The mood had changed from tensed and scared to happy and relieved. Jenna scooped the spaghetti that she had made onto the plates and passed them to the guy named T-Dog, who put them on the table. Jenner had even given them some of the alcohol; some were drinking wine and some were drinking other booze.
Jenner sat at across the room, lost in his own thoughts. It seemed like something was bothering him. Helena took a plate and shuffled to where he sat. When she put down the plate in front of him, he looked up at her. He gave her a reassuring smile. "Thanks." he said with a nod. "Are you okay?" Helena asked with a quite worrisome undertone. Jenner nodded again. "Just tired," he lied, "what about you?" Helena looked at the people sitting around the table. "I'm alright, I guess. It's nice to have some new people here, but I guess I'm not very good with the whole socializing thing." she chuckled. Jenner grinned back at her. "Well, get some alcohol in there and you'll be good. Our protocol doesn't matter anymore anyway, might as well live it up a little." Jenner assured her, while gesturing at an empty glass on the counter. Jenna giggled. "Well, alright I guess."
"Ewww!"
She looked around and saw Carl with a nastily look on his face, shoving a glass of wine away from him. Helena laughed along with the others and grabbed the empty glass. When she wanted to grab the whiskey, she noticed it was gone. However, when she looked around, none other than Daryl held the half empty bottle in his hands. Helena walked over to him, while he was talking to the guy that she recalled Glenn. "Yer drinkin', little man. I wann' see how red ya face can get!" Daryl exclaimed like a child while he poured some whiskey into an empty glass. They laughed and Daryl turned around. Helena quickly took a few steps back and avoided his glance. "Somethin' ya wan' ask me, girl?" his voice rasped with his heavy Southern accent. Helena met his glare and scowled. "You're drinking my whiskey," she said calmly. The redneck raised his eyebrows at her and raised the bottle. He pointed at the bottle with a grin. Helena nodded. "Lil' girls 'r better off drinkin' lemonade, is what." Daryl smirked while teasingly tapping the bottle. Helena sighed and shook her head. She wanted to turn around, but the sudden grasp startled her. He had grabbed her glass and poured it full. "Jesus, don't!—God. Half a glass would have been good enough, you know." Helena said while taking the glass from him. Daryl grinned. "Thought doctors weren' s'pposed ta drink in tha first place?" he chuckled darkly while leaning against the wall. Helena rolled her eyes. "I'm not a doctor, I'm a scientist. Besides, it's not like I'm gonna perform brain surgery anytime soon." she fired back while lifting the glass to her lips.
"It seems like we haven't properly thanked our host," the sudden voice from Rick said. Helena looked at the man who had just stood up. Jenner smiled awkwardly and pointed at Helena. "Actually, this girl talked me into it. Not gonna take all the credit." He chuckled when he and Helena exchanged looks. She blushed and looked away shyly to avoid all the looks. "To both our hosts, then." T-Dog said while raising his glass. She startled when the loud voice behind her yelled 'booyah!', but she managed to smile and raised her glass as well. "So, when are you going to tell us what the hell happened here, doc? All the other doctors who are supposed to figure out what's going on, where are they?"
The sudden question coming from Shane caused the happy talking and laughter to die away.
"Shane, we are celebrating, no need to do this now." Rick snapped back to him, seeming quite frustrated by his friend who managed to ruin the positive atmosphere in the room in less than 2 minutes. "This is why we're here, ain't it? This was your move, to come here to find all the answers. Instead, we found them. Just two people. Why?" Shane insisted, while looking at Jenner with a judging look. Helena clenched the glass in her hands and shook her head in frustration. Give the man a goddamn break, she wanted to scream. She had already been happy by the fact that he let these people in in the first place.
But when she looked at Jenner, he just shrugged while holding a bottle of wine. "When things got bad, a lot of people just left to be with their families. When things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." he explained while he tapped quietly on the bottle of wine.
"Every last one?" Shane asked in disbelief. The others were now their paying their full attention to Jenner as well. "No. Some couldn't face walking out those doors. They.." Jenner paused and looked at Helena, trying to find the right words to describe the nightmare they had experienced back then, "opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." Jenner sipped from his wine and looked down at his hands. "But you guys didn't leave.. Why?" Helena looked at Andrea, who looked back at them with a curious expression. Helena sighed as Jenner tried to search for her eyes. He looked at Andrea then and smiled. "Just kept working. Hoping to do some good. We still had hope left, despite all the people leaving." he spoke softly.
"Dude, you are such a buzz kill man," Glenn mumered. Some laughed quietly and Helena grinned as well. Images from the suicides were flowing through her mind, and Helena gulped down the whiskey down, hoping the burning feeling would erase the memories. She felt the surprised gaze from the redneck behind her, but she refused to turn around.
"I'll show you where you all can sleep." Jenner said while standing up. The group followed him and their laughter and talking died away when they walked down the hallway, leaving Helena behind. She sat down on a chair and sighed, letting her hands run through her hair. The full bottle of wine caught her attention, but she sulked and shook her head. She stood up and walked to the kitchen, hoping to find another bottle of Scotch. Might as well follow his advice and get drunk, she pondered, while opening several cupboards and cabinets.
Her laughter echoed through the room when she found 3 bottles of Scotch, and she grabbed one eagerly. She walked back to the table again and sat down after she grabbed the notebook out of her labcoat. Why am I still even wearing this thing, she mocked to herself, while taking off the coat.
A few minutes later, while Helena was writing something in her notebook and occasionally sipping from her glass of whiskey, she heard footsteps approaching her. She looked up and realised it was Jenner. He sat down opposite of her while he tried to control the grin that was hanging around his lips. Helena looked at him in question, but already knew. "Told them about the showers then?" she asked while returning her attention back to the notebook again. Jenner chuckled. "Indeed. Told them to go easy on the hot water, though I doubt if that will happen." he said. Helena shrugged. "We're clean enough, unlike them," she gave a teasing disgusted look, "they deserve all the hot water in the world."
Jenner smiled. "Well, I'm gonna call it a night. See you tomorrow." he said when he stood up and smiled at her once last time. Helena grinned. "Goodnight," she replied while he turned around, leaving her behind. Helena sighed and finished the glass of whiskey. She stood up as well, and made her way down the hall towards her own room.