We stood in shock for a brief second. Rick was the first to move forward, gun up. Everyone rushed to follow. I stayed close to Daryl. I felt safest around him.
"Hello?" Rick called. With no answer, Rick called again.
I could hear Shane behind us. "Close those doors. Watch for walkers."
This was one of the few places that I had never been to before. The surroundings we had just entered was new territory. Even with the darkness of outside and the dimness of the lights, the inside of the CDC shinned.
The sound of a gun cocking drew our eyes towards a man in a t-shirt and jeans. It appearded that he hadn't been out of here in months. "Anybody infected?" he questioned.
"One of group was," Rick explained. "He didn't make it."
"Why are you here? What do you want?" Wasn't it obvious?
"A chance," was Rick's answer.
"That's asking for an awful lot these days." Correct sir, that is why we came here.
Rick's voice began to shake with worry. "I know." The man was silent. It was all too deafening.
The man finally spoke. "You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."
"We can do that," Rick agreed.
The man dropped his gun. "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed." All of the men ran out and grabbed all of our belongings. T-Dog and Dale shut the doors when every person had returned. The man slid a card into a key pad and spoke again. This time, it wasn't to us. "Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here." The steel doors on the outside were closed.
Rick introduced himself, as did the man. "Dr. Edwin Jenner."
He took us to an elevator. Daryl broke the awkward elevator silence by asking a question. "Doctors always go around packing heat like that?"
"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself," he answered. "But you look harmless enough." He turned towards Carl, who looked scarred out of his mind. "Except for you. I'll keep my eye on you." This brought a small smile to the child's face.
Once we were off the elevators, Jenner showed us where we would be staying. We were underground but that didn't bother me at all. The only thing I cared about was being safe. He again began to speak. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." The lights came on and revealed many desks and chairs with computers on top of them. There was only one problem.
"Where is everbody?" Rick asked. "The other doctors, the staff?"
"I'm it. It's just me here."
Lori expressed concern. There had to be more people then just this guy. "What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?"
"Vi, say hello to our guests," Jenner commanded. "Tell them... welcome."
There was a loud voice overhead. "Hello, guests. Welcome."
"She's a computer?" My mind was confused. He was the only one left with a freaking computer!
"Yeah. I'm all that's left." Jenner paused and let us take it in. I was beginning to have doubts about this place. "Let's get that blood sample." He lead us to a room with more empty chairs, told us to sit, and grabbed the supplies. Andrea was first.
She nearly fainted when she stood. "She hasn't eaten in days," Jacqui explained. "None of us have."
Jenner just looked at her, then to the rest of us. He could tell that we were all starving. "When we finish here, I have to show you all something."
It only took about ten minutes to get through everyone in our now smaller group. I was second last to go, Daryl being last. Needles didn't bother me much. It was the blood that was being taken out of my body that scarred me. Blood wasn't the problem. It was my blood, something I strongly believed should stay in my veins.
Daryl noticed my discomfort. "'Fraid of needles or sumthin'?"
"Nope. Just blood." I turned my gaze toward Daryl, trying not to think about the blood being drawn.
"Sucks when there's blood everywhere." It was hard to tell if Daryl was joking or not. He wasn't smiling or laughing but his tone made it feel like I should laugh. Instead, I just sat there, staring at him. "Whatchu lookin' at?" How long was I staring at him?
"Nothing."
"All done." Jenner pulled the needle out of my arm. Thank the Lord. This was one of the most awkward moments I had ever shared with another person. I got up off the chair and basically ran to meet the rest of the group.
We all stood in silence, waiting for Jenner and Daryl. Once they had finally emerged from the room we followed Jenner into a kitchen. A kitchen with actual food. Lots of it too. "Eat what you want. There's food in here to last years. Nothing too fancy but still food." That night, we dined like royalty.
Us women cooked most of the food. Jenner even had wine. Alcohol. The body's best medicine. I poored myself a glass, chugged it down, and poored another. The sweet taste was something truly missed. Carl even tried some. He wasn't quite as big a fan as I was.
I took my place next to Glenn. It appeared that this was his first time ever drinking. He was getting hammered and didn't even realize it. Daryl told him to keep drinking. "I want to see how red your face can get." That would be a site to see. Glenn laughed and continued his drinking.
Rick stood up and everything went silent. "Seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly."
T-Dog raised his glass. "He is more than just our host." Everyone cheered in agreement. He was our savior. A smile spread across my face bigger then it had ever been, as I raised my half-emptied glass.
"Here's to you, doc," Daryl called over the cheers. "Booyah!" Everyone repeated the 'Booyah'. I couldn't help but to yell it myself.
Shane interupted our praise. "So when are you gonna tell us what happened here, doc?" What a jackass. "All the, a, other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"
"We're celebrating, Shane." Rick wasn't pleased at all. "Don't need to do this now," he said, sitting back down next to Carl.
"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move, supposed to find out all the answers. Instead we, a, we find him." Shane pointed to Jenner. "Found one man. Why?"
Jenner felt the need to answer Shane's question. "Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families." Jenner explained. His tone was even, somber. "And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."
Shane kept on prying for more. "Every last one?"
"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They... opted out. There was a rash of suicides." Oh my God. That was one of the most horrible things my ears have been exposed to. My stomach began to churn and I covered my mouth with my hand. All of those poor people. "That was a bad time."
Andrea's curiosity got the best of her, as well. "You didn't leave. Why?"
"I just kept working, hoping to do some good."
Glenn was pacing around. He looked at Shane. "Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man."
"I, um, think I'm finished." I turned towards Jenner. "Where are our rooms?" I couldn't stand to be there anymore. Shane ruined this night and I wanted him to know that.
"I'll show you." Jenner stood up. We were about to walk out when Lori stopped us.
"I think we're all done, right?" Everyone's silence was taken as a 'yes'. "Let us clean up real quick and we'll come with you. Save him some trouble, walking back and forth."
"Okay, I'll help you." I grabbed my plate and washed it the best as I could in a minutes time. Everyone did the same.
Jenner lead us to a hallway with doors on either sides. "Most of the facility 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." A nice warm bed. I could go for that right now. "There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same applies. If you shower, go easy on the hot water." Hot? Water?
Everyone quickly grabbed a room. There weren't enough, so some people had to share. I grabbed a room parallel to Rick and Lori's. I placed my things on the couch. I had expected to have this room to myself, when there was a knock on the door. "There's no more rooms left. Do ya mind if I stay with ya?" Daryl was standing shyly in the doorway.
I was taken totaly by surprise. Why would he ask to stay with me? He hardly even knew me. "Um, yeah. I don't see the problem with that." Lie. I did see a problem with this. I didn't know him and he was going to be staying in the same room that I was.
He placed his bag in the opposite side of the room, trying to give me my space. Another awkward moment. What was I supposed to say to him now? This was a good time to leave." I'm gonna take my shower now." I grabbed my clothes and left without hearing his response.
The showers here were steel versions of college dorm bathrooms. There was lines of showers, almost like stalls. I walked to the end one, stripped, then turned on the water. The heat relaxed every bone in my tense body. It had been ages since I had a backrub. This felt like the same thing.
As fast as the good feeling came, it went away. The question of Daryl staying with me lingered in my mind. He could stay with anyone else and he chose me. Something seemed wrong, but right. How was that even possible? Did he just want to make it even more awkward, knowing that I slept with his brother? This was going to suck big time.
One thing lead to another in my mind. I began to start thinking even harder. This sickness I've been feeling. It wasn't right. I counted days in my head. Something was missing. I couldn't remember the last time I had my period. Impossible.
I hurried my shower, got dressed and run as fast as I my legs allowed me. When I entered, Daryl wasn't there. Good. He doesn't need to see my like this and I just didn't need to see him at all. I ran to the half bathroom attatched to the room. I nearly broke the the medicine cabnet opened. There it was. This place had everything. I grabbed three tests. Tested each three seperate times.
I walked out into the room as each one showed the results. They were all the same. "Shit! No!" Tears flowed from my eyes like there was no tomorrow.