MC's Viking Warriors- Bear #1

Part 2- Astrid

As my eyes frantically scan the landscape for any sign of salvation I realise that the back of the car has been strangely peaceful. I glance over my shoulder quickly and see that the gentle rumbling of the engine beneath us has finally lulled my baby boy to sleep.

For hours he has been grizzling on and off, even my singing didn't calm him down which is unusual for my Liam.

The flight, I scarcely managed to afford from the money I grabbed as I fled, caused him great distress, he screamed himself into oblivion.

Finally, he snuffled his tears out as I packed him into the cheapest car I could afford that would take us far away from civilisation and him.

Canada seemed like a good choice.

For most a screaming baby is common, but for Liam it was a luxury he was never allowed. I shudder at the memory and turn my focus back to the crisp, snowy road.

You can see your breath in the cheap car, it is so freezing in here my bones ache. I just about managed to rent it, not that I have any means to return it I just hope they don't have some sort of tracking device on this vehicle but honestly that would probably be worth more than this car I'm just about driving.

Luckily for me, my father gave me a few driving lessons at my grandfather's field before everything happened. If he hadn't done that I don't know what I would have done.

I've been driving for a day now, stopping only for gas and some baby food for Liam. I snacked on a few cheap bags of crisps I decided I had to buy when I felt faint from hunger.

My pregnant belly was concerning in size, small, despite me being 6 months along and I knew I had to keep eating. I wouldn't be any good to Liam if I faint at the wheel, that was the only way I could motivate myself to keep the food in my stomach and not on the road.

Eyes heavy with exhaustion and body aching from exertion, I crane my neck around to check on him once again.

I've bundled him under as many blankets as I could find, including my hoody. I can't stand the thought of him getting cold or sick, he's my baby boy and I don't have much to give him, but a hoody is all I have.

He's now sleeping as soundly as his night terrors will allow him to. I smile softly he's my love, my soul.

A blinding flash of lights and a horn ram past the small car as I realise in horror I have drifted into the other lane. My exhaustion now becoming critical and dangerous.

I need to sleep.

Glancing along the road, I search for lights. I just need a drive, an inlet, somewhere that's not immediately visible to the road so I can pull over and try to sleep for an hour or two.

Unfortunately, I couldn't take much money with me, just what I could grab as I fled- which essentially was enough for the plane tickets and this car that's more rust than anything else.

The heater is broken, and that's why it's freezing. I'm not sure if sleeping in the car is a safe option at all, but it's all I have. Keeping my baby safe is all I care about now... And to keep him safe, He must never find us.

A tiny glow flickers in my eye. A light,
maybe. A drive or something. I don't really care, all it means is it's a place off the road that I could pull over into for a few hours.

Slowly, I increase my pace. Desperation takes over. After a few more minutes of driving I can see more lights.

Pulling up into the drive, I am suddenly filled with dangerous foreboding, maybe this was a bad decision.

The gate looks tough and ominous, not somewhere that would be ok with a single mother camping out on their property.

Whatever my fate, it's too late now, two dark figures have appeared from beside the gate and are stalking towards me. I tremble in my seat, glance at my still sleeping boy, unbuckle myself and stumble out of the car.

Icy blasts of frigid wind bite at me, I shiver in the clothes I'm wearing, which are extremely ill suited to the Canadian Winter. Just anT-shirt and sweatpants, the outfit I was wearing when escape became a possibility.

At least the snow has calmed for a minute. The wind is still sending snarling shards of frost into my pinpricked skin.

"E-excuse me?" I venture softly and politely. "C-could-d..." I try desperately to stop my teeth from chattering... " you h-help me."

The cold hurts my head, but I freeze as the barrel of a gun meets my temple. Instinctively I start to weep. My body is ripped apart by vicious flash backs and I bite my lip in a futile attempt to stop the tears.

"Who the fuck are you?" A barking voice snarls. Not the voice holding a gun, another voice.

"I-I'm no one, just tired. I wanted to rest. Just in the car. Off the road."

"Here?" The voice from the dark spits again.

I nod as much as I dare.

"Just to rest?" I stay silent after my plea, I look up at him with pleading eyes, imploring him to help me.

"Well I find that pretty hard to fucking believe." The gun voice snarls in my face and makes me wince and tremble even more.

What is this place I've unwittingly stumbled upon as I was looking for hope and salvation.

"On your knees!"

When I don't react quickly enough, I am shoved to the icy ground savagely. I panic as I feel my body falling though the air so I wrap my arms around my ever growing stomach to protect it.

It's at this desperate and inopportune moment that my boy wakes up. And promptly begins to scream. His night terrors, they plague him in sleep and in consciousness at least when he's awake he knows I am with him. In his dreams I can't protect him from his fears.

"P-please," I look up at the men from the ground, who now wear unreadable expressions on their faces in the dark of the night, "let me go to him. He needs me."

"You stay where you are!" I bite my lip and feel the tears again as I hear my baby weep and cry- frightened, confused and alone.

My heart breaks for him, my chest burns with the need to soothe his terror. But I can't.

"Alright, I'm calling Pres." One of the two decide, I no longer care who's talking.

I'm listening to my baby as he falls into a catatonic state of pure terror. He is always like this when his father appears, in his dreams and in his reality.

The monster of his existence.

Seconds pass agonisingly slowly- he's gone silent. To some that may seem good, to me I know it means he has slipped down so deep inside his fear it will take days to draw him back out.

"Mu-mu-muma?" His little voice, juddered with sobs, shatters the frigid silence of the waiting game I am playing on the frozen floor. It's the only word he can say, but I couldn't be more proud, he's only 9 months so it's very early for him to be saying anything.

My whole body is burning, especially my back. Kneeling on any floor whilst 6 months pregnant would be a nightmare, let alone snow covered concrete in the beginnings of some kind of blizzard

"Have you no heart!" I finally scream at them as I tear my eyes around to the car and the pain in my body becomes unbearable.

I'm so cold. So cold.

A gun slams into my cheek and I fall down. Hard.

"None at all." Is his brutal reply.

Unable to muster the strength to move, I lay in the snow... and pray for a miracle.