CHAPTER 9: THE HORDE

I woke up to Killian's hand still on my stomach.

It was 5:00 AM. The bunker was dark and warm. His big hand was spread over my flat belly like a shield. He was asleep sitting up against the headboard, his other hand still holding his gun on his lap, even in sleep. Guarding us. Guarding me and the 3-week-old secret inside me.

Pregnant. I was pregnant.

I touched my stomach. Flat, soft. Nothing to show. But inside, a heartbeat was starting. My baby. Not barren. Never barren.

The thought made tears come again, but good tears this time.

Then EVA spoke. And her voice was not calm anymore.

"Mr. Thorne. Ms. Thorne. Wake up. Immediate threat. Gate 3. The two humans from last night did not leave. They are still there. And they brought others. Many others. Movement sensors show 40+ heat signatures approaching Gate 3. Fast. Not human walk pattern. Infected. Horde."

My blood went ice cold.

Killian was awake in one second. Gun up. Eyes cold. Monster mode on. "EVA, main screen. Now."

The wall lit up. Night vision. Gate 3 outside camera.

What I saw made me scream.

Damian and Bianca were still there. They had not died. They had hidden behind my old gardening shed, the shed where I used to keep my roses. Bianca was sitting, holding her pregnant belly, crying. Damian was standing over her, holding a piece of wood like a weapon, bleeding badly from his arm. He looked like he had been fighting all night.

And behind them, coming over the hill from Raven City, was a line of red dots on EVA's heat sensor. So many. 40, 50, 60. Moving fast, jerky, like animals. Infected. The horde was real this time. Not EVA's lie. Real horde, attracted by Damian and Bianca's screaming last night. Their noise, their blood, their banging brought the dead.

"Oh my God," I whispered. "We brought them here. Our screaming last night brought them."

Killian was already moving, putting on his vest, extra bullets. "EVA, seal inner gate. Full lockdown. Air vents to minimum. How long before they reach outer steel door?"

"4 minutes, 12 seconds, Mr. Thorne. The two humans at Gate 3 will be overrun in 2 minutes if they stay."

2 minutes. Damian and Bianca would be eaten alive in 2 minutes.

I looked at the screen. Bianca saw the camera light turn on. She looked up, her face full of hope and terror. "ELENA! ELENA PLEASE! THEY ARE COMING! THE DEAD! PLEASE OPEN! PLEASE! MY BABY! MY BABY WILL DIE!"

Her baby. She used her baby again.

Damian fell to his knees again, looking at the camera, at me. "ELENA! I KNOW YOU ARE PREGNANT! I HEARD EVA! EVA'S SPEAKER WAS ON! I HEARD YOU ARE PREGNANT! PLEASE! YOU ARE A MOTHER NOW! YOU KNOW! YOU CANNOT LET A PREGNANT WOMAN DIE! PLEASE!"

He heard. He heard EVA say I was pregnant. The speaker outside was still on from last night. He heard everything.

My hand went to my stomach. Pregnant woman to pregnant woman. Mother to mother.

Killian saw my face. He came behind me, his hands on my shoulders. "Elena. No. You don't owe them. If you open that door, you risk our baby. You risk everything. The horde will follow them inside. 60 infected, maybe more. One bite and it's over. For you. For our pup."

Our pup. He said our pup again.

On screen, the horde was closer. I could see them now on camera. Not heat dots. Real people, but not people. Eyes white, mouths open, clothes torn, running fast. They were making that sound. That awful clicking sound the infected make when they smell blood.

Damian screamed and swung his wood at the first one that reached him. He hit it, but another grabbed his leg. Bianca screamed so loud even through the steel door I could hear it.

"ELENA! PLEASE! I DON'T WANT MY BABY TO DIE LIKE THIS! PLEASE! I WAS WRONG! I WAS WRONG ABOUT YOU BEING BARREN! I LIED! DAMIAN PAID THE DOCTORS! I KNEW! I KNEW AND I LAUGHED! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!"

She knew. Bianca knew Damian paid the doctors. She knew I was never barren and she laughed at me. She let me cry for three years thinking I was broken while she knew the truth.

And now she was about to be eaten alive while pregnant, begging the barren woman she mocked to save her baby.

The infected were on Damian now. Three on him, biting. He was screaming, but not my name anymore. Just screaming. Bianca was crawling towards our steel door, her hand reaching, pregnant belly in the mud.

"ELENA! PLEASE! OPEN! ONE INCH! JUST ONE INCH! MY BABY!"

I was shaking. Tears running. Not for her. For me. For the old me who would have opened. For the baby inside me who was innocent. For the baby inside her who was also innocent, even if the mother was evil.

Killian turned me away from the screen. "Don't look, wolf. Don't watch. It's not your fault. It's the apocalypse. Everyone dies who is outside. That's the rule. We made it. We stay alive. They die. That's how we protect our child."

But my doctor heart, my oath, the oath I took when I was 24, before I married Damian, before the world ended, that oath said "first, do no harm." It didn't say "let them die when you can save them."

"EVA," I whispered, my voice breaking. "Is there a way to save them without opening the main bunker? Without risking the inner gate?"

Killian's eyes flashed. "Elena, no."

EVA answered instantly. "Yes, Ms. Thorne. There is the old gardening shed decontamination airlock. Small, only fits two people. It is outside the main steel door, but inside the outer fence. It has its own air supply. You can open the outer fence gate remotely, let the two humans into the airlock, then seal it and decontaminate them. It will not breach main bunker. But... the horde is 60 seconds away. If you open outer fence now, the horde will also enter the yard. The two humans may not make it to the airlock before the horde reaches them. Risk is high. For them. Not for main bunker."

Risk for them, not for us. Save them, but they might die anyway trying.

I looked at Killian. He looked at me, torn between being a monster who would let the world burn to keep me safe, and being a man who loved a wolf with a kind heart, even when that kind heart hurt her.

"Killian, they have a baby," I whispered. "Two babies. Mine and hers. I can't... I can't let a baby be eaten when I have a box I can put them in. Even if they are evil. The baby is not evil."

He closed his eyes. For a second, I thought he would say no. Then he opened them, and they were full of love and anger at me for being so good.

"You are going to be the death of me, Elena Thorne," he said, but he was already pressing buttons. "EVA, open outer fence gate. Open gardening shed airlock outer door. Close in 90 seconds no matter who is inside or outside. And Elena..."

He looked at me, his hand on my stomach again. "If they hurt you, or our pup, I will kill them myself inside that airlock. I swear."

The screen showed the outer fence gate opening. A loud metal creak outside.

Bianca and Damian looked up. Hope. They saw the small shed airlock, 20 feet from main steel door, its light turning green.

"GO! AIRLOCK! SMALL SHED! NOW!" My voice boomed outside through speaker.

Bianca didn't wait. Pregnant, bleeding, she ran faster than I ever saw her run, belly bouncing, towards the small shed. Damian, bleeding from three bites now, crawled, then ran, pushing her, trying to get in first.

The horde was at the fence. First infected entered the yard.

Bianca reached the airlock, fell inside. Damian fell in after her. They were inside!

"EVA! CLOSE! CLOSE NOW!" I screamed.

EVA slammed the airlock outer door shut. And the outer fence gate shut too. Just in time. The first infected hit the fence, banging, clicking.

Inside the airlock camera, Bianca and Damian were on the floor, breathing hard, bleeding, alive. Trapped in a 6x6 metal box outside our main bunker, but alive. Not eaten.

Bianca was crying, holding her belly. Damian was holding his bleeding arm, looking at the camera, shock on his face.

"We... we are alive," Bianca whispered. "She saved us. Elena saved us."

I sank to the floor, my legs gone, my hand on my own belly, crying.

Killian knelt with me, holding me. "You saved them," he whispered, kissing my head. "My kind wolf saved the people who left her to die. Even though they lied about you being barren. Even though they laughed."

"They have a baby," I sobbed. "I couldn't let the baby die. Like mine..."

He held me tighter. "I know. That's why I love you. That's why our pup will be good. Because its mother is good even when the world is evil."

EVA spoke again, softly. "Decontamination starting for airlock. Warning: male human, Damian Reid, shows signs of infection. Bite marks on arm are infected. Not infected virus, but human bacteria. He needs antibiotics. Female human, Bianca Cole, vital signs of fetus: stressed but alive."

They were alive. In a box outside our palace. Bleeding, pregnant, alive because I, the barren woman, saved them.

And now we had to decide what to do with them. Keep them in the box? Let them into the main bunker with my baby?

Outside, the horde banged on the fence, 60 infected, smelling blood, wanting in.

Inside, I, Elena Thorne, not barren, pregnant with a monster's pup, had just saved the two people who made me think I was broken.