RaphaeltheCowboy: To answer your question, I'm watching the episodes as I write...lol...My memory is great, but not that great unfortunately...I do not have an eidetic memory like Tea does...XP

They stood frozen in the blinding light for all of a minute before a flurry of motion began. In a state of utter disbelief, the group started moving towards the door, Daryl and Tea covering the back. Tentatively, the group spread a little in the confines of the CDC's lounge area. Everyone with weapons kept them at the ready, unsure of what they would find. The women and children stayed behind those with guns while Tea kept her sights trained on the area behind them. Rick called out hello a couple times to see if anyone was in the immediate vicinity while Shane was barking out orders. Close the doors and watch for walkers, as if saying to do those things was necessary. They looked around in trepidation as Rick called out a hello one last time.

A gun cocking behind them had everyone turning towards the sound with weapons raised. Standing next to a banister, a man had a military automatic AR-15 pointed towards the group. One sweep with that thing and they would all be dead or on their way before they could pull their triggers. He looked unassuming aside from the gun; average height, average build. He was wearing what looked to be sweats and a plain gray t-shirt. His hair was a disheveled blonde mess on top of his plain-featured face. It almost seemed as if he wasn't sure why he was even bothering with living.

"Anybody infected?" he asked.

"One of our group was," Rick replied. "He didn't make it."

"Why are you here? What do you want?"

"A chance."

"That's asking an awful lot these days," the man said in all seriousness.

"I know," Rick said sounding desperate.

The man looked around at everyone, "You'll all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."

Rick shook his head, "We can do that."

"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it won't open again," the man said pointing at the door and moving towards Rick.

Daryl told Ania to stay inside while he went to the truck to grab whatever supplies they had. It was night time and he didn't want her taking the risk outside. She looked at him and told him that he could make the run to the truck without her, but she was going to be outside the CDC doors to cover them. She'd be close enough to retreat as soon as they made it back from the cars. Daryl, Glenn, Rick, and Shane made the run to the vehicles, grabbing everyone's bags and turning on their heels. It took less than ten minutes total, during which Tea shot two walkers in their path back with her crossbow. Daryl stopped to grab one bolt while Glenn was kind enough to grab the other. As soon as all four men were inside, as Tea had done as promised and retreated, T-Dog and Dale slammed the doors shut.

The man used an access card, pressed some buttons on a security system and said, "Vi, seal the main enterance. Kill the power up here."

"Rick Grimes," Rick offered with a look of gratitude.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner," the man introduced himself.

They all followed the man into an elevator where he pushed the down button. Everyone was looking weary as he looked at their faces. The group were giving the man as much space as they could in the over-crowded elevator as the man had insisted they all take the same one down. Tea was trying to keep her nerves calm; claustrophobia was a real thing, and combined with cleithrophobia, she was in hell. She was quite literally both trapped and confined. Her breathing was starting to get shallow and rapid when she felt a hand place itself on her shoulder. Tea jumped at the contact and looked up to find Glenn looking back at her with concern in his eyes. She just gave a slight nod of her head and closed her eyes, leaning back against the wall with a death grip on the rail. Daryl was standing beside Glenn, but he was keeping an eye on the doctor.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" he asked.

"Well, there were plenty of them left lying around, so I familiarized myself with it," the man replied. "But you look harmless enough," he continued before pointing to Carl, "except you. I'm gonna have to keep my eye on you."

A few chuckles escaped from various group members as the elevator came to a stop. Too slowly for Tea's liking, everyone filed out and followed Dr. Jenner down a hallway corridor. Daryl stopped her to ask if she was okay. Not trusting her voice at the moment, she simply nodded her head and motioned with her chin to go on. Now that she wasn't in an enclosed death trap surrounded by multiple sweaty bodies, she could catch her breath. The shaking in her hands wouldn't be stopping anytime soon, but there was very little she could do about that. It wasn't just nerves but the lack of food that were causing hers, and half the groups, tremors.

"Are we underground?" Carol asked as they marched along.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asked.

"A little," the woman replied.

"Try not to think about it," he replied.

"It's easy not ta think 'bout if ya tell yaself it's an office buildin'," Tea offered the woman. "I get it, I do. That death trap back there is worse than this out here, though."

They finally entered an open area where Jenner called out, "VI, bring up the lights in the big room."

'The big room,' as he'd called it, was actually a circular platform on which multiple computer stations were set up. The white surfaces were stainless while the bright light overhead of the platform left no area for shadow at the work stations. However, no one was around. There was absolutely not a single soul to be seen aside from Jenner and the survivors.

"Welcome to zone 5," the man said before walking off.

"Where is everybody? The other doctors, the staff?" Rick asked, following him.

"I'm it. It's just me here," Jenner admitted.

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

Tea scoffed before saying, "Virtual Intelligence. It's the CDC, Lori. They've got an automated system with a V. I., or VI."

"The girl's right," Jenner said. "VI, say hello to our guests. Tell them, 'welcome.'"

"Hello guests, welcome," came the computer automated voice.

"I'm all that's left," Jenner reiterated. "I'm sorry."

They followed him into another room where he prepared a small table and asked them to wait. In a matter of minutes he was back with kits to take blood. Rick went first, seeing as he had agreed to the tests in the first place. He looked back at Tea and wondered how she'd feel about it, but when she caught the look she gave him a small nod. Most of the group quietly let the man draw their blood, although Glenn had winced and complained about not liking needles. Daryl was a bit antsy about it too, but Tea just showed him exactly where to get the blood from her arm. Apparently, she'd had to have her blood tested for a while to check lithium levels when her parents had her on medications and she had a permanent little scar to show for it.

Andrea complained as Jenner took her blood, "What's the point? If we were all infected, we'd all be running a fever."

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me just at least be thorough." A moment later he said, "All done. Are you okay?"

Andrea swooned as Jacqui stabilized her, answering Jenner's question, "She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have."

A short time later, the group was sitting around a table, laughing over a full meal. Dale had even found some wine that he was passing around. In good spirits, he was trying to talk Lori and Carol into letting the kids try some wine. Carol declined, not drinking any herself. But when Lori took a glass for herself, he pressured her about Carl.

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

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France," she said, putting her hand over her son's glass, "he can have some then."

"What's it gonna hurt?" Rick asked. "Come on." She gave him a look and he playfully repeated, "Come on. What?"

Everyone laughed as Dale poured the boy a small amount of wine, "There you are, young lad."

Carl took the drink eagerly, tasting it and spitting it back out with an, "Eww!"

"That's my boy," Lori said as laughter rang out. "Good boy."

She dumped the rest of his glass into hers as he said, "Yuck. That tastes nasty."

"That's 'cause it's wine," Tea said as she took the bottle of liquor from Daryl and took a swig.

"Just stick to soda pop there, bud," Shane said.

"Not you, Glenn," Daryl said walking up to the Korean.

"What?" the man in question asked.

"Keep drinking, little man. I wanna see how red your face can get."

Everyone kept laughing and joking with each other over their plates of spaghetti before the clinking of silverware on glass could be heard. They all quieted down as Rick stood, "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly."

"He is more than just our host," T-Dog said amidst a chorus of hear hears.

"Here's to you, Doc," Daryl added. "Booyah."

More choruses of 'booyah' ensued, the happy atmosphere returning for only a minute when Shane popped up, "So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc? All the uh, the other doctors who're supposed to be trying to figure out what happened? Where are they?"

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

"Woah, wait a second," he started. "This is why we're here, right? This was your move; supposed to find all the answers. Instead," he looked down and scoffed before jutting his thumb towards the doctor, "we found him. Found one man. Why?"

"Well, when things got bad," Jenner explained, "a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got over run, the rest bolted."

"Every last one?" Shane pressed.

"No. Many couldn't face walking out the door. They, opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

"You didn't leave," Andrea stated. "Why?"

"I just kept working," the man said, "hoping to do some good."

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man," Glenn said to Shane.

Thanks to Shane's line of questioning, the group finished up their meals and drinks relatively quickly before cleaning up after themselves. Jenner led them down another hallway and explained, "Most of the facility is powered down, including housing, so you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power," he said as he bent to the children's level before standing back up and addressing the whole group. "The same applies if you shower, go easy on the hot water."

"Hot water?" Glenn said as a shit-eating grin spread across his face.

"That's what the man said," T-Dog responded just as thrilled.

Everyone was a flurry of movement then, picking out their own rooms and deciding who would take a shower when. Daryl pulled Ania into a room and put down all his stuff. She followed suit before sitting down and taking her boots off. He laughed at her as she pulled her socks off, too, throwing the things across the room like the were the most offensive article of clothing ever. Shooting him a look, she put her feet on the floor and practically moaned at the feeling of carpet on her bare feet.

"I've been wearin' shoes foreva, it seems," she said. "I hate me feet bein' confined all the damn time."

"Ain't all the time," Daryl said, taking a swig from the bottle he'd brought with him before handing it over to her.

"All day, every day since this shite started," she countered after taking a couple swallows of her own.

He just snorted before pulling her up, "C'mon, lets get you clean."

She grabbed a change of clothing for herself and looked at him, "Ya comin' or what?"

"Nah, you go get cleaned up. I'll wait for ya," Daryl said. "Thought you might like to have a hot shower alone," he offered when she continued looking at him.

"I don' mind sharin'."

"Won't get very clean."

"I think we both know I ain' eva been clean since I met ya," she teased.

"Hmm, I might see if I can correct that," he said as he crossed the small room and pulled her into his arms.

With everything that had happened and driven by alcohol, the two gripped each other tight as their mouths went to war with each other. It didn't take long for them to start clawing at each other's clothes in an attempt to disrobe one another as fast as possible. The shower was long forgotten by the desire and need burning through them. When his hand finally found purchase on her exposed skin, it felt like fire was lapping at their skin where they were connected. It didn't take long before he had her against a wall, legs around his waist as he thrust up into her. Using his mouth to swallow her moans, he held her in place as he sped towards their release.

She sighed as he slid out of her and put her back on the ground, blissfully sore in all the right places, "We should really go take that showa now."

"Still ain't gonna get much washin' done."

By the time they woke up in the morning, T-Dog was already working on breakfast. That was a good thing because most of the people who had drank the night before were hungover. Glenn was the worst and Daryl and Tea both felt a little bad for having egged the man on in a drinking game after they'd finally showered. They'd played 'never have I ever,' finding out all sorts of funny things about each other. Daryl was afraid of clowns, Glenn had his first kiss in second grade, and Tea could put her ankles behind her neck. It seemed like the two of them were the only ones who had managed to not have a roaring hangover this morning. But then again, they'd spent a good part of the night working the alcohol out of their systems, too.

"Eggs," T-Dog offered as they walked in before heading to Glenn. "Powdered, but I do 'em good. Bet you can't tell. Protein helps the hangover," he told the groaning youth.

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

"Jenner," Lori answered.

He handed her a bottle and asked, "Could you help me, please?"

"He thought we could use it," Lori continued.

"Thank you."

"Some of us at least," she said looking at Glenn.

"Don't ever, ever, ever let me drink again," the poor boy said while cradling his head in his hand.

"Guess I should'a called it a night a little soona," Tea said. "Sorry, Glenn."

He just moaned his reply as Shane walked in sharing pleasantries with Rick.

"The hell happened to you?" T-Dog asked. "Your neck."

"I must have done it in my sleep," he said as he sat down.

Rick said in concern, "I've never seen you do that before."

"Me neither," the other cop said not noticing Tea's scrutinizing eyes as he looked towards Lori. "Not like me at all."

Tea looked over at Lori who was pointedly trying to avoid Shane's gaze. After a few moments of observation, she was sure she knew what had happened. Since Lori was sitting across from her, it didn't take much more than an inconspicuous knock on the table for the woman to look up. Tea made sure to get Lori's eyes on hers before making a slight nod towards Shane and putting her best 'concerned' look on her face, silently asking if the older woman was okay. Lori's face flashed shock for all of a moment before her eyes darted to Shane and then to Rick before coming back to the younger woman. She shook her head slightly to indicate that she wasn't alright, though. Knowing the girl would be able to tell the truth and had put the pieces together herself, Lori decided to take the chance at being honest with her. Tea pressed her lips into a thin line and gave a hard glare in Shane's direction that only Lori could see. Then she simply nodded her head in Lori's direction, mouthing 'we'll talk later.'

As Dr. Jenner walked into the dining area, many bid him good morning. Dale apparently couldn't wait for breakfast to wrap up before asking, "Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing..."

"But you will anyways," Jenner said as he fixed himself a coffee.

"We didn't come here for the eggs," Andrea said.

The doctor once again lead them to the big room and called on the VI to call up a playback. Tea stood next to Daryl on the other side of the others. On the screen, a computer-simulated person was shown with numerous panels showing various sides of a brain scan. After a small exchange with Carl, he had the computer go into enhanced internal view mode that allowed the group to see the synapses. The way the synapses lit up was beautiful to Tea, who was openly marveling at the playback.

"What are those lights?" Shane asked.

"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 answered.

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

"They're synapses," Tea explained further. "It's how we speak, feel, or do. That's what the inna workin's a the brain look like from the moment we become cognitive in our momma's bellies 'til seven minutes afta we die."

"That's right," Jenner said. "How'd you know?"

"Had ta learn 'bout the brain for a degree in psychology and rememba the bit 'bout seven minutes from Freddy Krueger," she stated simply. "Don' know all the intricacies a it like ya prolly do, but I know 'nough ta know this."

"Wait, death?" Rick backpedaled. "That's what this is, a vigil?"

"Yes," Jenner said. "Or rather the playback of the vigil."

"This person died?" Andrea asked looking sad and confused. "Who?"

"Test subject 19," the doctor said sadly. "Someone who was bitten and infected and volunteered to have us record the process. VI, scan forward to the first event." As the computer complied, the playback raced until it reached a point where the brain activity was darkening.

"What is that?" Glenn asked

"The killin' strike," Tea offered.

"It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown and then the major organs. Then death. Everything you ever were or will be, gone."

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked her mother who simply said, "Yes."

Everyone stood for a moment taking in the information before Lori spoke up, answering the look Jenner was giving Andrea, "She lost somebody two days ago. Her sister."

"I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is," Jenner walked up to the woman and offered before turning away. "Scan to the second event. The resurrection times vary wildly. We have 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."

Lights began to form in the brain as they watched the screen, causing Lori to ask, "It restarts the brain?"

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

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

"Does that look like the same brain from earlia?" Tea interjected.

"The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part," Jenner expanded. "That doesn't come back. The you part. Just a shell. Driven by mindless instinct."

As he finished explaining, a flash shot on the screen followed by what appeared to be an object tunneling itself through the patient's head. "God," Carol cried out. "What was that?"

"He shot his patient in the head," Andrea said without emotion. "Didn't you?"

"VI, power down the main screen and the work stations," Jenner said.

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

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal," the man listed.

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui offered.

"There is that."

"Somebody must know something. Somebody. Somewhere," Andrea pressed.

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

"There may be some," Jenner offered. "People like me."

Rick stalked up, "But you don't know? How can you not know?"

"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 stated. "There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?"

Jenner didn't answer and after a pregnant pause, it was clear he wasn't going to. The releases of breaths and looks of hopelessness on some of the survivors' faces said it all.

"Man, I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk again," Daryl said, grabbing Ania pulling back her into his arms, leaning his forehead to the top of her head from behind; the entire group figured it out pretty quickly when he'd pulled her into his room that they were together, although not to what extent.

"Dr. Jenner," Dale spoke up somewhat bitterly, "I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but. That clock. It's counting down. What happens at zero?"

"The basement generators, they run out of fuel," the man said quickly before clamming up.

"And then?" Rick asked, but the doctor simply kept walking. "VI. What happens when the power runs out?"

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

Rick, Shane, T-Dog, and Glenn went to find the generators while everyone else was told to go back to their rooms and wait. Daryl and Tea were in their room gathering up all their things and spending time together in relative safety for once. The air stopped shortly thereafter, prompting them both to look up and then at each other. Daryl opened the door to see others stepping out into the hallway. Hanging out the door, he asked why everything was being shut off until a slightly miffed expression crossed his face as the doctor passed. Tea noticed he was wearing different, much nicer, clothing than he had been in previously and that he had pilfered their shared bottle of booze.

"Energy use is being prioritized," the man offered.

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

Daryl was pulling Ania by the hand behind him as he followed the doctor. Something about the entire situation had him on high alert, especially with how the doctor was acting. Thankfully, she wasn't fighting him and was actually grasping his hand quite firmly. As the doctor continued walking, everyone aside from the four men on fuel duty began following him.

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

"Hey!" Daryl said, pulling away from Ania and storming after the man. "Hey, what the hell does that mean? Hey man I'm talking to you. What do you mean, shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?"

"You'd be surprised," was his only answer.

The sound of footfalls had Lori bending over the railing and calling out to her husband. As Jenner and the group walked by where Rick and the others had exited, Rick asked, "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. Right on schedule," the man answered as the group kept walking, right into the big room. Jenner stopped and turned around, handing Daryl back the bottle who yanked it away, and back to Andrea. "It was the French."

"What?" she asked confused.

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

"What happened?" Jacqui asked.

"The same thing that's happening here," Jenner said. "No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel! I mean, how stupid is that?" He turned around and walked towards the work stations.

Shane followed him up, "Let me tell you-"

"To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care," Rick said, turning to Lori. "Lori, grab our things, everybody get your stuff. We're getting out of here. NOW!"

Everyone started moving towards the lounge rooms as a loud alarm rang out. Stopping in their tracks, they looked back only to see the screen now counting down from 30 minutes. At the end of the countdown, decontamination would occur.

"Doc, what's going on here now?" Daryl yelled.

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

That got feet moving again until Jenner locked the only entry way to the surface. "Did you just lock us in?" Glenn asked in shock. "He just locked us in!"

The look on Daryl's face as he realized what Jenner did quickly morphed into rage as he moved as deftly as he could towards the doctor, "You son of a bitch!"

"Shane!" Rick shouted, pointing at Daryl.

"You locked us in here!" Daryl continued as he neared the man who was muttering at one of the work stations.

"No, stop! Don't" Glenn tried.

"You lying-" Daryl started as Shane reached him saying a string of no. Daryl fought against him hard enough that T-Dog went over to help keep him away from the doctor. After struggling for a couple minutes, Daryl finally stopped trying to bash the doctor in with the bottle he'd gotten back.

"Hey, Jenner, open that door now," Rick said walking up.

"There's no point," the man replied. "Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exists are sealed."

"Well open the damn things," Daryl growled out.

"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. It's better this way."

"What is?" Rick asked. "What happens in 28 minutes?"

When the doctor just turned back to the work station, Shane yelled the question at him again while pulling him away from it. "Come on," Jenner started before getting worked up. "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!" he roared while rounding on Rick, Shane, and Daryl, who'd grabbed Ania in an attempt to calm himself. "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," he said as he composed himself and sat back down.

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

"VI, define."

"H.I.T.s – high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear," the computer automated voice replied as many of the women broke down while the men were in shock. "The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5000 and 6000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

"T'is place is goin' up in flames!" Tea said, full Irish brogue on display as she fought against Daryl and lunged toward the doctor herself, only for Rick and Glenn to also get in her way. "He's gonna fuckin' kill us! T'e bastard fuckin' locked us in 'ere ta die! T'e damn t'ings set t'e air on fire!"

"No pain. An end to sorrow, grief, regret," Jenner explained. "Everything."

As the clock continued its countdown, Rick, Daryl, and a few others were by the door trying to get it to open. There was no way, though, and the whole process ended with Daryl throwing the bottle of liquor at the door and yelling at Jenner, "Open the damn door now!"

Shane ran up with an ax yelling at them to get out of his way, but it didn't even so much as make a dent when he swung it full force. T-Dog yelled to Daryl before tossing him an ax he easily caught. Both he and Shane began wailing at the door to no avail.

The doctor was being an ass in Tea's opinion when he said, "Should of just left well enough alone. It would've been so much easier."

"Easier for who?" Lori spat.

"All of you," Jenner tried to reason. "You know what's out there. A short brutal life and an agonizing death. Your, your sister," he said turning to Andrea. "What was her name?"

"Don' ya fuckin' bring 'er up in t'is!" Tea yelled at him as Andrea answered him.

"Amy? You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that really what you want for your wife and kids?" he asked Rick.

"I don't want this," Rick said as Shane walked up out of breath, letting him know they couldn't do anything.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher," Jenner said.

"Well your head ain't!" Daryl yelled as he approached the man with the ax raised.

It took Rick, Dale, T-Dog, and Tea to get him to back down; as the others tried to wrestle the ax from him, she reasoned that Jenner was the only one who knew how to open the doors. "We need his head long 'nough ta ge' t'ose doors open," she said, slipping back into her regular vernacular.

Going back to Rick's comment, Jenner stood up and said, "You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."

The gasps of surprise and Lori's "What?" did not go unnoticed.

"What you really say that?" Shane asked. "After all your big talk?"

"No' really t'at saprisin'. Even 'fore t'e world wen' ta shite, people died. E'eryone dies, 'ventually," Tea spat.

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

"There is no hope," Jenner countered. "There never was."

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

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

"Listen to your friend," Jenner said. "She gets it."

"No," Tea said, "She's grievin'. And ya playin' on t'at grief and makin' 'er see t'e darka side 'stead a movin' forward."

"Don't talk for me, Tea," Andrea said. "You don't know me."

"I don' have ta know ya ta know wha' ya t'inkin' righ' now, Andrea," Tea said as gently as she could. "Bu' ya sista wouldn' wan' ya t'inkin' wha' ya t'inkin' jus' 'cause t'were offa'd."

"This is what takes us out," Jenner said. "This is our extinction event."

"This isn't right," Carol choked out through her tears. "You can't just keep us here."

"One tiny moment. A millisecond. A tiny pain," he tried to reason.

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

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

"I think you're lying," Rick said.

"What?"

"You're lying," he reiterated, "about no hope. If that were true you would have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. But you didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?"

"It doesn't matter," Jenner said.

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

"Not because I wanted to," Jenner said standing. "I made a promise. To her. My wife," he said pointing at the screen.

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asked.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no. She was dying," he said as Daryl went back to swing the ax on the door. "It should have been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to no one. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place while I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just Edwin Jenner. She could have done something about this. Not me."

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

"Let us keep trying as long as we can," came Lori's weak and shaky voice.

"Ya makin' yaself a murdara," Tea told him. "Are ya really okay wit' leavin' t'is world wit' t'e blood of lidle kids on ya hands? Are ya okay wit' goin' ou' forcin' ot'ers ta go ou' wit' ya? 'Cause if ya are, ya no betta t'an t'e pricks ovaseas wit' t'eir suicide bombs. Only difference is t'ey t'ink t'ey're dyin' for somet'in' wort' believin' in. Wha's ya conviction for keepin' us 'ere?" Tea saw the moment he cracked. Jenner looked down and shook his head. He was on the verge of tears, so she calmly added, "Ya chose ta keep ya promise. Le' us keep t'at promise ta 'er too. Ta keep goin'."

He sighed as he walked around Rick and Tea, "I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." He released the door.

"Come on!" Daryl shouted. "Ania, come on! Let's go!"

She didn't wait for him to call her a second time. Running at top speed, Tea ran right past him and into the corridor. Turning, she watched as Jacqui fought against T-Dog and decided to stay. They had four minutes to get topside and find a way out of the building. Crowding into the elevator once again, no one had a chance to freak out about personal space as they were too busy trying to get out of the building. The only problem to that was that when they got topside, they were unable to get the doors open.

Daryl and Shane threw the axes at the doors and then the windows. They weren't even able to make a scratch, not even when T-Dog threw a chair at them. Shane grabbed a shotgun, loaded, aimed, and fired all in the time it took Tea to get out, "Don'!" As soon as the word left her mouth, the bullet ricocheted off the glass.

"We can't break the glass?" Sophia asked as Rick caught up to the group.

"Rick," Carol said, walking up to the man while digging in her purse. "I think I might have something that might help."

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's going to help right now," Shane said condescendingly.

"That first night at camp," she continued, completely ignoring Shane and earning a proud smile from Tea. "When I did your laundry? I found this in your pocket."

In her outstretched palm was a grenade. Tea's eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw it. That would definitely break the window, but what would the damage be to the group? Whoever placed it would only have 6 seconds to get the hell out of dodge and under cover or they'd be covered in shrapnel and debris. Rick seemed to be carefully thinking about it to before he told everybody to get down. Tea pulled Carol and Sophia with her as Daryl ushered her to the stairwell. She covered the frail woman, who was covering her daughter. Daryl put his body over Ania, but spread his arms to cover the other woman and her daughter as well. When the blast broke the window, Daryl jumped to his feet dragging Ania with him before the two helped Carol and Sophia get up. Everybody grabbed their things and ran to the window.

Rick and Shane helped Lori, Carl, Sophia, and Carol out, leaving Glenn, T-Dog, Daryl, and Tea to fend for themselves. Daryl and Glenn both helped Ania out, the former offering the latter a nod as he wrapped an arm around the woman's waist and pulled her along with him. He half carried her in one arm with his crossbow in the other, his urgency to get them to the safety of the truck not letting him take the chance she would fall behind. Shane and Rick kept screaming at everyone to go while they both shot any walker in sight. They all ran as fast as they could. Ania had her arm wrapped over his and behind his shoulders to help carry her own weight, but she didn't fight Daryl carrying her. If anything, when he reached the truck and opened the driver's side, she took a breath of relief.

He threw her inside and climbed on top of her while slamming the door behind him. She moved off the seat and onto the floor, sitting in a tight ball as close to the seat as she could, but giving Daryl more room for cover. He wrapped his arms around her, his legs next to her back, as she wrapped her arms up behind his head. Both had their faces buried in the other's neck. They sat like that with baited breath, counting down the seconds. They barely registered the RV's horn sounding before the deafening sound of the explosion shook the truck. Wave after wave seemed to rock it until it just stopped. Daryl carefully extracted himself from around Ania and glanced over the dashboard. What had once been the CDC was now a blazing ruin. He helped Ania back onto the seat as Dale and Andrea climbed into the RV. As the vehicles began to pull out, she got as close to him as she could while he was driving. He draped his arm over her legs and tucked his hand under them, holding them next to his as her hands wrapped tightly around it. It seemed they had a mutual need to ensure the other's safety and the reality that they had made it out alive.

I felt like there had to be a better argument to break Jenner down than "let us try"...So, yeah...now there is one...kinda feels like a short chapter, but maybe that's because I didn't have to do a lot of editing...

Updated 8/29/21