After that, they returned to their rooms, and Parker began to put her belongings in her bag. She didn't like the way Jenner looked at everyone when Vi told them about the decontamination process, so she was packing her things in case they had to leave. Daryl returned after a while and asked Parker if she was okay before seeing that her things were packed. 

"Are you hoping for a getaway?"

"Yeah," Parker answered in a rush, just throwing things in her case. "I don't like the way Jenner didn't say anything about that decontamination process. There are bad things here, so this can't be any better." Daryl shrugged and offered Parker his half-empty bottle of whiskey.

"Want some?"

"Are you trying to get me drunk, Daryl Dixon?" Parker asked jokingly.

"It's the end of the world. It's better to be drunk." Suddenly, the lights went out in their rooms and Parker shared a confused look with Daryl before heading to the door, looking down the hallway only to find the rest of her friends just as confused.

"Why is the air off?" Lori asked her assuming she of all people would know.

"And the lights in our room?" Carol added.

"What's going on?" Parker asked as Jenner walked towards her and headed down the hallway.

"Why is everything turned off?" Daryl tried stopping Jenner but he just continued walking.

"Energy use is being prioritized," Jenner explained bluntly, taking the bottle of whiskey from Daryl.

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

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

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

"You'd be surprised," Jenner spun to look at them, going to who knows where.

"Rick?" Lori sighed in relief when she saw her husband appear through another door.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked.

"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power," Jenner explained. "It's designed to keep the computers running until the last possible second. That started just as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule." Jenner gestured to the clock on the wall, which was approaching the last thirty minutes of its countdown. He handed the bottle to Daryl and he snatched it away with such force that most of it spilled across the floor at his feet. Jenner looked suddenly sad. "It was the French."

"What?" Parker muttered not knowing what the hell he was blabbing about.

"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." Jenner explained. "They thought they were close to a solution"

"What happened?" Jacqui asked quietly, she already knew the answer and so did the rest of them.

"The same thing that's happening here," Jenner waved his hands around. "No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuels. I mean, how stupid is that?"

"Let me tell you-" Shane began. Rick grabbed his arm.

"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!" An alarm began to blare and Shane tensed at the sudden sound.

"What is that?" A timer appeared on the screen in front of them, Vi's cold voice announcing the last words anyone wanted to hear.

"Thirty minutes to decontamination."

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

"Everybody. y'all heard Rick," Shane commanded over the chaos trying to keep everything under control. "Get your stuff and let's go. Go now! Go!" There was a buzzing sound and the doors slid shut before they could get out. Glenn's eyes widened in terror.

"No. Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!"

"We hit the thirty-minute window," Jenner said, speaking into his computer. "I am recording..."

"Carl!" Lori shouted.

"Mom!"

"You son of a bitch!!" Daryl shouted, running towards Jenner.

"Shane!" Rick pointed at Daryl, and Shane ran to try and intercept.

"You locked us in here?!" Daryl shouted. "You lying..." There was a flurry of movement as Shane grabbed Daryl by the middle and dragged him away from Jenner. Daryl had his bottle raised, looking ready to throw it at Jenner, but T-Dog stood between them.

"Hey, Jenner, open that door. Now." Rick demanded.

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down." Jenner replied, adjusting his lab coat. "The emergency exits are sealed."

"Well, open the damn things," Daryl grunted, shrugging out of Shane's grip.

"That's not something I control. The computers do." Jenner said. "I told you that 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 twenty-eight minutes?" Jenner ignored Rick, typing into the computer. "What happens in twenty-eight minutes?!"

"You know what this place is?" Jenner shouted angrily. "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! In the event of a catastrophic power failure..... In a terrorist attack, for example... HITs are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

"HITs?" Parker repeated, expecting him to clarify what it stood for.

"Vi, define."

"HITs. High Impulse Thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-staged 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 five thousand and six thousand degrees, and is useful when the greatest loss of life and destruction to structures is desired."

"It sets the air on fire." Jenner summed up shakily. "No pain. An end to sorrow, grief... regret. Everything." Daryl threw the bottle of whiskey at the door, it shattered on impact, liquid dripping down the door.

"Open the damn door!"

"Out of my way!" Shane called out in warning, running past Daryl and Rick with an ax in his hands. T-Dog tossed an ax to Daryl, but with each hit against the metal, they couldn't even dent it. Parker looked at Glenn and realized that this was it. This is how they died. She grabbed Glenn's hand and pulled him towards her, hugging him tightly as she tried not to cry.

"You should have left well enough alone," Jenner chuckled lightly. "It would have been much easier."

"Easier for who?" Parker asked, walking away from Glenn. "You let us in knowing we were going to die! What kind of person does that? Who is it easier for? Tell me."

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

"Amy." Andrea choked out.

"Amy," Jenner repeated. "You know what this does. You've seen it." He looked at Rick. "Is that really what you want for your wife and son? Your sister?"

"I don't want this," Rick said coldly, getting in Jenner's face.

"I can't make a dent," Shane reported, breathless.

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

"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl yelled, charging towards Jenner with his ax raised.

"Daryl! Daryl!" Rick shouted as he, Shane, and Dale jumped in front of Daryl. "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 quoted Rick from the night before, looking directly into his eyes.

"What? You really said that? After all your big talk?" Shane asked, and even Parker couldn't hide the pain on her face. 

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

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

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

"What part of 'everything's gone' do you not understand?" Andrea asked from the floor.

"Listen to your friend. She gets it." Jenner nodded in Andrea's direction. "This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event." Carol sobbed, clutching onto her daughter.

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

"One tiny moment. A millisecond. No pain," Jenner reasoned.

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

"Wouldn't it be kinder? More compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Jenner asked. Shane cocked his gun and Rick stood in front of him.

"Shane, no!"

"Out of the way, Rick! Stay out of my way!" Shane demanded, shoving him back. "Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?!"

"Brother. Brother, this is not the way," Rick tried to calm him down. "If you do this, we'll never get out of here."

"Shane, you listen to him," Lori ordered from the sidelines.

"It's too late." He ground out.

"If he dies, we all die!" Rick shouted. "Shane! Shane!" Shane let out a scream and fired his shotgun at the computers. Parker ducked in case Shane changed where he was aiming as Rick snatched the gun out of his best friend's hands. "Are you done yet?"

"Yeah, I guess we all are," Shane breathed out from the floor, as the group fell silent.

"I think you're lying," Rick told Jenner.

"What?"

"You're lying about no hope," Rick elaborated for the psycho scientist's sake. "If that were true, you would have bolted with the rest and taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose that hard path. Why?"

"It doesn't matter."

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

"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise... to her," Jenner caved, pointing at the screen. "My wife."

"Test subject nineteen is your wife?" Lori whispered when she realized.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could," Jenner said. "How could I say no? She was dying. It should have 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- 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 told him as he briefly looked at the screen. "You do. That's all... that's all we want. A choice. A chance."

"Let us keep trying. For as long as we can," Parker begged.

"I told you, topside is locked down." Jenner walked around Rick. "I can't open those." A whirring sound was heard as Jenner typed onto the keypad in front of him, opening the doors and releasing them. Daryl, who had been hitting the door repeatedly with the ax, stopped when it opened and turned to the rest of the group.

"Come on!" Daryl shouted waving them on.

"Parker!" Glenn shouted, grabbing her hand.

"Come on! Come on! Move!" Shane hollered.

"There's your chance," Jenner said to Rick and Parker. "Take it."

"I'm grateful," Rick told the doctor.

"The day will come when you won't be."

"Hey! We've got four minutes left!" Glenn shouted. "Come on!" Jacqui and Andrea decided to stay behind, but there was no time to convince them otherwise. It was their choice, and they decided to stay, as did Dale. The group ran towards the exit, and as they passed through the hallway that linked all their rooms, they all ran inside, grabbing their things before running towards the stairs, with no time to take the elevator. Parker knew it was a bad idea, but she knew that if she stopped, she wouldn't make it out alive. Upon reaching the ground floor of the CDC, the group tried to open the door but it wasn't working. Jenner was right, those doors wouldn't open back up. Daryl and Shane got their axes back and started hitting the window, trying to break it. Parker felt worse than before, she looked Carl in the eyes.

"Aunt Parker?"

"I'm fine," She mumbled, although black spots danced in her eyes. "I'm okay." Lori hooked an arm around Parker's waist.

"Don't faint."

"As if I can control it, Lori," Parker murmured. "I think it was the alcohol." The glass wouldn't break, and the combined force of the axes, T-Dog swinging a chair, and a shotgun blast from Shane was only enough to scuff the glass.

"The glass won't break!?" Sophia asked panicked.

"Rick!" Carol called him over, rummaging through her bag, "I have something that might help."

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it," Shane responded.

"Well, that's sexist," Parker mumbled under her breath quietly.

"Your first morning at camp," Carol explained, "When I washed your uniform, I found this in your pocket." She held up a hand grenade, Rick stared at it before taking it and running to the window. Lori pulled Parker away from the explosion, hiding under the ledge. Rick pulled the pin on the grenade and ran when the explosion shattered the window. Parker looked up, ears ringing, and felt a hand on her arm lifting her to her feet. Daryl was at her side, shouldering Parker's bag, as well as his own and his crossbow before helping Parker to the window.

"I'm fine!" She protested.

"No, you're not," Daryl replied. "Hey, Rick!" Rick turned around helping Parker down from the window, waiting for Daryl to jump out too. Parker hated feeling like this, but the ringing in her ears was almost deafening and her head hurt a lot. She didn't have any medication because Jenner had informed her that aspirin could cause major problems, so she had to deal with the pain. They ran across the courtyard outside the CDC, with Daryl supporting Parker as they ran. When they got to the cars, Daryl helped Parker into the truck before running to his side. He had just shut the door when the explosion occurred and he had just enough time to use his body as a shield to protect Parker in case the windows shattered. The force of the explosion was enough to make the ground shake. When it was over, they both sat up straight, looking at the flames that covered what was left of the CDC building.

"We did it.." She whispered, her eyes glowing orange as she stared at the fire.

"Yeah," Daryl said. "You good?"

"Yeah," Parker nodded, leaning her head against the seat.

"No," Daryl shook his head after a moment, "You should go to the RV and lie down."

"But then you won't have company," Parker murmured.

"I'd rather you feel better," Daryl replied. "I'll survive. Let's go. To the RV. Now." Parker didn't fight with Daryl as he helped her get to the RV. He helped her inside and Parker headed to the back, sitting on the bed before lying down. Lori appeared and Parker looked at her confused.

"Where's Daryl?" Parker asked.

"He's going back to his truck," Lori responded, crouching down next to her. "Jesus, are you okay?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that? I'm fine!" Parker reassured her for the tenth time in the past twenty-four hours. "I'm alive, right?"

"You're going to stay here until you're better," Lori said. "No matter how long it takes."

"I feel fine," Parker hated the idea of being stuck with over half the group in one small RV. "I just can't run, be around loud noise or bright lights, or stand for very long, but other than that, I'm fine."

"No," Lori said, finding no amusement in Parker's attempted joke. "You're staying here."

"Aunt Parker?" Carl asked, appearing in the back room, holding a deck of cards. "I found this in the rec room. All the cards are here."

"Well now I can teach you better games," Parker pushed herself up with a smile. "How are you feeling, Carl?" Carl sat on the bed while Parker scooted over making some room.

"Good."

"Good," Parker was relieved to hear that, "Alright, let me show you how to play three and four."

"What's that?" Carl asked. Parker shuffled the cards.

"You have seven cards and you have to make a set of three and a set of four. It can be three or four of the same cards, like a two, three, four of the same suit.."

"That sounds confusing," Carl admitted.

"I'll teach you as we go," Parker assured him. The RV began to move, and as they drove away from the CDC, Parker looked out the window at the burning building and wondered where exactly they were going to go now that their last hope had gone so easily. Parker never gave up easily, because she grew up with an older brother and learned to manage things, but she didn't see how anything could improve from this. There was nowhere left to go, there was no safe place anymore.  However, as long as they had each other, Parker knew they would be fine. She had Rick, Carl, and Lori, her family was safe, and that was the most important thing. And now, she had Daryl, because she had recently seen a side of him that she had never seen before. He seemed to care about her more than anyone else, and she wasn't sure why. She knew it would take a while for him to fully get used to the idea of her as a friend, but she was willing to wait. He deserved happiness as much as the rest of them. 

"Andrea is alive. Dale too." Glenn came into the room.

"They really made it?" Parker gasped. "Holy shi-oot." She tried to correct herself, sharing a look with Carl that said 'Don't tell your mom.'

"Yeah," Glenn smiled. "Feeling better?"

"Exhausted."

"Well, we have one hundred miles to go," Glenn pointed out to her. "You'll get plenty of rest."

"One hundred twenty-five," Parker stated confidently as she smirked at Glenn.

"Where are we going?" Carl asked.

"To Fort Benning?" Parker guessed.

"Yeah," Glenn confirmed. "To Fort Benning." Parker looked at Carl.

"Well, no matter what happens, we're all still here."

"Yeah," Carl agreed, "Mom, Dad, you and Daryl. Hey, Glenn, did you know that Aunt Parker likes Daryl?"

"Carl!" Parker covered his mouth, laughing a little before looking at Glenn with a serious expression on her face. "He's joking. I don't like Daryl."

"I'm not," Carl answered, pulling her hand away. "Even mom can see it."

"Well, your mom just likes to annoy me," Parker replied, before looking at Glenn and holding up the cards. "Do you want to play with us?"

"What are you playing?" Glenn asked, sitting on the floor next to the bed. And although everyone was discouraged, they made their choice. They could have died in the fiery explosion, but instead, they chose to continue forward, regardless of the danger they faced. Anything was better than giving up, and Parker knew it. There would be dangers. Their journey was not going to be easy, everyone knew that. They would face challenges that could threaten their lives, but if they kept their hope, they would make it. Now they had each other, their friends and family, so no matter what tomorrow brought, Parker would face it without fear, side by side with the family she had been given and the one she had chosen. For now, however, she would rest.