Chapter 89: Surviving the Impossible! First Night in the Prison

“Ma’am?”

Magnus Vane raised his head in a daze and stared at the figure sprawled across his chest. For a moment, the friendly woman from his butcher-shop dream overlapped perfectly with the walker above him, until the ruined face, brittle skin, and unmistakable smell of decomposition finally reached his brain. Magnus violently shook his head, snapping completely awake. “Ow—get the hell off me! I sold pork for a living; that doesn’t mean you get to take a piece out of me!”

He kicked hard and sent the walker tumbling across the generator-room floor, then immediately looked down at his chest. Two small bite marks had damaged the front of his Athlete’s Attire, and Magnus realized that if he had stayed unconscious for only a few more seconds, the walker might have torn away actual flesh. “You chewed through my armor while I was dreaming about flirting with somebody. That’s just disgusting.” Ignoring the pain burning through his back and shoulder, Magnus crossed the room and crushed the walker’s skull beneath his boot.

Only after it stopped moving did Magnus fully understand why he hadn’t been able to pull away during the dream. The woman hadn’t been holding his hand at all; a walker had been lying across him and gnawing on his armor while his unconscious mind turned the sensation into something completely different. Magnus shuddered hard. “That would be messed up even for a post-apocalyptic horror movie.” He rubbed his face, deciding that whatever had happened inside his dream would never be mentioned to Daryl, Merle, or anyone else for as long as he lived.

“Why does every humiliating thing happen when I’m alone?” Magnus muttered before forcing the thought aside. The moment his mind cleared, he noticed a status notification glowing at the edge of his vision, and his expression changed immediately.

[Status: Infected — 01:34]

Magnus’s heart skipped.

The two Antibiotics he had been holding before losing consciousness were nowhere in sight, and he had no idea whether he had dropped them, swallowed them, or somehow shoved them into the walker while half-conscious. He didn’t waste time searching. Two more system Antibiotics appeared in his hand, and Magnus swallowed them immediately.

The infection icon disappeared.

[Status: Healed]

“Thank God.”

Only then did Magnus finally relax enough to inspect the generator room properly. The space was roughly seven hundred square feet, and several walker corpses lay piled near the entrance where his desperate hammer swing had knocked them aside earlier. The Walker Centipede that had followed him inside was now little more than a ruined mass of connected flesh, while the final walker that had been crawling around the room had just been put down beneath his boot. Beyond the reinforced metal door, the constant pounding had stopped, although the low growls of numerous walkers could still be heard wandering through the corridor outside.

Twelve large industrial diesel generators stood in rows around him.

Magnus slowly smiled.

Now that was worth nearly getting killed for.

He walked to the nearest unit and ran one hand across the dark-green housing. “Diesel-powered, heavy-duty, built to run a facility this size for emergencies.” The prison had probably maintained these machines specifically so critical doors, lighting, security systems, refrigeration, and basic utilities could continue operating during an outage. In the apocalypse, a functioning generator bank this large was almost as valuable as an armory.

“With electricity, everything changes.”

Magnus immediately thought of Shane. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious, but it couldn’t have been too long; otherwise the walker lying on him would have eventually reached exposed flesh. Shane also wasn’t the type to simply wait forever after they became separated. If Magnus knew him at all, Shane had probably already tried to reach Cell Block C or the control room.

“Hopefully he made it out.”

Magnus listened to the walkers outside again and quickly abandoned any thought of leaving. Even ordinary walkers became dangerous in sufficient numbers, and the corridor beyond the door still sounded packed. Fighting hundreds of them while already wounded and exhausted would be suicide. Fortunately, once walkers lost track of a living target, their aggression usually dropped and they eventually began wandering again.

“For now, I stay here.”

Magnus moved toward one of the generators and opened its fuel cap. A familiar diesel odor immediately reached him, and a quick check suggested the tank was still nearly full. That wasn’t surprising; prison backup generators existed for emergencies, and maintenance crews would normally keep fuel reserves ready rather than wait for a blackout before filling them. If the facility had been properly maintained before the collapse, there should also be additional diesel stored somewhere nearby.

“So fuel isn’t an immediate problem.”

Long-term use was another matter.

Magnus had no intention of burning diesel forever if the group managed to settle permanently in the prison. Solar panels, smaller generators, batteries, and any other renewable or scavenged source of electricity could reduce the load on the main system. No single alternative had to power the whole prison by itself; a mixed setup could preserve fuel and extend the life of the equipment considerably.

He found the main control panel mounted on the wall beside the generators. The box itself was surprisingly simple, with several labeled switches and buttons rather than anything complicated enough to require specialized training. Magnus studied the English labels for a few seconds, then cautiously pressed the green start button.

Hiss—

Air released through the system.

A moment later, the large cooling fans behind the twelve generators began spinning, and the machines vibrated as deep mechanical rumbling filled the room. Overhead lights flickered to life, bathing the generator room in yellow-white illumination for the first time since the prison fell. Magnus watched the machines carefully, feeling genuine satisfaction as the entire system came alive around him.

“The room’s insulated pretty well,” he muttered. “Probably won’t carry beyond the prison.”

Inside the prison was another story.

BANG!

The reinforced door jumped against its frame.

Magnus immediately turned.

BANG! BANG!

The walkers outside had heard the vibration and low mechanical rumble, and within seconds they began slamming themselves against the door again. Magnus stared at the flexing metal and quickly reached for the control panel. “Nope. Not tonight.”

He hit the red shutdown button.

The generators wound down.

The overhead lights died almost immediately, dropping the room back into darkness.

Outside, the impacts slowly became less frantic.

Magnus exhaled.

“At least they know I’m alive now.”

He had no way of knowing whether the electricity had reached the administration building, but if it had, Rick and Shane would understand exactly what it meant. Magnus couldn’t safely leave the generators running while the corridor remained packed, so one brief burst of power would have to be enough. For now, the generator room was his shelter.

“Looks like I’m spending the night here.”

Magnus pulled two spare pieces of clothing from his system backpack and spread them across the concrete to create a cleaner place to sit. Only then did he begin treating his injuries, carefully removing his damaged Athlete’s Attire and shirt. The brief period of unconsciousness had allowed dried blood and torn skin to stick to the fabric, making Magnus grimace as he peeled it away.

The damage looked worse than he had hoped.

A deep bite wound from the Walker Centipede marked his trapezius, while much of his back was covered in dark purple bruising and scraped skin from being thrown through the generator-room door. Magnus could overpower almost anything in a direct contest of strength, but his physical durability had not improved at the same rate. If he hadn’t already damaged the Walker Centipede before its final strike, that blow probably would have broken several bones.

“Strength isn’t everything.”

Magnus reached into the system backpack and produced a large bulk bottle filled with white tablets. Only around a tenth remained after he had shared medical supplies with the group earlier, but there was still enough for emergencies. The system identified the contents immediately.

[Painkillers — Medical Supplies]

[Health: +40 Instant]

[Hydration: -40 over duration]

[Effects: Removes concussion and dizziness, reduces pain, aids recovery from heavy impacts]

[Duration: 3 minutes — Stackable]

[Special: One of the few medical items capable of immediate Health restoration]

Magnus poured several into his palm and swallowed them with water. The system effect came quickly; the pounding pain across his shoulder and back faded, the dizziness receded, and his Health bar climbed until it was almost completely restored. His injuries were still physically present, but the debilitating pain and negative statuses no longer overwhelmed him.

Then Magnus noticed his thirst.

“Oh, come on.”

He had taken far more painkillers than necessary in his exhausted state, and the system’s hydration penalty stacked right along with the benefits. Magnus pulled drinking water from his inventory and began emptying bottle after bottle until the dry sensation in his throat finally eased. By the time he felt normal again, a small pile of empty plastic bottles had accumulated beside him.

Magnus stared at them.

Then at the painkiller bottle.

“Next time, maybe don’t swallow half the pharmacy.”

Outside the door, walkers continued wandering through the dark corridor.

Magnus leaned back against one of the silent generators, surrounded by machinery, corpses, and the faint smell of diesel. He was wounded, trapped deep inside the prison, and separated from everyone else.

But he was alive.

For tonight, that was enough.