What Lies Ahead • the walking dead ¹

11 • Buzzkillers... or not

Laughter and happy giggles spilled from the C.D.C.'s small cafeteria. A feast of red wine and spaghetti lay spread out in front of the joyful people as they sipped on their drinks. Everyone was getting into the celebratory mood, everyone except Jenner, Shane, and Alexa that is.

Alexa sat her head spinning as she viewed everyone around her. Nothing added up in her mind. Why was Jenner here alone? Where were the other doctors, the staff, the people there seemed to be a lack of? Where was everyone? There should have been something here... right? Anything.

The girl felt dizzy and lightheaded from where she sat in the back, away from everyone. This wasn't right. Jenner was hiding something, and Alexa knew it. She just didn't know what. The noise was getting to the girl. The laughter, the chuckles, the giggles, the comments, the stories, and just the talk, in general, make her head spin.

"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner," Dale commented, handing a glass of wine to Lori. Alexa looked up from her place on the bar counter. "And in France." He added.
"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then," Lori argued, placing a hand over her son's empty soda glass.

Alexa looked down at her own drink, Coca-Cola. She didn't like drinking, especially not in front of her brother, who she reluctantly let join the fun.

"What's it gonna hurt?" Rick asked his wife. "Come on." Lori gave in as she handed the glass over to Dale. The rest of the adults chuckled as they jokingly raised their glasses to the woman.
"Here you are, young lad." Dale chirped, handling the little boy a glass of wine. Carl eyed the red liquid suspiciously before taking a sip. He immediately spit it out with a sour expression etched into his youthful face.

"Eww!" He exclaimed as all the adults and the other children broke out into a choir of laughter.
"That's my boy. That's my boy." Lori said in protest, patting her son on the back as she bit back her own laughter.
"You should pull an Alexa and stick to soda pop there, bud," Shane added.

The group laughed louder as they glanced at the girl, who was still holding onto her pop.
"Not you, Glenn." Daryl joined.
"What?" Glenn asked as he pretended not to be second-guessing the bottle of wine in his hand.
"Keep drinking, little man. I wanna see how red your face can get." Daryl encouraged in his thick Southern accent, making the men of the group laugh.

Alexa rolled her bright emerald eyes at the comment as she drained her cup of soda, placing it on the counter next to her. She sat criss, cross on the bar next to Glenn, her eyes set into the back of her brother's head.
"And speaking of Alexa." Daryl continued, looking from Shane to the girl. "Why don't you have a drink with the rest of the grown-ups, girl?"

Daryl offered Alexa a bottle of wine. The rest of the group fell silent as they turned to the girl, waiting for her response. She simply shook her head no as she glared at the bottle of wine in his hands. The group chuckled at her before returning to their meals. Their laughter still drilling holes into the girl's skull. Daryl glared at the girl before returning to his seat as well.

His mood was entirely different than the normal grouchy, and bad-tempered one he usually wore. It was almost like a nice change. Or not seeing as he was most likely drunk due to the multiple bottles of alcohol he had already drained. It just went to show how un-levelheaded they all were.

Chase suddenly turned in his chair.
"Can I try some wine, Alexa?"
"Uh, no." She replied sternly. Chase frowned and turned around just as Rick tapped on his glass.
"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly." He said, standing up.
"He is more than just our host," T-dog announced.

"Hear, hear!" Dale exclaimed, raising his glass to Jenner, followed by the other group members. Everyone else shouted out their thanks, clinking their glasses together in celebration. The cheerful mood was broken however when Shane voiced Alexa's thoughts.