digging graves// rick grimes x OC//

TS-19 Part 1

  The light was blinding to them, Winona was in shock she almost didn't process Shane talking, "Daryl, you cover the back."
   The group cautiously walked into the facility. Everyone looked around with wide eyes, "It's practically untouched," Winona said in awe.
   Suddenly, they hear a gun cock, a man stood at the opposite side of the room, "Anybody infected?" he shouted.
   "One of our group was," Rick answers, "He didn't make it."
   "Why are you here? What do you want?" The man questioned.
   Winona leans to Glenn, whispering, "A whole bunch of questions, and very few answers for us."
   "Yeah let's hope he can provide some soon," Glenn replies.
   "A chance," Rick states.
   The man walks closer, lowering his gun, "That's asking an awful lot these days."
   "I know."
   The stranger's eyes scan over the group, "You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."
   "We can do that."
   He nods, "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed." After he says that, everyone rushes out to grab their bags. As they come back inside, the man swipes his keycard, "Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here."
   The shutters cover the doors, Rick goes up to the man, "Rick Grimes."
   "Dr. Edwin Jenner," he introduces.
——
   The crew piles into an elevator, Winona standing between Glenn and Daryl. The redneck speaks up, "Doctors always go around packing heat like that?"
   "There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough," he looks around the elevator, stopping at Carl, "Except you. I'll have to keep my eye on you."  He lets out a chuckle and the elevator reaches the floor.
   Walking through the long corridor, Carol starts to talk, "Are we underground?"
   "Are you claustrophobic?"
   "A little."
   "Try not to think about it." They continue walking until they reach an open room, "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." Suddenly, all of the lights turn on around them, Jenner turns to Rick, "Welcome to Zone 5."
   "Where is everybody? The other doctors, the staff?"
   "I'm it. It's just me here."
   "What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?" Lori asks, confused.
   "Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them... welcome."
   Then, a computerized voice begins to speak, "Hello, guests. Welcome."
   "I'm all that's left," Jenner restates, "I'm sorry."
——
   Subsequently, Jenner leads the group into a room to draw blood for the tests. He looks to the group, "I'm guessing there aren't gonna be any volunteers to go first, right?"
   Winona steps forward, "Actually, I'll go." Jenner nods, and she sits down while he preps her.
   "Do you donate a lot of blood? It's just— you're doing really well."
   "Ah yes and no, I'm more so just used to doing this to patients. I was a nurse at King's County Hospital before the whole 'End of Days' happened."
   "Ah, I see." He finished drawing blood and moves on to the rest of the group.
   When it's Andrea's turn, she begins asking questions, "What's the point? 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... All done." Andrea stands, she seems unbalanced, "Are you okay?" he asks.
   "She hasn't eaten in days," Jacqui responds, "None of us have."
——
   Jenner decided to provide the group with a warm meal and some wine that night. "Oh my God, this is delicious," Winona says, "It reminds me of when we met Morgan and he gave us the first warm meal in months, right Grimes?"
   "Oh yeah... man, it felt like we got the rug pulled out from underneath us that night," he chuckles, reminiscing on the memories that feel so long ago.
   Winona takes a sip of her wine, "That it sure did."
   Carl looks at Winona and then to his mother, "Can I try some wine?"
   The group laughs and Dale begins to speak, "You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France."
   "Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then."
   "What's it gonna hurt?" Rick asks, "Come on."
   "Yeah come on, Lor!" Winona can already feel the effects of the wine.
    Lori looks at both of them and removes her hand from Carl's cup, giving the mother's approval. Dale pours a small amount in, "There you are, Young Lad."
    Carl has stars in his eyes as he goes to take a sip, but it soon turn into a disgusted grimace, "Eww."
   They all laugh and Lori pats his back, "That's my boy. That's my boy." She proceeds to pour the rest of his wine into her glass.
   "Well, just stick to soda pop there, Bud," Shane says.
   Daryl looks up, "Not you, Glenn."
   "What?"
   "Keep drinking, Little Man. I want to see how red your face can get."
   Glenn nods, "Fine. But so does Winona, she already drank half the bottle so let's keep it up."
   She gasps dramatically, "Oh Glenny... how could you?" Everyone laughs.
   Rick looks over to Jenner, clinking his glass to get the attention of the rowdy group, "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly."
   T-Dog raises his glass, "He is more than just our host."
   The rest raise their glasses, shouting , "Hear Hear!"
   "Here's to you, Doc— and not you Winona," Daryl smirks, "Booyah!"
   She laughs, "Looks like I've got some competition for my nickname."
   Jenner takes a sip of his wine out of appreciation. Shane decides to speak up, "So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, Doc? All the— uh— the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"
   The mood shifts, "We're celebrating, Shane," Rick says, "Don't need to do this now."
   "Woah, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move— supposed to find all the answers. Instead we—" Shane chuckles, shaking his head, "we found him. Found one man. Why?"
   "Well," Jenner begins, "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."
   "Every last one?" Shane asked.
   "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," Andrea states, "Why?"
   Winona leans over to Glenn and Daryl, "Way to go, Captain Obvious." The three restrain their laughs.
   "I just kept working, hoping to do some good," Jenner answers.
   Winona and Glenn get up, he looks over to Shane, "Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man."
   "Yeah, party pooper." Winona frowns.
——
   After dinner, Jenner led the group through the winding corridors, "Most of the facility is powered down including housing, so you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in the storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy," he turns to face Carl and Sophia," 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."
   Winona's eyes lit up, she started hitting Glenn, "Did you hear that?!"
   "Hot water?" He says smiling.
   T-Dog grins, "That's what the man said."
   Winona turns to Rick, "Hot water, Grimes!!" He chuckles at her as she runs to the showers.
——
   The group washes up, Winona decides to put on Rick's zip-up jacket and a pair of gym shorts after the shower.
   She passes Rick and Dale in the hallway, turning around, "Squeaky clean!" The men chuckle at her.
   Rick catches up to her, "I'm gonna go see Jenner.  Since you're the only medical professional I know, will you come with to maybe translate the doctor lingo and keep me company?"
   She lightly punches his shoulder, "Are you admitting I'm smarter than you?"
   "Maybe," he chuckles, he's also a little tipsy, "so what's your answer?"
   She sighs, "Sorry, Cowboy, I don't think I could process anything he might say, I've had wayyy too much to drink tonight. I'm sure you'll be okay, you're decently smart," she winks at him.
   "Alright, thank you anyways... and nice jacket." Winona smirks and salutes him, heading towards the rec room.
——
   Rick walks into the main room with all the computers, he sees Jenner at one of them, "How's the blood?"
   "No surprises."
   Rick walks over to the desk, carrying a half-drunken wine bottle, "I came to thank you."
   Jenner looks up at the man, "You did." Rick falls as he goes to sit on the ground, "You al— you alright?" Jenner worriedly asks.
   "You don't know what it's like," he laughs, "You don't know what it's like out there. You may think you do, but you don't. We'd have died out there. It was only a matter of time. There's too many of those things. My— my boy... my— my wife, I never— I never told 'em what I really thought. I never even hinted, just—just kept it in. Kept it in and kept us moving, you know. Just kept it in. Kept us... And Winona... God I don't know why or— or how she trusts me so much— she'll— she'll just follow me blindly. I should be the one that follows her with no doubts, she— she kept me alive before the end of the world even happened and after. She keeps this group level-headed and together."
   "It'll all be okay," Jenner reassures, "It'll be okay."
——
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