✧ sugar 彡 glennrheexfem!reader ✧

✧ 21 ✧

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y/n's pov:
after placing your dishes in the sink you turn and see shane entering the room. "mornin shane, you feel as bad as i do?" rick greets and shane doesn't turn around to respond "worse." is all he says and you could feel the tension between him, lori and rick. 'what the the hell happened last night?' you think, watching shane load up his plate. 'the hell happened to you? your neck?" t-dog questions as shane sits down. "dont know, must've done it in my sleep." he responds and by the look in his etes you could tell he was lying. dr. jenner saves you from the awkwardness as he enters "morning." he says and the others respond. "i dont mean to pester you with questions first thing-" dale starts and jenner cuts him off "but you will anyway." andrea turns  to him "we disnt come here for the eggs."

★

jenner leads you all to the larger confernce room you had met in the nught before. "give me playback of ts-19." he said and the computer responds, starting to load some type of video on the large screen. "very few people got to see this, very few." he said as the video loaded up. it showed a brain, and lots of data surrounding it. the screen zoomed in to show the synapses of the brain. "what are those lights?" shane asks and jenner turns to face the group. "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." he answers.

"you don't make sense ever?" daryl says, his brow furrowed with confusion. jenner turns to 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." the doctor answers, and andrea perks up. "death? That's what this is, a vigil?" she asks, and jenner turns back to the screen. "yes. or rather the playback of the vigil." he answers, his expression saddened. you suspected that this person was close to him.

"this person died? who?" andrea asks and jenner tilts his head. "test subject 19. someone who was bitten and infected... and volunteered to have us record the process. vi, scan forward to the first event." he responds the and screen flashes back to an overview of the brain. there was something invading the synapses, darkening them. "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." jenner explains. gasps and 'oh my god's sweep across the room.

"is that what happened to jim?" carl asks and jenner looks to him "yes. scan 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. tn the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute, and even seconds." he explains and you nod, as this wasn't anything you didn't already know from experience.

"it restarts the brain?" carol asks and the doctor shakes his head, "no, just the brain stem. basically, it gets them up and moving." he responds and andrea looks conflicted "but they're not alive?" she asks and jenner shrugs, "you tell me." andrea tilts her head "it's nothing like before. most of that brain is dark." she answers and jenner nods "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." he says bluntly. as he spoke there was a bang and something shoots through the brain on the screen. "god. what was that?" carol gasps and andrea turns to the doctor, "he shot his patient in the head. didn't you?" andrea spits and jenner shrugs once again "vi, power down the main screen and the workstations." he states and vi responds.

"you have no idea what it is, do you?" andrea accuses and jenner shrugs "it could be microbial, viral, parasitic, - fungal." jenner says, matter-of-factlt. t"or the wrath of god?" jacqui remarks. you internally roll your eyes at the mention of religion. this was most likely a bio-weapon of war that some dumbass released onto the world, not the wrath of 'god'. "somebody must know something. somebody somewhere." carol suggests and the doctor shrugs "everything went down. communications, directives, all of it. i've been in the dark for almost a month." he says and looks of despair spread across the room. "so it's not just here. there's nothing left anywhere? nothing? that's what you're really saying, right?" andrea asks, though its more of a statement.

"jesus. man, i'm gonna get shit-faced drunk again." glenn says from beside you. dr. jenner, i know this has been taxing for you and i hate to ask one more question, but, that clock is counting down. what happens at zero?" dale asks and you look to the clock he was referring to. you hadnt even noticed it in the panic of last night. "the basement generators, they run out of fuel." jenner answers simply. dale doesn't look convinced, "and then?" he presses. jenner turns to him "vi, what happens when the power runs out?" he asks and 'vi' the computer answers "when the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." you did not likr the sound of that. glenn looks around the group "decontamination, what does that mean?" he asks warily, and you look back at him. "i don't like this." you say and he nods.
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