Beware The Dead

chapter 2

Michael explains that the baby is early, but still should be pretty healthy; however, it will be quite small. There is a possibility; however, that the baby could be smaller than a normal baby, but still able to breathe and feed on its own. I am fine with that. I could care less about what the baby looks like as long as the baby was fine.
"You need to take deep breaths. It will help," Damien smiles.
"I know, I remember helping Kayla have her baby."
"We will have to wait a while because you are not dilated enough," Michael says.
"Dilated?"
"Yes, when you are wide enough to push the baby out," he smiles. It does not seem to phase him talking about this stuff. If I was him, I would be too embarrassed to talk about it.
"Oh, okay. What am I at now?" Maybe it will be soon that I finally get to see the baby we created, me and Damien.
"About three centimeters. You have to be at ten before you can start pushing." I could not help it but groan in frustration.
"How long does that normally take?" I ask anxiously to see the baby.
"We don't know, however long it takes your body. Some people are in labor for hours, but I won't let it get that long," Michael explains how sometimes the body takes longer and how there is a medicine to speed things up.
"I can wait for however long I need to," Damien smiles looking at me.
"I don't think I can," I grimace. "It hurts."
We wait one hour, two hours, and three hours. Michael leaves the room to get me a drink while Andy stands in the corner; Damien squeezes my hands softly, and my dad sits in a chair near the bed. When Michael comes back, he checks how dilated I am.
"Only three more centimeters to go." 
"Only three," I say sarcastically. I hear Andy laugh a little to himself. This is the first time since he came in here that he has done something. After about twenty minutes, Michael checks again.
"Hey guess what? You are ready to push." I smile at Damien. "On the count of three, take a deep breath then push as hard as you can. After about ten seconds take a deep breath and don't push." I nod so he understands that I know what he has said. He counts to three and I take a deep breath then push. It hurts so bad. I lock Damien's hand in a death lock. After ten seconds I take deep breaths. I am extremely light headed and feel like passing out.
"Hurts... light headed..." I manage to get out between breaths.
"Kaylee, don't pass out on me. I see the head. Don't you want to see your baby?" Michael coaxes. I lean my head back and feel the whole world spinning. I feel a hand touch my arm and when I look over, I see that Andy has his hand on me. Quickly realizing Michael can see the head, I take a deep breath and push as hard as I can. When I look down at where Michael is, I see him holding a baby; however, something is not right. The baby looks bigger than Lily Rin was but is not responding to anything Michel does. Then he comes back. He kneels back down where he was before.
"What's going on?" I ask.
"Kaylee, I need you to push again," he urges.
"Why do I..."
"I see another head." Another head? Another baby! Twins! I take a deep breath and push. This baby quickly pops right out. The baby begins responding to the outside world with a loud cry unlike the first one. This baby is tiny, maybe a little bigger than Damien's hands cupped. Michael hands me the baby then leaves the room. Tears of joy flood my eyes then it all hits me. What happened to the first one? I hold the baby out so Damien can hold the baby. I remember Elizabeth telling me it is good to bond with the baby when they first come out into the world. Damien takes the baby and holds it close. Michael comes back into the room with the first baby. Something is wrong.
"Kaylee, I'm sorry to tell you this, but this baby, she, died. It seems she was infected and was feeding off of his food source." Michael holds her out. She has pieces of skin peeling off. She is a big baby while the second is tiny. I cry softly into my hands. Why is this world so cruel? The baby's finger tips are already black and she begins to quiver. In horror, I watch her open her eyes then reach for Michael.
"Why is this world so cruel?" I sob quietly.
"Do you want to do it or do you want me to do it?" Michael asks. I hold my hand out and he gives me a small knife. With shaking hands, I slide the knife through her temple. Her body becomes lifeless once again. Damien takes the knife and slides the other baby into my hands. I cradle it close to me while the tears cascad down my face.

"It's a boy," Damien says nearly in tears. "Kaylee, what are we going to name him?" 

"Ace Jackson," I smile sadly with tears still rolling down my face.
"That's a good name," Damien smiles back wiping away the tears.
"I need to take Ace to do some test and to see if he is going to be okay from the lack of nutrition," Michael says reaching for Ace. I relentlessly give him Ace then cuddle up to Damien. I am exhausted. This is too much stress for me to take. All I want to do is sleep. I want to sleep forever. Michael comes back with Ace a short time later.
"How is he?" Damien asks.
"He seems to be healthy. He is very tiny though and will need a lot of nutrients along with heat," he answers setting Ace in my arms. Ace opens his eyes to reveal beautiful, bright green and blue eyes. Then he begins whimpering.
"You might want to feed him," Andy says. I look over at him and shake my head to clarify it. Oh yeah, I remember. I move the dress thingy I am wearing and put Ace's mouth to my nipple. He begins sucking. It feels completely weird to me. Damien kisses my forehead.
"I love you."
"I love you too," I kiss his lips then lean my head back. I want to sleep... so sleepy. Ace's warmth contributes to this feeling.
"Do you want me to get the group to see or do you wanna rest?" Damien asks.
"It's fine. They can come see the baby," I smile sleepily. Damien, yet again, kisses my forehead then leans over and kisses Ace's head. He and Michael leave the room, leaving me with Andy and my dad. My dad comes over to me and kisses my head as well.
"I'm so proud of you," he smiles. "I will leave you to rest for now. I will be back later." Then he leaves the room. I feel weird being in a room with him alone. I wonder how Andy kept me from passing out. I was so close, but then he touched my arm. Was it the infected blood that connected us? I snap out of my thoughts when a hand touches my shoulder. I look up to see Andy.
"Are you okay?" He asks. His red eyes held sorrow in them.
"I'm fine," I smile glancing down at Ace.
"You seem to keep blacking out," he points out.
"I know. I'm fine. I'm just tired." He sighs and shakes his head. He grabs a stand of my hair and runs it through his fingers.
"I can sense something off about you," he looks deep into my eyes. "You have pretty eyes." I hesitate, not knowing what to say. Then I hear Damien in the hall. Andy steps back as Damien and the others entered the room. Cinna and Sam run up to me and hover over Ace.
"He's so cute!" Cinna exclaims. Sam pokes his leg softly.
"Why is he so little?" Sam asks. I hesitate.
"Um..."
"It's because that's how God wanted him to be," Cinna answers for me. God does not care about us. He never has and he never will. There is no such thing as God. It feels as if someone was staring at me. I look back to where Andy was to find him staring at me. Why does he keep staring at me? Ishe being protective over something that's not his or is he just studying me? I hear my name being called in the distance.
"What?" I ask looking up at Cinna.
"You blacked out," she points out.
"I'm sorry. I'm just tired," I smile kindly.
"Well, get some rest and we will come visit you later," she moves to be replaced by Elizabeth. We talk a bit and then she moves to the next person. It goes on for a while until the very last person leaves. I lean my head back and close my eyes.
"You tired?" Damien asks. I barely have the strength to answer so all I do is nod. "Get some rest. I will be right in here with you if you need anything. Do you want me to take Ace?" I open my eyes to see him still eating.
"No, he is still eating. If I fall asleep before he's done eating you need to burp him please," I yawn.
"{I love you, sweetie. I'm proud of you and I'm glad he's okay."
"I love you too. He's going to survive," I murmur before falling into the black abyss called sleep.