Atlanta

"Okay, so there's some freaky shit goin' on with the doc, and now we're being kept in our rooms? What is this?" I questioned no one in particular as I paced back and forth furiously.

"I don't know." Dani's voice was so small it was barely a whisper, but I still heard it.

"Something's not right. And that clock? A countdown? What are they gonna do, blow us up or something?" At that exact second, all the lights went out, and I stopped in my tracks. "The fuck..." Dani and I headed out into the corridor, where everyone else had gathered. "What the hell's going on?" I asked as heads started popping out of each room, and Jenners came striding up the corridor.

"Why's everything turnin' off?" Daryl asked, and Jenners swiped his bottle of whiskey. "Hey!"

"Energy and electricity is being prioritised." Jenners explained as we followed him back to the main room.

"Air isn't a priority? And light?" Dale asked, though Jenners completely blanked him.

"It's not up to me."

"'Ey, what the hell does that mean!" Daryl called back, demanding answers (and probably his whiskey). "Hey man i'm talkin' to you! What do you mean it's gonna shut itself down? How can a building do something like that?" Jenner continued walking ahead, focusing only on his destination. Within a couple of minutes, the whole group was on his tail, desperate to know answers.

"Jenner, what the hell is goin' on?" Rick asked, appearing from out of nowhere.

"The system is dropping all non-essential uses of power. It starts as we approach the half hour mark. We're on schedule." He gestured to the clock, which was now at 31 minutes remaining. Jenner stopped and took one last swig of whiskey, before he handed it back to Daryl. "The French."

"What?"

"The French. They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting up the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed and worked 'til the end. They thought they were close to a soloution."

"What happened?" Jacqui asked and Jenner shrugged.

"Same thing that happened here. They ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel, how stupid is that?"

"Let me tell you wha-" Shane charged toward him, but Rick held him back.

"To hell with it Shane!" He turned back to the group. "Lori, grab our things. Everybody grab what's yours and let's get out of here NOW!" The group split up, panicked, and I grabbed Danielle's hand and ran to the door. An alarm started ringing out, drawing everyone's attention to the big screen, where it began counting down from half an hour. Everyone remained frozen, no one knowing what to do.

"Come on! Everybody go get your stuff go lets go!" We took off in the direction of the door again, until suddenly it flew up in front of us, the thick metal seperating us life from death.

"Did you just lock us in!?" Glenn asked, terrified. I could do nothing but stare at the door. Everyone began to panick, screaming at Jenner - I think Daryl even tried to attack him by the sounds of it - but all I could do was stare at the door. Could this be my chance to...opt out? All I had to do was stay here, to not move. Everything went silent as Jenner screamed about something, something about the public. I turned back to face them, my eyes blurry with tears, and wanting to know what was going on right now.

"In the event of a catastrophic power failure, or a terrorist attack, for example, HITs are deployed to prevent any micro-organisms from getting out."

"HITs?" Rick asked, but Jenner turned away.

"Vi, define."

"HITs are high impulse thermobaric fuel air explosives, consists of two stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast of both significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosion except nuclear. The vacuum pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5000 and 6000 degrees and is useful where the greatest loss of life and damage to structure is desired." Everywhere around me, people crying, people scared, clinging onto each other. I could just make out Danielle's face, wet with tears, and her hands on my shoulders, shaking me. Despite her efforts, it was another voice that brought me to my senses.

"Michelle." I turned around to see Jenner gazing at me, not lustfully, not regretfully, but desperately. "Please. You can't risk it out there. You're gonna get hurt." Danielle shook me again, screaming at me to stop, but all I could do was watch his face. I heard Daryl's voice, and he came running toward him with an axe, but Shane and Rick held him back. Jenner turned to Rick. "You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was a matter of time before everyone you loved was dead." The room went quiet for a minute, as everyone took it in. Rick, our leader, had lost hope.

"You really said that?" Shane asked. "After all your big talk?"

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?"

"There is no hope! There never was!" I didn't know who to listen to, who to believe. All I could do was sit, and try to think. All I could hear was Carol crying. I hated the sound of tears.

"This isn't right! You can't just keep us here!"

"One tiny moment, a milisecond, no pain."

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!" Carol wailed, while Dale pulled them both into a protective hug.

"Wouldn't it be better? To-"

"Jenner," I called softly, through my tears, distracting him. I merely shook my head, telling him that it was no use. It was the sound of someone cocking their shotgun that pierced the fear through me, and I scampered to my feet, and seeing Shane approaching with it aimed straight in Jenner's direction, I didn't hesitate to hide behind Lori. I sat there, crouched, absoloutely petrified as Shane debated whether or not to pull the trigger on Jenner's head, while Rick tried to yell some sense into him. It seemed to fail, as he let out a manly scream, and started shooting at the machines. I screamed, covering my ears and sinking down lower. Why was I so scared of guns? There was more fighting and yelling, but eventually things had calmed down again a little. Lori gave me a reassuring hug and helped me to my feet.

"You're lying." Rick said suddenly, "About no hope. If that were true, you would've bolted with the rest, and took the easy route out, but you didn't. You took the hard option. Why?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?" Jenner got to his feet, confronting Rick face to face.

"Not because I wanted to, because I had to. I made a promise, to her." He pointed to the screen. "My wife." Everything seemed to slow down as we processed the information.

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asked carefully, and I glanced back at the now blank screen, remembering the images.

"She made me keep going as long as I could, how could I say no?" A loud clanging made me flinch, but once I noticed it was Daryl trying to break through the door with the axe, I relaxed slightly. "She was dying. It should have 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! She was an einstien. Me? I'm just Edwin Jenner."

"She didn't have a choice!" Rick reminded him. "You do! Thats all we want! A choice! A chance!"

"Let us keep trying as long as we can." Lori begged, clutching Carl tightly. He stared at Lori and Rick for a minute more, before he sighed.

"I told you topside's locked down, I can't open those." He pressed a couple of buttons, and just like that, the doors opened, and we were released. Everyone bolted straight through, but something stopped me. I got to the ramp, but I couldn't go any further. Lori went back for Rick, dragging him along just as Jenner finished whispering something to him, and everyone went to go. Jacqui was the first to refuse.

"I'm staying!" She announced, when T-Dog tried to pull her along. Andrea gave me a reassuring smile, and I felt grateful that even if I was doing this, i'd have Andrea here with me. Danielle would be fine - she had the group. She'd survive.

"We're staying too." Andrea announced, and Dale looked to us both in horror.

"Andrea! Michelle! No!" He came running toward us, telling the others to go. "Andrea! This isn't what Amy would want for you!"

"She's dead, and you need to leave." She was calm, but she was shaking. Dale turned to me, his eyes still wide.

"Michelle, you-"

"MICHELLE!" We all turned around to see someone I definitely was not expecting. Daryl lifted me to my feet quicker than I could blink, but I fought back.

"No Daryl! I'm staying here!" My eyes became blurry again, as I continued to push him off.

"I ain't leaving you like this Michelle! Come on!" I shook my head.

"There's no point in me trying, Daryl. I don't-"

"I DON'T CARE! You're coming with me, now come on!"

"Michelle!" I looked behind Daryl to see Andrea on her feet, ready to run, along with Dale. I wanted to stay, but with Andrea not going to be there, it seemed more terrifying than it already was. I shook my head, but gave in, letting Daryl half drag me all the way back to the front doors.

"The doors are still locked!" Dale shouted, but that wasn't the end of it.

"The window! Come on!" I ran with Daryl and we jumped over the window, Daryl ran ahead, but I stayed behind a little to make sure Dale got out of the window safely. "COME ON! IT'S GONNA BLOW!" I pushed Dale forward a little, before grabbing Andrea's hand, and we both sprinted for it. We were almost at the cars when when the RV horn started honking furiously.

"GET DOWN! GET DOWN!" Rick yelled, and for a split second I glanced back to the building, where the flames were already forming in slow motion.

"MICHELLE!" I was the last to leap over the sandbags, and just as I heard the glass break, something covered me. The sound was one thing, but the heat and the pressure was something else. I felt myself being pushed back, but whatever was covering me had a tight grip. I eventually fell over slightly, the thing covering me unintentionally pulling me back. As I caught sight of what used to be the CDC, I felt the urge to empty my stomach. If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought the world was ending. (Until I realised that it already had, and felt stupid). Suddenly, something grabbed me and pulled me to my feet.

"Come on guys! We gotta go!" I heard Glenn's voice, but it was further away. I was heading towards a car of some sort, so I instinctively swung open the door and jumped inside. The door was barely closed when it pulled off onto the dirt road, away from this horrid place. I relaxed into my seat, gathering my thoughts, and turned to the driver's seat to see who my saviour was.

How glad I was when I was staring back into the eyes of none other than Daryl Dixon.