Opening the door discreetly, I pulled my night vision goggles out of my bag and pulled them over my head before taking both my knives into my fists.
Okay 6 walkers to the right, 9 to the left heading past. If we move along the side of the building and go behind those sandbags halfway we should be able to make it past without drawing attention to ourselves.
I motioned for them to follow, staying low as I slipped out. Keeping to the side of the building, I stopped behind a wall and peeked around making sure the coast was clear.
I pulled the goggles off and handed them to Glenn just behind me as I glanced back. I pointed towards the sandbags 10 yards from us. He nodded and made the sprint, ducking behind them and looked around with the goggles.
He gave a thumbs up and I sent Daryl, Shane, and Rick next before going myself.
Glenn handed the goggles to Rick as soon as I got there and he looked towards the cars before handing them back to me.
"Eve, think you and Daryl can handle the one by the rear truck?"
I looked the goggles and nodded.
"Good. Only grab what you can carry. Eve, Daryl, and Glenn go to the truck and the van, Shane and I will take the Cherokee and the RV."
We split into two teams and on my signal, ran for the cars.
I went straight for the walker next to the Cherokee's bumper; spilling walker blood from the back of it's skull all down my sleeve, while Glenn and Daryl went for the truck. I carefully set the body on the ground, minimizing as much noise as I could and covered Glenn while he dug through the van.
Daryl was in and out of the truck in a matter of seconds and keeping guard with me. Not surprising considering all that wasn't much in there in the first place.
Glenn closed the van door a bit louder than I would've liked but it didn't look like anything heard us and we moved around the Cherokee to the RV without a hitch.
Glenn covered Shane while he dug through the Cherokee, and Daryl watched, while I ducked inside the RV and helped Rick grabbed everything we could and shove it in bags.
"That's everything" Rick muttered as we sealed the bags up. I heard Daryl's low, brief warning whistle and secured the large bags to my person as I came out.
Daryl pulled us both around the front of the RV, to avoid walker eyes and we crept along the back, meeting up with Shane and Glenn behind the Cherokee.
I peered over the hood across the distance back to the building through my goggles and clicked my tongue.
Damn, we're blocked.
I scanned around but it was no use. There's too many for just us five and guns aren't an option.
Shit…
"What's it look like?" Rick questioned, no doubt getting restless.
We need a distraction.
I passed the goggles to Rick as I looked around for anything we could use but there wasn't much more than rocks, a few pieces of broken glass and some litter.
"Oh Christ" Rick passed the goggles to Daryl who took a brief look before passing them to Shane and moving around Rick to crouch next me.
"What are we gonna do, we can't get past that without being seen" I glanced at Glenn who now had the goggles.
I might be able to use the glass, maybe throw one of those half bottles, draw them away with the shatter. But that won't draw the ones closer to the building. At the most they'll be looking away.
How do we get them to move? We can't risk killing them, the others will be on us in seconds if we try that. It'll draw too much attention if we try to kill them. Even stealthily.
We can't just leg it past, not with all this extra weight.
"You got a plan?" Daryl grumbled, tapping my elbow with his.
I glanced at him, long enough to let him know I was thinking.
"What're you thinkin?"Rick looked at me. Wow, never thought I'd see the day when I'm the one with the plan over you, Officer.
"Talk to us Eve" Shane got impatient, watching me look around.
Half-baked plan is better than no plan. I reached for one of the bottles and felt a shift in my jacket pocket as I picked up the bottle.
What have I—...I pat my jacket pocket. Oh that's brilliant.
Thank you convenience store.
I dipped into my pocket pulling out the shiny lighter I'd snagged, and rounded up some flammable street trash. A flattened coffee cup, half a torn burger wrapper, a few pieces of paper, and moved back behind the bulk of the car so the light wouldn't be seen before I wanted it to be.
I reshaped the cup to the point where it could stand upright on it's own and balled up the wrapper with the little shreds of paper, stuffing it all inside.
"What're you doing?" Glenn asked, while the four watched me work.
I pointed back towards the van and got them moving back while I lit the wrapper inside the cup and carefully placed it out in front of the where it would be seen between the gap of the RV and Cherokee.
I moved quick in getting back to the van and grabbed a handful of gravel on my way; stopping long enough to chuck it at the RV.
The rocks scattered over the Cherokee, clattering against the metal and glass of the cars, and I moved around the edge of the van next to Daryl.
We watched as the walkers moved out of our path towards the burning cup, until Daryl was confident we were clear, and motioned for us to move.
We legged it back to the sandbags, and instead of stopping this time, we ran straight for the CDC doors.
The second we made it back inside, T-Dog and Dale closed the doors behind us and the shutters began their descent over the glass doors.
I panted, letting my heart rate drop back to normal as I handed off the bags to their respective owners.
"Rick Grimes." Rick outstretched his hand towards the man who had let us in.
"Dr. Edwin Jenner" Jenner looked at his hand but ultimately didn't take it.
Steel doors slid open behind Jenner and everyone packed into a large elevator like sardines. As if that wasn't bad enough, as soon as the doors closed, it started going down; Much to my dislike.
Breathe, just breathe. We're okay. We're fine.
You are not in a steel box hanging over God knows how many stories of nothing but air.
Wide open fields, picture it. Ah, our first time skydiving. Think about that. The clouds, all the space, deafening rush of wind.
Inhale, exhale.
It was awkwardly silent for most of the ride down which I was perfectly alright with before Daryl broke my concentration.
"Doctors always go round packin' heat like that?"
"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself." Came Jenner's swift reply. He looked back over his shoulder between all our faces.
"But you look harmless enough."
His gaze fixed on Carl and my hand hovered over my knife, watching him like a predator.
"Except you. I'll have to keep my eye on you."
Carl spawned a Hell of cheeky grin for someone who was terrified and crying not ten minutes ago. But I'm grateful he bounces back so quick. It'll serve him well.
Exiting the elevator provided half a second's relief to my mind before it reminded me we were now God knows how many feet underground.
My mouth went dry, while I tried to keep my breathing under control.
Following Jenner down a large hallway, I tried to focus on anything except where I was; resulting in my becoming invested in observing how different people walked. Who had the biggest gate, who had the heaviest step, whose hips swung from side to side.
That is, until Carol decided the silence was worse.
"Are we underground?" Jesus, Carol. Don't remind me.
"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asked almost rhetorically.
"A little" she sourly admitted.
Wide open space. You're in a wide open space. Nothing but sky, beach, and ocean as far as the eye can see.
"Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." Jenner called.
Come on, you know how this works. Focus on your breathing. Good girl. Slow your breaths.
I relaxed my shoulders, picturing gravity weighing my arms down, and focused entirely on remembering my trip to the Caribbean. The warm sunlight, soothing breeze, perfect temperature. The smell of the sea spray and tropical flowers. The coconut lotion and grilled pineapple slices I got addicted to whilst I was there.
"Welcome to zone 5"
"Where is everybody? The other doctors— the staff?" Rick inquired
"I'm it. It's just me here." Jenner turned back to look at us.
"What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?" Lori asked.
"VI, say hello to our guests. Tell them…" Jenner paused, "Welcome"
"Hello guests. Welcome." a disembodied voice echoed throughout the -thankfully- large open room.
"I'm all that's left." Jenner summed up. "I'm sorry"
At least I feel a little less...confined, in this bigger room.