Chapter 13:
"Getchur skinny ass in here you lil' bitch!" The screen door slammed behind me as I limped towards the tree's. My breaths came in ragged, painful bursts and I clutched my side. I ducked a few feet back into the tree line and crouched behind a large, thick bush. Tears streamed down my face, but I cut the tears short when I heard branches breaking in the direction I had came from. "Don't make me come in there after you! You'll just get it worse."
Running my hands through my hair, I felt something wet and sticky a few inches into my hairline. When I pulled my hand back, I could vaguely make out a dark crimson color in the darkness. Attempting to stand, I felt my ribs rubbing weird and I knew one or more was broken.
"Leave me alone!" I screamed shrilly, trying my damndest to get to the front of my property. After I'd screamed, I heard Earl's footsteps get more determined, and I again I started sprinting. A familiar whooping noise and blinking Red and Blue lights cut through the openings in the tree, and my heart lightened.
He was closer than I thought, and as I broke the tree line he grabbed my wrist, jerking me back with a loud pop. My arm went limp and I cried out in pain as the two officers began running in our direction.
"Sir, let her go." The deputies slowed there pace, holding their hands out in an authoritative gesture. "Release her and take a few steps back sir, please." By now my father had me back my neck, and I heard his shotgun cock, the barrel finding it's way under my chin.
"Sir! Drop the weapon, now!" Both officers had their guns drawn, and Earl began to laugh loudly.
"How bout you get your pig asses off my property and let me punish my teenager for not doing her chores." My father was swaying profusely from the alcohol he had consumed, and I took advantage of his lack of balance. I reared my foot up and kicked his knee.
We both clattered to the ground and I began to crawl towards one of the officers, while the other restrained my father on the ground. There was yelling and spitting, but Earl was easily overpowered by the seasoned veteran.
The officer rushed me to his car, radioing for an ambulance, which was already in route.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" The officer was attempting to perform some form of medical exam on me, but my fathers drunken shouts from the dirt a few feet away drowned him out.
"You're worthless little girl! You ain't worth a damn and you don't mean a thing! Never have, never will!"
I woke up in a cold sweat, tangled in sheets on the couch of my room. Attempting to sit up I found myself with a shooting headache, and the empty bottle of wine on the floor as the only explanation. I brought my hand to my forehead, wiping it across my face. I felt the sleepies in my eyes and hoped that the hot water was back. Slowly, unsteadily I worked my way to the bathroom, decided it best to keep the door open and the light on in my room, than to blind myself with the bathroom light.
The water wasn't nearly as hot as it had been the night before, but it was warm nonetheless, and I relished in it. As the water washed the sleep and hangover off of me, the revelation of last night hit me hard.
Everything was ruined now, I found myself thinking. I got drunk and now whatever Daryl and I's relationship was, was shot to hell. Shaking my head I bit my lip, how could I have been so stupid? I had a hazy memory of him leaving, but what I could remember left a gaping, painful hole in my chest. I took sharp, short, anxious breaths and shut off the water.
There were five sharp knocks on my door, and they sounded impatient, like the person had been knocking for a minute or two while I was in the shower. Quietly I stalked over to the door and listened. I knew who it was, but I wasn't sure if I could face him yet. The shadow at the bottom of the door moved off, and I put my hand on the doorknob.
After a few seconds I pulled the door open, still clinging to my towel, and poked my head out. I was correct in my assumption, and Daryl who had been walking away down the hall, turned on his heel to look at me. I bit my lip, holding back a frown, and he looked at me, his face stoic.
I retreated back into my room, shutting the door behind me. Standing in silence, I let my emotions calm before crossing to my bag, where I fetched out a pair of jeans and a tee shirt.
After changing and finger brushing my hair, I exited my room, heading down towards the mess hall, but my attention was caught my the rec room, which I hadn't noticed last night, but had an entire wall of books. Raising and eyebrow, I decided that I would return to this room, a good read would be perfect right now.
By the time I made it to the mess hall, tensions were building, and the majority of eyes snapped up to me. Jenner had just filled his cup with coffee
"Follow me." Jenner stated calmly, without taking his eyes off of me.
"Dammit." I muttered to myself, catching the scent of bacon and eggs. The others began to slowly follow Jenner, but T Dogg gave me a wry smile, holding a plate up for me.
...
"Give me play back of TS-19"
"Playback of TS-19." Vi's hollow voice echoed loudly throughout the room and the large screen up front lit up. Myself and the others had gathered quietly around the big screen, the majority of us demanding some kind of answer for what we found, or rather, didn't find here. "Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few." I narrowed my eyes at the picture on the screen. It was a human skull, a blurry face, but the main focus was the blue brain.
"Is that a brain?" Carl asked, a slight tone of disgust in his voice. I smiled into my hand, which my chin was now resting on.
"An extraordinary one." Dr. Jenner replied with admiration. He paused thoughtfully before continuing. "Not that it matters in the end." I barely had time to feel uncomfortable before he spoke again. "Take us in for the IV."
"Enhanced Internal View." Spoke the robot.
The screen zoomed in and I moved towards the front of the group, attempting to get a better look at the somewhat pixilated picture. The enhanced picture showed clearly the human brain with thousands of neurons sparking and firing on each other. It was beautiful.
"What are those lights?" Shane asked, clueless.
"It's the brain functioning." I answered, my mouth agape. "That's beautiful…"
"She's right. It's a person's life," Jenner paused, and I glanced over at him. He smiled weakly at me before continuing. "Experiences, memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you. The thing that makes you unique and human."
"Ya don't make sense? Ever?" Daryl spoke up, his arms crossed. All of this was frustrating him, but it was a lot to take in. I looked at him from the corner of my eye, watching him quietly as he scrutinized the diagram. I couldn't help but laugh softly.
"Those are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says, does, or thinks, from the moment of birth to the moment of death." Rick said something to the doctor, but I was too hung up on the visual in front of me to care.
"This person died?" Andrea's voice snapped me back to reality. "Who?" I focused on the doctor, and his pained expression told me this was much deeper than some random test subject.
"Test subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected." He paused, growing quiet. "And volunteered to have us record the process. Vi, scan forward to first event."
"Scanning to first event." The hollow voice seemed to downplay the apparent anguish of the situation, but I watched silently as a black mass grew throughout the brainstem, snuffing out the lights as it went on.
"That looks like meningitis." I pointed at the screen and looked over at Jenner. "Is that what this is?" The group seemed to be impressed with my knowledge, some more than others I noted, as Shane glowered at me. Doctor Jenner shook his head solemnly.
"Not quite, if it were meningitis we'd have some idea of what we're dealing with, but not unlike meningitis, The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shut down. Then the major organs." TS-19 began to breath heavily, and I frowned to myself as I watched this person's life flickering out. "Then death. Everything you were, or ever will be… Gone." I shut my eyes and looked at the floor. Daryl had migrated over to me, now standing only a few feet from me. I pretended not to notice, but this small, tiny gesture made me warm inside. Andrea turned away, tears in her eyes.
"She lost somebody two days ago, her sister." Lori spoke. Jenner gave her a few words on condolence before continuing with his show and tell.
"Scan to the second event." Another file began to load as Jenner started talking. "The resurrection times vary widely. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes." He paused, staring sadly at the black brain. For the first time since meeting him, I felt for the man. He's been here alone, distraught, working on something as impossible as a cure for something no one can name. "The longest we heard was eight hours."
"In this patients case?" My question was quiet and I crossed my arms in front of my chest, not taking my eyes off of him.
"Two hours, one minute, seven seconds." He replied, not looking away from the screen. A small red area began to radiate through out the brain, it's focus mainly the brain stem.
"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked, leaning forward in shock.
"No, just the brain stem. Basically gets them up and moving."
"But they're not alive?"
"You tell me." Doctor Jenner shrugged his shoulders. I shook my head silently, the brain was dark.
"Its not… like it was before." I whispered to no one in particular. Daryl heard me however and looked up at me, before his gaze returned to the monitor.
"Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex," he paused, giving everyone a chance to catch up with his semantics. "The human part, that doesn't come back." He pointed to Rick's chest. "The you part. You're just a shell, driven by mindless instinct."
The barrel of a gun appeared in the frame.
"Oh god." I whispered. The next few seconds, a single shot was fired, taking a path straight through the brain. My eyes widened and I gasped out loud.
"He shot his patient in the head, didn't you?" Andrea's face was blank, emotionless, it made me want to slap her.
"I'm done watching this." Shaking my head I turned on my heels, rushing out of the room. I felt every one's eyes on my back, but as a practitioner of medicine I couldn't take it anymore. That wasn't just a video he played for the hell of it, that video put everything in perspective. This is just as hopeless as everyone thought.