CHEROKEE ROSE (D. DIXON)

8.

Rick ushers us inside, and we squeeze into the door and into a lobby.

I spin around the open area, looking for any movement.

"Hello?" Rick asks, his voice echoing in the empty space.

The click of a gun answers instead, and we all aim our weapons in the same direction.

A tall man with unkempt hair and sad eyes stands in front of us. "Anybody infected?" He demands.

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

"Why are you here? What do you want?" The man asks in quick succession.

"A chance." Rick croaks, pale eyes pleading.

The man approaches slowly, lowering his weapon. "That's asking an awful lot these days." He remarks.

"I know." Rick replies.

The rest of the group looks on, frightened still.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission." The man proclaims.

Rick nods exaggeratedly, the brim of his sheriff's hat nearly touching the collar of his shirt. "We can do that."

"Rick Grimes." Rick shakes the mans hand.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner."

Moments later, we crowd in an elevator, the smell of sweat becoming more prominent in the enclosed area.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl questions.

"There were plenty left around, I familiarized myself." Jenner admits. "But you look harmless enough." He looks down at Carl. "Except you. I'll have to keep my eye on you." Carl grins.

He leads us through an underground tunnel and into an empty lab area with a circle of computers. "Welcome to zone 5."

He admits to being the only one left, and we all let out a collective breath of disappointment. It would seem the cure was not even in development. The thought weighs heavy on my mind, but I try to cling to hope. There are other CDC's, I tell myself. There has to be a cure out there.

I sit across from Jenner as he presses a syringe into my inner elbow. I take in a sharp breath and look away, focusing on Daryl's shoes. I've never been good with needles.

"Done." He informs me, giving me a reassuring smile.

I do my best to smile back, but a light headed feeling washes over my body. I stand anyways, and unsurprisingly my knees buckle under my weight.

To my relief, someone catches me with a strong arm, holding me shoulders tightly. I look up to thank Rick, but come face to face with Daryl instead. My head pounds as I slur a thanks, and he eases me onto one of the steps with a startling gentleness, setting his crossbow beside me.

He plops into the seat I had sat in, hesitantly putting his arm out.

"Is she okay?" Jenner asks, swabbing the injection site with an alcohol wipe.

"That one hasn't slept in days, I think." He replies, looking back at me.

"Most of us haven't eaten in awhile, either." A woman whose name I still don't know adds.