"Oh my God, my water just broke!" Vivian froze, as her hands flew to her stomach.
Downstairs, a loud bang rattled the metal door of the abandoned warehouse. The zombies were trying to get in.
She could feel the warm liquid rushing down her legs, soaking right into her blood stained clothes. Time was running out.
Not now. Please, not now.
She looked down at her swollen belly. Eight months and three weeks. She wasn’t supposed to go into labor yet. Not when the building was surrounded. Her baby chose the worst moment to enter the world.
"No..." Her breathing became shallow. "No, no, no."
Another crash shook the building.
"Julian!"
Her boyfriend rushed toward her. His face was pale. Vivian looked at him, expecting to hd her hands and offer assistance. Instead, Julian stood with his arms crossed, looking down at her with cold eyes.
Vivian grabbed his arm. "I.. I think I’m going into labor. My water broke."
"Are you for real? You’re having a baby right now?"
She struggled to breathe through the pain. She didn’t choose when the baby would come out. Why was he looking at her like she did this on purpose?
At the end of the room, Chloe, Vivian’s stepsister, was tightening her shoelace, ignoring her cry.
"Please. The baby is... Chloe, please help me."
A scream echoed from the hallway outside. Then came the sound of something dragging across the floor.
Vivian’s heart nearly stopped.
"They’re inside." Julian looked toward the door.
She reached for him. But he didn’t take her hand, and stepped backward instead.
Vivian stared at him in confusion. "What are you doing? Why are you pulling away?"
"You’re going to slow us down," Julian said, flatly. "Another group wants to help us, and they asked for only two people."
She froze. "What? You told them we are three, right?"
He glanced down at her belly. "Are we?"
She looked at her boyfriend in shock. "I’m misunderstanding this. Tell me what’s happening, Julian."
He said nothing.
"Tell me!"
"See Viv, you’ve been slowing us down for what... six months?"
"I’ve been pregnant with your child for as long as I can remember, Julian!"
"He means you’re the bait tonight, Vivian," Chloe finally said, walking over. "You’re dead weight. A pregnant woman in an apocalypse? Sounds ridiculous, you know. It’s time you finally became useful."
"Julian, this is your child!" Vivian screamed. She gripped her stomach as tears dropped from her eyes. "How can you do this?! I saved your life three times! You promised to be there for me!"
"And we’re very grateful," Chloe sneered. She held Julian’s hand and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Don’t worry, your sacrifice will buy us enough time to drive away. Your baby can be a midnight snack for the zombies. Love you, sis."
For a moment, Vivian simply stared at their joined hands. The pain in her stomach was nothing compared to the betrayal tightening her chest.
"You monsters!" Vivian choked out.
Her stepsister looked away, but Julian kept staring at her.
"You’ve been sleeping with her, haven’t you?" Vivian whispered. "How long?"
"Vivian... not now."
"How long?!"
Her stepsister finally spoke for him. "Three months. You’re heavily pregnant, Vivian. He’s a man. He has needs. It’s just common sense. You should understand."
Three months. Vivian stared at them. That meant while she was fighting monsters, carrying his baby... they were together.
Her hand covered her belly. The baby kicked.
"You’ve been cheating on me for three months?"
Her boyfriend sighed, rubbing his neck. "Things changed. All men cheat, I’m not the first. Stop making it a big deal."
"Things changed? All men cheat? Who are you, Julian?!"
Vivian couldn’t believe these were the words he chose. She had spent months protecting him. She had watched people die while he slept safely behind walls she had helped build. And this was her reward.
"You could have told me," she shook her head in denial.
He looked away. "There was no point."
"No point? Was there no point because you already decided to leave me to die?"
His silence answered everything.
Outside, the zombies screamed. A siren began to blast in the distance. Julian looked toward the door, then toward the window.
"We’re leaving," he said.
Vivian stared at him. "Where?"
He didn’t answer.
Chloe whispered, "That’s our signal. The other group is waiting downstairs."
Vivian’s heart kept racing. She looked between them, hoping they would change their mind. "You’re really going to leave me here?"
"We don’t have a choice."
She stumbled backward against the wall. Her voice cracked. "You have a choice! You don’t even want your own child!"
"Vivian!" He sighed, shaking his head. "Stop making this difficult."
Difficult? She had loved him. She was carrying his blood. And now he was standing in front like he doesn’t know her anymore.
A zombie slammed into the apartment door again. The hinges groaned.
"We’re out of time," Julian said.
Vivian crawled forward and grabbed the edge of his shirt. "Please." She hated herself for saying it. She despised her own weakness. But she begged anyway. "Please don’t leave me."
For a second, something like guilt flickered across his face. Then Chloe pulled him away.
"We have to go, babe," Chloe urged.
Vivian stared at them as Julian opened the emergency exit door. Before stepping through, he looked back once.
"I’m sorry."
He turned his back on the woman who had fought through hell for him. The woman carrying his own child. Then slammed the door shut and locked it from the outside.
Vivian was trapped.
The apartment became quiet.
The front door burst open. A zombie stumbled into the room, its mouth was covered in blood and its eyes were cloudy. Vivian screamed. She grabbed a frying pan from the counter and smashed it against its head. The zombie collapsed.
But another one crawled through the broken doorway. Then another. Then five more.
"Oh God." Vivian backed away. "Baby..." Her voice shook. "Mommy’s here."
The baby kicked hard. Vivian kept crying, as she ran. She didn’t know where she was going. She only knew she had to protect the life inside her. She ran down the dark hallway, past bodies of neighbors she recognized. Her legs were shaking.
Suddenly, her stomach tightened. A pain shot through her back.
"No!" she screamed, grabbing the wall. The pain was unbearable. The baby was coming right now. "Not yet! Please..."
Another contraction made her stop. She stumbled into an empty room and slammed the door shut, locking the latch. Outside, the scratching grew louder.
Vivian collapsed onto the floor. She could barely breathe in the room. "I can’t do this... I can’t..."
She shoved her arm into her mouth, biting down on her own skin until blood came out, using the pain to hold her screams.
There was only agony, blood, and the sound of dead things scratching at the door.
Then....a tiny cry filled the room.
Vivian froze. She looked down at the blood in her hands.
Her baby. Her tiny, beautiful baby.
Vivian laughed through her tears. "Oh..."
She carefully pulled the newborn baby into her arms. "You’re okay. You’re here."
The baby cried louder. Vivian pressed her lips against her baby’s forehead, touching her baby’s red hair. "Mommy’s here. I’ll protect you. I promise."
The door broke.
Vivian looked up, her smile instantly disappeared. Zombies flooded into the small space.
"No," she whispered, pulling her baby tighter against her chest. She crawled backward until her back hit the wall. "Stay away! Get away from her!"
There were too many. She had no weapon, no strength left, and no one was coming to save them. The government had failed. The Sentinels and Guides had disappeared years ago, abandoning humanity to die. No one was coming. No miracle could save her.
The monsters surrounded her. She turned her back, shielding her baby. "It’s okay. Mommy won’t let them hurt you."
A zombie teeth sank into her shoulder. She screamed, but she did not let go. She squeezed her baby tighter.
Another set of teeth tore into her back. Blood soaked through her clothes. Yet, she kept whispering. "Don’t be scared..."
Her tears fell onto the baby’s crying face.
"Don’t be scared, sweetheart. I’ll name you Aurora. My beautiful Aurora..."
She could feel them tearing her apart. She could feel her life slipping away into the dark.
Julian. Chloe. The Sentinels who left us.
I hate you. I hate all of you.