Stray // Daryl Dixon

The Self Destruct Button

I stared in disbelief, unable to comprehend the fact that I would be dead in a matter of fifteen short 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 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? After knowing what even the thought of this world caused my parents to do?

"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, axe 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, trying to calm him down for the moment. He stared straight through me, continuing to plow through. Shane, Rick and T-Dog, had to hold him back from slicing Jenner's head clear 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 repeated Rick's words. I glanced over at Rick, watching him 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 at him calmed me. "This is what takes us down, this is our extinction event," Jenner explained, already coming to terms with that fact. 

Looking at Andrea I could see she was agreeing with the man, but looking at everyone else they refused to accept it. My head spun in circles and I hated the fact that I was actually considering what Jenner was saying. 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 at 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 as he was 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 that were stationed right beside where I had been standing. I jumped at the noise, but my feet remained rooted to the floor in fear.  It all happened so fast that my body didn't jerk out of harm's way until Daryl tugged at my shoulders and pulled me down to the ground. I lay in his chest, his arms wrapped around my torso and covering me from any debris that exploded from the shots.

Eventually, Rick got the situation under control, taking the gun out of Shane's possession and pinning him on the floor. Everyone's chest rose and descended heavily, uncertain of what the next few minutes had in store for them. Pure terror was the only emotion plastered across anyone's face.