Rick was the first to walk in, everyone else slowly creeping in behind him. He walked slow and cautiously, his shot gun in hand in case there was any sort of danger ahead of them.

"Daryl, you cover the back." Shane quietly instructed, reluctantly, Daryl complied and remained in the back of the group, making sure there weren't any walkers getting too close.

"Hello?" Rick called out, hoping to the get a response from whoever it was who let them in. "Hello?" He repeated himself, his voice echoing as everyone piled inside the large, open space.

"Close the doors, watch for walkers." Dale said, anxiously looking around for the person as well. Just as Rick was about to call out again, the sound of someone cocking their gun echoed, the sound of everyone else doing the same following. There, a man stood. He wore jeans and a plain blue tee-shirt, pointing a semi-automatic at the group.

"Is anybody infected?" He asked loudly.

"One of our group was," Rick's breathing was heavy as his face was covered in a thin layer of sweat, still holding his gun up. "He didn't make it." The man began to walk closer to them.

"Why are you here, what do you want?" He got straight to the point.

"A chance." Rick answered, hoping the man would give them just that.

"That's asking an awful lot these days." The man thought out loud.

"I know." The man looked around, scanning the features of everybody who stood before him. All they could do was hope that he would offer them hospitality and not turn them away, especially since they know what's waiting for them on the other side of the doors.

"You all submit a blood test. That's the price of admission."

"We can do that." Rick reasoned, nodding his head. The man dropped his gun to his side, making everyone a little less anxious.

"If you got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed." The man said. Nobody hesitated to grab the rest of their belongings from their vehicles while others stayed at the door, weapons in hand. When Rick had run back inside, Dale and TDog quickly shut the doors. The man then ran some sort of card through a scanner and the light turned green.

"VI, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here." He spoke affirmatively. Elle jumped slightly at the sound of metal sheets falling in front of the doors, providing extra protection.

"Rick Grimes." Rick officially introduced himself.

"Doctor Edwin Jenner."

Everyone stood in the small, crowded elevator. The silence was awkward but there was not really too much to talk about. Elle stood between Glenn and Andrea, her eyes shut. She did not like elevators, they made her stomach queasy.

"Do doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl broke the silence, mentioning the gun that Doctor Jenner held firmly to his side.

"Well, there were plenty left lying around, I familiarized myself." He paused, turning to look at the people who surrounded him in the small space. "But you look harmless enough. Except you." He tilted his head down towards Carl. "I'll have to keep my eye on you." A small smile formed on Carl's lips. When the elevator stopped moving, everyone slowly made their way out and followed Doctor Jenner down a series of hallways that all looked the same.

They all had plain white, brick walls, white doors, and boxy lights above each door. "Are we underground?" Carol asked.

"Definitely." Elle groaned, holding her stomach. An elevator ride going down on an empty stomach was enough to make her sick.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Doctor Jenner asked, keeping his head straight to see where we was walking.

"A little." Carol shrugged.

"Just try not to think about it." He said as they all walked into a large room. "VI, bring up the lights in the Big Doom." He shouted. The sound of machines running rang through the air. Everyone watched as the room lit up. There was a ring of light above a circular platform that held tons of computers. "Welcome to Zone 5." He walked towards the center, where the computers sat.

"Where is everybody? The other doctors, the staff?" Rick asked what everyone else was thinking as they followed him towards the center of the room.

"I'm it." Doctor Jenner stated like it was not a big deal. "It's just me here."

"What about the person you were speaking with? VI?" Lori spoke up.

"VI, say hello to our guests. Tell them 'Welcome.'" He instructed.

"Hello, guests. Welcome." a female voice echoed throughout the room. Vi was a computer.

"I'm all that's left. I'm sorry." He turned around after seeing everyone's shocked and disappointed faces.

"Why would all of the other doctors and scientists leave? Shouldn't they have stayed and maybe, I don't know, saved the world?" Elle asked Glenn and Doctor Jenner began preparing to take blood tests.

"Maybe they were scared." Glenn shrugged, leaning against one of the white desks.

"They shouldn't have become scientists then if they aren't willing to stop a virus." She knew it wasn't just a regular virus, people were coming back to life, but she believed they should have at least looked into it.

"What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever." Andrea asked as her left arm lied across a desk while Doctor Jenner stuck a needle in her arm.

"I've already broken every rule in the book simply by letting you in here, at least let me be thorough." He pulled the syringe out of her arm. "All done." Andrea stood up and seemed to have gotten dizzy. Jacqui held her shoulder to help her stand.

"Is she alright?"

"She hasn't eaten in days, none of us have." Jacqui answered, helping Andrea sit down.

Elle rubbed at the bandage on her arm as her stomach growled simply at the thought of eating.

When everyone has gotten their blood drawn and Doctor Jenner had dealt with it, he brought everyone to the cafeteria, where he prepared a feast. Rick was drinking, Shane was drinking, Daryl was drinking, Glenn was drinking like his life depended on it. As Dale was pouring wine into the ladies cups, he paused at Carl, Sophia, and Elle.

"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner." He suggested. Lori shook her head jokingly. "An in France." Dale added, thinking it would help his argument.

"Well when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then." Lori chuckled, keeping her hand over Carl's glass.

"What's it going to hurt? Come on." Rick said. He was clearly a little drunk. "Come on." He wore a big smile, causing Dale to laugh. "What?" Lori began laughing as well and gave in, removing her hand from the glass, causing everyone to laugh.

Dale poured a little bit of red wine in Carl's glass. "Here you are young lad, and you ladies?" He handed Carl his cup and turned to Elle and Sophia.

"Why not?" Elle shrugged, holding her glass out to Dale. Sophia didn't want any, so all eyes were on Elle and Carl. Everyone was silent as they watched the two kids take their first sip of wine.

"Ew." Carl whined, causing everyone to erupt into laughter again. Lori rubbed his back before pouring what was left in his glass into hers.

"That's my boy."

"What about you?" Rick turned to the blonde.

"Not a fan." She said putting the glass down. Everyone were laughing at their reactions while Lori poured the rest of Elle's wine into her glass as well.

"Stick to soda pop kids." Shane chuckled. The two of them were them given glasses of water to wash down the awful taste.

"Not you, Glenn." Daryl chimed in. "Keep drinking, little man." He chuckled.

"Yeah, let's see just how red your face can get." Elle laughed. Glenn laughed at them, but didn't argue against the drinking. Daryl reached over the table to high fived Elle as they got what they wanted.

Rick looked over to see Doctor Jenner wallowing in the corner, just observing. He took a fork and lightly tapped his glass a few times, standing up like he were making a toast. "It seems to me that we haven't thanked our host properly."

"His more than just our host." TDog spoke as he raised his glass.

"Here's to you, Doc. Booyah!" Daryl cheered. Rick have a quiet 'thank you' to Doctor Jenner while everyone shouted 'booyah.'

Shane then kicked their good moods to the curb by asking him why everyone was gone. "So when are you going to tell us what the hell happened here, Doc?" He raised an eyebrow in Jenner's direction. "All the- all the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"

"We're celebrating, Shane. We don't need to do this now." Rick spoke calmly as he sat back down.

"Woah, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move— we're supposed to find all of the answers. Instead we found him." He scoffed, with a small smirk on his face. "We found one man. Why?" Everyone turned to face Jenner, looking for an answer.

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left. They went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." Jenner explained.

"Every last one?"

"No. Many couldn't face walking out the door. They," he paused, thinking of how to word it. "Opted out. There was a rash of suicides." Elle set her fork down and there was an uncomfortable moment of silence. "That was a bad time."

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

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good." Nobody seemed to have an appetite anymore.

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill man." Glenn said, looking at Shane.

"Most of the facility is powered down, including housing so you'll have to make do here." Jenner spoke as he led everyone down a hallway. "The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you'd like." The idea of a comfortable night of rest was very appealing to everyone. "There's a rec room done the hall that you kids might enjoy." He turned around to look at the three of them. "Just don't plug in the video games, okay?" The nodded. "Or anything that draws power." The nodded again. "The same applies," he turned his focus to the adults. "If you shower, go easy on the hot water." He said before leaving them to figure out their situation.

"Hot water?" Glenn asked with a huge smile plastered on his face.

"That's what the man said!" TDog cheered before the two of them raced to find a room and to shower. They all split off into their own rooms. Carol and Sophia shared one, while the Grimes family shared one. Elle decided to stick with Glenn again.

"You can have the couch." Glenn offered, tossing his bag in the floor.

"No, after the night you had, you'll need it." She chuckled, passing his offer up.

"I'm not arguing." He said. "I'm gonna shower real quick." He dug through his bag for some clean clothes before making his way to the bathroom. Elle nodded as she set up her sleeping arrangement, not bothering to get a cot that Jenner had mentioned. She looked around the room, it was nice. It was clean. She looked around the room and toyed with things in the shelves the entire time Glenn was showering. When he came out, he was smiling.

"The waters nice." He said, rubbing a towel on his head. Elle dug for some clean clothes in her bag before also making her way to the bathroom. She locked the door and quickly got undressed and in the shower. Glenn was telling the truth, the water did feel amazing.

The hot water hit her scalp, melting away any worries that she might have. All of the blood and dirt was going down the drain, turning the water a tan like color. She saw shampoo and conditioner and happily used it. She washed her body and got out, enjoying the smell of a fresh shower. She dried off and got dressed, hanging the towel up on the towel rack to dry.

She wiped the fog off the mirror with her hand and stared at her reflection. Her hair was it's usual light blonde again, it wasn't dirty or greasy. Her eye bags were definite, and you could see her freckles that has become more clear the more she was outside in the sun. She used the towel once to dry her hair as best as she could before putting it back on the rack. She picked up the clothes she was previously wearing and saw no blood in her underwear.

This day just keeps getting better and better. She stepped out the bathroom, keeping the door open so it could air out after the two hot showers. Glenn turned to look at her and his expression changed.

"What? Is there something on my face?" She asked as she started wiping her face and looking at her hand to see if she had gotten whatever it was.

"Yeah, you're taking the couch." He laughed, standing up to move her stuff.

Elle rolled her eyes. "Ha ha, very funny. Your eye bags aren't very attractive either." She put my stuff in her bag and decided to check out the rec room.

She walked down the hall and through the open door and saw Carol looking through the library and Sophia coloring in a coloring book. She looked over to see Carl with a couple of Marvel comic books.

"Can I read one?" She asked, sitting next to Carl. He nodded and moved the pile to that it sat between them. She picked up the one on the top of the pile, it was some of the X-Men comics. She inspected cover, looking at all of the characters when a drop of water from her hair dripped onto it. She didn't remember seeing a comb in her and Glenn's bathroom, but she figured she should comb through her hair now that it's all washed and clean so it likely won't tangle as bad.

"Do either of you guys have a comb?" She asked Carol and Sophia.

"There was an extra one in our bathroom." Carol said, leaving the room to go get it. She came back within a minute and handed it to her.

"Thanks." Elle smiled at her. Elle ran the comb through her hair while she flipped through the comic, taking in all the words and all of the illustrations.

She had gotten to the end of the comic before she realized that she was the only one left in the room. She closed the book, looking around, wondering when everyone had left. She set the comic back on the table and stood up, and turned off the light as she left.

She made her way back to her and Glenn's room where it was almost completely dark. She could make out the figure of Glenn passed out on the floor, his snoring filling the silence. She grabbed a blanket and put it over him, noticing he only had a pillow under his head. She got under the blanket that Glenn had thrown in the couch and lied her head down in the pillow, easily falling asleep.

Elle woke up to Glenn's groaning and the uncomfortable feeling of menstrual cramps. She pulled her knees to her chest to relieve the pressure as Glenn sat on the end of the couch, rubbing his head.

"Hang over?" She asked, her voice raspy. He only groaned in response. Someone knocked on the door and announced that breakfast was being served. The two of them groaned as Elle sat up and pulled a sweater from her bag as it was a little cooler in the morning. She pulled it over her head and pulled her hair out from the back and rubbed her eyes. "Alright, let's go." She yawned, helping Glenn stand. She made sure he could walk properly before letting go of his hand and moving it to grab her stomach as she hunched over to relieve some of the pain.

"Are you good?" Glenn asked. She nodded, taking a deep breath as she stood straight up again, still grabbing at her stomach.

"Mornin' Elle." Dale greeted as the two of them walked in.

"Mornin.'" Glenn yawned as she shuffled over to a seat.

"Why are you grabbing your stomach like that?" Carl asked.

"Period cramps my friend." Elle said as she sat down, also yawning.

"Period cramps can't be that bad." Carl said, earning flares from the women in the room.

"No uterus, no opinion." Elle said, earning a few laughs a share held up her plate as TDog scooped some eggs onto it.

"Eggs. Powdered, but I do 'em good. I bet you can't tell." The laughter caused Glenn to groan as the noise was probably making his head pound. "Protein helps with the hangover." TDog said, scooping eggs onto Glenn's plate.

"Where'd all this come from?" Rick asked.

"Jenner." Lori answered, handing Rick pain killers for his headache. "The thought we could use it." Rick tried to twist the cap open.

"Could you help me please?" He asked, passing it to Elle who sat on the other side of him.

"Some of us at least." Lori smiled, looking at Glenn who looked sick and tired while still a groaning mess. Elle popped the pain killers open and took a couple for herself before handing the open bottle and lid to Rick.

"Don't ever, ever, ever let me drink again." Glenn whined. Shane greeted everyone as he walked in and grabbed a plate for himself.

"Mornin' Shane. Feel as bad as I do?" Rick asked.

"Worse." He responded, grabbing a plastic fork.

"What the hell happened to you?" TDog asked, looking at Shane. "Your neck?" He pointed out three fresh scratch marks of the left of Shane's neck.

"Must've done it in my sleep." She shrugged it off, sitting down.

"I've never seen you do that before." Rick stated.

"Me neither, not like me at all." He looked up at Lori who went back to eating her breakfast. Everyone greeted Jenner as he walked in and said his 'good mornings' before he went to pour himself a coffee.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing-" Dale began.

"But you will anyways?"

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea spoke up.

Everyone now sat around the desks back in Zone 5 while Jenner was giving VI instructions. "VI, pull up playback of TS-19." He said.

"Playback of TS-19." Everyone all watched as the big screen in the front of the room pulled up multiple pictures of someone's brain.

"Few people ever got a chance to see this, very few." He spoke as the largest picture of them all began being scanned

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked.

"An extraordinary one." Jenner smiled. "Not that it matters in the end." He knew this person, it couldn't be any more obvious. "Take is in for E.I.V." He instructed VI

"Enhanced internal view." The larger picture then became even larger, taking up just about the entire screen and they now had a side view of the brain. The test subject appeared to be laying down. Everyone watched, mesmerized, as it began zooming in on the brain itself, exploring it.

"What are those lights?" Shane asked. There were sparks of light all over the screen.

"It's a persons life— experiences, memories, it's everything. Somewhere in all that organic writing, all those ripples of light— is you. The things that make you unique, and human." Jenner answered.

"You don't ever make sense?" Daryl asked, crossing his arms.

"Those are synapses," Jenner continued. "Electric pulses in the brain that carry all the message. They determine everything a person says, does, or thinks from the moment do birth to the moment of death." Elle was actually fascinated by this. She was looking inside of someone's brain right now and she learned more now than she did in the last year.

"Death?" Rick stoped forward. "That's what this is, a vigil?"

"Yes." Jenner paused, looking at the screen. "Or rather, the playback of the vigil."

"This person died?" Andrea asked, getting closer to the screen. "Who?"

"Test subject nineteen. Someone who was bitten, an infected, and volunteered to have us record the process. VI, scan forward to the first event." They watched intently as they watched the picture go from the inside of the