What type of music do you listen to?
———
Seven's POV
I lay awake, in what I believe is the morning. It's hard to tell being that we're underground. I slept for about five hours, I had a hard time sleeping though with the new environment and the bad vibe I have been getting as of recent. Daryl is still asleep while I still lay on his legs uncomfortably. The smell of breakfast wafts in the air, I tilt my head up to get a better smell: eggs.
Daryl's eyes open, groaning as he slings an arm over his eyes. I hop down from my end of the couch and make my way over to where his head is and begin to lick his face in hopes of waking him. "Mm.. Seven. Leave me alone." He tells me in a groggy voice. I don't listen being that it wasn't a strict command. "Fine." He says frustrated, sitting up.
He sits on the end of the couch with his legs dangling off, staring at me. I simply stare back at him with a blank expression as is his. We're both too tired to make an expression or even have a reason behind us just staring at each other. He breaks his trance of staring at me and stands up. "C'mon lets go get some food."
We make our way down the halls, he keeps groaning as he rubs his head. Hungover. Merle often got hungover after his nights at the bar or at 'home.' Daryl would too but not nearly as often as Merle, it seemed to be a regular occasion for him.
We make it into the dining hall and see everyone start standing up. Did we miss breakfast? They all follow Jenner out of the room towards the 'big room.' We fuckin' missed breakfast. Great. I blame Daryl. I look up to him as we follow everyone and start grumbling as if I could cuss him out. He looks down at me and smirks before continuing to follow the group.
A human brain is displayed on the screen before Jenner begins to talk a bunch of sciencey things, that I don't think Daryl nor I would ever understand. "What are those lights?" Shane speaks up asking Jenner. Daryl's face displays complete confusion. So he also has no idea what tha' hell is goin' on.
"Its a person's life — experiences, memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you — the thing that makes you unique. And human." Shane looks at Lori before looking down after this is said. Somethin' happened. Was it when I left? Should I have stayed?
I lean against Daryl, the wariness about this place and Shane making me do so. Daryl has arms across his chest and his fingers under his biceps, "You don't make sense, ever?" Daryl asks.
Jenner then begins to explain in an even more complex sense, at this point I just gave up on trying to understand it and decided to just tune everything out. The brain turned black and the person stopped moving. Dead. Then little glows of red light illuminate the base of the brain. So all I know is that tha' bite kills ya' and then it makes ya' come back to life as not your self. A piece of metal comes into the camera before letting a shot go through the brain. Dead, once again.
Daryl still holds confusion on his face and I snort at him. He looks down at me and wipes the expression off his face and replacing it with his usual stoic one, muttering, "Shut up."
Jenner then tells us that there's nothing left anywhere and that he doesn't even know what the virus is, "Man, I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk, again." Daryl says rubbing his eyes before leaning against a monitor.
"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but.." Dale says making his way over and pointing towards a clock ticking down, just now hitting one hour left, "That clock — It's counting down. What happens at zero?"
"The.. basement generators — they run out of fuel." Jenner says avoiding eye contacts and now beginning to become clammy.
Oh no. I quickly make my way over to Daryl and begin to tug on his pant leg with my teeth, he looks down at me a bit frustrated at first but once he sees my panic it turns to one of worry. "What is it?" Somethin' bad is about a happen. We gotta go. Right now!
Some of the group's eyes shift over to us being that we don't typically bring much attention. "And then?" Rick asks Jenner. Jenner walks away. Daryl! We have ta' go! I start tugging on his pant leg more aggressively. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"
"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur."
—
Daryl and I went back to our room where he was planning on getting 'shitfaced' but with how jumpy I am right now he is getting annoyed. I trot over to the door leading to the hallway and scratch it letting out a whine. Daryl is sitting on the couch, a bottle of whiskey in hand as he watches me with confusion and annoyance. I pace to the opposite side of the room before turning and going back to the door to scratch at it and whine again. I could open the door on my own but Daryl might not know to follow me. "What tha' hell's your problem?" He asks taking a swig from the bottle of whiskey.
Before I could answer the air conditioning and lights stop working. Daryl gives another 'what the hell' look before going to the door that leads to the hallways and leans out asking, "What's going on?" His wine bottle swinging in his hand, "Why is everything turned off?"
I follow him ask everyone begins to drown Jenner in questions while he answers to the best of his ability. "Energy use is being prioritized."
"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asks standing by his doorway.
"It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down." What? What tha' hell does that mean? How can a building shut itself down?
Daryl pushes to the front of everyone, me sticking closely to his side, "Hey! Hey, what the hell does that mean?" Jenner continues to walk, turning a corner, ignoring us, "Hey, man, I'm talking to you. What do you mean it's shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?"
Jenner takes Daryl's bottle of whiskey, "You'd be surprised."
The group gathers in the 'big room' everyone shrouding Jenner with questions. "Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asks.
"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approach the half-hour mark." He gestures to the clock that has been counting down since the moment we got here, "Right on schedule."
Jenner offers back the bottle of whiskey Daryl has been previously drinking, Daryl snatching back the whiskey before Jenner begins to explain to speak some more, "It was the French." What's that got to do us?
"What?" Andrea asks.
"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 land till the end." Jenner glances down before bringing his gaze back up to Andrea, "They thought they were close to a solution."
I close to Daryl's side, afraid if I move away from him something bad might happen to him, "What happened?" Jacqui asks.
Everyone stares at Jenner, most of them confused and some are sweaty, "The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice." Jenner walks up the steps that lead to the computer, "The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?" Jenner turns and begins walking to the computer.
Shane marches up the steps after him, beginning to angrily speak towards him but is caught off by Rick, grabbing his shoulder, "To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care." Rick turns to all of us behind him, "Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of her now!" He says yelling at the 'now' part.
I begin to tug at Daryl's pant leg again, in hopes of getting him to leave this place. Looks down at me with a worried face before an alarm begins to blare in the rooms we all stood in. "Thirty minutes to decontamination." Vi's voice fills the room over the alarm. Red lights emit in the room, similar to a cop car's light.
Jenner seems to realize something as walks over to a computer, "Doc, what's going on here?" Daryl yells after looking down at me.
Shane turns to the group and takes lead, "Everybody, ya'll heard Rick. Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!" Everyone rushes to the door, I follow behind Daryl in order to make sure he gets away from this room. The door closes up and traps us in, I look over to see Jenner pressing buttons on his computer. Did he jus' lock us in?!
Glenn turns to Jenner asking in an angry voice that isn't typically heard coming from Glenn, "Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!"
Jenner turns on a camera and begins to videotape himself while havoc breaks loose. Daryl looks around, his eyes setting on Jenner before rage swirls within his eyes. "You son of a bitch!" He yells charging at Jenner. I charge ahead of him towards Jenner. This motherfucker is gonna kill us! "You locked us in here!"
Ricks yells for Shane to stop us, "No, stop. Don't!" Shane purposefully kicks me in an attempt to stop me and get to Daryl quickly. I let out a yelp, Daryl's eyes dart to me, noticing that Shane had kicked me, making rage further clouds his judgement. T-dog swoops me up, I thrash in his arms, sinking me teeth into his right forearm. He lets out a groan, and I release my jaws from his forearm but continue to thrash. Daryl had got a grasp on the back of Jenner's lab coat, almost yanking him out of his chair but is stopped by non other than Shane. Daryl struggles in Shane's grasp with his whiskey still in hand.
Rick marches over to Jenner, "Hey, Jenner, open that door now."
Jenner turns to Rick, "There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed." Lies.
T-dog reluctantly puts me down, my side aching once more. And it was starting to feel better too. Shane has let go of Daryl so I make my way over to him, as he begins to pet the top of my head, "Well, open the damn things." He says in an angry tone.
"That's not something I control. The computers do." But- don't humans control computers? "I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that. It's better this way." Yeah, we heard ya' say that. But we didn't know we'd be confined in here wit' some crazy ass dude.
Rick paces before turning to Jenner, "What happens in twenty-eight minutes?" Jenner doesn't respond, but instead turns back to his computer.
Shane steps forward from behind Jenner, gripping the back of his lab coat, "What happens in twenty-eight minutes?!" he yells at him. It ain't that hard to jus' say what's gonna happen.
Jenner stands up, finally snapping, "You know what this place is?! We protected the public from very nasty stuff!" He yells, getting into Shane's face momentarily, "Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" He finishes his speech, sitting down while everyone watches him with wary eyes. He's fuckin' crazy!
He continues, "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." You really don't speak too much common English.
"H.I.T.s?" Rick asks stepping towards Jenner.
Jenner hesitates, staring at the ground, "Vi, define."
Vi's robotic voice comes through, "H.I.T.s — high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other know explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignited the oxygen at between 5,000° and 6,000° and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired." Everyone begins to cry at this. Alrigh''. What? All I understood was explosive.
Jenner's eyes are casted towards the ground, "It sets the air on fire." He says solemnly, "No pain. An end to sorrow, grief... regret. Everything."
I lean against Daryl but it ends in me stumbling because he marches over to the closed door and throws the bottle of whiskey at it. I simply watch. "Open the damn door!" He yells at Jenner.
Shane runs towards the door, axe in hand, "Out of my way!" How tha' hell did he get an axe? He brings the axe down on the thick glass of the door. Someone tosses Daryl an axe and they both begin to try and break out. Where are these axes comin' from?
Everyone is turned to one another, tears streaming down their faces, or brimming their eyes. The kids are turned into the mother's, seeking comfort. I trot over to them, licking up the tears on the side of their faces. Carl turns to me first and then Sofia, a small gleam of happiness in their eyes at the sight of me before they bury their heads into my coat and begin to drench it with their tears. Both Lori and Carol looks at me with appreciation, Carol rubs my head while Lori rubs Carl's back.
Jenner begins to say how this is better but I tune him out, and focus on the kids. "Well, your head ain't!" I snap my head over to Daryl, seeing him with an axe raised over his head, eyes trained on Jenner.
Multiple people quickly restrain him and calm him down "You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead." Jenner says towards Rick. What tha' fuck? I look over to see Lori's mortified face. Carl lifts his head from my neck and looks at his dad, disbelief on his face.
Shane who is leaning against a desk, angrily asks, "What? You really said that? After all your big talk?"
Rick looks around at the group before speaking, "I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?"
Jenner speaks, pessimistically, "There is no hope. There never was." Are we really about to die because he's depressed and a lil' bit crazy?
"There's always hope." Rick shoots back. "Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody, somewhere" He says before getting cut off my Andrea.
"What part of 'everything is gone' do you not understand?" Who's side are you on? You're startin' to really get on my nerves.
"Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event." Jenner says letting it sink in for everyone.
I step away from the kids and slowly make my way over to Daryl. Both of the kids almost instantly cling back to their mothers. "This isn't right. You can't just keep us here." Carols pleads, sobs racking her voice while her and Sofia cling onto one another.
Jenner sitting in his chair leans forward, toward Carol, "One tiny moment — a millisecond. No pain."
I lean against Daryl's leg, him leaning back, something we seem to both commonly do with one another. "My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this." Shane angrily storms off after this, my eyes following him as I continue to listen in. Where tha' hell is he goin'?
"Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clocks to run down?" I wouldn't call dyin' with your family and friends, compassionate.
My eyes still are set on Shane, watching as he picks up a shotgun, cocking it. I let out a growl, which notifies Rick of was he is about to do, "Shane! No!"
"Out of he way, Rick! Stay out of my way!" Shane points his shotgun at Jenner's head. I growl at this. If he's dead he won't be able to open the door, "Open that door or i'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?!" He shouts. This dumbass is gonna take away our chances of gettin' out of here.
Shane's eyes are wide and his breathing is ragged, "Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We will never get out of here." At least he has a head on his shoulders.
"Shane, you listen to him." Lori says. Is- is somethin' going on between Shane and Lori? Now is not the time i'll think later, that is.. if there is a later.
"It's too late." Shane says.
"He dies, we all" Rick gets momentarily cut off by Shane as he begins to scream. He's crazy. I guess my gut was right about the vibe I had about him. "We all die! Shane!" Rick finishes.
Shane begins to shoot the computers, yelling out mad cries. Everyone seems to duck down, Daryl ducking down with his arm draped around me. Rick is quick to disarm him before he shoots anybody, knocking Shane down. Everybody cautiously comes to a stand, while Rick holds the butt of his shotgun at Shane, "Are you done now? Are you done?"
"Yeah, I guess we all are" Shane spits back. Tch.
Rick walks towards T-dog handing him the shotgun. Everybody seems to be out of breath, dread hanging in the air. Rick turns to Jenner, "I think you're lying." Jenner offers a questionable expression, "You're lying about no hope. If that were true, you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?" That makes sense.
"It doesn't matter."
"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?" He says leaning down to Jenner's level where he still sits.
"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise..." Jenner's comes to a stand pointing to the screen that had the brain, "To her. My wife." Why do we care about this guy's life? Ain't we tryin' to get outta here before we get cooked?
"Test subject nineteen was your wife?" Lori dumbly asks. No shit.
"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" Daryl walks back to the thick glass door, that has us trapped inside. He begins to repeatedly bring his axe down on it, this time I'm behind him while he attempts to try to break everyone out to freedom.
I tune everyone out and just focus on Daryl. My ears ring as I continue to stare. Are we really gonna die? Like this? What about Daryl? What about Merle? Is Merle even alive? What is Daryl thinkin' right now? He turns towards Rick before looking down at me, a frown etching his features. He turns back to the glass door and continues to bring down his axe, letting out grunts in between. I lay down, as I continue to stare with the ringing in my ears, a million questions flooding my brain.
Suddenly the glass door is opened. "Come on! Seven, go!" I quickly come to a stand and lead the way. We come into a big room, the keypad that leads outside not working. Shane and Daryl are both quick to try and break the glass with their axes but it isn't working. Great.
I stand behind Daryl as he furiously beats at the glass. T-dog grabs a chair and tries to break it. I'm pretty sure if an axe ain't gonna work neither will a chair from the corner store. "Dog, get down, get down!" Shane says striding over with a shotgun. I'm quick to move and get to Daryl's side as Shane begins to shoot at it.
"Rick, I have something that might help." Carols says rushed but still in her timid voice. She rushes to Rick's side fishing in her purse for something.
"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Shane comes back with a snarky remark. Oh, shut the fuck up. You really think if Carol of all people is coming forward, it's gonna be something small she's gotta say? No it's not, it's gonna be something rather big.
"Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket." She explains pulling out a grenade. See! It's a fuckin' grenade. A doggish smile, plasters my face. Rick takes it, some of the people yelling to get down.
Daryl comes over to me and wraps an arms around me for protection.
BOOM!!!
The glass shatters as we all scramble to get out. I lead Daryl and I towards the truck, walkers scatter the forefront. I run at the walker further away and sink my teeth into it's head, while Daryl uses his crossbow to pistol-whip the closer walker.
We quickly reach the truck, Daryl opens the driver side door, letting me jump in first then him right after. He slams the door shut, "Get down! Now!" He commands. I jump down onto the floor boards while he leans across the seats.
BOOM!!
The explosion shakes the earth around us, creating a shock wave that shakes the truck. Once the shaking stops Daryl leans up, looking at the building we were in, minutes ago, in ruins. Daryl and I are both panting as we look at each other.
What the fuck just happened?!
———
Late update. Oof. Sorry.
Season 2 coming soon.