Not long ago, Victoria asked Edwin a similar question.
The Doctor shrugged and adjusted his pristine lab coat before answering, "We won't have lights anymore." He turned on his heel, leaving the control as quickly as he came.
"That asshole never told me anything else and VI always said something similar." Victoria explained to Rick, pushing open the door to the emergency stairwell. "I always thought he was being weird about it 'cause like, no power is a pretty big deal and shit."
Struggling to follow her brisk pace down the endlessly winding stairs, Shane huffed. "What? You were gonna live in the dark forever?"
"It sounded a lot better than whatever was waiting for us outside. How the hell was I supposed to know about a faculty wife decontamination, whatever the fuck that means?" She paused, looking up at Rick, Shane, Glenn and T-dog with pleading eyes. "Look, I had nothing to do with that."
"We never said you did." Rick shook his head.
The other men nodded but it wasn't as comforting as she hoped it would be. They didn't believe her and that was okay, she wouldn't either - how the hell was she so blind to Jenner's deceit?
Victoria hurried down the rest of the stairs, taking the men to the bottom of the bunker with a sigh. "I don't know what you're looking for but, it's through here."
The men rushed through the door behind her.
The Generator room was suspiciously quiet, despite being half the size of the big room.
Victoria followed the gas cans lining the chamber, knocking on them as she passed. Every single barrel echoed back emptily.
Christ, why would Jenner let these people inside of the bunker was set to decontaminate or some shit? She couldn't wrap her head why he would just leave her in the dark, no pun intended.
Victoria rubbed her eyes, she was absolutely going to deck Jenner when he showed his face again.
The cans stopped near a single generator, the last one rumbling among a hundred silent others. It was a lessor generator, Jerry-rigged to a single gas barrel that wasn't meant to power 50 floors.
Rick tipped the barrel without breaking a sweat. "It's empty."
"Yeah, dude, they all are." Victoria eyed the sad setup. "I'm surprised the lights are still on. This shithole runs off wicked power."
Like a cosmic joke, the lights flickered off above them as the generator whirled down to an even quieter state.
"Emergency lights on." VI announced.
The lights returned but were much dimmer.
"Jesus fucking Christ."
Glenn ran around the corner, frantically waving around his flashlight as he stumbled out from the darkness with T-dog.
"You guys kill the lights?"
"Fuckers running on fumes." Victoria told them, a wry grin tugging on her lips. "We're officially on power saving mode."
Shane rested his hands on his belt, the spitting image of a police officer trying to control the situation. "It can't be just that one."
"Look around you, man, this is the last fucking one." She smacked the barrel, imagining Edwin's face as her hand stung. "Fuck this. C'mon, we're wasting time. Let's beat the answers out of Jenner."
By the time Victoria and the men regrouped with the other survivors, Edwin decided to make his reappearance in the control room.
He was wearing his best shirt, slacks and shoes. His blond hair was slicked back for the first time and he even ironed his lab coat.
Victoria knew it then, he was preparing for something.
"Jenner." She roared, chasing him up the platform. "You owe me some goddamn answers!"
"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power." Jenner explained. "It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark." He glanced at the wall as the timer flashed 00:31:28. "Right on schedule."
"For Christ sake, Jenner, I don't give a damn about the lights!"
"Don't you understand, Victoria? There's no power left - the world runs on fossil fuel, how stupid is that?"
Shane rushed forward, "Lemme tell you somethi-" But he stumbled back as Rick grabbed a fistful of his shirt and tugged him back down the platform steps.
"To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care." Rick addressed the frightened group lingering by the stairs. "Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here - now!"
But before the survivors could start for the door, the room flooded in wailing red lights.
"Thirty minutes to decontamination." The robotic voice announced.
The survivors turned back to the platform as the big screen projected the timer in giant, red numbers.
Rick pointed at the door and shouted, "Go get your stuff and lets go! Go now! Go!"
The alarm silenced but before the survivors could flee, heavy glass shutters fell over the doors.
"Do you know what happened yesterday?" Jenner casually asked Victoria, like he hadn't created chaos. "I dropped something in the lab and it caused a full decontamination of test subject nineteens sample." He chuckled, a sharp noise void of any humor. "You know what that means, don't you?"
Victoria eyes widened as the realization came over her. Decontamination. Decontamination. The word rattled nosily in her head.
"You sonuvabitch." Victoria shoved Jenner from the terminal, shouting, "You lying, sick fuck. This was never about the power just turning off. It's about decontaminating the bunker! Us!"
"You finally understand."
Victoria grabbed his lapel and reeled her arm back. "Open those doors." She punched him without warning, clipping him hard under the eye.
Jenner jerked back and prepared for another shot as Victoria reeled back again.
"No, no, no!" T-Dog shouted.
"Stop! This isn't helping!" Shane growled. "Stop! Stop!"
The two men came out of nowhere and restrained her, dragging her back from the man. She thrashed against them and spat at Jenner over Shane's shoulder.
"You lying snake! Open the doors! Let us out!"
Jenner shook his head, straightening out his lab coat while his other hand rested on his swelling cheek. "There's not point. Everything topside is locked down." He sat down, unmoved as Rick advanced on him with blazing fury. "The emergency exits are sealed."
Stalking up behind Rick, Daryl barked, "Well! Open the damn things."
"That's not something I control. The computers do." Edwin shrugged. "I told you, once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that."
"Blow it out your ass, Edwin." Victoria shoved passed the dumbfounded men. "Why would you let these people in if you knew what was happening today? What? Was this some sick, twisted way of lessoning your guilt?
"I did what I had to."
"You sent me to get them, asshole!"
Jenner leaned back against the chair with a deep sigh, as if she was bothering him. "You saw what the virus does to people, Victoria. I'm doing them a favour. It's better this way."
"What is?" Rick barked, hovering above the man. "What happens in twenty eight minutes?"
Jenner swiveled the chair around, furiously typing something into the terminal in front of them.
Rick and Shane nodded at each other once before grabbing Edwin by the coat and ripping him away from the computer.
"Tell us what happens!"
"Come'on! Come'on!"
With a sudden burst of strength, Edwin shoved the officers away from him. "You know what this place is?" He silenced the survivors with a shrill scream. "We protected the public from some very nasty stuff." He hissed in Shane's face before turning on Victoria with a snarl. "Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out - ever!"
Jenner slumped against the terminal and collected himself with a sharp exhale. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure, in a terrorist attack, for example, H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out"
"H.I.T.s?"
"VI-"
"No more hiding, Edwin." Victoria snapped. "It's a fucking bomb. It's a big, fucking aerosol bomb that sucks up all the air and creates a blast strong enough to ignite the oxygen hotter than the fucking sun!"
The survivors clutched each other, their soft cries stifled under Victoria stained shouting.
"It's gonna decontaminate us, isn't that right, Jenner? Blow us up, just like one of your fucking labs!"