CHAPTER 11

SARAH

Sarah had never felt better in her all life. She had a shower, changed in fresh clothes and lay on the couch with eyes closed, for once finally feeling like relaxing. Her stomach was full and the pain of her hand was slowly fading.

"I can't stop smiling" she said stretching her back as Nicki was changing her shirt.

"I can see that" she said smiling herself.

"I can't believe we had found this place" Sarah said rolling on her stomach to watch her sister "It's like a miracle"

Nicki nodded.

"Maybe for Jenner too" she said as Sarah listened at her closely "I wonder for how long he had been closed here. No family, no friends... people can go insane"

Sarah agreed with her. It had already been difficult with new people around, but thinking of face all of that on her own made her shiver. She didn't know for how long she would have lasted.

A knock came from outside the door.

"Come in" Sarah said.

"Hey girls!" said Glenn with a giant smile making them chuckle.

"Glenn, have you been drinking?" she asked seeing her friend too much relaxed with his cheeks painted with a pinkish colour.

"Yeah" he answered giggling leaning his shoulder against the side of the door.

"What is it?" asked Sarah.

"Wine" Glenn said in a snort. Sarah looked at Nicki that shrugged her shoulders amused.

"No, what do you want?" the older girl asked again.

"Oh, yeah" he said "I found something for Nicolette" he snorted again making Nicki frown a little in confusion.

"Nicolette, Nicki" he said chuckling "It seems talking about two different people"

"You're wasted" said Nicki shaking her head.

"No, no really, come on" he said gesturing for them to follow him.

They walked through the corridor looking closer at Glenn, afraid that he might fall on his face. It would have been funny, but the next morning Sarah would have felt too bad looking at her sober friend's face.

"Here!" he said opening a door. It was one of the rooms that Doctor Jenner had told them about. It wasn't huge, but there were some books and a tv, a sofa and a coffee machine.

"It's that a dartboard?" asked Nicki.

"And that's the surprise!" Glenn exclaimed happily. Sarah looked over her sister that walked towards the wall, taking one of the darts in her hand. It wasn't an arrow, but Sarah was pretty sure that it was enough for her.

Nicki took three darts in her hands and walked back to distance herself from the wall. She took position, observing the dartboard silently, before bring the dart in front of her aiming. It was very different from what she was used too, but Sarah couldn't help but smile when she saw her sister taking a breath, before smirking a little and throwing the dart that hit very close to the centre.

"Woah!" Glenn exclaimed almost jumping from his spot.

Nicki looked at him from the corner of her eyes before aiming with another dart that flew right in the centre this time. Sarah smile grow wider seeing that spark in her sister's eyes again. She was relaxing, having fun.

"Wow" they turned to see Carl, Sophia and Carol on the door.

"Nicki, you're very good!" Sophia exclaimed running next to Nicki, that looked at them in surprise.

"I want to try!" said Carl getting closer too.

"We were supposed to go to bed" said Carol with a defeated smile.

"Five more minutes, mum, please" asked Sophia.

"Yeah please" said Carl as Nicki was observing the two children.

"Just five" said Carol sitting on the couch.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Glenn making Sarah walk to him to help him sit down next to the woman.

"Can you do it again?" was asking Sophia.

"Can you show me how to do it?" was saying Carl.

"Alright!" Nicki exclaimed "But shut up, both of you. I was getting peace and quiet, before you two" then she turned to throw the last dart. The children exulted as Nicki managed to hit very close to the centre again.

"She is very good" said Carol observing Nicki.

"Yeah" Sarah said "She had made it to the Archery Nationals, second in Atlanta's competition".

She felt a little sad that her sister didn't even had the chance to tell that to their parents. It was the first time that Nicki qualified to the Nationals. It seemed a life ago.

"You once said that you like to read, right?" asked Carol making Sarah turn to her with a smile nodding her head.

"Few doors on the right there is a room bigger than this one, and there are many books" Sarah instinctively looked towards the door "You can go take a look if you want" she was indeed tempted but then she looked over Gleen who seemed ready to fall asleep.

"Glenn and Nicki..."

"I'll look after them, don't worry" Carol said.

Sarah smiled at her before getting up to walk out of the door. She walked in the empty corridor to find the room Carol was talking about. She found it pretty soon, it wasn't very difficult since those rooms were all in a straight corridor. Sarah opened the closed door slowly, looking inside. It was indeed a huge room; two entrances, three couches and a wall full of books and some table games. She smiled when she spotted Trivial Pursuit on the top of the bookcase. She remembered playing that with her friends Emily and Lucy. She wondered if they were still alive and safe. She usually tried not to think about her friends, it was too painful to think about them surviving in that world.

She then walked towards the shelves, noticing a book that had been left on a table. Sarah took it in her hands.

'To Kill a Mockingjay'.

She had read it a few years back; her mother had recommended it to her. She smiled sadly thinking about her mum and silently she put it back on an empty space on the shelf. Her finger traced all the covers, reading on the titles. Some she had read and brought back many memories with them. Other she had never got the chance to read. Now, she had some time. All the time in the world.

"Whatcha doin'?" she turned in surprise as she heard Daryl's voice.

"I could ask you the same thing" she said eyeing the bottle in his hand "Even if it's quite evident"

"Ya feel so much bette' than me jus' cause yar some uptown girl" his words made her frown as she observed him.

"Daryl, I..."

"I see how ya look at me" he interrupted her angrily making her frown even more "Ya think I'm jus' some worthless redneck"

"Ok" she said walking to him "I think you've had enough of this" as she tried to grab the bottle from his hand Daryl snatched it away from her.

"Stop pitying me!" he spatted in her face making her flinch in surprise before glaring at him.

"I'm not!" she exclaimed "I'm just trying to help"

"Ya don't give a shit" he argued pointing his finger at her "I can do it on ma own, littl' girl. I don't need the help of a useless gir' who can't even defend herself! I don't own ya nothing!" he yelled at her. She knew that he was drunk, but she couldn't help but to feel hurt by those words. Sarah had never spent much time with Daryl since the past few days. He and his brother had never been the type to make people feel at ease, but she had always tried to be nice even when they weren't.

"The fault is mine" she said without averting her eyes from him "To think that you weren't as much of a jackass like your brother"

"Shut up!" he said angrily. But she ignored him.

"Maybe you're the one pitying yourself."

"I said shut up" but she shook her head.

"You don't even know me! Still, all you do is always pointing out how useless I am" she argued feeling tears in her eyes "I never asked you to help me!" he glared at her getting his face closer.

"I don't give a shit abou' ya"

"You're an ass" she said before walking past him, not caring of pushing him a little so that she could get through.

He came at her and insulted her. She was minding his own business before he shown up. Why did he always have to be so hateful? She had never thought that he was an ignorant redneck. That he was a jackass, yes and frequently, but then she had changed her mind. He had risked his life to take his brother back, he had saved her life and he had felt bad for Jim too. He had defended all of them. Sure, he wasn't exactly kind, but she thought he was different from Merle. But he was just a giant ass.

Sarah hadn't slept much that night, thinking about what Daryl had told her. Yes, she couldn't shoot a stupid arrow in some walker's head, but she could learn how to defend her sister, that group and herself. She wasn't useless, she even had learnt how the fix car's engines.

Just when she heard the others get up, she realized how much time she had spent thinking about the words of the jackass Daryl Dixon.

"I've spent too much time on it" she muttered setting up with a groan.

"Getting crazy, are we?" asked Nicki yawning as Sarah turned in surprise "You starting to talk at no one"

"Did I wake you?" Sarah said passing a hand through her brown hair.

"Nope" her sister replied "I'm hungry"

Sarah looked at Nicolette standing up and starting to change her clothes.

"Have you cried?" asked Nicki pulling her black hair out of her shirt.

"No" said Sarah walking to the bathroom to look at her image. She had just shed a few tears of anger when she lay down to get some sleep. But she definitely hadn't cried.

"Did you have fun last night?" she asked to Nicki from the bathroom.

"Yeah..." Nicki said in a not very convincing tone.

"Sure?"

"That little shit it's pretty good" Nicki groaned.

"Hey, language" Sarah said frowning.

"Sorry" Nicki replied "Just, Carl threw the dart and..."

"It hit the centre?!" asked Sarah in shock walking out of the bathroom.

"Please" Nicki scoffed "If he did, I would have dumped archery"

Always dramatic...

"But he made really good points for a beginner"

"Well, his father is a cop" Sarah said shrugging her shoulders, making Nicki glare at her.

"And dad is a dentist, but I don't even know the names of all teeth"

"And we found something to do today" said Sarah brushing her hair.

"Oh, shut up" Nicki scoffed before exiting the room, followed by a smirking Sarah.

As they arrived in the dining room, Sarah saw T-Dog with a pan, cooking something. It smelt so good. She couldn't wait to eat.

"Is that bacon?"

"You can bet on it, sweetheart" said T-Dog happily as she side-hugged him to thank him. Then she saw Jacqui getting coffee ready and Carol and Sophia already sitting at the table talking with Nicki.

Soon after Lori and Carl arrived. Sarah smiled at them as they greeted her with a smile. Then Dale and Andrea entered the room.

"Good morning" the man said putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Morning" she said before noticing Glenn walking to them with an exhausted expression.

"Morning, mister" she said getting closer to her friend "How are we doing today?"

"My head hurts" Glenn moaned, making her chuckle remembering him drunk. It had been funny.

Her smile though disappeared as she saw Daryl enter the room. They looked at each other for a moment. He chewed his bottom lip slightly, before turning to grab some bacon and going sitting on the ground. Sarah observed him not being able to stop glaring, that conversation keep repeating in her mind.

Then she decided to not give Daryl that much of her attention and turning she took Glenn by the hand pulling him with her. She helped him sit down as Jacqui set closer to him, to be sure he was alright. Sarah's gaze couldn't help but travel to Daryl who didn't sat at the table, but some metres away.

"Morning" said Rick making his entrance to go and sit next to his wife.

"Are you hungover?" Carl said with a little smirk "Mom said you'd be"

Rick nodded "Mom was right"

"Mom has that annoying habit" Lori said chuckling.

"Eggs" announced T-Dog "Powdered, but I do 'em good"

"Give me some please!" exclaimed Sarah handing her plate at the man as Glenn moaned in pain.

"Protein helps the hangover" T-Dog said.

"Yeah, take these" Sarah said pushing her plate at Glenn, before handing another plate at T-Dog.

"Don't ever, ever, ever let me drink again" complained Glenn as Jacqui rubbed his shoulders.

"I can't promise you anything" Sarah said then turning Nicki "He was quite the sight, right?"

"Oh, yeah" she said biting her bacon.

"Witches" Glenn said making them laugh.

"Hey" said Rick making her turn to see Shane walk in, strangely not very relaxed.

"Hey" Sarah noticed Nicki's eyes study the man, making her frown a bit.

"Feel as bad as I do?" asked Rick.

"Worse" Sarah turned to her eggs eating some.

"What the hell happened to you?" T-Dog's question made her turn again towards the man "Your neck?"

"I must have done it in my sleep" Shane explained sitting down and now Sarah could see red scratches on the left side of his jaw and neck.

"Never seen you do that before" said Rick with a little frown.

"Me neither" Shane said taking a breath "Not like me alone"

"Quite the nails you've got there" said Nicki after sipping her juice without giving a glance to Shane. Sarah observed the man, those were some strange scratches, indeed.

"Morning" when Jenner entered the attention got took away from Shane. They all greeted the man as he walked to get himself some coffee.
"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing..." said Dale making the man take a breath.
"But you will anyway"
"We didn't come here for the eggs" said Andrea backing up Dale and bringing all of them all to reality. They were there for answers and Sarah really hoped that the doctor could give them some good one. Not all, but maybe some.

After breakfast, they followed Jenner all the way to the control room of Zone 5.

"Give me playback of TS-19" said Jenner to Vi as they walked in all of them getting comfortable. T-Dog set on a chair as Glenn and Sarah set on a desk looking at the big screen lit up.

"Playback of TS-19" Vi said as some imagines started to appear on the screen.

"Few people ever got a chance to see this" said Jenner as all of them got closer "Very few".

"Is that a brain?" asked Carl in surprise making Jenner look at him with a small smile.

"A very extraordinary one"

The imagines on the screen changed, zooming the brain getting more and more in the details.

"What are those lights?" asked Shane.

"It's a person's life" explained Jenner pointing at the screen "Experiences, memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you... The thing that makes you unique. And human"

"You don't make sense ever?" asked Daryl with arms crossed. Sarah observed him for a moment before turning to the Doctor.

"Are those... synapsis or something?" she asked curiously.

"That's right, those are synapses" said Jenner "Electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages" it was really interesting, being able to see how the brain worked, being able to see the person think and living from a scientific point of you. Sarah turned to Nicki seeing her looking closely at the screen, interested as much as they all were.

"This person died?" asked Andrea taking a step forward "Who?"

Jenner took a breath.

"Test subject 19" he said "Someone who was bitten and infected... And volunteered to have us record the process" that person must have been very brave, facing death with open eyes just to let humanity have a small chance of surviving.

"Vi, scan forward to the first event"

They could see the shape of the subject and the synapsis working, but then something dark started to branch out inside the brain, slowly invading it.

"What is that?" asked Glenn from next to her.

"It invades the brain like meningitis" Sarah observed the shape of the subject starting to her restless. It must have hurt. She felt for that person.
"The adrenal glands haemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs" said Jenner "Then death"

The brain now was completely shut down. That made her heart race faster. They had just seen a person die from the inside. She couldn't help but feel a little frightened to see how it happened.

"So that's what happen" said Nicki making Jenner nod his head.

"Everything you ever were or ever will be... Gone"

Sarah and Glenn looked at each other, she knew everyone was thinking the same thing; the people they had lost recently. Jim, Amy...

Sarah's eyes watered as Glenn side-hugged her. Jacqui was crying and Andrea was trying not to fall apart right in front of everyone. Sarah and Andrea had never been close, but she couldn't help but wanting to go to her giving her a hug. Jenner was observing Andrea, somehow getting what she was feeling.

"She lost somebody two days ago" Lori explained "Her sister"

"I lost somebody too" Jenner said searching for Andrea's gaze "I know how devastating it is" they stood in silence for a moment, before Jenner asked Vi to show them the second event. Apparently, the timing for turning back as a walker was different from people to people, from three minutes to eight hours. It was so little of time.

Suddenly, from the dark brain started to appear sparks of faint red lights that started to spread.

"It restarts the brain?" asked Lori in disbelief.

"No, just the brain stem" Jenner explained "Basically, it gets them up and moving"

"But they're not alive?" Asked Rick.

"You tell me"

"It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark"

Sarah nodded her head.

"That's why they just keep walking" she said "They cannot think, they just... move"

"Dark, lifeless, dead" Jenner said nodding his head "The human part...That doesn't come back. The you part"

If it was me, I would rather be shot, then become one of them.

Nicki's words come back to her mind as she looked to her sister that was now looking away from the screen looking at a side of the room.

She was right. If that was what happened, Sarah felt the same. Better die than become those monsters...

Suddenly a light passed through the subject brain, leaving a big hole making the movement of the corpse stop.

"God" said Carol "What was that?"

"He shot his patient in the head" said Andrea "Didn't you?" Jenner closed her eyes before ordering Vi to turn down the power on the screen.

They had seen the process, but that was all they got. There was nothing about how it started... or how to end it. She suddenly felt the urge to walk, she was feeling nervous. That would have never stopped, they would have never come back to their normal life. That would have never ended.

"God..." she muttered pacing around, then she noticed Daryl glancing at her for a moment before turning away.

Yeah, she was freaking out and she wasn't ashamed of that.

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

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal" said Jenner just confirming their fears.
"Or the wrath of God?" said Jacqui.

There was nothing anymore, anywhere. Rick asked if there were other people, other facilities, but Jenner told them that it had been in the dark for almost a month.

"Oh my..." Sarah said nervously trying to keep her hands for shaking. All of them were trying not to freak out.

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

Jenner observed her for a moment before nod his head sadly.

Her heart raced faster as all of them looked at each other in disbelief. Sarah searched for Nicki that was sharing a glare with Dale.

"Man, I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk again" she heard Daryl walking away from his spot rubbing his eyes.

"Dr. Jenner" Dale's voice made her turn "I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but..." what could have been worse than that "That clock...It's counting down" Sarah followed where Dale was pointing, the direction that Nicki had been looking too, she hadn't noticed the large clock with red numbers. They were counting backwords.

59.59, 59.58, 59.57...

Were those minutes?
"What happens at zero?" asked Dale with a worried tone. And he was right, nothing good could happen after a countdown if it wasn't New Year's Day.

"The basement generators...they run out of fuel" Jenner answer looking at the ground. That didn't help Sarah's anxiety at all.

"And then?" asked Rick. But Jenner ignored him, walking away.

"Vi, what happens when the power runs out?" Rick asked looking up waiting for the answer.

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur" what Vi said made her eyes widening.

Decontamination... whatever could happen, it wasn't good.