Nyla ➳ D. Dixon

Chpt. V

—🏹—

We stepped inside the building, it was quiet. Too quiet. Then we hear a gun cock back from off to the side. Our group quickly aims back to see a lone man aiming a shotgun in our direction. "Anybody infected?" He questions.

"One of our group was." Rick replies. " He didn't make it."

"Why are you here? What do you want?" The strange man asked.

"A chance." Rick replies.

"That's asking an awful lot these days." The man said—Stepping towards up with his shotgun still raised.

"I know."

Everyone looks at him, their eyes pleading. " You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission." Even a dog's blood? "Except the canine's." He added. Nevermind.

We headed inside a weird looking elevator as it started up, " Rick Grimes." Rick introduces himself.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner." The strange man introduce.

I saw Daryl eyeing Edwin's shotgun, "Doctors always go around packing heat like tha'?" He questions.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself." Jenner responds. "But you look harmless enough.Except you." He eyes Carl. "I'll have to keep my eye on you." Carl gave him a cheeky smile.

The elevator stops as we head out and walk through the hall, "Are we underground?" Carol asks.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner went on to ask back.

Carol went on to reply, " A little."

"Try not to think about it." Jenner assures.

We then walked inside a large room where computers were, " Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." Jenner shouts, then the lights turn on all by itself. " Welcome to zone 5."

"Where is everybody?" Rick asks. "The other doctors, the staff?"

"I'm it." Jenner responds. "It's just me here."

"What about the person you were speaking with?" Andrea spoke up. "Vi?"

"Vi, say hello to our guests." Jenner shouts out again. " Tell them... Welcome."

Then we all heard an automated female voice come through to say, "Hello, guests. Welcome."

Oh hell nah!

"I'm all that's left." Jenner says. His tone of voice had a hint of dejection. "I'm sorry."

◤──•❉🏹❉•──◥

One by one, Jenner takes blood samples of each of the survivors, excluding me. Andrea went on to say, " What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever." She was right about that.

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here." Jenner responds. " Let me just at least be thorough. All done." Andrea stood up but stumbled forward only to be caught by Jacqui. "Are you okay?" Jenner asked.

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

◤──•❉🏹❉•──◥

Jacqui was generous enough to provide us with a full course meal and bottles of wine. I enjoyed the sounds of laughter erupted in the room — It was sweet to have this tender moment. Just for a short while.

I lay in under the table, waiting for any scraps to fall on the floor like any other dog when I perk my ears up when I heard Dale speak, "So Daryl, the Husky of yours, she's a purebred no?"

"I dunno, only found 'er when she was a puppy." Daryl replies.

"Well, did you teach her a few tricks then?" T-Dog joined in.

"Jus a few." Daryl replies.

"Can you show us one?" Carl joined in.

"Sure." I heard the chair screech. "Nyla!"

I stood up and walked out from under the table, I looked up at the group with my tongue lolled out — I saw him holding a piece of a large chunk of meat, "Catch!" He exclaimed.

I watch him toss the meat in the air, I leap in the air and catch it before landing on my feet gracefully — Every cheered while clapping and whistling. I wag my tail while chewing my meat, I listen to the chatter of everyone having a great time.

That is, until Shane spoke up, "So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc? All the—the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"

"We're celebrating, Shane." Rick steps in. " Don't need to do this now."

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right?" Shane said. "This was your move—Supposed to find all the answers. Instead we," He chuckles. "We found him. Found one man. Why?"

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left." Jenner replies. "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 asks.

"They... opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." Jenner explains.

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

"I just kept working." Jenner responds, looking up at Andrea. " Hoping to do some good."

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man." Glenn said. He ain't lyin'.

◤──•❉🏹❉•──◥

Jenner walks us down through a narrow hallway surrounded by rooms, "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 storage if you like—There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy." He explains.

He turned around and bent down in front of the kids, " Just don't plug in the video games, okay?" He tells them. They both nod their heads. He then stands up and turns to face us, "Or anything that draws power. The same applies—If you shower, go easy on the hot water." He said before leaving.

"Hot water?" Glenn ask with a large smile on his face.

"That's what the man said." T-Dog replies. They both laugh.

A/N: I lied. One more chapter left. :)