Before she knew what she was planning to do, Beth snatched a femur from the ground and stomped on it while stressing the bend upward. The bone broke with a sickening crack. She tore off the weaker end, thinking madly of the wishbone at Thanksgiving. With her makeshift weapon she charged into the building. Both men turned to face her as she entered, but she'd taken them completely by surprise and using their shock to her advantage, immediately stabbed the man holding the knife in the eye.
Just like a walker. With the bone still sticking out of his face he fell backwards, his knife clattering on the ground.
Sasha was undressed down to her underwear now; she stopped screaming and looked in delirious incredulity at Beth. The remaining man lunged for the knife just as Beth reached for it. Both their hands hit it at the same time, through his got the handle and hers, the blade. He drew it sharply away from her, leaving a thin red line down her palm as he kicked her away.
Beth struck the ground and immediately reached for the bone sticking out of the other man's corpse.
All at once, Sasha seemed to realize that she wasn't hallucinating. With another agonizing scream she heaved her legs upwards and wrapped them around her remaining attacker from behind. She held him fast while Beth put one foot of the corpse's neck and heaved the bone out of his eye-socket.
"Do it now, I can't hold him!" Sasha shrieked.
This time, he cried out when she shoved the bone into his skull, but it ceased in an instant. With a triumphant shout, Sasha uncoiled her legs from around the dead man and let him fall in a heap beside the other body. "Get me down!" she pleaded, her face twisted. Slick wet blood made her shaking hands slid from off the edge of the hook as she tried to hold herself up.
The painkillers that Beth had taken were starting to wear off; this much was clear as she tried to hoist Sasha off of the meat-hook and felt her injured side pounding so violently that her whole body was taken by a spasm. She let go of her and gasped, hands falling onto her knees. Her ankle was almost completely recovered, but her ribs could have used another week at least. "I'm not strong enough! Just a minute," Beth looked around for something that Sasha could stand on.
"Hurry!" Sasha urged; her hands trembled, slick with dark blood, as she tried to hold her own weight up.
Shoved in the corner beside a collection of more knives, chains and meat-hooks she found a wooden chair. It was old and wobbly, but it held together well enough that Sasha was able to stand on it while she Beth helped her pull the meat-hook free.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Sasha asked in between labored breaths as she collapsed into a sitting position on the ground beside her shredded clothing.
Beth inspected her shoulder, it wasn't bleeding as much as she expected. "Kidnapped. We gotta get outta here—but first we've got to find Tyreese, Carol and—"
"My brother is here?!" Sasha's already stricken face contorted again.
"You didn't come with them?" Beth's looked at her with wide eyes.
"No—didn't you?!"
"Terminus stole me from Daryl. I came here alone—how did you get here?"
"With your sister, Glenn, Bob and some new folks."
Not knowing whether to feel relieved that Maggie was so close, or horrified that her sister was also trapped in Terminus, Beth could only stare at Sasha, overwhelmed.
"Rick's here too—with his son, Michonne and Daryl."
Daryl was here. A feeling of completely inappropriate, mad happiness washed over her. She was shaking and bloody, she'd just killed two men, but none of that could dampen how hopeful she suddenly felt. She thought she might never see Maggie again. Since beginning her mad escape attempt she'd thought constantly about getting back to Daryl, and until now she hadn't realized how afraid she'd been that she would never see him again.
They were so close, Judith was so close. She may have lost her father, but she could get the rest of them back; the people she cared about were all around her. "Here, take some of these," she dug into her pocket for more of the painkillers and handed a few to Sasha.
Sasha's clothing was ruined, but Beth used the fabric to wrap her shoulder while Sasha began to put her shoes back on with quaking fingers. There was a pile of discarded garments in the corner. Shivering, Beth realized that they were from other victims. She started to look through the clothes, not all of it was damaged like Sasha's had been; they were more brutal with her than they needed to be.
"So, these guys are cannibals," said Sasha in a would-be casual voice.
That was definitely not chicken. "That's kinda how it appears." Beth's stomach twisted, but she tried not to think about it, there was nothing she could do now but get herself and the people she loved out of Terminus and spend the rest of her life trying to forget that she'd eaten the meat. "I can't believe they didn't kill you first—I mean—I'm glad they didn't, but that's so…"
"I know what you mean," still clutching at her injured shoulder with one hand, Sasha began to search the two bodies for weapons. "I think they might have killed me first if I'd been a little nicer. They were almost… ritualistic, about it. I think sometimes, they gut and start to cut them alive, for a reason," she shuddered. "Maybe they just get off on it."
"This is still more or less alright," Beth tossed Sasha a long black pull-over sweatshirt with a hood. It wasn't torn, besides some fraying on the hands, but it was streaked with bloodstains.
"It'll due," Sasha started to try and lift it over her head with a groan, "Help me out?" she gave up with a heavy exhale.
Beth helped her get the sweatshirt on. It was long enough on her that it looked alright even with bare legs and a pair of boots.
"Come on—I know what we should do," Sasha had found nothing but a couple of daggers on the two dead men.
Armed with those and with the large knife that had been meant to gut Sasha, they prepared to leave.
"We gotta get everybody out," a little panic took hold of Beth when Sasha started to shake her head. They couldn't leave without the others.
"Rick hid a bag of weapons just outside Terminus—in case, you know, they couldn't be trusted." She snapped the last word with an aggressive jerk of her head, "We go get that stuff and then we come back here and get the weapons to them and get them out—that's the plan." Sasha shot Beth a look, as if daring her to argue.
"Alright," Beth nodded. She couldn't think of a better idea.
"Just stay behind me and do what I say," whispered Sasha as she opened the door and slipped out into the yard.
Beth nodded again and bit down hard on her tongue. You wouldn't say that to Maggie. It wasn't a good time to dwell on it, or get annoyed. They needed to work together to get out and Sasha had more experience with this kind of thing. Still Beth couldn't help but feel a little resentful. She had just saved Sasha's life, but she felt certain that out of everyone in their group Beth was the last person who Sasha would want by her side in a fight.
It was getting later in the morning and Beth had an uneasy feeling that Terminus would be getting steadily more crowded towards noon; feeding time. Twice she tried to warn Sasha that she thought they were heading back the direction she'd already come—towards the middle of the compound, but Sasha shushed her and assured her she knew where they were going.
Sure enough, more people were outside and they frequently had to hide or duck inside buildings to avoid being seen.
Finally they were within sight of the fence. Beth must have gotten turned around somewhere; she couldn't make sense of their location. Terminus was purposefully confusing, a maze trying to lead them back to where they would be the most vulnerable. They passed loads of train-cars. Beth could hear people inside of them. "Are the others in one of these?" She kept her voice a whisper hoping that Sasha wouldn't snap at her again.
"Yeah—that's where they keep people. Weren't you in one?"
"No, they had me somewhere else." Where do they keep the other mothers? "We should let all of them out."
"That's a nice thought and everything, but we've got to get our people out."
"But if there's a lotta us—we could overrun the place."
"Look—I don't know what your experience has been like so far—but Terminus has some serious firepower. I just want to get out. We can't afford to start a war."
They started it. They were getting near to the fence now, but didn't dare step out into the open. They kept cover in the corridors between structures, looking warily at the open field between them and freedom. "When they're on guard, they're a force to be reckoned with. I think we'd better bolt before they figure out we're gone and send in the cavalry."
It had been a long while since Beth escaped from the hospital. Gareth had said he'd come for her answer the next day. She could only hope that he was busy and hadn't gotten around to it yet. Otherwise, Terminus would already be on alert.
"Yeah, let's run," Beth agreed.
Without another moment's hesitation, Sasha grabbed Beth's hand and yanked it hard as she burst into a run. When they hit the fence, Beth thought she heard a shout. Sasha tossed the butcher's knife over the top and immediately began to try and climb, gritting her teeth as her injured shoulder struggled to bear weight.
Beth gave her a boost so that she was able to swing one leg over the top, she grazed it over the barbed wire, but she made it.
"Hey!" someone had definitely seen them. Beth didn't turn her head but from how far away the voice sounded, she figured that he wasn't far enough—probably someone patrolling the fence.
With a violent crash, Sasha hit the ground on the other side of the fence and immediately scrambled to her feet, cut, but alright, "Come on!"
Her ribs wouldn't let her hurry, Beth tried to pull herself up and felt a strain in her chest. Her vision was spotty from the pain, she tried to let her legs do most of the work, but she wasn't fast enough. She'd barely reached the top of the fence when someone slammed into her from the side.
Hitting the dirt hard, all the air was forced from Beth's lungs. The man on watch was joined by a half-dozen others; heavy boots marched towards the fence, they already had guns drawn.
Sasha didn't need to be told to run for it, she had already bolted into the woods. A few bullets chased her, but from the looks of frustration on their faces, Beth was certain that she'd gotten away.
Play With Fire - The Birthday Massacre
