CHAPTER THREE
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     ARDEN OFTEN HOPED for some divine answer to all of the problems that infected the world. Even though she never believed in it, some days she hoped that she would wake up and not have to worry about surviving the dead that walked the planet. She hoped that it would all turn out to be a bad dream. But she knew that this was nothing but an impossibility.

     The shining light that had welcomed them into the building had seemed like such a savior, under the circumstances. But Arden wasn't so sure. Jenner had been so close to sentencing them to die, but if it meant she could give these people somewhere to go, she would gladly return to the place that she had been so willing to leave.

     Everyone entered through the doors, guns raised high. Shane ordered Daryl to cover the back of their party. Arden sheathed her sword, knowing that Jenner wasn't going to pull anything.

     "Hello?" Rick called out, his voice echoing through the open space.

     "Close those doors, watch for walkers," Dale ordered behind her, the others doing so. Rick repeated himself while the group looked around cautiously. Arden treaded carefully toward the hallway she knew led to all of the main areas.

     "Hello?" a weak voice called from the hall. Arden stopped dead in her tracks as the silhouette of Jenner with his gun pointed at all of them appeared. A chorus of cocking guns rang out behind her and she held up her hand.

     "He's harmless," she told them without glancing behind her. "So about the things I said before I left..." she trailed off louder so that he could hear her. His expression didn't change and she was hoping she could somehow convince him into letting everyone stay.

     "Why are they here?" he questioned, nodding towards the group of people behind her. "What do they want?"

     "A chance," Rick pleaded calmly. Neither side lowered their guns despite assurances that nobody would be harmed.

     "That's asking an awful lot these days," Jenner said, inching closer to them as he spoke.

     "I know," Rick replied with a careful nod.

     He stared at them for a moment as he walked forward. He looked at the tears in their eyes and the children they had brought. He saw a group of scared people in need of help.

     "Please," Arden spoke up, his eyes flickering over to her. Jenner acted like all was forgiven and that was when she realized just severe his fear of being alone was, or at least she thought that's what it was.

     "You all have to submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission," Jenner announced.

     "We can do that," Rick agreed. Jenner lowered his gun and so did Rick. He began to walk to the doors at a quicker pace while rushing out orders.

     "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed," he commanded. Rick and Shane grabbed a few bags from outside and Dale and T-Dog shut the door behind them. Something felt so final and constricting about it and Arden didn't know why. But she did know that she was safe now.

     "VI, seal the main entrance," he spoke into a keypad after he swiped his card through. "Kill the power up here." The large metal shields that covered the doors thundered down and locked them all back in. Rick and Jenner introduced themselves before they all crammed into what now seemed like a small elevator that would transport them to other levels of the facility.

     It was quiet, everyone mostly staring down at the ground. "Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl broke the silence suddenly while Arden stared at the elevator buttons that glowed dimly amongst the fluorescent light that lit the elevator.

     "There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself," he answered shortly with a nod as his eyes scanned the group of people. "So did Arden, although it seems she's picked up a few skills with weapons other than guns since she left. But you all look harmless enough." As he commented on her newfound sword, he glanced at her with an unreadable look.

     "Except you," he joked, his eyes turning to Carl. "I'll have to keep my eye on you." The small boy smiled slightly and Jenner let out a half-hearted chuckle, that being the first time Arden had seen the man attempt anything close to a smile in months. However, she assumed the same was true for herself.

     A few moments later a faint ding sounded through the small space and the metal doors slid open, Jenner and Arden the first ones out of the elevator. He led the group down the cold hallway and she followed with the others mindlessly; she already knew the place fairly well.

     "Are we underground?" Carol questioned as she craned her neck to look around the hall and up at the ceiling.

     "Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asked, looking back at Carol like he already knew the answer to his question.

     "A little."

     "Try not to think about it," he responded. The white walls seemed so clean and perfect compared to the dirty, damaged people that walked past them. They finally came upon what Arden knew as one of the largest rooms in the facility. "VI, bring up the lights in the big room. Welcome to Zone Five."

     Jenner barely cast another glance over his shoulder as he welcomed the newcomers. He began to walk down the ramp that led to a cluster of computers and work desks. "Where is everybody?" Rick inquired, his eyes hopping from Arden to Jenner in expectancy. "The other doctors, the staff."

     "We're it," Jenner answered, nodding to his former companion as they came to a stop in the middle of the area. Being surrounded by technology felt so taunting at the time considering technology was the one thing that Arden had been banking on to save the human race. "It's just been us here."

     Rick looked somewhat shocked, looking down as if to process the information. "What about the person you were speaking with? VI?" Lori questioned. Arden knew that they all must have been hoping for some kind of reassurance that a cure was in the works and she hated that she couldn't give that to them.

     "VI, say hello to our guests. Tell them... 'welcome'," he ordered the machine. His exact words were echoed by a robotic voice, greeting them stiffly. As soon as the voice was done his face fell as he delivered the grave news. "I'm all that's left."

     Arden noticed that she was finally left out of the picture. She didn't know if this was just so he could be more dramatic or that she wasn't so welcome after all. The disappointment that radiated off of the group, especially Rick, was practically tangible.

     "I'm sorry."

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     It hadn't taken her long to wolf down her meal after finally realizing how hungry she really was. She sat on a chair while the group laughed and joked with each other, Arden finding it hard to believe how she could have stumbled upon a group of people so remarkably resilient.

     Her feet were propped up on a second chair near the table that they all sat at while Glenn sat back on the counter not far behind her. Jenner resided in a table next to the one almost everyone else was at, isolated from the group. The clinking of a glass caught all of their attention, the chatter slowly dying down.

     "It seems that we haven't properly thanked our host," Rick announced as he held a glass of wine up in appreciation. "Or Arden, the reason that we made it here." A chorus of thank you's and other words of praise floated through the room. She felt herself smiling genuinely, not being able to remember what it felt like. "Thank you both."

     "So when the hell are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here?" Shane asked, looking at Jenner first then casting a darkened look at Arden. "All the - the doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened. Where are they?"

     "We're celebratin', Shane. We don't need to do this now," Rick warned as he took a seat once again, sounding tired and not in the mood to talk about such a grim topic.

     "Whoa, wait a second. That's why we're here, right? This was your move - supposed to find all the answers," Shane continued. He wasn't demanding or loud. Just quietly asking with something Arden didn't know what to call in his voice. "But instead we found him. And her. We found one man and some random chick on the road. Why?"

     "Well when things got bad a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families," Jenner explained concisely. Arden shifted noticeably when he mentioned the word 'families'. Her need to find a cure had overshadowed her family's needs. And that was something she just couldn't get out of her head. "And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."

     "Every last one?" Shane questioned disbelievingly, clearly having a hard time buying what Jenner was saying.

     "No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They...opted out. There was a rash of suicides," he said tensely. Arden didn't enjoy the memories that were being brought back from this discussion and shifted in her seat uncomfortably once again. "That was a bad time."

     "But you didn't leave," Andrea said to Jenner first, but then looking at Arden. That seemed to be how it went every time they made a remark. Talking to Jenner and then looking to Arden like an afterthought. "Why?"

     "I just kept working. We did. Hoping to do some good," he replied. That was the moment Arden pinpointed as being too much. She sucked in a sharp breath and stood up from her chair suddenly. Already heading towards the door, she decided that it would be a good time to retire for the night.

     Hoping to do some good. That sentence seemed like it had come from a previous life, there to haunt her with her past naive thoughts. She felt utterly drained, knowing that she had failed in everything she had attempted to do. She couldn't save the infected or her family, she couldn't save anyone.