Ladies and Gentlemen! The Grand Finale of Season 1. Next chapter begins Season 2. More action. More adventures. More romance. Especially Michael and Andrea. Plus, I will have a special message for everyone who read and/or review my story. So sit back, relax, get ready and enjoy the season 1 Finale.
Chapter 10: TS-19
They all stared ahead of them as the bright light coming from the door shut off, leaving a much dimmer room ahead of them.
"Daryl, you cover the back." Shane said as they formed a scattered line, making their way to the opening.
Rick was the first to walk through, shotgun raised. They all filed in, looking around the large open reception room. It was clear of walkers and humans from the looks of things.
"Hello?" Rick said as they walked further in, weapons still ready. "Hello?"
"Close those doors." Shane said to Merle and Daryl who were the last ones in. They turned and closed the glass doors the shutter was previously blocking. "Watch for walkers."
The group gathered in front of a center wall that had a mural and 'CDC' painted on it's front. Over their heads, there was dim lighting, giving the room enough light for them to see around. "Hello?" Rick said again.
A gun being cocked was the next sound in the room when a tall, blond haired man stepped out from the room behind the wall onto a small raised landing.
"Anybody infected?" He shouted at them, an M4A1 assault rifle aimed at the group.
"One of our group was...He didn't make it." Rick said to him as he lowered his weapon a little from the man.
The man made his way down the steps of the small landing he was on. "Why are you here? What do you want?"
"..A chance."
"That's asking an awful lot these days." The man said, stepping closer.
Rick tilted his head a little in a knowing manner, before looking back at the man. "I know."
Edwin took a minute to look around at all the faces in front of him. He hadn't been sure if anyone was even still left alive until now. He hadn't seen a living person in months. "You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission." He said, coming even closer, almost subconsciously. He hadn't been around actual people in so long.
"We can do that." Rick said. Lowering his weapon more.
"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now." The man said, letting the AR come to rest at his side. "Once this door closes, it stays closed." He said, pointing to the door they just came in as he made his way to Rick. He nodded and headed towards the door again with the man.
Daryl, Merle, Glenn, Michael, Rick and Shane were the group that went out to the cars to grab everyone's essentials. T-Dog and Dale held the two glass doors open for the group. They made quick work of grabbing the bags, drawing little attention to them as they made their way back to the open doors and their new safe haven.
T-Dog and Dale pulled the doors shut. Once the doors were shut, Edwin slid his ID card through the security keypad next to the doors. With a beep, the lights on the keypad's box turned green and the words "Access Granted" appeared on the small screen.
"Vi, seal the main entrance." He said into the speaker on the box. "Kill the power up here."
The shutter began to come down over the door again, blocking them from the outside. The locks all slid in place for what would be the final time. The keypad beeped once after they were closed and turned red again, reading "All Systems Locked" on the screen.
"Rick Grimes." Rick said as everyone else walked away from the doors to grab their things. He offered his hand to the man who had let them in. He was still standing by the security keypad.
"Dr. Edwin Jenner." He said, pausing to look around at the people before taking Rick's hand and giving it a shake.
After some very brief introductions, he told them they would be safer, and more comfortable, in the main part of the CDC. He led them back to the landing he had first stepped out on to greet them and through the room behind the center wall. The hallway at the end of the room led to a large service elevator that only went down. All 17 of them fit inside, though it was a little tight. They listened to the sounds of the elevator humming and working it's way to the lower levels as it made it's way down.
"Doctor's always go around packin heat like that?" Daryl said, looking towards Jenner who had the AR resting against his chest. Daryl was tucked into the back corner of the elevator while Jenner was at the front by the keypad controls.
"Well, there were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself." Jenner said, looking behind him at Daryl. He glanced around at a few of the faces around him. "But you look harmless enough." He said, before letting his eyes fall down on little Carl. "Except you." He nodded his head at the boy. "I'll have to keep my eye on you." He said, causing the boy to let a small, shy smile play on his lip. Jenner smiled before turning back to the keypad. They were almost at the bottom now.
They could all feel the elevator slow as it came to a stop, seconds before the door opened. Jenner walked out first and everyone began to exit the elevator. He led them down an L shaped hallway as everybody followed him.
"Are we underground?" Carol, who was towards the back of the group, asked. Jenner turned to look at her over his shoulder, but didn't stop walking.
"Are you claustrophobic?" He asked.
"A little."
"Try not to think about it." He said as he continued down the rest of the main hallway.
"Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." He said as he made his way down another, smooth surface, platform. And it was just that, a big room. There was a humming sound and beeping of equipment as overhead lights lit up the huge room ahead of them. In the middle, at the end of the platform, was a large, circular landing about 2 feet off the ground. It had two small stairs leading to the floor it was sitting on at either side of the platform. On top were several computer terminals. "Welcome to zone 5." Jenner said, turning his head towards the group behind him. They all looked around the room ahead of them as Edwin made his way to the computers, the group slowly following after him.
"Where is everybody?" Rick asked. "The other doctors, the staff?" He said, looking around the room as they walked towards the computers.
"I'm it." Jenner said, as he stood in the middle of the room among the empty terminals. "It's just me here." Rick looked around for a moment, trying to wrap his head around what the man had just said.
"What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?" Lori said.
"Vi, say hello to our guests." Jenner said, "Tell them...Welcome."
"Hello, guests. Welcome." An automated voice sounded over the speakers. Echoing slightly off of the walls in the large, empty room.
"I'm all that's left." Jenner said as he looked at Rick. "I'm sorry." He turned around, leading them to the other side of the room and out of the door there. He led them through another set of hallways and into a room they used mostly for small seminars or meetings. It was large enough for all of them to fit in comfortably while he took everyone's blood samples.
"What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever." Andrea said, sitting on a chair across from Jenner at the front of the room as he finished drawing her blood. She was the last one.
"I've already broken every rule in the book lettin you in here. Let me just at least be thorough." He said as he set the syringe down on the small table next to them and gave her a cotton ball to hold on her arm. "All done."
Andrea slowly got up and turned to head back to the group when she stopped, feeling light headed. "Ohh." She let out a breath. Michael, who was standing behind her, came to her side to help her walk.
"Are you okay?" Jenner asked, seeing the woman sway a little.
"She hasn't eaten in days." Michael said, looking around Andrea at Jenner. "None of us have." The man looked around at the group, almost dumbfounded.
Everyone was gathered around a couple tables they had pushed together in the CDC's cafeteria. There was a kitchen area behind a counter at the side of the room. Jenner had taken a few of the women with him to the food storage in the next room, letting them pick out food to prepare a meal for everyone. There was more than enough food for everyone here and then some. They all sat, laughing and talking, as they enjoyed the first big meal they had in awhile. In celebration of finally finding a place they would be safe at, Jenner showed them to the alcohol cabinet, which had more bottles of wine than they could count. They set up a table at the end of theirs with various bottles they could use as they drained them one by one, taking full advantage of not having to watch everything they did and look over their shoulder every second.
"Fine." Lori laughed, as Dale, who was standing at the end of the table, poured her another glass of wine. She refused at first, but he suckered her into it.
"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner." Dale said, handing her the glass. "And in France." Dale was getting ready to pour a little wine into the empty cup in front of Carl when Lori put her hand over it with a smile, shaking her head.
"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then." She said, looking between her son and Dale as she took a sip of her wine.
"What's it gonna hurt? Come on." Rick said with a smile, looking at her from his seat next to Carl, who was sitting between them. Lori looked at him as he laughed a little bit. "Come on." Rick said again, his smile spreading.
Lori smiled and shrugged her shoulders as she took her hand off of Carl's glass and raised it in the air in surrender, causing everyone to laugh.
"Heyyy!" T-Dog said as he raised his own glass of wine up with a wide grin on his face.
Dale leaned over and picked up Carl's glass as he poured a little bit of the red wine into it. "There you are, young lad." He said as he handed it to the boy. Who took it from him right away, bringing the glass right to his lips.
Rick looked at his son, letting out a chuckle as he saw the boy's face twist up as soon as he took a sip of the dark red colored drink.
Carl quickly put the cup down on the table and squished his face together in disgust. "Eww!" He said, shaking his head like he was a dog. All of the adults laughed.
Lori patted him on the back while she reached for his cup of wine he was no longer eager to have. "That's my boy. That's my boy." She said as she emptied his cup into her own wine glass. "Good boy."
"Yuck." Carl said, still shaking his head, trying to get the bitter taste from his mouth. "That tastes nasty." He said as Rick gave him a pat on the back with another laugh.
"Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud. Just like you Mikey." Shane said, looking at Michael who smiled.
"Not you, Glenn." Daryl said.
"What?" Glenn asked, looking up from the wine bottle in his hands with a smile.
"Keep drinkin, little man. I wanna see how red your face can get." Daryl said, actually smiling at the young guy while he taunted him. Everyone laughed again, as he poured the wine into the glass in his hands, and refilled Shane's.
Rick spared a glance at Jenner, who was sitting by himself at a table behind the group. He was the only one not laughing. He was just looking around at the joyous people in front of him. Rick grabbed the butter knife on his napkin and clinked it against his glass, calling everyone's attention. He stood up.
"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly." He said, looking around the group and then back at Jenner.
"He is more than just our host." T-Dog said, raising his glass into the air.
"Hear hear!" Dale said as he raised his glass along with everyone else in the room.
"Here's to you, doc." Daryl said as he raised the wine bottle, still clutched in his hand. "Booyah!" Everyone laughed and most of the men repeated after him.
"Booyah!" T-Dog said, loudly, as they all clinked their glasses together.
"Thank you." Rick said, looking at Jenner as he raised his glass to his lips.
Everybody was still chuckling when Shane decided to turn the evening in a more serious direction, making everyone quiet down at once. "So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" He said. "All the, uh. The other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?" He said as he looked into his wine glass.
"We're celebratin, Shane." Rick said. "Don't need to do this now." He said as he sat back down.
"Whoa, wait a second." Shane said, holding up his hand. "This is why we're here, right? This was yours and Mikey's move, supposed to find all the answers. Instead we-" He laughed before he continued. "We found him." He pointed to his left to Jenner with his thumb. "Found one man. Why?"
"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families." Jenner started to explain. First looking to Shane, then around to the group. "And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."
"Every last one?" Shane asked, sitting back in his chair.
"No. Many couldn't face walking out the door. They...opted out. There was a rash of suicides...That was a bad time." Jenner said, looking down at his cup.
"You didn't leave. Why?" Andrea asked.
"I just kept working, hoping to do some good." Jenner said to her as the group looked at the doctor for a few quiet seconds.
"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man." Glenn said as he got up from his seat on top of another table and came closer to the group.
"Well I know what can bring us back into the celebration mood." Michael said.
"And what is that, Mikey?" Rick asked.
"Rick, tonight is still the same night, right?" Michael asked.
"Yeah." Rick said.
"Andrea, what special night is it tonight for a special person?" Michael asked.
"Oh my god! Thanks for reminding me, Mikey. Everybody, tonight is my sister, Amy's birthday." Andrea said.
"No way! Amy, tonight is your birthday?" Shane asked.
Amy smiles"Yes, tonight is my birthday." She said as everyone started cheering for her.
"Here's to the birthday girl, Amy. Happy birthday!" Shane said raising his glass of wine up to toast to Amy.
"Happy birthday, Amy!" Everybody except Ed said also toasting to Amy.
Amy smiled. "Thank you everyone. It means a lot." She said.
"I got a gift for you, Amy. It's to make up for some of your birthdays I missed." Andrea said as she gives the box that has Amy's gift inside.
Amy takes her gift and opens the box and pulls out a gold necklace. When she saw it, she likes it. But she went from likes it to love it when she saw it is a mermaid necklace. She loves mermaids.
"Andrea, where did you get this?" Amy asked.
"When I went to Atlanta with Glenn and the others and found it in a department store." Andrea said.
"I love it. Thank you, Andrea. I love you." Amy said as she hugs her sister.
"I love you, too Amy." Andrea said.
Amy was about to put her necklace on when Shane stop her and grabs her necklace and asked her,"Amy, mind if I put your necklace on for you?" He asked, being a gentleman.
"No. Not at all, Shane." Amy said as Shane puts her necklace on. Amy then turns to Shane and asked him,"How does it look on me?"
"It looks beautiful on you, Amy. Just like you." Shane said.
"Aww. Thank you Shane." Amy said as she then gave Shane a kiss on the cheek, making him blush.
"Oooooo." Everyone except Ed said. Shane then sat back down and they continue to eat.
After everyone was finished with their meals they piled their plates on the counter next to the sink, before grabbing their bags. Jenner was going to show them where they could turn in for the night when they were all ready. They were all making their way to the door.
"Most of the facility is powered down including housing, so you'll have to make do here." Jenner said as he led them down even more hallways in the lower levels of the building. The rooms here could qualify as motel rooms or something of the sort. They each had a bathroom with a toilet, shower and sink. Luxuries everyone certainly missed, but the rooms were lacking beds. "The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like." He said as he pointed to the open doors of the rooms as they walked by. "There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy." He said as he stopped and turned around to face the group. He looked down at the youngest members who were right behind him. Sophia was holding Eliza's doll to her chest. "Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. " He said as he bent over to be more eye level with them and gave them a smile, which they returned and nodded their heads. "The same applies," He said as he raised his voice and stood back up to the adults, "if you shower, go easy on the hot water." He said, pointing his finger back and forth before he turned around and walked down the hall to his office.
Glenn, who was standing behind the kids, turned around and faced the rest of the group with a smile on his face. "Hot water?"
"That's what the man said." T-Dog said from beside him as they both started laughing.
Everyone picked out rooms and put their stuff down. The first thing everyone took advantage of was the hot shower they had all missed so much.
After everyone showered, almost everybody went to bed. Others were still awake. Rick went to talk to Jenner. Dale and Michael heard coughing.
"Andrea?" Dale called as he and Michael went to check on her. They went to the bathroom and saw Andrea throwing up in the toilet while Amy comforts her.
Dale rubs her back, comforting her. "That's it. That's it. Get it out." He said as Andrea finished and flushes the toilet.
"She drank too much. I'll take it from here and care for her. Amy, Lori wants to talk to you. She is in the rec room." Michael said as Dale and Amy nodded. Letting Michael tend to Andrea.
Lori walked into the rec room with another glass of wine in her hands and a smile on her face after she changed her clothes from the shower. Carol turned around to look at her when she chuckled a bit. The older woman was lounging on a couch reading a book while the children were playing checkers with each other. Lori laughed a bit as she walked into the room more, coming closer to the small group. "Any good books?" She asked, looking at the various book shelves in the room. She walked over to look at a small little bar area at the side of the room.
"Uh huh." Carol said, closing the book she was reading and looking at the shelves in front of her. "Enough to keep us busy for years...All right. Come on, kids, it's bedtime." She said as she got up from the couch, grabbing another book she had set on the table in front of her.
"Baby, go say your prayers. I'm gonna browse a bit." Lori said as she walked over to the bookshelves.
"Come on," Carol said as she started walking towards the door out of the rec room that would lead back to their rooms. "This is the first night we might actually get some real sleep." She stopped, turning to look at Lori.
"Hmm." Lori said as she nodded her head in agreement.
"It's a miracle, isn't it?" Carol said, pointing to her daughter before leading the children to the door again.
Lori was looking at the titles at the books on the shelves when she stopped on one she remembered reading reviews for in a magazine. She decided to pull it off the shelf and read the back as she took a sip of her wine.
She heard footsteps and saw Amy walking in the room.
"Mikey said you wanted to talk to me." Amy said.
"Yeah. Actually he wanted to talk to you." Lori said as she points to the side door of the room open and standing there is Shane.
"Hey Amy." Shane said.
"I'll leave you two alone. Good night." Lori said.
"Night, Lori." Both Shane and Amy said as Lori left the room. Both Shane and Amy sat down on the couch.
"So, what did you wanted to talk to me for Shane?" Amy asked.
Shane sigh. "About the kiss on the cheek." He said.
"Oh."
"Amy. You are very beautiful, caring, and loving. What I'm trying to said is that when I hugged you back at camp, it made me feel like you're the only woman I want to be with for as long as I live. Amy Harrison, I love you with all my heart. i hope you feel the same way as I do. If you don't, I understand." Shane said pouring his heart out.
"Oh Shane. What I said back at camp, I meant it. I feel safe when I'm with you. And now I feel more safe with you after what you just said to me. I feel the same way you do. I love you too, Shane Walsh." Amy said also pouring her heart out too.
They look into each others eyes for a moment. Then lean in and kissed. They pulled back and smiled at each other.
"It's still your birthday Amy. How about some birthday lovemaking?" Shane asked as Amy blushed.
"Hell yeah. But we go to my room." Amy said as she and Shane leaves the rec room and go's to Amy's room for some birthday lovemaking.
The next morning, most of the group was around the same table in the cafeteria they had ate at last night. Only this time around, a little worse for wear.
"Morning." Glenn mumbled from his seat next to Dale as Rick walked into the room.
"Mornin." Rick said as he got to the table.
"Are you hungover?" Carl said as he looked up at his dad from his bowl of cereal with a smile. Lori, who was sitting next to him, looked at her son. "Mom said you'd be." He said as Rick sat down at the end of the table, next to Lori.
"Mom is right." Rick smiled at his son as he sat back in his chair and grabbed a bottle of Aspirin off of the table in front of him.
"Mom has that annoying habit." Lori said as she ripped her piece of bacon into smaller strips, chewing the piece that was already in her mouth. Rick looked down to his hands as he tried to open the bottle of Aspirin.
"Eggs! Powdered, but..but I do 'em gooood." T-Dog said as he walked around the counter to the table with a skillet. Glenn let out a moan at the sound of food. Jacqui who had just entered the room, came up next to him and put her arms around his shoulders, comforting him, as he leaned over his plate, holding his head up with the side of his hand.
"I bet you can't tell." T-Dog said. Dale chuckled a little at Glenn. T-Dog began sliding some of the powdered eggs on everyone's empty plates. "Protein helps the hangover." He said with a smile as he put some on Glenn's plate, pulling another sickly moan from the young man. Jacqui was standing behind the poor guy, massaging his shoulders.
"Where'd all this come from?" Rick said as he held up the bottle he was struggling with.
"Jenner." Lori said.
"Could you help me, please?" Rick said, handing her the childproof bottle of Aspirin he couldn't open.
She took the bottle from him, wiping her hands off on her legs. "He thought we could use it."
"Thank you."
"Some of us, at least." She said, looking across the table at poor Glenn.
Jacqui had taken a seat next to him and still had her hands on his shoulders. "Don't ever ever ever let me drink again." He said looking down at his plate of food, still propping his head up with his hand on his forehead.
"Hey." Shane said as he walked in.
"Hey." Rick said, turning his head in the direction of Shane as the man walked past him to grab a cup of coffee on the counter at the far end of the room.
"Feel as bad as I do?" Rick said from the table. T-Dog started walking to the end counter to get his own cup.
"Worse." Shane said, pouring himself a cup.
"The hell happened to you?" T-Dog said as Shane turned around to head back to the table.
"What are you talking about?" Shane said confused.
"Your neck?" T-Dog asked again, seeing what appears to be a bite mark.
"Wait. Let me see." Michael said as he notices the mark too. He looked at it and knew what it is. " That's a hickie. A Love bite." He said as everyone looks towards Shane.
"Shane. Who gave you that mark?" Rick asked.
"I did." Said Amy as everyone looks at her.
"What?!" Andrea Shout.
After Amy explain what happened between her and Shane last night. Everyone was cool with it expect Andrea who was about to kill Shane for having sex with her sister but Michael managed to calm her down. Then they continue eating.
"Mornin'." Jenner said as he walked into the room to join the group.
"Hey, doc." Shane greeted him.
"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing," Dale said.
Jenner was at the counter pouring himself some coffee. "But you will anyway."
"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea said as she looked at the man's back before he turned around.
Daryl and Merle walked into the room and made there way to the table.
"Let's let everyone eat first." Jenner said, looking around at the group.
Everyone followed Jenner into the room with the computer terminals after they'd finished eating. He set his coffee mug down on the table at his station and pressed a button on the keyboard. He was greeted with a beep, letting him know the computer was ready for a command.
"Give me a playback of TS-19." Jenner said out loud.
"Playback of TS-19." Vi's voice said, echoing in the large room.
There was another round of beeps as the large screen in front of all the terminals came on. The screen was slowly being filled with different images of what looked like MRI's and different views of a brain.
"Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few." Jenner said as everyone gathered around.
The screen had 4 smaller images to the left of the screen while the remaining right side, had a larger image. As the image completely loaded, you could clearly see the brain of the subject as it was slightly brighter than the rest of the image, to bring your focus away from the skull and outline of the face.
"Is that a brain?" Carl said as he looked at the giant screen in front of them and then to Jenner.
"An extraordinary one." Jenner said as he looked at the boy. "Not that it matters in the end." He said as he looked back at the screen. "Take us in for EIV."
"Enhanced internal view." Vi said as the screen changed. The larger image on the right took up the whole screen then, covering up the smaller images that were on the left, and the way you saw the image changed. It went from the subject sitting up, looking directly ahead, to laying down, giving you a side view of its profile, focusing on the head. You could vaguely see the outline of the face and skull again, but the main focus was the brain of the blue image. You could see the entire brain lighting up, small threads of light going in every direction. The image zoomed in, taking the viewers inside the brain. Giving a close up view of the little ripples of light dancing all over the screen.
"What are those lights?" Shane said from the seat he had taken on one of the chairs around the computers.
"It's a person's life. Experiences, memories." Jenner said, turning to the group behind him, but pointing behind him at the screen. "It's everything." He said, turning back around. "Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you- the thing that makes you unique. And human."
Daryl crossed his hands over his chest, resting them slightly under his biceps. "You don't make sense ever?"
"Those are synapses," Jenner said, looking back at him, "electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says, does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death." He said, watching the screen take you on a tour of the subject's brain, all the while shooting ripples of light in every direction.
"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" Rick said, stepping closer to the doctor.
"Yes." Jenner said. "Or rather the playback of the vigil."
"This person died?" Andrea said, looking at the screen but also stepping closer. "Who?"
"Test Subject 19." Jenner answered as Andrea looked over at him beside her. "Someone who was bitten and infected...and volunteered to have us record the process." He looked back at the screen. "Vi, scan forward to the first event."
"Scanning to first event." Vi said. There was the sound of beeping as the computer processed the command. The image zoomed out from inside the subject's brain, giving the view of its profile again as the video scanned forward.
Within the blue image, among the ripples of blueish white light in the brain, was a black mass forming. Small ripples of red light spreading through it.
"What is that?" Glenn said, looking at the black mass, that was slowly spreading through the brain. Little branches of black reaching in every direction, making itself bigger.
"It invades the brain like meningitis." Jenner said, pointing back and forth at the image. You could see the outline of the subject start to have trouble breathing, like it was gasping for breath as the black mass took over it's brain. "The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs." He said as the blueish ripples of light slowly started to fade before the whole brain finally went dark and the subject stopped moving. "Then death...Everything you ever were or ever will be...gone."
"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked as she looked at her mom.
"Yes." Carol nodded at her and taking her hand before looking back to the screen.
"I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is." Jenner said before he turned back to the screen.
"Scan to the second event." He said, taking steps towards the screen.
"Scanning to second event." Vi said as the screen scanned forward once again.
"The resurrection times very 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." Jenner said as he looked at the screen.
At the brain stem, where the black mass originated from before it slowly spread, flickers of red light began to dance on the screen. But only occupying that small space, some spreading out farther, but only for a second at a time. Everyone looked at the screen, confused.
"It restarts the brain?" Lori said.
"No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving." Jenner said.
"But they're not alive?" Rick said, walking closer to the railing around the platform, closer to the screen.
"You tell me." Jenner said looking at the man, holding a hand out towards the screen as Rick came to his side.
Rick looked at the screen, shaking his head a bit. "It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark."
"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." Jenner said as the subject on the screen slowly began to move.
Something entered the camera at the top of the screen. There was a bright flash of light as you saw a line go through the center of the subject's head, darkening the brain for the last time.
"God. What was that?" Carol said as she looked at the screen.
"He shot his patient in the head." Andrea looked at the screen one last time. "Didn't you?"
"Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations." Jenner said as he turned towards the group and back to the computer he left his mug at.
"Powering down main screen and workstations." Vi said as the screen went black, along with all of the computer screens in the room, causing it to become a little dimmer. The overhead lights being the only light in the room.
"You have no idea what is it, do you?" Andrea said as she looked at him, crossing her arms over her chest. Everyone looked at the doctor.
"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal." He said.
"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui said.
"There is that."
"Somebody must know something. Somebody somewhere." Andrea said, coming closer.
"There are others, right? Other facilities?" Carol asked.
Jenner looked around the room. "There may be some. People like me."
"But you don't know? How can you not know?" Rick asked.
"Everything went down. Communications, directives- all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month."
"So it's not just here." Andrea said. "There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying right?"
Jenner didn't answer. He just looked at the ground.
Andrea scoffed. "Jesus."
Everyone just looked around the room, completely taken aback.
"Man, I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk. Again." Daryl said, shaking his head as he turned around and walked to the computer terminal behind him.
"You and me both little brother." Merle said.
"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but," Dale said as he walked towards the far side of the platform, pointing to a large digital timer on the far wall, "that clock- it's counting down." Everyone looked to the large red numbers as they changed from an hour to 59 minutes. "What happens at zero?" He asked, turning around and looking at Jenner. Daryl stood up from the terminal.
"The..basement generators- they run out of fuel." Jenner said as he turned away.
"And then?" Rick said, looking at Jenner who was walking towards the exit of the room. Everyone watched him walk away. Not answering the question. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?" Rick said.
"When they power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." Vi said over the speakers.
Vi hadn't switched the lights on in the stairwell just yet so the group had a couple flashlights lighting the path.
"Decontamination- what does that mean?" Glenn said as they made their way down the stairs to the basement. The group consisted of Michael, Glenn, Rick, Shane and T-Dog. The light's in the stairway clicked on.
"I don't like the way Jenner clammed up. The way he just wondered off like that." Shane said as they got to the bottom of another flight of stairs, which ended up being the final set.
"What's wrong with him? Seriously, man, is he nuts, medicated or what?" T-Dog said as he and Glenn came up behind Rick, Michael and Shane. They were looking at a map of the building that was on the wall at the bottom of the stairwell.
"In there." Rick said, looking to the door on his right. The five of them headed to the door.
The room was dark as they stepped in, the only light source being the stairway and their flashlights. As they walked further into the room, Vi switched the lights on as the camera picked them up. The overhead lights came on revealing the generator room. There were fuel drums everywhere. Rick looked around the large room for a second. "Check that way." He pointed to his right as he looked between Glenn and T-Dog. "Shane, Mikey." He said as he walked off to his left, the men following him.
The men spread out and began looking through the room, both for the main generator and any fuel they could find.
Rick, Michael and Shane managed to find it first. He walked around the large generator to the control panel, hearing it working, trying to use every last bit of fuel it still had in it. Rick looked at the pump that was attached. Above it, it said 'Emergency Fuel Intake' and the fuel gauge, itself, was right above 'empty'.
He leaned over to push at the fuel drum the generator was hooked to. "It's empty." He said as Shane walked up to him. The man let out a sigh.
Just then, the generator made a clicking noise before the room went completely black.
"Emergency lighting on." Vi said over the speaker as much dimmer lights lit up the room.
"What the hell is this?" Shane said looking above him.
Glenn and T-Dog turned around and went in the direction the other two men walked off in as the emergency lights came on. "Hey, you guys kill the lights?" Glenn said as he jogged over to the two men, shining a flashlight on them.
"Nah, it just went out." Shane said as he looked at the panel on the generator.
"Anything?" Rick asked Glenn and T-Dog as they came closer.
"Yeah, a lot of dead generators and more empty fuel drums than I can count." T-Dog said as he came closer to the men.
Shane took his flashlight to shine it on the fuel gauge again. "It can't be down to just that one." He said as he looked at Rick.
Down the hall in the Grimes' room, Lori heard the air conditioning shut off. She got up from the cot and stood below the vent in the room with her hand to it, not feeling any air flow.
Carl looked up from his science book Lori had him doing homework in to see his mother waving her hand around in front of the vent. "Mom?...Something wrong?"
"Uh, nothing. It's just...the air conditioning stopped." Lori said as she brought her hand to her side and turned towards her son. In a few moments, the lights in their rooms would shut off as well. Leaving only the lights in the hallway that led to the computer terminals on.
Jenner was sitting in his office, just around the corner from the rooms, that overlooked the large computer room. At his desk, he picked up a framed picture. He pulled a shaky breath in through his nose as he fought the urge to cry while his fingers traced the silver frame, staring at the woman looking back at him.
"I did the best I could in the time that I had...I hope you'd be proud of that." He said. He ran a finger over the woman's face before he set the picture frame back down on his desk. He looked at it one last time before he stood up, grabbing his ID card, and walked over to the glass wall that gave him an overhead view of the computer room. He put his hands in his pockets as he stared out into the empty room below him. He looked to the timer on the far end of the room. "We always think there's gonna be more time." He said as the sound of machinery shutting off echoed all around. The lights in his office and the surrounding areas, including everyone's rooms, turned off. "Then it runs out."
Everyone started to walk out of their rooms as Jenner made his way to their hallway.
"Why is the air off? And the lights in our room?" Carol said, looking at Lori who was leaning outside the door from the room next to her. Jenner just looked at them as he came around the corner, heading for the computer room.
"Hey, what's goin on?" Daryl said, looking down the hall, the bottle of SoCo hanging from his hand. "Why is everything turnin off?"
Jenner grabbed the bottle from his hand as he passed him. "Energy use it being prioritized." He said as everyone came out of their rooms, fully, and followed him down the hall.
"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale said as Jenner passed him, taking a drink from Daryl's bottle of alcohol.
"It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down." He said as he rounded the corner to the landing and stairs that would lead them to the computer room.
"Hey! Hey, what the hell's that mean?" Daryl said as he picked up his pace, walking around Dale and Andrea, trying to catch up to Jenner. "Hey, man, I'm talkin to you." Daryl said as he put his hand on Jenner's shoulder but the man kept walking. "Whatta you mean it's shuttin itself down? How can a buildin do anything?" He asked as the sound of more machinery shutting down was heard.
"You'd be surprised." Jenner said as he walked to the end of the landing to the stairs just as Rick and the small group that was with him ran into the room out of the basement's stairway door.
"Rick?" Lori said as she leaned over the rail of the landing, looking down at her husband. Rick held his hand up to her, seeing the panic on her face. Jenner and the others started down the stairs to meet them.
"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick said as he walked over to the man as he reached the bottom. Jenner continued to the computer platform in the center of the room.
"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power." He said, walking side by side with Rick. "It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached to half hour mark. Right on schedule." He said, pointing toward the timer that now read 31 minutes. Jenner took another drink from the bottle as he came to the two steps that would bring him up onto the platform with the computer terminals. He stopped for a second, making everyone look at it. He held the bottle to Daryl who was at his other side. Daryl snatched it away from him, sending a bit of the alcohol flying out of the bottle to his left and onto the floor.
"It was the French." Jenner said as he looked at Andrea.
"What?" She looked at him.
"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."
"What happened?" Jacqui asked.
Jenner turned and walked up the steps onto the platform before turning back to them. "Same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice...The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?" He said as he turned around and walked further into the computer terminals.
"Let me tell you something-" Shane said as he walked up the stairs.
Rick put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back as he walked up the stairs with him. "To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care." He said. He turned around to the group behind him. "Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!"
"O-okay." Jacqui said, nodding her head. Just as everyone was backing away and about to head back up the stairs to their room, a loud alarm started blaring, a red light flashing from above the platform.
"What's that?" Shane said. Rick looked around, seeing the light go off overhead. He looked down as Carl came up to his side.
"What's that?" He said as he looked up at his dad. Rick put his hand on the back of Carl's head.
"30 Minutes to decontamination." Vi said as the large screen at the front turned on, putting the timer there. Jenner looked at the screen and walked to a control panel on the other side of the platform.
"Doc, what's goin on here, damn it!" Daryl yelled, still at the bottom of the steps on the other side of the platform.
Jenner swiped his ID over the card reader and put in a code.
"Everybody, y'all heard Rick. Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!" Shane yelled as he turned around at everyone still standing on the floor around the platform.
"Let's go, let's go." T-Dog said and turned for the stairs.
"Come on!" Glenn yelled.
"Get those guns." Shane said to T-Dog.
Jenner put the last of the code in as everyone turned around and started away. Just then, a metal door quickly shot up from the floor at the main hallway that led to the computer platform. The hall that led to the elevator. With a loud clang, the door sealed their only exit to the floors above. Rick ran to the door but it was much too late.
"No." Glenn said, looking at the now sealed exit. "Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!"
Jenner sat down at his station and turned on his video feed. "We've hit the 30 minute window. I am recording." He said into the camera. Everyone started to run over to the platform.
"Carl." Lori said as she came closer.
"Mom!"
Daryl and Merle turned and looked at Jenner. Their face twisted in anger. They bolted for the couple platform stairs and quickly ran up them. "You son of a bitch!" Daryl said.
"Shane! Mikey!" Rick yelled from his position by the sealed door. He pointed to Daryl and Merle who are well past them at this point.
"You locked us in here!" Daryl yelled as he and Merle ran up behind Jenner.
"No, stop. Don't!" Glenn yelled, running towards the men.
"You locked us in here!" Daryl yelled again as he and Merle grabbed Jenner by the shoulders of his lab coat and attempted to yank him from the chair.
"No no no no! Don't!" Shane said as he and Michael came up behind Daryl and Merle at the same time he grabbed Jenner. Shane put his arms around Daryl's waist as Michael did the same with Merle as they tried to pull the man back, making them loose their grip on Jenner's jacket.
"Wait, no! No, don't do it!" T-Dog said as he ran up to help. Daryl lifted the bottle of whiskey he still had in his hands and was about to throw it at Jenner's head. But with Shane pulling him back and both men struggling with it, he couldn't get a good aim.
"Hey, Jenner, open that door now." Rick said as he walked down from the door to the computers.
"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed." Jenner said from his seat Daryl hadn't managed to pull him off.
"Well, open the damn things." Dale said.
"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." Jenner said, pointing his finger at Rick, who turned, looking at the people around him. "It's better this way." He said as Shane walked up to the other side of Jenner.
"What is?" Rick said as he looked back at the doctor. "What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick said, looking at the clock then to Jenner as he stepped closer to the man.
Jenner just turned around and went back to his keyboard. Typing in his log book for what would be the final time.
"What happens in 28 minutes?!" Shane yelled as he walked up behind Jenner and kicked at his chair.
"Come on!" Daryl yelled.
Jenner finally stood up and faced Rick again. "Do you know what this place is?!" He said, looking at the man before turning around and looking at Shane. "We protected the public from very nasty stuff!" He yelled into his face before looking around at the whole group. "Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strands that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" Everyone looked at the man for a second. He took a seat at his chair once again. Rick, Michael and Shane looked at each other, Daryl pacing back and forth, wanting to pounce on the man. Jenner took a deep breath. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure- in a terrorist attack for example- HITs are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."
"HITs?" Rick asked.
"Vi, define." Jenner said.
"HITS- high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear." Everyone looked around, beginning to panic or cry after hearing what was about to happen to them. "The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000 and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired." Rick grabbed Lori and Carl, pulling them both into his chest.
Rick let go of his family and looked at Jenner as Lori knelt down to hold Carl against her.
"No pain." Jenner said. "An end to sorrow, grief...regret." Everyone looked at him, the sounds of Carol and the children crying in the background. "Everything."
Daryl took a few steps back and threw the bottle of whiskey at the door in frustration. It busted against the solid metal, sending shards of glass all over the floor. He turned back around to Jenner. "Open the damn door!" He pointed behind him with his arm.
Jenner looked over to the small group but didn't make any movements.
"Out of my way!" Shane yelled as he ran up the platform to the door with an axe in his hand. Glenn walked back down the platform as Daryl and Rick leaned out of his way. He began hitting the door with the axe as soon as he got to it.
"Daryl!" Merle yelled, throwing another axe up to the man. Daryl caught it and spun around, planting himself next to Shane as the two continued to beat at the door. Grunting, heavy breathing and the clanging of the axes on the metal door was all you could hear from that side of the room.
Lori and Carol were both sitting on the ground with their backs to a computer terminal, their children in their laps, crying.
"You should've left well enough alone. It would've been so much easier." Jenner said.
"Easier for who?" Lori said in an exasperated tone.
"All of you. You know what's out there-" He said as Rick walked backed over to him. "-a short, brutal life and an agonizing death."
You should know what this does. You've probably seen it." He said. He looked at Rick. "Is that really what you want for your wife and son?"
"I don't want this." Rick said, bending over to get closer to his face as he pointed to the ground.
Daryl set his axe down by the door as he and Shane came down the platform. Shane set his axe down on top of the terminal on his way to Rick.
"Can't make a dent." Shane said, leaning over the terminal Rick was in front of, trying to catch his breath.
"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner said, making it sound obvious as he looked at them.
"Well your head ain't!" Daryl yelled, grabbing Shane's axe from the terminal. He raised it above his head and was on a warpath towards Jenner.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Rick yelled and sprinted around the terminal to stand in front of Daryl. Jenner stand up from his chair, ready to run if they couldn't hold the man back.
Dale was at Daryl's side as he grabbed a hold of his shoulders, trying to push the man back. "Daryl! Daryl!" Rick yelled trying to restrain him. T-Dog ran around the back of him and came to his other side, holding onto the axe, trying to pry it from Daryl's hands.
"Just back up! Back up!" Rick yelled as they all gave him a push. He let go of the axe, letting T-Dog take it from him as he spun around and walked to the other side of the terminal by Shane.
"You do want this." Jenner said as he looked at Rick. "Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."
"What?" T-Dog said.
Rick looked at Lori, who was looking up at him.
"What? You really said that?" Shane asked. "After all your big talk?"
"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick said.
"There is no hope. There never was." Jenner said as he looked at the man.
"There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere-" He said as he stepped closer to Jenner again.
"This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event." He said, sitting back down in his chair.
"This isn't right." Carol sobbed. "You can't just keep us here."
"One tiny moment- a millisecond. No pain." Jenner said, scooting his chair closer to her.
"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this." Carol cried. She handed Sophia off to Dale as she got up. She needed a second to breath.
Shane was getting pissed off. He stood up from his place, bent over at the terminal, and walked towards his shotgun. If being threatened with a glass bottle and axe wasn't enough, maybe that would do the trick.
"Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Jenner said.
Shane cocked his gun as he made his way through the terminals and back to Jenner. Everyone turned around at the sound of the gun.
"Shane, no!" Rick said as Shane came up behind him. He put his arm over Shane's chest to push him back.
"Out of the way, Rick! Stay out of my way!" Shane yelled as he pushed Rick off to the side. He walked up to stand in front of Jenner, aiming the shotgun at his head. "Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?!" Lori, who was still sitting on the floor right behind him got up, pushing Carl off to the side as they both got out of the way of the scene in front of them.
"Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this." Rick said, coming to Shane's side. "We will never get out of here."
"Shane, you listen to him." Lori said.
"It's too late." Shane said, not moving his gun.
"He dies, we all-" Rick said as Shane cut him off. The man let out a loud yell. "-we all die! Shane!"
"You pull the trigger and you lose Amy!" Michael said as Shane stops himself and looks at his little brother.
"What?" Shane asked.
"Look at Amy, Shane. Look at her!" Michael shouted as Shane looks at Amy who looks terrified. "She terrified of what you're doing Shane. She doesn't want you to save her by putting a gun to someone's head and threaten them. You're not the man she fell in love with right now. You pull the trigger, she will hate you for as long as she lives. So you have a choice Shane. You put the gun down and go comfort Amy. Tell her you're sorry and tell her you love her. Or pull the trigger and lose her love."
Shane looks at Amy. Then Jenner. Back to Amy. He then looks at Michael and puts the gun down. He then walks to Amy and hugs her as Amy sobs.
"I'm sorry Amy. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scared you." Shane said with tears in his eyes as he hugs Amy.
"Promise me you'll never do something like that again." Amy said.
"I promise. I love you, Amy." Shane said.
"I love you too, Shane." Amy said.
Michael smiles knowing that his brother made the right choice. He then turns to Rick. "Rick, let me talk to Jenner" He said.
"Okay, Mikey." Rick said
Michael turns to Jenner. "Jenner. There is hope. Yet you stayed here. Why?" He asked.
"It doesn't matter." Jenner said, shaking his head.
"It does matter. It always matters." Rick said, stepping closer to him, bending down to look at his face. "You stayed when others ran. Why?"
"Not because I wanted to." Jenner turned and looked at him as he stood up. "I made a promise...to her." He pointed at the big screen the images played on earlier. "My wife." A few quiet seconds passed as realization sunk in.
"Test Subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asked.
"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" Jenner said. Daryl, who walked back over to the door, picked up his axe there and began hitting the metal again. "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." Rick said. "You do. That's- that's all we want- a choice, a chance." Daryl could still be heard in the background at the door. Grunting with every swing of the axe. Each bang on the door, like the ticking of the clock that was still counting down.
"Let us keep trying as long as we can." Lori said, holding Carl to her, making Jenner turn around and look from Rick, to her. He looked around for a few seconds.
"We only humans, Jenner. But if we work together, we can do anything we can to survive. There maybe times when lose hope. But when we think about the people we love, dead or alive, right there is hope. Maybe not always but there is hope. We want to continue to live. So please, let us go." Michael said.
"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." He said as he walked past Rick, over to the keypad at the bottom of the platform. He scanned his ID card and put in the code.
Daryl, who was getting ready to swing the axe at the door again, stopped, as it disappeared into the floor from whence it came. "Come on!" He yelled as he looked back at everyone. "Let's go!" Shane and Merle ran to get most of their bags before coming back to the door to meet everyone.
"Come on, let's go!" Glenn yelled as he started for the door. Everyone turned and started running for the now open exit. Everyone was shouting to go and move.
"There's your chance. Take it." Jenner said as he came back up to the platform to Rick and Michael.
"We're grateful." Rick said to the man, both he and Michael offering up their hands to him again.
"The day will come when you both won't be." The doctor said. He looked at Rick and Michael's hands before he took them in his own. He pulled Rick to him and placed his hand on the sheriff's shoulder as he leaned into his ear and whispered to him. Lori ran back down the platform to her husband as Jenner let Rick go, looking at him one more time, she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the door. He whispered the same thing he to Michael. Michael nodded to him then made his way to the door.
"Hey, we've got four minutes left! Come on!" Glenn yelled at the remaining people on the platform from the door.
"Come on." Shane said as he patted Rick's shoulder and they all started to run down the hallway, towards the dark stairway that would lead them to the upper levels. Those that had flashlights got them out to light up the dark. Even if the elevator were powered on and working, it would be cutting it too short on time if they used it.
The group burst through the stairwell out into the lit up main building. Jenner was able to open the shutters but not the doors, so light from outside was flooding through the windows that made up the entire front of the building. T-Dog was the first to the doors and starting banging on them, trying to push them open.
"Get them doors open!" Glenn yelled.
"Come on!" T-Dog yelled as he banged against them again.
"It doesn't work!" Glenn yelled as he tried pushing against one.
"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" T-Dog yelled as he ran over to the keypad at the door Jenner had used when they were first let in. "Exit." He said as he pressed the button. "Try it! Try it! Try it now!" He said, looking back at Glenn who pushed against the locked door again.
"Daryl!" Shane yelled behind him to the man as they ran up a few stairs to the windows.
Daryl had both of the axes in his hands so he threw one up to Shane and came up next to the man as they started banging away at the glass. "Come on! Come on!" Daryl yelled. The axes weren't even making a dent in the glass. The men kept swinging, grunting with the force of the hits they were giving.
3 minutes, 11 seconds left.
"Daryl, look out!" T-Dog said.
Daryl turned around and jumped off the small landing as T-Dog ran up with a metal chair and began slamming it into the glass, yelling with each hit. Rick walked closer to them, putting Daryl's bow on the floor.
Shane grabbed his shotgun and reloaded it. "Dog, get down! Get down!" He yelled as he ran up to the windows and took aim. Every one ducked. He fired and the bullet all but bounced off the glass. "Jesus." He said as he backed away.
"The glass won't break?" Sophia said.
"Rick, I have something that might help." Carol said, digging through her bag as she walked up to him.
"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Shane said as he looked at the windows again.
"That because she's stupid." Ed said.
"Shut the fuck up, Ed!" Daryl shouted.
"Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket." She said as she pulled out a grenade. Rick looked down at it in her outstretched hand. He grabbed it and turned towards the windows.
"Stupid, huh?" Michael said.
"Come on." She said to Sophia and hurried her away.
"Look out!" Glenn yelled. Everyone ran for what cover they could, as Rick walked over to the window that had taken a severe beating, but still refused to give way.
Rick leaned down, pulling the pin out of the grenade, and let go of the lever. "Ohh sh-" He yelled as he got up and ran to where Merle and Daryl were ducked down behind a wall in front of the windows.
"Get down! Get down!" Shane yelled at him.
"Shit!" Rick yelled as he jumped away, towards the two in front of him as the grenade exploded behind him. The blast shook the room they were in and shattered the large window they had been trying to bust out of.
"Go! Go!" Glenn yelled. Everyone grabbed their things. Daryl stopped and grabbed his Horton off the ground and swung it around his back as he grabbed both the axes.
The group all jumped out of the window to the ground. The grenade had attracted every Walker around. They were slowly approaching as the group made their way to the cars.
Shane brought his shotgun to his shoulder and took aim at another as Rick, Michael and T-Dog did the same with their guns. Shane held the shotgun at his side and got out his Glock 17 handgun and started aiming again. Daryl put both axes in one hand, gripping them tightly like a baseball bat, and took a swing at the head of a Walker he was running up to, sending it's head flying off. They all ran the last few feet to the cars as they all came up to the vehicles they had arrived in just the day before.
Everyone got in the cars they were in when they got to the CDC. They all ducked down because they couldn't leave before the building exploded because time was up.
With a loud blast, fire engulfed the entire building, busting out the rest of the windows at the front, before continuing around the entire building. Crumbling it like it was made of cards. The shock wave from the force of the explosion bent all the trees surrounding the building back and caught everything near the building on fire. The force rocked all the cars, even though they were a good distance away. After the first explosion, everyone looked up at the building that was no longer there. That they could've been stuck in, had Rick and Michael not convinced Jenner to let them out.
Once everyone was safe in their vehicles, breathing heavy, but alive, they looked at what remained of the CDC, of the doctor inside. They watched the fire and black smoke rise into the sky for a few more seconds before Rick started Carol's car. He took one last look at the huge flames before stepping on the gas, making a U-turn and leading the caravan away. Where they were going, he wasn't quite sure yet. But he'd figure it out. He was going to make this chance Jenner gave them count. So was Michael.
That ends season 1 part of my story. Next starts season 2. More action. More romance. Season 2 of my story will be more fun! Now for the special message to everyone who read and/or review my story. Message me or review 10 differences between my story and the TV series version of the Walking Dead. There will be a reward for who gets the most or all 10 differences right. So read and review and stay tune for season 2. Enjoy! And May The Force Be With You!