She sighs. “All right. It’s so good to hear your voice.”
“And yours, Mum. Where’s Vince?”
“Out. He’ll be devastated to have missed you.”
“I’ll call again soon. Is he mad with me, too?”
“Only because you haven’t called.”
More relief. “That’s good. Tell him I love him. I love you, too, Mum.”
“I love you, darling. Please don’t leave it long before you call again. I worry about you. More than ever now.”
“I know, but nothing is going to happen to me, okay?”
“Just, be careful.”
“I will. I’ve gotta go, but I’ll call again…”
It takes me about ten more minutes to get mum off the phone, but I guess I owe her that. I thought she’d disown me. Cut me off and want nothing more to do with me.
How wrong was I?
I wipe my eyes as the brothers enter. They know how relieved I am, and they’re also glad I’ve removed some of the stress from my mind, too.
“I didn’t tell her about the babies. I didn’t know if it was safe to, and she was emotional enough without dropping the baby bombshell.”
“We heard,” Blade says. “But it was probably the right decision. It’s best no one knows about the babies for now.”
“Myers’ brother might still know, though,” I remind them. Not that we know if he’s still alive. I haven’t heard from Gia yet either.
I’m starting to feel like no one survived.
“Don’t worry about that for now.” Thorn glances at my Mac. “Only a few hours left in the day, Angel. You almost done?”
“Almost.”
He nods, but the annoyance behind his eyes doesn’t miss me. “We’ll start dinner. We can feel how tired you are. Hurry up.”
“I will. We can talk over dinner.”
They’re satisfied with my answer and all leave me. I look over at the subdued zombies in the cage and think again whether I should test out my theory, but I decide not to when my programme beeps and I see today’s results of my blood test.
Still rising…
God, I've discovered so much over the past three days with the brothers’ help. I don’t know where to start. I need to be quick, though, ‘cause I’m exhausted and need to nap before I fall asleep here again.
None of the brothers are happy when they find me knocked out in here.
So, firstly, I've not been feeling myself for a little while now, for a little over a week, but I couldn't place it, so I took my blood again, thinking I could be anaemic or something, but I almost died when I saw the results.
And no, I’m definitely not anaemic.
The babies’ blood certainly does run through my veins, and from mine, I've been able to karyotype their DNA.
Two boys and a girl.
But of course, we already knew that. What's mind-blowing, is that out of their ninety-eight chromosomes, only ninety-six are from us. Forty-eight from their fathers, and forty-eight from me. Their two others are extra thirteens.
Not what my programme came up with at all.
They don’t have any of the other thirteen markers that I or their fathers have either, and they've kicked out my SARA antigen. Over the last week, the antigen has drastically decreased in levels, leaving only traces of it in their blood.
Until today. Now there isn’t any trace of it at all.
My blood has kept the antigen, but that’s not all. My extra thirteen is disappearing and I now have seventy-two chromosomes instead of fifty-two like the brothers. That's another rise of three since yesterday, and twenty-one over the past week.
In addition to all of that, my abilities have been enhancing, too. My sense of smell is stronger, although, I suppose that could be from the pregnancy, but I can also sense the brothers further away. And although I have two zombies in here, I have no inclination to sink my teeth into them whatsoever.
In all honesty, I think this somehow comes back to me eating that zombie after I found out I was pregnant. I think it triggered something in me. I think maybe the babies are changing me to be like them, and maybe once I am, I can change the brothers with my SARA antigen.
I think that’s why I have it. I think, if the others did survive my bites and change, it might be what enables me to turn others into zombies like us.
I lean back in my chair and stare at the screen. But will I be able to change normal zombies into our kind? And what about the babies? And is this tiredness a part of it? Am I needing more sleep to cope with the changes to my cells?
I yawn as tiredness grips me harder than it has so far. I definitely need to sleep. I should tell the brothers what I’ve found out first, though.
“Kings!”
They enter all at the same time, even before I finish calling for them, but Thorn takes one look at my tired eyes and scoops me up into his arms. “Food then sleep for you. This shit is done, Mikka! I fucking mean it.”
I nod against his chest as he takes the stairs with the rest of his brothers closely following. “I know. I'm done now. I promise.”
“You should’ve fucking been done. Look at you.”
I lift my head. “There might be another reason for this.”
He rests me down on the couch and a plate of food is promptly placed on my lap by Blade. “Thorn's right, sweetness.” I can see the worry on his face. “Eat. Now.”
I pick up my fork. “I am, but I need to talk to you while I do.”
They protest as I eat a forkful of curried goat that Dagger’s made. It’s really good and has become one of my favourites, but this tiredness is taking over. I quickly shovel the food into my mouth until I’m finished, barely chewing some of it but suddenly feeling like I’m running out of time.
“Listen to me!” I shout, silencing them all. “The babies have changed my DNA.”
A chorus of ‘what’s’ ensue.
“The results I just got up there have proved it.” I explain everything I’ve found out, aware I’m repeating some things that a few of them already know but needing to make sure it makes sense to them.
“And this is why you’ve been feeling more tired?” Axe asks.
“I can’t be sure, but I think so. If I am going to have the same DNA as them, following the increases, it will be another two weeks before I get there.”
Blade is the most horrified by that. “You’re exhausted already! Two weeks? You’ll barely be able to keep your eyes open.”
“I know, but lets just focus on the fact the babies are growing well.”
They ask a few more questions, but even after drinking the coffee Thorn’s made me, I become desperate for sleep.
I stand. I’ll finish this conversation in bed. “I need to…”
Eleven
Pin
“Baby—” I lunge off the couches with the rest of my brothers when we see Mikka’s eyes roll back, and I only just get to my knees to catch her before her precious belly hits the ground.
Fuck! My heart hasn’t ever pounded so hard.
That was way too close.
The rest of my brothers surround me as I turn her in my arms. She has her eyes closed like she’s asleep but doesn’t wake when I shake her. “Shit, Mikka!”
I know she was tired, but who falls asleep just like that?
“No one.”
I look up at Thorn and fear really hits me, ‘cause he looks just how the rest of us do.
Scared shitless.
I've never seen him look like this.
Ever.
“Is this because of the babies?” Axe asks, sounding fucking terrified.
“I think so,” Dagger answers. “I thought this might happen after we noticed the trend yesterday. I reckon this is her transitioning again.”
Blade’s eyes almost escape out of his head. “Again?”
“Yeah.” Dagger takes a quick look down at her. “It’s the same as when we bit her. Her cells multiplied while she slept, and she woke up after the transition was complete.
Same as all zombies, but this time, she’s managed to stay awake through part of it. I think it’s become to much for her to handle now, and that’s why she’s been forced to sleep.”
“So she could be like the babies when she wakes up?” I ask.
“Possibly, but remember, her blood still carries that SARA antigen, whereas the babies’ don’t. We just have to wait and see, but I do think the changes we’ve seen in her over the past week are gonna be more pronounced when she wakes up.”
I don't like this shit, bro.” Axe says. I think he’s the most worried of us all.
Thorn reaches an arm around his shoulder. “She's alive and so are the babies. Listen, you can still feel her. The connection to her mind is still there.”
He’s right, but it feels vacant. Not like when she sleeps and we can hear her dreams. This is like white noise.
“We need to calm down,” Thorn says, finding strength for us all like he always does. “Pin, bring her up to bed.”
I rise from my knees and my brothers follow me upstairs. Axe starts thinking about all sorts of shit, wallowing in guilt, but we all try to reassure him that this has nothing to do with our care of her.
I think Dagger is right.
Although I’ve been helping them in the lab, I’ve mostly just done as I’ve been told. I didn’t really understand a lot of what was going on. Genetics isn’t something I know about.
I rest Mikka down in the centre of the bed before standing back with my brothers. She looks like a pregnant sleeping beauty like that, only a kiss isn’t going to wake her.
“Does this mean she could be out for two weeks?” I ask Dagger, suddenly thinking about what she said about the cell increase.
He hesitates to answer. “Theoretically, yes—but we don’t know. It might happen faster now that she’s asleep.”
“Fuck,” Blade breathes. “Two weeks?”
The rest of us have similar thoughts. Two weeks is forever. My chest tightens when I think about spending all that time in this house without Mikka’s presence to keep us all lifted. Hell, she’s become the reason I’m excited to get up every day.
“Let’s just wait and see what happens,” Dagger says. “We have to stay positive for her, and for us.”
I nod in agreement. He’s right. It will be easy to sink back into the depression that gripped us all when we’ve suffered losses before.
Mikka’s still alive, and so is the hope she carries.
I just hope she wakes up soon.
Eleven days later…
Every day that passes, the mood in this house turns darker than the last. None of us really believed she’d be asleep for this long, but it seems what Dagger said was right.
She looks the same, and the babies are still growing, but she definitely feels different to us. She doesn’t smell as sweet, and Axe keeps saying how she doesn’t smell like death to him anymore. She never smelt that way to me anyway, but I have noticed her scent has changed. I just can’t describe it because it doesn’t remind me of anything.
The biggest change in her is the size of her belly. Dagger’s been alternating the side she lies on during the day, never leaving her on her back anymore, and we’ve had to change the sheets a few times, ‘cause even though she isn’t eating or drinking, she’s still been passing water from the babies. He did mention having to give her fluids, but so far, we haven’t needed to.
We’re pretty sure the babies are doing a lot more in there than we can see. They’re feeling stronger, too, to all of us. I'm trying to take that as a positive thing through all this uncertainty. I don’t want to think the worst, I'm just terrified that she won't ever wake up, and we'll have to...
I don't even want to think about it.
Axe pulls his overgrown beard before suddenly standing up and groaning in torment. None of us have done much of anything besides eat and sit beside this bed and watch her. Our own self-care went out the window days ago. This situation is driving us all to insanity.
“Do something, bro,” Axe begs Thorn. “Break into her mind or something and wake her up.” He’s reaching breaking point.
Thorn looks up from Mikka’s stomach. “Don't you think I've fucking tried? I've tried everything you have.”
Yeah, even Thorn is losing it.
His suffering is the worst. He usually keeps all his pain hidden, but not this time.
Axe rubs his hands over his face. “There has to be something we can do to hurry this shit up!”
“She's gonna wake up,” Dagger tells him. “Just a few more days.” He sits beside her on the bed to rest a hand on her bump. “Listen to their heartbeats. All four of them are strong. I know it’s hard, but you have to keep it together, bro.”
Axe looks down at her, but I feel his hurt escalate and he leaves.
“I’ll make sure he’s okay,” Dagger says, getting up to follow him.
I take his empty place beside Thorn and give him a reassuring smile before resting my own hand on her stomach. Feeling our babies growing inside her has been the most incredible thing I’ve ever felt. Yeah, I’ve been through this part before, but Mikka means so much to all of us, it’s changed the whole experience.
But as desperate as we were for her to carry our young, we never would’ve gotten her pregnant if it meant she wouldn't survive it. I still think about the night I met her and when she asked us if she’d die before she let us in.
We told her no.
We promised her.
Thorn rests a hand on my arm. “We’re not gonna break that promise, Pin.” He looks back down at her. “We’ll kidnap every genetics specialist in the country before we let that happen.”
I know he’s serious, too.
And I’d help him.
Twelve
Mikka
I moan as I stir. My body feels stiff though, and it takes a second for me to get my bearings. Three of my kings are sleeping around me, but a rush of relieved thoughts from Thorn and Blade tell me they’re awake.
They appear on the left side of the bed and stare down at me.
“About fucking time, Angel.”
I frown. “About time?”
“Yeah,” Blade says, sounding just as unimpressed as his brother. “You slept for a lifetime, Mikka!”
Whoa… Blade almost never uses my real name anymore.
I hear their thoughts and gasp. “Two weeks?”
They both nod.
That means I was right about the babies changing me.
I sit up, waking Pin, Axe, and Dagger as I do, but then I shriek when I look down at my naked body. My belly is huge! “My God!”
A rush of more relieved thoughts torrent through my mind, and I feel guilty for worrying them so much. I look between them all. “I'm so sorry.”
“Mikka,” Axe gushes. He rests a hand on my belly. “I think I’ve died a million times over your ass.”
For some reason, that makes me smile. I hold his face to pull him closer and rest a kiss on his forehead. “I’m glad you didn’t actually die.”
His eyes soften. “It was close. How are you feeling?”
“Good.” I shrug. “Fine. I'm not tired anymore.”
Dagger scoffs. “After all that sleep, I'd be worried if you were. Hungry? Thirsty?”
I shake my head. “Not really.” I move to get up, but I feel a wet towel beneath me and frown. “Have I been pissing the bed?”
“That doesn't matter,” Thorn replies, pulling my attention to him. “You've changed.”
“Yeah. I know.” I take his offered hand to get up. “I think what I thought was right.” I look between them all. “About the babies. I should draw blood.”
Five angry faces glare at me in disbelief.
“Not right now you ain't.” Pin almost shouts. “You're gonna eat before you do anything. No fucking negotiation.”
“Uh, okay.” Shit, even Pin is telling me off now. “Can I have a shower, at least?” I look to the window and see it’s daylight outside, then a quick look at the clock tells me
it’s just after nine in the morning.
I thought I would’ve woken at night if anything.
My attention is diverted to the fact I can sense zombies a few miles away but none in the house. “Where are the zombies?”
“We ate them,” Axe answers.
“Fair enough. I might need more, though.”
“Not important right now,” Blade says as a reminder.
“I know. Sorry.”
I decide not to argue with them. They've been worried, and I don't want to cause them any more stress. Besides, I've got a more pressing issue to deal with, and that’s this urge I’m feeling to bite every single one of them, which I’m not finding easy to ignore.
I shake my head. “Let me shower. Then we’ll eat, and talk. I'll cook.”
They protest as I make my way to the en suite, but I ignore them. I rub my belly instead, feeling an even deeper connection to the three of them. Not even a week and they’ll be here. Five weeks was always going to go quickly but sleeping two weeks has definitely hurried it along.
I run the shower and hear the brothers leave to cook. I roll my eyes. I’m more than capable of cooking…
To be honest, I feel great. I am curious to know if this will happen with the next pregnancy, though. I hope it doesn’t. Between sleeping and working, I feel like I haven’t really enjoyed being pregnant.
After I test my blood, I’m not going to work again until after I give birth. I owe myself that, and the brothers. I should’ve listened to them before. It might be my body that the babies are growing inside, but they belong to all of us, and I’ve been stopping them from bonding.
Hell, we don’t even have anything here for the babies yet, or their nursery decorated.
Not cool, Mikka.
I need to make it up to them somehow, and as I step into the shower, I create my plan.
Breakfast is quiet. The brothers don’t say much, but they’re exhausted and deep in thought about having me back awake. I’ve heard a few of their thoughts about wanting to touch me, but not only are they cautious because of my size and how close I am to five weeks, I think they’re trying to get used to me being in their minds again and the new feeling.
Babies For My Zombie Kings: A Reverse Harem Romance (Zombies Rule The World Book 2) Page 7