Atlanta

It was the best food i'd had in ages. Smoked haddock with mashed potatoes and peas - wasn't anything fancy, but it was still the best food i've had in ages. We had spent hours eating, and as every good group dinner should end, we were hogging the wine, laughing our troubles away, and having the best night in a long time.

"-well in Italy the children have a little bit of wine these days! And in France!" Dale jeered merrily, and I laughed aloud before taking a large gulp of the rosy wine. I hadn't had a lot, and I could handle my booze, so I was fine.

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, then he can have some then." Lori said, putting a hand over his glass.

"Oh, what's it gonna hurt?" Rick asked, smirking at Lori. "Come on!" This triggered more laughs and I applauded him.

"Yes! Go Rick!" I whooped. From the corner of my eye I saw Daryl taking a swig off some bottle, eyeing me carefully, but I was in too high spirits to care. Lori gave in, and Dale poured a little into his cup. Everyone watched carefully to see his reaction, and when his face curled up, and he went "eeeewwww!", the table erupted into fits of laughter once again, and Lori patted him on the back.

"That's my boy! That's my boy!"

"Yeah, wait til you try Buckfast back in Scotland!" I jeered, earning a couple more laughs.

"Yeah, you stick to that soda pop, bud," Shane said, strangely not as cheery as the others.

"Not you Glenn!" Daryl called to Glenn, who was holding a 'soda-pop'. "Keep drinking little man, I wanna see how red your face can get!" I couldn't help but think the same thing toward Daryl. But then again, Daryl with a bit of alcoholic influence could also be something to be feared...

"Seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly." Rick tapped his glass and stood up. A tipsy T-Dog interrupted him, lifting his glass in the air.

"He is more than just our host!"

"He is our saviour!" Dani cried, - unfortunately being the only one completely drunk - and everyone raised their glasses in unison.

"Yeah!"

"Booyah!" Daryl called, and everyone copied him, even me.

"So when you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, Doc?" Shane asked, and just like that, the incredible atmosphere slipped away like a burst balloon. "All the other doctors. They were supposed to be figuring this thing out. Where are they now?"

"We're celebrating Shane, there's no need to do this now," Rick warned, but Shane clearly just didn't care.

"Woah, well, we're doing it while we're here, right? It was your move, come and find all the answers, and we-" he gestured over to Jenner. -"found him." I tried not to let my annoyance show on my face, but Shane's words pissed even me off. Not only was he spoiling this, but he was being rude to Jenner, after everything he'd done. "Not one man. Why?"

"Well, when things got bad a lot of people just, left. Went off to be with their families. When things got worse, when the military got overrun, the rest bolted."

"Every last one?"

"No." You could tell in Jenner's face he didn't want to go on. "Many couldn't face walking out the door The ones that didn't....opted out. There were a lot of suicides. That was a bad time."

"You didn't leave." I pointed out. "Why?" He gave me a weak smile.

"I just kept working. Hoping. To do something good." His words hit me in the heart, and I suddenly wished I could take all this crap away from him. He smiled again, and we kept our gaze, even when Glenn finally came over to the table.

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill man."

~*~

"Most of the facilities powered down, including housing, so you'll have to make do here. Couches are comfortable. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy, just don't plug in the video games. Same applies, anything that requires power, go easy on it. That includes the hot water." With that, he wandered off back to the Zone 5 room, and left everyone to go silent.

"Hot water?" Glenn asked incredulously, and T-Dog whooped.

"That's what the man said!" Everyone excitedly scurried off to their own rooms to shower, and I got into a room with Danielle. Luckilly the room had two showers, so we both jumped in, excitedly soaking up all the relaxation.

"It feels like home, doesn'tt it?" I yelled over to Danielle, who's shower was back to back with mine.

"Spend a day in the cold, come home to a hot shower, I remember the feeling!" We both cheered, soaking up this new esctasy entirely. My mind wandered back to all the things I missed back at home. The snow, going into Glasgow, football games...

"Hey Dani, remember this?" I began chanting 'Zombienation', a chant a football team I supported back home used to sing at their football matches. Dani laughed hysterically, and then joined in.

"What's it called again?" She shouted over.

"Zombienation!" I reminded her. For a minute, there was silence apart from the running water, as the two of us realised the irony of the name. Once we did, we broke into fits of laughter, trying not to slip in the wet shower. I turned it off, and wrapped a towel around me.

"What about Zombie by the Cranberries?" She called out, just coming out of the shower herself, and I started laughing again.

"I love that song!" I began drying myself off, and put on fresh underwear and a nice dress I had lifted. I didn't mind changing in front of her, considering we'd known each other for so long and had been through so much. "IN YOUR HEEEEEEAAAAD! IN YOUR HEEEEAAAAAAD!" I began singing at the top of my lungs, and Dani was close behind.

"ZOOOMBIEEE! ZOOOMBIEEE! ZOOOOOMBBIIIEEEE-EEE-EEEE-EEE!" We both cried with laughter, and met in a clumsy hug.

"I'm gonna go down and see if there's anything I can do. You alright?" Dani gazed at me through hazy eyes.

"You know I love you, right?" She wobbled over, just falling onto the couch.

"Watch yerself!" I disappeared out into the corridor, and got a couple of rooms along when I heard someone retching. I followed the sound, and saw that it was Andrea, keeled over the toilet. I rushed in and got onto my knees. "Oh Andrea. That's it, get it all out." I collected all of her hair and held it for her behind her head. I wondered if she was alright - she hadn't drunk that much, so it couldn't be the wine. Once she finally came back up, she was out of breath, and near tears. "Are you alright?" She shook her head, a little disoriented.

"It's over. There's nothing left. Don't you see it?" I shook my head, sitting cross legged next to her.

"I see it as the chance to make a fresh start. We'll find something, somewhere to settle down, and we'll be fine." I tried to comfort her, but her tears came stronger.

"Michelle! Didn't you see the look on Jenner's face? There's nothing left." I just stared at her, not really knowing what else to do.

"Try get some rest, okay?" I helped her to her feet and gave her a hug, before parting with a quick smile. I walked through the corridors, both hoping Andrea would be okay, and what I was going to say...