𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐔𝐌 (𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑦𝑙 𝐷𝑖𝑥𝑜𝑛)

𝐹𝑜𝑢𝑟

"Daryl, you cover the back," Shane ordered as Rick wandered through the now open door. Everyone else followed suit, spreading out across the exceptionally big lobby. I peered up, seeing an overwhelming amount of windows that reached the ceiling.

"Hello?" Rick called out.

I unknowingly ended up in the back of the group and quickly sped up to catch up with Glenn. The doors were shut and we all stood together silently, waiting for something to happen in the moonlight flooded lobby.

The sound of a gun cocking drew my attention to the far right of the group where a man dressed in casual wear stepped out holding an automatic rifle. I didn't know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't a scientist dressed like a couch-lounging dad wielding a gun.

Glenn whipped up his rifle and stepped in front of me, blocking my view of the newcomer. I stood on my tiptoes to get a better look.

"Anybody infected?" The man bellowed. Everyone stood rigid with their weapons fixated on him.

"One of our group was," Rick answered and slightly lowered his gun, "He didn't make it."

"Why are you here? What do you want?" The man questioned curtly, his gun still raised as he slowly crept closer.

"A chance."

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

As the man stepped into the moonlight I could see that his hair was a light blonde, almost matching the color of his skin.

"I know," Rick said.

We stood in a pregnant pause as the man let his eyes carefully scan over the group before him, Glenn still not wavering from his place in front of me.

"You all submit to a blood test, that's the price of admission," the man finally said.

"We can do that," Rick nodded.

"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now," he lowered his gun, "Once this door closes, it stays closed."

I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding in, a wave of relief immediately washing over me. The only possessions that I had were already on me so I stayed behind while others went back to the cars to retrieve whatever bags they needed for the night.

Once everyone was back in the lobby, the man swiped a keycard over an electronic scanner mounted on the wall.

"VI, seal the main entrance, kill the power up here," he spoke into the scanner.

A series of rattles and clangs ensued as the metal door Rick was pounding on descended once again, sealing us inside the lobby.

***

I sat on the floor next to Glenn and T-Dog, leaning my head against the wall behind me while pinching the bridge of my nose. A migraine had erupted in my head while waiting in line to get my blood taken by the man who introduced himself as Dr. Jenner.

"You good, little lady?"

I dropped my hand and looked over to T-Dog.

"Yeah, just a little headache," I brushed off his concern with a tiny smile.

Waiting in line with him had given me a chance to get to know him a little better, like learning that his name was actually Theodore Douglas. He nodded but didn't look too convinced.

"Did you eat the crackers I gave you?" Glenn asked from his spot in front of me. He had taken off his cap and set it on the floor, his dark hair sticking up in odd places.

"Yeah, I ate like half of the pack," I grinned sheepishly through my white lie. In truth, I had only eaten a couple of crackers, knowing that if I introduced enough food to my stomach I would get hit with a truckload of stomach cramps that had been numb for the past couple of days.

"Maybe you shouldn't get your blood taken. You can faint from that if you haven't eaten enough,
Glenn warned me quietly, as if our little trio was scheming about something dangerous.

"I'm fine," I shrugged.

Glenn shook his head and looked towards the table where Dr. Jenner had set up a little station to take everyone's blood. The three of us had purposely stayed at the back of the line due to T-Dog's fear of needles and Glenn's reluctant feeling to have everyone watch him get his blood taken.

Lori stood up from the table with a cotton ball pressed to her arm and walked over to where Rick and Carl stood a couple of feet away. Dr. Jenner looked towards the three of us as we were the last ones waiting in line.

"Who's next?"

A panicked expression came over T-Dog as he looked between me and Glenn.

"I can't do it, man," he whispered to Glenn, sweat already starting to form on his brow.

"Stop being such a baby," Glenn whispered back.

"Don't worry, I'll go," I patted T-Dog's arm confidently and stood up, immediately feeling like all the blood was drained from my head.

I steadied myself against the wall, and before Glenn could argue with me about the dangers of low blood sugar, I marched over to the table where Dr. Jenner sat with empty vials, ready to suck out some of my blood.

I sat down on a white plastic chair that almost everyone I knew had stashed away somewhere in their backyard. Dr. Jenner asked me for my non-dominant arm so I laid out my left. I couldn't remember the last time I had been to see the doctor. My dad had always been pretty unorganized when it came to handling my appointments and getting me places on time. It's safe to say that my dad's poor scheduling skills accompanied me into adulthood.

The cold alcohol swab against my skin brought me out of my head. I hadn't noticed he'd gotten started.

"Feeling a little queasy?" He looked at me with quizzical eyes.

"No," I said shortly. All of the unwarranted concern was starting to irritate me.

"You sure?"

"Yes," I raised my left arm to him, just wanting to get it over with.

He didn't say anything more to me and pulled out a thin needle. I turned away, not necessarily too interested to see what would come out of my body. I looked around the tiled room, taking in everyone from the group standing and sitting around in different places, all broken off into their little cliques. Daryl and Shane were the only exceptions: Shane was sitting in his own little corner of the room, staring at Rick and Lori as if they'd just stomped all over his heart and Daryl paced back and forth not too far from Shane, crossbow slung over his shoulder as his eyes scanned the room.

I clenched my teeth as I felt a sharp prick enter my arm, trying hard not to look too uncomfortable for T-Dog's sake, of course.

A cold sweat started to spread across my skin and my breaths became shallower. This was a new sensation, different from feeling numb to hunger and indifferent to sleep. I felt cold one second and hot the next as if I were cooling off from running a mile.

"Done," Dr. Jenner said from next to me.

I turned to look just as he taped a cotton ball over the spot where the needle punctured my arm. He called for the next person in line and I saw Glenn start to walk over to take my place. I slowly stood up and poked my cotton ball. A buzzing sensation took over my head and all sound was void from my ears. Black dust bunny-like spots appeared in the corners of my vision as the floor suddenly disappeared. The room suddenly turned sideways and I went tumbling into darkness.

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𝑷𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 5/4/20