Deadland

Chapter 9- Boom

"Open that damn door." Rick demands. Jenner explains how he can't because only the computers control the doors. "I told you once that main door closes it wouldn't open again. It's better this way." 

"What is? What happens in twenty-eight minutes?" Rick asks, leaning into Dr. Jenner. Shane's arms are still wrapped around my arms and torso, keeping me from punching Dr. Jenner. 

"What happens in twenty-eight minutes?!" Rick yells. "Do you know what this place is?! We protected the public from very nasty stuff!" Jenner screams, leaning into Shane and I. "Weaponized Smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" Alyssa runs up to Shane and I and buries her face in between our bodies. 

Jenner sits back down. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure, in a terrorist attack, for example- H.I.Ts are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out." "H.I.Ts?" Rick asks.  

"Vi, define." "H.I.Ts: High-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear." I shove Shane's arms off of me and stand up straighter, looking around at everybody. "The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000 and 6,000 degrees-" Everybody begins to hug their family members and cry. 

"-and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired." 

"It sets the air on fire." Jenner says, quietly. 

"Adrian." Alyssa sobs. "Hey, it's okay." I hug Alyssa tightly, forgetting completely about how much I hate physical touch. Shane joins in the hug too. 

"No pain. An end to sorrow, grief...regret." 

"I don't wanna die." Alyssa sobs into my chest. "You won't, love. You won't." My voice cracks, the fact Alyssa is going to die is what breaks my heart. I'm content with dying if I'm telling the truth. 

"Everything." Jenner looks at Rick. 

A few minutes go by and Shane and Daryl are banging on the door with axes while I'm with Alyssa, still hugging her and sitting next to Carol who is hugging Sophia, and Lori who is hugging Carl.

"It won't make a dent." Shane says, coming up to Rick who was talking to Dr. Jenner. "Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." "But your head ain't!" Daryl yells, about to swing the axe but Rick and a few others hold him back. 

"Daryl! He's the last chance at getting that dumbass door open!" I yell, looking back at Dr. Jenner. 

Dr. Jenner explains how last night Rick said he knew it was only a matter of time before everyone he knew and loved would be dead.

"It was like that before!" I yell, everyone looks at me. I let go of Alyssa and stand up, Carol hugs Alyssa. 

"You guys don't get it! Before all of this, life was still dangerous! At any moment someone could be hit by a car or have a heart attack or murdered for god-sakes! Before this fucking infection, any one of us could have died from a fucking coconut! The Walkers out there, that's just added danger! It doesn't mean that we're all not gonna live until we're fucking ninety! Jesus H. Christ! People survived the plague, the Spanish Flu, Ebola! If they survived that then we can survive this shit! I mean all we have to do is stab an already dead person in the head. It's not airborne, it's not carried through raw food, it's only if you get bit! Jesus Christ! I'm not dying because of a fucking weak ass CDC scientist who's scared of what the world is now!" Alyssa smiles.