Loss,Movement & Suicide : Part 4
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( Your POV)
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Everyone froze at the sight of the door,I did too until a walker decided to bump into my back."Dammit." Daryl noticed and immediately shot the walker before pulling me to his side.
"Be more careful." I sighed but didn't pull away from him ,I'm trying Daryl geez.
After me being "attacked" everyone seemed to snap out of it and we all began to walk into the facility,"It's looks even bigger inside."
Rick looked at me only for a second before pointing his gun out and searching over every nook and cranny,protective dad at it again."Hello! Hello anybody here?"
Lori looked up in search of some sign of life,"Who opened the doors?"
It seemed we all searched for the source that had responded finally to Ricks pleading to open the door, but none of us could see anything.My ear twitched hearing footsteps and then a gun ,I immediately raised my crossbow in that direction.Daryl who had been holding onto me looked in that direction before brining up his own crossbow.This triggered a domino effect,Carl and the little girl hid behind us,"Who's there?"
We recieved no answer from the man who stood in the darkness with a gun pointed at us,instead he asked a question,"Any of you infected?"
I froze as Rick spoke,"One of our group was..he didn't make it." Afterwards the man walked closer but he still refused to lower his gun,instead he asked what we wanted with a cautious tone."A chance."
The man had finally walked into a spot of light,he was talk,kinda chubby but with well defined arms and I don't mean that to sound rude and blonde hair that seemed to be thinning cause of stress. Something expected these days."That's asking an awful lot these days."
"I know."
He seemed to be analyzing us,or maybe just attempting to decide to kick us out or not.Everyone stared at him with a terrified face,everyone but me,instead I stared straight at him.No emotion evident in my eyes,when his orbs finally connected with mine he stepped back.
After a few seconds of silence and our groups rough breathing he spoke,"You all submit to a blood test,that's your admission to stay in."
To this I stepped back my eyes widening,to not cause alarm I looked to the ground,No I have to leave! I looked behind me at the door we had entered from,If I move fast enough I can run out and no one will find out.
Rick lowered his gun,slowly,"We can do that."
I backed away from the group and creeped towards the door,I can't do this,I can't do this, I can't do this.As I was mentally freaking out a hand reached out and stopped me in my tracks,turning around I saw Glenn who looked extremely confused."Where are you going?"
"I'm leaving,I can't give him blood,I don't want to,"his eyebrows drew together in confusion.At least I'm lucky that Glenn is slow when it comes to things.
"Why?" I slipped his hand off my arm as I continued my way to the door,thankfully we hadn't caught the others attention yet.
I had almost reached the door when a bullet suddenly struck the wall right beside me,I froze in place,"Where are you going?"
That voice doesn't belong to anyone in the group. I had to calm myself down before I turned around,obviously I had everyones attention ,though Daryl now seemed to be glaring at the man as he had shot at me."I was leaving."
"Why?"
"I refuse to give you blood,"he brought up his gun again,I noticed his finger ready to pull the trigger and blow my brains out.
This caused Rick to go into protective father mode,"Look we don't mean trouble,put your gun down."
The man shook his head,he kept the gun up and pointed at me,"No way,she's infected."
"I'm am not infe-"
"She's scared of needles!" Silence.I could feel myself become embarassed by each passing second,slowly I turned my head to look at Glenn,Really? Really Glenn!? The best you could come up with is I'm afraid of needles!!
"Great now I look like a wuss,"I said under my breath and mask,I brought my hand up to cover my face as I stared at the floor.
"Y/ N ,is..is this true?"
I think I rather have this creepy CDC guy blowing my brains out now,can we like make this happen? I refused to speak up anymore so Glenn did in my place,again."Ya she is,she told me back at the camp."
At least he's not that bad of a liar,mostly. I sighed before looking up in embarassment,"Look,I'll just leave but please let them in,you'll never see me again.I'll stay out here for all I care."
"No,you're coming in,"I gave him a confused glanced to which he answered to,"I don't want you wondering around here and causing trouble,I rather have my eye on you."
"I thought you said entry was if we gave you blood to test?"
He glared at me,though it honestly looked more like fear than anger behind glaring orbs,"You're still going to submit a blood test,"I froze again,"Away from everyone else in case I'm right about you being infected."
Well there goes any chance I had of survival! Great just fucking great!! Goodbye world! Without a choice Glenn wrapped his hand around mine,thank god I had a mask on as I felt a slight heat flood my cheeks, and began following everyone else into this huge ass elevator.Huge building,huge elevator,kinda makes sense now that I think about it.
Once inside the elevator the man spoke,not to us though,"VI,seal the main entrance and kill the power up here."
All I heard were a couple of sounds, some beeps and the door for the elevator finally closed,Rick being Rick offered his hand over to the man."Rick Grimes." The man completely ignored his gesture and I watched Rick awkwardly lower his hand.
The man instead looked away from Rick and lightly glanced at me in fear,"Dr. Edwin Jenner."
Rick continued to try small talk to which the man finally replied before making a smile joke towards Carl who stood by my side,this joke made Carl smile.When the elevator finally stopped moving I was jolted forward a bit,to remain stable I gripped onto Daryl's forearm."Sorry."
Daryl waved it off with a smirk directed at me before we all watched the elevator open up.Jenner was the first out followed by Rick and his family,then Shane,that woman and her daughter I had yet to learn the names of,TDogg and Jaqui,Andrea with Dale and finally me,Daryl and Glenn.I had a feeling that they were only surrounding me out of fear of me turning ,running and dissapearing to never be seen again.
"Are we,umm,"the woman I hadn't learned the name of,with short hair paused before continuing, "underground?"
Jenner glanced back at her,"Are you claustrophobic?" The woman nodded ever so softly as she held the hand of her daughter,"Just try not to think about it." The man continued forward before speaking to no one again,"VI, bring up the lights in the big room,"the light almost hurt my eyes as every detail in the room became visible.Well more visible,another detail of being me,searching through the dark is slightly easier thanks to smell and hearing.The man turned around to face us,"Welcome to Zone 5."
Rick looked around,utterly confused before focusing back on the man,"Where everyone else? The other doctors? The staff?"
The man shook his head pausing Rick ,he subtly pointed at himself,"I'm it.It's uh,just me here." Lori asked who he had been talking to,I silently thanked her for this as it had been my number one question as well,"VI,say hello to our guests. Tell them ..umm Welcome."
"Hello guests,Welcome."
Well that's creepy. I looked over at Jenner after shaking off the creepy computerized voice,he immediately turned to look at me as well."If I can,I'd like to start taking everyones blood,you're last."
I sighed as I went to sit down on the floor,away from everyone else who was in a small line to get their blood taken,after a bit Andrea was the last one having it done,"What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever."
Jenner subtly shook his head before letting go of Andrea's arm as he had finished," I've already broken every rule in the book by letting you in here,atleast let me just be thorough."
Andrea stood up to walk towards the group when she suddenly leaned forward and began to collapse,I stood up to run and catch her but thankfully Jaqui who had been standing near her caught her instead."Andrea,are you ok?" Andrea only groaned as a response,"It must be cause you haven't eaten in days."
My eyes widened as I heard this ,I forgot ,this whole time Andrea hadnt eaten cause of her sister,even the food I handed her went untouched.
"Come with me,I'll get you all some food,while your at it though,"Jenner turned to look at me,"I'll be taking your blood."
I swallowed in nervousness,he's surely to kill me just at the sight of my upper arms,Daryl suddenly came forward and pulled me to his chest."I'm comin with you."
Jenner shook his head,"No,its alone or you're all sent out."
I pushed Daryl back enough to look up at him,"Just let it happen Daryl,I promise I'll be fine.I rather have you guys safe."
Reluctantly he let go,and after Jenner brought them to a round table where food was set out he motioned for me to follow him and we ended up in another room."What is this place?"
"Usually for experiments,well a different room for it,"he sais wih a grim expression as he went around this weird lab table looking for specific supplies.The second I noticed him place needles,a scalpel and a small clear circular tray on the table I pulled up my knife and backed up.He barely looked up at me before speaking in his calm monotone voice,"You're further proving your infection."
"Or I could just be protecting myself from a mad man,it depends on how you look at the situation,"he seemed to respect my answer as he stepped away from the lab table."Why'd you take out a scalpel?"
"I figured you'd be better being cut that having me stick needles into your arm,"I furrowed my brows in confusion.
I slowly put my knife away before walking forward and grabbing hold of the scalpel,positioning it at my hand I looked up at him.He had gotten closer,"How much do you need?"
"Only a bit,make sure to drop your blood in here,"he said while pointing at the small plastic tray.
Without hesitation I sliced at my hand before making a fist to squeeze my blood out into the tray,I faked the emotion of pain in my face to make it more believable."Is that enough?"
He nodded before taking it over to a small telescope like machine that I'd seen doctors use before,after looking through it for a few second he looked up at me,"So you really are one of them,"I only glared at him,"I was right."
"And."
He said nothing as he quickly grabbed onto the scalpel and threw it at me,I had no time to react and I put my hand out in front of me.I watched as the scalpel pirced through my hand.He showed surprise in his usually stoic eyes,"You really are one of them."
I glared at him as I pulled out the scalpel and threw it onto the floor,"You already said that you nutjob! Why the fuck did to throw that at me?!"
He looked over at me calmly,what the hell is wrong with this guy? Has he been alone for far too long,"I had to make sure you had the same quality as them,you felt no pain and had no real excessive loss of blood or feeling in your hand ,correct?"
I moved my hand around as I watched my skin begin to pause any tiny bleeding that had occurred when I pulled it out,"So you weren't trying to kill me?"
He motioned me over to him and I complied,I have no idea why it at this point I doubted he would try and kill me.He went and grabbed another scalpel to which he pushed away the clothing covering my forearm and then lightly placed the scalpel against my skin."Can I?"
I slowly nodded as I watched him slice a small piece of my skin to cut it out,I felt nothing of course and soon a piece of my flesh was placed in another of those circular clear containers.He handed me gauze to wrap up my arm and hand,"What are you going to do with it?"
He looked up at me for a few seconds before standing up,"I'm going to see what is so different between you and the regular virus."I only nodded as he motioned for me to follow him out of the room,"I would like to ask you something."
"Umm sure,what is it?"
He stopped his steps to turn asked look at me,"How did you come across infection,or were bit like everyone else?"
I sighed as I leaned against a wall,"I was in the military,surprisingly that not how I got bit,I got bit by a family member that I went looking for."
"You couldn't bring yourself to kill them, I'm guessing you knew they weren't alive either."
I scoffed at his blatant answer before standing up straight and walking past him,"Would you be able to kill a little child that you spent most of your life caring for?" He didn't respond so I continued on my way to where we left the others,"That's what I thought."
~~~
When we got back we found everyone enjoying Pasta and wine,Hopefully they dont become too drunk to function.Seeing an empty seat I went and sat next to Daryl who leaned closer to my ear,"Are you ok?"
As he pulled away I nodded sternly,I noticed the worry in his eyes vanish quickly,this redneck cares about me.I watched him reach for more wine,Not that he'd ever say it.TDogg handed a plate of pasta over to me,I accepted it but didn't begin to eat it,there was no meat and honestly all I could taste now a days was meat and blood.Glenn then offered over some wine,to this I immediately say no,the others pestered me about it so I stated that I had a hatred for it.After that statement they let it go,thank god.
As I began to space out I heard Dale speak up,"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France."
Is he really offering this to kids right now? Lori shook her head at his comment while patted her son on the shoulder,"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then."
Rick,who I felt was already at least a bit drunk looked over at his wife with a care free face,"What's it gonna hurt? Come on. Come on."
Dale only laughed at Carl who confusingly asked what was going on and what they were talking about,that's when Dale finally handed over a glass of wine with half an inch of it full."There you are, young lad."
Everyone seemed to watch in anticipation of his little kid reaction,I watched in disgust,Carl turned to look at me though and set the glass down,"I don't want to."
"Why?"
Carl proceeded to point in my direction,"Cause she didn't drink it,that means it's gross." Everyone at the table started to laugh but let it go,Lori was just thankful that her son didn't drink it.I could practically see her yelling Thank God.
"Well just stick to soda pop there bud,"said Shane as he looked in my direction for a second before focusing his attention to Carl again.
What's his problem?
Deciding to not question Shane's extremely odd actions I tuned back into the conversation only to find that Daryl was teasing Glenn,"Not you Glenn.Keep drinking little man I wanna see how red your face can get."
I stifled a little laugh as Glenn partially blushed,I gave him a side hug as I pushed down his cup of wine,"Don't push yourself Glenn."
He gave me a grateful smile things seemed to be going fine between this group,a little too fine if I say so myself.As I heard Rick clink his glass everyones ears and heads jerked in his direction,"It seems to me we haven't thanked out host properly."
At this statement I heard TDogg,Dale,Daryl and Rick all respond,"He is more than just our host." "Hear hear! " "Here's to you, Doc, booyah!" "Thank you. Thank you, Doctor." "Booyah!"
Everyone proceeded to clink glasses,I did too but after the clinking they all drank it,I just set mine down and watched everyone.My eyes trailed over the table when they found Shane's questioning eyes directed at Jenner.He's gonna start something isn't he? "So,Doc, when are you gonna tell us what the Hell happened here? All the,the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"
Rick rolled him eyes,or at least it looked like it from my view before he bumped shoulders with Shane to get his attention,"We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now."
Shane didnt stop though,of course he didnt,"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move,supposed to find all the answers. Instead we,well,we found him. Found one man, why?"
Jenner answered quite calmly even though Shane asked him at first like an asshole,"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left and went off to be with their families. When things got worse, well,when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted without a thought."
"Every last one?"
Jenner tilted his viewpoint down to the table, "No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They,"he paused before awkwardly continuing," opted out. There was a rash of suicides and it was a bad time then."
Andrea decided to join the conversation with the question everyones eyes seemed to be asking,"You didn't leave. Why?
Jenner slightly shrugged before answering in his monoton and fairly creepy voice,"I just kept working, hoping to do some good if I did."
Glenn leaned towards Shane and with a low voice spoke," Dude, you are such a buzz kill, man." I couldnt help the laugh that emitted from me,Glenn can be too adorable sometimes.
~~~
Thankfully after Shane's asshole question,we finished eating and Jenner decided to show us the rest of the living room area..thing..this place really confuses me."Most of the facility is powered down including housing so you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable and there are cots in storage if you like that better. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy just don't plug in the video games, okay?"He turned away from the smiling kids and to the rest of us,"Actually try do avoid doing anything that draws power. The same applies if you shower, go easy on the hot water here."
I noticed Glenn perk up at the mans last few words,"Did you say hot water?"
TDogg laughed at Glenns question before wrapping his arm around Glenns shoulders,"That's what the man said."
Everyone began to take turns showering, obviously the girls and boys seperately,well,I glanced up as I saw Rick and Lori go together,minus them two I guess.I went quick to wash off the dirt before quickly drying myself and putting my clothing back on,"Kinda pointless to shower and then put on dirty clothes."
Andrea had been in the bathroom,vomiting,Dale noticed with my help and came over to help her.I watched their conversation for a bit before leaving as she kept telling Dale that everything was hopeless and there was nothing left.I hope she is able to look past her sisters death,she will never forget but maybe it will make her stronger.
After deciding to leave Dale and Andrea alone I walked out only to have Carl grab hold of my hand and run into the rec room.I followed after him and once we entered I finally met the woman with short hair and her daughter officially."You can call me Carol,and this is my daughter Sophia."
I smiled up at Carol,I was sitting in the floor with the two kids,"It's nice to finally meet you Carol,I'm Y/N."After I introduced myself she laughed only confusing me,"What? Did I say something wrong?"
She shook her hand around in a form of saying no as she continued to smile and laugh,"It's because I already knew your name,"I cocked my head to the side making her smile even more,"Everyone talks about you,especially Glenn and Daryl."
"O-oh,"I could feel my cheeks heat up ,I am so thankful for my face mask right now."What exactly,"I cleared my throat as I looked away and payed attention to whatever Carl and Sophia were showing me."Umm were they talking about of me?"
"Nothing bad I promise,"she was about to continue when we both heard someone open the door.
All four of us turned to look and see Lori walk in with a smile on her face as well as a glass of wine in her hand.Chuckling to herself at how I looked like a kid sitting on the floor she directed her attention to carol,"Any good books?"
Carol turned away from me to speak to Lori,I kept playing with Carl and Sophia,luckily Sophia had taken a great liking to me as well."Ya,enough books to keep us busy for years,"after a laugh from Lori at her comment Carol looked over at us."All right kids,come on.It's bed time."
Lori nodded at Carol before ruffling her sons hair,"Baby go say your prays,I'm gonna browse a bit."
Carl pouted at this but still went to follow after Carol and Sophia,he noticed I hadn't moved so he ran over and began to pull on my hand."Come with us."
I looked over to Lori asking through my eyes is it was alright,she nodded with a smile before motioning for me to go as well."All right,let's go Carl,you need your sleep."
"So do you."
I pulled down my mask to stick my tongue out at him before covering my mouth again,he started laughing as we finally left the room.Before we left though I noticed Shane come over silently and awkwardly peer through the door.Does he...love Lori in THAT way? I noticed him sneak in before slamming the door shut,"It's none of my business."
~~~
The next morning we all get up to have breakfast together,as I walked in I noticed Glenn holding his head while slightly swaying.Clearing my throat I got close to Glenn,"Are you alright? "
He only continued to groan in pain,at least I thought it was pain until Jaqui spoke up,she had been rubbing his back in comfort,"He drank too much last night."
Are you serious right now? I sat down next to Glenn and after pulling his hands away from his face I hugged him,"Stupid Glenn,I told you not to drink too much."
I looked up and noticed his face going more red,if it was from blushing or the whole drinking though I couldn't figure it out.Though it seemed Carol and Lori,who had been watching us knew which one it was,"Sorry Y/N."
I rolled my eyes before leaning up ans kissing his head in a caring manner causing all the woman at the table to laugh as he looked away and hid his face with his hands again,most of the men,minus Rick who wasn't there and Daryl who got mad,was laughing as well."Sorry Glenn,"I said as I looked up to see a fuming Daryl,What's wrong with him?
Thankfully the awkward situation was forgotten about when Rick walked into the room with holding a bottle of asprin.After clearing his throat he spoke,"Where'd this come from?"
His wife smiled over at him,"Jenner,he thought we'd need it after yesturday,"after opening the bottle for Rick she handed it back,they didn't waste any time to start using it.
I heard Glenn groan again as he looked up at us with a hand massaging his forhead,"Never ever ever,ever, let me drink again."
I stood up to go sit by Daryl but stopped to speak towards Glenn a final time,"Trust me,I wont I win let you."
Thats when Shane walked in,Rick was the first to notice him heading over to where the coffee pot and cups were.Rick questioned him,"Hey,feel as bad as I do?"
"Worse."
I looked over at Shane only to notice scratch marks on his face and neck,squinting my eyes I noticed they were nail scratches.Wait he talked to Lori last! Before I could say anything, TDogg beat me to it,seemed we had noticed at the same time,"What the hell happened to you? What happened to your neck?"
After awkwardly stating he must have done it to himself in his sleep Rick spoke unsure of the posibility,"Never seen you do that before."
Shane glanced over at Lori,not that anyone noticed as we all sat at the same table,she ignored his stare and continued to eat,"Me either,not like me at all."
I continued to look between the two in utter confusion,if what Rick told me was true about him having been in the hospital with these two thinking he was dead...does that mean that Lori and Shane were a,a thing? Lori refused to look up even though I knew she felt his stares burning holes in her side,What happened last night when he closed the door?