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

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

Rick stops to look at a map.

"When I worked in labs" I word my sentence carefully "Decontamination meant, destruction of the sample or remains, in case of cross contamination"

The four men look at me, fear evident in their eyes.

"In there" Rick says moving towards a door.

We arrive in the generator room and Rick points in a direction and to T-dog and Glenn he says "check that way" He starts to walk in the opposite direction "Shane, Gwen"

Shane and I follow him looking for the generator, we find it and the gauge's arrow is pretty much on empty. Rick shakes the barrel and looks up at Shane and I "It's empty"

Then the lights go off and a dimmer set come on "Emergency lighting on" Vi says.

"fuck" I mutter staring at the generator.

"What the hell is this?" Shane asks no one in particular.

Glenn and T-dog come running up "Hey, you guys kill the light?" Glenn asks.

"Nah, it just went out" Shane replies.

"Anything?" Rick asks them

"Yeah, a lot of dead generators and more empty fuel drums than I can count" T-Dog states.

"It can't be just that one?" Shane says.

"Come on, lets get back, I don't like this" I say before turning and running for the door, back up the stairs and back to the main control room, followed by the others. I hear arguing and the Lori shouts Ricks name asking him what's going on.

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

"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." Jenner states, gesturing to the timer on the wall.

He takes a drink out of a whiskey bottle then hands it to Daryl who snatches it out of his hand angrily. "It was the French" Jenner says

"What?" asks Andrea.

"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." He climbs the steps to the work stations.

"What happened?" Jacqui asks.

"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?" Jenner says then walks away.

Shane goes after him "Let me tell you-"

Rick pulls him back "To hell with it, Shane! I don't even care" Then to us he says "Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!"

An alarm erupts causing us all of us to jump "What's that?" Shane snaps.

Carl repeats Shane, sounding terrified.

A big countdown clock appears on the big screen "30 minutes to decontamination" Vi's automated voice states.

"Doc, what's going on here?" Daryl yells, walking to my side and grabbing my wrist.

Nessa runs up to me and wraps her arm around my free arm and squeezes for dear life. Andy and I share a look and both of our eyes flick to the door. I nod.

"Everybody, y'all heard Rick." Shane shouts.

Everybody starts yelling and running for the door but a steel door slides up and seals us in. Rick runs up to it and hits it in vain before turning around looking pissed.

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

"Carl!" Lori calls, scared as hell. Carl runs into his mum's arms.

Daryl lets go of my wrist and runs for Jenner "You son of a bitch!" He yells

"Shane! Shane!" Rick yells for Shane to stop Daryl.

I rush forward, shaking off a panicked Nessa and fling my arms around Daryl's waist knocking him sideways and away from Jenner. He fights against me making it very hard to hold on but Shane and T-Dog grab him too.

"Jenner, open that door now" Rick demands.

"What's the point? Everything top side is locked down, the emergency exits are sealed" Jenner states.

I let go of Daryl's waist and stand up straight and turning to face the Doctor in disbelief.

"Well open the damn things" Dale argues.

"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 replies.

"Don't you dare!" I snap.

Rick looks at me then to Jenner "What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick asks. Jenner doesn't answer so Rick gets violent and pushes him "What happens?" He snaps

Jenner stands up shouting "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 calms down then sits back down "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."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Andrew screams. My eyes flick to him and my eyes widen at the look of uncharacteristic anger on my Nephew's face

"H.I.T's?" Rick asks looking at Andy.

"Vi, define?" Jenner commands

Vi answers "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."

"It sets the air in fire" Jenner states with a sick smile. "No pain. An end to sorrow, grief…regret. Everything"

I walk to Andy, grab his head and kiss his temple before drawing him to me with one arm. I am not dying now! My nephew is not dying now! I just got him back. My eyes water but the tears don't spill. Nessa on the other hand is holding onto me tightly and looks pissed.

Ten minutes later Jenner still refuses to open the door. Daryl launches a bottle at it and yells "open the damn door!" Then Him, Shane and T-dog try and break down the door.

At this point I'm sitting on the floor with Andy and Nessa not having a clue what to do, my helplessness sky high and I don't like it. I control my fate not Jenner. I stand up and walk over to him placing the bottle of tablets on the workstation in front of him.

"Why give me these if you're just going to force me to sit here and be blown up?" I ask harshly "What is the point in giving me health advice if you're forcing me to die?"

He just looks at me, a flicker of something flashes in his eyes before he simply looks away. I pick up the bottle and shove it in my pocket angrily and walk away from him.

"You should've left well enough alone it would have been so much easier." Jenner states as I walk away.

"Easier for who?" Lori snaps

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

"Amy" Andrea replies

"Amy. You know what this does. You've seen it." Then to Rick Jenner says "Is that what you really want for your wife and son?"

"I don't want this!" Rick says desperately.

Shane comes over breathlessly "I can't make a dent"

"Those door are designed to withstand a rocket launcher" Jenner states

"Well your head ain't!" Daryl yells running at Jenner with his axe.

"Daryl, stop!" I shout, holding my hands out and jump between him and Jenner. He falters and Shane, Rick and T-Dog are on him, T-Dog rips the axe out of his hand.

I take a deep breath and run my hands over my face.

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

I look at the man in shock, so does everyone else. "What? You really said that? After all you're big talk?" Shane says bitterly

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

"There is no hope, there never was" Jenner states. This guy is really doing my head in.

"There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here but somebody somewhere—" Rick starts but Andrea interrupts him

"What part of 'everything's gone' don't you understand?"

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

"This isn't right" Carol says through tears "You can't just keep us here"

"One tiny moment—a millisecond. No pain." Jenner replies

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this" Carol cries, hugging Sophia close.

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

"No" Andy snaps "What would be kind is if you let us the fuck out of here" He stands up angrily and starts walking around.

Nessa is still now standing and pacing angrily. I hold her arms to her side to try and stop her from flinging herself at Jenner. The Scottish anger is not something one should mess with. I hear a gun being cocked and I pull away from Nessa quickly and stand in front of her defensively. Shane has his shotgun to Jenner's face.

"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?" He shouts.

"Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We will never get out of here." Rick states as calmly as possible

"Listen to him Shane" I snap.

"If he dies we all die" Rick pleads but Shane starts shooting the monitors and the big screens, screaming wildly as he does so.

Rick wrestles the gun out of Shane's hands and smacks him in the face with it and Shane hits the deck. I walk backwards and my back makes contact with Daryl's chest. He squeezes my shoulder probably harder than he meant to.

"Are you done now? Are you done?" Risk asks him panting.

"Yeah I guess we all are" Shane replies darkly.

Rick gives the gun to T-Dog then looks around at us, thinking

"I think you're lying" He says to Jenner.

"What?" Jenner replies confused.

"You're lying about no hope. If that were true, you wouldn't have given Gwen those pills; you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?" Rick asks.

"It doesn't matter" Jenner replies.

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

"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise." He points to the screen "To her. My wife."

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori says shocked. Daryl's warmth disappears from my back.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" Jenner says. Then a loud pounding could be heard from the door, Daryl was still trying "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." Jenner continues.

"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's—that's all we want—a choice, a chance." Rick says.

"Let us keep trying as long as we can" Lori says tearfully, still holding Carl to her tightly.

"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." Jenner states while pressing buttons.

I breathe a sigh of relief as the doors open. I grab Nessa and Andrew and push them in front of me towards the door following straight behind then. Everyone stops at the door as people start to lag behind.

I turn "What the hell people lets go!" I shout.

"We only have 4 minutes left" Glenn shouts. I turn and keep going, keeping Andy, Nessa and Daryl in my sights at all times.

"No I'm staying!" I hear Jacqui shout. I stop in my tracks and swing round. "I'm staying sweetie" she says to T-Dog.

"That is insane" Says T-Dog as he tries to pull at 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 says calmly.

We run for it, stopping briefly for our bags. We reach ground level and the guys start pounding at the doors and windows, trying to get us out. Shane even shoots the bastard glass but it won't budge.

"The glass won't break?" Sophia asks panicked.

"Rick!" Carol calls while digging for something "Rick, I have something that might help."

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

Carol ignores him and produces a hand grenade and hands it to Rick "Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket."

Rick takes it and walks to the window, a pressure pushes me to the ground face first. There's a loud bang and the sound of glass shattering and I'm lifted to my feet and pulled to the broken window. I see now that it's Daryl. I look behind my shoulder desperately and Nessa has Andy's arm and is pulling him out the window shortly after Daryl and I.

We run to our vehicles knocking out walkers as we go, not stopping for double tapping. Daryl reaches his truck and pulls the door open and pushes me in and follows. I see Andy and Nessa bolt past me to the Honda. I see Andrea and Dale exit the building.

"Andrea and Dale are coming out!" I cry happily.

Daryl watches them for a minute before his eyes widen "Oh Shit!"

He pushes me down onto the floor of the truck and follows me, his body covering mine. There is a large explosion followed by another and another and the sounds of glass breaking and bricks crumbling. I cover my ears and press myself further to the floor. Daryl lifts himself off me and pulls me up too and I see the CDC still in flames and still falling apart. I run my hands through my hair and press my face into Daryl's shoulder. We sit there for a moment before Daryl starts the truck and follows the RV around the Roundabout and back the way we came yesterday.