FOURTEEN. over the love of you

The sun had risen but the survivors had yet to see it, the concreted walls that surrounded them taking that opportunity away. Adeline had already found comfort in waking up to the birds' chirping and morning fog floating over the quarry, so when she was greeted with chilly air coming from the air conditioner - it made a bit of a difference. Dreams were filled with nightmares, causing her to wake up multiple times throughout the night only for Shane to hold her until she fell back asleep. There was even a moment when she woke up to cold sweats, clawings three marks against the side of her neck but, he had been there to pull her out of the woods. Despite the information she knew, she let him because she needed him. At least, that's what she kept telling herself.

Making her way down the long carpeted corridor, Shane walked alongside her with a heavy heart and guilty mind. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get rid of the knowledge of what he had done. It felt like he was losing his grip on sanity - he needed her desperately because now that he had time to think, things for him finally sunk in. He blamed himself for the nightmares she was having.

Together, they entered the cafeteria. The smell of food being cooked wafted into Adelines' nostrils as she slid down into a seat next to Rick and tiredly laid her head against the table. If it wouldn't have been for the group wanting more answers, she would have slept in. She still could've, but she needed to be there in case Shane started to lose his grip if the wrong thing was said. "Feel as bad as I do?" The voice of her brother bounced off of the walls to Shane as he forced a pill down with orange juice. "Worse." Her husband answered in a tired voice.

Placing his hand on his sisters back, Rick rubbed it assuringly before handing her an aspirin out of the bottle Lori had given him. Adeline raised her head and reluctantly took the small tablet, grabbing her brother's cup and swallowing the pill with ease. When she had lifted her head, the turtle neck she wore to cover the self-inflicted claw marks on her neck had been pushed down - revealing the wounds to the open eye. That open eye happened to be a tired Daryl Dixon walking into the room, his squinted his eyes catching the marks. "Tha' hell happened to you?" His southern drawl caused Shane to turn from where he stood.

Raising her hand to her neck, she cupped the wounds and fixed the turtle neck to cover them. "Must've done it in my sleep," Adeline told the truth, leaving out the cracked screams and haunted dreams that caused it. Rick looked to her neck with furrowed eyebrows and shifted his stare to Shane who had a guilty look on his face, "Never seen you do that before." he was quick to retort. Hating himself for it, the thought that his best friend had done something to his sister undoubtedly crossed his mind.

Shrugging her shoulders, she stayed quiet and avoided the looks sent her way as Shane sat down next to her. The last thing Adeline wanted was for the people she now lived with to think she was weak. Nightmares were more common than she had thought, because little did she know a few unspoken voices around the table hid the fact that they had experienced the same thing as she last night. They never thought they would find a place that would genuinely make them feel safe enough to let their guard down, and even though Adeline had yet to do that, most of the survivors around her did. They truly believed they were going to be okay - they believed that they would never have to fight for another day again.

Their unspoken savior, Jenner, walked into the room with a coffee mug held tightly in his hands. T-Dog dumped some powdered eggs he had made into the plate in front of Adeline, the woman nodding gratefully at him before taking her fork and enjoying the food while it lasted. Dale turned from where he sat and looked to the scientist who filled his mug with coffee, "I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing-" He started, only to be cut off.

"But you will anyways." Jenner muttered with a tired face, turning around to face the group who looked to him.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea spoke up, her eyes meeting the scientist. Adeline lifted her head and swallowed the food in her mouth, "But we are thankful for them." She added to show her gratitude for the man who, technically speaking, saved their lives.

After hearing their words, Jenner allowed the group to finish their breakfast before leading them into what he called the Big Room. Control panels and computers decorated the room - and the brace that the man had given Adeline for her foot helped her walk better than she had been in the past week. The woman leaned against one of the many desks, crossing her arms over her chest as she watched Jenner press his fingers against a keyboard.

"Give me a playback of TS-19." He requested, the computer automated voice repeating his words back to him flashing a large screen that was the size of an entire wall on before them. Jenner glanced back to the group as the data loaded, "Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few." He informed.

With attention glued to the screen, the model of what looked like a brain loaded onto it. Carl sat atop the desk next to Adeline with eyes full of amazement - "Is that a brain?" He questioned, turning his head to the scientist.

"An extraordinary one." Jenner let a small smile lace his lips before turning back to the screen, "Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for E.I.V." He requested once against, the desk Adeline leaned against shifting as Glenn stood next to her with his arms crossed.

"Enhanced internal view."

The body to which the brain was connected to shifted around on the screen, bringing their attention closer to the x-rayed version of the stimulus. Zooming in on the prefrontal and limbic stems of the brain, Adeline leaned forward to examine the connections before her. After spending years in medical school, she recognized most of the things on the screen. The frontal lobe came into view, lights flickering across the lines that portrayed a persons life, their memories.

"What are those lights?" Shane questioned, lowering himself down into a chair close.

Adeline stepped forward with her arms crossed, "It's everything. A persons story, their life and every little thing they ever experienced. Memories." She informed - the blue that danced across the screen reflecting off of her caramel eyes.

Jenner nodded in confirmation, feeling impressed with what the girl knew. "Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you. The thing that makes you unique and human."

"You don't make sense? Ever?" Daryl questioned, his arms crossed over his chest as he examined the blue screen in front of him.

"Those are 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." Jenner informed, his eyes never leaving the rippling lights.

Rick stepped forward, "Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" He questioned while walking towards the scientist.

"Yes." Jenner answered, "Or rather the playback of a vigil." He corrected himself, looking over at Rick.

Andrea furrowed her eyebrows from where she stood, "This person died? Who?" she questioned, moving to stand next to Adeline with curiosity.

"Test subject 19." The man spoke, a solemn look hidden beneath his eyes. "Someone who was bitten and infected... and volunteered to have us record the process." Jenner informed before turning away from the group, "Vi, scan forward to the first event."

The computer automated voice repeated the words back before the screen flashed forward, loading the event and showing the brain once again. Except this time - it was different. Black lines crawled over the stems, slowly taking over the brain. "What is that?" Glenn questioned, looking up at the screen with interested eyes.

"It invades the brain like meningitis." Jenner glanced to the boy as the model of the body started breathing rapidly on the screen - its chest heaving up and down. "The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs." He spoke - the black lines flowing down the spine of the figure then finally filling up the entirety of the brain. "Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be... gone."

Adeline looked to Andrea who stood next to her, watching as the woman closed her eyes at the news - the words refreshing her sisters death in her mind. "Is that what happened to Jim?" The small voice of Sophia questioned, her mother nodding slowly in confirmation. Tears rolled down Jacqui's face at the revelation, but Adeline was focused on Andrea as the blonde held in a choked sob.

Reluctantly, breaking every rule in her own book, Adeline curled her fingers around the woman's hand and squeezed it assuringly. "It's okay." Her voice was soft, avoiding the looks Jenner sent their way.

"She lost somebody two days ago." Lori spoke up, catching the curious look Jenner had. "Her sister." She informed - causing aggravation to boil beneath Adelines skin. "Is bringing that up really the best thing to do?" The question slipped past her lips, eyes meeting the woman who her husband slept with. Every wrong word Lori would send her way caused her to slip farther down the rabbit hole, and she only hoped she wouldn't push too hard.

As Adeline released Andreas hand from her grasp, she walked away from the scene and stood next to Daryl with tired eyes. Jenner moved towards Andrea, "I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is." He informed, the woman nodding slowly at his words before he turned back to the screen. "Scan to the second event."

As the screen loaded the data, Adeline leaned against the computer desk in front of her with Daryl by her side. "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." Jenner informed.

The brain before them looked the same as before, black covering the surface until a red starting bubbling in the middle of the brain. Adeline furrowed her eyebrows, "It restarts the brain stem?" She questioned, looking to the scientist with curious eyes.

Jenner nodded in confirmation - "Just enough to get them up and moving." He spoke, Rick stepping forward with his hands on his hips. "But they're not alive?"

"You tell me." The scientist glanced to the man.

"It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark." Rick pointed out the obvious, trying to connect the puzzle pieces in his head.

"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." He informed as Adelines eyes moved back to the screen just in time for a bullet to rip through the brain model, killing it.

Carol furrowed her eyebrows at the sight, "My god. What was that?" She questioned, holding Sophia closer to her side.

"He shot his patient in the head." Andrea spoke up with lost eyes. "Didn't you?" She asked, looking to the man.

Jenner gave no response to the group, only commanding Vi to power down the main screen and workstations. The room grew darker as the automated voice did what it was told - leaving them in silence as the scientist looked down to the ground. "You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea questioned, wiping away at the tears under her eyes.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal." He listed, having no answer to give the survivors.

"Or the Wrath of God?" Jacqui spoke up, leaning against a computer desk with sharpened eyes.

"There is that."

Adeline pushed off of the desk and neared the man, "So you have no answers? None at all? Over the past two months you've came up with nothing?" She asked in disbelief, the feeling of hope she had fading away.

"Everything went down." Jenner informed, meeting her eyes. "Communications, directives. All of it. I've been in the dark for those one of those two months."

"So it's not just here? There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?" Andrea continued, the man only giving them a prolonged silence.

That silence was enough for the survivors to confront in inevitable truth - scores of disbelief leaving their mouths. Adeline held in her remarks, looking down to the ground and running a hand through her untangled hair. "Man, I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk again." Daryl informed, rubbing his hands over his face to break the silence.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but.." Dale started, walking over to the man with questionable eyes. Motioning over to the wall, he pointed at the red numbers. "That clock - it's counting down. What happens at zero?" He asked, looking over to Jenner.

Crossing his arms over his chest, he glanced around the group. "The uh, the basement generators - they run out a fuel." He informed, not giving them the answer they looked for. Rick furrowed his eyebrows, "And then?"

Jenner walked away, avoiding the topic at all costs. With a thought springing to his head, Rick cleared his throat. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?" He let his voice leave the barrens of his throat, looking up the ceiling as he waited for an answer.

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

With that, a few of the men took off down to the basement to look for the generators. Adeline attempted to go, but she was only told to stay back and watch over everyone due to her ankle. Reluctantly, she listened because she knew it was the smart thing to do if they needed to get out of their in a hurry. Shane, Rick, Glenn, and T-Dog were the ones to go - leaving Daryl and Adeline to make sure everyone stayed in line and didn't cause panic to outbreak. The two of them brought everyone to their rooms, telling them to stay put until something happened.

Adeline sat in the room she shared with Shane, a bad feeling greeting her gut which caused her to throw all of their clothes into the bags they brought into the CDC. The sound of something powering down caused her to stand from the couch, furrowing her eyebrows as she stood on her tiptoes and craned her chin to the ceiling. Her fingers grazed by the air conditioning unit, the chilly air she had woken up to fading away. Adeline slipped out of her room just in time, Jenner walking down the corridor in a new outfit.

Everyone else stuck their heads out of the doors, noticing the air was now gone in their rooms as well. "Hey, what happened to the air?" Adeline questioned, eyeing the man only for him to walk past her and further down the hallway.

He walked past Daryl Dixon who held a whiskey bottle in his hand, taking the glass and carrying it for himself. "It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down." Jenner informed, Adeline quick to rush after him.

"Hey! What the hell does that mean?" Daryl questioned, the group filtering out of their rooms and following the two that was supposed to look after them. Jenner gave him no answer, which made Daryl push past Adeline and catch up to the man - "Hey, man, I'm talking to you. What do you mean it's shutting itself down? How the hell can a building do anything?" He asked.

Pushing through her limps, she rested her hand against Daryls forearm and whispered for him to calm down. "Jenner, you can't just leave us in the dark. If something's happening that we need to know then tell us." Adeline spoke up, following the man down the stairs.

The men who went down to the basement caught up to the group, meeting them at the bottom with the same confused expression. "You okay?" Shane questioned, looking to his wife who nodded in assurance.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick started, walking next to the man as Adeline slowed her steps and fell in line with her husband with a tired face. Pushing herself to rush after the scientist called exhaustion to rain down upon her once again - mixing in with the restless night she had.

"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 informed, motioning to the countdown on the wall as they neared the computer and screen filled room from before. Handing the whiskey bottle back to Daryl, the redneck jerked it from his grasp. "It was the French." He said, looking to Andrea.

"What?" She retorted with furrowed eyebrows.

"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." Jenner spoke, making his way up the small set of stairs to the computers.

"What happened?" Jacqui questioned with curious eyes.

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

Being fed up with the mans stalling, Shane removed his hand from the lower part of Adelines back and rushed towards the scientist. "Let me tell you something-"

"To hell with it, Shane! I don't even care." Rick grabbed his hand in attempts to stop him, turning around to face the group. "Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now. Adeline.. I need you here." He pleaded, motioning towards an angered Shane, which he knew she could help calm him down.

Sighing, she turned to Lori with expecting eyes. "Can you get our stuff?" She questioned, the woman reluctantly nodded before turning to leave the room. Adeline grabbed Carls hand and pulled him up the stairs with her to make sure he stayed safe just as loud alarms blared throughout the room - red flashing everywhere. "Aunt Addy... what's that?" The voice of her nephew blended with the alarms, his eyes turned to her.

"30 minutes till decontamination."

As the loud voice ripped through the room, Adelines head turned to the exit just as it rolled shut - locking them in. Her eyes widened at the sight, breaths becoming labored as she turned her head to the scientist. "What did you do?" The question left her lips, her hands holding Carl closer to her side as Jenner calmly lowered himself into a chair and started speaking into a camera.

The group rushed in with their bags, Adeline ushering her nephew towards his mother as she neared Jenner. Before she could reach him, Daryl stormed past her with the whiskey bottle gripped tightly in his hands. "Shane, stop him!" Rick yelled from across the room, his voice bouncing off of the walls.

Before he reached him, Adeline hurriedly pushed her hands against the rednecks chest and into the arms of her husband where he held him back. "Jenner, please. Just open the door, okay?" She pleaded, taking a calmer approach than Daryl who trashed against Shane and T-Dogs arms. "You can't keep us locked in here. It's not human."Adeline added, resting her hands against the computer desk and connecting eyes with the man.

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergent exits are sealed." Jenner informed, watching as Rick walked up to the two of them.

"Well, open the damn things." Dale cursed, eyeing the scientist with bewildered eyes.

"That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door was closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that." He reminded, pointing his finger to Rick as Adeline stumbled back and away from the man. "It's better this way." Jenner added.

"What is?" Rick was quick to retort, looking at the man with disbelief. "What happens in 28 minutes?" He questioned, only for Jenner to turn around in his seat and start pressing buttons on the keyboard. Shane slammed his hands into the seat the scientist sat in, "What happens in 28 minutes?!" He roared, anger piling up.

Jenner sprung from his seat, "You know what this place is?! We protected the public from very nasty stuff!" He bellowed right in Shanes face - Adeline curling her hand around her husbands arm who stood in front of her to hold him back. "Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" He seethed in white hot anger before pulling himself together and sitting back down into the chair.

"In the event of a catastrophic power failure, in a terrorist attack, for example - HITs are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out." Jenner calmly informed, wiping his hand over his mouth.

"And what the hell does that mean?" Adeline questioned from behind Shane, staying in her spot.

"Vi, define."

"HITs - high impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a 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 5,000° and 6,000° and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

In between the information, when the realization that the very place they were standing was also the very place they would die hit, Adeline felt a wave of helplessness crash into her. A whimper left her mouth, tears stinging her eyes when she felt the fear of death hit her. She was afraid. Shane wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her into his chest. "I'm gonna get you out of here." He whispered, rubbing his hands against the material of her shirt. "We're getting out of this."

"It sets the air on fire." Jenner paraphrased, "No pain. An end to sorrow, grief... Regret."

"EVERYTHING."