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Sweat beads on my forehead, and my legs are cramping. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Chapter
Forty-Eight
The more I walk, the more I struggle. The pressure on my lower back is intense, my breathing becoming harder, and my belly rock hard. The worst cramps I have ever felt ripple across my belly, stealing breath and making my feet falter.
I can’t make it much further, and Michelle might as well be carrying me at this point. As we get near the bakery, my lower back is on fire, and severe pressure to my pelvis makes me feel on the verge of passing out.
I clutch the corner of the brick wall with the urge to bear down.
“No, Michelle, we need to get back, we need to get back. I think I’m in labor!” I rasp out.
“Fuck!” she curses, looking around while grabbing my arm and keeping me from hitting the concrete.
The bakery door opens just as I am about to have my babies on the street.
Sondra comes rushing out. “Elena? Oh my goodness, you don’t look too good. Help me bring her inside to call an ambulance.”
“No!” I blurt, and so does Michelle.
I can’t go to a normal hospital; they will record the birth. Then, find the women in the settlement, and Axton will find me, too.
Sondra ushers us inside and grabs her phone.
“No, please. I just want to go home.” I try to get up while Michelle tries to calm me.
“Elena, I’ll take you home. But you are in no condition to walk,” Sondra says.
Michelle holds concern on her face. We haven’t even gotten the supplies, and I am two weeks early.
Sondra frantically looks around. “The hospital is a few streets away.”
“No! I just need to get home. Noleen used to be a midwife.”
Sondra looks at Michelle as I cling to her, groaning as the pain intensifies.
“Fine, fine. I will grab my keys,” she tells us, rushing off out the back. “I will bring the car around!”
Michelle starts leading me back out the front of the store. Sondra pulls up in a blue car, far fancier than I expected her to drive. It’s some sleek sports car, making my brows furrow.
I assumed she walked everywhere. I have never seen her drive. Michelle opens the back door, and I fall heavily on the seat, using my hands to scoot back to lean against the door.
“Where am I going?” Sondra asks, and Michelle starts giving directions while I breathe and moan in pain.
Once we pull up, Michelle is the first to jump out of the car. However, I am temporarily distracted by Sondra’s foul language; I have also never heard her swear.
“You can’t have your baby here. What the fuck is this place?”
“Babies, and there is no time. They are coming now!” I groan, twisting when the door I am leaning on is ripped open.
The woman helps get me inside, and Sondra follows us in.
Noleen ushers us to the back of a room with a small cot. Between my pain and panting, I can’t focus as Michelle helps me down to the cot. It is the only actual bed in this place. The rest of the time we make do with what we can find, and this room serves as a makeshift infirmary. But it is far from hygienic or sterile.
“Help me get her pants off, and I’ll grab some towels,” Noleen orders.
Michelle and Sondra strip my pants off, only for my water to break at that very moment. The pain and pressure won’t let up. I just want to push.
