Chapter 12: TS-19

We all stared at the bright white light that emanated from the doors. After it faded, we snapped out of our daze and cautiously moved into the building. "Daryl, Gale, cover the back," Shane instructed.

I joined Daryl at the back as I ushered my pack inside. We closed the doors once everyone got inside. I stared a little too long at one of the uniformed officers, another guy on my unit, and jumped when someone cocked a gun. Everyone immediately pointed their weapons at the source and finding a single guy holding an M4A1. "Anybody infected?" he shouts at us, and I looked at Alex to see him flinch at the echo.

"One of our group was," Rick answered truthfully. "He didn't make it."

The man took a few hesitant steps towards us, still with the gun trained on us. "Why are you here?" he demanded. "What do you want?"

"A chance," Rick answered again.

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

Rick nodded at his reply. "I know."

The man glanced at all of us as he paused in his steps. "You all submit to a blood test—that's the price of admission."

"We can do that," Rick assured.

He lowered the rifle in his hands as he walked up to us finally. "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it says closed."

No one spoke a word as Matthew ran out to get the stuff for Ronnie and Abby, as well as Daryl, Rick, Glenn and Shane. When they ran back through the doors, Daryl handed me my duffle pack, and I nodded at him in thanks. The man was standing by a keypad and once everyone got inside, he swiped his card. "VI seal the main entrance," he instructed into the intercom. "Kill the main power up here."

The shutters lowered again, and the security pad armed itself.

Rick walked up to the man and held out his hand to him. "Rick Grimes," he introduced himself.

The man looked at his hand and then back up. "Dr. Edwin Jenner."

*What Walks the Earth*

We all crowed into a spacious elevator in silence. I was squished between Daryl and Matthew, and the kids standing in front of us. I was staring at the back of Alex' head the whole ride, worry growing inside. If he was hearing more than before, the next step was healing. That thought just made me more worried.

"Doctors always go around packin' heat like that?" Daryl asked.

"Oh, there were plenty left lying around," Jenner answered. "I familiarized myself." He then looked around at the group. "But you all look harmless enough." Jenner then looked down at Carl and Alex. "Except you two. I'll have to keep an eye on you two."

The boys looked at each other with slight smiles and prideful looks. When the elevator stopped, we all walked out into what looked like the living areas. But we all followed Jenner through the area. "Are we underground?" Carol asked.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner returned.

"A little," she replied.

"Try no to think about it," Jenner suggested.

We followed Jenner to the control room. It was very large with many computers in a circle and a large screen on one wall. Normally, there would be workers at every station, but there was only Jenner. 'Where is everyone?' I thought.

"VI, bring up the lights in the big room," Jenner called into the room, and all the lights above the workstations turned on as well as some stage lights. Jenner glanced at all of us over his shoulder. "Welcome to zone five."

"Where is everybody?" Rick asked, voicing my concerns. "The other doctors? The staff?"

"I'm it. It's just me here."

'So, I was right,' I thought. 'Jenner is the only one here and there was no one else who survived.'

"What about the person you were speaking with?" Lori questioned. "Vi?"

"VI," Jenner called into the room again. "Say hello to our guests. Tell them…welcome."

"Hello, guests," a computerized female voice echoed. "Welcome."

"I'm all that's left," Jenner said with sorrow. "I'm sorry."

*What Walks the Earth*

We all were gathered in what looked like a lecture hall and Jenner was taking our blood. I went before my family, and worried about Alex getting his taken. But I was more worried about Jenner finding out about what we were. We were supposed to keep the secret, but I wasn't sure that our blood wouldn't show it. It had never been done before.

When we were done, we would sit in the corner. I stood next to Daryl leaning against the wall. I was starting to really feel relaxed and calm with him close to me. I was wondering what that was about. We only really talked a few times, but he made me feel calm and I didn't worry as much. I didn't have long to think on it when Andrea spoke out getting the blood drawn.

"What's the point?" she questioned. "If we were infected, we would be running a fever."

"I've already broken every rule in the book by letting you in here," Jenner answered calmly, never looking up from his work. "Let me just at least be thorough." After a moment, he took the needle out of her arm and put a Band-Aid over the puncture wound. "All done."

Andrea stood up from her seat and went to walk but got woozy, almost falling. Jacqui moved forward to steady her and helped her walk away from the table. "Are you okay?" Jenner asked in concern.

"She hasn't eaten in days," Jacqui snapped at him. "None of us have."

Jenner looked at all of us thoughtfully.

*What Walks the Earth*

Everyone was seated around tables that we all shoved together in the cafeteria. There was food and wine that everyone was passing around and laughing. I stood against one of the counters with an almost empty wine glass in my hand. Alex and Leah sat with their parents next to Lori, and Matthew sat with Glenn on one of the counter tops. Daryl stood next to me, drinking right out of one of the bottles. When I finished off my glass, Daryl offered the bottle to me. Smirking, I put down my glass and grabbed the bottle, drinking straight from it. I watched him as I drank and saw his eyes darken a little. After I finished, I handed the bottle back to him with a smirk still in place.

He took it slowly from me before we turned back to the conversation everyone was having. "You know," Dale was saying as he filled Lori's glass with wine again. "In Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France."

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then," Lori replied, placing her hand over Carl's cup to stop Dale from pouring any wine.

"I don't see a problem with it," Ronnie commented. Dale poured a little wine in two cups for Alex and Leah.

Lori gave Abby a look in question, and Abby responded with a shrug. "At the worst they'll like it," she commented.

"What's it gonna hurt?" Rick pressed. "Come on."

Lori laughed a little before she relented and removed her hand from the glass. Dale poured some in and handed it to him. The three of them went to take a sip at the same time. Both Carl and Leah immediately cried out with "Ew!". But Alex didn't scrunch up at all. He finished his glass instead and my worry grew even more. Everyone was laughing at the two kids, so no one noticed Alex.

"That's my boy," Lori said patting him on the back.

"Just stick to soda pop there, bud," Shane said.

"Not you Glenn," Daryl spoke up as he reached for another bottle of wine.

Glenn looked up in confusion and looking at Matthew in worry. "What?"

"Keep drinkin', little man," he said. "I wanna see how red your face can get." As Daryl came back over to me, he offered the bottle again, and with a giant smile, I took a big swig from it.

"How is it that you can do that Gale?" Glenn questioned. "I've seen you and your family hammer most of the wine, but you're not even buzzed."

I smiled at him and glanced at Jenner in out of the corner of my eye. "Our kind can handle alcohol a lot better than other people. We don't usually get drunk, that all depends on what we drink. And I'm still looking forward to see how red you can get Glenn."

Everyone laughed again. Rick looked over at Jenner as well and stood up. "It seems that we haven't thanked our host properly," he said.

"He is more that just our host," T-Dog added.

"Here's to you Doc," Daryl said lifting the wine bottle into the air. "Booyah!"

"Booyah!" everyone joined in saying. But the moment was killed just as Shane decided to open his big mouth.

"So, when are you going to tell us what the hell happened here, Doc?" he asked. "All the, uh…the other doctors that were supposed to be figurin' out what happened—where are they?"

"We're celebrating Shane," Rick reminded him, sitting down. "We don't need to do this now."

"Whoa, wait a second," Shane argued. "This is why we're here, right? This was your move. We were supposed to find answers. Instead, we found him." He pointed a finger over to Jenner. "Found one man. Why?"

"Well, when things got bad, many people just… left, to be with their families," Jenner answered after a second. "And, when things got worse—when the military cordon got overrun—the rest bolted."

"Every last one?" Shane asked.

"No," Jenner answered. "Many couldn't face walking out the door. They…opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

"You didn't leave," Andrea pointed out. "Why?"

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good."

Everyone got quiet and just stared at Jenner. Glenn jumped down from next to Matthew on the counter. "Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man," he muttered as he sat at one of the empty seats.

Shane just looked down at his lap in sadness.

*What Walks the Earth*

When everyone had eaten all they could, we all gathered up our things and followed Jenner through the rest of the facility to the offices. As he led us, he was explaining why we were here. "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. There's a rec room on down the hall that you kids might enjoy," he explained. He turned around and bent down to be on the same level as the kids. "Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power." The kids nodded, and Jenner straightened to address the rest of us. "The same applies—if you shower, go easy on the hot water."

With that, he walked off and left us to digest what he just said.

Glenn had a goofy grin on his face and turned to face the rest of us. "Hot water?"

"That's what the man said," T-Dog laughed.

*What Walks the Earth*

Everyone claimed rooms before getting into the showers. Rick, Lori and Carl got one room, and Carol and Sophia claimed another. T-Dog, Glenn and Dale all decided to share a room, where as Jacqui and Andrea would be sharing another. Matthew claimed him own room, and I claimed my own as well. I decided to let the others get their showers first and sat on the couch until Matthew came to let me know to take a shower. I took a short one, not wanting to waist the hot water.

Coming out of the shower in my room in only a towel, I found Daryl setting up two cots. When he noticed me, he looked startled. "Do you mind if I room with you? I've shared the woods with your brother enough."

I gave a small smile to him and giggled faintly. "I don't mind. I really don't want to be alone right now."

I could feel his eyes on me as I went over to my pack looking for clothes. Being in the marines, I was used to the stars and sharing living quarters with other men. Letting the towel drop, I felt his stare on the scars on my back like a fire on my skin. After dressing in a tee shirt and shorts, I sat down on one of the cots, pulling my legs up in front of me. Daryl sat next to me, still looking at me. He offered me a bottle of wine and I took it gratefully, taking a giant swig from it. When I handed it back to him, I looked back at him.

"Something on your mind Daryl?" I asked him after a moment of us just starring at each other.

"Why do you have scars?" he asked after a second, and I gave him a confused look. "Well, werewolves are supposed to heal right away, so why do you have scars?"

I blinked at his observation but laughed a little. "Wounds from an Alpha take longer to heal and sometimes leave scars. I got trained by my father a lot harder than my siblings. My father would lash at me for small things and most of them just scared over instead of healing completely."

Daryl listened intently and took a swig of wine before asking his next question. "When did you become an Alpha?"

"I was five when I became an Alpha," I answered quietly. "What are you doing?"

It was his turn to look at me confused. "What?"

I gave him a slight glare. "You're almost never this talkative. So, what are you doing?"

Daryl looked at the bottle in his hands and started messing with the label. "I was just trying to get to know you a little." I tilted my head to the side in confusion, so he continued. "Matt's always talking about you and is always praising you. I wanted to get to know you so that way I can see what he sees and try to form my own opinion."

"Why would you want to get to know me?" I asked him and he snapped his head to look at me. I wrapped my arms around my legs. "I mean, I shouldn't even be here, so why would you want to get to know me?"

"Why do you think that?"

I laughed without humor. "Some of those marines out there were from my unit. If I hadn't taken a leave when I did, then I would be among the rest of them. I would be dead."

"So, you think that you should be dead then?"

I whipped my head to look at him; his question catching me off guard. I hadn't really thought that but, if I really thought about it, I was feeling that way. What would have happened if I hadn't taken my leave? Would I be dead along with the rest of my unit? Or would I be here with Jenner?

"I don't know," I muttered in a small voice.

"Personally, I like the fact that you're here with the rest of us," Daryl commented quietly, but I still heard him.

I listened to his heartbeat and found it steady, with no upticks. He was telling the truth. Not that surprised me much. Even with the short time of knowing him, Daryl was the type of guy that didn't say anything that he didn't mean or strongly believed. I liked his presence. Somehow, with him around, I felt calm and peaceful. Not many people had that effect on me. The only other person that could do that was the youngest of my siblings, Deborah.

As we stared at each other, I watched as Daryl started to lean in slightly. I don't know weather it was the wine that finally had an influence on me or what it was, but I started to lean forward as well. When our lips met, Daryl pressed in a little more and put a hand on the side of my cheek. It was a slow tentative kiss, but it was nice. It had been a long time since I had been kissed like this. The only other time was in high school.

We both pulled back slowly and just stared at each other again. I noticed that Daryl still had a hand on my cheek, his thumb stroking my cheek bone a little. "We should get some sleep," he said barely above a whisper. I couldn't talk, so I just nodded at him. He gave me a tentative smile but leaned in one more time and left a lingering kiss on my lips.

When we parted, we laid down on the cots facing each other. Daryl laid an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. In turn, I placed my hand on his waist. I fell asleep with his smell of a pine forest filling my nose.

AN: This was supposed to be longer but I felt like I should end it here. Let me know if you think that I am moving this too fast or not. However, I have plans for this direction. Don't forget to Read and Review! Your reviews keep me going!