I was the first one awake out of the three of us. I stretched on the couch and stared at the ceiling for a little bit. Sophia eventually woke up too.

"Hi." I greeted.

"Hi!" Sophia greeted as well.

The door opened.

"Hey all, breakfast is ready." Lori told.

"Ok, thanks " I said as Lori closed the door. I kicked Carl lightly to wake him up.

"Breakfast." Sophia told.

"Oh, sweet!' Carl exclaimed.

We all got dressed and made our way to the cafeteria. Carl walked in front of Sophia and I. We were holding hands. Carl turned around and noticed us holding hands.

"Um… Are you two-"

"Yes, we are." Sophia interrupted Carl.

"Oh, ok." He replied with his head down.

I think he liked Sophia too. I almost feel bad for him, but I shouldn't and I don't. If he wanted Sophia, he should've made a move. We went into the cafeteria and sat down next to each other.

"How'd you sleep?" Lori asked me.

"As good as good can be." I replied.

She chuckled, "Good. There's some cereal in that cabinet over there."

"Thanks."

I grabbed a box for me and Sophia. I sat back down and poured some cereal for the both of us.

"No milk?" I questioned.

"No, sorry kiddo." Lori replied.

I dealt with it, just being able to have my favorite cereal was good enough. Glenn, Daryl, Shane, and Rick were hungover and I thought it was kind of funny, they got what they deserved. We later went into the main control room and Dr. Jenner was showing us something. We went into the main control room.

"Give me a playback of TS-19." Jenner commanded.

"Playback of TS-19." Vi said.

A bunch of graphics and diagrams showed up on the big screen. Sophia and I were standing next to each other, holding hands, and we looked at each other in amazement.

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

This must really be something. There was something on the big screen, it looked like a brain.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked.

Thanks for stating the obvious, Carl.

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

He had a point.

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

"Enhanced internal view." Vi said.

Everybody finally was here and observed what was on the big screen. Vi zoomed in on the person's brain, it was so cool to see. I've never seen anything like it. It went far into the person's brain.

"What are these lights?" Shane questioned.

"It's a person's life," Jenner responded, "experiences, memories, it's everything. Somewhere in that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you. The thing that makes you unique… and human."

"You don't make sense? Ever?" Daryl asked.

"Those are synapses, 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." Jenner responded.

I started to lose interest, I had no clue what he was talking about. I was never the brightest person.

"This person died? Who?" Andrea asked.

"…Test subject 19," Jenner replied, "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."

It zoomed out and focused on the entire brain. I was so intrigued all of a sudden that I didn't even hear what everyone else was saying. Sophia probably looked at me and I didn't realize it. But I saw Carl move next to me and I looked back at him. Our faces showed just how amazed we were. I saw something spread throughout the brain, that must be the virus. If I was listening, I probably would've known what was happening. Everything suddenly went to black in the brain.

"…Then death." I heard Jenner say. "Everything you ever were or ever will be… gone."

I felt like I was going to cry, but I held the tears back. Sophia brought me into a hug and Carl showed a look of concern. I looked at both of them, showing I was okay. I looked back up.

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

"Yes." She answered.

A few moments passed of me not paying attention to anything except the thought of my parents' death, and another video appeared on the big screen.

"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." Jenner told us. "In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute… seven seconds."

Everything was dark inside the brain until a little red light came about. I was as intrigued as ever now. The entire stem of the brain kept becoming red, and it was really interesting to see. But suddenly a white… thing went through the person's head.

"God, what was that?" Carol questioned.

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

"Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations." Jenner commanded.

"Powering down main screen and workstations."

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

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

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui interrupted Jenner.

"There is that." Jenner replied.

"Somebody must know something. Somebody, somewhere." Andrea assured.

I separated myself from everybody, I can't handle arguments well anymore. Carl and Sophia thought it was okay and they respected my personal space. I just tried not to pay attention to what they were saying. I sat down next to a clock that was counting down. What is it counting down to?

"…What happens at zero?" Dale asked, suddenly bringing me back to the conversation. I walked back next to Sophia and Carl.

"The… basement generators… They run out of fuel." Jenner replied to Dale.

That seemed like a lot of BS. There's more to that clock.

"And then?" Rick asked.

Jenner walked away before any more questions could be asked.

"Vi, what happens when the power runs out?" Rick asked.

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

That doesn't sound too good. Rick, Shane, Glenn, and T-Dog went off in their own direction and everyone else went into their rooms. I got a massive headache from looking at the screen so intensely for so long, so I took a nap. Surprisingly, it was a dreamless nap. I guess that's good. But, something woke me up.

"The air conditioning stopped." Lori said as I shifted from a laying down to a seated position. Suddenly, the power went off in our room. Everybody exited their rooms and slammed Jenner with questions about the power.

"Energy use is being prioritized." Jenner vaguely said.

What does that mean? Probably something bad. We all followed Jenner to wherever he was going, and Daryl kept threatening Jenner. We finally met up with the other four and they joined in on the questioning. We all stopped at the main control room and Jenner is telling us about the French, or something. Me and Carl were with Lori and Sophia was with Carol.

"What's going on?" I whispered to Carl.

"You think I know?" He responded.

"Lori, grave your things. Everybody, we're getting out of here NOW!" Rick exclaimed. An alarm went off and caught everybody's attention.

"What's that?" Carl asked Rick.

"30 minutes to decontamination." Vi told.

"Doc, what's going on here!?" Daryl questioned.

"Y'all heard, everybody get your stuff and let's go! Go now! GO!" Shane shouted.

I heard a weird noise, the doors closed. We were locked in. We're so screwed. Carl and Sophia went crying to their moms, but I didn't. I don't have a mom anymore. Daryl and Shane tried beating up Jenner, he damn deserved it. He's trying to kill us!

"I told you, once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again, you heard me say that." Jenner explained. "It's better this way."

"What is?" Rick asked. "What happens in twenty-eight minutes?"

No reply.

"WHAT HAPPENS IN TWENTY-EIGHT MINUTES!?"

"YOU KNOW WHAT THIS PLACE IS!?" Jenner questioned. "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! …In the event of a catastrophic power failure in a terrorist attack, for example, H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organism from getting out."

"H.I.T.s?"

"…Vi, define."

"H.I.T.s-high impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive. except nuclear."

That was when Sophia, Carl, and other people began to cry. I didn't. I didn't deserve to.

"The vacuum pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5000 and 6000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structure is desired."

"It sets the air on fire." Jenner said.

I dropped to the floor in shock. I sat down against some machine and buried my head in my arms. I tried to clear all thoughts, but the thought of being obliterated just couldn't get out of my mind. I heard everybody trying to break the door open, but it clearly wouldn't work. Sophia, Carl, Lori, and Carol all ended up near me and they were all in tears. Rick, Andrea, and Jenner were arguing, and Andrea was on Jenner's side. Oh, and Daryl tried to cut Jenner's head off. I heard somebody with a gun.

"You better open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off! DO YOU HEAR ME!?" Shane was threatening Jenner at gunpoint.

Rick tried to get Shane to back off, but he started to shoot. Not Jenner, but the computers. Rick took Shane down and took the gun from him. Oh man, this is just too crazy. I can't live like this anymore. I buried my head again and tried to clear my mind again. I just wanted this all to end, no more walkers, no more dying. I knew there was only one way to do that. I heard the doors open and I heard everybody run out. I looked up and I saw Andrea and Jacqui still standing there. I guess they have the same thinking as me.

"Wait! Mom! Where's Jake!?" Sophia shouted in sadness.

"Mom!?" Carl also shouted while crying.

"C'mon Carl, let's keep moving. We don't have a lot of time!" Lori told Carl.

"But he'll die!" They both cried at the same time.

"If we don't hurry, we're gonna die too." Carol told both of them.

It hit me. I may have lost my parents, but there are still people who care about me… maybe even more than they care about themselves. Carl and Sophia are the only two people I have left, basically. I thought for a minute. I figured there was more to life than the death of my parents. It came to me. My life can end at any second, but I knew this wasn't the way to end it… This wasn't the way out. I jumped up and ran past Andrea, Jacqui, and now Dale. I ran as fast as I could, I only had three minutes and forty-seven seconds. I had to hurry. I didn't have enough time to grab anything. I ran straight toward the doors. It was so far away from the main control room, I was already out of breath before I was probably half way there. I almost stopped at the turn toward the rooms, but I knew there was no time. I didn't have much time anyway, two minutes at the most. I kept running, and running, and running for what seemed like forever, but I couldn't stop now. I already chose to not die, so there's no point in quitting. I finally made it to the front entrance, but no one was there and the doors were locked. Shit! I tried kicking them open, but it obviously wouldn't worked. I looked to my right and saw a busted open window. I jumped onto a surface, got on my knees, and crawled through the window. I jumped down onto the pavement, but I landed awkwardly on my ankle, and I screamed in pain. I couldn't walk, and I could barely stand. Rick looked back and saw me.

"Shit!" Rick shouted as he ran toward me.

I limped as fast as I could, but I ended up falling to the ground, withering in pain. I've never felt so much physical pain in my life. Rick finally came over to me, picked me up, and carried me over his shoulder. He finally brought me into Dale's RV and set me down. Sophia ran over to me as quickly as she could and pulled me into a hug. She finally let go and Carl had a huge smile on his face when he looked at me. I smiled back.

"GET DOWN!" Several people shouted.

I looked around all confused, and then my attention was suddenly directed toward the CDC. The entire place just blew up. It was an amazing sight. Well, not in a good way. I've never seen anything like it. I looked at Carl and Sophia in amazement. I looked back and saw Andrea and Dale run into the RV. We all asked if everybody was okay, and then we separated into separate vehicles. Sophia helped me out of the RV, my arm was around her and she was keeping me stable. Me and Sophia sat in the very back of the car, she helped me into there too. Carl and Carol sat in the middle row, Lori in the passenger seat, and Rick drove. We all drove away from the CDC finally in astonishment. We drove for a few minutes, and Sophia rested her head on my shoulder. A huge smile grew across my face, and I rested me head on her head. I fell asleep happy for once.