(Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestinyEmbrace!)
(I DO NOT own The Walking Dead, Code Lyoko or any kind of names or brands that appear in this story. I do own all OCs unless specifically named as they appear above this message.)
Some of the Lyoko Warriors were sitting inside of the RV as the convoy headed straight towards the city of Atlanta. The situation with Jim was still precarious as he was still dying in the back bedroom of the RV, but thankfully Jennifer was keeping an eye on him for everyone. Their hopes for Jim's survival continued to rely on getting to the CDC, but what if those guys didn't have a cure? Hell, what if they couldn't get in...?
The group just tried to ignore these thoughts and just wanted to deal with them when they would get to the CDC, so they were doing all sorts of stuff to take their mind off of Jim for a bit. Ulrich, Jeremie and Yumi were playing a card game with each other on the RV's couch, and Odd was listening to some music on Aelita's MP3 player while he read through a Harry Potter book. Chase and Dylan were both sitting at the RV's dining table and were showing their sister how to assemble, take apart, and then reassemble her pistol.
"You're doing a good job, sis... Keep it up, you're getting there." Dylan encouraged.
Aelita had succeeded in taking apart her handgun, but the difficulties laid in reassembling the weapon. It was the same problem with Rebecca just yesterday... The pink-haired supergenius was growing more and more frustrated since this was a surprisingly difficult task for her despite her incredibly high IQ. It was critical that her and the other four original Lyoko Warriors learn how to properly disassemble and reassemble their weapons so as to clean them when needed, but alas this was just annoying as hell at the moment. Aelita set down her pistol and its pieces on the table, sighing with a mild feeling of frustration.
"This is very complicated... I'm honestly starting to wish I tried to do a little bit of weapons research when I was stuck in Lyoko." Aelita said as she leaned against the table and rubbed one of her temples with her hand.
"You'll get the hang of it, 'Lita. Just need a little practice and you'll be a pro soon enough." Chase smiled.
Aelita smiled at the encouragement of her brother before she resumed her attempts to put her Beretta back together in one piece. Thankfully after a few more moments of deep thought she managed to get all of the pieces back together without any more hiccups, and she proudly grinned to herself as she set the handgun back down on the table in front of her.
"See? We knew you could do it. Great job, Princess." Dylan complimented.
"Thanks guys..." Aelita smiled at her brothers.
Both Dylan and Chase smiled back at their pink-haired sister as she began to relax on her seat. Aelita turned her head to look back at the others in order to see how they were all doing. Jeremie looked up from his card game and noticed that Aelita was looking back towards him and the others, and he gave her a loving smile before he looked back down at his cards. Aelita chuckled to herself when she saw Jeremie pridefully lay his cards down for Yumi and Ulrich to see, causing the couple to groan to themselves with annoyance as Jeremie won yet another round of whatever game they were playing together. However, Aelita's smile and her chuckling quickly faded when she heard Jim coughing from the back bedroom. His condition was just becoming worse and worse... Aelita sighed and turned to look back at Dylan and Chase with a mournful look on her face.
"Do you guys think Jim is going to make it...?" Aelita cautiously asked.
"Honestly...? I don't know..." Dylan sighed while he gave a shrug. "Everyone we've seen who's gotten bit by a walker has died. All of them..."
"Exactly... All I know is that if we don't get to the CDC soon, then it won't matter either way." Chase mournfully added.
Aelita nodded and she simply started to sit in silence as she thought on the situation with Jim. Logically there may not be any cure for a walker bite that exists yet, but if Jim had any chance to live then it was at the Center for Disease Control building back in Atlanta. If there wasn't a cure for the disease at the CDC, then Jim would absolutely die...
The pink-haired super genius simply sighed once more before she began to take apart her gun in order to put it back together again once she did so. She was going to attempt this at least a few more times so she could get the hang of it. Servicing and cleaning her Beretta and knowing how all of the pieces go together were skills that she was going to need in the not-too-distant future...
In Shane's jeep at the front of the convoy, Shane was driving and he was focusing on the road. He was very careful to keep a watchful eye out for any walkers or some other threat, such as if a deer suddenly ran out into the street and in front of his jeep. Honestly, how insanely fucked up would it be if a deer-collision happened while in the middle of the apocalypse? It wasn't like State Farm was around to help you with that sort of problem anymore...
In any event, Shane continued to drive and lead the group towards Atlanta. But suddenly heard a quiet giggling noise coming from the backseat. He looked up in his rear-view mirror to see that Patrick and Verity were cuddling up under a blanket together, with Patrick clandestinely digging his face into Verity's neck and leaving a ton of kisses upon her skin just to playfully mess with her. Shane just simply chuckled with amusement at witnessing this before he looked back over to the road, a small grin forming on his face.
"You kids enjoying yourselves?" Shane finally asked the pair.
Both Verity and Patrick immediately pulled away from each other and made themselves look like nothing whatsoever had happened since they got in the jeep about an hour or two ago.
"U-Um... yeah, yes... We're just relaxing back here, that's all." Verity awkwardly lied to the driver of the jeep.
Shane glanced back at the two teens through the rear-view mirror once more, seeing that the two teens were both already blushing and purposefully looking away from each other so as to not arouse suspicion. Shane chuckled once more before he again looked straight back at the road. Those two were definitely a really cute couple, even he could see that.
"Just keep 'PDA' in mind when you're in my jeep, that's all." Shane smirked as he began to remember some of the girls he used to fancy throughout the last twenty years or so. "Y'know, I used to date this girl Lara Anderson way back in high school. Guys, you two have no idea on the kind of stuff she could've done with her-"
Thankfully the sound of a horn cut off Shane before he could go into details on his old high school sex life, much to Verity and Patrick's mutual relief. Shane looked in the rear-view window to see that smoke was coming out of the RV's engine as the RV pulled over to the side of the road with all of the other vehicles. Engine problems again, go fucking figure...
"I'm pulling over..." Shane informed the two teens with a noticeable tone of annoyance in his voice.
Shane pulled the jeep over to the side of the road and stopped it on the gravel, turning off the engine in order to save gasoline. He then proceeded to get out of the jeep and hurry back over to see what the hell was happening with the RV. Patrick and Verity quickly followed suit and they arrived just as some of the others in the group gathered near the RV as well.
"What happened?" Patrick asked everyone who had gathered.
"It's the RV's radiator again. The fucking thing is basically made of duct tape by this point!" Dylan frowned with frustration.
Most of the camp members were either still sitting in their cars or were keeping an eye out for walkers and whatever other threats were waiting for them. The road had forests on either side, so unfortunately that meant that they needed to solve the issue with the RV as quickly as possible. The last thing they needed was to become a walker's dinner that night...
The group by the front of the RV watched as Dale opened the hood and looked closely at the radiator to see exactly what the problem was. Unsurprisingly it was indeed the radiator, causing the older man to sigh and shake his head with annoyance as he pulled away.
"I told you all that we'd never get far on that hose... I said I needed the one from the cube van." Dale stated.
Dale was absolutely right about that. Unfortunately after Anne and Chase left Atlanta during the rescue attempt on Merle, the rest of the rescue team found that their cube van had disappeared. The two teens didn't take it, so that left one logical explanation: Merle himself. The now one-handed redneck most likely found the van while trying to leave Atlanta, and when he took it and went off to destinations unknown the RV lost whatever chance it had at a true repair.
"Any chance that you can you jury-rig it?" Anne inquired.
"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose... and I'm out of duct tape." Dale replied with a shrug, adding in that last statement matter-of-factly.
The group knew that the repairs were going to take some time with or without duct tape, so they were just going to need to sit tight for a while. Ulrich decided to look down the road in order to see if there could be a building to scavenge, so he borrowed Shane's binoculars and walked a few paces away from the group so he could get a clear view up the street. When he looked through the binoculars, Ulrich could clearly see that there was some sort of a building maybe a mile or so down the road.
"I think I see a building up ahead..." Ulrich informed the group.
"What is it? Maybe a gas station?" Odd asked.
Ulrich continued to look through the binoculars for a moment or two in order to try and see if the building was a gas station. It took a moment but he finally noticed some gas pumps out in front, clearly showing that it was a gas station. Hopefully there will be some good stuff in there... Ulrich finally lowered the binoculars and nodded in confirmation to his best friend.
"Yeah, it sure looks like it." Ulrich replied.
Suddenly the group could hear the loud noise of a door hitting the side of the RV, and everyone turned in time to see Jennifer rush out with an expression of massive worry plastered upon her face.
"Y'all! It's Jim..." Jennifer warned the group. "It's bad, it's really bad... He's delusional, he's got chills, he's having trouble breathing... I think he's getting close to the end."
"Oh my God..." Jacqui gasped with utter horror.
The group was likewise shocked to hear about Jim's condition deteriorating so much so fast. They knew he didn't have long thanks to that walker bite, but they were hoping that at least he could have made it to the CDC in time... It looked like this wasn't going to happen now.
Ulrich, Shane and Alexandr all volunteered to head out towards the gas station to check the place and see if anything useful could be found in there, and they left the jeep with the convoy and walked so as to save the gasoline. As they did that the others all mournfully continued to stand outside as Rick, Aelita, Jeremie and Chase all went into the RV in order to check up on Jim and see exactly how bad he was doing with their own eyes.
The four went to the back bedroom and saw that Jim was definitely as bad as Jennifer had described. He was covered head to toe in sweat, he was shivering, his face was as white as paper due to paleness and he really did look like he was struggling hard to keep breathing. He wasn't going to get to the CDC, that's for sure.
Rick and Aelita both sat down next to Jim and got his attention as Chase and Jeremie both stood next to the door. The expressions on all four of their faces had already turned from determination straight to sadness.
"We're going to be on the road soon. You'll be okay..." Rick assured his sick friend.
Jim violently began to cough as he laid on the bed, his chest heaving as he struggled very hard to get some air back into his lungs. After this he began to quietly and tiredly pant as pain filled nearly every single last inch of his body. Jim truly felt like he was in hell and there was no sign that his condition was going to improve...
"Oh no... Christ..." Jim quietly groaned with a feeling of growing pain. "My bones... my bones are like glass. Every little bump... God, this ride is killing me... Leave me here..."
The four people that were with Jim all went wide eyed with shock at what they had just heard. Jim... wants to be left behind? He wanted to just be left on the side of the road to die like an animal...?
"I'm done... Just leave me... I want to be with my family..." Jim repeated as if to confirm to the others that this is what he wanted.
"Jim... they're all dead. I'm so sorry, but I don't think you really know what you're asking of us." Aelita stated as her shock only grew.
"She's right. Your fever, Jim... you've been more delirious more often than not!" Rick exclaimed as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Jim looked straight at Rick, Aelita, Chase and Jeremie as the expression on his face completely fell. The four looked directly into Jim's eyes, and then they all realized something that shocked them to their cores. They realized that this time he wasn't delirious. Jim was coherent and serious, and he truthfully wanted to be left behind...
The sick man proceeded to force himself to sit a bit more upright, causing another wave of pain to hit him as a quiet groan of agony escaped his mouth. He simply couldn't go on anymore.
"Don't you think I know that...?" Jim retorted very tiredly and incredulously. "Look, I'm clear now. But in five minutes I may not be. Rick, Aelita, Chase, Jeremie, I know what I'm asking. I want this... Please leave me here."
The four other camp members proceeded to look at each other as if to debate on if they should take Jim's words seriously, or at least if the others were in agreement with the man himself. Jim picked up on this pretty quickly. He didn't want any of them to feel bad about his decision or to leave him behind on the side of the road.
"Now that's on me... Okay? My decision. Not your failures." Jim assured the other four.
Aelita was particularly shocked with hearing all of this and she looked back over at her brother and her boyfriend as if to gauge their reactions to this. Both Chase and Jeremie appeared to have been very shocked, but after a moment their faces fell as if they resigned themselves to abiding by Jim's request. Aelita looked over at Rick and he seemed to have done the exact same thing as the two teenagers. With that, the pink-haired genius sadly lowered her head and she likewise abandoned herself into allowing Jim what he wanted most.
The other camp members were absolutely horrified with what they had heard from Rick, Jeremie, Chase and Aelita. Did Jim seriously want to just be left behind...? He didn't want to continue to the CDC? Of course the group has dealt with people who were bitten before. First was Amy Smith, then it was Amy Harrison and several other camp members who died just yesterday. But this was the very first time that one of them had specifically asked to just be left behind to turn into a walker... His choice was absolutely a death sentence. No more, no less.
"It's what he says he wants..." Jeremie confirmed to the entire group.
"And he really seems to be lucid?" Anne inquired.
"He seems to be..." Chase sighed with a resigned shrug.
The others stood silently for a moment as they continued to process the situation. Ulrich, Alexandr and Shane had returned just a few moments beforehand and they were told about what Jim had said, so obviously they were all pretty shocked and disturbed just like how everyone else was. It certainly has been a very fucked up few days for basically every camp member, that's for sure. However, Dale stepped forward in order to get everyone's attention, and then he turned to look directly at Rick.
"Back at the camp, when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down... you misunderstood." Dale stated to the former police officer. "I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants."
Dale then looked over at all of the others who were very carefully listening to him. They never thought about asking Jim what he actually wanted until just a few moments ago. At the end of the day it was indeed his choice on what his fate would be if he was bitten, right? Either allow a bullet in his brain or allow himself to turn. Dale simply shrugged before he continued.
"I think we have an answer." Dale added, finishing the point he was trying to make.
"Wait, we just leave him here in the trees? We just take off and allow him to turn...?" Odd cautiously asked.
"Yeah, I'm not really sure if I can live with that..." Verity added.
"It's not your call... any of yours."
The group immediately turned to look at Lori, who was standing with her arms crossed after she said those words to the group. She knew who's voice truly mattered in this situation, and it was Jim's... It was difficult for anyone to actually accept in terms of morality, but they all realized that Lori and Dale were both completely right. If Jim wanted to go out on his own terms, then who were they to argue against him on that? Even so, the camp members and Lyoko Warriors all felt very saddened that this was going to happen, that Jim was going to be left behind like this...
May God forgive them all for doing so.
The group all watched with solemn expressions and feelings as they watched Patrick and Alexandr set Jim down against a tree as gently as they possibly could. This was it... they were going to leave a man to turn into a walker. Jim was absolutely exhausted, but this was what he wanted. The bitten man looked up at the tree branches above him and he couldn't help but tiredly chuckle a little at how ironic this was. This was the second tree he was going to be left on in just the last two days...
"Hey, another damn tree..." Jim tiredly joked to the others.
A few of the others let out some quiet and sad chuckles, but to be honest no one was really smiling at all. This would be the last time they see Jim alive...
"Hey, Jim... It doesn't have to end like this. If we get you to the CDC then maybe you can get some help..." Odd stated in one last effort to try and change the sick man's decision.
Jim coughed a bit as he began to relax against the tree bark, enjoying the sensation of a cool breeze that suddenly began to hit both himself and all of the others. It felt very nice...
"No... It's good... The breeze feels nice." Jim replied with a tired and pained shrug.
Odd mournfully nodded and he backed up a few steps. Jim definitely wasn't going to deviate from this course no matter what anyone said. Knowing that this was going to be the last time he would be able to speak to Jim while he was still alive and coherent, Robert cautiously walked up to the sick man and he crouched down in front of him with a solemn expression upon his face.
"I... I forgive you, Jim. Don't worry about that anymore, because I forgive you for what you did to my sister's grave yesterday..." Robert informed with a very saddened tone.
A small smile of both sadness and gratitude formed on Jim's face after he heard that he was forgiven, and he managed to find enough strength to lean slightly forward and extend his arm in order to shake Robert's hand, which Robert gladly allowed. After that, Jim leaned back upon the tree and tried his hardest to relax. All of this discomfort would be over very, very soon...
Jacqui and Rebecca cautiously approached Jim and the pair crouched down in front of him, with Jacqui taking both of his hands as the two began to say their goodbyes.
"Just don't fight it, okay...?" Jacqui told her friend with a sad smile.
Rebecca then leaned over to give Jim a kiss on the cheek as a goodbye, causing the man to smile at her. Rebecca sadly smiled back down at Jim before she and Jacqui stood back up and returned to the group. Rick then proceeded to grab a small snub-nosed revolver out of one of the cars and he quickly came back to bring it to Jim, doing this so that the man would at least have a way out of becoming a walker if he changed his mind.
"Jim, do you want this?" Rick offered as he held out the gun.
"No, I'm okay... You'll need it..." Jim reasoned as he weakly shook his head.
Reluctantly, Rick put away the revolver and he nodded at Jim as a reply. After this he went back over to the others and looked down at Jim with a large feeling of pity and regret, as he truly wished Jim didn't get bitten during the attack. Jeremie then proceeded to step forward as well, mournfully staring down at the sick man after he walked up.
"Thanks for... um..." Jeremie began but suddenly trailed off as he tried to find the right words to say. "Well, for fighting for us, I mean. I really wish Aelita and I could have gotten to know you a little bit more..." he sadly told him.
Jim's expression suddenly appeared to look even more saddened than before, as he realized he didn't get a chance to know Jeremie, Aelita, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi a little longer before the attack. That was definitely something he wished he could've done before his death. They were all good people...
"Me too... I'm sorry that we can't do that now." Jim sighed with sadness.
Jeremie's face fell after he heard this, and he went to go and stand next to Aelita once more. Then it was Anne's turn to walk up to Jim and speak with him. Like the five original Lyoko Warriors she didn't really get a chance to know him very well before the attack, and she had even less time to do so since Jim was bitten just several hours after she arrived at the quarry camp with Chase after the events that had happened in Atlanta.
"Jim, are you really sure about being left behind like this? There might still be a chance for you at the CDC..." Anne reasoned with massive pity.
"I'll be okay... I'll be okay..." Jim quietly assured the teenage girl.
Anne saw that Jim was now giving a small but very peaceful smile towards her and everyone else. Anne nodded at the man and she quietly retreated back to the rest of the group. One by one the rest of the camp members all said their goodbyes to Jim, but by the time the last goodbye was said he already seemed to be losing consciousness. Reluctantly the group began to head back to their vehicles, and one by one everyone climbed back into their original places. Verity and Patrick were back in the jeep with Shane, Aelita and her brothers were in the RV with the others, Miranda, Charles and Kyra were in another car, so on and so forth.
Everyone in the cars took one final look at Jim before they were to leave, and they saw that he had regained consciousness for just enough time to smile and weakly wave the group goodbye. Some of the group waved back at him, but after a few more moments the convoy began to drive again. Thankfully the radiator in Dale's RV was temporarily repaired with some duct tape that was found by Ulrich in the gas station, so there wasn't going to be another stop until the group gets to the Center for Disease Control building on the outskirts of Atlanta. The mood throughout the convoy had turned much more somber after they left Jim propped up against the tree, where he would most likely become a walker just a short time from now. They all knew that it was Jim's choice, but even so it was still pretty unfathomable that he would want something like that to happen to himself...
Aelita was sitting in a chair in the RV and she had a look of deep regret upon her face due to how they left Jim, and basically everyone else in the RV had very similar expressions as well. She took her Mister Puck doll out of her backpack and held it close to her as she stared out of the window and watched the trees as they drove past them. She thought of William Dunbar, she thought of Amy Smith and Amy Harrison, she thought of her parents that were both probably dead by this point as well... She and her friends had endured so much loss in so little time. Jim was just another name to add to the list.
Even though Jim was left behind, the rest of the survivors may yet still find some shelter in the CDC. Hopefully it was still operational...
WILDFIRE MSB3418 ACTIVE
BEGIN TRANSMISSION
The man from the first transmission was back on the screen, albeit now with a look of pure sadness and resignation plastered upon his face. His name was Jenner, and just a couple of hours beforehand he failed.
"The TS-19 samples are gone. The tragedy of their loss cannot be overstated... They were our freshest samples by far. None of the other samples we gathered even came close... Those were necrotic. Useless. Dead. Flesh."
Jenner gave a sad sigh as he proceeded to drink straight from a bottle of wine, as if he didn't give a damn about anything anymore. His work and all of his research was finished whether he wanted it to be or not. The accident that happened in the research lab easily made sure of that...
"I don't even know why I'm talking to you... I bet there isn't a single son of a bitch out there still listening, is there?... Is there?"
A few more moments of silence followed before another resigned word was finally said by Jenner. The people who checked in on him through his reports were probably all dead right now anyway...
"Fine. Saves me the embarrassment..."
Jenner simply stood up from his chair and began to drink straight from the wine bottle once more, actually chugging it for a moment or two before he finally released his lips from the lid so as to take in some air again.
"I think tomorrow I'm gonna blow my brains out. I haven't decided yet... But tonight I'm getting drunk."
Jenner proceeded to grab a nearby coffee cup and he poured out a cup's worth of wine for himself to drink, just so he finish off what was left from the bottle itself. Even if he didn't blow his brains out he still didn't have any more time anyway. There wasn't enough time left to regain all of the research that was lost in the lab accident, so what else was he supposed to do now aside from drink until his liver crapped out on him?
Jenner then drank every last drop of the wine in his cup, and then he smirked and held up the now-empty wine bottle as he looked back down at the monitor.
"Speaking of which, how far do you think I can chuck this, huh? Pretty far I bet!"
No answer was given to him, so Jenner simply shrugged and proceeded to throw the wine bottle as far as his strength allowed him to. He actually got it pretty far across the room before he heard it shatter against some far away wall, much to his own amusement.
"OH! IT'S OUT OF THE STADIUM!"
WILDFIRE MSB3418 ACTIVE
END TRANSMISSION
The group finally made it to the CDC shortly before the sun was beginning to set. The risk of danger was gradually growing with every passing second, as when it becomes nighttime the streets would roam with thousands of walkers, especially near the cities. If they were to survive, then they'd need to get inside the CDC building. The group gathered their weapons and they climbed out of the vehicles, where they were met with an incredibly terrifying sight. Outside of the Center for Disease Control building they saw what appeared to be countless dead bodies littered all over the ground, along with many destroyed barricades, burnt-out military vehicles and God knows how many rifles and old shell casings.
Whatever happened here at the CDC was definitely not good...
"Jesus Christ..." Yumi quietly gasped with pure horror at all of her surroundings. "T- There must be hundreds of bodies here, guys! Look at all of them!"
"Keep it down, Yumi!" Odd warned as he knew some of these bodies were probably not pacified yet.
As if on cue the group could see that one of the corpses suddenly climbed up from the asphalt and began to hobble straight towards them, snarling as it did so. Ulrich then unsheathed his sword and he cautiously approached the walker before he proceeded to slice the top half of the walker's head clean off and sent the body straight to the ground, where it was now no longer a threat. The group then proceeded to quickly and very cautiously make their way past the corpse and towards the CDC building itself.
"Everybody stay quiet!" Shane whispered to the group as he kept a tight hold on his shotgun.
The smell... the disgusting, stomach-churning smell... The group had to cover their noses with their hands or their own shirts to try and cover the stench that the countless bodies were creating as they rotted away around them. What the hell happened to the CDC?! Were they overrun by the walkers?! If that was the case then the group was definitely going to die... The CDC had to still be operational! It just had to be!
"Keep moving, everybody! Stay quiet!" Rick whispered to the others as they hurriedly made their way towards the building.
The group continued to make their way through the countless dead bodies and they quickly crossed an abandoned military checkpoint on the road leading to the building. Jeremie and Aelita were tightly holding hands and keeping each other close for mutual protection and support as they hurried towards the building with the others. They both silently prayed that someone was still alive inside to open the doors for them...
Jenner was powering down much of the inside of the Center for Disease Control's main operations room before he would try to get some much-needed sleep that night. However, before he finished powering everything down, he heard some sort of an alarm go off right at his computer terminal. The scientist immediately ran over to sit down on his chair and to see what was happening. Jenner pressed down a key on his keyboard and opened up a feed to one of the cameras outside, and he was met with a sight that stunned him all the way to his core...
He could see a group of armed survivors approaching the entrance to the building.
There was still survivors out there? Why were they coming to the CDC...? Whatever their reasons were, he couldn't let them in... He just couldn't. They wouldn't survive. They had to get as far from this place as they could... Jenner quietly continued to stare at the monitor as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
They had to leave... they had to fucking leave while they still could.
The group finally made it to the entrance of the CDC building. If they were to get inside then now was the time. However, as they approached the building, they saw a very harrowing and disturbing sight. The front entrance to the building was completely closed down with metal shutters... What could those mean? Was there any living people inside the building or not?!
"Oh God! The shutters are down!" Verity gasped with horror as she looked at the entrance.
"They are?! What the bloody hell are we going to do now?!" Rebecca quietly and desperately exclaimed to the others.
Suddenly the group could hear a distant growl, so everyone raised their weapons and turned to face where the growl came from. To their horror they could see three walkers were getting up from the parking lot and were beginning to head straight towards their location.
"Walkers!" Anne warned the group as she readied her knife.
"Carl, get behind me!" Rick yelled to his son as he raised his revolver.
Carl immediately ran to fearfully take cover behind his father as the three walkers approached the group. Sophia also ran to hide behind her mother since she was terrified as well, but thankfully the walkers that dared to approach the group were taken down due to the combined and quiet might of Daryl's crossbow and the knives of both Patrick and Jeremie. The bullets needed to be saved, and more importantly they had to be as quiet as possible.
The group could see a few more walkers getting up from the ground far off on the other side of the parking lot, much to Daryl's fury. Daryl then stormed over towards Rick and glared at him with pure anger about the new situation. He led them to this?! They were all gonna die now because of this piece of shit!
"You led us into a graveyard!" Daryl furiously shouted to the former police officer.
"He made a call!" Lori stated in an effort to defend her husband.
"It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl retorted with anger.
Everyone had to be quiet! Everyone had to be as quiet as they possibly could, otherwise even more walkers could descend upon them! This fucking idiot! Chase lowered his pistol and immediately stormed over towards Daryl to get in his face and make him quiet down.
"Shut up or you'll get more of the dead on top of us! Do you hear me, Daryl?! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Chase quietly and angrily snapped at the redneck.
Daryl was even more infuriated now and it took every ounce of energy he had to not just punch the teen in the face, but alas he knew that Chase was right. If he lost his temper and started making a shitload of noise, then they'd all definitely die. Now some of the group was becoming very worried about what was happening. They couldn't get inside the CDC! What were they going to do now?!
"Rick, this is a dead end!" Kyra exclaimed.
"Where are we gonna go? We can't stay here!" Jeremie worriedly added as he could see a few more walkers getting up from very far off.
"Jeremie's right! We can't be here this close to the city after dark!" Lori added as she went to hold her son to try and comfort him.
At this point even Rick himself was getting very stressed out and very worried about what was happening. They couldn't go anywhere else! They used up most of their remaining fuel just to get to the CDC building! They had to get inside the building and there was absolutely no other options left available to them...
"We'll think of something!" Rick said in an effort to calm and reassure his wife.
"Isn't Fort Benning is still an option? We can just turn around and head out towards there!" Alexandr worriedly asked the others in the group.
"On what? No food, no fuel... That's a hundred miles!" Andrea retorted to the Russian teen.
"One-twenty-five, I checked the map!" Glenn corrected the woman with a concerned tone.
The group watched as a few more walkers began to get up and follow the other walking dead straight towards the group, causing Patrick, Miranda and Odd to run over and take them down before they could reach them. After this the three hurried back over to the group in order to help keep everyone safe.
"Forget Fort Benning! We need answers tonight, now!" Lori exclaimed with anxiety.
"Guys, we need to get the hell out of here before the walkers find us!" Robert warned the group.
Everyone had finally noticed that the sun had disappeared behind the distant skyscrapers of Atlanta. It was nighttime now... The hordes of the undead will be out very, very soon. If they didn't find a safe place soon then they would definitely be killed. The group was beginning to walk away when Aelita made all of them stop, and all of them could see that Aelita was pointing upwards at one of the security cameras.
"The camera! I just saw it move!" Aelita alerted everyone
The group stopped dead in their tracks and all of them looked up at the camera for several moments to see if Aelita was correct, but alas none of them saw the camera move after she announced that it had.
"You imagined it..." T-Dog dismissed the teen.
"I did not imagine anything! I know for a fact that I saw it move, T-Dog!" Aelita snapped at the man as she cautiously approached the camera.
Aelita looked straight up at the lens as if she was desperate to see if anyone was watching them. Someone had to have been inside the building... someone in there had to still be alive!
Jenner had a look of shock on his face as he stared down at his computer terminal, where he was watching the pink-haired teen and a few of her friends approaching the camera. She had seen his camera move...?
"Go away..." Jenner whispered as he silently prayed that the entire group would leave.
The scientist then watched as a buff man with a shotgun approached the group who were looking up at the camera, which included the pink-haired girl and also a man in a cowboy hat and police uniform.
"Guys, it's dead, okay? It's just an automated device!" Shane protested on the video feed. "It's just gears, okay? They were just winding down. Now come on!"
"If Aelita said she saw it move, then she saw it move!" Jeremie retorted back at the man with the shotgun.
Jenner himself had a wide-eyed look as he continued to study what was happening. He was beginning to feel very torn... If he left them out there that night then every last one of them was definitely going to die. The two kids and all of those teenagers at least... But if he let them into the CDC then there would also be a huge risk to their lives.
"No... just go away." Jenner whispered once more as he hoped they would find a safer place.
The CDC employee watched as some more walkers got up in the distance and began to head straight towards the group, cutting them off from their vehicles. He realized that they truly didn't have any more options left aside from getting inside the building. Jenner suddenly saw the man in the cowboy hat desperately run up to the camera to get his attention.
"Rick, there's nobody here! We need to get out of here before the walkers are on top of us!" Verity exclaimed.
"I know you're in there! I know you can hear me!" Rick desperately yelled up to the camera. "Please! We're desperate! Please help us! We have women and children!"
Jenner slumped down in his chair as he listened to the pleas through the video feed. He then saw a girl with red hair and a boy with a kangaroo on his shirt run up to join this man that was called 'Rick' by the other girl. Jenner's will to keep them out was admittedly becoming more and more broken with everything he was seeing and hearing...
"We don't have any food left! We barely have any gas!" Kyra exclaimed in a distraught tone.
"We have nowhere else to go!" Charles yelled at the camera with distress.
Jenner watched as several members of the group ran up to try and restrain Rick, Charles and Kyra and to pull them all away from the shutters covering the entrance of the CDC building. Shane went for Rick, whereas Miranda ran to get Charles and both Anne and Yumi went to get Kyra.
"Guys, we need to get out of here! We're not safe!" Anne said to the three as she helped Yumi try to pull Kyra away from the shutters.
"If you don't let us in then you're killing us! PLEASE! YOU'RE KILLING US!" Rick suddenly began to shout up at the camera out of pure desperation.
The people who ran up to the three began to pull them back away from the building despite that they were desperately beginning to struggle. Aelita, Chase, Jennifer and Dylan all began to fire their handguns at the heads of the approaching walkers since they were getting close. More and more were beginning to rise and it was apparent that they would be cut off from their vehicles very quickly. If they were to leave and find shelter, then they'd have to go now! Charles and Kyra finally gave up trying to get to the entrance and they were released by the others, but Rick was still struggling against Shane's grip as he tried to get back to the shutters.
He couldn't watch his wife and son die because of this...
They needed safety...
Someone had to be inside!
SOMEONE FUCKING HAD TO BE IN THERE!
As Rick screamed up at the camera and as the four teens continued to hold off the walkers as best as they could, Jenner's will broke. He finally looked away from the computer monitor and he looked directly down at the keyboard in front of him. He knew the codes to open the shutters and the doors once more...
Rick continued to struggle as much as he possibly could against Shane's grip. He was afraid, he was desperate, and he was willing to do anything to get shelter in the CDC. Everyone else had given up aside from him, even Aelita. They thought the CDC was now a lost cause, but Rick still had to try to get his group inside!
"Please! You're killing us! YOU'RE KILLING US!" Rick continued to yell at the camera.
"Come on, buddy! Let's go!" Shane said to his friend as he kept pulling him away.
Shane continued to pull Rick away from the shutters even as he watched his friend begin to have tears going down the sides of his face. He knew just as much as Rick did that if they couldn't get in the CDC they would probably die, but alas they had to take the chance now. If there was living people in there, they sure as hell weren't opening the doors. After another moment Rick had finally resigned himself to the fact that the shutters weren't opening, and he forced Shane to let go of his arms before he began to follow the group back towards their vehicles.
"You're killing us..." Rick quietly said, but this time mostly towards himself.
Suddenly the group heard a loud noise come from the front entrance of the CDC. Everyone turned in time to see that the shutters were now opening, and the group was quickly hit by a blinding white light from the inside of the building itself. The entire group watched with widened eyes and shock as they saw the now-fully opened shutters. Someone was alive in there... someone had opened the doors for them.
"IT'S OPEN!" Odd shouted to the group.
"Hurry! Get inside before they close!" Ulrich added.
The group immediately began to hurry towards the bright light. The remaining walkers were far enough away to no longer be an immediate threat, so now the group at least had the luxury to take a breather once they would get inside. Thankfully they got through the opened shutters and to the front doors, then they all ran into the building without any problems and they quickly found themselves in a large open lobby of sorts. The sounds they made echoed throughout the entire room and they saw a large wall of glass close by that showed the situation outside, which wasn't much to look at at the moment since it was pitch black in the night. In any event, the group all readied their guns and their blades as they cautiously stepped further into the lobby.
"Shane, Alex, Odd! You guys cover the back!" Yumi instructed as she kept a tight hold on her AR-15 rifle.
Shane, Alexandr and Odd all did as Yumi requested and all three of them turned their guns back towards the front doors in case any walkers decided to follow them inside, which was a real possibility since several of them watched the group go inside. The bright light didn't help either... Aelita walked ahead of the group and lowered her Beretta when she saw a large Center for Disease Control logo on an interior wall that was in front of the group, which she immediately felt relieved to see.
The group stopped for a moment but kept their weapons at the ready as they quietly continued to look at their surroundings. It was clean. Far too clean for if the people inside the building was dead. There wasn't any corpses, no blood, no bullet casings... The inside of the building was a massive contrast to the situation that was right outside. Aelita then walked back over to the others before she frowned and looked around the room.
"Hello?" Aelita loudly called out to see if anyone was there.
No answer... No answer at all? Strange... Rick lowered his pump-action shotgun for a moment and he studied all of his surroundings carefully. Someone opened the door for them, but who?
"Hello?!" Rick also loudly yelled out.
Suddenly the group heard the all-too-familiar noise of a weapon cocking, but this time it didn't come from any of them. The group all raised their weapons and all of them aimed directly at a nearby man who was aiming a military-issued M4 rifle towards them, both out of curiosity and caution. The man was standing on a nearby wheelchair ramp which led who knew where, and he was holding his loaded rifle by the hip. His hair was a complete mess and he looked like he hasn't slept in at least two full days, but aside from that he appeared to be healthy.
"Anybody infected?" the man called out to the group.
"One of our group was bitten last night. A lot of us, actually... but they didn't make it. We're all that's left..." Jennifer replied as she aimed her revolver back at the man.
The man cautiously began to walk down the ramp and towards the group, still aiming his rifle directly at them due to mistrust and his cautiousness.
"Why are you here? What do you want?" the man asked the group.
"A chance..." Rick simply replied to the man as he lowered his shotgun.
The man now rose an eyebrow as he heard Rick's explanation for being there. He could understand that reasoning, no matter how unlikely it would be for Rick and his group to find it.
"That's asking an awful lot these days..." the man stated.
"I know..." Rick replied with a nod.
The man glanced at all of the other's of Rick's group and he saw how nearly all of them were cautiously aiming their guns directly at him. He also saw that the group indeed had women and even two children like how he explained to the camera earlier... The man couldn't risk bringing any infected people into the CDC, so there was something he would have to do before allowing them further into the facility.
"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission..." The man dictated to the group as he kept a tight hold on his rifle.
"We can do that..." Rick assured with a relieved nod.
The man continued to eye the group for another moment or two before he finally lowered his rifle, causing the others to lower their weapons as well. If the blood tests proved that none of them were infected then they could be allowed access to more of the CDC facility. He thankfully still had a blood testing kit somewhere underground. But first things first... these people had to get their things into the building.
"You got stuff to bring in you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed..." The man warned the others.
"Understood... We will be as quick as we can." Aelita nodded.
Much of the group turned and quickly hurried back out the front door to go and get whatever things they had to get from their vehicles. Clothes, food, water, personal effects... stuff like that. The group stabbed and shot whatever walkers were between them and their vehicles and they quickly hurried back into the building with everything that they could carry. The group proceeded to hurry back to the building and ran through the opened shutters, then they quickly ran through the front doors before Dale and Patrick quickly shut them behind the group. The man walked over to a nearby wall that had a keypad on it, and after using his card he pressed a few of the numbers on the pad.
"Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here..." The man instructed to the pad.
The group heard a loud noise and they realized that the shutters had closed down behind them. The front doors were now sealed once more and now they really were safe... The group hurriedly began to walk further into the building as the man stopped to introduce himself to the girl with pink hair and the police officer in the cowboy hat.
"My name's Rick Grimes and this is Aelita Schaeffer." Rick introduced both himself and Aelita.
Both Rick and Aelita held out their hands to shake with the man. The man looked at the pair with a feeling of curiosity for a moment or two before he shook them one at a time, and he proceeded to also introduce himself just a moment after this.
"Doctor Edwin Jenner..."
The group followed Doctor Jenner into a large elevator and they were heading down to... well, they weren't really sure yet. It was somewhere several stories underground after all. Even so, being underground would be far safer than being on the surface right now since walkers were everywhere up there. The group continued to patiently and quietly wait as the elevator continued to go down and everyone was quietly listening to the elevator music. It was actually pretty catchy since Aelita, Chase, Odd, Anne and Rebecca were all clandestinely either nodding their heads or tapping their feet to the rhythm. The others were just waiting for the doors to open again...
Dylan was standing in between Anne and Rebecca and he felt relieved that he, his girlfriend, his siblings and all of his friends were now safe inside the CDC. Dylan glanced over at Jenner and then down at his assault rifle due to interest. it wasn't often he saw a scientist using a weapon like that... or anyone for that matter.
"Why do you have that rifle if you're a scientist?" Dylan inquired out of curiosity.
Jenner blinked and looked back over at Dylan. After he realized what the teen asked, Jenner looked back down at his rifle for a moment before he looked back up at Dylan.
"There was plenty left lying around and I familiarized myself. But you all look harmless enough..." Jenner shrugged.
The CDC scientist then noticed that Carl was looking directly at his rifle since he thought it was really cool. Jenner couldn't help but chuckle as he gestured over at Carl and got his attention.
"Except you. I'll have to keep my eye on you..." Jenner joked to the child.
Carl smiled when he heard this and a few of the others in the elevator did so as well. Jenner at least seemed like a kind man, which was good. The elevator finally stopped after a few more moments and then the doors opened to reveal a long hallway that led somewhere. Jenner walked ahead of the others and he began to lead them down the hall towards a pair of large metal doors that were at the end.
"A- Are we underground, right now?" Carol suddenly asked as she held her daughter's hand.
"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner inquired.
"Yes... A few of us are, actually." Carol replied as she studied the walls of the hallway around her while feeling a bit closed in.
Jenner looked back at the others as he walked and he saw that Carol appeared to be a bit uncomfortable. Aside from Carol, Jenner could tell that Yumi, Aelita, Chase and Alexandr all appeared to look pretty claustrophobic and uncomfortable as well.
"Just try not to think about it..." Jenner suggested to the claustrophobic people behind him.
Alexandr, Chase and Yumi all seemed to be slightly less uncomfortable as they tried to think on other things, but Aelita still looked pretty anxious. Jeremie took Aelita's hand and he gently squeezed it so as to give her a little bit of comfort and support, causing her to lovingly smile at him as they walked. The group followed Jenner to the doors at the end of the hall and he pushed them open to reveal a large but dimly-lit room. Jenner then walked into it and the group followed close behind him.
"Vi, bring up the lights in the big room..." Jenner instructed to someone.
Suddenly the group saw the room light up. The group noticed they were standing on a walkway ramp that led to a couple dozen computer terminals which were set up around a circular platform. The platform had a railing and a few small steps to allow access to other parts of the room and beyond. Around the platform was a circular row of lighting about fifteen feet above the ground and also a series of large screens that fitted most of a nearby wall.
"Welcome to Zone Five..." Jenner said to the group as he walked down the walkway ramp.
"Where is everybody? Where's the doctors and all of the other CDC staff...?" Jeremie inquired.
Jenner walked to the center of the platform and stopped. The scientist then set down his rifle against one of the computer terminals and he looked back over at the group before he shrugged.
"I'm it..." Jenner revealed with a sigh.
The group was completely shocked at hearing Jenner's revelation. This man was the only one left out of the entire Center for Disease Control facility? Everyone else was already dead...?
"It's just me here..." Jenner said to the group.
"What about the person you were speaking with? 'Vi'...?" Lori asked.
Jenner was silent for a moment or two before he looked away from the group and directly up towards the ceiling as if someone was up there.
"Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them... 'welcome'." Jenner instructed.
"Hello, guests. Welcome." A computerized voice suddenly commented.
A computer AI...? All that's left at the Center for Disease Control is one doctor and one computer AI? Needless to say, the group was a bit disappointed. They hoped that there was dozens of doctors and scientists here that were working on a cure. Maybe even already created one. Alas that was no longer meant to be...
"I'm all that's left... I'm sorry." Jenner solemnly apologized to the group, as he realized that they probably had better expectations than finding just one man.
The group stood in silence for a few more moments as they processed everything they had heard. The disappointment ran high but all that mattered right now was that they were safe from the horrors that awaited them outside. They were deep underground and perhaps they could make a home down here if Jenner allowed them to... Who knows. Maybe someone somewhere else in the world was working on a cure at this very moment, so hopefully there wasn't any reason to abandon all hope for the world to be fixed yet.
Jenner walked back over towards the group and he began to lead them off of the walkway and down one of the small steps. He then proceeded to lead all of them across the room and down through another long hallway. This time he stopped about halfway through the hall and opened a door which led into some sort of a small conference room that had a bunch of chairs in it, along with a white foldable table that was already unfolded. Jenner led the group into the auditorium and he had everyone find a place to sit down, and thankfully there was more than enough places for everyone to sit at.
"Just wait here for a second, I'll be back in a moment." Jenner instructed.
The group watched as Jenner proceeded to walk out of the room and all of them wondered where he was going. After about one minute they got their answer, as Jenner came back with a small briefcase. The group watched as Jenner set the case down on the table and opened it before he began pulling some small objects out. Jenner showed a couple of the objects to them and they quickly realized what they were to be used for.
The blood tests.
Unfortunately, what Jenner and most of the group didn't know was that there was more than one person in the room who was deathly afraid of needles. Verity, Dylan, Rebecca, Anne, Chase and Kyra were the six who all had terrible fears of the medical instruments for one reason or another, although Verity's fear was bar none the worst out of all of them.
One thing was for sure: This was going to be an ordeal for all involved...
"GET THAT FUCKING THING AWAY FROM ME RIGHT FUCKING NOW!"
Verity shrieked out this sentence as soon as she saw Jenner prepare the needle for usage upon one of the veins in her left arm. By this point, Rebecca, Dylan, Chase and Kyra all had already gotten through their blood tests with great difficulty and much hesitation. Kyra yelped a bit when the needle first went into her arm and Chase likewise flinched a bit, but both of them got through the procedure thanks to support from Charles and also Jennifer, respectfully.
Surprisingly no one really struggled as much as the others thought they would... Well, at least until it was Verity's turn that is. The exact moment she saw the needle was enough to set her off, and alas Jenner just couldn't get anywhere near her arm due to how much she was struggling. Something had to be done... Patrick immediately ran to his girlfriend and he planted a hard but loving kiss smack dab right on her lips. Verity's eyes widened with surprise and she froze for just long enough for Jenner to get a needle in her arm, where he proceeded to begin drawing blood.
Patrick then broke the kiss and sat in a chair next to Verity as he felt relieved to see Jenner was getting the blood he needed to test. However, when Verity noticed that Jenner had succeeded, her eyes quickly rolled back into her head and she fainted, her head comically leaning backwards on the head of her hair as she fell unconscious.
After another moment Jenner finally pulled the needle out of Verity's arm and he put a band-aid on the spot where it went in. He was happy that this was over, but there was still one last person to get blood from: Anne. The bandana-clad girl slowly went wide eyed and a small bead of sweat formed on her forehead due to nervousness as Jenner and literally everyone else in the room began to glance at her, as if they were all individually targeting her...
...Oh shit.