People stare at the door, before all once, we sprint into the building.
"Daryl, Darcy, you cover the back," Shane instructs.
"Hello?" Rick calls out. We're in a giant open space, the kind you'd expect for this kind of building. "Hello?" He repeats.
People start fanning out throughout the area.
"Close those doors."
"Watch for walkers."
People stop, looking, talking in their surroundings. This is the cleanest, safest place anyone's been since the start of this mess.
Daryl walks up next to me.
"What about our brother?" he asks, quiet and quick, under his breath.
"Huh?"
"I get that you care for the kid, I do. But we need to find our brother. He's our brother. The kid will be fine here for a few hours. Or wherever. And we're starting to move on. Without him."
"Where would we even look for him? I want to find Merle too, but where would you propose we look? He took that van, remember?"
Daryl shrugs, thinking.
"Hello," a new voice calls, interrupting our quick conversation. The sound of one gun cocking fills air, and the people who weapons aim them in the direction the voice came from.
In the shadows, a man stands, aiming a gun at us. I would be a little more intimidated, but he was an average man; blonde, wearing a basic white T-Shirt and pants. Not very intimidating.
"Anybody infected?" his voice echoes as he speaks.
"One of our group was," Rick lightly pants. "He didn't make it."
People start to aim their weapons down.
"Why are you here? What do you want?"
"A chance. "
"That's asking an awful lot these days." The man steps into the light.
"I know."
People look wary at the new man.
"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."
"We can do that," Rick nods.
The man brings his gun down.
"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now,"-he points to the door-"once this door closes, it stays closed.
People rush out, running as quickly as they can to their vehicles, and back into the building. I close the glass door behind me. We follow the man into an elevator, the man pressing a button pad with a beep.
"VI, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here."
With that, the shutters collapse down again, rattling.
"Rick Grimes." Rick sticks his hand out. The man, eyeing Rick's hand, sticks his own hand out.
"Doctor Edwin Jenner."
People stand in silence, the elevator humming, crowded.
"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl breaks the silence. I glance at him, giving him a smirk, the corners of his lips lifting up at me.
"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough." He pauses, looking down at Carl. "Except you. I'll have to keep my eye on you." The corners of Carl's lips turn up.
He walks us through a pure white brick hallway, doors and lights every few feet. But there was still yet another person to be seen. Where is everyone?
"Are we underground?" Carol asks.
"You claustrophobic?" The doc asks.
"A little."
"Try not to think about it.
Jenner leads us into another room.
"VI, bring up the lights in the main room.
There's humming, as one giant ring of lights turns on. There's a bunch of modernized computer desks stationed on a circle platform.
"Welcome to Zone Five."
"Where is everybody? The other doctors, the staff?" Rick asks, looking around.
"I'm it. It's just me here." People's faces fall. We're now standing at the desks.
"What about the person you were speaking with? VI?" Lori asks.
"VI, say hello to our guests. Tell them... welcome."
"Hello, guests. Welcome." A computer voice echoes throughout the room.
"VI's a computer," I say. He nods.
"I'm all that's left."
Rick looks lost.
___________________________________
We all sit in a small room, getting the blood test done.
"What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever." Andrea says as Jenner finishes up taking her blood.
"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me just at least be thorough. All done."
Andrea stands up from the chair slowly, dizzily.
"You okay?" Jenner asks.
"She hasn't eaten in days." Jacqui says. "None of us have."
Jenner looks around at our group.
___________________________________
Everybody sits around a table laughing. There was a giant feast, even alcohol.
Dale, standing, pours himself another glass of wine.
"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France," I state, hinting, standing up reaching across the table for Carl's glass with my own wine bottle. Lori covers the glass with her hand.
"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then," she says.
When's he gonna have the chance to go to Italy or France now?
"What's it gonna hurt? Come on." Rick says, on the other side of Carl, across from me. He glances between me, the bottle, and Carl. "Come on!" She slowly raises her hand from the glass.
Rick and Carl look expectantly at me.
"Ha, ha, ha!" I say in victory, pouring Carl some. People around laugh, including me, and I raise my glass to Carl's in our own private toast.
Rick lightly chuckles at Carl as he slowly drinks.
"Eww!" He makes a sour face. People laugh again.
"Ehh. More for me." People give another chuckle, as I steal Carl's glass, downing the rest of it. ("Yuck!")
"That's my boy. That's my boy," Lori says.
"That tastes nasty," Carl says.
"Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud," Shane says.
"Not you, Glenn," Daryl pipes in, also standing.
Glenn's face pops up, sitting on a counter, looking up from his own wine bottle, a dumbstruck look at being directly addressed.
"What," he asks, smiling, a bit clueless.
"Keep drinking, little man. I wanna see how red your face can get," Daryl continues.
People laugh once more, someone pounding lightly on the stable, causing some silverware to clatter.
Rick clanks his glass, standing up, bringing the attention to him.
I close my lips in a giddy almost-smirk, my lips almost turning up, feeling the alcohol coursing through my veins.
"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly."
"He is more than just our host," T-Dog toasts.
Everyone brings their glasses up in toast to Jenner.
"Hear hear!"
"Here's to you, Doc."
"Booyah!" Daryl goes.
"Booyah!" I repeat, lightly giggling.
"Booyah!" A few more people repeat.
"Thank you. Thank you Doctor," Rick speaks directly to him. Both bring their glasses up to their lips in their own little toast. Glasses around the table clink.
"So when you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, Doc?" Shane questions, brings the mood down. Several people's smiles dropped, and for the first time tonight the table fell silent. "All the uh, the other doctors that were supposed to figure out what happened. Where are they?"
Dick, I roll my eyes lightly.
"We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now," Rick says tightly, sitting down. By now everyone was sitting.
"Whoa, whoa, wait a second. That is why we're here, right? This was your move," he challenges, "instead we-we found him. Found one man. Why?"
"Dude, just let us have this one night," I say angrily, glaring at him. Rick averted his eyes, half-angry, mouth cracked open, to Jenner.
"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."
"Every last one?" Shane quizzed, doubtful.
"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They... opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."
I could feel my face fall, going neutral. To think, the very halls we walked through earlier, the very same, white, walls covered in blood and floors in people's dead bodies.
"You didn't leave. Why?" Andrea spoke.
"I just kept working," Jenner states, eyes averting his plate, then glances to her. "Hoping to do some good."
"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man," Glenn comments.
___________________________________
Walking through a new hallway, Jenner guides us to where we'll be sleeping. The lights change automatically as we turn down the hallway.
"Most of the facility is powered down. Including housing, so you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy." He leans down to speak to the two kids who are in the front of the group directly. "Just don't plug in the video games, okay?" The two nod. "Or anything that draws power." He straightens back up, addressing everyone. "The same applies. If you shower go easy on the hot water."
With that, Jenner leaves to do his own thing.
Glenn turns around slowly to face the group.
"Hot water?" he repeats, awestruck.
"That's what the man said," T-Dog replies. Both of them lightly laugh. Each person goes to find their own room and shower.
I get in my own room, glancing around at it. I stare at the couch, the first actual bed since before this has started. Quickly, I slump my duffel bag full of my little belongings (which, mostly, consists of clothing) on the floor next to the couch, and open a small closet, searching for bedding. I find basic sheets and a small blanket, and lay them on the couch lazily, and pick up my duffel bag, starting to rummage through it, some stuff scattering in the process.
Grabbing a random pair of black jegging pants and a large black T-Shirt, and a pair of matching navy lace undergarments. I never liked leggings, always preferring jeans; leggings left my legs cold and uncomfortable. I head for the showers.
Once in the bathroom, I quickly strip, and get the water streaming. Stepping under it, I let the water relax my muscles. Putting in shampoo, then conditioner, I let my eyes slide close, enjoying the feeling of what could be one of my last actual showers.
After enjoying the shower, I dress, though slightly taking my time, and put my hair in a ponytail, and leave the bathroom. I stroll down the hallway, finding a bottle of wine. I see Rick and Dale ahead, Rick passing him. I hear someone, Andrea I think, being sick in the bathroom.
"Andrea?" Dale asks at the door. I peek in, seeing her throwing up in the toilet. I scrunch up my nose, and pass along, no, thank you.
Strolling along, eventually, I end up at the lab, with the computers, that Jenner first showed us.
I hear something slump, I peek my head in. Rick stumbled to the ground.
"You all-you all right?" Jenner asks him. I'm about to make myself known, when Rick speaks.
"You don't know what it's like." He laughs. I turn out of the lab, but still listen so they can't see me. "You don't know what it's like out there. You may think you do but you don't. We'd have died out there. It was only a matter of time. There's too many of those things." I raise the bottle to my lips at what I'm hearing. Even our leader thinks we're doomed to that horrible fate. "My-my boy... I never told 'em what I really thought. I never even hinted, just... just kept it in. Kept it in and kept us moving, you know. Just kept it in. Kept us..." His words were slurred slightly.
"It'll all be okay. It'll be okay."
There's a silence, and I hear Rick shuffling-getting up.
I hear him walking to the door but don't move. He exits, and jumps seeing me. He stands, a deer in the headlights, knowing I'd heard. He stares, tries to find something to say, and giving up, continues on walking not saying a word. I follow him, and fall into step with him.
"Is that what you really think?" I begin softly, not knowing how else to start.
He shrugs sadly.
"We wouldn't... have died out there," I say.
"You've seen how it is, Darcy," he pauses. "I-I'm looking for some sign I'm doing something right. Anything. Carl's my son, my boy and I need to keep him safe. How do I know I'm doing that?"
"Yeah. I have. And as for Carl... He has all of us. We-we have people, guns. We could have gotten out of the city, far. And-and survived," I respond, speech slightly slurring.
"Yeah... Maybe."
I walk alongside him, silent for a moment, not finding the need to say anything.
We come to a stop when we end up at his room. I stand for a moment, mind slightly blank from the drink.
"I should go-"
"Wanna come in-" We speak at the same time.
"What?" I ask.
"Wanna...come in?" he asks, hesitantly, holding up his bottle.
I look down at mine, and hear the contents slosh a little.
"Sure. Drinking buddies." I grin.
He holds the door open, and closes it behind me. His room is identical to mine, a few changes here and there. Different color couch, different sheets, a little more of his stuff strewn around the room. I plop down on the couch, raising my bottle to my lips and drink, finding a spot on the wall to stare at, calming nerves-why am I nervous, this is Rick off all people.
He joins next to me on the pop-out couch-I didn't know they were pop-outs.
"Where's Carl?" I question.
"With his mom," he replies, half-bitter. "Though it's probably better he doesn't see us drunk," He continues, laughing. I join in.
"Yeah," I agree. We fall into a comfortable, but thick, silence.
Finally turning my head to look at him, I find him already looking at me.
"What," I ask, sheepishly, then I feel heat rushing to my cheeks.
His mouth opens and closes a few times and unable to find anything to say, he shuts it.
He leans in quickly, close, and our noses bump for a second.
Oh.
I clear my throat.
"I-I should go," I say thickly, standing up. My heart begins to pick up.
I feel him grab my wrist, just for a split second, before he spins me around, slamming his lips to mine.
I took a second, just split second to think about this, was I really going to do this? Then, the alcohol takes control of my mind again. What's one night?
I tense down, melting into it, my eyes fluttering closed, and Rick half-giggles in his drunken state, into the kiss-probably my eyelashes against his under-eye. I taste the wine strong in his mouth, slightly different from the one I had, better, and the wine bottle in his one hand slides the floor, mine following with two thumps. My hands slide around his neck, locking together behind it, and one of his hands slides to my higher mid-back, the other on my hip. The room is silent, other than the noises from the sloppy kiss, and the two of us groaning here and there. The kiss was slow, yet hasty at the same-needy, lusty, but thoughtful. He steps backward, pushing me backward, and I feel my back thump against the wall. His hand is fumbling against the door, searching for the lock, before finding it and locking the door. The hand of my hip slides to my under thigh, and I jump wrapping my legs around his waist. The hand on my lower back goes to my hair, quickly taking my pony-tail out as he runs his hand through my still damp hair. One of my hands flies to his hair, grabbing it in a fistfull.
He takes his lips from mine, turning around to face the bed. He half-stumbles to it, and we giggle, grinning like fools-maybe we were. He lays us down sloppily, staring at me for a second before capturing my lips again at a faster pace. He kisses my jaw, and slides down to my neck, and up again leaving open-mouthed kisses, and I gasp lowly. He breaks the kisses again, sitting us up, reaching for the hem of my black T-Shirt, before hesitating. He looks me in the eyes, asking for reassurance, without using words. I nod, giving permission, before he lifts it over my head. I in turn grab his, taking it off. Now shirtless, he kisses me again, the flesh of our stomachs warming the other. Breaking the kiss again, I reach for the jeggings, pulling them down, before, with slightly shaking hands, reach for his belt.
___________________________________
I wake with a groan, stretching into the bed, feeling the massive pounding head-ache coming on-Why had I drank so much again? I turn slightly and feel the feeling of falling for a split second, and hit the ground with a thud!
Then I realize, there is way too much air on my skin-places where air shouldn't be reaching. And those aren't my men's jeans on the floor. That isn't my pair of light blue boxers or my white T-Shirt. That isn't my pair of boots by the door. That isn't my gun sitting over on the small coffee table. This isn't even my room.
I feel my heart lurch in my chest, and I turn my head to the pop-out couch. There, still sleeping, on the couch was Rick. I lightly gasp out oh "Oh no...", no louder than a whisper, as last night's late-night activities flash through my brain. I gather my navy bra and underwear, black T-Shirt, and pair of jeggings, and dash to the bathroom, one of the sheets wrapped around my body with heat rushing to my neck and ears. Not daring to look in the mirror, I throw each article of clothing on, before slipping past the still soundly sleeping Rick.
Quietly, I peek just my unbrushed, hair-ran-through head through the door, thankful to see no one. I lightly jog to the end of the hall-way, keeping the sound of my bare footsteps non-existent. Slipping into my room, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and put my back to the door, my head leaning against it with a thump.
Of all people, Carl's father. Dumbass, dumbass, dumbass!
Taking a deep breath, I force myself to function. Ripping the T-Shirt and jeggings back off, grabbing a light blue button up and jeans, I head to the bathroom. I finally take a glance in the mirror, and jump, not suspecting.
Nowhere that was uncoverable by the shirt I'd grabbed today, dark splotches lay spread throughout my body, a sure-fire reminder of last night's affairs. I throw my clothes on, and run a brush through my hair. Taking one last glance at myself, I know no one will even suspect-how could they?
Stepping through the bedroom door, I take one last deep breath, I put last night's events to the back of my mind, and stride to the eating area.
Arriving, Lori, Carl, Andrea, Dale, and T-Dog were already there. T-Dog was cooking for everyone, and guessing by the smell emitting from the pan, powdered eggs. The people in the dining hall sat, waiting, and eventually others start filling in.
The table sits like this; three seats at each of the sides, two seats at the heads. I sat at one end of the table, Glenn to my left, Carl (who moved) to my right at the head of the table, Andrea at the other head, Dale next to Glenn and Lori across from Dale, two seats next to the open seat across from me. T-Dog was still cooking.
"Morning," Rick announces his entrance. I avert my head to my food. Who knew the color of orange juice was so interesting?
"Are you hungover?" Carl asks, with a slight knowing grin. A smirk stretches across my cheeks as Carl turns and makes eye contact with me, before turning back to his father. "Darcy said you'd be," Carl finishes, as Rick sits down at the second seat at Carl's head of the table.
"Darcy is right," Rick says, making quick eye-contact with me, both of us knowing.
"Darcy has that annoying habit. Sometimes," I say, looking to my food again.
"Eggs. Powdered, but-but I do 'em good," T-Dog announces to the newcomers, Jacqui, who grips Glenn's shoulders as he groans, hand to his head, eyes closed, Carol, and Sophia. They file into the empty seats. "But you can't tell. Protein helps the hangover." He piles more onto Glenn's plate.
"Poor Glenn," I say jokingly. A small laugh spreads out the table. "Maybe ya shouldn't've drunk so much."
The chatter picks up, just for a second, everyone talking towards me.
"You drank more than I did, Darcy. How are you not hungover," Glenn asks rhetorically.
"If I recall, you took a bottle to your room last night as well," Dale backs Glenn.
I am silent for a moment, and before I control it my eyes flash to Rick. He glances toward me, probably also thinking of last night's events. No one notices.
"Years and years of practice, friends," I say, half-heartedly.
"Where'd all this come from?" Rick asks as someone hands him an aspirin bottle.
"Jenner," I reply, shortly, clipped. Carl glances between us confused, apparently catching my unintentional tone.
"Could you help me, please?" Still not looking in his direction, I open the bottle.
"He thought we could use it," I say, to no-one in particular.
I hand the open bottle back to him.
"Thank you," he says.
Ignoring it, I continue. "Some of us, at least." I glance at Glenn, whose head is still resting in his hand.
"Don't ever ever ever let me drink again," he groans, the hangover in his tone.
"Hey," Shane's voice says.
"Hey," a few voices ring back.
He grabs a coffee and sits at Lori's side, and, probably not thinking his actions through, kisses her chastely on the cheek. They had probably gotten "officially" together some time yesterday evening. My eyes fly discreetly to Rick. Lori also looks at him, spooked like a deer in the headlights.
"Rick...I'm sorry," she says. No one is paying any attention to them but me, and naturally, Carl. Carl had been informed of his parents' separation on the drive here, because of his parents' request to ride in separate cars, though he wasn't told the reason why.
"It's fine," he replies.
"I-"
"Really," he cuts her off. "It's fine," he says, strangely enough, sincerely. As if it really was fine or at least it didn't bother him so much.
Jenner walks in. I figure Daryl was probably sleeping in, or at least attempting to.
"Morning," he says.
"Morning, Doc," Shane returns.
"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing-" Dale starts as Jenner gets a coffee.
"But you will anyway," Jenner cuts him off.
"We didn't come here for the eggs," Andrea said, fairly rudely.
I notice Daryl walking by, getting food. There he is.
Everyone tries to finish eating.
___________________________________
Everyone walks into the lab from yesterday.
"Give me a playback of TS-19," Jenner commands, holding a cup of coffee.
"Playback of TS-19," VI echoed.
A screen lit up, and it showed a person's head.
"Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few."
It loads, showing a brain.
"Is that a brain?" Carl from next to me asks, looking at Jenner."
"An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for E.I.V."
"Enhanced Internal View."
The screen zoomed in, and went to the side of the head, showing the inside of the brain.
"What're those lights?" Shane inquires.
"It's a person's life. Experiences, memories. It's everything. Someone in all that organic wiring, in all those ripples of light, is you-the thing that makes you, unique. And human."
"You don't make sense? Ever?" Daryl pipes.
"Those are synapses. Electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death," Jenner explains, and for a moment I feel as if I'm in some sort of college class. I notice black and red starting to seep into the blues as Jenner explains this bit.
"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" Rick steps forward.
"Yes. Or rather, the playback of a vigil."
"This person died? Who?" Andrea investigated, slight emotion leaking into her voice.
"Test Subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected and volunteered to have us record the process," he answers slowly. "VI, scan forward to the first event."
"Scanning to First Event." Small beeps emitted from speakers as the video scanned forward.
In this, there was more of the black and red that I saw creeping in.
"What is that?" Glenn inquires, shocked.
"It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shut down, then the major organs. Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be... Gone," he finishes, partially sadly.
"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asks her mother innocently.
"Yes," she answers.
Many people's faces have fallen. Andrea takes a sharp inhale in.
Seeing Jenner's inquisitive face, Lori explains, "She lost somebody two days ago. Her sister."
Leaning in closer to Andrea, he says "I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is. Scan to the second event."
"Scanning to Second Event."
"The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in little as three minutes. The longest we'd heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute, seven seconds," as he says this, the completely black brain flashes red at the stem.
"It restarts the brain?" Lori asks.
"No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving."
"But they're not alive?" Rick questions confused.
"You tell me," Jenner holds a hand towards the screen.
"It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark."
"Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part-that doesn't come back. The you part. Just a shell, driven by mindless instinct." Just as he says this, the Test Subject gasps on the table, reawakening, right before a strike dives right though the head.
"God. What was that?" Carol asks.
"He shot his patient in the head," Andrea answers for him. "Didn't you?"
"VI, power down the main screen and the work stations."
"Powering down main screen and work stations."
"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea inquires in a harsher, sterner tone.
"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal."
"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui pipes in.
"There is that."
"Somebody must know something. Somebody, somewhere." Andrea presses.
"There are others, right? Other facilities?" Carol inquires. So many questions, and yet every answer leads to two more questions.
"There may be some. People like me."
"But you don't know? How can you not know?" Rick demands.
"Everything went down. Communications, directives-all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month."
"So it's not just here." Andrea states. "There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?"
Andrea scoffs, shaking her head.
"Jesus," Jacqui whimpers.
"Man, I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk. Again," Daryl states, putting his head in both hands and leaning against a table.
"Doctor Jenner," Dale begins, voice more stern than I'd heard so far, "I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but... that clock, it's counting down. What happens at zero?"
"The..." he hesitates, "basement generators-they run out of fuel."
"And then?" Rick asks, desperately. No answer.
"VI, what happens when the power runs out?" I ask the machine.
"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur."
___________________________________
I sit with Carl in my room, helping him do his homework his mother assigned. Rick, Shane, T-Dog, and Glenn went downstairs to the basement to investigate.
He sighs.
"What?"
"Just thinking..." he says.
"Wow..." I say in a joking tone. "How vague."
"Thinking about my dad. I just want my dad to be happy. He's been through a lot. Can you help me? Can you help me make him happy?" he inquires, probably not knowing how depressing that sounds.
I think for a moment, not knowing how to respond. "I... I can try..."
I pull him into a tight hug, then hear the air conditioner shut off.
"Hmm," I hum in confusion, jumping up from the couch. I put my hand up the air air vent, feeling for a current.
"Darcy? Something wrong?"
"I don't think so... Just the air conditioning stopped."
The lights in the room shut off. I poke my head out of my door, to find everyone is already peeking out. They are already interrogating Jenner as he walks down the hallway, in a lab coat, button-up, and tie.
"Why's the air off?"
"And the lights in our rooms?"
"Hey, what's going on? Why's everything turned off?" Daryl pokes out. Jenner snags a bottle of whiskey Daryl was holding.
"Energy use is being prioritized." People start following down the hallway, and turning back I motion for Carl to follow.
"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale joins in.
"It's not up to me. Zone Five is shutting itself down." As if on queue, the lights in the hallway shut off.
"Hey! Hey, what the hell does that mean? Hey, man, I'm talking to you. What do you mean it's shuttin' itself down? How can a building do anything."
Seeing Rick below the staircase, I put last night behind me and call for him.
"Rick?" He looks up, putting a hand up, 'hold on.'
Meeting up with Rick at the bottom of the staircase, he walks in line with Jenner.
"Jenner, what's happening?" he demands.
"The system is dropping all non-essential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule." As he explains this, we enter the lab again. On the timer, it marked 00:31:28.
He hands Daryl the bottle back, and Daryl snatches it.
"It was the French," he turns to Andrea."
"What?"
"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution."
"What happened?" Jacqui inquires.
"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?"
"Let me tell you somethin'-" Shane starts, starting to walk up to Jenner.
"To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care. Darcy, grab our things. Everybody get your stuff, we're getting out of here now!" Rick commands.
"Oh, okay," Jacqui breathes out. Everyone starts rushing to the hallway frantically. An alarm starts blaring, loudly.
"What's that?" Shane asks no one.
"What's that?" Carl repeats Shane to his father quietly.
"30 minutes to decontamination."
"Doc, what's goin' on here?" Daryl growls out loudly.
"Everybody, y'all heard Rick. Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!"
We all start heading to the door again.
"Come on!" Glenn shouts.
"Carl you stay with me! Hurry!" I command.
We barely get two steps before a door closes at the lab entrance, locking us in. Oh, please no!
Rick runs up the ramp to the door.
"Did you just lock us in?! He just locked us in!" Glenn panics.
Jenner starts up a computer, starting it up. He speaks into the camera.
"We've hit the 30-minute window. I am recording."
People run back into the center.
"Carl!" Both Lori and I shout urgently.
"Darcy! Mom!" He runs into his mothers arms, wrapping his arms around her waist. Seeing him safe, I rush over to my brother,
"Daryl..." I trail off nervously. He has a look of loathing on his face.
He quickly runs over to Jenner. I follow behind.
"You son of a bitch!"
"Shane!" Rick warns, seeing as he is the closest one.
"You locked us in here!"
"No, stop! Don't!" I yell at him.
"You lying-"
"No no no no!-"
"Wait, no! No, don't do it!-"
Daryl, Shane, and T-Dog all yell over each other.
"Jenner. Open that door now." Rick demands calmly.
"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed."
"Well open the damn things." Daryl says.
"That's not something I control, the computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that... It's better this way."
"What is? What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick pushes, desperation leaking in his tone.
Jenner turns back to his computer and types.
"What happens in 28 minutes?!" Rick growls in a shout, Shane hitting him in the shoulder
"Come on!" Daryl yells. Jenner jumps up.
"YOU KNOW WHAT THIS PLACE IS?! WE PROTECTED THE PUBLIC FROM VERY NASTY STUFF! WEAPONIZED SMALLPOX! EBOLA STRAINS THAT COULD WIPE OUT HALF THE COUNTRY! STUFF YOU DON'T WANT GETTING OUT! EVER!" He sits back in his chair. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure, in a terrorist attack, for example, H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."
"H.I.T.s?"
"VI, define." Jenner tells the computer system.
"HITs: High-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration then any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000 and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."
Some people start to cry, other's faces falling or listening as the computer explains the planned damage in a little over 20 minutes.
"It sets the air on fire. No pain, an end to sorrow, grief... regret. Everything."
"Oh my god," I whisper under my breath, raising my shaking hand to cover my mouth.
___________________________________
Daryl chucks the whiskey bottle at the door.
"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!"
"Out of my way!" Shane warns, running up the ramp. He brings axe to the door; no impact.
"Daryl! Darcy!" Two are thrown in our direction, and we start pounding at the door. The kids are in the corner, crying in their mothers' arms."
Jenner is saying something to the rest of the group, me unable to hear it over the grunts of the three of us. I stop hacking at the door, catching my breath, seeing the fruitless effort.
"-is that really what you want for your girlfriend and son?"
"I don't want this." Rick says, emotion in his tone, not bothering to correct Jenner in the urgency of the situation.
The other axes stop banging.
"Can't make a dent," Shane pants.
"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher."
Before thinking, in a moment of rashness and fury I raise my axe, rushing toward him.
"Well, your head isn't!"
"Whoa, whoa. Darcy! Darcy!" Rick and Dale hold me back. "Just back up! Back up! Not you too!"
I stop fighting, and drop the axe in surrender, and slump down on the floor next to Carl.
"You do want this," Jenner tells Rick softly. "Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everyone you loved was dead."
A look of slight shame appears of Rick's face, though he was trying to keep it impassive.
"What?" T-Dog asks quietly.
I bow my head thinking of the conversation I had heard last night.
"What? You really said that? After all your big talk?" Shane sneers.
"I had to keep hope alive," Rick says, in our direction, to his son.
"There is no hope. There never was." Jenner has a confused look on his face
"There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody, somewhere-" Rick says, defiance in his tone.
"What part of 'everything's gone' don't you understand?" Andrea snaps.
"Listen to your friends. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."
Crying in the room continues, with actual volume now.
"No person who is on board for our mass murder is a friend of mine," I say, disgusted, glaring at Andrea, sliding closer to Carl. For who's comfort, his or mine, I'm not sure.
"This isn't right," Carol croaks. "You can't just keep us here."
"One tiny moment-a millisecond. No pain," Jenner tries to convince.
"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!" Carol cries.
"Wouldn't it be kinder? More compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?"
A few people look at him like he's insane, though not for the first time in the last hour. No one has the chance to respond before the sound of a gun being cocked interrupts.
"Shane, no!" Rick shouts.
"Get out of the way, Rick!" Shane growls, shoving him. "Stay out of my way! Open that door, or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?!" He aims the shotgun in Jenner's face.
I jump up, realizing.
"Shane. This is not the way. You do this, we will never get out of here," I say slowly, clearly, making certain the message passes through.
"Shane, you listen to her," Lori says.
"It's too late."
"He dies, we all die," Rick continues. Shane cuts him off with a yell. "We all die. Shane!"
He directs the guns to the computers, shooting ones individually. People duck down, and I launch myself down, hovering over Carl. Rick grabs the gun, aiming it upward, to two both competing for the gun, and it shoots a light out, sparks falling down. Rick manages to take it, hitting Shane in the face, sending him to the ground.
He holds the gun over Shane, the butt end facing him, ready to hit him in the face again if necessary. Shane pants.
"You done now? Are you done?" Rick asks.
"Yeah, I guess we all are," Shane replies venomously.
Rick hands the gun over to T-Dog, looking over the group. There was a slight silence.
He turns to Jenner, "I think you're lying."
"What?"
"You're lying. About no hope. If that were true you would have bolted with the rest. Or taken the easy way out, you didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?"
"It doesn't matter."
"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?"
"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise. To her," Jenner points at the giant screen. "My wife."
"Test Subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asks with realization.
"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" Daryl starts hacking at the door again. "She was dying. It should have been me on that table. It wouldn't've mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I-I'm just... Edwin Jenner. She could have done something about this. Not me."
"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's-that's all we want-a choice, a chance."
"Let us keep trying as long as we can," I continue for Rick softly.
"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those," Jenner walks over to his keypad. He presses his ID. to it and presses on the numbers. The door opens.
"Come on!" Daryl shouts.
"Let's go!"
"Come on!"
Move it! Move it! Move it!"
People were shouting over each other.
I take a glance at the clock. 00:4:28.
"Come on, let's go!"
"We're gonna get out of here Sophia.
I am at the door, Rick talking to Jenner. I run over to them, and as I'm running, Jenner pulls Rick in, and whispers something in his ear. Just as I reach them, Rick pulls away, staring at Jenner. I grab him by the arm, dragging him, pulling him out of his daze.
"Hey, we've got four minutes left! Come on!" Glenn shouts over.
"Let's go! Let's go Jacqui." T-Dog urges her.
"No, no, I'm staying," she says tearfully. "I'm staying sweetie."
"But that's insane!" T-Dog protests, eyes wide.
"No, it's completely sane. For the first time in a long time. I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy. There's no time to argue. And no point, not if you want to get out. Just get out. Get out."
"Hey, Dog, come on, man. Come on! Let's go! Let's go!" Shane grabs him by the arm."
We rush out the door. Quickly, I diverge into my room, grabbing my duffel bag and whatever's in it, and my katana and crossbow, leaving anything that wasn't in the duffel behind. Meeting everyone at the entrance, and people try multiple things to break the glass, but not even a chair works.
"Dog, get down, get down!" Shane yells to T-Dog.
He shoots the window, the glass still not breaking. "Jesus."
"The glass won't break?" Sophia asks no one in particular.
"Rick, I have something that might help," Carol reaches into her bag.
"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it," Shane says sarcastically. She ignores him.
"Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket." She pulls out a grenade.
My eyes widen, brows furrowing, just the tiniest bit. What the... okay then.
He grabs it, "Look out!"
Walking over to the window, crouching, he pulls the pin and drops it.
"Oh, shi-" he starts running, flying through the air (even though it looked like a jump) from the force as the bomb goes off, shattering one giant pane of window.
People quickly get up, and rush out the door. No one has their belongings, except for a few guns, Daryl, his crossbow, Shane, a practically empty duffel bag, and Rick, the bag of guns. And what I managed to pull from my room. People we're shooting the few walkers here. People quickly loading into the cars. Daryl enters from the passenger side of his truck, then heaves me in after, slamming the door.
"Look," I say breathlessly, pointing to Andrea and Dale, who I didn't even notice were gone. The horn of the R.V. honk multiple times, and Daryl shoves me down, getting down himself. I smell the explosion before I hear it, and lean back up to see the building in pieces and in flames, trees around it on fire. Black smoke surges into the atmosphere. Glenn opens the R.V. door, urging the two in.
Daryl starts the truck, and we follow the R.V. and two cars in front of us as it flips around, Shane in his jeep behind us, away from the remnants of the C.D.C.