Ch. 25
"At sundown, we'll fire shot into the sir, get two of them out on patrol. Then once it's dark enough, that the rooftop spotter won't see us, we go. We cut the locks on one of the stairways, take it to the fifth floor. I'll open the door, Sam takes the guards out."
"How?" Tyreese interrupted Ricks briefing.
"I slit the fuckers throat." Sam said as he looked at the hand drawn map that Noah had made. "We need to keep it quiet, they figure out we're out there then who knows what they'll do. This Dawn person sounds like an unstable bitch."
"Exactly. From there we'll fan out, silenced weapons and knives. We need to be fast. Tyreese, Sasha, take them. Daryl and Carol, you take whoever is in the kitchen. Sam and I got Dawn." Rick said as he made marks on the map. "If they're smart, the rest of them will give up. Then it'll be five on three—"
"Six on three when we get a weapon to Beth."
"Thirteen on three. The Wards and Dr. Edwards will help," Noah said.
"That's best case. What's worst case?" Tyreese asked. "All it takes is one of those cops going down the wrong hall at the wrong time. Then it's not quiet. All hands-on deck. We talking about a lot of bullets flying around."
"Then so be it," Sam said. "If that's what it takes."
"It's not. If we get a couple of her cops, alive out here, we do an even trade. Theirs for ours. Everybody goes home."
"They won't do that," Sam said. "Beth killed a few cops when she escaped for the first time. They won't let her go, the people 'll question Dawn's leadership if she does that. We need to do things this way if we're gonna have any chance of getting them out."
Beth kicked and screamed as several officers dragged her down the hall towards Dawn office. She could feel several of the officer's hands roaming her body every few seconds. She recognized a few faces, Gorman and O'Donnell were among the two. They opened the door and threw her inside, Beth looked up and saw Dawn sitting behind her desk looking bored.
"Why do you do this Beth? You could have been safe, been Dr. Edwards Ward and nothing would have happened. Yet, you persisted to ruin the way things work. I have officers questioning me, people are whispering about how I shouldn't lead anymore! And it is your fault!" Dawn took a breath and composed herself. "Starting tonight, you will be Gorman's Ward. I'm sorry you've led me to this."
Beth fought back the tears, knowing what being Gorman's Ward would entail. "What about Sophia?"
"She'll be my Ward. I do need someone to replace Noah after all." Dawn leaned back in her chair and sighed deeply. "I hate this, punishing you, but you and everyone else need to know that there are consequences to their actions."
Beth cracked a watery smile. "Tell yourself that. And keep telling yourself that, maybe it'll bring you some comfort when you die."
Dawn smile disappeared. "I'll give you until tonight before I tell Gorman."
They showed up quickly. Sam smiled as he drew his gun and snuck up on the officers. They were cuffing Noah telling him that he wasn't as smart as they thought thinking that they wouldn't hear them, then the other officer asked where the Walkers he was shooting at were, that was when Sam stepped out.
"Hello there!" He said loudly, the others covering the officers with their guns. "Hi there, my names Samuel Conall, and unfortunately for you lot, we're gonna need to see your hands."
"What do you want?" the female officer asked.
"Whatever this is, we can help."
"Oh, I doubt that," Sam smiled brightly. "Do what we say, and we don't hurt you.
The officer must've seen the gravity of Sam's threat and raised his arms and gun.
"Good! Now, turn around. Guns on the floor and kneel!" The complied and Rick and the others walked forward to claim their guns and bind them. Noah told them that the lead officer's name was Lamson, and that he was one of the good ones. Sam doubted it though, group that crazy, probably no good ones left.
Just as they were going to drag them inside, a car pulled out and began firing at them. Most of the group dove for cover and the officers pilled in with the driver fired blindly keeping them pinned down. As they drove off Sasha popped out of cover and shot one of the wheels.
They chased after the car, finding it in the remnants of a F.E.M.A camp, burnt bodies of Walkers all over the place, and the car abandoned. They stuck close together, their formation tight and their guns up. Flies buzzed around the walkers and Sam tried desperately to keep the smell from getting to him.
They caught the cops, though am could tell that Rick was slipping a bit, understandable considering what was happening. Sam was still disappointed that they had decided to go the route of negotiation rather than execution, but he couldn't argue with the whole group. Well he could, not that he would get anywhere.
"Your friend what's his name?" The female cop asked. "I need to talk to him. Your plan is going to get me and my friends killed."
"If that's what your scared of, you don't want to know the original plan," Sam muttered as they led the cops.
"We're gonna make it work," Sasha told her.
"It would work if you had different cops to trade. Dawns running Grady into the ground. A bunch of us want her out and she knows it. We've been planning a mutiny with Dr. Edwards, pretty sure she knows we are, and that we want Lamson to replace her too."
"Dr. Edwards is planning a mutiny?" Noah asked.
The officer nodded. "If was actually the new girl that put him up to it. She got him to think that Grady could be a hospital again, he came to Lamson, who came to more of us."
Sam looked the cops over. "How many are in on it?"
She shrugged. "Most of us I think. Gorman and O'Donnell are the only ones that might back Dawn, and even then, O'Donnell knows which Horse to bet on. So, if you let us go—"
"Not gonna happen. No guarantee, no benefit for us. Listen, if you really do have a plan for taking this bitch out, then let us in. Because one way or another, I'm going in and getting Sophia, and Beth back."
"Then let me help," Lamson said quickly. "No one has to die."
"That's where you're wrong. Noah told me that this, Gorman character, he's been eyeing Beth up, and harassing her. So, I do need to kill him. Other than that, well, you can do what you like."
Beth avoided most of the Wards and officers the rest of the day. She had been trying to find anything in her room to use as a weapon, but Dawn had taken anything remotely sharp from her room. She knew what kind of man Gorman was, and she would bedamned if she simply let him have her. She would be damned if he had her.
There was a knock at her door and she braced herself against her bed. She ran through her options for a weapon and settled on a bit of wiring she had found hanging out of an outlet. The hospital was out of power, only car batteries ran the equipment. She held it behind her back and faced forward. Leave it to Dawn to tell Gorman that she was his ward before the time she said.
The door creaked open and Beth braced herself for a fight, her hands tensing the wire behind her. Gorman would probably try and be his version of suave, so she would pretend to be impressed, then strangle him when his guard was down. She felt bile rise in her throat. She had already killed two people, and now she was going to kill her third. How could things be that easy, how could she already be ready to kill and not even flinch.
A man walked into the room, and Beth sighed involuntarily. It was Dr. Edwards.
"Beth, oh God, are you alright?" Dr. Edwards asked, closing the door behind him.
"I'm fine. Have you seen Sophia?"
Edwards shook his head and removed his glasses. "No. I haven't. Dawn wouldn't even let me look at her. She thinks that I had something to do with the three of you escaping. She losing it, and it's only a matter of time before she loses control."
"What do we do?" Beth asked him, desperately hoping that he had an answer.
"I'm not sure."
"She's giving me to Gorman."
Edwards stopped and looked over in shock. "What? She's giving you to him? What is she thinking?"
"That I need to be made an example. Like you said, she's losing her touch. If I can rebel, what's stopping the others?"
Edwards stood up quickly. "Stay here! I'm going to talk to her, try and get her not to give you to Gorman."
Edwards didn't succeed. At least, that's what Beth thought. If he had then he probably would have told her, instead, she was alone in her room. Locked in and forced to listen to the other Wards on the other side of the door. The sun was setting, she could see it disappearing over the tops of the building, and the sky was now a light pink-orange.
She had found a few more wires in the outlet, yanked them out as quietly as she could, stripped the copper of their plastic wrappings and made a makeshift knife. No, knife was too kind a word for a handful of copper strands that she would try and jam into Gorman's throat. It didn't matter anyway, it was a weapon that she would use to kill her would be rapist.
She could hear him coming. His footsteps would be the only ones out at the hour. They were fast and she could practically see his eager face as he walked toward the room. He must've been so giddy, he had been waiting a long while to get her. To finally have a replacement for Joan, his last Ward that killed herself.
The door opened quietly, and she gripped her weapon behind her back tightly. A boot appeared, then another, and finally, Gorman stood tall in the doorway, a vicious, yet victorious smirk on his face.
"Hello there darlin'," he took a step forward and reached out for her. Beth's first instinct was to slash it, but all it would do was give away her weapon. "You look nervous. Don't worry, I get it."
Beth took a step back and tried to steady her berthing. Gorman simply smiled and cupped her cheek, leaving Beth with a feeling of disgust and her stomach in knots as she tried to grasp the situation. She readied the weapon and was ready to rid the world of the horror that was Gorman, when he grabbed her head and suddenly pushed her on the bed. The weapon fell from her hands and clattered on the floor. Gorman looked down at it and actually smiled.
"Were you going to try and kill me? Now that's pretty fucking funny. I mean, you? You? Jesus, you really are some dumb bitch." He held her down and climbed on top of her. His hand snaked itself under her blue scrubs and he laughed as he grouped her breasts. "Don't worry, I'll be gentle."
Beth cred out as he buried his face in her neck, biting the flesh underneath. His hands were rough and calloused, irritating her nipples and she tried to force him off of her but he was too heavy. He laughed at her attempts to push him off and continued to force himself on her. He began to rotate his hips and she felt him hardening from the friction. With the movement, though her legs were now somewhat free.
Her knee buckled but, hitting him right on his manhood. Gorman cried out and fell off of her. Beth scrambled to find the weapon checking the floor quickly. She heard Gorman swear and get to his feet. She looked underneath the bed, seeing a glint of copper she grinned and reached for it. Her hand brushed against the smooth metallic surface and just as she was about to grasp it, Gorman had grabbed her.
"You bitch!" Gorman screamed, he raised his hand and smacked her across the face, turning her unstitched cheek bright red with promises of a bruise. "You're gonna fucking pay for that!"
He unbuckled his pants and ripped her shirt open, laughing madly the entire time. Beth reached for the weapon trying desperately to grab it. She willed her arm to grow for her to gain the force, something, anything that would keep what was about to happen from happening.
Gorman saw her movement s and grabbed the weapon and tossed it across the room. And just like that, any hope that Beth had, was tossed across the room with the weapon.
"Now hold still!" Gorman shouted, reaching for her pants. Beth cried for help, hoping that the other Wards would help her. "No one's coming for you!"
AN: Okay... yeah sorry about that. So I should have the next chapter up by today or tomorrow. Review please. ~Pacco1