Down Hill

"Say you were to die naturally, the disease would still infect you because it's already inside all of us." Jenner said with a low voice.

Everyone panicked for a few minutes before Rick calmed them down.

It was a hard pill to swallow but one we were forced to accept.

After we all talked Dale pointed out the counter that was counting down and Jenner wouldn't tell us so we asked Vi for answers.

Panic spread when we learned this whole place was going to be turned into ash.

Me and Rick and the guys hurried to check the oil drums and see how much time we had left before all the power died but there wasn't much time left.

Everyone packed our stuff and we tried to leave but Jenner wouldn't open the doors.

"Open the door Jenner!" Rick screamed.

"There's no hope." Jenner took another sip of his wine.

"I think you're lying." Rick said while staring at Jenner

"What?" Jenner asked confused

"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?" Rick asked

"It doesn't matter." Jenner mumbled

"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?"

"Not because I wanted to." Jenner said

"I made a promise... To her. My wife." Jenner said with a sad face.

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Amy asked

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?

She was dying. It 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. " Jenner spoke in an agonized voice, his shoulders trembling.

"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's... that's all we want... a choice, a chance. " Rick begged.

"Let us keep trying as long as we can."

"I told you the topside is locked down. I can't open those." Jenner pushed a few buttons causing the metal doors to open.

"Beeping "

"Whirring "

"Come on! Let's go!" T-Dog screamed

"Come on, let's go! Come on! Move it! Move it!" I yelled

"Come on, let's go! Carol: We're gonna get out of here, Sophia." Daryl screamed while helping our Carol and Sophia.

"There's your chance. Take it." Jenner said to Rick

"I'm grateful." Rick said honestly

"The day will come when you won't be." Jenner mumbled

"Let's go!" Glenn screamed

Finally we made it past the metal doors but the glass window stopped us but thankfully Carol pulled out a grenade from who knows where and handed it to Rick who used it to blow up the windows.

"Let's go!"

I helped Amy and Andrea down from the window and everyone sprinted towards the cars.

"Get in!" I pushed them into the RV right when the CDC exploded and the shock sent him flying in with them.

"Uh!"his ears rang but he could still see outside through the smoke and saw the CDC was nothing but ash and rubble.

It was a little later when we all realized Jacqui had stayed behind causing us to feel saddened but we couldn't stay as this place would become a hot zone for walkers.

We drove off, so we decided to try fort benning.

It would be hard, and a lot of us were losing hope for government run facilities.

Me, I already lost hope in them.

This situation reminded me of my past life and the only ones you could truly rely on were the people you cared about and yourself.

Still I didn't think the others were ready to be dropped into a pit of dread too fast and decided to let them realize we were on our own by themselves.

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Rick POV

"I guess I'm losing hope that you can hear me.

But there's always that chance, isn't there?

That slim chance. It's all about slim chances now, I try to do everything right, keep people safe.

I tried Morgan. I tried.

Our group's smaller now, we lost another, day before last.

It was her choice.

I won't say I blame her, she lost faith.

The CDC was a dead end. I met a man there, a scientist, he told me something, he told me.

It doesn't matter.

What matters is we're moving on.

Atlanta's done. We're going to try Fort Bennet. We're facing a long, hard journey. Maybe harder than I can ever imagine, but it can't be harder than our journey so far.

Can it?

125 miles, that's what lies ahead and I'm trying hard to not lose faith.

I can't, if I do the others, my family, my wife, my son, there's just a few of us now. So we gotta stick together, fight for each other, we gotta be willing to lay down our lives for each other if it comes to that."

"It's the only chance we got." Rick said while staring at the others.

"Be careful out there Morgan. I hope you and Duane are okay. Stay off the road, keep moving, keep your eyes open. I don't know, just- just be safe. Maybe we'll see you in Fort Benning some day. Rick, signing off." Rick turned off the radio before hopping in the car and the convoy drove off.

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Shane POV

I was in the RV with Amy and Andrea sitting across from me while Dale was driving.

I was cleaning out my pistol, I didn't want it to jam at a bad moment.

"Looks complicated." Andrea said and Amy nodded.

"The trick is getting all of these pieces back the same way." I chuckled.

"I could help you clean yours and teach you guys." I said causing them to smile

"I guess it would be good to know." Amy agreed

"Yeah sure." Andrea said.

I took Andreas' pistol and showed her some of the basics and how it only held 7 rounds.

Amy and Andrea listened in and tried to absorb as much knowledge as she could but sadly Dale interrupted them.

"Oh no." Dale mumbled Causing us to look outside the windows.

Cars blocked the highway and people's clothes and belongings could be seen scattered everywhere.

Even dead walkers could be seen in some of the cars making the place have a bad feeling.

"Ahhhhh"

"Damn!" Dale yelled and we all saw that the RVs hose once again went out and was squealing causing us to stop.

We all hopped out of the RV and met with the others.

" Can't find a radiator hose here." Dale said

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl said while already looking through a car.

"Can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog said

"Maybe some water." Carol said while licking her lips.

"Or food." Glenn said

"This is a graveyard.I don't know how I feel about this." Lori said while looking at us with a frown.

"Whole world is a graveyard." I said and the rest stayed silent but somewhat agreed.

We spent about an hour collecting resources when a hoard of walkers unexpectedly came through causing us to have to hide.

But apparently Sophia had been found as I could hear her scream before I saw Rick go chasing after her.

I wanted to chase after Rick but decided it would be safer if I stayed and protected the others.

Sadly Rick had lost Sophia and we spent the entire night looking for her but couldn't find her.

The next morning we all went to search for Sophia and we heard bells thinking it was her calling us but only ended up being a church.

Finally Rick, Carl and me had split up with others and spotted a deer which caused us to smile and watch as Carl stood right in front of it.

This was one thing he had missed about his world, the wildlife.

On his world all wildlife was extinct and only mutated meat was made to eat.

So to see this deer made him happy.

Boom!

Right when he blinked he heard a gunshot and opened his eyes to see Carl flying backwards onto his back.

"Holy fuck." I mumbled as my instinct naturally kicked in.

Looking in the forest I spotted a fat man coming out.

"Get on the ground now!" I aimed my shotgun at his face causing him to start panicking.

"It was an accident! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" The fat man panicked and almost cried.

"There's a farm, that way!" He pointed behind him.

"Someone there can help!"

I grabbed the fat man's arm and yanked him with us while Rick carried Carl in his arms.

My heart was racing and my anger was rising.

Shit was going downhill quickly.

Eventually the fat man who's name was Otis couldn't move anymore so he left him behind.

Following Rick they spotted the farm house and a few people came out to see what happened.

"Help please help!" Rick cried out and the old man who's name was Hershel got into action.

"In the house quick!"

Just as we walked into the house we spotted someone eating at the table and our jaws dropped.

"Sophia!" I yelled at the little girl at the table causing her to turn around and smile.

"Uncle Shane and Uncle Rick!" Sophia screamed and jumped into my arms causing me to smile.

But when Sophia looked over at the other room she cried out.

"Carl!"

"Shh! He'll be okay." I patted Sophia's head as she cried.