Living with the Dead.(twd)

String Him Up. (214)

MADISON'S POV.

I hear soft yet annoying beeping noises close by my ear before I even open my eyes. I don't want to open my eyes because I'm scared all my nightmares are true.

I sigh and peak through one eye.
Joyce sits at the bottom of the room.
I can tell we're alone because she doesn't wear the robotic mask of delusion like she usually does when other people are around. She isn't putting on an act. She genuinely looks upset.

I open my eyes fully and stare at her slumped at the bottom of the bed.
"Hey there doc." I croak.
"You're awake!" She rejoices.
"I guess so." I smile.
"How do you feel?"
I shake my head.
"I don't feel anything." I answer honestly.
"I'm not surprised. They jacked you up on so much morphine I thought it would be the overdose that killed you, not the wound." She explains.
"Wound..."

Suddenly the events from before kick in and I pull back the sheets of the bed to examine my wound. I tug at my gown until it comes up far enough to reveal a nasty gash on my hip. It looks raw red and very swollen with Frankenstein looking stitches covering the majority of my hip. Luckily, I had been carrying a bit of extra weight since the baby and the knife went straight through the edge of my waist.
"You were lucky they didn't cut any blood vessels or organs."
"I'll say." I mumble.

"Do you remember what happened?" She asks.
I nod.
"Clover was adamant on keeping you alive. Adamant!"
"No surprise there. She only began her fun little experiments." I scoff.
"What were they?" She asks.
Always so nosy.
But I understand why she'd want to know. Maybe she went through the same thing as me once.

"This serum in a needle it gave me some sort of over the top hallucinations. They were... disgusting, vile ..."
Joyce frowns. "I've never heard about those before Madison." She whispers.
I look at her and tilt my head.
"Ever?"
"Not once in my eleven years here."

I stare at her in horror.
"You've been here before the world even ended ?"
She nods. "I've haven't been outside once since everything happened. I mean, I know about the flesh eaters, I know what they do and how they kill us and how we turn. I've even seen one once, but I've never been outside. There isn't an escape here." She whispers.
My jaw hangs open and I quickly snap myself back to reality.
"There must be an escape."
"Oh, there is but it's surrounded by guards. You'd never get through. Trust me, I've been around here long enough to see people stupid enough to try." She snorts.

I sigh. "What time is it?"
"Late. You were out for two days." She informs me.
"Lucky me." I chuckle.
"When do you think the pain will kick in?" I ask.
"Tomorrow. There's only so much morphine we can give you."
"Running short, huh?"
"It disappears so fast."
"Yeah, well I have a feeling that won't be a problem anymore."
"Why?" She asks.
"Because Kingsworth is dead."
"He was an addict ?"
I nod. "He took shit from the other place I was at too."
She shakes her head in disapproval.

"Well at least we know people here can get the help they really need." She sighs.
"If they were smart they'd give them enough to put them out of their misery."
"MADISON! There is no tolerance for that kind of talk here. Life might mean really little to you but to me life is all this world has left."
"Then why aren't you helping to give them a life worth living?" I insist.
"Because I'd die too. And I don't want to die."
"Nobody does Joyce but you seem to forget the real horrors of this place. The torture-"
"DON'T YOU DARE MADISON! Don't you try to tell me I don't remember. I've been down here eleven years and you have been here only two and a half weeks and you're complaining to me about not remembering. I remember everything."
I know I'm in the wrong here but I shrug. "I just thought you could use a fresh reminder."
She sighs and pinches her nose.