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

  It took some time, but I and Dr. Jenner were finally able to successfully syize both the RadAway and the Rad-X but to do that we used up all the reasonable amount of ingredients that I could pull out from my Soulbouory, which wasn't much to begin with as we were only able to produly 10 doses of Rad-X and 5 solutions of RadAway.

  At the same time, Dr. Jenner memorized both the formu and the necessary procedures o produce the two revolutonary medies, but of course, we still didn't test them as we don't have test subjects avaiable yet as we are waiting for Daryl to find and capture the biomedical researcher's best friend and favorite test subject, the rats.

  Mid rats have long served as the preferred species for biomedical researimal models due to their anatomical, physiological, aic simirity to humans.

  Advantages of rodents include their small size, ease of maintenance, short life cycle, and abundaic resources which be easily used in parative Medie Research.

  parative medie is built on the ability to use information from one species to uand the same processes in other species.

  Basiedical researvolves the characterization of genes/proteins, the study of anatomical and physiological funs, and the characterization of normal and pathological states in a variety of animal species.

  This knowledge is then applied to uanding these same processes in humans, likewise, information gained in the field of human medie be mio advaerinary medie because of the onalities among species that form the basis of parative medie.

  Laboratory rats and mice provide ideal animal models for biomedical researd parative medie studies because they have many simirities to humans in terms of anatomy and physiology.

  Likewise, rats, mice, and humans each have approximately 30,000 genes of which approximately 95% are shared by all three species.

  The use of rodents for research purposes has eic advantages.

  One, mid rats are retively small and require little space or resources to maintain.

  Two, they have shestation times but retively rge numbers of offspring, and have fairly rapid development to adulthood aively short life spans.

  For example, mice have a gestation period of approximately 19–21 days, be wea three to four weeks of age, and reach sexual maturity by five to six weeks of age, allowing rge numbers of mice to be geed for studies fairly quickly.

  The use of rodents also provides advantages reted to the wealth of geiformation avaible to stists.

  The human genome was sequenced in 2001, with those of the mouse and rat following in 2002 and 2004 respectively.

  The avaibility of the plete ide sequences for all three species has enabled genome-wide parisons across species which have been critical for the identification and characterization of genes.

  The ability to use sophisticated molecur geic teiques to manipute the genes in mid more retly rats, allows geo be "knocked out" or expressed at desigimes of development or i tissues in order to better uand their normal fun and/or role in disease.

  While we were produg the Rad-X and the RadAway, Rid his group returned from their hunt with a pair of "tamed" walkers, so I also started to take samples and study both the active a forms of the Wildfire Virus in order to ehat the virophage we are going to create will only truly target the Wildfire Virus, its possible variants, and nothing else.

  Of course, the advantage of having the Ination in my home universe with all my godly powers avaible made such usually difficult and time ing job much easier and quicker, so much so, that I already created a perfectily safe virophage that will easily eradicate the Wildfire Virus ond for all.

  But since I 't just snap my fingers and make the plete virophage appear for obvious reasons, I have to take things a bit slower and manually plete the process of creating the virophage that will cure this world-ending pandemic step by step while also guiding and teag Dr. Jenner so that he do something on his own in case some other things like that happen and I'm not there to fix it.

  While w on the basic structure of the virophage, I also realized that maybe it would be more prudent to leave behind some of my knowledge in the form of books both physical and digital in case Dr. Jenner dies before he pass on what he learned from me.

  After most of the m had passed, we all gathered in the cafeteria to discuss our moves while having lunch.

  The oo break the silence is Daryl who curtly asks, "So, Docs, how is it going your stific mumbo jumbo?" which makes Dr. Jenner smile a little as he answers, "I have to admit that it is going a lot better than I had expected. I was able to successfully synthesize on my own both the Rad-X and the RadAway under Dr. Pucci's guidand I'm pretty sure that I have memorized both the process and the formu. Now we only have to test their effectiveness on some of the test subjects that you have brought us and if they work as Dr. Pucci described and his hypothesis is true then at the very least we won't have to fear the bites anymore."

  Hearing that, Lori 't help herself from exg out loud, "That's fantastiews!" followed by many others until Shane ents, "That's good and all, but it doesn't mean that we now have the leisure of getting careless yet. Those things are still out there and they still kill us."

  Riods and agrees with Shane as he says, "Shane is right, moreover, they still haven't tested those things yet, so we 't be sure that they will work." followed by Dale who ents, "heless, this is still a very good news as it is the very first step forward in dealing with this terrible situation we found ourselves in."

  At this point, Dr. Jenner's expression turns serious as he says, "That's absolutely true, but let me all remind you that it is only the first step. We still have to plete many more steps before we truly leave this disease behind us. More importantly, we have to be careful in not stumbling on some obstacles along the way and fall..." to which I nod and add, "Even more so as the first obstacle is already in front of us and we have to make a decision."

  Hearing that, Rick's expression also turns very serious as he ents, "So it's time to decide who will remain here and who will head out, huh?" which makes Lori excim, "What do you mean with "who will remain here"? What's going on? Are we going to split the group? Aren't we safe here?"

  In respoo her questions, Shane simply replies, "Yes, we are going to split the group." followed by Dr. Jenner who expins, "We already talked about this before. Our food supplies are quickly running out... In the first pce, the ter for Disease trol and Prevention was never meant to fun as a refuge and only held a stockpile of food meant to st for a period of 30 days or so in case of emergencies and it has already sted more than double that time. It wasn't that much of a problem when I lived here on my own, almost gave up, and was about to run out of electricity. But your presence ged all that and now the stockpile isn't nearly enough for all of us, if we tinue like this we will run out of everything in two or three days at most."

  Shortly after letting that information sink in, Dr. Jenner tinues, "The work we are doing here is too important and we 't stop, but we 't tinue like this. Going into the city to search for food not only is way too dangerous, but it also won't be enough to sustain everyone."

  Rick quickly follows after Dr. Jenner and says, "This is why I, Shane, Dr. Janner, Dr. Jayr, Man, Dale, and Daryl got together and thought about the best solution for this problem and the best answer we came up with is to split roup into two. One will remain here at the ter for Disease trol and Prevention making sure that the pce tinues running and the other one will head out toward Mert ty, which is just a few miles away from here, to find an abandoned farm to cim for ourselves that be used not only as a shelter for everyo where we also grow our own food, hopefully, enough to feed not only all the people living in the farm but also the ones living here."

  At this point, Dr. Jenner adds, "A us not fet about the principal ingredients for the Rad-X and the RadAway. We used up all the ohat Dr. Pucci had on his person. Luckily, he also has the seeds so we cultivate them."

  Hearing that, Lori and some other people still look insecure and some are even scared about our decision to split the group and the idea of leaving the ter for Disease trol and Prevention.

  This awkward siles until Lori once again voices out their thoughts, "That is fine and all... but reag Mert ty, searg for this farm and everything else is going to be very dangerous, isn't it? How you ask us to once agaiure into such danger after everything we have already been through?"

  In response, I calmly expin, "Well, let me be clear about something first. No matter where we go, there will always be some form of danger everywhere. It was already so before the end of the world and it is still this way now, nothing truly ged. You all may feel secure staying here underground but all that security you feel may turn into deadly danger in a snap of your fingers. After all, while this pce may be safe from the walkers, for sure it isn't safe from other humans that have enough determination, smarts, and will to ehis building and cim it as their own."

  In respoo that, Amy asks, "What do you mean by that?" to which I reply, "Well, I already think of a few ways to have access to this building. The easiest one is by feigning myself as a survivor in need of help trig you into letting me inside and then ag from the io take trol. However, this method takes too much time and may not work if the people inside are willing to turn their backs on other survivors, so a more direct method would be to simply bring down a wall and rush inside, after all, the building is mostly made of crete it isn't that hard of a material and a wreg ball is more than enough to open a hole in the wall. In additio's not fet about the few tanks still outside, even if they 't use their ons, they still be used t down the wall by ramming them into it. Or even..."

  But at this point, Shaerrupts me and ents, "Okay, okay. Stop it. They got it. Man, if you tinue like that, they won't be able to peacefully sleep anymore." followed by Daryl who whistles and says, "Until this moment I alsot about the tanks outside... Damn they surely bee a security liability if not taken care of, isn't it?" Rick then calmly steers the discussion back to the most important topic, "Let's stop talking about that and focus on the more important and urgent matters. At this point, I think it is clear to everyohat the ter for Disease trol and Prevention isn't pletely safe, and more importantly, if we all remain here we will very likely all starve to death sooner or ter. Because different from our previous camp we don't have a reliable source of food avaible."

  I quickly follow after Rick as I say, "This is why we have to momentarily split roup into two. One smaller group will remain here with Dr. Jeo help him run this pd make sure that everything works as intended as the work done here 't be stopped. Meanwhile, the other slightly bigger group will head with me searg for a farm to cim as our own and use it to grow enough food to feed both groups maybe we even help and gather other survivors creating a thriving unity around it."

  Shortly after I said that, Carol raises her hand and asks, "Wait a moment... You are also heading out? Shouldn't you remain here with Dr. Jeo help him create the cure?"

  Before I actually answer her, Dr. Jenner does it faster as he quickly replies, "Yours is a very valid question and at first I had the same doubt as you when he first said that he wao go out with the roup, but then he was able to vince me of the advantages of such approach."

  Then Dr. Jenner calmly starts to expin, "First, as stated before, the current state of the world is very dangerous, and that danger doesn't only e from the Wildfire Virus and the walkers, but also from other Humans, who may be even more dangerous especially if they don't have any good iions in ards and that may very well doom us all if they destroy all our works here or Dr. Pucd I get killed. So to avoid that we simply won't put all s in one single basket this way at the very least if something happens to one of us for one reason or ahe other will still be able to tio work on the cure despite the setback."

  Shane follows after Dr. Jenner as he adds, "The reason why Dr. Jayr is the ohat will go with the group leaving the ter for Disease trol and Prevention is also very simple. First of all, he has already showed to everyohat he knows how to survive outside better than most of the people living here and he knows how to defend himself..."

  At this point, Duane ents out loud, "No shit, I saw him fight 50 walkers on his own and it was like he was taking a walk in the park!" but then Man quickly chides him, "Language!" which makes Duane meekly say, "Sorry..."

  Shortly after that, Rick resumes the expnation from where Shane was interrupted, "Anyway, like Shane was saying, not only is Dr. Jayr capable of defending himself, but he is also the only one who knows how to grow the ingredients o create the medie o survive the Wildfire Virus iion. In additio's not fet that different from Dr. Jenner, who is a virologist who focused more on research than proper medical care, in more simple words, a stist, Dr. Jayr is an actual medical doctor with hands-on experien treating patients. His presence is fual for the well-being of the group going outside."

  Then Dr. Jenner adds, "Moreover, it isn't like Dr. Pucci won't be able to help me with the creation of the cure even if he is out there with the roup, as we keep in tact through the radios that the gover supplied to the ter for Disease trol and Prevention which will allow us to unicate from all over the state." At this point, a tense silence falls in the cafeteria that sts a few seds until Andrea calmly asks, "Okay, we more or less uand the reason behind that decision, but now the important question is who is going outside to search for that farm we use as a base with Dr. Jayr and who is going to remain here with Dr. Jenner?"

  Hearing that question, Dr. Jenner answers without aation on his part, "To be ho, at first I wao be the only one remaining here so that the stockpile of food remaining could st as long as possible, but then I realized that such isoted dition wasn't much healthy for my mental state. After all, when you first arrived I'm not ashamed to admit that I was nearly suicidal, so the presence of other people is necessary not only to avoid that but also to make sure that everything here runs as it should. sidering all that, Dr. Pucd I e to the clusion that the maximum number of people that stay here with me is 10. In addition, it is better that those people are actually healthy adults who don't he extra care or sideration."

  In respoo that, Daryl calmly ents, "So no kids rannies... Seems fair as they are mostly other mouths to feed that do not do their part in helping in our survival." but Andrea quickly rebuts, "That's not true! Dale and Sofya helped us many times before!"

  Before the discussion go off-topic, Dr. Jenner raises his void says, "Stop it! That's not the time to discuss such things, the main reason behind choosihy adults is that the living ditions will beuch harsher the longer one lives in su enclosed space. Sure it be done as the human race is very adaptable but it isn't reended, especially for those in advanced age. And to be ho what Daryl said also has some truth... kids won't be able to tribute mu fact, they are more likely to be a liability and distra something that be fatal, after all, I have to remind you that in this pce are also stored many deadly and onized pathogens not any less dangerous than the ohat brought the world in this state... This is the very st pce a kid should be."

  Shortly after saying that, Dr. Jenner decres, "Anyway, for sure one of the people who I for sure want to stay here with me is Jim. He is one of the few people in this group that knows how to take care of the sor panels and the sor batteries as he was there when we built and installed them."

  Hearing that, Jim looks around for a few seds before he says, "Sure, I have no problem with staying here with you, I want to help as much as possible even more so if it means that what happeo me won't happen to anyone else."

  In response, Dr. Jenner nods at him before he looks at everyone else and says, "After Jim, I have no other preference as I don't know you all as well as him, but Shane, Rick, and Dale also gave their input."

  At this point, Rick steps forward and says, "Of course, before we say the name of those we have decided could be the best choice for this situatio me remind you that no one here is f you to stay here if you don't want to... if you want to leave with the rest of the group or even go on your own, you are free to do so."

  Shane follows after Rick as he adds in a more stern tone, "Let me remind you all that the world out there isn't a safe pce. We have already seen first hand how hard and dangerous it is and for sure we have a better ce if we tio work together. I mean until now all the choices we have made were the correes as they kept us alive and even gave us a ce to create a definitive cure for what has caused all this."

  Hearing that, everyone hums in agreement before Rick starts to call out, "First of all, I think that the group that will stay at the ter for Disease trol and Prevention will need someone anyone refer to, a leader if you will, someone who will remain calm and look at the best of every situatiardless of its fws. After all, Dr. Jenner will mostly focus on synthesizing the medie for the bite and creating a cure. Because of that, we all thought that the best person for the position of leader would be Jacqui who many times showed to be shown to be very resourceful, smart, and helpful to the group."

  In respoo that, Jacqui seems surprised for a few seds before she nods and says, "If you guys needs me here then I'll gdly stay... Moreover, it isn't like this is going to be a goodbye. Mert ty is just a few miles away from here and we always keep in tact through the radio."

  Shortly after that, Shane calls out the other people who will also stay here, "The rest of the people we thought would fit the best in this situation are: Daniel, who isn't that reliable in a fight but he is also quite good with his hands and could help Jim doing maintenance. Robert, who already went through a few supply runs before, and thus knows how to a case the situation calls for it. The same be said for his wife Lauren as those two are very reliable and more importantly are husband and wife so if oays so does the other. Rakesh, who holy is quite a good driver and his skill may be needed in case you guys are forced to flee for one reason or another. Paul has some minimal experien dealing with marical and digital devices given his previous job and that may be useful down the line. Nina, who is actually an expert markswoman with both guns and rifles and that may very well be the differeween life ah. And stly, Kim, who... I'm sorry, but I'll be direct, Kim you simply aren't ready to face what is out there as you simply panic way too easily."

  Oer the other, all the people called by Shane nod and agree to stay here with Dr. Jenner, sure, some are more happy about it than others, for example Kim is gd that she doesn't have to face the walkers while Paul seems to be off put about the fact that he is going to be away from Amy, but overall, they are still fih how we choose those who will stay.

  Shortly after that, Rick steps forward and says, "At this point, it is pretty clear that the group that will go out with Dr. Jayr is going to be made up of me and my family posed of my wife Lori, and my son Carl, Shane, Man and his son Duane, Andrea and her sister Amy, Dale, T-Dog, Glenn, Daryl, Carol and her daughter Sophia, Morales and his family posed by his wife Miranda, his older daughter Eliza, and you son Louis, Ruben and his wife Almast with their daughter Ana, and at st Sofya and her grandson Stepan. Overall, a total of 24 people. Is there any problem with this?"

  No one responds to Rick's question, not even Lori who still seems a little against the idea of leaving the "safe" ter for Disease trol and Prevention for the unknown and dangerous Mert ty.

  After a few moments of silence, Rick excims, "Good!" before he quickly decres, "The's all start preparing everything we are going to need for our journey I want us all ready to depart for tomorrow early in the m!"

  In respoo that, everyoart to move around, gathering the supplies, ons, objects, and other useful things they have found while expl and sgening in these couple of days we have spent in this pcewhile also cheg oate of our vehicles for the rest of the day.

  Wheime to leave finally es, we say oodbyes to Dr. Jenner and the people who will stay here and jump on our vehicles waiting outside driving them away from the ter for Disease trol and Prevention toward Mert ty where we will hopefully find an abandoned farm in a good state to cim for ourselves and if we are lucky the farm may also be close to Hershel's Farm so that I py the matchmaker between Glenn and Maggie as I'll feel very bad if my favorite couple doesn't get together because of my as.

  Odyin