Future Ghosts • TWD

12. Needles and Opting Out.

When the door opened, everyone froze, staring into the bright light. It took a few moments before everyone snapped back into reality. They raised their weapons forward, aside from Daryl who was covering the back.

The room they walked into was like a huge lobby. The floors were shiny and had strange geometric patterns.

"Hello?" Rick called out. His voice echoed in the seemingly empty building. They all scanned over the room with their eyes, searching for whoever opened the door when they heard the sound of a gun being cocked.

A tall man in a gray shirt emerged from behind a wall. He looked like a mess. Rosie furrowed her eyebrows at the way he was holding his gun. It was very wrong. He clearly had no idea what he was doing with the weapon. She thought that would ease her anxiety, but it only made it worse. If someone doesn't know how to use a gun, they shouldn't have it. That's what her dad always said when he was teaching her.

"Anybody infected?" the man yelled out. He sounded more scared than everyone else, which was funny because he was the one safe in a big huge building with zero walkers.

"One of our group was. He didn't make it," Rick told him, undoubtedly referring to Jim. Rosie didn't understand why he felt the need to mention Jim. He wasn't there anymore.

"Why are you here and what do you want?" the man asked quickly.

"A chance," Rick breathed out. He could only pray that this man had any answers.

"That's asking an awful lot these days," the man replied, stepping closer with his gun. With every step the man took closer, Rosie took a small step back. She didn't even notice she was doing it, she just did it.

Rick cocked his head to the side for a moment. "I know," he sighed.

No one said anything for a few moments, the only sound being everyone's panicked breathing as the man's eyes scanned over the group. They were worried he wouldn't let them stay- or that he'd kill them.

He didn't.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission," the man finally spoke.

"We can do that," Rick told the man.

The man lowered his weapon and everyone seemed to ease up. "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed," he said.

Some of the adults went back and grabbed bags while Rosie stayed inside with the other people who didn't go out.

Once they came back in, Daryl nudged Rosie with his elbow. She looked up at him, thinking he was going to ask her to do something or maybe tell her she was doing something wrong, but instead he held his hand out. In it was her small, plastic velociraptor toy. She had left in on the seat of the truck. She nodded a thank you and Daryl nodded back before following the man.

The man started talking to the wall- at least that's what Rosie thought he was doing. "Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here," he said. The big metal door closed over the glass ones.

"Rick Grimes," Rick said, introducing himself.

Pussy ass cop.

The man looked at him strangely for a second before replying. "Dr. Edwin Jenner."

After that, Dr. Jenner led them to a big metal elevator. It didn't seem that big when they were all in it, though. It was very crowded. Rosie leaned up against the back wall, staring at her boots. This was all very strange to her. Something felt off, but she tried to ignore it because everything always felt off to her.

Rosie was spaced out for a minute, listening to the sounds the elevator made. It was annoyingly loud, but it was better than the constant buzzing of flies.