million dollar man | twd

ᴡʀᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ɢᴏᴅ

[ wrath of god ]

꧁꧂

The inside of the CDC was nothing like the outside. It was clean and quiet. The stench of the dead was unable to permeate through the thick metal shutters. The AC was obviously running as Vanessa rubbed her arms, trying to stay warm as she was always someone who ran on the colder side.

"Hello?" Rick called out. Hearing a gun being cocked they turned to see a man walking out of the shadows of one of the hallways, aiming an AK at them.

"Anybody infected?" the man called out.

"One of our group was," Rick said, not wanting to lie to him. "He didn't make it."

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

"A chance."

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

"I know."

The man looked around at their group, seeing their tired and scared faces before deciding to trust them and let them in. "You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."

"We can do that" Rick agreed, figuring that the CDC was probably going to have them take a test of some sort.

"You got to bring in you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed."

After gathering their things, the man led them down the hall, speaking into a monitor as he ordered for the main entrance to be sealed. He introduced himself as Dr. Edwin Jenner.

Jenner took them into an elevator leading them underground. He showed off a large control room, lined with computers and a big screen. When asked where everyone else was, he told them that they were all gone. He was the only one left.

He led them all into another room, administering the blood test they were promised. Jenner took Vanessa's blood, watching as she struggled to stay still, digging her nails into her palm. When she was done, she struggled to stand, feeling faint as she nearly fell back into Rick's arms.

"You okay?" Jenner asked.

"She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have."

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Laughter echoed from the cafeteria, as everyone poured themselves a glass of wine and ate the first proper meal they'd had in months.

Everyone except Vanessa. She sat at the end of the table, curled into herself as she downed glass after glass of water. Rick and Shane wouldn't let her near the wine and she was trying really hard to avoid it. She remembered what Rick had said about showing Lori that she'd changed.

But it was so hard to sit there feeling like absolute death as she watched everyone indulge in the thing that might make the horrible feeling go away. But she wasn't the only one who wasn't enjoying herself.