Connie sat on the floor between a crying Carol and a teary eyed Lori, their kids held tightly in their arms while Rick had spend nearly five minutes trying to convince Jenner to let them all leave before the building blew up.

Having gotten sick of waiting, Daryl flung his now empty bottle of Jack Daniels at the steel that now filled the doorframes. "Open the damn door!" He screamed.

Holly flinched visibly, curling further into her mothers side, and Connie simply moved her head so her face was hidden in her shoulder. Carl and Sophia were both holding onto their mothers with one hand, and one of Holly's hands in the other.

"Out of my way!" Shane yelled as he ran up the ramp, large fire axe in hand. Connie watched sadly as he swung the axe at the thick metal door, only for it to barely leave a dent. T-Dog threw one up to Daryl as well, who took to angrily swinging it at every part of the surface as he could.

"You should've left well enough alone," Jenner shook his head miserably. "It would have been so much easier."

"Easier for who?" Lori snapped, clearly astonished at the words coming out of his mouth.

"All of you," Jenner scoffed, his voice taking a much softer tone. "You know what's out there; a short, brutal life and an agonizing death." Holly whimpered again, and Connie fixed Jenner with a steely glare. "Your sister," he continued on anyway, locking eyes with Andrea. "What was her name?"

"Amy," Andrea whispered.

"Amy," Jenner repeated softly. "You know what this does, Andrea. You've seen it." He turned his attention on Rick. "Is that really what you want for your wife and son?"

"I don't want this," Rick hissed. He gestured over to Connie. "Look at Holly; she's barely even eight years old. She doesn't deserve this; none of us do."

Shane approached them, slouching against the wall behind the small wall enclosing the computers from the rest of the room. "Can't make a dent," he muttered when Rick looked over at him.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher," Jenner shook his head calmly.

Daryl stormed over, axe in hand. "Yeah, well, your head ain't!" Connie closed her eyes and pressed Holly's face further into her chest. It took Rick, Dale and T-Dog to Daryl from swinging that axe and imbedding it in Jenner's head. He walked away and took a break.

"You do want this," Jenner shook his head, brows furrowed at Rick's previous comment. "Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before every body you loved was dead."

"What?" Glenn breathed out, his brows pulled together in confusion.

"What, you said that?" Shane scoffed, anger flickering in his eyes. "After all your big talk?"

"I had to keep hope alive," Rick choked out.

Connie stared up at Rick, her lips pursed as she rubbed a crying Hollys back. "When you get drunk, you tend to say whatever's on your mind, we've all had that thought, I'm sure that's all it was," she cut in, her steel blue eyes locked on his. He nodded discretely, a thankful look on his face.

"There is no hope," Jenner scoffed in response to Ricks statement, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "There never was."

"There's always hope," Rick snapped, his voice dangerously low as he stalked forwards. "Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere—"

"—What part of everything's gone don't you understand," Andrea cut in from where she was sitting curled up on the floor.

"Listen to your friend, she gets it," Jenner nodded calmly. "This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."

"Oh, stuff it," Connie muttered, narrowing her eyes while gently running her fingers through Holly's curly hair. "Next time you open your mouth you'll be missing teeth."

Jenner looked mildly offended at that comment.

"This isn't right," Carol sobbed, speaking for the first time since they'd been told the awful news. "You can't just keep us here." Connie reached over and gently squeezed her shoulder, then let out a small sigh. When she dropped her hand, she settled on giving Sophia a small rub on her back, then doing the same with Carl.

"One tiny moment," Jenner spoke softly. "A millisecond — no pain."

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this," Carol cried. Dale helped them both to their feet.

"But wouldn't it be kinder?" Jenner reasoned calmly. "More compassionate, to just hold your loved ones and wait for the loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?"

Connie felt her eyes widen at the sound of a gun cocking, and set her hand on the back of Holly's head to keep her face hidden as Shane stalked forward, shotgun in hand.

"Shane, now!" Rick screamed.

"Stay the hell out of my way, Rick!" Shane bellowed, pushing him out of the way. Then he brought the barrel of the gun right up to Jenner's forehead. "Now you open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off," he snarled. "Do you hear me!"

Connie hastily climbed to her feet and helped Lori and Carl up before ushering them away from the scene. She moved to stand between Daryl and Glenn, her glare focused solely on Edwin Jenner.

Rick moved next to Shane, speaking quietly and calmly in hopes of talking him into removing the gun from the situation.

"Shane, you listen to him," Lori spoke up, her voice wavering.

Rather than doing what he'd been asked to do, Shane let out a loud, anger filled yell and opened fire on the computer screens. Connie dropped to the ground, cradling Holly against her as she sobbed loudly into her mothers shoulder, eyes clamped shut. Glenn and Daryl were both crouched down next to her, both of them doing their best to help shield Holly.

Somehow, Rick managed to snatch the shotgun from his arms and knocked him to the ground, filling the room with an earie silence. "You done now?" He snarled. "Are you done?"

"Yeah," Shane snapped. "I guess we all are."

When they were sure he wasn't going to do anything else, Glenn helped Connie to her feet while Daryl took a trembling and sobbing Holly into his arms, one of them under her bum to keep her from falling while the other still held his axe. She immediately latched her tiny arms around his neck and buried his face in her shoulder. Glenn briefly checked her over for any injuries, and when he was satisfied that there wasn't any, he hooked an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side.

As Tick looked around at everyone, his eyes met Connies, and she offered him a weak smile. "I think you're lying," he spoke up after a moment, his voice echoing through the room.

"What?" Jenner scoffed.

"You're lying," Rick repeated, out of breath. "About there being no hope. If that were true, you would've bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. But you didn't. You chose the hard path; why?"

"It doesn't matter," Jenner muttered, staring down at his lap.

Connie narrowed her eyes, but stayed silent and allowed Rick to do what ever it was he was doing, because it seemed to be working.

"It does matter," Rick disagreed, kneeling in front of Jenners chair. "It always matters. You stayed when the others ran. Why?"

"Not because I wanted to." Jenners voice was monotone now, completely void of all emotion. He slowly stood up, glaring down at Rick. "I made a promise...to her. My wife."

"Test Subject 19 was your wife?" Lori croaked out.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could," Jenner nodded quietly, his eyes sad. "How could I say no?" A loud clang echoed through the room, and Connies eyes snapped over to the door. Daryl was standing there, swinging his axe down on the metal repeatedly. "She was dying." Clang. "It should've been me on that table." Clang. "It wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran the place; I just worked here." He moved forwards so he was in Rick's face. "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," Rick shook his head rapidly. "You do. That's—that's all we want. A choice, a chance."

"Let us keep trying as long as we can," Lori choked out.

"Do not make me watch my daughter die," Connie whispered, her voice raw as she locked eyes with Jenner.

He stared at her for a moment, then sighed. "I told you, topside's locked down. I can't open those."

Connie felt hope flutter in her chest as Jenner walked over to his computer and pressed a button on the keypad next to his mouse, then typed in a keycode. The metal door Daryl had been hacking slid down, and he immediately dropped the axe. "Come on!"

After slinging her duffle bag over her shoulder, Connie sprinted up the walkway with Holly still held tightly in her arms, then stopped when she reached Glenn at the top. "Come on!" He screamed at Rick, who had stopped to talk to Jenner. "We've only got four minutes left! Let's go!"

T-Dog dragged Jacqui up the ramp behind her, only for her to dig in her heels and stop. "No! I'm—I'm staying, sweetie."

"What?" T-Dog whispered. "That's insane!"

"No, it's completely sane," Jacqui snapped. "For the first time in a long time." She inhaled shakily. "I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy." She locked eyes with Connie, who smiled weakly. "There's not much time, and no point. Not if you want to get out." Her eyes filled with tears as she held back tears. "Now get out," she choked, ushering T-Dog forwards. "Go."

After standing there for a moment, Connie closed her eyes and spun on her heel. "I'm staying too," she heard Andrea say quietly.

Dale stood there for a moment in shock, then waved his hands at the rest of the group. "Go!"

Connie paused uncertainly for a moment, her eyes darting between Jacqui and Dale and Andrea. "Come on," Daryl murmured behind her. "We have to go." She let out a small sigh, then followed after him.

They quickly made their way up two flights of stairs and back to the main level where, like Jenner said, the doors were sealed.

"What's going on, Momma?" Holly whispered, her face still hidden.

Connie kissed the top of her head. "We're going to get out of here, okay?" She murmured, eyes closed as she tried to calm her nerves.

"Okay," Holly nodded lightly, her voice shaky.

After yelling for everyone to get out of the way, T-Dog charged at the window with a chair and swung repeatedly, but it hardly made a dent.

"Dog, get down!" Shane yelled, cocking his shotgun.

Connie knelt down on the ground with Holly still in her arms and glanced over at Daryl as he crouched next to them, arms outstretched as if ready to push them out of the line of fire.

The shotgun did nothing. "Jesus," Shane muttered.

"The glass won't break?" Sophia whimpered as everyone stood up again.

"Rick," Carol cut in, digging through through her shoulder bag as she walked up to them. "I think I have something that might help."

"Carol, I don't think a nail files gonna do it," Shane grimaced.

"Don't be such a sexist d-bag, Shane," Connie snapped, one hand gently playing with Holly's curls while the other held her stick. "What did you find, Carol?"

Ignoring Shane's rude comment, Carol continued digging through her bag. "Your first morning at camp," she explained to Rick, sounding out of breath. "When I washed your uniform, I found this in your pocket." She pulled a grenade out from the bottom of her bag and held it out to him.

Connie pursed her lips and shot Shane a pointed look, which he ignored, and felt her body flood with relief at a new possibility of being able to leave. After a moment of hesitation, Rick took the explosive and carefully jogged over to the window.

"Where's Daryl, Momma?" Holly whispered, briefly peaking her head out from behind her hair to see what was going on.

After a quick look around, Connie saw him standing at the wall, far away from where the explosion would take place. "We're just going to see him now, honey," she murmured calmly, praying Holly couldn't feel her racing heart of trembling hands.

"She alright?" Daryl grunted, having turned around when he heard her approaching.

Connie sighed. "She's scared like the rest of us," She murmured. "But I think she'll be okay once we get out of here and she gets some sleep."

"Crouch down." Daryl instructed while nodding his head over at Rick, who was now placing the grenade beneath the window and running back to his family. "Down, down! Real low."

She did as she was told, curling herself around Holly to ensure she'd be safe from anything the blast could bring up. Daryl knelt next to her, awkwardly resting a hand on Holly's foot before ducking his head.

The blast shattered the large floor-to-ceiling window and sent and echoing ring through Connie's ears, and it took her a moment to regain her bearings. Before she could even process the shock, she was being pulled up and onto her feet.

They all climbed out the window and out onto the front lawn, and sprinted back to their respected cars as fast as they possibly could, firing at any walkers that came near them.

She yanked the passenger side door of Daryl's truck open and sat Holly down on the ground in front of the seat. Then Connie carefully placed herself on top of her, Daryl hovering over the both of them to shield them from the blast.

The entire truck shook with the force of th explosion, and Holly let out a quiet whimper, clinging to the front of Connie's shirt. Daryl was out the door and sitting in the drivers seat before Connie had even opened her eyes. When her ears had finally stopped ringing and her heart rate had slowed down, she slowly climbed out of the truck and helped Holly into her car seat. Then she climbed into her own seat and slowly buckled up the seatbelt.

She glanced over at Holly to ask if she was alright, only to find her fast asleep in her car seat, mouth hanging open, a piece of hair moving each time she inhaled and exhaled. Connie covered her face with her hands, letting out a shaky breath as she forced the tears out of her eyes.

"You alright?"

Connie looked over at him briefly, miserably failing at hiding the quivering of her bottom lip. "Yeah, I'm just—" she sighed and wiped her eyes, then ran a hand through her hair, "I've never been that scared before. Didn't realize how exhausting it was." She closed her eyes as he pulled away from the curb and followed the rest of the group, doing a U-turn to the other side of the road. "And I'm really going to miss Jacqui."

Daryl nodded slowly. "Get some sleep," he murmured lowly. "I'll wake you up if something happens."

A/N: this is the end of part one, my loves