Jamie McGuire - Eden

“Nina, look at me! Look at me!” Jared said, positioning his face in front of mine. “You have to stop. You’re going to get yourself killed, and the baby will die. Do you hear me? We’ll all die! ”

I stopped struggling, and my body went limp as I sobbed on the ground against my husband. My focus on survival, irrational or not, had become a monster.

Claire and Bex took a step back with labored breath. I’d given all three of them a run for their money.

Jared stood and pulled me with him. “Okay?”

I nodded, watching him walk into the tomb. “I’m sorry.”

I bolted for the top of the stairs, shoving the altar out of the way. I crawled out of the hole, squinting against the bright sun filtering in through the rotunda.

I took a deep breath, letting the warm, fresh air fill my lungs. I bathed in it, taking in every bit before Jared dragged me back underground. After a few seconds, the warm air went away, and the cold, dark feeling of the tomb surrounded me. Jared had barely let me take an entire breath before he’d forced me to return.

I opened my eyes and realized I was still in the Sepulchre. The room was full of shells, poised to pounce. I could hear Jared crawling up the stairs, yelling my name, but immediately I was attacked. I fought off one, and then two and three at a time. By the time Jared reached the top, I had already taken out half the shells in a fury of moves I didn’t even have to think about. A small woman threw herself at me, her arms flailing about. Jared incapacitated her with a single blow. Claire and Ryan reached the top, quickly followed by Bex, and the mob inside the Sepulchre quickly thinned. More filed in, though, and we were running out of room.

“Back up!” Jared commanded. “Back downstairs!”

The walls shook, and two large, dark forms squeezed their misshapen bodies into the entrance of the Sepulchre. They weren’t shells, but demons, large demons with gray skin and mouths full of teeth under moist snouts.

The one on the right grabbed Jared while the other took my shirt in one hand, and slammed my back against the opposite wall.

“Hey!” Kim yelled from the mouth of the stairway. “Get the hell out of here!” Even though the monsters stood two heads taller than her, she didn’t seem nervous in the slightest. The demons wailed at her, shielding themselves with their shoulders, but they didn’t retreat.

The demon that Jared fought barked at the black-eyed minions filing into the room, and before anyone could react, a half-dozen of the shells dove at Kim, pushing her down the stairway. Her scream faded as she rolled further underground.

Bex leapt in after her, and Claire and Ryan went to work on Jared’s demon.

I tried to rip my shirt to escape the grip of the brute, but his hands were gigantic, and I couldn’t break free. A shell in military fatigues slipped into the room, walked to me without hesitation, and held a pistol to my temple.

The demon holding me signaled his partner, capturing Jared, Claire and Ryan’s attention as well. In a move so fast I could barely follow, Jared pulled his sidearm from his belt and held it on the shell. The entire room froze.

“Don’t. Move,” Jared said.

I nodded. I was sure he was furious with me. His eyes glossed over, and his teeth clenched.

The shell spoke. “We’re taking her out of this place. Do not follow, or we’ll cut the child from her in the street.”

Jared held his gun on the shell, his entire body shaking with rage. Finally he lowered his weapon a little. “I love you,” he said, immediately tensing his arms again.

I smiled. “It’s okay. You’ll just save me like you always do, right?”

“Right. Just wait for me.”

“I’ll wait for you,” I said.

Hesitant, and clearly conflicted, Jared lowered his weapon. In the next moment, I was dragged backward with such force I felt I was flying. The rooms of the Sepulchre flew past, and then I was in the sunlight. The streets blurred as the demon raced me through the old city. A few minuts later, I was dragged into an old building.

The fiend tossed me, and I skidded to the middle of a room. At first glance, the room was a filthy mess, and then I realized the pile of sheets was a provisional bed. No medical supplies or baby blankets.

“What will you do to him?” I asked, hesitant to make eye contact with the rotting pile of flesh standing at the door.

“He waits to devour him.”

I groaned. Pain seared through my body, and I knew I would have to calm down if I were to slow down the contractions. The more time I gave Jared to reach us, the better chance we had. I climbed onto the tufts of sheets, and leaned back on the heels of my hands.

A shell, a large woman, was allowed entry. I braced myself to be attacked, but she grabbed a fistful of my sweat-drenched hair, lifted me to my feet, and then ripped off my clothes with her free hand. She pulled an oversized nightgown over my head, pushing me to the floor. I raised my hands to defend myself, but she only grabbed my wrists and tied them with cloth restraints attached to wires. Those thick wires were fastened to the cement floor with bolts. Once she completed her task, the woman left me alone with the demon.

Dirty windows lined the wall to my left. The outlines of dozens of shells cast shadows against the muddy glass. I wondered if I could take the giant standing guard at the door, but I knew that Jared and Claire had trouble with him, and I hadn’t exactly trained how to ignore labor pains while on the offensive. I subtly tested the bolts. They seemed fairly secure, but I was sure I could break free when the time came. The one exit would pose a problem; I didn’t know what else waited on the other side. I could probably break through the window, but once again, the contractions…

I tensed, trying to breath through the pain. “Oh…my God !” I grunted. Deep breaths turned into panting. Sweat dripped from my hairline into my eyes. Just when I thought I might break in half, the contraction subsided. I let my body relax against an old cushion propped against the wall.

“Can I have some water?” I asked.

The demon’s beady eyes shifted toward me. He snarled, and then looked ahead.

The cramping grew more intense with the next few contractions, and then I felt a warm gush between my legs. When I looked down at the clear liquid that had drenched the sheets, I realized my water had broke. A short relief of pressure came, quickly followed by a spasm so intense that I nearly passed out.

I wailed, and moved back against the wall. Nothing I did escaped the agony. “Please,” I whimpered between breaths, “help me.” Another wave washed over me; my blood-curdling screams echoed throughout the building. The panting didn’t help, nothing helped. My hands balled into fists, shaking and white-knuckled.

When the agony paused for a minute or two, I would let my body fall limp against the cushion. Already exhausted, I knew unless Jared saved us, my abilities would be worthless.

The intensity of the next contraction took me by surprise, and I sat up straight, my knees bent and widely spread, I straining against my restraints. Unsure of what I was even saying, my mouth formed every obscenity I’d ever heard in my life. When it was over, I collapsed against the cushion, bawling, whimpering for my husband. Pressure between my thighs provoked me to reach down. Something soft and wet, covered in hair was barely peeking out from inside me. The baby was beginning to crown. I looked to the demon. He didn’t even seem to be on alert. Jared wasn’t even close.

I closed my eyes, making a concentrated effort to relax all of my muscles. Even when the pain came again, I refused to give into it. I refused to push. When the agony became too much, I held my screams inside. Any tensing on my part could push out the baby, and that was something I refused to do until I saw my husband. The waved crashed into me, and I lowered my chin to my chest, bit my lip, and stared intently at the wall across the room. I would. Not. Push.