Grayson pulls Beth down the corridor by her arm. "Not so rough!" She complains. "I'm sorry, but I have other places to be, Beth."
They stop at a door on a corridor that Beth isn't used to, their is less rooms down this corridor than others. It seems a-lot more quiet.
"Grayson, this is the wrong corridor.
"It's not, you'll see. Slate will explain."
They stop at the last door and Slate knocks. He then swipes his keycard pushing the door open to reveal a small room which is to be expected, but different to her previous room, it has a private connected ensuite and theire is two single beds against the wall opposite to eachother and a built in cupboard.
Slate is standing in the centre of the room. He looks tired and unhappy, but then his face lights up slightly and he throws his arms around Beth, hugging her.
Grayson doesn't say another word and leaves, locking the door.
Slate pulls Beth into the room, closing the door behind her. She looks around the room, her guitar is leaning against the wall.
"Slate."
He lowers his arms and steps back. "Why are we here?" She asks.
"Uh, alot has changed while you've been gone... You should take a seat, it's a-lot."
She takes a seat on what is likely her bed judging by her guitar underneath.
"So, um. There is no easy way to say this, but Hazel and Elijah are dead. And I'm now the head of 'the unit', but it's only a unit of one and I don't really even have a job anymore because of it...
Because of what Murphy did to you... he was demoted and I was promoted."
"And why are Hazel and Elijah dead? How did they die? I... actually liked them."
"I don't know to be honest. How they died is under wraps, no one knows. They are dead, Murphy was in isolation, jail I guess you could call it, but not really jail and his out now.
No longer a security officer, his on Warehouse now. Similar to Lyla and Gideon, packing food and stuff. Our old dormitory was given away to another group as we don't exist anymore and I was assigned to this room, well, both of us we're.
Murphy has a single room as well, but I don't know where. We're not allowed to speak to eachother and his not allowed to come near you.
Mikey threatened to kill him if he ever does.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZZioKehe4J
I don't want to be ass, but what did he do to you that made you attack him? The leaders didn't tell me. They said... your diagnosis was PTSD though."
"Just... hurt my feelings. I... over-reacted." She lies.
"Okay. We don't have to talk about it any further if you don't want."
"Sure, let's just drop it. I'm actually tired and just want to sleep you know? And that's a real bed there, will be better than sleeping a rip proof plastic block for two weeks."
"Of course, you can sleep." He says, helping Beth to take off her shoes and lie down. He tucks her in and turns the lights off. He lies down on his own bed, a little tired. They'll just rest a while and get dinner later.
---
The bell for dinner goes, they showered before it in their ensuite. Having a private ensuite is weird.
They wait at the door for it to be unlocked and opened. "This is weird. Is this whole locking us in, private room thing because of me?"
"No! Don't you think that! Okay?!" Slate says panicked, throwing Beth against the wall by her shoulders.
"Ow." She winces. He sees a bandage wrapped awkwardly. "What happened?" He asks, gently unwrapping it a little and retying it properly.
There is a fairly bigger hole, someone injecting incorrectly. "It's my fault, I deserved it. I did something wrong and the consequences was a shot.."
"Beth, look at me. Nothing you or anyone we could ever do would justify holding someone down and drugging them."
Slate looks weird, alert and clearheaded although tired and hungry from rationed food and lots of work. "You we're on meds before, you're not taking them."
"....Beth, don't tell anyone. This isn't normal and shouldn't be normalized. I started out like you here a year ago. They arrested me along with whoever was left alive at Hope-Thorn near The Dome.
I fought them, they handcuffed me and forced me onto some kind of air transport carrier. I spent time in solitary confinement, alot of it till eventually they broke me down, I was on meds and started to work for them.
I believed this was okay, it's not. These people are monsters."
So they did lie. She knew Slate would have never willingly worked for them.
"What do we do?" She asks. "Pretend, play the part. It's all we can do unless we want to be sent downstairs and never seen again.
I was worried you we're never coming back or Murphy either. He was taken downstairs like you we're."
"They threw me in Psych. I was stuck in a room for two whole weeks, part of it I think was to largely bore me into compliance that I'd rather work and shit than stay down there."
"So you're okay? I was so worried about you."
"Physically? I'm fine. Mentally? Locked in a white and light blue room for two weeks, reduced lighting, no warm meals, cold water and given meds and/or tied to the bed if I refused or lashed out."
"So, you're not fine."
"I've never been fine. Slate, my parents worked all the time and we're neglectful and verbally abusive. It's why I took off after high-school finished."
"We know, we all knew deep down."
"We?"
"Me, Lyla, Gideon, Paisley."
"Yeah..."
"I miss my Dad's and my Mum."
"They'd miss you too. Gidron and Lyla/Paisley's parents would be missing them too."
"If any of them are even alive now. We don't know that. And Beth, while your parents didn't care, we did. I missed you and Lyla and Gideon have been worried the whole time. It's why they tried to talk you off the roof.
Lyla's meds got upped as she was inconsoleable as a result. I just want you to know we all love and care about you."
"Thank you..."
The door opens, a random member of Security. "Uh, dinner?" He says. They follow him to the dining hall. Everything is bright and noisy and cramped, people everywhere.
"Let's find somewhere in the corner in the sit." Slate tells her. They grab a tray of food and are looking for somewhere when two hands pull them into a booth.
"Lyla, Gideon." Beth says shocked. They nod their heads, expression looking just as weird as Beth and Slate's.
"You're out." Gideon says.
"Yep. I got out of Psych a few hours ago."
"I'm glad you're back." Lyla says quietly.
"Can we talk?" Gideon asks. "Here?" Slate responds. "There is people-"
"Which is actually more privacy as no one can hear our conversation over rattling trays, fights and people making out."
Beth almost gags for a second. "Are you okay?" Lyla asks. She looks to her stomach, hand on it. She asked for the pill and they gave it to her.
Ester gave her a scan later and drew bloods. Test was negative. She's not going to tell them that.
"I'm fine. Just had a lot of cold meals and the smells of warm meals is kind of overpowering."
"That makes sense." Gideon responds. They talk throughout dinner, catching up and order desert afterwards.
They're told sit back down and it will be bought out, kitchen's busy working something out right now. They all take a seat again and a few people approach their table.
The leaders and Solayo is with them, but he walks away last minute and stands over at the food line standing against the counter. He grabs a bowl of ice-cream and spoons a mouthful in, just glaring at Beth.
"Hey, guys." Ester says. "What happened to your cheek?!" Lyla panics.
"Oh, uh, another patient hit me. Told me I was a monster..." She lies. Beth looks at Solayo. Does he know the truth or did Grayson, Mikey and Ester all go along with it to protect Beth and he doesn't know she saw Gerald.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkTJ7vFcLkM
"And maybe they we're right. We are monsters." Ester ends with. "You're not monsters!" Lyla yells, defending them. "Quiten now." Mikey warns her and Lyla sits back down. "Thank you." He adds on.
"So, medication time everyone. Sorry, then you can have desert. Well, most of you..."
"No desert again?" Gideon complains.
"I'm sorry, you're overweight as it is."
"I've been following the diet! Even if all I eat is veggies, I'm still ballooning. Why can't you tell me what is wrong with me?"
"I'm sorry, Gideon. But we don't know what is. Now, meds." She says, dishing out some into different cups for the group.
Lyla swallows hers down, Gideon is a little reclutant and Beth crosses her arms and scowls. Slate prepares to thrown his down the hatch. "Oh, stop glaring. No one likes a grumpy face!" Solayo lectures from afar which distracts everyone.
"Do you want to go back downstairs to psych? You can spend another two weeks there for all I care."
Slate pretends to take his meds and hides them. He motions to Beth to swallow hers without argument. It will drug her, but he'll find a way to help her hide not taking them in time and till then he'll take care of her.
Beth opens her mouth, unsure what to do. "Thrown them as far back as you can, and swallow while drinking." Ester instructs her, handing her the meds and some water.
She does as instructed and gags at bit at the end. They we're hard to swallow. "Wasn't too hard was it?!" Solayo says from a distance.
"Solayo, shut up!" Ester yells then panics when she realizes what she said. Mikey and Grayson look nervous too. Solayo says nothing and walks off. "Take yours now, we have to go." Ester instructs Gideon who swallows his.
The leaders leave our group and the ice-cream comes out, Gideon not being given any. While they talk and eat, Lyla and Gideon bring up the topic of maybe hatching an escape plan.
Slate shoots it down saying it's unreasomable, they'd die outside if they made it there or would die trying to escape this place. "And maybe dying trying is worth it." Gideon whispers back.
"Do you want to find Paisley. Is that what this is about?" Beth asks, then trails off. "Woah, you don't look good all of a sudden." Gideon says.
She almost drops her face in her ice-cream, Slate stopping her last minute. "I'll get her back to bed. Her meds are likely sedatives." He says helping her to her feet.
"We'll continue this later." Gideon says. "Sure, fine, whatever." Slate hisses back. Beth can't walk now so he has no choice, but to pick her up and carry her which he manages with ease.
On their way back, he sees Murphy, the door open to his room. His downing meds Solayo is there giving him. He takes them and goes back inside, Solayo locking his door.
Solayo turns to look at him, seeing Beth asleep in his arms. His demeanor changes slightly, a little less angry.
"It's lights out soon, Slate. Hurry back, make sure you go to bed at a reasonable hour, don't stay up reading or... drawing. Work starts at early, but I don't need to tell you that, son."
"Yes, Sir. No, Sir."
"Goodnight, sweet dreams." He says, ushering Slate with a sleeping Beth into their room. Once in, Solayo locks the door behind them.
Slate lays Beth down on her bed, tucking her in. He goes to lay down on his, but stops short. He vowed to take care of her, she wouldn't want to be alone while drugged out.
He heads back and lays down beside her, but ontop of the sheets. The lights dim down, the whole building heading to bed and he just lays there in the dark listening to Beth's breathing and the occasionally shuffling feet he can hear of Security's feet outside, patrolling the halls.
Should they escape? Take their chances outside with the Zombies or die trying to escape. Both would mean leaving this horrible place.
But it's not like there is a much of a world left outside. In here, they are the last survivors left.
That's what Solayo told him and him finding Beth out there with Paisley was pure luck. They we're lucky to have survived and fair few do. That's what he was told. There is no one alive outside anymore and if they did escape, surviving would be more dangerous out there than in here. No farms, no hospital, no one watching your back, no security cameras or forced medication.
Nothing, but... Freedom. Freedom.
He likes the concept of freedom. Is that enough to convince him that potentionally dying to escape is worth it? It's been a while now since he last saw the sky and outside even though it's becoming a vast wasteland, the last of nature also dying after humanity plowed 80% of it already prior.
And escaping, he wouldn't have his helicopter or anything. Flying, packed with gear is very different to trekking miles on foot with little to no supplies through infected, zombiefied people who no longer retain any humanity.
---
It's the next day during free time just after lunch. Our group are sitting outside near the farm, but in the fenced off section as close to the fence as they can be without suspicion discussing the escape plan they are coming up with while Slate sketches on paper with a wooden pencil, something he hasn't done in a while.
Further away from them near a van that is unpacking supplies, Grayson and Mikey leaning against the front, sunglasses on.
"You think something is up with them?" Mikey asks.
"How so?" Grayson responds.
"They seem different, distracted. And look at, Slate. His sketching, he hasn't done that in months. His personality and what defines him is something Solayo worked really hard to take away.
He was in solitary confinement for five months when we bought him here, refusing to work for us let alone respect us till we eventually broke him."
"So, what are you getting at?"
"I think something's going on."
"With Slate? You think he cheeking his meds or something?"
"I don't know. It feels bigger than that..."
"Well, Bethany has expressed numerous times wanting to leave, she's acted out before in attempt to push us to kick her out so-
"Shit." Both men say together, it dawning on them.
"They're planning to escape. Lyla wants to find Paisley so Gideon would of course go along with it to make her happy, he is her boyfriend after all and Slate has seen the mental health struggle, Beth has gone through being here. He wants to take her outside so she won't be depressed and suicidal anymore." Grayson adds on further.
"Who wouldn't be depressed down here though? Lack of adequate nutrition, direct lack of sunlight and proper mental stimulation. Yes, we have books, board games in the rec room and a basketball court outside, it's not enough and Solayo's medical system he designed with Ester is largely ignoring serious disorders that require actual treatment. Not just medication, and that's what is wrong with Beth. She needs more than what medication can offer her."
"I know." Mikey responds, looking dejected and actually remourseful.
"So, do we report them?"
"What? Are you serious? How could you suggest that, Grayson?"
"I'm not! I don't want to because it would get them truly sent downstairs, but if we let them do it and they fail to escape which they likely will, they'll get sent downstairs anyway and the trouble they will be in will be worse than if they we're sent there just for the planning of it."
"What, so we help them escape? You want to cross Solayo and we both end up out of the loop completely? He gets so mad at us, demotes us, never respects us again, we have no power anymore to give some people a nudge like an extra desert or something. It's just him and Ester controlling this narrative.
Not to mention, he will then shoot down my relationship with Ester completly and it would be impossible for me too..."
"You should just come and tell her you like her, Mikey before it's to late. Nothing is guaranteed anymore. You saw what happened to Slate's other roommates. They're dead."
"I have my suspicions about that. I think Murphy left them to die at the handful of zombies he said they ended up in and only he escaped. He did as revenge for Beth openly accusing him of raping her."
"Do you think he did? I never heard what the end result of that investigation was, it was in Solayo and Ester's hands, not ours. Murphy was in solitary confinement while Beth was in psych, but he got out at the weeks mark and then not long after that is when the others died."
"I don't know. Something really set Beth off that pushed her over the edge. It's possible he could of, but surely Ester would have done an examination. She never indicated he did anything to Beth, but maybe the bastard did use a condom and they couldn't prove it, but he was acting cocky and being a shit, Solayo threw him in anyway suspecting him?"
"Maybe. Just him doing that and then leaving them to die or fabricating the situation as none of us we're there, what if Murphy's actually dangerous."
"You think his dangerous? You can make that accusation and bring it up, Grayson, but if it's true, we can't let him go. The only option would be us murdering him in the end."
"And we force Beth to keep living under the same roof with him, doesn't have rapport with us, he goes on to assault someone else and also kills someone else too."
Mikey sighs. "You're right. Let's talk to Ester about it further before we approach Solayo and make an accusation against Murphy. It might also be enough to stop them escaping as well if Murphy is gone. They'll put it on the back burner hopefully."
"Yeah."
"Grayson."
"Yeah?"
"I have rapport with Gideon, we get along great. I sneak him desert when I can, I actually do take him bird watching when a bird does find it's way inside the compound and so fourth. Ester has it with Lyla, she reads to her, priortises Lyla if she comes to medical for her asthma, gives her an extra pillow at night to prevent GERD and overall is trying to be a mother figure for her.
Lyla was difficult at the beginning, extremely stressed about her family.
Solayo surprisingly has rapport with Slate even though his the one who locked him in solitary for five months. Slate respects him, Solayo gives him the most interesting missions usually so he can pull off a cool air stunt or two and so on.
The only one who hates us and won't behave is Beth. You should try and get in with her, see what makes her tick and get her to settle down. You might be able to find some common interests and use it to your advantage. Play foosball or basketball with her or something."
"You want me to manipulate her?"
"And the alternative is her ending up in psych again, Grayson or worse. And befriending her may stop her partaking in escape and the rest of their plan will die generally."
"Okay, I'll do it."
"Good."
"Help! Help! Somebody help! We need help!" Lyla starts screaming. "Shit, what is happening?!" Mikey curses, him and Grayson racing over there to our group which is halfway across the wheat field.
They make it there to see Beth on the ground seizing, in Slate's arms. His crying and his sketch pad is lying beside him.
"You stay with them, I'll find a doctor!" Mikey says, racing off while Grayson stays with them. Beth is raced downstairs to medical, Slate allowed to accompany them not long after.
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