She followed the others cautiously and held her Beretta tightly in her hands as she looked around her. She heard the familiar sound of a heavy duty gun, spinning around on the spot she noticed an older looking man, he looked exhausted to be honest but she wasn't going to take the chance of underestimating him.

"Anybody infected?" He asked, he didn't look like the kind of person who often held a gun, it looked wrong in his hands and she desperately wanted to roll her eyes at his attempt at being intimidating.

"One of us was, but he didn't make it." Rick said, glancing around at the others before letting his eyes fall on the stranger.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" He asked, it was silent for a moment before Rick spoke again,

"A chance."

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

" I know." Rick said, he stayed quiet, letting the stranger think it over and seeing what his decision would be. She could see the gears turning in his head before he sighed.

" You all submit to a blood test, that's the price of admission." he said, he didn't really leave much room for argument, it was either let him poke us with a needle, or leave.

"We can do that" Rick said, she looked up at the man as he nodded, glancing around nervously before he sighed.

" You got stuff, you bring it in now. When those doors close they stay closed." he said, this made her glanced at the Dixon brothers in thought and they nodded, something was off about this place.

"Vi, seal the main entrance." he said after everyone had gathered their things. "Kill the power up here."

As they got into the elevator, they had to cram together, she was pushed into a corner with the brothers standing in front of her blocking her from the others.

"Rick." he introduced.

" Jenner."

" Doc's always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl asked, making Jenner look over at him and then at the gun at his side.

"I familiarized myself," He said, glancing around at the others he chuckled "But you look harmless enough." he stopped, glancing down at Carl and he smiled, " Except you, i'll have to keep my eye on you." this of course made Carl smile up at him, feeling proud he looked somewhat intimidating, she couldn't help but roll her eyes and lean against the wall of the elevator, her eyes closed involuntarily and she sighed, she felt so tired, from everything that had happened in such a short time.

As we continued on through a long hallway a quiet timid voice came from the group,

"Are we underground?"

"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asked, offering a small reassuring smile to Carol

"A little."

"Try not to think about it." He said, soon they were all in the lab room, sitting around and waiting for their turn to get pricked, so Jenner could test them. She was going to be last, right after Amy so she leaned against the wall closing her eyes and taking slow and steady breaths. She could already feel it affecting her, and she tried not to think about it, she could hear the others but it felt like they were farther than they really were, she could feel sweat gathering on her forehead as she continued to think about it and she felt her hands beginning to shake.

"-lla, Ella? You alright?" she heard and she looked over to see Merle and Daryl staring at her in confusion, she noticed they each had a neon blue bandaid on their arms and any other time she would have laughed.

"Sorry, i'm fine." she said

"You keep telling yourself that, you look like shit." Daryl muttered, leaning against the wall on her left side and Merle on her right.

"I just, don't like needles all that much." she said, rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

" What, you want me to hold your hand?" Merle asked, laughing at his own joke, she rolled her eyes and clenched her fists but didn't say anything.

" Your up." Jenner said, looking at her, she chuckled nervously and glanced at the others.

"Oh this fucking sucks." she muttered, walking over she took the empty chair next to Jenner and took deep breaths, but as she caught sight of the needle she tensed and scooted away, her breathing picking up and her heart rate.

"You kind of need to sit still for this to work." Jenner said, trying to lighten the subject but she wasn't laughing.

" Merle, Daryl. " she ordered, they looked confused but walked over, "I need your help." She said, looking up at them, her eyes alone begging them, and they nodded. "Could you just...hold me down." I asked hesitantly.

"Um...why?" Daryl asked and she sighed, shifting uneasily in her seat.

" It seems she has a phobia, trypanophobia." Jenner said, though when he noticed the men's confusion he sighed, "It's a fear of needles, or getting shots alone." He said, they nodded and with their help in holding her down Jenner was able to take her blood. When he scooted away she sat in her chair breathing a bit heavier and squeezing her eyes shut.

"Come on." Merle said, helping her to her feet and she let out a breath following him to the corner of the room. Everyone made small talk while they waited for the results and when they had been accepted, Jenner invited them to eat.

Everyone sat around the table laughing and joking around, Carl tried some wine and Daryl teased Glenn about drinking, to say she was shocked was an understatement, even Merle seemed to be in a good mood.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc? All the the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, - where are they?" Shane asked and the room went silent, she rolled her eyes and moved to sit next to Daryl on the counter, swinging her legs back and forth in her boredom.

"We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now." Rick said, glancing up with a look in his eyes that told he was more than a little irritated.

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move, supposed to find all the answers." Shane said, letting out a scoff. "Instead we found one man why?"

" Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families." Jenner said calmly. "And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted.

"Every last one? No, many couldn't face walking out the door." Shane asked, looking very doubtful. He was such a prick.

"They opted out." Jenner said and the room went silent for a moment. "There was a rash of was a bad time."

You didn't leave." Amy said, it hadn't been a question but you could tell she was curios to know why he hadn't. "Why?"

"I just kept to do some good."

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man." Glenn said, sending a small glare Shane's way.

Soon the food was gone and Jenner was leading the group through the small hallway, she walked behind Daryl and Merle but glanced around every few seconds at all the doors they passed.

"Most of the facility is powered down including housing, so you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like." Jenner said as he stopped turning to them. "There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy." He said, eyeing the little ones, "Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws same applies If you shower, go easy on the hot water." He said, then he offered them all a goodnight and walked away.

"Hot water?"

"That's what the man said."

She grinned and hurried into the nearest room, seeing a small bed in the room she ignored it and went into the other door that was on the other side of the room, opening it she laughed at the bathroom, hurrying in and turning on the shower, putting her arms under it and grinning with glee as the warm water hit her skin.

"Go on, hurry up though and don't take all the damn hot water." Merle said from the doorway, before he stepped back and shut it. She grinned and hurried to get undressed and hopped into the shower, laughing again as the water ran through her hair, she remembered Merle's word's though and she hurried to first wash her hair and then her body.

When she stepped out she wrapped a towel tightly around herself and walked over to her bag, digging through until she found a pair of grey sweats, her black sports bra and a baggy red t-shirt. Pulling them on she dried her hair and gathered her things so she could open the door, she saw Merle laying on the bed snoring and Daryl sat on the couch, slipping his boots off. He seemed drunk but not as bad as Merle who was snoring away, I rolled my eyes and tossed the towel onto the cot before sitting down.

"Come here." Daryl said suddenly and she looked up at him in confusion, she noticed he was holding her hair brush and she frowned in confusion, how had he gotten that? She stood up and walked over and he gestured for her to sit down on the floor in front of him so she did so. Still confused she waited and only until he started brushing through her hair asking for a hair tie did she know what he was doing. He was putting her hair into a fishtail braid that rested down her back, she sat there as he tied it off and then he stood up to gather some of his things, about to go into the bathroom for his turn.

"How do you know how to do that?" I asked and he glanced over at me.

"Your ma, she always wore her hair like that." He said, then he went into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.