The elevator seemed to creak and groan in complaint as it slowly began it's decent. Though by sight it looked brand knew, the sounds it made gave Molly an incline that it hadn't been used for some time. It hummed continuously as every person who occupied the elevator seemed to be focusing on something or someone. Molly cleared her throat quietly, turning to smile at Jacob who was on her hip, looking around in slight awe.
"Doctors always go aroun' packing heat like tha'?" Daryl's voice filled the air, a hint of occusment in his voice as Molly turned to look at him before her eyes darted to the man who had introduced himself as Dr. Edwin Jenner.
The man in question had been the one to open the doors. He had also been the first person the group had met once everyone had been ushered into the building, a few of the men going back out to retrieve the bags. Jenner hadn't greeted the group, more concerned with if any of them were infected before he had declared that the only way he would allow them entry was if each and every one of them succumbed to a blood test.
"There were plenty left lying around." Jenner explained, sending a quick look over his shoulder at Daryl. "I familiarized myself." There was a moment of silence as Jenner turned to look over the group, his brows furrowing slightly. "But you look harmless enough... Except you." He added, smiling softly at Carl whose eyes widened ever so slightly. "I'll have to keep my eye on you."
Carl's face was instantly taken over by a smile as he looked up at his parent's, watching the pair of them smile back at him for a moment. It fell quiet once more as the lift grinded to a halt, Jenner moving out into the hallway almost as soon as the doors slid open.
Without a second's thought, the group filled out after him and began to follow him down the white hallway. Molly allowed the group to move out before her as she lowered Jacob to the ground. "No running off, alright?" She muttered quietly as he nodded, reaching up to grip her hand as he looked around in wonder.
"Are we underground?" Carol's voice filled the air from in front of the pair as Molly looked up, not voicing her humour on the fact that it was obvious they were underground, considering they had just spend a good few minutes going down in the elevator.
"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asked.
Carol didn't reply straight away, looking worriedly round the hall as she gripped Sophia's hand tightly. "A little..."
"Try not to think about it." Jenner disregarded Carol, continuing down the hallway and through a set of double doors that were pushed open which leaded into another large room. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room."
Molly entered the large open room just as Jenner had finished speaking. She looked around with furrowed brows, trying to figure out just who Vi was. However, before her eyes landed on anyone else, the room seemed to hum, quickly followed by beeping sounds as every light slickered on.
Her brow's shot up rather than furrowed at the sight before them. A bunch of white, tall desks sat in co-ordinated spaces in the room, all vacant with not a single person, apart from them, in sight.
"Welcome to Zone 5." Said Jenner, making his way down the ramp and towards the cluster of desks.
Molly looked around the group for a moment, her eye's meeting Shanes who merely raised a brow at the lack of people. "Where is everybody?" Rick voiced the question that seemed to be on everyone's mind. "The other Doctors, the staff?"
Jenner released a dry chuckle, turning to raise a brow. "You're looking at it." He said as Rick and Shane followed the man down the ramp, the others deciding to stay back a little. "I'm it. It's just me here."
Lori shuffled on her feet from beside Molly before she called out, "What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?"
Molly let go of Jacob's hand when she felt him pulling away slightly, being sure to keep her eye on the boy as Jenner smiled sadly for a moment. "Vi," He called out loudly, the group looking on curiously. "Say hello to our guests. Tell them, welcome."
The air around them was silent for barely two seconds when a seemingly recorded voice sounded throughout, "Hello guests. Welcome."
"I'm all that's left... I'm sorry." Jenner apologised as the group fell silent once more.
Molly wasn't entirely sure why she didn't feel disappointed like everyone else seemed to look. Perhaps it was due to the reason that she had already prepared herself for the worse and the mere fact that Jenner was still here was somewhat of a shock for her. She had been all but sure that the CDC was down along with every single other place the country seemingly had to offer.
Molly winced as she moved to stand beside Daryl once more, holding the small cotton bud to her arm as her eyes fell on Jacob who was sat beside Daryl's legs with his colouring book out. "This isn't going to go so well, just a warning." Molly mumbled as she kneeled down to her son and smiled softly. "Hey... Listen, Jake... The nice Doctor needs to take some of your blood so that he can look at it under a special device." She told him quietly, ignoring everyone around her as Jacob looked up at her, his brows furrowed. "I promise it doesn't hurt, it's just a small scratch."
"I dun't want him to have none of my blood." Jacob told her, lowering his colouring pencil to the ground as he gave Molly his undivided attention. "He's got his own. Mine don't need takin' cause I is not sick." He was quick to tell her, adamant on winning.
Molly chewed on her inner cheek for a moment, sighing as she brushed a few strands of hair from her face. "I've just had mine taken and Daryl had his done first." She added, watching as Jacob looked up at the man in question as if to ask if he actually did. Daryl merely nodded at the boy, looking around to make sure the other's were occupied before he rested his crossbow against the wall and kneeled down.
"Ya' like bikes, righ'?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper as Jacob nodded excitedly. "Yeh'? Well, ta' be able to ride one, ya' 'ave to let the doctor take ya' blood." He told him, feeling stupid for lying to the boy and knew that if he had his own way, he wouldn't have let the doctor poke him with needle's either. "Ya' dun't 'ave ta' look. It'll be over before ya' really know it's 'appened."
Jacob considered what Daryl had said for a moment, looking behind him at Jenner who was taking Carl's blood before he turned back to his parent's looking between them while he fiddled with his jacket. "Will you's come with me?" He whispered out, shocking Molly slightly as she saw him looking at Daryl who turned to Molly, his own eyes portraying the shock he was feeling while his face remained semi-blank.
Molly nodded, sending him a smile as she tried to keep the feeling's at bay. She was by no means upset, if anything, she was ecstatic that the pair were getting on. "Alrigh'." Daryl muttered, pushing himself to his feet and holding his hand out to help Jacob up. Molly covered her mouth with her hand as she allowed the smile to take refugee on her face, watching the two Dixon's. Daryl ignored the looks as he cleared his throat and took a seat upon Jenner's instructions and helped Jacob up to sit on his lap.
Just as Daryl had said, the test's took little to no time at all and in record time, Jacob was running over, his small shoes slapping against the ground as he held his arm out, showing of the colourful plaster he now wore over the tiny incision.
Once everyone's blood had been taken, Jenner made a motion for the group to follow after him a he set off down a set of doors to the left of the room. Molly allowed the group to walk before her as she followed after, Jacob beside her as he took in the corridor in slight interest. "Why did he need our blood, Ma'?"
Molly eyed the top of her sons head for a moment, wondering herself why he needed their blood when it was obvious that none of them had been infected. "That's a very good question... I think the Doctor wants to do some tests which involves our blood."
Jacob made a noise as he nodded, reaching up to grab Molly's hand. "Mine gonna ride now 'cause daddy says so." He told her, trying to look around the group in search of Daryl. "Ma' we needs juice."
"I'm sure we'll get something to drink soon, Jake." Molly told him as she entered the room after the others to find it full of kitchen supplies. She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity as she realised that the large room she had entered was in fact, a kitchen. "Scavengers." She mumbled under her breath when she noticed most of the group raiding the fridge and cupboards.
Hearing a snort to her right, Molly turned to raise an eyebrow at Daryl who was leaning against the wall, crossbow slung of his shoulder still. "Heard that." He muttered, his eyes moving to take in Jacob's form who was looking back up at him with a smile.
Being much more graceful and politer than the rest of the group, Molly grabbed herself and Jacob something to eat and drink before she took a seat at the end of the large table, preferring not to mingle with the others and rather, enjoy the company of her son.
"Ma', can you cut?" Jacob broke Molly from her daze as he pushed his plate out and crossed his legs on the wooden chair he was sitting on.
Molly smiled down at her son as she slid the plate in front of her and picked up her cutlery. The chatter in the room began to pick up as everyone seemed to lose any tensions they once had. Thanking Dale when he set a glass of wine down in front of her, Molly slid the plate of cut up food back to Jacob who was quick to dig in.
Molly eyed her own plate as she pulled it towards her and began to cut half the food up on the plate. She turned slightly as she lifted the plate up and went to push half the contents onto her sons plate. However, before she had a chance to do so, she froze as she noticed Daryl standing behind Jacob's chair and pushing half his own food onto the boys plate. "Eat." He muttered quietly, nodding towards her plate.
"You know..." Dale spoke up over the chatter, pouring out some wine in a small glass. "In Italy," He added, pushing the glass towards Lori and Carl. "Children have a little bit of wine with dinner... Oh, and in France!"
Molly watched as Lori was quick to laugh and shake her head, her hand going over the glass just as Carl was eagerly about to pick it up. "Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then." Molly shook her head slightly, wondering how it was that everyone seemed to just forget about the world above them.
"What's it gonna hurt?" Rick chuckled slightly, the question being directed at Lori who seemed to falter slightly. "Come on." He eagerly tried to persuade the women.
Molly shook her head slightly as she blew out a breath of air. She turned to look down at Jacob who was drinking orange juice from a plastic cup as he bounced slightly in his seat. She smiled softly, looking up when a round of thanks was given to Jenner who looked as though he'd rather be anywhere else at that point in time.
"So," Shane spoke up, swirling the contents of his glass around. "When are you gonna tell us what happened here, Doc? All the other Doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"
"We're celebrating, Shane." Rick hissed out, his face hard as he sent his friend a look. "Don't need to do this now."
"Wow, wow, wait a second... This is why we're here , right?" Shane let a small laugh fall from his lips before he continued on once more. "This was your move, supposed to find all the answers. Instead... We found him, one mad. Why?"
Though she didn't want to draw attention to herself, Molly couldn't help but agree with Shane. They had travelled to the C.D.C for a reason and it certainly wasn't to celebrate. "He does have a point." She spoke up, not once taking her eyes away from Jacob and ignoring the obvious looks she was getting.
"Well..." Jenner began after a few moments, trying to put his words into sentences. "When things god bad, a lot of people just left and went off to be with their families... And when things got worse, when the military Cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." He breathed slightly, looking off into space as if picturing a scene. "Many couldn't face walking out the door. They..." He eyed Jacob and Carl for a moment before he continued. "Opted out. There was a rash of suicides… That was a bad time."
"You didn't leave." Andrew stated the obvious. "Why?"
"I just kept working." He answered. "Hoping to do some sort of good."