The Walking Dead (Fanfic)

Chapter 8

It had been such a log time since I had heard pure genuine laughter, all of us were seated around a table. Jenner gave us food and we feasted like we were kings and drank wine like Italians. And in that moment, I felt like I was filled with bliss. This was what it felt like, being normal and not having to fear for our lives for one single moment.

Everyone had been drinking and Carl was asking for a sip because he was curious, and Dale tried to back him up which made all of us laugh. "You know, in Italy, children had a little bit of wine with dinner." Dale said handing a glass of wine to Lori, she laughed as she took her drink. With a smile plastered on my own face, I drank from my own glass. "Well, and when Carl is in Italy, he can have some of it them." She smirked covering his glass protectively.

"What's it gonna hurt, come on." Rick urged with a smile; the only other time I saw him smile was when he saw his family for the first time. I ate some of the food on my plate and watched the whole thing play out. We cheered when Lori gave in, and Dale poured some wine into Carl's plastic cup. "Here you are young lad." Dale smiled handing him the cup. Everyone grew quiet with anticipation, we wanted to see his reaction.

Carl took a sip before his whole face grew sour, "Ew!" he spluttered which caused the rest of us to roar in laughter. We all laughed and happily drank from our own glasses; I could feel the effects of the wine when I tilted my head back. I felt light and good. "Stick to soda pop, bud." Shane said gloomily but no one noticed as Daryl walked past us and grabbed a bottle of wine. "Not you, Glenn and Aideen!" Daryl said topping my glass and handing the bottle to Glenn.

"What?" we both asked as we looked over at the redneck, clearly confused, the others watched with curiosity. "Keep drinking, I want to see how red your face can get and no one here can imagine either of you drunk," Daryl said with a smile before he took a seat next to me, as I laughed. I had been drunk before but that was on the floor of my bathroom from drinking box wine.

Everyone pounded on the table, agreeing with him. Slowly I took a sip from my glass, watching him as his eyes stayed glued to my lips, watching me sip my wine. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a spoon gentle clinking one of the wine glasses. Rick stood up from his sweat. "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly." Rick said happily, clearly buzzed like the rest of us. T-Dog raised his glass and said, "He is more than just our host."

This caused the rest to raise their glasses, I did too, Daryl however raised the bottle and called out, "Here's to you, Doc. Booyah!" which cause a giggle to rise from inside me, he looked over at me when it came out. I looked away and continued to cheer. Jenner raised his own glass and silently took a sip. Our buzz was soon killed by the one and only side piece, Shane.

I kept drinking and chose not to listen; Jenner was one man and I assumed no one wanted to keep working while the world ended. I focused on eating and drinking, doing my best to keep my buzz from slipping away. All I knew was that Shane was grilling the doctor for answers and tried to make Rick feel guilty about coming here. We received the answer I expected, people ran and opted out, while Jenner kept working.

"You are such a buzzkill Shane." I spoked into my glass before taking another sip, even as I was trying to stay out of the serious conversation, my buzz still got killed. I glared at Shane as he licked his lips out of annoyance, Glenn nodded in agreement before sipping from his bottle. When we were finally done with dinner, Jenner asked us to follow him. I grabbed my own bottle and followed. I was going to get shitfaced, with or without the group.

"Most of the facility is powered down, including housing, so you'll have to make do here." Jenner explained walking us down another corridor. I had slipped the bottle in my bag which was now slung over my shoulder as I walked with Glenn. "The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy." Jenner continued as he pointed down the hallway. "Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same applies if you shower go easy on the hot water." Jenner said turning around and pointing to us all.