SHELTER | DIXON

|12|

While Rick, Shane, Glenn and T-Dog went to the basements to search for the generators, everyone else headed back toward their rooms. Madison pulled Lori and Carol aside, telling them it would be best for everyone to pack their things. The women were confused, but Madison seemed confident in the decision and they trusted her judgment. As they hurried off to warn others the same thing, Madison walked down to the room she had shared with Daryl.

The man in question was already there, lounging on the couch with what was left of the whiskey in his hands. "What're ya doin'?" He asked, watching with raised eyebrows as Madison hurried around the room and gathered her things. She packed everything back up in her bags, not bothering to answer Daryl right away while she worked. "Don't tell me you think yer takin' off again."

Madison shot him a look. "Even though it's still obviously lost to you that you're not my boss and I have the right to leave if I want to," she spat in annoyance, "no, that's not what I'm doing."

Daryl huffed and rolled his eyes as he took another long swig of the whiskey. He nearly choked on it when he saw the woman had finished packing her own things and had started to pack his. "What the hell, woman? Don't touch my shit!"

"You heard what Vi said, Daryl. When the hour is up, facilty-wide decontamination will occur," Madison told him. "Do you really want to stick around and see what that means?"

He frowned and leaned forward on the couch. "You know something. What is it?"

"All I know is that we need to leave as soon as Rick and the others come back from the basement if they haven't found a way to stop that clock." She grabbed his bag off the floor and tossed it toward him. "Here. If you don't want me touching your shit, you can pack it yourself."

"Goddamn it," he grumbled, grabbing his bag and standing up to do as she said even though she annoyed him to hell. "Don't you ever get tired of botherin' me?"

"No." Madison grabbed the bottle of whiskey from his hands as he tried to take another drink. "Shut up and pack your shit, Dixon."

He glared at her and snatched the bottle back from her. "Stop treatin' me like a child, woman."

"Stop acting like one," she retorted.

Daryl's jaw clenched, and he started to snap right back at her when the air conditioning and the lights in the room above them suddenly shut off. All annoyance faded from both of their faces as they looked at each other. Frowning, Daryl moved over toward the door and swung it open, stepping halfway out of it to look at the others gathered in their own doorways. "Hey, what's goin' on? Why's everything turned off?"

Madison walked up behind him and peeked over his shoulder as Jenner passed by and snatched the bottle of alcohol from Daryl's hand. "Energy use is being prioritized," the doctor answered.

"Air isn't a priority?" Dale asked. "And lights?"

"It's not up to me," Jenner said simply, still continuing on his way down the hallway. Daryl reached behind him and grabbed Madison's wrist to tug her along as he started following the man, even though she'd planned on doing the same thing. "Zone 5 is shutting itself down."

"Hey! Hey, what the hell does that mean?" Daryl demanded, growing progressively more annoyed as Jenner ignored him. "Hey, man, I'm talkin' to you! What do ya mean, it's shuttin' itself down? How can a building do anything?"

"You'd be surprised," Jenner said dryly as Rick and the rest of the guys ran into the room.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick demanded.

"The system is dropping all nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running 'til the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark." He gestured toward the atomic clock as they entered the large room once again, the time ticking down to just over thirty-one minutes left now. "Right on schedule." Daryl snatched the bottle of alcohol back out of his hands and glared at him. Jenner only raised his eyebrows at him before turning away, glancing at Andrea as the rest of the group entered the room. "It was the French," he told her.