'You are to me,' I laughed.
He smiled and shook his head.
'I'm going to find Delilah, you want to do me a favour and pick some dye up for Rowena. I remember her saying to Jade that she missed dyeing her hair,' I replied.
'Sure what colour?' He asked.
'Something, different,' I told him. I know we needed to get things, but that didn't mean we couldn't get a few treats. I found Delilah in the drinks section, she was putting bottles of water into her bag. Her bag was nearly full by the time she'd finished, I looked to see that there wasn't any corpses in her area. She looked lost in thought and nearly jumped out of her skin when I spoke to her.
'Fucking hell woman, sneak up on me much,' she said startled.
'Sorry, I didn't realise I was being so quiet,' I apologised.
'Hey, I found this, thought you might like it,' she told me smiling.
She handed me a packet of skittles, I laughed. These were one of my favourite sweets back in the day, I thanked her feeling grateful to have the people I did.
'Come on, let's go back to the others.'
She nodded and followed me out. They were both waiting for us at the entrance, they had their knives out and were keeping watch.
'Everyone get what they needed?' I asked.
'Yeah, what's our next stop?' Rowena asked.
'We need clothing, it's getting warmer out there and we don't want to overheat on our journey,' I told them.
'Good thinking bat woman,' Rowena joked.
'It's funny, that's what your mum says,' I laughed.
'Yeah, it was always our thing that we used to say to each other,' she smiled.
'Which clothes shop do you want to go to, there's a few of them?' Delilah wondered.
'How about TP Girl?' I replied.
'What place is that?' Finn asked looking confused.
'Look, over there. There's an O missing in the first word,' I laughed.
'Oh right, duh, I remember this place. I used to love that shop back in the day,' Rowena said cheerfully. We headed over to the shop, thankfully there was only a couple of walkers inside. We took them out with no problem, I looked for leggings, they would be good in hot weather. I picked up a few for all of us, and some for the others. For the guys, I got some thin t-shirts. I was tempted to get them some shorts, but laughed at the thought of them walking round with their skinny legs on show.
'You guys alright over there?' I called.
'I'm good, I've picked up a few things we need,' Delilah replied.
'Same here, I got a few bits,' Rowena called back.
'Finn, what about you?' I asked.
'I'm good to go,' he shouted. We walked out of the shop, our next stop was to the food store. It was just round the corner, as we neared the shop I heard screams. It was Jensen's voice we heard, without a second thought I ran to where it was coming from. I ran to side of the centre that Jade and the others were on, I rounded a corner and saw them. Ten people, all dressed in black, holding knives to everyone's throat. Jade was being held by a tall, muscular man with tanned skin and midnight eyes, he had a long, curved knife. I ushered the others to get back, the last thing we needed was to get caught. I saw the looks of panic on their faces, but if we were going to get the others back we needed to be smart. 'There's ten of them and four of us, what are we going to do?' Whispered Rowena anxiously.
'They're only focused on the others, they might not even know we're here. We can use the to our advantage,' I told them calmly.
'What's the plan?' Delilah said in a hushed voice.
'Finn, I want you and your crossbow up there,' I pointed at the elevator which was stuck open on the third floor.
'Got it,' he replied sneaking away.
'Delilah, I want you to get behind them. Be ready to attack when Finn takes some of them out,' I ordered.
She nodded and got into position.
'Rowena, you and I will stay here. We can run in when some of them are dead,' I told her.
'Alright.'
We stood and waited for Finn to strike, we listened in to what the people were saying.
'You came in here, took our things and you expect us to be okay with it?' A tall, black haired woman said fiercely.
'We didn't know anyone was here, just take the stuff back and let us go,' Jensen shouted angrily.
'You know we're here now, we can't let you go,' the short, stocky man that held him cackled. We looked up to see Finn take out a couple of them, they didn't know what hit them. By the time they realised what was happening, Delilah had swooped in and taken out another one. Luckily for us, our group was well versed at taking out people. Jensen managed to get free off his captor, he turned and grabbed the knife off the man.
'Whoa kid, come on. Please don't kill us,' the man begged. Jensen didn't hesitate as he slit the man's throat, blood splattered and went all over his face. He didn't stop there, he slashed his way through the people until he reached me. I was busy taking on a small, slender woman who was giving me the run a round. I dodged her attack and kicked her in the stomach, she fell to the floor clutching her stomach, screaming.
'Oh god, my baby, you killed my baby,' she cried. I froze, not knowing what to do. Was she telling the truth? Had I killed her baby, or it just a ploy to get the upper hand? She stayed on the floor, crying, holding her stomach. I knelt down beside her, put my knife on the floor and tried to help her up.
'What are you doing, she's one of the bad guys?' Jensen shouted.
'She's pregnant,' I barked at him. 'What?!' Jade shouted in horror.
'I didn't mean to attack you, our leader Penny insisted we kill anyone who comes here,' the woman said breathlessly.
Delilah held a young man in his early twenties, by the scruff of the neck. He was wriggling, trying to get away. They were the only survivor's, we'd killed everyone else.
'Please, just let us go. We won't hurt you, it was all Penny's idea,' the man begged.
'What do think?' I asked hoping we could let them go.
'Please, we just want to live in peace,' the girl pleaded.
Jade knelt down next to the girl, she looked at her with softness in her eyes.
'Are you alright?' She asked the girl.
I hadn't looked at her properly before, she had long flaxen hair, sky blue eyes, porcelain skin and a slender frame. Her trousers and shirt were black and she wore heavy black boots on her feet.
'M-my baby,' was all she said.
'Let's get you checked out, I think the pharmacy has some of those machines that can hear a baby's heartbeat,' I told her gently.
Jensen let go of the guy, he ran straight over to the girl and helped her up. I helped her back to the pharmacy, I prayed that her baby was alright. I couldn't bear it if I'd killed a baby.
'What's your name?' I asked softly.
'Jenny, and this Sean,' she replied.
'I'm Frankie, listen I'm going to do whatever it takes to help you. I promise.'
'I'm sorry about all of this,' Sean told me.
'It's not your fault, I just hope your baby is alright,' I replied sadly.
'You're good people, aren't you?' Jenny asked.
'I'd like to think so,' I said.
The others followed behind, I knew they'd finished off the other people, so that they couldn't come back. I took her into the office in the pharmacy, I told Jade to go and get the machine.
'Delilah, Jensen, Finn I want you to keep watch outside,' I ordered them.
'You sure you'll be alright?' Jensen asked in that overprotective, whining voice I'd come to know so well this last week.
'Yes, now go!' I barked.
He skulked off to join the others.
'Dom and Rowena, I'd like you to check the store. Make sure there's no hidden walkers anywhere,' I told them kindly.
'Sure thing?' Dom replied smiling.
There was an examination bed in the office, I helped her get on it and told her to pull up her top.
'You a midwife or something?' Sean asked.<
br />
'No, I was there for my friend when she had a baby. I remember a great deal from all the appointments I went to with her,' I replied.
Jade came back holding the machine, I checked to make sure there were batteries inside it, thankfully there was.
'You got the gel that goes with it?' I asked.
'Here it is,' she told me.
'Okay, this is going to be a little cold. Jade can you get me a towel, she's going to need it to wipe this stuff off afterwards?'
'I'll be back in a minute.'
I squeezed the tube of gel on to her stomach, I made sure it was spread around.
'Okay, I'm going to look for a heartbeat,' I said nervously. Jenny just nodded, Sean held her hand as I ran the machine over her stomach. My heart beat furiously in my chest, one minute passed, two, three, still no heartbeat. I could feel the tears welling up inside me, I could see the looks of sadness on their faces. I pressed a little harder down on the machine, and moved it down towards her pelvis. I heard it, clear as day, beating steadily.
'It's alive!' Jenny exclaimed.
'Thank the Goddess,' I sighed with relief.
'Everything alright in here?' Jade asked.
'Yes,' I replied smiling.
'I know it's a lot to ask given what's happened, but is there any chance we can come with you?' Sean asked. 'I wish you could, but we're going on a dangerous mission. We'll be leaving this area soon, it won't be safe for you or your baby,' I told them sadly.
Jade looked at me with a quizzical look, I shook my head at her. There was no way I was bringing them to the lab, they might seem like good people but I still didn't trust them.
'Come on, let's go,' I said to Jade.
We said goodbye to the Sean and Jenny, and we went to get the others.
'Everything alright?' Delilah asked concernedly.
'Yeah, luckily everything is fine.'
We gathered everyone up and made our way outside, the corpses were still shuffling about round the other side. We loaded up our cars, I took a moment to breath.
'You okay, it was pretty intense back there?' Jensen asked.
'I'm just glad I didn't kill her baby,' I replied.
'So am I, you're too kind a person to live with such guilt,' he told me softly.
'Look, I don't know what's going on with you lately, but can we just go back to normal,' I said tiredly. He pulled me into his arms, and just stroked my hair for a moment. I felt safe in his arms, I looked up into his grass green eyes and smiled. He kissed me, even after all this time, his kisses still sent those pleasant shivers down my spine.
'I love you,' he replied gently.
'I love you too.'
'You two love birds ready over there?' Delilah asked smiling.
'Yeah,' I replied getting in the car.
We got into the car and headed back to the lab, what a day it had been. I was grateful that we were one step closer, to getting everything we needed for our long ass journey.
Chapter 12
Maggie
I didn't know how to explain it, the change. My baby was due in eight weeks I had felt the life inside of me grow and move as the months passed. At first it was strange, it felt like butterflies in my stomach. Now it was as familiar to me as my own heartbeat, I rubbed my belly as my baby gave a hearty kick.
'It's almost time little one,' I said to my bump. I got out of bed and wandered downstairs, Nathaniel was in the kitchen cooking breakfast. Olivia was giving him a hand, I was glad she was here, she kept me company when he went off on his runs.
'Morning,' Nathaniel smiled.
'You're up early, we usually have to wake you up,' Olivia joked.
'I just couldn't stay asleep, this little one kept moving around,' I replied groggily.
'Well sit down, breakfast is almost done,' Nathaniel told me softly. I sat down at the table, I was so glad he'd managed to get the electricity working. It took a lot of doing, but luckily this place had it's own generator. The castle still felt cold sometimes, but it was definitely better now. Having properly cooked food, was great, Nathaniel had found some farm animals when he went on a run, so now we had actual meat sometimes.
'What are we having?' I asked.
'Pork and veg,' Nathaniel replied cheerfully.
I smiled as he put my plate on the table, man he sure wanted to fatten me up.
'I'm only having the one, you know. You don't need to fatten me up,' I joked.
'Just making sure you're both well fed,' he laughed. As we sat down to eat breakfast, I couldn't believe how normal things were. Three months ago, I almost killed Olivia when she first arrived here. Yet it was Olivia who made me see sense, she helped me to understand that if my baby had any chance of surviving I needed at least one other person around me.
God forbid if anything happened to Nathaniel or I, we needed the help. As my baby grew and I felt it kick, I felt my heart begin to soften. All the awful things I'd done, were to survive the awful situations I was put in. As time went on, I came to see that I didn't need to be that person any more. I didn't want my baby to grow up with a cold-hearted mother, nor did I want my baby to do all the awful things I'd done.
'You alright? You're very quiet,' Nathaniel asked softly.
'Yeah, I'm just thinking about things,' I replied.
'Olivia, can you wash up for me?'
'Sure thing Nathaniel,' she smiled as she took our plates.
'What's up?'
'I've been thinking, I'm worried about you. I think we should make a start at finding your family,' he told me gently. I'd thought about them so much in the last few months, now that I was more myself, I missed them terribly, but finding them was out of the question. They'd want to kill Nathaniel for all the awful things he'd done, and they would never let us be together. I wanted my baby to have a family, a real family.
'I appreciate the offer, but it's just not possible. You know they'd never let us be together, and I don't want to fight with them,' I replied.
'Are you sure? I want you to be happy,' he took my hand and squeezed it gently.
'I am happy, we've built a life here. We'll be a family soon, and that makes me happier than I ever thought I could be,' I said gently.
'Okay then. Well I'm going out today, there's a few more things we need for the baby,' he told me smiling.
'Please be careful,' I kissed him softly.
'Don't worry, I will be,' he replied kissing me on the forehead.
I watched as he grabbed his coat and his axe, he went out the front door closing it as he left.
'Olivia, where are you?' I called.
'I'm here, what's up?' She shouted from the kitchen.
'Would you mind giving me a hand, sorting out the baby's room?'
'Sure, just give me a minute.' I didn't wait for her to finish, I headed up to our child's room. Over the last few months, Nathaniel had gathered just about everything we needed for our baby. Though we hadn't actually sorted the room out yet, now was as good a time as any to do it. One of things Nathaniel had done, was to paint the room. As we didn't know what we were having, we chose to paint the room purple, not a scary purple but a shade slightly darker than Lavender. I sat in the rocking chair, and just looked around. We had a cot, clothes, a few toys and a little bit of formula milk, plus a hell of a lot of nappies.
I smiled, I had never really thought about having kids or being a parent. I was still a child when all this happened, I was far too young to think about kids or the future. Now as I looked down at my ever growing bump, I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness. Once I'd returned to being myself, I felt such overwhelming guilt for what I'd done to Lola. I had deprived her of the most precious thing, I'd gotten her baby killed. I'd never spoken to Nathaniel about all the things I felt, given that he was the one who actively killed and tortured people.
I knew that he would be feeling much, much worse than me. I didn't want to remind him of all those awful things we'd done, there was nothing we could do to undo it. All we could do was move on w
ith our lives, and become better people.
'You look lost in thought,' Olivia said kindly.
'Yeah, I was just thinking about-,' I stopped suddenly, I was sure how much she knew about our past.
'The compound,' she told me.
'Yeah. How much did Nathaniel tell you?' I asked.
'I know everything, but I know that neither of you are those people any more,' she replied with a weak smile.
'It's hard, you know. Changing, feeling again.'
'I can imagine, but what's important is that you know what you did was wrong, and that you keep being who you are now,' she smiled.
'Thank you, for everything,' I replied.
'It's alright, I'm happy to help. Just as long as you don't try and kill me again,' she laughed.
'I won't, now come on, we've lots to do,' I said cheerfully. We got to work sorting out the baby's room, I cleared all the mess off the floor, made the cot up and put the mobile on the cot. I wound it up to make sure it worked, it played the lullaby, it was soft and comforting. I smiled listening to the music as I stroked my bump. I sorted out the clothes and put them in the drawers, it was hard to believe how small these clothes were. He'd gotten enough clothes to last a year, I put the larger clothes in bags in the wardrobe.
'Ow,' I winced in pain.
'You alright?' She asked worryingly.
'Yeah, the baby just gave me a swift kick in the ribs,' I replied trying to breathe through the pain.
'Sit down in the rocking chair,' she told me softly.
I got up slowly and walked over to the chair, I felt tired despite not having done that much. 'I'm going to get you some water,' she said. I nodded as I started to rock in the chair, I breathed in and out, taking shallow, soft breaths. I stroked my bump gently, humming an old song from my childhood as I did.
'Ouch,' I yelped after another rib shot.
'You need to calm down little one, it's not time for you to come out yet,' I told it gently.
Olivia came back in holding a glass of water, she smiled handing it to me.
'You feeling better?' She asked.
'A little, this baby's sure making it's presence is known,' I laughed.
'It won't be long now,' she replied happily.
'You never told me, how you know so much about babies?'
Dead World Rising (Book 3): The Cure Page 12