Sam woke groggily to the sounds of talking. Since joining the group in atlanta he had grown used to this. He sighed, waking himself up with a cold splash of water to the face before dressing in his normal clothes, feeling better now he was cleanshaven. He picked up Nate's aftershave from his belongings and sprayed some on him, breathing in his scent. He had half the bottle left, he intended to remember the scent. He then made his way to where the group was eating, remembering he was in a situation of relative normality. It was strange and false but he relished it. After the events that unfolded over the previous days he needed the comfort of safety. Dr Jenner seemed to be in good spirits as Glenn and some of the others suffered from hangovers. Sam had never been one to drink and he didn't intend to start, settling for watching them groan and hearing Glenn smash his head on the table. he was greeted with a chorus of good mornings as he entered, sitting at the table silently. A plate of eggs was set in front of him and T-dog grinned down at him, earning a thanks from Sam who gobbled down the eggs, loving how he felt full for the first time since he joined the group.
"Did you sleep well?" Glenn asked and Sam raised an eyebrow, thinking it was a trick question.
"Very well, except for you barrelling into the room at an unearthly hour" Sam said, sipping a cup of tea that he had been made by T-dog. He remembered mentioning in an idle conversation that he dislike the taste of coffee and it's bitterness and preferred Tea and obviously T-dog took note. Carl came to sit beside him, pointing to a comic book he had picked up from the Rec room and chatting about it as Sam felt himself slowly returning to normal. He was still in mourning and yet seemed to have recovered from the shock of the event, accepting what had happened. He was still depressed yet he knew he couldn't mope around forever and so he tried his utmost to seem interested in what Carl was saying and Lori noticed, a small smile gracing her features. Jenner took them through to the lab, explaining about the test subject he was analysing, They found out how the disease worked.
"Experience, memories. Somewhere in all that organic wiring is you. The thing that makes you unique and human," Jenner explained. The display showed the virus attacking the brain and Sam watched in pure awe at the process The brain went dark.
"Everything you were or ever will be - gone," Jenner stated as the screen moved to the second event.
"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked.
"Just the brain-stem," Jenner clarified. "The human part - the you part - that doesn't come back."
Sam felt sick again, trying to push this out of his mind. He reeled in discomfort and felt arms around him, Carl was hugging his wait supportively, the small boy able to read him like a book. He was thankful for his childish innocence. They broke away from the gathering, with Carl and Sam went into the Rec room, pouring over the comic books in there and when the lights shut off Sam delivered Carl to his mother and went to find the others. The panicked group followed, confronting Jenner in the hallway as he stated that the building was shutting down, going into permanent lockdown and Sam laughed as he recalled something Jenner said.
"Once those doors close, they won't open again" He said, catching the attention of the others as his eyes widened due to the explanation of what was going to happen. In event of shutdown the building would set the air in and around it on fire, killing all of them instantly and they only had thirty minutes according to the clock. The whole group panicked and Sam helped Daryl and T-dog and Glenn pounded at the door with axes as Jenner stated it was no use. Sam wasn't going to die here in a lab with a selfish doctor keeping him captive. After much fighting they got Jenner to open the one door, Sam leading the charge, yelling at them all to keep going, adrenaline kicking in and him becoming very protective and responsible.
Carol pulled a grenade out of her purse, ignoring Shane's sarcastic comment about nail files and they blew out the doors, Sam shielding Carol and Sofia with his body and picking up the little girl as they ran for it, a safe enough distance away. Sam turned fast enough to see Andrea and Dale emerge from the CDC before it burst into flames, he held the shaking Sofia as Carol also shook beside him, holding onto his arm tightly. He mourned for Jacqui for a moment before securing Sofia into her seat and checking Carol was ok before going to take his own place in the truck with Daryl. They began to drive away, the broken brunette collapsing into his seat, clutching all he could salvage, Nate's rucksack. His bow was still slung over his back along with his quiver and his knives stayed in his belt as always and yet he was unable to salvage anything from his own pack except his notebook.
Daryl drove onwards, away from the flames as they both stared out of the windscreen, adrenaline still pumping through their veins. After a few moments they stopped to regroup and work out their next moves, deciding on going to Fort Benning, cutting down on vehicles so as to save fuel. Most piled into the RV, including Sam and Andrea who hadn't spoken since the day they met each other. Daryl took Merle's bike and Carol, Carl, Sophia, Lori and Rick took Carol's Cherokee. Sam sat on the floor of the RV, listening to Shane preach about gun maintenance before he was addressed, by Shane who also had not spoken to him since he tried to right hook him upon their introduction.
"What's the matter? Checking me out?" Shane was a dick. He'd figured that out before he knew the guy and so crossed his arms.
"Thinking of possible way to murder you without the others knowing. Though they'd probably thank me" He deadpanned and Shane became aggressive. Sam never diffused an argument, he simply made them more heated, joined in and usually caused fights to occur. It was Andrea who diffused the tension, stepping in front of Shane and Sam who still sat on the floor, arms crossed over his chest and glaring at Shane. Andrea succeeded and moments later the group came to a grinding halt, Sam taking the opportunity to quickly exit the RV, getting as far away from Shane as possible.
He knew Shane was a dick, there were many reasons not to be an idiot and Shane knew none of them. At least he had Glenn, and Rick and Carl and Daryl, those he felt comfortable with. He knew this was not going to be a quick and beneficial pit stop, far from it.
He could feel trouble brewing and he didn't like it.
YOU ARE READING
Same Love
RomanceHe had always been introverted, growing up in Georgia, his family was religious and hated him for being Gay. when the apocalypse occurs and the dead start walking the earth he learns that there is more to love than they once said, than procreation...
