Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.

A/N: Yeah… I came through only a half an hour late. Like, don't even worry about it…

Also, bit of tear-jerker. Bring some tissues.

Enjoy!

Daisy Duke, But Not Really

By: Ginny

"Decontamination?" Meg whispered and crossed herself. She found Daryl again and grabbed Amanda's arm to drag her over to the hunter. Almost immediately, Daryl put a hand on her shoulder to keep them all connected.

"Doc?" Daryl turned from the girl, to Jenner. "What's goin' on here?"

"Everybody, y'all heard Rick!" Shane hopped over to the group. "Grab your stuff and let's go! Go now!"

Meg didn't need to be told twice.

The group converged all towards the main hallway. And then the worst thing that could ever have happened, did. The large metal doors slid up and closed them off from leaving. Meg couldn't breath for a second – they were trapped now. They were stuck in this little metal cage and in half an hour, they would be decontaminated – whatever that meant.

"Daryl…" Meg turned to her protector.

The gravity of the situation seemed to hit everyone at once and they converged up to the pedestal with all the computers.

He pulled away from her and stalked towards the doctor. "You son of a bitch!" he shouted. Meg didn't even hear Rick tell Shane to grab Daryl, as he was the closest to the hunter. "You locked us in here! You lying –" Daryl was able to get a grip on the doctor, but was quickly grasped by Shane and T-Dog. They managed to constrain him.

Rick was much calmer as he approached, "Hey Jenner, open that door."

"There's no point," Jenner said. "Everything topside is locked down."

So… they were doubly locked in.

"Shit," Amanda whispered, and pulled herself from Meg's hand. With shaking feet, Mandy stumbled to the nearest computer station and sat down. She put her head in her hands and just let herself sag. Meg put a hand on her shoulder just to let her know she was here.

Fuck.

"I told you," Jenner was saying. "Once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that." While that washed over the group – the fact that they hadn't been paying attention and had been tricked, Jenner glanced around. "It's better this way."

"What is?" Rick piped up. "What happens in 28 minutes?"

Jenner only stared a bit, before turning back to his computer. Rick and Shane shared a glance and then Shane said, "What happens?"

"Come on!" came Daryl's voice.

The men began to mob the doctor a bit.

Finally Jenner shot up. "You know what this place is?" he shouted. "We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" The man finally took a breath and readjusted his lab coat to get some of his composure back. No one said anything. They were in the CDC. What did they expect? Jenner sat down. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure – in a terrorist attack, for example, H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

That didn't sound good.

Rick asked for clarification and VI spoke up, "H.I.T.s: high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 degrees and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structure is desired."

Jenner put it simply. "It sets the air on fire."

Meg didn't know she had dropped until her knees banged against the floor and she slid down against the computer area. They were going to die here.

Within a second, she felt hands on her shoulders and at first she thought those hands were attached to Amanda's arms, that she had come to comfort her. But as she glanced at the person from under a curtain of fringe, she realized it was Daryl. He pushed her bangs from her face and flickered from eye to eye, making sure she was conscious. Meg only spared Amanda a brief look, realizing that the girl was listening to what Jenner was preaching with avid attention.

Then she looked to the hunter. "We're going to die here," she told him. The tears finally came and spilled onto Daryl's forearms.

"No, we ain't," he shook her a bit.

"We survived the zombies. We survived the wild. We survive it all only to die here," she just kept speaking. "Like animals in a cage, being put down."

"Ya listen ta me, Meg," he snarled, reaching up to grab her hair and pull a bit. "We ain't gonna die here."

But Meg's gaze just drifted to the clock counting down. "Twelve minutes," she said simply.

With one last snarl, the Dixon hopped up and ran at the closed door. Meg heard the bottle hit and shatter, but she kept her head locked in between her knees, trying to block out the other people's soft crying.

"He's right."

Meg glanced up, startled by the sound of Amanda's declaration. "What?" she asked.

Vaguely, she could hear Daryl demanding that the door be open. Then she heard the banging as Shane and her hunter tried to demolish the door with axes. Like that was going to do anything.

"What's out there?" Amanda asked. "Death. My family is gone, Meg. They are all dead. We both know that. We're alone. All I have left is you. All you have left is me… and maybe Daryl. All I ever do is burden you, Meg. How many tests did you "forget" to study for so that you could trail after me at parties and make sure I didn't die? I'm not going to survive out there. It's better this way."

"Well yer head ain't!"

Daryl's voice announced his intentions for violence before she was even able to turn around and witness him try to get at Jenner – axe raised high. Meg was on her feet before Dale, Rick and T-Dog were able to hold him back.

"Just back up! Back up!" T-Dog shouted as the men wrenched the axe from his hands and pushed him away. The hunter did a small spin and then stalked off, eyes on his escaped prey the whole time.

Meg left Amanda's side, not sure what to make of her talk – knowing only that it gave her a nasty feeling right in the back of her throat. Instead she came to stand beside Daryl, slipping a hand around his wrist and halting his pacing. He frowned at her, but allowed her to keep him in one place.

"There is no hope," Jenner was saying. "There never was."

Her boldness and her need for comfort growing with Jenner's words, she removed her hand from his wrist and instead slipped it around her waist. Once again, he allowed her to press herself against his body. After only a moment, he threw an arm around her shoulders and pulled her even closer.

"There's always hope," Rick shot back. "Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere."

"What part of "everything is gone" do you not understand?" came Andrea's voice from the floor.

"Fuck," Daryl growled and pulled Meg just a bit closer as she pressed her face into his neck.

"Listen to your friend," Jenner said. "She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."

"No," the words popped from Meg's mouth as she pulled away from Daryl. Her fear was still there, but it was being replaced by anger. "Look at us! We've already adapted. We know how to kill these monsters! This isn't our extinction event – it's population control! You're a scientist, you must have studied Malthus! This will force our numbers down to a more manageable size, but it's not permanent! Once we regroup, once we get back on our feet – and it's been less than six months since the first one made an appearance, so yeah, we were a bit unprepared. But you can't tell me that we won't be able to adapt and eventually destroy them! And then, we'll need all the living humans we can get!"

Jenner just stared at her, shaking his head. Meg kicked a computer station and walked away.

"This isn't right!" came Carol's sob. "You can't just keep us here!" Jenner tried to placate her, but she wasn't having it. "My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!"

"Wouldn't it be kinder?" he tried to argue. "More compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?"

Meg wiped the tears from her face and tried to keep her sobs as quiet as possible. Hugging herself tightly, she sought comfort in herself. The clock was counting. She was dying where she was standing.

"Shane, no!"

The girl startled and watched as Shane approached them with a gun, saying, "Out of the way, Rick! Stay out of my way!" No one stopped him as he shoved the gun in his face. "Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off, you hear me?"

"Brother, brother," Rick said. "This is not the way to do this."

"It's what he want," Meg put in. "To die. Why help him?"

"Shane, you listen to him," Lori added.

"It's too late," Shane argued.

"He dies, we all die," Rick was trying to explain.

The man gave a loud, inhuman yell and shot up the computers. Meg hit the ground, her ears ringing with the bullets. Sparks flew and she was so scared. Rick wrestled the gun from Shane's grasp and smacked him across the face with it, knocking him to the ground. Gingerly, Meg rose again and caught Daryl's look. She responded with a nod, a silent announcement that she was fine. Physically.

"Are you done now?" Rick wanted to know. "Are you done?"

"Yeah, I guess we all are!" Shane threw back.

Flinching, Meg met Rick's gaze as he looked around the group. They were all looking to him for some way out and he knew it. God, she knew that feeling – making the hard decisions and hoping you don't get everyone killed. Speaking of people she was trying to keep alive, she stumbled over to her friend.

The first thing she noticed was that Amanda looked so peaceful. Staring at the wall, her mouth was slightly open and her face was devoid of any tearstains. Something was wrong.

"Amanda?" When she didn't respond, Meg shook her a bit. "Mandy?" she asked. "Hey!"

"Hey," she answered softly.

"Are… are you okay?"

Amanda glanced down at her relaxed hands and then nodded. "I… yeah. I'm fine. I was just thinking about some things. You know, I really do think it's all okay. We'll just sit here and hold each other and then it'll all be over."

"No, no, no," Meg knelt in front of Amanda. "It doesn't work like that, Mandy. We have to keep living. We can't give up."

"It's not giving up…" Amanda trailed off. "Look at him," she giggled a bit. Meg turned to find that Daryl had begun trying to break down the door again. "Trust a Dixon to think if he pounds hard enough he'll break down a door meant to withstand a rocket launcher." Her smile turned sad. "Look how he survives. He just struggles to survive." She turned back to her friend. "You want to survive, don't you? You think you can survive out there. I think you can survive out there, too…"

Meg ignored the rest of the room, lifting her hands to cradle Amanda's face. "What are you saying? Of course I want to survive."

"I know," Amanda sighed and leaned into her hand. "I want you to survive, too. I'm sorry you're here."

"I'm… I'm sorry you're here. I'm sorry we're all here," she gestured to the group.

But Amanda just shook her head. "No, I'm not sorry I'm here. It's perfect, Meg. My last twenty-four hours, I had a delicious meal, great wine, I got shitfaced, I let you take care of me – just like old times, I woke up after sleeping soundly for the first time in ages, I had a fantastic breakfast and now… And now I get to close my eyes, and hold your hands and wake up with my family."

"This isn't what you want!" Meg argued, her voice spiking.

"It is." She was so calm.

"It can't be," Meg let go of Amanda's face and clenched her friend's hands instead.

"But it is," she repeated simply.

"Come on!" Daryl screamed. But Meg was too focused on her friend to care what he was yelling about.

"Oh, look," Amanda smiled. "The doors are opened."

Meg flipped around. Everyone was running to the exit. "Then let's go!" She rose to her feet and tried to drag Amanda with her. The blonde was like dead weight.

"Meg!" Daryl called.

"Hey! We've got four minutes!" Glenn shouted.

Four minutes.

"I'm coming!" she shouted back to the hunter.

"I don't think I can survive out there. I wasn't made for this world, Meg." Amanda shrugged. "Wasn't made for any world. Since my first heart surgery, I knew I was living on borrowed time and I knew one day I would owe that time to someone else."

"We gotta go now, Meg!" she heard.

"I don't understand," Meg felt the tears falling until each trail met at her chin.

"I owe you that time. I'm a burden. You went into that city and nearly got killed because of my medication. I will only slow you down." Amanda gently pulled her hands from Meg's grip.

No, no, no. When had this happened? When had this girl begun to think like this? Why wasn't it Meg who was getting all on her high-horse ready to be a martyr for the cause? When had Amanda taken that on herself and decided these things? Why hadn't Meg been watching her more carefully? Would she have been able to notice it in her eyes – a glint that spoke volumes about the path she would take? Meg felt her heart shake under her ribs and even when Daryl grabbed her, it was Amanda's passive face she saw.

Twisting, she pushed Daryl away.

"Go," she told him. "I'll be right there – we'll be right there."

He hesitated for only a second and then took off, taking up the rear of the group. Vaguely, Meg realized that Dale and Andrea were arguing and Jacqui was sitting quietly.

Meg didn't kneel back down and Amanda craned her neck to meet her gaze.

"You can't want to die," the brunette said.

"I don't," she shrugged. "But I know that I will die if I leave here. And it will be a terrible death and I will probably end up killing you, too. I couldn't bear to think about bringing you down with me. You don't deserve that."

"Amanda."

"No!" For the first time some emotion lit up her face. "You have always told me what to do when you thought it was in my best interest. And I listened to you. You have always taken care of me, but it's my turn to take care of you!"

"You do take care of me," Meg tried to argue, her voice losing it's power as sobs pounded her body. "You always take care of me. Please don't think you haven't. Please don't give up."

"I'm not giving up –"

"Yes you are!"

"I'm giving in."

"Same thing!"

"Meg, I told you, borrowed time is what I've been living on." Amanda stood up to wrap her arms around her friend. "I'm giving that time to you. It's something I've been thinking about for a while, but I didn't know who would take care of you after I left. But Daryl will protect you."

He'll protect you. Those words bounced around in her head… she had said them just this morning? Had it only been half a day ago? Even before they'd been locked in, Amanda had been thinking this way. Planning. Waiting for the opportunity to leave.

"Go," Amanda released her. "Survive. Outlive those monsters and repopulate." Then her hands came up to hold Meg's face. "And don't forget about me."

"Never," Meg breathed.

Amanda pressed a kiss to her forehead and then let her friend go.

With a shaky breath, Meg took off towards the door trying to not let the tears cloud her vision too much.

It wasn't until she as in the main hallway that she remembered she hadn't looked at how much time she had left. But, she didn't want to turn back – didn't want to waste what little time she had and didn't want to see her friend sitting, waiting to die. So, she pushed oxygen into her legs and sprinted.

Footsteps behind her had her twisting around, hoping that Amanda had changed her mind. No, it was Andrea and Dale. The older man had done what Meg had failed to do: he had convinced her to come back, to survive.

Reaching the exterior room, Meg quickly noticed the broken glass – so, they had got through! Sliding under the panels, Meg helped steady Andrea as she followed and the three took off towards the cars. She tried not to step on the dead bodies, but her foot hit a decapitated head and she fell to the ground. Then, the severed head shut its mouth with a click, before opening its lips again. Fuck! It was a walker that hadn't been properly disposed of. Dale yanked her up and pushed her on so she didn't have time to think too hard.

"Get down!" They heard Rick shout and immediately their bodies threw themselves over the barricade and Dale held onto both of them as their world rocked.

First it was so cold, all of the air just froze and then the heat hit her full force, pricking at her flesh. Her world went red and she cried out, pressing more closely to Dale.

"Cremation," Amanda decided, as she gazed at her lit cigarette. "That's what I want. Just burn my body."

Meg took a swig of her Jack and Coke. "Why?"

"Just seems cleaner that way. Don't wanna take up too much space in the ground. Plant a tree, instead."

"What if they burn you alive?"

"What if they bury you alive?"

"I'll climb out."

"You'll suffocate."

"You'll dig me up."

"Probably. Or I'll pay someone. Especially if I just had my nails done."

"I'd expect nothing less." Meg stared at her drink and swirled it a bit. "Don't know what I'd do without you."

"Well, duh. You'd be so lost."

"Perfectly, cluelessly, lost."

"But you'll make sure I'm cremated?"

"Tell your parents, not me. I can't do anything."

"They already have a cute little family plot set up. That was an interesting birthday gift," she chuckled around her cigarette. "You'll need to fight for me."

"But what if they burn you alive?"

"If they fuck up and burn me alive, then you'll never know," she flicked her ashes. "Does that make you feel better?"

"No," Meg whispered, as she pulled her head up and watched the inferno circle around. Momentarily a thought occurred to her: How many of her tears would it take to put that fire out?