Free Web NovelChapter 253: Chapter 252 - Plan
Breakfast came with canned food and stale crackers on the table.
Iyisha woke later than everyone. Her body felt heavy before she even opened her eyes, and when she sat up, her stomach turned like she had moved too fast. She stayed still for a moment, one hand gripping the edge of the mattress until the room settled.
Malcolm was not beside her.
She found him downstairs near the window with Lance. They were talking low, but both of them stopped for half a second when she came in. Malcolm looked at her face first, then lower. He caught himself and turned back to the window.
Iyisha pretended she did not see it.
Marybeth pushed a plate toward her. "Eat. I gave you more."
Iyisha looked at the food. Cold beans. Sardines. Crackers that had gone soft inside the box. Her stomach rolled again.
"I’m not hungry."
Marybeth did not move the plate back. "Eat anyway."
Iyisha picked up the spoon because arguing took more strength than chewing. The first bite sat heavy on her tongue. She swallowed it dry and stared at the table.
Arnulf sat across from them with a can in his hand. He looked older in the daylight. More tired. Marybeth watched him for a while before asking about the island.
Arnulf took his time answering. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked toward the blocked front door like the island was somewhere beyond it. "It’s a place I prepared in case there was war."
Marybeth’s eyes narrowed. "A bunker?"
"Partly," he said. "House above. Storage below. Water system. Fence. Hidden rooms. Supplies if no one touched them."
He smiled once, bitter and short.
"Then something worse than war happened."
Marybeth leaned back and nodded like she was already measuring the place in her head. Iyisha watched her instead of Arnulf. That look meant Marybeth was not thinking about herself.
Marybeth shifted closer and lowered her voice. "You need to go there after the raid."
Iyisha’s spoon stopped halfway to her mouth.
Marybeth looked down.
Iyisha put the spoon back on the plate. "It’s too early to plan."
Marybeth lifted her eyebrows at her.
Iyisha sighed. She had actually thought of where to stay if she’s pregnant. Heart Community came into mind first but it is a safe zone. Whitewater second. But she crossed it out of her list. The last time they were there the government is encouraging the community to be a government supported zone.
Whitewater as a free zone now is good but not sure or permanent. Something might happen.
If she was pregnant, Whitewater was not safe enough.
She looked toward the window.
Malcolm and Lance stood close together. Lance was pale, one arm wrapped around himself. Malcolm kept his eyes outside, but his jaw was tight. Iyisha knew what they had been talking about.
She remembered him on the floor last night.
She did not want it either.
She knew that.
She did not want to give birth out here. She did not want to hide from ERF while her body changed. She did not want to become slower. She did not want to need help they did not have.
But if it was already there, then wanting came too late.
The food thickened in her throat. She forced herself to swallow and almost gagged.
Marybeth nudged her plate. "Eat more. You’re eating for 2."
Iyisha stared at the beans. "You think I can be a mother?"
Marybeth looked at her for a long second, then gave a tired grin. "Honestly? No."
Iyisha laughed once. It came out bitter.
Marybeth shrugged. "I can’t see you carrying a baby around and talking softly. I can see you threatening people who wake it up."
Iyisha looked down despite herself.
"But Malcolm?" Marybeth glanced toward the window. "He’d be good."
Iyisha’s mouth tightened. "He doesn’t want the baby."
Marybeth picked up a cracker and broke it in half. "That doesn’t mean he’ll abandon it."
"It matters."
"It does." Marybeth ate the cracker, then spoke with her mouth half full. "But wanting and staying are different things. Some people want children and still become shit parents. Some people don’t want them and still show up every day."
Iyisha did not answer.
Marybeth leaned closer. Her voice dropped. "If there was a safe way to end it, I’d tell you to think about that too."
Iyisha went still.
Marybeth did not soften it. "But there isn’t. Not here. Not with your body already changed. You could bleed out. You could get fever. You could die before we even reached help."
Iyisha stared at her.
She had thought about dying in childbirth about ERF, about dirty beds and no doctors. But she had not let herself think of ending it.
Her hand went to her stomach.
She meant to pull it away.
She did not.
The touch stayed there over her dirty shirt.
Marybeth saw it and went quiet.
Iyisha looked down at her own hand. She did not feel love. She did not feel ready. She did not even know if there was anything there. But the moment Marybeth said it, something in her body had refused.
No.
Not that.
Not yet.
Maybe not ever.
She swallowed hard. "I don’t even know if it’s real."
Marybeth’s voice softened, but only a little. "Then eat until you know."
Iyisha looked at the plate again.
The food still looked awful.
She picked up the spoon anyway.
Across the room, Malcolm turned from the window. His eyes went to her hand on her stomach. This time she did not move it.
Tilly put down her bowl hard at the table. "We need to go to the lab."
Malcolm walked back to the kitchen table.
Arnulf looked around the table. "We need to prepare. We don’t have weapons."
Tilly leaned back in her chair. "Then find them. We can’t sit here and wait."
Chanse stepped behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Tilly, stop."
She shrugged him off without looking at him.
Malcolm stood beside Iyisha’s chair and put one hand on the backrest. "We need weapons. We need rest too, but she’s right. The lab might already know we got out of Long Island."
Arnulf nodded once. "Then let’s find a gun shop." He looked at Archie. "How’s Harry?"
Archie paused with the can still in his hand. "I gave him breakfast in his room. He’s good."
"He would know where to find one. Get him."
Archie stood and went for the stairs.
Iyisha kept eating while Malcolm stayed beside her. She could feel him watching every bite, and it made her shoulders stiff. She swallowed one mouthful, then another, but the food stayed heavy in her throat.
She finally looked up at him. "Did you eat?"
He shook his head.
Marybeth stood before he could move away. "Sit down, Malcolm. Make her finish that."
Malcolm paused.
Iyisha expected him to refuse. Instead, he pulled the chair beside her and sat down. His hand rested on the table, close to her plate. His knuckles were split. The cut on his neck had opened again.
Iyisha looked at his empty hands, then at her food. She scooped a small portion and held the spoon toward him.
"Eat."
Malcolm stilled.
For a second, he only looked at the spoon.
Iyisha almost pulled it back.
Then he leaned forward and ate.
Their eyes met. Neither of them spoke.
He swallowed and pushed the plate closer to her. "You too."
His eyes dropped for half a second.
She saw it.
He looked back at her face too late.
Iyisha’s throat tightened. She nodded and forced another bite down. Her eyes stung, and she hated that such a small thing could break through her.
A voice came from the stairs.
"Still human." frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Harry stood there with Archie behind him. He looked bad. He was pale but better than she expected. Tilly pushed her chair back and moved away before he reached the bottom.
Harry saw it.
He gave a short laugh and stopped near the stairs. "Fair enough."
Iyisha tried to smile at him. It came out weak.
Harry scratched the back of his neck. "If you want guns, I remember my hunting buddy talking about a shop in the east Bronx. I don’t know the name."
Arnulf leaned forward. "Where?"
"Corner shop around White Plains Road."
The room shifted toward Iyisha.
She swallowed another bite because Malcolm was still beside her, still watching without trying to look like he was watching.
"I know White Plains," she said.
Arnulf pushed his can aside. "Good. We finish eating, check the street, then move." "You stay close," he said.
She wanted to snap at him. She wanted to say she was not weak, not useless, not something he had to place behind him.
Instead, she took another bite. ƒгeewёbnovel.com
Malcolm watched her swallow. Then he looked back toward the window.
Marybeth slid the last cracker onto Iyisha’s plate.
Iyisha stared at it for a second.
Then she ate that too.
They had cold food, one lead on a gun shop, and no time to feel ready.
After that, they moved.
