AFTER YOU SAVED ME // ZESSA

Chapter 33: No, My Babies

TRIGGER WARNING: VIOLENCE, DEATH, AND CHILD ABUSE. Do not continue if dark themes such as these make you uncomfortable. Reminder this is all fiction.

Tessa's POV

I close my eyes in fear, squeezing them shut as the ringing in my ears builds. You would not believe how incredibly loud a single gunshot is in the echo chamber of a boiler room.

Opening them slowly, I look towards where Zed was standing, and see both him and Anna... or Heather, whoever she is, squeezing their eyes shut as they almost cling to each other – even with the knife in Zed's hand steadily placed against Anna's throat.

But they are unharmed, opening their eyes slowly to assess themselves in disbelief that Dan did not shoot them.

"That was a warning. Don't test me again," Dan says, lowering his gun slightly to point back in Zed's direction. "Now give me. My. Baby. Or it will be her next," Dan seethes, nodding in my direction as the baby in his other arm finally calms, and the one in Anna's bag screams.

Anna is still trembling in fear as Zed loosens his grip on her slightly, allowing her to reach in the bag with both arms and grab the crying infant.

"No!" I scream, the grip on my wrist tightening under Hardin's powerful grasp. "Don't give her to him Zed!"

Zed only stares at me, his eyes frantic and pleading as they bore into mine. He shakes his head, just barely, and I know what he is trying to say. He is willing to trade our precious daughter in order to keep me safe.

Well fuck that.

"No," I say defiantly, looking straight at Dan, who stares back at me in uncertainty. "You will not be taking her – because she is not yours."

Dan's eyes darken as he takes a step in my direction, the baby in his left arm now quieting. Hardin mirrors Dan's moves to keep most of my body behind his safe frame.

"Listen you dirty cunt, I'm taking my children whether you like it or not –"

"No, you are NOT!" I scream back, cutting him off mid-sentence. "Because they are not yours you STERILE PRICK."

Dan falters a bit, his gun lowering every so slightly before bringing it back up to face me and Hardin. "LIAR!"

With all my force, I yank one hand free from Hardin's grip, letting me to swing out to the side and get a full view of this monster.

"Tessa!" Hardin yells, grabbing my trapped arm with two hands now, as I point at Dan with the other.

"It's true! You can't fucking have children you –" I scream before Zed shouts over me.

"Enough Tessa!" he yells, as I turn to him in slight shock. I have never heard Zed yell at me like this or seen Zed this enraged in my life. The veins around his neck look as though they are about to burst as his skin turns a deep shade of red and his hands shake, cutting Anna slightly as she looks on in horror.

Turning the gun to Zed, I see Dan's resolve begin to crack. "You liars. You're making shit up. Now give me that fucking baby or I swear I'll fucking kill one of you right now!" he shouts, his lips trembling in doubt.

"Ask your mom," I say coolly, feeling almost possessed. "You were sick as a kid, weren't you?" I take a small step forward as Hardin tries to yank me back. "You know I'm right," I finish with a sickening smile, unable to stop the joy I feel at his pain.

"Fuck Tessa, stop!" Zed demands, as Anna clutches the very agitated baby girl to her chest.

"How the fuck... no. You're fucking with me. SHUT UP!" Dan screams, jerking the gun at me as he moves closer.

"Tell him, Hardin," I whisper, moving closer to the gun – challenging Dan.

"Tessa, please," Hardin mumbles, his hands a bit gentler on my arms this time, as if he does not want to set me off any further.

"TELL HIM," I shout, snapping my head back to Hardin, trying to pull my remaining arm from his grasp as the rage nearly consumes me and my body starts to shake.

"Okay, okay. I'll tell him." The soothing touch on the back of my hand and his willingness to confess finally calms the burning hate inside me – if only slightly.

"Hardin, don't," Zed pleads to no avail, Hardin simply ignoring him.

"It's true Dan," Hardin says quietly, staring at the floor. "Your mother told us."

"You don't know my fucking mother, no one does!" Dan shouts. Though he is clearly still enraged, he has loosened his grip on the gun slightly, but keeps it pointed at me, as the baby in his other arm squirms a bit.

"Donna," Hardin murmurs, finally looking up at Dan, who visibly shutters at the sound of her name. "Her name is Donna, right?"

I look on in weighted suspense. Dan could kill me at any moment but seeing his face right now is indescribable – the revenge I have been waiting months for as his prisoner is here.

"How did – how did you know that?" Dan stutters, looking around the room at each one of us, as if we were not real and this had to be some sort of dream.

"Because we met her," Zed speaks. "She told us how you had an infection as boy..." he whispers, stifling a cry as he shakes his head. "The babies aren't yours. So please give them back to me. Please. I'll give you your sister back and you can just... leave."

"No," Dan stammers, shaking his head in denial. "No, they are mine. We...we had sex – and the timing makes sense. They're mine," he says, his voice deepening as he stares me down through the barrel of the gun.

"We didn't have sex you fucking monster. YOU RAPED ME," I yell back, trying to get closer to him and scream in his face, to let out all the anger that has built inside me since that horrible night almost 8 months ago – but Hardin will not allow it. "You RAPED me," I seethe, the hot tears cascading down my sunken cheeks.

"Lying whore!" Anna shouts, before Zed tightens his grip around her neck and begins to choke her.

"You shut up," he says loudly in her ear, loosening his hold just enough for her to suck in a few ragged gasps of air.

"You see, Dan," I say, pronouncing his name in a sinister sing-songy voice. "They aren't yours. You can never have children – and it's exactly what you deserve."

He looks as if he could fall apart, lowering his gun to the floor. Hardin nearly release me when Dan suddenly snaps up, hate in his eyes.

"Well, if I can't have children, then neither can you!" he yells, as he points the gun at my sleeping son's head, pulls the trigger, and shoots him.