Eden's Promise (17 page)

As Adele talked to the guard about working in the infirmary, Eden tried to remember what she’d seen as she’d been dragged to this building. They’d been in the officer quarters, she guessed, which was connected to the mess. How many buildings had they passed as they brought her here? Had this been the brig? The high windows suggested that. Or had they adapted it with the bars after they’d decided they wanted to keep their own harem?

The door closed behind the guard and Adele turned to them, her mouth turned down, her shoulders slumped.
 

“I can’t get in there now, they said. They want me to stay with Annie because she’s so close to her time.”

Eden turned her attention to the pregnant woman. “How close are you?”
 

“A matter of weeks, I think.”

“The baby has dropped in the past couple of days,” Adele said.

Annie rolled her eyes. “Which means I have to pee all the time and walking is a pain.”

“I can’t imagine having a baby in this world,” Teresa said, voicing Eden’s own thoughts. “No baby wipes, no disposable diapers, no formula, no bottles, no pacifiers.”

“Women have been doing it long before all those things,” Adele said. “We’ll manage.”

“
We’ll
manage,” Annie said bitterly. “I never wanted a child in the first place. And to have one in this place, in this time? A child whose father I despise? It’s a nightmare.”

“You’ll feel differently when you hold him in your arms,” Adele said, a little sadly. “Once you experience that, you’ll do anything in the world for him.”

But the mutinous set of Annie’s jaw said otherwise.

***

Aaron didn’t know how much time had passed since he and Eden were separated. Without windows, he had no concept of night and day. His head hurt less, and he could walk around without staggering, for the most part, which meant he’d be moved out of the infirmary soon. His thoughts bounced between finding Eden—God, what was happening to her?—and trying to figure out what the commander knew about his tattoo.
 

His contact with the other soldiers was limited. He saw the same three or four guys all the time, and none of them would tell him where Eden was.
 

During one visit, two new men came in with Starling, one of the soldiers he was accustomed to seeing. Starling and one of the other men sat him in a chair and the third man turned on his electric razor. The man ran the razor over Aaron’s head in the shortest cut he’d had since basic training, and the idea struck him. In order to get out of here—he had to kill the generators.
 

Once he was done being shaved, Starling tossed clothing at him. BDUs. Great. He thought he’d left these behind in the old world. They’d gotten him nothing but trouble in the new one. But at least he was getting out of the infirmary and could look around, maybe find out where Eden was.

“When you’re dressed, we’re taking you to the commander and he’ll give you your assignment,” Starling said.

“Likely the latrines,” one of the other men said with a snort.

He didn’t care where they assigned him, as long as he was out of this damned bunker.

***

“Today,” Adele said, turning away from her conversation with the guard at the door, her lips drawn down, her eyes sad.

“Today?” Eden echoed. Three days she’d been locked in here with these women with next to no privacy, unable to rest because her mind spun from one idea of escape to another, all ending in dead ends, which was fine because she wasn’t leaving here without Aaron anyway. And she couldn’t do that until she knew where he was.

“The commander feels you’re acclimated enough to the place. Tonight he’s coming to you.”

“Coming to me? Like...coming to me?” Eden’s knees turned to water and she sat down hard on the edge of the bed.
 

“We’re to get you ready.”

“Wait.” She gripped the edge of the bed, as if that would stop anyone from moving her where she didn’t want to go. “Wait. There’s—he just—in front of all of you? He doesn’t take us to his room?”

“He pulls the curtain.” Adele motioned to the curtains around the beds, kind of like hospital curtains.
 

“It doesn’t give a lot of privacy,” Christine said. “At least he pulls the curtain. A lot of them don’t. They want everyone to see what they have in their pants.”

Nausea rolled in her stomach. “I can’t. I can’t do that. Why doesn’t he take us to his room?”

“Security,” Teresa said. “I tried to convince him, but he refused. It wasn’t pleasant, so I wouldn’t suggest it.” She rubbed a scar at the side of her head.

“We’ll get you ready,” Adele said. “The more pleasing you are to look at, the better it will be for you.”

“I don’t think being raped is a question of degree,” Annie said from her own bed.
 

“What I mean is, he won’t hurt her. He can be a little rough if he’s unhappy,” Adele said.
 

God. God. God. God. Eden battled tears. She couldn’t do this. But what would happen to her if she used her training to fight him off? He’d kill her, probably, and she’d never get to Kelly, never get home. Was surviving worth getting raped?

Christine crossed the room to her with a brush. She motioned for Eden to turn around and started brushing out her hair. “It’s best if you just let your mind go somewhere else, somewhere happy. He takes a long time, and will want some help from you. Just do it and don’t think about it. And don’t think about your husband, because you’ll start to cry and the commander hates tears. Your husband would want you to do anything you can to survive, right?”

Eden knew the answer was yes, but Aaron wasn’t really her husband, couldn’t know the terror she’d be facing tonight. And if he was dead...

This was her own fault. This trip had been her idea. Now they were stranded on the mainland, prisoners, and Aaron could be dead.

Again she thought about asking Christine to hit her, to put her in the hospital, but suddenly she couldn’t stand the thought of being helpless. If the commander came, she was going to fight him, no matter what it cost her. She would not lay back and take it.

Teresa approached with a bag. Make-up—Eden smelled it before Teresa even opened it. Without a word she started applying eyeliner and eyeshadow to Eden’s eyes, and lipstick. She felt fairly heavy-handed, so Eden didn’t ask for a mirror. What did she care what she looked like, anyway?

A heaviness fell over the room as Eden was prepped, mentally and physically. They all jumped at a knock on the door, but it was only their evening meal.
 

Annie moved to sit at the table in the center of the room and groaned halfway there. The other women jerked to attention. Annie straightened, rubbing her side.
 

“Contraction?” Adele asked.

“Whatever it was, it didn’t feel good. I think I’m going to lie down.”

“A good idea.” Adele rose to assist her, but Annie waved her off.
 

The other four women ate in silence as Annie shifted restlessly, trying to get comfortable on her bed. Then another groan and a curse.
 

“I just wet the freaking bed,” Annie said, sitting up with some effort.

“Your water broke,” Adele said, jumping up from the table and running over. “Eden, tell the guard Annie needs to go to the infirmary now.”

A reprieve, was all Eden could think as she hurried to do Adele’s bidding.

Having a purpose was a wonderful thing, after days of having nothing to do but think. She and Christine were tasked to keep Annie calm and quiet between contractions. When the commander strode in a few moments later, Adele stood with more spine than Eden had seen in her since her arrival.
 

“We need to get her to the infirmary and comfortable before the labor progresses further. And I’m going to need help.”

“One of the men—”

“No. This is for the women. Eden has experience delivering, and I don’t. I need her with me.”

The commander turned his gaze to Eden and looked at her for a long moment. Until then, she’d forgotten about the heavy mask of make-up. Would he deny Adele’s request and keep her here?

“This is your child’s health we’re talking about here,” Adele said. “Don’t you want the best possible outcome?”

“Fine,” the commander said at the last moment, not looking away from Eden. “But be aware, you will be watched closely. And if anything happens to that child, you will be the one to pay.”

She nodded shortly, her stomach lurching. She had to hope Adele was right about Annie’s maternal instincts kicking in when the baby was born. Otherwise she feared Annie might kill the infant, and Eden and Adele would pay the price. The commander turned and gestured to two men at the door. They hurried in with a gurney and loaded Annie on it. Christine ran alongside as they carried her toward the door, holding Annie’s hand, but the commander stopped her.
 

“Just these two.”
 

Eden cast an apologetic look toward Annie’s best friend as she and Adele were ushered out the door.
 

“Take good care of her!” Christine called as the heavy door was shut behind them.

Eden didn’t have a chance to respond as she hurried along behind the gurney.

***

The infirmary was underground. Eden hadn’t expected that. The air was cool as they moved between buildings and headed down the slope into the well-lit place. The brig had some power, but the lights were small, not overhead lights like this place. How were they keeping the generators going? What kind of fuel were they using?
 

But now wasn’t the time to worry about that. Now she had to take in the lay of the land, had to figure out how big this place was, where Aaron could be, and how they could leave.

She stayed at Adele’s side, Adele who was calm and reasonable as she coached Annie through breathing techniques that they’d clearly practiced, as she ordered the soldiers to bring her sheets and towels and hot water and whatever sterile instruments they had.

“We can’t drug her,” Adele said. “We don’t want anything affecting the baby.”

“I don’t care,” Annie said through her teeth. “I don’t care. Find something, anything.”

Adele took her hand and stroked it. “This isn’t the worst thing you’ve endured. And it will be over soon in a matter of hours. You can do this on your own. We need you ready to listen to what we say.”

The next contraction seemed longer than the others and tears sheened Eden’s own eyes as Annie writhed in pain.
 

“Okay, Eden, you’re on,” Adele said briskly. “You need to see if she’s ready to push.”

“Shouldn’t the labor progress some more?” Eden asked, panicking. She’d delivered farm animals, sure, with the help of her father, but he’d always been there right beside her, telling her in his calm voice what to do. She wished he was with her now.

“Let’s just be sure.” Adele handed over a pair of plastic gloves. “See if she’s dilated enough. She should be about three fingers across.”

Eden had no idea what enough was, but she crouched at the end of the bed where Annie lay with her legs bent, and she reached inside for a physical exam.

She was surprised by what she encountered. “I feel his head! But you’re not quite ten centimeters, Annie. Don’t push yet. But it won’t be much longer, I don’t think.” She straightened and grinned at her patient. “But the last thing I delivered was a litter of puppies, so don’t quote me on that.”

Annie groaned, this time in agony at the quip, and rolled her eyes. “Great. I have vet girl working on me. This should end well.”

“I’ll get him born safely,” Eden said, and wished she hadn’t made that promise. She’d made too many, and hadn’t been able to keep any of them.
 

The next two hours were tense, anxiety punctuated by excitement as the contractions grew closer together, as Annie’s urge to push overwhelmed her, as she struggled to bring her baby into the world.
 

And then he was there, on the gurney between her legs, squalling, his little body tight, eyes squeezed shut. Together Adele and Eden worked to cut the cord, to clean him and bundle him before placing him in his mother’s arms. Adele gripped Eden’s arm as they waited for Annie’s reaction. The young mother was exhausted from the pain and hard work, but held her baby to her breast as Adele had shown her and waited for the child to latch on. When he finally did, Annie let her head fall back and tears roll from her eyes.
 

“Not exactly what I was hoping for,” Adele whispered.
 

Once the baby had his fill, Adele took him from Annie, put a diaper on him and swaddled him before handing him to Eden.

Annie might not feel a connection to her son, but Eden did, after bringing the new life into the world. She touched the infant’s nose, his soft lips, which made a suckling motion in his sleep that made her smile. The responsibility, especially in these times, was overwhelming, but what would it be like to have a child of her own? She’d pushed away the memory of the condom fiasco until this minute. She could be pregnant, and what then?