—  THE GROUP WAS LED INTO THE building of the CDC slowly, with Rick and Shane in the front, with their guns held high in case anything were to jump out or cause them any danger. It was a risk coming in here, but they had to take the risk in order to find out if it was safe. "Daryl, Nate, you cover the back." Shane ordered, as they all made their way into the main room, everyone's eyes narrowed in suspicion, making sure to keep them peeled in case of any danger.. Zoe stuck near Carl, still keeping a tight hold on his hand, making sure he didn't go anywhere or run off, knowing the boy.

"Hello?" Rick called, looking around the dark building, leaving them all vulnerable, "Hello?" He repeated, when there was no answer.

At the back corner of the room, a man finally stepped out with a rifle in his hands, aimed up at the group that had just entered where he resided, "Anybody infected?" He called out, looking over at the group of men, woman and children. He looked like he was in his forties, and as if he hadn't had an inch of sleep in days. Which is normal with this world now - Zoe couldn't remember the last time she slept soundlessly, not even when her father had come back; she still felt like she had to sleep with one eye open, and she hated it.

"One of our group was." Rick calmly told him. "He didn't make it."

The man nodded, "Why are you here?" He asked Rick, looking over at the women and children, knowing that he could trust them because of this, "What do you want?" He asked.

"A chance." Rick answered, keeping the group hidden slightly behind him, in case something were to happen in any moment. Even if this place seemed safe, they couldn't know for sure, and still had to act safely.
He just wanted the group to be safe, and he hoped that this was the right place to come - if it wasn't, he didn't know what they were all going to do, they had barely any gas left and couldn't risk going back to Fort Benning, they would run out before they even reached there, and that would leave them stranded, being the last thing they needed.

"That's asking an awful lot these days." The man sighed, obviously being defeated from this world.

"I know." Rick confirmed.

This was when the man took another look at the group in front of him, making sure to look over everyone and trying to judge them, before eventually sighing. "You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission." He told them, still keeping his gun up in case they disagreed. He knew that he had to let them in - there was no way they were going to go back out there, that's for sure.

"We can do that." Rick answered immediately, not hesitating to do so. If anything would make them safe, he'd do it.

The man finally lowered his gun at Rick's answer, "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed." He announced, as he walked forward, as some of the boys began to run and get everyone's bags from the cars. As everyone was in after bringing all of their things back into the building, the doors were finally shut, meaning that there was now no way out, "Vi, seal the main entrance, kill the power up here." He announced.

"Rick Grimes." Rick introduced, once everyone had settled. He held his hand out once he had gotten all of the bags in and he was in front of the man who had gracefully allowed them into his home.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner." The man introduced himself.

As the group were in the elevator, Zoe stood in between Nate and Glenn, taking in everyone's faces. She couldn't help but feel unsafe in this place, and she couldn't push the feeling away. She didn't know why.. Also, something about the doctor made her deal uneasy - he just didn't seem like he was telling the truth, like he was hiding something big. But yet again, she will always trust her father, and if he says that this place is safe, then it is. She could tell by everyone's paleness, that the whole group were starving, it had been a while since they had all had a proper meal, everyone was also exhausted from the days travel to get here.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl asked Dr. Jenner, as Zoe noticed that he was still holding the large shotgun in his hands. She agreed with Daryl, what kind of doctor knew how to use a shotgun? She knew that when things went to shit, the military killed people off to try and stop the infection from spreading, but it clearly didn't work - if this man worked for the government, she didn't know if she could trust him.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarised myself. But you look harmless enough." He replied, shrugging. He then locked eyes with Carl, "Except you, I'll keep my eye on you." He joked.

Carl smirked a little as Dr. Jenner turned back around and laughed under his breath. The first smile that he had cracked since their father had come back to them. Zoe smiled herself, at the fact that Carl had shown a smile, even it it was a small one, it had been a stressful couple of days and it was clearly getting to him, this life was no life to live for a nine year old. He was having to grow up too fast, and she hated it.

As the doors opened, everyone followed him out into the hallway, when Zoe noticed that they were underground. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." He asked the computer, turning on all of the lights to ensure that they could all see, "Welcome to zone five." He announced.

"Where is everybody?" Rick asked, as there was no one in the building. "The other doctors, the staff?" Surely they hadn't all died?

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

"What about the person you were speaking with?" Lori asked, her hands still tightly holding onto Carl's shoulders, where they had been sat since they entered the CDC. "Vi?"

"Vi, say hello to our guests." Jenner called out, looking up at the ceiling. "Tell them welcome."

"Hello, guests." The computers voice echoed throughout the whole building. "Welcome." She spoke.

"I'm all that's left." Jenner shrugged. "Sorry." He apologised, hating that he had to break the news to the group, who looked to be so full of life and looked like they all had beliefs that the world may go back to normal.
It wasn't.

____

After getting everyone's blood tests done, to ensure that none of the group were infected in any way, Jenner had laid out the table and served everyone a large amount of food. It was the most food Zoe had seen since the whole outbreak had happened, and she couldn't help but cry out in relief when she saw it all, the same with the others. Everyone was sat, drinking wine and laughing with each other as the evening played out. Zoe sat across from Nate and next to Carl, as they both shared their food, enjoying their time in the CDC, forgetting about what was out there..

"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner." Dale told Lori, as he held a bottle of wine. "And in France." He said, motioning to Carl, that the boy should be able to try some wine - they better make the most of it now that the world had ended..

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some, then." Lori shrugged, as her hand was placed over Carl's empty cup, to stop anyone from putting any alcohol in it. Zoe smirked at the action of her mother, finding humour in the fact that everyone was trying to get Carl to drink; she couldn't imagine Carl drinking, maybe because she couldn't even imagine him all grown up, to her, he was her little kid brother, and always will be, although, she hoped that she would be able to watch him grow up into a wonderful man.

"What's it gonna hurt?" Rick shrugged, taking off a piece of bread and chewing it up. He agreed with Dale's silent words - the world had come to an end, they did have to make the most of it. "Come on." He encouraged, looking towards his wife with a pleading look. He had drank some alcohol when he was Carl's age, and he remembered it being a great bonding experience with his parents - Zoe on the other hand, had already had lots of drinks when she was in school, but her parents had no clue. She had been good at hiding and sneaking out.

Lori raised her eyebrows at her husband, before shrugging, giving Dale the okay to pour her son a small glass of wine. She didn't exactly want him drinking, but she really had to choice, not with everyone looking towards her for an answer. "There you are, young lad." Dale spoke, smiling as he slid the full glass of wine over to Carl.

Taking a sip of it, Carl licked his lipped then gagged at the disgusting taste it brung him, "Eww." He moaned, wiping his mouth in disgust, wishing he had never even touched that stuff.

Zoe laughed at her brother and instantly took the glass away from him for herself, "I'll have it." She chuckled, but stopped once she saw her mother's stare, shrugging innocently. "I mean, I'll try it." She corrected, hoping that her mom hadn't caught her slip up. Lori didn't know that Zoe had drank alcohol before, and she didn't exactly want to know. All she knew, was that she didn't want her drinking now.

Lori shook her head in amusement, now knowing what her daughter had been up to them many nights where she had disappeared, she took the glass of wine away from her, "Nice try, Zo." She said, causing Rick to laugh at the two, knowing that Zoe had drank before after this moment - he didn't mind, though, as long as she was responsible. Zoe rolled her eyes, it was the end of the world, so what if she wants to drink some alcohol? It shouldn't be a problem, but knowing her mom, it was a huge problem. Nate saw this interaction and snickered, knowing that if he actually had a dad that cared about him, he wouldn't have been able to drink either, but he didn't, so he drank as much as he wanted with Daryl..

Zoe didn't look like the kind of girl that would be able to handle her drink, either way, but he knew that she should be able to have a bit of fun. Once she looked up at her, he sent her a wink, and she couldn't help but gleam back at him, knowing exactly what this meant..

Halfway through the night, Nate began to sneak Zoe some of his alcohol, so her parents couldn't see, since Daryl didn't mind him drinking any of it, just like he had never cared. To say she was tipsy, was an understatement, "It seems to me that we haven't thanked our host properly." Rick announced, causing the room to quiet down at his voice.

"He is more than just our host." Dale reminded everyone, holding his glass up in the air for a toast. The group owed him their lives for letting them in his home. Zoe smiled, holding up her glass along with the rest of the group, including Nate, who smirked at the man that had potentially saved all of their lives by not being stuck out there in the city.

"Hear, hear!" The room agreed, all holding up their glasses in toast of Dr. Jenner.

After a few more moments of laughter and talking, Shane spoke up, causing the group to quiet down once more, "So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" He asked, bringing everyone's mood down. "All the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?" He added. He wasn't as happy as the rest of the group, knowing that something seemed off about this whole situation. That, and he was quite upset that Lori hadn't spoken to him in a while. The group could tell that he had changed since Rick's return, but no one commented on it, hoping it was just shock that his best friend was alive..

"We're celebrating, Shane." Rick sighed as he looked over at his friend. "Don't need to do this now." He added, practically begging Shane to quieten down - everyone was enjoying themselves, and Shane had just ruined that.

"Whoa, wait a second." He interrupted, meaning back in his chair, not giving up without a fight. "This is why we're here right? This was your move, supposed to find all the answers. Instead we found him. Found one man. Why?" He asked.

"Well..." Jenner began, leaning back in his chair, ready to explain, "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."

"Every last one?" Shane asked.

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They... Opted out." He sighed, causing Zoe to put her glass back down on the table, her mood was definitely lowered from the new information, and she didn't feel like drinking anymore. "There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." Jenner admitted, remembering the horrid memories of that time.

"You didn't leave. Why?" Rick asked.

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

Zoe stood up, sighing, wanting to go to bed and sleep, hopefully in an actual bed, "Well, my buzz is gone." She announced, causing Glenn to stand up also, nodding. She didn't fancy drinking anymore after finding out that the world was practically screwed, and there was nothing they could do. Who could celebrate after that?

"Yeah, dude, you're such a buzzkill, man." Glenn told Shane, following behind Zoe as they left the room.

After an incredible hot shower, Zoe was feeling clean and great. It had been months since she had even seen any water coming out of a tap, and it felt amazing. She felt like things had gone back to normal, and it was a great feeling. As she was walking through the hallway, she noticed Nate, walking towards her, obviously going back to his room after his own hot shower.
Zoe stopped once they both reached each other, both standing in awkward silence, not knowing what to say. "Uh, nice showers, huh?" She asked, laughing slightly, not knowing what else to say. The fact that everyone else was in their rooms or still in the hall, meant that they were completely alone, for the first time since they had first met - it felt strange, but nice.

"Yeah, felt nice after months of not showering." Nate agreed, pushing his wet curled hair back away from his face. Zoe couldn't help but notice how much more attractive and beautiful his face looked when it wasn't covered in mud and blood; she bit her lip whilst looking at over his face, which he noticed. She didn't know what had come over her - maybe it was he buzz from being somewhere clean and safe, and having a full on meal with amazing meat and wine.
He smirked at the girl, looking back at her, also noticing just how beautiful she looked in this moment, before glancing at her plump lips, wanting nothing but to kiss her in this moment. No girls had made this much of an effort with him in his life, it made him drawn to Zoe, he just didn't want to admit it until now..

The two had only known each other during the apocalypse, so neither of them had seen each other look like this, and it was overwhelming.

They both knew it was the alcohol making them want to get closer, but they didn't care. All they wanted was some pleasure. Nate made the first move, bending over to press his lips to hers, kissing her, which she returned, much to her and his surprise. Moving backwards, Nate fumbled with the door handle to get his door open, before closing it after them, leaving them privacy.

With their lips moving against one another, they fell onto the bed; giving them a night of relief, without the knowledge that the world had ended outside.
They only needed each other in this moment, and that's what they had..