Chapter 18) Safe for now

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The group quickly agrees and grabs any belongings from outside. They follow the mystery man into an elevator. He speaks to the air. "VI, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here."

Rick reaches his hand out. "Rick Grimes."

The man looks at his hand. "Dr. Edwin Jenner."

Silence.

Daryl looks at the man. "Doctors always go around packing heat like that?"

The man cracks a small smile. "There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough." He looks at Carl. "Except you, I'll have to keep my eye on you."

The group breathes a sigh of relief, knowing they are safe from the outside world.

Once the elevator comes to a stop, Jenner leads the group out into a hallway. Carol looks around a little nervously. "Are we underground?"

Jenner doesn't turn around. "Are you claustrophobic?"

She takes in a breath. "A little."

"Try not to think about it."

He brings them into a large room. "VI, bring up the lights."

There's a few beeps and the lights come on. "Welcome to Zone 5." He says.

Rick looks confused. "Where is everybody? The other doctors, the staff?"

Jenner sits down. "I'm it. It's just me here."

Lori shakes her head. "What about the person you were speaking with? VI?"

Jenner looks up. "VI, say hello to our guests. Tell them... Welcome."

There's a pause, and then an automated computer voice speaks over the intercom. "Hello, guests. Welcome."

The group looks around at each other in shock. Jenner rests his head on his hand. "I'm all that's left. I'm sorry."
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One by one, Jenner takes each members blood to run some tests. Andreas the last one left. "What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever."

He sighs. "I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me just at least be thorough." He uses the syringe. "All done."

As she stands up, she almost falls and Jacqui helps her.

Jacqui looks to the doctor. "She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have."
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Later, Jenner makes the group pasta and gives them wine. They all sit at a round table eating, drinking and laughing.

Y/N sits next to Glenn and Archer sits across the table.

Lori laughs and shakes her head. "Fine."

Dale smiles and pours some wine into a glass. "You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France."

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then."

Rick smiles and pushes the glass over towards Carl. "What's it gonna hurt? Come on. Come on."

Lori smiles and let's Rick hand the class to Carl who giggles.

Carl takes the glass and takes a sip before making a face. "Ewwww."

Everyone laughs harder at that.

Lori pats his back and takes the glass away. "That's my boy."

Carl continues to show his disgust for the wine.

"Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud." Shane says with a smile.

"Not you, Glenn." Daryl says laughing.

"What?" Glenn asks confused.

"I wanna see how red your face can get."

Y/N laughs and pats Glenn on the shoulder while taking a sip from her glass. She looks up and notices Archer chugging his down and pouring more. He looks at her before taking another drink.

Rick makes a toast to Jenner and everyone cheers for his hospitality.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc? All the—the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?" Shane asks setting his glass down.

Y/N rolls her eyes and sits up. "We're celebrating Shane."

Rick nods in agreements "You 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?"

Jenner glances at the group as if deciding to speak. "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 asks.

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They... opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

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

Jenner sighs. "I just kept working, hoping to do some good."

Glenn swallows a mouthful of wine. "Dude. You are such a buzzkill man." He says to Shane.
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Later, Jenner is leading them down a hallway towards the living area. "Most of the facility is powered down including housing so you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same applies—if you shower, go easy on the hot water."

Glenn and Y/N make eye contact. "Hot water?" He says excitedly.

She smiles. "That's what he said."

The both giggle.
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Y/N walks out of the room she was given with a towel around her head. She's in a comfortable outfit. She runs into Glenn who exits his room with only a towel on his waist.

She gasps and backs up. "Oh." She looks away. "Sorry."

He wraps the towel tighter. "No no no i'm sorry. Daryl stole my clothes."

She laughs at that and uses her hand to shield her eyes.

He laughs too and then leans against the wall.

The two are just awkwardly standing in the hallway when Daryl walks in and smiles. "Jesus. Can't y'all get a room?" He tosses an arm full of clothes to Glenn who barely manages to catch it.

Y/N looks down, her hand still shielding. "Anyways... i'm gonna- yeah i'm gonna go now." She immediately goes back into her room and closes the door, standing against it.

She takes a deep breath. Did that just happen? She smiles. It did.
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