Inside CDC

"Hello? Hello? Anybody inside?", Different voices echoed as the group entered inside CDC lobby while looking around. They heard a gun cocking from the side and saw a man standing in a doorway, with a rifle in his hand.

"Anybody infected?", the man asked.

"No. Everyone's safe", Rick answered.

"Why are you here? What do you want?", he asked. "A chance", Rick replied. 'So cringy yet so true', Damian thought.

"That's asking an awful lot these days", he replied. "I know", Rick knew. The man looked at the group, "You all submit to a blood test. That's the price for admission", he said. "We can do that", Rick said as he looked at everyone. The man lowers his gun. He then said, "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes it stays closed". They all ran through the doors and followed the man into the elevator. In the elevator, the man said, "VI, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here".

"Rick Grimes", Rick puts his hand out for the man to shake but he looked away, saying, "Dr. Edwin Jenner". The started going down as others also started engaging in small talks with the man. They soon entered a large, darkened space.

"VI, bring up the lights in the big room", he asked someone and soon after the humming and beeping, the room lightened up.

"Welcome to zone-5", Jenner said.

"Where is everybody? The other doctors, the staff?", Rick asked in confusion.

"I'm it. It's just me here", he replied shocking everyone.

"What about the person you were speaking with? VI?", Lori asked.

"VI, say hello to our guests. Tell them… Welcome", he said and the computer said, "Hello, guests. Welcome". " I'm all that's left. I'm sorry", he replied, disappointing everyone.

He then started taking blood sample from everyone. Damian observed the man for for now.

Last one was Andrea, who said, "What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever".

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me just at least be thorough... All done.", Jenner said as he clicked the syringe and Andrea stood up before she blacked out and Jacqui caught her. "Are you okay? she asked. "Hmm...", She replied. "We hadn't had proper food for days", she told Jenner.

Sometime after, Jenner took them to a place with a large table. They all sat around the table and Jenner brought out pasta and wine for everyone making everyone happy. The women quickly prepared them and brought back. Everyone enjoyed eating and talking. The mood was a joyous one. But Damian's mind was somewhere else. Suddenly he heard Rick stand up, that made him come out of his thoughts. Rick took his fork and tapped the glass attracting everyone's attention. "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly", he said and took a break. "He is more than just our host", T-Dog added, and everyone started cheering, maybe due to the influence of alcohol, they were quite happy. 'Well, they have been out for such a long time always in their toes, they deserve this', Damian thought to himself and looked at Jenner who looked like he wasn't enjoying the party at all.

"Thank you. Thank you, Doctor,", Rick said sincerely. But next instant, Shane spoke up what was in everyone's mind since the came inside. "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?". The words brought everyone back to reality, Rick seeing the foul moods of everyone, said, "Shane we are celebrating. Don't need to do this now".

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move—supposed to find all the answers. Instead, we—(chuckles) we found him. Found one man, why?", Shane asked in frustration. Their relationship seemed strained right now. Like they call each other best friends but don't see eye to eye.

Jenner answered, "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". "Every last one?", Shane asked suspiciously. "No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They… opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time", Jenner replied. "You didn't leave. Why?", this time Andrea asked. "I just kept working, hoping to do some good", Jenner answered without looking at the group.

Glenn looked at Shane with intoxicated eyes and said, "Dude, you are such a buzz kill, man".

After the dinner, Jenner took everyone to the living area.

"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. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same applies—if you shower, go easy on the hot water". Hearing hot water, everyone almost jumped in joy and ran away to their rooms. "Hey, I need to talk to you privately", Damian took the chance to talk to Jenner while everyone was going to their rooms.

Jenner walked out of the area and asked, "Yes, do you want anything else".

"Did you really work to find a cure?", Damian asked him. "Yes, that's what I was doing here, until recently. Why do you ask?", he said looking at Damian. "Well, you are gonna test our blood samples, right? Check mine first. You'll know", Damian said looking at Jenner. "What do you mean?, he asked. "I'll tell you after you show me the results", Damian said. Damian looked like he had something he wanted to tell Jenner, so, "Follow me", Jenner said and moved towards his lab.

In the lab, "What? But how?", Jenner looked at the blood test results of everyone and they were all normal except for Damian's. "What did you find out?", Damian asked approaching him. Jenner turned towards Damian and asked, "Who are you? How is your bloo-", but Damian interrupted him and began speaking, "I am like you. A human being. Or maybe I was once. I don't know myself. Few years ago, I was serving in Afghanistan. I was one day given a rescue mission from the commander. So, my team and I landed on the midst of a terrorist base. I died that day, or I thought I did. Next time I opened my eyes, I was in a lab with several pipes attached to me and weird liquid flowing through them, entering my body. Then some weeks ago, some scientist named Kurt, was escorted by the army to someplace else. He said I was the answer. I only heard that. Unfortunately, the helicopter crashed and only I survived but I lost my memories. I only got them back fee days ago. But I wasn't able to contact the army. So, next thing I thought was coming here but I didn't know the way. I met those people on the road. They were also planning to come here so I tagged along. Look. I don't know if I will be useful to find a cure to this or not, but it would at least be worth trying, don't you think?", he finished. Jenner processed everything he had asked, "So, you are immune?". "I don't know, I haven't been bit yet. But I know that you can find out.", Damian told confidently.

Jenner looked at the blood results once again and then back at him. "I'd need more samples. Blood sample, hair sample, Urine sample, saliva, nails and skin, more than once", Jenner said while typing something in the computer. "Well. I am right here", Damian replied. "Then follow me", Jenner said as he walked towards his room and Damian followed behind him. Unknown to them, someone else was listening to their conversations from the dark.

After collecting multiple samples from Damian, Jenner asked him to go rest and meet him later. He ensured that he'd have some answers by then. Damian left the lab obeying him and found Rick searching for Jenner. He directed him towards the lab and returned to his room. He quickly took a bath, changed into something comfortable and laid down on the bed, closing his eyes.

The next, he woke up. Brushed his teeth after many days and walked out of his room.

"You were sleeping until now? A voice came from behind. It was Amy. "Yeah, why? Did something happen?", Damian asked her as they both started walking out. "No, nothing but you missed the breakfast, and you would have lost the lunch if you were a little more late", she said.

"Well, I can just ask Dr. Jenner for food I suppose", he asked. "Um... My sister told me something yesterday", she said gathering his attention towards her. "About me?", he asked seriously. "No. About Dr. Jenner", she said laughing. "What did she say?", he asked. "She said that dr. Jenner had given up. He didn't find any cure". "Well, she was right. I think everyone figured that out as soon as we saw him. He didn't look happy seeing us".

That made Amy look at him accusingly, "I got that too, I am not that dumb. It's just that Andrea also thought the same. So, what do you think? How long can we stay here?", she asked.

"I don't know, but we won't be staying here too long if there is no cure. The food here will soon run out if we stay here for long. We have to leave to let him keep working on the cure", Damian gave his opinion honestly.

"Then where would you go? If you leave here?", Amy asked. "I don't know, some place safe. Maybe some rural region where there are not many people". 'Maybe there?', he thought of some place. They soon reached the hall and sat beside each other. Jenner came out removing the mask on his face as he looked at everyone drawing their attention. "Guys, I have something to announce", Jenner said. Everyone looked at his grim face and Damian felt something had gone wrong. "I am sorry I couldn't see you at the breakfast because I was working on something", he said seriously, making the atmosphere heavy.