S u r v i v o r s [ Daryl Dixon ]

Chapter 8

I entered the room where we were eating dinner and there were already several people sitting at the table. Including Glenn, who had difficulty keeping upright. I walked over to him giving him a kiss on the head and hugging him from behind.

"What's up, lil brother?"

He cleared his throat with difficulty.

"Don't ever, ever, EVER let me drink again."

"Really?" I smiled as I looked at the rest. Rick was just drinking something from a small bottle.

"What's that?"

"Jenner. He thought we could use it." Lori said with a suggestive smile.

"Eggs. Powdered, but... but I do 'em good. Protein helps the hangover." said T-dog as he put a portion on Glenn's plate, but he didn't seem to be able to eat anything. I took a bite and smiled at T-Dog. "Delicious"

"I told ya!"

Just then, Shane entered the room. I saw him looking uncertainly from me to Lori. I tried to pretend nothing had happened, but I was still furious with him. From Lori's behavior, I knew something had happened that shouldn't have happened. And I couldn't accept it.

He and Rick exchanged a few words when Jenner entered the room.

"Hey, doc." Shane said. "I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing... But you will anyway. We didn't come here for the eggs."

That's when Jenner took us to another room where he greeted us. And it was there that he told us that there was no hope. No one was working on a cure, everything has been destroyed. They gave up the idea of rescue. I looked at Glenn with tears in my eyes, I couldn't stop them.

Glenn with Rick, Shane and T-Dog went to check the generators and when they came back they found everything empty. There were no fuel reserves. At that moment, the lights began to dim and the air conditioning turned off.

I leaned out into the hallway as Jenner took the whiskey bottle from Daryl and took a sip himself. I glanced at Rick and followed right behind him.

"What's going on?" asked Rick. "Why is everything turned off?"

"Energy use is being prioritized." Jenner answered.

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

"It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down."

"Hey! Hey, what the hell does that mean?" I screamed but got no response.

"Hey man" Daryl tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "She's talking to you. What do you mean it's shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?"

"You'd be surprised." It was all we get from him.

Rick started to talk with him, but I didn't understand anything at all. Rick told everyone to collect things.

"Glenn!" I shouted looking at my brother.

He needed nothing else. He run to pack the two of us.

However, at that moment Jenner triggered something because the door closed and we were all stuck in this room. Everyone started shouting. I saw Carl cuddling up to Lori. Glenn looked at me scared.

"Hey Jenner, open that door now." said Rick trying to stay calm.

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

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

"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?" I pointed to the red clock that was counting down. "What happens in 28 minutes?" I asked slowly, and since he didn't answer, I repeated a little louder "What happens in 28 minutes?!"

"She asks again, answer! C'mon!" Daryl shouted.

Jenner turned paler.

"You know what this place is?! We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weapon 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... H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out.

"H.I.T.s?" Rick repeated dully.

"Vi, define" said Jenner.

"Hits..." began the computer's voice. "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 5,000° and 6,000° and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

Carol hugged Sophie, Rick - Lori and Carl. I stared at Glenn, unable to breathe.

"It sets the air on fire" Jenner said slowly. "No pain. An end to sorrow, grief... Regret. Everything."

"Open the damn door!" Daryl shouted.

He and Shane started banging their axes against the metal door. Jenner started talking to Andrea. He said Rick couldn't see the future. And yet, his words didn't quite reach me. They were somewhere in the distance. I saw Daryl trying to open the door, I saw Sophie crying, I heard Jenner's translation. But I was deaf to it. All I saw was Glenn. I watched as he tried to help, to get out.

Get us out.

Shane starts threatening Jenner with a gun. They are screaming. Rick tries to talk some sense into it. Jenner talks about his wife who died here.

For us. To let us know we have no future.

I looked at Glenn. At Carl. At Sophie.

I quickly took my gun out of its holster. I unlocked it. I passed without a word from Rick, he tried to stop me. I pushed Shane away and put the gun to Jenner's temple. I saw Glenn looking right at me.

"Listen," I said calmly. "If you want to die now... Without your regret, without your sorrow, you'll get it. I can give you this as a thank you for taking a dip in that fucking hot water last night. I'll pull the trigger, you'll get your deliverance. But first let us go. Your choice isn't our choice. Your death doesn't mean our death, do you understand?" I pulled the gun away and looked him straight in the eye. "If you have lost hope, I understand. You have lost everything? I understand that too. But we want to fight. So let us."

There was silence for a moment, but after several seconds Jenner unlocked the door. I smiled.

"People! Let's go! Go, go, go!"

I screamed as I ran down the main corridor. I saw Jenner whisper something in Rick's ear, but I didn't have time to think about it. We are stopped by the main entrance, which was still closed. We started shoot at the wall, tried again with the axes, but nothing worked. I felt panic rising again. I tried to find a solution, but the pressure of time took my breath away.

"Rick, I have something that might help" Carol said.

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

"Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket."

At that moment, Carol took a grenade from her bag. I stared at him for a moment, and Rick made a quick decision.

"Look out!" he shouted.

Glenn and I lay down on the ground behind the wall, and right after that there was an explosion. The glass shattered, and we quickly moved forward.

"Lizz!" I looked at Daryl. "To the truck. It's farthest! Now!"

Walkers appeared in the square. They started walking towards us. Glenn shot the first one, I killed the second one with a knife. Daryl was right behind us. We ran to Daryl's pickup. I saw Rick, Lori, Carl, Carol and Sophie hiding in the RV. T-dog and Shane were in another car. I pushed Glenn there and got into Daryl's car with him right behind me. I hid, Daryl covered me.

And at that moment there was an explosion.