The road never seemed so empty. The highway was clear, no vehicles could be seen for miles, except for the caravan of survivors that were fleeing the area after a walker attack. Andrea looked as if her world had crumbled down. She had just lost her sister, her only family in the chaos she was living through, she didn't speak a word during the trip, staying in a small seat in Dale's RV.
Alicia was also sad because of the loss of Amy, even though they didn't interact much during their days at the Atlanta camp, they had a friendly relationship. She also saw beforehand how the virus, or whatever it was in action. Ian had fallen asleep, trying to forget the horrors he had seen.
Shane was driving the police truck, while Martin was resting in the passenger seat. He knew that the attack they suffered was just the start of the horrors in the world.
During the trip, Alicia saw a road sign next to the road, thanks to her good vision, she could quickly read it.
Avoid Atlanta...
Looks like some people are still decent," she thought to herself.
"I think we'll be there in around 15 minutes," said Shane, who lowered his window to observe the area.
They finally made it. The Center For Disease Control. It was a very large facility, with one of the countries smartest doctors working within it. The area had been closed off with military trucks and with road blocks. It seemed to be useless, as a few walkers were around the area.The group began to take down the enemies, while Martin ran to the main doors, which had been shut down from the inside. He could observe a small camera in the corner, observing him and following his movements.
"I know y'all are in there! Let us in!" Yelled Martin, who began to hit the door with his shotgun.
"Martin it's gettin dark out here, we can't risk our skin," commented Shane.
He kept on knocking the door, while walkers from a large distance began to follow the yells of the survivors. Shane began to drag him to the truck when the door opened.
A medium-size man with short, blonde hair came out. He had a assault rifle in his hands, pointing at the survivors.
"Welcome to the CDC."
The group were lead into a large area which appeared to be a lobby for the public.
"Keep note that once I close these doors they aren't opening again," the man said, who typed in a code into a nearby machine, closing the doors.
"You'll get access down below only if all of you agree to a blood test, that's all."
"Anything, but let us stay," added Martin.
After they all complied, they followed the man through a large hallway.
"Can we know your name?" Asked Sarah.
"Jenner. Edward Jenner." he replied, without looking back behind him. They reached some sort of computer center, which Jenner walked to the middle and turned to face the group.
"Where is everyone?" asked Carol.
"I am everyone. This is it," he replied.
"Make yourself comfortable. The hot water runs on fuel, so try not to be so heavy with it," he added.
"Did he say hot water?" Asked Glenn, who's eyes began to get wide in excitment.
"I think so," replied T-Dog with a smile on his face.
The group had some of the best moments since the world crumbled down. They hadn't showered with hot water in a long time, and they wanted to enjoy each moment of it.
There was a room which appeared to be some sort of library with a lot of books, and some board games. There were over a dozen dorms in a area of the facility, giving members of the group some privacy from each other.
Tony was playing a board game with Carl, while Alicia read a book next to them on a couch. Carol approached her and took a seat next the woman.
"Enjoying yourself?"
"Sort of. At least I get my mind busy with these books," she replied.
Sophia joined the two other boys in the game.
"I'm okay if the kids are having fun. That's rare these days," Carol added.
Martin got a bottle of wine from a counter while Shane helped Dr. Jenner cook some food. After a while the group was called up to have dinner.
Through laughs and fun, the time went by flying. Once everyone had finished their meal, silence took over.
"I don't mean to be interrogative, but what is causing this crap?" Asked Shane, after taking a sip from a glass cup of alcohol.
Dr. Jenner looked up from the plate and faced everyone else.
"I don't know."
"What do ya mean you don't know?" Asked Daryl.
"It spreaded like wildfire. First thing we knew is that a strange pathogen was killing people. Few moments later, that turns into code red news, that the same thing was reanimating the dead, with a hunger for human flesh," he replied sternly.
"Being one of the biggest disease organizations in the world, you don't even have a clue of what this is?" Asked Dale in a soft tone.
"Once the chaos started, the staff decided to abandon the place. To be with their family. Others, opted out."
"What do you mean by, "opted out?" Asked Alicia, who moved her chair next to Martin, Shane and Sarah.
"They didn't want to face what was coming. They ended themselves. The pathogen was causing mayhem across the entire country. Once we got reports of the dead rising in Atlanta, by that time Los Angeles had already been bombed by the military in a last try to contain it.
" My god... And it didn't work..." Replied Sarah.
"It did not. After a few days of the bombing, we lost contact with them. A large number of them were sent here to protect the place, to protect us, because they still had hope that we could do something about it. Eventually all I could hear was gunshots and yelling from the soldiers, then, silence," Said the doctor.
The gang got up from the large table and entered their respective dorms. Shane and Sarah got a dorm next to the one were Martin, Alicia, Carl and Tony were resting. Martin took off his boots, and took off his badge that he was given the first day of service.
"Miss work?" Asked Alicia, who wrapped her arms around him.
"Not really, I could get used to not goin to work," he sarcastically replied.
"Are we going to stay here forever?" Asked Tony.
"Good question. Tomorrow first thing I'll do is ask Jenner what's going to happen next. Get some nice sleep kiddo," replied Martin.
He has known Tony since he was born, and saw him as his other child. His parents were heading to the safe zone in Atlanta a few days before Agnes got attacked, and Tony was left behind with Alicia. They were most likely dead, but he was not going to say that to a young boy.
Martin had a difficult time falling asleep. He was considered one of the leaders of the group, and he needed to protect them. The CDC might not be their haven forever, and there had to be a solution to that.
He turned around and saw his wife. He had a mission, it was to keep his family alive as long as he could.
Martin woke up and saw that his family was still sleeping. It was one of the best nights they've had since they left King County.
He walked down the hallway and saw Jenner at the computer center typing on a keyboard.
"I'll need your group here when they all wake up. I need to show you all something."
Once the group had gotten themselves ready, they all met at the main center.
"I thought I should show you this...Thing, we managed to record before we lost contact with the outside," commented Jenner.
around and saw his wife. He had a mission, it was to keep his family alive as long as he could.
Martin woke up and saw that his family was still sleeping. It was one of the best nights they've had since they left King County.
He walked down the hallway and saw Jenner at the computer center typing on a keyboard.
"I'll need your group here when they all wake up. I need to show you all something."
Once the group had gotten themselves ready, they all met at the main center.
"I thought I should show you this...Thing, we managed to record before we lost contact with the outside," commented Jenner.
A large screen appeared in front of them, some sort of projection.
"This person, was bitten, and infected. We can see what provokes, the dead to rise in this small sequence.
"Advance the sequence to fase 1."
"At this point, the person is suffering internal bleeding, heavy fever, nausea, you name it. The person eventually can't take the symptoms and passes away," added Jenner, spacing off.
"Get to fase 2."
"Around 2 hours have passed since this person's death. The brain, has no activity. The heart has stopped beating."
"What's that red thing at the back of the brain?" Asked Andrea.
"Those, are the electric pulses, activating certain parts of the brain. Whatever this is, it invades the brain like Meningitis. You, don't come back. Instead, It's something else, hostile, hungry." Jenner turned off the projector and sat on a chair.
Moments later...
"I haven't had this much fun since forever," Said Alicia, who was playing a board game with the kids.
"I guess it's okay to loosen up a little," replied Carol.
"Yeah, we could use-," the air conditioning had stopped. The lights in the room also got dimmer.
"What's goin on?" Asked Tony, who began to smell a foul odor..
"It smells like gasoline."
"Go get Martin!" Ordered Alicia.
He was having a few glasses of wine with Shane and the rest of the guys in another room, having a bit of laughs from one of Glenn's casual jokes.
"What's up? You seemed shaken," Asked Martin, who saw that Tony had a worried look on his face.
Once he explained what was happening, he ran over to Jenner's office.
"Why are the lights getting weak? Why is the damn air off?" Asked Martin, wanting straight answers.
"We're running out of fuel. The whole damn world runs on fossil fuel, how ridiculous is that?" replied Jenner, who began to pace around the room.
Martin and the guys ran down to the basement to check the fuel levels of the facility.
"Everyone check a barrel. We'll need to find the solution to this and fast," said Martin, who began to observe that most of the containers were almost empty. The rest also said the same.
The group were at the computer center, wanting answers from the doctor.
"We were all okay, but suddenly the air goes, then we almost lose the light? What's going on?" Asked Sarah.
At the same moment Martin and the rest of the guys got back from the basement.
"This place runs on gasoline and it's almost gone."
"What happens when the containers get completly empty?" Asked Shane.
The doctor did not respond.
"I said what happens when this damn place runs outta juice?!" He yelled.
"Normally, this place would shut down. But, in this case, thermal explosives would be released, avoiding the leak of any pathogen into the public space," he replied.
"Alicia, get our things, we're getting out here, now!" Yelled out Martin.
The rest of the women ran back to the dorms and began to pack all of their belongings, not wasting anytime.
The hallway that led to a large flight of stairs back to the surface was sealed by Jenner who introduced some code into the system, locking them in.
"The damn bastard locked us in!" Yelled Daryl. He grabbed a fireaxe and began to strike against the door, which didn't even seem to be getting damaged, not even with bullets from pistols and rifles.
"You can tell your friend over there that those doors are designed to resist a rocket launcher," said Jenner.
Daryl turned around and began to run towards the doctor.
"But your head ain't!" He striked at him, but Martin and T-Dog managed to calm him down.
A self-destruction timer began to tick down, with 30 minutes remaining.
After almost 10 minutes of trying to make a plan to convince Jenner to let them out, he had it.
"Why are you locking us in?"
"You know what's out there. Is that, what you want for your family?"
He turned and gave Alicia a long look.
"We deserve a chance, my daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!" cryed out Carol.
"It's only a milisecond, no pain, nothing. In short words, like a blink of eye." He replied.
"We deserve a chance. Just let us keep going as far as we can," added Alicia, who was holding Ian and Tony's hand.
Jenner gave Martin a stern look.
"The doors up top are sealed shut, I can't upon those," he introduced the code again and the door opened.
"Come on, let's go!" Yelled Daryl, who grabbed a bag of supplies and ran into the hallway. The rest of the group followed.
"I'm thankful," replied Martin, who gave Jenner a smile.
"The day will come when you won't be."
He shook his hand, and the doctor grabbed him by the shoulder and whispered something into his ear. He only stared back at him.
"Come on Martin, we only got 5 minutes left!" Yelled Sarah.
"You know what's out there. You've seen what it does to people," said the doctor to Martin.
"I'm willing to take my chances."
Martin gave him one last look and ran through the hallway, climbed a large stairwell and reached the main lobby of the facility.
"The windows won't give to the damn bullets!" Yelled T-Dog.
Sophia saw a restroom in a corner. She ran over and opened the door, revealing a walker, who was leaning agaist the door, making it fall on her.
Alicia ran over and grabbed a screwdriver and killed the walker. It was a former military officer, who had a large scratch on his face. She began to examine his corpse, when she saw a frag grenade clining to his vest. She grabbed it and gave it to Martin.
"Guys get back from the windows!"
Martin ran over and pulled the ring on the grenade, and let go of it next to the window.
"Holy shit!"
He ran away and jumped in order to get farther, and the grenade exploded, destroying the large windows that were keeping them inside.
The gang ran out into the front field, taking out the walkers that were present. They took cover inside their vehicles, ducking their heads.
The facility after a few moments exploded, causing to fal apart nd leave behind debris, flames and smoke.
Martin could only watch in gaze as the CDC fell apart, giving off a large amount of heat towards them.
They started their rides and turned around on the road, with their sights on fort Benning hoping for safety there. The caravan abandoned the area, while walkers from anothet direction were attracted by the flames and smoke.