AU: Hey guys, so this is my first fanfiction I have ever done. It's probably not the best, but as long as people enjoy it I will hopefully carry on! Sorry for any typos!
POV: Beth Greene
They were stood in the hallway. She was back with her family, who all huddled together behind her. The enemy before her was defeated. She could leave finally. After weeks of being locked up in this disgusting hospital, being forced into looking after this place, it was now over. Freedom was ahead of her, she would be with the people she loved. Sure it would be hard on the road with no safe place to go to, but that is how it had always been. There would never be a safe haven, a place to go back to. A place that would last. The word 'safe' didn't work in today's day and age; nothing was completely safe, just some places were better than others. She had been fooled into thinking the prison they once secured and made as homely as possible, was where they would be hauled up forever. They could take care of the walkers staggering across the country; they could take care of having enough food to eat. But what they couldn't handle was the other survivors. She had forgotten about who the real enemy was. Like those standing in front of her, they were the real beings she should be afraid of. But whilst she was now back with her people, she would be able to take care of that sort of threat just one step at a time. She was growing, and she could finally show the growth that had occurred inside of her. With her time traipsing around with Daryl, with the time when she was alone, she realised something. She wasn't that scared teenager hiding in the prison. She was a woman.
After a side glance at female officer who had kept her captive, she turned around and strutted over to the door. She noticed Daryl stood to her left, who took put his hand to her arm, leading her out. She had looked up to him and smiled which he returned with an exhausted grin.
She had wanted to hold onto his hand and never let go. She wanted to press her lips to his, but she knew she couldn't. This wasn't the time or the place, and everybody was still stood tense. Their real reunion could wait until later, when they were alone and she was reunited with the rest of her family, including her sister.
She hadn't seen Maggie since what had happened to her father, and that was months ago. Yet still, time had not erased the pain inside her chest when she remembered her father. His soft smile, his white bushy beard and his wise old eyes that seemed to realise and know everything. As much as she wanted to remember her father, every time she thought about him, her heart broke into smaller pieces.
She needed to overcome what was happening right now before she tried to stitch her heart back together.
"Noah", a voice called out. "We want Noah." Dawn, her captive, made her stop in her tracks. The boy named Noah had been the only person to be truly kind to her while she was captured. He had also been kept there but for a much longer time, so she had tried to escape with him. She had been caught but he managed to get free and she could not explain how happy she was that he had met up her people. But here, now, these people still tried to ruin it all. Beth turned around and walked closer to Dawn.
"That wasn't the deal, Dawn." She spat. "Noah is with us, you can't control him anymore." The woman glared back at her.
"Noah has been with us for more than a year. We saved his life, we saved your life. He is ours. Look, we're letting you go free, no strings attached. You just give us Noah, and you can go."
"Beth, Beth! It's okay." Noah lied as he limped towards her. "It's okay. I'm fine with it." He wrapped his arms around her shoulders tightly, and she returned the embrace, her eyes becoming glassy.
"No. No it's not okay." She winced at the thought of her friend leaving her, never seeing him again. That couldn't happen. She opened her eyes and saw Dawn standing there so arrogantly, and Beth knew she could end this right now. The other officers at the hospital despised Dawn; they wouldn't react to what she could do. Her family would be safe, Noah could leave and Dawn would be dead.
She remembered the pair of large silver scissors hidden inside her cast, lying next to her forearm. She released her grasp on Noah and moved towards the woman.
She stared into her eyes, trying to make herself seem confident. Her fingers in the cast wiggled around, pushing the scissors slowly away from the white material tightly wrapped around her arm. After, she wrapped her hands around the long frame and hid it behind her thigh.
"I get it now", she whispered. To Dawn, survival was about being alive. It didn't matter how you survived, but as long as you were functioning, you were a survivor. You could hurt anybody just to get what you wanted, and Beth knew this was wrong. She was willing to sacrifice herself for the people she loved. She noted Dawn's gun tucked into her jacket, and she knew that her actions would probably end with her demise but then something crept into her head. Her mind recalled the time she heard her father say something along the lines of 'I could save lives, and that's enough to risk mine.' That was all she could think about now, her father and his wise words.
Her body filled with adrenaline as she pulled her left arm up and slashed it into Dawn's neck. Everybody in the hallway's eyes widened at the sight of the red liquid trickling down the officer's neck, staining her uniform. Beth stepped back as the woman fell forwards, the woman's life slowly fading away.
Beth turned her back and walked away. She walked past Rick, whose face was still surprised. She walked past Daryl, who looked proud of her, and then she walked past Carol whose blank expression hid her emotions. She got to the door, with Noah by her side and she smiled. Everything would be ok now.
Then suddenly, a gunshot erupted down the hallway, ringing through everybody's ears. Daryl looked down at Dawn, whose arm was outstretched with her pistol falling out her hand. He looked in the direction of where the gun was pointing and saw Beth collapsing to the ground. He screamed in rage and ran towards her, catching her in his arms. His lip trembled as tears streamed down his face. "Beth wake up. Beth! No, no, no, c'mon. Stay with me." But she was already gone. The bullet had pierced the back of her head and gone straight through. She was gone.
