For You // R.G.

Chapter 9

We entered through the front doors. Rick led with his gun up and ready, we all carefully came inside.
"Hello? Hello-"
"Close those doors." Someone said
"Watch for walkers."
Everyone looked around, amazed.
"Hello?"
There was a series of guns being cocked when a man from afar walked out. He had a gun as well.
"Anybody infected?" He asked
"One of our group was. He didn't make it." Rick answered
"Why are you here? What do you want?" He asked
"A chance." Rick said
"That's asking an awful lot these days." The man said
"I know." Rick said
There was a silence, the man looked at all of us. Sena stood closer to me, I held Jamie tighter
"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission." He said
"We can do that." Rick agreed
The man held his gun for a few more moments then let it down.
"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed." He ordered then started walking towards us. We started bringing the stuff in quickly, the group shut the doors.
We went to the man who was next to an elevator.
"Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here." He ordered to a thing on the wall. The thing beeped.
"Rick Grimes." Rick introduced himself to the man. The man paused
"Dr. Edwin Jenner." Jenner said.
After a few moments of silence, Daryl spoke
"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" He asked
Jenner turned around
"There were plenty left lying around, I familiarized myself." He answered. He then looked around again at us.
"But you look harmless enough." He paused, then looked at Carl, "except you. I'll have to keep my eye on you." He said. Carl smiled.
..
He led us through a narrow corridor
"Are we underground?" I hear carol ask sheepishly. He looked back at her
"Are you claustrophobic?" He asked
"A little." She said
He turned back around
"Try not to think about it."
He then led us into an open room filled with computers
"Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." Jenner ordered
The room started to light itself up. We all stood still.
"Welcome to zone 5." Jenner said then kept walking. We paused a little bit to look around.
"Where is everybody? The other doctors, the staff?" Rick asked
Jenner stood in the middle of the big room and turned to face us.
"I'm it. It's just me here." He confessed
"What about the person you were speaking with?" Lori asked
"Vi?" Sena finished
"Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them... Welcome." Jenner ordered
Then there was a computerized voice that spoke
"Hello, guests. Welcome."
We all stood still, not knowing what to think.
"I'm all that's left. I'm sorry." Jenner said
..
We had to take blood tests. I sat down on the chair in front of Jenner. He put a needle in me and started to draw blood. As he did, I felt myself become dizzy and light headed.
"What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever." Andrea asked behind me.
"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me just at least be thorough." Jenner said. As I got up, I started to lose balance and fall, Rick went over to me and helped me up.
"Are you okay?" He asked quietly. I tried to nod but I didn't have the energy.
"Are you okay?" Jenner asked from behind.
"She hasn't eaten in days... None of us have." Jaqui said
..
"...Fine, you know in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. Oh and in France." Dale stated. I smiled and looked at Carl and Rick. Rick was looking at Carl, but then looked up at me. He and I locked eyes for just a moment until he looked away. I sipped some wine.
"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then." Lori stated then sipped on her wine. Rick laughed
"What's it gonna hurt? Come on." Rick said, his smile and his sparkling eyes would've won anyone over, including Lori.
Lori threw her hand in the air in defeat, everyone laughed and T-Dog cheered. Dale poured a small amount of wine in a plastic cup.
"There you are, young lad." He said then handed it to Carl. Carl took it and sipped. I looked back at Rick who was chuckling and watching Carl.
"Ew." Carl complained, everyone laughed, I even managed to smile.
"What about me?" Jamie asked. I looked at her and smiled
"Maybe tomorrow." I say
"That's my boy, that's my boy." Lori says, patting Carl
"Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud." Shane said barely smiling.
"Not you, Glenn." I hear Daryl say
"What?" Glenn asked smiling.
"Keep drinking little man. I want to see how red your face can get." Daryl said, everyone laughed. I looked at Rick again, he was looking at me again too. He quickly snapped his gaze at me and looked at Jenner who was sitting away from the rest of us. Rick then clinks his glass and stands up
"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly." Rick stated
"He is more than just our host." T joined in
"Hear hear!" Some of the group shouted
"Hears to you, doc-"
"Booyah!" Daryl shouted
"Thank you."
"Thank you, doctor." Rick said sincerely, holding up his glass of wine to him. Jenner held his up. When the shouts all died out, Shane spoke
"So, when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" Shane looked at Jenner. Everyone was silent. "All the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?" Shane asked looking at his glass of wine.
"We're celebrating, Shane." I whispered
"Don't need to do this now." Rick added now sitting down.
"Woah, wait a second, this is why we're here, right?" Shane asked Rick, he then looked directly at him. Rick avoided eye contact with him at first then looked up
"This was your move. Supposed to find all the answers. Instead we-" he chuckled, "we found him." Shane pointed to Jenner. "We found one man. Why?"
"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." Jenner said
Shane smirked and put his arm around my shoulder. I sipped on my wine and then looked up at Rick who was staring at us.
"Every last one?" Shane asked
"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They... Opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." Jenner said, looking down
"You didn't leave. Why?" Andrea asked
"I just kept working, hoping to do some good." Jenner looked up
Glenn walked over to the table
"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man." Glenn said to Shane. I cleared my throat, Shane removed his arm from me and sipped his wine.
..
"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 turned around and knelt down to be eye level with the kids, "just don't plug in any of the video games, okay? Or anything that draw as power. The same applies-if you shower, go easy on the hot water." He turned around and left us. Glenn turned around
"Hot water?" He asked excitedly
"That's what the man said." T said, smiling.
I watched as Rick smiled ahead of me. I saw Lori smile at him. I was beyond jealous and sick of watching them be love birds. They entered in a room, I walked past them and went all the way down the hall to avoid any contact with Rick or his family.
.
"I still haven't talked to Jamie about Oliver." I say to Sena as I sat on the edge of the couch, drying my hair with my towel. She was playing with a deck of cards.
"I think you should just bury it."
"Bury it?"
"Ya know, don't mention it until she does."
I contemplated the idea, Sena then got up and looked around the room, observing random things.
"So, when are you going to do Rick?" She asked casually. I laughed
"Rick and I are not on the best terms right now." I say
She went over to me and waited for me to tell her everything
"I'm still upset about him not letting me do anything, as if I can't handle doing anything on my own."
She paused
"Did you ever think that maybe he does that to protect you?"
I looked at her, I never thought of it that way
"No-he can't. He wouldn't." I say, shoving the idea out of my mind
"Why are you so sure of him hating you?"
I shrugged
"Why don't you ask him?"
I looked at her
"I can't-he's married and he is too noble of a man and-"
"Then don't!" She said raising her hands in the air, just then Jamie walked into the room from playing with Carl and Sophia in the arcade room.
"Hey, Jamie."
"Hi." She said in her soft voice. She walked by us and sat on the couch.
"How do you like it here?" I asked
She paused, looking around the room, she nodded
"I like it a lot."
I smiled
"Are you tired yet?"
She nodded, her eyelids were heavy. I walked over to her and got a blanket from the closet, I tucked her in.
"Goodnight." I say, I patted her head, but before she let me go, she tugged on my sleeve. I knelt down beside her
"The man with the blue eyes is funny." She said. I furrowed my eyebrows
"What man?"
"The man that you have a crush on." She said with a smile and a high voice. I laughed and then sighed
"What did he do?"
"He's falling on the ground and he talks like this," she then grumbled and slurred a few words together. I laughed, I knew that he was wasted. I tucked her in again and smiled
"Goodnight, Jamie. And by the way, I don't like him." I say
I got up, when I turned away, she called out
"Liar liar, pants on fire!"
Sena came from the bathroom, combing her hair
"What?" She asked confused about Jamie yelling. I shook my head, dismissing the subject. I then placed my hand on the doorknob, about to leave when she asked me where I was going.
"Just to check on things, I'll be back in thirty minutes." I say
She shrugged and continued with her hair, I left the room.