Looking down at her blood spattered scrubs, Beth decided to go in search of cleaner clothes. Rounding the corner, she nearly bumped into a utility cart being pushed by the same young man she'd seen this morning.
She grabbed the cart to steady herself and apologize. "I'm sorry. I wasn't really lookin' where I was goin'."
He shook his head and looked down at her kindly. "S'ok. It's all good."
Beth managed a small smile in return, but couldn't shake the numbness she felt after the trauma of the past few hours. He leaned down a little to get her attention. "Are you ok?"
She sighed and tried to swallow her emotions, dropping her eyes to the floor. "No. I'm not. This place..." Her voice trailed off and she looked up to meet his gaze.
He leaned his elbows on the cart and nodded. "I wish I could say it gets better, but I've been here for a whole year and I know it doesn't." Rubbing his hand quickly over his short hair, he introduced himself. "I'm Noah."
"Beth." It was the first normal conversation she'd had here, and she felt the tension ease out of her shoulders a bit. She sighed and grabbed the bottom of her shirt, holding it out slightly to show him the stains. "Do you by any chance know where I can find some clean clothes?"
"Yeah, sure." Noah motioned with his thumb at the far end of the corridor. "First door on the left around that corner. I'll meet you there in a second to help you find the right size. Just have to empty the garbage cans in Dawn's office first or she'll pitch a fit."
Beth stifled a little smile and they went their separate ways. She'd just turned the corner when she saw Gorman approaching her. Deciding to stand her ground in the hallway rather than be trapped in a room with him, Beth planted her feet and faced him square on.
The officer pulled a toothpick out of his mouth and grinned when he saw her, slowing his pace until he stood directly in front of her. "Anythin' I can do for you, Beth?"
He reached out to try and brush some loose strands of hair behind her ear, but she ducked away from him. "Because I can think of a few things you can do for me." Gorman chuckled and winked at her, clearly enjoying himself.
Beth steeled herself, lifting her chin and glaring back at him. "That's not happenin'. I'm not afraid of you."
"You should be."
Without warning he snatched her ponytail in his left hand, twisting it and making her cry out. She was forced down awkwardly on one knee while the cop leaned over her. He gritted his teeth and whispered into her ear in a low growl. "There's some lessons you're gonna have to learn here, sweetheart. Might do you good to watch that smart mouth of yours for starters."
Ignoring the pain as he pulled at her hair, Beth looked up at his contorted face, seeing spittle dripping from the corner of his mouth. She angled her upper body toward him, her jaw clenched with anger. "I'm not your sweetheart," and drove the heel of her left hand upward into his nose with a sickening crunch.
Gorman let go of her hair and screamed, shuffling back and putting both hands to his face. "You bitch!" He was bent over, blood running between his fingers onto the floor.
Beth rose to her feet and stared at him, her words dripping with malice. "Touch me again and it'll be the last time you do."
The threat hung between them for a few seconds, the officer looking up at her over his blood soaked hands in disbelief, finally muttering under his breath, "Jesus Christ."
He turned heel and stalked up the hall toward the doctor's office in the next wing.
She exhaled a long breath, waiting to be sure he was really gone, before opening the door and stepping inside. Lifting her hand and finding a smear of Gorman's blood she made a noise of disgust and wiped it on her pant leg, moving further into the room. There were towels and scrubs neatly folded and stacked on several metal shelves, but instead of looking for clothes Beth started pacing back and forth, wondering how she was going to get out of this mess.
When the door jerked open behind her she whirled around and raise her hands in a defensive maneuver, but dropped them when she saw who it was.
Noah stopped short, seeing the fresh blood still on her hand, and closed the door quietly behind him. "What happened?"
"Gorman." Beth moved closer to him, pressing her hands together. "Do you want to get out of here with me?"
Noah stared at her blankly for a second, speechless, so she continued. "Haven't you ever wanted to leave?"
"Well, yeah, but I guess I'm just waiting for the right moment." He wondered if she was being serious.
"Well, you've been here a year, so I say there's no time like the present. Do you know a way out?" Beth clasped her hands together and waited for his response.
The young man considered her suggestion momentarily, his mind turning over the options. "The back entrance the cops use would be quickest if we could get the key." Noah scratched the side of his head, thinking. "I've seen Dawn with a big ring of spare keys in her office, but she's probably got them hidden. I bet one of them is the right one, but we'd have to try them all. I'll do my best to distract her if you want to look for them."
Beth nodded her head quickly, determined to do whatever it took to escape.
Fifteen minutes later she paused in the hallway with a mop and bucket, glancing up the corridor to see Dawn, and beside her, Noah holding an armload of fresh linens outside Joan's door.
The officer was looking in, giving him instructions. Beth watched as Noah seemed to shrug at something she said, making Dawn roll her eyes and step into the room reluctantly. Before following her inside, he glanced up the hall at his planned partner in escape and nodded slightly, giving her the okay to head to Dawn's office.
She abandoned her pail of dirty water and walked away quickly.
Beth came upon the dark office a minute later and, with one more glance around, she stepped inside and left the door slightly ajar. She walked over to a large filing cabinet and pulled out each drawer, finding only paperwork inside.
Deciding to try the desk, she drew out the top shallow drawer but it seemed to just contain odds and ends. Reaching down for the next, she yanked it out, getting excited at the clink of rattling metal she heard but only seeing more neatly arranged folders within. She rifled through them, glancing at the door, growing more anxious at the amount of time that had passed since she'd last seen Dawn.
Noah would only be able to distract her for so long.
Going quickly through the drawer from front to back, all she found was paper and more paper. Frustrated, Beth grabbed the handle and shook it, listening for the sound she'd heard and was rewarded with it again. She bent down and reached her hand in, feeling around the sides but coming up with nothing. Before pulling her arm out she groped blindly behind the drawer and finally latched her fingers around a cold cluster of keys hanging on a hook out of sight at the back.
Beth stood up, a smile growing on her face, but it fell when she saw who was watching her from the doorway.
Gorman stepped into the office and shut the door behind him, turning the deadbolt and locking it. A white bandage was taped over the crooked bridge of his nose, and there was an impressive black bruise forming under his right eye.
He reached over and turned the thin rod on the blinds slowly, closing them so no one could see into the office from the hallway.
"It's just you and me now, girlie." He spoke in a low voice as he started walking toward her. "Oh and you better believe you're gonna regret doin' this before we're through," pointing a finger at his battered face.
Beth stepped back and shrugged, putting her right hand on her hip, the keychain hooked on her thumb where he couldn't see it. "Not my fault you're a jackass."
The cop laughed darkly. "You know, there's two types of girls that get brought in here. Some of them are pretty easy to tame. They're so glad to have food and a roof over their head that they'll do pretty much anythin' we want."
With each step he took toward her she shuffled back alongside the window. Gorman stabbed his finger at her and continued.
"And then there's ungrateful bitches like YOU that fight the way things are here." His tongue darted out between his lips and he stooped down to look in Beth's eyes. "But I admit I do like a challenge. Makes things more...interestin' for me, I guess."
Beth felt her back bump up against a wall, bringing her to a halt. Her eyes never left Gorman's, except to note the steel vertical frame of the window only a couple feet to her right from where he now stood.
He was pressed up against her now, his hands on her hips.
She turned her face away from him, cringing as he murmured in her ear. "Half the fun's gonna be breakin' you. I bet it won't take long for me to get you pregnant, neither. Young thing like you, I bet you could crank out a whole pile of babies for me, huh?"
He ran his nose up her neck. "That is, if I can keep the other guys off you. I guess it'd only be polite for me to share, but I'm tellin' you that O'Donnell is one twisted fucker. If you make it worth my while not to, I'll reconsider."
Gorman smirked down at her, grinding his erection into her stomach. "So, do we have a deal, Bethy?"
It was hearing him use her father's affectionate nickname for her that sparked a change inside Beth as sudden and unexpected as that first strike of lightening before a summer storm.
The same murderous rage she'd fought so hard to control earlier against Dawn returned in an instant, and it was a singular wave of emotion so strong and consuming that the air in her lungs gushed out quickly in response.
Her heart started to pound, not from fear, but in anticipation of the pain she wanted to cause this piece of filth standing in front of her. To make him pay for everything he'd ever done and was ever planning to do to the women here. The sudden heat and confidence coursing through her body made her feel like she could bench press a car if given the chance.
Beth turned her head to look the officer in the eye and nodded, flexing her arm in preparation for what was to come next.
Gorman laughed out loud at her response.
Beth smiled up at him sweetly, still staring into his eyes, and placed her left hand on the side of his head as though to caress his hair. Bracing herself against the wall, she stood up a bit straighter like she was about to give him a kiss, but instead whispered against his mouth. "This is for Joan."
In the split second that confusion registered on his face, Beth gave in to the hatred she felt for this man, allowing it to flow like liquid madness up her arm. The fingers of her left hand spread and locked into place, and, with gritted teeth, she drove his head toward the window frame with more force than she'd ever thought possible. The top of Gorman's skull cracked open with a loud pop, and he sagged gracelessly to the ground, dead.
She stepped around him in distaste, the keys still in her hand, and pulled the gun out of his holster. If she didn't damage his brain too bad then hopefully he would turn and be enough of a distraction for Noah and her to slip away.
Beth wasn't going to dwell on how she was able to do what she just did. Not now. Getting away from this place was more important.
She hurried out into the hallway to the first sounds of the officer reanimating in the room behind her, and tucked the weapon in the back of her waistband.
Oh, Gorman. I'd apologize for the crack in your skull but it would just be a lie.
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