The next stop after the camp was CDC.

The group left Jim behind. Krystal didn't know what to feel about anything after it happened. She road in the car with Rick and his family to avoid Andrea, unsure of how to deal with the situation with her sister.

They arrived at the building, it was huge, with pillars on both sides. The glass doors stood tall and proud despite the dead and fly covered carcasses all around. It looked like some of the workers and military tried to escape, but didn't make it pass the front gates.

A helicopter lay from the distance that the group was walking towards, off to the side of them. It had smoke blaring off from the sides, the choppers themselves smashed into pieces. A few walkers were wondering around the helicopter and the dead soldier's bodies. Krystal and the gang covered their noses, coughing along the way to the building. The heavy smell was terrible, it was so strong that it made her gag and clogged her nose. She wanted to puke!

Rick approached the door. "Hello? Anybody home?"

"Looks like we have company," Daryl pointed his crossbow at the group of walkers behind them, "we're gonna be their next meal if we don't get a move on!"

"We gotta go Rick," Lori begged, tugging at his elbows. "They'll be on top of us if we don't!"

The camera moved.

"It moved! Someone's inside!"

"Even if it did," Shane grunted, frustrated, "they won't let us in! See those walkers behind us?! We gotta go, now!"

Krystal readied her ax while the others lifted their own weapons, the snarling getting louder as the walkers grew closer.

"Let us in!" Rick hollered at the camera. "We have women and children!"

"Rick, that's enough!"

Shane grabbed Rick by the shoulders. He was about to drag him away, but the doors flew open. The doors began to rise up, a glowing light so strong that it reminded Krystal of heaven. The group charged for the doors just in time. As soon as the doors slammed shut, the walkers from before pounded on them, leaving bloodied hand-prints against the glass. Rick and the others stared, hoping that the doors would sustain the amount of walkers that were pounding against it.

"Who are you?" Asked an elderly man from behind.

Rick turned to him, "Rick Grimes."

The mystery man folded his arms, annoyed at the group of newcomers. "What do you want?"

"A chance,"

"A chance is a lot these days," The scientist lifted something out of his pocket. "Anybody infected?"

"One of us was," Replied Rick, swallowing thickly. "He didn't make it."

The man nodded, leading the way through the halls, the lights in the corridors instantly flicking themselves on.

He didn't wait nor ask for the others behind him to follow. The group followed him towards the four-way corridors, the laboratory in the middle and the office on the right hand side. He lifted a palm and pressed it a few numbers to make the doors slide open, allowing the group in behind him, the doors automatically slamming shut promptly behind them. One by one, the group of ten out of eleven (Rick, Lori, Carl, Shane, Jaqui, Dale, T-dog, Carol, Sophia, Glenn) got their shot.

Krystal was the only one who didn't get hers.

"Alright now," The scientist said, smiling softly at her. "It's your turn."

Krystal shook her head.

"You need to, it's important,"

Even with that, Krystal still shook her head.

"C'mon baby," Jaqui said, smoothing her hair down behind her head. "It'll be all over in just a second. The longer you stand there, the longer it's going to take."

"Why does that sound familiar," Carl looked at his mother, who also smoothed his hair down, her fingers playing with the messy strands of his hair.

"If you go, you'll get all the sweets in the world that you want, if the doctor has any." Jaqui said, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"…really?" Krystal asked quietly.

Andrea was amazed at how soft spoken she was, she barely heard her. It was obvious with the way that she was shaking, and desperately trying to hide herself behind them, that she was terrified of needles. Andrea also learned that she was able to make herself heard if she really wanted to be heard, but as soon as she got uncomfortable with what's around her, her voice went down to the level of "whispering-like-a-mouse".

Jaqui nodded. "Yes."

Krystal leaned her arm forward.

There was a pinch and a slight sting. She squeaked as the doctor cleaned it up with rubbing alcohol. She felt stupid and very embarrassed! She could take down walkers very easily, but was afraid of something a simple as needles?

She had the fear of needles and other tiny pointed objects for her whole life, but now with the apocalypse going on around her, it didn't make any sense to be afraid of needles, yet no matter how hard she tried to reason with herself, the feeling of a sting from a needle still made her jump.

"There, all done." The scientist smiled warmly at her, patting her head, "See, wasn't so bad now was it?"

"What's your name?" Carl asked, the doors sliding open after Krystal ran off to join them. "You didn't tell us yours when you let us in."

"My name is Doctor Jenner," The man placed away his supplies.

"What's the point of taking our blood?" Andrea tried not to itch at the bandaged spot on her elbow. "If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever."

"I'm already breaking every last rule in the book by letting you in here," Dr. Jenner rubbed his eyebrows. "at least let me be thorough."

Krystal saw that he was very tired, worn out from research. He must've been in his thirties or older, with sandy blonde hair and aqua blue eyes. He had worry lines in his forehead and cheek bones, as if he had been sitting around thinking too hard (he probably was).

"Welcome to the CDC." He said, voice echoing against the walls. "We have some electricity and a bit of water to spare, but if you use the showers, make sure not to over do the hot water, and don't use any of the electricity."

"Wait." Glenn interrupted, almost doing a double-take. He grinned, "You have hot water?"

"And electricity?" Carl asked.

Sophia was standing in between Carl and Krystal. They all gave each other knowing smirks, ducked underneath the arms of the adults around them. They snuck away while the adults did the rest of their conversations and introductions. It was time for some exploring and a little fun for once. What harm could that do? Besides, they were tired of constantly running for their lives and looking around them every fifth teen seconds to make sure a walker wasn't anywhere near them.

"Yes, but there's not a whole lot of it left," Dr. Jenner sighed, rubbing at his temples again.

He looked over to where the kids were previously standing only to find them both gone. The remaining adults had also left after he finished showing them their rooms, the bathrooms, kitchen and lounging room. He shook his head as he went into the lab. What Dr. Jenner didn't tell them was that it wouldn't be long until the place cleaned itself up and destroys its surroundings.

He felt that it wasn't necessary to mention anything, and that it would be better to keep such vital information to himself. And besides, it's rare to find happiness in this strange world. It wouldn't be a crime if he allowed them to enjoy themselves for the two days the remaining building had left.

"Where's the kids?" Lori nearly panicked.

"I'll go get them," Carol squeezed Lori's shoulder gently.


The next morning, Krystal stretched, popping the sore muscles in her back. She got a good look around her room, her back pack and ax gathered underneath her bed. Her room was small, slightly cramped with space, but she couldn't complain either way. It's been a month sense she was in her own room. In the new world, she was starting to understand that good things like this didn't last very long in the world. She knew that all she could do was hope.

Carl took the room on the right side of hers, Carol and Sophia were across from her while Rick and Lori were on the left side of her. The others (Andrea, Dale, T-Dog, Shane and Glenn) seemed to be very scattered with the rooms further down the hall.

While the adults busied themselves with conversation, Krystal and Carl did a lot of exploring in the place, finding a game room with old school arcades! They were so excited that they begged Dr. Jenner to let them play some arcades, but the doctor wouldn't let them, and gave them some board games to keep themselves occupied instead. They pouted and groaned about it, but they didn't press the issue any further.

On her way to the breakfast/dining room area, Krystal noticed Dr. Jenner whispering something into Rick's ears. She wasn't sure what they were whispering about, and she didn't want to know anyway. She went to change and brush her teeth, if she was the first one in the shower she wouldn't have to wait around for the others to finish up.


Later on that evening, everyone met up at the dinner table.

"We didn't honor our guest properly," Rick said, the last one to get to the dining table behind the others. The rest were already sitting at the table with their dinner (hamburger steak, salad and steak fries that T-dog prepared them). "I say we give a toast to Dr. Jenner!"

"Boo-yah!" Daryl whooped, opening his own champagne bottle. More wine bottles were popped open (and several other bottles that Krystal couldn't recognize) as a chorus of 'boo-yahs' went around the room, followed by everyone's fits of laughter.

"Woo!" Whooped Daryl again, spraying champagne over the heads of the adults beside him. Jaqui laughed so hard she nearly fell out of her chair, Shane rolled his eyes as he passed the bottles around to the others.

"I say we let the little ones here have a few," Dale winked.

Lori scoffed, "Are you nuts? It's illegal for a kid to drink!"

Dale chuckled. "In France, it's completely legal for kids to have wine!"

"Well then," Lori reached for the tongs in the salad bowl, "When Carl's in France, he can have some."

"What about you, little lady?" Dale asked Krystal, handing the bottle to her. "Want some?"

"I don't see why not," Krystal shrugged. "I don't have parents to tell me no," She reached over to take a sip. Everyone stared, waiting for her response.

"Well?" Squeaked Sophia. She would've reached for it, but her mother popped her hands with the nearest fork. "What? She's drinking it!"

"Doesn't mean it's okay," Carol said, poking her daughter teasingly with the fork.

Krystal shivered, nearly coughing it up. "Ew. Gross!"

Krystal gave the bottle back to Dale and asked for juice to take out the bad taste of wine in the back of her throat.

As everyone ate, laughing with stories of the way things used to be, Rick and Lori gave each other a glance, cutting at their steak with the silver ware.


"Good morning," Krystal waved at them, taking her seat near Carl.

"Morning," Said Carl and Sophia.

T-dog came in with some freshly grilled eggs. Carol slid some eggs onto the center of the table. Andrea and Dale hurried with their eggs while passing around the breakfast food.

"Powdered," T-dog said, stirring the product in the bowl. "not the best in the world, but it's full of protein!"

Glenn groaned, holding onto the side of his head as he sat beside T-Dog and Carol. On his plate were egg and plenty of bread rolls.

"Don't EVER, let me drink again." Glenn groaned, Jaqui patting him on the shoulder. The woman removed the eggs, leaving behind only the bread rolls. She whispered something to T-dog, probably saying that giving any other type of food to Glenn right now while he has a hang-over would be a bad-idea.

"Mom said you guys were going to have a hang-over," Carl asked as his father sat down beside them.

"And she's absolutely right," Rick smiled, reaching over for a glass of water.

"The hell happened to you, brother?" T-dog demanded as Shane came in the room last, tilting his head after noticing Shane's scratch marks against his neck. Shane cursed under his breath, thankfully, no one noticed that. "Ya'll look like a cat gotta hold'a ya."

Krystal looked up at them, pushing eggs around on her plate. T-dog's personality was always an over-exaggeration of everything. Usually, she wouldn't give those kind of people any type of attention what so ever, sense hyper-active people tend to bother her, but she didn't mind with T-dog.

T-dog was helpful, offering a hand with everything including the preparation of food and going on supply runs. He gave advice where it was needed, and was in general a very nice guy all around. Krystal learned from T-dog that looks could be deceiving. Just because you dressed like a gangster, talked like one and acted like one didn't make you a person that should be stayed away from. The more she hung around him, the more she found out about him. Just yesterday, she discovered that T-dog's real name was Theodore.

She didn't know what to feel about Shane. He kept giving her mixed signals, coming off as creepy to her. Sometimes he felt like a good guy, then there was days like today where he gave off a vibe that was nothing but creepy. She asked Carl about it earlier that morning when they were getting dressed, but Carl said nothing but praises about him, saw him as his hero.

Krystal didn't know what to think of the guy, but the marks on his neck made her very suspicious of him. She noticed Glenn groaning with his head down, feeling somewhat sorry for him.

"I must've did it in my sleep," Shane muttered, sitting down. T-dog put the rest of the eggs on his plate.

"Not like you, man," Rick swallowed a mouthful of food, along with a sip of wine.

"No," Shane started picking up pieces of egg with his fork. "It's not like me at all."

"I hate to ask a question so early in the morning," Dale began.

"But you're gonna ask anyway," Dr. Jenner responded.

"What're you guys doing here?" Dale wiped wine off of his beard. "Weren't they more of you?"

"Some," Dr. Jenner answered. "Not anybody left, though."

"In any case, I don't think we came all the way up here for the eggs," Andrea looked up at the scientist expectantly. Everyone fell into an awkward silence.

After breakfast, Dr. Jenner stood up, asking everyone to follow him to the lab room.