AN: I don't own either Harry Potter or the Walking Dead.

"Come on, Sophia," Carl whispered as they got out of the showers. The CDC was a big, big place and Carl kinda wanted to explore it. While the adults were busy drinking and finishing eating.

Sophia nodded, a little reluctant, but still mostly excited.

Aside from the entrance to the building, this was the safest they had been since the attack on the hill. Carl had had to pinch his nose closed as they had walked through the bodies before the gate and he had seen Sophia do the same.

The two of them slunk past the adults and ran into the hallway, laughter and cheers echoing through the room.

"Carl, are you sure this is a good idea?" Sophia asked as they ran through the halls.

"Yeah, it is! There's no walkers in here! It's underground."

"There could still be..." Sophia trailed off. "You're probably right."

They walked down a set of stairs then set off for the lone door that they hadn't seen before. In fact, Carl hadn't seen this hallway before. A great loud thunk sounded through the hallway causing Carl and Sophia to both jump.

"Sophia, did you hear that?"

Sophia glanced at him, nodded hesitantly. "Yeah."

"That couldn't have been a walker. The scientist hadn't turned," Carl said, walking over to the door and standing up on his tiptoes to see through the window in the door.

"Carl, what if it is a walker?" Sophia whispered urgently. "We're going to get in so much trouble."

"Is the door unlocked?" Carl asked, staring transfixed at whatever was beyond the door.

Sophia padded over to the handle, tried it once. It didn't move an inch.

Groaning was heard, coming through the door. Followed by a loud hiss.

Sophia stilled and backed up. "Carl... We should go back to our parents."

"Sophia, don't you want to see what it is?" Carl whispered back, trying the door more.

Another moan sounded through the door. And this time it sounded... closer?

The minute that Carl and Sophia heard a loud thud against the door, they both spooked and ran. It sounded like whatever was beyond the door was trying to get out.

"Mom! Dad!"

"Mom!"

"Shane!"

Carl and Sophia ran back through the hallway and back up the stairs, hearing clattering and running steps from the kitchen. As soon as Carl and Sophia turned a corner, Carl ran right into his dad. His dad already had his gun out and was searching the hallway behind them, quickly steering Carl behind him.

"Carl, what is it? Is it a walker?"

"Carl?!"

"Sophia? What were you two doing down here?"

Carl turned to see Shane, Carol, T-Dog, and Daryl coming toward them. The scientist was no where to be seen. Shane had his rifle out, pointed at the hallway behind them. Daryl had his crossbow out and nocked.

"We were exploring," Carl said.

"We shouldn't have but," Sophia said as her mom pulled her into a hug.

Carl pointed behind him. "There's something there..."

Rick narrowed his eyes.

"It sounded like a walker," Sophia whispered.

"Carl..." Lori started, sighing. "You shouldn't have gone off on your own."

"Shane? Daryl?" Rick asked, gesturing to the hallway. Carl watched as his dad strode off the way he and Sophia had gone down and started to follow.

"Carl, what are you doing? Come back here," Lori ordered, raising an eyebrow.

"But I wanna see," Carl retorted. "It looked like it was only one."

Rick, Daryl and Shane stopped and turned to look at him.

"Only one?" Shane asked, exchanging a look with Rick.

Carl nodded, watching his dad look back to the hallway that led to the kitchen. "Dr. Jenner isn't here... He might have an explanation."

"Explanation? If it's a walker, we need to go kill it," Daryl remarked, staring at the two of them.

"It didn't look like a walker," Carl murmured, glancing at Daryl then at his dad.

"You saw it?" Lori asked, peering down at him with a pinched expression. "Shouldn't we hear the door breaking down then?"

"The doc said there ain't no walkers down here," Daryl said, quickly looking back to where the set of stairs was and starting back that way again.

Lori pulled Carl back. "Let's get back to the kitchen."

Carl turned to watch as his dad, Shane and Daryl all strode down the stairs.

"Why the fuck did the doc not say anything?" Shane whispered as they made their way toward the door that Carl had described. "This was suppose to be the CDC, safe."

"We got to go kill it," Daryl said, crossbow still out and walking behind Rick and Shane. "Answers after."

"Agreed. Hopefully, there's only one like Carl said," Rick commented, gun still out.

A loud moan was heard throughout the hallway as they walked on, turning a corner. The three of them stopped right before the door and listened for a minute. Shane went to go look through the window.

"Shane?" Rick questioned, making sure the safety was off on his gun.

"There's only one," Shane answered. "It's lying on the ground right before the door though."

Daryl glanced at Rick then at Shane, shaking his head. "Should save bullets. I'll do it."

"Be my guest," Shane commented, stepping back far enough for Rick to step up to the door and ready his gun to shoot the door open. There hadn't been any noise since the moan a minute or two ago.

Daryl readied his bow and gestured for Rick to open fire.

The minute the door opened, the walker fell out, as if it had fallen against it. There was a bloody gash on its' left knee but nothing else, Daryl noted idly. It used to be a man, looked to be in his early to mid 30's when it turned. Long black hair that had bits of blood in it reached down to the guy's upper back.

Daryl was just a minute away from firing his arrow when the walker spoke...

"Bloody hell! Don't shoot! I'm not a zombie!"

Daryl, Shane and Rick all stepped back, jaws dropped.

Daryl was the first one to recover. "Since when do walkers got a British accent?"

The walker... the man started to laugh, voice more hoarse than expected. "Hahaha. OW..."

"You're not a walker then?" Shane asked quietly.

The man flipped himself over, gingerly almost and sat up and moved over to sit against the wall. They could all hear him hiss under his breath. Likely he was injured then. "'Walker'?"

"Where in the hell did you come from then?" Rick asked, putting his gun into his holster.

"That's what we call them," Shane answered. "Walkers."

The man looked at Shane then at Rick and turned to look up at Daryl. "Oh."

Daryl stared into the guy's green eyes and tilted his head. The guy looked like he had been through hell, probably a hell similar to their own but Daryl could see something that was...

"No, I'm not a 'walker', as you say. I was..." The guy trailed off, turning to stare at something behind them. "Dr. Jenner..."

Daryl turned to see that the scientist had come up behind them while they were occupied. He hadn't even heard him coming.

Dr. Jenner stared at the guy on the floor then at Daryl, Shane and Rick. "I should have known you guys would find him."

The guy on the floor groaned and started to get up, only to fall onto the floor. "Alright. That hurt. I'm just gonna stay here for a while, if that's okay with you gentlemen."

"You injured elsewhere?" Rick asked, taking a step closer to the guy.

"Rick!"

"What? He's not a walker."

"He could be dangerous!" Shane exclaimed.

"Dangerous?" Rick repeated, gesturing at the man on the floor. "Look at him."

"Yeah, yeah, I probably look half-dead. I feel half dead," the guy remarked dryly and a little bitterly. He was glaring up at the scientist and Daryl could swear his green eyes were glowing a little.

"We should have let him out a long time ago," Dr. Jenner remarked, glancing at the three of them.

"What's that suppose'ta mean, doc?" Daryl asked, also taking a step closer to the guy on the floor.

"It's complicated," the guy on the floor remarked, closing his eyes briefly and whimpering a little. "I'm gonna pass out now. Fuck..."