The Unexpected War

by Jean-pierre Breton

  She glanced up at me; I could tell something was wrong from her smudged makeup—she’d been crying. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  “What’s wrong, buddy?” I asked, quickly sitting down beside her and wrapping my arms around her.

  “It’s nothing. I’m just so glad you’re home! I had some bad contractions today. They scared me really bad, Lance.” She sniffled and buried her face in my chest as she began to cry.

  “Aw, don’t cry, baby. I’m here. Everything’s going to be just fine,” I promised her, reassuringly stroking her hair and placing an affectionate kiss on her forehead. I realized she had gone into labor while I was at work.

  She happily cuddled with me on the floor, regaining control of her emotions. She began to purr affectionately.

  “I got you a present while I was at work,” I told her.

  “What?” she asked, eyes lighting up.

  I pulled the pads out from my bag, and she giggled, hitting my chest playfully. “Hey, you better appreciate these. Do you know how much teasing I had to endure from Tracy?” I asked.

  We spent the rest of the day putting together the crib and playpen. That night, I ran my hand along her belly, watching Rashellia’s paw follow mine against Lara’s skin. She was having minor pains. I could see the discomfort in her face, but she pretended like everything was fine. I read a fairy tale to her belly as she lay there, purring softly and kissing me affectionately. I could tell she was proud of me as I tucked the book that she had taught me to read under our bed. Then I reached over, flicking off the light happily.

  Four days later, things were starting to worsen a bit. Lara tried to hide it from me, but that night, I woke up to the sounds of her whimpering through a few contractions. She was covering her mouth with her hand in an attempt to not wake me. “Are you all right?” I asked.

  She smiled, pretending nothing was wrong. “Of course I am. Don’t worry about me.” She purred and gave me a kiss before struggling to get out of bed, sliding weakly along the wall. “Go back to sleep. I’ll join you in a bit,” she whispered gently and then disappeared into the bathroom, where I heard her puke a few moments later.

  I would have gone in to comfort her, but I knew she would just be embarrassed, so I pretended to sleep. After an hour or two, she returned to bed and fell asleep, exhausted from the worsening labor. I woke up the next morning to the smashing of glass. Lara had fallen while attempting to bring breakfast over to the table.

  “What the hell, Lara?” I scolded her.

  She looked at the food littered across the floor. “Breakfast is served!” she joked, rubbing her stomach as a contraction passed by. She tried unsuccessfully to get up. “Labor sucks,” she muttered.

  I got out of bed, helped her to her feet, and carried her to our bed. “It’s okay,” I told her as I swept away the broken dishes. “But no more walking unless I’m there to help you, okay?” She sighed, but nodded in agreement. “Maybe I should stay home for the day,” I suggested, seeing her flinch in pain as another contraction hit her.

  “I’ll be fine,” she told me confidently.

  “I know. I want to spend the day with you anyway. We won’t get a lot of time together once there’s a little baby crying every five minutes.”

  She stared at me for a second, and I wondered if she noticed my insecurity with being a father. “Come here,” she whispered, patting a spot beside her on the bed. “You’re going to be a wonderful father, Lance. Stop worrying.” She cuddled with me, comfortingly. “Want to know what would feel awesome?” she added hopefully.

  “What?”

  “A bath.”

  I laughed lazily, not wanting to get up.

  “Pleeeeease?” she begged me.

  I sighed but got up and ran her a warm bath. Just as I helped her into it, the phone rang. I answered it, and the holographic image of Tracy appeared in our room. “’Sup?” I asked.

  “Nothing much. Did you sleep in or something?” she asked.

  “Nah, Lara’s had a rough night. I think she’s going to have Rashellia soon,” I told her, taking a seat and flicking on the television.

  “Today?” Tracy’s voice rang out excitedly.

  “Nah, probably still a couple days to go.”

  “All right. Well, I’ll talk to you later. Tell Lara I said hi!”

  “For sure,” I replied, and with that, the contacting system went dead as her image disappeared into thin air.

  “Who was that?” Lara called to me.

  I went back into the bathroom and took a seat on the toilet. “Just Tracy, wondering why I wasn’t at work. She says hi, by the way.”

  Lara smiled and fiddled around with some bubbles.

  “How are you feeling now?” I asked.

  “Excellent. Thanks a lot for doing this for me.” She gave me a thumbs-up, smiling warmly.

  “Any time,” I told her, returning the smile. “It’s been a while since you had a contraction, hey?” I asked her.

  She nodded. “They’re gone for now. I’m just all crampy again.”

  When she was finished with the bath, I helped her out and gently guided her into our room. I stood by her, making sure she didn’t fall over as she pulled out one of her maternity skirts and a black tank top. She proudly showed off her belly.

  “You’re so beautiful,” I told her as we sat on the edge of the bed.

  She smiled happily, giving me a peck on the cheek. “Had to dress up nice for my man,” she giggled, rubbing her stomach gently. “I think this is the last day that we’re not going to be parents.”

  I looked at her in shock. “Really?”

  “Yeah, I think she’s coming faster than normal because she’s a half-breed.”

  “I thought your contractions stopped, though,” I said in disbelief.

  “They did for now,” she replied. “They’re going to come back, probably ten times stronger, though.”

  I laughed nervously as she reached into her drawer, pulling out a book written in Jural that she had been reading to me over the last month or so. We lay back against the bed, and she read to me for a little bit. I loved when she read to me, but suddenly, she moaned and stopped reading in mid-sentence. She looked at her belly, gasping in pain as a contraction hit her. I rubbed her back, trying to help, as she moaned again, cringing in pain. The book fell out of her hands.

  “Damn random contraction,” she said, once it had finished.

  I looked at her worriedly. She messed up my hair, seeing my fright, before picking up the book to find the page where she’d stopped reading. Before she could find it, though, another contraction came, and she gave up, tossing the book aside. The contractions continued deep into the night. I was awakened around one in the morning by Lara’s whimpering. She was rocking back and forth on her knees, clutching below her stomach, and occasionally letting out tiny groans. I silently sat up with her, rubbing her back gently.

  “Lance, I think it’s starting to happen,” she whispered into the darkness.

  “Yeah, it’s okay. You’re doing great.” I comforted her.

  She smiled, bringing my hand to her stomach so I could feel Rashellia—she was lower in Lara’s stomach than before. Her stomach tightened, and then, moments later, untightened, followed by a tiny growl from inside Lara’s belly. She lay down, and I put my head softly on her belly. I could hear Rashellia making baby noises, along with feeling an occasional kick.

  I felt Lara’s stomach tighten again, and she closed her eyes. Rashellia slid down farther, and then I felt her move a bit back up. “Wow, that’s sucks,” I said. “She went back up farther, and then she came down.”

  “She only comes down about this much,” Lara told me, holding her fingers apart by about half an inch. “After that, my pelvis starts to widen so she can come out.”

  “Sound
s fun,” I joked. If I had it my way, we already would have been at the hospital, but Lara had insisted on having an unassisted birth.

  “Yeah, it is so fun. Don’t you wish you were a girl?” she asked with a laugh. “Go back to sleep. I didn’t mean to wake you up.” She petted my head, and I obediently went back to sleep.

  When I woke up the next morning, Lara was still sleeping. I softly put my hand on her belly, waking her up. She smiled warmly, giving me a kiss before glancing at the clock sleepily.

  I felt her side and noticed her hips were jutting out a bit more.

  “Not long now,” she told me, confirming my thoughts.

  I glanced outside, sighing when I saw there was fresh snow from the night before that I would have to shovel. “How do you feel?” I asked as I got up and started breakfast.

  She lay in bed, rubbing her back. “Like I’m going to have a baby.”

  “So you’re making progress?” I asked.

  She nodded. “I’m definitely starting to widen a bit.”

  “I’m going to take the day off again, I think.”

  “Hell, no,” she told me. “I don’t think I can handle another day of you freaking out every time something happens.”

  “Well, I’m not going to just leave you here for the day,” I argued, coming over with two plates of breakfast.

  “I’ll get Carana to come over,” she promised me.

  I sighed unhappily but agreed. “Fine.”

  “It’s not that I don’t want you here,” she reassured me. “I just don’t want you to see me in pain when things get rough in a little bit.” She flinched as her contractions began to start up again.

  “Fine, but if anything happens, tell me through our private chat,” I ordered her.

  She laughed, handing me her plate, which I took over to the sink. “Yes, Mom,” Lara’s voice broke into my head.

  I helped her to her feet, and she kissed me. “Any day now, you’re going to be a daddy,” she told me, rubbing her hand down my chest.

  “Today?” I asked.

  “Not today.” She handed me my coat and pushed me out the door before another contraction hit her.

  I walked down the street toward the office of my street service building, entering and going to my locker. I pulled out the shovel and salt.

  Tracy entered the room, already dressed and ready to go. “There you are! How’s Lara?”

  “I think she’s going to have the baby today,” I told her. I got dressed quickly, walking out the door with her.

  “Oh, congratulations, man. That’s great news. Shouldn’t you be home with her?”

  “She doesn’t want me there,” I replied unhappily.

  “Don’t worry, Lance. She’s probably just scared and doesn’t want you around to see her when she’s vulnerable,” Tracy assured me as we approached the street we had to clear.

  “I may have to go early if things speed up,” I told her before we split up.

  “That’s fine. I’ll stay behind and finish whatever you don’t,” she called over her shoulder, trudging through the deep, freshly fallen snow toward her end of the street.

  I smiled to myself grateful to have such an understanding friend. With a sigh I began shoveling my half of the street, trying to do it as fast as possible so I could get back to Lara. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I heard the familiar thwock-thwock of bullets cracking in the distance. I glanced over my shoulder in shock toward the tree line, about three hundred meters out. It had been so long since I’d heard those sounds that I almost thought I had imagined it.

  Fighter jets appeared in the distance, streaking across the sky toward the city and dumping a barrage of ammunition onto it. It snapped me back into reality as I ran for cover. Muzzle flashes of concealed machine gunners in the woods soon followed, as the city was hammered by artillery. I tried to drop to the ground, but an artillery shell hit near me, throwing me against the wall of a building and creating a gash in my forehead. I momentarily lost my senses as my ears rang noisily. Tracy was lying in a gruesome position on the other end of the street. The once-white snow was now blood red all around her body. What was left of her arms was hanging by the flesh across her chest; her legs were completely gone.

  I stumbled over to her, but it was too late. She lay there, dead, staring up blankly into the sky. Her eyes clouded over with the dull gaze of death. I tried to hold back my tears, but I couldn’t.

  Oblivious to the machine gunfire strafing around me, I crumpled to the ground, picking up Tracy’s lifeless body in my arms. I propped her head up against my shoulder, cradling her like a mother would a newborn child. “No! Not her, damn it!” I yelled angrily to the sky, loosening my grip as her head dangled lifelessly off the side of my arm.

  “Lance! Lance! Lance!” David sprinted around the corner toward me. Then he saw Tracy. “Oh, no …” he cried as he realized that she was dead.

  “We need to do something,” I sniffled.

  “Get up, Lance! Pull yourself together,” he told me firmly, holding back tears.

  We both picked up her limp body and raced down the street. We were knocked down once by an RPG that flew by us from somewhere off in the distance. We continued as fast as we could. Once we reached my house, we both burst through the door, shouting hysterically for Lara to come help. Carana appeared and gasped, looking at Tracy’s mangled body. She went into the bathroom and returned a split second later with Lara wrapped around her neck—she was moaning as a contraction tortured her body.

  “What … what happened?” Lara panted, clutching her stomach as she knelt on all fours, staring down at Tracy.

  “Artillery,” David and I answered simultaneously.

  “She’s dead. I can’t do anything for her,” Lara sobbed, recoiling in pain as another contraction came.

  I felt rage boil over me as I slumped against the dresser, defeated. David plopped down beside me, sharing the same defeated look and cradling his head in his hands. The room was dead silent, except for the loud crying, sobbing, and whimpers as Lara went deeper and deeper into labor.

  I couldn’t bring myself to comfort her. I was too busy staring in disbelief at the dead figure of Tracy. An explosion outside the house snapped us all back into reality, as fire fights could be heard in the distance between the city’s guards and whoever was attacking us. Lara struggled to her feet, holding her bulging belly, and waddling carefully over to the window.

  She grunted as Rashellia caused another contraction. I noticed blood trickle down her leg as she tried to cross them while leaning against the windowsill. “There are fiends in the street with guns, dragging people out of their homes,” she said. She suddenly flinched in surprise, her eyes widening as she heard the bang, bang, bang sounds of innocent civilians being executed. She swiftly closed the curtains. She tried to walk over to me, but her legs gave way as the relentless contractions continued.

  I crawled over to her, putting my hand on her and kissing her gently on the forehead. She lay curled up on the ground, whimpering, but to my surprise, she wiggled a bit closer and kissed me on the lips. “Tell me what to do,” I whispered, loyally vowing to myself that I would not let our daughter be killed without a fight.

  Lara glanced at me, calmly panting. She spread out across the floor, and Carana checked her to see how far along she was.

  “She’s seven centimeters dilated, entering the transition phase. It’s not going to be long, Lance,” Carana told me as we looked over at the naked Lara, who had managed to flip herself over and was pulling out bags from under the bed.

  “Can she still run?” I asked Carana. Lara motioned for David to come over, and they both busily began packing stuff into the bags, ignoring us.

  “Not very fast or far. Her contractions are about a minute or less apart,” Carana told me. “See? She’s going to have one any second now.
”

  Lara turned to face me, and she smiled, gesturing me over. Before I could reach her side, her expression changed to pain, and she clutched her stomach, moaning in pain and rocking back and forth. David got scared and gratefully let me take his spot as he shuffled over to Carana.

  “Carana, David, go get us weapons from the armory,” Lara panted as I rubbed her back.

  They nodded and left to accomplish their task, leaving us alone. Her contraction soon passed, and I started my stopwatch. “One minute,” I told her with a nervous laugh.

  She let out a sigh, patting her belly, laughing with me nervously but avoiding eye contact. I kissed her and she returned it, getting rid of the tension in the air. “I guess it’s going to be today after all,” she told me with a faint smile.

  “You could totally make it to tomorrow. Just cross your legs,” I joked, packing one bag as she did the other.

  She laughed, throwing a pile of clothes into her bag, along with papers and maps into one of her jackets beside us on the ground. My stopwatch went off, and I glanced over at Lara, who cursed under her breath. “Here it comes—don’t fight it,” I teased her.

  She spread her legs wide apart while packing, trying to make it pass. Soon enough, she succumbed to it, leaning against me and screaming in pain as I rubbed her and soothed her. We packed in between contractions, and they began to slow down. I knew this was both good and bad—it meant that she was going to have a break, so we could attempt an escape, but it also meant that she was going to have Rashellia soon.

  We got up with the bags as the back door burst open, and Carana and David burst through with a ton of weapons. “Help Lara get dressed,” I told Carana, lifting Lara off the floor and bringing her over to the dresser.

  “But the baby’s coming. We can’t escape yet,” Lara objected angrily, having a sudden mood swing.

  “We can’t stay here,” I told her calmly, nodding toward the window, through which we could hear the screams of people being executed.

  “Well, I’m not leaving until the baby is here,” Lara lashed out angrily, folding her arms across her chest.