"GO!" Rick orders, ushering us into the building.

The group sprints to safety, closing the doors. The slam rings in the air.

The building is quiet. I remain beside Daryl, who's staying at the back of the group as he watches out for more walkers. There's no one inside the CDC at first glance.

I hear a gun click. I let out a small squeak, my hand flying to my knife. A man stands on a stairway, pointing a shotgun at us.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he asks.

"A chance," Rick says, lowering his gun.

"That's an awful lot to ask nowadays," the man says cautiously, moving forward.

"It's all we got," Rick replies, sighing.

The man pauses, looking at each of us. "You submit a blood test, that's the price of admission."

"Alright," Rick agrees, looking back at our group briefly.

"You should go get your things. Once those doors close they aren't opening up again," the man says, pointing with his gun.

The men of the group sprint through the doors. They get back quickly, carrying our bags. The shutter closes us in, and we look to the man who just saved us.

"Rick Grimes," Rick says, introducing himself.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner," the man replies, shaking Rick's hand. "Come with me."

We follow him until we get to an elevator. We climb in, and Dr. Jenner pushes the basement button. We begin our slow descent.

"Doctors always go around packin' heat like that?" Daryl asks Jenner, motioning to his gun.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself," he answers, deadpan.

We reach the basement, walking down a long hallway towards a set of doors.

"I get claustrophobic underground," Carol says, her voice shaking slightly.

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

He opens the big set of doors at the end of the hallway. We move in.

"Vi, bring up the lights in the big room," Jenner says. The lights come on, revealing a big control room. "Welcome to Zone 5."

"Where are all the other doctors?" Rick questions, looking around.

"I'm all that's left."

"What about that person you were talking to...Vi?" Lori asks.

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

A mechanical woman's voice comes on. "Hello guests. Welcome."

He sighs and turns back to us. "I'm all that's left."

We stay quiet for a bit.

"How about those blood tests?" Jenner suggests, breaking the silence.

----------

I sit down and hold out my arm to Dr. Jenner. He inserts a needle and starts taking a sample of my blood.

"What's the point of getting our blood? If we were infected, we would know by now, wouldn't we?" I ask, curious.

"I have reasons, reasons I can't explain."

I stand up, wobbling and feeling dizzy. I run into Daryl, who steadies me carefully as I place a hand on my forehead.

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

Dr. Jenner's face looks like he was struck with a sudden idea. He smiles lightly.

"I've got something that could help with that."

He leads us to a cafeteria, where we find fridges stocked full of food. He pulls out wine and glasses, which he promptly fills and hands out. Soon enough, we're all laughing and talking and eating, celebrating at finding a safe place and having a good meal.

"Hey Carl!" I call, holding my glass out to him. "You want to try?"

"Hope," Lori says. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Children in Italy are old enough to drink at his age," Dale mentions.

"We aren't in Italy, now are we?" Lori asks, trying to hide the smile on her face.

"Go ahead and let him try!" Rick laughs.

Carl eagerly tips the glass back, sipping some of the wine. After a few seconds, he grimaces.

"EWWWWW!" he squeals, sticking out his tongue.

Everyone laughs heartily.

"I know! Awful, isn't it?" I ask, wiping tears of laughter from my eyes.

"Yeah! Why are you drinking it if you think it's so bad?" Carl asks, grimacing again.

"I don't want to get left out," I admit, taking another sip of the tart red liquid.

Glenn starts looking tipsy and puts his glass down.

"No way, little man!" Daryl says, laughing. "You gotta keep drinkin'. I wanna see how red your face can get."

Glenn blushes, and more laughs echo through the room.

Rick stands up, silencing us. "It seems that we haven't properly thanked our host."

"He is more than just our host," T-dog says drunkenly, raising his glass.

"Hear hear!" the whole group agrees.

"BOOYAH!" Daryl yells, taking a swig of whiskey straight from the bottle he's holding.

"BOOYAH! BOOYAH!" the group yells.

I grin and gulp down the rest of my wine in one swallow. I purse my lips as I swallow it.

"Woah! Gotta slow down there little girl! Don't wanna get too drunk now, huh?" Daryl guffaws, slapping me on the back.

They all howl with laughter as I choke from the sudden force. We all start clinking glasses together.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, Doc? All the doctors who are supposed to be figuring this whole thing out...where are they?" Shane interrupts.

We all go silent. You could've heard a pin drop.

"We're celebrating, Shane. We don't need to do this now," Rick says, sitting down.

"Well, that's why we're here, right? To get answers? That was your move. We came all the way down here...looking for answers. Instead...we find him. One guy. I want to know why," Shane argues.

"Well," Jenner says. "When things got bad, most people just left. When things got worse, people just bolted."

"Every last person?" Shane asks, smirking.

"No. Some people couldn't stand the idea of going out there. They...opted out. There were a lot of suicides." Jenner falls silent.

"You didn't leave," Andrea says. "Why?"

"I just kept working. I was hoping to...do some good."

We sit silent again. I stare at my empty wine glass.

"Dude, you're such a buzzkill," Glenn mumbles to Shane, his voice slurred.

"I'll show you to your rooms," Jenner says, getting up.

We stand up too, following him out of the cafeteria.