Jim woke the next morning feeling much better but Amy forced him to stay in the med bus with a detoxing Merle and a silent Andrea. She had no idea what crawled up her sister's ass but she hoped that she wasn't going to go all suicidal at the CDC. There were four kids that depended on her to get them out. The only reason she convinced herself to go was the thought of all those supplies getting blown up.
Shane was poleaxed when Daryl hopped in the humvee after putting his brother's bike on the matching trailer. Then Miranda agreed to drive Amy's truck with a little grin, leaving her husband with their very cranky children. Shane eventually decided to take Jim's truck, finally seeing the wisdom in Amy's madness. They were making excellent time until Dale's RV broke down only twenty minutes from the highway.
"You really should just trade it up." Amy commented, offhandedly letting all the kids out to stretch their legs. She kept the small ones in arms reach but the older two both had their bug out bags and weapons ready.
"I can't just leave it behind." Dale looked at his bus sadly, he began to lament all the plans his and his late wife had.
"Cool!" Carl exclaimed, seeing both Billy and Jamie had tactical knives on their belts as well as little pouches filled with pellets. The nine year old decided to show off by shooting out a window of a broken down car nearby.
"William." Amy stood over him, surrounded by all the small children with a menacing scowl. "What did I say about treating weapons as toys?"
"That…I would have to get through the apocalypse with a butter knife?" Billy stammered, his eyes swimming tears at the thought of his weapon being taken away.
"Exactly, give it to me and maybe I'll let you try again when we get to the CDC." Amy held out her hand. After Billy handed over his slingshot, he shuffled back to the RV despondently. Max whined at his feet before bounding off to Jamie.
"Maybe you shouldn't have given the boy a weapon to begin with." Carol muttered loud enough for the blonde to overhear.
"Worry about your own kid, Carol." Amy snapped peevishly, rolling her eyes at older woman.
"Amy." Lori sighed when she saw tears in the other mother's eyes. "She's grieving."
"Then let her focus on her grief and her daughter, not making pithy comments about others."
"God Lord, woman." Daryl muttered while he followed her brood back to her bus. "Don't you like anyone?"
"I like you." Amy blurted without thinking before squinting at his red ears. "I also like Michonne and my kids and sometimes my sister."
"You're a real piece of work, woman." Daryl snorted, looking away from her to the trees. "So, you think the CDC'll work out."
"Absolutely not." She snorted, shaking her head at the idea of actually living underground. "I'm thinking about how much we can get from the CDC. I know they had living quarters and everything set up, not to mention all the supplies they got from the military before they closed their doors on them."
"So, pack light." Daryl huffed a laugh before walking away with a swagger in his step.
Shane drove up with the back of the truck loaded down with gas cans and the exact hose that Dale needed. At Least they wouldn't have to worry about fuel for the moment. Amy and Michonne filled their beasts just before the failed trip to Atlanta so they had miles to go on their tanks alone. They both agreed that they would have to find some place with wells if they wanted to fill their water tanks again. Spending hours boiling water in the heat was absolutely exhausting. Although, it was October so the cold would be coming along soon.
The CDC looked much clearer than the last time they had come through. Another group must have scavenged for scraps, a tank was missing as well as all the heavy machine guns. It was a worrying thought and Amy quickly decided she couldn't wait to get out of the city. She didn't think Daryl ever reloaded the gun on the humvee. They would need to talk about that later.
Amy took the time to tie bandanas on all the children's faces and help them put on their nearly empty backpacks. Her own pack had a few spare duffels, along with reusable grocery bags just in case the CDC lacked luggage. Michonne helped Merle, Jim, and Andrea out of her bus before rushing over to take Andre securely in her body wrap. She also had spare gym bags, going along with the plan, they knew Miranda was prepared too. Last to come out was Max in his harness, with Jamie keeping hold of his leash.
"There's nobody here." T-Dog mutters after Daryl handed him an M4 with a suppressor. The hunter had thought ahead while they were waiting for Shane and had prepared suppressed weapon for all the adults.
"Amy said they closed the shutters on the military." Rick whispered urgently, ignoring the offered gun. Most of the adults followed Rick's example, walking right past Daryl.
"Thanks." Amy mutters, taking one for her and Michonne, keeping the children between them.
"Walkers!" Daryl hissed urgently, slamming the trunk of the humvee and ignoring his brother's weak protests that he needed a gun too. He just pushed Merle and Jim towards the children, to keep them safe.
Rick started screaming, drawing the dead near while Shane shouted at everyone else to be quiet. Amy paid them no attention, too busy trying to make sure none of the dead got close to them. Jamie and Billy were doing their damndest to be helpful with their slingshots, however their aim wasn't very good yet. Good things Amy made sure they had plenty of ammo.
"You're killing us!"
Edwin Jenner was creepy as fuck. The doctor spoke in a low, monotone voice with absolutely no life behind it. Even his clear eyes were dead, like they inconvenienced his own wake. After introductions were out of the way, he kept staring at Amy and Michonne like they owed him money. Everyone else was barely spared a glance, even the dog. It was a good thing that he was obviously unfamiliar with the sub machine gun in his hands or someone would have shot his weird ass.
"I know you." He muttered after Amy sat down to get her blood drawn, none of her kids were doing it unless she went first.
"Doubtful." Amy muttered, visibly discomforted by the man. "I'm from North Carolina."
"You and your friend." Edwin's unblinking eyes flickered over to Michonne who stood in front of all their kids protectively, one wrong move away from grabbing her katana. "You came for the guns."
"And the food, gear, medical supplies, and anything else they couldn't use anymore." She said nonchalantly when he finally stabbed her with the needle.
"More people came after. They were very mad that there wasn't more. Spent hours banging on the doors…most of them are dead now."
"Okay…Do you think you can get me their blood types and maybe run an allergy test on the kids?" Amy wanted to change the subject desperately and if it got her some life saving information for her children? Bonus.
"They're not yours?" Curiosity, the first emotion that leaked into his person the entire time they had been there.
"They are now."
"How did you get them?" His eyes flickered over the children crowding around Michonne uncomfortably, it wasn't like they couldn't hear him, they all did. He just wasn't used to people being able to hear him anymore.
"Our moms and dads died." Billy said bluntly, rushing forward to stand beside the blonde. "Now we have Amy."
"Yes, after this we can run an allergy panel and catch up on inoculations." Edwin whispered sadly, beginning on the children who sat in Amy's lap, even Jamie. "I'll also need to take a look at those two gentlemen later."
Last to get her blood drawn was Andea who swooned on her feet when she stood up, leaning heavily against Jaqi. Amy looked at all the adults in confusion when they talked about not eating for days. It made no sense, the supply tent had plenty of food so did Dale's RV. If that wasn't enough there were crates of MREs in the humvee. Miranda shrugged her shoulders, just as confused since she cleared out the supply tent just before they left.
Jenner led them all to the pantry before bringing Michonne, Amy, and Miranda back to a lab. He asked a lot of questions that the two other women answered easily but Amy didn't even know the youngest two children's last name. It took a while with only Louis and Andre getting a couple shots before he got started on Amy's kids. Jamie and Billy were both up to date for immunizations since they were in school. The younger two went through the ringer getting caught up and Braden was not happy. Emma wasn't any better having to do a scratch test.
Luckily it appeared they were good to go in under an hour where everyone else was already eating. Michonne, Daryl, Merle, and Miranda were all sober giving Amy an acknowledging nod when she herded her kids into seats. Everyone else appeared heavy in their cups, laughing as Carl spit out his little sip of wine. Sofia looked up hopefully at her mother but looked down at her plate before she could ask.
"It occurs to me that we haven't properly thanked our host!" Rick stood up a little unsteady, raising his glass to the despondent doctor. Jenner tried to wave him off but everyone raised their glasses too.
"He's more than our host!"
"Here here!"
"Booh-yah!" Daryl, Michonne, and Amy shouted at once, raising their full glasses with smiles.
"Booh-YAh!"
"When the are you gonna tell us what the hell is going on here, Doc?" Shane demanded, his mood dark. "All the other doctors are supposed to be here, figuring this thing out. Yet, you're the only one here."
"Shane, we're supposed to be celebrating!" Rick said reproachfully, cutting his eyes at his best friend.
"This is why we're here, right? To find out answers? This was your move! Instead we found one man, man!" Shane laughs incredulously in the face of everyone looking at him like the bad guy, he points accusingly at Jenner. "We got one man, why?"
"When things got bad a lot of people just left, went off to find their families. " Jenner muttered despondently, staring down at his glass. "When things got worse and the military was overrun, the rest bolted."
"Every last one?" Shane asked skeptically.
"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They opted out, there was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."
"You didn't leave, why?" Andrea speaks up for the first time since her fight with her sister.
"Just kept working…hoping to do some good."
Glenn leans across the table, getting marinara sauce all over his shirt. "Dude you are such a buzzkill!"
"Most of the facility is powered down, including housing, so you'll have to make due here. The couches are comfortable but there are cots in storage if you like. There is a rec room down the hall, you kids may like, just don't plug in the video games, okay? Wastes power. Same with the shower, go easy on the hot water. Lastly, I would like to see Mr. Sharp and Mr. Dixon in my lab for screening."
"Hot water?"