devil's water || the walking dead

- 01 - back down to earth -

The Centers for Disease Control was founded in 1946, and subsequently fell in late August of 2010. During those years, the CDC encountered many potential epidemics, though it was never anything they couldn't control. When her parents had been called into work indefinitely, and she had go with them, Scotty knew serious shit was about to go down. While she didn't think the Dead were gonna rise, she knew she would call the CDC home for a little while. Scotland was the first and only daughter of CDC scientist Candace Jenner and virologist Edwin Jenner. If it was one thing she knew for sure about her parents, it's that they were the hardest workers she knew. When the Wildfire Virus ran rampant among society and became a global pandemic, her parents stayed put. Rather than killing themselves or seeking shelter in a FEMA camp, they decided it would be best to settle down in their work.

"Alert Status: Air qualifiers detect corrosive fumes. All personnel must vacate the room. Corrosive elements deemed poisonous if inhaled."

The annoying robotic voice drove Scotty insane, especially when her father spoke to it like it was the third person in the room.

"All personnel are clear. Full decontamination is in effect."

Scotty heard her father yelling, and the boom followed. She sighed and kicked her feet off of the counter, knowing he was going to be pissed when he came back. Her father had been working in the labs for hours every day since her mother died, and when he wasn't working, he was drinking.

Drowning his sorrows in different shades of wine, he'd first get weepy, crying to Scotty about how good she was, and how he loved her so much, and how he hated that his precious daughter had to live in this new world. Then, after a few more, he got mean. Scotty usually tried to get herself in her room before this point, though sometimes he'd skip the weepiness and go straight into his anger. Unfortunately, tonight was one of those nights.

He'd set himself up at one of the computers, with an almost empty glass in his hand.

"The TS-19 samples are gone," he told the camera. Scotty sat across the room, watching her father.

"Their loss," he paused to take a drink, "can only be described as an absolute fucking tragedy." He finished his glass of wine.

"Those were our freshest samples, and none of the others have even come close to that. The ones out there, those, they are dead. Necrotic. Rotting. No fuckin' good. I don't even know why I still talk to you... it's not like there's a single son of a bitch out there listening!" Edwin Jenner stood up and put his hands on his hips. His eyes lazily trailed around the silver room, actively avoiding his daughter's gaze.

"I think," Doctor Jenner started, "I think tomorrow is the day I blow my brains out."

"Dad!" Scotty yelled, pushing herself off the chair. Even though as of recently, Scotty couldn't bear to be around her father for longer than she needed to be, the idea of finding him dead with a shotgun in his mouth made her blood run cold.

"What? It's not like we have a chance. Not out there. This, this world. It's over. You know it, I know it. Your mother knew it." Her father put his hands on his head and paced back and forth.

Her stomach churned at the mention of her mother. She had died only three weeks prior, well, actually, it was only 19 days.

"But, she wouldn't want you to give up. For us to give up." Scotty walked closer to her father.

"Hey, how far do you think I can chuck this? Pretty far I bet!" He held the empty bottle of wine in his hand, spinning it around.

"Dad-"

Her father wound his arm up and launched the bottle across the room, and it landed with a loud crash; broken glass Scotty would be left to clean up.

"It is out of the stadium!" Her father threw his hands up dramatically, like he used to when he watched Football on Sunday afternoons. Scotty watched her father teeter totter on his own two feet, knowing he was too drunk for his own good right now. She slowly approached her dad, wrapping her arm around his torso. Scotty needed to get him to bed before he got any worse.