⌜ chapter fourteen ⌟

The light coming from the doorway shuts off and the group starts forward. "T-Dog, you cover the back." Shane quickly tells him as they all head into the building for safety.

"Hello?" Rick calls out to the seemingly empty place. "Hello?"

They all look around, and MJ groans as she leans into Daryl for support. They hear a gun cock and everyone carrying a gun — aside from Daryl — aims their own where the noise came from.

"Anybody infected?" A man calls from where he's standing, keeping his distance.

"One of our group was." Rick says. "He didn't make it."

"And what's wrong with her?" He motions to MJ.

"She was attacked by another group a few days ago. She has a cracked rib."

"Why are you here? What do you want?" He asks as he takes a few steps forward.

"A chance." Rick tells him.

"That's asking an awful lot these days." The man with blond hair and blue eyes says.

"I know." He says, and the stranger looks around at all of the faces of the scared people in their group.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission." He tells them.

"We can do that." Rick nods.

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

Daryl has Jack and Jessica take MJ and then the guys go out to get their stuff. When they get back, the man who runs the C.D.C. swipes his employee ID card through a digital reader of some kind.

"Vi, seal the main entrance." He says as Jess calls Daryl. "Kill the power up here."

MJ can't walk on her own because the second anyone lets go of her, she starts to double over from the pain. Her breathing is quick and shallow, it hurts her too much to take deep breaths.

"Rick Grimes." He holds his hand out to the man who let them in.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner."

He leads them out of the front area and they all cram into an elevator. Jack and Jess stay as close to MJ as they can, but still give her and Daryl some room. He's standing on her right side, and she's trying not to let anything touch the bruise on her left.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl asks Jenner.

"Well, there were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself." He explains as he glances around at them. "But you look harmless enough." He looks at Carl. "Except you. I'll have to keep my eye on you." He says, and Carl smiles at the joke.

They get off the elevator, and he leads them down a hallway. Daryl and MJ are at the back of the group so that they don't slow the others down. She's slowly getting her breathing back to normal.

"Are we underground?" Carol asks, and Jenner glances at them over his shoulder.

"Are you claustrophobic?"

"A little."

"Try not to think about it." He says, and they walk into a larger room. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." He calls. The lights turn on, and MJ leans her head back. Jenner looks at the group. "Welcome to Zone Five."

There are computers all over the place and a chair at each one. The room, however, is completely void of any other people.

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

"I'm it." Jenner tells them. "It's just me here."

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

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

"Say hello to my little friend." MJ mutters, and Daryl chuckles. He's the only one who heard her.

"Hello, guests. Welcome." A computerized voice says.

"I'm all that's left." Jenner tells them, and MJ notices a clock behind him that's counting down, but she doesn't say anything. All she wants right now is somewhere to sleep. "I'm sorry." He says and then turns around.

He soon starts taking everyone's blood and then insists on seeing MJ's side, just to be safe. She sighs as she stands up, still with help from Daryl, and she lifts the one side of her shirt. The skin is yellow in some places, but mostly it's different shades of purple.

"Your friend said another group attacked you?" Jenner asks as she lowers her shirt into its original place. Again, Daryl notices the ink of the tattoo on her other side, but he still can't tell what it is.

"Not everyone out there is as nice as we are." She says. "These people actually weren't so bad, they were just afraid that we were like others that they'd come across before."

He nods and then takes Daryl's blood. After the two of them are finished, they go back to sit with the others. And then Andrea walks over to Jenner.

"What's the point?" The blonde asks as he's taking her blood. "If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever."

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me just at least be thorough." He says. Andrea gets up and she pauses, suddenly feeling light headed. "Are you okay?" He asks as Jacqui steadies her.

"She hasn't eaten in days." Jacqui tells him as they start to walk. "None of us have."

He's taken aback by this revelation and leads the group to the cafeteria. Everyone starts eating and laughing. MJ's holding an ice pack to her side, and Jack's sitting next to her with Jess on his other side.

"You know, in Italy, children can have a little bit of wine with dinner." Dale says as he hands a glass of wine to Lori. "And in France."

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

"What's it gonna hurt?" Rick asks. "Come on. Come on."

Lori shrugs, and Dale pours some into Carl's cup. "There you are, young lad." He hands it to him, and Carl takes a drink.

"Ew!" He makes a disgusted face, and the others all laugh.

"That's my boy." His mom rubs his back.

"Yuck."

"Good boy." She smiles as she pours the remainder of his drink into her own glass.

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

"Not you, Glenn." Daryl says. "You're drinking, little man. I want to see how red your face can get."

"Can I have some?" Jack asks as he looks at MJ. The others all look at her as well.

"Oh, hell yeah." The blonde nods. "I need some good comedy."

Dale gives some wine to Jack, and he makes a face similar to Carl's. "That's bad." Jack shakes his head.

MJ starts laughing and she looks to Daryl. "Let's see what he thinks of the hard stuff." She says, and he walks over with the bottle of whiskey in his hand. MJ downs the wine in Jack's glass, and then Daryl pours the other alcohol in it.

"Try that, kid." Daryl says as he hands the glass to Jack.

Jack sniffs it and his nose scrunches. "That smells nasty." He shakes his head again.

"That's the stuff Dean drinks." MJ tells him.

"Why?" He questions.

"He likes it."

"Why?"

She laughs. "Just try it." She tells him, and he hesitates for a second before taking a drink. He just about spits it out, and they all start laughing. "Well, now, don't waste it." She says as she takes the glass.

"That's disgusting." Jack says, his face scrunched up.

"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly." Rick says as he stands up, gaining everyone's attention.

"He is more than just our host." T-Dog says as he raises his glass.

"Hear, hear." They all chorus.

"Boo-yah!" Daryl chimes, and a few others say it as well.

MJ raises the glass she took from Jack and then drinks its contents. Jack goes to get himself another soda.

"Hey, look what I found!" Jack calls to MJ, and she smiles when she sees him holding up a candy bar. "I like nougat." He says, and she chuckles as he walks back over to her, a wide smile across his face.

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

"We're celebrating, Shane." Rick says. "Don't need to do this now."

"Yeah. Come on, don't bring down the mood." MJ says.

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right?" Shane asks. "This was your move — supposed to find all the answers. Instead we..." He chuckles. "We found him."

"Dude, you're being a bigger dick than Daryl when he's sober."

"We found one man. Why?"

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families." Jenner starts. "And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."

"Every last one?" Shane questions.

"No." He looks at him. "Many couldn't​ face walking out the door. They...opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." He says, and MJ looks at Jack.

"You didn't leave." Andrea turns to look at Jenner. "Why?"

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

"Dude, you are such a buzz-kill, man." Glenn says as he walks over to the table, looking at Shane since he's the one who demanded answers.

After dinner, Jenner shows them to the area with all the rooms. MJ's walking mostly on her own now, but she's got her hand on Jack's shoulder for a little extra support.

"Most of the facility is powered down. Including housing, so you'll have to make due here." Jenner tells them as they walk down another hallway. "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?" He leans down to tell Carl and Sophia that last part. "Or anything that draws power. The same applies — if you shower, go easy on the hot water." He says as he stands up straight.

"Hot water?" Glenn asks, smiling, as he turns to look at the rest of the group.

"That's what the man said." T-Dog says with a smile of his own on his face.

They all take their showers and then find places to sleep, but not everyone goes to sleep right away. MJ's out of her room, and Rick walks over to her.

"How are you feeling?" He asks, and she looks up at him.

"I'm alright. It was just the pressure when he grabbed me, it winded me. Made it more sore." She tells him. "Hurt like hell, but I'll be fine."

He nods. "Where's Jack?"

"Asleep in his own little area." She chuckles.

"I bet he was happy about that."

"Oh, yeah." She nods. "He hasn't had a decent night's sleep since before all this started. And he hasn't slept anywhere without me in months. It's good to have some time to yourself every now and then."

"I guess so." He nods, and as she looks at him, he can tell that there's something on her mind that she wants to share. "What?"

"Nothin'." She shakes her head. "We should both get to bed."

"No, hey." He lightly grabs her arm when she starts to walk past him. "What is it?"

She sighs. "It's none of my business, and it's probably not for me to say, but... Lori and Shane — I think... It seems like they..." She shakes her head.

"I know." He nods, and she looks back up at him. "Of course I know. I'd have to be blind not to see it."

"Whatever it was, I definitely think it's over now." She tells him. "She loves you. Anyone can see that."

He nods. "You can always be honest with me, kid." He tells her. "I'm kinda counting on it."

"I'll keep that in mind." She says. "I'm sorry."

He simply nods again, and they go their separate ways. MJ's headed back to where she left her stuff, but she sees Daryl's door is open and he's still got a bottle of whiskey.

"Someone's hogging the good stuff." She says as she leans in his doorway.

"You want some?" He holds it up, and she walks into the room. She sits on the floor next to the cot he's laying on. "You're gonna need help gettin' up, aren't you?"

"Probably." She mutters before taking a drink from the bottle.

"Shouldn't you be sleepin'?"

MJ sighs. "Jack was asleep when I got out of the shower, and Jess is reading. I wanted a few minutes of not having to be responsible for anyone but me before I hit the hay." She tells him.

"The kid is what to you again?" He asks.

"My friend's son. She asked me to take care of him before she died."

"And Jess?"

"My younger brother's girlfriend." She sighs as she looks at the wall across from her. "At least, she was before he died anyway."

"I heard you talkin' about your family before." He says. "In your tent."

"That's humiliating." She mutters as she takes another drink.

"What did you guys do?" He asks. "You said you always had more jobs to work."

"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." She says as she passes the bottle back to him.

"I knew you were an assassin." He says, and she laughs. "Who was the guy before?"

MJ sighs as she looks at him. "You're not gonna let it go, are you?"

"He showed up out of nowhere, you two got into some weird argument, and then he just disappeared." He says. "That sorta thing don't happen easy anymore."

She looks back at the wall in front of her before she speaks. "His family is the reason that I lost mine." She tells him. "His brothers killed mine. And his father..." She scoffs, and he hands the bottle back to her. "Bunch of self-righteous douche-nozzles." She then clears her throat as she glances at him. "Why so many questions about me? Tell me something about you."

"Nothin' to tell."

"Yeah, right." She scoffs. "Good-looking guy like you who can hunt and shoot a crossbow..." She shakes her head. "Nothin' to tell. That's a load of bullshit. Come on, I told you a little about my family. What about yours? It's not just you and Merle."

"It was just us for the most part. He looked after me growing up, till he left." He tells her, and she looks at him. "He joined the military, but he was dishonorably discharged after he punched a sergeant."

"Yeah, I can see that — him having a problem with authority." She nods. "What about your parents?"

"My mom died when I was a kid. A house fire that was started by one of her cigarettes. I was around the corner with some of the neighborhood kids, Merle was doing a stint in juvie." He says. "My dad died years later."

"I'm sorry." She says as she leans her head against the wall. "I know how much that sucks." They're still passing the whiskey bottle back and forth.

"That why you and your brothers were raised by your dad the way you were?"

"My mom died when I was two. Dean was four, and Sam was six months old." She tells him. "Our house caught fire, they said it was an electrical short in the walls. It was really late, and I was asleep in bed. I remember hearing my dad screaming her name. I ran out of my room at the same time as Dean, our dad came out of Sam's nursery and he handed him to Dean. My brother carried Sam down the stairs and out onto the grass in the front yard, pulling me behind him.

"That's how he told it anyway, I don't remember it all. Just the screaming and the heat... I remember wanting my mom." She takes another drink out of the bottle.

"What's the tattoo on your side?" He asks, changing the subject to something a little less heavy.

"Wouldn't you like to know." She smirks.

"I've seen part of it when you show people your bruise." He tells her.

"Well, maybe one day I'll show you the whole thing." She looks at him, an amused look on her face. She smiles at him, and he shakes his head as he stands up.

"Alright, I think it's time you get to bed."

He stands in front of her and holds his hands out. She sighs as she sets the bottle down and reaches up. He pulls her to her feet, and she groans as she leans forward, the strain from standing up causing her double over slightly. Her grip on his hands tightens and she stays like that for a few seconds, leaning into him. He holds onto her, helping her keep her balance.

MJ sighs as she slowly stands up straight, looking up at him in the process. She finds that she's standing much closer to him than she realized. Her attention is captured by his blue eyes, she hadn't noticed how bright they were before, but now they're all that can focus on as they stare back into her own brown eyes.

Daryl clears his throat and steps to the side as he lets go of her hands. He's no longer blocking her path to the door, and she then walks out of the room. He stands there for a moment, just looking at the doorway she disappeared through, and then he grabs the whiskey bottle from the floor.