by D, Hannah
Zoe felt her head start to spin and felt her eyes begin to cloud over .
“Please.. Lets just..” Zoe started to say before she felt herself falling and her head went into darkness as she went unconscious.
Chapter 31
Zoe heard the muffled sounds of skin eaters coming from somewhere around her. The sounds didn’t sound like they were coming from anywhere to near her for her to be worried. Zoe reluctantly started to open her eyes and was almost blinded by a bright light that was above her.
‘Am I dead?’ Zoe thought.
Zoe blinked her eyes a few more time before realising that she wasn’t dead but that she was in a room. An office by the look of it as she took in the desk and chairs.
Zoe started to push herself up off of the ground to get herself into a sitting position.
“Hey, you need to take it easy” She heard Simone saying from beside her.
Zoe didn’t take Simone’s advice as she ended up sitting up too quickly and felt her head spin and her stomach start to heave.
“Here, use this” Simone said as she handed Zoe a small bucket.
Zoe didn’t even have time to say thank you before she started to vomit into the bucket. Bile came up but after that there was nothing to come up. She just started to dry heave into the bucket until her stomach realised that she couldn’t be sick anymore.
Zoe put the bucket beside her before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Simone walked over to the desk and came back to Zoe to hand her a tissue. Zoe used the tissue to wipe away the tears that had came to her eyes as she had been trying to vomit.
“You need to eat something. Have this” Simone said as she offered Zoe a breakfast bar.
Zoe looked at it like it was poison and didn’t want to take it.
“You have to eat Zoe. That’s one of the reasons why you ended up fainting” Simone told her sternly.
“I fainted?” Zoe asked.
“You did” Simone told her.
Zoe remembered trying to diffuse the argument that was going on in her group before she felt lightheaded and then al she remembered was darkness.
“What happened?” Zoe asked Simone.
“Well, after you fainted everyone just sort of stopped arguing but that was when the skin eaters managed to break through the barricades and were starting to come in. Jeff picked you up and John had found a door that led to stairs. We got you through there and we managed to lock and block the door we had went through. That’s when we found out that the stairs led to the offices above the restaurant. Kind of lucky they were there all we’d all be dead by now” Simone told her.
“The skin eaters never managed to break through the door?” Zoe asked her.
“I don’t think they knew where we ran off to” Simone told her.
“That was lucky I guess” Zoe said.
“Yeah I suppose” Simone answered.
Zoe looked around her and found that no one else was in this office apart from herself and Simone. Jeff wasn’t even here which seemed strange to Zoe as he wouldn’t have left her side if she were unconscious.
“How long was I out for?” Zoe asked.
“A few hours I’d say. It’s dark outside now and the rain has started to come down hard” Simone told her.
That’s when Zoe heard the rain battering off of the roof above her. She hadn’t noticed it before as she was too busy trying to wrap her head around what happened a few hours ago.
“Where is everyone else? Where’s Jeff?” Zoe asked.
“They’re all in the room next door. There’s still tension there but they’re working through it. I told everyone they needed to give you space for when you came around” Simone said.
“And Jeff didn’t stay either?” Zoe asked hurt.
“He wanted to stay but I threw him out. I told him I needed space and quiet to examine you ti find out what happened and why you fainted” Simone told her.
“It was only because I wasn’t eating or drinking enough. I’m fine” Zoe told her.
Simone sat down across from Zoe and took her hand, looking her in the eyes with an almost sort of sorrow and like she was in pain for Zoe.
“What is it Simone?” Zoe asked her frightened.
“Zoe you haven’t been feeling sick because of a stomach bug and unable to face food because you were stressed..” Simone started to say.
“Then why?” Zoe asked.
“Zoe.. You’re pregnant” Simone told her.
Zoe felt herself take a sharp intake of breath and felt her stomach start to twist again and a sweat break out on her forehead.
It couldn’t be true. She and Jeff had only slept together twice and there was no way Simone would be able to tell if Zoe was pregnant, it was far too soon to tell.
“You’ve got to be wrong. You can’t tell if it’s that soon and I just cant be pregnant! Zoe exclaimed.
“I’m sorry but you are. I worked on a maternity ward and I learned how to tell if a woman was pregnant, even if it was really early” Simone said as she lowered her head.
“No! I can’t be! Not now!” Zoe said as she started to cry.
“I’m so sorry Zoe” Simone said, tears in her own eyes.
Zoe let herself fall into floods of tears and felt Simone squeezing her hand.
Zoe couldn’t believe that she was pregnant right in the midst of all that was going on with the world being taken over by skin eaters.
“Does Jeff know?” Zoe asked through her tears.
“No. No one knows. I told them I would come and get them when you felt able to face everyone after waking up. Only you and I know for now” Simone told her.
“Okay. Don’t say anything to anyone anytime soon. This has to be between me and you” Zoe told her.
“When will you tell them?” Simone asked.
“Not anytime soon. We have to keep going on as if this is still just a stomach bug” Zoe told her.
“Zoe, you have to tell them. You have to tell Jeff” Simone said shocked.
“No. I don’t have to say anything right now. We continue on as normal. Got it?” Zoe asked Simone sternly.
“Okay I understand. But you will tell them eventually right?” Simone asked her.
“Sure. Eventually” Zoe said.
Zoe knew that Simone didn’t really believe her and Zoe didn’t really have any intention on telling anybody that she was pregnant. Not even Jeff.
“Do you mind giving me a minute alone to gather myself?” Zoe asked Simone.
“No problem. I’ll go tell everyone you’ll be through when you’re ready” Simone said, giving Zoe one last squeeze of her hand.
Once Simone left Zoe started to have her mind go around in circles. She couldn’t believe that she had managed to get pregnant during a skin eater epidemic.
Zoe got to her feet and walked over to the window in the office and looked out ahead of her. She could see the motorway and how littered it was with the shuffling bodies of the skin eaters. She could also hear the moans coming from the skin eaters that had gotten into the restaurant below. Zoe and her group were well and truly stuck with nowhere for the to go and escape all of the skin eaters coming to try and get them.
Zoe put her hand on her stomach and felt the hardness of it and a tear slid down her cheek.
“I’m sorry but I can’t have you. You’ll have to go” Zoe spoke to her growing baby inside of her.
Zoe watched as the rain bounced off of the ground and batter against the window, the skin eaters getting soaked as the start of winter had finally hit Scotland.
Zoe decided there and then that she would have to get rid of the baby and Jeff was never going to find out that she was ever pregnant.
“It’s the way that it has to be” Zoe said to herself and her unborn baby.
Their next chapter was about to begin.
ooks on Archive.