Zedler, M.D. // Daryl Dixon

Chapter Six: CDC

•six•

Beatrix

"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with their dinner," Dale laughs, pouring Lori more whine. "And in France."

"And when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some too," Lori covers Carl's glass with her hand.

"Oh come on, what could it hurt?" Rick chuckles from beside her. She shrugs, moving her hand from the cup. Dale laughs and pours Carl some wine, all of us watching intently waitin for his reaction.

"Ewww!" He makes a face as if he's tasted something sour and we all let out laughs.

"That's my boy," Lori ruffles his hair and Dale returns to his seat. I'm sitting back on the counter, once again, between Daryl and Glenn. Though Daryl is up right now, getting more whiskey.

"We all need to slow down," T-Dog jokes.

"Except for you, Chinaman. I wanna see just how red your face can get," Daryl points at Glenn, laughing. Glenn blushes and looks down in response.

"We haven't properly thanked our host yet," Rick stands up and holds his glass up, tilting it to Jenner.

"Booyaaaah!" Daryl pumps his fist in the air, jumping back up onto the counter beside of me. Everyone follows him, letting out claps and yells for Jenner.

"Now hold up a minute," Shane holds his hand up.

"Shane, not now," Rick shoots him a glare.

"No, we came here for answers, man. Where are all the other doctors? Why is it just you here?" Shane asks.

"When things started to get bad, many people left to be with their families. Others couldn't handle walking out the door," Jenner shakes his head. "They chose to opt-out, as to put it nicely. There was a rash of suicides."

"Way to kill the mood," I shake my head and take another drink out of the now half empty bottle of wine in my hand.

"We should all probably get some rest," Rick suggests and everyone agrees, getting up and following Jenner.

"Most of the facility has been shut down, including housing, so you'll have to stay here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you'd like," Jenner walks down the hallway, gesturing to the different rooms. "There's a rec room at the end of the hall that you kids might enjoy, just don't plug in anything that will take power. Same goes for the showers, try to take it easy on the hot water."

"Did he just say hot water?" Glenn asks, smiling as Jenner walks away.

"You heard the man," I surprise myself by actually saying what I was thinking out loud and wiggling my eyebrows. "Conserve water, shower together."

"Let's go then," Daryl surprises me even more my picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder, walking down the hall ahead of everyone else.

"I didn't mean that I'm drunk!" I yell, hitting his back. I did not peg him to be a fun drunk, and I just hope he's not serious. "Daryl, put me down!"

"You're the one that suggested it, sweetheart," he opens a random door and slams it shut. I can hear everyone hollering from outside and I finally go limp and blush against his back.

"Can you put me down now?" I ask him.

"Mhmm," he drops me down onto a couch and sits down on the one across from me.

"You know I didn't mean that, right?" I arch my eyebrow and he nods.

"I know. Just thought it'd be funny," he shrugs and takes a sip of the bottle of Jack he'd brought from the cafeteria. "You can sleep in here if you want. We got two couches."