❛ SURVIVOR'S HEART ! ❜
chapter thirteen ―― booyah

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ CHARLIE LOOKED UP, her arms still tight around Mason, when the light from the door shut off. Rick raised his gun and started forward, the others following him. "Daryl, cover the back." Shane told him and he turned, scanning the area for walkers as they made their way towards the door. They stayed closed together once they were inside and Daryl stayed by the door, his gun raised.

"Hello?" Rick called out, his voice echoing through the space. "Hello?"

"Close those doors." Dale told them and Daryl and T-Dog pulled the doors closed. "Watch for wallers." They all looked around, the space was big and it seemed like it was completely empty. Mason put Charlie back on her feet and she winced when she took a step. She had her head tilted back as she looked up, spinning in a slow circle taking in the vast room. She turned when a gun cocked, everyone that had a gun turned and raised their guns in the direction the sound came from. Charlie reached for hers and pulled from the waistband of her jeans – making a note to find a holster for it – and raised it as she shuffled on her feet so she stood closer to Mason. The boy had his own gun raised and he stepped forward putting himself in front of her.

"Anybody infected?" A man shouted, a gun aimed at the group as he stood in the shadows.

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

The man stepped forward a little, not lowering his guns and neither did any of the group. "Why are you here? What do you want?"

"A chance."

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

"I know." Rick told him, desperation in his voice. Charlie shifted on her feet as the man looked around, his eyes jumping from person to person and he could see that all of them were scared and tired and in need of help.

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

"We can do that." Rick nodded and the man lowered his gun.

"You got stuff to bring in, do it now. Once this door closes it stays closed." Rick nodded and the group split up – the guys ran out to the cars to get what little belongings that had while Charlie and Dale watched the doors. Once the last person was inside they pulled the doors closed and the man they had just met slid his I.d. card through a digital reader. "Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here." He spoke and the roll up door closed with a clang.

"Rick Grimes." He introduced himself.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner." He told him then he led them through that front area and to an elevator where they all squeezed in. Charlie leaned against the wall, her eyes closed and her hands shaking a little – she had never liked elevators. Daryl noticed and gave the girl a confused look, then he looked over at Shane who was watching his sister, had been since they got on the elevator. Charlie chewed on her lip as she pushed her hair off of her forehead, her breaths shallow. Mason hated that he wasn't next to her, but he had ended up towards the back against the other wall and he could tell that she was barely holding it together.

Josh, however, stood to her left and he could tell that she was uncomfortable so he took a breath and grabbed her wrist before he slid his hand into hers. She lifted her head and opened her eyes to see who it was, she knew it wasn't Mason or Shane, she let out a sigh upon seeing Josh and she sent him a smile as she squeezed his hand.

"Thank you." She whispered and he nodded.

"You okay, princess?" Daryl asked, his voice low but everyone heard it and looked over – they had all heard him call her that before but it was usually teasingly but this time he was just concerned.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Elevators make me nervous." She told him, her hand tightening around Josh and she rested her head against the boy's shoulder. Daryl looked past her towards the doctor, his eyes on the gun in his hand – it was military issued.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?"

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself." He turned to look at the man, then his eyes scanned the group. "But you look harmless enough." His eyes settled on Carl. "Except you. I'll have to keep my eye on you." He joked lightly, bringing a smile to the boy's face.

"Damn right." Charlie mumbled jokingly, getting an even bigger smile from the little boy and Jenner quietly chuckled to himself as he turned away from them. But Charlie's smile faltered when the elevator came to a stop, her body tensed and her hand tightened around Josh's as she squeezed her eyes closed until it dinged and the door opened. She let out a breath as they piled out and into a hall, following Jenner. Charlie pulled her hand from Josh's and made her way over to Mason.

"Are we underground?" Carol asked and he looked over his shoulder at her.

"You claustrophobic?"

"A little." She replied.

"Yep." Charlie hummed, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat and Mason wrapped his arm around her, tucking her into his side.

"Try not to think about it." Is all he said in return before leading them to a big room with no lights on. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." He called out and the lights hummed to life, lighting up a platform in the middle that had computers on it with a chair at each one but there weren't any people. "Welcome to zone 5." He glanced over his shoulder before walking farther into the room and they followed after him.

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

"I'm it." Jenner answered as they walked out onto the platform where the computers were. "It's just me here."

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

"Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them. . . welcome." Jenner said, his voice echoing a little.

"Hello, guests." A computerized voice echoed through the room. "Welcome."

"I'm all that's left." Jenner told them. "I'm sorry."

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ JENNER LED THEM TO ANOTHER room to start the blood tests and he looked up at Charlie as he pulled the needle from her arm – her face was scrunched up and her eyes closed and she kept her head turned to the side. "Not a fan of needles?"

"Not particularly." She told him. "Are you done?" She asked, peeking out of her right eyes as she glanced at him.

"Yeah." He nodded and she sighed as he put a cotton ball on the inside of her elbow. She held it there as she stood up, winching a little as she took a step – every time she stayed off of her ankle for a while and she put any weight on it at all it hurt like a bitch. "You alright?"

"Yep." She nodded as she used the table to keep herself steady as she stood the rest of the way up – she felt light headed and dizzy but was also stubborn. Once she was up Andrea walked over and took her seat. Jenner prepped the area before putting the needle into her vein.

"What's the point?" Andrea asked as he finished up. "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 at least be thorough." He told her then he pulled the needle from her arm and placed a cotton ball on the inside of her blow. "All done." She stood up, pausing a little as she wavered and Jacqui helped her stand. "Are you okay?"

"She hasn't eaten in days." Jacqui told him. "None of us have." He looked a little stunned by the information and he looked over the group once more, it was obvious. They all looked a little weak on their feet, some more than others.

Jenner led them to the cafeteria and they wasted no time in finding food as well as alcohol – something none of them had seen in a while. They all sat around a table, all laughing as they ate. Charlie had a wine glass in her hand but it was filled with whiskey. She had her leg stretched out with an ice pack against her ankle ― it had been wrapped in an actual bandage which felt a lot better than that old t-shirt Shane had wrapped around her ankle before. She smiled at the boy next to her and he smiled at her. Josh thought it was funny that she insisted on using a wine glass but refused to actually drink the wine.

"You know, in Italy," Dale started from where he stood pouring wine into a glass before he handed it to Lori. "-children have a little bit of wine with dinner."

"Oh, and in France." Charlie added, using her glass to point towards the older man and everyone around the table laughed.

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

"You're no fun." Charlie mumbled, she was clearly tipsy.

"What's it gonna hurt?" Rick asked, looking over at his wife. "Come on." They all laughed and Charlie cheered when Lori gave in then Dale handed the boy a glass with the smallest bit of wine in it.

"There you are, young lad."

Everyone fell quiet as they watched the boy take a sip only to make a face as he put the cup back on the table. "Eww." He grumbled and everyone laughed at his reaction.

"That's my boy." Lori rubbed his back.

"Eww is right, kiddo." Charlie told him. "Wine is gross." She muttered and everyone laughed as Mason nudged the girl from where he sat next to her.

"Just stick to soda pop there, bud." Shane told him.

"Not you, Glenn." Daryl pointed at the boy and he looked up at him. "Keep drinking, little man. I wanna see how red your face can get." He told him, getting a few laughs.

"You're pretty, you know that?" Charlie asked as she leaned closer to Josh, her voice a low whisper.

"Yeah?" He asked and she nodded, a smirk pulling at his lips – they had both been drinking and it was obvious that they both could feel it. "I think you're pretty, too." He leaned closer to her, his voice low and her smile grew as she giggled before shoving his shoulder a little and sitting back up in her chair.

Rick clinked his fork against his glass as he stood up and Charlie looked up at him, her cheeks tinted pink with a blush because she could feel Josh's eyes on her. "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly." He stated, looking over at Jenner who was sitting off the side by himself.

"He is more than just our host." T-Dog stated as he raised his glass and the other followed suit, calling out a series of here, here!

"Here's to you, doc." Daryl raised the bottle of whiskey he had been sipping on. "Booyah!"

"Booyah!" A few of the others chorused before taking a sip from their brinks.

"Booyah." Charlie held her glass up, a little delayed getting a few laughs, not that she minded as she took another sip from her glass.

"Thank you." Rick told him. "Thank you, doc."

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

"Boo!" Charlie grumbled, making a face at her brother from across the table. "You're so lame, Bubba." She mumbled before finishing off her glass then she extended her hand out towards Daryl and he handed her the bottle of whisky.

"We're celebrating, Shane." Rick told his best friend. "Don't need to do this now." Charlie leaned back in her chair, sipping on the whiskey she had poured into her glass – her pinkie slightly raised, which made Josh laugh a little but he covered it with a cough.

"Whoa, wait a second. That's why we're here, right?" He asked before looking at Rick. "This was your move – supposed to find all the answers. Instead we. . . " He chuckled. "We found him." He pointed over at Jenner.

"Damn, Bubba, loosen up." Charlie told him, raising her cup to her lips again.

"Found one man, why?" He asked as though Charlie hadn't said a word to him.

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left." Jenner answered. "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 asked, looking over at the doctor.

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

"You didn't leave." Andrea spoke up. "Why?"

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

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill." Glenn stated as he sat at the table, his eyes on Shane.

"My entire life." Charlie muttered, mostly to herself as she took another sip from her glass.