A Broken World

Eighteen

"Oh, calm down, Dixon.” I pulled a shirt on and a pair of sweats. “There I'm fully clothed.” I pulled a pair of clean socks out of my duffle and sat on the couch. It's funny, I have a ton of underwear and socks but only have five shorts and three pairs of pants. My closet at my apartment is full of clothes, but I only grabbed a few things and then practically shoved my whole sock and underwear drawer in my bag. I also only grabbed two regular bras and like five sports bras. Of course, at some point, I will only end up with everything. “I'm going to check out that wreck room real quick, see if there are any good books.”

Daryl hummed and took a swig from the bottle in his hand. I stood up and started for the door. With my hand on the handle, I paused. “Hey, Daryl?” I waited for a response, not turning around. I heard a grunt of acknowledgment. “I'm sorry.” I turned my head, making eye contact with him. A look of confusion washed over his face. He opened his mouth to say something, but I walked out of the room before he could.

I walked down the hall, passing Lori, who had her head down and was walling fast. I caught sight of a couple of tears running down her face when she lifted her head just a fraction. “Lori, are you alright?” I asked. She stopped in her tracks, straightened up, and whipped her cheeks. She had her back to me when she said, “yeah.” Turned around and gave me a weak smile. “It's just been a little overwhelming these past couple of days with Rick coming back  losing Jim and Amy, along with others. I'm grateful Jenner let us in here. We can be safe here.”

I noticed how she was a little shaky. Her hands and voice trembled, and she looked distraught. I didn't say anything, though, and just nodded. “Yeah, hopefully this place is good.” I didn't want to say that we weren't going to be here long. That the clock in the great room was counting down. It was probably counting down to the end of this place. There was no way this building could keep going for long. It was designed to keep very dangerous diseases from getting out into the world. Disease that could be weaponized. They wouldn't let that happen even in an event like the one we're currently battling.

I said my good night's to Lori and headed to the wreck room. I was looking at the books when the door opened. “Lori?” I turned my head to see Shane standing by the door. “She went to bed,” I told him. He looked me up and down, leaned on the door, and smirked. He was clearly very drunk, and I was starting to wonder if he was the real reason behind Lori's tears. I wouldn't be afraid to bet he was, seeing as I started feeling very uneasy when he moved further into the room. I decided to ditch the books and just head back to the room. “Well, I'm going to bed,” I said, walking around the opposite side of the pool table from where Shane stood.

I didn't even make it to the door before he quickly moved to stand in front of me. “Wow. Wow. Hold on there. How about we get to know each other better.” I stepped back from him when he reached out his hand to touch me. “Yeah, I'd rather not. Now if you'll excuse me.” His hand caught my upper arm as I went to walk past him. “Come on now, don't be like that.” His grip tightened on my arm when I tried to pull away. “Let…go…of…me!” I yanked my arm free, stepped away from him  moving closer to the door. “Don't ever put your hands on me or anyone else ever again. I won't hesitate to put you down.” When I got back to the room, Daryl was passed out on the couch. I walked in quietly, locked the door behind me, and laid down, quickly falling asleep.

The next morning, I woke up to an empty room. I groaned as I stretched my body out on the cot. I will admit that I haven't gotten a good night's sleep since this shit show happened. Staring up at the ceiling, I sighed and rubbed my hands over my face, then reluctantly sat up. I got dressed and headed to the dining area, where I found everyone else eating breakfast. T-dog handed me a plate with eggs, bacon, and toast. I thanked him  and sat down beside Glenn, who groaned and held his head In his hands. “I'm never drinking again,” he mumbled. I patted him on the back with a chuckle and took a bite of eggs. Five minutes later Rick walked in and Lori handed him a bottle of aspirin.

Shortly after that Shane walked in. I hadn't noticed last night but he had a scratch mark on his neck. Rick asked him about it and he gave the excuse of he must have done it in his sleep. He looked at Lori when he agreed with Rick that it wasn't like him to do that. This just confirmed what I had suspected last night; he was the cause of Lori's tears. Everyone ate their breakfast until Dale looked At Jenner and spoke. “Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing…” he said. “But you will anyway.” Before Dale could ask anything Ansrea jumped in, “We didn't come here for the eggs.” He looked around at everyone, sighed, and told us to follow him.

We were led to the big room and the lights flickered on as we entered. “Give me playback of TS-19,” Jenner said, walking towards the large monitor in the wall. Vi, the virtual intelligence spoke up, “Playback of TS-19.” A few beeps sounded and the screen lit up. A scan of a person showed up on the screen and Jenner looked up at it. Everyone spread out and looked from him to the screen. “Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few,” he said. “Is that a brain?” Carl asked in amazement. “An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end,” Jenner told him, mumbling the last part. “Take us in for E.I.V..”

Vi listened, saying, “Enhanced internal view.” Then she changed the screen. “What are those lights?” Lori asked. Jenner looked back at her for a second before giving his attention back to the screen. “It's 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.” Daryl scoffed, “You don't make sense ever.” I rolled my eyes and looked at him. “Those are 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,” Jenner continued. 

“Death? That's what this is, a vigil?” Lori asked. “Yes. Or rather the playback of the vigil,” he clarified. “This person died? Who?” Andrea asked. Jenner looked at the monitor and was silent for a few seconds. “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 to first event,” she said and a new image showed up. We watched as the lights slowly faded to black. “What is that?” I asked. “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,” he explained. “Is that what happened to Jim?” I heard Sophia ask Carol. “Yes.”

Andrea was looking at the screen and a few tears fell and Jenner looked at her with a little concern. “She lost somebody two days ago. Her sister,” Lori informed him. Jenner gave Andrea a soft look, “I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is. Scan to the second event.”

“Scanning to second event,”Vi annoyed and switched to the sec9nded event. TS-19's brain lit up but not like before. “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.” I looked fr9mt the screen to Jenner. He was talking like he knew this person. “It restarts the brain?” I asked.“No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving,” Jenner said. “But they're not alive?” Andrea asked.

“You tell me,” Jenner said, looking at her. She looked back at the screen, “It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark.” Jenner nodded and hummed. “Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part... That doesn't come back. The you part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct.” Al of a sudden something went through the head of TS-19 “God. What was that?” Carol asked.  “He shot his patient in the head. Didn't you?” Andrea asked.

Jenner didn't respond. Instead, he said, “Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations.” Vi shut the power down the main screen and workstations. “You have no idea what it is, do you?” Lori asked. “It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal,” he lis5ed pff. “Or the wrath of God?” Jacquie said. “There is that.”