Chapter 13: Never Underestimate
Brooke woke up the next morning still in Daryl's arms. She smiled and got up from the bed. He grabbed her waist and pulled her back down. She squeaked as she fell on top of him and he laughed.
"That's payback." He smirked.
"All I did was wake you up, you just happened to snort." She replied.
"I still think you planned it."
"You fell asleep on my cheek! I couldn't move it!" she defended.
"Let's just say we're even." He said. She scooted up and kissed him.
"Even, now let's get dressed. We gotta pack up and I gotta check on Jim." She gave him another quick kiss and got dressed. She pulled on a red v-neck, a light pair of skinny jeans, and her combat boots. She brushed out her messy hair so it was straight and left the tent. She walked into the RV.
"Hey Jimmy, how're you doing?" she asked.
"I can't keep anything down, doc." He replied in a raspy voice. Rudy was at the end of his bed with his head across his legs.
"Here let me clean out the bucket really quick." She sighed. "Just relax and take slow breaths." She came back just in time. "We're going to the CDC. Maybe they have a cure for you there?"
"Hopefully. What were you doing at that medical convention? Just tell me something to take my mind off this, please."
"Well it was on this." She replied. "I am a medical doctor but I do cancer research as well. They invited me along with a couple other doctors to go to Atlanta and study it. Once I realized that this was worse than it seemed I called a limited amount of people to go to my beach house. I left a day early so I could grab some things and leave town. I had to stop at the grocery store Glenn found me at so I just stayed there."
"Do you think there is a cure?" he asked.
"It's possible." She said.
"Slim chance, huh?" he replied.
"Nothing is impossible." She said in a warm tone. She checked his temperature, which was through the roof, refilled his water, and left with Rudy. Rick walked back from the Mustang which he put a note on.
"Is everyone ready?" he asked.
"Um, we're not going." Morales said. "We have family in Montgomery. I have to think about what's best for my family."
"You won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane said.
"That's a risk we have to take." Morales said. Rick went over and gave him a radio.
"Be careful out there." Rick said and shook Morales' hand. Carl and Sophia ran to the kids and cried. Brooke said her goodbyes to the adults but the kids jumped into her arms. She put them down and gave the family a kiss on their cheeks. She left and called Rudy into her car. They left the quarry and went on the road. They drove until the RV broke down again from the lack of a radiator hose. They all got out of their cars. They stood around trying to figure out what to do when Jacqui came out of the RV.
"Guys, it's Jim. He's not doing well at all!" she said. Brooke climbed into the RV.
"Hey there Jimmy." She greeted. "What's up?"
"Brooke, I want to die. I want you to leave me outside." Brooke was about to protest. "I want this. Please, just leave me here with my decision." Brooke nodded and went outside.
"He wants us to leave him here." She told them. "He practically begged me to let him die. I say it's his decision, let him do what he wants. He personally thinks its best. I think he finally wants to be reunited with his family." The others nodded and carried him out under the shade of a tree. They all went over to him one by one and said their goodbyes. Brooke walked over to him with tears in her eyes.
"Hey there Doc." He smiled and she chuckled. "You be careful out there. Take good care of this group for me okay?"
"Of course I will." She said wiping her eyes.
"Thank you so much for taking care of me and standing up for me back there." He said. "You're a great person." She gave him a kiss on his cheek.
"You're a great person too. Goodbye Jim." She said.
"Goodbye Doc." He replied and she walked away from him. Glenn stood there and offered her a hug. He had been crying as well. She hugged him and he comforted her. Daryl could feel the anger in his body. "They're just friends." Jim said to him. Daryl nodded and walked away from him.
"You okay?" she asked Glenn.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine." He said trying to sound as manly as possible. "Are you?"
"Yeah, he was just a good guy. He kinda reminds me of my dad sometimes." She said.
"Come on! We gotta go!" Daryl yelled. Brooke smiled and squeezed Glenn's hand as she left to go to her car and Rudy followed. Not before he licked Jim's face of course.
"Glenn's really nice. He's such a good friend." Brooke thought.
"Man, Brooke is so hot!" Glenn thought. "Never tried out this whole friends first thing before." They all drove away, leaving Jim to the elements. Brooke looked in her mirror and saw Jim waving at her. She waved back and felt her tears coming back. She quickly shook them away and kept going. Rudy rested his head on the glove compartment and whined a little bit.
"It's okay boy." She told him and patted his head. They arrived at the CDC at sunset. There were dead bodies everywhere. Most of them were Army. They walked up and the CDC was closed. Rudy started to snarl.
"Walkers!" Daryl called.
"Come on man this is a dead end!" Shane told Rick. They started to walk away.
"The camera moved!" Rick said. "Didn't you see it?" Brooke ran to Rick.
"I saw it!" she claimed.
"Please open the door you're killing us! We have children!" Rick told the camera.
"Rick come on man let's go!" Shane yelled.
"Come on Doc!" T-Dog yelled. They were about to walk away when the door opened. A blinding light came through.
"Are any of you bit?" a man asked.
"One but he didn't make it." Brooke said.
"What do you want?"
"A chance." Rick answered.
"That's an awful lot to ask for these days." The man said. "To gain admission everyone has to take a blood test."
"We can do that." Brooke said.
"Grab your things. Once this door closes it stays closed." They all grabbed their things and went into a huge elevator. The man introduced himself as Dr. Edwin Jenner. The rest introduced themselves.
"Dr. Brooke Walsh." She greeted and shook his hand. "I've read about your work. I'm very impressed and it's an honor to meet you."
"Well, I've never had anyone say that to me before." Dr. Jenner smiled. "Well, always pleased to meet a fan." They went underground and they took a blood test. Brooke was more than happy to help Jenner with it. Once Andrea was done she almost fell to the ground.
"Are you okay?" Jenner asked.
"She hasn't eaten in days. None of us had." Brooke explained.
"Get your group together, the cafeteria has lots of food and drinks." He said. She nodded and got her group together. They all gathered around a table in the cafeteria. They ate delicious warm food for the first time in a long time. Most people just had a glass of wine. Daryl had his bottle of whiskey to keep him company. They talked and laughed at each other's stories.
"Can I try some?" Carl asked his mother who was drinking her red wine.
"Oh I don't know." She replied.
"Come on, what harm could it do?" Rick asked. Lori laughed and gave him her glass. He started slow at first but then took a quick gulp. His face scrunched up.
"Ew!" he yelped. Lori gave him a kiss on his head.
"That's my boy." She said. Brooke laughed.
"I would just stick to soda, handsome." Brooke chuckled. Daryl looked at Glenn.
"Not you little man! I wanna see how red your face can get!" Daryl exclaimed and passed him the Jack Daniels. Glenn shot a panicked look at Brooke who was still laughing. He took a sip.
"That's good!" Glenn said. Brooke took a sip of her water.
"Come on girly!" Shane said. "Take a swig of whiskey! I know you love it!"
"Oh no thank you." Brooke said. Jenner secretly smiled at her. She reminded him so much of his wife. She was happy, polite, and smart.
"Come on! I know you can't drink but live a little!" Daryl said.
"I can drink! I just don't do it all the time. I know I can drink better than you!" Brooke said. Shane and Rick laughed and Daryl had a evil smirk on his face. She knew she shouldn't had said her last sentence.
"Is that a challenge?" Daryl asked.
"Oh!" the group echoed.
"Alright how about this?" Rick announced. "Ten seconds is the limit, who ever can continually drink the longest wins."
"Come here Little Walsh!" Daryl challenged. Brooke ran a hand through her hair and sighed. She looked over at Jenner and mouthed an apology. He nodded and motioned with his hand to go.
"I'll be the official!" T-Dog said. "I don't know what Little Walsh will try and pull. "Alright Daryl, you first." Daryl went and drank for about five seconds. They all counted it and he shook his head after. He passed the bottle to Brooke.
"Go, unless you're chicken." He mocked a chicken. She rolled her eyes.
"You watching me Teddy?" she asked.
"Ready when you are Little Walsh!" he chuckled. Brooke took a deep breath and lifted the bottle up. They counted and she could see Daryl's eyes grow wide. She stopped at eight seconds and gasped. They all clapped and cheered for Brooke.
"Ok no more for me! I'll stick to water but just know I can indeed drink!" she said and slowly walked back to her chair. She lifted her glass of water. "We have not yet properly thanked our host Dr. Edwin Jenner. Thank you for welcoming us into the CDC. You are a very kind gentleman. Cheers!" Dr. Jenner raised his glass and nodded.
"Booyah!" Daryl cheered.
"So if I may ask, what happened here?" Shane asked.
"Shane, not now."
"Well, I'm the only one here. Everyone else left or ended themselves. I just continued working." Jenner continued his sad story and the group got quiet.
"Dude, you are such a buzz kill." Glenn said to Shane who hung his head. Jenner walked them through the facility.
"We have beds, couches, books, just don't use any of the games or anything that'll suck up the power. Watch it with the hot water too." He said.
"Hot water?" Glenn asked.
"That's what the man said." T-Dog smiled. While the showers were taken up Brooke showed herself around. She walked into an office with a picture on the desk. She looked at the picture and remembered the woman. Someone knocked on the door behind her.
"I'm sorry Dr. Jenner, I didn't know this was your office." Brooke apologized.
"Do you know who she is?" he asked.
"Dr. Alice Jenner." She replied. "I've read about her before. She's truly brilliant and contributed so much."
"I'm surprised you know so much about scientists." He replied.
"What can I say, I'm a nerd." She said and he chuckled. "Is she…"
"Yes." He said sadly.
"I'm so sorry." She said.
"Did you know anything about the virus before the outbreak?" Jenner asked.
"I did research on the side of being a medical doctor. I specialized in cancer research. I went to a convention for it with a couple of doctors that were selected with me. I quickly knew that this was so much worse than they said it was." She sighed remembering the doctors she went with. "Do you think that there's any way that there is a cure?"
"It's possible but it's very slim." He said.
"What about natural immunity?" she asked.
"I've thought about that and tested it." He replied. "There can be a natural immunity with a certain blood type." He said. After a long conversation he told her the showers were ready. She took that as a goodbye and left. Rudy trotted down the hall as wet as he could be. He smelled fresh and not like a dirty sock. Carl came up to her.
"I bathed him!" he said. She gave him a kiss on the forehead.
"Thanks, handsome!" she said and continued to the showers. No one was in there except her. She turned on the hot water, found strawberry shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. She grabbed a razor from her bag and shaved for the first time in a long time. She closed the curtain behind her. She started to dance along to the song in her head.
"You make me feel like I'm livin' a teenage dream! The way you turn me on! I can't sleep, lets run away and don't ever look back! Don't ever look back!" she belted. She heard a chuckle on the outside. She stuck her head outside of the curtain and saw Daryl.
"You sure that whiskey didn't get to ya?" he snickered. Her face got really red.
"I just like that song okay!" she said and continued her shower. She heard her curtain open and saw Daryl standing there. "Man, you are a pig. What have you been doing? Rolling around in the mud?"
"Shut up." He smiled. She still had pink suds on her body. He went up to her and embraced her.
"Uh-uh." She said. "You know me, Mrs. Germaphobe. You come and get me when you're clean." She kissed him real quick but ran out with her towel when he tried to grab her again. She snickered when she heard him moan in aggravation. She put on a pair of yoga pants over her underwear, a blue cami, and brushed her hair out. She opened the door and saw Shane storming down the hallway. He had scratches on his neck that were oozing with blood. "Shane, what happened?" she asked.
"Nothing." He grumbled. She led him to a lounge and got her bag full of medi-kits. She started to clean the wound and put bandages over it.
"Did Lori do it?" she asked and he nodded. "What happened between you two now. First, I catch you two in the act, then Jacqui tells me she yelled at you to leave her and Carl alone, now she scratched your neck." She asked. Shane looked at her in shock. "Never underestimate my ability to find shit out." She smirked and Shane chuckled.
"I lost it Brooke." He hung his head in shame. "I asked her why she's been treating me the way she has. I explained to her that I tried to save Rick and I thought he was dead! I love her, Brooke."
"Okay, why did she scratch you?" she asked.
"I may have tried to-" he began.
"Shane!" She exclaimed. "I can't believe you!" she calmed down after a few breaths. "You need to tell Rick what happened when he was gone. Things may actually turn out okay and he'll forgive you. She needed someone for comfort and she turned to you. I'm sure he'll understand." She finished putting bandages on his neck. "You're good to go." Shane gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks baby girl." He said and walked away to his room. Brooke saw bookshelves that were alphabetized. Just like the ones in her home. She searched and found her favorite book, To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee. She grabbed it along with Little Women and went to her room. She cozied up on her bed and began to read Harper Lee's masterpiece. Someone came in and sat down in front of her.
"Well, hello!" she greeted Daryl. "You're finally clean!"
"You happy now?" he asked.
"Very." She gave him a quick kiss.
"What're you readin'?" he asked.
"To Kill a Mockingbird." She answered.
"I've actually read that book before. But it's been a long time." He replied.
"It's my favorite but I'm about to put it down just one…more… page." She said and shut the book.
"I let you win by the way." He smirked.
"No you didn't! You never let me win. It's always a fair fight." She defended.
"Whatever you want to believe, darlin'." He said.
"I won fair and square." She said.
"Alright, you won fair and square." He said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes in annoyance and pinned him down on the bed. He tried to break free but this time she made sure he wouldn't get away.
"Tell me I won fair and square and I'll let go." She said.
"Walsh let go!" He ordered.
"No!" she smirked. "Tell me I won!"
"Never admit to defeat before and I'm not going to now!" He said. She leaned down and kissed him. She lifted her head up and he tried to lean up to catch her again.
"Tell me." She said and raised her eyebrows. She moved her face so it was inches away from his but far enough that he couldn't reach her. She bit her bottom lip to keep from bursting out laughing at his facial expression.
"Ugh, alright fine! You won fair and square! You can drink so much better than I can!" he admitted. She let go of his wrists and put her hands on his cheeks that were red. She kissed him again and he rubbed her back. His hands went under her shirt and she went to remove his white t-shirt. They continued and fell asleep after talking about whatever came to their minds. They woke up the next morning and got dressed. He wore a sleeveless, dark brown, button up shirt, jeans, and hunting boots. She wore a bright blue tank top that was shorter in the front and lower in the back. It didn't show any skin other than her arms, she wore jeans, and her lace up combat boots. She pulled her hair up in a high pony tail and he put her arm around her shoulders.
"I actually have to go get something real quick." She said and kissed his cheek in the hallway.
"Alright, love you." He said and kissed her on the lips.
"Love you too." She gave him another quick kiss and went in the other direction. Daryl turned with a flush in his cheeks. He saw Glenn at the end of the hallway just staring at him.
"Hey short round." He said and Glenn winced in pain at his hangover. Daryl snickered and they continued to the cafeteria. T-Dog had made eggs for everyone and Brooke soon walked in. Rudy greeted her. Shane asked Jenner for more information and he led them to a control room. He showed them a video of subject TS-19.
"Is that the brain?" Andrea asked.
"A brilliant one." He said and looked at Brooke who gave him a look of sympathy. It then showed Dr. Alice Jenner getting shot in the head.
"What happens when the clock strikes zero?" Dale asked.
"The basement generator will run out of fuel very soon and then something else will happen." Jenner replied. Some of the men went down to the basement and found empty gas drums. They feel the air conditioning turn off. The men returned.
"What happens when the clock reaches zero." Lori asked Jenner.
"The CDC is home to many diseases and viruses. Nothing is getting out of here. When the clock reaches zero the air will combust. No pain, just an instant death." He replied.
"Wait, who moved all of our bags in here?" Lori asked.
"I did." Brooke said. "I moved them in here this morning. Yesterday when we were taking a tour I noticed the clock. I knew what it meant. I have been here many times before. I knew we couldn't leave because like Jenner said, once the doors close they stay closed." She said. Doors closed all around them.
"It's better this way." Jenner said. Rudy sat next to Brooke knowing they were in trouble. Daryl and Shane tried to break down the doors with axes but it didn't work. Brooke sat next to Jenner making sure that no one would hurt him. She knew she could get him to help them.
"Jenner, you may think we don't have any time. We don't have a choice." She could hear Shane shooting his shotgun but then being tackled to the ground. He wasn't really helping her argument. "We have a choice."
"Your wife didn't have a choice but you do." Rick said. "That's all we want is our choice." Jenner sighed and opened the doors.
"There's your chance, take it." Jenner said. Rick shook hands with him and Jenner whispered something in his ear. Rick turned pale but ran out. T-Dog had to leave Jacqui behind and Dale was trying to get Andrea to come with them.
"Brooke let's go!" Shane yelled.
"Thank you Jenner." She said.
"You need to know something too." He said and whispered something in her ear. She gripped on to her bags even tighter. She heard Rudy whine and Daryl and Shane continued to scream for her to come. She hugged Jenner. "Good luck Dr. Walsh." She nodded and ran with Rudy over to Daryl and Shane. Daryl grabbed her hand and ran towards the exit. Carol speeded up to Rick after failed attempts of trying to break the glass.
"I found this in your uniform when I washed it." She said digging around in her purse.
"I don't think a nail file is gonna help." Shane said. Carol pulled out a grenade and ran back towards the group for cover. He put it up against the glass and pulled the pin.
"Run Rick!" Brooke yelled.
"Shit!" He yelled and dove away. BOOM! It broke through the glass. They all ran out to their cars. Shane pulled Brooke over to the Jeep along with Rudy and he shielded them from the blast. The last thing that Brook saw before being shielded was Andrea and Dale ducking behind some sandbags. The explosion ran through their ears. They all looked and saw smoke coming from the place that used to be the CDC. Shane hugged Brooke with all of his might. She ran back to her car but not before running to see if Daryl was okay. She and Rudy got in their car and drove along with the rest to the unknown.