Just a little warning there will be mentions of abuse. Nothing descriptive just want to let you know and be ready for it :)

Chapter 10: Plans in Motion

Beth felt like everyone was watching her in the kitchen. She had been assigned to wash the dishes again just like the previous day. At first she thought it would be easy to sneak away some knives but Greta kept coming over to try and socialize. It was easy to keep a friendly act with Greta, she reminded Beth of one of her mother's friends but with each passing minute she felt more anxiety bubbling up inside her.

It was almost lunchtime and Beth still wasn't able to sneak away any knives. If Greta was standing right beside her someone else was trying to make friends. She couldn't help but feel like they knew what she was trying to do. They had to be suspicious of her, she didn't listen to Laura and stay away from Nicole and April who were known flight risks. Now she was trying to prevent herself from having a panic attack. Taking deep breaths Beth steadied herself against the sink, her small hands gripping the sides so hard her knuckles turned white. To her surprise the lady that had been standing right next to her had went off to help someone else. Seizing the opportunity Beth grabbed two steak knifes that had been sitting under the dirty water almost all morning and wrapped them up in a towel. After making sure no one was looking she stuffed the towel safely in her back pocket. She wasn't sure if anyone would say anything but she had to take the risk.

The previous night Nicole mentioned it would be best to head for the wall at lunchtime. Almost everyone on the compound headed to the makeshift cafeteria at the same time. They could only hope there wouldn't be as many guards present.

"Beth? We're about to be in a rush so if you want to go ahead and eat something its fine." Laura told her.

Nodding her head Beth thanked her before fixing herself a small plate, holding the towel close to her body. Beth hurried up and fixed her food, praying no one asked her about the towel. Looking around she saw everyone was fixing the plates they were going to hand out to the rest of the camp. After making a small plate Beth headed outside to see if she could spot Nicole and April. She knew she only had two knives but it was better than nothing, she just hoped Nicole felt the same way.

Sitting on the railroad she took small bites of her food while eagerly waiting for her friends to show up. She knew as soon as her plate was clear she would be expected to be back in the kitchen to help with lunch. Taking her time she kept looking from side to side hoping Nicole and April would appear but all she saw was different groups from around the compound head to the cafeteria to get their plates. The more and more people that came made Beth become even more anxious. If they were going to escape it needed to happen while everyone was inside.

Finally she breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted Nicole and April running towards her. Dropping her plate on the ground she ran towards the wall, pointing to it while glancing back making sure no one was after them. Unwrapping the knives from the towel she hollered for Nicole. "You only got two?!" Nicole asked taking the knife from Beth's hand.

"It was all I could manage. Hurry!" She yelled, gripping the knife.

At the wall they grabbed barrels, crates, anything they could use to make a ladder with and stacked them on top of each other. When they thought it was high enough Nicole started climbing. As she reached the top they heard screams and shouts coming from behind them. "They're coming!" April panicked. "They're gonna take me back to that room! I can't go back there Beth!"

Turning her head Beth saw Christian and several men running towards them. Even if they could climb at the speed of light they would still manage to catch one of them. "No, you're not." Beth breathed placing her knife in April's hands. "Go."

"Beth, no, what about Rick? You said you needed to find him."

"And I will, but not now." Giving the girl a quick hug Beth urged her up the makeshift ladder. "Go, I'll distract them and give y'all enough of a chance to get away. Hurry!"

With tears in her eyes April climbed. She was halfway up when Beth ran towards Christian. "On your knees!" The man next to him yelled.

Not putting up a fight Beth sat down on her knees, placing her hands on top of her head. The man roughly searched her after zip-tying her hands together. "Well Beth, we tried to be nice and this is how you repay us?" Christian questioned, crossing his arms.

Beth didn't even look him in the eye. Keeping her focus on the ground in front of her she felt two pairs of hands pull her to her feet. Next thing her head was snapped to the side by a hard slap. Coming to her senses she stared at the man in front of her. "Take her to the crypt." As she was being led away Christian grasped her chin. "I will break you."

She wanted to spit in his face, she wanted to scream at him to let her go, that she would rather face the walkers than another day in this prison but she didn't. Whatever he was going to do to her she didn't need to make it worse by pissing him off further. When they dragged her away she saw Greta staring at her like she just lost her child. "Ok everyone, the show is over. Get back to work!" Christian instructed.

Carl was grateful for Gabriel and him opening up his church to them but he couldn't sit still. He still blamed himself for Beth being taken and not knowing if they were heading in the right direction was driving him crazy. Sneaking out of the church he decided to take a look around. The previous night he had kept watch with Daryl and they hadn't seen a single walker. A stray squirrel every now and then but nothing that could pose a real threat. Thinking it was safe Carl snuck out the back while his dad and the others talked over a map.

Holding his gun out in front of him Carl took small steps, keeping his eyes and ears open for any noise. In the distance he would hear a bird flying through the trees or a small animal scurry through the leaves on the ground. No growling or grunting which he took as a good sign. "What the hell are you doing out here?" A voice snapped at him.

"Michonne," Carl gasped.

"That doesn't answer my question. You trying to give your dad a heart attack?" She questioned, one hand resting on the handle of her katana ready to pull it out at any sign of danger.

"I couldn't sit in there anymore. I was going to take a look around and come right back." He explained.

"Yeah, you remember what happened the last time you wanted to leave the rest of the group right?"

Opening his mouth to answer a loud, piercing scream stopped him. Without waiting for Michonne to say anything Carl took off in a run towards the noise. As he got closer to the source of the scream he heard the grunts and hisses coming from walkers. From where he stood Carl saw a group of seven or eight walkers surrounding a girl around his age with bright red hair. She gripped a small steak knife but Carl could tell she was shaking from where he was standing. Raising his gun he shot the one closest to her in the head. Pulling the trigger again he knocked down another. "Get down!" He yelled at the girl.

As she fell to the ground he shot one coming up right behind her. She screamed as it landed beside her. Soon Michonne joined the fight, decapitating two walkers with one swipe of her sword. "Save your ammo!" Michonne commanded taking out the remaining walkers with ease.

When all of them were dead Michonne looked down at the terrified girl. "You ok?"

"I-I think so," She stammered. "Thank you."

"Why are you out here by yourself? Its too dangerous and that knife isn't going to help you." Carl sighed pointing to her small weapon.

The girl frowned. "I wasn't by myself. My...my friend, she got out before me. When I climbed over the wall they were eating her! I panicked! I couldn't do anything so I ran!"

"Wait, wait, wall? What wall? Where did you come from?" Michonne asked.

"A bad place," Was all she said, her hair falling in front of her face.

Glancing at Carl Michonne knew they couldn't leave her out in the woods by herself. "You want to come with us?"

"Can I?"

Nodding Michonne put her katana back in its original spot. "What's your name?"

"April." The girl smiled.

Darkness was all Beth saw. Wherever they had taken her it was pitch black. They had kept her hands tied behind her back but left her feet free. Feeling around she felt nothing around her, no furniture and nothing she could use to cut her bindings. She was leaning against a hard wall, she was sure it was cement but she had no idea where they had taken her. Sliding along the floor she tried to find a door or any weaknesses in this prison but again nothing.

Leaning her head against the hard wall Beth felt tears come to her eyes. How in the world was she going to make her way out of this one?

Hearing the door open she tried to see who exactly was coming towards her but the shadow blocked his face. In the pit of her stomach she feared who it was. "Hello Beth," Christian spoke.

Pulling her knees to her chest Beth tried to get as far away from him as possible. She had nowhere to go and she was defenseless. What did he want? "That was some stunt you pulled today."

"I want to leave." She muttered.

"Now why would you want to do something like that? Do you even know what's out there? A pretty girl like you wouldn't last a day on your own."

"But its my choice! If I want to die out there then you shouldn't keep me here against my will!"

"Nicole and April sure had a choice. They wanted the same thing as you did."

Glaring at him she spit. "What did you do to them?"

"Me? Darlin' I didn't have to do anything. Those creepers got to them. We dragged what was left of Nicole back to give her a proper burial. We couldn't find anything of April."

"I don't believe you."

"I thought you might not." He chuckled pulling his hand out from behind his back he tossed something at Beth.

Stopping herself from screaming Beth saw an arm laying out in front of her. Patches of skin were missing, clear of walker bites. "Do you still want to leave?" She heard Christian ask as the door closed leaving her once again in total darkness.

Rick was ready to leave the church in search of Carl and Michonne when he heard the front doors open. To his relief he spotted his son walk in first with an unfamiliar girl right behind him. "Carl..." He warned.

"This is April. We found her in the woods surrounded by walkers." Carl quickly explained knowing how hesitant his father had become to strangers.

"Its true," Michonne spoke up. "And don't worry we already checked her. The only thing we found on her was this." She told their leader, holding out April's knife in her hand.

Rick stared at the younger girl. She seemed to be examining him. Her eyes looked him up and down like she already knew him somehow. "You all right April?"

Taking a deep breath she opened her mouth. "Are you Rick?"

Carl and Michonne's eyes widened in surprise. From the time they were around her neither had said anything about the people they were with. "How did you know my name?"

"My friend...my friend Beth." April answered, her fingers playing with one of her red curls.

Hearing her name Rick stepped towards April. His strong hand grasped her shoulder. "Beth? How do you know Beth?"

"She helped me and Nicole escape. They were coming after us, Beth distracted them enough to help me get away."

"Where were you? Could you take us there?"

Hesitantly April nodded her head. "For Beth, I'll go back."

"Ok, but first you have to tell us more about this place. We can't go in there not knowing what we're going up against." Michonne said, placing her hands on her hips.

Rick could sense April's change in mood. Guiding her towards one of the pews he gently sat her down. "Its all right, April, just talk to us when you're ready."

"He's...awful." She muttered. "When I first got there it was amazing. He was so nice and I finally felt like things were going to get better but then it changed."

"Who? Who's this man?" Michonne asked.

"His name is Christian. He's the leader. At first he would make me feel at home and help me with anything I needed but then...he said I owed him. He would take me into his office and try to touch me...and I didn't like it. When I fought back he wouldn't be so nice."

Cringing Rick looked into April's eyes. "Did he ever hit you?" Whenever he was a sheriff he always hated asking these types of questions. He knew they brought back painful memories to the other person but they had to know everything April was willing to tell them.

Nodding her head a few tears fell from her eyes. "He always hit me where my clothes could cover the bruises. When I still didn't give him what he wanted he would go to more extreme measures. There's this room, its dark, you can't even see your hands in front of you. He kept me in there for a week, no food, no water. It still didn't work, my daddy always told me never let anyone push you around. To always do I what I thought was right. Then Christian got bored. Some new girls came and they weren't so hard to break, is what he said but he still remembered that I didn't obey him. He would put me and Nicole on the harshest jobs possible."

Placing his hand on her arm Rick whispered. "I'm sorry this happened to you."

"I'm just scared they're gonna do the same thing to Beth." She cried.

"They're not, cause we're gonna save her. We're gonna get her back." He told her. "Carl go get Daryl and Gabriel. We need to make a plan."

Now they had a lead, they knew what they were going to do and who they were going to face. He just hoped Beth could hang on for a little longer.

So sorry its taken me so long and I'm sorry for mistakes. I wrote this in a hurry so please excuse any bad grammar. I hope everyone had a happy new year :D