We had all made it to the C.D.C. and we had thought that no one was here. We were just about to give up when a big pool of white light flooded behind us beyond the gates. We all stood there for a moment in pure shock that someone had actually opened the doors for us. We got pulled out of our trance when the lights dimmed out and we all started to make our way inside. Shane and Rick had the front

"Daryl, Raven, cover the back." Shane yelled at us pulling the rest of the group between us four. We all rushed inside the big building.

"Hello?" Rick called out.

"Close those doors. Watch for walkers." Shane said to Daryl and I. We nodded and closed the doors real tight. We all started to walk in very carefully. That was before we all heard a gun cock. Everyone froze and turned towards the direction of the sound. There stood a man in his early 40's late 30's, he had blonde hair and honestly looked like he'd been drunk everyday for the next few weeks.

"Anybody infected?" He yelled towards the group. Rick being our designated leader took over talking for most of us.

"One of our group was. He didn't make it." Rick said, still holding his gun up in defense. The man lowered his gun a bit and walked forward getting closer to us. I walked towards the front to stand with Rick and Shane.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" The man said. I sighed

"A chance." I said placing my hand on Rick's shoulder causing him to lower his gun completely.

"That's asking an awful lot these days." He responded.

"We know." Rick said looking at me and then back at the man. The man took a second to look at all of us. I watched as his eyes traveled from one face to the next finally landing on Rick's again.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."

"We could do that." Rick said nodding. The man dropped his gun to his side.

"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed." He said walking towards us. We all ran outside to grab our stuff. I already had my weapons on me so all I had to do was grab my duffle bag full of clothes. I ran and pulled it out of my truck. Killed a walker on the way back. I made sure to lock my truck. It had bullet proof glass so I wasn't worried about it getting stolen, same with my bike. It was literally chained to my car and the only way to get it off was by me. I was good with welding and such. Any wrong move would cause the bike to break. I ran inside and T-dog and Dale closed the doors as I was the last one in.

"Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here." The man said into what I think was a computer.

"Rick Grimes." Rick said, holding his hand out to the man.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner." He said, shaking Rick's hand.

We all walked down a hall and climbed into an elevator. It was crazy crowded. I stood right in-front of Daryl. We were so close I could feel Daryl's heart beat on my back, and I felt his breathing on the tips of my ear. It sent shivers down my spine.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl said I could feel his ruff voices rattle in his chest against my back.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself." Jenner said looking back at Daryl. I felt him hum as a response. I hadn't stood this close to anyone since I was in the military, But that was when I had my own squadron to lead.

"But you look harmless enough." Jenner continued. Then he looked down at Carl and pointed at him.

"Except you. I'll have to keep my eye on you." He said with a chuckle. We reached the final floor and all pulled out. We made our way down a white hallway.

"Are we underground?" Carol asked, I could tell she was trying not to hyperventilate. I caught up to her and started to rub her back.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asked her, still walking ahead.

"A little." She said. I had gotten her calmed down a bit.

"Try not to think about it." He said turning towards her and walking backwards a bit. Then turning back around. We kept walking.

"Hey you okay?" I asked Carol.

"Yeah, Thanks." I smiled and nodded.

"Of course, I use to be claustrophobic too." She smiled and I hung back and waited for Daryl.

"You know you walk slow." I whispered to him.

"Nah, everyone else walks fast." He said. The group continued to walk in silence till we got to a big room.

"Vi, Bring up the lights in the big room." Jenner said and bright while lights lit up the whole room.

"Welcome to zone 5." Jenner said walking down a small walkway.

"Where is everyone?" I asked out loud thinking I was asking in my head.

"The other doctors, the staff?" Rick said, finishing my out loud thought. Jenner stopped in the middle of the rounded space. He was surrounded by computers.

"I'm it. It's just me here." He said with a simple and plain voice. Daryl and I had stopped at the top of the walk way.

"What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?" Lori said from the back of the group.

"Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them... Welcome." Jenner said after a short pause, a woman with a computer sounding voice came over the speakers.

"Hello, guests. Welcome."

"I'm all that's left." Jenner said after the computer woman said hello to us. We all looked at each other and it was scary to know there was no one left trying to stop this virus.

"I'm sorry." Was all Jenner could say to us. I could tell this caused some people to slightly panic. I was honestly happy that I was safe and didn't have to look over my shoulder for walkers.

Dr. Jenner took us all to a room to get our blood drawn. At that moment I realized a tight bodysuit. Was a really bad idea for today. Andrea went before me and I was kinda scared to actually do this but, oh well.

"What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever." Andrea said.

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me just at least be thorough." Jenner said finishing up with her.

"All done. Next." I mentally thanked myself for wearing a sports bra but cursed myself because the bra only had straps holding the sides together so you could see every scar, bruise, all my battle wounds. And I didn't just have them on my back. I had them all over my chest and stomach too. I pulled one arm out of the body suit and sat down. I heard Carol gasp behind me and I knew if I didn't tune everyone out I would be in trouble mentally.

"Can you hurry?" I whispered and he nodded. Then out of the corner of my eyes I saw Andrea sway back and forth but Jacqui caught her before she hit the ground.

"Are you okay?" Jenner asked her.

"She hasn't eaten in days. Honestly none of us have." I said to him. He finished up and I quickly pulled the body suit on and stood up the second I did my vision went black and I felt a pair of strong arms catch me.

"Wow. Careful there little rose." I blinked a few times and looked up to see Daryl.

"Thanks. Little rose?" I asked him and he helped me back to my feet.

"Yeah. Uh you're like a rose, just little cause you're short. It's either that or little bird." I chuckled.

"I like little bird more." I said and leaned up.

"Well, I might just be able to help out with that." Jenner said and we all made our way down to a cafeteria. There was plenty of food and wine to go around. Not only wine but, someone was about to find a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels. Now that was my drink. Wine just made me sick to my stomach. Might be because of my fruit allergies.

We all sat down to eat. We were laughing and having a great time. I was sitting next to T-dog as Dale filled wine glasses around the table.

"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France." Dale said to Lori and Rick. I knew he was hinting at Carl having just a bit.

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then." Lori said in defense.

"What's it gonna hurt? Come on." Rick said to Lori.

"It is the end of the world." I said across the table. Dale laughed at us and Lori looked at Rick and I with a shocked grin on her face.

"Okay fine." She let Dale take Carl's glass and poured a bit of wine into the cup.

"Here you are, young lad." Dale said, handing the cup to Carl. We all sat silent to hear Carl's reaction; he took a sip of the wine and made a major stink face.

"Eww!" He said with an emphasis on the 'E'. Everyone laughed at him as he shook his head trying to get the taste out of his mouth.

"That's my boy. That's my boy." Lori said, taking his cup and pouring the wine into her own glass. Carl was still making a stink face.

"Yuck. That tastes nasty." Carl said looking up at his dad.

"Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud." Shane said. He looked extremely serious. I could tell he was about to kill a good mood. He always made a face when he was about to drop a shit bomb on everyone.

"Not you, Glenn." Daryl said from behind me.

"What?" Glenn said looking up.

"Keep drinking, little man. I want to see how red your face can get." Daryl said to Glenn as he picked up a glass. Rick looked over at Dr. Jenner and I did too. Jenner seemed sad or at least a little out of place. I only looked up from him when I heard a clink of a glass and Rick stood up.

"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly." He said as he raised his wine glass.

"He is more than just our host." T-dog said next to me. I saw Shane out of the corner of my eye finish off his I think 4th glass of wine.

"Here, here!" Dale said and everyone followed as we all raised our glasses to Dr. Jenner.

"Here's to you, Doc. Booyah!" Daryl said out loud.

"Thank you. Thank you, Doctor." Rick said to Jenner who raised his glass slightly and drank his wine. We were all laughing and having a great night and next to me I felt Shane shift. I looked over at him and watched as he leaned back and propped one of his feet up on the leg of the table and he looked right at Jenner. I knew that this was the shit storm that was brewing.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" Shane said.

"Shane really?" I whispered to him and he just ignored me. I grabbed the bottle of Jack and took a big swig of it. The feeling of the warm liquor burning the back of my throat.

"All the other doctors... that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?" Shane said, sitting back up looking at Jenner drinking more of his wine.

"We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now." Rick said across the table.

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, Right? This was your move...Supposed to find all the answers. Instead we ugh..." Shane chuckled and gestured over at Jenner.

"We found him. Found one man. Why?" Shane finished. I punched him in the arm.

"Shane what the fuck. He's nice enough to take us in so we could talk this shit out tomorrow. Haven't you learned not to do this shit." I was irritated at him for killing the mood.

"Haven't you learned to mind your own damn business." He snapped at me. That's when Jenner cut in.

"It's fine. Um...Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." Jenner said. I could tell he was hurting by telling us this.

"Every last one?" Shane said, adding to his pain.

"Shane!"

"Raven!" I rolled my eyes and drank another gulp of my Jack.

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They...Opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." Jenner finished as he stared into his wine glass.

"You didn't leave. Why?" Andrea said.

'Great. You and Shane are perfect for each other.' I said in my head rolling my eyes at her.

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good." Jenner said with his hands in his lap. Glenn walked and passed us to a fridge.

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man." Glenn said looking right at Shane. We all finished eating dinner and Jenner said he would show us to where we would be sleeping.