Do or Die || Glenn Rhee

thirteen

"I'm sorry, I hate to interrupt, but what does that timer mean?" Amara blurted out, causing everyone in the room to fall silent. Each member of the group slowly brought their eyes to the blazing red numbers on the wall, each second that ticked by caused the pit in her stomach to worsen.

While everyone was gazing at the clock, the doctor stared at Amara. His face remained emotionless, except for his eyes which hardened. "What happens at zero?" Her voice barely made it above a whisper.

Jenner finally blinked and shook his head, as if he was in a trance. "The basement generators- they run out of fuel." And with that, he began to walk away.

"And then?" Rick spoke, his demeanor tense.

The doctor continued to leave the room without another word.

"VI, what happens when the generators run out of fuel?" Rick questioned.

"When the power runs out, a facility-wide decontamination event will occur." An automated voice responded. The room was silent. Amara felt her breath get trapped in her lungs as her thoughts began to quicken. A facility like this will not simply disperse Lysol in a means to cleanse.

She ran her hands over her face, almost in shock. Glenn walked up to her, his face tight with panic. "What does that mean?"

Amara rubbed her eyes and opened her mouth to speak, but she wasn't sure what to say. She didn't even know what exactly would happen, but she's sure it is nothing good.

"Amara, do you know what that means?" Glenn asked again, tilting his head to try and meet her eye line.

She finally looked up at him as her mouth pursed into a thin line. "Do you know what the CDC does? How many viruses do you think they keep in here for testing? How many bio-engineered chemicals?"

The rest of the group started to gather near them, each of them holding a newfound sense of panic. The safety they had all felt was just torn from their white-knuckled grasps.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? What are you tryna say?" Dixon came up close, nearly in her face. Fear makes him rude, she thought. Or maybe he was just like this all the time.

Amara threw her hands up in exasperation. "I don't know, okay? But if you think about it, do you really think they would chance letting everything that's in here, get out?"

"We need to find those generators." Rick muttered before swiftly turning around to head out the room. Amara swallowed harshly, glancing at Glenn as they both began to follow Rick's lead.

The three of them followed a map on a nearby wall that showed where the generator room was at. Shane and T-Dog joined the three, faces tense as they all entered a vast room.

"There's gotta be at least thirty of them in here." T-Dog remarked.

"Yeah, and all of the gauges at E." Shane spit, wiping stress induced sweat off his brow.

The group followed the noise of a light humming, hoping it would lead to a generator that was actually still running. All the way in the back of the room, held what they were looking for. A single generator, chugging away at the last recess of fuel. They all circled around it, eyes wide in examination.

"That can't be it, right?" Glenn murmured, almost as if he was trying to convince himself.

Amara swallowed harshly, taking a step back from the machine. "We should find the others."

As they hurried back to the rest of the group, the lights in the hallways began to flicker before going completely dead. The quiet whistling of the air conditioning was white noise before, but when it stopped, Amara swore it was quiet enough she could hear all of their hearts beating.