The New World

After Sabrina gave Ana and herself a shower she tucked Ana in and read her a bedtime story. Once Ana was asleep she left the room and back to the kitchen.

"There's shorty!"

"Hey there Rina."

Oh boy, Daryl and Glenn are plastered.

"Ya come back ta drink liddle mama."

"No. I came here to get something out of the fridge, thank you."

If ANYBODY has touched this I'm going to hunt them down and tear off their limbs. I saw this first, it's MINE.

Sabrina went to the fridge to see if it was still there and when she opened it, it was still there.

"Yes, it's still here." She said sighing in content.

She set it down at the table then got a knife and a plate. When Sabrina turned around Glenn was there practically drooling over it.

"Glenn if you touch that triple chocolate cheesecake without me getting the first piece you will lose all your limbs." She said threateningly.

He backed up right away as she came to the cheesecake. Sabrina cut mher a piece and Glenn a piece then she started eating it slowly.

Why would the CDC have this here anyway? Oh, who cares, I've missed this.

"Oh, I've missed this so much. I don't think there's anything out there better than this." Sabrina moaned out taking another bite.

Daryl came over to get a piece and she stabbed him with her fork.

"Bitch." He hissed in pain shaking his injured hand.

"If you want some get a plate and use the damn knife to get a piece. Nobody wants there food to be handled with grubby hands."

Daryl went to go get a plate while grumbling profanities about her. After the three of them ate the cheesecake Glenn went to his room and passed out, leaving her and Daryl alone.

"Ya wan' some yet?" He asked holding up the half full wine bottle that he'd been drinking out of.

"No-" But he didn't listen he filled a wine glass and put it in front of her.

"It's the end of the world, ya need ta let loose shorty."

"Fine. Only one glass then I've got to get to bed."

One glass turned into another wine bottle opening and sharing the bottle instead of pouring glass after glass. Before Sabrina knew it Daryl was close enough that she could feel his arm resting against her right arm.

"I-I think I ne-need to go to bed." She hiccupped and slurred while standing up. "Night Dar-Daryl."

"Night shorty." He said with a husky voice.

Did his voice just change or am I imagining things?

Sabrina finally made it to the hallway to see Shane coming out of the rec room looking pissed. When he saw her he calmed down.

"What happened to you?" She asked looking at the forming scratches on his neck.

"I... had an itch and scratched to hard I guess. You goin' to bed?"

"Yeah and you're not coming." She said matter-of-factly.

"I wouldn't want to. With the way you were hanging around the redneck for the past hour I wouldn't be surprised if you caught a disease."

"What'cha say 'bout me?"

"It's nothing Daryl. You need to go lay down, you're drunk." Sabrina said quickly sobering up because she knew if she didn't defuse this, there was going to be a fight.

"I ain't gonna go lay down 'til this woman stealer tells me what he said 'bout me!"

"Woman stealer!? I didn't steal no woman!"

"Will you two keep your voices down. People are trying to sleep. You two need to go lay down and sleep it off." She hissed at them.

"You heard your girl that you stole from me-"

"She ain't my girl-"

"ENOUGH! Shane whatever is going on with you quit taking it out on everyone else and I'm not anybody's girl so be a good boy and go lay down." Sabrina turned to Daryl. "And you too. Before I slit both of your throats."

They complied and she finally made it to hers and Ana's room.

"Mommy?"

"It's ok baby, go back to sleep." She said laying next to her.

Ana snuggled into her and they both fell asleep. The next morning everyone was either making their way in the dining area or already there having eggs and bacon thanks to T-Dog.

"This is good." Ana said to T-Dog while taking a bite of her eggs.

"I'm glad you like it Ana. My mama raised me to cook."

"Morning." Rick groaned coming into the dining hall.

"Are you hung-over?" Carl asked his dad. "Mom said you'd be."

"Mom is right."

"Mom has that annoying habit."

"Are you hung-over Trixie?"

"A little Carl." She said taking a sip of orange juice. "Rick can you pass those over here please?"

"Sure. How much did you drink last night?" He asked passing the aspirin over.

"I have no idea. All I know is I'm never getting hung-over like this again."

"Eggs. Powdered, but I do 'em good. I bet you can't tell."

Glenn moaned in agony while Jacqui tried to comfort him.

"Here Glenn, it looks like you need them too." Sabrina said passing the bottle.

"Protein helps the hangover." T-Dog said putting some eggs on Glenn's plate.

"Don't ever, ever, ever let me drink again." Glenn groaned out.

"Hey." Shane said entering the room.

And the scratches Sabrina saw last night were clear as day today.

"Hey." Rick greeted. "Do you feel as bad as I do?"

"Worse."

"What the hell happened to you? Your neck?" T-Dog asked.

"Must've done it in my sleep."

"Never seen you do that before." Rick said.

"Me neither. Not like me at all. " Shane said eyeing Lori.

My assumption was right back at the camp. There is something going on between those two!

Soon Jenner entered and gave everybody a 'Morning' as he went to get coffee.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam with questions first thing-"

"But you will anyway."

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea piped in for Dale.

"Can we finish our meal before you start answering all the questions." Sabrina said with annoyance. "I'd like to have one meal that isn't depressing."

Andrea sent a glare to Sabrina and she snapped at Andrea. "What!? If you can't respect that one simple thing then you can excuse yourself."

"Easy there shorty." Daryl said walking past Sabrina to an empty spot at the table, which happened to be next to Ana.

Andrea got up from the table and muttered. "Slut."

"Excuse me? But who the hell are you calling that? You know nothing about me so you better refrain from using that word or any other degrading word like that towards me or you will be taking your la-"

"Rina! Calm the hell down. Let's just eat and then discuss about what's going on." Shane said.

She had to bite her tongue from spewing something out that she would regret later.

"Thanks for ruining another meal."

After the breakfast fiasco everybody entered the command room. "Give me playback of TS-19."

The female automated voice came over the room then played the video. "Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few."

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked.

"An extraordinary one." Jenner answered.

"Cool." Ana said with a smile on her face while she stood next to Carl.

Sabrina had her arms crossed while she leaned on a desk looking over at Ana with a smile on her face.

I can't believe she's so intrigued by this.

She felt someone behind her and she looked to see Daryl. "What?" he muttered.

"Nothing. Are you hung-over?"

"Am I supposed ta? Ya don't look to good yaself."

"That's because I'm extremely hung-over, thanks to you."

He just smirked and Sabrina looked at the bright red numbers behind him.

Why is that counting down? She thought then turned her attention back to the screen.

"Take us into EIV."

"What are those lights?" Shane asked.

"There synapses." Sabrina answered.

Jenner looked at her surprised as did everyone else. "What? Hello, I was a nurse intern."

"What do those syn-syn- what do those lights do?" Ana asked.

"Good question." Jenner said smiling at Ana. "They are 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. And like she said, they're 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."

"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" Rick asked coming up.

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

"This person died? Who?" Andrea asked.

"Test subject nineteen. Someone who was bitten and infected... and volunteered to have us record the process. Vi, scan forward to the first event."

The computer went to the first event and we saw a dark brainstem and the 'lights' slowing down.

"What is that?" Glenn asked.

"It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown then the major organs."

Then the brain turned black on the screen indicating that the brain died. "Then death. Everything you ever were or even will be...gone."

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked her mom.

"Yes." She said slowly and painfully but truthfully.

"She lost somebody two days ago. Her sister." Lori explained why Andrea was crying.

"I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is. Scan to the second event. The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute...seven seconds."

Soon the brain stem started coming alive again only this time it had red 'lights' and the brain was still dark.

"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked.

"Just the brain stem Lori. You see the red lights? They're not even going through the whole brain, just the stem." Sabrina stated her observation.

"Thank you. It basically gets them up and moving." Jenner said.

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

"You tell me."

Rick studied the screen before saying, "Like Rina said it's not like before. Most of that brain is dark."

"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."

Then there was a bright flash on the screen then we saw a small tunnel like line go through the brain and brain stem.

He shot the person.

"God. What was that?" Carol asked.

"He shot his patient in the head." Andrea answered then looked at Jenner. "Didn't you?"

"Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations." The computer shut the systems down like commanded.

"You have no idea what it is do you?" Andrea asked getting ready to blow up.

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

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui stated.

"There is that."

"Somebody must know something. Somebody, somewhere."

"There are others, right? Other facilities?" Carol asked.

"There maybe some. People like me."

"But you don't know? How can you not know?" Rick asked.

"Everything went down. 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?" Andrea asked.

Jenner had no answer to Andrea's question. Ana finally went back to her mother and Sabrina picked her up and held her tightly.

"Jesus." Jacqui said closing her eyes.

"Man, I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk again. Are you shorty?" Daryl said walking away.

"No."

"Wha' ever." He mumbled.

"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?" Dale asked.

"I've been thinking the same thing." Sabrina said.

"The basement generators, they run out of fuel." He said hesitatingly.

"Then what?" She asked.

Jenner didn't answer so Rick said, "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur."

"Hell no. Rick you have to do something." Sabrina said in slight panic.

"Don't worry Rina. Me, Glenn, T-Dog and Shane will figure it out. But right now I want all of you guys to go to the rooms and relax."

The guys took off and everyone else went to their rooms.

"Mommy are we safe here?"

If Rick and them can't find away to stop the shutdown then no.

"I'm not sure baby."

Sabrina jumped at the sound of something crashing against the wall then heard Daryl yell profanities.

"Mom?" Ana asked worriedly.

"It's ok. Daryl just threw something because he's angry." She said as she packed their clothes.

"Mom, I'm sorry."

"For what baby?" Sabrina asked confused.

And went to her bag and pulled out Sabrina's dark blue weapon pouch that attaches to her thigh. She handed it to her mother and Sabrina checked to see if her kunai knives (throwing knives) were still there, which they were.

"When the camp got attacked I took this from your bag to help out but I was so scared." She said crying.

Sabrina kneeled down and hugging her daughter tightly. "It's ok to be scared baby. I'm not mad at you for taking it, I promise."

Feeling the air go off Sabrina let Ana go. "Baby, can you get the rest of your things in your bag? I have to talk to the others real quick."

"Ok."

She came out of her room about the same time Daryl came out as did everyone else as Jenner came down the hallway.

"What's goin' on? Why's the power goin' off?" Daryl slurred a little bit.

Jenner took the bottle from him and said as he kept walking, "Energy use is being prioritized."

"Ana I want you to stay in this room until I come back, do you understand?" Sabrina asked sternly.

"Yes."

"I'll be right back. I love you." She said kissing the top of her head then went after the others.

"Zone five is shutting itself down."

"Hey! Hey, what the hell does that mean? Hey, man, I'm talkin' ta you. What do ya mean it's shuttin' itself down? How can a buildin' do anythin'?" Daryl said getting into his aggressive mode.

"You'd be surprised." Jenner said as Rick and the other guys came in from the opposite end.

"Rick?" Lori asked.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked.

"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule." Jenner explained then looked at the clock.

"What do you mean by last possible second?" Sabrina asked standing next to Jenner, even though she had a bad feeling.

Jenner didn't answer, instead he took a swig from Daryl's bottle then handed it back to Daryl. Daryl snatched it back while some of the contents splashed on her shoes.

"It was the French."

"What?" Sabrina and Andrea asked with confusion.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution."

"What happened?" Jacqui asked.

"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?"

This guy's lost it!

"Let me tell you-" Shane started as he went after Jenner.

"To hell with it. I don't care. Lori grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!" Rick said as he went after Shane.

Before any of them made it to the door an alarm went off.

"What's that?" Shane asked.

"Thirty minutes to decontamination." Vi's voice came as the screen put a timer up.

"Doc! What's going on here Doc!? T-Dog said.

"Everybody! Ya'll heard Rick. Get your stuff and lets go! Go now! Go!"

As everyone started to the door it closed.

"NO! ANA!" Sabrina yelled as she hit the door with her fists while tears streamed down her face.

"Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!" Glenn said panicked.

"You son of a bitch! You locked us in here!" She heard Daryl yell.

Rick was yelling for Shane to stop Daryl from doing something. And that triggered Sabrina's motherly instincts. She went towards the group to get to Jenner.

"NO, no, no, no, no! Don't!" Shane yelled at Daryl then tackled him away from Jenner. "Rina back off!"

T-Dog then grabbed her. "Let me go this lunatic needs to die!" She yelled thrashing around in T-Dog's arms.

"Hey, Jenner, open that door now." Rick commanded.

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed."

"Well, open the damn things." Dale said getting pissed.

"That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't be open again. You heard me say 's better this way."

"What is? What happens in twenty-eight minutes?"

Jenner didn't say anything so Rick and Shane went after him.

"What happens in twenty-eight minutes!?" Rick repeated his question.

"Do you know what this place is?! We protected the public from very nasty stuff!" Jenner yelled.

T-Dog finally let Sabrina go after she calmed down as Jenner stared to Shane.

"Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" He yelled then sat back down. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure-in a terrorist attack, for example- HITs are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

"No! You can't! Not to us, we don't deserve that especially the kids!" Sabrina yelled while crying.

Shane came to her and Sabrina buried her head into his chest and sobbed.

"HITs?" Rick asked.

"Vi, define."

"HITs- high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between five thousand and six thousand degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

"It sets the air on fire. No pain. An end to sorrow, grief...regret. Everything," Jenner said calmly.

Ana I'm so sorry I won't be with you when this happens. I love you so much.

Daryl had enough and threw the liquor bottle at the door and yelled, "Open the damn door!"

Shane let Sabrina go and got the emergency fire axe and started hitting the door. T-Dog tossed Daryl an axe and him and Shane started hitting the metal door repeatedly. Sabrina just sank down to the floor by the ramp near the door, she couldn't feel anything she was so numb. Shane and Daryl stopped and went back to Jenner. She decided to get up and follow.

"Can't make a dent." Shane said panting.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner explained.

"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl yelled getting ready to swing the axe at Jenner but was stopped by Dale, Shane, Rick and T-Dog.

"Just let Daryl cut his head clean off." Sabrina stated.

"You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead." Jenner said looking at Rick.

"What is he talking about?" I asked Rick.

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?"

"There is no hope. There never was."

"There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere-"

"What part of 'everything is gone' do you not understand?" Andrea asked.

"Andrea shut the hell up! I honestly don't care if you have hope or not but other people do! So keep your trap shut unless you know of a way to get the rest of us out!" Sabrina yelled.

"Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event." Jenner said.

"This isn't right. You can't just keep us here." Carol cried while holding Sophia.

"One tiny moment- a millisecond. No pain."

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this. Or Sabrina's. Or Lori's son."

"Wouldn't be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?"

"Well that's not possible when my daughter is on the other side of the door you asshole!"

Shane cocked his gun and held it in Jenner's face.

"Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?!"

"Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We'll never get out of here."

"Shane, you listen to him," Lori said.

"It's to late."

"Shane you kill him then we can't get out. He's the only one that knows the codes." Sabrina said as calmly as she could.

Shane yelled in frustration and shot the gun off to the side, hitting a computer. Rick wrestled it out of Shane's hand and used the butt of the gun to hit Shane in the stomach.

"Are you done now? Are you done?"

"Yeah, I guess we all are."

Rick handed the gun over to T-Dog then started at Jenner again Sabrina went to the door and rested her head on it.

"Ana please forgive me. I never meant for any of this to happen." She muttered softly as she started crying softly again.

"Test subject nineteen was your wife?" Sabrina heard Lori ask.

She turned around and just listened.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no? She was dying. It should've been me on that table. It wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just...Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me."

"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's, that's all we want. A choice, a chance." Rick coaxed.

"Let us keep trying as long as we can." Lori said.

"Please." Sabrina said pleadingly.

"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those."

Jenner passed Rick and went to the keypad. He scanned his card and pressed a few buttons and the door opened.

"C'mon!" Daryl yelled as he ran through the doorway.

Everyone started going to the door and Jacqui slipped out of T-Dog's grasp.

"I'm staying."

"Jacqui no," Sabrina said softly.

"I'm sorry, sweetie."

"But that's insane!" T-Dog said.

"No, it's completely sane. For the first time in a long time. I'm not ending like Jim and Amy. There's no time to argue and no point, not if you want to get out. Just get out. Get out."

Sabrina went to Jacqui and hugged her as Jacqui did the same.

"Keep your baby safe." She said kissing my cheek.

"I will." She said kissing Jacqui's cheek and then ran out the door.

Once Sabrina hit the hallway she yelled Ana's name. Ana came out with the bags and Sabrina grabbed them.

"Mom is everything ok?"

"Now's not the time, we need to get out of here now."

Everyone made it to the main entrance and the windows wouldn't bust open. They tried axes, chairs, and guns, but nothing was working. Carol gave Rick something and then Rick yelled, "Look out!"

Everyone took cover and then the windows blasted open. Shane went out the window first then Daryl so they could help the girls and kids get out safety. Then Rick, Glenn, and T-Dog came out. As they were making their way to the vehicles they were taking out walkers. Lori, Carl, T-Dog, Glenn, Sabrina and Ana got into the RV. Carol and Sophia in the station wagon, Daryl in his truck, and Shane in his Jeep.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. They're coming!" Lori said pointing to the CDC.

The group looked and saw Andrea and Dale coming out of the blown up window. The two almost made it to the RV until Rick started honking and Lori was yelling for them to get down.

"Everybody get back and get down!" Rick yelled.

Everybody huddled together as there was an earth shattering explosion and a bright light.

"Did they make it?" Sabrina asked Rick as he stood up to look out the windshield.

"Yeah." He sighed out of relief.

Glenn opened the RV door to let Dale and Andrea get in. Once they were inside Rick started the RV up and the group drove off.

The CDC was a bust. What are we going to do now?