6 | ๐“ข๐“ฝ๐“ฒ๐“ฝ๐“ฌ๐“ฑ๐“ฎ๐“ผ




"You know in Italy, children have a little wine for dinner." Dale laughed as he looked at Carl. "And in France."

"Well when Carl is in Italy or France he can have some then." Lori smiled.

"What's it gonna hurt.Come on." Rick laughed. "You too." He pointed at Ivy.

"Why not?" Ivy asked as her and Carl reached for the cup. She looked at her brother and laughed before they both took a sip. Once the taste was on her tongue she squinted her eyes. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't something she wanted to drink all the time. "It's whatever. I don't see the big deal." She shrugged.

"Ewww!" Carl repulsed which caused the group to erupt in laughter.

"That's my boy. That's my boy." Lori repeated.

"That tastes nasty." Carl exclaimed in which Ivy patted him on the back.

"When you're sad and depressed you'll like it." Ivy whispered.

Ivy looked around the table at the smiling faces and it brought joy to her body. They were finally in a safe place, in a lock tight building where no walkers could get in, there was no real threat here. At all.

"Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud."

She looked over at Glenn who was holding the bottle of wine. "Put that down." Ivy laughed.

"What?" He smiled. He looked like he had no idea what the problem was.

"Keep drinking little man, I wanna see how red your face can get." Daryl hollered while he scrunched his nose up.

"This is racially motivated." Ivy yelled as she laughed which caused a laugh from everyone. Glenn threw his head back and looked over at Daryl, pointing to Ivy, "I agree with her!"

Rick stood up and tapped his glass with a fork, everyone's attention turned to the man. "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly.

Ivy walked over to Jenner and smiled, "Thank you." she walked back over to her mom and smiled once more.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc." Shane said in a tone that sounded annoyed. Ivy looked over at him and raised her eyebrow wondering what he wanted to start now. "All the...the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened." Ivy hadn't put to much thought to how the virus actually started, she was too busy actually surviving to think about it but now that she did it was bugging her.

"Shane we're celebrating." Rick warned. "Don't need to do this now."

"Woah wait a second, this is why we're here right?" Shane continued. "This was your move, supposed to find all of the answers." Ivy sat back in her chair and crossed her arms, rolling her eyes.

Ivy scoffed and stood up walking over to Carl, she nodded her head and walked away from the arguing. "Didn't like the wine?"

"Absolutely not." Carl confessed.

Ivy giggled and looked around. "Place is huge, and it has power. I think we scored good?"

Carl looked down at his hands in his lap and nodded. "I'm tired of all of the arguing." Ivy confessed. "I don't get why everyone thinks that yelling and bruising ego's is helping with surviving."

"Me either." Carl sighed.

"Ivy, Carl let's go." Lori waved over. Ivy stood up and out her hands in her pockets while she walked over to her mom.

"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." Ivy looked at Carl and patted his head. "Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same applies...If you shower, go easy on the hot water."

"Hot water?" Ivy and Glenn said in unison.

"That's what the man said."

Ivy smiled and looked to her dad. "Just go in that one, your mom and I will stay in this room."

Ivy nodded and walked in the room. There was a really large blue couch, a lamp, and a chest of drawers but other than that it was empty. She really didn't mind too much. Carl was probably going to stay in the rec room with Sophia so Ivy would have the room to herself. On any other occasion she would have jumped for joy at this fact, but she really didn't want to be alone. She walked over to the drawers and opened the first one, grabbing out all the clothes she needed. She found a dark green oversized shirt that probably was gonna end up hanging off her shoulders and a pair of gray sweatpants. "Go easy on the hot water my ass." She laughed out as she ran into the shower.

She turned the knob up and stepped in. She felt the hot water drizzling down her face and body and let out a sigh of happiness. She brought her hands to her face and laughed, opening her mouth and letting the water flood her mouth. She felt water drip down her cheeks but soon realized the water wasn't from the shower, but from her eyes. She felt safe and full and she knew her bother was safe. Well she didn't know but she thought and she was hoping for just that.

"I feel clean and I don't smell like death." Ivy said to Carol.

"Amen to that." Ivy watched Carl and Sophia play on the ground in front of her when her mother walked in.

"Any good books." She smiled. Ivy looked at her mom, her hair was wet and she was wearing an oversized shirt. She looked so pretty. Ivy smiled gently and answered, "I haven't read any yet."

"Alright, come on kids it's bed time." Carol stood up and Ivy did as well, hoping she could help Carol.

"Baby go say your prayers I'm gonna browse a bit."

"Let's go children." Ivy exclaimed sarcastically as she pushed Carl forward, making him turn around and stick his tongue out. Ivy laughed and stuck her middle finger up at him.

"Mom, Ivy flipped me off!" Carl told.

"Snitch." She whispered. Lori ignored the two kids and Ivy walked over to her mother, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Get some rest baby." Lori said.

Ivy nodded and walked out of the room. "Are you gonna sleep with mom or Carol tonight? You can come in there with me if you want?" She really hoped Carl would want to sleep with her tonight just so she wasn't alone.

"Can I sleep in there with you?" He asked.

"I literally just said you could." She laughed before realizing something. "Oh shit I forgot my water in there. Hold up, go ahead and go to the room give me about five minutes."

Ivy turned around and started walking back towards the rec room. "Where you going?" Carol asked.

"I just forgot my bottle of water in there." Carol nodded her head and Ivy continued walking. As she got closer she heard a bang against the door and stopped in her tracks. She brushed it off thinking her mom just dropped something and put her hand on the doorknob. She twisted the knob and opened the door, her heart stopped at what she saw.

Shane was on top of her mom, holding her down. She could clearly see she was trying to push him off of her. She could feel her heartbeat picking up and she was horrified. How could someone she had known her entire life do something like this. She ran forward and screamed, "Stop!"

It seemed like no one was listening to her and she didn't know what to do, she was scared out of her mind. She didn't know how to get him off of her or get him to stop, she knew he was drunk but it was still no excuse. "Get off!" She screamed as she grabbed a chair and folded it up. She picked it up and hesitated for a moment before she heard her mom scream once more. Shane turned only for a second and caught Ivy's attention. "Ivy, go to sleep." He suggested.

She gripped the chair tighter and it was almost as if every emotion in her body went away, a chill went up her spine and anger pumped through her veins. She lifted the chair and hit Shane in the back with it as her mom scratched his neck. He yelled out and backed up, she didn't hit him hard enough to drop to his knees, but she did know that she hit him hard enough to get him off of her mom. She walked over to her mom and put her hands on her face. "Are you okay? Mom, mom are you okay." She breathed out heavily.

Lori nodded and Ivy held on to her mom tight. He looked at the two girls blankly for a moment, there was silence before Shane tried to speak up. Ivy stepped forward in a fit of rage and yelled. "Get the hell out! Get out. Get out! Get out! Get out!" She felt her fist beat against his chest as she pushed him towards the wall. "Get the fuck out you worthless, disgusting, peice of shit!"

Ivy's heart was pumping and her eyes were wide. She was scared as hell and it hadn't even happened to her.

She turned back towards her mother and looked at her, tears swelling in her eyes. All of the times they went off into the woods together Ivy had just thought they were looking for food or supplies but now she knew the truth. A part of her felt hurt and betrayed but then she realized that they all thought her dad was dead.

She didn't care that her mom slept with Shane, even though she did, it didn't mean that Shane had any right to come in there and do what he did. Ivy walked over to her mom and hugged her before speaking, "I won't say anything...to anyone." She walked out and back to her room. Before turning the knob to enter her room she took a breath. She didn't want Carl to think anything was wrong. She turned the knob and opened the door.

"Hey, I went ahead and took a shower and the couch is all set up." Carl said gently. "What's wrong?"

Ivy looked from the couch and back to Carl. "What? Nothing?" She shook her head.

"Liar."

"I just don't feel good...tired."

Carl looked at Ivy suspiciously and turned away, he sat on the couch and covered up, Ivy followed his action and turned off the lamp next to her side of the couch. All the things she said about feeling safe, she took that back.

๊•ฅ๊•ฅ๊•ฅ

Ivy sat at the table next to Carl eating the bacon that Jenner had given to them. Less eating and more picking at it. She had no appetite, not after what happened last night. "Hello." She heard her father say.

She didn't speak or even look up, she just sat there.

"Are you hungover? Mom said you would be." Carl claimed which made Ivy smile a bit

"Mom was right." She looked over at her smiling father and looked back down. He had no idea what went on last night, he thought everything was fine and for some reason she was angry at him. She knew she had no reason to be angry at anyone but Shane but she was mad at the world in general.

"Mom has that annoying habit."

"Eggs, powdered but...I do em' good." T-Dog said with a pan of eggs in his hands. Ivy looked over at Glenn who had his head in his hands. "Protein helps with the hangover."

"Don't ever ever ever let me drink again." Glenn moaned. Ivy smiled and spoke, "You barely drank any?"

"Shut up."

Ivy smile for only a moment before it faded away. "Hey" she heard a voice speak. Shane's.

She looked over at her mom who returned the glance, Ivy turned her head away, not wanting to look at him. "Hey...feel as bad as I do?" Rick asked.

"Worse." Ivy cringed at the words from Shane's mouth.

"Yeah, I bet you do." She whispered. She didn't mean for anyone to hear but her dad looked over at him.

"What?" He leaned down as if he couldn't hear her, which he probably couldn't.

"Oh, I just mean because he drank more than everyone else is all."

"What the hell happened to you?" T-Dog asked Shane, looking down at his neck. The nail marks indented in his neck sent every feeling that Ivy felt last night back to her and she wasn't even the one that was assaulted. She couldn't even begin to imagine how her mother felt.

"Must have done it in my sleep." Shane lied through his teeth.

"Never seen you do that before." Ivy spoke.

"Me neither. Not like me at all." Ivy looked between Shane, Rick, and Lori. How could someone do something so horrible to a woman?

"Hey, doc. Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing..." Dale trailed off.

"But you will anyway." Jenner looked tired of everyone. Ivy felt the same way.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea interrupted. That was it. Ivy had enough, she was tired and she was done with everyone constantly trying to make things harder. She threw the fork down on her plate and looked at Andrea. "Damn it, why do you guys have to make everything so difficult. Why do you want to dig deeper into every single little thing and ruin it all for us. You too." She pointed to Shane. "Ever since we got here the only thing that you want to do is talk about going other places and doing other things like there's some place safer. Questioning every move anybody makes." She pointed at Andrea, "I get it, you lost your sister and I am so sorry for your loss, I couldn't imagine what you're going through but please shut the hell up. Not everything is about you. No we didn't come here for the damn eggs but we're here and we're eating, and we all got a good flights sleep. So you all need to just shut the hell up!"

"Ivy you need to to sett-" Ivy cut her father off and pointed at him. "You have no idea what's going on with any of us and it's sad." She was fully expecting for her mom to start yelling at her but she never did. She never even attempted to yell or speak. She looked at the faces surrounding her, each having a different reaction. The only people that didn't look like she had just bit someones head off was Daryl, Glenn, and Carl.

"Well hell, you all know she ain't lying. Pick your jaws up from the ground and get on with you day." Daryl growled. Glenn looked between Ivy and Daryl and nodded at the girl. The group followed Jenner into the main lobby and he started typing in something on the keyboard.

"Give me playback of TS-19." Jenner demanded.

"Playback of TS-19." Vi responded.

"Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few." Ivy looked at the loading screen in front of her. A picture of a head and a brain inside of it loaded on the screen.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked.

"An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for E.I.V.."

Ivy watched the screen load once more, looking at in awe.

"Enhanced internal view." Vi obeyed in a robotic voice. Ivy watched the screen zoom in and out, all of the colors and the lines and shapes, it was actually really pretty.

"What are those lights?" Ivy 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.

"You don't make sense ever?" Daryl asked which made Ivy chuckle quietly.

"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."

"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" Rick asked.

"Yes. Or rather the playback of the vigil."

"Is this what gets infected, the things that makes you you?" Ivy asked.

"Also yes."

"This person died? Who?" Andre asked.

"Test subject 19. 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." The voice boomed.

"What is that?" Glenn asked.

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

Ivy nudged Glenn in the arm and smiled, "Promise me that if I ever get bit..shoot me in the head." Ivy laughed.

"Only if you promise the same thing." He whispered back.

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

"Yes."

"She lost somebody two days ago. Her sister." Lori told Jenner who was staring at a cringing Andrea.

"I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is. Scan to the second event." He responded.

"Scanning to second event."

"Okay this whole Vi computer thing is actually really cool." Ivy whispered to Glenn.

"I know." He said in awe.

"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. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute...Seven seconds." Jenner paused.

"It restarts the brain?" Lori said confused.

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

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

"You tell me." Jenner asked as he pointed to the screen.

"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." Ivy was taken aback when a sudden lightning bolt went across the screen. A bright blue line in the middle of the brain.

"God. What was that?" Andre asked.

"He shot his patient in the head. Didn't you?" Ivy asked.

"Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations." Jenner demanded once more.

'Powering down main screen and workstations." vi obeyed.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andre questioned. Ivy looked over at her, she had a look of disgust planted all over her face.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal." Jenner was cut off by Jacqui.

"Or the wrath of God?" Ivy was starting to question whether or not God existed.

"There is that." Jenner responded.

"There are others, right? Other facilities?" Carol asked. Ivy scanned the room and looked at all of the faces. Everyone was either in awe or looked worried. Except Shane, he just looked sad.

"There may be some. People like me."

"But you don't know? How can you not know?" Rick questioned. Ivy looked between her father and Jenner. She watched him and how he did everything to protect these people and her. She loved him with everything in her, she loved her dad and she'd follow him anywhere.

"Everything went down. Communications, directives... all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month."

"So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?" Andrea let out a sigh and shook her head.

"And you couldn't lead with that dickweed?" Ivy questioned. Her blood was boiling. "This whole time people have been talking about leaving and you just thought it would be cool to keep a little secret." Ivy laughed and rolled her eyes. "What the hell is wrong with you people." SHe whispered.

"Jesus." Jacqui called.

"Man, I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk again." Daryl declared rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah I might do that too." Ivy whispered to Glenn.

"I wouldn't. I didn't like that." He laughed.

"That's just because you can't hold alcohol."

"And you can?" He smiled.

"Better than you." She responded as she leaned against the counter behind her.

"I'm telling your mom." He came back.

"She has bigger problems." The two laughed quietly while they continued talking.

"Dr. Jenner, 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?" Dale questioned.

Ivy looked over at the clock that had fifty nine minutes left. She leaned up and looked at the clock and Dr. Jenner. "Yeah I want to know that too. Because that's an alarm or a bomb so which is it?" Ivy questioned angrily.

"The basement generators... they run out of fuel." Jenner declared.

"And then?" Rick asked.

"Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

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

The group walked away, following Rick down the stairs. Ivy hurried down the stairs, staying next to her dad.

"Decontamination... What does that mean?" Glenn questioned. Ivy's body tensed up at the word.

"I don't like the way Jenner clammed up. The way he just wandered off like that." Shane declared from behind Ivy.

"What's wrong with him? Seriously, man, is he nuts, medicated, what?" T-Dog asked.

Ivy stayed in lobby with Jenner. All of the men went down to the basements and she didn't feel like going with everyone else to the rooms. She sat in the chair, full of anger. She sat with her back against one of the bars and both her legs over the other bar of the chair.

"I think they all think that I have no idea what I'm talking about, it might be because I'm young or a teenager or maybe it;s because I'm a girl." Ivy confessed to Jenner who looked over to her. "But I'm smart, In all honestly I'm smarter than every single person out there, brain wise obviously. I may not be physically the strongest but I know that I am the strongest when it comes to smarts and stuff like that."

"I felt like that too growing up." Jenner confessed.

"Except, you don't have to grow up in this world. You know I wanted to be a neurosurgeon?"

"That's a good job...pays a lot." Jenner sighed .

"I'm sixteen and at fifteen years old I was a senior in high school. I almost finished my senior year, then all of this went down. I was also a volleyball player, which despite some of the movie cliches, my life was awesome. I wasn't bullied for being smart. The point is I'm smart and I know what you're talking about...all of the brain stuff on the board earlier."

Jenner nodded his head and Ivy walked back to the room with her mom and brother.

"Why is the air off? And the lights in our room?" Carol asked once everyone poked their heads out of their door.

"What's going on? Why is everything turned off?" Daryl asked in a thick accent.

"Energy use is being prioritized." Jenner said continuing to walk down the hallway. Ivy was confused and a little bit worried. She walked out of the door and followed Jenner.

"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asked.

"It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down." Jenner confessed. Ivy stopped walking and looked at her dad.

"Hey! Hey, what the hell does that mean? Hey man, I'm talking to you." Daryl demanded. "What do you mean it's shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?"

"You'd be surprised."

"Rick?"

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick questioned him.

"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 group gathered around a silent Jenner.

It was silent for a moment until he spoke up again. "It was the French."

"What?" Andrea asked.

"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 wondered.

"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs off fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?" Jenner said. He was clearly drunk and it wasn't helping anything.

Shane ran up the stairs in a clear fit of rage. "Let me tell you..." He whispered before being pulled back by a few of the group.

"To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care. Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!" Rick demanded. Ivy looked at Lori and nodded her head. She was gonna stay here, she wanted to know what was gonna happen, she wanted to know the plan.

Ivy stood there looking at anyone for a sign of anything when an alarm started blaring. She didn't know what to do, whether or not she should just stand there or help in any way possible.

"What's that? What's that?" Shane yelled.

"30 minutes to decontamination." Vi said. Ivy envied the talking robot. Envied it because it wasn't worried about whether or not it was gonna feel pain, it didn't have to worry about being eaten alive.

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

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

Ivy turned and looked to the door falling. Shut. They were locked in for good. Ivy's heart started beating and she felt fear pumping her heart.

"Did you just lock us in?" Ivy and Glenn asked in unison. She looked over to Glenn and could feel her eyes swelling with tears. She wiped them away on her shirt and looked around. There wasn't time to cry even though she was scared out of her mind.

"He just locked us in!" Glenn screamed. Ivy heard the voice cracks, the genuine fear in his voice.

"Carl. Ivy!"

"Mom!" Carl yelled. There was total chaos surrounding everything.

"You son of a bitch." Daryl screamed as he started running towards Jenner.

"Shane!" Rick screamed and pointed at Daryl.

"You let us out of here!" Daryl yelled once more, holding something in his hands in an attempt to hit Jenner with it.

"No, stop. Don't!" Shane screamed.

"You lying..." Daryl trailed off and grabbed hold of Jenner's chair, people were pulling him away and the chair going with them. In all honesty Ivy wanted Daryl to beat his brains in. That sounded wrong and horrible but she knew she couldn't do it herself. Bring herself to kill or hurt someone.

"No no no no!" Shane screamed. "Wait, no! No, don't do it."

"Hey, Jenner, open that door now." Rick demanded. Ivy walked over to her mom and and Carl and held on to her brother.

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed." Jenner responded.

"Well, open the damn things." Ivy screamed.

"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." Jenner confessed.

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

"What happens in 28 minutes?! Come on!" Ivy yelled.

"You know what this place is?!" Jenner stood up. Ivy held on together to Carl, scared to let him go. "We protected the public from very nasty stuff! weapon 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 organisms from getting out."

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

"Vi, define."

"Hits...high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consists 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 vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000ยฐ and 6,000ยฐ and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

"It sets the air on fire. No pain." Jenner declared.

Ivy started crying, so did Carol and Jacqui. They were gonna die.

"An end to sorrow, grief...Regret. Everything."

"Open the damn door!" Ivy screamed and ran for Jenner. She grabbed the tequila bottle from Daryl's hand and rushed towards him. She felt Glenn's arms wrap around her and she screamed out. "Open it! Now open the fucking door! Open the door!" She begged and pleaded as she dropped to her knees. Daryl grabbed the tequila bottle and threw it at the door.

"Out of my way!" Shane screamed as he ran at the door with an axe. Ivy watched the whole thing unfold as she sat on the floor next to Glenn with Carl in her arms.

"Daryl!" She heard as he caught an axe in his hands. Both of the men pounding at the door with the weapons over and over again. It was barely even making a dent.

"You should've left well enough alone. It would've been so much easier." Jenner yelled.

"Easier for who?" Ivy stood up and questioned, stepping closer to him.

"All of you. You know what's out there...A short, brutal life and an agonizing death. Your... your sister... what was her name?"

"None of your damn business is what." Ivy yelled.

"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."

"Can't make a dent." Shane said out of breath.

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

"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl yelled as he went towards Jenner with an axe. Ivy stepped back and hunched over, flinching.

"Whoa! Whoa! Daryl! Daryl!" She heard. "Just back up! Back up!"

"You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead." Jenner told Rick.

Ivy stepped closer to Jenner once more. "What?"

"What? You really said that? After all your big talk? I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" he questioned. "There is no hope. There never was."

"Shut the hell up!" Ivy screamed as she walked towards Jenner. Anger fueled her visions.

"Ivy back up. No!" Before anyone had the chance to pull her back, she stepped forward and with all of her strength, she pulled her fist back and pushed it towards Jenner's face. Instant pain coursed through her hand and blood flew from his nose immediately as his body connected with the ground.

"Nah, I say let her kill him!" Daryl yelled. "Got one hell of a punch."

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

"What part of 'everything is gone' do you not understand?" Andrea said angrily. Ivy looked down at the girl on the ground and wanted to punch her too.

"Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."

"This isn't right." Carol whispered. "You can't just keep us here."

"One tiny moment... a millisecond. No pain."

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this." Carol cried.

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

"This is crazy." iVy ran both of her hands through her hair and she felt her lungs begin to feel heavy in her chest. "I'm going to hold my brother while we turn into pink mist?! No! I'm not!"

"Ivy you need to sit down. This doesn't concern you, you're sixteen." Andrea demanded.

"Keep running your mouth, Andrea. See where it gets you!" Ivy yelled in pure panic.

"Ivy, enough!" Her father screamed, Ivy backed away and leaned against the wall. Ivy heard a gun cock and looked over to Shane who was holding the gun to Jenner's head.

Ivy tuned everything out as she held her brother tight. She heard metal hitting metal, mumbled screaming, but her own thoughts were scaring her more than anything.

"There's your chance. Take it."

"I'm grateful." Rick said The door lifted up and Ivy let out a breath of releif as she scurried to her feet.

"The day will come when you won't be." Ivy turned to walk away before Jenner screamed. "Ivy."

Everyone stopped in their tracks and Ivy turned around. "There will be a day, when much like me, you're torn between two choices. You'll want to do something you think is right but there will always be one person holding you back, making you hold back from that choice. You know a lot, but you don't know it all, you will though and it's gonna hurt like hell. You will have to pick to honor one's wishes or your own. Don't be so quick to blame me now."

"Let's go!" Glenn screamed.

"Hey, we've got four minutes left! Come on!" Glenn screamed as he held Carl's hand. He ran behind Ivy who ran out with Carl in front of her. She kept her hands on his shoulders, scared to lose him.

Once the group made their way into the main lobby, the sun beamed through the glass walls and Ivy felt a sense of relief.

"Get them doors open! Come on! It doesn't work!" The glass wouldn't break and Ivy wanted to scream. She felt rage so strong she thought she could break the glass with her fists.

"God!" Ivy yelled. She turned back to see Carol whispering something to Rick and then placing a ball in his hand. Ivy walked forward in confusion and her heart sunk once she looked at the grenade.

Rick nodded his head and ran forward and Ivy took it upon herself to grab Carl and throw him down before placing her body on top of his. She was worried that the explosion from the grenade would go much further in such a closed off building and if she could do anything at all, it would be to protect Carl. She heard the yells from her father followed by the loud explosion that IVy felt all around her. Her entire body rattled with the building before Lori pulled her up.

"Alright baby, you go through the window and I'll drop Carl down to you okay."

Ivy nodded and stuck her leg through the window. She felt a sharp sting in her arm as she hopped out of the window but she didn't bother looking down. She saw Carl's dangling feet above her and as she lifted her arms in the air to grab them, she saw nothing but red liquid covering her entire right arm. She gasped out and all of the pain came rushing into her as Carl's weight was placed into her. She yelled out as she dropped him down to the ground and she felt incredibly weak.

She grabbed her arm and wrapped it around in the slack of her loose T-shirt and looked around as she ran towards the rv. She didn't want to say anything about her arm and she tried not to but she couldn't help but let out a severe cry.

"Ivy?" Glenn asked, he looked down at the blood covering her shirt and sweatpants, still pouring out of her arms and froze up. "Rick! Lori!" He yelled. Lori and Rick walked to the back and looked down at Ivy. Lori's eyes went wide and she crouched down.

"Oh my god baby, are you okay?" Ivy nodded as she reached up and grabbed another towel to wrap her arm up. Rick grabbed Ivy's arm which caused her to cry out in pain. Her vision began to blur at the sides of her eyes and she didn't know exactly where she was but she saw multiple people around her.

"Safety pins!" Glenn exclaimed in excitement. "Oh god, safety pins?"

"No. No Absolutely not. Daddy, please." Ivy begged weakly. She could barely get the words out of her mouth as she looked at the puddle of blood underneath her. The slash on her arm was the deepest wound she had ever seen in her life and she couldn't even be scared due to the adrenaline running through her body. Her entire body ached as the crimson liquid spewed from her arm.

"Ivy, come on." Rick sighed.

"We could use the needle and thread but we can burn the safety pins, sterilize them so it wont get infected?" Lori asked.

Glenn opened the sewing kit and looked inside. "Yeah..no, we only have safety pins." Ivy leaned her head back and cried out.

"No look, it doesn't even hurt. I'm okay." Ivy tried to tell her father but her own voice wasn't convincing. She choked out the words.

"Ivy, you're bleeding...heavily!" Lori yelled. Ivy looked over to Carl and smiled.

Rick grabbed the safety pin and Dale handed him a lighter. He put the safety pin to the flame and looked down to Ivy. "Ready?"

"No, no, no, wait I'm scared, please." She begged.

"Ivy, baby." Lori pleaded.

Carl ran over to Ivy and kneeled down beside her. "Here, just hold my hand."

Ivy looked up to her brother and soon after Sophia walked over. "Me too." She said holding her hand out.

"You can hold my hand I guess. I'm gonna be holding your arm down anyways." Glenn sighed. He cringed as he looked at her arm.

"Glenn!" Lori whispered.

"Sorry." He whispered. Ivy felt her head droop and she couldn't bear to keep her eyes open any longer.

Ivy held onto Carl's hand and Sophia wrapped her arms around Ivy's waist. She felt Glenn clench onto her arm and she screamed out at the pain.

She heard voices that she was sure were talking to her but she couldn't hear anything. Everything felt slow and the pain in her body began to die down.

"Please, pass out..please, pass out." Lori cried as she sat behind Ivy, holding her waist along with Sophia."

Rick swayed the needle back and forth as Ivy cried out before falling completely unconscious. Rick continued until he clipped the last one and Lori stepped in by wrapping a piece of cloth and some gauze tightly around the wound. Ters streaming down her face as she bandaged her daughter's arm. Rick, Glenn, and Daryl picked Ivy's limp body up and placed it on the couch right next to them as Lori stared down at the large puddle of blood on the ground.

Daryl sat next to her genty before placing three towels on the ground, followed by Rick and Glenn who each mopped up the blood with their towels that were being filled by the second and all Lori could do was cry.


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A/N
SEASON 2 IS NEXT!!! you know what that meansssss...

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