In the Shallows

The minute we pulled alongside the curb of the C.D.C., I had a chill run through my spine, sitting up straight and taking my feet off the dash, I gave Daryl and uneasy look. He responded back with my same expression but continued to get out of the truck. Reaching behind me, I handed him his bow and grabbed my gun. Opening the passenger door, I hopped down.

A variations of different smells hit my nose at once, almost making me throw up in my mouth. I followed slowly behind Daryl while we met up with the group, all of our eyes glued to the horrific scene that was before us. I had never seen so many flies or so many dead bodies before. I swallowed hard, no amount of Criminal Minds or CSI'S prepared me for this. I swallowed hard as Rick had us quietly maneuver around the rotting dead. I held my breath to try to prevent from gagging, but it didn't seem to be doing well for the others.

We started making our way quickly towards the entrance, coughing and gagging at the smell and sight. Daryl kept glancing back to make sure I was following closely behind and then around to keep a look out for any geeks. We finally made it to the entrance and my heart sunk deep into my chest, T-Dog saying exactly what I was thinking.

Rick gritted his teeth, obviously frustrated, "Then why are these shutters down?"

Daryl's arm flung out and hit me, I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he was trying to warn me instead of knocking the complete wind out of me. "Walkers!" I gasped for air and he looked down at me, "Ya okay?"

I nodded, bending over to try to gasp for the disgusting air, "Yeah, just hit me in the gut." I quickly stood up straight and narrowed my eyes at the sound of people cocking their guns, "Don't! Let Daryl, bolts are silent." I half whispered trying to get everyone to understand what I was saying.
Daryl quickly and flawlessly took out the geek, he turned around, venom hitting his words, "You led us into a graveyard!"

I reached out towards him, "Daryl, shush." But he pushed me off of him, getting pissed off about Shane defending Rick.

"It was the wrong damn call!"

I closed my eyes as Shane got in his face, growling and halfway yelling, "Just shut up. You hear me? Shut up. Shut up!" He turned towards Rick, "Rick, this is a dead end." I pursed my lips as everyone started to panic. Words fluttered around my head, nothing I could really process. I was freaking out. It didn't look like physically, but mentally? I was going bat shit crazy. I was trying to keep calm, something I used to be good at, but ever since life turned for the worst, it just hasn't been working out great. I felt Daryl tug me back towards the vehicles, turning away from the doors of the building, I started to follow the others but stopped dead when Rick started to exclaim.

"The camera, it moved!"

Dale shook his head, "You imagined it."

Rick started walking back towards doors, "It moved."

Shane gritted his teeth, trying to talk some sense into him, "Rick it is dead, man. It's an automated device. It's gears, okay? They're just winding down, now come on." He started to get agitated as Rick started fight, "Man, just listen to me. Look around this place. It's dead, okay? It's dead. You need to let it go, Rick."

Rick stared into the camera as we all tried to tear him away from the camera, "I know you're in there. I know you can hear me. Please we're desperate! Please help us! We have women, children, no food. Hardly any gas left!" He pleaded the camera.

I started to chew my middle finger, whimpering at the amount of geeks that were making their way towards us. Glancing back towards Rick-who by now had lost his freaking mind and then back at the geeks. The second Shane grabbed a hold of Rick we all started to make our way towards the cars, my mind racing as his words rang through my head. You're killing us. It wasn't the imaginary person in there killing us, it was Rick. I heard the sound of clanking and screeching from behind me, turning around my eyes widened at the shutters being lifted open and a bright white light shining through. I was speechless, so this imaginary person wasn't imaginary. I looked over at Daryl, he gave me a confused look.

We slowly made our way into the building, my eyes burning from the intensity of the white light. I felt like this was some type of irony, we were good as dead out there and now we were going to the light. The sound of our shoes clicking on the tiled flooring sent shivers down my spine, glancing behind me to make sure Daryl had made his way in. Rick and Shane were calling out hello's but no one seemed to be answering. We all huddled a little bit closer as we all looked around ourselves, I yelped as I heard a gun cock from the left stairs.

Everyone immediately cocked theirs and pointed it towards the man that stood on the stairs, he held the gun pointed towards us, his voice loud and clear, "Anybody infected?"

Rick swallowed hard, "One of our group was. He didn't make it." A feeling of guilt panged through my body, Jim.

The man stepped forward, slowly walking down the stairs, "Why are you here? What do you want?"

Rick trembled, "A chance."

This man gave me the creeps, something about him was off and I could feel it. I took a step back, my body coming into contact with Daryl's hard chest. He placed a hand on my arm, reassuring me that everything was going to be okay. The blonde haired man gave Rick and the rest of us an uneasy look, "That's asking an awful lot these days." Rick responded and he gave each and everyone of us a good look down before speaking again, "You all submit to a blood test, that's the price of admission."

I cringed, I hated needles. One of the few things Daryl and Merle couldn't shield me from. Daddy shot up every night, always trying to get me to do it with him. He almost got me once. Ever since that night, I was terrified of em. I knew it had to be the drug itself to hurt me but the thought of a needle coming anywhere near me, sent me into hyper drive of anxiety. I felt Daryl's hand squeeze tight on my arm, looking back at him, his blue eyes gave me some sort of comfort.

After they had retrieved the things we needed to stay here, we all headed into the elevator. We had found out that the man's name was Dr. Edwin Jenner, and to be honest. I still had a bad vibe about him.

Daryl piped up, his eyes narrowing into the back of his head, "Doctors always go 'round packin' heat like that?" He must have caught whiff of what I was feeling, it was really rare that Daryl and I ever had the same feelings about people. I was just a cautious and suspicious person. My intuition was generally right, but not always.

He turned around to face Daryl, a small smile on his face, "There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough. Except you." His eyes landed on Carl, a bigger smile forming on his face, "I'll have to keep my eye on you." I smiled as Carl smiled, it was good to see what one of those looked like on a child. There weren't many smiles going around these days and it killed me. We exited the elevator and followed him down a long corridor which seemed to be underground. We soon entered a huge room that were filled with computers and a big screen. Dr. Jenner spoke up, "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room."

Seconds after, the lights turned on, creating loud humming and buzzing noises. He turned his head slightly towards us, "Welcome to zone 5."

I piped up, "Where is everyone?"

Dr. Jenner stopped walking, "I'm it. It's just me here."

Lori took a step forward, giving him a sideways glance, "What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?"

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

My head snapped up towards the ceiling as the sound of a computer talking rang through my ears. Technology was surely something and it just sucked to know that this was it. No more iPhones, laptops, or anything. We then followed him into a separate room, there he told us to wait while he fetched the proper implements to take our blood. I had waited to go last, I knew that I should have gone first and get it over with but I just couldn't.

Sitting in front of him, he gave me a look, "You okay?" He pulled out the needle, looking at it and then looking at the inside of my elbow.

I took a deep breath, looking away from him, "Just scared of needles, that's all."

He chuckled, "Had bad experiences at the doctors office?"

"Naw, just had her daddy try to shoot her up." Daryl snapped, "Just do what ya gotta do and get it over with." I heard a few astonished gasps from the group, but I tried to ignore them.

Dr. Jenner swallowed hard, "Sorry to hear that. It's going to hurt just a little, you've got small veins." I cringed and bit my lip as I felt the needle make it's way into my skin, the pricking sensation almost brought tears to my eyes. How the hell did people do this every day? I knew that once you were high, you were good. But, to get to that point? God damn.

The second he was done, I pulled away from him and stood up. I avoided everyone's faces, I just wanted that piece of information to be tucked away in their brains and never repeated. I looked up as Dr. Jenner informed us that he had wine and some food left in the cafeteria. It didn't take very long for the wine to course throughout bodies, it brought laughter and so many smiles to the table. Daryl and I each had a bottle of our own, while everyone else just split up the remaining bottles.

I leaned against one of tables next to Daryl and giggled, "Come on, Lori. Dale's right, children had wine all the time in Italy and France."

Lori laughed, removing her hand from Carl's glass. He brought the glass up to his lips and took a small sip before making a face, "Ew!" We all cracked up, while Lori rubbed his shoulders and poured his into the rest of her cup. "That's nasty!"

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

Daryl kicked off from the table, "Not you Glenn."

Glenn looked up, "What?"

"Keep drinkin' little man. I wanna see just how red your face can get." Daryl smirked, making his way back towards me. I nudged into him, "What?"

I shook my head, "Oh nothing." I brought the bottle to my mouth, tipping my head backwards, I finished off the bottle, shaking my head and receiving a few whistles and attention from the group, "Shit that feels good."

T-Dog laughed, "Mouse is breaking out her shell."

I pointed the empty bottle towards him, slurring my words a little, "I'm not a damn mouse." I laughed along with them.

Rick shrugged, "Might as well be. You got quite the volume of one. Ain't seen you yet spark up a conversation with any of us all. We gotta do all the work."

I shrugged too, grabbing Daryl's bottle and bringing to my lips, "Ain't got much to say, really."