❛ Lump sat alone in a boggy marsh, totally emotionless except for her heart. ❜

SEASON 1, EPISODE 6
TS-19

━━━━━━ day 64.

THE FOLLOWING MORNING, T-Dog made the group powdered eggs for breakfast, and Jenner gave them medicine for their hangovers. Most of them were out of it with sore muscles, headaches, nausea. Especially Glenn, who groaned over his eggs in pain.

⠀⠀⠀When they finished eating and teasing one another for feeling sick, Jenner escorted them back to the computer room.

⠀⠀⠀"Give me playback of TS-19," Jenner called to Vi.

⠀⠀⠀"Playback of TS-19."

⠀⠀⠀The wall facing them powered on, and blue lines ran across the screen as it loaded. When finished, an image of a person's skull filled up the right half of the screen; the left half had four additional images with the brain's side, back, and top view.

⠀⠀⠀"Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few," Jenner told the group as they crowded in, staring at the screens in amazement.

⠀⠀⠀"Is that a brain?" Carl asked, turning to Jenner.

⠀⠀⠀"An extraordinary one," Jenner said with a thin smile as he bent down to his height. He stood a second after and continued, glumly, "Not that it matters in the end... Take us in for EIV."

⠀⠀⠀"Enhanced Internal View."

⠀⠀⠀The right-side image enlarged and the other four images scaled-down, moving to the side. The camera repositioned itself and showed the brain from the side, then zoomed in so the synapses of the brain were visible, filaments that connected to one another and flashing lights that dulled soon after as well.

⠀⠀⠀"What are those lights?" Shane asked.

⠀⠀⠀"It's a person's life, experiences, memories," Jenner explained. He had sounded so out of it before like he was a walking corpse himself. Now, he sounded reminiscent of a time he enjoyed what he did. When nothing had gone to complete shit. "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, crossing his arms in mild annoyance.

⠀⠀⠀"Those are synapses," Jenner reiterated his explanation without complaint. Most likely used to having to explain himself. "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?" Rick asked, stepping forward. "That's what this is? A vigil?"

⠀⠀⠀"Yes," Jenner said simply, then turned back to Rick. "Or rather, the playback of the vigil."

⠀⠀⠀"This person died?" Andrea asked, her words weak as she stared, still raw from her sister's death. "Who?"

⠀⠀⠀"Test Subject 19," Jenner said.

⠀⠀⠀Where Bianca expected Jenner to sound cold, his words were fond. Not of a scientist who used test subjects like beakers and chemicals, but as a man who knew this person well.

⠀⠀⠀"Someone who was bitten and infected... and volunteered to have us record the process," Jenner continued, turning to stare at Andrea for a moment. Then, he turned to the screen and said to the AI, "Vi, scan forward to first event."

⠀⠀⠀"Scanning to first event."

⠀⠀⠀The image moved out from the synapses and returned to show the brain. The recording moved forward then stopped. The brain that was once so bright and full of light darkened significantly as veiny black tendrils moved through the brain stem and grew like roots into the rest of the brain.

⠀⠀⠀"What is that?" Glenn asked, the sight leaving him a little breathless.

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

⠀⠀⠀Bianca kept her eyes on the screen; her heart felt like it had stopped in her chest. Jenner's words echoed inside her head as she repeated them and understood how the outbreak ended people. How her brother had laid in his bed and became this. How her dad might have become this if she didn't kill him. How her mom was eaten by one of these things.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca wiped the edges of her eyes. Daryl shuffled on his feet beside her, frowned, then rested his hand on her shoulder. It was the most comfort he would allow himself to give her, and she accepted it as she could. At least with him, he didn't hound her to express her emotions and let them all out. He could be there while she forced them down her throat and into the depths of herself.

⠀⠀⠀"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked her mom softly.

⠀⠀⠀"Yes," Carol answered her without hesitation. They all seemed to recognize now that there was no longer hiding the Earth's atrocities from the children anymore.

⠀⠀⠀There was silence after Sophia's question that resonated with them. Then, their eyes turned to Andrea as her breathing grew heavy, and she bowed her head. Jenner watched her, concerned, as they all did.

⠀⠀⠀"She lost somebody two days ago," Lori offered to the man. "Her sister."

⠀⠀⠀Jenner approached Andrea and leaned in to speak under his breath only to her.

⠀⠀⠀"I lost somebody, too. I know how devastating it is," he explained, trying to bring her comfort in understanding.

⠀⠀⠀Andrea didn't respond, only stared at him through blurry vision. Jenner's shoulders slumped, and he stepped back to look at the screens.

⠀⠀⠀"Scan to the second event."

⠀⠀⠀"Scanning to second event."

⠀⠀⠀"The resurrection times vary wildly," Jenner continued. "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."

⠀⠀⠀The brain was completely dark as he spoke. His words, the way he remembered the exact time, this person meant something to Jenner, Bianca realized. Why he didn't leave because all of himself was here.

⠀⠀⠀The brain flickered to life once again, but it was bright red rather than the stark white from before. It only pulsed near the brain stem, not the whole brain.

⠀⠀⠀"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked, brows furrowed like she didn't believe her own question.

⠀⠀⠀"No, just the brain stem," Jenner told her. "Basically, it gets them up and moving."

⠀⠀⠀"But they're not alive?" Rick asked.

⠀⠀⠀"You tell me," Jenner proposed, holding his hand out toward the screen for Rick to conclude himself.

⠀⠀⠀"It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark," Rick answered.

⠀⠀⠀Jenner stood beside Rick, staring at the screen as well.

⠀⠀⠀"Dark, lifeless, dead," Jenner agreed, turning to look at him. "The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part. That doesn't come back. The you part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct."

⠀⠀⠀As Jenner finished, their eyes returned to the screen. The tip of a gun entered the frame, then a line ripped the skull open and passed through the brain, the person, the thing, that had moved again.

⠀⠀⠀"God," Carol exclaimed from the back of the room. "What was that?"

⠀⠀⠀"He shot his patient in the head," Andrea said for Jenner. "Didn't you?"

⠀⠀⠀"Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations," Jenner called to the AI, ignoring Andrea. It was answer enough for them.

⠀⠀⠀"Powering down the main screen and workstations."

⠀⠀⠀They were silent, reeling from this new understanding that still left them in the dark. Jenner had his back toward them, but he didn't go.

⠀⠀⠀"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asked, her arms crossed as she turned to him.

⠀⠀⠀"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal," Jenner listed off.

⠀⠀⠀"Sure you didn't miss one?" Bianca asked with a scoff. It seemed like he listed every possibility.

⠀⠀⠀"The wrath of God?" Jacqui added.

⠀⠀⠀"There is that," Jenner agreed.

⠀⠀⠀"Somebody must know something. Somebody, somewhere," Andrea protested, the hopelessness rising in the room seemed unending with no way out.

⠀⠀⠀"There are others, right?" Carol asked hopefully. "Other facilities."

⠀⠀⠀"There may be some. People like me," Jenner mused, but even he didn't seem sure.

⠀⠀⠀"But you don't know?" Rick asked, hackles rising as he spat at the man. "How can you not know?"

⠀⠀⠀"Everything went down," Jenner shrugged, unbothered by them pinning the blame of this on him. "Communications, directives, all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month."

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

⠀⠀⠀Jenner couldn't find the words because Andrea spelled it out plainly enough for them. They hoped he'd protest, say that there was help coming, some country out there working to get them back to civilization... but he didn't. Instead, he kept his lips screwed shut.

⠀⠀⠀The tension rose as the gravity of everything seemed to dawn on them. It wasn't just Atlanta or the US or North America. It was everywhere. It was Europe, Asia, Africa. The whole Earth was infected.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca felt her stomach coil. She turned back to the screen where TS-19 had been, but now it was black, nothing else to look at. The after image was ingrained in her brain, however. She watched the bullet hole rip through the test subjects head over and over again as one day it would happen to all of them.

⠀⠀⠀For the first time, Bianca felt like there was no hope left for them.

⠀⠀⠀"Man, I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk," Daryl sighed, removing his hand from Bianca's shoulder and headed for the door. "Again."

⠀⠀⠀"Dr. Jenner," Dale called, quiet through the whole explanation. He looked worried, but somehow Bianca could tell it wasn't over their current conversation but something else entirely. "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?"

⠀⠀⠀Jenner turned to Dale, then the countdown that switched to less than an hour.

⠀⠀⠀"The basement generators," Jenner began reluctantly. "They run out of fuel."

⠀⠀⠀"And then?" Rick demanded.

⠀⠀⠀Jenner didn't explain further, walking past Rick and leaving them.

⠀⠀⠀"Vi, what happens when the power runs out?" Rick asked the AI desperately.

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

━━━━━━ day 15.

BIANCA NEVER THOUGHT she'd find much comfort from the woods. There was always something eerie about them. The way the trees seemed to go on forever, even with the road within sight. The sound of birds cawing and flying all of a sudden. The unknown of who or what might be out with you."

⠀⠀⠀However, after nearly being killed in her own home, the woods seemed like the safest place now. But, there was still the danger of those things coming to get them. The woods were blanketed in darkness. Only a sliver of the moon was out.

⠀⠀⠀Merle, Daryl's loudmouth brother, claimed they couldn't make a fire due to those things being attracted to light. Bianca doubted what he said but didn't argue. Daryl gave her a blanket when she started shivering, though.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca wasn't sure if she felt cold or not. She felt numb. Like her body was asleep, but her mind still moving at lightning-fast sleep. Her brother in her doorway, her mom's open stomach, shooting her dad in the head. It all flashed in her head over and over again until she was like this.

⠀⠀⠀Daryl wasn't much of a talker, keeping quiet as he messed around in his truck he'd pulled into the woods. But, on the other hand, Merle filled the air for the two of them.

⠀⠀⠀Merle talked about a lot of things, too. Hunting in the woods and things he'd gotten up to when he was younger only filled up a moment of the one-sided conversation. The rest was offensive, then explaining why he thought that.

⠀⠀⠀Merle had tried talking to Bianca, but nothing made her crack. He spoke of race, gender, the family she lost that night. She didn't react, but at the family part, Daryl did, snapping at him to shut up.

⠀⠀⠀Merle didn't, but his attention was then pinned to his little brother. Merle told him how stupid he was and that if he felt like saving every 'pretty little thing' on their road to survival, he could just go on and open the whore house without him.

⠀⠀⠀Daryl didn't respond to him.

⠀⠀⠀"Hey, kid," Daryl said after a while.

⠀⠀⠀Merle had fallen asleep and snored louder than a semi-truck. Daryl sat down on the ground next to Bianca with a barely there smile to comfort her. Bianca's hands clenched into the fabric of the blanket with white knuckles as she stared vacantly even as he spoke to her.

⠀⠀⠀"You're pretty beat up. It would've been worth nothin' if you bleed out," Daryl continued, trying to get a reaction. His tone tried to convey annoyance, but he seemed more concerned over anything. It seemed like an odd thing for him, and Bianca felt it just hearing it. She glanced at him, then the plastic box in his hand.

⠀⠀⠀"Got a first aid kit," he explained, turning it in his hand to show her.

⠀⠀⠀Daryl handed it to her and waited. Bianca glanced at the kit then back to Daryl. She paused, then took it, thankful he wasn't trying to patch her up or treat her like a kid despite the nickname.

⠀⠀⠀"Thanks," Bianca muttered.

⠀⠀⠀Daryl nodded, then stood.

⠀⠀⠀Merle snorted himself awake, and he was mouthing off again about whatever came to mind. Bianca rolled her eyes and opened the box to bandage herself up.

━━━━━━ day 64.

RICK ASKED BIANCA, Glenn, T-Dog, and Shane to head down into the basement with him to check the generators. The others headed into the on-call hall to rest and pack in the event things went to worse.

⠀⠀⠀"Decontamination," Glenn repeated as they ran down the concrete steps into the basement. "What does that mean?"

⠀⠀⠀"I'm worried that we really don't want to know," Bianca replied nervously.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't like the way Jenner clammed up," Shane added. "The way he just wandered off like that."

⠀⠀⠀"What's wrong with him? Seriously, man. Is he nuts, medicated, what?" T-Dog asked after them. None of the questions received answers.

⠀⠀⠀They got to the bottom of the stairs, and Rick checked the map across the flight. He ran his finger against the plastic then directed them to the right.

⠀⠀⠀Rick led them in with only their flashlights lighting the room until Rick found the switch. The lights hummed, and the generators beeped, assuring them they still worked.

⠀⠀⠀"Check that way," Rick ordered Bianca, T-Dog, and Glenn then nodded his head and called, "Shane."

⠀⠀⠀The two groups split, Bianca leading hers through the room. Pipes ran up top, and panels lined the walls. Fuel tanks were everywhere, crowding the room, but as Bianca tilted them, they all came up empty. Then, finally, she came across one of the generators near the back with a fuel tank connected. She looked at the fuel gauge but was met with the red needle of death rising within E. Bianca frowned but moved on. Each generator she passed was as empty as the last.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca's temper flared, growing frustrated as a collection of fuel tanks overwhelmed her as they sat in her way. She let out a scream and knocked them to the side. The fuel tanks hit against one another, and a few fell to the ground. The satisfaction she hoped for didn't come, and she still came up angry as T-Dog pulled her back.

⠀⠀⠀"Hey, hey, Bianca!" T-Dog shouted, turning her so that her glare was settled into his gaze. "It's gonna be alright. There's gotta be somethin' down here."

⠀⠀⠀"There's nothing down here!" Bianca snapped at him, pulling her shoulder from his grip, and stormed away from him. "We looked for shelter, and now we're gonna go down with it."

⠀⠀⠀"You gotta look on the bright side—" T-Dog tried to say but was cut off by the lights flickering and shut off. The emergency lights powered on, with Vi announcing them as they did.

⠀⠀⠀"You were saying," Bianca muttered, and T-Dog didn't argue further.

⠀⠀⠀Glenn rushed ahead, meeting Shane and Rick to ask if they had been the ones to shut off the lights. Bianca and T-Dog followed behind him.

⠀⠀⠀"Everything alright?" Rick asked, eyeing them. "Find anything?"

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, a lot of dead generators," T-Dog said with a frown.

⠀⠀⠀"And more empty fuel cans than I can count," Bianca added.

⠀⠀⠀Shane stared at them then looked back at Rick.

⠀⠀⠀"It can't be down to just that one," Shane claimed.

⠀⠀⠀"We have to go find Jenner," Rick said, turning to the others then back to Shane.

⠀⠀⠀Shane nodded in agreement. There was nothing else they could do in the basement. They rushed up the flight of stairs and back into the computer room. At the same time, the rest of their group swarmed Jenner above, badgering him with questions regarding the power shortage.

⠀⠀⠀As Jenner descended, ignoring those behind him, Rick approached quickly. Lori shouted down at him, but Rick turned and raised his hand to tell them to let him handle it.

⠀⠀⠀"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked the man.

⠀⠀⠀"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power," Jenner explained. He was now dressed in a lab coat, button-up shirt, and slacks rather than the t-shirt and sweatpants he'd worn before. "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."

⠀⠀⠀Jenner took a swig from the alcohol in his hand, stopping at the edge of the stairs. He held the bottle out toward Daryl, who snatched it from him, a dumb-struck expression crossing his face as he waited for Jenner to continue.

⠀⠀⠀"It was the French," Jenner said suddenly, catching Andrea's gaze.

⠀⠀⠀"What?" she asked, caught off-guard.

⠀⠀⠀"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know," Jenner continued, answering her earlier question. "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 asked as Jenner walked up a step, paused, and turned to them again.

⠀⠀⠀"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice," Jenner explained with a shrug, continuing his way up, then stopped again as he turned to relish in one single fact. "The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?"

⠀⠀⠀"Let me tell you—!" Shane ground between his teeth, rushing up the short flight of stairs, and nearly jumped the man before Rick stopped him.

⠀⠀⠀"To hell with it, Shane! I don't even care," Rick snapped at him, turning to the group. "Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here, NOW!"

⠀⠀⠀Everyone scrambled, the severity of their situation hitting hard as they ran to leave. However, alarms blared, stopping them in their tracks.

⠀⠀⠀"Thirty minutes to decontamination," Vi declared. The countdown on the main screen peering down ominously at them.

⠀⠀⠀Shane yelled for the group to move again. Bianca nearly did but stopped as she noticed Jenner move calmly across the viewing deck and pressed his card against a keypad. He punched in a code, and the metal doors behind her sealed shut. No escape in sight.

⠀⠀⠀"Did you just lock us in?" Glenn asked, growing hysterical. "He just locked us in!"

⠀⠀⠀"We've hit the thirty-minute window. I am recording," Jenner said into one of the computers. The only one functioning. The others were screaming, running, panicking as they realized they were trapped.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca watched, numb like she had been that first night she met Daryl. Her eyes went to him. He was fuming, running at Jenner with the bottle of wine he had handed him, and nearly smacked him over the head with it. Rick, too far to stop him, yelled at Shane. Shane knocked Daryl out of frame with only a slight to Jenner's shoulder.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca glanced around as the group bickered with Jenner, and he explained that topside was in lockdown. She tried to visualize the code Jenner had punched in, but the numbers swirled in her head, and she wasn't sure if the combination was right.

⠀⠀⠀However, what damage could she do if they were going to die anyway? She might speed up the decontamination sequence, killing them faster. Bianca would never forgive herself, but she would also be dead.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca walked around the back of the group. Jenner stood in front of them, trying to get them to understand what he was doing was right. With the distraction, she walked behind him and slipped her hand into his lab coat, snatching the keycard without his notice.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca made it to the keypad, scanning his card but flinched as it seemed to screech a beep! Jenner's head whipped towards her, scowling as he stormed across the deck and snapped the keycard from her. Then, he punched in another code, shutting whatever she entered out.

⠀⠀⠀"I told you," Jenner hissed in her face, then turned to Rick. "Once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that. It's better this way."

⠀⠀⠀"What is?" Rick demanded. "What happens in twenty-eight minutes?"

⠀⠀⠀Jenner didn't respond, walked to his computer, and promptly sat down. Rick glanced over at Shane, who took his unspoken ask and smacked the back of his chair.

⠀⠀⠀"What happens in twenty-eight minutes?!" Rick demanded a second time.

⠀⠀⠀"YOU KNOW WHAT THIS PLACE IS?!" Jenner screamed, turning not only on Rick but all of them. "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 stopped, his frustration residing, and he returned to his previous dull and unaffected persona.

⠀⠀⠀"In the event of a catastrophic power failure," Jenner continued, returning to his seat. "In a terrorist attack, for example... HITs are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

⠀⠀⠀"HITs?"

⠀⠀⠀"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 five-thousand degrees and six-thousand degrees and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

⠀⠀⠀"It sets the air on fire," Jenner summarized, his voice drifting as he spoke of the end. "No pain. An end to sorrow, grief... regret. Everything."

A WINE GLASS shattered against the metal door. The women and children held back, crying together in huddles, worry wracked the rest of the room as they lingered.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca didn't join them. Instead, she had slipped under the workstations when Jenner wasn't paying attention and began fumbling with the cords. She was trying to move the power supply from the computer Jenner was using to a different one she could access with him, only realizing too late.

⠀⠀⠀"Open the damn door!" Daryl screamed, storming across the room from the doors.

⠀⠀⠀Shane ran past him with an ax, screaming, "Out of my way!"

⠀⠀⠀Another ax was tossed to Daryl, who slammed them against the door with no luck.

⠀⠀⠀"You should've left well enough alone," Jenner chastised them as he sat in his chair right in front of Bianca.

⠀⠀⠀His legs were a hair's breadth away from brushing against her and giving her away when she turned, curling against the wall. He turned to the group after a minute, allowing her to proceed.

⠀⠀⠀"It would've been so much easier," he continued.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca laid on her back again, fiddling with the cords as quietly as she could.

⠀⠀⠀"Easier for who?" Lori snapped at Jenner, holding Carl close to her.

⠀⠀⠀"All of you. You know what's out there. A short, brutal life and an agonizing death," Jenner explained, and he sounded so sure of himself. "Your... your sister. What was her name?"

⠀⠀⠀Andrea looked up, noticing Bianca under the table first. Bianca raised a finger to her lips, begging her to keep quiet. Andrea returned her focus to Jenner and answered him.

⠀⠀⠀"Amy."

⠀⠀⠀"Amy," Jenner repeated softly. "You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that really what you want for your wife and son?"

⠀⠀⠀Bianca noticed Rick's boots by her, Jenner turning to him. Bianca went back to the wires, trying to fit her hand through the hole in the desk.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't want this!" Rick snapped.

⠀⠀⠀"Can't make a dent," Shane muttered as he walked over.

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

⠀⠀⠀Bianca got her hand through the tight hitting hole and pulled the cord out. The monitor rocked back and forth but didn't alert Jenner as he was preoccupied with Daryl coming full force with an ax to his head. The others stopped him.

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

⠀⠀⠀While he spoke, Bianca crawled down the row of computers to the furthest from Jenner, the power cord in her hand.

⠀⠀⠀"What?" Shane asked, sounding annoyed but not at all surprised. "You really said that? After all your big talk?"

⠀⠀⠀Bianca rolled her eyes, wanting to argue that they all had thought the same before. Saying it out loud wasn't that big of a deal. At least to her.

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

⠀⠀⠀"There is no hope," Jenner cut in. "There never was."

⠀⠀⠀"There's always hope!" Rick shouted, putting his foot down. "Maybe it won't be you. Maybe not here, but somebody, somewhere...!"

⠀⠀⠀"What part of everything is gone, do you not understand?" Andrea asked Rick, the first to sound defeated and complaint to their untimely end.

⠀⠀⠀"Listen to your friend. She gets it," Jenner advised them. "This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."

⠀⠀⠀Silence prevailed over the room. Bianca froze in place—hand in the hole as she tried to force the power supply into the computer—as she feared Jenner would hear her.

⠀⠀⠀"This isn't right. You can't keep us here," Carol claimed defiantly.

⠀⠀⠀"One tiny moment," Jenner said to her, his words a malicious sort of caring. "A millisecond. No pain."

⠀⠀⠀"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!" Carol shouted with a sob.

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

⠀⠀⠀Bianca plugged the power supply in after that. Then, a gun cock and Bianca shot her hand down from the hole with a hiss. She waited out of eyeshot as she curled into the corner.

⠀⠀⠀"Shane, no!"

⠀⠀⠀"Out of the way, Rick!" Shane screamed. "Open that door, or I'm gonna blow your head off! Do you hear me?!"

⠀⠀⠀"Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this," Rick pleaded in a low voice.

⠀⠀⠀"We will never get out of here!"

⠀⠀⠀"Shane, you listen to him."

⠀⠀⠀"It's too late. He dies, we all..."

⠀⠀⠀Shane screamed, Rick still trying to talk him down, but he wasn't listening. The anger burst out of him, and he turned, firing round after round through every computer within the line where Jenner sat. Right above Bianca.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca's ears rung, her hands slapping over her ears a few shots too late. She stumbled from where she hid and dropped her hands to her side as she glared at Shane. Her left hand came back sticky, and when she looked down, it was red. She looked back up; those not staring at Shane were staring at her with a similar shocked expression.

⠀⠀⠀"Good job, asshole!" Bianca yelled at Shane.

⠀⠀⠀She sat in the chair in front of the computer she had plugged in, the screen smoking, and yet for her own benefit, tried to turn it on.

⠀⠀⠀It didn't.

⠀⠀⠀She slammed her hands against the side of the computer, angry, as shards of glass fell from the already broken screen and a fire started inside.

⠀⠀⠀Silence continued to fill the room between the ringing in her ear.

⠀⠀⠀"I think you're lyin'," Rick said suddenly. His words sounded like he was underwater, but Bianca made out what he said.

⠀⠀⠀Jenner looked up, amused and slightly put off by Rick's claim.

⠀⠀⠀"What?" he asked, lifting his head from his cupped hands.

⠀⠀⠀"You're lyin'," Rick repeated himself, stepping closer to him. "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?"

⠀⠀⠀"It doesn't matter," Jenner sighed.

⠀⠀⠀"It does matter," Rick claimed, getting in Jenner's face. Jenner might have given up, but Rick hadn't. He never would. "It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?"

⠀⠀⠀"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise," Jenner explained, standing as he pointed exaggeratedly at the front monitors. "To her. My wife."

⠀⠀⠀"Test Subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asked the question bouncing through the room as it seemed to all make sense.

⠀⠀⠀"She begged me to keep going as long as I could," Jenner explained, tears coming to his eyes and the dull pounding of Daryl hitting his ax against the door beyond that. "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."

⠀⠀⠀"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do," Rick begged him. "That's... That's all we want. A choice, a chance."

⠀⠀⠀"Let us keep tryin', as long as we can," Lori added on.

⠀⠀⠀"I told you, topside's locked down. I can't open those," Jenner explained. He paused a moment, then turned to Bianca still at the computer. "6-9-6-9."

⠀⠀⠀Bianca scoffed.

⠀⠀⠀"Really?" she asked him with a quirked eyebrow. She stood, passing him, and snatched the card from his hand. She tapped the code into the keypad, and the doors opened.

⠀⠀⠀"Come on!" Daryl yelled to them like his slamming on the doors had forced them open.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca ran with the others for the door while Rick thanked Jenner for allowing them a chance. Jenner whispered something in his ear that stopped Rick, turning his mind. The rest waited at the doors, and Lori rushed forward, dragging Rick away. Jenner seemed finished with what he wanted to say and gave Rick a tight smile.

⠀⠀⠀"No, no, I'm stayin'!" Jacqui exclaimed as T-Dog tried to drag her out. Those left by the door paused, staring at her. "I'm staying, sweetie."

⠀⠀⠀"But that's insane!"

⠀⠀⠀"No, it's completely sane!" Jacqui said, swatting his hands away from her, putting distance between them. "For the first time in a 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."

⠀⠀⠀Shane pulled T-Dog back, accepting what Jacqui wanted like he had for Jim. They ran up the deck and into the hall. Bianca ran forward before Jacqui could head inside and hugged her tightly. Jacqui returned it, but only for a second.

⠀⠀⠀"Thank you for everything," Bianca whispered, eyes reddening.

⠀⠀⠀"Be great, baby. I know you will be," Jacqui whispered, giving her a short smile before darting away.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca turned, Dale standing beside them with an exasperated expression toward them. Bianca didn't stay to argue, running down the hall and flew into the stairwell, catching up with the rest of the group.

⠀⠀⠀"Get them doors open!"

⠀⠀⠀"Bianca!" T-Dog yelled when he saw her, pointing frantically at the keypad. "His code work?"

⠀⠀⠀Bianca rushed over, typing it in, and turned to T-Dog. He pushed furiously against the doors, but they didn't budge.

⠀⠀⠀"Damn it," Bianca muttered. She turned back and stared at the numbers, trying to see if any were more worn out than the others, but they all looked the same.

⠀⠀⠀Behind her, the others smashed the glass with axes, a chair, and bullets. It did nothing, not even a scratch.

⠀⠀⠀"Rick, I have something that might help," Carol said, pulling her bag toward her.

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

⠀⠀⠀"Neither is your smart-ass mouth," Bianca snapped back at him.

⠀⠀⠀"You wanna do this right now, kid?" Shane sneered, turning his glare towards her.

⠀⠀⠀"We only got three minutes left. When else?" Bianca retorted, turning to him and raising her hands to block, ready for him to throw the first punch.

⠀⠀⠀"...I found this in your pocket," Carol continued.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca's eye caught the grenade in Carol's hand, and when her face fell, Shane turned to look as well.

⠀⠀⠀"This ain't the time for fightin'," Daryl yelled, running toward Bianca and pulling her across the room before smacking them down. His hand rested over her head, and she forced her way to do the same to him as they laid stomach down, hip-to-hip on the floor.

⠀⠀⠀"Oh, shhhhh—!" Rick screamed, his boots thundering behind them as he ran from the window.

⠀⠀⠀The grenade exploded, sending Rick a few feet further than he intended to land, and the glass shattered, giving them their escape.

⠀⠀⠀They scrambled to their feet, hope filling them once again but not like it had been before. The front lawn was full of walkers, all awake from the sound of the explosion. Daryl stood, running across the room, and lifted the bag he grabbed over his shoulder. He'd gotten his crossbow along with Bianca's sledgehammer.

⠀⠀⠀"Here," he said, holding the hand out to her as she skidded over.

⠀⠀⠀Bianca followed the group through the glass, running across the front lawn and toward the caravan knocking walkers out of their way as they went. It felt easier than it should've been, but when Bianca slammed the door to Daryl's truck shut, she let out a shaky breath.

⠀⠀⠀"We're safe," Bianca said, turning to stare at the CDC still standing. "We're safe."

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, kid, we made it," Daryl panted, giving her a smile.

⠀⠀⠀Then, Rick slammed down on his horn, keeping time with the countdown inside. Bianca ducked her head, and Daryl followed. The explosion felt like all of the air had compressed against Bianca's chest then found its way inside. The windows were rolled down, and while it made her ears ring worse, she'd rather that than shards of glass lining her side. The heat came a few seconds later, warming her insides to the point it hurt, searing the hair from her arms.

⠀⠀⠀The second it came, it fell away. Bianca removed her hands from her ears, blood drying on the side of her face. She looked up, the CDC in flames, eating away at the building.

⠀⠀⠀Andrea and Dale were running for the RV, having a change of heart. However, Jacqui and Jenner didn't, now obliterated. Bianca hoped Jenner was right, and they had gone with no pain.

⠀⠀⠀Daryl turned the engine on when Andrea and Dale were inside the RV, and the other cars rumbled to life.

⠀⠀⠀"And as always, we keep movin'," Daryl muttered, white knuckles around the steering wheel as they pulled off the side of the road from the CDC and did as Daryl said, moved on.

AUTHOR'S NOTE —

SEASON 1 IS FINISHED!!! I can't believe it, even though it's only nine chapters lol. 

I will be taking a week off to make the graphics for the next act and get a little ahead in editing the next season. I'm very behind on the flashbacks so the temptation not to do them is strong but I have a really good flashback that I love that I don't think I could just ditch.

The next update will be Wednesday, January 19!

SONG: Lump by The Presidents Of The United States

Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you'd like. However, this is an all kind of reader safe space. So even if you ghost read or comment every chapter, I hope you know it means the world to me that you've come into this fic ♡ I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and until the next one.