My Hunter || D. Dixon (On Hold)

Sixteen - Decontamination

There's this big room that Jenner brought us to after breakfast. the whole room is full of computers and this huge big screen. I stood by Caleb, who had his arms around Jess while Jenner pulled up an image. "Show us the playback of TS-19." The screen lights up, showing an x-ray of a person's brain as lights go through the brain.

Caleb points to the screen. "Those are synapses right?" He questions, watching the lights flicker and blink with every second. Jenner nods, looking at my brother, Shane asking what those are. Everyone was stuck on the video on the screen, amazed by what it was showing.

Jenner looks around at the group. "They're a person's life. Your memories, your personality, everything you are. Somewhere, among all that organic matter, those flashing lights is you." I shift a bit at the thought, glancing around the room. "The thing that makes you unique and human. Those lights control everything in your body. Electric impulses in the brain that control everything you do from the moment of birth to the moment of death. Vi, scan forward to the first event."

The monitor speeds up, moving on in time. A black infection spreads through the brain. The body convulses and shakes with every passing moment. It was exactly what Jim was like when we left him. The way the virus looks on its own is scary.

Jenner seems glued to the screen, meaning behind his words. "The infection invades the brain. The adrenal gland hemorrhage, the brain goes into shut down, then the vital organs..." He says as the body on the screen shakes again gets darker. "Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be.... gone" The picture started to spark red going to the brain stem and throughout the brain. "Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part; that doesn't come back. The you part. It's just a shell, driven by mindless instanced." He says not looking away from the screen. We watch as the body begins to move again.

The barrel of a gun appears in the corner of the screen. There's a flash, and a jagged hole runs through the skull making the head stop moving. "What was that?" Carol asked concerned.

I shake my head, turning away from the screen, running my hand over my face. "He shot his patient in the head." Andrea said, "Didn't you?" She asked and Jenner nods.

After that, I just tuned out the conversation about what this thing was. "When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." Vi's voice filled the room. That caught my attention. The CDC's full decontamination.

I look to Caleb and Jess before the group starts to make their ways out of the room and towards their own rooms. "Pack up," I mutter to Caleb and Jess as I usher them back to the room. We got to the room, packing up to leave for when it came down to it. "Damn knew this was too good," I muttered, pulling my bow over my shoulders.

Caleb and Jess packed up quickly while I zip up my bag. In an instance, the lights in the room dim and the whirling of the air stops altogether. I look to Caleb and Jess, fear shooting through me at the sound of our group panicking fills the hallway. Caleb opens the door and we look out to see Jenner walking down the hall, everyone trailing behind him.

He walked past us and past Daryl, snatching the bottle from his hands. I glanced at Caleb before walking out after the group. "What the Hell's goin' on? Why's everything turning off? He asked, watching Jenner pass him.

Jenner spoke without looking to any of us. "Energy use is being prioritized." He says and I raise an eyebrow at that.

Caleb seems to have read my mind. "Air isn't a priority?" Caleb questions the doctor. "Light?" He adds, glancing to me. Jenner on the other hand, walks down the hall, no reaction of our concern. All we could do was follow him to the main computer room where he had shown us the test subject.

Jenner turned to face us as we walked in after him, all of us entering the room. Something told me that this wasn't the room I wanted to be in. "The system is dropping all nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers up until the last second. That started as we approached the half hour mark. . .we're right on schedule." He says and I move closer to Caleb, my hand on Jess' shoulder.

It's the need to make sure that they're safe, that everyone's safe, that made me feel nauseous. He had all of this planned out, no matter how crazy he is he had the ending planned out. He knew that at the end of the day

I reached up and gripped my tags. "It was the French. They were the last ones to hole out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors, and committing suicide in the hallway, they stayed in the lab until the end. . .they thought they were close to a solution. The same thing is happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs out of fossil fuels, I mean how stupid is that?"

Instantly I turn to leave, the group following after me. I hear Jenner type on his computer. I let go of my tags, right in front of the door when it shuts, stopping us from leaving. I ran into the door, yelling as I hit it. "You son of a bitch," I growled, turning around and looking to the doctor.

This look in his eyes was unsettling. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure, H.I.T.'s are released to prevent anything from getting out." He says and I look to Caleb in panic, our matching eyes locking.

I let out a shaky breath, knowing the meaning to the acronym. It feels like poison falling from my lips, crashing to the floor. "It sets the air on fire," I speak, my nails digging into my palms. "Every living thing in the air, bacteria, human, germs, it all dies," I say, my gaze leaving Caleb's and going to the floor.

Everyone goes to yelling, some hitting the door with axes as I walk towards Jenner, who's now talking with Rick. Jess cries, hugging Caleb tight, who hugs her right back. Reaching over my shoulder, I draw out my katana. "Luna," Caleb warns, catching my arm as I try and walk to the pair.

I growl, watching the doctor and Rick. "The day you came in you said it yourself, you knew it was a matter of time before everyone you love dies," Jenner says, eyes locked on Rick.

We all seem to freeze for a moment, looking at Rick. Daryl and Glenn, on the other hand, keep on beating on the door. I growled, turning on my heel to help the pair but stop when I'm knocked to the floor by Shane, shotgun in hand. He fires at the computers and Jenner, Rick having to pull the gun from him. I pause on the floor for a moment, shocked while Rick tells him off. I shake my head, shaking the feeling that takes over my body.

I get up, walking back to the doctor. "You know what? I think you're lying, about there being no hope. Earlier you said everyone left. Why would you stay when everyone else left? You choose the hard path instead of choosing the easy way out. Why?" I asked him, looking from him to the rest of my group.

He sighs, looking away from me. I make no further attempt to talk to him, instead of turning to help with the door. I don't know what Rick said to him or if he just had a change of heart but either way the door opened and we were free to leave. "Let's go!" Daryl yells, motioning for us to follow him. We get out to the main entrance, unbreakable glass. I curse under my breath, watching T-dog throw a chair only for it to not break.

Carol, on the other hand, had a better idea, pulling out a grenade that she had gotten from Rick's clothes when they were washed all those days ago at the quarry.

Rick rushes up and pulls the pin, hesitating before letting go and running. I duck behind the wall, Caleb and Daryl at my sides. Jess was in Caleb's arms as we run. The bast went off, shattering the glass and giving us the way out. As quickly as we could, we got out of the building, running to the cars.

Caleb and I got into my truck, ducking down to be level with the dashboard, Jess between us, when the place blew up. When everything calmed down we pulled away, setting off to find a new place.

Maybe the next will be better.