AU: Hehehe...ummm...Hi everyone! I am so sorry that I haven't updated in a while. But I have a good reason, I have been studying bacteria/viruses/toxins and (while this prevented me from updating) it gave me an insane the amount of ideas that just keep jumping in my brain. (And keep me up until 4 in the morning) Hopefully this chapter doesn't sound very bad and reflects some of what I have learned. Please review or pm me telling me how I did or if I need to change anything. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

darkest magic: It's just what I put up in the story. Harry doesn't have magic but he does have telekinesis and maybe other things (depends on my muse)

UniCryin: Jenner opened the doors. The doors were hooked closed so Harry couldn't open them until somebody unhooked them. Harry hasn't practiced enough to do the more intricate things (not sure if it clarifies or not, sorry!)

Tubbs: Jenner opened the doors

Fox Loves Shinigami: I'm still not completely sure If I'm going to skip episodes or not, it all depends on my muse (who is a slave driver that never tells me what is going to be written)

Thanks for everyone who alerted, favorited, reviewed, and/or pm'd me, you guys are awesome! X)

Warnings: sexytimes (no lemons...yet)

(Season 1, Episode 6: "TS-19")

The light faded and they walked into the building. Harry discreetly wiped his nose and walked in after them.

Daryl looked at him, "Harry cover the back."

"Hello," Rick called out to the empty reception hall, "Hello!" He glanced behind him, "Watch for walkers and close those doors."

Harry winced as the loud words stabbed into his head.

"Hello!" They all turned and aimed at the stranger with the gun. "Is anyone infected!?"

Rick spoke up, "One of our group was…he didn't make it."

The man walked closer, gun raised, "Why are you here? What do you want?"

"A chance," Rick gulped.

"That's asking an awful lot these days" The man walked even closer.

"I-I know."

The man looked at the scared group, "You all submit to a blood test, that's the price of admission."

Rick nodded, "We can do that."

The man lowered his gun, "You got stuff to bring in you do it now. Once this door closes it stays closed."

Harry felt a shiver of foreboding run down his spine; he ignored it and ran back to the car with the rest of the men, grabbing the bag of clothes and toiletries, and the bag of guns.

The man slid a card as soon as they ran in, "VI seal the main entrance and kill the power up here." The shutters latched shut.

"Rick Grimes."

The man looked at him awkwardly, "Doctor Edwin Jenner."

~.

Heavy silence filled the elevator as they rode down. Harry held a faint grimace at everyone's closeness; He breathed in and out steadily and noticed Daryl giving him a confused glance.

Daryl looked at Jenner and spoke up, "Doctors always go around packing heat like that?"

"Well there was plenty left lying around, I familiarized myself." He glanced around, "But you look harmless enough." He looked at Carl, "Except you…gonna have to keep my eye on you."

Carl gave him a small smile.

He noticed Harry's Kalishnikov, "…And you."

Harry gave him a smirk, "Don't worry I only shoot walkers."

Edwin frowned, "British?"

"Born and bred."

Jenner looked at Harry, "Were you there when the virus spread?"

"No, I was in Atlanta."

Jenner looked disappointed as they got off the elevator.

They passed walked down a long hallway; Carol looked around, "Are we underground?"

Jenner looked back, "Are you claustrophobic?"

Carol fixed the strap on her shoulder, "…a little."

"Try not to think about it."

They walked into a large, dark space, "VI bring up the lights in the big room." The lights turned on, revealing a big space filled with computers, "Welcome to Zone 5."

Rick looked around, "Where is everybody? The other doctors? The staff?"

They walked to the center of the room and Jenner turned to Rick, "I'm it. It's just me here."

"What about the person you were speaking with?" Lori asked, "Vy?"

Jenner spoke to the room, "VI, say hello to our guests! Tell them…welcome."

"HELLO GUESTS. WELCOME." An automated voice spoke out.

"I'm all that's left. I'm sorry."

~.

They gathered in a meeting room and Jenner took out blood from each of them.

Andrea was the last one to give blood, "What's the point? If we were infected we'd all be running a fever."

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me just, at least, be thorough." He put a cap on the flask and took out the needle, "All done."

Andrea got up wavering and Jacqui helped her.

Jenner looked on in concern, "Are you ok?"

Jacqui spoke up, "She hasn't eaten in days, none of us have."

Harry looked at Jenner, "Have you got any headache relievers?"

Jenner nodded.

~.

Dale poured wine while the table laughed, "You know in Italy children have a little bit of wine with dinner-and in France."

Harry sat next to Glenn sipping a glass of wine and staring in amusement at the drunken adults, he glanced at Glenn as he took a sloppy swig from his wine bottle. 'Well he's drunk off his arse.'

Lori shook her head, "Well then, when Carl is at Italy or France, he can have some then."

Rick stared at her, "What's it gonna hurt come on." Lori looked at him. "Come on!"

Lori giggled and waved her hand in consent. Dale handed Carl some wine and Carl tasted it. He quickly put the glass down and grimaced, "Eewww."

Everyone laughed as Lori patted Carl's arm, "That's my boy, that's my boy."

"Yucky, tastes nasty." Carl shook his head.

Shane looked at Carl, "You should, uh, stick to soda pop there bud."

Daryl walked to Glenn and Harry, "Not you two."

Harry tilted his head and Glenn looked at Daryl in confusion, "What?"

Daryl picked up a glass, "Not you little men, I wanna see how red your faces can get."

"Oh!" T-Dog slammed his fists on the table in mirth.

Glenn laughed and Harry gave a smirk.

Rick noticed a somber Jenner at the outskirts of the table; he stood up and tapped a glass, "Seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly."

T-Dog raised his glass, "He is more than just our host."

'Here's' were heard all around; Daryl raised a wine bottle, "Booyah!" Everyone echoed him.

Rick raised his glass, "Thank you. Thank you doctor."

Jenner raised his glass in return.

"So when are you going to tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" Shane cut in and everyone went quiet, "All the, uh, the other doctors. Who were supposed to be figuring out what happened; where are they?"

Rick sat down, "We're celebrating Shane, no need to do this now."

"Woah, woah wait a second. That is why we're here right? This was your move; supposed to, you know, find out all the answers. Instead we, uh-" he chuckled and looked around, "we found him," he pointed to Jenner, "We found one man. Why?"

They all looked at Jenner.

"Well when things got bad a lot of people just…left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."

Shane glanced at the doctor, "Every last one?"

Jenner looked at Shane, "No. Many couldn't face walking out the door…they…opted out. There was a rash of suicides." Everyone was silent, "That was a bad time."

Andrea looked up, "You didn't leave, why?"

"I just kept working-hoping-to do some good."

Harry looked at Jenner 'He's not telling the whole truth.'

Glenn walked up to the table and frowned at Shane, "Dude, you are such a buzz kill, man."

~.

They went down more hallways; lights flickering on as they walked by.

Jenner pointed to the rooms, "Most of the facilities power down, including housing, so you'll have to make do here. Couches are comfortable, but there're cots in storage if you like." He pointed at the end of the hallway, "There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy-just don't plug in the video games, ok?" The kids nodded eagerly. "Or anything that draws power."

He spoke up, "Same applies! If you shower go easy on the hot water." He walked away.

Glenn turned to everyone, "Hot water?"

T-Dog grinned at Glenn, "That's what the man said."

The all eagerly went inside the rooms.

Harry took the room next to the rec room and looked around the room. Closing the door, he set his sword by the entrance, his guns and knives on a small table by the couch, and his bag on the desk, taking out his toiletries. Walking inside the bathroom, he set his towel down by the sink and hanged his scarf on the curtain rail.

Harry peeled off his clothes, ignoring the mirror in the bathroom, knowing every single scar etched on his back by memory.

He turned on the shower and looked at the steam rising in wonder.

He stuck his hand in and gave a small laugh as the water splashed everywhere. He slowly stepped in and groaned in pleasure as the water caressed his skin; he stood with his face towards the nozzle for a few minutes and sighed grabbing the soap in the container. Layers of dirt and grime fell off from his body, returning his skin to the pale glow it was. He grabbed the black scarf he used as a mask and stared at it with a faraway look 'I am so sorry.' he slowly unclenched the hand holding the scarf and washed it gently; a tear slipped down his face unbidden.

He hanged the scarf and reluctantly turned off the shower; he stepped out and stood in front of the mirror as he dried his waist length hair and brushed it, sweeping his hair over his shoulder. He wrapped his towel around his waist, walking out of the bathroom and froze when he saw Daryl sitting on one of the couches.

Daryl's looked from Harry's feet to his shoulders, his gaze lingering on his muscled torso; slowly he looked up to Harry's face and his eyes widened, "Shit."

Harry covered his face with his bangs, and turned to his bag, "Do you need anything, Daryl?"

He heard the sound of leather creaking and footsteps approaching, a burning gaze caressing his back.

Harry arched slightly as a finger brushed over a scar. His breath shuddered out slowly as he closed his eyes, "My uncle was not a very nice man."

Daryl slowly turned him and grabbed his hand, sliding it under his shirt, "Neither was m'father," Harry stroked the raised lines and looked up at Daryl's eyes, his hair falling away from his face. He licked his lips drawing Daryl's gaze to them; eyes flickered to Harry's then down to his lips again, slowly leaning forward.

Breathing faster, Harry tilted his head up giving a small whimper as their lips brushed and hot breaths intertwined. Daryl's eyes flashed at the sound and swooped down, forcing Harry's mouth open and caressing the roof of his mouth with his tongue. Pleasure ran down Harry's spine as he moaned, one arm clutching his back, the other around his neck, gripping his hair.

Harry fought for control of the kiss for a few minutes then gave up when Daryl pulled away slightly and bit his lip, tugged it slowly, then dived down to kiss him again.

Daryl put his hands on Harry's hips and pushed him down on the desk, hand gliding down his torso to his silky thigh, raising Harry's leg and wrapping it around his waist. Putting his hand on Harry's ass he grinded their cocks together.

Harry ripped his mouth from Daryl's and gave a pleasured cry, body pulsing hotly in arousal.

"Harry wha-oh god I am so sorry. I-I'll just leave." The door slammed closed as Glenn ran away.

Daryl groaned and dropped his head on Harry's shoulder, "Damn Chinaman."

Harry chuckled and unwrapped his arms, "He's Korean."

Daryl leaned up as Harry's leg fell away from waist, he looked down at Harry's mussed hair and swollen lips, the towel barely covering his erection,"And?"

They stared at each other for a few minutes.

Daryl's eyes widened as he finally realized what he had done, "Fuck." he said in a panic. Jumping away from Harry and, running a hand through his hair, he paced the floor. Daryl then looked down to Harry; his mouth dried as Harry slowly sat up hair framing his face, contrasting beautifully with his skin and making look like it glowed, "Fuck," he said more reverently.

Daryl crossed the floor to Harry, gripped his hair and gave him a short brutal kiss, then walked out of the room.

Harry stared at the closed door; panting, he ran his tongue over his lips and closed his eyes at the lingering flavor. His eyes snapped open as what happened finally hit him. He flopped down onto the table and put his arm over his eyes, "Shite." He sighed.

Standing, Harry bent down and pulled out pajamas from the bag that had fallen from desk. He put them on and lay down on the couch, facing the back. He smacked his head on the pillows and groaned as the images of Daryl's burning eyes flew through his mind. 'I'm gonna forget this ever happened...hopefully'

He gave a loud sigh and closed his eyes, ignoring the dull throbbing in his head. An hour later he had almost dozed off until he heard a muffled cry.

Harry quickly stood and wrapped the towel he had used on the bottom half of his face, hearing another cry, he ran to the rec room.

He slammed the door open and saw Shane on top of Lori, her hand trying to pry his hand away from between her legs; Lori clawed Shane on the neck and he stepped back.

The door automatically hissed closed behind him as Harry walked up to them, "Leave."

Shane glared at him, "You stay out of this."

Harry scoffed and gave Shane a glacial look, "And leave you to rape Mrs. Grimes," He gave a small smirk as Shane flinched when he said ' '; "You must be delusional."

Shane stalked to Harry, "Stay out of this!"

Harry blocked the fist Shane threw and twisted out of the way as another fist aimed at his kidneys; he stepped into Shane's guard and kneed him in the solar plexus. Shane bent over, coughing, then tackled Harry to the ground, they ignored Lori shouting at them to stop. The towel slipped off of Harry's face as he flipped Shane over him; he rolled with the movement and hit a few pressure points in Shane's arms in quick succession. Harry stood and put his foot at Shane's throat, "If you ever do something like that again, I will not hesitate to kill you, understand?" His hair hung over his face as he waited until Shane nodded to let go of him.

Harry picked up the towel and wrapped around the bottom half of his face before they could see it.

He grabbed Lori and pulled her out of the rec room and into his room, leaving Shane to struggle to stand up.

He sat her down on the couch, "Are you hurt?" He checked her for wounds.

Lori blinked and looked around, disoriented, "I-I'm ok."

Harry grabbed a flashlight from his pack and checked her pupils, "Shock," he muttered under his breath; he walked to the office desk and picked up the wine bottle 'Surprised it didn't fall off,' He blushed and shook his head to dispel his thoughts. He rocked the bottle side to side and a faint sloshing sound was heard.

He poured the rest of the wine in a glass and handed it to her, "I asked if you had any wounds Lori, not if you are ok, any idiot can see you're not."

Lori shook her head and gave him a faint glare, "I'm ok." She grabbed the wine and guzzled it down.

He gave a pointed look at the empty glass, then at Lori, "So you're saying that you are fine after almost getting raped?"

She flinched at his blunt statement, "I-I'm fine. I really am, I-I…" Tears fell down her face, "I can't believe Shane would do something like that." She put her head on her hands and cried.

Harry sighed and took the glass from her hand and, after setting it on the desk, he sat down next to her and hugged her close. She wrapped her arms around him and sobbed into his shoulder.

He rubbed her back and let her cry. After a few minutes Lori slowly quieted down, she leaned away sniffling and thanked Harry when he handed her a handkerchief.

"You have to tell Rick."

Lori's eyes widened, "No! I can't! He and Shane are best friends, almost brothers, I couldn't do something like that."

"Lori, he tried to rape you. He probably would have if I hadn't gotten there. You. Have. To. Tell. Rick."

She shook her head.

He tried to make her see reason, "Lori! If he tried today, what makes you think he won't try again."

She shook her head again, "I can't-I won't tell Rick," She gave Harry a piercing look, "You can't either. Promise me."

"I can't do that Lori!" They both stood up and faced each other.

"Yes you can! It didn't happen to you did it!? It's not your problem!"

"It became my problem after I stopped him from raping you!"

Lori flinched back and Harry rubbed his forehead with his fingertips.

"Promise me you won't tell him. I-I'll tell him myself, just-just not right now."

Harry shook his head and sighed, "Very well I'll leave it to you to tell him this time. But I will tell him if Shane tries this again."

Lori nodded, "Can you-will you…If this happens again will you help me?" she looked at Harry imploringly.

"Like I said Lori- it became my problem after I saved you."

She hugged him, Harry stiffened, then relaxed, returning her hug. He gave a small pout at her height. 'Bloody giant Americans'

~.

After she left he unwrapped the towel from his face, shivering at the dampness. He took out a small calendar and a watch from his pack. He crossed off a square as the clock struck 12:00.

"Happy Birthday Harry."

He put the things away and fell on the couch, curled up, and went to sleep.

~.

Despite his late night, Harry was the first person awake. He picked up the dirty clothes from the ground, wrinkled his nose at the smell, and threw them away. Taking out new clothes he put on dark brown cargo pants, a tan shirt, and his black boots on. He strapped his sword to his side and put the guns in his holsters. He put on a black coat and his mask, hiding an assortment of knives on his body.

Harry gave himself a bitter look in the bathroom mirror and sneered at the irony 'When I said I was getting new clothes when the world ends I didn't mean it literally' he washed his face and walked out of the room, fixing his mask.

Walking into the kitchen, he opened the industrial refrigerator, gave a large smile of happiness at all the food inside and took out things until his arms were full. Dumping them on the counter he went to the cupboard and took out more things, he set them down and picked up a knife and a spatula.

Twirling the utensils in his hands he smirked, "Let's do this."

~.

"Oh God, what is that smell?~" T-Dog walked in with his nose in the air, breathing in deeply. He looked at the happy people at the table eating, and ran up grabbing food. He gave a loud groan as he took a bite of one of the blueberry muffins on his plate, "Just like grams used to make." He opened his eyes as Rick and Glenn walked in, "Who made this?" T-Dog looked at the women.

Carol raised her hands, "Don't look at me, when I came here the food was already on the table."

"Same here." the rest of the women said.

A groaning Glenn sat on the table, he held his head in his hands. T-Dog laughed and scooped eggs into his plate, "Protein helps the hangover."

Rick sat down and looked at the a bottle of pills, he gave up on opening it and handed them to Lori, "Can you open them please."

"Yup, thought we could use it," Lori opened the bottle and chuckled as she looked at Glenn, "Some of us at least."

Glenn gave another groan, "Don't ever, ever, ever let me drink again." Jacqui rubbed his shoulders.

"Hey," Shane walked to the coffee machine and poured himself a cup.

"Hey," Rick wiped his mouth, "Feel as bad as I do?"

"Worse."

T-Dog noticed the scratches on Shane's neck, "What the hell happened to you?"

Shane sat down on the table, "Hm?"

"Your neck." T-Dog sat down and grabbed another muffin.

"Musta done it in my sleep." He scooped eggs and some hash browns into his plate.

Rick took a bite of bacon, "Never seen you do that before."

"Me neither. Not like me at all." Shane looked at Lori.

Harry chose that time to walk in, "Must be the night terrors, after all with all the attacks we've suffered I'm surprised no one else has been clawing at themselves in their sleep." He gave Shane a sharp look and set down a fresh batch of muffins. He turned to the table, "These have cream cheese filling, so if you're allergic don't eat them."

"You cooked this?" T-Dog asked Harry in amazement.

"Yes I did, since no one was awake I decided to cook breakfast." He sat down and filled his plate with eggs, hash browns, sausages, a rasher of bacon, and a blueberry-cream cheese muffin.

"It's really, really good Harry." Carl took a big bite of muffin.

Harry chuckled and ruffled Carl's hair, "You're welcome."

The table was quiet in shock at Harry's unusual behavior. They snapped out of it when Daryl spoke.

"Where did ya learn ta cook like this?" Daryl took a bite of sausage.

"My relatives couldn't cook for shite, so I was always the one cooking." He made no move to disguise the contempt at the word relatives.

Shane dropped his fork, "Why don't you show some respect for the people that raised you."

The table got quiet.

Harry glared at Shane, "Respect is earned not given, and those people don't deserve a drop. They didn't raise me, I raised myself; to them I was nothing but a freak."

"They provided a roof over your head, gave you clothes, and fed you!"

Harry gave Shane a poisonous look, "And I paid them back tenfold."

Jenner walked in before it could escalate any further, "Morning."

A few people at the table gave sighs of relief, "Hey Doc."

Daryl gave Harry a slightly concerned look, Harry shook his head, assuring him he was fine.

Andrea and Dale nodded to each other, "Doctor I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing-"

"But you will anyway." Jenner poured himself some coffee

"We didn't come here for the eggs," Andrea finished for Dale. She looked at Harry, "No offense."

"None taken."

They all finished the breakfast, grabbing the last of the muffins to go and walked to the big room.

"Give me playback of TS-19." Jenner pressed a few keys in the computer.

"PLAYBACK OF TS-19" Images of a brain appeared on screen.

Jenner turned to them, "Few people ever got a chance to see this...very few."

Carl looked at the images, "Is that a brain?"

The doctor leaned down, "An extraordinary one." He leaned back up, "Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for EIV."

"ENHANCED INTERNAL VIEW." The images zoomed in to inside of the brain, showing what looked like electrical currents flowing inside.

Shane looked up, "What are those lights?"

Harry spoke up before Jenner could, "It's a person's life," He walked closer to the screen in fascination, "Every thought, every feeling, every impulse, each one flowing through the brain in less than a nanosecond."

Jenner gave him a small smile, "Exactly. Experiences memories, it's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, in all those ripples of light is you; the thing that makes you unique and human."

Daryl spoke up, "You don't make sense? Ever?"

Jenner turned to him, "Those are synapses electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages."

Carl perked up, "Hey! Wasn't that what you were telling me about in the park Harry!? About how dad didn't have a lot of sy-napse stuff during his coma and-and how he couldn't dream but he could still hear me!"

Harry glance at Carl, "Yes it was."

Jenner looked at the screen, "It determines everything a person is from the moment of birth-to the moment of death."

Rick walked up, "Death? That's what this is? A vigil?"

"Yes," Jenner looked lost in his memories, "Or ra-rather the playback of the vigil."

"This person died?" Andrea gazed at the images in sadness, "Who?"

"Test-Subject 19. Someone who was...bitten, and infected, and volunteered to have us-" he glanced at Andrea, "-record the process. VI scan forward to the first event!"

"SCANNING TO FIRST EVENT." The screen showed a black substance going through the spinal cord, entering the brain.

"What is that?" Glenn's voice was filled with confusion.

Jenner pointed at the screen, "It invades the brain like meningitis.," The black substance started to slowly fill the brain, "The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shut down, then the major organs." The black substance filled the brain stopping all synaptic activity, "Then death." He looked down, "Everything you ever were or will be...gone."

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked her mother.

"Yes," she held Sophia's hand.

Jenner looked at a crying Andrea, Lori answered his silent question, "She lost somebody a two days ago days ago, her sister."

He walked up to Andrea, "I lost somebody too, I know how devastating it is." Jenner sighed, "Scan to the second event!"

"SCANNING TO SECOND EVENT."

"The resurrection time varies wildly; we have reports of it happening in as little as 3 minutes. The longest we heard of was 8 hours. In the case of this patient it was 2 hours 1 minute 7 seconds." His voice softened at the end.

The brain on the screen started to fire electrical impulses in a poisonous red color in only a specific part of the brain.

Lori looked horrified, "It restarts the brain?!"

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

Rick walked up to the doctor, "But they're not alive?"

"You tell me."

"It's nothin' like before, most of that brain is dark." Rick answered.

"Dark, lifeless, dead; the frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part, that doesn't come back, the you part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct."

An object passed through the brain, stopping all activity.

Carol breathed in sharply, "God. What was that?"

"He shot his patient in the head." Andrea looked at Jenner, "Didn't you?"

Jenner didn't answer, "VI power down the main screen and the work stations."

"POWERING DOWN MAIN SCREEN AND WORK STATIONS."

Andrea rubbed her nose, "You have no idea what it is do you?"

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

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui interrupted.

"-there is that."

Harry tore his eyes away from the screen, "What about toxins?"

"Toxins?"

Harry nodded, "Toxins. Like, a venom or an imbalance of chemicals in our body; the symptoms are closely related to the effect of a disease. They both can affect the central nervous system and overexcite neurological impulses in the brain," He started pacing and waving his arms in excitement, "The bite might inject a toxin, infecting the CNS, which kills the subject and, again, overexcites the neurons in the brain stem making them...rise, so to speak. It would also answer my question of why other walkers don't bite where another has bitten," He stopped abruptly, "Though that answer could also present a problem since it would mean that whatever is causing this merges with specific genomes in our cells...Of course there are millions of other hypothesis," He continued his pacing, looking at Jenner all the while, "The things I am sure of are that it causes putrefaction from the inside out; liquefaction necrosis occurs on the infected wound; and it causes paramyoclonus in the last stages of infection. Which- let me say- is as much amazing as it is frustrating, as it still leave us with a ridiculous amount of classifications."

They all stared at him in amazed silence.

"That was nothing?" Nobody answered T-Dog.

"What's your name again?"

Harry looked at Jenner, "Harry Potter"

"Harry Potter? As in Doctor Harry Potter-the youngest neurosurgeon in the 21st century- Harry Potter."

Harry nodded.

Daryl spoke up, "Doctor? Yer 26!"

"I'm 27 now, but that's not the point. Do you think that's possible doctor?"

Jenner thought about it, "It could be but I couldn't be sure, I'm a microbiologist not a toxicologist."

"Somebody must know something." Andrea walked up to Jenner, "Somebody, somewhere!"

"There are others right? Other facilities?" Carol asked.

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

"But you don't know," Rick looked at him amazed, "How can you not know?"

"Everything went down," Jenner's voice wavered, "Communications, directives, all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month."

"So it's not just here? There's nothing left anywhere. Nothing." Andrea stated more than asked, "That's what you're really sayin' right?"

Despair filled the room.

Andrea scoffed and Jacqui leaned on a computer, "Jesus."

"Man, Imma get shitfaced drunk. Again," Daryl rubbed his eyes.

Dale noticed the clock, "Doctor Jenner I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question but" he pointed at the clock, "-that clock it's counting down. What happens at zero?"

Jenner looked nervous, "The...basement generators run out of fuel."

Rick looked incredulous, "And then?" the doc ignored him, "VI what happens when the power runs out?"

Jenner left the room.

"WHEN THE POWER RUNS OUT FACILITY WIDE DECONTAMINATION WILL OCCUR."

'00:59:32'

~.

Rick, Shane, Glenn, T-Dog and Harry went down to the basement.

"Decontamination. What does that mean?" Glenn asked.

"Hopefully not what I think it means." Harry responded, wincing.

Shane jumped down the stairs, "I don't like how Jenner clammed up, the way he just wandered off like that."

"Was wrong with him?" T-Dog asked, "Seriously man, is he nuts? Medicated? Or what?"

Rick looked at a map and pointed at the basement, "In there."

Lights flickered on as they walked in, "Check that way. " He motioned at Shane to follow him.

The only thing they saw were empty bins of fuel.

The lights went out. "EMERGENCY LIGHTING: ON"

They ran to Rick and Shane, "You guys kill the lights?"

"Nah, just went out," Shane checked the generator.

"Anything?" Rick asked.

T-Dog ran up, "Yeah, lot of dead generators and more empty fuel drums than I can count."

Shane flashed the light at the gauge, showing the drum was almost empty of fuel, "It can't be down to just that one."

They ran back up the stairs.

"Rick!" Lori pointed to Jenner.

Rick followed him as he walked off, "Jenner what's happening?"

"The system is dropping all the non-essential uses of power." They walked into the big room, "It's designed to keep the computers running until the last possible second, it starts as we approach the half-hour mark," They reached Zone 5 and he pointed at the clock '00:31:27', "Right on schedule." He took a gulp of wine and handed it back to Daryl.

Daryl ripped it out of his hands, spilling some.

Harry stood behind Jenner,"Jenner, tell me that I am wrong- tell me that decontamination isn't what I think it means."

Jenner turned to the group, "It was the French."

Andrea shook her head, "What?"

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know, while our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicides in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution."

"What happened?"

"The same thing that's happening here," he waved his hand to the room, "No power grid, ran out of juice," Jenner scoffed, "The world runs on fossil fuel how stupid is that." He walked away.

Shane followed him, "Let me tell you somethin'-"

Rick grabbed his arm, "The hell with this Shane, I don't even care." He pointed at Lori, "Lori grab our things; everybody get your stuff, we're getting' out of here NOW!"

They ran to get their things but stopped when alarms started blaring and red lights flashed. The main screen turned on "30 MINUTES TO DECONTAMINATION" A countdown sequence started.

Jenner walked to a console.

Rick screamed at Jenner, "Doc! What's going on here doc?!"

Shane waved at the group, "You heard Rick! Get your stuff and let's go, go now! Don't forget those guns."

The main door latched shut before they could get out of the room.

Glen looked panicked, "Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!"

Jenner sat down in front of a computer, "We've hit the thirty minute window, I'm recording."

Harry tried to open the door, 'It's fecking latched again!' He gave up and ran to Jenner, "Open the door!"

Lori ran to Carl and hugged him.

Daryl ran to Jenner, "Ya son of a bitch! Ya locked us in!" Harry stopped him before he could reach Jenner, "Daryl! DARYL! We need him to open the door!" Daryl stepped away glaring.

Rick walked up, "Jenner open that door now."

Jenner fixed his lab coat, "There's no point. Everything top-side is locked down, the emergency exits are sealed."

"Well open the damn things!"

"That's not something I control, the computer does. I told you! Once that front door closed it wouldn't open again, you heard me say that...It's better this way."

Rick glared at him, "What is? What happens in 28 minutes?" Jenner went back to his computer, ignoring him.

Shane slammed his hands on the chair and Rick asked his question again, "WHAT HAPPENS IN 28 MINUTES?!"

Jenner snapped, "DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS PLACE IS?! WE PROTECTED THE PUBLIC FROM VERY NASTY STUFF!" he screamed in Shane's face, "WEAPONIZED SMALLPOX, EBOLA STRAINS THAT COULD WIPE OUT HALF THE COUNTRY; STUFF YOU DON'T WANT GETTING OUT! EVER!" he sat back down and fixed his coat, calming himself down, "In the event of a catastrophic power failure, in a terrorist attack for example, HIT's are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

Harry's eyes widened in horror and Rick stepped forward, "HIT's?"

Jenner looked down, "VI define."

"HIT: HIGH IMPULSE THERMOBARIC FUEL AIR EXPLOSIVES CONSIST OF A 2 STAGE AEROSOL IGNITION THAT PRODUCES A BLAST WAVE OF SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER POWER AND DURATION THAT ANY OTHER KNOW EXPLOSIVE EXCEPT NUCLEAR," Carol cried out and held Sophia closer, "THE VACUUM PRESSURE EFFECT IGNITES THE OXYGEN BETWEEN 5000 AND 6000 DEGREES," Rick hugged Lori and Carol, "IT IS USEFUL IF THE GREATEST LOSS OF LIFE AND DAMAGE TO STRUCTURES IS DESIRED."

"It sets the air on fire," whispered Jenning, "No pain. An end to sorrow, grief...regret. Everything."

The group looked at him in horror and growing anger. Harry frowned at the intrigued glint in Andrea's and Jacqui's eyes.

The men ran to the door and tried to open it.

Daryl threw his wine bottle, "OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!"

"Outta my way!" Shane ran up and tried to cut it open with an ax, Glenn threw another at Daryl, and he tried to cut it as well.

"It won't work!" Harry shouted out.

"Shut up! At least we're tryin', unlike you!" Shane tuned and screamed at him.

"You think I haven't tried! The only one who can open the door is him!" He pointed to Jenner.

Harry looked at the crying children feeling anger course through his body.

Jenner looked at them sadly, "You should have left well enough alone, it would've been easier."

Lori glared at him, "Easier for who?"

"All of you, you know what's out there; A short brutal life and an agonizing death." Jenner turned to Andrea, "Your-your sister, wha-what was her name?"

The sound of the men trying to open the door echoed around the room.

"Amy."

"Amy. You know what this does, you've seen it." He turned to Rick as he walked up, "Is that really what you want for your wife and son?"

Rick leaned closer to him, "I. Don't. Want. This."

The men gave up and Shane walked to Rick, "Can't make a dent," he panted out.

Jenner looked at Shane, "Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher."

Daryl ran up ready to ax Jenner, "We are hitting a wall!" Rick and Dale stopped him, "Get back! Back up." Harry took away the ax.

Jenner stood up and looked at Rick, "You do want this. Last night, you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead.

A current of betrayal ran through the group. "What?"

Harry's anger grew at each word Jenner spoke.

Shane looked at Rick in disbelief, "You really said that? After all your big talk?"

Rick looked at Lori, "I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?"

"There is no hope, there never was."

Rick turned to Jenner, "There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody, somewhere."

"What part of everything's gone do you not understand?" Andrea looked up at Rick.

"Listen to your friend, she gets it. This is what takes us down, this is our extinction event." Jenner pointed out.

Harry tried to calm himself down, "And what part of hope did you not understand." He opened his eyes and Andrea and Jenner flinched at the glacial gaze directed at them, "Both of you are weak and pathetic, you think you're the only ones who have lost a loved one? Open your eyes and look around! Everyone has, but you don't see them giving up." Harry scoffed, "Why am I even trying to make you see reason, it's clear what path you have chosen, just make sure you can live with it." He gave a derisive chuckle, "Or die with it in this case."

Carol sobbed, "This isn't right, you can't just keep us here."

Jenner leaned toward Carol, "One tiny moment a-a-a-a millisecond. No pain."

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!" Shane walked away.

Jenner looked confused, "Wouldn't it be kinder? More compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?"

Shane walked back, cocking the shotgun in his hand. Rick's eyes widened, "Shane! No!"

"Stay out of my way Rick! Stay out of my way!" he pointed his gun at Jenner, "Open that door or imma blow you head off, YOU HEAR ME!" His eyes widened in craziness.

Rick stood next to Shane as everyone moved away, "Brother! Brother this is not the way, you do this we'll never get out of here-"

Lori looked at Shane, "Shane, you listen to him."

"-He dies we all die."

Shane screamed in fury and shot the computers.

"Shane!" Rick wrestled the gun from his hand and hit him with it, "You done now? You done?"

Shane looked at him in accusation, "Yeah, I guess we all are."

Rick handed the gun to T-Dog and stared at the scared stares directed at him, "I think you're lyin'," he turned to Jenner as Shane stood up.

"What?"

"You're lyin', about no hope, if that was true you would have bolted with the rest, taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path, why?"

Jenner looked down, "It doesn't matter."

"'It doesn't matter'? It always matters," Rick rubbed his nose, "You stayed, when others ran. Why?"

"Not. Because. I wanted to. I made a promise-" Jenner pointer at the screen, "-to her. My wife."

They all went silent.

"Test subject 19 was you wife?" Lori asked incredulous.

"She begged me to go on as long as I could," he shrugged, "How could say no-"

Pounding was heard as Daryl tried to cut open the door again.

"-She was dying. Should've been me on the table, I wouldn't of mattered to anyone. She was a loss to the world! Hell she ran this place, I-I just worked here; in our field she was an Einstein! Me I'm just-just Edwin Jenner; she could have done something about this. Not me."

"Your wife didn't have a choice, you do!" Rick argued, "That's-that's all we want! A choice, a chance."

"Let us keep tryin' as long as we can." Lori held Carl as her voice wavered.

Jenner sighed, "I told you top-side's lockdown, I can't open those." He walked to a card reader and opened the door, "

Daryl put down the ax, "C'mon!"

"Let's go!""C'mon!""C'mon let's go!" "Stay right by me." Everyone in the group started to run out.

Jenner turned to Rick, "There's your chance, take it."

"I'm grateful." Rick held out his hand.

Jenner looked at it, "The day will come when you won't be." He took Rick's hand and whispered something in his ear. Lori ran back to Rick and pulled him away.

Jenner turned to Harry and handed him something. "Mine and my wife's life work. Take care of it."

Harry looked at the hard drive in his hand, "I will."

"Hey! We got 5 minutes left, c'mon!"

Jacqui pulled away from T-Dog, "No-no I'm stayin'! I-I'm stayin' sweetie."

"But that's insane!" T-Dog tried to pull her out.

She broke away, "No it's completely sane! For the first time in a long time. I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy. There's no time to argue, and no point, not if you wanna get out." She sobbed, "Just get out-get out!"

Shane pulled T-Dog back and they all ran out. Dale stayed and tried to talk some sense into Andrea and Jacqui.

Harry made a brief detour and grabbed his guns, when he ran to the foyer he saw Carol giving Rick a granade.

"Lookout!" everyone ran for cover.

Rick took the pin out and set the explosive by the window, he ran back and the grenade exploded. Hairline fractures and a few pieces of glass fell out the window. A small hole where the explosive went off was shown, not even big enough for the kids to shimmy through.

Shane and Daryl ran and tried to cut the remaining glass but it only created more fractures, only small pieces of glass fell.

Shane shot the window, creating small holes, "DAMN IT! Damn it!"

Harry fought with himself, he looked at the clock '00:02:54', then the crying children; he grimaced, "Move away!"

He walked up, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. The well of power inside him swelled.

"Are you insane! We got to get the fuck out! You standing there is. Not. Going. To help!"

Harry opened his eyes. They took a step back as his eyes began glowing a poisonous green, "Step aside. Now." They backed away from him as he walked to the window.; he ignored them and put his hands on it, gathering his power. Body heating up, he exhaled sharply, expelling the energy in one great burst: the window exploded out.

Harry wavered and started to fall, Daryl caught him and put a hand under his shoulders, grabbed the guns and jumped out; the rest of the group didn't give themselves enough time to think about what Harry had done and ran out after them.

The men killed the walkers in their way and guided everyone to their vehicles.

Harry's vision flickered in and out, his head lolled as Daryl put him in his truck. He turned his head and saw Dale and Andrea run out of the building. He gave a faint chuckle, "Guess…she's not...as weak as I thought." The building exploded and Harry blacked out.

Originally I wasn't going to put the sexytimes but I felt guilty for not updating so I decided to give you guys a treat :)