A Broken World

Sixteen

Flashback

The whole city was in total chaos. People were running in every direction, and screams and gunfire filled the air. The dead were up walking and stumbling around; how was this real life? They decided Atlanta was the best place to set up a refugee camp. Who's ever idea that was, was a fucking idiot. Things didn't take long to fall apart. Infected people got in and “turned”, they bite others, killing more, turning more people, and before anyone knew it, the whole city was being overrun.

The military was trying to get it under control but it was no use. There were too many of them. There was a shoot to kill order. That's exactly what I was doing; shooting the dead. It wasn't natural; the dead were walking around. I made it back into the precinct, killing anything that got in my way. I could hear the jets flying over the city and shortly after, just as I scrambled under my desk, explosions rocked the whole city. They just bombed the city.

Center For Disease Control

Dr. Edwin Jenner. That was the man standing in front of us closing the doors behind us after a few of us ran out and got our bags. He led us to an elevator where we all piled in; It was a tight squeeze. Daryl was pushed back into the corner with his back to the wall. I was directly in front of him and almost touching him but not. Everyone else filed in though and I got bumped causing me to stumble back more and into Daryl. His left hand landed on my hip to steady and my whole body was on fire. His hand left just as fast as it came. Jenner walked into the elevator, waited for the doors to close, and then pressed one of the bottoms on the panel.

I could feel how tense Daryl was behind me; I was just as tense. I also hated being in such a small space with so many people. “Doctors always go around packing heat like that?” Daryl asked. Jenner had an M4A1 in his hands. He looked down at it then back at our group. “There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough.” He looked down at Carl and smiled at him, “Except you, I’ll have to keep my eye on you.” The elevator doors opened and everyone got out.

We were led through halls, up metal stairs and down another hall into a circular room with computers and a large screen on one wall. “VI, bring up the lights in the big room,” Jenner said, and the lights turned on. “Welcome to Zone 5.” We looked around to see an empty space. Nobody was here. “Where is everybody? The other doctors, the staff?” Rick asked. Jenner turned and looked at him. “I’m it. It’s just me here.” I shook my head, staying back from the group. “What about the person you were speaking with? VI?” Lori asked.
“VI, say hello to our guests. Tell them… Welcome.”

“Hello, guests. Welcome,” An artificial intelligence voice said. “I’m all that’s left. I’m sorry,” Jenner told us. He then led us to a room where he took our blood. That was the agreement, he would run tests to make sure none of us were infected and we could stay. I sat in the chair and gave him my arm. He gave me a weak smile, cleaned the skin with an alcohol wipe, and stuck me with the needle. “You don't look happy to be here,” he said. I raised an eyebrow, “What makes you think that?” I asked. He finished filling a vial with blood and pulled the needle out, replacing it with a gauze pad. “You hung back from the others, didn't seem too surprised to know I was the only one here.” I hummed, leaned forward a little and said, “That's because I know no one would be here. I saw what happened to this place.” With that I stood up and went to stand near the door.

Jenner took Andrea’s blood for a sample. As she stood up she started to stumble a little until Jacqui caught her. “Are you okay?” Andrea nodded her head and held onto her. Jacqui looked at Jennerx who was looking a little concerned. “She hasn’t eaten in days. None of us have,” she explained. He looked around the room and nodded, then he led us to the kitchen where some of the women started to cook up dinner for everyone with the help of some of the men. There was plenty of wine and even some whiskey. When everything was done we pushed a few tables together and sat down. Jenner sat at a separate table close by.

Rick was pouring wine into Lori's cup when Dale said, “You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France.” She held up her glass and took a sip. “Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then,” she said. “What’s it gonna hurt? Come on. Come on,” Rick said, trying to convince her. She agreed and gave him a little bit. He tasted it and scrunched his face up in disgust. Loro poured the rest into her glass. “That’s my boy. That’s my boy. Good boy.”

“Yuck. That tastes nasty,” Carl said. There were some laughs and chuckles from everyone. “Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud,” Shane told him. “Not you, Glenn,” Daryl said. Glenn looked around at everyone and laughed awkwardly. “What?” He asked. “Keep drinking, little man. I want to see how red your face can get,” Daryl said.

I leaned back in my chair at the end of the table beside Glenn, wine glass in my hand, swirling the dark red liquid around in the glass. Someone clinked thier glass and looked up to see Rock standing, glass raised. “It seems to me we haven’t thanked our host properly,” he said. T-Sog held his glass, “He is more than just our host,” he said, taking a drink. “Hear hear!” Dale cheered. Everyone held up a glass to toast Jenner with them. “Here’s to you, Doc, booyah!” Daryl shouted. Rick thanked the doctor and a cheer of booya's went around.

Everyone went back to eating and chatting until Shane interrupted it all. “So when are you gonna tell us what the Hell happened here, Doc? All the—the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?” He asked. “We’re celebrating, Shane. Don’t need to do this now,” Rick told him. I let out a scuff. "Whoa, wait a second. This is why we’re here, right? This was your move—supposed to find all the answers. Instead we—” I took a deep breath, “We found him. Found one man, why? I mean I told you this was all a waste of time,” I said. I wanted to know too. I wanted to know exactly what happened. I knew this place fell the second the city erupted into chaos.

“Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted,” Jenner said. I just kept looking at Rick, giving him that “I told you so” look. “Every last one?” Shane asked, narrowing his eyes at the doctor. Jenner was silent for a few seconds and then said, “No, many couldn’t face walking out the door. They… opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time.”

“You didn’t leave. Why?” Andrea asked. Jenner looked up from his glass to look at her. “I just kept working, hoping to do some good,” he said quietly. Silence fell over the group. “Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man,” Glenn said to Shane.