For You // R.G.

Chapter 11

"Emergency lighting on." Vi says. The lights flickered and then some other lights turned on. Jamie jumped and held me tighter
"It's okay." I tried to reassure.
Where the hell were the guys?
..
"What happened to the lights?"
"Why is everything turning off?"
I walked out in the hall, Jenner was leading the group.
"Energy use is being prioritized." Jenner answer
"Air isn't a priority? Lights?" Dale asked
"It's not up to me," the lights turned off and some other ones turned on, "zone 5 is shutting itself down." Jenner said, he kept walking.
"Hey, hey! What the hell does that mean?" Daryl asked, "hey, man, I'm talking to you. What do mean it's shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?"
"You'd be surprised." Jenner muttered
"Rick?" Lori yelled. Everyone followed Jenner
"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked
"The system is dropping all 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 in schedule." He paused. Everyone stopped. He handed Daryl's liquor back to him.
"It was the French." Jenner said
"What?" I asked
"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know." Jenner replied, "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."
"What happened?" Jaqui asked
"Same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs of fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?" Jenner explained.
"Let me tell you something," Shane said now going towards Jenner
"To hell with it, Shane." Rick said
"Lori, grab our things. Everybody get your stuff." Rick ordered. "We're getting out of here now!"
I stayed. Sena left with Jamie to get our stuff. Then an alarm starts to blare.
"What's that?" I asked
"30 minutes to decontamination." Vi said then a countdown at 30 minutes showed up on the screen.
"What's going on?" I asked
"Everybody, y'all heard Rick. Get your stuff and let's to! Go now! Go!" Shane yelled. The doors leading out of the big room started to close. Rick ran to one of them but it closed.
"Did you just lock us in?" Glenn asked
"What the hell is happening?!" I yelled at Jenner. He sat down at a computer and started to talk to it. I started to run towards him and yell, tears running down my face
"Max!" Rick yelled, Shane grabbed me and held me from getting to Jenner.
"You son of a bitch!" Daryl yelled. He started to run towards Jenner. Shane let go of me and grabbed Daryl. I sat on the ground crying.
"Hey, Jenner, open that door now." Rick ordered calmly
"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed."
"Well, open the damn things." Shane yelled
"That's not something I control, the computers do. I told you, once that front door is closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that." Jenner explained
"It's better this way." He said
"What is? What happens in 28 minutes?"
Jenner started to type something, Shane kicked Jenner's chair.
"What happens in 28 minutes?!" Rick yelled
"Come on!" Daryl shouted
"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 ever want getting out! Ever!" Jenner yelled. Everyone was silent. He sat down.
"In the event of a catastrophic power failure- a terrorist attack for example- H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."
"H.I.T.s?" Rick questioned
"Vi, define."
"H.I.Ts, 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 between 5,000 and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."
As she explained this, Sena and I hugged, Jamie cried in between us.
"It sets the air on fire. No pain. And end to sorrow, grief... Regret, everything."
..
Daryl threw this liquor bottle at the door. I held Jamie close to me. Sena sat on the ground in silence.
"Open the damn door!" Daryl yelled
"Out of my way!" Shane yelled, running towards the door. Shane and Daryl both started to swing their axes at the door. The kids were crying. I held Jamie closer to me
"It's easier." Jenner said
"Easier for who?" Lori snapped
"All of you, you know what's out there." Jenner said, "a short, brutal life and an agonizing death. Your- your sister- what was her name?" Jenner asked Andrea. Andrea was sitting on the floor
"Amy."
"Amy. You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that really what you want for your wife and son?" Jenner asked Rick
"I don't want this." Rick said
"Can't make a dent." Shane said panting
"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner said
"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl yelled and started to swing the axe at him.
"Woah- woah, Daryl! Daryl!" Rick yelled grabbing Daryl.
"You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everyone you loved was dead." Jenner said to Rick. I looked at Rick.
"What?" Lori asked
"What? You really said that? After all your big talk?" Shane asked
"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick asked Lori. Lori stared at him in shock
"There is no hope. There never was." Jenner tried to preach
"There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere-"
"What part of everything's gone do you not understand?" Andrea asked Rick. Rick looked at her.
"Listen to your friend, she gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event." Jenner said. Everyone was silent
"This isn't right. You can't just keep us here." Carol cried
"One tiny moment- a millisecond. No pain." Jenner tried
"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this." She cried
"Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Jenner asked
A gun clocked, Shane started walking towards Jenner. Rick yelled
"Shane!"
"Stay outta my way! Open that door!" Shane yelled, "or in gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?!" Shane yelled as he held the gun to Jenner's head. Rick tried to talk him out of it. Shane yelled and shot a computer, he then went off shooting all of them. Rick and Shane fought over the gun, Rick won and punched Shane to the ground. He was about to go further but he stopped himself.
"Are you done now? Are you done?" Rick asked standing over Shane
"Yeah, I guess we all are." Shane said. Rick stood over him for a few more seconds then left him. He handed the gun to T-Dog. He looked at me then away
"I think you're lying." Rick said
"What?" Jenner asked
"I think you're lying about no hope. If that were true, you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?"
"It doesn't matter."
"It doesn't matter? It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?"
"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise... To her." Jenner pointed at the screen. We all looked, confused. "My wife."
"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asked
"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no? She was dying. It's should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just... Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me."
"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's- that's all we want- a choice, a chance." Rick tried
"Let us keep trying as long as we can." Lori said. Jenner looked down then back into ricks eyes
"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." Jenner then left and clicked on something. The doors opened.
"Come on!" Daryl yelled
"Let's go! Come on!"
"Move it, move it!"
I get up and so does Jamie. Sena was still sitting.
"Sena! Come on!" I yelled
"No. I'm not going."
I felt my stomach turn. I froze for a second, shocked that she said that. I then looked over at Rick who was still with Jenner. He was whispering something in ricks ear. I saw Andrea and jaqui there too. I ran to Sena
"Sena, dammit, come on." I say tugging on her
"Stop! Leave me here!-"
"Sena, why? We need to go-"
"I'm not going. I'm staying here. What's the point of living a cruel life and fearing every moment? I don't want to do that anymore... I can't." She said
I had tears in my eyes, I knelt down to look in her eyes
"We have to do this. We're in this together-"
"You have to protect Jamie." She cried
"No!" I yelled, "you have to protect her with me. You have to protect me- I have to protect you." I cried. She looked into my eyes. She wasn't going to break. I looked away.
"Max! Come on!" Rick yelled. He was by the exit. I looked at Sena then looked back at Rick. I ran to Rick
"Sena wants to stay- I can't- I can't just leave her." I cried. Rick had sadness in his eyes, he took his hand and placed it on my face
"We- we have to go." He said. I could see a twinkle in his eye that said he was going to cry. I cried even harder, he then looked at Sena.
"Max, we can't stay-"
"What if it was Shane? I can't leave her." I say. He tilted his head and looked in my eyes, he touched my face again
"Take Jamie..." I say
His facial expression changed. He looked desperate
"No... Max- you can't- we have to go-" he said tugging my arm now.
"No! Rick- stop!" I shouted
He stopped and looked into my eyes
"Why can't you leave?! Just leave! Why do you even care?! Just go!" I yelled, pushing him away. His eyes filled with tears
"I don't want you to die." He said. I started to cry even more. We looked at the clock, seven minutes left. He looked back at Sena, he ran over to her. I stayed in my place, he started to talk to her, her face was tear stained, her expression changed from sadness to almost shock, she then looked at me. Ricks head bowed, he then quickly took her hand and led her to me. She had an urgent facial expression, she grabbed my hand and we all ran out together where we saw the group in front of the large windows, they were throwing chairs and axing the windows trying to get out.
"It won't budge!"
"Wait- Rick! I have something that might help." Carol yelled
"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Shane said
"Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket." She handed him a grenade.
"Get down!" Rick yelled
Rick was by the window, he was kneeling down with the grenade in his hand. He then pulled the thing out, he stood up, looking around
"Oh shit." He said, he sprinted towards us and was in the air when it exploded. The glass shattered. Everyone ran out. Rick and I were the last ones out after Lori and Shane.
"Come on!" Rick yelled at me. I grabbed Jamie's hand and we all sprinted across the field towards the vehicles. Once we were inside, we all ducked. A few seconds later the CDC exploded. The explosion moved the camper and rattled everyone and everything inside. Once it was over, we all looked up at the flames that was once the CDC. I looked at Sena, she was looking at the fire with dead eyes, I wanted to know what Rick told her that made her change her mind. I then looked at Jamie. I kissed her head and hugged her. I then looked at Rick who was looking at me. He nodded and then hugged Lori.

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