broken claims

Part 12

Leigh could hear people talking but it felt like she were miles away from it all. She tried imagining she was underwater and the world was just beyond her fingertips, a strange beeping counting away off to the side. But it was like she was caught in a net and being forced up from the depths. Consciousness demanded her back to reality and when she opened her eyes she saw the hospital room drenched in midnight colours, stars glittering beyond the window itself.

Beth was sitting at her elbow holding her hand. She looked at Leigh with a surprised expression before it smoothed back slightly. "I have a plan," she whispered when Leigh twitched her fingers and toes, delighted she had control of her body. A strange nightmare circled her mind of Steven cutting her legs off. Rocking her feet side to side slightly meant acknowledging that she was physically in one piece. "Are you listening to me?"

Giving Beth hope unfortunately meant condemning her to the obligation of dragging Leigh with her. What the other girl refused to understand was that Leigh equalled deadweight. Daryl abandoned her for a reason. Leigh couldn't contribute anything that Beth needed. "Just go," she forced out. It felt like something heavy was perched on her chest and it was crushing her lungs. "You need to find him, Beth."

Was she dreaming?

"I'm not leaving anyone behind."

"Sometimes you have to. Can't be helped."

"He's insane. He's going to end up killing you for nothing."

She shivered. Coldness raced through her veins and Leigh withered slightly in response. "Daryl's somewhere. I don't know— he isn't going to leave without you, Beth. He knows they've got you. And they're looking for him. You have to get to him or he'll die trying to fight everyone," said Leigh slowly, the certainty of it bracing her up. "I came so you'd know. You aren't alone, Beth. You've got him, somewhere."

The girl leaned in slightly, long blonde hair swaying in response to the movement. "There's an elevator shaft we can climb down to the parking garage. It's full of walkers, but we could get through it. Straight into the city."

"Look at me. Look," Leigh snapped, patience brittle as her bones. "You don't owe me anything. Get out before you've got nothing left."

Escape was a pipe dream. Leigh had stumbled to the hospital in a fever haze without a single clue what she was doing. Now her body was held under with drugs and pain, some manic person ready to carve up whatever was left of her. She wasn't going to climb down an elevator shaft. Leigh didn't even think she could walk under her own power across the room if the restraints were gone. Beth's desire to flee together would ensure no one left the hospital.

Something flashed on Beth's face but whatever she wanted to say vanished the moment the door swung open. Her hand slipped something beneath Leigh's blanket and she jerked back as if scalded by her own guilt. "I was just talking to her. Heard her crying from the hall," Beth said plainly, fake innocence dripped from her tone. Leigh was surprised when she felt the tears on her own face, a delayed awareness to her weakness. Of course she was crying. Leigh was going to die.

"You aren't a candy striper," Steven said, looking in the room. "Dawn told you to keep distance from this floor. You've got duties that don't extend to this particular room."

"It's called being a decent human being."

"You'll understand when you see my success. Everything has a cost."

She scoffed. It was an ugly sound. "You're thinking you'll find a miracle out of nothing. It doesn't have to be this way, Steven. This whole city could be different if you just let it happen."

Steven adjusted the bag hanging from the IV stand. Its swayed and Leigh watched it, wondering idly what was going through her blood now. "Miracles are won by human ingenuity and faith, nothing less."