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DEATH; ITS A STRONG WORD. It can make people tremble in their shoes at just the sound of it. Many people are afraid of dying but others wish they were dying. In fact, people you'd least expect probably wish they were dead, gone from this place called home. Behind the biggest smiles are the most broken people.
No one in Aria's life expected her to be depressed or anything because she always had a smile on her face, but the smile was fake. The smile was a mask painted on to hide her true emotions. Her true emotions were sadness, anger, jealousy. People knew Aria got bullied but they didn't think much of it, they thought words didn't do no harm. But when the bullying got physical, they still didn't do anything about it. When word got around that she attempted, people came to realization, the smiling girl who was always quiet, she held the darkest secrets.
Dale pulls Aria to her feet, bringing her out of her daze. Shells hit the computers and sparks begin to fly everywhere like fireworks. Wrapping her arms around her body, Aria flinches back as another shotgun shell shoots out of the gun and into another computer. Shane's going insane and it's quite obvious to everyone in this room. Rick swiftly pulls the shotgun out of the hands of his best friend, knocking him in the temple and standing above him.
Rick scolds the grown man like a toddler doing wrong. As Rick walks away from him, Aria lowers her head to the ground and slowly walks over to Shane, holding her hand out. He grabs her hand and she helps him up, sending him a small nod of assurance before walking away back towards Dale. Just because she's shy doesn't mean she's not going to help the man. When she gets knocked down, she'd want someone to help her up.
"I think 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 pesters the doctor, trying to figure out the reason for all this. Jenner shakes his head, looking down at the ground. "It doesn't matter."
"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?" Rick continues, bending down in front of the man, looking him straight in the eye. "No because I wanted to. I made a promise—to her. My wife." Raising her head, Aria's eyes widen. "Test subject 19." She whispers, catching Lori's attention.
"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori speaks up for the small female, shock on her face. "She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" Daryl begins to pound against the door again with his axe and for a moment, that's all that sounds in the room. "She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have matter 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."
"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's—that's all we want—a choice, a chance." Rick tries to persuade the man, a pleading look on his face. "Let is keep trying as long as we can." Lori pleads, sadness in her tone. Edwin Jenner looks down at the ground as he contemplates the situation. "I told you topsides locked down, I can't open those."
Letting out a small breath, Aria raises her head, happy that the group is going to be free. The door slides open and Daryl looks back at them as he grabs a bag. "Come on!" He yells, meeting Aria's eyes. Pursing her lips, she begins to walk forward before stopping. Maybe I should stay, no pain..
Biting her lip, she lowers her eyes to the ground, her eyebrows furrowing. Hands grip her elbows and she looks up, meeting Dale's eyes. "Amy wouldn't want this!" He tells her and Aria's bottom lip begins to tremble as tears fill her eyes. "You're strong, Aria. And no matter what happens, I'll be there for you. You're my twin." Amy's voice fills her mind and she slowly nods, her throat beginning to tighten. Dale lightly smiles before looking behind Aria, the smile falling.
Swiveling her head around, terror fills her features as she notices Andrea staying. "No!" Aria yells at her sister, her eyes narrowing. She isn't about to lose her last sister, that's for sure. Before she can walk off towards her. Dale shakes his head, catching Aria's attention. "I'll get her, you go." As she is about to protest, she is pushed into the arms of T-Dog and she glances back, watching as Dale heads towards Andrea.
Aria looks around frantically, trying to find something that may be useful in breaking the window. She cringes as the legs of a chair scratches against the window, torturing her ears. "Get down!" Shane shouts and Aria lays down on a stair, hearing something hit the window. Standing back up to her feet, she watches Shane walk away from the window in defeat with a shotgun in hand.
"Rick, I have something that might help." Carol calls and Aria walks forward, glancing at Daryl, who's pacing around quickly as he looks for a way out. Biting her lip, she fiddles with her hands, a nervous habit she tends to do. "Look out!" Rick yells and Aria quickly presses her body up against a wall, her eyes catching Daryl as he continues pacing. Muttering a few words to herself, she stands to her feet and rushes forward, pulling his shirt. As they get closer to the wall, Aria quickly pulls them down and they press against the wall, the small explosion going off.
"You okay?" She quietly asks Daryl and he responds with a nod. Standing to her feet, she quickly follows everyone out of the building, glancing behind her for her sister and Dale. "They'll make it." She mumbles, trying to convince herself. Gunshots fire as everyone shoots at the walkers, knocking them to the ground. As they reach the cars, Aria hops into the van with T-Dog. Watching the broken window of the CDC, delight fills Aria as she watches Andrea and Dale jump through.
The RV horn begins to honk and Aria squeezes herself down to the floorboard, her head lying on her knees. Just as she gets settled, a huge explosion occurs, causing the van to shake from the waves. Raising up from the floorboard she looks at the fire, her face heating up. "That was supposed to be painless?" She asks, turning her head to look at T-Dog. "I guess so."
