Daryl yells at Jenner, his grip on Mellody's arm squeezing harder, likely unintentionally but out of anger. "Doc, what's going on here?" he demands. Jenner scans his badge and enters a code into a security tablet. Archie can't move, his eyes locked on the timer
"Everybody, y'all heard Rick," Shane calls out, using his arms and voice to signal that everyone needs to move immediately.
"Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!" he barks, the urgency in his voice making it clear that they're running out of time. Everyone else is yelling, and Mellody struggles to hear what they're saying.
Whirs and cangs Whirring and clanging noises echo through the room,
Rick frantically runs toward a closing security door that is blocking the way back out of the CDC. Mellody tries to follow him, but Dale grabs her, pulling her back to keep her from getting hurt by the closing doors.
"No," Glen cries out as he watches the doors shut. "Did you just lock us in?" He's panicked, rather than angry. Jenner broadcasts a video on the monitor screen, causing Archie to run toward him.
"What the hell?" Archie shouts, approaching the doctor.
"We've hit the 30-minute window," Jenner states, speaking to himself, his face appearing grim.
Daryl charges towards him, intent on attacking, shouting, "You son of a bitch!"
Rick yells, "Shane! Shane!" When Shane abruptly trips on Archie's foot, he merely glances back at him in anger before turning his attention to the doctor once more.
"You locked us in here!" Daryl screams, his body vibrating with rage. He lifts his bottle as if ready to strike the doctor, but Shane and T-Dog quickly grab him and pull him back away from Jenner.
Rick holds Daryl back from Jenner, even as he continues to threaten the doctor with the bottle.
"Hey, Jenner, open that door now," Rick states in a flat, almost calm tone, though there is a hint of anger in his voice. He walks toward the doctor, his body language stiff and confrontational.
"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed," Jenner calmly explains, which causes Dale to growl, "Well, open the damn things."
Mellody stands next to Dale, scared and confused as she watches
"That's not something I control," Jenner states, sounding like he's starting to get impatient. "The computers do, and I told you: once that front door shut, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that, right? It's better this way."
Mellody's face becomes pale and trembling as she feels her body's reaction to the alarm and the closing door. Everyone acts in a way that makes her fear for her life and she feels paralyzed. She does not respond when Archie touches her, but she hugs her doll tight to her chest.
"V.I., define," Jenner requests. Mellody had been tuning out of the conversation between the others, as it has mostly consisted of yelling and anger directed at the doctor. But the description of H.I.T.s catches her attention.
“H.I.T.s-high-impulse thermo baric 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. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 degrees and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired.” VI said
"It sets the air on fire," Jenner states simply. "No pain."
Carol comforts Sophia, crying softly as her daughter clings to her. Mellody feels the hand on her shoulder tense and tighten. Archie's face is filled with anger and his eyes are wide.
"Son of a bitch..." he mutters, not directly to Jenner, but he has no interest in hiding his feelings this time.
"An end to sorrow, grief...regret. Everything," Jenner describes, his gaze fixated on the floor, refusing to lift and look at those around him.
"You're trying to kill us?" Archie rages, his voice escalating as his anger grows. He lets go of Mellody and steps forward, his finger pointed at Jenner and his voice louder with each sentence.
"You're gonna kill some kids?!" He yells, pointing at Mellody. There's pure fury in his words, making Carl tense and Sophia cry.
"She's ten for God's sake! She's a fucking child!" Archie yells, walking toward Jenner faster and faster, his fists balled tight. Rick grabs Archie before he can strike Jenner.
"How stupid are you?!" Archie rages, his tone getting angrier without becoming louder. "You're so helpless, you're gonna kill us just because you're depressed? How selfish are you?" Archie yells, his tone louder and more forceful this time.
Jenner does not respond to the accusation, simply staring at the floor, avoiding the others. Archie glares at him as he walks back to Mellody's side, his fists still clenched tightly.
"You ain't gonna die," Archie says in a soft but firm tone. It's just loud enough that Mellody can hear it.
"But... the place is going to explode," Mellody responds, clearly frightened. She wants to cry, but she is holding back her tears, afraid of upsetting Archie any further.
"You ain't!" Archie says, with a stern but sympathetic tone. He locks eyes with Mellody, his expression indicating that she has his word.
"I promise you that you aren't going to die, not for a long damn while," he declares, his calm and steady demeanor seemingly meant to comfort Mellody. As she stares at him, tears flood her eyes, and he gently tilts her head downward to allow her to cry. As her tears stream down her face, she sniffs and wipes her nose.
Daryl hurls the liquor bottle at the door, which shatters into tiny shards of glass as the alcohol spills across the floor.
"Open the damn door!" Daryl yells, pointing at Jenner angrily.
Shane runs toward the door with a fire axe and tosses one to Daryl as the two of them start hacking away at the door for their lives in a desperate attempt to escape. Archie watches them frantically, but he also turns his attention to Carl and Sophia, who are huddled together with their mother as they all cry in fear.
"You should have left well enough alone," Jenner states, his tone is almost monotone as his eyes are cast downward. Carol, Sofia, Carl, Mellody, and Lori are gathered on the floor, all of them scared and crying. Andrea sits nearby, holding her arms around her legs as she shivers.
"It would have been so much easier," Jenner says. Lori's voice cracks from crying as she responds, "Easier for who?”
"Your-your sister, what was her name?" Jenner questions Andrea, her quiet voice barely rising above a whisper as she answers.
"Amy." She says softly.
"You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that what you really want for your wife and son?" Jenner counters, looking from Andrea to Rick.
"I don't want this!" Rick responds, the exasperation in his voice indicating his frustration with the situation.
Mellody covers her ears and her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks as her fear keeps escalating.
"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher," Jenner remarks, his tone calm and monotone. Shane, T-Dog, Daryl, Archie, and sha e are still hacking away at the massive metal door, attempting to take it down.
"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl exclaims, swinging his axe toward Jenner as he runs toward him, filled with rage and determination.
"Just back up!" Rick yells, his tone becoming urgent and serious as he commands Daryl's attention. Dale and Shane quickly join Rick in restraining Daryl, who is clearly losing control of his rage and has no intention of backing down.
T-Dog takes the ax away from Daryl and pulls him back, his strong frame acting as the final barrier between him and Jenner.
"You're tryna kill my brothers kids!" Daryl roars in a ferocious voice, his jaw clenched and his body trembling with fury.
Jenner rises to his feet and faces Rick, his tone taking on a cold edge as his words dig deep.
"You do want this," he states, making Rick's face register with shock. Lori's face also mirrors his look of disbelief as Jenner continues, "Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."
Shane questions, shocked himself, "You really said that?"
"I had to keep hope alive, don't i?" Rick admits, his voice becoming low and solemn.
"There is no hope," Jenner states emphatically, his tone indicating absolute certainty.
"There's always hope," Rick replies passionately, his voice rising with every word. He walks toward Jenner, stopping just a foot away from him as he delivers an intense glare.
“What part of "Everything is gone" do you not understand?” Andrea counters, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she glances back at Rick, suggesting he's missing something obvious.
Jenner maintains eye contact with Rick as he speaks with a firm, no-nonsense tone.
"Listen to your friend. She gets it," he states bluntly. "This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."
Carol protests, her voice hoarse from constant crying as she fights back tears. "This isn't right. You can't just keep us here."
“One tiny moment-a millisecond. No pain," Jenner counters calmly, his tone dripping with apathy as he sits back down.
Carol wails softly, her voice filled with sadness and pain as she expresses her concerns. "My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this."
Archie's tone is less explosive, but he's still clearly furious as he looks at Jenner seriously. "None of us do," he states firmly, his expression signaling that he's not going to let this go.
Archie kneels in front of Mellody, who is paralyzed with fear and on the brink of tears as the situation around them continues to escalate.
“You ain’t gonna die, no point in crying.” With that simple sentence, Archie attempts to reassure Mellody, though she can still hear the loud yelling and explosions going on around them.
Archie gently places his hands over her ears, shielding her from the chaotic backdrop and concentrating solely on her. His compassionate gesture provides a source of comfort, and he touches her shoulder, reassuring her that she's going to be alright.
"Moms dead... daddy's dead. where next?" Mellody trembles as she expresses her fear and concern for the future.
Archie responds sharply with a firm tone. "No!" He says, his expression showing that he's not about to let Mellody give up.
"Dad's not dead. where not dead okay?" Archie continues, his voice becoming softer as he attempts to reassure her. "Mom's... mom she’s alive out there somewhere worried. Worried about you" He says, trying to inspire a sense of hope.Mellody glances down at the doll that she's holding, recollecting the day Daryl bought it for her. She recalled believing that it was stolen, but Daryl strongly insisted otherwise; she is still unsure whether he took the doll by accident or on purpose.
When she was crying in her room, Daryl walked in, just as Archie was away at school. Instead of comforting her, he threw the doll at her and told her to stop crying before slamming the door shut. Mellody continued playing with the doll for the rest of the day, despite her misery.
The noise of Archie's footsteps quickly draws Mellody's attention, and she looks up to see him walking toward Jenner. Mellody never had the chance to read the book that features the character of Charlotte the spider, but Archie had to for a school project when he was younger, and he told her about the story. She named her doll after the character in his honor, calling it Charlotte
Archie suddenly grabs Mellody's arm and pulls her up. He runs toward the door, yelling, "Let's get out of here!!" She stumbles for a moment as he pulls her along behind him.
Archie stops to pick her up, lifting her up as he yells, "Daryl, get our stuff!" Daryl is already several steps ahead of everyone else, so he doesn't have to stop.
"Let's go!" Glen yells, making wide and frantic gestures with his hands. The loud noise of everyone shouting makes it difficult to hear anything clearly.
Archie runs down the hall, with Daryl running right behind him. Daryl is carrying two backpacks, while Mellody's backpack has been left behind. There isn't much other than clothing in Mellody's bag, and nothing particularly useful in the present situation.
Up in the lobby, T-Dog and Daryl run for the doors, banging against them in vain, attempting to open them.
"Get those doors open!" Glen shouts, adding his voice to those of the others who are frantically yelling.
Daryl throws the axe to Shane, and they both run up and start bashing away at the glass, but it refuses to break.
T-Dog attempts to use a chair as an makeshift battering ram, attempting to force the window to shatter.
Everyone is yelling, causing noise levels to rise sharply, but Archie's steady hands remain wrapped firmly around Mellody, keeping a tight protective hold on her.
Shane fires his shotgun at the glass, but it only makes a slight dent.
"The glass won't break?" Sofia asks, unsure of what can be done to breach the window.
Carol reaches inside her bag, letting Sofia go. She walks towards Rick, holding out something in her hand.
"I have something that might help," she says, hoping to provide the solution the others have been searching for.
"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Shane says, staring out the window in the direction of the glass.
Mellody clings onto Archie tightly, as is he's a pillar of protection that she can lean on.
"When I washed your uniform on my first morning at camp, I found this in your pocket," Carol says to Rick, pulling a grenade from somewhere hidden in her bag. She gives it to him and escorts Sofia to the other side of the lobby, taking her away from the potential danger zone.
Rick pulls the pin and places the grenade on the windowsill, triggering a chain of events that has everyone scrambling for cover. In a selfless act of valor, Archie quickly runs to grab Mellody and wrap his body around her, using himself as a shield to protect her.
The explosion from the grenade causes Rick to be launched through the air and crash land several feet away on the floor. He quickly gets back up and joins the others in their rush toward the exits. With the glass shattered, a path for their immediate escape is now possible.
The window nearest to the grenade shatters, creating a wide enough opening for the entire group to escape. Shane and Rick quickly clear out the walkers that are in their path, firing their shots and landing some impressive kills in the process. Daryl, with his ax at the ready, takes off the head of one walker with a single well-placed swing.
Just as Archie and Mellody make it through the opening, Daryl grunts, signaling a moment where the group's escape is far from secured.
Rick leads the way, panting from the intense exertion as he leads the group to the R.V. Carl and Lori follow close behind him, while Archie helps Mellody into the safety of the vehicle before rushing in himself.
As Rick closes the door behind him, Lori yells a warning: "Wait wait wait. Wait wait. They're coming." Andrea and Dale jump down out of the building just in time before Rick honks the horn, signaling his readiness to get away as quickly as possible.
The fire continues to grow, building up to uncontrollable proportions and filling the entire C.D.C. building until it's no longer contained between the walls and begins to spill out into the surrounding area. The heat blasts out the windows, setting fire to everything in its path, exploding tanks, cars, trucks, and all other vehicles. The explosion expands, tearing the building to shreds and causing it to implode on itself. Glenn, Rick, Lori, and Carl get up from the floor of the R.V. and stare at the aftermath of the explosion.
Archie stood up and noticed that Mellody was still on the ground. He looked at the flaming center, where the CDC once stood, ...Dr. Jenner had disappeared.
"Are you okay?" Archie asked Mellody, who gave a small nod.
Carol was also in the scene, hugging Sofia closely as she observed the fire.
The burning of the C.D.C. sent a column of black smoke high into the Atlanta sky,