Survival Guide: To Surviving the Living Dead 101

Rule #5

Don't Take Chances

In this new world it's not smart to take chances. Taking chances can equal death. You take a chance on a new stranger, they could turn out to be a bad person. Take a chance going out in a new area you haven't surveyed yet could mean running into walkers and not making it out. Or you could again run into some bad people. Always remember everyone will want what you have no matter how little or how much you have.

When we walked into the CDC I had my gun drawn. There was a man standing by the wall by the steps, rifle pointed at us. Military rifle, too. He probably got it off one of the soldiers. He asked if anyone was infected and Rick told him no. He asked what we wanted and Rick told him a chance. Which was asking a lot these days. He agreed to let us in as long as we agreed to a blood test. A couple of us went back outside and grabbed our stuff then the man who we learned was Dr. Edwin Jenner, locked the doors and put the metal shutters down again. He said once they were closed they wouldn't open again. That made me uneasy. I didn't have a good feeling about this.

We all piled into the elevator and I got stuck standing in front of Daryl. My back was practically touching his chest. It was silent and I started to get hot and fidgety. It was too crowded in this elevator. I sighed as the doors opened and everyone got out. Jenner led us down a hallway. "Are we underground?" Carol asked. "Are you claustrophobic?" He asked. "A little," she said. He said something to her but I wasn't paying much attention to what he was saying. We were led into a large room and up a metal staircase.

Then we were led into what looked like a classroom or lecture room. That's where Jenner took a blood sample from everyone. I sat down on the chair in front of him while he prepared a new needle and tube. "Were you a cop before all this?" I looked up at him with a questioning look. His head tilted down a little and I looked down. I was wearing one of my tee-shirts I had from work. "Sheriff's Deputy. Same with my brother and Shane," I said. He wiped my arm with an alcohol pad and then stuck me. "Rick is your brother?" I just nodded and watched as my blood filled the tube. "What's the point of this anyway? You would if we were infected," I said. "I already broke all the rules by letting you in here. At least let me be thorough." Once he was done with me Andrea sat down. When she was done and tried to stand Jacqui had to steady her. Then she told Jenner none of us have eaten all that much. He ended up leading us to the cafeteria where Lori, Carol, and Jacqui got to work on making everyone something to eat.

There was wine and whiskey for the adults and soda for the kids. Tables had been pushed together so everyone could sit together. I wasn't in the mood to sit in a circle and celebrate by drinking wine. Like Jenner I sat off to the side and ate my food. Sure it was nice to have a relatively safe place to sleep for the night but this wasn't going to last long. Jenner was giving off weird vibes and this place was too good to be true. He had led us into what he called "the big room" where all the computers were. I was guessing that's where they kept all the data and communicated with other disease control facilities around the world. There was one thing that stuck out like a sore thumb. A big clock with red numbers. But the numbers weren't counting up. No. Those numbers were counting down.

After dinner we were led back to the hall we had come down. Jenner said housing was shut down but the couches in the rooms were comfortable and there were cots in storage. Then he mentioned hot water. Everyone got excited and found a room. When I went to pick a room there weren't any empty ones. I could share with Shane but that was never going to happen, not with how drunk he was. I had to pull him away from Lori after I walked in on him about to do something unspeakable.

I walked into another room only to walk in on Daryl coming out of the bathroom in a towel. "Shit. Shit. I'm sorry!" I said, covering my eyes and closing the door. I waited for about five minutes when the door opened. I looked up to see Daryl fully clothed. "I'm sorry, Daryl. There aren't any rooms left. It's either share with you or share with Shane. And I do not want to sleep in the same room as Shane. You know what, never mind. I'm sorry. I'll see if maybe someone else wouldn't mind me staying in their room."

"Nah. It's fine," Daryl said. I adjusted my bag on my shoulder and walked past him into the room. "Thank you," I said. Daryl shut the door. "I'm sure there are rooms in another hall but I don't want to be alone and away from the group." He nodded and went over to the couch and sat down. He picked up the bottle of whiskey he had found and took a sip of it. "Bathroom is all yours. There should be hot water left," he said. I set my bag done, pulled a pair of shorts out and an oversized tee shirt before heading for the bathroom.

The hot water felt amazing but did nothing to calm my racing mind. I walked back into the room, shoved my clothes in my bag, and set my shoes beside it. I went over and sat beside Daryl who was sitting on the couch. "You went to storage," I said, looking at the cot. He hummed as an answer. "Thanks." I took the bottle of liquor from him and took a swig. "I don't trust this place." He took the bottle back, taking a drink, "why not?" I laid my head back on the back of the couch. "I don't know. I just have a bad feeling. I mean Jenner is the only one here. While everyone else left or "opted out" Jenner stayed. There's a clock in the big room with all the computers. It's counting down. That can't be good."

Daryl and I drank and talked for a few more hours until we got tired enough to go to sleep. In the morning we met everyone in the cafeteria for breakfast. T-Dog was in the kitchen cooking up powdered eggs, Glenn was sitting at the table groaning from a hangover. Daryl and I were sitting on the counter near the tables when Rick walked in then Shane shortly after. Then the question of what was going on and why Jenner stayed came up.

We were taken to the big room and showed a playback of someone who was bitten and gave permission for their body to be used to figure out what this thing was that was causing people to come back from the dead. What it was restarts the brain but just the part that makes you get back up. Jenner said the part of the brain that makes us who we are doesn't come back. Dale eventually asked Jenner about the clock. And like I thought it was nothing good. It was counting down to when the generators ran out of fuel and the place blew the fuck up. Jenner ended up locking us in there, not letting us out until the very last second.

When we got our stuff and got out to the front lobby the doors were locked. There was no way of opening them. Then Carol pulled out a grenade out of her bag and handed it to Rick. He used it to blow the window out so we could make an escape. Andrea and Dale made it out just in time before the CDC blew up. Andrea had wanted to stay behind but Dale stayed and convinced her it wasn't what she wanted. Jacqui stayed behind too but went down with Jenner. Now we had nowhere relatively safe to stay for the night. Like I said never take chances. Rick made this decision to take a chance on this place and we nearly got blown to nothing.