in a drowned voice, almost a mutter, before sipping from his glass.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" Lilly asked, loud so that he would hear. The deadpan question extinguished the good humor and left nothing but an oppressing silence. "All the other doctors, the ones who were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"

"We're celebrating, Lilly." Kenny reprimanded with a hiss between teeth. "Not the time."

"We didn't come here to celebrate, Kenny." Lilly riposted calmly. "We came here for answers. So, what is it?"

"Well…" Edwin began. "In the beginning, when things got bad, a lot of people just…left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted. Many couldn't face walking out the door. They…opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That…was a bad time."

"You didn't leave. Why?" Lilly interrogated.

"I just kept working." Edwin continued. "Hoping to do some good."

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, Lilly." Glenn said, sitting down.


Since a lot of them were drunk or not in the best of conditions, they had left their dishes in the table, and Edwin was giving them the tour of the residential quarters.

"Most of the facility is powered down, including housing, so you'll have to make do here." Edwin elucidated. "The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall down you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. Same applies, if you shower, go easy on the hot water."

Glenn looked back at the group with a simper. "Hot water?"

T-Dog chuckled. "That's what the man said!"


Lee sat in the couch of the rec room. His clothes had been replaced by a robe that felt light he laid in a bed of feathers. In the corner, Carl, Sophia, Clementine, Billy and Ben played a game of monopoly. Lee was glad to see them distracted, having fun.

Lee sprawled on the couch. That shower had left him in a sleepy, meditative state and he could close his eyes and never wake up ever again. So many things running through his mind…

Carley came along and sat next to Lee. She too was wrapped in a robe, and she sighed in relief as she stretched out. "That bath really did the trick."

Lee chuckled, recalling a chat the two had a few days back. "I thought you dreamed of a bathtub on top of a high-luxury apartment with a heated floor."

"Hey, this isn't a five-star hotel, but it's the best you can get." She said. Her voice was deep and suave. "You okay, Lee? You seem a bit off this world."

"I'm thinking about a lot of things." Lee admitted.

Carley bowed a little to be at the same angle was Lee, who leaned on his knees. "What about?"

"About what Edwin said." Lee acknowledged.

"It wasn't the most hopeful of speeches, I'll tell you that." Carley said.

"It's just…I just can't believe it. We came all this way, saw so much shit…I really expected this time for everything to go alright." Lee confessed with a hint of profound sadness.

"Not everything went bad." Carley declared. "Have you seen this place? We're safe in here."

"We're safe, but we're not gonna be able to stay here forever." Lee disclosed, now facing Carley in the eyes. "Edwin showed me the storage. All of the food he has, we ate almost everything today. And the electricity? It probably won't last long either with all of us."

Carley lowered her head. "We'll find someplace safe if the time comes for us to bolt. We're gonna be okay. I assure you."

Carley set her hand on Lee's back. The tender touch of her hand warmed his heart like water boiling in a fire. He exhaled a breath, and felt all of his worries and dread being flushed out of his system.

"Yeah. Thanks Carley." Lee mumbled.


Rick chugged another mouthful from his liquor bottle as he stumbled into the big room. His eyes were half-closed and he struggled to keep them open. Despite having a poor depth perception at that point, he could see Edwin sitting alone in front of a computer, tapping keys rapidly.

"How's the blood?" Rick queried, approaching the man.

Edwin gave the keyboard a final tap, before swiveling around in his chair and facing Rick. "No surprises."

Rick sniffled and staggered around Edwin. "I came to thank you."

"You did." Edwin flatly said.

Rick seemed to trip over his own feet and he collided against a row of terminals, butting his back against them and sliding down until he was in a sitting position.

"You all…you alright?" Edwin asked.

"You don't know what it's like." Rick stated in a firm tone. His icy, blue eyes were fixed on Edwin. "You don't know what it's like out there. You may think you do, but you don't. We'd have died out there. It was only a matter of time. There's just too many of those damned things. The…the shit that goes on out there…my…my boy…my wife…I never expected to…I never told 'em what I really thought. I never even hinted, just…just kept it in. Kept it in and kept us movin', you know. Just kept it in…kept us…"

"It'll all be okay." Edwin consoled, yet his voice was blunt. "It'll be okay."

Rick just stared at him. He was shivering and shaking. His eyes were glassy like snow globes. The grasp on the bottle tight. He wondered if Edwin meant what he said or if they were all just doomed.

Edwin watched as Rick desastrously got up and hobbled his way towards the bedrooms. Edwin sighed and looked at the faraway wall. An electric clock was ticking, and showed that there were only twelve more hours for it to reach zero. The fact that time was fading away, and that he couldn't save mankind due to the loss of TS-19, instilled him with a sense of desolation that rewarded him with a restless night.