Why did you let this happen to me?

Why did you leave me?

The voices echoed slowly throughout the empty house.

How could you let me die? You left me to die. You left us.

Useless.

You only cared about yourself.

Selfish.

You could have saved me. Us.

You couldn't even save yourself.

You can't save yourself. You can't save your friends. You can't save your man. He doesn't care. They don't care.

Worthless.

She woke up in a sweat, panting and nearly panicked. It was simply another nightmare. But this one was different. The details were blurry but the pieces of her dreams were starting to finally come together.

She sat up. The surroundings were unfamiliar. She remembered the cold, tiled floor of the bathroom. This was different – a more clinical setting. Isabelle rubbed her temples, she could still feel the dull ache but felt a little more rested.

The door opened slightly and Jenner poked his head inside, "Isabelle?" He was hoping she would be awake, as the blood work still couldn't tell him much without her story. He just needed to know where to look for his answer.

"What the fuck?" She asked aloud, confused. Wasn't I supposed to be quarantined? She thought to herself. It was still a good sign though, it meant that she wasn't endangering the group. But it brought her to the next issue at hand, if the group knew.

He came closer to the bed and took a seat next to her. Before speaking, he placed the back of his palm against her forehead to feel for a fever. Her fever remained, but slightly improved. All that Jenner could tell was that she had similar symptoms to those who suffered from the infection before passing. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Fine…" she trailed off, "My head still hurts."

"You still have a fever."

"Not the first time…" she replied, annoyed.

To Jenner it appeared that for some reason she was only experiencing the symptoms of the pathogen, minus the dying and reanimating part. And these symptoms must have to do with the infection, otherwise her blood work would not have been so shocking.

"How long have you been getting fevers? Do you think this has to do with anything before the outbreak?"

Her mind was too distracted on her dream. She could remember the coffee shop, the homeless man, the bites. She could remember trying to get Jane out of their in one piece but failing. Isabelle felt like a failure. How could she have sat there and done nothing while her best friend was being attacked? Not only that, but she could remember leaving Luke. She didn't know his fate, and even though she knew she should have stayed, deep down she knows what she did was right. It still didn't make her feel better.

Isabelle was tuning out Jenner before cutting in, "I was bit. I remember it now." She stated with no emotion. It wasn't something she wanted to admit, not that she was hiding it.

Jenner was taken aback for a moment, never had he encountered a case where someone survived a bite. Most would be fine for up to a day or maybe even two if they were lucky, but the infection would soon take over and eliminate any possibility of survival. This case was remarkable. His previous research had really gotten him nowhere, considering he had lost contact with all other disease prevention centers across the globe. There was a good possibility he was the only scientist alive that was working on some cure, some answers at least - and this frightened him.

Her let her continue to get as much information as he could, "I don't necessarily remember everything, but- but I keep having these fucking nightmares. And it's starting to make sense, you know?" She hoped for them to stop, but she knew it wasn't going to anytime soon.

"What happened in you nightmares?" He asked. Any information pertaining to her nightmares would only be more pieces to the puzzle.

"We were both bit by some homeless guy. I remember freezing, just..." Isabelle sighed, sounding disappointed, "I don't remember much after but I know I woke up feeling like absolute shit. High fever, awful headache, just shitty all over." She paused briefly, "It felt like I was going to die."

The memory loss was beginning to make sense to Jenner, surviving a traumatic event with the added fever and head injury she'd suffered probably caused locular amnesia. Recoverable, he thought; still a hassle, nonetheless.

He threaded lightly with his questions; he didn't want her to grow frustrated and not want to cooperate like before. Jenner knew it wouldn't be the best to ask about her friends, considering they weren't with the group. So he left it at that. All he really needed to know what the story behind the bite, but it doesn't explain her still being alive. Doesn't explain her blood coming back as 'unknown' instead of infected. Could it be possible that she was one of the few, if not, the only one who was immune? Would it be possible that she could be some sort of key to the cure?

Jenner stood up to exit the room to go re-examine her blood work when she stopped him, "Where's everyone? Do they know?" She sounded panicked, almost. Understandably, however. He'd already seen the fear and anger in the group once he told them that her blood came back 'unknown' because if the system or the doctor don't know what's going on, it's a pretty bad situation. And Jenner knew that she knew this as well. But he had to tell them.

He gulped before answering. He had no idea how she would react, what she would say or what she would do. "Yes," he answered bluntly, "They do know. I told them because they wanted to know why you were locked up."

He noticed that her eyes looked slightly more sunken than they should have for someone as young as her. The doctor waited for the information to process and her reaction, but he got none. Isabelle's shoulders simply sank a bit and she kept a blank stare on her face, avoiding his gaze.

"Oh."

The doctor returned to his lab and left her alone. He still had a lot of work to do.

September 17, 2010

Nobody will trust me now. With the only person who could have been close to all the answers is dead. Jenner is dead. Jacqui is dead too, she stayed behind.

It was a big cluster fuck. The details are blurry, but I know that Jenner revealed the self-destruct system to the group. Basically, after the generators ran out of fuel, the CDC would have a massive decontamination to destroy all the dangerous diseases contained in the lab.

I remember Rick coming to the room I was in. His composure had been surprisingly off, he was worried. I wasn't used to seeing that side of him and to be honest, I wasn't sure I was ready to. We didn't get a chance to talk; he basically yanked me out of bed and told me to follow. I followed suit after grabbing my gun and bag.

We ran to the entrance, where we met up with the rest of the group. T-Dog and Daryl were using axes on the glass windows to the CDC, then Shane tried shooting it but it didn't work. I wish I could have been more useful, but there was really nothing I could have done. My gun wouldn't have worked, and neither would anything else I had.

Looking back I'm disappointed that all I did was freeze. I wasn't ready to meet my fate. I didn't want to die like that. I couldn't.

I wasn't keeping track of time, but based on how much everyone was starting to really freak out, I could tell we were really pushing it. It was at this moment I was starting to give up, thinking we'd already used up all of our chances.

But, like before, we were lucky.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Carol hand a grenade to Rick, I had no idea where the hell it came from, but it didn't matter.

I'll be honest, I was pessimistic. I wanted to avoid crying, but it was hard not to let my emotions take over. I just remember thinking over and over, I'm going to die. I'm not going to see my mother or brother again. This is it. I'm so sorry.

"Look out!" Rick yelled, and I was shoved into the stairs by Daryl.

The explosion nearly burst my ear drums but I immediately, along with the rest of the group, got the hell out of there. My legs ached from being bed ridden, but at that moment it didn't matter.

There were a couple of walkers wandering outside the entrance, but we easily cleared out and made a pathway for the group to follow. I didn't pay attention to the time we had left.

We were lucky.

September 18, 2010

Nobody has looked me in the eye lately. I think they've finally realized that they can't get sick from me, but I feel like they're upset I didn't tell them. The question is: how was I supposed to know? I didn't remember getting bit. I never gave the scar any second thought. Hell, I hadn't remembered much of anything else so I can't comprehend why.

But on the other hand, I do see where they're coming from. It doesn't mean that I like it. I feel like they're constantly keeping an eye on me though, waiting for something that isn't going to happen, well, happen.

Rick has been good to me though; he's been understanding. He understands. But I still feel numb. I feel alone. Like an outsider. I don't belong with the group and the group doesn't belong with me.

But like an outsider, I have nowhere else to go.


I apologize for the short chapter. I wanted to get out of the CDC because I realize that one of my problems is that I can drag storylines out for too long, so I want to move to the farm soon and see where that goes. A very special thanks to all my readers and to those who left feedback. I hope to hear from my readers soon about their thoughts.