"Daryl, you cover the back," Shane orders as Rick starts towards the doors, gun raised.

We head inside, spreading out as we take in the eerie quiet of the C.D.C. I stick by Daryl as he watches the entrance, weapon up and ready.

"Hello?" Rick calls. His voice echoes. "Hello?"

A gun clicks and everyone jumps. Anyone with a gun aims it. My hand flies to my knife. A man, barely visible in the near-darkness, appears at the top of a small staircase.

"Anybody infected?" he shouts.

"One of our group was," Rick says. "He didn't make it."

The man moves down the staircase and into a patch of light, letting us get a better look at him. He wears simple clothes and has thin blonde hair and a freshly shaved face.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" he demands.

"A chance."

"That's asking an awful lot these days."

"I know."

The man's eyes comb over us as he takes a few steps forward. His gun slowly lowers and, with it, ours do too. "You all submit to a blood test," he says. "That's the price of admission."

"We can do that," Rick says.

He lets his gun fall to his side. "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed."

Rick, Shane, Daryl, and Glenn run outside and return swiftly with all our backpacks. Dale and T-Dog close the doors and our new host presses a button on a keypad.

"Vi, seal the main entrance," he orders. "Kill the power up here."

The shutters slide shut again, closing us in, and I finally let myself breathe.

"Rick Grimes," Rick says to the man.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner," he replies.

----------

We crowd into an elevator. It's big enough to hold all of us in one trip, but we're still a little cramped as it descends into the depths of the C.D.C.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl asks, eyeing Jenner's rifle.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself," Jenner explains. "But you look harmless enough. Except you." He smirks at Carl. "I'll have to keep my eye on you."

Carl smiles a little and Jenner chuckles softly to himself. The elevator stops and Jenner leads us down a sterile concrete hallway.

"Are we underground?" Carol asks.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asks.

"A little."

"Try not to think about it." We head into a dark, open space and Jenner speaks out loud to no one I can see. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room."

A humming sound whirs to life, then beeps as a ring of lights turns on above a cluster of cubicles.

"Welcome to Zone 5," Jenner says, gesturing as we move down the ramp towards the central area.

"Where is everybody?" Rick asks. "The other doctors, the staff?"

"I'm it," Jenner says. "It's just me here."

"What about the person you were speaking with?" Lori asks. "Vi?"

Jenner purses his lips. "Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them...welcome."

"Hello, guests," a mechanical woman's voice echoes above our heads. "Welcome."

"I'm all that's left," Jenner says again. "I'm sorry."

We stay quiet. What can we say?

Jenner clasps his hands together. "So, how about those blood tests?"

----------

We line up, one by one, letting him take a vial of blood from us and giving him our names. Andrea is the last in line and as he gets to work, she sighs.

"What's the point?" she asks. "If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever."

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here, at least let me be thorough," Jenner explains. The syringe clicks and he sits back. "All done."

Andrea gets to her feet only to wobble, eyes crossing, and Jacqui steadies her. Jenner frowns a bit.

"Is she okay?" he asks.

"She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have," Jacqui says.

Jenner gets to his feet. "I can help with that."

----------

As it turns out, the cafeteria is still well-stocked and well-refrigerated, and soon we're talking and laughing over full plates of food and glasses of wine. I opt out of the wine—I've never been a fan—but I accept a shot of whiskey in my Coke. Vodka will always be my preference but it seems there's a lack of it here.

It feels so good to celebrate that I want to be a little more loose today. Tonight, I'm not the D.D. and I'm going to drink as much as I want to, even if it's only a few extra shots. It seems my drink gets stronger each time I get a refill.

"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner," Dale says as he refills Lori's glass, "and in France!"

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then," Lori retorts as she takes a sip.

"What's it gonna hurt? Come on," Rick says. Lori gives him a look and he grins. "Come on!"

Lori hides her smile as we chuckle and she throws her hand up, swallowing. "Okay!"

A cheer erupts around the table and Dale pours a tiny bit of wine into a cup, handing it over to Carl.

"There you go, young lad."

We all go silent, watchful, eager, and Carl tips the glass back. Rick starts to grin a little wider.

"Ewww!" Carl squeals the second it touches his tongue, putting the glass down and pushing it away like it's burned him.

Laughter rings out and Lori pats his back. "That's my boy. That's my boy."

"Yuck!" Carl shakes his head, tongue out as Lori dumps his wine into her glass. "That's nasty!"

"Hear, hear," I call, lifting my glass.

"Just stick to soda there, bud," Shane says.

"Not you, Glenn," Daryl calls.

Glenn looks up from reading the wine label, eyes wide. "What?"

"Keep drinking, little man. I wanna see how red your face can get."

The men hoot and holler as Glenn flushes a bit, laughing, and Daryl pours him another glass. I take a long swig just as Rick taps his knife against his glass, causing a gentle ringing noise. We quiet as he gets to his feet.

"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly," Rick says.

"He is more than just our host," T-Dog says, raising his glass.

Agreement hums around the table.

"Hear, hear!"

"Here's to you, doc!"

"BOOYAH!" Daryl hoots, holding up the whiskey bottle he claimed for himself.

"BOOYAH! BOOYAH!" we echo, cheering and clinking our glasses together.

I raise my glass, then toss it all back and swallow hard, feeling the burn run down my throat. Warmth floods through me and I tilt my head back, tingly in all the right places, head buzzing.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" Shane asks.

Buzz? Killed. I slump a little as that happy feeling crumples beneath Shane's conversational boot. The room goes dead silent and every face falls, no sign of laughter or joy at all.

"All the other doctors," Shane continues, "that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"

"We're celebrating, Shane," Rick says. "Don't need to do this now."

"Woah, wait a second. That's why we're here, right? This was your move—supposed to find all the answers." He sets his glass down and folds his hands together. "Instead we—" He chuckles, jerking his thumb at Jenner. "—we found him. Found one man. Why?"

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families," Jenner explains. "And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."

"Every last one?" Shane smirks a little.

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door," Jenner says. "They...opted out. There was a rash of suicides."

I wish my glass wasn't empty, because all that warmth from the whiskey has left me and I feel cold. I picture myself at the department store, wandering back to the roof every day and debating, but never following through. I understand why they did it and that scares me.

"That was a bad time," Jenner sighs.

"You didn't leave," Andrea says. "Why?"

"I just kept working. Hoping to do some good."

I stare at my empty glass. No one says a word.

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man," Glenn mumbles to Shane.

I'm really gonna need another shot.

----------

"Most of the facility is powered down, including housing, so you'll have to make do here," Jenner explains as he leads us to where we'll be staying. "The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like."

We follow him down a long hallway, dotted with doors leading into mostly empty rooms. The lights switch on as we go.

"There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy," Jenner says as he turns to face Carl and Sophia, who walk right behind him. He bends down to their level. "Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same applies to you," Jenner says, straightening back up as he motions at all of us. "If you shower, go easy on the hot water."

I can't believe my ears and, by the looks of it, neither can anyone else. Jenner walks off and Glenn turns to us, eyes sparkling.

"Hot water?" he repeats.

"That's what the man said," T-Dog says as their faces break into wide grins.

Everyone scatters to find a room, but I head straight for the showers. I bathed in the quarry but I already know this will feel amazing. I disrobe, set my clothes aside, and turn on the water. I test the temperature with my hand and, sure enough, it's warm and steamy.

I step in and moan as the water hits me, cascading down my body. It's the best thing I've felt in a while and I laugh aloud at the euphoria that runs through me. Simple pleasures at its finest.

There's shampoo and body wash and conditioner right there in the stalls and I lather myself from head to toe. I want to be so clean that I squeak when I walk.

After more than a few blessed minutes, I turn off the water and step out, towelling myself off and digging for a new change of clothes. I opt to go comfy—sweatpants and a baggy black top with a neckline so wide that one side slips off my shoulder. No bra, because I deserve comfort. I squeeze the water from my hair, brush it, then finger comb it to loosen it back up so my curls dry nicely.

Returning from the showers, I search the rooms and find a smaller one with a couch left unused. I set my bag down and ponder my next move. If I go to the rec room, I bet I could find a new book or two. Other than that...I have one thing I need to ask Jenner.

I head up to the control centre he showed us before and find him sitting at one of the many desks, poring over sheets of paper. I knock on the wall as I walk in and he looks up.

"Hey," I say.

"Hello," he returns, nodding once. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, totally," I say. I come closer. "I was wondering if you could help me with something."

"Depends what it is."

"With those blood tests, could you find out blood types and maybe make a list of everyone in the group?" I ask. He raises an eyebrow at me and I add, hasty, "I'm kinda the only medic around and I figure, if one of us gets hurt and needs blood, it'd be a good thing to know."

"I see," Jenner murmurs. "I can help with that. I've already run the samples, so you'll have to give me some time while I gather the data."

"Sure thing. Thank you."

He nods and turns back to his computer and papers. I wander over to the nearest swivel chair, sit down to wait, and stare at the ceiling and spin in lazy circles.

"Here, will this do?" he asks.

I get to my feet and hurry to him as he holds out a piece of paper. On the list, he's written our first names and the blood type next to it, along with who's compatible with what. I already knew all that, but the refresher is appreciated, and I grin.

"Thank you so much," I say. I start to back up, bringing the paper close to my chest. "I'll leave you to...whatever you're doing."

He nods, turns away from me, and I walk back to our new living quarters, reading over the list as I go. I will admit, my initial thought was that I wanted to know my blood type, just because, but then the idea grew into something that could benefit the group. Maybe on our next supply runs, we can find needles and transfusion equipment in the case of an emergency.

I'm looking for my name when I bump into someone, startling me from my reading, and look up into Daryl's familiar blue eyes. His hair is damp, strands still sticking to his forehead, and beyond the whiskey on his breath, he smells clean. He raises an eyebrow at me and I swear those baby blues twinkle.

God, he's so attractive. It's unfair, really.

"Damn, must be a pretty interesting piece of paper," he says. "Watch where you're going, huh?"

I smile a little. "Yeah, sorry, I..." I shake the paper. "It's all our blood types. I asked Jenner for it. I thought, in an emergency...you know, just in case."

"Mm, gotcha," he says.

"Where are you headed? Back to your room?"

"Yeah. Just gonna drink until I pass out or the bottle gets empty, whichever comes first," he says. He eyes me up and down, then adds, "Wanna join?"

I almost embarrass myself with how fast I nod. "Please."

He leads the way to his room, right next to the one I claimed for myself, and we settle onto the couch. He pours some into a glass and hands it to me, jerking his head to the paper still in my hand.

"Anything worth something on there?" he asks.

I eye the paper again and find my name, smiling a little. "I'm O-negative," I say. I lean back, sinking into the couch as I grip my glass closer. "I'm a universal donor, so I can give blood to anyone, but I can only get blood from someone who's the same as me."

"Sounds like a bad trade," he says, taking a swig straight from the bottle.

I laugh. "You're kind of right. It's one of the rarer blood types in North America, too. There's always a need for it, or..." I trail off. "There was?"

"Is, was, doesn't matter." Daryl shifts, getting closer to me, and he nudges the base of my glass closer to me. "Only blood I care about is our blood alcohol. We're gonna get drunk."

"Are we, now?" I bring the glass to my lips, eyeing him over the rim.

He lifts the bottle to me. "Hell yeah."