Firecracker

Raine's heart dropped to her stomach when she saw the CDC. It looked abandoned and there were bodies scattered all over the streets, there was so much carnage it was almost unbelievable. When she opened the door to the truck, the stench hit her nose so hard she almost vomited. Daryl grabbed her arm roughly and ran up to the building with everyone else. The whole building looked completely deserted. There were no lights, no military protection, there was nothing.

"Rick, there's nothing. It's gone." Raine mumbled, grabbing onto her brother's arm tightly. Rick looked down at her and shook his head.

"Then why are these shutters down?" He responded, his blue eyes filled with determination.

"Walkers!" Daryl yelled. Raine groaned and pulled out her gun, running up beside Daryl. There weren't very many and they were far enough away for everyone to make a run back to the vehicles but they needed to move fast.

"You led us into a graveyard!" Daryl yelled again, closing the distance between himself and Rick. Before he could get too close, Shane stepped in.

"He made a call."

"It was the wrong damn call!"

"Daryl, stop it. There's nothing we can do now. Pull your head out of your ass!" Raine snapped, shoving him roughly away from Rick. There was more yelling and then shots were fired at the oncoming walkers. Just as they were about to head towards the cars, the door to the building opened up, spilling a bright white light over all of them. It took everyone a moment before they rushed through the opening.

"Daryl, Raine, cover the back!" Shane called out. Raine took her place against the side of the door and kept her gun raised, ready to take down any walker that got close enough.

"Hello?" Rick's voice echoed through the empty room. There was silence before another voice answered, Raine quickly turned her head to see a guy holding an AR tightly in his hands, it was pointed directly at Rick.

"Anybody infected?" The man asked, taking a few more steps forward.

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

"Why are you here? What do you want?"

"A chance." Rick replied, desperately trying to get this man to give them shelter. The man gave a small smile and lowered the rifle a bit.

"That's asking an awful lot these days. You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission. You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed."

Everyone rushed out to grab their things and then quickly ran back to the building, not wanting to be outside for any longer than they had to be. Raine looked over at Daryl and offered a smile, but he just glared at her in return. He was probably pissed over what she said to him a few minutes ago, it really didn't take much to get that man upset.

"Vi, seal the main entrace. Kill the power up here." The man said and Raine furrowed her eyebrows. He was talking to somebody which meant that there was at least a few people left. This was a good sign, for once everything was looking up for them. They all crammed inside an elevator and an awkward silence filled the small space.

"Rick Grimes." Rick introduced himself.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner."



The group hadn't experienced this much food or happiness in quite a while, it was incredibly refreshing. Raine practically shoveled the food into her mouth, hardly taking a breath in between bites. As grateful as she was for the shelter, she was skeptical that it would last very long, she didn't want to get her hopes up just to have them crushed.

"So, when are you gonna tell us what happened here, doc? All the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?" Shane asked and Raine rolled her eyes, taking a sip from her glass of wine.

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

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move- supposed to find all the answers. Instead we, we find him. Why?"

Jenner stared at the group for a few seconds, trying to find the words to say to them.

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

"Every last one?" Andrea questioned, an eyebrow raised.

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

"You didn't leave. Why?" It was Raine's turn to question the doctor. It had already been brought up, what could it hurt?

"I just kept working. Hoping to do some good." There was an awkward silence before Glenn walked over to his seat.

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man."

Everyone finished eating their meals, their spirit's dampened by what Jenner had told them. Raine had a feeling that something wasn't right and she was right. Sure, Jenner was still working on it, but what can one man do? As soon as they finished eating, Jenner led them to a different area of the facility.

"Most of the facility is powered down including house, so you'll have to make do here. The 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? Or anything that draws power. The same applies- if you shower, go easy on the hot water."

Raine looked up at Daryl with a grin on her lips. It had been so long since she had a proper shower, the only thing that was remotely close was bathing in the quarry. She quickly got situated in the room that she was sharing with Daryl and was the first one to hit the showers. She couldn't wait to get rid of the dirty feeling that she had been walking around with for the longest time. Everyone would just have to wait their turn.