I trip several times while running to the room Shane and I stayed in. A flashing yellow light in the corner of the bedroom gives me just enough light to find my backpack. Grabbing it I stuff the book inside and rush out of the room.

My hat!

Spinning on my heel I run back in for it. It's resting on the small table next to the bed. I slap it on my head and rush out the door.

I trip several more times trying to find the stairs. This place was already a maze to navigate with the lights on, without them it's practically impossible. The few dim emergency lights in every other room eventually shut off too, leaving me in complete pitch darkness. After running through several rooms and down a few hallways I finally make it to the stairs. Shane never told me how long before the building self-destructs so I skip every other stair as I run up them, in a small attempt to save time.

Natural light begins to fill the stairwell as I climb higher and higher. Reaching the top I push open the glass doors and step into the lobby. A cloudy sky greets me through the tall glass windows.

First thing I do is run to the front doors. The steel wall is still covering the front stopping anything from getting in, or in this case out. After seeing the doors won't budge and the keypad's powered down I rush over to the windows. I try breaking them by throwing objects at them but they don't even crack. The glass is too thick to break.

I hear a low hum start and cover my head thinking the building is about to explode.

I can't believe this is how it ends. At least I'll be blown to smithereens and not torn to shreds. I think that's a better fate. Why's it taking so long, does it gotta charge up first or something?

I crack open one eye, nothing's exploding so I open the other one. That's when light fills my vision.

"Eek!"

The building explodes.

Except it doesn't. Instead a few of the emergency lights turn back on.

Hoping maybe the doors will unlock and the steel walls will retract I run over to the keypad. I click random buttons in an attempt to get them open but they don't and I start to panic more; if that's even possible at this point. There's no way out and the others still haven't gotten up here.

Unless there was another way out, and they all went out that way, and I completely missed it. I pull at the bottom of my shirt again and look around for any sign of another exit.

Behind the receptionist's desk is a door. I had originally assumed it led to a closet but now I'm wondering if there's a back door out of here. Wasting no time I hop over the desk knocking the stack of papers onto the floor. I grab the handle praying that it's not locked and twist. The door opens and I let out a sigh of relief, but immediately groan when I see it's another hallway. I'm getting sick of them.

I bolt from door to door checking if any of them are unlocked. At the end of the hall I find one unlocked and push it open. A big wooden desk and one of those fun spinny chairs sit a few feet away from the right wall. In the corner is a trash can and a tall lamp. Across from the desk is a big cabinet. But what my eyes immediately lock onto is three thin vertical windows against the back wall.

It's too small for any adult to climb through but perfectly my size. The glass could still be just as thick as the front windows so I don't get my hopes up just yet and move to investigate. When I get close to the window I see that it's much thinner. Backing up I look around for something that I can use to break it. This office is pretty barren, most of the stuff has been taken and what's left is either too small or not strong enough to help me. Stepping over to the cabinet I pull open the doors, stacks of papers line the shelves. Moving some of the paper aside I feel something hard and pull it out. It's a large metal bowling trophy, the golden plate on the bottom reads;

1st Place - Tony Moore - 2003

I rush back to the window and with all my strength hit it with the trophy. A small crack fans out across the glass. I take a few steps back and throw the trophy at the glass, quickly covering my face to block it from any shards. I hear it shatter and put my arms back down.

Running closer I peer out the window, it's a steep drop a few feet off the ground. No wonder there aren't any walkers pounding on the glass.

I slip the backpack off my shoulders and drop it outside the window. Next I take off my hat and drop it on top of it. The edges of the window are still covered in sharp glass edges.

"If I try going through that I'll be all torn up," I tell myself. Not wanting to bleed out immediately after I get out of this horrible building I pick up the bowling trophy once more and use it to knock off most of the leftover shards. Unsure of how much time I have left I decide that a few cuts is better than being blown up. I start squeezing myself through the window.

I feel a shard cut my leg and arm and grit my teeth, another shard cuts across my stomach and I can't help but cry out. Looking outside I see a few walkers across the lawn look my way. Getting worried that I'll just end up being walker food I move faster until I'm at the edge of the window. Taking a few deep breaths I look down and jump.

Both of my ankles sting at the pressure of landing but neither is sprained so I crawl over to my stuff and pick it up. Standing I put on my hat and backpack.

Out from behind a bush to my left comes a walker. Her blonde hair is dirty and matted. Half her cheek is torn to shreds and one of her arms hangs uselessly at her side.

I try to run but the pain in one of my ankles is in worse shape than I thought. A sharp stinging flows through it and I fall down.

The walker follows me down, her one good arm attempts to grab at my face.

I scream and push it back as best I can. The cuts in my arm hurt from the pressure I'm putting on them.

My mind goes blank, I try to think of what I'm supposed to do when a walker attacks me. Shane and Lori always told me to run or get help but my legs are pinned under the weight of the walker.

It's snapping jaws only get closer as I start losing my strength. I scream again when its hand grabs my face, hitting against the bruise left by Ed.

My ears ring, the walker goes limp, it lays still on top of me. Confused, I shove it off and jump up. Behind me, standing behind the broken window is Shane. He's holding a gun and is breathing heavily. He must've just gotten out of the big room.

I want to fall over in relief, knowing they got out and I won't have to be alone. That relief doesn't last long when I realize they still have to exit the building.

"Shane! Can you get through?" I motion to the window. Even though he's much too big for it, I can't help but ask.

"No, I'll meet you out front."

"How are you guys gonna get out? All the doors are locked and the glass won't break!" Maybe Jenner gave them the code? That has to be it.

The growls and moans of multiple walkers sound to my right. Shane also notices them and shouts, "Go. Now!

I glance back at him and start running, being mindful of my ankles in case they decide to drop me again. If Shane said he'll meet me out front then I know he'll meet me out front.

It takes me a minute to run around the side of the building to actually reach the front. Why do they have to build CDC's so large?
Gunshots fill the air, fueling me to run faster.

They actually got out is all I can think as I rush around the corner into the front lawn. Across it I can see the others climbing into the cars.

I go to yell but stop when I notice Dale and Andrea climbing out one of the front windows.

How on Earth did they break it?

A walker growls behind me and I duck behind a tree, watching as it limps past toward the sounds of the others. Carefully keeping my distance from it I start making my own way toward them.

Lori starts yelling from the window of the RV.

"Dale, get down!"

Rick joins her, yelling, "Everybody down! Get down now!"

I run toward the closest coverage which happens to be a flipped over military jeep. My back leans against the cool metal as I get down and cover my ears, waiting for the explosion.

It shakes the ground, causing my hat to fall over my eyes again. I feel like I'm going to melt from the heat. It's already a warm summer day but with the flames it makes it feel like I'm sitting right inside a furnace.

I wait for the ground to stop shaking but I'm still afraid to move after it stills. Too scared that the noise of the explosion will permanently deafen me. My dad would tell me to turn down my music a lot, saying it'll make me go deaf when I'm older. I've already had too many guns go off close to my ears, I don't need to add an explosion to that.

I'm right in the middle of convincing myself that going deaf is better than dying here when something pulls my hands away from my ears.

Before I can scream a voice shouts, "Charlie, c'mon!"

I open my eyes and push up my hat. I'm greeted with the worried face of Shane. He yells at me to move but I don't move, my eyes lock onto the smoke rising from the remains of the CDC.

When I don't move he pulls me up and leads me along by the arm. We dodge walkers on our way to the jeep. One gets close to biting me but Shane pulls me behind him and pushes it back.

I stay behind him the rest of the way to the jeep. Throwing open the passenger door I jump in and try to catch my breath.

Shane gets in the driver's seat and starts the car. He speeds off following after the others who've already begun their drive.

Leaning back I take a deep breath in, the breeze from driving cools my nerves. I don't look back at the CDC, I'm perfectly content to let it drift into my memory.

Sorry, it's kinda short buuuut to make up for it I have a longer chapter that should be coming out in the next two days.

Next chapter will be the last one of S1, little spoiler but it's all from Shane's pov. I thought it'd be pretty important to see his thoughts during the whole CDC lockdown.

Can't believe it's almost February already, time has flown. I was hoping to have season 2 completely written and published by now but alas, procrastination.

-Sparrow