when i look at you | TWD

chapter seven. test subject 20

ELLIE LAUGHED AS CARL SPIT OUT THE ALCOHOL, MAKING A DISGUSTED FACE AS HE PUSHED IT AWAY. Everyone laughed at him, now looking to the girl as they wanted to see her reaction to the wine. She scoffed and shrugged. "Fine." Rolling her eyes, she picked up the glass, taking a large gulp. Pulling back, she had no reaction, everyone looking to her with raised eyebrows.

"Oh, ew!" She finally said, everyone laughing at her fake reaction.

"I should've known." Shane laughed, rolling his eyes as he took a drink of his own. Ellie chuckled and put the cup down, looking around at the group. Jax's face was red as he laughed loudly, the girl convinced he was drunk.

"So when you gonna tell us what happened here, doc?" Shane spoke, everyone's laughs dying down. "All the other doctors... that were supposed to be figuring this stuff out. Where are they?"

Everyone quieted down, the mood no longer happy. Ellie sat up, shaking her head at her father. "Jeez, dad. Way to kill the mood." She chuckled, taking a sip of the wine.

"We found just you... why." Shane said, ignoring her comment.

The man began to explain what happened. People leaving, trying to get to their families. Some even opted out.

"Why didn't you leave?" Ellie asked, all eyes on her.

"I just kept working. Hoping to find something to stop this whole thing. And I might've." Dr. Jenner said, raising his glass to her. "You."

Everyone smiled slightly as they raised their glasses, taking a drink.

"Yeah, but why me?" Ellie scoffed, tears pooling in her eyes. "I didn't ask for this." Shaking her head, she looked to the floor.

Everyone looked down, not wanting to look the girl in the eyes. She got up from the table, tears falling from her eyes. "I'd rather just die." With that, she walked off, Shane looking to his daughter sadly.

-

Everyone had taken showers and Ellie was now in the rec room, looking around at the books. She wiped her fingers over them, sighing deeply. The door suddenly opened, startling the girl. "Sorry." The doctor chuckled a bit, scratching his head. "Can you follow me? It's about your... infection." He asked, looking to her arm.

The girl sighed and nodded, following the man into a very dark, very cold room that looked like a science lab in the movies. Ellie looked around, it lighting up like a Christmas tree.

She looked at the screens and saw all the blood samples that they had taken from earlier. Ellie saw one that was different from the others, in a separate file. "Is this one mine?"

The man turned around, nodding his head at her as he got on his gloves. "Can you sit down right here for me?" The girl sighed and sat down, closing her eyes.

"I'm gonna give you this shot. It's just gonna keep you asleep for about eleven hours. Just so I could see what's happening up here, okay?" He said, motioning to her head.

"Am I gonna be okay?" She asked him, her lip starting to quiver.

"You are so brave for doing this. I cannot thank you enough." He told her, putting the needle in her arm. "You're gonna be just fine, Eleanor."

His voice faded away, as did her vision, her only hoping that she could be able to help this apocalypse go away.

-

The next morning, everyone woke up. Silence in the room, with Glenn's occasional groans. Rick looked around, not seeing Eleanor with them, or Shane.

Last night, Dr. Jenner had told Shane about what he wanted to do with his daughter, try to see if he could find out if she could help stop this apocalypse. He accepted and told him to do whatever he needed. Right now, Shane was outside the room that his daughter was in, chewing his nails as he watched her lie down on the table, her never looking so peaceful.

"We hate to shoot you with questions first thing in the morning-" Dale started, Dr. Jenner sighing.

"But you will anyway." He chuckled, taking a drink of his coffee.

"Where's Eleanor?" Rick asked, looking up at him.

"Follow me." He told them, the group getting up and following the man to a room with a large screen.

"Vi, show me a playback of TS-19." He said out loud, everything powering up.

"What is that?" Lori asked as she saw little lights on the screen.

"This is little synapses in the brain, making what and who a person is from the day they were born, to the day they die. It's what makes you, you." He told them.

"This was a person. Who?" Andrea asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"This was a patient of ours. An infected one who allowed us to document everything that happened since they had been exposed." He told them, pointing to the screen. "Vi, scan to first event."

"Scanning to first event." The computer system said, the screen switching from a healthy brain, to an infected one.

"Now, this is what usually happens around three hours you get bitten. The lobes in your brain start to die, your brain being unable to tell your body to move, or function completely normal." Dr. Jenner explained, Shane now walking into the room, his eyes bloodshot from crying so much in worry, for his daughter. "Now this... is the full body." He clicked a button and it switched to the person's body, a stream of black going from where the person was bitten to where it spread. "It spreads all around the body, almost infecting the whole body before it affects the brain."

Rick squinted his eyes at the screen, trying to make sense of it.

"This is test subject 20. Eleanor Walsh." Shane inhaled deeply as the doctor showed her vitals on screen, her body almost looking completely normal. Key word being almost.

"Now, here's where she was bitten. As test subject 19, there was signs of death three hours after. In Eleanor's case, that's not it." He explained, everyone paying close attention to the screen.

"So she's immune?" Carol asked, confusion in her voice.

"Not exactly..." He told them, pointing to the screen. "Vi, show me the brain." The screen switched to the brain, now showing what had happened to her. "Now, right here." He said, pointing to the brain stem. "There's a spot just below her brain stem that actually stops the infection from getting to her brain."

"Yeah... she was in a car accident when she was younger. Had to wear a neck brace for months." Shane chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

"That's what saved your daughters life." He told the distraught father. "She never had gotten surgery for that part of her neck, which caused the brain stem to break off from the brain just by a little bit. Not a lot, meaning she could still function like a normal person, but enough to stop this infection from killing her. This time." 

"This time?" Jax asked him, his face also looking worried for the girl.

Edwin Jenner sighed, not making eye contact with the group. "The more times the girl gets bitten..." He started.

"The more closer she is to dying." Shane finished for him, putting his head in his hands.

"Eventually, that little part of her brain stem that's protecting her from this will give out, resulting in her death." He told them, everyone looking at each other with wide eyes. "Vi, shut down all work stations on this floor."

The computer started to shut off, leaving the room almost dark.

A/N

okay, i tried to make the best sense of Ellie's condition as i could lol. she's basically just slowly dying the more she is bitten. around five bites is when the infection would finally get to her and she will die. she hardly has any memory from her childhood, because of the car crash and her neck injury.