Three months later
"The prison was located where?" the pilot asks.
"Threw some woods and on top of a hill, maybe 30 clicks out of Atlanta, not sure though I was sick at the time," she replies as they continue flying.
"Smoke!" a guard calls out.
She looks to her left and sees a large mass of buildings on fire. "God no, please no."
"Is that it with the tank parked out front?" the pilot asks.
"It was it," she breathes. "Can we land or not? We need to check for survivors." Her eyes scan across the ground. "BRIAN!" Throwing the door open, she grabs the rope ladder and repels down to the ground. The guards above mow down the zombies as she runs to the fallen man. "Oh God no, please no." She kneels beside him, lifting his head into her lap.
She runs her hand over the caked blood of the bullet hole in his head, then over the soaking wet of his shirt where he was stabbed. Tears roll down her face as she turns to look out at the field. "HERSHEL!" she screams and runs. She slides through the open fence and kneels beside the headless man. Her hands and body begin to tremble as she finds the head close by. "What sort of animal would do something like this to him?"
"Your brother," a voice speaks behind her.
She turns, pistol in hand to see Rick standing before her. He is bloody, bruised, swollen and bloodshot eyes. Tears roll down her cheeks as she rises and goes to him. "Where's Carl and Judith?"
"Carl is … gone," he speaks through a strangled larynx. "All we could find of Judith was her bloodied car seat. Someone either took or killed my little girl."
"I am so sorry," she whispers, leaning her head against his. "I had hoped I would be back in time."
"At least you came back," he smiles before sinking to his knees. "I don't feel so good, got shot in the leg, got strangled by your brother …" He blacks out and falls into her; she holds him to her chest as she waves the helicopter over.
Holding him to her, she pulls on the rope ladder to be hoisted up. The helicopter gingerly lifts them up and flies low till it reaches the top of the prison. Lowering them down, a litter basket comes out along with two guards. They load Rick inside as the helicopter flies off with the three of them hanging onto the ropes. As they fly across the landscape, Annie keeps her eyes on the terrain below, looking for signs of life from her friends at the prison … nothing.
As they are reeled in, tears roll down her face as she slides inside. Reaching into the seat, she pulls her binoculars around and starts watching. "Keep an eye out for survivors from the prison, there were at least 30 to 50 people there."
"He's crashing!" a tech yells.
She turns as they begin CPR on Rick; she wipes her eyes as they shock him. They give each other then her a thumbs up gesture and she smiles. "Take us back to North Carolina, I need to get him stabilized … then we are coming back for them."
"I will be more than happy to fly that mission," the pilot comments as they head off.
Montreat College, Black Mountain NC
The helicopter lightly touches down onto the concrete pad as people came rushing over. The doors open as the four guards unloads the litter with Rick inside. Annie climbs out, shutting the door behind her. "Take him straight to my staff! I will be along shortly!"
They nod and start walking to a truck. She walks over and stares at a man. "The prison was in ruins, my brother was dead on the grounds, Hershel was beheaded and Rick looks like hell. The group has scattered, not sure how far they've gotten. Once he's well enough, I am taking a team and we're going back into Georgia after them."
"Nothing I can do to change your mind?" the man asks.
"Lloyd, these people didn't know me from Moses but they took me in and took care of me. It is the least I can do for them. Once Rick is well enough to talk, I will ask him what happened but I think I know."
"Brian let loose with the Governor, didn't he?" Lloyd asks.
"It looks that way … I mean damn, he took a tank there!"
"Did he say anything before he passed out?"
"Only that my brother did it, and his kids were missing. Lloyd, he said all there was of his daughter was a bloody car seat and no body. Walkers couldn't have done that, someone took her."
"Once you get him well, then you can find out. How long before you think he'll be ready to help?"
"At least a week or more," she sighs. "I have to dig a bullet out of his upper thigh."
"Get to work, and I am glad you both made it back all right."
"Thanks."
She turns and takes off running to the medical building. She enters the front door into a mass of chaos and chatter. People are stacked up along the walls as she weaves her way through.
"Talk to me Abby, what's going on!" she calls out.
"Same bullshit, different day," the blonde nurse replies. "The hall is a group of people that the guards found trying to make it to Asheville. They're from Charlotte, trying to outrun the cannibals."
"Get them treated and get them out of here, where's my guy?"
"Who handsome? Back in the back waiting on you."
She pulls her coat off and drops it on a rack as she pushes into the backroom area. Walking over, she grabs a pair of latex gloves, snapping them on as she flips a light switch with her elbow. She walks over to the table and leans over, running her fingers over the bullet wound.
"Why am I not surprised to see him?" a voice asks.
"He's a survivor, like you said. Get me the cauterizer, some stitches and scissors."
"Already out," Morgan replies as he walks over. "Want me to start the rest while you work on that?"
"Yea please." She picks up the scissors and cuts his pants leg off then starts depressing around the wound. Pulling his legs open, she inspects the other side for an exit wound and finds none. Closing his legs, she begins to gently prod the bullet hole. Reaching over, she picks up some tweezers and gently inserts them into the wound. The tip finds the bullet and she smiles. "It's not in the bone." She pulls the bullet out and drops it to the table. "Go ahead and cross-type him for a transfusion."
"Already in the works," Morgan replies. "Think we should just burn his clothes?"
"Yea, let's get him into scrubs after I finish here." Igniting the cauterizer, she gently inserts it into the wound as his body winces in pain. She runs her hand over his as she finishes with the internal; she begins gently pulling it out, cauterizing the rest of the wound before flicking the off switch. Picking up the butterfly stitches, she places them around the remainder of the wound before coating them to stay. "Let's get him up to our floor so no one will bother him."
"I've already got a bed picked out," Morgan smiles as they begin to undress him.
Montreat College, several days later
Reaching his hand up, Rick groans and runs it over his face. He opens his eyes and sees a face … then blinks to clear his vision. "Morgan?"
"How are you feeling?"
"Like hell, where am I?"
"Montreat College in North Carolina, and no you're not seeing things … I work for Annie now."
"What do you mean you work for Annie?"
"She rescued me from King's County awhile back, helped me lay Duane to rest and then she let me rest. I got my head on straight and she asked me to be her second."
"Where is she?"
"Down in the 'crazy' room as I call it. Want some water or food? You've been out cold for almost a week."
"I might in a minute or two. Can I go see her?"
"Sure, let me help you up." Holding his hand out, Morgan helps lift Rick from the bed to a seated position as Rick swings his legs over. "She only came back with you."
"I know, I need to tell her something." He rises gingerly from the bed as Morgan helps him stabilize his balance. He smiles and takes a step then a second; he lets go of Morgan as he makes it to the door before almost falling over. He grips the door frame as they step into the hall.
The two men walk down the darkened hall together before Morgan pushes the door open. They enter into a darkened room … except for the 3-d visuals floating around. "How is this possible?"
"I know a bunch of hackers and nerds; they're the ones who fixed this for me so I could walk." She takes the end of the pen from her mouth. "How do you feel?"
"Like I look," he groans and sits beside her. "What is all this?"
"Well, the green glob on the left is the unmutated version of the original zombie virus, the blue glob in the middle is the mutated version and the purple glob in the hemorrhagic fever." She presses several buttons. "The yellow glob is your zombie virus I pulled from your blood."
"And how does that work?"
"Yours is not a mutated strain because you were in a coma for a year."
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning when you die, you will die and not turn into a walker." She pulls her glasses off. "The three of us will not turn when we die, however most the people out there will."
"Why won't we turn?"
"I don't know," she replies bluntly. The readouts around her flash as she presses a button. They watch as a deep orange fluid flows to the purple glob and surrounds it. The purple glob begins to fade away and vanishes. "Wait for it." They watch as nothing happens. Another pause, nothing happens.
"What are we waiting for?" Rick asks.
"Viral repopulation," Morgan replies. "So far, everything we have tried on the hemorrhagic fever has not worked."
"Computer, start counting the time since serum was introduced," Anna speaks as she begins typing.
Auto count started at 3 minutes 37 seconds.
"We've made it to five minutes," Morgan adds.
"What's different this time?" Rick asks.
"I snagged a pure sample from Georgia of the original virus," Annie replies.
"In other words, she infected herself with it and survived," Morgan explains.
"I was exposed to it," Rick tells her.
"I know, I pulled a strain from your blood … it was a mutated version, not a pure one. You got lucky, you were only a carrier."
Malitosin trial completed … total eradication of hemorrhagic fever confirmed in sample. Sending malitosin to viral sample two.
"So what does that mean?" Morgan asks.
"It sent the juice to the second sample," Annie comments, pushing her glasses back up on her face. "If it passes the second sample, then we have a cure for the hemorrhagic fever. The first sample was the pure strain, the second is the mutated strain."
"So is this a good thing or not?" Rick asks.
Malitosin trial completed … no change in level of Viral Outbreak Z.
"The malitosin seems to be working on the hemorrhagic fever but not the virus creating walkers," Annie huffs. "DAMN IT!"
"Language doctor, language," a voice speaks.
"Come in Lloyd," she sighs. "Lloyd Cramer, Rick Grimes. Rick Grimes, Lloyd Cramer."
"Welcome to North Carolina," Lloyd smiles. "Glad you made it this far."
"Me too."
"Sit rep has your truck somewhere in West Virginia, trying to drive around 12 foot snow drifts."
"Finally something of good use."
"Annie, I spoke to our people and they are denying your return to Georgia."
"Did I ask for their permission?"
"They are getting to firebomb the entire deep South in three days. Anything living or dead will be burned to death by then."
"My son and daughter are still there," Rick speaks up.
"We know and that's why if she can get you stabilized on z-packs then you two need to fly ASAP."
"I can have him stabilized by morning."
"Then you leave as soon as he's ready." Lloyd turns and walks out the door.
"When do we get started?" Rick asks.
"If you're up, you're ready to go. We are going to eat, you are going to get a good night's sleep and then we fly first thing in the morning. Morgan, alert everyone and make sure we fly with a minimum of three choppers. We need teams to scour everywhere for anyone left alive before the burn happens."
"I am on my way now," Morgan smiles and exits.
Reaching out, she shuts the system down as the glowing globs vanish. "I will give you stabilizers while we're in flight to keep you going."
"Thanks," he says, then looks at the room. "I came in here to tell you about what happened with the prison and Philip."
"Let's leave it for dinner." She rises and holds her hand out to him. "Come with me."
"Okay." He smiles and takes her hand as he rises.