Battle Across The Omniverse

Jayr POV - Earth, Georgia, Atlanta's Survivor Camp - 2010

After the impromt counseling session, the time quickly passes and when the next day comes the group starts to prepare to leave the camp. 

At the same time, Shane gives instructions on how to stay with the caravan, "Everybody listen up. Those of you with C.B.s, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?" 

At this point, Morales steps forward and timidly announces, "We're, uh… We're… we're not going." followed by his wife Miranda who adds, "We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people." 

Hearing that, Shane frows before he says, "You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back." which makes Morales state, "We'll take the chance. I got to do what's best for my family."
 
In response, Rick asks one more time, "You sure?" which makes Morales nod before he looks at his wife, who looks back at him and smiles encurangily, and then Morales answers, "We talked about it. We're sure." 

Hearing that, Rick lets out a sigh and says, "All right." before he looks at his friend and asks for his opinion, "Shane." which makes Shane also nod and say, "Yeah, all right."

Shortly after that, the two grab the bag of guns to search for a weapon to give them so that the family can somewhat defend themselves, but before they can even open the bag, I stop them by saying, "Wait a moment! I think that Morales and his family are about to make a huge mistake by making a very dumb decision in the rush of the moment."

Immediately after my words fall in their ears, I feel everyone focusing on me as I continue, "I mean how is it in the best interest of your family to leave a group that was able to keep you and your family alive all this time? What the heck did you smoke, Morales?"

After asking those questions, I don't give them any time to reply before I look at Daryl and ask, "Daryl, can you please tell me how far Birmingham is from here?"

In response, Daryl snorts before he curtly says, "Give or take, 147 miles..." which makes me nod as I mutter "147 miles... 1 mile is 1.6 kilometers, this means that it is 236 kilometers away from here in a car that distance takes around 3 hours and that is excluding all kind of incidents and forced deviations caused by the current state of the world."

Then I look at Rick and Shane and ask another thing, "And how many people lived in Birmingham before the end of the world?" which makes Rick answer in an unsure tone, "Um... Birmingham is smaller than Atlanta but it is still a quite big city so... I think the number is around 200.000..." followed by Dale that nods and says, "I think that's about right..."

At this point, Morales' wife, Miranda is unable to hold herself back and asks, "What has any of this anything to do with our decision of leaving the group?"

Hearing her question, I let out a sigh and explained, "Give me a little time to explain Mrs. Miranda so that everyone can understand just how ridiculous is your decision. Basically, what are you going to do is travel with a single car for 147 miles much further away than both Fort Benning and the C.D.C., and without having any idea of what dangers you will encounter to reach a city that while is slightly smaller than Atlanta is still a pretty big and populated one. On Top of that, you have to consider the horrifying ratio between walkers and living where a number between 80% and 90% got turned into walkers. This means that even if your family safely reaches Birmingham, what expects you there are more or less 180.000 freaking walkers in the worst-case scenario. At that point, Morales will have to protect his family which contains two underage kids on his own from not only the endless walkers but also from the less savory kind of survivors with a simple "We'll take the chance" as a general plan and single gun with a few bullets for protection. I don't know how everyone feels, but for me, this is simply a master recipe for disaster waiting to happen."

Shortly after my rant, an awkward silence falls on the group as Morales and his family seem very uncomfortable at least until Daryl exclaims, "Damn right! Finally there is someone else to tell these people of fucking dumb they are! What kind of reason is "we want to be with our people"? I mean are you even sure there are "your people" that are still alive out there!? Do you want to die so bad? Do you have some kind of sick desire to see your family killed before your very eyes!?"

At this point, Rick notices that Morales' kids are starting to get scared so he steps forward and says, "Daryl! That's enough!" followed by Shane who adds, "You made your point clear enough already."

I look at the stunned Morales and gently say, "Look, I understand that you are shaken and scared after what happened but fear cannot be the reason to make such a rash decision, especially when that decision can have very serious conseguences. I mean, this group was able to keep you and your family safe and alive until now. Can't you trust us once more to continue to do that?"

Hearing my word and last question, Morales and his wife look at each other in silence for a few moments before Miranda slowly nods and Morales looks back at us and says, "You conviced us... We'll stay with the group a little longer..."

After that, we all stop wasting time, get on our vehicles, and leave the camp for good heading toward the C.D.C. where I'll create a cure for the virus that is causing this zombie apocalypse. 

Dale is in front of the caravan driving his RV with Carol, Jacqui, Jim, and Glenn who is sitting next to Dale with a map in his hands, Rick is right behind him driving a car with Lori by his side, Carl and Sophia on the backseat, followed by Shane's car, T-Dog's car with Andrea and Amy, Daryl's car with a motorcycle on it, Morales' car, and at the end of the caravan, there is my cargo truck with Morgan and Duane sitting beside me and the group of twelve survivor who should have died in the walker attack staying on the cargo bed protected by the scrotching sun by the shade of an improvised tent-like cloth. 

On our way to the C.D.C., the RV's radiator bursts forcing the caravan to stop, and as everyone gathers around the RV to check the situation I hear Dale say, "I told you we'd never get far on that hose." followed by Jim who is still looking inside the still fuming RV, "I said we needed the one from the cube van..." 

Hearing that, Rick can't help but ask, "Can you guys jury-rig it?" but Dale shakes his head and says, "That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out of duct tape." 

At this point, Shane who is checking the surroundings with his binoculars comments, "I see something up ahead. A gas station if we're lucky." before he adds, "Hey, Rick, you want to hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead, see what I can bring back." which makes Morgan step forward and say, "Yeah, I'll come along too and I'll help you gather everything helpful to fix the RV and the other vehicles if needed while also watching each other back." 

Shane nods and thanks Morgan before he states, "Y'all keep your eyes open now. We'll be right back." 

While Shane and T-Dog drive ahead to find replacements for the RV and the other vehicles, I make sure that our immediate surroundings are safe, and at the same time, my mind starts to wander as I think about my current situation and my next moves, 'For now, everything is going well, but there are no apparent signs of the other Chmpion's presence or activity, I hope we are at the least on the same continent... Oh well, for the moment the plan remains the same, I'll head to the C.D.C. and create a cure for the Wildfire Virus and maybe I will be able to hit two birds with a single stone. I'll help the people of this world and I'll attract the attention of the other Champion hoping that he or she will make a reckless move or try to contact me. This has already worked once and as the proverb says. if it's not broken, don't fix it. Because of all that, when we reach the C.D.C. I have to focus...' 

Suddenly, while thinking about the C.D.C., I remember a particular detail, 'Oh, I almost forgot about Jenner! I can easily fool Rick and the others, but fooling Jenner about my identity will be a lot harder... sure, my overall knowledge and competence are actually unmatched in this world, but there is the very small detail that in a modern world like this one before the zombie apocalypse it is impossible for a person as competent as me to be completely unknown, especially for the people in the same field... The only way to make him trust me is by creating an actual identity for myself... luckily Jenner is trapped in the C.D.C. maybe one of the few last places with a working computer which will make it very easy for me to ask Crateris to transform in its Gunmen mode and hack into the C.D.C.'s database and add my information... but that is something that I have to do before I have my first contact with Jenner.' 

Coming to that conclusion, I do not hesitate to act, I quickly inform Rick that I'm taking a quick bathroom break, and after doing that, I rush into the nearby woods and bring out Crateris before I ask my partner to head toward the C.D.C. and hack into its database to add my informations and a solid identity to earn the trust of the person inside more easily.

Crateris accepts my request and transforms into Cratergann before it discretily flies ahead and with that done, I calmly walk back to the group and wait for Morgan and Shane's return and for the RV to get fixed.

Edwin Jenner POV - Earth, Georgia, Center for Disease Control and Prevention - 2010

I take a seat in the usual station, input the usual codes in the keyboard, and wait for the transmission to start, and soon, on the screen the words "Wildfire MSB3417 Active - Begin Transmission" before a new screen appears that tells me that I can start.

At this point, I don't waste any more time and start to speak into the camera as usual, "Jenner here. It's day 194 since Wildfire was declared and 63 days since the disease abruptly went global. There's no clinical progress to report. Item… I finally got the scrubbers in the east sector shut down to save power. Wish I could have done it a month ago, but it took me that long to figure it out. Too bad I never studied engineering. Could have saved a lot of amps."

After reporting that, I take a slight pause before I add, "Item… I'm still not sleeping well. Can't seem to keep regular hours. Living underground doesn't help, not knowing if it's day or night. I'm just feeling very off-kilter." 

Shortly after saying that, I decided to close the transmission and on the screen, the words, "Wildfire MSB3417 Active – End Transmission" appeared before I quickly put the computer into standby mode to reduce consumption as much as possible before I walked away, put on my biohazard suit and head toward the laboratory but not before I put on some music to keep me company as I'm the only one left here and I need it to keep my sanity.

I walk toward the laboratory while listening to the Spring of Antonio Vivaldi thinking, 'I am more a rock type kind of guy... but Candace loved classic music and this is one of the few things that make me feel close to her...' 

Once there, I pass through the airlock and enter the laboratory, turn on all the monitors, and the computer, and start the analysis program, then I head to the safe fridge and carefully pull out the sample with the label TS-19, Test Subject 19, open it up with surgical scissors and the tissue into a petri dish. 

Very carefully I cut a very small piece of it before I gently pick it up with small surgical forceps and put it into a glass test tube that I then fill with a fluid full of cell debris so that I can purify the virus and once again study it to find a way to deal with this thing to brought an end to the world as I knew it or at the very least understand it a little bit better so that someone else can do it.

Once the test tube is ready, I put it into the laboratory centrifuge where the mixture of virus and cell debris are subjected to low-speed centrifugation, which is around 5000×g, to pellet cell debris, but not the much smaller virions. 

At this point, I have to wait for the centrifugation process to be completed and for the sample to be ready for examination, I decide to take a nap inside my safety suit as I'm truly too tired as the idea that I'm about to consume all the emergency fuel and my lack of progress prevent me from peacefully sleeping.

Suddenly, I wake up to the beeping sound of the laboratory centrifuge which informs me that the low-speed centrifugation is completed. 

So with a start, I get up, pull out the test tube from the laboratory centrifuge, and save the liquid supernatant containing the virus while discarding the pellet containing the cell debris.

After that, I spread a small part of the liquid supernatant containing the virus on a coverslip and quickly used the microscope to examine the virus.

After seeing that the virus still acts as usual, I reach for a beaker but accidentally knock a graduated cylinder of corrosive fluid on the tissue sample inside the petri dish.

Seeing that, I unconsciously try to clean the sample with my hand but immediately realize my mistake as the corrosive fluid is now corroding both the glove of my safety suit and the protective glove beneath.

At the same time, the alarm sounds as Vi's voice is heard from the loudspeaker as it alters everyone, "Alert status. Air qualifiers indicate corrosive fumes. All personnel must clear the room. Corrosive element is deemed poisonous if inhaled." 

Hearing that, I run to the decontamination chamber but before entering, I pull the shower cord that switches on the shower just outside the door which quickly washes off the safety suit before the decontamination chamber's door opens. 

Seeing that I rush inside and start to disrobe as water sprouts from all the angles washing my body and I spread my arms open to allow the water to wash off every area of my body.

Suddenly, I again hear Vi's voice from the loudspeakers as it annunces, "All personnel clear. Full decontamination in effect."

Hearing that, I snap out of my daze and turn around shouting, "NO!" but I can only watch helplessly as everything in the lab, including all of the remaining TS-19 samples is engulfed in flames by the automatic safety protocol before Vi's voice states, "Full decontamination complete." 

Devastated, I remain there half-naked, motionlessly watching the still fuming remains of the laboratory my mind a total blank at this point.

I don't know exactily how long I stood there still, but then I started to move almost on autopilot walking out of the decontamination area toward the cafeteria with only one thing in my mind at the moment, 'It's over... It's all over... I need a drink...' 

After wasting some time drinking away my sorrows, I come up with a decision and get up with a glass still full of red wine in one hand and a half empty bottle in the other before I walk toward the headquarters to give what is likely going to be my last report.

Once again I sit in the usual station, input the usual codes in the keyboard, and wait for the transmission to start, and soon, on the screen the words "Wildfire MSB3417 Active - Begin Transmission" before a new screen appears that tells me that I can start.

Then a little tipsy I speak into the monitor, "The TS19 samples are gone. The tragedy of their loss cannot be overstated. They were our freshest samples by far."

After saying that, I take another sip from the glass of wine in my hand before I sigh and continue, "None of the other samples we gathered even came close. Those are necrotic, useless dead flesh." 

At this point, I take a pause as I realize something and then I say, "I don't even know why I'm talking to you. I bet there isn't a single son of a bitch out there still listening, is there? Is there?" 

After not receiving any kind of sign or response, I start to get up while saying, "Fine. Saves me the embarrassment." before I sigh completely empty of any hope as it is clearer than ever that the world is truly over and with that realization, I let out another defeated sigh and state with clarity, "I think tomorrow I'm gonna blow my brains out... I haven't decided. But tonight, I'm getting drunk." 

After saying that, I again pour the wine into the glass, emptying the bottle and noticing that, I ask to no one in particular, "Speaking of which, how far do you think I can chuck this, huh? Pretty far I bet."

At this point, I just want to release all my bottoled feelings in some way, and without any hesitation, I carelessly throw the bottle away, shattering glass which makes me exclaim, "Oh! It is out of the stadium!" 

As I continue to waste time drinking away my sorrows, I suddenly hear the proximity alarm going off. 

Hearing that, I stand stunned for a few moments before I move closer to the security monitor and watch as a group of around 30 people slowly approach the building getting closer and closer to the stutters as they walk through the countless corposes outside and see that, I can only mutter in horror and disbelief, "No." 

I watch as one of the men leading the group, a tall and buff Caucasian man with black hair and brown eyes, is carefully looking around ready to shoot at anything that moves with his shotgun as he continues to encourage the others, "All right, everybody. Keep moving. Go on. Stay quiet. Let's go. Okay, keep moving. Stay together."

At the same time, a Caucasian man in his mid-thirties with dark brown hair and clear blue eyes wearing a police uniform is also doing the same as he leads the group toward the C.D.C. building while carefully watching his surroundings armed with a rifle and saying, "Keep moving. Come on." 

Of course, the reason why they are encouraging the people in the group is because at the moment they are walking among the hundreds of rotting dead bodies lying outside whose stench I guess is truly unbearable considering how almost anyone in the group is unable to move without covering their face and nose in some way.

The only ones that are able to bear it are the two men leading the ground, another Caucasian man with very short brown hair, blue eyes, facial hair on his lip and chin armed with a crossbow, and lastly, the one with the most eye-catching appearance, a very tall and athletic Caucasican young man with strange, messy dark blue hair and eyes of the most intense green I have ever seen in my life.

This last one, different from the other three who seem to be able to ignore the smell through sheer will, looks like the rotting dead bodies's stench has no effect at all on him as he continues to calmly walk slightly behind the other two while casually carrying a wooden staff on his shoulders. 
 
Soon they reach the building which is still locked and shuttered which makes the buff man with the shotgun pound on the door while exclaiming in disbelief, "Nothing?" which makes the buff African American bald man in his mid 30s with hazel eyes comment in a defeated tone, "There's nobody here." 

Shortly after that, the the man in police uniform argues back, "Then why are these shutters down?" but before they can continue the man with the crossbow warns the group, "Walkers!" before he shoots the walker in the head. 

After doing that, the man with the crossbow complains, "You led us into a graveyard!" which makes the one with the shotgun argue back, "We made a call." but that upsets the other man more as he shouts, "It was the wrong damn call!" 

In response to his words the people of this group start to get more and more agitated some are even showing signs of hysteria. 

But then the young man steps forward and intervenes, "Calm down, everybody. Even if there is no one alive left in the structure, it is still fine. The reason why we came here in the first place is because you needed a new safe location as the last one got compromised while I need the facilities to test my hypothesis. As long as we are able to enter we will have at the very least a safe place to rest."

Hearing that the people start to calm down making me mutter, "No, just go away." while thinking, 'This place is also doomed, it only has enough fuel to run for just another day... and this world is already doomed... there is nothing left to do if not uselessly struggle...' 

While I'm thinking that, I notice that the man in police uniform is now looking straight at the camera and shortly after he exclaims, "The camera… it moved." which makes the buff man with the shotgun reply, "You imagined it." but the man with the police uniform shakes his head and says, "It moved. It moved."

Before the man with the shotgun can say anything else, the young man stops him by putting the hand on his shoulder and shaking his head before he steps forward and looks right in the camera giving me the impression that he is looking right at me.

Then with a smile he says, "Good evening. You may not know me, but I know the Head Scientist of this structure Dr. Candace Jenner as I've meet her before during a medical conference. My name is Dr. Jayr Pucci and I may have a possible solution for the Wildfire Virus but to prove my hypothesis I need a structure to safely conduct the experiment. Please, if Dr. Jenner is inside tell her about me, I'm sure that she will allow me and my group inside."

Hearing those words, I can't help but feel my eyes widening while a little spark of hope once again lights up in my heart, but before I can actually trust that young man words, I decide to be careful and ask to the virtual intelligence that is partly in charge of operating and running the C.D.C., "Vi. Does the C.D.C.'s database have any information about a certain Dr. Jayr Pucci?" 
 
Shortly after that, Vi's femminie voice is heard from the loudspeaker, "Yes. Dr. Jayr Pucci, born in the 1989 in Italy. A rare medical genius who graduated from UCL Medical School at record time. Since then he was a very active and successful doctor who revolutionized the medical field with his discoveries. He was scheduled to take part in the HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition to reveal the result of his revolutinary research on a effective cure for cancer." 

Hearing that brief review I can't help myself from commenting, "Holy shit... not only he is from Candance's alma mater but he is also such a monster... why the hell I never heard of him before."

But then I focus on the screen where more detalied information appeared and focus on the photo and immediately realize that the man standing in front of the C.D.C.'s doors is indeed Dr. Jayr Pucci and without any other hesitation, I press the button that will open the door while thinking, 'Maybe there is still a little bit of hope in this world.'