Deadland

Chapter 7- Safe Spot

"Why are you here, what do you want?" The man asks.

"He's a fucking tool, I don't know why we're here." I mutter so quietly, not even Alyssa hears it. 

"A chance." Rick replies.

"That's asking an awful lot these days." 

"I know." 

Everybody doesn't move or make a sound, scared that we're gonna get kicked out. 

"You will all submit to a blood test, that's the price of admission." 

"We can do that." 

Alyssa looks at me with wide eyes. "I'm afraid of needles." She whispers. 

"I know, 'Lyss. But I'll be right there for it all. I promise."

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

We all enter inside, the metal doors closing behind us.

"Rick Grimes." 

"Dr. Edwin Jenner." 

We all squeeze into an elevator and begin going down floors. 

Once we get downstairs, we're in a long hallway. The walls, floors, and ceilings are all white, including the lights. 

Dr. Jenner leads us into a big room and commands "Vi" to turn on the lights. 

"Welcome to zone 5." He says. 

 "Where is everybody? The doctors and staff?" Rick interrogates, looking around.

"I'm it. It's just me here." 

I scoff, "Of course."

"What about the person you were speaking with?" Lori asks, "Vi?" 

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

An automated womans voice booms from the high ceilings. "Hello guests, welcome." 

"I'm all that's left." Nobody responds. 

"I'm sorry." Dr. Jenner finally adds.

Alyssa sits down in the chair in front of Dr. Jenner, about to get her blood drawn.

"Adrian..." Her lip quivers.

"She afraid of needles?" I nod. 

"You her mom?" Everybody snickers. I scoff, "Damn, alright. Nah, I'm her older sister." 

"You can stay up here with her if both of you would like." Alyssa looks at me with wide eyes and nods vigorously. "Wouldn't you much rather have dad do it?" I ask, looking at Shane.

"No," She shakes her head. "I want you to stay up here." I nod and crouch down next to her, putting my hand out for her to hold. 

"Really?" She smiles excitedly. I take a deep breath. "Anything for you, 'Lyss. Now hold my hand before I change my mind." I smile slightly. 

Alyssa grips my hand and squeezes it as Dr. Jenner puts the needle in her arm. I have the breathe through the flashbacks of Nick that flood my mind.

"You're doing it for Alyssa, you're doing it for Alyssa." I repeat in my head. 

Once it's done, Alyssa releases my hand. "Thank you." She smiles. 

I nod in response and sit down to have my blood drawn.

We're all sitting around the dinner table. Everyone is laughing and drinking, minus the kids of course. Carl has tried a drink of Lori's wine and I honestly thought he was gonna throw up.

Dale pours me another glass of wine. "Maybe this will get Adrian to actually start talking to us." Everyone laughs. I scoff, "Maybe. Or maybe I'll just pass out." "I guess we'll find out." T-dog and everyone else laughs.

"Keep drinking Glenn. I wanna see how red your face can get." Daryl says, cocking his head to the side. Everybody laughs. 

Rick taps his glass with his knife. "Seems to me we never properly thanked our host properly." "He is more than just our host." T-dog adds, raising his wine glass. "Here, here." Dale says.

"Yeah, here's to you, doc. Booyah!" Daryl says, a few people repeating "booyah".  

"So when you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" Shane interrupts, killing the mood. "All the uh- the other doctors. That were supposed to be figuring out what happened. Where are they?"

I groan loudly and exaggeratedly. "Jesus dad. Don't kill the mood like that." 

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

 "Well when things got bad, lots 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, dragging on the dreading conversation. 

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

"You didn't leave...why?" Andrea speaks up.

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

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man." Glenn says, sitting next to me.

"I agree 100 percent with that." I say, rolling my eyes. 

Shane doesn't respond. 

I look at Glenns beer. "Have you even had a sip of that?" I ask. 

Glenn smiles. "Yeah." "Well then take a gulp." Everyone laughs.

I can barely stumble into my room when I get out of the shower. Glenn, Alyssa, and I are sharing a room since we ran out of extra rooms and My room had an extra couch. I'm sleeping on a couch, Alyssa is on a cot, and Glenn is on the other couch. 

Alyssa went with Carl and Sophia to the rec room.

Glenn and I are laying in silence until he asks me a question.

(Summary:) The group leaves the quarry and heads to the CDC. They have to leave Jim behind on their way there. They manage to get into the CDC and all enjoy dinner after taking a blood test, which Adrian worked up the courage to hold Alyssa's hand during since Alyssa is afraid of needles. Adrian and a few others get very drunk and Alyssa has to help Adrian get tucked in.