Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, ect., are the property of their respective owners.  The original character and plot are the property of the author.  The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise.  No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: When the world ended the only thing Birdie Grimes wanted to do was to get home to her family.  When she finds her sister-in-law and best friend on the outskirts of Atlanta, will she finally get the chance to tell him how she really feels?  Will love blossom?  *No evil Shane* 

Warning:  This fan-fiction is rated Mature for Language, Gore and Adult Situations.  Readers under the age of 18 are strongly discouraged from reading.

Pairing: Shane Walsh x Birdie Grimes

Chapter Nineteen

 

The lights were blinding when the rolling doors first opened, much too bright for my sensitive eyes to handle in my concussed state.  Tucking my head into Shane’s chest, I let him lead me over the remaining dead bodies of the infected and into the building. 

“Hello,” Ricky called out, his voice echoing loudly off the walls, making us all wince.

The sound of a shell being placed into the chamber of a semi-automatic rifle had me gasping and opening my eyes and had Shane shoving me behind him while the others all raised their weapons in retaliation.  Daryl stood next to me his face sweating and his chest heaving.  He looked down right pissed, but I guess after the trip we had just made and all the people we had lost…

“Is anyone infected?”  A man’s voice called out, as a figure stepped out of the shadows of the rapidly darkening room—or perhaps my eyes were just now adjusting. 

The man looked like a ghost with his pale white skin.  He sported a similar set of dark purple bruises under his eyes that told me that this man hadn’t slept soundly in a long time. 

He never lowered his gun as he approached, eyeing us all wearily, like we were the Devil finally come to get him—which these days was very understandable. 

Ricky breathed deeply, lowering his rifle first and the immediate urge to smack him in the back of the head was powerful.  Dumbass was always much too trusting. 

“One of our group was…he didn’t make it.” 

The blonde man with the gun nodded, his gun still raised.  “What is it that you want?” 

“A chance…just a chance.” 

“That’s asking an awful lot these days,” he commented darkly, his eyes moving from my brother to scan the rest of us.  A strange emotion passed over his face when his eyes found mine—almost a look of remorse before he nodded and finally lowered his gun.  “You all will submit to a blood test, that’s the price of admission.”

“Done,” Ricky replied, vigorously nodding his head in agreement. 

“If you people have anything you need to bring in, I suggest you do it now.  Once these doors close, they stay closed.”   

“Stay here,” Shane told me tersely as he went to retrieve Trusty and our bags from the vehicles. 

I nodded without complaint; I for one, had no desire to go back out into that walker infested Hell-Hole without having to.  Watching Shane leave was hard though, especially when he was the first out of the group of my brother, T-dog, Glenn and Daryl to dodge a walker that had been milling close to the doorway. 

As the rest of us waited, I took the time to let my eyes scan the room.  It was eerily quit in here despite the noise of our boys battling the undead outside.  The first thing that hit—and it did so like a brick to the chest—was that we were alone.  There was just the one man.  No military.  No scientist.  Nobody but this lone man and his an M-16?  It filled me with an immediate since of dread. 

“Ricky, what have you gotten us into,” I murmured to myself, smiling sheepishly at Lori when she looked at me like I had lost my mind. 

Certainly she had noticed too, right?  If the smile of relief on her face was anything to go by…I’d say no, she hadn’t noticed. 

Within minutes, Trusty barreled into the room, immediately attaching himself to my side and I cautiously looked up to the blonde man to see his reaction.  If he even suggested that I leave my poor pup outside…I might kill him myself. 

The man was already looking at me when I raised my head, but he said nothing about Tru’s presence here, but his eyes were still regarding mine in a way that left me feeling exposed and uncomfortable.  What was his problem?

As soon as Shane stopped at my side panting and gripping my waist, the blonde made his way to a key panel near the door and spoke.  “Seal the main entrance, cut off the power up here.” 

“Up here?”  I questioned. 

He said nothing.  As the shutter doors slammed home and locked into place the pang in the pit of my stomach increased. 

What had Ricky gotten us into?

The blonde man made himself known as Dr. Edwin Jenner as he led us all to a large industrial elevator with wide steel doors.  Apparently we were going down. 

Shane pushed me along inside, his hand never leaving my elbow as he wedged me in between himself and Daryl.  Had I not felt like I might throw up at any given second I would have laughed at the situation.  For all Shane’s growling about Daryl, he sure didn’t seem to mind him being close to me when my safety was at risk. 

“Doctor’s always go around packing heat like that?”  Daryl asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had engulfed the small space. 

God, I hated elevators. 

Jenner looked over, his eyes scanning over Shane, myself and finally coming to rest on Daryl as he spoke.  “There were plenty left lying around, I familiarized myself.” 

Shane cleared his throat as Jenner’s eyes fell back to me and Daryl scowled coldly at the man. 

Jenner’s mouth turned up into an amused smirk.  “You all look harmless enough,” he finally replied his eyes dancing from one person to the next until they lowered on my nephew.  “Except you, I’ll have to keep my eye on you.” 

I fought the urge to growl at him but Carl beamed at him with a small laugh so I remained quiet.

As we all piled out of that electronic death trap, I noticed that once again we were met with…nothing.  No survivors…no soldiers…not a single person was roaming the halls. 

“Where is everybody?”  I said softly, unable to contain the burning question within.  “The other doctors, staff…Where are all the soldiers?”

“I’m it,” Jenner replied with no emotion at all.  “It’s only me here.” 

“Why—

“Birdie,” Ricky hissed lowly and bumped my shoulder, silencing the rest of my question. 

I didn’t give a shit if I should have been quiet or not, this was supposed to be some kind of a salvation…

“What about the person you were speaking with?”  Lori called out and I had to tramp down the urge to high-five her and stick my tongue out at my brother.  “Vi?”

“Vi!”  Jenner called out suddenly, and might I add—loudly.  I jumped backwards into Shane at the sudden intrusion of his loud voice in the already echoing room and Shane chuckled.  “Say hello to our guest!  Tell them “welcome”.”

“Hello, guests,” the purely female voice of a computer replied.  “Welcome.”

“Wonderful,” I grumbled.  “We’re all at the whim of a damn computer.” 

This time it was Daryl who spoke, “Fuckin’ computers.” He grunted his agreement. 

Well, at least I wasn’t the only one who hated modern technology.