A good portion of the day had gone to taking care of the infants and helping Craig clean up the hallway before Benjamin came back. I was never happier for Craig's assistance as I was when he went into a janitor's closet and cleaned up the evidence of the woman's demise. Once that was all done, I watched with mounting apprehension for some sign of Benjamin's return and the longer he was gone, the harder my gut twisted with worry for him. I was so relieved when Benjamin finally made an appearance I wanted to jump with joy. He was even carrying an armload of food that he'd brought from the cafeteria after he had cleared the way there. I nodded my thanks for the food and tried hard not to bombard him with the questions that were still sitting on the tip of my tongue. With the babies were all still sleeping, I had managed another phone call to Julia who gave me the good news that she had finally talked the people into heading to the hospital. The turning point had been when she had explai
"Holy shit," Craig breathed again. This time I didn't call him on it because it echoed my thoughts exactly. Holy shit. "Now what?" Benjamin asked. We watched as the people held up rifles and headed towards the front door. "Block the entrance and hope to hell that they don't need anything from the maternity ward," I said hurrying and turning out some of the lights in the rooms. The only ones I left on were the ones above the baby's cribs since one of them had jaundice and needed U.V. treatments desperately. I pulled that bed off to the side hoping that the door would block most of the light. Craig and Benjamin blocked the doorways with beds from the rooms then raced back over and we all hid behind one wall in the nursery. We were all deathly quiet hoping that the babies didn't wake up, or that they didn't try to push themselves in through the door. My heart was thundering so loud that I wasn't sure if I could hear anything anyway. When gunshots rang out through the air, we a
The banging on the door became more frantic and with the high pitch scraping coming from the bed I knew it was moving. I held little Blaze tighter as a knot of fear became lodged in my throat. I had no idea what this man would do once he got in, but there wasn't a single scenario that went through my head that held a happy ending. The look on Benjamin's face turned from terrified to thoughtful all in a matter of few seconds. I reached out and grabbed his arm as he stood up. "Don't. I don't know what you're going to do, but just don't," I whispered hoarsely. "They know someone's back here. We can't just wait until they burst through the door," Benjamin whispered back before trying to stand up again. I yanked him back down again. "No! Help me up!" "Are you crazy?" Craig asked astonished. "Look, most of those cop shows talk about how most hardcore criminals won't hurt babies or mothers. Now help me up!" I squeaked frantically as the bed scrapped further and further open. I has
"Dilly, where's your brother?" Craig asked craning his neck to try to look out the door. "He's dead. One of the zombies chased him down through the back. The others went with him but when we heard the shots, we knew he was gone." Dilly said with a genuinely forlorn thought until it crumbled under a fury I had never seen in a rational person. "But he will never tell me what I can and can't do again." All the blood drained from Craig's face and for a moment he looked so much like Benjamin had before he passed out, I thought he would hit the floor at any moment. My body was trembling with fear, but without my leg, I could do nothing but sit back and watch this unfold. What made this even worse was the fact I could tell Craig was genuinely upset. It seemed whatever was supposed to happen, wasn't turning out the way he had wanted it to. "Chandlers dead?" Craig breathed out. "Yeah, he's dead. Where are those pills that you promised us?" Dilly asked. "I could really use a fix right now.
Louis stepped over to look down at the lifeless body with open disgust. He spat next to the man's head as if the sight of him had left an awful taste in his mouth. "About fucking time," Louis said stunning us both. Craig was the first to recover and shook his head at him as if he didn't know what to say to that. He continued his silence and turned towards the nursery, his eyes darkened with sadness and anger. I knew what the cause of that look was but refused to turn around and look at the incubator again. I couldn't bring myself to even acknowledge what I knew would be a terrible, gruesome scene. His face grew paler by the moment as he got closer to the shattered window. I watched as his grip became firmer and firmer until a stream of blood fell from it."Damn it," he cursed quietly. He looked away for a moment or two, then suddenly burst into another rage. He cursed up a storm and kicking the wall repeatedly until I was sure he would break his foot, or the wall would shatter. "St
He shrugged and didn't embellish on it. I glanced down at the stitching and this time I paid attention to each individual thread and realized that he was right. They were uneven and several different sizes. I felt my heart sink and a wash of anger surged through me, quickly accompanied by shame. I had been so excited to not have to stitch myself up that when he had insisted that he was a doctor I had let him. "Frick," I groaned."Don't beat yourself up too much. I taught him really well and I'm pretty sure with everything going on he thought you guys might kill him or abandon him if you thought he wasn't really a doctor." I hated the fact that his argument sounded so rational. I was angry at Craig and Louis and everyone else for that matter. Most of all I was furious at myself for not seeing through the charade. I leaned my head back against the chair and just barely containing the urge to slam it several times over into the hardwood. I did, however, slap Louis' hands away. "How do
I knew that I should have said something to this man, even if it was just to kiss off, but there was nothing to say. What we had witnessed was nothing short of a miracle and in my experience, miracles were never easy to explain. So, all I did was stuff the rock back under my shirt and said nothing. I could feel Louis' eyes on me as he sat hard in a chair in front of me. The silence was almost overwhelming, but I let it continue since I couldn't figure out anything to say. "You're not gonna tell me what happened, are you?" Louis said finally breaking the quiet. I looked at him with a dead stare. He was smart; he took the hint and dropped the subject albeit very unwillingly. He stood up and shook his head then proceeded to look at my leg once again as if nothing had happened. It was odd trying to relax with this man looking me over; I kept waiting for him to jump up and attack me for the necklace. He didn't though; He just continued to examine the stitches in silence before getting
"She fell in love with some asshole who liked to beat her. Unfortunately, he was also the attorney general for the city we lived in at the time. One day he hit her one time too many times and finally she'd had enough… So, she grabbed a knife and put a stop to him."I listened to his story and heard the truth of it, which made it even sadder. Not to mention it was, unfortunately, one of the oldest, saddest, stories in the book. "Except instead of it being labeled as self-defense like it should have been, his family owned the D.E.A and the judge. She got a manslaughter charge and ten years," he said in disgust. I struggled to stand up and go over to him, but he waved me back in the chair. "It's all right. At least she's not in that godforsaken prison anymore," he said unconvincingly. "My husband turned yesterday morning," I told him sadly. "I'm sorry," was his heartfelt reply. Swallowing several times to relieve the knot in my throat, I finally nodded. I knew it wasn't a shock