Nicole's heart was beating fast. The sense of hope and joy filled her when she realized they were safe. That they would all be safe. Her body tensed as she watched the monsters start getting to get to close for comfort.
"C'mon, let's get inside!" Shane yelled, waving in the group. His shotgun sat at his side, but his finger was on the trigger.
Everyone flooded inside. Nicole held her bat high, ready to start swinging if necessary. She saw Daryl to her left, warily aiming the gun toward the door. "Close the door. Watch for walkers," Dale told him.
"Hello?" Rick called out. The building echoed. Everyone was on edge. Then the sound of a gun cocked. Nicole whipped out her gun, aiming it toward the sound. Cheyanne had her head buried in her mother's side; Daryl slowly walked up beside her.
"Anybody infected?" A male voice shouted from the shadows.
"One of our group was. He didn't make it," Rick told him the truth.
The man showed himself. He held an assault rifle. The sight alone made Nicole tense and try to shield her little girl. "Why are you here? What do you want?" The man asked.
"A chance," Rick said.
"That's asking an awful lot these days,"
"I know."
The man glanced around the ragtag group of survivors. He took note at the diversity -- age, race, etc. It had been so long since he had even talked to another human being. "You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission," He told them.
Nicole took a quivered breath as she lowered her gun slowly. "We can do that," Rick said.
The man completely lowered his weapon and replied, "If you've got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed."
"Be right back," Daryl said as he nudged Nicole. Rick, Shane, Glenn, and Daryl all ran out to the cars to grab the bags they all had. Dale and T-Dog waited at the doors for them.
"Are we safe, mama?" Nicole heard Cheyanne ask from below. Nicole didn't say anything. She just nodded and waited in an antsy manner for the men to get back.
The group of four all ran back inside and Dale and T shut the doors. Daryl handed Nicole her backpack. She swung it on as the doctor man swiped a card and told someone to seal the entrance and cut the power.
Nicole watched as the shutters closed. She liked the security but she didn't like the idea of being locked inside of this place. If something was to happen, it would be horrible to get out of.
Rick introduced himself and the man returned it. "Dr. Edwin Jenner."
"Let's head down," Dr. Jenner said.
Rick began introducing everyone to him. The Doctor met the tired eyes of each survivor as Rick did so. The reached an elevator and piled in. Nicole was all but pressed against the wall beside Daryl, who held his shotgun close to her face.
"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl asked as he observed the man. Nicole knew that he didn't really trust him. Hell, she didn't either, but she took the consideration that he let them in.
"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself," Dr. Jenner replied. He glanced around the group. He noticed the timid and uncertainty plastered on their faces. "But you look harmless enough," He said before looking down to Carl. "Except you. I'll have to keep my eye on you."
Carl nervously looked over to Cheyanne. She wanted to laugh at his face.
The elevator dinged and everyone flooded out. They followed the doctor, passing rooms upon rooms. Nicole noticed the thickness of the air they were breathing. She realized that they were underground.
"Are we underground?" Carol asked, grabbing Sophia's hand.
"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asked.
"A little," Carol meekly replied.
"Try not to think about it," he told her. Nicole scoffed. That's just gonna make her think about it more. Nicole knew that the comparison in her head was an exaggeration but telling Carol to not think about her claustrophobia was like telling a person with cancer to stop dying.
The group reached a big room and Jenner spoke up, "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." A ring of lights turned on. Nicole turned to Daryl with a curious look. He shrugged and nudged her to keep going. "Welcome to Zone 5."
"Where is everybody?" Rick asked as he walked toward the Doctor. "The other doctors, the staff?"
"I'm it. It's just me here," Jenner said.
"Jesus Christ," Nicole murmured under her breath.
"What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?" Lori asked.
"Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them welcome,"
"Hello, guests. Welcome."
Nicole let out a quiet sigh and raked her hand through her hair. "I'm all that's left. I'm sorry," Jenner apologized.
Jenner started to walk away. "Let's get these blood tests done," he called out as he continued to walk. The group glanced to each other before nervously following the lone man.
Dr. Jenner set supplies on a table and slipped on some gloves. The group walked over. "Who's going first?"
Rick offered to go. Then one by one everyone had done it but Nicole, Cheyanne, and Andrea. Nicole walked over and sat down after Daryl got up. He put his hand on her shoulder as he moved around her to stand beside the wall.
Jenner prepped a new needle. Nicole sighed as she laid her left arm down in front of him. He saw the small needle scars in on the crook of her arm. He also noticed the faded scar that ran up her forearm. He felt bad for her as he put the needle into her arm. She cringed as she watched the blood gush into the small tube. When it was full, he uttered out a sorry to the girl.
Nicole knew he saw them -- the scars. She hated them every day. She wished that they would disappear. With a nod, Nicole shakily stood up. "You good, Nikki?" Glenn asked from the wall. He was ready to come and help his friend.
"I'm fine, peach," she replied as Cheyanne sat down. Chey shook with fear. "You got this," Nicole soothed.
"I know. I just hate needles," Chey whispered. She felt a pinch in her arm and a tear threatened to come out.
"All done," Jenner said as he pulled the needle from the girl's arm. Nicole and Cheyanne made their way back over to the wall and stood beside Daryl. Andrea then sat down and waited for the man to get it over with.
Once it was in, she spoke her mind. "What's the point? If we were infected we would all be running a fever."
Nicole sighed, leaning her head back on the wall. "I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me at least be thorough."
Daryl and Nikki's eyes met. Neither knew how they truly felt about this. Nicole heard the syringe click and she returned her attention to Andrea. Andrea stood up and a wave of dizziness hit her. "You okay?" Jenner asked.
"She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have," Jacqui told him.
Jenner cocked his head slightly. "I think I can fix that," he announced. Everyone perked up. Jenner gathered up the blood-filled test tubes. "Follow me."
Nicole glanced down her little girl. She had a huge grin on her face. Cheyanne was excited about getting something to eat. "C'mon," Nicole ushered the little girl to follow the group.
Daryl watched as Nicole nudged her daughter. She was so gentle with her. He noticed the small things she did. The way she ruffled Cheyanne's hair when she walked up behind her. The way Nicole played with it to calm both of them down. He noticed how Nicole almost always had a hand on Cheyanne's body; it was like she was scared someone would take her away.
Daryl walked beside Nicole. Jenner showed them to the kitchen. "You all help yourselves," Jenner said as he walked away to the lab with the samples.
With permission, everyone dug out some food and began cooking it. Nicole searched the cupboards. She opened up one and smirked in awe. "Hey guys," She announced, before grabbing a bottle of wine. "Lookie here." She showed the rest of them. Everyone cheered and some came to get their own bottle.
Everyone sat down at the table and began devouring their food. The adults started to drink and get tipsy. Nicole hadn't been drunk for nine years. She hadn't drunk since her twenty-first birthday -- a life-changing night. After Nicole sobered up and moved next door to the Grimes', she had had a couple of beers every now and then. But it was never enough to get her drunk off the wagon.
Nicole wanted to get shitfaced. After all the hell that she had experienced, she wanted to forget. Even if the consequences would hurt massively. One glass after another she swallowed the bitter taste. Nicole didn't notice Jenner walk back in and sit down.
Dale started to refill peoples glasses. "Ya know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner," Dale told Lori.
"And in France," Nicole chimed in.
"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then," Lori said before drinking some wine.
"What's it gonna hurt, Lori?" Nicole quirked a brow to her best friend. Lori shrugged and lifted her hand from Carl's cup. Dale poured some in.
"Nicole?" he gestured to Cheyanne. Nicole looked down at her. She nodded vigorously. Nicole smirked and gave Dale a nod. He poured some into Chey's cup.
"Together?" Carl asked, looking to his friend.
Chey nodded, "Together."
The two took a sip from the glass. Carl detested the bitter taste while Chey downed it all in one go. Everyone laughed at the two's opposing reactions. "Atta girl," Nikki laughed, kissing the top of her daughter's head.
Nicole glanced up. Her eyes met Daryl's brooding ones. She shot down the eye contact and looked away from him. "Maybe, you should stick to the soda pop there bud," Shane told Carl.
"Not you, Glenn," Daryl called him out. Nicole glanced over to her Korean friend, who was shocked by Daryl's call. Daryl came around and filled up Nicole's cup. "Keep drinking, little man. I wanna see how red your face can get," He teased.
Nicole laughed and gently touched Daryl's arm in thanks. Nicole took a drink of the alcohol as Rick tapped on his glass with a knife. He stood up and started to talk, "It seems to me that we haven't thanked out host properly."
"He is more than just our host," T-Dog slurred as he raised his glass of wine.
"Hear hear!" the group cheered.
"Here's to you, Doc. Booyah!" Daryl cheered, raising his entire bottle up. Everyone cheered after Daryl and clinked glasses.
Everything was perfect. People laughing and cheering. They felt safe and at peace. That, of course, all came to an end when Shane had to be a Debbie Downer.
"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, Doc?" Shane asked. The room went silent.
"Really, Shane? You have to do this right now?" Nicole snapped out to the man. Shane's dark brown eyes met hers. He ignored her and continued.
"All the -- all the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?" he asked.
"We're celebrating, Shane," Rick tried to shoot him down. "Don't do this now."
Nicole scoffed and took another drink of wine. Of course, Shane would have to ruin this moment. "Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move -- supposed to find all of the answers. Instead we-- we found him," Shane said as he pointed to Dr. Jenner. "Found one man. Why?"
Nicole was about to say something, but Dr. Jenner started to talk. "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 didn't sound convinced.
"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They," Jenner paused, "opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."
"I'm sorry you had to see that, Dr. Jenner," Cheyanne piped up. He glanced over to the little girl, giving her a subtle nod.
"You didn't leave. Why?" Andrea asked.
Jenner sighed. "I just kept working, hoping to do some good."
Glenn slowly walked over in front of Shane, "You are such a buzzkill, man."
Glenn couldn't have been more right. The lively atmosphere got shut down. No one talked. It was just the sound of people's eating utensils scraping off the remnants of food. Nicole finished her glass of wine and her food. She got up and walked over to the cupboard. She pulled out another bottle, popping it and began drinking from the top.
When everyone was finished, Dr. Jenner stood up. "I'll show you to your rooms."
The group went over and grabbed hold of their things and followed the man. "Most of the facility is powered down including housing, so you'll have to make do here," Jenner explained. "Couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like."
Nicole and Daryl shared a glance as they walked down the hallway. "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. Same applies-- if you shower, go easy on the hot water," he finished his speech and walked away.
Glenn turned around with a gigantic smile on his face, "Hot water?"
"That's what the man said," T-Dog grinned before everyone started to separate into different rooms.
Nicole and Cheyanne went into a room and Daryl went into the room across it. Nicole sent him a smile, before entering the room. Nicole grinned at the sight of a couch. She never thought she'd sleep on one again. "Chey, go take your shower, honey. Mama's gonna lay here a bit."
The little girl chirped happily and grabbed her spare clothes. She then made a mad dash into the bathroom. Nicole collapsed on the soft cushions of the couch. She laughed and turned to lay on her back. She put her bottle to her lips and took a few chugs.
Nicole almost fell asleep when Chey wandered out. Nikki jumped up and grabbed her clothes. She went into the bathroom and eagerly stripped. She turned on the water and waited for it to warm. When it did, she stepped inside. A grin crossed her face as the warm water sprayed down her frame. She savored the wonderful feeling.
Nicole watched at the layers of dirt and blood dripped off of her when she started to wash with soap. She loved the feeling of being clean. When she tried to wash her back, she remembered how big of a pain that was. It was in that moment when her drunken thoughts wandered to wanting someone in the shower with her. At that moment, she wanted someone to take her and pin her against the wall. At that moment, she didn't want to be alone. She wanted someone. For a second, she couldn't think of who. Then it hit her like a truck.
Nicole blushed at the thought of being in the same small vicinity as her redneck friend. She couldn't help but think about the things he could do to her in the dark. Nicole tried to shake those thoughts away as she scrubbed her hair. When she finished, she stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. She dried herself off and pulled on half of her clean set of clothes -- a white t-shirt and undergarments. She'd wait until morning to put on her jeans.
She walked out of the bathroom with her belongings. She saw the steam follow her out. Nicole didn't see Cheyanne in the room. She sighed and dropped her backpack onto the ground. Nicole knelt down and then dumped out the things inside of it.
She didn't realize what she had inside of there. There were some pads and some hair ties. There were a few pictures of her and her family at the bottom. There was even a copy of Lord of the Flies in there. Nicole sighed, grabbed a hair tie, and neatly stuffed her things back in there. She also made sure to fold her dirty clothes and put them inside. Nicole grabbed her pocket knife and walked over to the small closet. She pulled out three pillows and blankets. Nicole made her way back over to the couch and set up a makeshift bed for Cheyanne there. She then laid down a blanket on the ground and put two pillows on top of it. She dropped the last folded blanket at the bottom.
Nicole shoved her knife under the bottom pillow. When she was satisfied with her work, Nicole grabbed her bottle of wine and made her way to the Rec room, where she assumed Cheyanne was.
When she walked in, she saw Carl and Sophia playing a game of checkers. Chey making little braids in Sophia's short hair. It was cute. "Hey, munchkin," Nikki slurred and to a whisk from her bottle.
"Hey, mama," Chey replied, nonchalantly.
Nicole made her way over to the couch and plopped down beside her daughter. "Hi Carol," she greeted the older woman.
Carol giggled, "Hi Nikki."
Chey tied a little rubber band around one of the braids in Sophia's hair. She turned to her mom. "Mama, can I braid your hair?"
Nicole chuckled and nodded. She slid down next to Sophia and Cheyanne clambered over and started braiding her mother's hair. The little girl teemed with joy. She missed this sense of normalcy.
"Sophia," Nicole whispered. Sophia looked over to the older woman. "You can get a double jump if you move that one," Nicole whispered again, pointing to one of her black chips.
"Not fair, Nikki!" Carl complained.
"Life's not fair, sport," Nicole challenged. Carl groaned when Sophia did the move. Nicole fist-bumped the little girl.
"Mama, can I see your hair tie?" Chey asked.
Nicole nodded and slipped off the tie and handed it to her daughter. Chey quickly tied it and moved it to the left side. "Thanks, sweetheart," she said.
"Hey, mom," Sophia piped up and turned around to her mother. Nicole began maneuvering herself back up onto the couch. "Can Chey spend the night with us?"
Carol looked shocked and then grinned. Sophia never asked that before. "Well, I mean if it's all right with Nicole."
Nicole fixed her gaze on Cheyanne, who had pleading eyes. "All right, fine," she gave in. "But, if you give Mrs. Carol any trouble, I give her permission to send to our room."
The two girls squealed to each other.
It got quiet. Nicole got up and grabbed a book that piqued her interest. It was a book called Tomorrow, When the War Began. Nicole started reading it as she drank. Lori came in with a huge grin on her face, "Any good books?"
"Definitely." Nicole waved the book up. She was actually pretty invested in it.
"It's enough to keep us busy for years," Carol said to Lori. "All right, c'mon kids. Bedtime." The group of children got up and Nicole followed in suit.
"Baby, go say your prayers. I'm gonna browse a bit," Lori told her son.
"I'll be back in a second, Lori. I gotta pee," Nicole said, placing her book on the couch. She took a swig of her bottle and made her way out of the Rec room. Nicole stumbled into her room's bathroom and did her business. After she finished, she finished drinking the last bit of her alcohol and made her way back to her best friend and her book.
Nicole stumbled as she went back down the hall. At that moment, she realized she was absolutely wasted. Nicole heard a door slam but didn't think much of it. She heard muffled yelling from afar and made her way to it. The rec room door was closed.
"Get off of me!" Nicole heard Lori plead. Nicole immediately grabbed the door handle and opened it. She saw her best friend pinned against the pool table by Shane. Without thinking, Nicole grabbed him by his hair and yanked. When he was off, she swung and her fist landed right on his left eye.
Nicole backed up, shielding Lori. "I suggest that you walk away before you end up with other things bruised," Nicole threatened. Shane looked stunned by what he had just done. He stood there for a second, watching Nicole protect Lori. He turned around and stormed out.
Within an instant, Nicole turned around and embraced Lori into a hug. Lori sobbed into her best friend's shoulder. Neither wanted to think about what would have happened if Nicole hadn't been there.
i just wanted to say thank you for reading this story when there are so many better ones out there. so many more people have better storys out there and yet you guys choose to read mine. so, thank you. to each and every one of you for supporting this book and reading it. it means a lot :) i love you all. remember to be safe and don't do drugs. kiss you parents goodnight and tell them you love them. i hope that y'all have an amazing rest of your day/night and a great week. i shall see you guys on friday! peaceeeeeee -erin