For a moment, Jon was but a statue. The blinding light consumed his world. It locked his joints. It demanded his gaze. But then, the moment passed and reality made itself known.
"Move! Inside, everyone!" Rick bellowed.
Guns raised, Rick, Shane and Daryl stormed the building in a three-pronged charge. Jon turned to the rest of the group. They looked at him with pale faces, all of them frozen on the spot.
"Quickly, come on." Jon extended his hand to Dale.
Dale gave a shaky nod.
"R-Right."
He took Jon's hand and hurried inside. As soon as Dale moved, so did everybody else. Jon, Ghost and T-Dog stood guard as the others hurried inside. T-Dog fired the last rounds of his shotgun into the encroaching hoard and Jon readied Longclaw. Ghost gave a silent snarl. A heat burned in Jon's flesh as the hoard looked about ten or so paces from reaching them. Jon checked over his shoulder. The group were safely inside.
"Now us," Jon said.
T-Dog nodded and the two of them, followed by Ghost, hurried inside.
As soon as they passed through the door another impossibly loud horn blared and the shutters slammed shut. Inside, the CDC was just as enormous as outside. Its glass walls loomed high above them, tinted to such a degree that the outside world was but a shadow. The wailing cries of the dead were muffled behind the glass. The floor – tiled and white – stretched out in all directions to create an expansive, empty, interior courtyard. A staircase led both up to the upper levels and down into the ground. The smallest sound echoed around as a booming bellow. Cautiously, Shane and Daryl crept further into the enormous, abandoned space, guns raised while Rick looked about with a grimace.
"Hello?!" He shouted. "Where is everybody?"
Jon stayed close to the others as they huddled by the shutters.
"Is anyone hurt?" Jon asked.
"All good," Glenn said.
"The children are okay," Carol said.
"Nobody's bitten," Dale said. "Thank God."
Jon glanced at Ghost. If he was injured, his fur was far too filthy to tell. It was then, in the uneasy calm, that Jon remembered Carl. He found him by Lori's side, stiff and trembling. Jon marched up to him.
"Don't ever do that again, lad. It was stupid. You could have died."
"I-I know."
"What did he do?" Lori stepped in front of Carl.
"He broke away from me and tried to run to the front line," Carol said.
"A walker seized him but Ghost saved his life," Jon said.
Lori's nostrils flared and she spun around. Carl retreated but Lori snatched his wrist.
"This isn't a movie. You're not a hero. You're eight. You need to know your limits. Don't you ever do something so stupid again, you hear me?!"
Carl nodded rapidly. Lori let go of his wrist and held out her hand.
"Hand it over."
"But mom-"
"Now! Your gun. Hand it over. Your holster too."
Carl's lips trembled as he handed them over.
"When do I get 'em back?"
"When I say."
Lori turned on Jon.
"Your wolf really saved him?"
"He did."
Jon placed his hand on Ghost's head. Ghost stared at Lori, lazily. Gingerly, Lori touched Ghost's head.
"Thank you, Ghost, again."
Ghost's tail wagged. Giggling echoed around the abandoned space. Sophia punched Carl lightly on the arm.
"Dummy," she said.
Carl grinned sheepishly. For a moment, Jon saw Arya punching Bran. Jon chuckled. Instantly, Sophia's eyes snapped to him. She scowled and scurried behind Carol's legs. Sophia glared at Jon with a fierce, wrathful gaze. Ghost bared his fangs at her and she hid fully. A strange child, Jon thought.
The cocking of a gun echoed.
"Anyone infected?!" A stranger's voice shouted.
An unwashed man in a dirty t-shirt and jeans stood at the top of the downward staircase pointing an automatic rifle at them. At once, every gun in hand was pointing at him. Jon stepped in front of Lori and Carl, and Ghost moved in front of him with bared fangs.
"One of our group was. He didn't make it," Rick's rifle was ready at his shoulder but not raised.
"Why are you here? What do you want?"
"A chance."
"That's asking an awful lot these days."
"I know."
The man looked around at the terrified faces of the group. They lingered on Ghost. The man squinted and cocked his head before shaking it. He lowered his automatic rifle and stepped forward.
"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."
"We can do that," Rick said.
The man nodded and flipped on the safety of his gun. Rick lowered his rifle fully and the rest of the group followed suit. Rick stuck his hand out to the man.
"Rick Grimes."
"Doctor Jenner," the man muttered.
He stiffly shook Rick's hand and led the group down the stairs. A question burned in Jon's mind.
"What is a, 'blood test?',"
Doctor Jenner led them into a room so strikingly bizarre it utterly baffled Jon beyond belief. As large as any high lord's grand hall, the room towered above Jon's head and stretched out in every direction for hundreds of paces. All was steel. The floor. The walls. The ceiling. It was all steel. Rust lined the square tiles of the floor, the tangled mess of pipes among the ceiling and the corners of the many doorways lining the walls. But among the rust and steel, a halo shined. A ring of glowing lights hung from the ceiling in the centre of the room above a raised, rusted, steel platform. Tables, chairs and desks lined the platform; half were flipped over. Machines, big and small – the purpose of which Jon hadn't a clue – were clumped together in the centre of the platform. Around the platform, on the steel floor, more steel tables as well as countless sheets of paper were scattered about. The air was odourless and stale; as if it didn't exist at all.
It seemed as if even this spectacle was peculiar to the sensibilities of this world as Rick and the others joined Jon in marvelling at the space. The only one, besides Doctor Jenner, who didn't seem bothered by it all was Ghost.
"Wait here," Doctor Jenner said.
He left the group, ascended the platform and rifled through a desk draw. Jon put aside his disbelief and studied the space more closely. Several doors led out from the main room, most small, designed for one or two people to pass through. All except the door they'd originally passed through. It was as large as a castle's entrance and had a striped, yellow and black perimeter. A window was on the far wall of the large room. Beyond the glass, Jon spied a scorched room. It was as if a dragon had sneezed on it. Above the window, a six-digit series of glowing numbers were counting down. They read, '12:10:03,'.
A moment later, Doctor Jenner returned with a tray of plastic tubes and thin metal things.
"Docs always go packin' heat like that?" Daryl pointed to Doctor Jenner's gun.
"I familiarised myself."
Doctor Jenner sat at a steel table and began organising his tray of thin, metal things and pairing them with a plastic tube each.
"Are we underground?" Carol asked.
"Claustrophobic?" Doctor Jenner asked.
"A little."
"Try not to think about it."
"What is this place?" Jon asked.
"The control room."
"And that room?" Jon pointed to the scorched room. "What happened?"
"Let's save the questions until after the blood test, shall we?"
Jon smothered a thousand questions hammering the inside of his skull. All but one. The others joined Doctor Jenner at the table and started to roll up their sleeves. Doctor Jenner raised an eyebrow at Jon.
"Afraid of needles?"
"Why would I be afraid of sewing needles?"
"You still need to do the blood test, even if you are. It's protocol. Even your wolf."
Doctor Jenner approached Rick with one of the metal things and stabbed his arm with it. Rick flinched but showed no sign of offence. Doctor Jenner pulled back on the metal thing's plastic plunger and blood filled the plastic tube. Jon took a step back. Of all the magic of this world, Jon could have never imagined blood sorcery would be used.
"What is this? What purpose could you have with our blood?"
"Kid, it's just a blood test. Sit down."
Rick glanced at Jon, frowned and then whispered something to Doctor Jenner. Doctor Jenner gave Jon a queer look.
"I'm taking your blood to make sure you're not infected. A machine up there." Jenner pointed to the raised platform, "It'll analyse it for any traces of the Wildfire virus. That's what we call the disease."
As bizarre as it all was, and despite half of those words making little sense, Jon supposed if the others weren't bothered by it all, it must be safe enough. So he sat. After all, this world had shown him stranger things. Cautiously, Jon rolled up the sleeve of his coat. Doctor Jenner paused as he was met with Jon's mail. He shrugged and slipped the needle through the gaps in the mail. As Doctor Jenner drew Jon's blood, Ghost bared his fangs at him.
"It's okay, Ghost."
Ghost calmed but his gaze stayed hard.
"It's got a name?" Doctor Jenner asked.
"I named him myself."
"So you raised him?"
"Since I was a lad."
"And what kind of dog is he? Or wolf?"
"A direwolf."
Doctor Jenner frowned.
"Impossible. Direwolves have been extinct for thirteen-thousand years."
"Yet, here one sits."
Although understandable, Jon had tired of the endless questions of him. Doctor Jenner placed the tube of Jon's blood with the others as he marvelled at Ghost. He gestured to Ghost with a new needle.
"May I?"
"If you must. Although I must warn you, he won't like it."
Doctor Jenner approached Ghost with the needle. Ghost bared his fangs at him.
"Is he mute?" Doctor Jenner asked.
"Mostly."
Jon knelt beside Ghost and stroked his fur.
"It's okay. Let him do what he must."
A coolness washed over Jon and Ghost lay on the floor. Doctor Jenner approached Ghost from behind and stuck the needle in his lower back. Ghost didn't so much as flinch as the needle drew his blood. Once filled, Doctor Jenner held the tube up to the lights. A faint smile crossed his lips but it was fleeting. He placed Ghost's blood amongst the others, keeping it separate and carried the tray up to the platform.
"Where is everyone?" Rick asked. "The other doctors? The staff?"
"I'm it."
"A single man is in charge of controlling all diseases?" Jon asked.
"Now, yeah. I suppose."
Doctor Jenner set aside Ghost's blood and placed the other tubes into a small, square machine. He pressed a few buttons and the machine began to make a whirring sound.
"What happened? The rest of the nerds get spooked?" Daryl asked.
"More or less."
Doctor Jenner rejoined them by the table.
"Alright, follow me. Living quarters are this way. Take a shower, all of you. You stink."
Glenn gasped.
"You have showers?"
"Yeah. Just keep it under five minutes. Hot water uses the generators."
That seemed to brighten everyone's mood as they all hurried to their feet and followed Doctor Jenner to a doorway on the other side of the room. Jon followed too, cautiously. Not all was right, Jon knew. An untold truth had poisoned this sanctuary.
Jenner guided the group through a series of long, carpeted corridors lined with wooden doors. Each door had a triple-digit number and a brass knob. The air was sweeter, smelling somewhat of lemons, although not quite. The smell burned Jon's nose the way perfume did but still felt somewhat different. It reminded Jon of the lads back in Atlanta and their white building of ancient men and women.
"There's enough rooms for all of you, so take your pick. They lock from the inside, but not outside. Down this hall there's a rec room and down here is a kitchen and dining area," Jenner said.
"And the showers?" Glenn asked.
"In your rooms."
The group chattered excitedly amongst themselves as they picked their rooms. Jon stayed with Jenner.
"Your fellow Doctors, why would they leave such a place?"
"They were scared."
"So scared they abandoned the one place that might keep them safe?"
"They had families."
"Why not return with them?"
Jenner scowled and marched past Jon back to the control room.
"If you're hiding the truth, I suggest you tell me now rather than later, Doctor," Jon said.
"Go take your shower, kid."
Jon sighed and looked at Ghost. His otherwise white fur was matted, filthy, and brown. Jon was much the same. Ridding himself of the stink constantly laying siege to his nose could only help him think clearer.
"Come on, Ghost. Let's bathe."
Ghost cocked his head.
Jon selected an unclaimed room. The room was modest in size but lavishly furnished. Perfectly clean carpet. Spotless, white walls. A ceiling lamp made of frosted glass. Uniformly carved, wooden furniture. A cushioned seat. A bed adorned with finely sewn and dyed linens. Even Queen Shireen would have been comfortable in such quarters. Jon opened a door into a small, tiled room. Inside was a mirror, a basin and an odd, glass cage. Its four, clear walls created a space inside big enough for one, maybe two people to stand inside. Its floor slanted into the centre to a small, round drain. Two metal knobs were attached to the wall and a metal spout of sorts stuck out around head height.
Cautiously, Jon opened the glass cage's glass door, twisted a knob labelled, 'hot,' and a stream of water rushed from the overhead spout. Jon only stared in disbelief for only a moment before accepting it and deciding not to question it. He twisted the cold knob too and let the water run as he undressed.
Ghost ventured inside the shower and sat beneath the water looking quite pleased. The rot corrupted the water, turning it brown. Jon carefully lay his clothes and gear out on the floor and joined Ghost. As warm as a hot spring, the water soothed Jon's rot-crusted skin. It washed the blood and guts from his hair and beard, and rid Jon of his putrid stench. The blissful heat forced a sigh from Jon and a smile to creep across his lips. Jon knelt beside Ghost and scrubbed the rot from his fur as he allowed himself to indulge in a moment of comfort. Beneath Ghost's fur, Jon felt several scars. The same sort that riddled Jon's chest. They covered Ghost from neck to hind legs. Jon's stomach churned as he imagined how many of his brothers must have fallen trying to slay Ghost. A dozen most like, possibly more. All he could do was hope Ghost had given them quick deaths.
Once he and Ghost were clean, Jon shut off the shower and approached the mirror. It had been years since Jon had been afforded the luxury of a mirror. But this was no sheet of silver like the mirrors of Winterfell. This mirror seemed to be made entirely of glass. Jon only allowed himself to be baffled for a moment before accepting the fact and moving on. Beneath the mirror was a basin, and beneath the basin was a cabinet. Inside the cabinet, Jon found a collection of small plastic tools. Three small, razor-sharp blades had been fitted into a plastic rectangle attached to a plastic handle. Guessing at its function, Jon ran the tool down his arm. Sure enough, he'd guessed right, it shaved off a strip of his arm hair. Jon considered himself in the mirror.
"In such a hot and humid land, a beard will do me no good."
Jon wet his face and the blades and began to shave.
"The doctor's tale leaves room to be desired. If those who resided here were this land's maesters and were responsible for combating this pestilence, they would have not abandoned their fight on a whim. Something awful, truly awful would have had to happen to cause them to flee. But what? And why did it leave only Jenner?"
Something fowl was afoot. The supposed fortitude of this place seemed fickle. If true, Jon thought it best to have his belongings in order. After making his face smooth and hairless, he gathered up his gear and spread it out over the tiled floor. The strange clothes of this world were filthy and suffered from small tears but were mostly fine. As were his britches and boots. His mail, while gunked up with grot, was undamaged. His leathers and gloves had been lost during the battle of the quarry but it was his cloak that concerned him most. The clawing nails of the dead had left it as little more than tattered, black ribbons. Jon held it up in front of him and found himself contesting with strange grief. An utterly ridiculous feeling. It was but a cloak. Cloaks could be fixed. Jon folded it and decided he would ask Lori or Carol about mending it. Finally, Jon inspected his belt, Longclaw, dagger and Needle.
Needle, while empty, was spotless and completely functional. Longclaw and his dagger on the other hand were covered in the slimy film of fresh rot and the dried crust of old rot. Longclaw's direwolf pommel was entirely brown and the garnet chips that made up its eyes were caked over and hidden from view. The valyrian steel wouldn't stain but Jon doubted the blade of his dagger. He sheathed both and carried them to the shower. Over the course of an hour, Jon washed his weapons. A dirty weapon could spell death, Jon knew and Jon doubted his fighting days had truly come to an end.
Clean, shaven and wearing only the clothes of this world, Jon left his room with Ghost in tow. Ghost's fur was white as snow once again. Jon looked at it with fondness. Although the snow was usually far more trouble than it was worth most of the time, this land felt somewhat naked without it. A part of him missed the way that frost nipped at his nose and the way it turned his breath to smoke. Laughter echoed from down the hall in the direction of the dining room. Jon tightened his belt, ensured his weapons were secure, scratched Ghost's ears and marched down the hall.
Inside the dining room, everyone was gathered around a long table. Everyone had a plastic plate full of meat and greens. Opened wine bottles sat along the table and a dozen ornate glasses were full of red wine. Laughter danced around the room as the group, clinked glasses, shouted and chattered. It felt almost homely. Glenn was the first to notice Jon's presence at the door. His olive face was flushed pink. He thrust his glass in Jon's direction, spilling wine.
"Jon! You look, like, totally different!" Glenn shouted, his world slurring.
Jon chuckled and joined them at the table.
"As do you."
"Almost look normal." Daryl threw back his glass and drank deeply.
Once the glass had emptied Daryl slammed it down and grinned at Andrea. Andrea grinned back, filled a glass and too drank deeply. They went back and forth drinking glass after glass, their stares only getting more and more intense with each drink. Dale stood, handed Jon a plate of food and poured him a glass.
"Didn't think you were coming," Dale said, laughing.
Jon shrugged. He smiled, for their sake. As fickle as it may be, they were safe. Rick was smiling for the first time since he'd reunited with Carl and Lori. Lori was grinning ear to ear. Carl was feasting greedily. Sophia was giggling. Carol seemed at ease for the first time since Jon had met her. T-Dog has laughing like a drunken giant. Only Shane lacked a smile. Even if it was fleeting, it best they indulged in a moment of respite rather than wallow in pessimistic scepticism. The hard questions could come later.
Doctor Jenner sat alone at the end of the table with a plate of food and a bottle of wine. He stared intently at his plate, poking at it with a fork. Dale raised a glass, laughing.
"You know, in Italy, children have a glass of wine with their dinner!" He eyed Carl.
"Can I mom?" Carl's eyes brightened.
"Are you Italian?" Lori asked.
"Oh, what's the harm? Let him have a taste," Rick said.
Lori raised an eyebrow at Rick and Rick grinned.
"Come on." He nudged her.
A smirk broke across Lori's face and she smothered a laugh.
"Okay, okay, fine. One sip."
"Cool!" Carl reached for the glass.
Dale handed it to him and Carl grasped it with two hands. Greedily, he took a mouthful of it and immediately his face scrunched. His eyes bulged and wine sprayed from his mouth.
"EW!"
The table erupted with laughter. Even Jon couldn't help but laugh along. Carl pressed the tablecloth up against his tongue. Lori slapped his hands down and handed him a glass of water.
"Better stick to soda pop, bud," Shane said.
Rick and Shane made eye contact across the table fleetingly before they avoided each other's gaze.
"How can you drink this stuff?" Carl asked.
"Give it a few more years, lad. The strong stuff hardens you up," Jon said.
"Damn right!" Daryl threw back another full glass.
Lori gave Jon a queer look but before she could say anything, Rick stood and tapped his glass with a fork.
"It seems to me that we haven't properly thanked our host."
"He is more than just our host." T-Dog raised his glass.
The rest of the table cheered and raised their glasses. Jon grimaced but did so too. Shane shared Jon's expression.
"Booyah!" Daryl yelled.
"Booyah!" The group repeated.
Rick eyed Jenner across the table and gestured to him with his glass.
"Thank you," Rick said.
Silently, Jenner raised his glass before returning his gaze to his plate. The group laughed but Shane cut through the merry chatter with a harsh tone.
"So, when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc? Hm? All the other doctors. The people who're supposed to be figuring out what happened. Where are they?"
"We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now," Rick said.
"Oh wait a second. That's why we're here, right?"
The room quietened to a deathly silence.
"This was your move. Supposed to find all the answers. Instead we uh." Shane chuckled. "We found him." Shane gestured to Jenner. "Found one man. Why?"
"Well, when things got bad a lot of people just left. Abandoned this place. To be with their families. When things got worse. When the military got overrun. The rest scurried away."
"All of them?" Jon asked.
"No." Jenner's tone darkened. "I stayed."
"Why?"
"I just kept on fighting."
"Dude…" Glenn stumbled over to Shane. "You're such a buzzkill, man."
Above, the lights flickered.
By the time the feast was done, the air was sweet with the smell of wine. Most of the group had wandered off to rest. Besides Jon and Ghost, only Rick, Daryl and Andrea remained in the dining room. Daryl and Andrea, with much less energy, continued their battle of drinks.
"How'd… How'd a pretty thing like you get so good at drinkin'?" Daryl slurred.
He reached for a wine bottle but knocked it over, staining the tablecloth.
"College," Andrea groaned.
Andrea filled a glass and raised it to her mouth only to freeze. Her eyes bulged. Her hand flew to cover her mouth and she raced to the kitchen sink. Daryl cackled and slumped back in his chair.
"Yeah! That's right! Who's the big man on campus now?!"
Suddenly, Daryl's face scrunched up. His stomach gurgled. His eyes bulged. He lurched forward to stand but emptied his stomach before his rear had left the chair. It got all over his front, his shoes and the floor. While Andrea vomited too, Rick sighed and helped Daryl to his feet.
"Come on, brother. Let's get you cleaned up."
Daryl babbled but didn't put up a fight.
In all the festive confusion, Jon hadn't noticed Lori and Carol leave. He still needed to ask them about mending his cloak. Jon looked at Ghost. He was by Jon's feet, gnawing on a chicken's leg bone. Jon scratched Ghost's ears and stood. Ghost stood too but Jon stopped him by placing his hand on his head.
"Stay, Ghost. Enjoy your meal. I won't be far."
Ghost stared at him for a moment before laying back down. Satisfied, Jon left Ghost to his bone and Andrea to her vomit. Jon began his search for the women in the control room. Expectedly, they weren't there. Doctor Jenner was, however. Alone, he worked on the raised platform, unloading the tubes of blood from a machine. Once they were all sorted away, Jenner placed Ghost's sample into the machine.
"Can I help you?" Jenner asked without looking at Jon's way.
"Sorry, I was only looking for Lori and Carol."
As the machine began to whir, Jenner looked at Jon with weathered eyes. His face was flushed.
"Lori, she your mom?"
"No. She's not."
"Huh. So you're not Carl's brother?"
"No."
Jenner shrugged.
"Figures, you don't look alike. I heard the way you scolded him as I was coming up the stairs and well… assumed I guess."
"The lad acted without thinking and beyond his means. I needed him to know that."
"As boys tend to do."
"Indeed."
"Do you feel responsible for him? For all of them?" Jenner asked.
Jon's hand, reflexively, touched Longclaw's direwolf pommel.
"To a degree, I suppose."
"And you think that'll keep them safe?" Jenner gestured to Longclaw.
Jon narrowed his eyes. Jenner turned back to his work.
"It won't," Jenner said.
Drunken words often revealed the truth of a man, Jon knew. But they also spun falsehoods. Jon decided to forgive the transgression, this one time. He left Jenner to his work and made his way back down the carpeted halls. As he rounded the corner down the hall to the rec room, Shane slammed into him, halfway between walking and running. Three long cuts ran down his neck.
"Watch it, kid."
Shane shouldered past Jon, covering his neck. At the end of the hall, the door to the rec room was ajar. A faint, woman's sobbing could be heard beyond the door. Jon rushed down the hall, flung open the door and was met with a scream. Lori was on a wide, cushioned seat, back pressed against the side furthest from Jon. Her wide, darting eyes calmed after a brief moment. Awkwardly, she sat up and avoided Jon's gaze.
"Are you hurt?" Jon asked.
"Hurt? From what?" Lori laughed, unconvincingly.
Dried blood covered Lori's nails. She noticed Jon looking at them and swiftly covered her hand. If Shane had been one of his men, Jon would have had him castrated for even attempting such a crime. Like many before him.
"Carry a knife. The threat of a blade usually shrivels such ambitions," Jon said.
"It wasn't like that. Really."
"What it was, is plain."
Lori's eyes widened again.
"You won't tell Rick will you?"
"Do you want me to?"
The question stopped Lori in her tracks. She stared at Jon for a lingering moment before shaking her head.
"Then I won't. But you should."
Briefly, Lori smiled. Then, as if remembering herself, the smile vanished. She gave Jon that same queer look.
"How old are you? With the beard, you looked twenty or so but now…"
"Ten- … Seventeen."
"Seventeen…" Lori whispered.
She shook her head.
"And your parents? After or before? Oh! If you don't mind-"
"Before."
"I thought so."
"You did?"
Lori nodded.
"Yeah. You can normally tell with most people. The way they hold themselves. It changes once you lose that dependency."
Jon sat across from Lori on another cushioned chair.
"Do you have experience with loss?" Jon asked.
"I lost my parents when I was eighteen. Right as I became an adult. Rick too. We met at a party in college. Everyone was drunk, or high, or dancing like no one was watching but we were both just sitting in a corner, suffering. At first, we were just friends. He introduced me to his friends… to Shane. Shane saw me right away, you know? But Rick, it took him a while to notice. I only ever had eyes for Rick though, from the moment I met him I knew we were the same. When he did finally notice and we got together, he became my rock. For the first time in a long time, I let myself rely on someone. Depend on someone. And when the world went to shit I..." Lori's voice caught in her throat. "I just couldn't go back."
"Death is a spectre. It casts a taunting and mocking shadow. When my father died it felt as if nothing, except setting things right, mattered anymore. Some part of me, I believe, thought that if I could right the wrongs he suffered that all would be well again. So I threw it all away. My duty. My honour. My life. All of it meant nothing. However, before I could fully commit to my mistake, those who knew me best and loved me most, stopped me. Anyone else in their situation would have thought me a coward and cast me out. But my friends understood that what I'd done, while stupid, had no bearing on my character. Their love allowed me the chance to atone."
Lori said naught and did naught but nod. A small, constrained nod. The kind of nod where if you put too much into it the very act of moving would bring about an uncontrollable flood of emotion. Lori, for all her strength, hadn't Jon's fortitude. Tears soon ran down her cheeks and silently, she sobbed. Jon offered her his hand and she took it at once. Her hand was worn and hard.
"Can I ask something of you?" Jon asked.
Lori gave a small nod.
"My cloak. Aside from Ghost and my sword, it is perhaps my most treasured possession. It means more than I can express in words. I was wondering if I could be selfish and ask for your aid in mending it?"
Lori squeezed Jon's hand and a smile crossed her lips.
"Why? Because I'm a woman I should know how to sew?"
Jon struggled for a response and Lori giggled. She wiped her eyes and sat tall.
"I'd be more than happy to. It's the least I can do after all you've done for us."
Jon sighed and chuckled.
"That was cruel."
"Yeah, a little."
"Can I repay you in any way?"
"Yeah. Keep my husband on the right track. As his wife, I've only got so much leeway."
Jon nodded.
"I'll try my best."
That night Jon slept beside Ghost atop a cloud. Never before had he slept on a bed so comfortable. However, when he woke he forced himself to leave its gentle, warm embrace. Getting accustomed to such luxury could only do him harm. Though, he allowed Ghost to sleep longer. No amount of rationality could bring him to disturb such a peaceful slumber. Instead, Jon adorned his mail, boots, weapons, and strange clothes, and quietly snuck from his room.
Some of the group were already in the dining room when Jon arrived. T-Dog worked tirelessly in the kitchen. A mouth-watering, salty aroma permeated the air. Glenn sat with his head in his hands, boring a groggy stare into the table. Lori sat across from him, sewing up Jon's cloak. She was near finished mending it. Dark circles sat beneath her eyes. Carl sat beside her, half awake. Dale and Andrea sat on either side of Glenn. Dale comforted the poor man while Andrea fidgeted with a plastic bottle full of small white pellets. She stared at Jon as he entered.
"Good morning." Jon sat.
"Not good…" Glenn groaned.
"He pushed his limits." Carl grinned.
Jon chuckled.
"That he did."
"How come you still have your sword?" Carl asked. "There's no walkers in here."
"No, but there are snarks."
"Snarks?" Carl wrinkled his nose.
"Yes, vile little things. No taller than my knee with beady little eyes and long, scruffy beards. They hide in the shadows of rooms belonging to misbehaving children and steal their socks as they sleep. But only one, never both."
Carl giggled.
"That's not real."
"Oh, they're very real. Believe me when I was your age I could never hold on to a pair of socks for more than a week. I had to wear odd pairs."
Carl giggled and shook his head.
"Nuh-uh, you just lost them."
"Do I look like someone who loses their socks?"
Carl grinned and nodded. Jon feigned an offended look which only made Carl laugh harder. Lori smiled at him, then at Carl.
"Make sure to keep your voice down," she whispered, "Glenn's hungover. His head'll be hurting like you won't believe. Most likely your father will be too and Daryl."
"And me," Andrea said.
Carl nodded.
"Okay," he whispered, "Sorry Glenn."
Glenn gave a thumbs-up without lifting his head. T-Dog approached the table with a pan full of scrambled eggs.
"Eeeeggs! Powered, but I do 'em gooood!"
He plopped the pan down on the table with a clatter. Glenn groaned and T-Dog just smirked at him as he started plating up dishes for everyone.
"Protein. Helps. The hangover." He pushed a plate to Glenn.
Glenn groaned and started eating. Lori got up and approached Jon with his cloak.
"Can't say it's better than new, but it's better than it was." Lori handed Jon the cloak.
Long patches of black fabric had been sewn on the inside of the cloak over the tears. From the outside, it was hardly noticeable. Jon hung it over his shoulders and fastened it around his neck.
"I appreciate it more than you know. You've done a splendid job."
"Oh, it was no trouble at all. Really."
"I'll make sure to repay you, as promised."
A solemn look crossed Lori's face and she nodded.
"Right. Thank you."
She returned to her seat and Jon returned to his. He gestured to Andrea's plastic bottle.
"What is that?"
"Aspirin. Jenner thought we could use it."
"Some sort of medicine, most like."
Suddenly, Daryl came stumbling into the dining hall. He near threw himself into a chair, snatched the aspirin away from Andrea and popped three of the pellets.
"Ughhhh… Never let me drink again," Glenn said.
"Hangover's the part that makes you a man, kid," Daryl said.
Carol and Sophia entered the dining room and joined Lori and Carl. Lori and Carol chatted happily, while Carl and Sophia played some sort of game with their forks. Shane entered after them. Jon smothered his wrath from bubbling to the surface. Shane crossed the room and began to pour black liquid from a pot into a cup.
"Hey," T-Dog greeted him, jovially.
"Hey."
T-Dog approached him and his smile dropped. He looked at Shane's neck.
"The hell happened to you?"
"Must have done it in my sleep."
T-Dog shrugged and handed Shane a plate of eggs. Dale gave Glenn a pat on the back before getting up and sitting beside Jon.
"Hey, I don't mean to slam you with concerns first thing but…" Dale chewed his lip and glanced at the children.
"Speak your mind," Jon said.
It was time for the charade to fall apart.
"It's just… don't you all think it's strange? Of all the things, the CDC would be the one thing the government would keep safe during a time like this. And well… you all saw what's outside and what's not in here."
"What are you saying?" Carol asked.
"All I'm saying is, well, maybe… we shouldn't get too comfortable here just yet."
"Or at all," Jon added.
The lights flickered. T-Dog laughed awkwardly.
"Well, we can't go out there, can we?"
Dale stammered.
"No, of course not, I'm not saying-"
"We should be prepared for the day when we may have to," Jon said.
"Let's not play dumb, guys," Andrea said. "We all know something's up with Jenner. You've seen the way he acts, the way he looks at us. Is that the way someone who's confident in our safety acts?"
"What's all the commotion about?"
Rick stood in the doorway.
"We're just-"
"They're talking about leaving," Carol said.
Carol clutched Sophia's wrist. Rick cocked his head and looked at Jon.
"Leavin'?"
"No, we're not, we're just-"
"They are. They said we aren't safe here." Carol said.
Rick chewed his lip and sat by Dale's side.
"I've been thinkin' the same, actually. Somethin' about this place is just off."
Carol let go of Sophia. A grave look crossed her face. Jon looked around at the group, pleasantly surprised. He'd expected to be alone in his worries but here he was, united among his peers.
"What… ugh… what do we do about it?" Glenn asked.
"We confront Jenner," Lori said.
"Damn right," Daryl said.
"Not as a group," Jon said. "Approach him united, yes. But if we all start hurling questions at him, that'll get us nowhere."
"What do you suggest, then?" Rick asked.
"You confront him. Not only are you essentially our leader, but Jenner will probably take it best from you. Your temperament is stern enough to command the conversation but calm enough so as to not enrage him."
Rick nodded along. He bowed his head and tapped his feet before looking back up at everyone.
"If that's what y'all want."
Everyone nodded, except Shane who said nothing and did nothing. A brief silence lingered over the dining hall. Which was interrupted by the padding of paws. Ghost stood in the doorway. The flickering lights gleamed in his gazing, red eyes. Rick stood and the others followed.
The group went from the dining hall, down the corridor and out into the control room. Jenner was at a desk on the raised platform, drinking from a wine bottle. Even as the whole group poured into the control room, Jenner didn't so much as glance their way. Rick left the group at the bottom of the platform and ascended the stairs. He pulled up a chair to Jenner's desk and sat beside him.
"Jenner, we've got some concerns. I'd-"
"You always do, don't you?"
The lights flickered.
"We appreciate your hospitality and your charity. But the lack of staff, the flickerin' lights, the way you hold yourself. It's scarin' people. We just wanna know what's really goin' on here."
"Do you now?"
"We do."
Jenner chuckled and put down the wine bottle. He shrugged and got to his feet.
"Alright, then. You want to know? You want to know the truth of it all? Fine. I'll show you."
Jenner hit a switch on his desk. Machines whirred above. A huge rectangle of black glass descended from the ceiling. Jenner pointed a thin, black rectangle covered in buttons at the glass. He pressed a button and an image appeared on the glass. Jon, at this point, wasn't even shocked anymore. The glass could produce light, and that light could make images. Jon accepted it and moved on.
The image seemed to be of the silhouette of a person, except the silhouette was blue and transparent. Inside the blue shell of the head seemed to be a brain. Vaguely, Jon remembered seeing diagrams of it during Maester Lunwin's lessons. Jenner hit another button and the image rotated, then zoomed in on the brain. The rest of the group gathered on the raised platform.
"Is that a brain?" Carl asked.
"An extraordinary one," Jenner muttered. "Not that it matters in the end…"
Jenner hit another button and the image zoomed in further, past the head and directly inside the brain. Branches spread all throughout the brain, like the twiddly branches of a bramble bush. Yellow light pulsed along the branches in pulsing waves.
"Those lights, what are they?" Jon asked.
"A person's life. 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."
"The soul?"
"In a matter of speaking."
Jon had always believed the soul resided in the heart. But he did not doubt the knowledge of this world. To think, of all his brothers on the wall, Sam would have the strongest soul of all. Not surprising on reflection, but still, fascinating nonetheless.
"A more accurate term would be synapses. They carry electrical signals through the brain, messages and directions. They shape our lives from the moment of birth, to death."
"Why're you showin' us this?" Rick asked.
"So you can understand the big picture."
Jenner hit another button and the image zoomed out so the whole head was visible.
"This is test subject nineteen. They were bitten and infected. And volunteered to have us record the process."
"So, you're saying this image allows us to glimpse into the past?" Jon asked.
"Yeah, in a matter of speaking."
Jon couldn't help but be humbled in the face of such magical might. To glimpse through time is to see clearly through the murky waters of history.
"Let's scan forward to the first event," Jenner said.
He hit the button again and the image zoomed out to show the whole body. Beneath the transparent, blue skin, every organ was visible. They glowed red. Text appeared over the image that read, 'Scanning Forward,' and once it disappeared the organs were brown and the yellow lights in the brain were gone.
"What is that?" Glenn asked.
"Death," Jenner said. "The Wildfire virus attacks the vital organs, as well as the circulatory system. It causes a burst of rapid decomposition to destroy the heart, lungs and other vital systems as quickly as possible. The process takes roughly a few hours to complete. You'll notice, however, the brain and nervous system are left intact."
Jenner hit the button again and the image scanned forward again. Brown darkness began to infest the branches of the brain, spreading outwards from its core.
"Once the host is dead, decomposition slows and the virus infects the brain like meningitis. But not all of it. Only the stem and the parts of the brain are responsible for motor function and sensory input. Everything else stays dead… Everything that test subject nineteen ever was or ever will be is gone while the body they used to inhabit walks again."
A deathly sour glare lingered in Jenner's eyes as he gazed at the infected brain.
"Is that what happened to Morales?" Sophia asked Carol.
"Yes, it is, sweetie."
Carol hugged Sophia and kissed the top of her head.
"Would it have happened to Ed?" Sophia asked.
"If we hadn't destroyed his brain, yes."
Carol spoke coldly. Andrea began to tear up as she stared at the image although she didn't look away. T-Dog, on the other hand, did look away. Jon patted his back and gripped his shoulder firmly. The image unsettled Jon. To see the cold embrace visualised by this land's magic touched just a bit too close to home.
"The resurrection time is fairly consistent. Between five to ten minutes after total organ failure."
Jenner pressed the button, the image scanned forward and the brown branches of the brain began to glow yellow once again.
"Why keep a record of this?" Jon asked. "For what use?"
"To fight it. If we understand how it works, we can build a cure."
"And have you?" Rick stepped to Jenner's side. "Is there a cure?"
Suddenly, something blast through the brain. It carved a tunnel through the skull and brain, from one side to the other.
"God, what was that?" Dale asked.
"The cure. Destroying the brain stem."
Jenner jammed his thumb into the button and the image disappeared, returning the glass to darkness. Silence lingered over the group. Jenner turned to face them, his face was a storm.
"So now you know. Happy?"
"No," Rick said, scowling. "Why isn't anyone here? Really. The truth. Why isn't anyone workin' on a cure?"
"Because the world died. The others… lost hope. Fear made some of the most brilliant men and women on the planet into a stupid pack of fools."
"You're still here. Why?" Jon asked.
"I had nothing to go back to. Only my work," Jenner gestured all around him.
Jenner pointed to the scorched room.
"The world's last hope died in that room. There is no cure, not anymore."
"Naw, that can't be true," Rick said. "There's gotta be other facilities. In DC. Europe, Asia, fuckin' Australia even."
"If there are. I haven't heard anything," Jenner said.
"How can you not know?" Andrea snapped.
"Everything went dark a month ago."
"The whole world's dead?" Daryl asked.
"Yes."
"Jesus…" Carol whispered.
The group looked around at each other with desperate, sad eyes.
"And that?" Dale pointed to the display of numbers. "What happens when that clock counts down to zero?"
"The… The basement generators break and we lose power. They've been running non-stop for a month now and I'm no mechanic. In an hour we'll suffer from a unit failure."
"And then?" Jon asked.
Jenner snatched up his wine bottle and slumped into his chair.
"There'll be no difference between out there and in here."
"And where are the generators?" Rick asked.
Jenner drank deeply from his bottle. Rick slammed his hand on the desk.
"Jenner! Where are they?!"
Jenner took another drink. Rick stormed away from him and stood on top of another desk.
"Alright, all of y'all! Gather up!"
The group surrounded the desk in a loose clump.
"Dale, you think you can do the repairs?"
"I can try but cars and generators aren't the same things."
"You can do it. I know you can. Everyone else spread out, we gotta find these generators. Except you Carol, you take Carl and Sophia into the rec room. Start settin' up a barricade in case we can't get the power up in time."
"R-Right!" Carol snatched up Carl and Sophia's wrists and dragged them away.
Everyone else, including Rick, spread out to start their search. However, Jon stopped Rick before he could leave.
"That was good. You've kept them hopeful. Now go search with them, be present. I'll stay here to keep an eye on Jenner."
Rick nodded.
"Okay, good call. And thanks."
Rick departed and Jon was left alone in the control room with Ghost and Jenner. Jon pulled up a chair beside Jenner.
"What you said before about my sword not being able to keep us safe. You were right. On its own, Longclaw can't keep these people safe. But hope can."
"Hope?" Jenner chuckled and shook his head. "You can hope as much as you want. It doesn't change reality."
"That's true but neither does this," Jon gestured to the bottle.
"Ah, on the contrary. Reality is merely what I perceive it to be. And this changes how I perceive."
"Reality is what we make of it."
"And the reality is that we're all dead. This world is dead."
"Maybe. But is it not better to die standing and fighting, rather than wallowing in grief and despair?"
"I did fight! My fight was here and I fought to the very end! And lost. There's no cure. There's no solution. It's over. We're it. The final generation. After us, the dead will rot away and life will start over. No amount of hope will change that. What your people are doing isn't fighting. It's useless flailing. We're fish, caught on a hook and the line is already starting to reel in. No amount of squirming is going to stop us from ending up in that boat."
Jon leaned closer to Jenner.
"While men still breathe, hope can never die."
Jenner shook his head and began to laugh the laugh of a madman. He got up from his chair and clumsily snatched up a sheet of paper. He thrust it into Jon's hands.
"I took a look at your blood. I know what they can never accept." Jenner grinned. "You're not crazy. You're telling the truth, aren't you?"
Jon looked at the sheet of paper. It was full of nonsensical diagrams and words he couldn't make heads or tails of.
"Your blood. Its plasma density is abnormally high. I've never seen anything like it before." Jenner jabbed the diagram on the paper. "I know you don't understand what that is. But that's a chemical compound. Now, we doctors know just about every chemical compound that does and can ever exist. This one is impossible. Both you and your direwolf have it in your blood. So why do you care? This isn't your world. Why fight so hard for a world you didn't even get to see in its prime?"
Jon tossed the paper aside and looked Jenner square in the eyes.
"Because people, all people, good or bad, mine or yours, are worth fighting for."
"You lyin' sack of shit!" Daryl yelled.
Daryl charged onto the platform and threw Jenner from his chair. He leapt on top of him and drew a knife. Jon flew from his chair and tore Daryl off of Jenner.
"Get off me! He lied! It ain't no unit failure! It's the fuel! There ain't no fuel left!"
Jon twisted Daryl's arm, forcing him to drop the knife and forced him to his knees. Ghost loomed over Daryl, fangs bared. The rest of the group came rushing back into the control room. Shane and T-Dog were wielding weapons. A pick axe and a wooden bat.
"Jon, get your things. We're leavin'," Rick said.
Before Jon could say a thing, Jenner scrambled to his desk and slammed his fist onto a big red button. Impossibly loud horns blared, the lights turned red, and thick, metal doors slammed shut over the exit.
"What the hell, man?!" T-Dog shouted.
"Jenner, open the doors, now," Rick said through grit teeth.
"No!" Jenner got to his feet. "Don't you all get it?! The world's dead and we're all next! Just accept it! When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will begin. We can go peacefully, in an instant rather than slowly and brutally out there! We won't feel pain! We won't turn!"
T-Dog and Shane rushed to the metal doors and began beating on them with their pick axe and wooden bat. The wooden bat bounced off with no effect and the pick axe only left but a small dent even with Shane's full power behind it. Daryl struggled against Jon as he eyed Jenner savagely.
"You think you're some fuckin' hero?!" Daryl shouted. "You ain't! You're a spineless shit! God dammit let me go, kid! Let me knock some fuckin' sense into him!"
It took all of Jon's strength to keep Daryl contained. Rick marched past them and got into Jenner's face.
"You open those doors, right now or I swear to God I'll-'
"You'll what? Kill me?" Jenner laughed. "There. Is. No. Hope. Don't you see that? You know, the French were the last to hold out. While our people were committing suicide in the halls they were fighting until the bitter end. Then they ran out of power."
Suddenly, all the lights shut off and the control room was plunged into darkness. A moment later, dim lights flickered back on.
"Emergency lights," A monotone voice said.
"No power grid. No cure. No hope."
Rick shoved Jenner off his feet and slammed his fist down on the same red button Jenner had pressed before. But nothing happened.
"How the hell do I open the doors?!" Rick yelled.
"Activation key is required," the monotone voice said.
"Who is that? Where are they?" Jon asked.
"That's Vi. The program that runs all the robotics and electronics of this place. As well as security," Jenner said.
As much as Jon was able to piece together the way this land's magic operated, he hadn't a clue what Jenner just said.
"What's the key?!" Rick yelled.
More impossibly loud horns began to blare over and over.
"What's the key?!"
"Come on, doc!" T-Dog yelled.
"Jenner, please. Show mercy," Jon said.
"I am showing mercy!"
"Jenner, open that door, now," Rick said.
"There's no point. Even if I did, everything top side is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed shut. Besides, it's better this way."
"The hell it is!" Daryl struggled against Jon.
Ghost's fur stood on ends and he gnashed his jaws in Daryl's face. Daryl flinched, scowled and stopped struggling.
"Do you really want to go back out there? To live short, brutal lives and suffer an agonising death? Your friend, Morales was it? Do you really want to die like him?"
"We don't want to die at all!" Lori shouted.
"Well, you will! Doesn't matter what you want!"
Andrea marched up the platform with much the same look as Daryl. Jon looked at Rick and nodded to her. Rick got in her way as she drew a knife from her belt.
"Andrea, don't."
"Like hell! Daryl's right we either force him to open the doors or we die!"
Rick snatched the knife from her hand and pressed it firmly against her chest.
"No."
"Well, this ain't workin' man!" Shane threw down his pick axe.
"Of course not, those doors can withstand a rocket launcher," Jenner said.
"Twenty minutes until decontamination," Vi said.
"This isn't right!" Carol sobbed. "You can't just keep us here!"
"It's one tiny moment, a millisecond, no pain."
"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!"
Sophia wailed and buried her face into Carol's hip. Carl rushed past Andrea, past Rick and past Jon. He pulled a pistol from the waistband of his pants and pointed it in Jenner's face.
"Do what my dad says. I'll do it. You think I won't?"
"I don't doubt you will." Jenner sat down on his chair and faced away from Carl.
Jon shoved Daryl to the ground, marched up to Carl and snatched the pistol out of his hands.
"Do you have a hearing problem, lad? Where'd you get this?"
"He's gonna kill us all! If he's not gonna let us out he deserves to die!"
Jon handed the gun to Rick and Rick dragged Carl to Lori by his arm. Lori whacked Carl across the back of his head and forced him to sit.
"If we kill him we're never gettin' out of here," Rick hissed.
Rick marched back to Jenner and crouched before him.
"I think you're lyin'"
"What?"
"About no hope. If that were true, you would have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?"
"Ten minutes until decontamination," Vi said.
"It doesn't matter."
"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?"
"Not because I wanted to! I made a promise!" Jenner pointed to the black rectangle of glass. "To her. My wife."
"Test subject nineteen was your wife?" Jon asked.
"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. So I did and here we are. How could I say no? She was dying. It should have been me on that table. It wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world! Hell, she ran this place I just worked here. In our field, she was an Eisenstein. Me? I'm just… just… Edwin Jenner. She could have done something about this. Not me."
Jenner knocked aside his wine bottle and it shattered on the floor.
"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do," Rick said. "That's all we want. A choice. A chance."
"Let us keep fighting as long as we can," Jon said.
Jenner groaned and buried his face in his hands.
"You really want this? Really?"
"Yes, dammit! You deaf, doc?!" Daryl yelled.
Jenner sighed.
"I told you. The top side's locked down. I can't open it for you." Jenner lifted his head. "Vi?"
"Yes, Doctor Jenner?"
"Activation key, 11915916."
The horns blared and the metal doors flew open.
"Come on!" Daryl shot to his feet and raced for the doors.
Panicked shouts echoed off the rusted, steel walls as the group rushed for the exit. Jon, however, stayed where he was. Rick gripped Jenner's shoulder.
"I'm grateful. Thank you."
Jenner shook his head.
"That day will come when you won't be."
Jenner lunged at Rick and whispered something in his ear. Rick's face dropped, then hardened. Rick grabbed Jon's arm.
"Come on, hurry," Rick said.
Jon shook him off.
"I'll be right behind you."
"Jon, no-"
"I said, I'll be right behind you."
Ghost bared his fangs at Rick and Rick stepped back.
"If you ain't out in five minutes, I'll drag you out. Whether Ghost wants me to or not."
Rick slapped his wide-brimmed hat onto his head and ran for the exit. Jenner, meanwhile, sat at his desk. He opened a drawer and pulled out a framed picture of a woman. Teary-eyed, he stared at it.
"I did the best I could in the time that I had, Candace. I hope you'd be proud of that."
Jon sat beside him.
"She would, and she will. You still have more time, Jenner."
"Just go, Jon. Go die in this dead world. Go have your chance."
Jon took Jenner's hand into his own.
"I'll say it again. As long as men still breathe, there is hope. Hope that a new world might rise from the ashes of the old. It takes great men to lay the foundation amongst the chaos. You are such a man."
Jenner exhaled sharply from his nose and cracked a smile.
"You think I can build a new civilisation? Me? A fucking virologist?"
"I can't say I know what a virologist is, but in my world, a guild of men called Maesters did much the same work as you and your doctors. But they held an even greater responsibility. They guided the hands of kings with their knowledge. You are no ruler, but you are certainly brilliant. Your wife certainly thought so. She trusted you. You. To fix the world. You may not be able to cure it, so help rebuild it. Live on for her memory."
Jon let go of Jenner's trembling hand and rose from his chair. Jenner looked up at Jon with misty eyes, then to the picture of his wife. He kissed the frame, held it against his forehead, and then stood.
"O-Okay. I will."
"Five minutes until decontamination," Vi said.
"Come, make haste!" Jon said.
Jon and Ghost, followed by Jenner, rushed out of the control room and up the stairs.
The dead's deathly wail echoed throughout the CDC. As one, the dead banged their rotten hands on the glass walls, smearing it brown and black. Rick and the others banged back on the glass with the pick axe, the wooden bat, knives, the butts of rifles, shotguns and pistols. Even their fists. But no matter how hard they hit the glass, it did not shatter. It didn't even dent. Jon stared in disbelief from the staircase.
"Why won't it break?" Jon asked. "It's mere glass."
"No, it's reinforced. It's stronger than steel."
"The hell's he doin' here?!" Daryl asked.
Jenner stepped forward.
"I was wrong! I'm coming with you!"
"Four minutes until decontamination," Vi said.
The group screamed and shouted. They banged on the glass with savage ferocity. Jenner rushed forward.
"Stop! Stop! That's not going to work. The only way to break glass like this is by concentrating the force into a small point."
"Then why ain't this workin'?" Daryl thrust the pick axe at Jenner.
Jenner caught in and staggered back.
"Because they're riot-proof. A single person can't break them."
"What about a gun? The rifles?" Rick asked.
Jenner shook his head.
"No, no there isn't enough ammo for that."
"Three minutes until decontamination."
"What about my sword?" Jon asked. "The point is finer than the pick axe. Could repeat strikes on a single point break it?"
Jenner ran his hands through his hair.
"Fuck, maybe. But it'd take hundreds of strikes. And even then, the steel will probably bend before then."
"This is no ordinary steel."
Jon drew Longclaw.
"Who should do it?!" Andrea asked.
"I will. I'm stronger than you all," Jon said.
"The hell you are," Daryl said.
Shane marched up to him.
"Give me the sword, kid."
"I am stronger, believe me."
"God dammit, this ain't the time! Give me the goddamn sword!"
Ghost stepped in between Jon and Shane, and bared his fangs. Shane took a step back and raised his hands. Jon marched past them all, raised Longclaw above his head and drove it into the glass with both hands.
Like a bell, the glass rang. A tremendous force shot through Jon's arms. Longclaw bounced off the glass. A tiny, insignificant crack was left behind.
"Two minutes until decontamination."
The dead wailed. They beat their hands in a chaotic rhythm. Jon drove Longclaw into the glass again. The glass rang. Longclaw bounced off. The dead screeched. The crack grew by but a fraction. Ghost bared his fangs at the frenzied dead.
"Everyone form up!" Rick shouted. "If that glass breaks we gotta be ready! Make a circle! Leave about a foot between each other!"
As the group scurried to form their circle, Jon's heart pounded in his ears. He raised Longclaw to strike again. He meant to shout commands, to aid his allies in organising their offensive. But instead, it came out as a mindless bellow. Ghost let out a howl. Fire burned in Jon's veins and suddenly, for a fleeting moment, Jon felt strength beyond strength. Longclaw slammed into the glass. It pierced through as if the glass were mere paper. Cracks raced across the glass from the puncture. They reached the edge of the enormous pane and it shattered. The roar of the dead filled Jon's ears, crisp and clear.
Jon flung the clinging shards of glass from Longclaw with a flick of his wrist and raised its blade to the dead.
"For hope! For our future!"
He and his allies screamed and shouted as the dead flooded the CDC. Jon fell back to the circle and aided in cutting them down. In the chaotic madness of it all, among the spray of rot, Jon tossed his dagger to the unarmed Jenner. Jenner caught it and buried the blade in the head of a walker twice his weight. Above it all, Vi's voice boomed.
"One minute until decontamination."
"Watch those to your side! Ensure their safety! Time your swings! Don't allow the dead to get between your arms!" Jon cried.
Jon shouldered his way into the hoard and swung a wide, sweeping cut with Longclaw. Fire burned in his veins once again as he fell the dead, seven at a time, decapitating and bisecting them as if they were made of snow. His efforts forged a path and as a unified circle of slaughter, the group pushed out of the CDC and across the stone lot out front. Ghost and Rick rushed to Jon's side. Ghost fell the dead with swipes of his paws and Rick with stabs from a knife. Together, the three of them carved a path through the hoard as the rest of the group protected their flanks. Daryl swung his wooden bat wildly. Shane buried his pick into the dead's skulls. T-Dog crushed heads with the butt of a rifle, as did Dale and as did Andrea. Lori and Carol made do with pistols, cracking them against the endless rotting heads. Carl and Sophia stayed in the middle of the circle. They stood tall, terrified, but tall.
"Thirty seconds until decontamination," Vi's voice boomed behind them.
As they reached the street it boomed again.
"Twenty seconds until decontamination."
And again as they reached the RV and Jeep.
"Ten seconds until decontamination."
Jon slammed shut the door of the jeep behind Ghost and Daryl threw him to the floor. A roar louder than the shot of a cannon, louder than a giant's battle cry, louder than the fabled horn of winter, louder than anything Jon had ever heard before pierced the air. The windows of the jeep shattered. The ground shook beneath them. A wave of heat washed over everything. Jon's ears rang in his head as he sat up. The CDC burned as a giant inferno. A fireball the size of a castle.
The fire in Jon's veins died into mere embers. He felt heavier than stone and collapsed backwards onto the jeep's floor. Ghost's red eyes gazed into his from above, as Shane brought the jeep to life. Everything lurched like a bucking horse as the jeep's engine roared. The stench of charred flesh laid siege to Jon's nose.