in a dark meadow -- daryl dixon

looney tunes

word count: 3503

Rick guided the group through the doors and into an expansive lobby. The area was dark. Loose papers and trash littered the marble floors. Lab coats had been long abandoned and strewn onto the floor. The armed men remained on their guard, pistols and rifles raised at an unknown enemy. Dale alerted the group to watch the doors behind them, wary of the handful of walkers that were closing in on the building.

"Hello?"

Silence greeted them. Avery's gaze slid along the lobby floor, looking for any indication of what had happened to the building. She saw no blood. No walkers. No signs of a massacre. What went wrong here?

The distinct click of a gun pulled their gazes and their guns to the top of the lobby stairs. A man stood there with a military rifle, his aim fixed down at the people below him. Avery's heart leapt into her throat, knowing she could be gunned down in a millisecond.

"Anybody infected?" He was middle-aged with wispy blonde hair, the black circles under his eyes visible from the bottom of the stairs. His facial expression was unreadable. If he was scared, he gave no indication of it.

Rick shook his head, lowering his gun. "One of our group was. He didn't make it."

The man stepped out of the shadows, keeping his gun trained on the group. "Why are you here? What do you want?"

"A chance."

"That's asking an awful lot these days."

"I know."

What seemed like several moments passed before the man stowed away his gun. Avery felt like she might collapse. "You'll all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."

"We can do that." Rick agreed, and the group collectively lowered their weapons.

"If you have stuff, bring it in now. Once those doors close, they stay closed."

Daryl, Glenn, Shane, and Rick moved to grab the bags that had been dropped outside of the building. Avery wandered to the front desk. The computer monitor was cracked and covered in dust, while a woman's ID was discarded on the keyboard, long forgotten. The office chair was overturned, a small gray cardigan lay crumpled underneath it. Was the man an employee? Or had he wandered in when the world flipped upside down?

"Vi, seal the main entrance."

The front doors automatically closed as the man walked down the stairs. He ushered the group into a large service elevator before introducing himself as Dr. Edwin Jenner. Avery stared at the back of his head as he spoke, trying to interpret a lie. He'd been pretty comfortable handling an automatic weapon for a scientist. Avery found herself pressed between Daryl and Glenn in the corner, their shoulders occasionally knocking together as the elevator jerked. Elevator rides were awkward before the outbreak. This one was suffocating.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?"

So he's suspicious too.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself." Jenner responded plainly.

Fair enough.

Avery dismissed her paranoia and exhaustion replaced it. She found herself leaning into the body next to her but immediately straightened up, realizing what she was doing. The elevator stuttered to a stop and Jenner led them out into a long hallway. Avery stepped out without looking at the man to her left.

"Are we underground?" Carol observed the walls around them. She adjusted the bag on her shoulder, clearly uncomfortable.

"Are you claustrophobic?"