broken claims

Part 11

"C'mon. Get those boots on."

"I'm not done," Leigh frowned at her homework. It sat piled up on the table but Daryl came around and snatched her book away, tossing it harmlessly onto the couch. "It's due tomorrow."

"Can't hand it in if you're staying home tomorrow," he pointed out, tugging her up out of the chair. "Won't kill you to stay home a day."

"Why?"

"What'd I tell you? Don't make me ask twice. Put some boots on those feet and get ready."

Her body trembled. Leigh's fingers twitched, helplessly, far beyond her own control as she tried to fumble her way back into coherency. The white walls spun around her. She turned her head to the side, gagging helplessly, stuck on her back. "—know this is inhumane," someone hissed, flushed with rage. "C'mon. You gotta do something."

"Don't get attached. She's merely a specimen. If my work succeeds, she'll be the foundation for this city to come back."

Someone jerked on the restraint and it was gone within moments, Leigh heaving herself up just to retch over the side of the bed. Her burned prickled like someone took dry ice and rubbed her down with it. A hand helpfully pulled her hair back and twisted it from her face while she threw up whatever was left inside her stomach. "Science shouldn't be torture!"

"Please do not interfere with my subjects in the future. We keep them contained to protect everyone. She could be dangerous. Dawn can't protect you from your own decisions so please make smart ones."

"Bullshit."

"You can... mop that up."

It was a girl. Leigh caught sight of the blonde hair swinging as she whirled around to face the doctor, practically seething with rage. She dropped herself back onto the bed and tried to piece together the room again. There was an IV bag hanging above her head and she went crosseyed trying to read the fuzzy letters. "What'd you give me?"

"Something basic. Your reaction was absolutely textbook."

Steven's face flickered on the edge of her vision as he bent across her and strapped the restraint back around her wrist. She twisted and caught his own wrist with her fingernails, scratching before he could pull away. It wasn't enough but the pain satisfied something guttural inside her, that awful scream of outrage that lived smothered by her own hand. "You gonna kill me for the sake of proving something?" Leigh demanded.

He looked disgusted at the red marks on his wrist. "I'd like if you would survive. That's the whole point, Miss Dixon."

"You can't play God. Anyone bit? They're as good as dead. You can't combine pills and hope for the best."

"We have to be innovative."

Somebody... she had seen innovation first hand. Theo from the compound ended up a blood smear across pavement. Innovation meant hurting someone to gain something else. And what were people, Leigh thought sourly, if not a resource?

The girl moved around the room with a mop and bucket, one wrist protected by a cast. She dipped the mop into the water and sloshed it across the floor, dousing Steven's shoes. "Oh. Sorry," she said serenely, scrubbing across the floor.

Footsteps clacked down the hallway beyond the door and Steven turned towards it, disgruntled. "I have to speak somebody. Do not disturb my progress, Beth."

Beth.

Beth looked a little older than Leigh was and physically they could have been sisters side by side. They had the same light blonde hair and Beth was a little taller. Daryl really replaced her, Leigh realized. He found a whole different family to fill whatever space Merle and Leigh ever had.