𝐁𝐀𝐃 𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐀, rick grimes.

THE GROUP waited in shock and relief as the shutters finally opened slowly. "daryl, you cover the back." shane called out as they all got their weapons ready incase they needed to fight back and entered slowly.

"hello?" rick called out as they looked around.

"close those doors. watch for walkers." a voice said loudly as lydia frowned and looking around to see where it was coming from. the room was oddly empty—it reminded her a bit of the sad beige babies, but bluey-grey. nothing was out of place, and it seemed to have a lot of protection. meaning, there was security cameras everywhere you looked.

"i don't like this place." lydia mumbled to glenn, who nodded uneasily, as rick glanced at them both with a reassuring look on his face.

"stay close, get your machete and your bat just incase." his southern accent filled their ears as lydia nodded, pulling out her machete as glenn did the same but with the hat.

all of a sudden, a gun cocking could be heard as they all jumped around to see a man holding a gun aimed at them. he had light blonde hair and a grey t shirt on with jeans. rick copied his actions and they stared at each other for a few moments.

"anybody infected?" the unknown man called out to them, they all shared a look, unsure if they should talk or not.

"one of our group was." rick decided to speak up, "but he didn't make it."

"why are you here? what do you want?" the man asked, taking a step closer.

"a chance."

"that's asking an awful lot these days." he replied to rick, looking hesitant about helping them. "i know." rick replied, as the man glanced at the group curiously, his eyes scanning each of them.

"you all submit to a blood test. that's the price of admission." he told them firmly as rick didn't even discuss it before agreeing.

"we can do that." rick replied, and the man put his gun down, nodding.

"if you got stuff to bring in, you do it now. once this door closes, it stays closed." he said, making lydia frown slightly, sharing a look with glenn. maybe this wasn't a good idea.

but daryl, shane and rick ran back to the rv to get all of their stuff before slamming the doors shut. "vi, seal the main entrance. kill the power up here." the man called out.

the doors shut as the man looked at them all, "rick grimes." he introduced himself, shaking his hand.

"dr. edwin jenner." he said as he led them all to an elevator which was very crowded and made lydia slightly uncomfortable.

"doctors always go around packing heat light that?" daryl asked, slightly suspicious.

"there were plenty left lying around. i familiarised myself." dr. jenner replied simply, "but you look harmless enough. except you, i'll have to keep my eye on you." he said to carl teasingly who smiled lightly.

as they left, they walked through a corridor and lydia gulped. "are we underground, sir?" she asked, holding eden closer to her.

"are you claustrophobic?" he replied, careful what to reply.

"very." she replied hesitantly as he chuckled. "well, try not to think about it." he turned back around as she looked anxiously at the group.

"that's made me feel loads better." she replied sarcastically.

"vi, bring up the lights in the big room." he called out as the lights turned on and it revealed lots of computer desks, and a digital clock. "welcome to zone five."

"where is everybody?" rick asked with a frown as they walked in further. "the doctors, staff?"

"i'm it." edwin told them all, "it's just me here." he said simply as their eyes widened.

"what about the person you keep talking to?" lydia asked, frowning. had she hallucinated him asking someone to turn on the lights and secure the door?

"vi." lori finished with a nod.

"vi, say hello to our guests, tell them welcome." edwin called out as they glanced around, waiting for someone to come out.

"hello, guests. welcome." a computer like voice spoke through the speakers as lydia sighed.

"i'm all that's left." edwin told them, looking at their disappointment faces. "i'm sorry."

he began to do their blood tests as andrea complained about them not being infected, and because they got quite faint, he realised they hadn't eaten in days.

"what have you been feeding her?" edwin asked lydia, motioning to eden.

"the last of the baby milk i have. i packed a whole load of it and i was gonna try start with soft foods now but...nothings come up."
lydia replied hesitantly.

"come with me. all of you." the man smiled kindly as he walked through a hallway, leading them into a room with a large table with food sat out, wine, soda, you name it. it looked like it used to be a cafeteria.

there was a plate next to lydia's that had mash, blended vegetables and potatoes for eden, a high chair infront of it.

everyone let out cheers and thanked the man as lydia frowned slightly, "no one else wondering how he as all this?" she asked.

"manners, lydia." carol scolded quietly as the girl held her hands up in surrender and sat down, placing eden in the high chair. glenn practically galloped over to the chair next to eden, making lydia laugh loudly.

dale poured the wine as the adults all cheered, having not had it in months, whilst carl looked at his mom with a cheeky grin. "can i have some?"

"no." lori said between laughs.

"in italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner." dale spoke up as lori rolled her eyes jokingly, "and in france."

"well, when carl is in italy or france he can have some then." lori replied, trying not to glare at rick who sat next to lydia. on the left of rick it was carl and lori, so they were still sat together, lori was just pissed he chose to sit them all with lydia.

"what's it gonna hurt? c'mon." rick teased as lori sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "fine."

dale poured carl the tiniest bit as the little boy drank some, immediately spitting it out making them all laugh loudly. "stick to soda pop there, bud." shane chuckled.

"not you glenn." daryl said as the boy frowned, "what?" he asked with a nervous chuckle.

"keep drinking, little man. i wanna see how red your face can get." daryl grinned as lydia rolled her eyes but joined in with the laughter.

"fuck off daryl." lydia waved him away as the man laughed in response.

"it seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly yet." rick spoke up as they all raised their glasses.

"he is more than just our host." t dog grinned. "here's to you doc."

they all thanked him and clinked their glasses together before going back into conversation.

shane, as always, decided to ruin the mood.

"so when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" he asked making them all quieten down.

"all the...the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened. where are they?" he asked as they all looked at him in annoyance.

"we're celebrating, shane. now is not the time for you to ruin the mood." lydia spoke up as shane scoffed slightly.

"well that's why we are here, right? this was ricks move. supposed to find all the answers. instead we...we found him." he pointed to the doctor with a mocking laugh.

"well, when things got bad, a lot of people just...left. went of to be with their families. and when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." edwin told them all as they nodded along with his words.

"every last one?" shane asked with a raised brow.

"no. many couldn't face walking out the door. they...opted out. there was a rash of suicides." he began as a few of the group sighed, it was a complicated subject. "that was a bad time."

"you didn't leave." andrea spoke up, confused. "why?"

"i just kept working. hoping to do some good." edwin replied as they all sighed.

"dude, you are such a buzzkill, man." glenn said to shane as the others nodded in agreement.

eden began to cry as lydia stopped feeding her. she looked up at the group, "she's tired." she told them. the men of the group looked confused at how she knew, but the woman nodded understandingly.

edwin nodded and took them all to show where they would be sleeping. "most of the facility is powered down, including housing. so, you'll have to make do here. the couches are comfortable, but there are fits in storage if you like." he told them all as they listened, nodding along with his words.

"there's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. just don't plug in the video games, okay?" he turned to sophia and carl who nodded happily. "or anything that draws power."

"same applies...if you shower, go easy on hot water." edwin said before heading off.

glenn froze and turned to his friends with a wide smile. "hot water?"

"that's what the man said." t dog grinned, they rushed away to the showers as they all laughed.

lydia helped carl and sophia find the rec room, it was colourful, hundreds of books for all ages. there were toys everywhere, chalk boards, sofas, colouring books, blankets, even a little climbing frame.

"listen, i'm gonna leave y'all in charge of eden for a little bit. i'm gonna have a shower and sort something out for eden. you gonna look after her?" she asked as sophia and carl nodded excitedly.

"thank you." lydia smiled, placing eden down by the soft play area as carl and sophia immediately went to smother her with cuddles, excited giggles filling the room made lydia smile as she left to shower.

she picked out a spare change of clothes for herself and eden, having a quick shower, laughing hearing glenn singing loudly in his cubicle. she would wash eden later on, letting carl and sophia play with her for a little while.

after her shower she found one of the storage rooms with cots in. it was small, which made her feel a little uneasy. but it would do.

she went to the library to pick out a few books for herself, since she had read all of the ones she packed. carol was in there with lori, but then carol left to spend time with sophia.

on her way out, lydia spotted shane heading in towards lori, she frowned, but shrugged it off. they wouldn't do anything—rick was back. right?

she found some new clothes in one of the rooms and packed them all into her bag, running it down to the storage room she'd be sleeping in and then going back to the rec room to find eden.

carl, sophia and carol were all playing with eden as she chuckled, before picking her daughter up. "i'm gonna wash her then go to bed. goodnight." she smiled.

"we should do the same, c'mon sophia. carl, you go back to where your mom and dad are staying." carol nodded as lydia found herself rolling her eyes at her last sentence.

everyone got back to their rooms and the lights turned out as lydia placed eden down in one of the smaller cots, staying close to her.

one more chapter of s1!!