We were looking at the door in shock. Someone in there is alive. "Daryl, you cover the back." Dad said. I was hoping that some good would come out of today.

"Hello? Hello?" Rick said. As if anyone will reply to him.

"Close those doors. Watch for walkers." Dale said. If walkers get in. I don't know what will happen. We all looked around the lobby. Completely empty, no sign of human life yet.

"Hello?" Rick said again. I heard a gun cock I think it was him.

"Anybody infected?" A guy said stood in the doorway, he was carrying a rifle. I clung onto Jacqui.

"One of our group was. He didn't make it." Rick said. I completely forgot about Jim. I can only think of Amy.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" The guy said. I didn't even know.

"A chance." Rick said. What is a chance now? I've completely forgotten now.

"That's asking an awful lot these days." The man said. It was asking a lot.

"I know." Rick said. The guy looked at us all. I was nervous.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission." The man said. I had a phobia of needles Dad, Grace, Rick and Carl all knew that due to past experiences.

"We can do that." Rick said. I can't I'm just gonna pass out.

"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes it stays closed." The guy said. I still had my stuff on me. The man lowered his gun. We followed this guy into the elevator after the rest got their stuff. I heard a beep. "VI, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here." What does this guy mean seal the main entrance and kill the power? Who is VI? I heard rattling and clanging and then another beep.

"Rick Grimes." Rick said. Rick held his hand for the man and he just looked away.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner." The man said. So his name is Jenner that's good to know I guess. We could hear the elevator humming as it was descending.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl said.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough. Except you, I'll have to keep my eye on you." He said to Carl. Carl smiled at the doctor while Jenner chuckled.

"Are we underground?" Carol said. Of course we are.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asked her.

"A little." Carol said.

"Try not to think about it." Jenner said what else can think of? "VI, bring up the lights in the big room." He said. When the lights came on a huge room was revealed. Empty desks and computer monitors surround the room. "Welcome to Zone 5." He said.

"Where is everybody? The other doctors, the staff?" Rick said. Maybe he's the only one left.

"I'm it. It's just me here." Jenner said. That means he's been by himself since the whole world went to shit.

"What about the person you were speaking with? VI?" Lori asked one of my many questions.

"VI, say hello to our guests. Tell them...Welcome." Jenner said. She most be some sort of computer.

"Hello, guests. Welcome." VI said. She was in fact a computer like thing.

"I'm all that's left. I'm sorry." Jenner said. He was taking our blood now. Only me and Andrea were left. Dad was stood holding my hand and making me look at him.

"Don't look at it ok, sweetheart." He said to me I nodded. When it was finished I jumped of the bed like thing and went to the corner of the room. I wasn't good with needles what so ever. The last time I saw a needle I passed out. Andrea went next. She hadn't eaten anything so she was a bit weak.

"What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever." Andrea asked. I was wondering that myself.

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me just at least be thorough." Jenner said. I could hear the syringe click. I looked at the floor. "All done." He said to her.

"Ooh." Andrea said she started to black out but Jenner caught her.

"Are you okay?" Jacqui asked her. She worried about everyone. It would be hard on me if she died.

"Mmm." Andrea said.

"She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have." Jacqui said. I wasn't even hungry in the slightest bit.

~~~
Everyone including Jenner were sat around a table. He cooked us pasta. All the adults were drinking wine. "Dad, can I have some wine?" I asked him.

"You can try it." He said. Dale poured me a little glass of wine and I took it. I had a sip. It was really nice so I downed the whole thing.

"Can I have some more?" I asked him. He laughed.

"No, that's enough." He said. I pouted a little but ate my pasta. We were all laughing.

"Fine." Lori said.

"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France." Dale said to Lori trying to get her to let Carl try some.

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then." Lori said. That's an IF he goes.

"What's it gonna hurt? Come on. Come on." Rick said. Dale laughed.

"What?" Carl said laughing. Dale handed Carl half an inch of wine for him to drink.

"There you are, young lad." Dale said. Everyone was watching Carl. Dad didn't let Grace have any because she was younger than me by a year. Everyone chuckled at him.

"Eww." Carl said. All the adults were laughing at him.

"That's my boy. That's my boy. Good boy." Lori said before pouring herself a glass of wine.

"Yuck. That tastes nasty." Carl said. Everyone continued laughing.

"I thought it was nice." I said. Everyone continued laughing.

"Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud." Dad said to us.

"Do I have to?" I asked him.

"Yes you do. I don't need you to be drunk. Your only a kid." Dad said to me. I huffed and drank some of my soda pop.

"Not you, Glenn" Daryl said.

"What?" Glenn asked confused.

"Keep drinking, little man. I want to see how red your face can get." Daryl said. Glenn is gonna have a major hangover in the morning. All the men were laughing at him. Rick clinked his fork on his glass.

"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly." Rick said. I looked at Jenner who didn't look like to be enjoying himself.

"He is more than just our host." T-Dog said.

"Hear! Hear!" Dale said.

"Here's to you, Doc, booyah!" Daryl said.

"Booyah!" Dale said.

"Thank you. Thank you, Doctor." Rick said. Thanking Jenner.

"Booyah!" T said. All our glasses clinked together.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the Hell happened here, Doc? All the—the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?" Dad asked way to kill the mood.

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

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move—supposed to find all the answers. Instead we—we found him. Found one man, why?" Dad said to Rick.

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

"Every last one?" Dad asked.

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

"You didn't leave. Why?" Andrea asked Jenner.

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good." Jenner said. Well this dinner was depressing.

"Dude, you are such a buzz kill, man." Glenn said to my dad.

"You got that right." I said to Glenn making him laugh. Jenner showed us the rest of the facility.

"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. The same applies—if you shower, go easy on the hot water." Jenner said. Did he just say hot water?

"Hot water?" Glenn said.

"That's what the man said." T-Dog said. I found a room with a shower and undressed so I could enjoy the hot water. I had finished having a shower. I wrapped a towel around me and rummaged through my bag to find any clothes in there that I could sleep in so I wouldn't be uncomfortable for once. I found this.

It was the only comfortable thing I brought. I walked into the rec room and saw Carl, Lori, Carol and Sophia. I walked up to bookshelf and picked a random book up and sat next to Carl. I started reading it and yawned. "I'm gonna go sleep, night." I said.

"Nigh Y/N/N." Carl said before I left to go to the room I was staying in. As I walked in I saw Grace asleep at one end of the couch. I put the blanket over her before getting on the other end of the couch. I put the blanket over me and let sleep take over.

~~~

It was morning I changed into the outfit, including the combat boots, I wore when the apocalypse and put my hair in a plaited ponytail. I walked to the food area was and saw everyone but my dad. Glenn had a mega hangover. Kinda his fault for letting Daryl force him into drinking. "Hello." Rick said as he walked in.

"Morning." Dale said. I sat down on a chair I was looking forward to eat breakfast for once.

"Are you hung over? Mom said you'd be." Carl said. I had a little headache but it wasn't that bad.

"Mom is right." Rick said I still hadn't seen my dad yet.

"Mom has that annoying habit." Lori said. I laughed at her comment.

"Eggs. Powdered, but—but I do 'em good." T-Dog said. Glenn moaned in the corner because of his hangover.

"T-Dog I believe you that their good and Glenn please shut up." I said T-Dog smiled and everyone laughed. For a 12 year old I act like an adult most of the time.

"I bet you can't tell." T said. Yet again Glenn moaned. Daryl laughed at Glenn's misery and me and T-Dog's teasing. Jacqui was rubbing Glenn's shoulders. T-Dog was dishing everyone's eggs out. I took a bite of mine and it wasn't that bad. "Protein helps the hangover." T-Dog said to Glenn. Rick had some Asprin in his hands. Glenn just moaned again.

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

"Jenner." Lori said. I continued eating and ignoring everything around me.

~~~

Doctor Jenner walked in and we all greeted him. "Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing—" Dale started.

"But you will anyway." Jenner said.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea said. Of course we didn't. Jenner lead us into the big room.

"Give me a playback of TS-19." Jenner said. what's TS-19.

"Playback of TS-19." VI said.

"Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few." He was showing us a picture of a brain. It became detailed. It was showing us how humans turn into walkers. Jenner shot his patient.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea said. Of course he didn't.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal." Jenner said. It doubt it was any of those.

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui said.

"There is that." Jenner said.

"Somebody must know something. Somebody somewhere." Andrea said. Who is gonna know what's happening half of the population Is probably infected?

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

"There may be some. People like me." Jenner said. Some isn't good enough anymore.

"But you don't know? How can you not know?" Rick said to Jenner. He was right he doesn't know.

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

"So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?" Andrea asked.

"Jesus." Jacqui said.

"Man, I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk again." Daryl said. If he did Aria would stick to me and the rest of the group like glue.

"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 asked. I was scared of the answer.

"The basement generators—they run out of fuel." Jenner said. That's not it.

"And then?" Rick asked. Grace came over and hugged me. All my stuff was on my back. I hate leaving it unattended. Jenner ignored the question. "VI, what happens when the power runs out?" He asked.

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." VI said Grace started crying into my shoulder. Jacqui came over to us and pulled us into a hug. She treated us like we were here daughters.

~~~

The timer hit 30 minutes the half way mark. "We've hit the 30-minute window. I'm recording." Jenner said. We couldn't leave the CDC seeming as we were all trapped in the big room. I was scared of dying.

"Carl." Lori said.

"Mom!" Carl said. Me and Grace were hugging. Daryl started running to Jenner Aria was crying next to us. I pulled her into our hug and we all cried together.

"You son of a bitch!" Daryl said. We were gonna die and nothing could stop that.

"Shane! Shane!" Rick shouted for my dad to stop Daryl.

"You locked us in here!" Daryl shouted at Jenner.

"No, stop! Don't!" T-Dog said trying to stop them.

"You lying-" Daryl said.

"No no no no!" Dad said. Daryl tried to take Jenner but dad and Rick stopped him.

"Wait! No! No, don't do it." T said. Rick held Daryl so he wouldn't move. Jenner was being threatened with a bottle by Daryl.

"Hey, Jenner, open that door now." Rick commanded.

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

"Well, open the damn things." Daryl said.

"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 told us. This is how we die.

"What is? What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick questioned him worried. "What happens in 28 minutes?!" Rick shouted at Jenner.

"Come on!" Daryl shouted.

"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!" Jenner shouted at us.
"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." Jenner said calmly. What does H.I.T.s stand for.

"H.I.T.s?" Rick said confused.

"VI, define." Jenner said.

"H.I.T.s—high-impulse thermo baric 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 vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 degrees and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired." VI explained. This is where we die.

"it sets the air on fire. No pain." Jenner said. Their would be pain. "An end to sorrow, grief...regret. Everything." He added. Carol was holding Sophia both of them were crying. Dad came over to us Aria let go of the hug and dad replaced her.

"We are getting out of here, ok?" He said to us. I nodded and he let go of the hug. Daryl through the liquor bottle across the room.

"Open the damn door!" Daryl shouted. This can't be the end of us, can it?

~~~

A few people were trying to break down the door but it didn't work. "You should've left well enough alone it would have been so much easier." Jenner said.

"Easier for who?" Lori asked. We were all scared. Time was running out for us.

"All of you. You know what's out there. A short brutal life and an agonizing death. Your—your sister—what was her name?" Jenner said talking to Andrea.

"Amy." Andrea replied.

"Amy. You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that what you really want for your wife and son?" Jenner said. This guy was a dick.

"I don't want this!" Rick said emphatically.

"Can't make a dent." Dad said. Hitting the door with an axe.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner said. This is definitely where we are gonna die.

"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl said taking a swing with his axe.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Dad said to Daryl.

"Daryl! Daryl!" Rick said. The timer was running out of time we were going to die soon. T-Dog took Daryl so he wouldn't kill anyone.

"Just back up! Back up!" Rick said to Daryl.

"You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead." Jenner said to us. This guy was crazy.

"What?" T-Dog said. I was in shock. Rick actually said that. Lori's face took time to register to what he just said.

"What? You really said that? After all you're big talk?" Dad said to him.

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick said to Lori. Well hope obviously died on the way here.

"There is no hope. There never was." Jenner said. It was true everyone lost hope.

"There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here but somebody somewhere—" Rick said who would be still alive like Jenner said people committed suicide.

"What part of "Everything is gone" do you not understand?" Andrea said. She was right, nothing is left.

"Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event." Jenner said. Maybe this is the last time the human race will ever exist. We were still crying none of us wanted to die.

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

"One tiny moment—a millisecond. No pain." Jenner said. Millisecond is way to quick.

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this." Carol cried out again. It wasn't just her daughter, it us was all of us kids. My dad got frustrated now.

"Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate just to hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Jenner said. He said something to Carol and Jacqui, Jacqui agreed with what he said. Jacqui walked over to us and held me and Grace. I heard a gun cock. Dad came back with his shotgun.

"Shane, no!" Rick said trying to stop my dad from doing something stupid. Rick tried to intercept with what was happening but dad just pushed him out of the way.

"Out of the way, Rick! Stay out of my way! Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?" Dad said to Jenner. Dad just wanted to get the door open he didn't care that we were here and might die. Jacqui didn't let go of us. Dad had his shotgun pointed at Jenner's face.

"Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We will never get out of here." Rick said. It was true we won't get out of here.

"Shane, you listen to him." Lori said to him. Why should he listen to Rick.

"It's too late." Dad said. He truly has scared me since the apocalypse started.

"He dies, we all—" Rick said. Dad pointed the shotgun at Jenner's face, yelling none stop. He then shot the computer monitors still yelling. Jacqui held us tighter than before. "— we all die! Shane!" Rick continued. "Shane!" Rick struggled to get the shotgun out of dad's hands. Rick hit dad across the head with the butt of the gun then threw an elbow at dad's shoulder. Dad just grunted. Dad fell to the ground. Rick feinted with the butt of the gun, ready to hit him with it again to keep him down. "Are you done now? Are you done?" Rick questioned dad while panting.

"Yeah, I guess we all are." Dad said. I was done. I had been for the past hour. Rick handed the gun to T-Dog.

"I think you're lying." Rick said to Jenner. I don't think he was.

"What?" Jenner asked Rick sounding shocked.

"You're lying about no hope. If that were true, you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?" Rick said. I doubt he was lying about no hope.

"It doesn't matter." Jenner told us.

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

"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise.To her. My wife." Jenner said. That meant that TS-19 was his wife.

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asked what I literally just said inside my head.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" Jenner said to us. Daryl was still hitting the door with the axe. "She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just...Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me." Maybe it should have been him maybe his wife would have managed to have made a cure.

"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's—that's all we want—a choice, a chance." Rick told him. Jenner did have a choice. I could hear Daryl grunting while pounding on the door.

"Let us keep trying as long as we can." Lori said to him.

"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." Jenner told us. He did something and the door Daryl was beating on started beeping. He was opening it for us.

"Come on!" Daryl shouted at us all. Everyone started rushing to the door except Jacqui. Was she gonna stay here?

"Let's go!" Glenn said to us.

"Move it! Move it!" Daryl shouted at us.

"Stay right by me." Carol said to Sophia.

"Come on let's move it!" T said to us.

"Come on, let's go!" Daryl said. Aria had caught up to him. Grace was clinging onto my arm.

"We're gonna get out of here, Sophia!" Carol told her daughter.

"There's your chance, take it." Jenner told us.

"I'm grateful." Rick told him.

"The day will come when you won't be." Jenner said in kinda threatening tone.

"Let's go!" Glenn said. I wanted to get out of this place already. Jenner shook hands with Rick and whispered something into Rick's ear. Lori ran back to get Rick. "Hey, we've got four minutes left! Come on!" Glenn said. T-Dog was leading Jacqui.

"Let's go. Let's go." T-Dog said to her.

"No no. I'm staying. I'm staying, sweetie." Jacqui said to T I stopped running now and walked over to them with tears in my eyes.

"But that's insane!" T-Dog said to her.

"No, it's completely sane. For the first time in the long time. I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy. There's no time to argue. And no point, not if you want to get out. Just get out. Get out." Jacqui said. Everyone had stopped moving now. Jacqui turned to me. "Sweetie, I want you to be brave. Look after your sister and your dad. Don't forget about me, I love you like your my daughter." She told me. She kissed my forehead and wiped away the tears going down my cheeks. She pushed T-Dog away but I didn't move. T-Dog dragged me away but I didn't want to leave her. She was like my mom she cared about, loved me and protected me and now I'm losing her like how I lost Amy.

"I'm staying too." Andrea said. I was crying even more now. I was losing another other person who was like an older sister to me.

"Andrea, no." Dale said trying to stop her. She turned her back and sat down. T-Dog was still dragging me away. "Just go! Go!" Dale said. He was staying as well.

"Come on."Dad told us. We made it up to the lobby Daryl and T-Dog were pounding on the door. Grace clung onto dad while I was just standing by myself crying.

"Get them doors open!" Glenn yelled at them. Couldn't he see his was trying.

"Come on!" T-Dog shouted.

"It doesn't work!" Glenn shouted at them.

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute." T-Dog said. He tried using the electric panel next to the doors but it didn't work. "Try it! Try it! Try it now!" T said to them

"Daryl!" Dad shouted. Daryl tossed dad an axe and they both started hitting the windows with it. There wasn't even a scratch.

"Stay close, sweetheart." Carol said to Sophia. Dad and Daryl were both grunting trying to hit the window to break it.

"Daryl, look out!" T-Dog yelled. He was carrying a chair I'm guessing to try and break the window with it. It didn't work. Dad loaded his shotgun.

"Dog, get down! Get down!" Dad shouted at T. He shot the window. Still. Nothing. It barely made a dent. "Jesus." Dad said.

"The glass won't break?" Sophia said. No shit. I saw Carol reach into her bag.

"Rick, I have something that might help." Carol said. What was it?

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Dad said. I giggled a little at that.

"Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket." Carol said. She pulled a grenade out and passed it to Rick. I walked over to Grace, Carol took Sophia away from the Lobby. "Come on." Carol said.

"Look out!" T-Dog said. I covered Grace a little bit. Rick didn't take cover at all. He removed the pin and threw it down where the window was.

Oh, sh-" Rick said.

"Get down!" Dad yelled.

"Get down!" Daryl shouted repeating what my dad just said.

"Shit." Rick said. I guess the grenade worked because I heard glass shattering. I looked up and saw a massive hole in the glass. Big enough for us to get through. We all got out and ran to our vehicles I got in the R.V again this time Rick, Lori and Carl rode with us, Glenn was still in the R.V with us. I sat at the table and started crying. Grace pulled me into a hug and I cried on her shoulder. I've lost 3 people that I was strangers with but then they become my family in a way. Amy was like and older sister, Andrea was like my other older sister and Jacqui was like my mom. I heard people shouting at Dale. Wait did Andrea leave?

"Get in, get in, get in. get in!" Glenn said while opening the door. Dale and Andrea stepped in. I wrapped Andrea in a hug. She let go and sat at the table. She was crying she gave Dale an angry look. I sat next to her. The CDC was gone, Jacqui was gone.