AN: Hi guys! Sorry I have been MIA here for a while. I started college and just haven't had the time to even sit down and write like I used to. Anyways... Here's the new chapter! Please leave me reviews. It lets me know that people are reading this story, and it helps me stay motivated even when I have writers block, so please review! Thanks! :)
Daryl pulling on my arm brought me out of my shocked state. My pace instantly picked up as every member of the group ran into the lobby of the CDC. "Mels, get closer." I heard Daryl say as everyone with a weapon went into fighting mode. I instantly raised my bow and matched his stance. We snuck around the corner, before completely stopping, seeing a man in a lab coat. "What do you want?" the man asked, awkwardly holding his gun. "All we want is a chance," Rick said. The man, whose name was Dr Jenner finally responded with, "If you have anything in your vehicles, go get it and return back. You won't be able to get them after I close those doors. You won't be able to go back out."
Rick and a couple others went to go get the leftovers while Daryl and I stood guard, already having brought everything with us. "I don't know if this is good, Dar." I said, my eyes scanning the group as they quickly hurried. "Seems too good to be true," he replied, his eyes doing the same. "Well, I guess we'll find out," I said as everyone walked back through the doors, them locking shut behind us. "If everyone would follow me please?" Dr Jenner said as he led us towards an elevator. We all piled in the small elevator one by one, with me and Daryl coming in last. The ride was silent as I felt ourselves go deeper underground. "Now when we get in here, I have to follow protocol." We all nodded as the elevator came to a halt.
We all got out and followed him into the next room. "I have to take your blood just for safety measures and things like that. Who wants to go first?" I was fixing to step forwards whenever Rick walked forward. "My family will go first." After they all went, I stepped up. "Name?" he asked as I sat down in the chair. "Melanie Dixon." He quickly inserted the needle, drawing as much blood as needed and then he was ushering me out of the chair. "Next," he said as Daryl plopped himself in the chair and said his name. "Are you two related?" Daryl gave him an odd look before saying, "She's my wife." Dr. Jenner just nodded, before quickly finishing everyone up.
As soon as Andrea went to stand up, her hands reached for the wall. Dr. Jenner instantly walked up and asked twenty questions to Andrea before leading us into another room with a kitchen and dining room. "We have plenty of food. Pick what you like and eat up!" He walked out of the room before any of us could say our thanks or ask any questions. Daryl and I quickly helped ourselves to a plate of french fries and a frozen cheeseburger. Somewhere T-Dog had found glasses of wine and slowly passed around with everyone taking a glass. "I'm going to go talk to the guys," he said pecking my cheek and walking over to Glenn. "Keep on drinkin man! I wanna see how red your face can get!" All of us let out loud laughter at that. Daryl was finally coming out of his shell, granted it was with the help of alcohol, but still.
Rick's voice broke us from our laughter. "I don't think we've properly thanked our guest." Everyone instantly raised their glass and we said thanks. "Booyah!" Daryl hollered making everyone burst into laughter again. After a few seconds, we all quieted once more. "I hate to ask questions," Shane began, "but where's everyone else?" Dr. Jenner was quiet for a couple of seconds before saying, "I'm the only one left. Some ran, others...opted out." We all were quiet a minute before Jacqui's voice spoke through the quiet. "So you mean, they just quit?" He nodded, before Glenn slurred out, "Dude, you're such a buzz kill." I let out a small smile, laughing at Glenn's state. Mostly everyone was either drunk or tipsy, but I was neither. I didn't mind alcohol, but this was not the kind I preferred.
"If you guys want me to show you where you'll be sleeping, follow me," Dr. Jenner said standing up and walking through an adjacent door. Daryl quickly grabbed our supplies and Jenner started telling us about not using too much electricity and things like that. "I'll tell you more about all those things tomorrow. First, go get a hot shower and some sleep." Daryl and I turned to each other smiling at the fact of hot water. "Hot water!" Glen hollered as he took off down the hallway jumping like a kid. "Let's go get a bed Mels," Daryl whispered into my ear. After searching for a room away from the others, we finally found one with a decent sized bathroom. "You first?" I asked, grabbing some towels from the racks. "Let's just shower together." I nodded and instantly began peeling out of my clothes. Daryl and I practically ran to the shower, instantly turning it on hot, ready to hop in.
After the water was good, both of us slowly hopped in, taking our time even though we weren't supposed to take that long. I finished before Daryl, so I got out while he was still in there. "Even to this day you still take longer showers than me," I said, wrapping a towel around my hair. He let out a laugh, "Watch your mouth, sunshine." I smiled at his choice of words and said, "I'm going to go get a drink, want something?" He peeked his head out and said, "Sure, whatever they got." I nodded and quickly changed into a pair of sweats and made my way down the hall. I grabbed two bottles of water and was about to turn the corner to my room whenever I heard two heated voices. "...listened to a heartbeat and I did not hear one! I had to keep y'all safe, and get you to Atlanta!" Shane's voice crept through the door. More words were exchanged but not everything was loud enough for me to hear. "It's because I love you!" I heard Shane almost scream. I heard feet quickly moving so I practically sprinted down the hallway before slowing up and walking into our room. I shut the door and let out a sigh as Daryl walked in and sat on the bed, hand outstretched for a bottle of water.
"You okay?" he asked, peering at me. "Yeah, just heard some stuff." I said, sitting down and opening my bottle. "Like what?" I shook my head and took a drink. "I know it was Shane but I ain't sure about the other. It sounded like Lori though." He got up and walked to the head of the bed, and pulled at the covers. "Come on, let's go to sleep." I sighed, and placed my water bottle on the nightstand before standing up and following Daryl to bed.
"Mels? Babe, wake up, there's eggs." I flicked my eyes open only to see Daryl peering down at me. "I could get used to this," I said lacing my arms around his neck. "You were used to it. Remember?" I let out a sigh before pulling him down to kiss me. It was just a little peck but it still made my stomach fill with butterflies. "I know. I guess this means I gotta get up right?" He nodded before smirking and getting off. We instantly threw some 'clean' clothes on and put on our shoes. "Let's go," he said opening the door for me. We walked through the hallway and into the kitchen whenever we heard T-Dog laughing. "Good morning guys," I said as I grabbed two plates from the counter and brought them over to the table, sitting one down in front of Daryl. "Hungover there, kid?" I asked, looking at Glenn who looked almost green. "You ain't that much older than me." was all he said as he put his face in his hands. "You're like twenty," I said shaking my head. "I'm twenty nine." He made a noise as a stuffed myself, quickly eating all of my eggs. "Coffee?" I heard Daryl whisper. I nodded as he stood up and brought two cups back before sitting it down in front of me.
He sat down and my hand instantly went to his thigh. I rubbed it as a sign of thanks before taking it off as soon as Rick said, "Shane, what's on your neck?" He pointed to three scratch marks and said, "This? Must've done it in my sleep." My eyes narrowed with questioning, but relaxed whenever Dale spoke. "I'm sorry to bombard you first thing in the morning with questions-" "But you will anyway. It's fine," Dr. Jenner said walking into the room. "Follow me whenever you're finished." Daryl and I quickly followed him in the room before standing off the side, looking at the countless numbers of computer monitors. "Give me a playback of TS-19, Vi" he said as everyone slowly came in the room. "Very few people get a chance to see this, so pay attention." Our eyes turned to a screen of a brain, lit up with lights passing through it. We all watched the screen for a few moments. "What are those lights?" Shane asked after a bit. "It's a person's life. Experiences, memories, everything that makes you, you. In all those things, those make up you. Everything is in those synapses." He took a breath before saying, "TS-19 was a vigil. She was bitten and infected and volunteered to record the process. Scan to the first event, Vi." The computer screen moved forward.
Our eyes instantly turned back to the screen. Al l of the light blue lights had suddenly turned red, dispersing all throughout the brain. "What is that?" Glenn asked, scratching his chin where hair had started to slightly form. "This disease invades the brain like meningitis. Your adrenal glands hemorrhage, your brain will break down, and then you go into organ failure. It shuts your body down, and then you die." All was quiet except for Andrea's quiet but still hearable sobs and Carol's consoling. "Scan to the second event Vi." The screen instantly sped forward showing very minor changes, until the brain reanimated. "The resurrection time depends on the person. Some is as little as three or four minutes, while others take nine hours." We all were silent as the 'meningitis' covered the brain, taking all of it.
"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked incredulously. "Not fully. It's mainly the brain stem. It gets them up and moving, but they're not really alive. The front part here, the neocortex, that's what makes you yourself, that part doesn't come back. So you're basically a shell, with the animalistic instinct." My eyes skimmed the room out of instinct. My eyes instantly turned to Lori as she said, "What was that?" I looked to the screen to see a giant gash through the patient's skull. "You shot the patient didn't you?" Andrea spoke. Dr. Jenner didn't say anything for a few minutes before saying, "Vi, power down the main stations."
"There are tons of things that it could be. Many ways it can be spread possibly, there's really no one who knows." He trailed off. Andrea's voice rang out in the empty room. "Who's left? I mean your people." He looked around a moment before saying, "Just me. I'm all there is left. I've been in the dark for almost a month. There's nothing left anywhere anymore." I felt Daryl's arm slide around my waist and grip it for comfort. My hand instantly wrapped around and squeezed him closer. "I'm gonna get shit faced drunk." Daryl said as everyone instantly dispersed around the room, taking all the new information in. I let out a little chuckle, before resting my head against his shoulder. Dale's pacing instantly caught my eye.
"Wonder what the old man's thinking about?" I muttered against his shoulder. "There's no telling. Probably something we don't need to worry about." I nodded and stifled a yawn. "Sleepy?" I nodded. He let out a small chuckle and took a breath. Right as he was about to speak, Dale's voice came ringing out with a question I hadn't really thought about. "Doctor I hate to be taxing and ask one more question, but what's with the clock that's ticking down? And what happens at zero?" Dr. Jenner turned to Dale and said, "Oh, the uh, basement generators run out of fuel, and then…." His voice trailed off, leaving us. I picked my head up and crossed my arms. "And then what?" Daryl whispered under his breath with a scoff to follow.
"What happens when the power runs out?" Lori called from the corner of the run. "Vi, explain what happens when the basement generators run out of fuel." Rick's booming voice came throughout the room. "In the event that the basement generators run out of fuel, high-impulse thermobaric or HIT's fuel air explosives are deployed which results in facility wide decontamination." The air instantly turned silent, each person in the room left breathless. My face turned to meet Daryl's in a state of confusion. "What does this mean, Mels?" he asked shakily. "I've only heard of HIT's once before. They're not pleasant. Basically, it kills things with fire." I said just as shaky. Daryl's eyes opened and filled with tears. Suddenly, the lights cut off, leaving us in a room of darkness. "What's going on?!" I heard Glenn shout. "Emergency lighting, engaged." Vi's voice cut out through the room, our eyes getting adjusted. "The building is prioritizing its power. All of it is going to these computers. Zone 5 is shutting itself down."
"Everyone get your things, NOW!" Rick screamed at the top of his voice. I kissed Daryl on the cheek and ran down the hallway as fast as my little feet could take me. I ran to the room and threw the door open, grabbing our clothes and anything else we would need like soaps, towels, etc. I grabbed Daryl's bow and mine and ran from the room not bothering to shut the door. I crossed into the room about to yell Daryl's name whenever I saw him going for Dr. Jenner with an ax. "What the hell are you doing!" I hollered at the men surrounding Jenner. "There's no power grid, no extra juice. The world runs on fossil fuels, how stupid is that?" Jenner said, laughing shakily. Daryl quickly rejoined me, angrily cracking his knuckles. "What's going on?" I asked, crossing my arms. Daryl pursed his lips and pointed to the steel doors that we'd come through in the very beginning. They were now sealed shut, with the only thing letting us through them was the keypad next to Jenner. "Oh," I whispered, my eyes downcast.
"Why?" I asked, angrily. "Just let us out of here, please. Open the doors." I said. "The doors are topside locked down. They won't open." Jenner said nonchalantly, and in the calmest voice imaginable. "Well open the damn things," Dale spoke. "That's not something I control. It's all the computers doings. It's beyond my control." He said, picking at his fingernails. My eyes flickered around the room taking in all of the families that were huddled together. They didn't deserve this. They were good people.
"Ok, what happens in twenty-eight minutes then?" Shane asked, pointing to the clock on the wall. Jenner finally showing some emotion angrily stood up and walked over to our group. "You know what this place is!" he began. "We protected the public from VERY nasty stuff! "Weaponized small pox! Ebola strains that could wipe out THREE-FOURTHS of this country!" My teeth gritted as I watched Jenner compose himself and fix his jacket. "In a catastrophic failure, a terrorist attack for example, HIT's are deployed to prevent any of these organisms from getting out." Everyone took in the information, while Daryl openly hugged me hard and fast. "What are HIT's," Rick called out, while everyone watched the actions between Daryl and I.
Dr. Jenner never answered. Meanwhile someone must've called VI out to answer, but neither Daryl nor I was paying any attention. We just stared into each other eyes whenever VI's ending sentence caught my attention. "It consists of a two stage explosion that produces a blast wave of significant power known to rival even that of nuclear power." Daryl and I let out a sigh at the same time. "We are not going out like this," he whispered into my hair. "I promised your mom I'd keep you alive no matter what it took. I intend to keep that." My eyes filled with tears. "It sets the air on fire." Jenner said. "The French, Andrea." Her head turned to his. "They were the last to go under. This will end the pain, the suffering."
My face if possible turned even more still as I sunk to the floor. Daryl helped me down slowly before pecking my forehead and walking away. The sound of smashing bottles and loud thunks brought my back. "Those doors are to withhold rocket launchers." Jenner said, thoroughly amused at the men clambered around the door. "Yeah, well your head ain't!" I heard Daryl say before running down the ramp to hit Jenner. I hopped up as fast as I could, "WOAH!" I hollered. "He ain't worth it." Daryl instantly dropped the ax. He led me over to the chairs where we sat for at least ten minutes just cuddling into each other. A gunshot broke our silence. We jumped up to see Shane holding a gun, shooting computers next to Jenner. Rick pushed Shane out of the way and began speaking to him, not loud enough for us to hear. "This is not what I expected coming into here. You would think they'd have stayed just a bit longer." Daryl said. "I'm grateful." Rick's voice echoed out. Everyone began gathering their bags and started running towards the door.
Daryl grabbed all the weapons in the room, while I grabbed our bags. Our feet carried us up the stairs and out of the underground portion of the CDC. We ran and ran for what seemed like ages until we got to the opening. As soon as I tried pushing on the door, nothing happened. "Rick, these doors won't budge!" daryl left my side and began trying to hack away at the windows with the ax. "Hold on, I got something that'll help!" Carol timidly said from offside. "Carol a nail file ain't gonna help us." Shane said. He was never optimistic. Carol quickly handed over what looked like a grenade. "Found it in your pants the first time you came into camp. Kept it cause I thought we may need it one day."
She didn't say anything and no words were spoken, just a nod from Rick for thanks. Everyone got as far away from the windows as they could before getting down on the grown. Daryl slung his body on top of mine as Rick got ready. "I love you Melanie. I love you." Daryl said as the blast shook the building.
Silence was all I heard. Daryl grabbed my arm and began pulling me out the window. I stopped and motioned him to go on and kill the walkers in the area that had to have heard the blast. Sophia walked up to window and stuck her hand out, asking me to help. I nodded my head and picked her up and set her on the ground and waited for Carol to get out. Finally after everyone was out, I grabbed the ax by my feet and began running towards Daryl's truck.
I ran as fast as I could, diving past some walkers while killing others that got in my way. As soon as I rounded my way to Daryl's truck, the driver's side door opened and he grabbed me, pulling me in. I landed on top of him as was about to get under whenever a blast ten times louder than the one before wrecked its way through. The heat was immeasurable and I was sure I'd gotten burnt. As soon as it came, it was gone.
Slowly, I began lifting myself off of Daryl to take a look and see just what had happened. As soon as my head peaked high enough to see through the windshield all I could see was black fire and smoke making its way into the sky. Every walker within a twenty mile radius would be making its way here soon, and that wasn't good at all. I climbed off of Daryl into the passenger's seat, shaking my head trying to get my ears working again. I stuck my finger in my ear trying to clean them out, but I felt Daryl's calloused hand touch mine. I couldn't hear most of his words, but some of my hearing had started coming back. "You ok?" he asked. I nodded my head, taking a look at my extremities. "You?" I asked. He just nodded and said, "Well I have you." I let out a small smile given the circumstances I was in.
Daryl's hand pointed to the burning mass. "Well, looks like we're about to head out. Who knows where the hell they're gonna take us this time." I shook my head and closed my eyes. "C'mhere." I slowly inched my way over and rested my head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around me. "It's okay. We're alive, and that's all that matters." I nodded my head once again and before I knew it I was falling asleep to the scent of my favorite person.