His senses had been on high alert since they'd entered the hospital. As they approached the group that waited in the corridor ahead, Daryl's focus sharpened. He could see Beth standing at the back of the group next to Carol who was sitting in a wheel chair. Several armed police officers surrounded them. At the front of the group, a rather severe looking woman stepped forward. This must be the one they'd heard about, the bitch in charge.
He caught Beth's eye as the two heavily armed groups faced off. She looked relieved to see them but there was something else. She was angry and determined. She had that squared off jaw that meant she'd made a decision to do something, and nothing was going to dissuade her. He'd seen that look often enough while the two of them were together. He tried to read the situation, to figure out what she was planning but couldn't figure it out. The only thing that made sense was for her to follow the plan so they could all get out of this, but Beth followed her heart whether it made sense or not. It was making him even more nervous.
The first exchange took place. Carol was wheeled across as they released one of the Atlanta cops to the Hospital group. Daryl breathed a tiny sigh of relief, so far, so good. Beth had moved forward. She was standing next to the one in charge. Everyone had their hands on their weapons. He glanced at her wishing Beth had some way to protect herself as well. That's when he noticed she was surreptitiously pulling something out of the cast on her wrist. He couldn't tell exactly what it was but he saw a sharp silver tip. He looked at her, wanting to yell out for her to be still. The way that Beth was looking at Dawn was giving him a bad feeling. It was the same way she'd looked when she said she wanted a drink.
She looked up at him and he pleaded with his eyes for her not to do anything. She started across the floor as the other cop started walking. She made it to Daryl and the others. He wanted to pick her up and run with her but there was still the armed group across from them to consider. He thought they'd made it, that they were going to get out of it clean. Then, the queen bitch stepped forward and started making demands. As soon as she spoke, he knew things were going to end badly. Somebody was about to die. He aimed to make sure it wasn't anyone from his family.
Beth's anger flared as the woman demanded that Noah be left behind. Daryl saw her palm the sharp metal instrument from her cast. She stepped closer to Dawn. "I get it now," she said as she raised her arm to strike at her captor. Daryl reacted before he thought. He saw Dawn's hand twitch against her pistol and he knew what she was about to do. As Beth plunged the puny scissors into the woman's shoulder, Daryl lunged knocking Beth aside. Dawn's gun blasted only an inch or two away from his ear. He felt the burning of the bullet as it grazed his head but it didn't slow his reaction. He raised his pistol and shot the woman in the head.
As Dawn fell, he found himself tangled up with Beth on the floor of the hospital corridor. Blood was pouring down the side of his face. Beth was talking to him but he couldn't hear what she was saying. The gun blast had temporarily deafened him. He pushed her behind him against the wall and watched as the standoff between the two groups suddenly intensified. Rick glanced at him and Daryl nodded to let him know he was okay.
Both groups had all weapons drawn. It was a standoff that nobody was going to win. No one spoke for several moments and then Daryl saw the woman cop that they'd held hostage. She was saying something. She was lowering her weapon. He heard Rick say something in response. The other cops from the hospital group were lowering their guns as well. He looked to Rick who motioned for him and Beth to move. Daryl kept her shielded as they backed away from the Atlanta cops.
"We're going to leave now, all of us. If anyone tries to follow us or anyone is waiting for us outside, this is going to be war. Do we understand each other?" Rick demanded.
The woman cop nodded and said something else as she holstered her weapon. Rick motioned for the others to begin backing away. They were soon through the corridor doors which closed behind them. Rick told him to take Beth and Carol and get them outside as quickly as possible. He, Sasha, Tyrese and Noah were going to take it slower to make sure no one was following them.
Daryl turned, grabbed the handles of the wheelchair and told Beth to follow him. They rushed through the hallways toward the exit. Beth was trying to fuss over him. He could hear her but it sounded like she was talking to him from down deep in a well. She kept asking if he was alright.
"Damn it, woman, I'm fine. It just grazed me. We gotta get out of here so quit worryin' about me," he told her rather gruffly. She didn't look pleased with him but she stopped yapping and followed behind him as they made their way to the exit.
As they went through the door to the parking lot, he could see Glen, Maggie, Michonne and the rest of their group pulling up in a very large fire truck. Maggie dropped her gun and started running towards them, reaching for her sister.
"Beth, oh Bethy! I didn't think I'd ever see you again," Maggie cried as she hugged her sister and kissed her cheek. Both women were crying and hugging in the middle of the parking lot as the rest of them watched.
Daryl was helping Carol out of the wheelchair. "Enough with the family reunion! We need to get clear of this place. Rick and the others are right behind us. Come on, back to the truck," Daryl yelled as he picked Carol up and started carrying her towards their transportation.
Upon hearing what he said, Abraham, Rosita, Michonne, and Glen all took positions around the truck with weapons at the ready. Maggie and Beth were right behind him as he lifted Carol up onto the seat. He stepped back to let them climb in. He could see Carl in the back holding Judith and a rather dazed looking Eugene sitting beside them. Once they were all safely in, he closed the door and drew his pistol joining the others on guard as they waited for Rick's group to emerge.
It wasn't long before the doors blasted open and Rick and the others came rushing out. Rick was lagging behind a bit to keep pace with Noah. He looked a bit surprised to see the others and the fire truck but he didn't question it. "Get ready to roll. They haven't followed us yet but we don't want to waste time and tempt them," he said as they reached the truck. Abraham climbed back behind the wheel and the others all squeezed into the fire truck. It was a tight fit for all of them but they managed it. As the truck pulled away from the hospital, Daryl looked back. Several of the Atlanta cops were standing near the exit. They weren't making any threatening moves or doing anything to try and stop the truck. Daryl hoped it meant that this incident was behind them. Maybe they'd gotten lucky.
The group had been riding for a good half hour before Daryl finally relaxed. He laid his head back against the seat and took a deep breath. He felt a small, cool hand against his brow and he turned to realize that Beth was sitting right beside him, so close she was almost in his lap.
"I'm gonna clean that up for you as soon as we stop," she told him, looking up at him with those sky blue eyes that never missed anything. "Does it hurt much?" she asked.
"Nah, I've had worse. It's ain't much more'n a scratch," he told her as he forced himself to turn his gaze away. If he kept looking into her eyes, he was afraid he'd start crying. It was such a relief to have her with him again. He thought he'd lost her forever when he watched that car drive away outside the funeral home, but he had her back now.
Maggie was bursting with questions. She wanted to know what had happened to Beth, what the cops at the hospital had done to her, how she'd broken her wrist. It was just like a woman to have to know every little detail, but Daryl listened carefully as Beth told the story of what had happened that night after he'd lost her.
"After I ran out of the funeral home, I went straight towards the road. I kept looking behind me for Daryl but I couldn't see him," Beth told them. Daryl winced as he remembered that night, how he had to watch as the car with the white cross disappeared down the road in front of him.
"I fell on the road, trying to fight off two walkers. That's when I broke my wrist. I didn't even hear the car. I just saw these two guys in uniforms standing over me, telling me that I was safe and then one of them had a syringe in his hand and that's the last thing I saw before I woke up in the hospital with this cast on my wrist," she continued telling them. "Dawn told me that they'd saved my life, that I should be grateful to be with them, but then they wouldn't let me leave. She said I had to pay off my debt to them by working in the hospital. They kept track of everything, every bite of food I took or medicine they gave me, even the clothes I wore were added to my debt. There was no way to ever earn your way free."
Noah was sitting silently but nodding as Beth told her story. He understood exactly what she'd been through.
"It was like some sort of prison camp or something. The police were the guards and they did whatever they wanted to us. Dawn would sometimes try to keep them in line but she knew that if she pushed too hard, they'd stop listening to her altogether. They tried to intimidate me but I just kept my head down and my eyes open. Dawn slapped me around a few times for speaking my mind. Then, one of the women patients was raped. She killed herself when Dawn didn't do anything to punish the men responsible. That's when Noah and I decided to escape. We almost made it out together but they caught me."
Daryl bristled at the thought of that woman putting her hands on Beth. Then when she talked about a woman being raped he clenched his jaw so tightly that it caused the wound on his head to open and start bleeding again. He was glad he'd shot that bitch. He wished he would have killed them all. If he thought one of them had hurt Beth, he'd never have been able to walk out of the hallway and leave anyone standing. He made himself breathe slowly and evenly to calm down. It was over now and she was safe. That was all that mattered.
"How did you all meet up with Noah?" Beth asked them. "How did you end up in Atlanta? Where were all of you since the prison?"
No one spoke for a while. They were all a bit uneasy to speak about the horrors they had been through at Terminus and after. Rick finally said, "It's a long story, Beth. I think it's best left for another time. Right now, we need to find a place to make camp and get some food and rest. We need to dress that wound on Daryl's head and take stock of what we're gonna do next."
Beth looked a bit alarmed by the obvious silence of those she loved around her. She knew something terrible had happened to them, much worse than being stuck in the hospital. She wanted to ask more questions, to find out what was haunting them but before she could open her mouth she felt Daryl's hand on her arm. She looked over at him and he shook his head just slightly, enough to tell her that now wasn't the time. She stopped herself but the look in his eyes told her whatever they'd experienced had been hell.
Abraham drove for hours. He had to work his way around side streets and alleyways to get them around all the road blocks and car pile ups in Atlanta. Once they finally made it to the outskirts of the city, Beth heard Rick up front talking to Abraham as he consulted a map. They were looking for someplace that they could take shelter.
"There's a place about 30 miles up ahead. It's a science museum. It's just off the interstate in a fenced off area that's not too close to any residential sections. It may be a place to hole up for a few days until we can get supplies together and another vehicle before we start for D.C.," Rick said. At the mention of D.C., Abraham looked over at Rick uncomfortably. Daryl could see Maggie and Glen tense as well.
It was Glen who finally spoke up. "He lied, Rick. There's no cure. Eugene lied to everyone because he was afraid of being left alone. That's why we came back. There's no way out of this, not in Washington or anywhere else," Glen told them all dejectedly.
Daryl couldn't believe it. He'd always known that Eugene was a little strange but he never figured the guy was lying. How could he have done that, lied about something like that? Daryl turned to look at the man in the seat behind him. Eugene eyes were cast toward the floor. His cheeks were bright red with shame. Tyrese and Sasha were at first just open mouthed in shock. Then Sasha got angry, really angry. She started yelling at Eugene and even got up and started to move toward him.
"How could you do that? You made us believe there was hope for something better. Bob died believing the bullshit you told us. What kind of sick twisted mind do you have?" she screamed at him. Tyrese grabbed her arm and pulled her back down to sit next to him.
"Just hush now, Sasha. Just hush," he comforted her as she buried her head into his chest and sobbed. Everyone knew that her anger had more to do with losing Bob than with Eugene's lie but that lie hurt all of them. Finding out that there was no cure was like another death to deal with.
Rick was speechless for a moment. He sat staring back at all of them and rubbing his hand across the unkempt beard that had become a part of his haggard appearance over the past month. He was angry too but he was trying hard to keep himself in check. "Well, I guess that changes things. We could still try the museum, see if it's safe. We need a place to rest up," he offered. They all agreed and Rick showed Abraham the spot to head for on the map.
During the course of the ride, Daryl noticed that most of the others had dozed off. Maggie was resting against Glen's shoulder while his head rested against the top of hers. Carol lay against Tyrese's sturdy arm with her eyes closed. Even Lil Asskicker was asleep on her big brother's lap. Michonne, never one to relax, had her face against the window watching their surroundings as they passed.
Daryl looked down to see that Beth had snuggled against his arm and was resting comfortably. He wanted to close his eyes for a moment but the wound on his head had begun to hurt like a mother. His whole head was throbbing and he wished suddenly that he still had some of Merle's kick ass painkillers. Nothing for it but to just grit his teeth and bear it for now, though. Hopefully wherever they ended up, he could find something that would offer a little relief.
About an hour later, the overcrowded fire truck pulled to a stop on the side of the interstate. To their right, about 150 yards off the road, sat a relatively new looking building surrounded by a chain link fence. A sign facing them read Georgia Museum of Science and Technology. The parking lot between the fence and the building looked empty.
"That's the place," Rick told the rest of them.
Carl suddenly spoke up, "Hey, I remember this. My school had a field trip here and you and Mom were chaperones. We got to do experiments and stuff."
Rick smiled at his son's unusually boyish outburst. "Yep, I saw it on the map when we were back at the church. I remembered the fence. Let's hope it's still safe. They even had a little snack bar in this place so there may be some food," he told them. "Now, I want everyone to stay on the bus except me, Tyrese, Sasha, Glen and Abe. We'll check it out. If it's clear, we can pull the truck closer and get everybody inside."
Daryl leaned forward, "Hey I ain't helpless. I can go and help y'all clear it."
"Daryl Dixon, you're hurt. You are not going out there," he heard Beth's voice behind him pipe up and she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.
Daryl shrugged off her hand and looked back toward the front to see Rick grinning at him, "Well I was gonna give you a lecture but I'll just second what she said."
Daryl felt silly being molly coddled by sweet little Beth and he wanted to give her a piece of his mind but when he looked at her all he could think was how grateful he was to have her back and safe so he just harrumphed once or twice and settled back into his seat.
The group that was checking out the museum all got out of the vehicle and checked their weapons. Daryl watched as Rick and the others crossed the field to the fence around the museum until they disappeared around the side of the building.
"Hey, don't be mad at me," Beth whispered, "I was only trying to take care of you."
He looked back at her. "I ain't mad," he told her and then turned away again. There was too much that he wanted to say but didn't know how to put into words. Besides, the fire truck was close quarters and he didn't want everyone else hearing whatever he did manage to say. There would be time later. At least he hoped there would.