Episode 5

"Daryl you cover the back" I heard Shane order and then felt a hand on my arm and jumped seeing it was Daryl just trying to get me moving 

"Get your stuff come on" he snapped and I grabbed the bedroll I just threw to the ground and began following everyone else inside. Once inside we all were on high alert looking around for anything dangerous but were only met with silence.

"Close those doors" Rick ordered and I turned to see Daryl in the back and me being the closest one to him I moved over to help him close the second door as quietly as we could manage. 

"Hello?" a voice called out and we all heard a gun cock signaling it was loaded and ready to be used. Everyone with a weapon turned to the voice and raised our own weapons ready to defend ourselves. We only saw a man with a white t-shirt and black sweatpants on standing there with an automatic weapon aimed right at us "anybody infected?" he asked us 

"One of our group was...he didn't make it" Rick answered truthfully and by the sound of his voice I could tell he still felt pain

"Why are you here?-what do you want?" He asked, keeping to the point as he slowly walked forward to see us all better.

"A chance" Rick replied simply. We didn't have time to waste since the doors were glass and breakable.

"That's asking an awful lot these days" the man replied, stepping closer. I grinded my teeth wanting to move this along but I bit my tongue and let Rick do all the talking

"I know" Rick admitted. The man took his time to look to each and every one of us before finally speaking

"You all submit to a blood test-that's the price of admission" he explained. 

"We can do that" Rick replied. I grew tense and panicked again. I had a fear of needles. I should have mentioned this before.

"You got stuff to bring in you do it now once this door closes it stays closed" The man pointed out the door as he lowered his gun. Rick, Shane, Glenn, and T-dog left to gather any leftover things outside while Daryl and I watched the rest of the group. Once the door was closed the stranger moved over to a keypad and punched in a code and slid a security badge "VI seal the main entrance. Kill the main power up here" he spoke into a small speaker

Once the shutter was sealed everyone relaxed just a little bit more. Rick introduced himself to the stranger and we learned the man's name was 'Dr. Edwin Jenner' With that said Jenner led us through the main entrance and to a specific elevator that only had one button. I loaded in with Daryl and we stood in the back and everyone else loaded in as well. He pressed the button and the doors closed and we started to move.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl finally asked, breaking the god awful awkward silence in the elevator.

"There were plenty enough lying around. I familiarized myself" Jenner replied looking over to him then to the rest of us "But you look harmless enough" he said then stopped as he looked at Carl "except you...I have to keep my eye on you" jenner said getting Carl to smile just a little bit. He seemed to put them at ease at least. 

Finally the elevator stopped and the doors opened up letting everyone off and Jenner just kept walking 

"Are we underground?" Carol asked Jenner suddenly and I was a bit curious if we were myself even if the one botton seemed obvious. 

"You claustrophobic?" Jenner asked 

"A little" Carol answered but I could hear the slight fear in her voice

"Try not to think about it" Jenner told her simply as we came to the end of the hall where a large room waited for us. "VI bring up the lights in the big room" Jenner spoke and the lights turned on. I was not surprised that this was called 'the big room' but I was a bit disappointed.  Like he said it was a big room and not square like normal but round and screens covered the far wall and under it a small walkway then a center raised platform with two rows of computers. Everything was off but the lights that lit up the whole area. "Welcome to zone 5" Jenner told us 

"Where is everybody?" Rick asked Jenner "the other doctors, the staff?"

"I'm it' Jenner said after turning to look at us. I was a bit frozen "It's just me here"

"What about the person you were speaking with? VI?" Lori asked confused and that was a good question

"VI say hello to our guests. tell them...welcome" Jenner spoke out loud and a second later a voice that sounded like it belonged to a computer spoke out to us saying exactly what Jenner had told her to say "I'm all that's left...I'm sorry..." he repeated to us. With this done he went on and led us to a room where he was going to draw blood. Since I was in the back I froze at the door not wanting to walk inside. Jenner was waiting for me to walk in "something wrong?" he asked and I shook my head but really everything was wrong

"Can I be in a separate room?..." I asked clenching my fists at the idea. Jenner seemed to be on edge by my strange request. "I'm not sick...I just....I have a. fear of...'' I tried to speak but my phobia of it made me unable to speak. After a second of his getting the idea he finally spoke

"Okay" he agreed then walked over to the next room and opened the door to show the room was the same "Wait here...I'll be back in a little bit" he told me and I nodded. The door closed leaving me alone. I walked in and slowly set my things down onto the floor. I calmed a bit seeing I was alone and I sat at the table and closed my eyes and thought about anything else but what was to come. Until the door opened and Jenner came in.

My heart started to race with my anxiety as I looked down and leaned my head into my hands trying to breath

"That bad huh?" Jenner spoke but all I could manage was to nod. 

"Jade?" I heard a voice and looked over to see Daryl there and looking at me

"What are you doing here?" I asked. I didn't want him to see me in my panicked state. 

"Jenner told me you wanted to be alone for this" he said and looked to the Dr. who was setting up my .... needle. I looked away from Jenner and closed my eyes. I heard Daryl scoff "You take down a walker but you're scared of a needle?" I heard him teasing me

"Shut up" I snapped my voice shaking. 

"Okay" Jenner spoke as he walked over. I started to breathe quicker as I saw him sit down in front of me and my wild eyes landed right onto his equipment and I leaned away. "arm" he said to me and held out his hand . I lifted my arm to move it toward him but my mind pulled it back all on it's own as my body started to panic. "Maybe you can help me here" Jenner spoke and looked at Daryl.

Daryl set his things down and walked over to me and reached for my arm and pulled it up for me even if I was fighting him a little

"Come on don't be a wuss" Daryl told me and held my wrist down. I fought more as my free hand reached to pull his hand away but Daryl's free hand put my free hand onto his shoulder. "Close your eyes" he told me. I looked away and squeezed my eyes shut as my free hand clenched onto his shirt. I was sobbing at the idea of it and felt a pinch. 

I winced and felt Daryl's grip tighten over my wrist holding me still 

"Doing good Jade" I heard Jenner speak. After a few seconds longer I grew extremely light headed when I felt another pinch and then something being pressed to my wound. "There all over" 

"See?...you're a badass" I heard Daryl say as his iron grip loosened and then pulled my arm up from the table and closed my arm so it would hold the cotton ball in place.

"don't tease me...I know I'm a baby" I spoke, calming down and agreeing to his earlier comment of me being a wuss and sniffling as I rubbed the tears away from my face. I looked up to him and he looked at me with a blank look but I could see a light smile in his eyes as he looked at me "Thank you" I told him

"Don't thank me...thank Jenner..." Daryl spoke and I looked at him confused "Jenner is letting us have some food...he even has some booze" he said smiling a little. 

"I don't drink much" I told him not sure I wanted to get wasted tonight 

"Oh come on...after this you're telling me you don't want to get shit faced drunk?" Daryl asked. When he put it that way I smiled lightly

"Yeah you're right. it would take the edge off" I finally agreed as I stood up slowly and walked with Daryl into a small cafeteria where everyone was already eating and drinking. I found a seat off to the side and got some food from Lori and a glass which Dale filled a bit for me. I wrinkled my nose at the wine definitely not a fan of it but I drank it anyways. 

it was to a point everyone was laughing and Daryl had gotten his hands on the bottle 

"you know in Italy children have a little bit of wine with dinner- and in France '' Dale told Lori. I guess Carl asked if he could try it and it made me laugh more. I was feeling the buzz of the alcohol in my system 

"Well when Carl is in italy or france he can have some then" Lori spoke keeping to the idea that he was just a kid

"What's it gonna. hurt?" Rick asked, smiling and encouraged her to let him try it

"Come on Lori he wont like it anyways" I added and took another drink of mine. 

"Okay" she giggled and removed her hand from the glass he was given with just a little and he took it. I smiled and looked up to Daryl and held up my empty glass asking for more. I saw a smile on his face as he took one more chug from the bottle then poured some more into my glass. 

"there you go young lad" Dale spoke and the whole room fell silent as we watch Carl lift the glass to his mouth and take a sip, he let it linger for a second before his face scrunched up 

"EW!" he complained making us all laugh at the boy

"That's my boy" Lori encouraged him and took what was left for him and put it into her glass making us all laugh even more.

"well just stick to soda pop there bud" Shane told him as Daryl hoped down from the counter he was sitting on and walking around filling someone else's glass 

"Not you Glenn" Daryl said. I looked over to see Glenn was a bit Dazed when he heard his name being called then looked around and smiled like an idiot 

"What?" he asked lost making me giggle 

"Keep drinking little man. I wanna see how red your face can get" Daryl told Glenn. Everyone laughed again and I watched Daryl as he met my eyes and I just shook my head at him lightly with a light smile.

"It seems to me we haven't' thanked our host properly" Rick stood up and spoke out for everyone to hear 

"He is more than just our host." T-dog spoke and everyone raised their glass to him 

"Here here" everyone cheered in their own way that it all blended together. Until you heard Daryl suddenly

"Booyah!!" he yelled and I laughed hysterically. 

"Booyah!" I called out once I had controlled my fit of laughter and raised my glass in praise for the Dr as well and saw Daryl watching me again. Daryl walked back over to stand by me and filled my glass even more than it already was since my glass still had some in it. I wasn't complaining 

"so when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here Doc?" Shane spoke up making the whole room go quiet "all the other doctors...that were supposed to be figuring out what happened-where are they?" Shane asked dulling the moment 

"We're celebrating Shane '' Rick spoke softly, wanting to keep the mood light. we hadn't had this in so long it was nice to forget for just a moment what was really going on and enjoy that we were alive "We don't need to do this now

"Woah wait a second this is why we're here right?...this was your move supposed to find all the answers" Shane replied now sounding sarcastic or irritated. He clearly had too much to drink. "Instead we--we found him" he stated pointing to the doctor with a chuckle. "found one man...why?"

Well when things got bad lot of people just left went to be with their families...and when things got worse when the military cordon got overrun the rest bolted..." Jenner explained to us 

"Every last one?" Shane asked not seeming to believe it 

"No...many couldn't face walking out that door... they...opted out" Jenner said. it was a strange way to explain it but we all knew what he ment "there was a rash of suicides...that was a bad time..."

"You didn't leave..why?" Andrea asked 

"I just kept working...hoping to do some good..." Jenner answered simply. That seemed to be the end of our night and the good part was gone.

"Dude you are such a buzzkill man..."Glenn said, mirroring everyone's mood to Shane. I watched him and waited for him to say something. anything to give me a reason to curse at him or throw something at him but he remained silent seeing the damage was done. After dinner Jenner took us to a different area of the bunker.

"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" Jenner went on explaining to us then stopped to look at the kids "There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy ...just don't plug in the video games okay? or anything that draws power" he told them and stood up "Same applies if you shower...go easy on the hot water" Jenner told us and with that I heard Glenn and T-dog repat the fact that hot water was a thing. I shook my head lightly as everyone found a place to bed for the night and I found an empty one for myself.

I could use a shower but it was late, I was exhausted, and I was drunk. I didn't need to slip and crack my head open because I couldn't wait until morning to take a shower. I lifted my bag and threw it onto the floor where I was going to sleep and rolled out the bed roll because I was so used to the hard ground by now. I could hear some talking in the hallway and the kids laughing as they took in the idea that they were completely safe here. 

"You can really hold your drink" I heard a unique and memorable voice speak taking me out of my own head and I turned to see Daryl there leaning on my door frame with the bottle still in his hand 

"Not really...I'm just an easy going drunk" I giggled without fighting it. I watched him watching me for a long time when I decided to just speak up while I still had the alcohol to blame "You should see yourself from my view" I said tilting my head at him

"Why?" He grumbled    "Because you would see why I care about you so much" I said slurring my words a bit. He grew tense and his eyes fell from mine. I didn't look away knowing what I said is true. "You know I care Daryl....everyone can see right through me even if I pretend they don't" I stood up and walked over to him. His head was low and eyes never meeting mine again. I could see he wasn't sure how to respond or act. "Your strong, smart, more than capable of surviving this world" I scoffed shaking my head as I stood in front of him.

I reached down and took the bottle from his hand and lifted it to my mouth taking a big drink 

"I wish I even had a chance" I said as I held the bottle back out for him.     "Why?" He asked again. I rolled my eyes and moved closer to him. I didn't need to say anything else as I leaned up to him and kissed his cheek. I felt his light facial hair scrape across my mouth and pulled away

"I don't know...I just do" I shrugged and pulled away and sat on my bedroll I had rolled out on the floor earlier. "Did you want this back?" I asked, realizing I still had the bottle in my hand. He walked over and accepted it and took a big drink. "Goodnight Daryl...I'm going to pass out now" I told him, smiling lightly as I laid back and down on my bag I used as a pillow and closed my eyes.

~~~The Next Morning~~~

I woke up the next morning and saw I had been covered up with a blanket. I winced from the sunlight and every little sound I heard pounded on the inside of my head like a jackhammer. My hair fell over my shoulders and face as I got up and headed to the bathroom. I managed a quick hot shower and got cleaned up from all the sweat and dirt I had gathered before I headed off to the kitchen wanting to get something in my stomach to make me feel better. When I got there I saw T-dog was already cooking for everyone, Lori and Carl were eating and Glenn looked worse then I did.

I couldn't focus on what everyone was talking about because of my own head but I did hear T-dog mention that protein helps with the hangover and Lori had something to take the pain away. 

"Lori can I have some?" I mumbled and held my hand out since she was working on opening the bottle for Rick. I closed my eyes trying to shut out any light as I heard Glenn groan as he was suffering.

"Jade" T-dog spoke as he set down a plate and I looked at it and smiled thankful just as Lori held my hand and made sure I was aware of the pills in it.

"Thanks" I mumbled to both of them as I took the pills and then moved to sit down to eat

"Don't ever ever ever let me drink again" I heard Glenn moan and I smiled. 

"You and me both Glenn" I replied as I started to eat just as Carol and Sophia sat down and Shane walked over to get some coffee. I was barely touching my food feeling like I was just going to throw it all up again when I heard T-dog mention something about Shane. I looked up to see Shane had three long scratches across his neck.

"Looks like it hurt" I noted out loud. It looked like a person had done it.    "Must have done it. in my sleep" Shane spoke his reply and suddenly my hangover didn't seem so bad. Not because he was hurt worse but because I don't think someone like Shane could do that to themselves in they're sleep.

" I've never seen you do that before" Rick said feeling my confusion and suspicions 

"Me Neither" Shane replied simply and looked to Lori "not like me at all" he said. At first it didn't seem like much but When Lori looked away I felt something else was going on between them.

"Morning" we heard Jenner speak and Rick greeted him as I watched Shane a moment longer suspecting something had happened with them. Shane took a drink of his coffee and set it down and saw my gaze watching him. He looked nervous about my staring so he turned his attention to Jenner as Dale started talking to him about what the virus really was. Dale and Andrea both seemed ready to get the show on the road. 

Shane and I didn't seem to look away waiting for the other to back down. That was until I felt something kick my chair lightly and I glanced up to see Daryl walking past and to the coffee. He walked faster than he was a second ago and refused to look at me. When I looked back Shane had turned away. 

We all ate and by this time the medicine had kicked in and I was feeling so much better and the food was doing its job. After breakfast Jenner took us all into the big room. Jenner walked over to a computer and typed something in while he spoke to VI

"Give me a playback of TS-19" Jenner said and the large screen lit up for us

"Playback of TS-19" VI repeated while the word 'Loading' was on the screen

"Few people ever got a chance to see this... very few" Jenner told all of us as everyone fixated on the screen waiting for something to show up. A few seconds later we saw the shape of a person's head and slowly the outside became blurry while the brain area became clear to see.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked 

"An extraordinary one....not that it matters in the end" Jenner spoke as he looked from Carl then back to the screen. I looked around the room and saw Daryl standing as far away as he could from me. I remembered what I had said last night and just the thought of it made my face heat up and regret linger in my head. "Take us in for E.I.V" Jenner spoke

"What's that mean?" I couldn't help asking when VI spoke up and Jenner looked to me and pointed to the sky as if to point to VI herself

"Enhanced internal view" Jenner smiled lightly and I nodded then gave him a thumbs up to show I got it. He turned back to his computer and typed something in. The screen moved and zoomed into the brain and we all were looking at thousands of lines and balls that were connected to each other with these lines. All of it was a blue color and flashes of light came from everyone faster than you could count. It looked like lightning 

"What are those lights?" Shane asked Jenenr

"It's a person's life...experiences, memories...it's everything...somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light...is you" Jenner explained and pointed to us. I looked to Jenner and saw he was happy to explain what he knew. He was the smartest person here obviously. Then I looked to Daryl and saw he turned away from me as fast as he could like he wasn't even looking at me as well "The thing that makes you unique and human"

"You don't make sense ever?" Daryl asked crossing his arms in front of his chest and Jenner looked at him 

"Those are synapses" I replied to Daryl knowing something about the brain. Daryl glanced at me then looked to Jenner as he pointed back to me 

"Exactly...electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages- they determine everything a person says, does, or things from the moment of Birth...to the moment of death" Jenner explained more in detail.

"Death?...that's what this is a vigil?" Rick asked as he walked over to Jenner 

"Yes...or rather the playback of the vigil" Jenner corrected himself

"This person died?" Andrea finally spoke up and I looked to her to see her walking closer to it hoping to learn something. I knew why. Amy. "Who?" She asked him

"Test subject 19" Jenner answered "someone who was...bitten and infected..and volunteered to have us record the process" Jenner picked his words very carefully like he was trying to control himself. I had a strong feeling that Jenner knew this person. "VI scan forward to the first event" Jenner commanded

"Scanning to first event" VI answered his request and the image started to move only this time the brain that was once so full of light was now beginning to turn black and soon was nothing but darkness. No life was left. I felt my eyes sting with tears as I imagined this is what Amy went through

"What is that?" Glenn asked.

"It invades the brain like meningitis" Jenner answered. I looked down and closed my eyes not wanting to see or hear any more.  What I did hear was that he confirmed that everything you were ... was gone. They weren't the same person you knew. 

"Is that what happened to Jim?" I heard Sophia ask Carol and I frowned. I hated the idea that these kids had to grow up in this world. I looked over to Andrea and saw she was taking this all really hard. 

"She lost somebody two days ago...her sister" Lori explained to Jenner as he looked to Andrea seeing she was upset by all this

"I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is" Jenner spoke to her. I frowned more. For a second this angered me. We all lost someone we loved. Hearing about more death just made it worse. At least it did for me. "Scan to the second Event" Jenner commanded

"Scanning to second event" VI answered and again the screen changed. I looked around to everyone else to see what they were feeling but it all seemed to be the same. Concentration or worry. I turned away and looked back to the video. 

"The resurrection times vary wildly- we had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes...the longest we heard of was Eight hours. In the case of this patient it was two hours, one minute seven seconds" he spoke as we watched the now black brain start to spark light. but it wasn't the same kind of light. Now it looked like embers of a fire starting to spark 

"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked shocked 

"No. just the brain stem... basically it gets them up and moving" 

"But they're not alive" Rick interrupted him, confused as he walked forward. Jenner turned to him and gestured to the screen 

"You tell me" Jenner spoke up sounding irritated about the whole situation

"it's nothing like before...most of that brain is dark" Rick spoke out loud

"Dark, lifeless, dead...the frontal lobe, the neocortex-the human part that doesn't come back" Jenner explained "The you part...just a shell driven by mindless instinct" as jenner finished we watched the head move but then suddenly something went right through the head and right to the source of the embers, extinguishing it

"God what was that?" Carol asked 

"He shot his patient in the head" Andrea answered for him and stared blankly at the screen. 

"VI power down the main screen and the work stations" Jenner ordered and VI repeated as we heard the power shutting off

"So you have no clue what this could be?" I asked him sounding a little hopeful that he might have some clue 

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal" 

"Or the wrath of god?" Jacqui asked, tears falling from her eyes.

"There is that" Jenner replied not ruling it out

"Somebody must know something...somebody somewhere" Andrea spoke her voice cracking a little bit

"there are others right?... other facilities?" Carol asked

"There may be some...people like me-"

"But you don't know? how can you not know?" Rick asked starting to sound fearful himself

"Everything went down...communications, directives--all of it" Jenner replied sounding hopeless and tired. "I've been in the dark for almost a month

"So it's not just here....there's nothing left anywhere?...nothing?...that's what you're really saying right?" Andrea asked, sounding angry. We all wanted him to say no. We waited and gave him every chance we could but the longer he said nothing the more we all came to realize that what Andrea had said was true. 

"Man i'm gonna get shit faced drunk again" Daryl spoke breaking the silence as he rubbed his eyes. I scoffed at him lightly. Even with this news I found him to be a source of light anywhere I went.

"Dr. Jenner I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question but...that clock" Dale spoke up from the group and walked around me gently moving me aside so he could walk and I let him by and he pointed to the large digital clock on the wall in the back room. "It's counting down" Dale pointed out the obvious and I knew why he was asking this. we got no answer as I looked back to Jenner to see his back still turned to him

"What happens at zero?" Dale asked seriously. Jenner looked over to him as he started to answer

"The...basement generators they run out of fuel" Jenner answered very matter of fact like. This put me on edge as he turned away 

"and then?" Rick asked but Jenner didn't answer. He didn't answer us at all

"VI what happens when the power runs out?" I spoke up going right to the source of all knowledge 

"When the power runs out facility wide decontamination will occur" VI answered and I tensed up. Rick looked at me like I suddenly knew everything. I shrugged but deep down I knew 'decontamination' was a bad word. 

"Okay everyone go back to your rooms- Shane, Glenn, T-dog your with me to get to the basement" Rick sent everybody into motion and I followed Lori and everyone else back to our rooms where we waited for them to get back and bring some good news for us. I got to my room and just sat on a sofa that was against the wall and leaned on my knees thinking. I rubbed and twisted my necklace again to take my mind off things. I should go speak to Daryl, I thought. 

I stood up and walked to his room and knocked. After a second I heard some footsteps on the other side of the door then it opened and there I saw Daryl standing with a bottle in his hand. I think it was whisky.

"Can we talk?" I asked softly and after a second he nodded and let me in and closed the door behind us. I looked down not wanting to face him when I did this "I was drunk last night...what I said...."

"It didn't mean nothin?" he asked up front. I turned to him to see he had this kind of glare "it was all just a big joke just to get me to say something stupid?" he asked. I shook my head

"No" I snapped as he was shifted from one foot to the other

"What then?" he demanded. I flushed

"I'm sorry...It wasn't a lie .... nothing I said wasn't not true....it was all true I just...I wish I had been sober when I told you" I explained

"Pff...right...and we're just supposed to go on like the world isn't in a shit hole huh?'' he asked walking closer to me

"What are you talking about?..."

"I mean, did you think it was just going to make me suddenly like you?!" he snapped, leaning into my face and raising his voice. I could smell the whisky on his breath. I shook my head

"no...your too good for me Daryl...I just want you to know that I will always be there for you" I said "even if you don't want me back" I whispered looking into his blue eyes. he looked at me confused but he also seemed to have calmed down. 

I waited for him to speak or say something to me. Anything rather then leaving me to this silence. Suddenly the faint hissing sound from the air conditioning stopped as we stood there and this stopped our argument as we looked up to the vent. I walked over to a light and tried to turn on some lights but nothing was working. I turn to talk to Daryl but he went to the door and opened it and leaned out. I could hear more comotion from the others about all the same problems

"What's going on why is everything turned off?" Daryl asked down the hall when I saw Jenner walk by and rip the bottle from Daryl's hand and keep walking. I moved to follow as Daryl gave me a quick glance then walked after him

"Energy use is being prioritized" Jenner spoke without emotion

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

"Not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down" Jenner spoke sounding dead.

"Hey! hey what the hell does that mean?" Daryl demanded as he walked past everyone else to be right behind Jenner but he didn't answer "Hey man I'm talking to you...what do you mean it's shutting itself down?..how can a building do anything?" Daryl asked trying to get something out of him

" You'd be surprised," Jenner responded.

"Rick?" Lori spoke looking over the railing down to the men who just got back to us from the Basement. I moved to keep up with the group as we all were now together and the anxiety seemed to be building as we all were looking to Rick to fix this.

"It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. that started as we approached the half-hour mark" Jenner spoke as he pointed to the clock that now read thirty minutes and counting "Right on schedule" Jenner stopped at the steps leading to the circle of computers in the big room and took a big drink of the whisky he took from Daryl then held it out for him and Daryl snatched it back.

"It was the french" Jenner suddenly spoke looking to Andrea 

"What?" she asked confused

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know while our people were bolting out the doors and commiting suicide in the hallways-they stayed in the labs till the end" Jenner explained what he ment but I didn't care at this point. "They thought they were close to a solution" 

"Unless there's a happy end to this story does it matter?" I snapped at Jenner earing looks from the others and even Jenner looked at me surprised to hear the anger in my once gentle voice "What the hell happened?" I snapped

"Same thing that's happening here...no power grid... ran out of juice" he shrugged like it was no big deal. he started to walk then stopped and turned to us "the world runs on fossil fuels I mean how stupid is that?" Jenner spoke sounding like now was the time to talk about the energy we use.

"let me tell you--" Shane moved, ready to rip Jenner apart for his change in conversation.

"To hell with it Shane I don't even care" Rick spoke then turned to everyone else "Lori grab your things everybody get your stuff we're getting out of here NOW!" Rick yelled at everyone, shaking them into motion. I looked to Daryl as he reached for my arm and turned me to go get my things when everyone froze listening to an alarm blaring and a red light flashing at us all 

"What's that?" Shane asked as jumpy as everyone else. 

"30 Minutes to decontamination" VI announced to everyone and a large countdown appeared on the main screen. 

"Doc what's going on?!" Daryl yelled as Jenner walked over to a computer.

"Everybody y'all heard Rick-get your stuff and let's go! go now!" Shane yelled to everyone to get them moving again. Everybody moved to leave when the back door moved down and sealed us off from the exit.

"What the hell?" I breathed my panic rising 

"Did you just lock us in?" Glenn asked but his voice was so quiet I don't think Jenner heard him. "He just locked us in!" He yelled. I felt Daryl push something to me and I held it as I turned to him and saw he was rushing over to Jenner as he was on the computer

"You son of a bitch!" I could hear Daryl yell and I ran after him 

"Daryl no!" I yelled trying to catch him before he got to Jenner. Shane and T-dog got to him first and pulled him away as he fought to get to Jenner "Daryl stop!" I yelled at him

"Jenner open that door now" Rick told him 

"There's no point everything topside is locked down the emergency exits are sealed-"

"Well open the damn things!" Daryl snapped at him 

"That's not something I control the computers do- I told you once that front door closed it wouldn't open again. you hear me say that" Jenner spoke and I lost it

"That's such bullshit! your telling me there isn't one back door to all that programming that you know?!" I demanded trying to get through to him "There's always a backup code or something!" 

"it's better this way" 

"What is?" I demanded. this was crazy

"What happens in 28 minutes? '' Rick asked, trying to stay calm for everyone watching this all unfold. Jenner just turned away from him, not answering. I kicked his chair 

"Hey!" I snapped and he stood up and faced me 

"You know what this place is!?" he yelled at me "we protected the public from some very serious stuff!!...weaponized smallpox!- ebola strains that could wipe out half the country!!-stuff you don't want getting out ever!!" he yelled at me and after getting it all out into the open he moved away from me and took his seat back into his chair again. "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"

"What the hell is that?" I snapped trying to breathe. Jenner glared at me 

"VI define" 

"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 that any other known explosive except nuclear the vacuum pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired" VI finished and I stumbled back away from Jenner and turned around to leave and let it soak in but felt arms wrap around me and saw it was Daryl. I leaned my head down against his chest 

"It sets the air on fire" I heard Jenner finally answer in a low whisper. I shook my head and hugged him back 

"I ain't dyin here" I heard Daryl hiss into my ear as he pulled away and took the bottle from my hands and went to the door. I watched him wondering what he was doing but all he did was smash the bottle against the metal 

"Open the damn Door!!" he yelled at Jenner, anger flooding through him. Shane came up and someone tossed Daryl a second axe and they both began beating at the door trying to break through it but it never even made a dent. After many attempts Shane was just worn out.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher" Jenner spoke from behind me as I saw Daryl walk past me 

"Yeah but your head ain't" Daryl hissed as he raised the axe. I reached and grabbed it just as T, Dale and Rick all threw themselves on him to stop him

"Stop if we want that door open then we need him alive it's the only option" I explained to Daryl. 

"You do want this...last night you said ...you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead" Jenner spoke and I looked over to Jenner and saw him looking at a very guilty looking Rick. 

"What you really said that?" Shane asked him "After all your big talk?" he taunted

"I had to keep hope alive didn't I?" Rick tried to explain himself to Lori but I shook my head

"It doesn't matter what he said right now-Jenner you can't just take this choice from us.... we have to keep hoping for anything good" I told him pleading 

"There is no hope- there never was" Jenner tried to explain

"There's always hope" Rick hissed back "Maybe it won't be you-maybe not here-but somebody somewhere-"

"What part of 'everything is gone' don't you understand?" Andrea snapped at Rick

"So we all just lay down and die here because nothing is left?...we are left Andrea!" I yelled at her trying to get her thinking again "We are alive!"

"Listen to your friend. she get's it" Jenner spoke with a smooth voice

"Speak for yourself!" I snapped and. saw Glenn walk over and raise a hand to calm me down. I hadn't spoken in so long that now I had all the strength in the world to yell at them. 

"This is what takes us down...this is our extinction event" Jenner shrugged like it was no big deal.

"This isn't right" carol was sobbing "You can't just keep up here!"

"One tiny moment--a millisecond. no pain-"

"My daughter doesn't' deserve to die like this!" Carol sobbed trying to reach through to him

"Wouldn't it be kinder?...more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Jenner asked too calm for my liking. I was about to speak but Shane came up with a loaded and ready to fire shotgun 

"Shane no!"

"Get out of my way Rick!" Shane shoved rick away and took aim at Jenner

"Open that door-or I'm gonna blow your head of-do you hear me?!" Shane yelled.  

Lori and Rick tried to tell him that we needed him alive just like what I told Daryl. I was frozen watching his every move waiting to see what he's going to do when he suddenly yelled and started firing at the computers rather than at Jenner. Rick looked between us all. I wasn't sure what he was looking for but I saw something change in his expression. I turned to look at Daryl but he was walking away from me

"I think your lying" Rick started 

"What?"

"Your lying about no hope" Rick answered. I turned to look at Rick to hear what he has to say "if that were true you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. you didn't..." rick pointed out to him and Jenner scoffed at him "You chose the hard path. why?" Rick asked

"It doesn't matter." Jenner replied. I wanted to argue that but I saw Rick was on a good path here so I bit my tongue

"it does matter- it always matters. you stayed when others ran, why?"

"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise" Jenner replied then pointed to the screen. "to her" he spoke but I wasn't connecting the dots. "my wife" he said and I thought of subject 19. 

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori spoke, saying my thoughts out loud. My gut was right. he was connected to her.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could....how could I say no?" Jenner spoke when I heard a bang and I turned to see Daryl wsa back to beatin on the steel door trying to break through "She was dying...it should have been me on that table it wouldn't have mattered to anybody she was a loss to the world" Jenner spoke highly of the woman "Hell she ran this place- I just worked here-in our field she was an Einstein...me? I'm just Edwin Jenner" he scoffed at himself "she could have done something about this...not me" 

"Your wife didn't have a choice...you do-thats-thats all we want" Rick told him with a calming voice "That's all we want a choice... a chance"

"Let us keep trying as long as we can" Lori pleaded with her voice cracking and hugging Carl to her. We all watched Jenner taking in our request and I turned to look at Daryl seeing he was still beating against the door.

"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those" Jenner spoke and I thought that was him saying no. I didn't want to turn away from Daryl as I started to think this was my Last couple moments alive. When I heard a beep then the metal door slid open. 

"Come on!" Daryl looked at everyone and yelled at us to follow him. I didn't have to be told twice as I smiled and moved after Lori, Carol, and the kids and made our way towards the door where I met up with Daryl but we all stopped and turned back to see Rick still talking to Jenner

"We got four minutes left come on!!" Glenn yelled at him as Lori ran over and pulled him away. We all started to move out when I heard someone yell that they were staying. I turned around and frowned seeing Jacqui was the one who said it.

"I'm staying sweety" she spoke to T-dog and he tried to convince her but it was crazy to stay. Dale tried to talk to her as she walked away.

"I'm staying too" Andrea told Dale but he wasn't having it. 

"Go! Just go!" Dale told us yelling. I felt a hand pull my arm and I looked to see Daryl there pulling me with him. Daryl stopped by his room and gathered his crossbow and all the guns we had and left everything else and headed out the door and ran as fast as we could up the many flights of stairs until we came to the main lobby where we first were.

"Wait here" Daryl told me and ran up with Shane to use the axe on the glass but it wasn't anything. T tried a chair. Not a scratch. Finally Shane tried the shotgun but it couldn't crack the glass.

"Of course" I scoffed, shaking. 

"Rick! I might have something that might help" Carol spoke rushing up to talk to Rick

"Carol I don't think a nail file is gonna do it" Shane spoke sarcastically at her

 "Your first morning at camp when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket," Carol explained, holding out a grenade with a shaking hand. I giggled at the possible way to freedom. Rick accepted it and everyone saw him take it and start backing up

"Look out!!" Shane yelled and we all moved away and got low to the ground just when the bang rang out and made my ears ring. In my daze it was hard to pull myself up and winced from a little pain as I looked up to see that the window was broken showing a way out of the building. 

I felt hands grabbing me and I looked up to see Daryl once again. He lifted me up and pulled me to the window where I hopped out with them

"Jade!" I heard Shane yell and turned to see him handing me the Axe he had. I nodded and moved to the front where Daryl was and any walkers we saw in our way we killed them. Shane fired rounds into the heads of some walkers who were further away and Daryl and I killed those that were closer with the Axes. The weight of the axe made it easy to just hit and run as long as it was in the head. Once back onto the road and everyone was clear we all ran to our designated cars and climbed in.

Daryl hopped into the driver seat and me in the passenger seat but we couldnt start moving until the others did since all the cars were lined up in a single row

"What the hell let's go!" Daryl yelled wanting to be away from this place. I didn't blame him. 

"No! Wait!" I yelled over him and pointed out the windshield "It's Dale and Andrea" I said and he looked closer. They were running towards the RV nearly there when I heard screaming from Lori and everyone in the RV. "Daryl?" I spoke but he yanked me to the seat and laid over me as we felt the whole ground shake and a bang so loud my ears were ringing again. 

I could barely hear my scream from over the explosion that had happened so close to us and the ground was shaking under us. When it sounded like the explosions were dying down Daryl moved from on top of me and I sat up and looked at what was left. What used to be a building was nothing but rubble now. The fire roared at us. My eyes turned to look at Daryl and I smiled weakly at him

"You okay?" I asked laughing a little and reached to touch his arm to make sure he was real as he nodded

"Ya...you?" He asked and I nodded. 

"Yeah" I sighed and watched him as he started up the truck. I turned to look out again and saw Dale and Andrea Loading up into the RV and soon we all started to pulled around and started moving in the other direction away from the fire and the whole city of walkers that would have heard it and could now see it.

"Sorry I didn't grab your stuff" Daryl mumbled from his seat as we got turned around on the road and started going in the other direction. I smiled and shook my head at his apology 

"It's okay....I have the two most important things I need" I replied smiling at him 

"What's that? " she asked 

"My necklace... and the knife you gave me" I said

"Loaned ya" he corrected and I smiled more. "That's really all that mattered to ya?" He asked after a moment and sounded a little disappointed in my answer.

"Well no...you matter more" I told him, basically teasing myself over my feelings for him. I saw his cheeks turn flushed and a smirk pull at his lips

"Stop" he grumbled but I knew he wasn't really telling me what to do. I giggled and leaned my head back to relax as I looked in the side mirror and watched as the fire grew smaller and smaller the further we went. 

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AN: So this is the last episode of the first Season. I thought it would be easier if I kept them separated so yeah. If you liked it please give it a vote and comment if you want Season 2. I hope to hear from you guys soon. Bye!