Galwidanatitud: Yeah, this is Shane showing who he really is now that there's not much society rules holding him back.

Devoncarman: Oh, of course he will get jealous. He's already showing it. Shane had that taste of 'top dog' power and to have it taken is messing with him.

lilnightmare17: Thank you so much! Here's more!

Leah Tatyana Nicole: I will!

The drive was exhausting and long but when they finally made it to the CDC, they were expecting to be greeted with the army protecting the place—not hundreds of bodies everywhere. On the street, on the sandbag walls that were scattered around the CDC area, on the grass. They were littered everywhere and they ranged from civilians to soldiers. The stench from their bodies made them slightly gag, their bodies rotting in the sun, but those with weapons kept them ready while those without covered their mouth and nose while keeping the children close by.

They moved past the military checkpoint with no walker sightings yet, but they stayed ready. Rick led the group, telling everyone to stay together as Shane covered from the left, T-Dog from the right and Daryl from behind. The group moved closer to the building as the sun was setting behind them, the threat of darkness while they were out was making them nervous.

They reached the building to see it was locked and shuttered, no sign of a door in sight to get inside.

Shane banged on the doors, making everyone's nerves rise from the sudden noise.

"There's nobody here." T-Dog looked around.

"Then why are the shutters down?" Rick continued to look for a way to open the shutters when a cry from Daryl made them stop and turn around.

"Walkers!" Everyone panicked as they aimed their guns towards the walkers. Daryl took his crossbow and shot the walker in the head. "You led us into a trap!" he yelled back at Rick. He went around the group to attack Rick but was stopped Shane.

"He made a call."

"He made the wrong damn call!"

Shane pushed him back. "Shut up! Shut up, you hear me?" he turned to Rick. "Rick, this is a dead end."

"Where are we going to go?" Carol cried as they all looked around for any place they could hide.

"Do you hear me?" Shane said to Rick. "No blame."

"She's right," Lori held onto Carl and Alice tighter. "We can't be this close to the city after dark."

"Fort Benning, Rick. Still an option." Shane continued to Rick.

Miri shook her head at Shane's option. "With what? We've got no fuel or food, Shane." She pointed out in a random direction. "And that fort is over a hundred miles! We'll be stranded out on the road! We'll die out there!"

"Forget fort Benning!" Lori yelled at the men as the kids started to cry. "We need answers tonight!" Miri quickly went over and took Alice in her arms, hugging her tight to her chest.

"We'll think of something!" Rick's voice sounded heavy, guilt feeling heavy on his heart for killing the group. Shane started to tell everyone to go back to the cars quickly, trying to take control of the situation to save them. "The camera!" Rick's words made everyone stop. "It moved!"

"You imagined it." Dale told him but no one moved from their spots.

"It moved." Rick walked towards the small white camera.

Shane followed him. "It's an automated device man, it's just the gears. It's winding down. Now come on!" he grabbed his arm to pull him away. Rick was fighting back but Shane kept talking. "This place is dead! Dead!"

Rick finally pulled away and banged on the shutters.

"Rick!" Miri yelled over Alice's crying. "We need to leave! There's no one inside!" her nerves were bouncing around and the adrenaline was making everything seem too fast and dizzy.

"I know you're in there!" Rick told the camera. "I know you can hear me! Please!" he pleaded with the camera. "We're desperate! Please help us! We have women and children! No food, hardly any gas left!"

Lori pushed Carl into Miri's side so she could take care of him while she ran over to her husband. More walkers were showing up as the group made more noise.

Miri looked back to Rick to see him being dragged away by Shane and yelling at the camera. "You're killing us!" Alice and Carl cried more as more walkers came and from Rick's yelling.

The shutter doors opened with a sudden screech and drowned them in a blinding light.

"Get in!" Shane yells, making everyone snap out of it and hurry their way into the place.

They looked around the empty CDC lobby, wondering who opened the door for them and saved their lives. Some lights were on, but it was still slightly dark in some corners. The sound of a gun cocking caused everyone to turn to the source of the sound. There, hidden in the shadows, was a man there pointing a gun at the group. "Anybody infected?" he called out.

"One of our group was." Rick paused. "He didn't make it."

The man walked closer. "Why are you here and what do you want?" He asked them while keeping his aim steady.

"A chance." Rick says simply.

"That's asking an awful lot these days." The man took some more small steps towards them.

"I know."

The man scanned all of them, taking more time on the kids than the adults. "You all submit to a blood test. That's the admission."

Rick nodded. "We can do that."

The man put his gun down. "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now." He pointed to the shutter doors. "Once this door closes, it stays closed."

Miri went to go put Alice down when Shane came up to her.

"You stay, I'll bring both of your things from the jeep." She opened her mouth to fight him but he put his finger in her face. "No, Miri." He walked off as she glared at his back. She hated it when he did that, like he was above her.

"Arsehole." she said under her breath as Rick, Shane, Daryl and Glenn went out to bring the light bags from the cars.

Once they were inside, the man locked the doors using the alarm system next to the doors. "VI, seal the main entrance." He spoke into the speaker. "Kill the power up here." The shutter doors started to come down, providing them with safety.

Rick walked over to the man and stuck out his hand. "Rick Grimes."

The man doesn't shake his hand. "Dr. Edwin Jenner." He led them to an elevator and they all packed themselves in there.

Miri went to put Alice down since she was tired. Daryl tensed as she rubbed against him. He'd already been thinking about her during the drive and noticing small things she did, adding the physical contact was too much. "Sorry." She apologized, giving him a small smile.

He just grumbled, hiding the small flush building and looked at the automatic in the doctor's hands. "Doctors always go around packin' heat like that?"

The Doctor replied in a deadpan tone. "There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself. But you all look harmless enough." He looked down at Carl and gave a small smile. "Except you. I'd have to keep my eyes on you." Carl tried to hide his smile and the Doctor smiled. Once the elevator stopped, they all walked out and walked through some hallways when Carol asked if they were underground. Jenner turned his head around and looked at her. "Why? You claustrophobic?"

"A little…" she admitted with a press lipped frown.

"Try not to think about it." He said simply as they walked into a big dark room. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." Suddenly, the lights go up. "Welcome to Zone 5." he told them.

"Where is everybody?" Miri asked from near the back, not seeing or hearing anyone else around.

"The doctors, the other staff?" Rick questioned.

Jenner turned around as he led them to the middle of the room. "I'm it, there's just me here."

"What about the person you were speaking with?" Lori asked the question on everyone's mind. "Vi?"

"Vi!" Jenner calls out. "Say hello to our guests. Tell them, welcome."

A female computerized voice spoke out around the room. "Hello guests, welcome."

"I'm all that's left." Jenner told them. He saw the look of despair on their faces. "I'm sorry." He walked away to a table to get some medical supplies to start the blood tests.

Everyone took turns sitting on a chair as Jenner took their blood.

Alice was sniffing and wiping tears from her eyes since she cried when Jenner stuck the needle in her arm.

"It's okay, he's a doctor." Miri petted her hair to calm her.

Jenner gave Alice a sad look as she snuggled her face into Burnie. He finished and Andrea was seated next.

"What's the point?" Andrea asked Jenner. "If we were infected, we would be running a fever."

"I've already broken every rule in the book by letting you in here, let me at least be thorough." He removed the vial of blood and removed the needle. "There, all done." Jacqui walked over to Andrea and helped her stand up when Andrea swayed a bit. "Are you okay?" Jenner asked her.

Andrea nodded and leaned on Jacqui.

"She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have." Jacqui led Andrea away from him.

That gave Jenner an idea.

The group were happily feasting in the CDC cafeteria, jovially drinking wine and liquor from the fully stocked fridge, jubilant about finding a safe place and a good meal. Everyone was drinking red wine except for the kids, Miri and Daryl.

Dale pore Lori a glass of wine. "You know, in Italy, children can have a little bit of wine with their dinner. And in France."

Lori took the glass. "Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then."

"It isn't gonna hurt." Rick tried to persuade Lori. "Come on."

Lori caved in and let Dale put in a small amount of wine in his glass.

Carl took a sip and he scrunched his face. "Ew!"

They laughed as Lori patted his back. "That's my boy."

Miri raised her glass. "Good on you, little man. You stick with soda."

"Not you, Glenn." Daryl told Glenn, slightly tipsy. "I wanna see how red your face can get!"

Rick noticed Miri wasn't drinking the wine, since she wasn't a big of a fan. "What are you drinking, Miri?"

Miri stood up and handed him the bottle. "It's Aussie rum! It's called Inner Circle."

"I didn't know you drank rum." He sniffed it, then took a sip. He moved it in his mouth for a bit and nodded. "It's actually good."

She took it back. "My rum." She pointed to the wine bottles around. "You stick to the nasty wine." Rick laughed and put his cup her way. She filled it up and handed it back to him.

"Can I try some of that?" Carl asked his mother.

Lori shook her head. "Nope, that's stronger than wine, baby."

Two cups were then shoved Miri's way and she saw the smiling faces of T-Dog and Glenn. She shook her finger at them and poured some rum for them. "Watch out later, guys. This will get you spiffed faster and on your ass flat."

"What the hell does that mean?" Daryl asked as he took another drink from his bottle, looking over at Miri.

"It means drunk." Rick answered him. "I've had years figuring out what means what with her." Miri gave him a thumbs up and filled her glass again.

"Hey," T-Dog called Miri's attention. "Since you're on TV and stuff, why didn't you ever get your teeth fixed?" he asked innocently. "No offence!" he added quickly when he realized how bad it sound.

She shrugged her shoulders, not offended with his question. "I don't mind it, it doesn't bother me."

"I like it, it makes you cuter." slurred Glenn as he slid down from the counter.

Miri looked away with a small grin at the drunken compliment. Everyone laughed as he tried to strut to her but fumbled with his glass. "Cheers." She gave him back his glass with more rum. "But you're cut off now."

Rick hit his fork against his glass lightly to get everyone's attention. He stood up. "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly."

Everyone raised their glass. "He is more than just our host." T-Dog commented and everyone cheered in agreement.

"Boo-yah!" Daryl's outburst made everyone laugh and copied him. Everyone clinked glasses together.

Miri went to clink her glass against Daryl's bottle but put up her bottle and clinked it against his. "What are you drinking?" she asked him as she tried to see the label of the bottle. He handed her the bottle for her to read. "Southern Comfort?" She looked up at him, her smiling growing slightly. "Can I try some?"

He shrugged. "Sure." He grabbed her rum and held it. "You mind?"

"Nah. Just don't drink it all." She put the bottle to her lips and took a gulp. It was fiery and tasted like a sweet whiskey, but not too sweet. "Nice." She licked her lips as she held the bottle back to Daryl.

"Same." He gave her hers back, licking his own lips after watching her do it, when Shane spoke up.

"When are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, Doc?" Shane's question knocked everyone out of their giggly mood. "All the other doctors. They're supposed to be figuring out what happened. Where are they?"

"We're celebrating Shane." Rick lightly scolded Shane. "Don't need to do this now."

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here right?" Shane looked around. "This was your move. We were supposed to find all the answers. Instead we, uh," he laughed. "We found him." He pointed to Dr. Jenner, who shot him a look. "Now one man, why?"

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families." Jenner explained. "When things got worse, when the military cordon got over run, the rest bolted." A faraway look came across his face.

"Every last one?" Shane asked.

"No. Many couldn't face walking out the door." Jenner glared at Shane for his attitude. "They...opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." Jenner's voice shook.

"Why didn't you leave?" Miri asked him.

"I just kept working." He looked down then back up again. "Hoping to do some good."

"Dude, you are such a buzz kill man." Glenn told Shane as he sat down on a chair.

Jenner stood up and decided to show the group where everyone were going to sleep tonight. Everyone grabbed their things and followed Jenner to a hallway with many doors. "Most of the facilities are locked down including housing, so you're going to have to make due here." Jenner explained as the others kept walking and looking around. "The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like." He turned around and looked at Carl, Sophia and Alice, who were walking in front. "There's a rec room down the hall that the kids might enjoy." He bent down so he was eye level with them. "Just don't plug in any electronics okay? Or anything that causes power." The kids nodded. "Same applies." He said to the adults. "If you shower, go easy on the hot water." He then walked away.

Glenn turned around and smiled. "Hot water?"

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

Everyone then went off to find a room.

Miri just went into the one next to her. She put the bags down and went back to the door. "Come on, Ali, shower time!" Alice walked over to Miri and Miri took out some clothes for her. She wanted her to have a shower before she did. Miri grabbed some fresh, clean clothes and led her into the bathroom that was connected with the room and helped her take her dirty clothes off. She thankfully found some shampoo and washed her whole body and hair with it. "Feel so much better, right?" Miri asked her as she helped rinse out the soap on her body and hair.

"Uh-huh." Alice said in a low voice.

Miri was happy she said something since the camp site, she'd been worried that the little girl wasn't talking. She got a towel that was placed over the toilet shelf and dried her with it. She dressed her in the clothes and put her hair into fishtail braid woven pigtails. "There, your hair is pretty now. Oh!" She searched through her pockets when she found what she was looking for. "This is for you." She pulled out the bracelet. She put the bracelet on her wrist and Alice started to play with it. "You like it?"

Alice nodded as she continued to play with it, a small smile on her lips.

They walked out to find the rec room. Once they found it, they saw Carol with Sophia. "Hey Carol, hey Sophia!"

"Miri!" Carol laughed. "I would've thought you showered by now."

"I'm going to now, I just wanted to give Alice a shower first and let her have fun in the rec room." Alice let go of her hand and walked over to Sophia, who was sitting at the coffee table drawing. Sophia gave her some paper and slid her box of color pencils half way so they could both use it. "Can you watch her for me while I scrub myself clean?" Miri asked, trusting the woman and really needing to scrub herself clean.

Carol waved her off. "Go on, I can watch them. Alice is a good girl, she'll be no trouble."

She thanked Carol and went off to the room. She went through her bag and pulled out some fresh clothes. She sighed happily and dropped her shoulders as the hot water hit her body. "God this feel so good." She moaned. She took the shampoo and scrubbed it into her scalp, rinsing it off and used the shampoo to wash her body. She found a small box of razors and picked one up. She shaved under her arms, legs and trimmed her lower reigns so it wasn't a bother. After, she brought hers and Ali's clothes into the shower so she could wash them. She felt so clean and normal after she finished and got dressed.

She went into her room and jumped when she saw Daryl sitting on the couch with his bottle. "Daryl?" he looked over to me as she walked passed him to put the wet clothes on the chairs in the room. "What are you doing here?"

"Brought you and your little girl two cots from storage." He played with the bottle in his hands, feeling nervous while alone with her after she'd just gotten out of the shower. Shit, didn't porn start off this way? He didn't know why he decided to say in the room after he delivered the cots, or even why he got the cots for them anyways, but here he was… slowly getting drunk while sitting in a room while a woman was in the shower.

Miri saw the cots near the bags and gave him a thankful smile. "You didn't have to do that, Daryl, but thank you." She laughed and picked up her bottle of rum. "Seems like I'm thanking you a lot these past few days." She sat next to him on the couch but far enough so she could cross her legs. The smell of pomegranates came from her as she moved around to get comfy and Daryl slowly grew to like the smell.

It was silent as they drank, the sort where it felt unusual since they were used to the sounds of others.

Miri was already feeling the rum in her system when Daryl broke the silence.

"Where's that little girl's dad?"

She looked over at him and saw he was staring at her intently, his drink making him slightly more confident to stare into her eyes. She shrugged her shoulders. "I have no clue, maybe dead."

"What was his name?" He wondered who could have knocked this pretty girl up and just left her. Hell, even in his neighborhood, if they had a woman like her they'd keep her just so no one else could.

She took a swing from the bottle. "I don't know anything about Ali's father."

Without thinking, he snorted. "Figures."

"Excuse me?" She put the bottle down and turned to glare at Daryl. "You got something to say?"

"Yeah, what kind of woman don't know her own baby daddy." He grumbled into the bottle.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "For your information, Alice isn't mine." His eyebrows raised in shock. That little girl looks so much like her, you would've thought she was hers. "Hence why I don't know jack-shit about her father." She turned her body to face him. "And what if she was my daughter and I didn't know her father? What gives you the right to judge me?" She stole his bottle, stole a couple of gulps of the drink and gave it back to him as he gave her a hard look. "That was for opening your gob and being rube." She got up and walked to the door.

"Where you goin'?"

"I'm going to find my little girl." She opened the door and walked towards the rec room, not giving Daryl another glance.

"Fuck…" He cursed before he stood up and took another swig of his drink. He went back to his room next door and waited at his doorway for her to come back.

Miri found Carol, Carl, Sophia and Alice having some sun in the Rec room. "Hey guys." She greeted

Carol looked up from the book she was reading and waved to her before she went back to her book, looking very engrossed.

Alice came running up to her and tugged on her sweats. "Miri, can I sleep with Sophia tonight?"

"As long as Carol is alright with that." Miri looked over at Carol and saw her smile and nod. "That's the okay, you want me to bring Burnie?" She nodded. "Alright, I'll bring him to you." She went to leave but Alice stopped her.

"Look at what I drew for you!" she ran back to the coffee table and came back with a picture. "It's you! You're a superhero!"

On the paper was a girl with yellow hair and blue eyes with a bow in her hand, and a cape on her back. There were green people with X's for eyes on the ground as she stood over them.

"You think I'm a superhero?" Miri looked back at Alice after she looked over the picture with a smile, then back to the little girl.

She nodded. "My superhero." Miri bent down and hugged her tight. "You like it?"

"I love it." She pulled away and kissed her forehead. "I'm putting this in my book. I'll be back with Burnie. Love you, baby."

"Love you too, Miri." She gave Miri a kiss on the cheek and went off to play with Carl and Sophia.

Carol stood up and walked over to her. "She told me what happened." She patted the blonde on the arm. "That little girl loves you as much as her mother."

"I don't have kids, but that little girl makes me wish she was mine, you know?" Miri saw Carl explain to Alice about the game they were playing and Sophia was pointing to things on the game board.

"You're a good mother, even if that little girl isn't yours by blood, she's yours." She gave Miri a smile and Miri surprised before she looked down, smiling and then pressing her lips as she remembered Alice's actually mother.

"Thanks, Carol."

Carol walked back to her seat and Miri left the room to head back to the room, looking at the picture with a smile when she saw Daryl standing at the door next to her room. She glared at him and went into the room. She went into her bag and pulled out a photo album Lori returned to her back at the quarry. She opened it to a blank page and put Alice's picture inside after writing Alice's name and age on the bottom. She left it there on the coffee table and went to get Burnie from Alice's pack so she could sleep with it tonight, since she couldn't sleep without him. She left the room with a cot and Burnie in her hands and walked back to the rec room.

Daryl, seeing Miri walk away from the room, decided to sneak into her room. He opened the door and saw an open book on the coffee table. He walked over and saw a picture of a cartoon blonde chick with a bow and cape and green people on the ground. Alice's name and age was written on the bottom. He flipped to a random page in the book and found a picture of Miri with short curly hair, a black bralette top, leather pants and sitting on a motorcycle.

He removed the picture from the book and turned it back to the drawn picture. He put the photo in his pocket and hurried into his room before she came back.

Miri leaned her head against her hand, still sort of tired and slightly hungover as she ate the powdered eggs that T-Dog made. "How are you holding up there, buddy?" She asked Glenn as she ate some eggs.

Glenn groaned. "How are you not affected?"

"I am affected." She laughed lightly. "I'm use to the hangovers. Those after parties were pretty crazy." She popped a piece of bacon into her mouth. She put more bacon and eggs onto Alice's place, who ate happily.

Rick came into the cafeteria. "Morning." He said to everyone in a gruff voice, his head pounding behind his eyes.

"Are you hung-over?" Carl asked his father with a cheeky smile. "Mom said you'd be."

"Mom is right." Rick gave his son a smile as he sat down.

"Mom has that annoying habit." joked Lori.

"Eggs!" T-Dog called out to everyone. "They're powdered but they're good. You can't tell." Glenn groaned again since T-Dog yelled. "Protein helps with the hangover." T-Dog put more eggs in Glenn's, Rick's and the kid's plates.

Jacqui felt bad for Glenn and started to rub his back.

Rick raised an aspirin bottle that Dr. Jenner gave the group. "Where did all this come from?"

"Jenner." Lori answered him.

Rick gave Lori the bottle. "Could you help me please?"

She opened the bottle. "He thought we could use it." She looked up at Glenn. "Some of us at least."

"Don't ever, ever, ever let me drink again." Glenn groaned.

Daryl entered the room, head pounding and acid coming up his throat. When he entered the room, he quickly spotted the group—then noticed that Miri looked at him from the corner of her eye before he moved to get some coffee.

"Hey." Shane called out softly to everyone.

"Hey." Everyone called back.

Shane went over to get something to drink from the counter.

"Do you feel as bad as I do?" Rick called out to Shane.

"Worse." He answered.

Alice drank the rest of her orange juice and placed the empty cup down. Miri noticed and turned to her. "Do you want some more?"

Alice nodded. "Yes, please."

Miri reached over, grabbed the orange juice, poured some in her cup and put it back. "Here you go."

"Why don't you have any?" Sophia asked Miri as she noticed the woman was drinking some of water that was in their fridge.

"I can't have oranges." Miri laughed. "My body doesn't respond well to them."

Rick laughed. "We learned that the hard way." Miri threw a piece of egg at him and he caught it with his mouth.

"The hell happened to you?" T-Dog asked Shane as Shane walked by him to sit down. "Your neck."

"Must've done it in my sleep." Shane mumbled, stealing a look at Lori, who ignored him.

Rick looked at the scratches on his friend's neck. "Never seen you do that before."

"Me neither. Not like me at all."

Dr. Jenner walked in and the group told him hello as he grabbed a cup of coffee.

"Doctor," Dale called out to him. "I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing…"

"But you will anyways." Jenner replied with a light tone.

Andrea turned around in her seat to look at Jenner. "We didn't come for the eggs."

After eating, Jenner led the group to the control center and goes to a computer. "Give me a playback of TS-19."

Vi responds. "Playback of TS-19." The giant screen lit up and some of the lights died down. It showed the scans of a brain.

"Few people ever had the chance to see this. Very few." Jenner explained as they watched the screen with wide eyes. The computerized head scanned a couple times to show the brain.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked Jenner.

"An extraordinary one." Jenner commented to Carl as he looked back at the screen sadly. "Not that a matters in the end. Take us in EIV."

"Enhanced internal view." Vi's voice rang around the room. The video showed the person was now lying down and there was lights going on in the brain as it zoomed more into it until it showed web looking things.

"What are those lights?" Shane asked from the back.

Jenner turned to them as he pointed back to the video. "That's a person's life. Experience, memories, it's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all that ripples of light, is you. The thing that makes you unique and human." Jenner explains.

Daryl crossed his arms, not really understanding what the Doctor was going with this. "You ever make sense? Ever?"

"Those are synapses. Electro impulses in the brain that carry all the messages, they determine everything a person says, does, or thinks the moment of birth…" Jenner paused as he scanned each of their faces. "To death."

Rick walked over. "Death? Is this what this is? A visual?"

"Yes… or rather the playback of the visual."

Andrea took a few steps forward as she watched the screen. "This person died… who?"

"Test subject 19." Jenner's shoulders sagged a bit in sadness. "Someone bitten and infected, and volunteered to have us record the process. Vi, scan forward to the first event."

"Scanning to first event." It went forward to the first event and it showed something black attacking the brain.

"What is that?" Alice pointed to the screen as she held Burnie closer to her.

"It invades the brain like meningitis: the adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs…" the person on screen started to shake then stop as they lights in the brain burnt out. "Then death. Everything you were or ever will be – gone."

Daryl looked over when he saw Miri move to see she crying silently as she held Alice into her leg.

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked her mother innocently.

Carol nodded. "Yes."

Andrea looked and felt beaten as she took a deep breath and turned away. Jenner noticed her and gave a questioning look.

"She lost someone two days ago." Lori explained. "Her sister."

Jenner walked over to Andrea. "I lost somebody too, I know how devastating it is." He turned away and told Vi to scan to the second event. "The resurrection time is wildly, we have reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we've heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient it was two hours, one minute, and seven seconds." Little red lights started to flicker in the brain, like embers from a fire.

"It restarts the brain?" Miri asked in astonishment.

"No," Jenner turned to look at her. "Just the brain stem. Basically it gets them up and moving."

"But they're not alive." Rick commented as he bit his lip.

"You tell me." Jenner pointed to the screen and stood next to Rick.

Rick shook his head. "It's not like the light 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… gone forever..." the person on screen started to move around. "A shell, driven by mindless instinct." A bright light flashed through the subjects head, killing the red light.

"Oh my God." Carol gasped. "What was that?"

"That was a bullet." Miri piped in as she continued to stare at the screen. She seen scenes like this on TV and movies.

"He shot his patient in the head." Andrea turned to look at Jenner. "Didn't you?"

Jenner didn't answer her. "Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations." Vi did what he asked.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asked him again.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, or fungal." He answered.

"Or the wrath of God." Jacqui added.

Jenner nodded at Jacqui. "Or that."

"So you really don't know…" Jenner looked at Miri and shook his head.

"Somebody must know something!" Andrea walked towards Jenner. "Somebody, somewhere!"

Carol held her daughter. "There have to be others, right? Other facilities?"

Jenner sighed. "There may be some, people like me."

"But you don't know?" Rick walked forward. "How can you not know?"

"Everything went down…" Jenner explained. "Communications, directives, everything. I've been in the dark for almost a month."

"So it's not just here? There's nothing left anywhere, nothing. That's what you're really saying, right?" Andrea accused him.

"Man, Imma get shit-faced drunk… again." Daryl rubbed his eyes.

"Dr. Jenner," Dale gains Jenner's attention. "This has been taxing for you, and I'd hate to ask one more question," he walked over to the other side of the room near where Carol, Sophia, Alice, Daryl and Miri were. "But that clock," he pointed to the clock on the wall that was counting down from an hour. "That clock is counting down. What happens at zero?"

Jenner looked like he was hesitant. "The basement generators, they run out of fuel."

"What then?" Rick asked. Jenner didn't say anything as he walked away. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

Vi answered. "When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur."