Afraid of Being Alive (Shane Walsh Love Story)

Chapter 19: Decontamination

Shane and I strolled into the canteen area together, most seats empty except for Lola and Andrea who were seated at the end of the table. For a reason unknown to both Shane I, Andrea was in tears and Lola was patting her arm for comfort.
"You can't think like that, Andrea!" Frowned Lola, lifting Andrea's chin up to look into her eyes, "we both lost her. Not just you, and not just me."
I figured they must be talking about Amy, and decided to leave the two girls alone in their own topic of conversation.

"Hey beautiful," winked Shane from the kitchen as I sat at the opposite end of the table to Lola and Andrea, "can I get you sumthin'?"
I thought about it for a moment before replying, "just an instant coffee and one of those poppy seed buns with a banana is perfectly sufficient, thanks."
Shane nodded his head and went to make the two of us coffee. He fumbled around in the kitchen with two mugs, filling them with boiling water and then adding the coffee and low calorie sweeteners which were lying around next to the fruit bowl.

"Oi, Shane!" Yelled the familiar voice of Rick, followed by the sound of rushed footsteps, "we need you, brother."
"Can I have some breakfast first?!" Replied Shane,walking over to where I sat at the table with both of our coffees.
"No, now." Hissed Rick, "bring Zelda if you'd like too."
I nodded and the two of us left the table, leaving our coffees to grow cold whilst we went to go see what Rick wants. It wasn't only Rick in our little "party", for T-Dog and Glenn had joined us too.
We ran down a few hallways and rushed down multiple flights of stairs, and I could honestly say that my legs were killing me at this point.
"Where are we going?" I asked, huffing as I ran down the stairs behind Glenn, T-Dog behind me.
"The basement," Said Rick as his blue eyes flickered over to mine, "to check on the fuel generators."
I nodded and continued to follow the men down the stairs until we finally reached the stairwell.

"What the hell does decontamination mean anyway?" Asked Glenn as we walked down yet another hallway.
"I do know, but it's not gonna be anything good." Replied Rick, "you saw the way Jenner clammed up, I don't like it."
"What's wrong with him anyway?" Chimed in T-Dog, "he nuts? Medicated? Or what?"
"Okay, what the hell is going on?" I cried, stopping the men from walking any further.
Rick, Glenn and T-Dog all looked at each other before eyeing Shane and I.
Rick took a deep breath before answering my question, "Dale asked about a clock in the room where we were yesterday watching the vigil. The clock is counting down to something.... Some sort of 'facility wide contamination'."
"Oh my god." I gasped, clamping my hand over my mouth, "what the hell are we gonna do about it?"
"I don't know." Frowned Rick.

We all ran down the hallway and made it to the door that we needed to enter: the basement. Shane bust open the door and we poured in one after the other, T-Dog slamming his hand down on the light switch.
"You go that way." Ordered Rick to Glenn and T-Dog, pointing left down another small corridor which was lined with barrels and unfamiliar machinery.
Rick and Shane turned right and I was left to go straight down the middle pathway by myself. The lights were on so it wasn't so frightening, and plus I knew that Shane was here with me, but the atmosphere in the strange and machine littered room freaked me out a little.

I finally came to see something I thought mattered. It appeared to be a generator which was currently in use and hooked up to a fuel drum. I peeked at the fuel monitor and saw that the tank was almost empty. I tried to push the drum upwards a little to feel how much fuel was still inside, but it was rather heavy and empty nevertheless. The fuel drum came back down with a thud, catching the attention of Rick and Shane who came running.
"You alright?" Asked Shane.
"Yeah, I was just checking the generator." I said with a frown, "it's not looking so good."
"Monitor says its empty." Breathed Rick, kneeling down beside the drum and giving it a nonchalant nudge with his hand.
Rick stepped back up and walked backwards a little.