A Survivor's Diary of the Apocalypse (TWD/Daryl Dixon)

S1Pt8 - TS-19

It was the next morning and I had a small headache. I wasn't completely hung over, but I did feel the side effects since I haven't drank in awhile.
"Mother never liked when you drank." I told myself. "She hated it."
"Oh well." I said out loud and shrugged.
I leashed up Bud and we walked to the dining room and saw that the mess from last night was cleaned up and replaced with fresh breakfast. I took some food and gave it to Bud and ate a little myself. I walked over to the fridge, grabbed myself a beer, and drank some more.
Glenn and T were the first to show up, soon came Lori, Rick, and Carl. We all sat down at the table together and started eating. Soon, everyone else showed up and we all started chatting again. We all laughed when we noticed how hung over Glenn was.
"Ugh." Glenn complained and rubbed his temples. "I am never drinking again."
Shane was the last one to enter the room, and for good reason. He had scratch marks on his cheek and neck that looked fresh.
"Jeez man." T-Dog said.
"What happened to you?" Rick asked his concerned.
"Just a bad dream. That's all." Shane said and kept his head down.
I also noticed that Lori was avoiding Shane and glared at him with hateful eyes.
"Not my business." I said to myself.
I then got up and grabbed another bottle of beer. I sat down and popped it open and everyone looked at me.
"Don't you think it's a little early to be drinking?" Rick asked. "Especially after last night."
"Yeah." Glenn mumbled. "How are you still drinking?"
I shrugged and took a swig of beer. "It's the end of the world. Why not enjoy it every once in awhile?"
They looked at me all confused but I didn't care. I just wanted to be drunk. To feel like how I felt yesterday, and how I felt with Daryl. Unintentionally I gazed over at Daryl and noticed he was watching me with concern. I rolled my eyes and finished that beer too. I was about to get another when they told me to sit down.
"What's your guy's problem?" I asked.
"You don't need anymore alcohol. Eat some food, drink some water, but stop drinking." Rick said.
I got up anyways and walked over to the fridge and pulled out another one. I was about to open it when Dr. Jenner walked in.
"Good morning." He said.
His voice caught me off guard and I dropped the beer bottle on the table, but it didn't break. I grabbed it and tried to ignore all the stares at me.
"I see that you guys made yourself comfortable. But, today I wanted to show you guys something... The lab." He said.
Everyone cheered and was excited. We clapped our hands but he told us to quiet down.
"Finish up with your food and follow me down the hall." He said and started walking away.
We all left our plates, except me and my beer, and followed him. He led us into an large circular room filled with computers and a giant screen on the wall.
"I have to inform you guys about something." He said. "You probably already noticed but I am the last person here. Everyone else either ran to their families or..." He said and pretended to shoot himself in the head. "But I have continued my research with the help of TS-19."
He pointed at the screen on the wall and a recording played the brain scans of an infected patient. We see the patient stop breathing and die, then a few minutes later it came back as a walker. We saw within those few minutes in between, the infection kills the carrier but causes the brain to re-activate and re-animate the body shortly thereafter, eliminating any conscious human traits. The brain went completely black but a small red dot appeared and glowed at the base of the spinal cord, which was the best spot to hit to kill walkers. The video ended with a bullet going through the patient's head and the screen turned off.
Everyone sat in silence, shocked with what we just saw.
"TS-19 was the last living specimen I had to work with... She was also my wife." He said and looked at the ground.
"What does this mean?" Rick asked.
"It's means there's nothing left that I can do. I've tried everything, used most of my resources, and nothing has changed." He said bleakly.
"Well there has to be something." Rick said. "Some way to-"
"No Rick." Jenner said. "Do you not get what I'm saying?"
We were all quiet and watched as he took a huge sigh. He rubbed his face and pressed a button next to him.
"There is no cure." He said.
All of a sudden, doors started closing and we became trapped in this room. A timer appeared on the screen and was counting down from thirty minutes.
"What the hell?" Shane yelled.
"What did you do?" Rick yelled.
"There's no point to continue on." Jenner said and sighed.
"What does that timer mean?" Daryl yelled and pointed at it.
"When the timer runs out, the building with eradicate the infectious disease specimens I have here in the CDC." He said.
"And how exactly will it do that?" Rick asked.
"The building will enter self-destruct mode."
"You son of a bitch!" Shane yelled and started attacking Jenner.
The guys had to pull him back but he was pissed off, and had a thirst for blood from Dr. Jenner. Daryl, Glenn, and T-Dog ran over to the doors, trying to find someway to open them, whether it be shooting or prying, but nothing worked.
"What the hell man?!" T-Dog yelled. "You just gonna kill us in here?"
"Mom, I don't want to die." I heard Carl cry.
I looked over and saw Lori crying with Carl, and Carol and Sophia hugging.
"We have kids." Carol cried. "You can't do this to us."
"Carol, just think about it. It will be quick, there will be no pain, no fear. You won't become one of those things." He said.
Carol just continued to sob.
"You have to let us out of here." Rick said. "We can overcome this. There is hope." He persuaded.
We looked at the timer and saw it only had ten minutes left on it.
"Please." Rick pleaded. "There has to be another way."
Jenner sighed and pulled Rick close. He whispered something in his ear and Rick's expression changed. Jenner then pushed another button, entered a code, and the doors opened.
"Oh my god." Lori cried and picked up Carl.
Everyone started running out and grabbing their stuff from their rooms but I sat down and stayed. I opened my beer and drank alongside Dr. Jenner.
"You aren't leaving with them?" He asked.
I looked at him and shook my head. "Why should I?" I asked, and slowly tears started falling from my eyes. "I don't want to die a painful death, or risk coming back as one of them." I said and wiped me tears. "I watched as my family turned. It was so hard.." I cried.
I quickly took another drink of my beer and saw I finished the bottle. I wiped my tears and threw the bottle on the ground.
"You said it would be quick right?" I asked.
He nodded his head. "Painless."
I looked at the timer and it said three minutes left. I saw that I was the only one sitting in here with him. Bud was whining at my side, and I knew he understood what was going on. Then Daryl stood at the doors with both mine and his bag and stared at me.
"What are you doing?" He asked and began yelling. "We need to leave. Now!"
I wiped me tears and looked him straight in the eyes. "I'm not going." I said.
"The hell you are." Daryl said. "You can't just sit here and give up."
He grabbed my hand and pulled me up but I struggled to sit back down.
"I'm tired Daryl." I cried. "I'm so tired. I can't go on living like this anymore."
I saw that the timer said only two minutes were left.
"Just leave me." I sobbed.
"If you're staying, then I'm staying." Daryl said.
I looked at him confused and tried to read his emotions, but all I can tell is that he is being honest.
"No. The group needs you." I said and pushed him away.
"This group needs you, Kell." He said. "We all do."
I grabbed Daryl's hand and he took that as my okay. We ran down the hallways as fast as we could. We could hear the timer counting down in the distance. We made it to the front doors and I saw that everyone was already running to the vehicles.
"10, 9, 8, 7..." The timer counted.
We ran out the front doors and into the parking lot.
"3, 2..." It continued.

BOOM!!!

The sudden impact from the blast hit us and sent us flying. I was thrown a couple feet and Daryl was laying right next to me. I groaned in pain and tried to sit up with Daryl helping me. I looked up and saw the CDC in flames. There was no was to survive that explosion. I looked over at Daryl and he saw the sadness in my eyes.
"Why didn't you leave me?" I cried. "I just wanted to die."
Daryl slowly picked me up and grabbed Bud's leash. I continued to cry the whole way back to the RV. Everyone stared at me all concerned.
"Did she..." I heard Rick begin to say.
Daryl just nodded his head and walked past them all. He sat me down in the RV and I continued to cry. Bud sat down by my side and Daryl left. I could hear Rick talking to the group.
"It's time to go." He said to all of us. "Let's move out."