The Walking Dead

Chapter 7

Chapter Warnings: None
Word Count: 1,987

•••Sage Valentina•••

It was now the next morning. Most of us gathered around in the kitchen. "Morning." I look up seeing Rick entering the room, taking his place next to his family. "Are you hung over? Mom said you'd be." Carl's voice pipes up, looking at his father. "Mom...is right." Lori smirks shoving a piece of food into her mouth. "Mom has that annoying habit." I look down momentarily, sadness striking me.

"Eggs. Powdered, but I do 'em goood. Bet you can't tell. Protein helps the hangover." The sound of T-dogs voice and Glenn's moans of pain helps me push the feeling back down. "Where'd all this come from?" I glance over to see Rick with a bottle of my pills. I raise my hand, but go back to eating. "Thanks. Could you help me, please?" He passes the bottle to Lori who opens it for him. "Thought y'all could use 'em. Some of you at least." I look over to Glenn, who had his head down, a smirk on my face. "Don't ever let me drink again." Glenn mumbled into his hands.

Shane now enters the kitchen. I notice Lori's head immediately goes down, playing with her plate of food. He says a simple and low 'hey'. "Hey. Feel as bad as I do?" Rick questions, making small talk with his best friend. "Worse." He turns around now, but still not looking at anyone. "The hell happened to you?" He ignores T-dog and sits down at the table across from Rick and Lori.

There was noticeable tension between them. "Your neck?" T-dog questioned him again. I look over to his neck, now noticing the three scratches that ran across his neck. "I must have done it in my sleep." That was the dumbest lie I've ever heard. "Never seen you do that before." He looks across at Lori. "Me neither. Not like me at all." Staring daggers at Lori, who still refuses to look up. Causing me to send him a glare myself, fuming with anger at the thoughts that now ran through my mind.

Jenner enters swiftly and quietly. "Morning." Everyone's attention now gets pulled away from Shane. "Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing-" Dale starts before Jenner cuts him off. "But you will anyway." Filling his coffee with his back turned. "We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea steps in.

Jenner now leads us back to zone 5. "Give me playback of TS-19." He announces which VI repeats back, pulling up documents on the big screen. "Few people ever got to see this. Very few." A recording of a brain is now shown for everyone to see. "Is that a brain?" Carl's curious voice chimes in. "An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for E.I.V.."

VI brings us closer in to see the brain stems. Beautiful lights shooting all around. "What are those lights?" Shane asks, everyone was looking at the screen in curiosity and awe. "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." Jenner breaks down to us. "You don't make sense, ever?" Daryl asks with his arms crossed, sending Jenner a confused look.

"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." He once again breaks down to our understanding. "Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" Rick questions, walking closer to Jenner. "Yes. Or rather the playback of the vigil." Jenner looks to Andrea at the sound of the girls voice. "This person died? Who?" Jenner turns back to the screen, avoiding all eyes.

"Test subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected..." I could see his face scrunched a bit when he said infected, as if it pained him to say out loud.