Disarm ⋙ Shane Walsh ⋙ The Walking Dead

Bound to the Floor ⋙ t w e n t y n i n e

Katherine slipped out of sight right as Jenner walked into the room. She was on her way to pack up everyone's things. She was thankful for the timing as she didn't want to listen to Jenner's ramblings any more. He was a very off putting person to be around. As she was leaving she heard him start to get annoyed with everyone already.

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Kat was finishing putting her clothes into her bag when she heard yelling coming from the main room. This made her nervous. Her anxiety increased when she heard footsteps thundering down the stairs. She grabbed all of the bags and tossed them by the door before jogging into the main room. She looked around and couldn't find Shane or her dad. This wasn't a good sign at all. 

Kat walked up next to her mom. Lori had a death grip on Carl and soon gripped onto Katherine as well. "Mom what's going on?" Lori gulped and looked at Kat with tears in her eyes. "When that clock hits zero decontamination happens." Katherine had no idea what her mom meant by that. "Uh, what do you mean? Decontamination?" Lori gripped her children harder. "Jenner wouldn't tell us. He just walked away." Kat didn't like that at all. "Where are Shane and Dad?" "They went down to the basement looking for some kind of solution." 

At that moment the lights flickered before going out. An emergency generator kicked on filling the room with a low light. "Hey Kat, did you pack up the bags?" Kat nodded. "Yes ma'am." Lori squeezed her and Carl's hands. "Why don't you two run grab those and bring them out here." Kat grabbed Carl's hand and dragged him towards the bedroom. "Do we really have to leave again, Kat?" Kat nodded with a sad smile on her face. "Yeah Bubba. It sucks but it'll be better in the long run.

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Shane ran back into the main room, followed closely by Rick, T-Dog, and Glenn. Lori called out for Rick and he jogged over to her. Shane couldn't believe this was happening. This Jenner man was clearly a psychopath, allowing them to come in and get comfortable knowing that it would be fleeting. Shane scanned the room for Kat. His eyes landed on her as she and Carl were carrying bags out. Shane ran up to her and took the bags from her. He placed the bags on the large table and grabbed Kat, pulling her close and kissing her deeply. "Are you ok Baby Girl?" Kat nodded. "Mom had a weird gut feeling so I packed up earlier. Is it going to be bad?" Shane nodded. The two heard yelling coming from Rick and turned their attention to him.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Jenner took a pull from his bottle before answering. "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 took another drink before walking up the steps to the area that contained the work stations. The group followed. Daryl pulled the bottle from Jenner's hand. Jenner looked at Andrea. "It was the French." Shane and Katherine were confused. "What?" "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." Jacqui was the next one to speak. "What happened?" Jenner chuckled before answering. "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?" 

Shane stepped forward to confront the man. Katherine tried to pull him back but he ripped his arm out of her grasp. She huffed at him knowing that he was about to start. "Let me tell you-" before Shane could finish his sentence Rick cut him off. "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!" The group all grumbled in agreement. Katherine was thankful that she had packed for herself, Shane, Carl, and Sophia. "You're packed, Shane." Shane nodded in thanks to Kat. 

Katherine zoned out in anxiety. Sophia was frantic and hanging onto Carol. Kat went and picked Sophia up so that Carol could go pack for herself. Kat tried to chat with Sophia to distract her from the chaos around them. It wasn't doing much to hide the yelling. Sophia stuck her head into Kat's neck while she sobbed, clearly in fear. 

Shane grabbed the bags as everyone started reemerging into the main room. As the group ran the doors began sliding closed. And then it hit Kat. They were stuck. Jenner didn't want to die alone so he trapped the families in there with him. Daryl ran up and swung at Jenner. Carol came up and grabbed Sophia from Kat's arms, wanting nothing more than to spend her final moments holding her daughter. Katherine looked for Shane but he was trying to prevent total crisis with Daryl and Rick. Shane pulled Daryl off of Jenner and held him back. Daryl was making threats the entire time. 

Rick was the first one to speak. "Jenner, open the door, NOW!" Jenner shook his head. "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." "What is? What happens in 28 minutes?!" Daryl kept yelling along with Rick. "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!" The intensity in Jenner's voice was shocking and it made Katherine jump. Jenner took a breath and sat back down at his work area. "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." That didn't sound good at all.

"H.I.Ts?" Rick asked the man. Jenner looked up before speaking. "Vi, define." Vi, the computer began to speak to the group. "H.I.T.s—high-impulse thermobaric 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." Jenner looked out at the group as the realization set in. "It sets the air on fire. No pain." Carol sobbed and pulled Sophia closer to her. Lori did the same with Carl. Shane walked briskly over to Katherine, pulling her into a deep kiss. The two broke away and he pulled her into him. "This isn't going to be how we go out, Baby. I promise. You're my girl and I will not let you die this way."