Yay, chapter seven! I realized again that I forgot the disclaimers on the last two chapters, so here it is: I own nothing relating to The Walking Dead. Enjoy!
Chapter seven: Glad You're Okay
I woke up in what looked to be a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV. What happened? The last thing I remember was Daryl calling my name but I don't know why. I know we were running from walkers. We were supposed to meet at the road. Damn it! Why can't I remember anything?
I stood up and, dragging my IV behind me, I tried to open the door. "Hey!" I banged on it. "Let me out!" I backed away when I heard voices. It sounded like they were coming from a radio.
Thinking on my feet, I take out the IV and grab the pole, prepared to fight if I had to.
The door opened and two people entered the room. A man I a doctor's outfit and a woman in a police uniform. Who are these people and where was Daryl?
"Everything is okay." The man said holding his hands up.
"Let it go. Right now." The woman commanded. I don't know why but I listened.
"I'm Dr. Steven Edwards." The man introduced. "This is Officer Dawn Lerner. How are you feeling?"
"Where am I?" I asked confused.
"Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta."
Now the question I really wanted the answer to. "How did I get here?"
"My officers found you on the side of the road surrounded by rotters." I don't remember that.
"You had a nasty wound on your ankle." The doctor spoke. "Can you tell us your name?"
"Stacey." Daryl has to be here, too. "The man I was with, is he here, too?"
"You were alone," Dawn told me. Daryl wouldn't have left me alone. "If we hadn't saved you, you'd be one of them right now. So you owe us." And there it was. That word. Owe. Everyone always wants something. "I want you on cleaning duty. But for now, you can help Dr. Edwards." She left me with the doctor.
"Come on."
He led me around the hospital showing me all of the patients. We didn't enter the rooms until we can to the last. I followed him inside.
"Couple of the officers out there were on a run about a week ago. They found two boxes of Bisquick, and a Merle Haggard tape at a truck stop, and this gentlemen under a bridge." He motioned to the man attached to a respirator. "Cardiac arrest and extreme dehydration. I tried to do what I could." Then he turns off the respirator.
"Wait, that's it?"
"If patients don't show any signs of improvement…well, Dawn calls it." Grabbing a knife off of a surgical tray, he stabs the man in the head to stop the transformation.
We wheel the gurney down the hall and stopped beside Dawn. While he was talking to her, I took the chance to really look around. I see another officer leave on of the rooms. I walk up to the open door and all that's in there is a girl. Did he just do what I think he did? She shut the door when she saw me.
"Come on, body's getting cold." Dawn tore me from my thoughts. We continued down a few more hallways before she stopped and unlocked a door for us. The doctor and I pushed the body through and were left alone.
"How many people live here?" I asked him.
"Just enough to keep us going. Some of us started here, some of us came as patients. Everyone has a job." That was what Beth used to say back at the prison. We couldn't cry because we all had jobs to do.
"Can't we bury him?"
"No, we only go out when we need to. It may be the most dignified disposal system, we work with what we have. We've managed to secure and guard the stairwells, but the windows are blown out on the ground floor." He started unhooking the man on the gurney. "Rotters find their way into the basement when they hear a noise. And if the bodies are warm, or warm enough, they clean up some of the mess. Plus," he added, "it's the fastest way down." The body was dumped into the empty elevator shaft.
Later, I was sent to the cafeteria to get his food.
When I entered, I walk up to the counter and grab a tray.
I was putting food on my tray when an officer walked up to us. Looking at me he said, "Well, you look better, much better." He had a perverted grin on his face. "We had a lead on some guns, so me and my partner were pretty far out. That's when we saw you, wriggling in the road. You don't remember me, huh?"
I gave him a blank stare. "I don't remember any of it."
"One of the rotters was eyein' your thighs when we showed up. But I got there first." I think I'd of rather face the walker. "Jacked that rotter up. I'm Gorman," he introduced himself. I stayed quiet. I didn't need to talk to this pervert for longer than necessary.
"When someone does you a favor, it's courtesy to show some appreciation." I ignored him. "Unless you want to write down everything you're takin'." I looked at him. "Everything cost something, right?"
I picked up the tray and left.
As I was walking down the hallway, I heard Dawn talking to someone. "We'll find Joan. Until then, you've got laundry duty and I want my uniform washed separately and pressed." I peeked through the blinded and saw that she was talking to a young man, couldn't be any older than Beth. He looked back at her and said sarcastically, "I know."
"Smart-ass."
I found my way to the doctor's office. He was in there flipping through a book.
"I used to feel like I was drowning in research," he said. "Now the oceans are dry and I'm suffocating in boredom."
"You're lucky," I tell him, "If you feel safe enough to be bored, you're lucky."
He pointed at the record player, "That's Junior Kimbrough. Do you like it?" I nodded.
"I can't remember the last time I heard a record, or any actual music for that matter."
"It's one of the few perks I get for being the only doctor here."
"That and whatever this is?" I set the tray of food on his desk.
"Guinea pig. Where's your food?" He asked.
"The more I take, the more I owe, right?" I turn to leave but he stops me.
"Hey. Have you ever tried guinea pig?" I shook my head. "Didn't think so. You wouldn't call it a perk. Sit down. Dawn doesn't have to know. Come on." I didn't really want to stay but I sat down anyway.
He hands me a fork with some meat on it. I took it and slowly ate it. That is disgusting. I have never tasted meat that nasty in my entire life.
"Well?" I can't talk or I'll vomit so I just shrug. He laughs. "It's good for Peru." He nods to the painting. "it's a Caravaggio. I found it on the street outside the High. Like trash. It doesn't have a place anymore. Art isn't about survival. It's about transcendence. Being more than animals. Rising above."
"We can't do that anymore?"
He looked at me. "I don't know."
"I knew someone sings. She still sings. Somewhere, I'm sure she still sings."
"We got a new one," Dawn yelled into the office. We followed her to find that some more officers brought in another survivor. Well, he was a survivor. Not so much now.
They rushed him into a room. "Found his wallet. His name is Gavin Trevitt," said the male officer that brought him in. Then the female explained how he got hurt. "He fell from a first floor apartment trying to get away from some."
The male officer whispered something to Dawn. That's when I saw her. Beth. She was alive. She spotted me too and smiled. I wanted to run to her and hug her but I knew now was not the time.
"He's lost a lot of blood and his vitals are dropping," Edwards explains. "I don't think he's gonna make it. We've already given him gas-"
Dawn interrupts, "I got this." She walked to the other side of the gurney. "You said you wanted to save people, so save him."
Edwards was at a loss. "I don't even know the extent of his injuries. Look, this one's a loser. You said you didn't want me wasting resources."
"Well today I want you to try," she argued with him.
He looked at Beth and told her to do something. I just stood back out of the way. After examining the man as much as possible, he held a key out to Beth. "Beth, I need a large hollow needle in that cabinet." Before Beth could get the key, Dawn snatched it and got the needle herself.
He stabbed the needle into the man's lung and blood came flying out. After a few seconds, the monitor's beeping slowed to normal.
Dawn watched questioningly. "Is he gonna make it?"
Edwards looked up at her. "He fell from a building, Dawn."
"Is he going to make it?"
He roughly pulled up the man's shirt. "You see these bruises? He has internal bleeding, but I need a CAT scan to know how bad. And even if I could determine that, I don't have the tools to save him. I told you this was a waste of resources."
I watched Dawn while he said this. She looked angry instead of upset, like she should have been. But instead of taking her anger out on the doctor, she whirled around and slapped Beth breaking the stitches that she had on her cheek.
"Hey!" I ran over to Beth. Dawn gave me a look that dared me to say something else. 'You'll get what's comin' to you, bitch,' I thought.
She turned back to the doctor. "Steve, try to grasp the stakes here. You," she pointed at me, "go do your job. Find something to clean."
I decide that it is best to do as she says until I know more about this place. I looked at Beth and hugged her. "We'll talk later."
A few hours later, Beth and I met in a small room. We hugged again.
"Where's Sam?" she asked me.
My chest tightened. "She was on the bus. I left for a second to find the other kids, and when I came back, the bus was leaving. With Sam on it."
"Oh. Well, we'll find her. As soon as we get out of here. Were you out there alone?"
"No. I was with Daryl. We got attacked by walkers. I was supposed to meet him by the road but I can't remember what happened." My chest tightened even more. Did he even make it out? "Beth, how did you end up here?"
"After the prison, I was runnin'. Bein' chased by walkers. They were everywhere, then finally, I couldn't run anymore. I was fightin' one in the road, then I blacked out and woke up here. Stacey, I don't know about this place. They bought in a girl that tried to escape. She got bit on her arm. She would have rather died then have it cut off. Gorman was raping her." She looked like she wanted to cry. "Gorman, he probably would have done the same to me if not for Edwards." Of course, it makes sense. Dawn is so focused on controlling the people brought in, that she fails to control her officers. Or she doesn't care to control them. I'm going with the second option. She continued, "I talked to Noah, the guy that does the laundry. He said that he's been here for a year. He thinks that they only take in those that they think are weak. Noah has a plan. We can get out of here."
Weak? If only they knew. If Noah and Beth know how to get out, then that's what we'll do. "Then let's get out of this shithole."
The next day, we had planned to escape. Beth was to get the keys from Dawn's office. Noah was acting as a chaperone to me as I scrubbed the floors. Noah, working in laundry, had gotten enough towels to get us down the elevator shaft. I made Noah go ahead of me. If anyone was getting caught it was me, not the teenagers.
Finally, it was my turn to go. I was inching my way down when I was grabbed by a walker through one of the lower floor elevator doors. I try to fight it off but I can't and end up falling all the way down to the pile of bodies that were fed to the walkers. When I landed, I fell right on a broken bone and it went right through my side.
"Son of a bitch!" I screamed.
Noah and Beth hoped down to me. Noah helped me up while Beth looked at the wound.
"Stacey, we have to take it out. We don't know if this can infect you. We can't leave it in." I nod.
She grabs it from behind and counts to three. I try to pace myself.
"…three," she says and rips out the bone.
"Fuck!" I cry. That was excruciating. They wait for me to catch my breath. "Okay. Let's go before they realize we're gone."
"Can you walk?"
"Yeah, I think so."
Releasing me, Noah took out a flashlight. We try to quietly sneak past walkers. But one managed to grab Noah from behind some pipes. We couldn't break its grip. That's when Beth took out a gun and started hitting its arm. Where the hell did she get that? When it lets go of Noah, she starts shooting. More have come thanks to the noise. She shoots them until we get to the door.
Once outside, we get blinded by the light. Noah and Beth are ahead. I can't keep up, the pain in my side was getting worse. I caught up at the fence, when they had to stop because of walkers. Noah helped me through and was now supporting my weight again. Beth looks at us. I know what she's thinking.
"Go!" she tells us. I can barely hold myself up and Noah is having a hard time holding me. But he doesn't let go. I try to get back to Beth as he drags me through the last fence. My vision was blurred now, but I could just see Beth being thrown to the ground by the officers. Just before we make it around the corner, I black out.
I woke up in an office. Scanning the room, I see Noah sitting by the window. "Hey." I sat up and immediately regretted it. I examined my wound. It looked terrible. I didn't feel hot, so I don't think I had a fever. That was good. It means that I'm not infected with the virus. But the wound is infected.
He looks at me. "How long have I been out?"
"Not long. Couple hours maybe. I searched this building for supplies already. I wanted to wait till you woke up before I tries another building."
"Noah, are we still in Atlanta?" He nodded. "Damn it. I need antibiotics. Grady probably has all the medicine that was left here."
I tried to stand but lost my balance and fell on the floor.
"Whoa, you shouldn't stand. I can go look around, see what I can find."
I think for a second. The room we were in looked in pretty good shape. Out the window was another building just like this one. I could barely make out a tent through the window. "Okay. What you're gonna do is, you're gonna go to the building across the street. It looks like someone made camp in there. They may still be there so you have to be careful. If they aren't there, they probably didn't make it. Hopefully, they'll have some supplies in that tent."
It's been awhile since Noah left. I tried to keep watch for him through the window but my eyes were too blurred to see that far away. I had done what I could for the wound. Noah found a bag of clothes, so I used a thick shirt to wrap around the wound.
I heard movement outside the door. Shit. I can't run. Looking around franticly, I see a pen and quickly grab it. Not much of a weapon, but it will have to do. I gently lower myself to the floor, hiding behind a desk.
I could hear the door open. The footsteps get louder and I try to calm my breathing. I can sense the person right around the table. I raise the pen, ready to stab whatever came at me. Then, I stopped myself as Noah came around the edge.
"Damn it, Noah! I could have killed you," I screamed at him. Dumbass. Scaring me like that.
"With a pen?" He asked giving me a goofy look. He was making fun of me when I was scared shitless.
"Go to hell." I use the desk to climb back up and move to the side of the desk. I was so dizzy. Noah tries to help but I shoo him away.
"Did you find anything?"
He hands me a bottle. Penicillin. That should work. I'll probably have to use the whole bottle before I get better, though. "I bought somethin' else, too."
I look up from the bottle expecting him to hand me something but he wasn't looking at me, he was looking at the door. I turned my head to see what he was looking at.
Standing at the door, looking as amazing as ever, was Daryl. He was staring at me. When I smiled at him, he ran at me and lifted me up into a hug. It hurt like hell, but I didn't care right now. He was alive. I was crying into the crook of his neck. He squeezed tighter.
"Ow." I couldn't stop it from leaving my mouth.
He released me and looked untied the shirt to look at the wound. "How'd this happen?"
"We were escapin' and a walker grabbed me. I fell right on a broken bone. Damn thing went right through." He handed me a bottle of water so that I could take the antibiotics. Then, without warning, Daryl picked me up bridal style.
"We got a truck outside," said Noah.
Daryl carried me all the way to the truck and set me in the middle.
We road all the way to a church. The antibiotics were already making me feel better, but they it will be weeks before I'm completely healed. When we came to a stop, I saw Rick, Michonne and Carl outside. Carl was holding Judith. She made it. That means Sam definitely could have too.
Daryl helped me out and carried me inside. When he let me down I made sure to hug everyone. Everyone but Sasha, who was angrily chopping away at a pew.
"What happened?" I asked them.
Rick was the one to answer. "Bob, he…he didn't make it. We got a lot to talk about, Stacey, but you need to rest right now." Oh. Now I felt bad for staying mad at him for so long. I look around at all of their faces. If they're here, that means that other might have made it too, right.
"Wait, what about Glenn? Maggie?" They looked at each other sadly.
"They're alive. They left with another group to Washington. They think they know how this started. And maybe how to stop it." Oh. I guess that's important.
"Was Sam with them?"
They didn't answer. "We can talk more later," Rick insisted. Michonne helped me to the next room while Daryl and Noah stayed to inform the rest on the situation. Before we cross the threshold Rick calls to me, "We're glad you're okay, Stacey."
Hey, guys. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I just wanted to be clear because I didn't put it in here that the reason she can't remember is a side effect of the chloroform they used to bring her in. I don't know for sure if that is a real side effect but it is in my story. I wanted to get Stacey out of Grady as soon as possible.
