The blood tests were administered shortly after our arrival. Andrea was one of the last to give her sample. She nearly passed out when she stood from the chair. Jacqui explained that she, or none of us for that matter, have eaten in days.

Jenner led us to a kitchen and dinning area. "There's enough food here to last for a very long time," he explained. "Eat whatever you like."

While observing the kitchen and food choices, I found the one thing that I had been craving since the outbreak. While lifting the bottle, I turned to the rest of our group. "Look at what I found!"

Daryl looked at me with wide eyes. A small grin emerged from his face. "Alcohol," he said. He quickly rushed to my side, taking the bottle from my hand. It seemed he needed this more than I did.

The women quickly prepared a meal for us to celebrate. Wine was passed around and jokes were made at the table. Dale explained that in Italy and France, children drink wine with their dinner.

"Well, when Carl in is Italy or France, he can have some then." Lori took a sip of her wine, not ready for her boy to become a man.

"What's it gonna hurt?" Rick tried to convince his wife. "Come on. Come on." Who knows when he'll get another chance like this.

Lori gave in with a smile on her face. Dale poured the kid a glass as we all raised ours, congratulating him on his first taste of alcohol. It fell silent as his lips pressed against the glass. After letting a small sip into his mouth, Carl quickly pulled the glass away from his face and onto the table with a disgusted look on his face. "Eww."

Every person laughed hard at the child as his mother poured what remained in his glass into hers. It didn't look like he was going to be having anymore for a while.

"Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud." Shane advised.

"Not you, Glenn," Daryl called across the room.

The young man looked over at Daryl. "What?"

"Keep drinkin', little man. I wanna see how red your face can get." More laughfter errupted at Daryl's comment to Glenn. It was obvious that he has never been drunk before and this was the perfect time to experience it for the first time.

Silence came over our group as Rick clinked his fork against his glass, calling our attention. He raised from his seat and began to speak. "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly."

My attention drifted to Jenner. He was sitting against a wall with a beer in his hand. He was sitting outside of the table, alone. He must have felt like an outsider in his own 'home'.

"He is more than our just our host," T-Dog said happily while raising his glass.

Daryl lifted the bottle in his hand. "Here's to you, doc. Booyah!" It had been far too long since I seen my brother this happy.

I couldn't help but lift my glass and shout, "Booyah!" starting a chain reaction. Our whole group shouted the word, thanking Jenner his generosity and for saving us from the apocalypse.

The cheering was quickly interupted by Shane's serious voice. "So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" He looked over at Jenner as we fell silent. "All the, uh, the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"

"We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now," Rick told his friend as he took his seat. He was right. We were having a great evening. There is no need to spoil it.

Shane wasn't backing down. "Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move, supposed to find all the answers. Instead we, uh, we found him." He let out an unamused chuckle. "Found one man. Why?"

I took a long drink from my glass, finishing it off. I poured another and quickly finsished that one as well. This was going to end on a sorrowful note and I didn't want to be sober for that.

Jenner wasn't going to let people start arguing. He thought it was best to just come out and say it. "Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."

"Every last one?" Shane was prying the man. What the hell was up with him?

"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." This news caused many of us to take another drink, hoping to wash away ever remembering what Jenner had said.

Andrea was as curious as the rest of us had become. "You didn't leave. Why?"

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

After more silence, Glenn stood up from his seat and grabbed another drink. "Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man," he told Shane.

After dinner was wraped up, Jenner showed us to where we would be staying. "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 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." Jenner had said the magic words.

"Hot water?" Glenn asked with the largest grin on his face.

T-Dog shared the smile, as did the rest of us. "That's what the man said."

Quickly, everyone chose a room. Some needed to share. Daryl and I grabbed a room on the left with a couch and a cot. I grabbed the cot before he could.

There were towels in a cabnet. I snagged a long one and a washcloth and started undressing. I wrapped the towel around myself and sprinted to the showers. It had been far too long since I felt the heat of water down my back.

There were only a few showering stations in this area of the CDC. I ran passed a few others, who were also in towels, so I could have the first. I chose the one farthest from the door and turned the water on. It ran down the crevices of my body causing it to tingle. I didn't move for what felt like forever.

I turned to see bottles on a small shelf. Soap, shampoo, and conditioner were the contents in each. I quickly grabbed the shampoo and messaged my scalp. I missed this all too much. I then grabbed the conditioner and combed it out of my hair with my fingers. For the first time since the outbreak, my hair would be soft and not greasy.

The soap was the last thing I used. I took a wash cloth that I had grabbed back in the room and smeared it with the lavender scent. I scrubbed all of the dirt from my feet up, making sure that it was all gone. The water turned a little brown undernieth me. The quarry provided water for a bath, but there was never any soap to remove all of this filth.

After taking another look at the shelf, I found the most glorious of them all. A razor. A smile so big spread across my face that water was flooding my mouth. I didn't care. This was one of the happiest moments of my life in this new world. I shaved it all. My legs, under arms, and even my upper lip were full of hair that shouldn't be there. Thankfully, my body hair was blonde, so no one noticed.

I remained in the shower for a few minutes after washing and shaving. It was the hardest thing to turn off the running water, but someone else needed in and I felt bad for denying them entry. I drip dried, wringing out my hair before wrapping the white towel around my upper body.

Upon exiting, I noticed the other showers were empty. Had I been in so long that everyone else had finished? I easily disobeyed Jenner's go-easy-on-the-hot-water rule. It just felt too good to leave.

Opening the door that led out into the hallway, I couldn't help but notice there was one person who remained to take one. Shane nearly ran into me as he walked to the showering room. He had a towel wraped around his lower body, exposing his top half. I eyed his features. His strong body was smooth like marble. It could have been carved by the gods for all I knew. He had a tatoo on his upper chest, over his heart that said 'Lil Bird.' I wondered who that was for.

"Hey,"Shane whispered, bring me out of my trance.

"Hey." I brought my eyes back to his face. He didn't appear to be in a great mood. I stepped to the side to let him through and continued down the hallway.

"I like your tatoo." I stopped. Before I could respond to him, Shane had already entered the showers. Was he watching me walk by? That was the only explanation for him seeing my red and green rose tatoo on the back of my left shoulder.

Daryl was leaving the room as I was about to enter. "There ya are. What took ya so damn long?"

"I took a long shower. Did lady stuff." Lady stuff? Did I just say that? Wow, these women were rubbing off on me.

My brother laughed at my answer. "Whatever. I'm gonna go grab another bottle." He lifted up a bottle that had once held whiskey.

"Great. Grab me one while you're at it." That's what I needed, something harder than wine.

"Sure thing." Daryl walked down the hall, staggering slightly. I chuckled to my self at his expense. When Daryl drank, he was one of the funniest people in the world. It was always entertaining to go out drinking with him.

Walking into our room, I saw my suitcase laying ontop of my cot. Daryl must have moved it there. I opened it and pulled out my sleeping wear, a tanktop and shorts. It was nothing fancy, but it was comfortable. I threw my towel to the side and started to dress. Before I had my shorts all of the way up, the door opened.

"Jesus, Air. Lock the door or warn me or somethin' when your changin'. I don't need to see that shit." It's not like Daryl hasn't seen me nude before. Back at the camp or even when we were in the woods, there wasn't much privacy.

I finished pulling up my shorts. "Turn around then, dumbass."

"Just tell me when you're done." I wasn't facing him anyway. He couldn't see anything. I slid my shirt over my head and turned to Daryl.

"Done." It took him a second to trust me, but he turned and shook his head. Without another word, he handed me a bottle filled to the top. I opened it and took a slow chug, enjoying every second of the deliciousness.

"Taste good?" Daryl asked with a smirk.

"Hell yeah." We shared a laugh. This was one of the most joyful nights the two of us had ever shared. I don't mean during the apocalypse. I mean our whole lives. We didn't have the greatest childhood or adulthood for that matter. It took the world ending for Daryl and I to have a moment of happiness.

With my bottle in hand, I walked towards the door. "Hey, I'm gonna go to the rec room and see if they got anythin' good to read."

For once Daryl didn't argue. He believed this place was safe enough for his sister to go wondering on her own. It was a relief knowing that I was protected, but could also have some independence. It also felt nice when Daryl made fun of me for it. "Read? Since when do ya have an intrest in readin'?"

"Since I have nothing else to do."

I made my way to the rec room where Carol and Lori were sitting with the kids. They were each grabbing books to read before bed. "Anythin' good?" I asked. Tonight, I didn't let my feelings for Lori get in the way. The night was just too perfect for even her to screw it up.

"There are. Enough to keep us busy for years." Carol looked down at the small stack on her lap.

It was getting late and this had been a long day. Carol and Lori took Sophia and Carl to bed, closing the door behind them. I was left by myself in the rec room, looking at books. Like Daryl joked about, I had never been much of a reader. I ended up staring at the titles on the bindings for ten minutes before I found something I heard of. I heard it sucked, but I still heard of it.

I cracked open the book and sat on one of the white armchairs. After reading a few pages, I drank some of my whiskey. They were right when they said this book sucked. I was going to need a bottle or two to get through this.

Suddenly, the crack of the door forced me to stop my reading and turn my head.