Chapter 21: Leaving with a Boom

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Jenner's eyes fixed onto Andrea who was on the verge of tears. Lori peered over at her sadly,"She lost somebody two days ago. Her sister."

Jenner leaned over to her sympathetically, "I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is. Scan to the second event."

Vi boomed throughout the room once more, "Scanning to second event."

"The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes." Jenner stated gesturing towards the screen, "The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute...seven seconds."

The group watched as red flickers of light filled the stems of the brain. Indigo was taken back by the sight as was everyone else.

"It restarts the brain?" Lori questioned in disbelief.

"No, just the brain stem." He responded, "Basically, it gets them up and moving."

"But they're not alive?" Rick said.

"You tell me." Jenner said pointing towards the test subject on the screen.

"It's nothing like before." Indigo mumbled sadly, "Most of that brain is dark."

Jenner quietened a little as he looked up at the image of the brain, "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."

Indigo flinched as a hole was punctured through the test subjects brain.

"God, what was that?" Carol asked holding Sophia close.

"He shot his patient in the head." Andrea said slightly turning to Jenner, "Didn't you?"

Jenner avoided answering, turning around, "Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations."

"Powering down main screen and workstations." Indigo was intrigued by this entire building, she didn't understand anymore then the others, maybe less but she was intrigued.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea stated crossing her arms walking towards the desk.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, - fungal."

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui said leaning against a work station.

"There is that."

"Somebody must know something." Andrea said frustrated, "Somebody somewhere."

Carol held Sophia close, "There are others, right? Other facilities?"

"There may be some. People like me."

"But you don't know? How can you not know?"

"Everything went down." Jenner put it simply, "Communications, directives...all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month. So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere?

"Nothing?"

"That's what you're really saying, right?"

"Jesus. Man, I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk again." Indigo giggled.

"That's disgusting." They smiled at the small girl as they all turned their attention back to the current situation.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but...that clock...it's counting down. What happens at zero?"

"The basement generators...they run out of fuel." He responded quietly.

"And then?"

"Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

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