TS-19 PART 2
Natasha's young steel eyes were bright and fierce, giving the early morning sun an almost childish glare when she gazed up at it. It was because of its intensity that it made her feel hot and uncomfortable. Her adolescent brain though made her stubborn and she refused to acknowledge that she was even remotely hot, despite the obvious sweat rolling down the side of her face. Instead, she resided back to building a mote for her sandkingdom.
It started off as a simple castle but ended up growing into something grander because of how many castles she had made in such a short amount of time. It was actually quite impressive for a young child. No surprise that Natasha was proud of herself too.
The beach was surprisingly empty despite it being early morning. At this time you would expect there to be a decent crowd, but not today. There wasn't a single soul for miles around. Not in the water or walking alongside the beach either. It was one of those rare and empty days that people would rather be inside than out. Natasha didn't mind though. She quite liked the silence. There was something about the gentle ocean breeze and crashing waves that soothed her heart and eased any kind of worry or doubt.
Natasha was having a blast and it only made her smile more when she saw her mother doing the same. Her parents hardly ever smiled anymore and her memories of those days were few and far between. In her head, she had always remembered them having a very blank look on their faces. Their eyes would be totally glazed over and completely expressionless. They'd look at her...but it always felt like they were looking through her. As if their attention was brought somewhere else.
Both her mom and dad had a habit of doing that and it always freaked Natasha out. She never understood why though and was too afraid to even ask. She just ended up accepting that it was a weird quirk of theirs.
Natasha lifted her head and spotted her bright blue bucket laying a couple of feet away from her. She was planning to fill it with water and reached out to grab it, only to suddenly have her mom intercept her hand and grab the bucket herself. This abrupt motion startled Natasha and she jumped a little. Strangely enough though...her mom was still smiling at her like nothing was wrong.
"It's too early to go into the water. Your father and I will get it for you so you can finish your mote," she said in this sickening sweet voice that almost appeared forced. Staring at her smile though...Natasha noticed that even that looked fake and strained.
Natasha blinked and didn't know what to say at first. "But...the water's right there. I can get it." She lifted her arm and pointed out to the vast ocean that looked eternally blue and endless.
Her mom gently pulled her arm down and tilted her head to the side, the strained smile on her face slowly melting away to something more genuine...but also sad. "Natasha..." she said with a voice as quiet as a mouse. "Wait here...okay?"
Her mom's words were hypnotizing and immediately froze every joint in her body. Natasha gasped lightly and moved her eyes to look up at her dad. "Da...?" she croaked out, unsure of why she was losing the ability to speak.
Her dad had always been quite the character and was normally seen wearing a mischievous smirk on his face. His jokes being just as dry as his humor. Over the years though, he seemed to reside himself to becoming a quiet man as his humor deteriorated. He didn't do much anymore and would simply just stare into space for the longest time. Today was no different either and for the last hour, he had been doing nothing but stare out into the ocean with an exhausted but ready look in his eyes.
He forcefully tore his eyes away from the ocean and looked down at Natasha. "You gotta listen to your mother, Tasha," is what he said to her, now smiling for the first time in years.
Why now of all times was he smiling...?
Her mother got up off the ground but dropped the bucket that was in her hand. Natasha was wanting to remind her that she forgot it but found herself unable to speak anymore. Her voice had vanished in a blink of an eye and her body was still frozen like it was encased in a thick ice block.
Her mom and dad walked out towards the ocean with their hands intertwined together. Their feet met against the waves and they walked in without hesitation. They didn't stop there though and continued to move out until the water was at their hips...then waist...and finally chest.
Why were they going out so far? Natasha thought silently but was too hypnotized to even move an inch from her spot.
Their heads floated at the top of the water before sinking below the surface, the shadowy mass of their bodies disappearing seconds later with not even a ripple in sight. They were...just gone.
Seconds rolled by, then minutes, and finally the hours struck her like lightning when Natasha finally come to understand...that they weren't coming back.
Natasha woke from her dreamy state with a sharp gasp and took in the air that burned her lungs like fire. She didn't move from under the covers for a solid minute until the shaking had subsided, only then did she sit up in bed and looked around the room. The small space was soundless and pitch black. She couldn't even see her hand waving in front of her face. Still...she knew she was alone despite not being able to see anything.
"Old dream..." she muttered and flopped back into bed. "Old memory..."
She thought about going back to sleep but her body was still burning up from the heat of the covers. She just knew that she had sweated through her clothes since every bit of her body felt sticky. Reluctantly, she got up out of bed and dragged her weak knees over to take another shower. Luckily it turned out to be a good idea since the hot steam felt good against her skin. It made her feel a little better after getting out and putting on a white robe.
Natasha didn't feel ready to head back to bed just yet, so she grabbed her last cigarette and headed out towards the kitchen for some air and space. Also grabbing a wine bottle on her way there, too.
The kitchen was empty as expected and quite dark with only the backup lights on. There were also no footsteps behind her or strange disembodied rattling noises. It was so quiet that it made her briefly assume that the world wasn't on fire above ground right now.
She sat down and propped her legs up on the table while placing the cigarette between her lips, just mindlessly staring up at the ceiling as her wet hair dripped onto the floor. She didn't move to light it though and her arms remained limp at her side with the bottle close beside her chair.
As calm as she was at the moment, her anxiety suddenly began to rise up when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching from behind. Natasha snapped her head around to see who it was but immediately relaxed when it was Daryl wandering into the room, looking just as surprised to see her as she was to him.
"What the hell are you still doing up?" he said crudely. "I'd thought everyone would've passed out by now."
"I would've thought so too..." Natasha said in a dull whisper, taking in a deep breath and turning back around. She closed her eyes for a moment to try and calm her shuddering nerves.
Daryl walked past her and noticed her shinning wet hair dripping on the ground. "Did you seriously take another shower?"
"I don't wanna hear that from someone who hadn't taken one at all." She opened her eyes and looked at him when he took a seat across from her. "Speaking of which, when are you actually going to take one?" she said with a sly but innocent smirk.
Daryl didn't say anything and blew her off before pointing towards the cigarette that she still hadn't lit. "You gonna use that or not?"
Natasha took her cigarette out and stared at it, considering it for a moment before giving it up. She groaned and handed it over along with her lighter. "Here. You owe me another pack though. That's my last one."
Daryl rolled his eyes. "I'll keep a lookout."
"I'm an addict. You better." She reached down to the floor and picked up the wine bottle. She was about to take a sip but stopped though when these troubling thoughts pushed their way to the surface of her mind. "Daryl…mind if I ask you something?"
Daryl lit the cigarette and looked back up at her. "What?"
"Have...have you heard anything weird going on here? Like footsteps and jiggling door handles?"
Daryl slowly raised a brow and just stared at her like she was crazy. "What? This place is as quiet as a damn funeral home. I've heard nothing."
Natasha started to look a bit spooked to hear him say that. "You serious?" she said as if she found it hard to believe.
"Why would I joke around with something as stupid as that?"
A cold shiver ran up Natasha's back when she opened her mouth but nothing came out. She tried to stutter out some cohesive words but nothing was making enough sense for her to even speak anymore. Natasha just ended up falling silent at that moment and took a heavy swig from the wine bottle.
Daryl appeared a bit perplexed at first before scoffing. "And here I thought I had too much to drink. Lay off the bottle once in a while, will ya?"
"Please." Natasha rolled her eyes. "It takes a lot for me to get drunk. I bet I can even drink you under the table."
He paused at that and thought it over before shaking his head. "No you can't."
Natasha slapped the bottle back onto the table and stared at him with doubtful eyes. "Daryl, I drink wine as if it's water. I grew up with this crap. You can't beat me when it comes to drinking."
"Horse shit."
This made her laugh. "Ben said the same to me when we first started dating…talk about crushing a man's ego." Her lips threatened to twitch up into a smile but the sheer mention of her fiancé. It faded fast though when faced with the reality that he was no longer with her. The bitterness in her heart was the longest pain she had ever bared and it was clear that it was going to take a long time for it to heal. The memories that she had cherished with him only seemed to make things worse as time went on.
"Can I ask you something?" Daryl suddenly asked.
She picked her head back up curiously. "Hm?"
"The ink on your arm," he gestured towards her arm that was covered by her sleeve. "You like flowers or something?"
She blinked before rolling up her sleeve so they could get a better view of the beautiful arrangement. "You don't know what marigolds and lilies are used for? They're funeral flowers, Daryl. It's the one I had set up when my...my mom and dad died," she spoke bitterly through her teeth before running her hand up and down her ink-covered arm.
"What happened to them? Accident?"
Natasha sighed and dropped her sleeve. "That's what everyone always said to me…but I know it ain't that simple." She ran her hand to the back of her neck that had a much simpler tattoo of an inky ocean wave on it.
That sparked another question that Daryl wanted to ask but hesitated at first when he saw how uncomfortable she had become. Her face scrunched up in pain and her eyes trembled with anxiety.
Natasha cleared her throat and quickly changed the subject. "Sorry about your brother though. There's probably a chance he's still alive but it's harder than you think surviving out there by yourself."
"If anyone can do it, it's Merle." Daryl shot right back and didn't carry much worry for his brother, despite knowing that he's missing a hand.
"In any other circumstances, then yeah." She shook her head and reached for the wine bottle again. "Not in this day and age though."
Daryl tightened his jaw and turned away. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about," he said and took in a deep breath of smoke, burning nearly half the cigarette down.
Natasha's smile briefly returned to her lips. "Chances are I probably don't," she said weakly. "Really though. I do hope your brother's alright…even if he's the biggest jerk on the planet."
"He is a dick, I'll give you that, but…family, you know?" he shrugged.
She nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I get it." Things fell silent between them but this time it looked like Natasha was just trying to find her words. "Thanks."
Daryl pulled the cigarette away and looked at her. "For what? Talking with you?"
Her cracked lips stretched far and reached all the way to her ears, showing off the cool and shiny steel of her eyes as genuine laughter spilled from her mouth. "Yeah, and it's nice to know that I'm able to have a civilized conversation with you."
He rolled his eyes at her harmless and snarky remark before letting slip a half-smirk. He put out the last cigarette by rubbing it against the table. "What cigarette brand do you like best?" he asked just as Natasha got up to leave.
Natasha didn't stop while heading towards the door. "See if you can find me some Treasurer! The super-expensive kind!"
"You're a posh bitch!"
"Yeah, yeah. I know."
Daryl waited until Natasha really left before letting that half-smirk grow into a full-sized and genuine smile.
No one really knew what time it was but it seemed like a better moment than any for breakfast. Everyone was waking up slowly and walking into the kitchen as the food was being cooked and served by T-Dog.
Some were still hungover from the night before, others worse than most, like Glenn, but Natasha seemed to be doing good despite how much she drank. She was still dragging her feet though because of Lori's situation with Shane, and her own personal nightmares that prevented her from getting sleep. Still, she didn't feel too bad.
"Morning, Tasha," Dale smiled when she walked in and took a seat next to him. He had a feeling she would've woken up soon and already had a plate of powdered eggs prepared with some orange juice on the side. "You're hair...uh."
"Has seen better days. I know," she said in a drowsy voice, taking her fingers and brushing them through the ends that stuck up. "I took an extra shower and ended up going to bed with wet hair," she explained briefly and looked up at Glenn that sat across from her. His skin was an unusual shade of green and was hungover worse than everyone else. "How you doing?"
Glenn hunched over his food and groaned. "Ugh...don't ever, ever, ever let me drink again."
Natasha smiled. "You'll get used to it."
"I don't wanna get used to it if I feel like this the next morning." He looked up and met her steady eyes. "Why aren't you hungover?"
She shrugged. "It's because I know the tricks not to be. I drank a lot of water and juice before heading to bed. Along with an extra shower."
Glenn just stared at her like she was a creature from another world, teaming with the knowledge that no human would be able to comprehend. "That easy?"
"Some of the time." She was about to pull up the glass of juice when she saw Shane walk in, immediately making Lori stiffen up.
"Hey. Feel as bad as I do." Rick asked.
"Worse," Shane said while avoiding eye contact with both Lori and Natasha. He was clearly still thinking about what happened yesterday but wouldn't show his face long enough for anyone to notice that something was wrong.
"The hell happened to your neck?" T-Dog asked after noticing three large scratches on the side of his neck. It must've been from the time Lori scratched him when Natasha pulled him off.
Shane brushed it off. "I must've done it in my sleep."
"Never seen you do that before," Rick said.
"Me neither. Not like me at all." Shane finally lifted his eyes and stared at Lori but ended up getting a harsh glare from Natasha too when he did. He promptly lowered his head and continued eating.
Just then, Jenner walked into the room and headed over to the coffee stationed. "Morning," he said to his guests.
"Hey, doc," Shane said.
"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing..." Dale began.
"But you will anyways."
"We didn't come here for the eggs," Andrea said firmly with a set stare.
"Give me a playback of TS-19," Jenner ordered once they stepped into the lab.
"Playback of TS-19," Vi said and pulled what looked to be an MRI scan of a brain up on the main screen.
Natasha was still trying to keep the hangover back and walked into the lab with a full glass of juice in her hand. She took a seat on one of the chairs and rolled it a little closer to the screen. "What is that? A brain?" she asked while taking a sip of her juice. She also watched carefully as Jenner hesitated to speak.
"An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end," he said as his eyes shifted side to side before falling. "Take us in for E.I.V.."
"Enhanced internal view." Vi turned the screen to the side and zoomed in until they saw strange-looking wiring of flashing blue lights.
"What are those lights?" Shane asked.
"It's a person's life...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," Jenner said cryptically.
Daryl could only cocked a brow since he still wasn't following what this mad doctor was talking about. "You don't make sense ever?" He looked down when Natasha waved her hand to grab his attention.
"They're electric impulses that carry throughout the brain. They're like messages in a way, determining everything a person says and does. From life...all the way to death." she explained assuredly without a shred of doubt in her voice.
Daryl blinked. "Why would you know this?"
"I just...like to know how the brain works. So I studied up on it at one point. That's all." Natasha's jaw tightened while muttering against her glass and taking another sip.
"Death? That's what this is, a vigil." Rick asked and stepped up beside Jenner.
"Yes. Or rather a playback of the vigil."
"This person died?" Andrea asked in a croaked voice. "Who?"
"Test subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected...and volunteered to have us record the process." There was a strange shift in Jenner's voice when he said that. Of course, he was depressed but there seemed to be other lingering feelings behind his words. "Vi, scan forward to the first event."
"Scanning to the first event."
The screen began to fast forward until they saw this strange black substance seep into the wiring system of the brain. Starting at the stem and moving up. They could also see that subject 19 was struggling and clearly in agony while moving around.
Natasha placed her cup on the counter so she could focus more on the screen. "What in the world is that?"
"It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs."
"Then death..." Natasha finished solemnly for him. "I've seen this...many times when I was out there in the city." She took in a deep breath and lowered her head, closing her eyes tightly for a split second so she could collect herself. "They all wake up eventually but it varies for people, yeah?"
"Wildly," Jenner confirmed. "Tell me, what's the longest you've seen someone wake up?"
"Not sure. Roughly twenty-four hours?" she shrugged.
"We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard was eight hours. In the case of the patient, it was two hours, one minute...and seven seconds," he said wistfully
They scanned over to the second event after the first initial death. It clearly showed a red spark igniting within the stem and setting these strange impulses through the brain. It was different from before though. These sparks were weak instead of strong so the majority of the brain was still dark.
"It restarts the brain?" Lori said.
Natasha furrowed her brows and shook her head. "It doesn't really look like that. Something seems off."
"You're half right. It just restarts the brainstem." Jenner said while gesturing with his hand. "Basically, it gets them up and moving."
This was still wildly confusing to Natasha. "But...they're not alive. The infection obviously wakes them up again after death but it only does half the job. The stem is the only thing that's active. Nothing else. The rest is still dark."
"Lifeless. Dead," Jenner corrected. "The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part... that doesn't come back. The 'you' part. Just a shell, driven by mindless instinct." Once again, the tone of his voice sounded completely awkward and void of emotions. Just like a robot set to autopilot, like the rest of him as checked out from reality.
They watched the playback a little more as the patient began to twitch and squirm around abnormally as the infection took over. There was a flash of light though as something fast ripped right through the brain, silencing the patient and turning everything dark once more.
Natasha winced from the shock. "What was that?"
Andrea stepped closer to the screen with an unsettled look pushing up against her eyes. "He shot his patient in the head." She swallowed hard and looked over her shoulder at him. "Didn't you?"
Jenner said nothing of the matter and faced away from everyone. "Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations."
"Powering down main screen and workstations."
Half the room went dark when the light from the screen and computers powered down, leaving the survivors to reflect on what they just saw. Some were speechless but others looked more accepting of the fact that there was no real answer to all this...madness.
Natasha tighten her jaw and stood up from her chair. "You have no idea what it is, do you?"
Jenner shrugged. "It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal."
"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui spoke through clenched teeth.
"There is that."
"Somebody must know something," Andrea asked again. "Somebody somewhere. What about other facilities."
"There may 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," Jenner said.
"So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're saying, right?" Her heart sank to the ground when Jenner remained quiet, giving more of an answer than if he would've spoken. "Jesus..."
Daryl pressed his hands against his head. "Man, I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk again."
Both Dale and Natasha didn't know what to say after that but something was still amiss that both had noticed. Dale looked down at Natasha and saw her gesturing her head over to a large clock...that seemed to be counting down. It only had an hour left before the numbers hit zero.
"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?"
Natasha watched carefully as Jenner seemed to hesitate for what felt like the hundredth time today. "The..." His eyes showed obvious signs of shifting his thoughts around, firing off ways to work around the question. "The basement generators... They run out of fuel."
It became instant to her at that moment that this man wasn't telling the whole truth.
"What happens when the power goes out?" Natasha asked and waited with pressuring eyes to get her answer. It never came though, and the man only started to walk away without giving anyone a second glance. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"
"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur," Vi answered her just as Jenner walked out of the room, leaving a hundred more unanswered questions in his wake.
Author's Note:
Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate it!
We officially have 2 chapters left.
