The Razor's Edge: A Postapocalytic Novel (The New World Book 6) (32 page)

“Or you can stay here,” Katie said.

“I’ll come back and visit,” Lexi said with sincerity.

“Well, you’ve always got a place to stay,” Katie said.

Lexi felt her stomach turn then tighten. Saliva began to build in her mouth. A strong sense of nausea washed over her. She got up from the table and rushed to the sink just in time to throw up.

Katie came to her side quickly and held her hair back.

Lexi heaved twice more. She wiped her mouth and stood over the sink. She didn’t want to step away until the nauseous feeling went away.

“You’re not feeling well. You should go lie down,” Katie urged.

“That was weird, hmm, just came suddenly.”

Katie felt her head and said, “No fever. Ah, did you feel sick when you woke?”

“No.”

“It just hit you suddenly?”

“Yeah, that was strange.”

Katie stepped back and smiled.

Lexi saw her grin and asked, “What? What are you smiling at?”

“When was the last time you had your period?”

“No. I know what you’re saying, I’m not pregnant.”

“When was your last period?” Katie again asked.

Lexi had to really think, and as she counted the weeks, they added up to more than they should. “No way.”

“Now the question is, have you had sex in the past four to six weeks?”

“I don’t believe it, no way,” Lexi said as she walked away from the sink.

“That guy Nicholas, you and him?”

“No way.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Lexi found the chair and sat back down. The smell of the eggs brought her nausea back. She pushed the plate away.

“I’ll be right back,” Katie said and hurried off. She returned a couple minutes later. “Here,” she said after she placed a box of pregnancy tests in front of Lexi.

Lexi stared at the box and again said, “No way.”

“Go, take the test,” Katie urged.

“But isn’t it best to take with your first pee?”

“It will still work. If you think you got a false negative, we’ll try again in the morning. I’ve got a few of these,” she said, referencing the tests.

The thought of a baby was off-putting, the crying, the diapers, the breastfeeding and everything. This couldn’t be happening.

“Go, now, go find out,” Katie said happily.

“I’m so glad my problem is your joy.”

“It’s not like that; babies are blessings.”

“No, they’re not, they’re pains in the asses. I don’t have time for a baby,” Lexi complained.

“They’re gifts, pure and simple.”

“What do you know?” Lexi asked.

Katie looked down and said, “Me and Josh got pregnant three times. I lost them all, miscarriage.”

Hearing her loss, Lexi shifted in her chair and changed her attitude. “I’m sorry, you never mentioned it before.”

“Wasn’t meant to be, I guess. Sometimes I told myself I was to blame because I cursed the first pregnancy with buying all the baby stuff before having it. Some say that’s bad luck.”

“That’s bullshit. Don’t beat yourself up,” Lexi said.

“Go test, hurry,” Katie said and clapped.

What would she do? she thought. Getting an abortion was out of the question, but having a kid in this world was pure insanity.

“Hurry, go,” Katie pushed. She put a box in her hands and pushed her to leave.

“Okay, I’ll go, but I’m not pregnant. This is nonsense,” she said and went to the bathroom.

“Good luck,” Katie said happily.

In the bathroom, Lexi pulled the test from the package and stared at it. She said a little prayer before taking the test. When she was done, she looked at the test window and gasped. “No way.”

When Lexi walked back in the kitchen, she found Katie standing with her hands folded in prayer. “So?”

Lexi stood staring ahead. Thoughts about her future raced through her mind.

“Tell me, hurry.”

“I don’t believe it. I’m pregnant.”

***

After listening to what felt like a solid two hours of Katie dancing and singing in celebration, Lexi found time alone to process this new development.

Her pragmatic and practical mind said to find a way to end the pregnancy, but she quickly talked herself out of it when the risk of a complication would arise. Emotionally and sentimentally, Lexi wanted to keep the baby. Although she didn’t love Nicholas, she could honestly say she cared for him.

What should I do?
she asked herself.

Soon, each thought came back to Nicholas. He was dead, for sure, confirmed, but a part of him was alive. Thoughts then came of her daddy and sister, Carey. Their blood ran through her so therefore ran through the baby. This child was them too, and she couldn’t just abandon it.

With her mind made up, Lexi found Katie and had her sit down.

“Please, please tell me you’re keeping it.”

“I am,” Lexi confirmed.

“Yay, congratulations,” Katie said, springing to her feet. She embraced her and gave her a big kiss on the cheek.

“So considering I’m pregnant, I won’t be leaving right away. If I can stay, I’d like to do so and give birth here.”

“Oh my heaven, of course,” Katie said.

Lexi couldn’t believe it. For sure it would take days for the shock to wear off.

She rested fully into the seat and sighed. “I’m having a baby. Unbelievable.”

“Come, come, let me show you all the baby stuff. It’s yours now.”

Lexi followed Katie to the back room where all the toys and baby items were.

“Any names picked out?”

“Isn’t it a bit early?”

“Nope, not at all.”

Lexi thought as she walked to the small window in the room that overlooked the backyard. A frown appeared on her face and sadness enveloped her as she looked at the makeshift gravestone for Nicholas. She had made it a priority to bury him. "That's such a beautiful tree," she said.

"It is, my grandfather planted it."

Katie had the advantage of being in a house where generations of family had lived. 

Lexi appreciated the history that provided.  She rubbed her lower abdomen and thought about names. She wanted them to be special, to be a bridge to others. 

"If it's a boy, this will be cute," Katie said holding up a onesie imprinted with trains.

"If it’s a boy, Nicholas and if it's a girl, I'll name her Carey.”

***

Lexi was on a new glide path, one never imagined. Like any other day she didn’t know what lie ahead but now that she'd chosen to have the child she had to be a mother with the same passion and excellence she showed in her job as a mercenary. Her purpose now was to raise the child and provide the child a safe and secure environment. Being a mother didn’t mean she’d have to surrender her tools or leave her life of Nemesis behind. She’d trained herself and became good at taking life, now she would use that same discipline to be good at giving it.

                                                                   
FEBRUARY 4, 2016

“Greatness is a road leading towards the unknown.” – Charles de Gaulle

McCall, Idaho, Republic of Cascadia

Samantha woke to find Gordon wasn’t in bed. She assumed he was in the bathroom, but after ten minutes she got up to see where he was.

When she stepped into the darkened hallway, she found him at Haley’s door.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Just wanted to check on the kids,” he answered.

“I do that too sometimes,” she said.

“Look at her, sleeping so peacefully. She’s such a sweetheart.”

“Did you check on Luke?”

“Yeah, he’s snoring away,” Gordon replied.

“I love you,” Samantha said, rubbing his back.

“Hey, I’m sorry you got caught up in all the Jacques stuff,” Gordon said.

“For better or for worse, I think that’s what I signed up for.”

“That’s true.”

“You’re not sleeping anymore,” Samantha said.

“The reports from up north have me concerned. Jacques has a large army and we have a small one,” Gordon replied.

“But it looks as if the Canadian government is coming to help as well. With them striking from the east and Cruz committed to supporting us if he invades, we should be fine,” Samantha said.

“So many things can go wrong. If he gets this far south, I just pray our defenses will hold,” Gordon sighed. The past month had been spent repositioning what was left of his army around McCall. The council had called for the force to split so that it might go to Olympia, but Gordon knew if Jacques was going to come across, he would come straight for him in McCall.

Cruz and Gordon were speaking regularly. One of the conditions Cruz agreed to was withdrawing the Marine brigade from Olympia. The order went through, and those Marines began a slow march towards Cheyenne.

“I know you hate me saying this, but we can only do what we can do. You’ve been working tirelessly to be prepared.”

“But I hate just waiting. What is Jacques up to? He’s conniving and the reason he hasn’t crossed the border yet is because he’s plotting something,” Gordon said.

“Of course he’s plotting, and so are we,” Samantha replied.

“But I just can’t figure him out.”

Samantha rubbed his back and said, “You’ve changed. You came back from Banff different; I see it in the way you talk.”

He folded his arms and rested against the wall. “I am different. What happened in Banff reminded me of Hunter and being imprisoned by Rahab. I was powerless.”

“But we got away, we escaped.”

“Only because of Autry and eventually Cruz; I didn’t have a plan; I was just running and gunning.”

“You were keeping me alive. We were surviving,” Samantha said softly and stroked his arm.

“Something in me wants to just strike Jacques, just go on the offense, not sit here and wait for him to plot and scheme. The longer he’s out there, the stronger he gets.”

“That’s not true.”

“It feels true. I don’t want him threatening us on our border.”

“We’ve talked about this. We don’t have the numbers, and going on the offense would be risky,” Samantha said, referring to several conversations she and Gordon had in regards to this very topic.

“I’m going to tell the council tomorrow that we need to go north with a small force and harass his army, we need to destroy his supply line and one by one pick off his people. We need to terrorize them.”

“Elizabeth will challenge you,” Samantha said.

“Who cares? I have the support of three out of five; this idea could work,” Gordon said.

Gordon’s phone rang from the bedroom.

“That’s not a good sign,” Gordon said as he headed into the bedroom.

The pale green light of the screen flashed.

“It’s Gunny,” he said and answered. “Van Zandt here.”

“Sorry to wake you.”

“What’s happened?”

“Western Canada has invaded the panhandle. They’ve taken Bonner’s Ferry and are just outside of Sandpoint. Looks to be about three thousand troops, maybe more.”

“Pull everyone together. I want to meet,” Gordon ordered.

“Roger that,”
Gunny said and hung up.

Samantha stood with her arms crossed and asked, “What did Gunny want?”

“Looks like I won't have to wait any longer to engage Jacques. He’s sent three thousand across the border. They’ve taken Bonner’s Ferry and are just outside of Sandpoint.”

Samantha covered her mouth in shock.

Gordon put the phone down and raced into the closet.

“You heading into town?”

“Yeah.”

Samantha wrapped her arms around Gordon.

He could feel her shaking.

“I promised I’d take you away from here, but I didn’t honor that.”

“I know.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“This is our home. I feel like if we go to Alaska or Hawaii, we’ll just find troubles there too.”

“That’s possible.”

The phone rang again.

Gordon walked around Samantha and picked it up. “Van Zandt here.”

“Gunny here again. We’ve received reports from the militia in Sandpoint that their defenses have failed. It’s not looking good,”
Gunny sighed.

“Thanks, I’m heading in. Meet me in town,” Gordon replied.

“Roger that.”

Gordon disconnected the line and thought for a second. This was the moment. They had their independence from the United States, now they were fighting a new war against an enemy whose leader was capable of anything. His fledgling nation was close to seeing its dream fulfilled. However, Jacques and Western Canada stood in their way. He’d been through tough situations, but for some reason this one felt different. Conner was a tough adversary, but in the end Conner wouldn’t have been able to conduct total war against Cascadia. Jacques wasn’t bound by anything, and to him this was personal on many levels. What Gordon feared most was Jacques wasn’t afraid to fight all out.He wasn’t a leader trying to subdue a rebellion, he was a conqueror coming to crush all those who got in his way.