Jayr POV - Earth, Geia, ter for Disease trol and Prevention - 2010

  The m I walked into the cafeteria and saw that no one else was there yet as it is very early in the m and more importantly everyone was way too tired and drunk to wake up at this hour.

  Seeing that I'm alone, I calmly walk toward the kit to prepare some form of breakfast for everyoh the few basigredients avaible while thinking about what happened yesterday, 'My talk with Dr. Jenner got interrupted by a drunk Rick but luckily I was still able to take a look at Dr. Jenner's mental state and from what I have seen it was a lot better than the "ical" o seems that the idea of a possible cure and the solution to the energy problem lit up the flickering fme of hope in his heart just enough to keep him going. This is quite good as I don't have to worry about his suicidal impulses screwing up my pns.'

  While I'm starting to cook some powdered eggs, I tio go over the events of yesterday's evening, 'After the brief talk between Dr. Jenner and Rick, I apahe drunk Rick back to his room before I headed back to the isoted area a up with Cratergann. Obviously, my trusted partner successfully pleted both my requests, safely disarming the H.I.T.s, and modifying Vi's directives so that it doesn't cause any problems in the eventuality that the building runs out of energy but it is uo dei as it rogrammed to do. Anyway, after Cratergaed its success, I brought it bato my Soulbouory where it rest and recharge the energy it has used by abs and verting the Spiral o in it. Then I went bay room to "rest" which actually meant fog on my Ination as I resumed enjoying spending some quality time with Tio and Alvida for a couple of days spent in a Time Bubble.'

  Thinking about st night, I 't help but smirk and mutter, "Of course, I had to focus a little on cutting the feeling feedbay Main Body, after all, I didn't want to dirty the room with other "actal discharges"... It would be very bothersome to ."

  As I tio prepare the breakfast, other people slowly start to walk into the cafeteria, the first oo arrive are Dale, Jim, Andrea, Amy, and T-Dog who quickly greet me before they also start to help prepare for the breakfast.

  Dale, Jim, and Andrea prepare the table, while T-Dog and Amy help me cook the powdered eggs, and prepare the fruit juid the coffee.

  Shortly after a very hunglenn also stumbles in the cafeteria before he takes a seat regrettierday's decision of drinking too much before Lori, Carl, Man, and Duane also walk in.

  At this point, T-Dog and Amy start to serve the ready powdered eggs and gsses of fruit juices to the people present as more and more survivors stumble into the cafeteria among them there is also Dr. Jenner who notices the huate of some people and quickly goes to grab a bottle full of aspirin.

  Before long, Rick also shuffles into the cafeteria and it is obvious that he is also feeling the effects of yesterday's alcohol intoxication as he yawns and greets, "Haaa... M..."

  Seeing his father's state, Carl 't help but ask with a grin on his face, "Are you hungover? Mom said you'd be."

  In response, Rick smiles at his son and admits, "Mom is right." which makes Lori also smile as she says, "Mom has that annoying habit."

  At the same time, T-Dog walks over with a pan full of eggs and proudly dishes the powdered eggs for everyone while saying, "Eggs. Powdered, but... but I and Jayr do 'em good."

  When T-Dog gives a groaning Glenn his portion, he smirks and ents, "I bet you 't tell. Protein helps the hangover." in the meantime, Lori hands Rie aspirin which makes him ask, "Where'd all this e from?" to which Lori calmly replies, "Jenner." Rick then gives the bottle to his wife and asks, "Could you help me, please?"

  Lori takes the bottle from his husband who thanks her and ents, "He thought we could use it." before she looks at the suffering Glenn, and adds with a smirk on his face, "Some of us, at least."

  In respoo that, Glenn simply let out anroan before he ents, "Urg... Don't ever ever ever let me drink again." which makes Jim chuckle and ent, "Heh... Trust me, no matter how many times we say words like that... in the end, we will always end up experieng the hungain."

  Hearing that Glenn groans again and says, "Urg... God, please no..." while Jacqui gently massages his bad forts him, "e on, Glenn. It will pass soon."

  Soon Shaers the room and heads straight for the coffee while greeting, "Hey." to which Rick replies, "Hey." before asking, "Feel as bad as I do?"

  Shane fills his cup and replies, "Not much better... Yesterday we had quite the shog revetion..." to which T-Dog agrees, "That's right... The Wildfire Virus and the fact that everyone is already ied..."

  This makes the air in the cafeteria grow more tense, but Rick remembering the words that Dr. Jeold him yesterday quickly repeats, "e on... it's not so bad. Now we know what we are fag a little better and there is still hope to fight it."

  At this point, Dr. Jenner returns to the kit and quickly greets the new arrival before he adds, "M. That's right. But before we do that we still have to take care of a few more pressing issues."

  Hearing that, Dale looks at Dr. Jenner and says, "Doctor, I don't mean to sm you with questions first thing in the m..." but before he tinue, Jenner smiles wryly and says, "But you will anyway." to whidrea, who agrees with Dale, nods and ents, "We didn't e here for the eggs."

  Dr. Jenner nods and says, "Well, let's just finish breakfast. After that, Dr. Pucd I will expihing to you all. Trust me, you will as today will be quite a busy day for all of us."

  After the quick breakfast, Dr. Jenner leads the group back to the trol ter where he orders, "Vi. Give me pyback of TS-19." which makes the virtual intelligence of the C.D.C. quickly follow his order and state in its monotone female-like voice, "Pyback of TS-19."

  Shortly after, with a beeping sound the bring s turns on showing the brain ss of "Test Subject 19" which is actually, Dr. Edwin Jenner's wife and Head Stist of this structure, Dr. dance Jenner.

  Dr. Jenner looks at the brain s on the big s with a longing gaze as he likely remembers his loved wife before he ents, "Few people ever got a ce to see this. Very few."

  Curious, Carl 't help himself from asking, "Is that a brain?" which makes Dr. Jenner proudly reply, "Araordinary one." before he turns more somber and adds, "Not that it matters in the end."

  After that, Dr. Jenner gives Vi another and, "Take us in for E.I.V. ." followed by Vi's meical voice that states, "Enhanced internal view."

  In respoo that, the se on the s ges as it zooms in allowing us to see exactly what is actually happening iest subject's brain at that precise moment as all the synapses light up like a Christmas tree which already gives me a small idea of the mental state of the test subject, and I have to admit that I'm very impressed as even if she was really afraid of dying and suffering from the effects of the bite, she still kept herself calm enough to allow her brain to still making use of each single sed to further analyze and study what it was happening to her to give her husband as muformation as possible.

  Of course, the only reason I'm able to dis all this only from looking at the electrical impulses moving through all the synapses is thanks to all the knowledge I gathered both at the Sanctuary in my experience as a Saint and from the Asklepios Imerológio (Diary of Asclepius), after all, with Evil Saga that was able to brainwash someoh a "simple" lightspeed punch to the head, I had to study the brain and the effects o had on it very thhly.

  While I'm admiring the brain activity and resilience of the te Dr. dance Jenner, a curious Shane asks, "What are those lights?" which makes Dr. Edwin Jenner in a somehilosophical manner answer, "It's a person's life... experiences, memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that anic wiring, all those ripples of light... is you... the thing that makes you unique. And human."

  At this point, a somewhat fused Daryl 't help himself from asking, "You don't make sense ever?" which makes Dr. Edwin Jenner answer in a more clear-cut manner, "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."

  Hearing that, Rick moves closer to the big s before he asks, "Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" which makes Dr. Edwin Jenner nod and admit, "Yes. Or rather the pyback of the vigil."

  Shocked by this news, Amy also asks, "This person died?" followed by Man who also asks, "Who?"

  Dr. Jeands in silence for a few moments before he says, "Test Subject 19. Someone who was bitten and ied... And volunteered to have us record the process. Her loss was very devastating for me and maybe even for the rest of Humanity as a whole..."

  In respoo that, Shailts his head in his dire as he asks, "Her...?" which makes everyone focus more oter but Dr. Edwin Jenner simply tio stare at the rec lost in his memories.

  Seeing that, I answer in his pce, "sidering Dr. Jenner's state, I think that Test Subject 19 is actually Dr. dace Jenner... His wife..." before I look at Dr. Jenner and add, "Even if I didn't know her very well, she seemed the kind of person who wouldn't hesitate to donate her failing body to be studied in the hopes of developing a cure..."

  Dr. Jenner sighs deeply and admits, "You are absolutely right... this is dace's brain s..." before he takes a deep breath to steady himself and ands, "Vi, s forward to the first event."

  In response Vi's meical voice again es from the loudspeaker as it states, "Sing to the first event." followed by a beeping sound before the images on the big s quickly move forward until it shows the synapses of the brain that starts heming making Glenn ask, "What is that?"

  Dr. Jenner points at the expanding bck lihat represent the heming synapses and expins, "It ihe brain like meningitis. The adrenal gnds heme, the brain goes into shutdown, then the majans. Theh. Everything you ever were or ever will be... Gone."

  Shortly after he said that, the bck liart to cover the whole brain and soohing goes bck, due to the death of the test subject, Dr. Jenner's wife.

  The group is saddened by seeing this, especially knowing just how difficult seeing all this should be for Dr. Jenner sidering that the person who died in this case is his wife and he was very likely present when it happened so as a form of respect for his loss we all unanimously decide to stay in silence giving Dr. Jenner some time to mourn over his loss.

  After a few seds, Dr. Jenner snaps out and ands, "S to the sed event." which makes Vi's meical voice state in response, "Sing to the sed event."

  As the rec starts to fast-forwards, Dr. Jenner expins, "The resurre times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three mihe lo we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute... Seven seds."

  Right after he said that the rec arrived at the point that Dr. Jenner named "Sed Event", the start of Test Subject 19's reanimation.

  We all focus on the big s as the synapses of the brain slowly light back up in a dull red light that is almost like the embers of a fire.

  Seeing that se, Lori 't help herself from asking, "It restarts the brain?" but Dr. Jenner shakes his head and expins, "No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving."

  Hearing that, Jim cautiously asks, "But they're not alive?" which makes Dr. Jenner argue back, "You tell me."

  Dale focuses more on the rec before he states, "It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark."

  Dr. Jenner nods and says, "Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part... That doesn't e back. The "you" part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct."

  Hearing that Duane excims, "That's it, Dad! It's just like Jayr told us before, isn't it?" which makes Man nod and say, "That's right, son..."

  Suddenly, a bullet flies through the test subject's skull in the video making Carol gasp, "God. What was that?" but before anyone else answer, Shane says, "He shot his patient in the head." before he asks, "Didn't you?"

  Dr. Jenner doesn't respond directly but limits himself to only slowly nodding his head before he ands, "Vi, power down the main s and the workstations." that is quickly followed by Vi's meical voice that states, "P down the main s and workstations."

  Suddenly, a frustrated Shaates, "You have no idea what it is, do you?"

  In response, Dr. Jenner shakes his head and sighs before he admits, "It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal, or even man-made." while hearing that, I 't help but roll my eyes while thinking, 'Not really, it is pretty clear that the Wildfire Virus is a supercharged man-made viral iion... but it is likely that Dr. Jeill wasn't able to truly study it. Well, they all should be very gd that this isn't a fungal iion... After all, The Last of Us showed just how creepy and dangerous are the mushroom zombies, after all, different from the other kinds of zombies, they get stronger and more dangerous the more time passes.'

  While I'm thinking that, a downcast Jacqui suggests, "Or the wrath of God?" to which Dr. Jenner doesirely disagree as he says, "There is that." At this point, a hopeful Amy states, "Somebody must know something. Somebody somewhere." followed by Carol who nods in agreement as she asks, "There are others, right? Other facilities?"

  Dr. Jenner slowly looks at the faces of all the people in the trol room as they all focus on him and says, "There may be some... People like me and Dr. Pucci."

  At this point, Rick 't help himself from asking, "But you don't know? How you not know?" to which Dr. Jenner replies, "Everythi down. unications, directives... all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month."

  This makes everyone finally realize the severity of the actual worldwide situation to the point that Andrea sorrowfully asks, "So it's not just here. There's nothi anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?" followed by Jacqui who softly excims, "Jesus."

  Even Daryl seems shocked by this revetion as he ents, "Man, I'm gon shit-faced drunk again."

  But then Dr. Jenner breaks the depressed atmosphere by expining, "The reason why I have been telling all this to you guys is to let you uand the fact that this pce is very likely one of the st few ces that humanity has to actually overe this world-ending tagious disease."

  At this point, Dr. Jenner's expression turns especially grave as he tinues, "But to do that we actually need everyone's help... as the C.D.C.'s situation is also quite precarious at the moment..."

  Hearing that, Dale steps forward and asks, "Those that have anything to do with that clock over there... I couldn't help but notice that... It's ting down. What happens at zero?"

  In respoo that question, Dr. Jenner sighs and says, "The basement geors... they run out of fuel."

  Rick then asks Dr. Jeo further eborate, "And then?" but instead of answering himself, Dr. Jenner ands, "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?" which makes the virtual intelligence expin in its usual monotone voice, "When the power runs out, facility-wide deination will occur."

  Hearing that, Glenn 't help but ent, "Deination... I don't like the sound of that..." followed by Daryl who asks, "What does that mean?"

  At this point, I cut to the chase and say, "e on, guys! You know what this pce is! The C.D.C. protected the publi very nasty stuff! onized smallpox! Ebo strains that could wipe out half the try! Stuff you don't waing out! Ever! In the event of a catastrophic power failure... in a terrorist attack, for example... H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any anisms from getting out."

  fused Rick asks, "H.I.T.s?" which makes Dr. Jenner calmly and, "Vi, define."

  In response, Vi doesn't hesitate to further expin, "H.I.T.s... high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives sists of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a bst wave of signifitly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ighe oxygeween 5,000° and 6,000° and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

  I also give them a quid clear summary for those who do not clearly uand such textbook-like answer, "It basically sets the air on fire."

  Of course, everyone is shocked by that but before they actually panic I quickly reassure them, "But don't worry about that, I have already disarmed them yesterday night so even if the geors run out of fuel we will still be safe."

  Hearing that, most of the people let out a sigh full of relief as the most immediate threat to their lives is gone, but then Rick asks, "Wait! There is still the problem with the geors running out of fuel."

  In respoo Rick's words, Shane looks at the digital clo the far wall and excims, "God! It says we only have 1 hour left!" followed by Man who asks, "How are we going to fix this?"

  Suddenly the situatios more chaotic as they start to discuss what to do to prevent the geors from shutting down.

  "We have to refill the geors!"

  "With what?"

  "Usually the most on backup power units mostly use diesel asolio produergy..."

  "What!? Where we find that a this point!?"

  "Do we have to ibalize our cars outside... but for how long that st?"

  "Damn it! Why does the world run on fossil fuels? I mean, how stupid is that!?"

  At this point, I cp my hands to gather their attention on me, and shortly after I say, "Don't worry, I have already thought about that. I know how to fix this, but I 't do it alone. As Dr. Jenner said a few moments ago, we need everyone's help to overe this situation."

  Hearing that, Rick looks at Shane, Daryl, Man, and Dale who all nod at him showing their support before he steps forward and asks, "We are ready. What do we have to do?"

  This makes me smile as I notice that everyone is ready to do his or her part before I get serious and say, "The most pressing matter is prolonging the use of the geors as much as possible. Luckily there are still 10 or so jerrys of fuel on the cargo bed of the cargo truck for a total of around 200 liters of gasoline, basically a full barrel and a little bit more, which should be enough to buy us a couple more days of energy if we tio be careful with it..."

  Hearing that, Dr. Jenner nods and says, "Indeed if we keep ption to the bare minimum then a barrel surely st us a couple more days. But that is in no way enough to fix this situation... it isn't a viable solution."

  In response, I shake my head and calmly expin, "That isn't my real solution, it is just a temporary patch to give us more time to actually fix this problem at its roots."

  After saying that, I don't waste any more time and reveal, "Just like Amy said a few moments ago, it is ridiculous that the world still runs of fossil fuel, this is why I'm going to fix this by verting this structure so that it runs off sor energy."

  Hearing that, Dr. Jenner 't stop himself from asking, "Sor energy? Are you sure that this is going to work?" followed by Daryl who asks, "Aside from that. Do you even know how to do that, Doc?"

  With a fident smile on my face, I give them a thumbs up and decre, "Of course! As I said to Dr. Jenner yesterday, I'm not only the most handsome and intelligent doctor on this p, but I'm also something of a stist too!"

  In respoo that, I hear Carl whisper to his mother, "Mom... did Mr. Pucci just say the same thing that the bad guy from that Spider-Man movie did?" which makes Lori nod and reply, "It appears he did, Carl..."

  But then I focus ba the discussion and tio expin, "I easily build sor panels and sor batteries that are at least 10 times more effit than the most advanced ones avaible on the market. I just he mao install everything in this building and after that, we are good to go."

  At this point, Man steps forward and states, "Well, if the Doc says he do it, then I trust him. Until now he never said anything that he couldn't back up." followed by Rick who adds, "Indeed... I also trust him..." and also Shane who simply says, "Me too..."

  After that, I quickly started to give instrus, "Well, first of all, we have to carry the jerrys of gasolio the building. Rick, Shane, Daryl, Glenn, and T-Dog you guys form a group with the other able-bodied people and head outside the building t the jerrys from the cargo truside. Of course, you also have to be careful to not attract the attention of the walkers outside, this is why it is better if you refrain from using your firearm as much as possible, use them only if absolutely necessary."

  Seeing them nod, I look at Dr. Jenner and say, " you go with them? Not only because you open and close the door for them but also because after they have brought ihe jerrys you bring them directly to the underground geors to refuel them."

  In response, Dr. Jenner nods and says, "No problem..." before I focus ba the group and say, "Meanwhile, Man, Dale, Jim, and all the other survivors with some hands-on experieh maes, engines, and so on will e with me and help me dismantle useless objects and reuse them to build the sor panels and sines..."

  At this point, I suddenly remember oail and so I ask out loud, "Vi, do you have the blueprint of the whole structure, possibly oh arical system?" but quickly Vi's monotone voice states, "Access dehe individual is not authorized to have suformation."

  Shortly after that, Dr. Jenner quickly ands, "Vi, grant full access to Dr. Jayr Pucci. Authorization Code: EJ3469HHH3333C." which makes Vi state, "Full access grao Dr. Jayr. Regarding your previous query, the database does tain the blueprint of the building."

  Hearing that, I smile and say, "Good, this will make it much easier to ect the sor panels and sor batteries to the building's electric system." before I look at the other people and say, "Now, let's move. We 't waste any more time!"

  Odyin