of blood and lies ; dystopian

47

past

I woke up with an ache in my spine.

I shifted and groaned against the table under my back. My vision was blurry, a few stray tears slipping down the sides of my face. My head felt like it had split open.

I turned my head and looked around the room. Everything spun, producing a blur around me.

My stomach throbbed, tearing my focus away from my head. As the spinning stopped, the pain intensified inside of my core.

I looked down at my belly. My jaw began to tremble; I'd never been in so much pain in my life. I felt like I'd been stabbed-- over and over.

My belly was covered in blood. I tried to reach for it, to feel for the bump, but the tight cloth kept me restrained.

I pulled my eyes away from my bloody belly, and up toward Karro. It took a moment to focus; I recognized him through the blur of whatever damage he had inflicted on my head.

His arms were crossed over his stomach as he watched the woman beside him. She was a blurry mess, but I could make out the knit of her face as she worked.

Her hands fiddled above my belly.

She was working on me.

I squinted through the blur-- she had stitches in her hands. Beneath the blood, I saw a few stitches holding my skin together.

Red filled the room, and then darkness. Over, and over. I couldn't have been asleep for that long; we were still under lockdown.

I looked around the room, catching glimpses of the doctor's office through the strobed light. I recognized this room. It was not the office, but perhaps another doctor's office I'd been to. Maybe when I'd been assessed and examined, to make sure my dead Doctors had not broken anything inside of me.

My consciousness slid into darkness. I shut my eyes and let my head fall limp to the side.

When I came back, into consciousness, there was more blood. It was oozing out of my belly as the nurse beside Karro frantically tried to stitch my belly up.

Karro did not look at me. His eyes were on my belly, watching the nurse's movements.

My eyelids grew heavier, and I felt my body threatening to slip back into unconsciousness.

I looked at the tray beside her before I passed out again.

I stiffened.

There was something on the tray. It was wrapped in a bloody white towel, concealing most of it.

I was able to see two tiny, bloody, and blue feet sticking out of the bottom. Too small. Too bloody. Too blue.

My head fell to the side, and I moved my gaze up to Karro.

He still hadn't looked at me.

He ran a hand down his face and his foot impatiently tapped against the floor.

"It's done, sir." The nurse pulled away from my belly.

My vision had cleared, slightly. I was able to scan her figure. Her black strands fell loose in her face, and two streaks of gray framed her face. She wore Blood attire. A traitor. It was rare. I couldn't imagine how hard she had to act to avoid being caught. How had I not realized?

"Thank you," Karro replied, dismissing the girl.

Karro leaned down, unfastening the restraints that held me down. He wouldn't look at me. He looked everywhere but me.

I did not fight him. I stayed limp and weak, allowing him to do as he wished.

His lips pressed into my ear. "You can't have a child where you are going, anyways," he whispered. I could barely hear him through the fuzz and ringing in my ears.

He scooped his arms under my back and legs, hauling me from the table.

I closed my eyes, threatening to fall back into unconsciousness. He started to walk out of the room, and into a cold hallway.

"Just kill me," I whispered, limp in his arms. My stomach ached so terribly-- I couldn't feel anything anymore.

"No." His voice was stern.

I let my head fall limp against his chest.

Everything was gone.

If Karro had a gun in reach, I would put a bullet through my head.

Karro.

The Anaka.

The Blood.

It was all gone. I was gone.

"Please kill me," I slurred. I could feel some form of drug swimming through my head. "I just want to die."

Karro shook his head, his eyes ahead.

"Rot in hell," he said. I slipped back into an unconscious state.