CHAPTER TWELVE,
jenner

SHOCK. IT COURSED through Samantha's veins when those shutters opened. The bright lights shined upon them as if they were the gates of heaven, ready to end their damnation with their sanctuary.

Hope.

Samantha remembered Dale saying once that words are such meager things that fall short. She can now understand what he meant by that.

Shane ushered his sister inside and kept her close, his system on high alert, his gun raised. "Daryl, you cover the back!" He ordered, his voice echoing off the walls around them. Samantha felt the familiar sensation of air conditioning, it soothing the sweat from her body. That meant there was electricity.

The sound of a gun cocking made every survivor whip around to face the source. Samantha could make out a man that descended from the darkness, his messy hair unkept and blonde, dark bags under the emptiness of his eyes. "Anybody infected?!" His voice came out as a shout, his gun aimed and ready to defend himself.

Rick lowered his gun, trying to show that they don't mean any harm. "One of our group was. He didn't make it." He admitted, this fact not fazing the man.

With a guarded look, he still kept the gun raised. "Why are you here and what do you want?" He demanded.

"A chance."

"That's asking an awful lot these days," The man responded, before his eyes slid to Nathan, trailing up and down the military style pants and combat boots. Then they found the dog tags. "Army?"

Nathan slowly nodded.

"Your men tried to protect this place, didn't work out well," His voice was unsettling monotoned, as if he had become desensitized to the world around him. "How's it looking out there?"

Nathan swallowed, his stormy eyes filled with exhaustion. "Barely surviving, sir."

The man continued to peer at him, before finally lowering his gun. "You all submit to a blood test, that's the price of admission." The scientist spoke, and Samantha felt any color leave her face, her fear of needles apparent.

Carl seemed to be thinking the same thing as he looked up at his mother. "I don't want to." His voice was small and faltering.

Samantha opened her mouth to protest, but Rick beat her to it. "We can do that." She glared at the back of his head, hoping she was burning holes.

"If you got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed."

The men rushed out of the building and came back with arms full of bags. Daryl dropped Samantha's backpack near her feet and she sent him a grateful smile, but it only fell when he didn't return it.

After everyone was back in, the doors slammed shut behind them and they all packed themselves into the elevator. The scientist, known as Dr.Jenner, pressed a button and the elevator door closed. Samantha felt like all the air was being sucked up, her back pressed against the wall and her brother's tall figure pressed against her side with his shotgun poking at her. She was behind Daryl, who had been eying the semi automatic in Jenner's hand.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" He inquired, the metal of his own weapon slung behind his back and slightly touching Samantha's abdomen.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself," He responded, glancing around at the group. "But you all look harmless enough. Except you," His eyes stopped on her godson. "I'll have to keep my eye on you." His tone was playful and causing Carl to grin.

"He's a little serial killer." Nathan chuckled from the other side of the elevator, his side pressed up against the metal wall.

The elevator stopped and opened, and Samantha felt a sigh of relief being released - and hearing others, she knew she wasn't the only one. The group slipped out and followed Jenner through a hallway.

"Are we underground?" Carol questioned nervously.

Jenner threw her a glance. "You claustrophobic?"

The mother nodded. "A little."

"Try not to think about it," They entered a room full of computers. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room," His voice echoed around the room as a bright light flashed above them. Samantha looked around as all the technology came to life, but she only felt a sense of confusion at how empty it looked. She half expected there to be others, not just one man.

Samantha looked at Jenner. "Where is everybody? Aren't there others?" She asked the question that everyone else was thinking.

He turned to her. "I'm it," He informed. "It's just me."

"What about the person you were speaking with?" Lori questioned, staring at Jenner quizzically. "Vi?"

"Vi, say hello to our guests," Jenner paused for a second, a smile that lifted his lips that seemed to be sarcastic. "Tell them welcome."

"Hello guests. Welcome." A robotic voice filled the room, causing the survivors to glance around.

"Jesus, that's some I, Robot shit." Samantha muttered, leaning against one of the railings near an aisle of computers. Daryl heard her, his eyes shifting slightly.

"I'm all that's left," His words created disappointment and it washed over all the survivors, the hope they had for a cure being vanquished.

After they were bled to another room where equipment was set up on the table. Taking a seat near her brother and Carl. She was in silence as Jenner poked a needle one by one into the survivors, she could feel her anxiety building up as it got closer to her, and did her best to hide it - but Shane caught on. He sent her an encouraging smile, but she returned it with uneasiness.

"Damn, you look like you're about to shit your pants," Her big brother remarked teasingly. "We aren't going to have to put you in diapers again, right?"

Samantha narrowed her eyes. "At least my face isn't shitty looking." She fired back and Shane scoffed loudly, a laugh threatening to escape from his throat.

Glenn, who had just been finished with his turn, sat behind the Walsh siblings. He noticed the bouncing of Samantha's knee, and took it upon himself to calm her down. "It isn't that bad, it's only a sting." He grabbed both of her shoulders with a large smile.

"Blood is supposed to stay in the body." Samantha muttered.

Glenn furrowed his brows. "But don't women-" The siblings turned to look at him and he immediately shut his mouth, a blush creeping to his neck and cheeks.

Carl had no problem showing his fear once it was his turn, and he turned to his godmother, looking for some comfort. "Do I have to?" He whined.

Samantha pushed her own fear back for her godson and forced a grin, taking Carl's small hand into her own. "Its okay to be scared, midget. Being scared means you're about to do something really, really brave. You got this."

The growing smile on his face made Samantha's heart melt, watching as he got up and sauntered over to Jenner. Without even flinching, Jenner stuck a needle into his arm.

Glenn leaned to his friend's ear. "That's some mother material," He spoke. "You would be a great one."

The grin fell from her face and Shane noticed, his brows furrowing at the sudden sadness that glistened her eyes.

Samantha snapped out of it and got up from her seat and stepped towards the table. Without a second thought Jenner took her arm, holding a small needle. Her eyes widened as she watched him push the needle into her arm and she inhaled sharply, looking away as her blood was taken out of her body.

As a woman, she should be used to blood, but the sight had always made her recoil.

"Scared of needles?" Jenner piped up a conversation, amusement lacing his voice.

Samantha nodded slowly. "Yeah, mostly the bloody part." She admitted.

"My wife never liked needles too," Jenner elaborated, and she noticed a twitch of a smile on his lips. "But being a scientist, she was forced to become acquainted with them."

"So, what did she do?"

"She sucked it up," Samantha looked back and saw that the needle had been taken out of her arm, the sight making a sigh of relief shake her body. When she went over to her seat, Andrea took her spot, but after she wavered from her seat and almost stumbled, Nathan being quick to catch her. This reaction forced Jenner to realize that the survivors hadn't had any solid food.

He studied them, pity shadowing his exhausted eyes before he stood up. "Before I run these to the test room, care for some dinner?"

The group didn't have to answer for their stomachs did.

━━━━━

Laughter and alcohol left the breaths of the survivor, their bellies being fed and their spirits being lifted with the food and the circumstances. It felt too good to be true for the Walsh girl, so she made sure not to take it for granted.

Rick passed her a bottle of vodka and Shane's eyes snapped to his, knowing what the poison of the tonic does to his sister. "What?" His best friend laughed. "You going to arrest her for underage drinking, Shane?"

Instead of agreeing with Rick, she took her brother's side and waved off the bottle with a small smile, knowing Shane's reasonable reasons. "I'll stick to soda." Samantha informed, waving around the cocoa-cola can.

Daryl scoffed, leaning over her (she could smell the booze off of him) and snatched the bottle from Rick's grasp.

Dale laughed, standing up and pouring a glass of wine for Lori. "You know in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner - and France." Samantha chuckled, realizing what Dale was on about.

"And when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then." Lori brushed him off.

"Don't think that's gonna happen anytime soon." Nate pointed out.

"What's it gonna hurt?" Rick agreed.

Lori laughed, giving in and a glass of wine was poured into a glass cup, placed in front of Samantha's godson. "Don't drink too much for your first time," His godmother warned. "I had to learn the hard way."

"Vomited all over my cat." Nate mumbled, taking out a cigarette and she slapped it out of his hand with a glare.

The adults grew silent as they watched in amusement and Carl took a hesitant sip, his eyes going wide in disgust not a moment later.

"Eww! Yuck!" He gagged, setting the glass down.

Samantha let out a loud laugh at his misfortune. Lori rubbed his shoulders, relieved that there was hope her son wouldn't become a future alcoholic. "Why dont you stick to soda pop there, bud." Shane said.

"Not you, Glenn." Daryl's southern accent drawled, and the Korean looked at him through a sheepish smile. "Keep drinkin', little man. I wanna see how red your face gets!" His words caused laughter to split through the air.

The sound of glass clinking together caused the group to go silent, their attention brought to their leader who stood from his seat next to his family. "It seems we haven't properly thanked our host." Samantha's eyes followed his and she noticed that Jenner sat soberly and quietly at the end of the table.

T-Dog raised his glass to the scientist. "He's more than our host." He stated.

Samantha rose her soda. "Yeah, our hero!" She added.

Daryl rose the bottle of alcohol. "Booyah!" He shouted.

As the laughter died down, Shane's eyes pinned to Jenner's. "So doc, when are you gonna tell us what happened here?" He spoke up rudely, his question slicing through the air and instantly killing the mood. The smile dropped from his sister's face, realizing her brother had a point. "All the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"

"We're celebrating Shane, we don't need to do this now." Rick urged to leave the conversation alone.

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was out move. Supposed to find all the answers-"

"Shane." Samantha pleaded, putting a hand on her brother's arm.

"Instead we found him," Shane chuckled dryly, jutting his thumb over to the scientist. "Found one man. Why?"

Why.

It hung in the air and crushed any content in the room, all eyes flickering from in between Jenner and Shane.

Why.

As much as Samantha wanted to have a peaceful night, they came here for answers - they came here to find hope in a world where hope wasn't supposed to breathe.

Jenner's eyes seemed to sharpen as he looked at her brother. "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 got overrun, the rest bolted."

"Every last one of them?" Shane pushed.

Her skin begin to heat up in anger. "Shane." She repeated, this time through gritted teeth.

Shane finally looked at her. "Nah, we didn't risk our lives to be unanswered." He stated.

"Over dinner?" She shot back.

Jenner looked at Samantha than her brother. "No," Even through Shane's rudeness, he remained calm. "Many couldn't face walking out the door. They...opted out," She felt a shiver run down her spine. "There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time..."

His words were almost as horrifying as the horror movies Samantha watched in her time. Reality was often more terrifying than fiction, and it caused her to remember Glenn's story from a few weeks back.

"That's when I realized that if this doesn't get better, people are going to start giving up."

Scientists were supposed to protect the public from nasty things - but by doing that, hope had to be their motivation, hope to find a solution. But if the scientists in the CDC gave up, was the virus truly hopeless of being vanquished?

"Why didn't you leave?" Samantha felt the question leave her lips.

Jenner merely shrugged. "I just kept working, hoping to do some good."

Nathan's eyes darkened as he glared at Shane. "You're a terrible drunk." He snapped.

Glenn was in agreement with his friend. "You're such a buzzkill, man."

The group left the tension back in the cafeteria as Jenner led them through the hallways.

"Most of the facility is powered down, including housing, so you'll have to make do here," Jenner explained as they followed behind him. "The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you'd like. Since there is a lot of you, some of you will have to share rooms. There's a rec room down the hall that you kid might enjoy. Don't plug in the video games, okay?" He directed this to Sophia and Carl. "Or anything that draws power. The same applies-" He paused, staring at them, a knowing twinkle in his eyes. "If you shower, go easy on the hot shower."

"Holy shit,"Samantha blurted out in disbelief. "Did he just say-?"

"Hot water?" Glenn whispered frantically.

"That's what the man said!" T-Dog laughed.

Nathan shoved past them and darted down the hall, his action triggering for the others to follow behind, the kids in them outshining their adult instincts. Samantha followed Shane into a room, threw her bag onto the bed and they met each others eyes before looking at the bathroom door.

Memories flooded to when they were younger, having only one bathroom in the house they were used to fighting over. Shane made a break for it but Samantha was too fast, blessing her experience on the track team and she slammed the door in his face.

"Sorry brother, ladies first," Samantha chirped, a victorious grin blossoming on her lips. She heard her brother curse through the door, so she added, "I'll leave some soap for you to wash your dirty mouth with. Love you!"

Samantha shuddered as the hot water dipped down her bare back and over her tattoos on her arms, the dirt and grime being washed away, green eyes opening and enjoying every second of it. If there was a Heaven, this was it, and she was welcoming it with blissful moans.

Remembering Jenner's words, Samantha stepped the shower and wrapped a towel around her body. She threw a glance at the mirror, the steam fresh on the glass, and shook her head. She didn't want to look at herself and see.

After putting an oversized baggy t-shirt, she stepped out of the bathroom. She caught her brother slumped against the couch, a bottle of whiskey in his hand, his mind elsewhere - but as soon as they landed on his sister, he brushed passed her and shut the bathroom door shut. His silence and the look on his face concerned Samantha, but thinking that he was going through the same thing too, (like thinking too much, a thing the siblings shared) she decided to give him the same alone time he gave her.

Samantha slipped out of the room and caught T-Dog stumbling through the hallway with a very drunk Glenn leaning on his shoulders. "I wasn't invited to the party?" She joked, amusement raising her brows.

"You don't want to be," T-Dog chuckled. "I had to learn the hard way that Glenn is a light drunk."

At the mention of his name, the Asian began to mumble incoherent things. Samantha suppressed her giggles. "You have fun with that."

After, Samantha traveled deep into the CDC and found herself back at zone five, the lights still on and shining down on the masses of computers. She pictured groups of scientists working on them, desperately trying to find a cure - but sadly, that reality was false.

Suddenly, her thoughts were ripped away when there was a crash and glass shattering. A startled gasp left her mouth as she watched Nathan appear out of nowhere, his face red and twisted into utter rage. Samantha called out to him, but he passed her as if she were nothing but a ghost.

"Samantha, wasn't it?"

She turned at her name and saw Jenner sitting at one of the desks, glass shattered at his bare feet. "Do you help need to clean that up?" She questioned, making her way over to him. When he shook his head, she sat across from him and glanced back at the entrance that Nate just left from.

Jenner noticed her gaze. "We were speaking about Fort Benning, his base," The scientist explained, bringing her attention back to him. "I told him the possibility of his men being dead - and well, you heard and saw the response."

Samantha frowned. That was completely uncharacteristic if Nathan. "He wouldn't react like that, he's usually stable."

Her sentence made Jenner cock a brow. "Usually?" He repeated.

She bit her lip and nodded. "He just hasn't been the same since..." She thought about his behavior, and remembered that before the outbreak she hasn't seen him for months. In reality, she didn't know how long this has been going on. "His behavior is just-"

"Off,' Jenner finished, and at the twenty year old's silence, he lifted a glass that was filled to the brim with red wine to his lips. He took a long sip of the tonic and a sigh hummed his throat. "I think Nathan suffers from PTSD."

The scientist's words made Samantha go rigid, her eyes widening and her mind going on pause at his statement. "I'm sorry, but - we're talking about the same person, right?"

"Nathan confided to me about his traumatic hallucinations and nightmares. It's sadly very common in soldiers."

Her heart dropped at his words and she felt sympathy, but then came a selfish rush of betrayal. How couldn't Nathan tell her? She everything about it, especially since she psychology was her major - but she was also his best friend.

"Isn't there some sort of special treatment he needs, doc?" Samantha questioned desperately, rubbing her head.

"None that I can provide you with," Jenner informed. "Just...be his comfort and his friend, don't push him."

Silence fell between them and her mind went off to another place again, another thing being added to her many worries. The apocalypse was just forced evolution for those who were placed into it, and that scared her, because if that was true then people can become a bigger threat than the undead.

"So, doctor Edwin Jenner," Samantha emphasized, pushing those thoughts away. "Edward Jenner ring a bell?"

Jenner chuckled. "You noticed, huh?" He took another sip from his glass. "My father thought it would've been amusing. Its kinda ironic, don't you think?"

"Very," She looked around, trying to grasp at any sort of conversation that pushed her away from her anxieties. "You have a nice place here, better than the outside."

"How is it out there?"

Samantha rubbed her eyes at the thought. "Exhausting," She admitted. "It makes me realize I never appreciated the world before. I took it for granted."

Jenner looked as if he knew what she meant. "Sometimes we don't know what we have until its gone." He spoke softly.

"I almost died last night," Samantha remembered, shivering at the memory of that monster reaching out for her flesh. "It doesn't feel like a life anymore if it's all about surviving."

"Then why live?" His question made her furrow her brows in confusion, his words making her feel strange. She shrugged it off, and remembered that she wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for Daryl Dixon, the redneck that didn't let anyone break through his tough exterior. She felt terrible - she definitely owned him one.

Getting up, she sent Jenner a grateful smile and he returned it with a confused one.

She remembered what room he went into and knocked on his door, waiting for his southern accent to be heard from the other side of the door. None came. She frowned, ready to leave but something kept her rooted to her spot. She didn't believe Daryl was an early sleeper - taking a small peek wouldn't hurt.

Quietly, she cracked open the door and peered in. The room was empty, but then she heard the bathroom door and her eyes shifted. Daryl was walking out of the restroom with his shirt off and she gulped, feeling like this was something she definitely didn't need to be seeing - until something caught her eye.

It made her jaw drop and shock grip her throat, choking out a shrill gasp. Daryl's muscles froze, his body visibly tense before swirling around, and for a second his glare went soft when he realized who it was, but that all changed when he also figured out what she was looking at, and it caused rage and vulnerability to fill him.

"The hell are you doing?!" The hunter snarled, and the woman did only what she could do - she ran.

She slammed the door to her room shut, sighing in relief when she noticed Shane wasn't in here. Her body slid to the ground and her back pressed up against the door, trying to forget what she saw but the images wouldn't leave her mind.

The white scars crisscrossed all over his skin and told stories of a broken home, the few small tattoos contrasting his flawed back trying to hide those horrid tales. Samantha had seen this before on abused children in the videos she would watch in her psychology class, but seeing it up close and personal was so much different compared to seeing it on screen.

And that's when she knew that Daryl Dixon was in need of a friend the most in the world, and she was going to give it to him whether he liked it or not.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟnote

people who abuse children have their own level of hell

words ; 3984
edited ; ✔️