I DO NOT OWN THE THE WALKING DEAD. SHOUTOUT TO RED CASE CRAZE FOR THEIR CONTINUE WORK ON THIS STORY.

The next day, everyone woke up and gathered for breakfast. Charlie and Alan were pleased enough to fill their bellies once again; however, the good feelings brought on by the decent food and lively night were spoiled by Dale.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing..." Dale started to say, spreading his hands, almost unobtrusively.

"But you will anyway." Edwin finished for the old man, pouring a cup of coffee and slipping a draught of whiskey into the mug.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea announced, bluntly. Amy gave her sister a tired look and after a heavy sigh and a long drink of his coffee, Dr. Jenner lead everyone into the big room as he turned on a video screen for all to see.

"Give me a playback of TS-19." The doctor commanded and obediently, VI did his bidding.

"Playback of TS-19," VI replied as a video of an active human brain appeared, accompanied by brain scans.

"Few people ever got a chance to see this, very few." Dr. Jenner insisted as up on the wall, an oversized display showed varying 3-D images of human skulls.

"Is that a brain?" Carl inquired, his face a mixture of grossed out and interested.

"An extraordinary one, not that it matters in the end." Jenner replied. "Take us in for E.I.V."

"Enhanced internal view," the main screen changed to show the upper shoulders and head of the subject.

The screen turned to a horizontal view and then increased the magnification. The image became more and more detailed; the magnification showed the inside of the skull. It appeared to be lit up with bright blue threads of energy. Some areas were denser, darker than others but there were glowing threads throughout the skull. The screen zoomed in until the threads became closer and pinpoints of light could be distinguished.

"What are those lights?" Shane asked, advancing on the screen, fists clenched as tight as Rick's jaw.

"It's a person's life: experiences, memories...it's everything." Edwin answered, distantly, gazing at the pictures lovingly, Charlie could see something sad in the Doctor's eyes and he wondered. "Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you; the thing that makes you unique and human."

"So, like your soul?" Alan asked, scoffing a little.

"More or less," Charlie answered.

"You ever make sense?" Daryl asked in return, flexing his fingers and glancing about with narrowed eyes and a tense aura.

"Those are synapses: electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages," the doctor continued. "They determine everything a person says does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death."

"To the moment of death," Rick repeated. "That's what this is, a vigil?"

"Yes or rather the playback of the vigil." Jenner clarified, tapping his fingers on a desk, nervously.

"This person died, who was it?" Lori asked curiously, beckoning Carl back to her side, like the images could somehow bite him.

"Test subject 19." Jenner answered as a look of great discomfort came over his face. "Someone who was bitten and infected…and volunteered to have us record the process." He waved a hand in dismissal, "VI, Scan forward to the first event."

"Scanning to first event," soon the screen showed a message Scanning Forward. The brain had lights still flickering in the outer areas but the centre was fast becoming black, like how rot moves through damp planks, the tendrils of life and light were being engulfed by the darkness.

"What is that?" Glenn questioned, alarmed by the rapid change on screen.

"It invades the brain like meningitis." Dr. Jenner explained, ignoring the questions and giving the details he wanted to. "The adrenal glands haemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs and then finally…death. Everything you ever were or ever will be…gone."

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked as Carol held her daughter close.

"Yes, honey, it is." Her mother replied sadly.

"Scanning to second event," Vi continued as a red glow flickered to life at the end of the spinal cord, connecting to the brain stem. The rest remained dark and although random sparks shot out into the larger area of the brain, no further lights grew.

"The resurrection times vary wildly," the doctor muttered, "we had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute… seven seconds."

"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked.

"No. No just the brain stem," Edwin answered. "Basically it gets them up and moving."

"But they're not alive?" Rick clarified, unclenching his jaw and wetting his lips.

"You tell me." Jenner shot back.

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

"Dark and dead and lifeless; the frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part—that doesn't come back, the parts of your personality are gone, you're just a shell driven by mindless instinct."

"A bona fide zombie," Alan commented softly as the screen showed the subject moving, its mouth opening and closing.

The head was moving from side to side and the shoulders moved as if the arms were being lifted. The barrel of a gun appeared at the forehead pointing down. A bullet entered the brain and tore through the red cluster of embers; the brain went completely dark as the subject stopped moving.

"God, what was that?" Mrs. Peletier asked in shock, hurriedly turning Sophia's face into her stomach to shield the child's eyes.

"He shot his patient in the head, didn't you?" Andrea asked in return, shifting her weight onto her left leg, crossing her arms unimpressed.

"VI, Power down the main screen and the workstations." Jenner commanded.

"Powering down main screen and workstations," the AI responded, the screens turned off and the room went momentarily dark until the overhead lights came back on.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea inquired as Amy tried to calm her sister.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal." Jenner shrugged and chugged the rest of his coffee.

"Or maybe it could just be the wrath of God?" Jacqui said as Charlie rolled his eyes.

"You still believe in God after all you've seen?" Charlie asked sarcastically.

"There is that." Jenner shot back, smirking.

"Somebody must know something, somebody somewhere." Andrea snapped, her tone becoming increasing grating on Charlie's ears, but he kept his tongue in check.

"Maybe the government is starting a task force?" Amy added.

"There are others, right?" Carol asked hopefully.

"There may be some, people like me." Jenner conceded, looking at the floor and scuffing his shoe like a naughty child.

"But you don't know?" Andrea asked incredulously. "How can you not know?"

"Everything went down." Edwin insisted. "You know, communications, directives, all of it…I've been in the dark for almost a month."

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

"Jesus..." Jacqui muttered.

"Man, I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk again." Daryl declared, rubbing his face before he stormed off.

"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." Dale asked calmly as he pointed out the large clock on the wall. "What happens at zero?"

"The basement generators, they run out of fuel." Dr. Jenner replied quietly.

"And then?" Rick inquired as Jenner ignored the question and walked out of the big room. "VI, what happens when the power runs out?"

"When the power runs out, facility wide decontamination will occur." VI stated as Charlie looked at Alan.

No matter what 'decontamination' meant, this could not be good.

REVIEWS NEEDED AND APPRECIATED.