"That his wife is a lying cheating whore, no why would I do that?" Kagome said sarcastically.
"It wasn't what it looked like."
"Oh, no? It wasn't you and Shane on the verge of making out in the lounge while your husband and son are asleep down the hall?"
"No, Shane attacked me!"
"I'm sure he did."
"You don't believe me?"
"Why wouldn't I believe you?"
"Because you want to use this as an excuse to break up Rick and me."
Kagome stopped and stared at Lori, "Are you insane? Why would I want to do that?"
"I've seen the way you look at Rick; I'm not blind. You and Rick are close. What exactly happened when you were out there all alone? What did you do to my husband?"
Kagome's blood boiled at the insinuation, she raised her hand and slapped Lori, "Don't you ever suggest that anything ever happened between your husband and me. You may not have any respect for Rick, but he does for you, and I don't go after married men," Kagome said as she stormed off towards her room. Lori's eyes widen, and she held her cheek and watched Kagome walk away.
Kagome stormed towards her room when Daryl stepped out of his, "What's wrong with you?"
"That bitch Lori, I caught her and Shane dry humping in the lounge."
Daryl nodded, "Yeah, that's been going on for a while now. Why would you care?"
"I don't care about them; I do care if she's cheating on Rick."
Daryl tilted his head, "You care about Rick."
"Of course I do, he's my friend."
"That's not the way I mean, and you know it."
"It doesn't matter if I do or don't. Rick is married," Kagome told Daryl.
"That can always change, you know."
"Oh, yes, Rick and Lori can go file for divorce any time they want," Kagome said sarcastically.
"They don't have to anymore; they can just agree to end it, and that's it," Daryl said.
Kagome paused, "Even if that was the case, I could never break up a family."
"Even an unhappy one?" Daryl asked.
"What are you doing still up," Kagome asked, changing the subject.
"I can't sleep yet. Not used to feeling safe anymore."
"Are we safe," Kagome asked, leaning against the wall.
Daryl leaned against the opposite wall, "I don't know yet. You don't think we are?"
Just as Kagome was about to answer, Rick turned the corner; he was on his way to say goodnight to Kagome. The smile Rick had on his face faltered when he saw Kagome talking to Daryl. He took a drink of the bottle of wine that he had in his hand and walked closer to Kagome and Daryl, "Hey, guys, what's going on?"
"Nothin' Kagome and I were only talkin'," Daryl said.
Kagome smiled at Rick, "Did you need something, Rick?"
"Uh, I only wanted to make sure you were settled in and tell you goodnight," Rick said lamely.
Kagome gave him a sad smile, which confused Rick, "Thanks, Rick. Well, I guess I'll see you guys in the morning. Goodnight," Kagome said, then went into her room and shut the door.
Rick was about to ask Daryl if Kagome was alright, but Daryl wished him goodnight and went into his room as well, leaving Rick standing in the hallway alone. Confused and a little pissed, Rick turned around and stumbled back to the place he shared with his family.
When Daryl was sure Rick was gone, he left his room and knocked on Kagome's door; she answered the door. Daryl leaned against the door frame, "Are you going to tell Rick what you saw?"
Kagome sighed, "No."
"I don't think you'll have to; he'll figure it out. And when he does, he's going to need a friend."
"And if he needs a friend, then I'll be there," Kagome said.
Daryl nodded, "Goodnight, Kagome. Remember, you still have to tell me how you did that thing with the Walkers."
Kagome smiled, "Goodnight, Daryl," Kagome said, then went back into her room and went to sleep.
The next morning, Kagome woke up and joined the others in the cafeteria for breakfast. T-Dog was already up making eggs for everyone, "Morning, Kagome."
"Morning, T-Dog. Do you need any help?"
"Nah, I got everything under control, how's your head?"
"Fine, thank you. I've had stronger stuff than wine," Kagome said.
T-Dog nodded and continued to cook the eggs. While he did that, Kagome set the table for everyone. A little while later, Amy and Andrea came into the cafeteria. Amy smiled at Kagome and hugged her. "Good morning, Kagome, how did you sleep?"
"Good, and you two?"
"Very well, thank you," Amy said with a smile.
Kagome and Amy finished setting the table, then sat down to wait for the others. The others finally arrived, Kagome noticed that Rick didn't look very well he plopped down in the chair next to Kagome and sighed. Carl sat on the other side of this father, "Are you hungover? Mom said, you'd be." Carl asked.
Rick, towards his son, then smiled, "Mom is right."
Everyone took their seats, and T-Dog came out of the kitchen with a large pan of eggs, "Eggs. Powered, but, but I do'em good."
Glenn groaned when he sat down, "I bet you can't tell," T-Dog said.
Dale laughs at Glenn's misery and T-Dog's teasing. Jacqui rubs Glenn's shoulders. T-Dog dishes out the eggs to all, including Glenn.
"Protein helps a hangover."
Rick reached for the bottle of aspirin, "Where did these come from?"
"Jenner," Kagome said as she started eating her eggs.
Rick looked at Kagome, who looked fresh as a daisy, "did you take some already, Kagome?"
"I don't need to; wine doesn't affect me. Sake is stronger."
Rick nodded then smiled.
Lori frowned at how Rick was so attentive to Kagome, but she couldn't say anything because she knew that if she did, Kagome could tell Rick about her and Shane. Kagome opened the bottle of aspirin for Rick and gave him two, then passed the bottle to Glenn, who had his head down on the table groaning.
"Don't ever let me drink again," he said while Jacqui rubbed his back.
When Shane came into the cafeteria, he sat down opposite Rick and Lori. He greeted everyone but glared at Kagome. She ignored him, Shane didn't intimidate her in the least. At that moment, Jenner came into the cafeteria and greeted everyone, "Morning."
"Morning, Doc," Shane said.
Everyone at the table greets the doctor. Dale looked at Jenner, "Doctor. I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing-"
"But you will, anyway."
"We didn't come here for the eggs," Andrea said. Jenner nodded and led everyone into the big room.
"Give me playback of TS-19," Edwin said to Vi.
"Playing TS-19."
"Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few."
Upon the wall, an oversized display shows varying 3-D views of human skulls. Carl stares at the screen, "Is that the brain?"
Jenner nods, "An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for E.I.V."
"Enhanced internal view," Vi said.
The main screen changes to show the upper shoulders and head of the subject; the screen skews to a horizontal view then increases the magnification. The image becomes more and more detailed. The magnification shows the Inside the skull. It appears to be lit with bright blue threads of energy. Some areas are denser with light than others, but there are lighted threads throughout the skull. The detail zooms in until the threads become closer, and pulses of light can be distinguished.
"What are those lights," Shane asked.
"Synapses of the brain," Kagome said. Shane gives her a confused look.
"Right, Doctor," Jenner said to Kagome. He then turned to Shane, "It's a person's life—experiences, memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light are you—the thing that makes you unique and human."
"Do you ever make sense," Daryl asked.
"As Doctor Higurashi said, they're 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."
"Death? That's what this is, a vigil," Rick asked.
"Yes. Or rather the playback of a vigil."
"This person died? Who?" Andrea asked.
"Test subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected... and volunteered to have us record the process. VI, Scan forward to the first event."
"Scanning first event," Vi said.
The screen shows a message "Scanning Forward" The brain has lights still flickering in the outer areas, but the center has become dark as if black roots were growing inside.
"It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs. Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be...gone. Vi scan to the second event."
"Scanning to the second event."
"The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute... seven seconds."
A red glow flickers at the base of the brain. The rest remains dark. Random sparks shoot out into the larger area of the brain, but no further lights grow.
"It restarts the brain," Lori asked.
Kagome looked at the image a little closer, "No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving." Kagome said, mostly to herself. Lori glared at Kagome.
"That's right, the frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part, that doesn't come back. The you part. Just a shell is driven by mindless instinct."
The subject moves, its mouth opens and closes. The head moves side to side; the shoulders move as if the arms were being lifted. The barrel of a gun appears at the forehead, pointing down. A bullet enters the brain and tears through the red cluster of embers. The brain goes completely dark; the subject stops moving.
"What was that," Carol asked.
"You shot it," Amy observed.
Jenner told Vi to power down the workstation, Vi complied. He then goes on to explain that they had no idea what it is. That it could be, It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal.
"Or the wrath of God," Jacqui stated.
"There is that."
"Somebody must know something. Somebody somewhere," Amy said.
Jenner goes on to explain that there may be, but he has been in the dark for a month already, so he honestly had no idea. The group is stunned, they have no idea what to say or think until Dary said that he was going to get shit faced drunk.
Dale looked at the clock on the wall, "Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you, and I hate to ask one more question, but...that clock—it's counting down. What happens at zero?"
"The basement generators run out of fuel."
"And what happens after that?" Rick asked.
Jenner doesn't answer; he only walked out of the big room. Rick asked Vi the same question, "When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur."
Rick and several others run downstairs to discover that what Jenner said is true; they are almost out of fuel. While everyone is panicking, Kagome gets their attention. "Okay, everyone, we need to get out of here. Go back to your rooms and gather your stuff and meet back here. We also need to gather, Glenn, T-Dog, and Shane's things as well."
No one moved, "NOW!" Kagome yelled.
Everyone took off running to their rooms to gather their belongings. Kagome went back to her room and grabbed her pack and bow; she never bothered to get comfortable. She had a feeling it wasn't going to last. Daryl peeked into Kagome's room, "You good?" He asked.
"Yeah, I never bothered to get settled," Kagome told him.
"Yeah, me neither."
By the time everyone arrived where Jenner was, they saw that Rick was already talking to him. Jenner was telling them what's going to happen when the timer hits zero. That high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 degrees and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired.
Jenner turns to the group, " It sets the air on fire. No pain." Jenner said and is about to shut the door when Kagome pulled out a knife a slammed into the keycard that Jenner had in his hand.
"You are not locking us in here with you," Kagome said coldly.
"Why not? Isn't it better to get it over with than to go out there and suffer?"
Rick stood next to Kagome, "That's our choice, Jenner, you can't make that decision for us. Let us out."
"I told you that once you came in, there was no way out. But you can try it."
"Okay, everyone grab your stuff, and let's go," Rick said.
"We already did, Kagome told us to earlier," Amy said.
"Then let's not waste any more time."
As they start heading out, Jacqui and Jim decide that they want to stay. Rick tried to discourage them, but Jacqui said that she'd rather get it over with than be torn apart.
"I have nothing to live for anymore, Rick. I want to be with my family," Jim said.
Kagome went back and grabbed Rick's arm, "This is what they want, Rick. Respect their wishes."
Rick looked down at Kagome and nodded. He turned and followed Kagome out of the room. They all ran up the stairs until the group got to the lobby. Jenner unlocked the steel doors, and Rick put the grenade that Carol had found in his shirt by the window. The survivors took cover, and the grenade went off.
Once the window was blown out, they raced for the vehicles to fight off some Walkers that had been drawn by the noise. The group jumped into their cars and peeled out, heading as far as they could from the CDC. Rick looked in the rearview mirror and saw the CDC building disappear in a fiery explosion. He looked at Lori, who was sitting next to him then at Kagome through the rearview mirror.
Rick drove out of Atlanta with the others following behind him. Rick had no idea where he was going to take his group, but he hoped he could find somewhere safe for Lori, Carl, and… Kagome.