A Broken World

Nineteen

“Somebody must know something. Somebody somewhere,” Andrea said. “There are others, right? Other facilities?” Carol asked. Jenner looked at them and nodded “There may be some. People like me,” he said. “But you don't know? How can you not know?” I asked. Jenner sighed and walked away while saying  “Everything went down. Communications, directives... all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month. He looked around at all of us. “So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?” Andrea asked. “Man, I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk… again,” Daryl said, shaking his head.

Dale moved forward, Dr. Jenner, 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?” Dale asked, pointing at the large clock on the wall, the one I had noticed last night.  Jenner walked further away to one of the computers and said, “The basement generators... they run out of fuel.” Everyone  looked at each other in confusion. “And then?” Dale asked. “Vi, what happens when the power runs out?” Rick asked. Vi began to speak, “When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur.”

“Decontamination... What does that mean?” Glenn asked. Jenner walked away without another word. Shane, Rick, Glenn, and T-Dog went down to the basement. The rest of the group went back to our rooms. It was useless for them to be in the basement. The building was going to shut down; then it was going to destroy itself. “We have to get out of here,” I said, pacing back and forth. Daryl was sitting on the couch, bottle of wine in his hand. He didn't say anything and when I was about to say something, the air conditioner went off and the lights went out.

Jenner started walking down the hall and everyone filed behind him, asking questions about the air and lights. He simply replied that the building was shutting itself down. We walked into the big room just as Eick  Shane, Glenn, and T-Dog came back from the basement. It wasn't surprising to me that they're wasn't any fuel left. Shot really hit when Jenner told everyone what would happen when the clock hits zero. “He means that the building is going to blow. The air will set fire and before you can blink it will be over. He's locked us in here; there is no way out! Isn't that right, Jenner?!”

“It's painless. I mean you said,” he looked at Rick. “Everyone you know and love will be dead soon.” Lori looked at Rick with wide eyes. “You really said that, man?” Shane asked. Rick tried to explain and then he was back to telling Jenner to let us out. We were completely locked in the big room. A large door came down over the main door to the room, there was no way to break it. When T-Dog and Glenn started hitting it with axes, Jenner told them that it was built to withstand a missile launcher. Of course it was, this place holds very dangerous diseases.

Everyone was getting worked up, Carol and Lori were trying to comfort their children while trying to not fall apart themselves. Rick and Shane had to hold Daryl back when he launched himself towards Jenner. At one point Rick and Shane got into it when Shane started popping off rounds into the computers. Eventually Jenner let us out and everyone started towards the door to grab our things and get out before the building blew. Well not all of us. Jacquie stayed behind and so did Andrea. Dale didn't accept Andrea wanting to stay behind so he stayed with her. There wasn't anything Anyone could do or say to change anyone's minds.

Out in the lobby we had to figure out what to do to get out. The doors were locked and there was no way to unlock them. Shane tried to shoot the glass but nothing happened. Then Carol pulled a fucking grenade out of her purse and handed it to Rick. He took it in shaky hands and placed it near the window, barely making it far enough away when it went off, shattering the glass. As soon as it was over everyone quickly filed out and made for the vehicles, taking walkers out along the way. Shane went to his jeep, me and Daryl got into his truck, and the rest got into the RV and we all ducked down. Seconds before the building blew, Dale and Andrea ran out and took cover.

Daryl pulled me down so my top half was laying on the seat and his body covered mine. The truck rocked back and forth from the blast and a wave of heat hit us along with it. My ears rang from the loud explosion even though I had covered my ears. The minutes went by slowly making it feel like hours before we sat up. “We have to get out of here. every walker in the city just heard that and is probably on their way.” Daryl grunted in agreement and started the truck. Dale and Andrea rushed into the RV. T-dog ran out and hopped into the van and we started to roll out.

We didn't get very far when Shane's jeep broke down and he couldn't get it to turn over. He made it to the RV just before a group of walkers caught up to him. We followed Rick as he made his way into the city. I was confused at first until I realized where he was going. We were at the nursing home where those guys we had ran into when Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and T came back to get Merle. But when we walked through the court yard it was full of walkers. The inside wasn't any better; there weren't any walkers but everyone was dead.

Looking closely at the bodies it wasn't hard to tell that walkers didn't kill them. They had gunshot wounds to the head; people came in here and killed them all execution style. That night we ate the little food we had and stayed upstairs until morning. As soon as the sun came up and the coast was clear we headed back to the vehicles, siphoned the gas out of the van and Daryl's truck, and any other cars nearby, put that in the RV and the Cherokee.

Daryl took his brother's bike off the truck and everything was packed into the RV. Not wanting to be stuffed in the RV I talked Daryl into letting me ride with him. Once everyone was settled we drove out of the city and onto the freeway. Our destination was Fort Benning, which I didn't have any hope for.