Daring Dixon (A Daryl Dixon fanfiction)

Chapter 8

We all stood there in shock for a moment. I think deep down, we all thought that the CDC was a bust and that we wouldn't be finding anything here.

Rick gestured for us to follow him and we crept slowly inside, weapons drawn. "Hello?" Rick shouted out as he entered the building. "Hello?"

"Close those doors," Shane instructed. Glenn and I did so.

"Watch for walkers," Daryl instructed.

"Hello?" A voice called out. We turned to see a scruffy man pointing a gun at us. "Anybody infected?" he demanded.

"One of our group was," Rick said breathlessly. "He didn't make it."

The man lowered his gun and took a step forward. "Why are you here? What do you want?"

"A bit to the point, aren't we," I said under my breath.

"A chance," Rick said.

The mans face turned dark "That's asking an awful lot these days," he said sullenly.

"I know," Rick assured.

"You'll all submit to a blood test," he informed. "That's the price of admission."

"We can do that," Rick said.

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

We all went back out to our vehicles and grabbed everything we would need. Most everyone grabbed something. Even I had something to grab, despite not having much. The man ushered us in, then pressed a button on what looked like a security keypad. "Vi, seal the main entrance," he said to it. Glenn and I exchanged looks. "Kill the power up here."

The grates slid back over the doors. There was no turning back. Rick held out his hand for the man to shake. "Rick Grimes," he introduced.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner," he said, shaking Rick's hand. We loaded an elevator and descended a few floors.

"Doctors always go around packing hear?" Daryl asked. I rolled my eyes and smirked. He gave me a questioning look.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself," Jenner explained. "But you look harmless enough." There was a moment where we all exchanged glances. "Except you. I'll have to keep my eye on you," he said to Carl. Carl proudly smirked.

The elevator stopped and we all exited. Jenner began to lead us down a long hallway. "Are we underground?" Carol asked nervously.

"You claustrophobic?" Jenner turned his head towards her.

"A little," Carol admitted.

"Try not to think about it," Jenner said.

We finally arrived inside a large, circular room. He said something aloud to Vi, and then all the lights came up. Machines were set in a circle in the center of the room. It looked like something out of a sci-fi show.

"It's awfully empty in here," I noticed.

"That's because I'm it," Jenner said quietly.

"What about the person you were talking to? Vi?" Lori asked.

"Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them, welcome," Jenner said loudly.

A mechanical voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once. "Hello guests. Welcome," it said.

Jenner gestured for us to follow him. "This way to get your blood test done."

We followed him down the hall. The room he lead us into looked like a classroom, complete with rows of chairs and a white board. He set up chairs, a table and a trash can, laying his supplies on the table. We all lined up, Rick going first, followed by Lori, Carl, Shane, and Dale. Then it was my turn. I walked up and sat down. He nodded to me, than rubbed an alcohol wipe on the crook of my arm. After a moment, I felt the prick. I jumped slightly. I hadn't had blood drawn in quite a while and the initial poke startled me.

Andrea sat down next, and I went over to the others who had already got their blood drawn. "Some luck, huh?" I said to Dale. He nodded.

"Who'd have ever thought that there would still be someone here," he said, shaking his head.

"Whoa," Andrea said, standing up. Jacqui caught her.

"She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have," Jacqui explained.

"I think I can help," Jenner said. "Let me finish these last few," he said, nodding towards Carol, Sophia, Daryl and Jacqui.

We found ourselves in a dining room. Jenner had more food than one person could possibly need, and he was willing to share. He even had wine. We sat around the table, eating spaghetti and salad. The wine and good food were lifting our spirits. Laughter rang throughout the room. I was sitting between Glenn and T-Dog.

I wasn't really following the conversations. I was just siting there, savoring the food and wine. I wasn't a big drinker, but the wine was good and I didn't think I would ever have the chance to enjoy it like this again.

I noticed that Glenn was drinking an awful lot. An empty bottle of wine sat in front of his empty plate, and he had another in his hand. His face was extremely red.

"Not you little man," I heard Daryl say. "You keep drinking. I want to see how red your face can get." There was a round of laughter before Rick clinked his knife on the side of his wine glass.

"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly," Rick said, standing.

"He's more than a host," T-Dog said.

"Damn right," I said, nodding towards him.

A chorus of 'hear, hear's' followed. Daryl gave a booyah, and there was also a chorus of those. Rick turned to Jenner. "Thank you, doctor," he said sincerely. Jenner nodded and raised his glass.

Shane turned to Jenner. "So when you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" he demanded. "All the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"

"We're celebrating, Shane," Rick warned. "Don't need to do this now."

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move- supposed to find all the answers. Instead we- we found him. Found one man. Why?" Shane argued.

Doctor Jenner sighed. "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 cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."

"Every last one?" Shane asked in disbelief.

"No," Jenner said, shaking his head. "Many couldn't face walking out the door. They... opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

"You didn't leave. Why?" Andrea demanded.

"I just kept working. Hoping to do some good," Jenner said slowly.

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man," Glenn said drunkenly.

"Let's enjoy the rest of our meal, hm?" Lori suggested. We all shook out heads in agreement.