Chapter Thirty-Four: TS-19 (pt1)
Rick was the first to get into gear as he raised his gun and slowly started walking towards the opened doors. Shane snapped a quick command, "Daryl watch the rear!" as the rest of them came to their senses and began following after the sheriff.
Marie wasted no time -there were walkers appearing out of shadows, slowly lumbering towards the blinding unnatural light like moths to a flame- she grabbed Leilani's hand tightly in her own, maneuvered them around the downed bodies once more and led the six-year-old inside the building behind Glenn.
"Hello?" Rick called out with his gun raised in front of him, "Hello?" his voice echoed across the wide empty room.
"Close those doors. Watch for walkers." Dale instructed as she passed by him, he'd taken point at the inner door. Daryl didn't respond but he did grunt in agreement. Merle gestured for Marie to get in front of him with a jerk of his head, she only nodded before humming nervously under her breath and lightly tugging a listless Leilani with her. Iolani's weak cries thankfully tapered off as she lightly bounced him, and the only sounds coming from all the other kids were sniffles and the occasional choked sob echoed around in the large empty reception hall. The inside of the CDC was so big, and frankly clean - sterile and white without a spec of red - compared to the disaster outside. It was frankly jarring.
"Hello?" Rick called out again only for the loud sound of a gun being loaded to reverberate back down to them. Chills ran down her spine. All of the men with a weapon cocked their guns towards the sound at their right. Marie could barely make out the shadowed figure of an unknown man holding a rifle standing at an unlighted doorway.
"Anybody infected?" the stranger called out.
Marie immediately pushed Leilani behind her as Glenn stood his ground in front of her, all his muscles tensed as he faced the threat. The Dixons were quick to form a protective bubble around her before Merle unlatched Ailani - the toddler let out a scared cry before settling - from his shirt and into her arms in exchange for the bow in her hand. Despite the added weight in her arms and the awkward hold she had on the toddler with the infant strapped to her chest, Marie felt a million times better with all of her charges in her arms as the men prepared to protect them.
-Even if a small part of her chafed at needing to be protected when she was fully capable of it on her own... but, her feelings on the matter were inconsequential in the long run, because Marie was slowly starting to accept that, even in her own mind, her the children came first-
"One of our group was." Rick admitted - why would he say that, Marie barely held back from letting out an outraged shriek - almost immediately, "He didn't make it."
The stranger slowly moved out of the shadows, never lowering his weapon, no one else did either. "Why are you here? What do you want?"
"A chance." Rick stated bluntly.
The stranger had moved directly under a lightbulb, the artificial light bathed his pale figure and created almost menacing shadows on his face, though it practically highlighted the man's very pale blonde hair, "That's asking an awful lot these days."
"I know." Rick admitted. The room fell into silence, only the occasional sniffles coming from Leilani as the young Hawaiian buried her face into Marie's leg. The stranger seemed to be surveying the entire group, taking in their fatigued expressions and fear with a blank look.
"You all submit to a blood test." the stranger spoke up after a moment, "That's the price of admission."
"We can do that." Rick agreed immediately.
The other man finally let the nozzle of his gun point towards the floor before gesturing at the door they'd just come in from, "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed."
The group burst into motion. Before any of the Dixons or her brother could join the fray back to the cars to grab more stuff she pulled them to the side. "Wait. Don't grab too much, just an overnight bag." she whispered.
"What? Why?" Glenn mumbled.
Marie eyes him for a moment before hissing, "Who knows how long this building is going to be operational, we can't be held back by a buttload of shit if we need to suddenly leave. Besides, I think we should be more concentrated on getting things out of here than in."
"Chinadoll's righ'." Merle grunted after a moment, "CDC's supposed ta 'ave safeguards in case somethin' happens. This place don' got any a the fancy solar panels like yer van does, gotta be runnin' on propane. Can' imagine it's gonna last much longer if it's been like this since th' beginning."
"Fine, let's jus' grab a bag wit' a change a clothes then." Daryl grunted before looking at Marie seriously, "Wait 'ere with the kids. Ya need anythin' fr'm the van."
"No." she shook her head, "We have our overnight bags, hurry."
Once all three of them were out the doors, Marie decided to move away from the doors and closer to where Carol was standing with Sophia and the Morales children since both of their parents had run to their RV to grab things. It only took a few minutes before the others were back with their bags, Dale and T-Dog slammed shut the doors as Jenner swiped his card into a keycard.
"VI, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here." the benevolent stranger commanded. Marie could spy between the group of people standing between her and the door that the shutter once more came down outside with a clang. Even through the powerful and soundproof-looking glass door, Marie could hear the sounds of bodies banging against the shutters outside.
"Rick Grimes." the sheriff introduced himself as he stepped forward and offered his hand.
The stranger eyed the hand for a moment, "Dr. Edwin Jenner." before telling the group to follow him. The doctor led the group to a large elevator before telling them to get in. Despite being able to cram the entire group and bags inside, it was an extremely tight fit as Dr. Jenner entered, inserted his key card by the buttons and pressed one of the lower buttons before the doors slid shut.
"Doctors always go 'round packin' heat like that?" Daryl questioned as the elevator started descending. Merle snorted derisively under his breath at that.
Dr. Jenner turned his body to look at him, "There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself... But you look harmless enough." he stated as he eyed the rest of the group before his gaze landed on Carl and Louis who had gravitated to each other as the only little boys in the group just like the girls had, "Except for you two. I'll have to keep my eyes on you." making the boys shoot each other amused smiles.
There was something- something that set Marie on edge when she looked at Dr. Jenner. Still, she couldn't help but feel relieved when the elevator doors finally opened and the group started shuffling out behind the Doctor. Marie had been pressed into Daryl's side the entire way down, while her brother occasionally- accidentally shoved against her... which only made Marie lose her balance even more, since she was still carrying the youngest Māhoe children in her arms, and then lean against the archer even more. Honestly, if Marie was shoved into Daryl one more time she would scream.
It was a bit difficult to walk with Leilani practically clinging to her leg, but Marie couldn't blame the six-year-old for latching onto her for comfort as they walked down the long hallway. Daryl stopped Marie for a moment before perching Ailani on his hip since Merle and Glenn were holding onto all of their bags. She shot the younger Dixon a grateful smile before grabbing Leilani's hand and leading the oldest Māhoe behind the group.
"Are we underground?" she heard Carol suddenly ask nervously.
"Are you claustrophobic?" Dr. Jenner asked without turning around.
Marie could see Carol shrug her shoulders slightly, "A little."
Dr. Jenner looked back this time, though his brisk pace never failed, "Try not to think about it." -well, that was incredibly helpful- the doctor turned back around as he led them down a ramp to a dark room and called out, "VI, bring up the lights in the big room." Hums and beeps filled the air as the room was slowly illuminated revealing an empty atrium-like room. The ramp led down onto an elevated circle where there were white bo-like desks arranged in the same curved manner. "Welcome to Zone 5." Dr. Jenner said bluntly as he walked down the rest of the ramp without looking back.
"Where is everybody?" Rick questioned, "The other doctors, the staff?"
"I'm it." Dr. Jenner shrugged as he stood at the center of the desks, "It's just me here."
"What about the person you were speaking with? VI?" Lori asked.
Dr. Jenner eyed the ceiling, "VI, say 'hello' to our guests. Tell them... 'welcome'."
"Hello, guests. Welcome." the feminine computerized voice rang around them.
"I'm all that's left." Dr. Jenner stated once more before adding in a more sympathetic tone, "I'm sorry."
The doctor quickly led them to a side room off the atrium before pulling out the necessary supplies to draw blood from a cabinet. Rick was the first one to volunteer, Shane, Lori, Jacqui and T-Dog went next. Morales and his wife had to hold their tearful children on their laps when it came to their turn. Carl had handled getting his blood drawn much better, though, his eyes had gone glassy when the needle pierced his vein. Carol and Sophia had their blood drawn without much fuss, the little girl hadn't even flinched. Her brother had to look away when it was his turn, he'd never been so good with needles. While the Dixons went through the process without really blinking. After Dale finished getting his blood drawn Marie sighed morosely.
"Do the babies really need to get their blood drawn?" she asked nervously. Leilani had buried her face into Marie's side since she saw the first needle pierce the skin of Rick's arm and hadn't looked up since then.
Dr. Jenner nodded his head, "I'm sorry, but I'm already breaking a lot of rules letting you all in here..."
She nodded, "Fine, um, Glenn could you help me with-" Marie gestured to Leilani who had stiffened the moment she spoke up. Her brother nodded nervously as he lifted Leilani up into his arms. The six-year-old immediately began whining.
"No!" Leilani cried out as he sat down on the chair and held her firmly on his lap, "No! I don't- No!"
Marie rubbed the stray tears off the girl's face, "Hey it's okay, don't worry. I'm right here, it's gonna be okay."
Leilani's cries reached a new pitch when the doctor actually had the needle in the little girl's arm and began drawing the blood. The cries, of course, triggered Ailani and Iolani into tears themselves. The Māhoe toddler practically screeched the entire time Merle -who was fiercely glaring down Dr. Jenner- held her still so that the doctor could draw her blood. Marie couldn't help the fact that her own eyes filled with unshed tears when the doctor drew blood from her youngest charge, his wails hurt, and his face scrunched up in confused displeasure. The infant had not appreciated the process at all. Honestly, by the time it was her turn to get blood drawn, Marie just wanted to get it over with so that she could go back to comforting her the children. Andrea was the last of them to get her blood drawn.
The blonde seemed more than annoyed when she took her turn in the chair snarking about the whole procedure being pointless. Dr. Jenner only repeated what he'd told her earlier about being thorough. The moment he was done, Andrea quickly stood up though her legs almost immediately buckled underneath her.
"Are you okay?" the doctor asked in concern.
Jacqui, who had immediately stood up to help Andrea sit down, was the one who answered, "She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have."
Dr. Jenner was quiet for a moment, "Well, I can fix that."
Words 2149
(Hi everyone, super sorry for the delay. To be honest, this was a pretty difficult month for my family, in between the graduations, a number of our older relatives passed away in Venezuela because of COVID. The pandemic has really hit South America very badly, and the lack of medication [vaccines, and just things to help treat symptoms] is what's really killing people over there right now. My parents have been under a lot of stress and grieving, so I hadn't had time to really write before now...
This author's note is a bit of a bummer, LOL. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! For those of you in America, Happy Independence Day/Fourth of July!
-Even though I'm posting this a day early because I can't be trusted to not be free enough to post this tomorrow-
P.S. Has anyone seen the new Disney movie Luca? The animation was amazing... and it was so flipping cute!)
(CD819: Thank you! Recently I've read a couple of fanfics where Shane isn't a total asshole, so I'm a little softer to him right now than normal... and then I watch the corresponding episode and I get pissed all over again. LOL. Carol and Merle would be interesting together... but I'm really not a hundred percent sure over what the final pairings will be outside of my main couple... well and Glenn/Maggie because they are too cute together and Marie's going to enjoy teasing her brother. Oh, and Carol? That woman was a badass pretending to be a mouse for so long that she forgot she was a badass.)
(flawsome4ever: Thanks! This update took a while... sorry 'bout that, LOL. There were definetly some protective guy moments in this chapter... and some more to follow. *wink, wink* Awww, thank you! Marie is definitely one of my favorite original characters right now. She's been really fun to write.)
(acetwolf94: Thank you! There's a lil' present at the end of the replies. *wink, wink*)
(MADStar529: Thank you!)
(OldLonBird: LOL. Nope, they won't... but he did sort of get them in. They're all mostly in some mild shock right now. Yeah, Rick's not looking too rational anymore in the eyes of some group members. LOL. I can totally see Merle saying something about Rick's brain being scrambled. Very in character. The love triangle is going to paint Shane/Lori/Rick in a bad light... though mostly on the first two. You are reading my mind. *wink, wink* I like the idea of Morales and Merle bonding over being the "elders/leaders" of their families. I have a lot in store for our Fab Four.)
(Hi . Ruby: ;) Glad you enjoyed it!)
(NaRuKo-InuTaiSHo-XD: Glad you enjoyed it! The next update shouldn't take me anywhere near as long.)
(Hearteyesmf: LOL. Same. A subgroup is definitely forming. Who do you think is going to notice it first? Merle? Daryl? Marie? Glenn? LOL. The Fab Four is pretty self-involved, busy taking care of each other and planning to really pay much attention to the others... especially the ones that aren't annoyingly obstructive like Shane whose always butting into their lives. I think it'll be really funny when they realize that they're making decisions and other people are listening. Things with the Morales family will become more prominent in the next part of this series, but I'm excited to write Marie interacting with more characters!)
(RaphaeltheCowboy: LOL. You do not sound like an ass. Pretty on point and simple description of Marie. I like to imagine that even when Marie gets ticked off by someone, she reacts two ways: pushes it down [holds a secret grudge until they've redeemed themselves and acts in small petty ways if she can get away with it], or she outright says to their face what's bothered her. I have a soft spot for Merle, so I'm excited to see how everyone reacts to my Merle-headcanons. LOL...Honestly, as much as I love TWD, I never really did any research on how the actors got the roles they played so I never knew that they created Daryl for Norman... in a world without Daryl, Merle may have gotten a redemption arc... but I also could have seen him be turned into a villain [since he would have had no reason to even try reconciling with the quarry group without having his brother around or Merle forgiving them for leaving him on the roof]. Hope you enjoyed the update.)
(Wondy-SW: A reading marathon? My fic? I'm blushing, highest honor. Thank you for the wonderful review! I also love found family, and well I love children! They play a pretty big role in my life, so they also tend to play a part in my writing. [Betweenyou and me, I'm thinking about doing some editing on UNEXPECTED soon, there are some things that I'm not happy about with that fic before I start writing/updating it... but it will happen soon...] Your comment about Marie had me smiling so wide that my sister got concerned and thought I put something in her food. Creating a background story for Merle and Glenn were part of my goals for this fic, so I'm glad to see that some of my headcanons are well accepted. You are so freaking sweet, honestly, your whole review had me smiling like a loon. Thank you so much for reviewing, your comment made my freaking week.)
Here's a very silly/cracky short!
Jenner: The price of admission is a blood test.
Everyone: Yeah. Fair.
Merle & Daryl: *that little prick couldn' a even hurt shit*
Marie: Doc, do you really have to draw blood from Ion and Nani?
Merle & Daryl: *shit*
Glenn: Ion's barely a month old-
Jenner: Sorry but I have to draw blood from everyone. Even the infant.
Merle: *diediediediediediedie*
Daryl: *man's a fucking quack*
Merle: *just you wait 'till I get'chu alone*
Daryl: *what's a baby gonna have*
Merle: *gonna rip yer entrails out and choke ya wit' 'em*
Daryl: *I'ma stomp this bitch*
Jenner: *sweatdrops... when will these guys stop staring at me?- looks at Marie and does a spit-take*
Marie: *smiles at Jenner angelically as the fires of hell burn brightly in her eyes and shadows dance around her chair*
Jenner: *sweats nervously*
Glenn: *mouths* R U N