Didn't See That Coming | The Walking Dead(1)

Part 7 (What Happened Here, Doc?)

Dr Jenner lead the group into the food hall of the building. CJ took a seat in between Glenn and T-Dog. Smiles were plastered on everyone's faces as they were presented with more food than any of them had eaten since before the walkers. Then multiple bottles of alcohol were brought out and CJ's smile turned into a mischievous grin. God, she missed drinking.

Dale went around the table, refilling everyone's wine glasses. "You know, in Italy and France, the children will have a little wine with dinner too," he said to Lori with a smile.

"And, when Carl is in France or Italy he can have some," she replied.

"Come on," Rick said. "What's it gonna hurt?"

Lori looked at Rick for a few seconds with a smile before shaking her head and letting out a small laugh. She let go of Carl's glass and let Dale pour a small amount of wine in. "Here you are young lad."

Everyone went quiet as they watched Carl take a sip of wine and put the glass down. He narrowed his eyes and pulled a disgusted face. "Ewwww! That's nasty!" he said as everyone laughed.

"That's my boy, that's my boy," Lori repeated as she poured the wine from Carl's glass into her own.

"Maybe you should stick to pop there bud," Shane told Carl.

"Not you, Glenn," Daryl said with a grin.

"What?" Glenn questioned as he furrowed his eyebrows with a smile.

Daryl looked over to him and replied, "You keep drinking little man I wanna see how red your face can get."

"Ooooo yes! I need to see a drunk Glenn!" CJ shouted out with a big smile, slightly tipsy. She grabbed Glenn's glass and refilled it. "Here, drink up kid."

"Kid?" Glenn chuckled. "Dude you're like ten years older than me," he said as he drank.

"Yeah and don't you forget it," CJ replied with a smug grin, taking another sip from her glass.

Rick stood up and tapped his glass, causing everyone to look over at him. "It seems to me we haven't properly thanked our host," he looked over at Jenner and raised his glass. "Thank you."

"He's more than just our host," T-Dog said.

"Booyah!" Daryl exclaimed, raising a whole bottle whilst everyone else lifted their glasses. CJ couldn't help but laugh at Daryl's drunken antics. She had barely seen him smile before let alone be this happy.

The light-hearted moment was over as soon as it started when Shane spoke up. "So, when you gonna tell us what really happened here Doc?" he asked Jenner. "All the other doctors, where the hell are they?"

"Shane, we're celebrating. No need to do this now," Rick said sternly to his friend.

"But that's why we came here right? For answers?" Shane questioned.

"Well, when things got bad, most people left to be with be their families," Jenner began to explain. "When the military was overrun, the rest bolted."

"All of them?" Shane asked sceptically.

"No. Many couldn't bare to face the world that was out there. They... opted out. There was a rash of suicides. It was a bad time."

"You didn't leave," Andrea stated. "Why?"

"Jenner looked over to her, "I just kept working, hoping to do some good."

Glenn turned to Shane with an annoyed expression. "You are such a buzzkill, man," he said.

The next few minutes were filled with uncomfortable silence as everyone finished their meals. Once they were done, they grabbed all their own belongings and Jenner lead them down a hallway to show them where they could stay.