The Sharpest Lives

Ace woke up with a jerk, still lying on her face, bottle of wine spilt onto the floor.

She took a disoriented moment to look around, remembering where she was and what happened before she sat up, rubbing her wet eyes. It doesn't matter how many times she'll have dreams about Frankie, or what happened in Germany, or just the zombie apocalypse in general.. every time she will wake up in tears, willingly or not. Sometimes it was just that her dreams and reality have started to blend together now, that being the worst part.

She wished the zombie apocalypse was all just a dream, but each time she wakes up, it's like a whole new punch in the face. Her hangover is definitely a punch in the face as well. Both physically and mentally. Ace promised herself she would try as hard as she can to not get lost in alcohol ever again. She even swore it off when she united with Frankie. And she was so disappointed that she let herself get bad again, even if it was only wine, even if it was only one night. She failed herself.

But Ace also wants to give herself a free pass. Frankie is missing and it's the apocalypse. She should be aloud to drink right? She should be able to break her personal goals and moral reasoning? She should be able to throw herself away? Right?

It is wrong to Ace. Frankie would be disappointed in her.

Ace sighed and pushed herself off the bed slowly, grabbing the spilt wine bottle as she did and setting it up right. Should she clean the mess? She didn't know if they were going to be here long or if it really mattered to Jenner... Ace took a minute staring at it while she decided, and gave in. If they were staying here longer than today she didn't want it there, a reminder of her failure. Even when she drank with Daryl the other night she limited herself.

Ace rubbed her temple and straightened up her clothing quickly, making herself presentable, even if no one was up. She looked through the cabinets in the bathroom and saw that there was no cleaning supplies, so she decided to try the kitchen or any other room she came across.

She put her shoes back on and fluffed her hands around in the comforter of her bed searching for her knife that fell out. How safe.. being too drunk to realize she was sleeping with a goddamned knife.

Ace shook her head at her self and left her room, quieting her steps as she walked down the hall. The floor was pretty dark, no lights really on in the rooms, so she guessed she was up extremely early as usual.

Arriving in the kitchen, she didn't hesitate to start searching through cupboards, top and bottom ones. She did end up finding an apple in the mess of supplies in here, so she shrugged and took a large bite out of it. She felt a little bad after greedily doing that and enjoying it so very much.. Was it selfish?

She shrugged again, it was only one apple and no one has to know..

Ace took some more delicious bites and she continued her search. She did happen to find a blue sponge under the sink, so some cleaner had to be nearby.

"Lookin for somethin'?" A raspy voice slurred out of no where, making Ace jump and spin around quickly, whacking her head on the counter top as she did. She bit her lip to hold back her groan of angry pain, but still was yelling at Daryl inside her head. "Watch out, there's a counter there, Princess."

"Fucking asshole," Ace mumbled under her breath, turning back towards the cabinet under the sink she was at. Okay, she was a little cranky after having a really shitty night. "Heard tha'," Daryl shuffled so he was leaning against the counter near by, studying her. Normally if someone called him an asshole he would have pounced, but lucky for Ace, he was cool. Maybe it's because he's drunk? He really has only had an actual conversation with her when he is. "Really, what'cha lookin for?"

"Nothin'," Ace mumbled, grabbing the cleaner she found with great timing and stood up. She kicked the doors closed and gave Daryl a nod before starting to walk back to her room. "What's up yer' ass? Didn't get ya beauty sleep, Princess?"

Ace rolled her eyes. Why does he keep calling her Princess? Is that his type of fun nick name? "Guess I'm not no Princess then, am I?" She grumbled, looking back at Daryl quickly. He grunted, but a smirk was playing at his lips, putting together her Sleeping Beauty joke.

She started to walk away again, ready to get to that wine stain, but what he said next made her freeze. "Ya thought yer' sister was gona be here, didn't ya?" Daryl wasn't sure why he was striking up another conversation. He was always know as the angry, quiet hunter of the group. But, here he was. And here Ace was, getting along with somebody? Even if he was still really drunk and probably wouldn't remember.

She clenched her fist around her thumb a little, watching as her hands contracted, not responding. It seemed that Daryl already knew the answer of that question before he even asked it. "Kinda hoped my brother was gona be here, too," he shrugged, taking another drink of his Southern Comfort. Ace felt a twinge of pity for Daryl, mostly because she knew how he felt.. She knew he was using that bottle of Southern Comfort for actual comfort.

Ace turned around to look at Daryl, not really knowing what to say. She knew nearly exactly how he felt, but no way to express herself. So they both just looked at each other. Ace took in Daryl's appearance; the same sleeveless button up shirt that was sloppily tucked into his pants that had holes at the knees. His dirty blonde hair that was all messy from not being brushed after his shower that it looked like he took a little while ago. Had he even gone to bed yet?

When both Daryl and Ace realized they were staring at each other for too long, they shyly looked down. "You sleep yet?" She asked quietly, squinting her eyes at him.

"Ain't gona sleep in this pricks bed," he drunkenly slurred, pointing his hand in the direction he assumed Jenner was. This confused Ace. It wasn't necessarily Jenner's bed, it was warm, safe, and probably the best thing they're gona get for a while.

"He's a prick?" Ace retorted. Daryl was the one who sounded a little rude right now. But really he never was a person to take help from others, especially if he can't pay them back. He already ate this guys food and drank his booze, that's enough for a while. He could live with one more night of sulking and self pitying.

"Yeah, he's a prick," Daryl snapped, pushing off the counter to point a finger in her face, but instead stumbling. Ace lunged forward and reached her hand out to steady him, a natural reflex. And when he got steady he shoved her hand away. "Don't need no help," he growled rudely. He reminded her of Merle.

Ace clenched her jaw and retracted her hand, standing very still and quiet. "Wha' ya just gona stare at me all night?" He snapped, giving Ace a look and then pushing past her a little. She let her body turn in the way it was lightly shoved when he hit it, watching him stumble out of the kitchen. He was about to make it into the hallway when he tripped over his own feet and had to grab onto the frame of the doorway as he nearly fell. He did happen to catch himself, but let his body slide down the small frame anyways, landing on his butt with a light thud. He ran his hand that wasn't holding the whiskey over his face and it made Ace sad to see him like this. She doesn't care that she just met him a few days ago or even that he's a dick.. She's been were he is, possibly even still is right now, and knows his struggle and pain. She can feel the pain he's feeling. He's trying to keep himself strong to not show his weak side to the group, just as Ace has many times..

She walked over slowly after setting the cleaning supplies down and cautiously to him, waiting for him to yell at her again, but he seemed too exhausted and drained to do so. "Don't.. I don't need ya pity," he scoffed to himself, he gave himself enough pity, he doesn't need anymore. He took another drink while Ace still came over. "Get!" He finally raised his voice, barely enough to startle Ace when she got closer.

"M'not goin anywhere," Ace wasn't nearly as harsh.

"Wha'? Ya don't got anythin' better to do than be annoyin? I don't even know ya," He shifted on his butt, words slurred together, trying not to show he was surprised that she was saying more than two words to him.

Ace rolled her eyes, saying a bunch of profanities at him inside her head. It was true, they didn't really know each other, but they felt more comfortable with the other then the rest of the who messed up group. Ace felt she could relate to him and that made her more comfortable, even if she would rather be near the nice kids all day..
She had thought Daryl was supposed to be nicer when he was drunk..
Ace sighed anyways and squatted down holding her hand out to him. He eyed it then her and scoffed again, "I thought I told ya-"

"Shut up." She wasn't trying to be mean, well, maybe she was.. But this was the only way to get him to stop his bitchin.

Daryl was taken aback at her interruption. "T'hell did ya-"

"Shut up," Ace repeated. "C'mon," she said much quieter, signaling her hand out again. Daryl eyed her hesitantly, but decided he had no choice but to let her help him up. His rough, calloused hand clasped with hers and they both grunted lightly as they shifted to stand up, Ace letting Daryl lean his drunken weight on her.

She let one of her hands rest on his strong back as the other was placed on the wall for balance as they made their way down the hall. Daryl's body was swaying as he pointed to the room he chose, still having the bottle of whiskey in his hand, hating that he needed help to get there.

Ace opened his door as quietly as she could and basically had to shove him onto his bed. He huffed and got himself comfortable, not bothering to take his shoes off or anything, bringing the bottle back up to his lips. Before he could take another drink, Ace made a quick move and snatched it straight from his hands. "Fuckin' hell!" Daryl growled, sitting up and trying to grab it from Ace, who held it back. She knew from experience that he would only regret drinking more in the morning.

"Don't touch my stuff!"

"Ain't yours."

Daryl crossed his arms, leaning back on the headboard of his bed. "Stupid bitch."

"You'll thank me in the mornin'," Ace said, starting to walk towards his door again.

"It is mornin and I sure as hell ain't damn thankful," he grumbled, shifting on his bed. She was just looking out for him, even if she didn't know exactly why.
He said a few more harsh things that Ace could barely make out, but she ignored it, leaving his room before either of them grew uncomfortable or awkward from the excessive amount of socializing they've had today.

Many things were being turned around in her mind as Ace quickly went back into the kitchen to grab the cleaning supplies and set the alcohol down. Well, she nearly slammed it down after studying it for a minute. She had a million temptations to get shitfaced again, but she was trying to be strong enough to hold out.

She did feel a little bit of self pride as she went down to her room, though, making her stand up a little taller when she walked. Her confidence was low now aday's and she had every reason in the world to lose herself with alcohol even more than last night, but she didn't.

Her confidence and self pride did happen to fall a little when she scrubbed and scrubbed at the wine stain, not getting anywhere. She has dealt with many alcohol stains before, but with only some shitty cleaner and a sponge, she wasn't too satisfied.

Ace huffed and sat back on her feet, swatting her hair away. Her back was aching a lot more than usual from bending over and she was growing angry with the damn stain. She mumbled a few words under her breath and stood up lightly throwing the sponge onto the small bedside table.

Now what?

Wait... was she actually bored right now?

Rolling her eyes, she went back out of her room and into the rec room, spending the next hour or so looking through nearly all the books on the many shelves.

*

Daryl woke up with a lazy grunt, scowl on his face. He felt hungover and exhausted from lack of sleep. But, he knew how to fix that.

He reached his arm up, blindly searching the bedside table for the bottle of Southern Comfort he was sure he left there last night. When he couldn't feel anything, but the cool surface of the table, he turned to face it and sat up a little. Nothing was there. Not anywhere in this room.

And that's when he remembered he didn't fall asleep til much later last night. He got drunk and angry, as usual, but remembers talking to Ace, who took his whiskey. He initially felt anger at her for taking it, having no right, but tried to ignore the fact he was a little thankful. If she hadn't taken it he would be feeling a lot worse than he is, probably sick as hell. He did not need to be completely wasted again. He hated being like his father in that way, always clutching a bottle of strong booze.

Daryl swung his legs over the edge of the bed, wobbling slightly at the dizziness his head provided him. He pressed his palm to his temple with an annoyed grunt and stood up, not bothering to change since he was still fully dressed in what he put on after his shower last night. He had no idea where anyone was, rooms being open and empty, but heard chatter down the hall.

He peaked his head in first, but came in fully when he saw everyone, minus a few people, starting to eat breakfast. He scanned the room, eyes hesitating on Ace who was sitting much farther away from the rest of the group. She had a pile of books next to her, one she was reading currently while eating some scrambled eggs.

Daryl's stomach growled and his feet shuffling caught peoples attention. Everyone grumbled a good morning to him, but everyone was too hungover to give a real crap. So he just grunted and went over to the food T-dog made, helping himself to a plate. While doing so he eyed Ace out of the corner of his eyes, noticing she was reading a random book about mutations and had a stack of similar ones, plus one that looked to be a Mystery novel.

He wanted to laugh at this girl, who was really an odd one when he broke it down, but instead he had to snap himself out of his stare that he had and go sit at the other table with the rest of the group. Daryl had the angry scowl back on his face. At one moment he could be thinking about how interesting she was and in another he was angry 'cause that stupid girl was making him a softy. What the hell did she even do? She thought they were similar or somethin. He doesn't even know her and is spending more time curiously wondering about her than thinking and fighting for himself... He's surviving for himself and himself only now, doesn't need to give a shit about anyone else. Though she did give a shit about him last night and help him out, even if he didn't want it at the time. No one had really ever given a shit..

Ace was buried in her book at the time, the noises and chatter from the others fuzzy in her ears. She was absorbed in the text that talked about cancer, and even similar eye diseases as hers, and if someone were to look at her, it would be easy to tell she was in another world. She did know exactly when to start paying attention again, though, and that was when Jenner walked in. He made eye contact with her, seeming to have words he wanted to speak to her, but just turned in the direction of the coffee.

Dale had read Ace's mind and started questioning Jenner, as well as Andrea. Ace listened intently while now scanning the room, taking it all in like everything and everyone were calculations in her head. It's like each expression of a person here was a piece of the puzzle she needed to figure out this group. But the problem was, as far as she could tell with her own opinion, this group was broken... A few of their puzzle pieces are missing.

Ace rolled her eyes and put her full attention back onto Jenner after she watched Shane and Lori. They could not be more obvious about their 'situation'. Ace wants to know how clueless Rick has to be not to notice..

"We didn't come here for the eggs," Andrea snarked to Jenner, and Ace couldn't have said it better.
Jenner sighed and set down his coffee, "follow me."

He led them all to the same large computer room they were in last night. Ace was able to get a better layout of it now that it was brightened. "Playback of test subject 19," Jenner spoke aloud, Vi responding shortly after, lighting up a screen in front of the group.

Ace was the last to join them, taking a spot in the back, as usual. No one really noticed her presence, she even doubts if they would notice if she had a loaded gun on them right now, somehow planning to kill them all.. Of course she wasn't, but still..

"Few people ever got a chance to see this... Very few," Jenner reminded them and Ace squinted at the images on the screen. There was a lot of scientific stuff that Ace didn't even want to try and figure out, but the main images were just what looked to be some x-ray scans of a persons head. The picture enhanced for an internal view, showing off a very detailed brain. Carl, being the curious kid he is, was the first to asked questions.

In normality, Ace would have smiled at him, but she was to amazed by the moving image of a brain above her. There were lights streaming throughout it, some of different colors, and the details of it were keeping Ace's eyes locked. "It's a person's light, experiences, memories.. It's everything," Jenner started and Ace's eyes were darting from him, back to the screen quickly. "Somewhere in all those orbitals of light.. Is you.. The thing that makes you unique.. human."

This was amazing Ace to a whole new level, so much so that she was unaware of her expression that truly had amused Daryl. But Daryl also wasn't understanding any of this or why it could be so amazing. "You don't make sense.. ever?" He said, crossing his arms, scowling at the screen.

"Those are synapses: electric impulses in the brain that deliver all the messages. They determine everything a person says, does, or thinks, from the moment of birth to the moment of death," Jenner smiled lightly after catching Ace's expression, he enjoyed others who were as interested in the things he loved as much as his wife had been..

"Death? That's what this is.. a vigil?" Rick stepped forward and Ace could have slapped him for interrupting Jenner. She wanted to know more.

"Yes. Or rather the playback of the vigil."

"This person died.. Who?" Andrea spoke in. And now that everyone was adding in, Ace decided to turn her attention back to them. She studied everyone again, reading all their expressions, and even figuring them out without them even knowing.

And the way Jenner spoke, or avoided telling, about the person in the "vigil", Ace could tell it was someone dear to him. "Scan forward to first event," Jenner stopped others from continuing questions. Ace watched again, this time the colorful brain turning dark. Jenner spouted a bunch of science crap, trying to explain it, but Ace didn't care. It didn't make sense and the test subject before her had her attention. She was watching it die, the monitor becoming darker than it was when it was alive. "Then death," Jenner said solemnly. "Everything you ever we're or ever will be. Gone."

The way Jenner said it could make anyone sad, or feel pain. Even if they haven't watched someone die through a biter bite, like Ace. But that doesn't mean they haven't lost someone another way..

It was even more heart wrenching to see Andrea's pain. Ace had learned the name of her sister, Amy, who had died the night she found their camp. Ace had a sister. She couldn't imagine..

The monitor that was dark started lightening up again, bringing Ace's attention back. Jenner started explaining about the Resurrection again, completely losing Ace as he did. The brain, or brain stem, had restarted.. It didn't make any sense. Why or how could this happen? It shouldn't even be possible.

Ace had considered that maybe they hadn't died in the first place, but no, that didn't make sense either. She just watched this test subject die, then come to life. It was just hard to process.
Ace bowed her head when a large slash went through the brain on the screen, getting shot. This was a ton on her mind along with everything else at the moment and she just was trying to sort through her messy thoughts. She didn't even want to listen anymore as a conversation went on about no one knowing what this 'virus' was. No one had even survived to study it more, either.

There's no one left.

Ace felt like there was a freight train going around on full speed inside of her head. She had a tendency to over think or over worry so much that she could make herself sick. Even as a child she did this. But normally she would just calm herself down with some drinks. "Man, imma' get shitfaced drunk, again," Daryl said, pacing as he rubbed his face. Ace guesses he felt the same.

But Ace wasn't going to let herself do that.