The group followed the strange doctor to the screen room, where Vi, a computer system resided. Jenner made his way to a computer before looking up to the screen.
"Vi, give me a playback of TS-19." Jenner said as he looked up to the screen.
The computer repeated his words, and showed a x-ray of a body.
"Few people ever got the chance to see this." Jenner look back to the group as he pointed to the screen.
Brittany examined the screen before looking back up at Jenner. "Is that a brain?"
Jenner nodded with a small smile. "An extraordinary one."
Taylor rolled her eyes at the so obvious question. "Not that it matters in the end.." She mumbled to herself.
"Enhanced internal view, please." Jenner said to the computer as it commanded his request. The screen zoomed into the brain, as it showed lights and pulses in the brain.
"What are those lights?" Rick asked, putting his hand on Mikaela's shoulder.
Jenner turned to him. "It's a person's life. Experiences, memories. It's everything." He said while pointing to the screen still. "Somewhere in that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you."
"The thing that makes you, unique." Taylor clarified.
Everybody kept nodding.
"They're synapses. Electric impulses in the brain that carry messages." Jenner looked around, pointing toward the screen. "They determine what a person does, says, and thinks from the moment of birth."
"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" Nick asked, crossing his arms. Ethan walked into the room, and stood behind Adam.
Taylor sighed, and sat on a computer desk. "Yeah." She looked at the group. "My mom died. She wanted us to record the process." She said quietly to the group, looking down.
"Vi, scan to the first event." Jenner mumbled to the screen.
The screen complied.
"What is that?" Anthony watched as the screen became different; the brain, anyways.
Jenner sighed. "The adrenal glands hemorrage, the brain shuts down. then the major organs." Jenner looked down. "Then death."
Andrea looked down at the ground, thinking of Amy. This all happened to her. Mikaela watched Andrea's uneasiness as Shane put his hand on her shoulder.
"Everything you ever knew will be gone." Taylor said to the group.
Adam looked at Shane. "Is that what happened to Jim?"
Shane gave him a small nod. Adam nodded back and looked down, taking a step back. Andrea moved away from Shane, to a spot that had nobody else near it.
"She lost somebody a few days ago." Jacqui mumbled as she leaned against a desk.
Taylor looked at Andrea and gave her a reassuring smile. "I lost someone too. I know how hard it is."
Andrea didn't say anything as she looked at Taylor.
"Scan to the second event." Jenner commanded.
The screen showed the brain start to glow again, shooting red beads through the vessels.
"Each resurrection time varies." Jenner said with a sigh.
Lori stepped forward, and stared at the screen. "It.. restarts the brain?"
Taylor shook her head. "Just the stem."
Jenner nodded in agreement. "Just get's them up and moving."
"..But they're not alive?" Adam asked as he looked at Jenner.
Jenner took a step back, pointing to the screen. "You tell me."
Adam examined the brain. "Most of that brain is dark..."
"The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the you part? That doesn't come back." Taylor added. "Just a shell driven by.. mindless instinct."
Jacqui leaned back. "God.."
Suddenly there was a flash on the screen, and a streak going through the brain.
"God.. what was that?" Carol asked, looking up to the screen.
Andrea sighed as she stepped forward. "He shot his patient in the head.."
Jenner sighed and looked up at the screen. "Vi, power down the main screens."
Andrea stepped toward Jenner. "TS-19 was your wife... you didn't want her to suffer."
Jenner looked up at her and gave her a nod.
"There are others, right?" Andrea asked quietly.
Jenner looked down.
"Everything went down. Communications, anyways." Taylor said for her father. "We've been in the dark for almost a month."
Andrea sighed. "So it's not just here." She paused, looking around. "It's everywhere."
She turned to Jenner.
"There's nothing left. That's what you're really trying to say? No hope?" Andrea took another step closer to the doctor.
Jacqui shook her head at everything in disbelief. Brittany looked at Anthony. She had tears in the outlines of her eyes, but she blinked and they faded. She gave Anthony a small smile, reassuring him. Adam sighed as he looked over at Taylor who was looking down at the ground, playing with her thumbs. Ethan sat down on the floor, putting his head down.
"Dr. Jenner, I hate to ask one more question.." Dale started before turning around, and pointing to the clock that was counting down. "That clock.."
Taylor looked up at him.
"It's counting down." Dale looked back at Jenner. "What happens at zero?"
Taylor looked down again as Jenner sighed.
"The basement generators... they run out of fuel." He mumbled.
"And then?" Anthony asked, walking toward Jenner, needing answers.
Silence.
"Vi, what happens when the basement generators run out of fuel?" Brittany asked as she looked up at the screen.
"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." The robotic voice explained.
"Decontamination?" Taylor asked.
Jenner looked at Taylor as she looked at him.
"What the hell does that mean? Don't we just lose power?" Taylor got off the desk, walking toward her father.
Jenner shook his head, and opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Taylor.
"I thought you said we'd just run out of food? What the hell does decontamination mean?!" She shouted to him.
Rick looked at Shane, giving him a message through eye-contacts. Shane then looked at Anthony and Adam.
"C'mon." He said before running to the hall, remembering signs that said 'basement' on the walls.
Adam and Anthony ran after him, as Rick was the lead of this.
In the basement, Adam checked empty barrels that once contained oil -- fuel. They were all empty, except one, the one in use. Shane checked that one over as he saw that the amount left was close to nothing.
Lori was upstairs with Mikaela in their room as Mikaela paced around. Lori felt the vents, and felt nothing.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Mikaela asked as she gave her mother a strange look.
Lori looked at her with a fake smile. "Uh.. nothing.. it's just.." She paused. "The air conditioning shut off..."
Mikaela then ran out of the room, knowing something was up as Lori followed her. In the hall, Nick and Ethan were walking back to the main room where Anthony, Adam, Rick and Shane all came back up. Everyone watched them.
In Jenner's office, Jenner caressed the picture of his wife. He looked at the picture and smiled a bit.
"I did the best I could with the time that I had..." He mumbled. "I hope you'd be proud of that."
Taylor then barged into the office. She gave her father a stern look.
"What the hell was all that about? Down there?" She asked, crossing her arms.
Jenner turned around to her. "Honey, I just wanted to protect--"
"Protect me? From what?!" Taylor stammered.
Jenner was speechless.
"Exactly. What does decontamination mean?" She asked, arms still crossed.
He stuttered before giving a full answer.
"The building... once it reaches zero.. it--"
Adam ran into the office. "Jenner, we need answers." He demanded.
Jenner nodded before walking past the two, and down to the platform. Taylor rolled her eyes and pushed Adam aside, following her father.
The group was gathered in the main room, looking at Jenner.
"Why is everything turning off?" Lori looked at Jenner.
Jenner sighed as he walked to the computers. "Energy use.. it's being prioritized."
Shane rose an eyebrow. "And the lights.. everything is just shutting down? For that?"
"Yes. Zone 5 is shutting itself down."
Nick snapped.
"What the fuck do you mean 'it's shutting down'?!" Nick stammered as he followed Jenner to the computers.
"The building is designed to save energy until the last minute. We've reached the half-hour mark." Jenner explained, turning on the computers.
He then turned to Andrea.
"It was the French." He blurted.
Andrea gave him a confusing look.
"They were the last to hold out..." Jenner mumbled before typing something in on the computers. "While our people were bolting out of the doors and committing suicide.. they stayed in the labs. They thought they were close to a solution."
Glenn rose an eyebrow. "Well, what happened?"
"They ran out of juice. The power grid snapped.. the world, runs on fossil fuels. I mean, how stupid is that?" Jenner chuckled.
"Very.." Taylor mumbled in agreement.
Adam took a step back as Anthony glared. Shane snapped as he approached Jenner.
"Let me tell you--" Shane started before Rick shoved him back.
"To hell with it, Shane!" He said finally. "Lori, Ethan, Nick, Mikaela, go grab our things, we're getting out of here, now! Everyone!"
Everybody gave a nod as they began to run for the doors. Suddenly, a shutter slammed down, preventing passages through the door.
"Did he just.. lock us in?" Adam said as he stopped running.
"He just locked us in!" Glenn shouted as his eyes widened.
Rick quickly ran to Jenner. "Jenner!"
Taylor looked at everyone, not knowing that her father would trap them. She quickly slapped her father across the face.
"Let these people go! Me too! Let us out! Get us out! We don't want to 'decontaminate'!" She stammered as Jenner moved his hand to the spot where Taylor slapped him on the face.
Anthony took his knife out of his pocket, still having it in there; sharp, as he did end up sharpening it. He approached Jenner.
"Let us the fuck out!" He shouted at him.
"When you all first came here... I told you. Topside's locked down. Those front doors can't open again. I can't let you out, it's something the computers control." He said, backing away from Anthony.
Rick grabbed Anthony. "Hey! Not now!"
Anthony stepped back, putting the knife back in his pocket as Shane walked off.
"It's better this way.." Jenner mumbled as Rick looked up at him.
"What is?"
"Do you KNOW what this place IS?!" Jenner shouted now. "We have protected the public from VERY nasty, stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe-out half the country!" He shouted as he made his way back to the computer. "Stuff you don't want getting out, EVER!"
Taylor stood with the group now, away from her father.
"In the event of a terrorist attack, H.I.T's are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out!" Jenner shouted.
Everyone gave him a confused, scared look.
"H.I.T's?" Mikaela asked, dumbfounded.
Jenner sighed heavily. "Vi, define!"
"HITs-- high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives cocoists 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 between 5,000 and 6,000 degrees and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired." The computer explained, as everyone listened.
"It sets the air on fire.." Taylor mumbled, thinking of the event that would happen. She began to back away.
"No pain, sorrow, or.. regret." Jenner closed his eyes, thinking of it.
Anthony ran to the door, followed by Nick.
"Open the damn door!" Anthony shouted, as Nick took an axe from the fire-alarm box. He began to smash it against the door.
"It would've been so much easier.." Jenner mumbled.
"Easier for who?" Lori shouted.
"All of you." Jenner sighed. "You know what's out there. A short, brutal, agonizing life that only ends with death."
Jenner looked at Rick. "Is that really what you want for your wife and son?"
"I don't want this!" Rick shouted at Jenner.
Nick banged on the door. "Fuck! I can't make a dent!"
Jenner looked over. "Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher. No point in trying."
Shane came around the corner, pumping his shotgun.
"Your fucking head ain't!" He said, aiming it at his head.
Adam's eyes widened. Would his father really kill Jenner? Anthony ran back down to the commotion.
"Last night! He said.." Jenner pointed to Rick as Rick held Shane away from Jenner. "You said, there was no hope left. You said it was only a matter of time before everyone you knew and loved was dead!"
"You really said that?" Brittany's eyes widened.
Mikaela had tears in her eyes as she began to hug her mom.
"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?!" Rick shouted.
"There is no hope." Jenner shook his head.
"Maybe it won't be you, but somebody... somewhere!" Rick said as he was cut off by another voice.
"What part of everything's gone do you not understand?" Andrea said, calmly. She had a look of sadness.
"Listen to your friend... she gets it." Jenner nodded in agreement. "This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."
The room was silent.
"You can't just keep us here!" Carol began to cry, as her eyes filled with tears.
"One tiny moment -- a millisecond!" Jenner thought of the explosion. "No pain.."
The words ran through Andrea's mind, even Brittany's. No pain. It'd be a blissful death, one that would much rather be preferred than getting bit, and bleeding out, then becoming one of.. them.
"We don't deserve to die like this!" Carol cried to the doctor.
"Dad.. let them go.." Taylor cried softly as she looked at her father.
"Wouldn't it be kinder to hold your loved ones, while waiting for the clock to run out?!" Jenner smiled to the group, trying to convince them.
Shane then broke out of Rick's grip, and pushed the shotgun directly to Jenner's head, threatening to pull the trigger. He let out a warrior's cry, as everyone pleaded for him to stop.
"Stop! Dad, fucking stop!" Adam shouted.
Anthony looked at his father. "Dad, do it!"
Adam looked at Anthony. "Hey, dumbass! He's our only key out of here!"
Shane then moved his aim from the doctor's head, to the computers where he began to shoot them, and the lights in the ceiling. Andrea and Brittany ducked to the floor, huddling together as everybody else ducked. Mikaela's eyes were flooded with tears now, as Shane stopped. Rick then took the gun from him, and pushed him to the ground.
"You done?" Rick asked as he looked at Shane.
Shane grunted and sighed. "Yeah man, cause we all are."
Rick gave the gun back to Shane where he then walked to Jenner.
"I think you're lying." Rick said as Jenner looked up at him.
"What?"
"You're lying. About no hope?" Rick said quietly to him. "If that were true, you would've bolted like the rest of everyone."
Jenner gave him a glare. "I didn't stay because I wanted to."
"Why?"
"I made a promise. To her." Jenner pointed to Taylor. "And her mother."
There was silence, except for the tears. "She begged him to keep going for as long as he could..." Taylor mumbled.
"How could I say no? She was dying." Jenner explained. "It should've been me on that table! She, was a loss to the world!"
"Dad.." Taylor cried, looking at the clock. It was the last ten minutes.
"I just worked here.. in our field, she was an Einstein!" Jenner smiled at the thought of her. "She could've done something. Me? I'm just Edwin Jenner."
"Your wife didn't have a choice." Mikaela mumbled. "We do."
Jenner looked at Mikaela.
"That's all we want."
Lori nodded as she held Mikaela close.
"Let us keep trying for as long as we can..." She mumbled.
Jenner thought.
"I told you topside's locked down." He then pressed a code into the box, and the doors opened. "There's your chance. Take it."
Rick looked at Jenner with a nod. "We're grateful."
Everyone ran for the doors, and down the halls.
"The day will come when you won't be." Jenner gave an eerie smile back.
Rick nodded to him and looked back to Lori.
"We've got four minutes, hurry the fuck up!" Nick shouted.
T-Dog pulled at Jacqui, but she refused. "No baby.. I'm.. I'm staying."
T-Dog's eyes widened as he looked at her. "Jacqui that's insane!"
She shook her head quickly. "No baby, it's completely sane." She smiled. "For the first time in a long time. I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy."
T-Dog looked at her as Glenn pulled him back. "We gotta go!"
"There's no point in arguing. Go. Get out.." She shoved him back before giving him a kiss. "Leave."
Dale looked at Andrea. "Andrea?"
She stayed in the center of the platform, not moving.
"I'm staying too.." She mumbled before sitting on the floor.
"Andrea.. Andrea, no!" Dale shouted as the group watched. He looked at them. "Just go!"
Everybody began to run, but Mikaela cried in Lori's arms at the thought of Andrea dying. The group ran up to the lobby where the doors were shut, and the sun shone through the glass. It was unbreakable. T-Dog grabbed a chair and began to smash the window, but it was helpless. Adam looked around as he looked for Shane, the shotgun. Shane was nowhere to be found.
"Anthony, where's dad?" Adam panicked as he looked around.
Anthony shrugged as Brittany was in tears by now.
On the platform, Jacqui stood away from everyone as Jenner looked at his daughter.
"We're gonna be fine. You'll see mom again soon." Jenner smiled to his daughter.
"Fuck you." Taylor said before turning around to the door. "That's all I stayed here for, to tell you that."
She then ran down the hall, catching up with the others.
Shane sat by Andrea's side.
"Hey. You don't want to do this." He whispered into her ear.
She was mute. Dale looked at her. "If you're staying, we are too."
Shane sighed as he then wrapped an arm around her, and picked her up. "I don't give a fuck about what you want. You're coming."
Outside in the lobby, everybody panicked. Carol searched through her purse, digging through her supplies.
"Rick..." She mumbled. "I found this in your clothes, first day at camp.."
She pulled out a grenade. His eyes widened as he quickly took it up toward the window, and unhooked it. It was ticking. He paused before running to take cover, as everybody else was doing.
"Oh shit..!" He ran as the explosion made him take flight.
Everybody quickly got up as the vibrations settled, where Shane quickly came down the hall with Andrea in his arms, squirming, slapping him to make him let go.
"Dad!" Adam shouted before Anthony grabbed him.
"Let's go, dumbass!" Anthony shouted, shoving Adam toward the window. They both jumped, followed by the rest of the group. Taylor and Mikaela both jumped together. Brittany jumped, and landed the wrong way, where her ankle twisted.
"Fuck!" She cried out as Anthony quickly ran to her.
He picked her up, with strength he didn't know he had. She felt like air. It was adrenaline, he thought. He ran with her back to the RV and cars. Walkers had come after the group as they ran to the vehicles. Adam took out his knife as he then stabbed a walker, taking its life. Nick did the same, as he'd kept the axe that he found in the CDC. Ethan ran as he didn't have any weapons; as Lori or Rick didn't allow him to have any. Lori held Mikaela's hand. Taylor was right behind Carol as everyone reached the cars. They all filed into the RV, mostly, and other cars as Andrea struggled against Shane.
"Let me go, you fucking bastard!" She shouted as he carried, which she slapped him for.
He kept a strong grip on her as he threw her onto the bed in the RV, closing the door with force as he held it shut. She only banged on the door, almost as if it would fall down. Lori looked at Rick's watch, and started to sweat more.
"Three... two... one..." Lori counted down before there was a meltdown of an explosion. The whole ground shook as the RV felt like it would tip over. Pieces of the CDC imploded as the explosion happened. A heat wave was sent out with the initial boom, causing trees to catch on fire. The CDC was gone. Jacqui was gone. Jenner was gone. Everyone was stunned. They quickly scattered to their cars after, and started them, driving off. What lies ahead was unknown for the group as they thought they experienced the worst. They were wrong.