❛ ❪ h.i.t. ❫ ❜

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DR. JENNER SHOWED everyone the geography and complexity of the human brain. Memories. He showed diagrams of how the virus takes away your life and how it takes away the memory stems in your brain. How it takes away you.

Edwin basically told them that there was nothing left out there. That there's no hope. That they won't survive. Dale then asked what the clock was on the wall, the clock counting down.

He vaguely replied and left, leaving them in the dark.

Later on— while Rick, Shane, Marcus, Glenn, and T-Dog went to go check on the generators since Jenner had told them that the juice in them would run out when the clock hit zero— Moonee read with Carl in his room, while Lori spoke about how something was wrong with the AC.

The power began to flicker, and Lori peeked her head out the door, "Why's the air off?" she asked, as Jenner walked down the hall with a bottle of wine.

"And— and the lights in our room?" Carol asked, peeking her head out her door also, as the man walked by in his large white trench coat.

"Hey, what's going on?" Daryl asked sticking his head out his door as the doctor walked past him, "Why's everything turned off?" he asked.

"Energy use is being prioritized," Jenner replied casually, as he continued down the hall, and Moonee furrowed her eyebrows at his words, following as Lori followed the doctor.

The group began to follow behind the man out of suspicion, and Dale gave the man a confused look, "Air isn't a priority? And lights?" he asked the doctor who took a swig of the wine in his hand.

Edwin shook his head, "It's not up to me. Zone Five is shutting itself down." he continued down the hall, then turned into the large room filled with computers.

"Aye!" Dixon shouted after the man, "Hey, what the hell does that mean?" he asked in an irritated voice, as the doctor's pace didn't slow, "Hey! Man, I'm talkin' to you." Daryl chased after him.

Moonee's anxiety peaked while the group from the Quarry chased after the doctor— the lights around her flickering. She thought that they really were going to stay here for a long time.

The group followed Jenner and they ended up on a balcony that led to the computer room.

"What do you mean it's shutting itself down?" Daryl snapped a question at the man, "How can a building do anythin'?" he asked,

"You'd be surprised," Jenner responded, as the group that went to check out the basement ran out from the door below the balcony they were walking on.

"Rick?" Lori called after her husband as she leaned over the balcony, looking down at the five men who met them at the end of the stairs of the balcony.

Moonee immediately rushed down the stairs past Dr. Jenner when she saw her father, "Dad, what the hell is going on?" she asked, confusion over her features.

Marcus didn't even have time to scold her for her use of a curse word, since he was so frustrated and worried about the whole issue at state here.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked in a snappy tone, as the rest of the group walked down the metal steps from the balcony.

"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power." Edwin said tonelessly walking past the group, and they immediately continued to follow after him, "It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second."

They began to turn the corner into the real computer room that had the large screens— where Dr. Jenner showed the group the test subject that was infected.

"That started as we approached our half-hour mark." Jenner then gestured to the large red timer with his hand that held the bottle of wine, "Right on schedule."

The doctor then took a large gulp of the wine as he stepped up the steps that led to the worker's computers, but then stopped, and handed Daryl the bottle that only had about half a quarter of wine left in it.

Daryl snatched the bottle from his hand and poured the alcohol onto the ground while he scowled at the doctor, who looked over the group.

"It was the French." Jenner randomly said, and Moonee looked around in confusion, while Marcus held onto Moonee's shoulder tightly— unsure of if she was protected in this place.

"What?" Marcus asked with a snap, and the doctor fully turned around to face him.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know." Edwin informed, "While our people were holding our doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end." he explained, before pausing and looking down at the slat floor— a hint of melancholy rose in his expression.

"They thought they were close to a solution." the doctor then looked over the group before taking the last step up to the floor with the many computers.

"What happened?" Jacqui asked, and Edwin looked over at the woman again and gestured around.

"Same thing that's happening here." he dropped his hand to his side, "No power grid." he paused, "Ran out of juice," Jenner said simply.

"The world runs on fossil fuels." Dr. Jenner began to explain, "I mean, how stupid is that?" he asked and began to walk to the front of the deck of computers.

Shane moved to jump up the stairs and tackle the doctor, "Let me tell you—" and Rick immediately pulled on the man, quickly rushing up the stairs to pull his friend back.

"To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care." Rick then turned around and pointed at his wife, "Lori grab our things." he then pointed to the rest of the group, "Everybody, get your stuff. We're gettin' out of here now!"

Everyone immediately began to rush towards the balcony, and Marcus quickly grabbed onto his daughter's hand to keep her nearby as they rushed to their rooms.

But before they even made it to the metal balcony, an alarm began to blare loudly, causing Moonee to flinch and cover her ears, looking over at Rick and Shane who were still by the computers.

"What's that?" Shane asked frantically, putting his hands on his head in frustration.

Carl rushed to his father, "What's that?" the boy asked with a small shake in his voice.

Vi— the AI lady— began to speak, "Thirty minutes to decontamination." the robot's voice echoed throughout the room, as a timer then lit up on the large screen in the room.

"Doc, what's goin' on here?!" Daryl shouted at the man who let them into the bunker in the first place.

"Everybody, y'all heard Rick. Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!" Shane shouted at the group who had stopped because of the blaring.

Everyone began to frantically let their words overlap, as they began to move, but then all of a sudden a loud sliding noise echoed in the cold room, and the door to the exit shut loudly, and Rick ran over to the large metal door but it was too late.

"Did you just lock us in?!" Moonee shouted as she and her father kept their hands together, looking at the door that just signed their death certificate.

"He just locked us in!" Glenn screamed out at the group with a shaky and frantic voice.

Carl rushed to his mom as he began to cry, and Moonee felt like she couldn't breathe— like there was no air in the world left for her lungs.

Daryl immediately ran over and hysterically started to yell at the doctor who was sitting at a desk recording. Rick began to yell for Shane to stop the fight, but T-Dog pulled the redneck man from the doctor.

Shane then quickly struggled to hold the fighting Dixon back, while T-Dog tried to help— and Daryl lifted the glass bottle in his hand, wanting to bash his brains out.

Moonee and Marcus rushed up the steps to the worker's computers, and Rick quickly rushed over to Dr. Jenner, who sat down again.

"Hey, Jenner, open that door now," Rick said sternly, as his shoes squeaked against the slate ground.

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down." Edwin began to explain, "The emergency exits are sealed." the doctor said, and Moonee's eyes widened at his words.

Her breath began to quicken, while her heart pounded loudly in her ears. Moonee tugged at the roots of her head in frustration, as Marcus brushed over next to Rick— on the verge of beating the doctor to death.

"Well, open the damn things." Marcus snapped at the doctor who just shook his head at Moonee's father's words.

"That's not something I control. The computers do." Dr. Jenner said, "I told you, once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that." the blonde man pointed at Rick.

Rick shook his head, looking over the group he was supposed to be protecting. Carl's hand found Moonee's, slowly taking her hand from pulling at her hair.

The young boy, who had been friends with Moonee since getting caught on the highway, shook his head at her— tears coating over his eyes that had lost a hint of the brightness that had made them so beautiful.

"It's better this way." Jenner tried to defend, and Rick immediately looked over at the man who set them up to die in this bunker.

"What is?" Rick's question immediately left his lips when the man spoke, he then stepped closer to Jenner who was sitting in the office chair— Rick's gaze hardened as he glanced at the large red clock that counted down, "What happens in twenty-eight minutes?" he ordered, but the blonde man didn't say anything.

Dr. Jenner then began to type on the computer in front of him, the keys clicking loudly in the tense room, but Shane immediately kicked the bottom of Edwin's chair— catching his attention back.

"What happens in twenty-eight minutes?!" Rick shouted loudly, his teeth practically grit together, and the doctor quickly stood from his seat.

"You know what this place is?!" Dr. Jenner shouted out the question, stepping closer to Rick, "We protected the public from nasty stuff!" the man shouted, pacing while letting his gaze dart at each person in the room.

"Weaponized smallpox!" the frantic doctor yelled, "Ebola strains that could wipe out half of the country!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, pacing like a caged wild animal, while Lori protectively held Moonee and Carl closer.

"Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" he screamed, then looked away from the people who stared at him in horror. Dr. Edwin Jenner then huffed loudly, sitting back down in his chair, before rubbing his face with his hand.

The man who was a doctor composed himself, dropping his hand to his lap, "In the event of a catastrophic power failure— in a terrorist attack for example—" he lifted his head to look at Rick, "H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

"H.I.T.s?" Rick immediately asked, moving closer to the chair the man was sitting in, and the man looked down at the slate floor.

"Vi, define," Jenner ordered the AI robot to give a definition.

"H.I.T.s— high-impulse, thermobaric, fuel-air, explosives." the robot woman began to speak, "Consists of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any over known explosive except nuclear."

At the information, everyone began to shake their head in disbelief— some crying, while the people with family immediately began to hold them.

Moonee pulled from Carl, and stared up at the large circular light above them, while the robot's voice continued to echo through the facility.

Marcus shook his head and immediately rushed over to his daughter who seemed to be in some kind of daze. Marcus pulled her into a side hug, as they listened to the horrific words the robot spilled into their brains.

"The vacuum-pressure effect ignited the oxygen between five-thousand degrees and six-thousand degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired." Vi finished explaining what H.I.T.s meant.

"It sets the air on fire." Jenner muttered to himself, staring down into his lap at the information, "No pain. An end to sorrow, grief... regret. Everything."

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