I freeze in shock, my tears too. The doors were open, they were actually open. Before I knew it we were walking forward. Glenn has his hand on my shoulder, guiding me through the open door.
Rick's in the lead, his gun out in front of him. He cautiously take a few steps forward, looking around the room.
"Hello!" He yells. "Hello!"
After everyone's inside Dale tells Daryl to shut the doors. After their shut I feel a sense of calmness wash over me. Though I'm wary of what lies in store for us here.
"Hello?" The sound of a gun cocking follows the voice. "Anybody infected?"
A man in a white t-shirt with unruly red hair steps out from behind a wall. He holds a gun in his hands. I can tell he doesn't know how to use it well. The way he holds it is way different from how Shane and Rick hold their guns. This man holds it in a more relaxed position like he'll drop it to the floor at any moment.
Rick keeps his gun aimed at the man. "One of our group was. He didn't make it."
I frown remembering the smile Jim had given me that morning when we left him.
The red-haired man takes a step forward. "Why are you here? What do you want?"
"A chance," Rick replies.
The rest of us stand there, unsure of what to do. The last thing any of us want is to go back out there. But this man seems unfriendly.
"That's asking an awful lot these days." He takes a couple of steps forward, gun still aimed toward us.
"I know."
He surveys the rest of us, eyes lingering on me a moment longer. "You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission." He finally lowers his gun.
Rick lowers his own before answering, "We can do that."
"You got stuff to bring in do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed."
Glenn, Rick, Shane, and Daryl rush outside to grab a few bags. I stand beside Andrea while we wait for them to return.
Lifting Shane's hat up I take a look around the room and notice just how clean it is. There are no bodies in here like there are outside. Not even any blood stains or scratch marks on the walls.
It's a big empty room with ceilings that goes on forever. A receptionist's desk is really the only thing in here. The CDC's logo is painted on the wall behind it and a stack of paper sits on the desk.
The red-haired man walks across the room toward a wall with some sort of electronic panel on it. He keeps an eye on all of us from his position. I notice whenever his eyes come across me, Carl, or Sophia they grow sad.
The front doors burst open and the guys come running back inside, T-dog and Dale shut them.
I see Shane carrying my backpack so I hurry to his side and take it from.
"Thank you," I say but I don't think he hears me.
His focus is on the man by the wall who is taking a card out of his pocket.
He slides it all the way through the panel on the wall, the light turns green. "VI, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here."
A grating noise is followed by the metal shutters coming back down, closing us off from the outside world.
Rick extends his hand to the man. "Rick Grimes."
He doesn't shake his hand but introduces himself nonetheless, "Dr. Edwin Jenner."
Dr. Edwin tells us to follow him and brings us to a set of doors. They open to reveal the biggest elevator I've ever seen. "Everyone in."
I stand between Carl and Sophia in the elevator. The doors close and it starts moving downward, it shakes and rattles as it descends.
"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl asks, referencing the man's gun.
"There were plenty left lying around. I… familiarized myself." Dr. Jenner glances at all of us. "But you look harmless enough. Except you." He looks at Carl. "I'll have to keep my eye on you."
Carl tried to suppress the smile that came to his face. He didn't do very well.
The elevator slows and shakes one last time as it comes to a stop. The doors open giving way to a long white hallway. We all step off the elevator and follow Dr. Jenner down it.
I slow and look at all the doors we pass, trying to see inside each little window, but every room is pitch black inside.
This place looks pretty abandoned. I start to wonder where everyone else is, so far we've only seen Dr. Jenner.
Glenn stops, seeing that I'm far behind now. "C'mon Charlie." He waves me forward and I run up to his side.
"Are we underground?" Carol asks.
"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asks back.
"A little."
"Try not to think about it." Dr. Jenner continues leading the way.
I've never been this far underground before. The furthest underground I've been was when I visited my dad's work and he took me to the basement level to show me the large underground warehouse they'd use to house machine parts. My dad worked in some construction company, he said after inventory kept disappearing they switched to the underground warehouse to help combat thieves.
"Vi. Bring up the lights in the big room." A ring of lights come on and it's revealed that Dr. Jenner has led us into a big circular room. The center has a few rows of desks with large computers on them.
"Welcome to zone 5," Jenner says as he heads further inside.
Rick is the first to step forward into the big room, Shane following suit. I still stick to Glenn's side, I'm curious as to what this room is used for but I'd probably get in trouble if I start poking around.
"Where is everybody? The other doctors, the staff?" Rick questions.
I'm glad he's noticed the lack of people too.
Jenner stops in the middle of the room between the rows of computers. "I'm it. It's just me here."
There has to be at least one other person. He was talking to someone through that panel upstairs.
Lori also seems to remember that fact and asks, "What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?"
"Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them…welcome."
A loud robotic woman's voice fills the room, "Hello guests. Welcome."
Everyone looks up at her voice in curiosity before the reality of the situation sets in. It really is just Dr. Jenner left. And the hope for a cure starts to vanish.
We get led through another hallway and into another room. Chairs are set up all facing a whiteboard. It looks like a classroom except some of the chairs have fallen over and medical equipment is set up on a folding table in the corner.
Dr. Jenner instructs all to take a seat as he searches for the right equipment. I sit next to Shane and try to withhold all the questions I'm dying to ask. Like if this is a place for doctors and medicine then why does it have a classroom? Is it also a school? I've never heard of an underground school but it would be so much cooler than the school I used to go to. It was just a boring aboveground school.
"Charlie, there something you want to ask? You keep fidgeting around."
My face heats up and I shake my head no. I keep myself as still as I can in an attempt to look like I'm not boiling over with questions.
Dr. Jenner drags two chairs to the front of the room and sits in one. "Okay, who's first?" He asks.
"Me." Rick goes to sit in the chair facing Jenner and rolls up his sleeve.
I watch as the doctor grabs a thin white cloth and rubs a part of Rick's arm before grabbing a syringe and piercing his skin with the needle. Red slowly fills it.
Rick doesn't seem to be in any pain but I can't help but wince as Dr. Jenner pulls out the needle. Is he going to have to do that to all of us? I've gotten shots at the doctor before but that's putting something in you, not taking something out.
Dr. Jenner grabs a vial and slowly puts Rick's blood into it. He grabs a new syringe and asks for the next person to come up. Carl jumps out of his chair and proudly announces he will go next.
I only wish I could be as brave as he is.
As more people finish their turns the worse my feeling of anxiety gets. As hard as I try I can't get myself to stop shaking. I take off Shane's hat and set it down on the empty seat beside me, my shaking keeps causing it to fall down.
Carol and Sophia return to their seats. The only ones left are me, Shane, Andrea, and Glenn.
Glenn also looks unhappy about the needle but gets up reluctantly and sits in front of Jenner. Once his turn is complete Shane gets up next to me.
"My turn," He sits and doesn't even have the slightest reaction to the needle.
Jenner finishes the process again and throws away the used needle. "Who's left?" He asks.
Shane heads back toward me. "Charlie, you're up."
"Can Andrea go first?" I ask.
He sighs. "It doesn't hurt, you just feel a pinch and then it's over."
"Pinches hurt," I tell him.
"Barely."
Andrea gets up. "I'll go." She heads to Jenner.
Now I really start shaking. "Shane, can I take a different test? Isn't there some sort of running test to prove I'm not a walker? They can't run, they can barely get five feet without stumbling over themselves."
"It'll only take a second, now c'mon." He picks me up off the seat as Andrea heads back to her own. Shane drops me at the front of the room, right next to Jenner.
I use all my strength to hang onto Shanes's neck as he tries to put me down.
"Let go kid." He tries to pry my arms off but I just rewrap them.
"No." My voice becomes muffled as I bury my head into his neck.
It gets quiet for a couple seconds, I think about lifting my head to see why but Shane's voice stops me.
"Fine, I give up. You can keep using me as a jungle gym."
I lift my face and smile triumphantly. "No test?"
Right as the words leave my mouth I feel a small prick in my arm and a little pain. I let out a small squeak and lower my head again. The needle is cold and the feeling of it taking my blood is weird. It feels unnatural and tears come to my eyes.
"Hey, it's done. All done Charlie," Shane assures as he puts me down.
As soon as I touch the ground a wave of dizziness washes over me and I start tipping. Shane steadies me and leads me carefully back to the chair. I put it on his hat and purposefully let it cover my eyes this time.
"She okay?" Jenner asks.
Obviously not, you just stole my blood.
Jacqui speaks up from her seat in the corner, "She hasn't eaten in days, none of us have."
Half an hour later we're all sitting at a table eating and drinking. Everyone's talking and laughing, it's actually fun. The food and drink lift everyone's spirits, even mine. Carl, Sophia, and I all have some off-brand soda that was left in the fridge. While all the adults drink wine that Dr. Jenner brought out.
We haven't had a decent meal in forever. It may only be spaghetti but it's the best-tasting spaghetti I've ever had.
I take that back, the best is my Uncle's spaghetti but this comes close.
As I shovel it into my mouth T-dog starts laughing from beside me. "Slow down there Charlotte. You're gonna choke."
Noodles are dangling out of my mouth as I speak, "But it's so good!" A couple noodles fall out and onto the plate.
T-dog hands me some napkins and I use them to wipe off the tomato sauce that's covering half my face. By the time I finish Dale's opening another bottle of wine and passing glasses to all the adults.
He passes one to Lori and gestures to Carl who's seated next to her. "You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France."
"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France he can have some," Lori says to him. Nodding her head in dsiapproval.
Rick speaks up from the other side of Carl, "What's it gonna hurt? Come on."
Everyone starts laughing as Lori gives in and Dale starts pouring a little into a cup for Carl. "You wanna try some too, Charlotte?" He asks.
Quickly I shake my head. I definitely did not want to try the wine, I've already tasted it before when my uncle accidentally switched my grape juice and his wine. The moment I took a sip I spit it back out onto my mom's white rug. She was so angry but took most of her anger out on my Uncle for making the dumb mistake of switching our drinks.
"There you are young lad," Dale says as he holds out the cup.
Carl takes the cup from him with an excited smile and eagerly takes a sip. He immediately recoils in disgust. "Ewww."
Lori pats him on the shoulder. "That's my boy." She pours the rest of his cup into her wine glass.
"That tastes nasty!" Carl shakes his head as if trying to rid himself of the taste.
I laugh at Carl's reaction along with everyone else.
"Just stick to soda pop there, bud," Shane advises him.
"Not you, Glenn," Daryl adds.
"What?" Glenn asks, perking up at the mention of his name. He's currently sitting on the counter, hunched over and taking a couple of sips from his drink.
"Keep drinking, little man. I want to see how red your face can get."
More laughter erupts from the table.
Rick taps his wine glass with his fork and stands up. "Seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly." Words of agreement fill the air.
T-dog lifts his glass. "He is more than just our host."
"Here here!" Everyone shouts and lifts their own glasses.
Daryl stands and lifts his glass higher. "Here's to you Doc. Booyah!"
I look at the Doctor who barely smiles as takes a sip of his wine. He doesn't seem happy at all and I wonder if it's because he'd rather be running tests than eating. He seems to really like testing, every time he speaks it's usually about some sort of sciency thing.
"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, Doc?" The room grows silent at Shane's question. "All the—the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"
"We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now," Rick tells him.
"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right?" He sits up straighter. "This was your move—supposed to find all the answers. Instead we–" Shane lets out a small chuckle. "We found him. Found one man, why?"
Dr. Jenner answers, "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."
I tap T-dog on the shoulder and whisper, "What's a cordon?"
"I'll explain it later," He whispers back. I frown and go back to listening to the adults.
Shane speaks again, "Every last one?"
"No, many couldn't face walking out the door." Jenner pauses. "They… opted out. That was a bad time."
I tap T-dog's shoulder again. "What's he mean by opted out?"
This time T-dog hesitates before answering, "Uhh they left a different way."
I look around the dining hall we're currently sitting in. Maybe there's a different exit down here if they didn't walk out the big glass doors above us. I don't see any exit signs; only signs pointing back to the elevator we came from and a stairwell leading back up the same way.
"Did they take the stairs?" I whisper to T-dog.
"Something like that, it doesn't matter."
Andrea leans forward in her seat across from Jenner. "You didn't leave. Why?"
Jenner answers her, "I just kept working, hoping to do some good."
It grows silent again. It's weird to think Dr. Jenner is the only one here, everyone else is gone. It would be hard living in such a big place alone. At least he's still trying to find a cure, maybe this place isn't a total bust after all.
Glenn gets up and walks toward the table, stopping to look at Shane before sitting down, "Dude, you are such a buzzkill."
Shane ignores him and pours himself another glass of wine.
Hi, hello! Ah sorry for the long update time. My life schedule has been a mess recently and it's just finally calming down. But good news! I have the rest of the CDC arc written out, it just needs some light editing and then it's ready to be posted. So fingers crossed you guys should see another chapter within the week.
Another thing is I'm thinking about changing the story name. So I was wondering if anyone had any ideas?
Anyway thank you all so much for reading, have a great day!