The Self Destruct Button

I stared in disbelief, unable to comprehend the fact that I would be dead in a matter of fifteen minutes. Shane and Daryl hollered at the doctor as they continued to beat the metal door down with axes, yet it didn't even make a dent. At first, I was hell-bent on getting myself out of here, I needed to survive, not to die on these terms, but nothing seemed to work. The doors weren't budging by force and neither was Jenner.

"You know what's out there, a sheer brutal life with agonizing pain and suffering." Jenner spoke up over Shane and Daryl hacking away at the steel door, "Is that really what you want?" He asked, which got my attention. Is that what I wanted? After watching my brother die in such a horrible way.

"I don't want this," Rick grunted.

"The doors ain't budging," Shane huffed as he stepped towards Rick.

"Those doors were designed to withstand a rocket launcher," Jenner answered, which only made them angrier.

"But yer' head ain't," Daryl yelled as he stepped toward the doctor, ax at the ready to swing.

Everyone screamed at Daryl's actions, Rick and Shane standing in front of the doctor blocking Daryl's view. I stepped in front of Daryl, placing my hand on his shoulder, shaking my head at what he was about to do. He continued to plow through, Shane, Rick, and T-Dog having to hold him back from slicing Jenners head off.

"You said you wanted this," Jenner stood up, looking at Rick. Daryl backed up and paced as he listened to the man speak. "Just last night you said it was only a matter of time before everyone you loved was dead," Jenner spoke. I glanced over to Rick, watching his look towards his wife and boy as they stared back at him in disbelief. My stomach twisted when hearing those words, thinking of everyone I ever cared about, those who are dead and those to soon be dead. I glanced over at Glenn, watching him panic and for some reason, I also looked over at Daryl as well. I don't know if it was because of his lack of family around or the lack of mine, but looking towards him calmed me slightly. "This is what takes us down, this is our extinction event," Jenner explained. Looking at Andrea I could see she was agreeing with the man, but looking at everyone else they refused to accept it, I stood somewhere in the middle.

"This isn't right, you can't just keep us here!" Carol cried out, gripping onto her daughter like there was literally no tomorrow.

"One tiny moment, one millisecond, no pain," Jenner explained the explosion that was soon to wipe us off the face of the earth. "Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate, to just hold your loved ones close and wait for the clock to run down," Jenner attempted to justify it. I looked to Glenn as he stood there in shock, tears threatening to escape.

All of a sudden Shane came up from behind us, a shotgun loaded in hand, screaming, about to blow the doctor's head off in anger. Rick yelled at him to stop, insisting that his burst of blind rage wouldn't help. Lori continued to yell along with Rick trying to get Shane to put the gun down. Seconds later he started firing off bullets, targeting the main computers which were stationed around where I stood. I jumped at the noise and pure fear of possibly getting hit when Daryl tugged at my shoulders, pulling me down to the ground and out of the way.

Eventually, Rick got the situation under control, taking the gun out of Shane's possession and pinning him on the floor. Everyone breathed heavily, uncertain of what the next few minutes had in store for them. Pure terror was the only emotion plastered across anyone's face. Daryl's arms still wrapped around me from covering me, he pulled me to my feet, quickly walking away.

"I think you're lyin'" Rick finally spoke up for the rest of us, "you're lying about no hope, if that were true you would have bolted with the rest and taken the easy way out. You didn't, you chose the hard path, why?" Rick questioned, drawing all of our attention.

"It doesn't matter," Jenner shook his head.

"It matters now. You stayed when others ran, why?"

"Not because I wanted to," Jenner grunted, "I made a promise," you could tell by his tone of voice he was annoyed as to why we weren't getting his view on things. "To her… my wife," he scoffed, pointing to the screens.

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" I asked, my breath hinged in my throat.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could," he threw his arms up, "how could I say no?"

"Your wife didn't have a choice, you do," Rick spoke, tears pricked in his eyes as did the rest of us. "That is all we want, a choice, a chance," Rick made his case.

"Let us keep tryin' as long as we can," Lori pleaded. Jenner stared at us for a couple of long seconds.

Walking over to his keypad, he stared at it, "I can only open the hall doors, the rest you're gonna have to figure out yourself," he said as he scanned his card and the large metal door that was entrapping us slid open.

"C'mon, let's go!" Both Daryl and Glenn yelled at the same time.

Everyone sprinted towards the door except for Jacqui and Andrea, they wanted to stay and end their lives the way they wanted to. They didn't want to go through the suffering that the new world brought them anymore. The thought of it crossed my mind, causing me to stop in my tracks, choosing my own way to go, seeing my family again. Staring down at the rest of the group, watching them sprint away as I stood still in the room that they tried so very hard to get out of just minutes beforehand, Glenn caught my attention.

"Let's go!" he screamed at me, trying to pull my hand. I just stayed still unable to move my feet as I was stuck in this tug of war with myself. "C'mon, you and me, living together!" He repeated his drunken words from last night, pulling me harder. I stared at him, yelling at me, the image of my brother morphing on his face as he screamed at me to come with him. I couldn't tell if picturing my brother made me want to follow his last words and fight or to give up and see him again in the afterlife. In between my mind jumping back and forth, all of a sudden Daryl sprinted back, fuming. He was always the type of person who was out for himself unless it was family, which surprised me when he showed up in front of my face.

"I ain't losin' someone else!" He yelled, pushing Glenn along before grabbing my hand and tugging it as hard as humanly possible, forcing me to run along with him. Within seconds I snapped out of my daze and began sprinting alongside him, realizing that I really didn't want to die.

We weaved through hallways, cutting corners and sprinting upstairs, trying to find the main area in which we arrived. Within minutes we reached the main entrance, but all doors leading to the outside were closed shut, still leaving us trapped.

"The windows!" Rick yelled, pointing to the array of windows around us. Daryl picked up a chair, smashing it against the glass, trying to break it but it didn't budge. Shane picked up his shotgun yelling at anyone in the way to get down. He fired three rounds, none of them even putting a dent in the glass. There was no way we were getting out of here.

"Guys we only have like four minutes!" I cried out, terrified.

"Rick will this help?" Carol spoke up, pulling a grenade out of her pocket. Her hands shook as she held it out to him. "I found it in your clothes when I washed them the first day," she explained and he nodded his head, taking it from her.

"Alright everyone get back!" Rick screamed as he went closer to the windows to detonate it.

I stood there in shock at the situation, not reacting to Rick screaming at us to take cover. My legs wobbled and my breath hitched in my throat, once again I couldn't move. I wanted to but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I watched as Rick threw the grenade at the window, sprinting away to take cover like everyone else. Within seconds, just before the force of flames swarmed the room, my body was pulled down the stairs, a large body holding me down and shielding me from the blast.

"You on a damn suicide mission," Daryl grunted as he released me from his grasp. I breathed heavily in sheer fear. Glass scattered the floor as the grenade finally broke through the window. Snapping out of my state, I followed as we all sprinted out of this death trap.

"Come on!" Shane hollered at the group leading the pack. We raced to our cars, jumping over and avoiding dead bodies sprawled out on the way. The bomb's HITs were bound to be released any second now. We took cover in the RV, the van having the most protection out of them all. Glenn quietly counted down from 60, waiting for the inevitable. Seconds later Andrea and Dale climbed out of the shattered window, making their way towards us. They decided against staying, but Jacqui didn't; she remained inside awaiting her death.

"10...9...8," Glenn counted down just above a whisper. We watched as Andrea and Dale jumped over a small wall, taking cover behind it, getting as close to the ground as possible.

"3...2..1," I whispered just as the inside of the building began to glow. The flames multiplied by the second. I kneeled down, covering myself as the enormous bang went off, the sound of it bouncing off the RV walls and ringing in my ears. The heat was overwhelming, even from how far we were, I could still feel it burning away at my skin.

Like Jenner had said, everything in its way was wiped clean off the earth. Like it was never there to begin with.