Nye cautiously followed Rick and Shane's lead, not dropping her weapon for a second. She could hear the group behind them, and felt Mason and Toby grip the back of her shirt tightly.

"Daryl, you cover the back." Shane said, to which Daryl nodded, by her side.

"Hello?"

"Hello?"

Nye took deep shuddering breath, feeling the adrenaline fading slightly.

"Watch those doors. Watch for walkers."

"Hello?"

She, along with everyone else tensed and readied their weapons as a gun being cocked rang out. When she saw the person behind it, she blinked in confusion, the man wasn't what she was expecting, she had thought it would be some army general, decked out in camo. Instead, it was just some scared dude in a T-shirt.

"Anybody infected?" He asked, cautiously.

Nye looked down, once again hit with guilt over Jim.

"One of our group was… he didn't make it." Rick told him.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" The man asked, sounding even more nervous.

"A chance." Rick said.

"That's asking an awful lot these days." He told them, taking a few steps forward.

Rick nodded his head. "I know."

It was silent for a moments, and Nye took the opportunity to reach back with her free hand, and both boys grasped her offered hand tightly.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."

Nye deflated, letting a tiny smile grace her lips.

"We can do that." Rick nodded.

As the man dropped his gun, so did Nye.

"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed."

At his command some of them left to get everything.

"Stay here. Don't argue." Nye rushed to tell the boys, giving them a tense look as they started to open their mouths in protest.

"I'll watch them." Dale assured her.

She nodded and darted outside with Rick, Shane, Glenn and Daryl Quickly opening the back door to her van, and grabbing their bags (And making sure she got Button and Manny)

They ran back just as fast, and if they weren't stressed beyond belief, she would have been insanely impressed with the speed they achieved.

"Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here." He spoke into a panel near the door. And Nye watched as metal walls came down, blocking up the entrance.

"Rick Grimes." Rick offered his hand.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner."

…

Nye bobbed her head lightly, thinking there should be elevator music playing. She stood between Glenn and Daryl, with the boys leaning against her front.

"Doctors always go around packin' heat like that?" Daryl asked, suspicious.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself." He looked around them. "But you look harmless enough." His eyes settled his on the three boys. "Except you." He nodded to them. "I'll have to keep my eye on you." Causing the boys to smile, which Nye appreciated.

As they made their way to, what Nye assumed was the communications room, she felt Mason's hand shaking in her's. The fear of what was coming soon was setting in for him.

"You're gonna be okay." She told him bracingly.

Something he was teased relentlessly about by Toby, was his crippling fear of needles.

"Are we underground?" Carol asked, timidly.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asked her.

Nye was, she was just better at hiding it.

"A little."

"Try not to think about it."

"Sure thing Doc." Nye muttered sarcastically, only Daryl and the boys hearing her.

They were headed to a large, dark room. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room."

Nye looked around in shock at the room before them, it looked like every room in sci-fi movie taking place in the future ever.

"Welcome to zone 5."

"Where is everybody?" Rick asked, and that was when Nye remembered that there was supposed to be more people.

"The other doctors, the staff?" Rick asked, sounding more urgent now.

"I'm it…. It's just me here."

Nye's heart sank.

"What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?" Lori asked.

"Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them… Welcome."

Nye jumped as a robotic voice rang out.

"Hello, guests. Welcome."

"I'm all that's left."

They all exchanged looks of disappointment.

"I'm sorry." He said, sincerely.

…

Mason shook as Jenner got the needle ready, and the only thing keeping him in place was both of Nye's hands on his shoulders.

"He okay?" Daryl quietly asked Toby, wondering why the kid was fidgeting so much.

"Yeah, he's just terrified of needles. Nye helps though." Toby nodded.

After Jenner was finished with a very pale Mason, he quickly did Nye, who had been helping with the blood drawing (And took a little too much pleasure in sticking Daryl with a needle) She always made sure to offer her left arm when getting blood drawn, never her right.

Next up was Andrea.

"What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever." Andrea asked incredulously as Nye took off the rubber arm band.

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me just at least be thorough." He capped the syringe. "All done."

As Andrea got up she stumbled, Jacqui and Nye quickly caught her.

"Are you okay?" Jenner asked.

Andrea nodded, and Jacqui turned to Jenner.

"She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have."

Jenner looked around the room, then without warning, got up.

"Follow me."

…

"I'm telling you! Space is the freaky-est thing ever!" A tipsy Nye argued with Mason and Toby.

"No its not!" Both of them yelled, followed by Mason shouting "You're delusional!"

"Wait, you think space is scarier then a walker?" T-Dog joined the debate.

"Yes! God, that scene in Deep Impact, were the one astronaut gets his cord cut, or something, and he floats out into space, gave me nightmares for weeks!"

"Spoilers!" Both boys jokingly yelled.

"You've already seen it you gremlins!"

They were all learning Nye was a loud drunk.

As everyone was laughing at the three of them, Dale turned to Rick and Lori.

"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France."

Nye leaned forward in her chair, nearly falling off in the process.

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then." Lori said, sipping her wine.

"Boo!" Nye yelled.

And it seemed Rick was on her side. "What's it gonna hurt? Come on. Come on."

"C'mon Lori!" Nye shouted.

Everyone cheered as she relented, and Dale poured some into Carl's glass, then looked to Nye.

Everyone was now watching Nye, waiting for the go ahead. She turned to the boys.

"You wanna try some?"

Both boys nodded eagerly.

She turned to Dale. "Well then, go for it."

"There you are, young lads." Dale said.

Everyone waited in rapt attention, and Nye noticed even Daryl lean forward.

"Eww."

"Blegh!"

"Holy shit!"

They all had different reactions, and everyone was laughing once more.

"Mason!" Nye chastened in between giggles.

"That's my boy. That's my boy. Good boy." Lori comforted Carl, while Nye gave both boys a noogie each.

"Yuck. That tastes nasty." Carl grimaced.

"Damn right it does! Not as bad as whiskey though." Mason said.

"You've had whiskey?!" Glenn asked Mason, and quickly looked to Nye for the story.

"It was before Nye was fostering me though!" He quickly amended.

"Fostering?" Daryl asked.

"Yep, Nye's our foster mom." Toby stated.

Understanding quickly washed over a few people. And Nye saw Daryl looking at her like he'd never seen her before.

Shane nodded to Carl. "Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud."

And just like that, the topic of fostering was dropped.

"Not you, Glenn." Daryl said.

Glenn looked up in confusion. "What?"

"Keep drinkin', little man. I want to see how red your face can get."

"Ooh, I second that!" Nye quickly shouted, not realizing she was backing Daryl in her tipsy state.

Rick tapped his glass, and stood. "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly."

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

"Hear hear!"

"Here's to you, doc."

"Booyah!"

Nye laughed uproariously at Daryl's shout, she and the boys quickly following along. "Booyah!"

"Thank you!"

"Booyah!"

But, of course, there always had to be someone to kill the mood.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?"

Nye stopped cold, looking at Shane in disbelief.

"All the uh, the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"

"We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now." Rick tried stopping him.

Shane got defensive. "Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move. Supposed to find all the answers. Instead we" He chuckled. "We found him. Found one man. Why?"

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." Jenner slowly told them, and Nye got a bad feeling that this story wasn't gonna have a happy ending.

"Every last one?" Shane asked, disbelieving.

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door." Jenner paused. "They… opted out."

Nye shut her eyes tightly. There it was.

"There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

"You didn't leave. Why?" Andrea asked him.

"I just kept working. Hoping… to do some good."

Everything was silent as they soaked it all in. Until Glenn broke the silence.

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man."

Nye nodded, pouring herself another full glass of wine.

"Yeah dude, not cool." She said bitterly.

…

"Most of the facility is powered down including housing, so you'll have to make do here." Jenner said, leading them through the halls. "The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy." He turned to the four kids. "Just don't plug in the video games, okay?" They nodded. "Or anything that draws power. The same applies If you shower, go easy on the hot water."

Nye froze, a huge grin splitting her face.

"Hot water?" Glenn asked T-Dog and Nye, awe in his voice.

"That's what the man said."

The two men bolted to find their own rooms.

Nye raced past Mason and Toby. "I call top bunk!"

"Ah, no fair!" Mason yelled, running after her.

"Guys! There might not even be bunk beds! Guys!" Toby yelled, following them both.

…

Nye grinned as the water hit her, thinking about how much she hated the cliché of putting your face under the jet of water, I mean, who actually does that? She tried it once, only to feel like she was drowning, leading her to slipping and falling.

She listened to the boy's pillow fight in the other room (More accurately, Mason attacking Toby with extreme prejudice) And, for a moment, she pretended everything was fine, pretended they were just on a road trip like their first summer with Toby, pretended they would be getting back to school in a few days, pretended they could walk outside and see the world as it used to be.

And as she sank to the floor, she pretended she wasn't crying.

…

Nye turned over, stuffing her face in her pillow, trying to fall back asleep.

But two gremlins killed that dream.

"Nye. Nye. Nye. Nye wake up! The apartments on fire!"

Both boys sat back as the last one did the trick.

"Wha, I'll kill it wit ma bare han's!" She loudly slurred, as she pushed herself up off her front.

Toby shook his head. "What? We said fire, Nye."

"Oh." She let her arms give out, and landed back on the couch, face smooshed against the cushion.

"C'mon, T made breakfast."

…

Both boy's ran ahead of her, taking the plates T-Dog offered. Nye tiredly sat down, nodding to everyone in greeting. Just then, Rick walked in.

"Hello."

"Morning."

"Howdy Sheriff."

"Are you hungover?" Carl asked, fighting a grin. "Mom said you'd be."

"Mom is right." Rick said, fighting his own smile.

"Mom has that annoying habit." Lori joked.

"I think it's a trait all moms have." Nye joked, grinning at Lori and Carol, causing them to chuckle.

"Eggs. Powdered, but, but I do 'em good. I bet you can't tell." T-Dog told them, bringing the rest of the eggs, and causing Glenn to groan.

Nye, of course, wouldn't waste this opportunity.

"You alright there Glenn?!" She shouted, right in his ear.

"You. Are. The. Worst." He told her, and went back to groaning.

T-Dog put some eggs on his plate. "Protein helps the hangover."

"Really? Why?" Mason asked, turning to look at Nye, who, was stuffing her face.

She looked up at him, then glanced around the room before shrugging. "Why the hell should I know?" She asked through a mouth full of eggs.

"You're a Nurse, that's why." Toby said, deadpanned.

She just shrugged, and went back to eating ravenously.

"Where'd all this come from?" Rick asked them.

"Jenner. He thought we could use it." Lori told him as she opened the salt shaker for him.

Nye turned to the boys suddenly. "We haven't seen the rec room yet."

She didn't notice Lori tense up.

"How 'bout we check it out after we eat."

Both boy's eagerly nodded.

"Don't ever ever ever let me drink again." Glenn whined.

"Aw, but it was so funny when we heard you belting out Eye of the Tiger in your room." Nye said in a falsely sweet tone.

Shane walked in.

"Hey."

"Hey. Feel as bad as I do?" Rick asked.

Shane shook his head. "Worse."

"The hell happened to you? Your neck?" T-Dog asked, causing Nye and the others to look up.

"Yikes, that looks like it hurts." Nye muttered.

"I must have done it in my sleep." He shrugged it off.

"Never seen you do that before." Rick said

"Me neither. Not like me at all."

Nobody noticed the looks he gave to Lori.

"Nye does it all the time." Toby said, nonchalantly.

"Yeah, one time when we went into the kitchen to get breakfast, her whole right arm was bloody, she completely tore it up." Mason informed them.

And nobody noticed how Nye tensed.

They all looked up as Jenner walked in.

"Morning."

"Hey, doc."

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing ." Dale started.

"But you will anyway." Jenner finished, as he got his coffee.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea told him.

Nye, in an uncharacteristic attempt at peace, handed Daryl a premade plate as he walked in (She was in a good mood after a night of getting drunk and clean) and to her surprise, he took it and nodded in thanks.

Looks like I'm not the only one who doesn't get hung over.

…

Jenner led them back to the room Nye thought was the epitome of sci-fi.

"Give me playback of TS-19."

"Playback of TS-19."

They watched as images of brain scans came up on the huge screen.

"Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few."

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked.

"An extraordinary one… Not that it matters in the end."

Nye frowned at the somber tone of his voice.

"Take us in for E.I.V."

"Enhanced internal view."

The monitor zoomed in on the brain.

"What are those lights?" Shane asked.

"Synapses." Nye murmured, not noticing Daryl could hear her.

"You know what those are, but you don't know why proteins good for hangovers?" Mason whispered, getting a playful wack on the back of his head in response.

"It's 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." Jenner told them.

"You don't make sense ever?" Daryl asked, causing Nye to roll her eyes.

"Those are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages." He clarified. "They determine everything a person says does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death."

"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" Rick asked, stepping forward.

"Yes… Or rather the playback of the vigil."

Nye sighed deeply, putting both hands on the boy's shoulders and rubbing soothing circles in them, she wasn't sure who it was meant to comfort though.

"This person died? Who?" Andrea asked.

"Test subject 19."

Nye could tell, by the forced monotone sound of his voice, that it was someone who meant something to him.

"Someone who was bitten and infected And volunteered to have us record the process. Vi, scan forward to the first event."

"Scanning to first event."

Now there seemed to be some virus invading the brain.

"What is that?" Glenn asked, sounding worried.

"It looks like meningitis." Nye said, louder this time.

Jenner nodded at her. "Yes, we thought so too. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs… Then death."

She knew her earlier guess was right, by the broken way he said the last few words.

"Everything you ever were or ever will be… Gone."

All the lights in the brain went out. Both boys turned and hugged Nye's middle tightly, and she reached up and threaded her fingers through their hair.

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia quietly asked Carol.

"Yes."

Andrea took a shuddering breath, and tried blinking away her tears. Jenner looked at her, wondering why.

"She lost somebody two days ago. Her sister." Lori clarified, and Jenner got an understanding look on his face.

"I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is." He softly told her, and turned back to the monitor.

"Scan to the second event."

"Scanning to second event."

"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."

There was a light, starting to flicker in the brain.

"Holy shit." Nye whispered.

"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked in disbelief.

"No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving." He clarified

"But they're not alive?" Rick asked.

"You tell me." Jenner gestured to the screen.

Rick bit his lip and shook his head. "It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark."

Jenner nodded. "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."

They watched as the body started moving more, then, something came down at the top of the screen, and then a whole was being blown in the head.

"God. What was that?" Carol asked.

"He shot his patient in the head… Didn't you?" Andrea said.

Jenner ignored her question. "Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations."

"Powering down main screen and workstations."

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asked, disappointed.

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

"Aliens." Nye added, half joking.

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacque said seriously, making Nye feel like a dick.

"There is that." Jenner ignored Nye and nodded at Jacque.

"Somebody must know something." Andrea said desperately. "Somebody somewhere."

"There are others, right? Other facilities?" Carol added.

"There may be some. People like me."

"But you don't know? How can you not know?" Rick demanded.

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

Nye hung her head, all the hope of the world being fixed, that she had been keeping in a vice like grip for the last two months, vanished.

"So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?" Andrea said, sounding broken.

Everyone took it all in. Andrea let out a disbelieving laugh, and Jacque whispered "Jesus."

"Man, I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk, again." Daryl muttered.

"I'll join you." Nye said, once again, only half joking.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but…"

Nye looked up at Dale, wondering where he was going with this. What else is there left to ask?

"That clock" He pointed to a digital clock, Nye only now noticed. "It's counting down. What happens at zero?"

Nye felt something shift, it was suddenly hard to breath, and she slowly turned her head away from the clock with only an hour left, to Jenner.

"The… The, basement generators they run out of fuel." He said, rushing his words.

Nye felt bile rise. She was a movie junkie, she knew a big clock with a countdown was a very bad thing.

"And then?" Rick asked, and when he didn't get and answer, he turned to the monitor. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur."

Mother of God.

…

Nye tried to keep from shaking as she, Mason and Toby played monopoly in the rec room. But the clock counting down set off too many red flags.

"Boys."

They both looked up, worried from the stiff tone of her voice.

"Yeah, Nye?" Toby asked softly.

"You remember how right before everything fell apart, I grabbed as many canned goods as possible, because I just had a feeling."

Both nodded, getting even more worried.

"A feeling things were about to go bad, and everything was about to fall apart." She took a shuddering breath. "I'm having it again."

They looked between her and each other.

"A-are you sure." Mason asked.

She nodded. "Go pack your bags. Now."

They nodded, and bolted out the door, quickly followed by Nye. And as they were shoving everything back in their bags, the light went out.

"Shit."

They ran out into the hallway, and saw Jenner walking down it.

"Why is the air off? And the lights in our room?"

"Jenner, what the holy hells is happening?"

"What's goin' on? Why is everythin' turned off?" Daryl asked, and Jenner snatched the bottle of wine out of his hands.

"Energy use is being prioritized." He told them plainly, as they started following after him.

"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asked, incredulously.

"It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down."

"Hey! Hey, what the hell does that mean?" Daryl demanded. "Hey man, I'm talkin' to you. What do you mean it's shuttin' itself down? How can a building do anythin'?"

"You'd be surprised." Jenner said blandly.

"Rick?" Lori shouted down to the other half of the group, the floor below them.

They came down the stairs, and Rick marched up to Jenner.

"Jenner, what's happening?"

"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 approached the half-hour mark." He explained, and nodded to the clock. "Right on schedule." He took a gulp from the bottle and handed it back to Daryl.

He turned to Andrea. "It was the French."

"What?"

"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 labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution." He clarified.

"What happened?" Jacque asked.

"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice." He shrugged. "The world runs of fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?"

Nye swallowed thickly.

And it seemed Shane was done with Jenner. "Let me tell you-"

Rick had to grab him and hold him back. "To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care." He turned to the group. "Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!"

Nye was about to go and help people pack, seeing as how she and the boys were all set, when an alarm went off.

"What's that?" Shane demanded, with Carl echoing his question.

"30 minutes to decontamination."

"Doc, what's going on here?!"

"Jenner?!"

"Everybody, y'all heard Rick. Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!"

"Let's go!"

"Come on!"

And Nye watched in terror as a metal door came down, blocking their exit.

"No. Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!"

She didn't think she'd ever heard Glenn that panicked, actually, she was surprised she could hear anything over the blood rushing in her ears. She felt frozen, like she couldn't move.

"You son of a bitch."

That snapped her out of it.

"Dixon!"

"Shane!"

Nye and Shane both ran to Daryl at the same time, right as Daryl grabbed hold of Jenner, Shane grabbed him from behind.

"You let us out of here!"

"No, stop. Don't!"

"You lying-"

"Dixon! Kill him and you kill our way out!" Nye shouted at him over the commotion.

More people came to hold Daryl back, and Nye stepped away a few feet, knowing she couldn't help keep him away from Jenner.

She put her hands in her hair, knocking her goggles askew, and she noticed she was hyperventilating.

"Jenner, open that door now." Rick told him, in a deadly tone.

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed."

"Well, open the damn things." Dale said desperately.

"That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you, once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that."

Nye felt her eyes sting with tears, as she slowly turned to look at Mason and Toby. They were on either side of Dale, and were staring back at her desperately.

Nye didn't see it, but Daryl looked between her and the boys, then hung his head.

"It's better this way." Jenner said quietly.

"What is? What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick demanded, and Jenner stayed silent. "What happens in 28 minutes?!"

"Come on!"

It seemed Jenner had enough.

"You know what this place is?! We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!"

Nye felt her whole body tremble, as Jenner went from just a lonely Doctor, to someone deranged.

Jenner took a deep breath, and sat down. "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."

"H.I.T.s?" Rick asked.

"Vi, define." Jenner said, sounding exhausted.

"Hits high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consists of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000° and 6,000° and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

Nye let out a sob, feeling two small bodies hitting her's, and latching on for dear life.

"It sets the air on fire."

If it weren't for the crying, you could have heard a pin drop.

"No pain. An end to sorrow, grief… Regret." He whispered.

"Everything."

Daryl took one more look at Nye, Mason and Toby, and lost it. He threw the bottle at the door.

"Open the damn door!"

"Out of my way!"

Where Shane got axes, she would never know.

"Daryl!" Shane tossed one to him.

Nye sunk to the ground in between Lori and Carol, gripping the two boys as hard as they were gripping her.

"You should've left well enough alone. It would've been so much easier."

"Easier for who?" Lori asked viciously.

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

"Amy."

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

"I don't want this." He said desperately.

Shane gave up, walking up to Rick. "Can't make a dent." He said between pants.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner told them.

"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl ran up to Jenner, intending to hit him with the axe.

"Damnit Dixon!"

"Whoa! Whoa!"

"Daryl! Daryl!"

"Just back up! Back up!"

"You do want this." Jenner said imploringly. "Last night, you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."

Nye looked up at Rick in shock.

"What? You really said that? After all your big talk?" Shane demanded.

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick tried defending.

"There is no hope. There never was."

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

"What part of "everything is gone" do you not understand?" Andrea interrupted.

"Andrea…" Nye whispered, hoping she didn't mean it.

"Listen to your friend. She gets it." Jenner said, and Nye flipped him off, but he ignored her. "This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."

"This isn't right. You can't just keep us here." Carol said brokenly.

"One tiny moment, a millisecond. No pain."

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this."

Nye clenched her teeth so hard she thought they may break.

"I always thought it would be my dad, then I thought it would be walker, I didn't think it would be a crazy doctor in a lab coat that killed me." Toby murmured into Nye's side.

"Well I thought it would be clowns." Mason murmured in her other side, making her let out a tiny, broken laugh through her tears. And that's why she loved them more than anything, they were the bravest kids she'd ever known, and they had the same coping mechanism as she did. Jokes.

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

Nye snapped her head up at the sound of a gun.

"Shane, no!"

"Out of the way, Rick! Stay out of my way! Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?!"

"Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We will never get out of here." Rick tried stopping him.

"Shane, you listen to him."

"Shane, he wants to get blown up! That isn't a threat, its just speeding the process along!" Nye snapped.

"It's too late."

"He dies, we all We all die! Shane! Shane!"

Nye quickly covered the boy's ears as Shane started shooting a console. Rick fought him for the gun, and after getting it, he hit Shane in the face, and knocked him to the ground.

"Are you done now? Are you done?" Rick snarled down at him.

"Yeah, I guess we all are." Shane said viciously.

Rick turned and hand the gun off to T-Dog, taking a moment to look at everyone, before turning back to Jenner.

"I think you're lying."

"What?"

"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?" Rick asked.

"It doesn't matter." Jenner evaded.

"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?"

"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise To her. My wife."

Nye closed her eyes, and hung her head. "Test subject 19… was your wife" It came out as more of a statement than a question.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" Jenner continued.

Daryl started hitting the door again, and if she didn't have two gremlins to hold tight, she would have joined him, even if it didn't do any good.

"She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me."

"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's, that's all we want, a choice, a chance." Rick implored.

"Let us keep trying as long as we can." Lori added.

Nye didn't dare breath, as Jenner looked around them, seeming to be contemplating.

He took a breath. "I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." And as he pressed a few buttons, the door opened.

Nye felt like she could breath again.

"Come on! Let's go!"

Nye practically carried the boys to the door, while they weren't lagging, Nye happened to be one of the groups best runners, ignoring the fact she'd probably need a puff from her inhaler afterwards, so she was quickly over by the door with everyone else.

"Come on, let's go! Come on!"

"Move it! Move it!"

"Come on, let's go!"

"We're gonna get out of here, Sophia."

Nye watched by the doorway, bouncing on the balls of her feet, as Rick and Jenner exchanged words.

"Let's go! Hey, we've got four minutes left! Come on!"

"Let's go. Let's go."

"No, no, I'm staying. I'm staying, sweetie."

Some froze at Jacque's words.

"But that's insane!" T-Dog agued.

"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 want to get out. Just get out. Get out."

"T, c'mon."

"Come on, man. Come on! Let's go! Let's go!"

Dale stayed put, watching Andrea, who hadn't moved, and it made Nye's heart hammer.

"Dale…?"

He looked at Nye. "Go, get your boys out." He told her softly. And if it were any other situation, if she didn't have Mason and Toby to think about. Nye would have stayed for Dale.

"C'mon, let's go!" She heard Daryl yell to them.

Nye nodded, and turned, bolting after the others.

They were halfway there when Mason whispered something that made Nye's heart stop.

"Manny."

Nye stopped running, making the two and Daryl look back at her.

"The hell are you doin'? Let's go!"

Nye shook her head gently, looking up at Daryl. "I'll be right behind you, take them and go!"

Mason shook his head frantically. "No! Nye its not worth it!"

But Nye was already running back.

She literally kicked the door open, and scanned the room so fast her head spun. And there it was, sitting innocently on one of the cots. She grabbed it, and bolted back, not even bothering to grab the stuff they hadn't packed yet.

By the time she caught up to them, they were on the base level.

"Get them doors open!"

She ran up to Daryl and the boys, panting from the sprint, and as soon as Mason and Toby saw her, they tackled her once more.

"Daryl!" Rick yelled, and tossed him an axe.

"Daryl, look out!" T-Dog warned and started swinging a metal chair a the glass blocking their exit.

Shane loaded his shot gun. "Dog, get down! Get down!"

He shot it once and barely scratched it.

"Jesus."

"The glass won't break?" Sophia asked.

Carol stepped forward and reached into her bag. "Rick, I have something that might help."

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Shane barked.

"Fuck you Shane!" Nye yelled.

Carol ignored them both. "Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket."

Nye's jaw dropped as Carol held out a grenade.

"Holy mother of-"

"Come on. Look out!"

Everyone got down as Rick set the grenade.

"Oh sh-"

"Get down! Get down!"

Nye crouched over Mason and Toby, and suddenly felt someone crouching over her.

"Shit!"

Nye tensed as an ear splitting boom sounded. All at once they were bolting for the broken window.

Nye jumped down, and turned to catch the boys. Toby was first, then Mason, then they were sprinting back to the van. Rick and Shane, who were ahead of the group, shot any walkers that were getting too close. And Nye watched with grudging respect, as Daryl cut off a walker's head in one swing with the axe.

She jumped into her van, and swung the passengers side door open, shouting "Get in!" To Daryl, who's blue pickup was further away. He jumped in and slammed the door. Nye turned back in her seat and checked the boys over.

"Everyone okay?!"

"Look!"

At Toby's yell, Nye looked back out, and sagged in relief upon seeing Dale and Andrea coming out, but then noticed Jacque wasn't with them. And as she saw them get down, she turned to the back of the van.

"Get down!" She screamed.

The blast was so intense, it felt as if the vehicle became an oven from the heat, and the entire van shook from the explosion.

She shakily sat up, and exchanged shocked looks with Daryl, amazed they actually made it.

"What's so special 'bout a blanket?" Daryl demanded.

Nye let out a shaky laugh. That was the first thing he had to say? "H-his mother made it."

Comprehension bloomed on his face, and he nodded faintly, seeming to think she was less crazy after that.

She leaned back and handed it to Mason. "Don't ever leave this somewhere again."

Mason nodded, clearly to shocked to speak.

She and Daryl exchanged one more look, then he got out, heading for his truck. Seeing the boys were both still shaken up, she started the engine, and pressed play on the cassette player.

"If today was not a crooked highway, if tonight was not a crooked trail, if tomorrow wasn't such a long time, then lonesome would mean nothing to you at all, yes and only if my own true love was waiting, if I could hear her heart softly pounding, yes and only if she was lying by me,"

She followed behind the rest of them, glancing back at the boys, she nearly laughed out loud, as both were now sound asleep.

"I'd lie, in my bed once again, I can't see my reflection in the water, I can't speak the sounds to show no pain, I can't hear the echo of my footsteps, or remember the sounds of my own name."