"What?! You bastards threw a wine party last night and didn't invite me?!"
When Merle woke up and learned he had missed the biggest feast since the apocalypse began, he nearly lost his mind.
How the hell had he slept that deeply?
In the end, he only had time to rush through a shower and change out of those foul-smelling clothes before it was already time to leave.
To be fair, everyone present—except Dr. Jenner—had enjoyed a rare good night's sleep.
It wasn't until this morning that they were informed they needed to pack up and leave. The place was about to explode.
Dr. Jenner had barely slept all night. His eyes were bloodshot, yet gleaming with a nearly manic excitement.
He repeatedly checked the portable core research equipment he had carefully selected from the laboratory:
a blood analyzer, a centrifuge, several low-temperature storage boxes containing precious reagents and samples, and a stack of hard drives filled with research data and papers.
"Quick! Move faster!" he urged the team members helping transport the equipment, sounding impatient, as if one second of delay might cause Calista to disappear—or the place to blow up.
"All of this has to go! Not a single piece can be left behind!"
Calista watched as the team carried box after box of supplies to the vehicles waiting outside. Her feelings were complicated.
According to the storyline, Rick's group would soon arrive here and obtain crucial supplies along with that devastating "science lesson."
Her original plan had been to wait, making first contact with the protagonists without interfering too much with the main storyline.
But Dr. Jenner's urgency and the rapidly draining power supply had ruined that plan.
Calista had no way to explain why she insisted on waiting for a group of strangers, and she certainly couldn't say the word "plot."
These CDC supplies—medical equipment, emergency rations, batteries, even weapons and ammunition—she needed to make sure Rick's group would still have enough left.
"Doctor," she tried one last time, "our supplies are still sufficient. Maybe we could wait a little longer to see if other survivors arrive. After all, this is the CDC."
"Wait?" Dr. Jenner suddenly turned around, nearly shouting.
"Wait for what? For the power to run out completely? For the system to finish sterilizing everything? Or for the only chance I might ever have to find the answer to slip away?"
He pointed at Calista.
"Your blood analysis shows the virus is in your body. Just like everyone else!"
The team members moving supplies nearby instinctively stopped and looked at Calista in shock.
Dr. Jenner didn't seem to notice and continued excitedly.
"But! Your immune system—my God, I've never seen such a violent immune response! The virus is practically suppressed to the point of immobility inside you! It's incredible! This must be the effect of V-07α!"
His words came out in a rapid stream, filled with excitement.
"But how exactly does it work? How long will it last?
None of those answers are here! We must leave! I need a stable environment where I can properly study you!"
The team members exchanged glances.
They didn't understand most of the technical terms, but they got the basic idea: Calista seemed to be very special, and that might be extremely good news.
Calista fell silent.
Jenner's discovery surprised her and even gave her a small spark of hope.
So the vaccine might actually work?
But it also left her with no real argument.
Staying in a place about to explode just to wait for an unknown group of survivors, while giving up the chance to uncover the truth about herself, was clearly not wise.
"Alright," she finally said after taking a deep breath. "We'll move everything useful as quickly as possible, then leave."
The moving work sped up.
The CDC's reserves were far richer than they had imagined, especially the medical supplies and canned food.
The two Humvees and the pickup truck bed were soon packed full, and even the roofs were tied down with additional cargo.
Looking at the nearly emptied storage room and the power supply that was about to run out, Dr. Jenner's expression turned resolute.
"We cannot leave anything behind that could be misused or fall into the wrong hands. Especially those virus samples stored in deep freeze—they must be completely destroyed."
Calista knew what that meant.
The original storyline was still going to happen. Only now they were the ones experiencing it.
"We need to activate the sterilization protocol ahead of time and detonate the entire underground laboratory along with the backup generator system."
Dr. Jenner's voice became calm, but it carried a cold finality.
"It's the only way."
No one objected.
In the apocalypse, this kind of total destruction was sometimes the safest option.
Under Dr. Jenner's guidance, the team used the small amount of explosives they found and the CDC's gas lines to set up a simple detonation device, setting the timer for one hour after they left.
That would give the sterilization system enough time to react.
The system would interpret the situation as a breach and trigger the destruction sequence early.
Just before boarding the vehicles, Calista hesitated.
Then she quickly walked back inside the CDC entrance.
She found a piece of cardboard and a marker and, under the glow of an emergency light, quickly wrote several lines:
"To the survivors who come after us:
The Atlanta CDC has run out of power and will soon self-destruct.
Fort Benning military base has been confirmed fallen. Do not go there.
These supplies are what we could leave behind.
Never give up hope.
There are still many people out there fighting to survive.
Good luck.
—A passing traveler"
She taped the cardboard onto a box filled with canned food, medicine, and bottled water, and added some ammunition inside.
Then, after the three vehicles drove beyond the blast radius, she placed the box in a spot that was noticeable but unlikely to be immediately discovered by wandering walkers.
After finishing everything, Calista gave the white building—once a symbol of human civilization and scientific hope—one final look.
Then she turned and ran back to the convoy.
"All done?" Carver started the engine.
"Yeah." Calista closed the door and fastened her seatbelt. "Let's go."
The convoy slowly drove away from the Atlanta CDC.
After traveling a safe distance, they stopped on a small hill.
Soon afterward, a massive dull flash erupted beyond the horizon behind them.
A moment later came a deep, suppressed boom that made the ground tremble slightly.
In the direction of the Atlanta CDC, smoke and flames rose into the sky, swallowing what had once been humanity's last fortress.
Dr. Jenner watched the towering fire through the Humvee window, his expression firm as he instinctively touched the cold instruments beside him.
His hope—and his wife's final wish—were now tied to the mysterious girl beside him.
Calista also watched the flames and silently thought:
Rick… this is all I can do. The rest of the road is up to you.
The convoy turned around.
This time, even Merle sat inside the pickup, staring at Jenson through the rearview mirror.