𝐇𝐀𝐙𝐀𝐑𝐃 │ 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐗𝐎𝐍 ¹ [✔]

[22]: low tolerance

Jenner led us into a separate room. Much smaller, and it had many chairs piled up on one side.

He was taking our blood, and after everyone including me, Andrea was the last to go.

When she went to get up, however, she stumbled a little. Jacqui grasped her shoulders a little. "She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have," she explained. That reminded me of my empty stomach. I hadn't eaten since that night Amy died, with the fish fry. I didn't even get to finish my fish fry. My stomach rumbled quietly, as if it were pleading me to do something about it.

+

Jenner led us into a kitchen of some sort. It was more of a small cafe, like the ones you find in airports. He seemed to sit by his lonesome self, whilst everyone else started drinking wine and ate some long awaited food.

I was sat to the left of Shane. I hadn't had any wine... yet. I never liked wine. I tasted it once and I spat it back out. I never really was an alcohol drinking person. I was one year off being legal, but I suppose those rules don't really apply now. I had a glass beside me, it just didn't have anything in it.

Everyone was laughing at something.

"You know," Dale started, "in Italy and France, children have a little bit of wine with dinner."

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then," Lori replied sternly, covering the top of Carl's glass with her hand.

"What's it gonna hurt? Come on," Rick said, trying to convince his wife. She eventually gave in smiling, and lifted her hand off of Carl's glass. Dale poured some wine in, and silence fell as Carl took a drink. He crinkled his nose in disgust when it touched his lips, and he quickly put the drink down, "Eww. That's nasty."

A smiled spread across my face. I couldn't help it. Everything seemed to be getting better. But I still had a sinking feeling that bad things were still to come.

"Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud," Shane said beside me.

Suddenly, Daryl appeared behind me. "Not you Glenn," he ordered.

Glenn looked up at Daryl. "What?"

"Keep drinking, little man. I want to see how red your face can get." Daryl elaborated. He reached over my shoulder and started pouring a lot of wine into my empty glass. I didn't ask him to, he just did it for some reason.

Rick stood up as Daryl walked away from me. "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly."

"He is more than just our host." T-Dog added, raising his glass.

I picked up my glass and raised it too. I looked over my shoulder awkwardly to see Dr. Jenner.

Everyone was saying, "Here here!"

"Booyah!" Daryl suddenly yelled, almost scaring to life out of me. Everyone echoed his 'booyah' including me.

Shane all of a sudden somberly asked, "So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" The mood was crushed. So, I decided to take a drink of wine. It tasted soapy, and horrible. I could only taste a slight grape taste, but it was overthrown by the taste of alcohol. But I just drank some more. "All the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"

"We're celebrating Shane." Rick said annoyed. "We don't need this right now."

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move. To supposedly find all the answers. Instead we-" he laughed a little, jerking his thumb in the direction of the doctor. "-we found him. Found one man. Why?"

I was curious myself, so I turned in my seat to fully face Jenner, wine glass still in hand.

He took a deep breath. "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 cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."

"Every last one?" I pressed.

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

I took an even longer drink of my wine. I could feel the buzz behind my eyes now.

"You didn't leave. Why?" Andrea asked.

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good."

Glenn then spoke. "Dude, you are such a buzz-kill, man."

I took yet another drink from my glass. I was definitely getting drunk tonight.

+

Jenner led us down some more halls, supposedly to where we would be staying. "Most of the facility is powered down, including housing, so you'll have to make do here. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in any video games, or anything that draws power, okay?" After a moment he added, "Oh, and if you shower, go easy on the hot water."

That was like music to my ears. Hot water. We could actually shower, and not just use that flimsy cold shower system we had back at the camp.

I immediately took the room to my left. There was a couch on one wall, and a desk on the other. I put down my backpack, and dropped my glass that I forgot was in my hand. A small bit of wine splashed on the carpet.

I saw the door leading to the bathroom, and my stomach jolted in anticipation.

Making my way in there, I unravelled the bandages on my hands. They were getting better, and the blisters had scabbed over. They still looked a slight mess, but I suppose I could go without bandages now.

I undressed myself, and took my hair down. I turned on the shower, and when my hand hit the water to test it - it was hot. We had hot water!

I stepped in without hesitation, and I let the water pour all over my face and hair. I used soap and shampoo provided the wash any dirt away. It was heavenly. Then Jenner's words echoed through my head, to not use all the hot water.

I turned the shower off and stepped out. I then caught sight of my reflection.

I was bony and gaunt. I was paler than before, and that was an achievement in itself. Darkness underlined my eyes unlike before, and I just looked constantly tired. The only thing great that came out of this was that my hair was longer.

I stepped into a towel, and walked back into the room. I put on some chequered pyjamas. I put my hair back up, and looked glumly at the empty glass on my floor.

I walked out, and into the halls to get back to the kitchen. There was no one there. I ventured through all the cabinets. When I came to the last one, I found what I was looking for - Alcohol. It was some sort of whisky. I didn't care, as I unscrewed the lid and took a large gulp of the amber liquid. It burned my throat like hot lava, but I kept drinking.

I started stumbling through the hallways, trying to find someone to share this with.

I pressed myself up to one of the doors, and I heard two people talking. When things got quicker, I opened the door, and saw Shane holding Lori in his arms. She tried to pry herself away. As she did, she saw me. Her eyes pleaded for me to help. But I did what I do best.

I ran away.

+

Marley stumbled even more throughput the hallways, in her drunken stupor. She was at the point where she could end up sleeping on the floor.

She opened a random door. Unknowingly to her, it was Daryl's. He was sat on on his couch, but he quickly got up from his seat when she stumbled in. "What's wrong he asked?"

She quickly turned around. "You!" she whisper-yelled. "I ran away. I didn't know what else to do." she sobbed.

"What happened?" he pressed.

"I wanted to be brave, but I can't. I just can't!" She threw the whisky bottle at him, and he swiftly caught it. She scrunched her eyebrows in disappointment - she obviously wanted it to hit him. "It's over!" she yelled, as she ducked out of the room.

Daryl just stood there, not sure of what to do next.