million dollar man | twd

ʟᴀsᴛ 30 ᴍɪɴᴜᴛᴇs

[ last 30 minutes ]

꧁꧂

"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?"

"The basement generators, they run out of fuel," Jenner told them, pushing out the words like he didn't really want to tell them.

"And then?" Rick asked as Jenner just walked away. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

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

Nobody knew what the hell that meant and Jenner left the room, no longer telling them anything. Rick, Shane, T-Dog, and Glenn headed down to the basement to check on the fuel cells. Everyone else stayed where they were before the lights went out, casting the room in a haunting red glow from the emergency lights as the AC turned off.

Rick and everyone else came back as everyone hounded Jenner with questions about what was going on. "Jenner, what's happening?"

"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" he said.

Everyone was silent as they looked around, not knowing what that meant or what they were supposed to do.

"It was the French."

"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" he said.

"What happened?" Jacqui asked.

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

Shane nearly jumped at him, ready to start a fight. "Let me tell you-"

"To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care" Rick said, pulling his friend back. "Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!"

But before they could leave an alarm began blasting as red light flashed. A countdown appeared on the large screen as the automated computer voice spoke. "30 minutes to decontamination."

Panic fell over the room with everyone still clueless about what decontamination meant. But historically, flashing red lights and alarms weren't good signs.

"Doc, what's going on here?!" Daryl shouted.

Jenner ignored him, walking over to a small keypad and wiping his card before the doors around them shut tight.