chapter Eight:The Silence Between Heartbeats

7:42 a.m. – Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Populated with too many cows, without enough cell towers

The Jeep went off in front of a red barn that smelled like honest work and horse shit this time around there was real silence with no servers humming, no satellites pinging, no ancient cult trying to unzip her uterus but just wind sounds that made of spoons and the distant lowing of something that had never heard of VossTech.

Aurora stepped out barefoot and walked on the cold grass she felt the cold this time she felt every human in her again she felt the quietness of the baby she felt the baby right there in her timmy,  She could feel her curled small and watchful, like a cat pretending to sleep,

Damien killed the engine and just sat there, hands still on the wheel, knuckles white with dried blood on his temple where the electrodes had been,his eyes  were normal again they were brown,looked exhausted and terrified.

Lila climbed out last, dripping melted lake water and rage, “I think  we should burn the Jeep, cleanse the earth, and never again to  speak of the last twelve hours again.”she said to Damien and Aurora who were still lost in their thoughts of what had happened the past 12 hours.,

There was a bang on the  screen door and right  there was an Amish woman in a navyblue dress and black apron she was  on the porch of the farmhouse, hands on hips she looked like she was in her mid forties, with her hair tied in a no-nonsense bun style, face like someone who’d birthed nine children and buried two without blinking,she looked furious

“You’re on private property,” she said I n Pennsylvania Dutch,but  then switched to English when no one answered fast enough “And you’re bleeding on my petunias.”she yelled at them

Aurora looked down,she realized she was really bleeding there was  a thin line of blood traced to her inner thigh an aftermath of whatever cosmic C-section had just happened on that lake, she gasped covering her mouth with her hand in shock

Damien found his voice first, “We need a phone He managed to say

The woman’s eyes flicked to Aurora’s belly, then to the shotgun Lila still carried like a security blanket,her face changed,she had this look of realization and pity,

“No phones,” she said “But there’s a midwife two miles west if the baby’s coming”she pointed at Aurora's tummy 

“She’s not,” Aurora snapped at her the woman stared at  her for a long second as if studying her ,my name’s Ruth Stoltzfus,and  You look like you’ve been dragged through hell backwards. The barn's warm,Oats for the horse, straw for the people. You can stay stick around till you figure out what’s chasing you.”Lila opened her mouth to argue but Aurora shook her head negatively signaling to her not to speak they were out of options and out of road anyways so they had no option rather than to stick with the barn.

9:18 a.m. – at The hayloft

Sunlight slipped  through gaps in the boards, dust swinging in slow motion Aurora sat on a bale, knees drawn up, Damien’s jacket around her shouldersIt still had  his cologne and a gunpowder scent,Lila paced, boots muffled by straw. “We can’t stay here. The Veil has satellites, private militias”she said panting

“They don’t have Amish,” Damien cut in His voice was raw. “No facial recognition works on beards and bonnets. There is no cell data, no license-plate readers, It’s analog camouflage.”is as though this place doesn't even exist to them he said

Aurora laughed, a cracked sound. “You want to hide in plain sight wearing suspenders and a straw hat?”

“I want you alive,” he said, and the words hurt more than they should have.

She looked away,“You stopped being in charge of that the night you served me divorce papers.”she said with a sigh

Silence stretched, it last like what looked like an hour, Lila stopped pacing. “I’m going to check the perimeter just to be safe and  try not to kill each other while I’m gone.” She climbed down the ladder, boots thudding,They were alone.

Damien sat across from her, elbows on knees. “I didn’t know about the serum, Aurora. I swear on” “Don’t.” She raised her hand completely shutting him up “Your oaths are worth less than the paper they were printed on”she said 

He flinched like she had struck him. “Then let me say something that still has value  I loved you I still ” His voice cracked  “I still do even if you hate me I know  you should.”but that doesn't stop the fact that I loved you he said amidst tears,

Aurora closed her eyes the baby moved, as if telling the mother that he is  lying with his mouth, but not with his pulse,She could hear it now, every heartbeat in a half-mile radius, if she listened a side effect she hadn’t asked for

“You drugged me in Zurich,” she said quietly

“I thought it was fertility treatment, The clinic was Veil-owned,they told me you wanted a baby more than anything I was desperate to give you that” He dragged a hand over his shaved scalp. “By the time I realized… it was too late.”he told her

Aurora opened her eyes gold flecks danced in her irises it was more than before. “You knew what they took from me the night you handed me those papers.”

“I knew they were moving in. I thought if I pushed you away if you hated me you’d run far and fast.” His laugh was bitter. “I underestimated how stubborn Voss women are.”

She studied him for a long moment. “You’re still lying about one thing.”she said

He went very still

“You’re afraid of her,” Aurora said again, this time touching her stomach. “Not of the Veil but Of what she is.” or what she would become

Damien’s silence was answer enough.

11:03 a.m at the milking parlor

Ruth found her washing blood ofg her thighs with water from a cattle trough. The older woman didn’t ask questions, just handed her a clean dress—simple navy, no buttons, no zippers,It hung loose over the swell of her belly.

“You’re carrying high,” Ruth said. “Strong girl.”

Aurora’s throat tightened. “She’s… early.”

“Babies come when they’re ready, not when calendars say.” Ruth’s hands were gentle as she pressed fingers to Aurora’s abdomen, listening. “Heartbeat’s fast, but steady. You want her to stay inside a while longer?”

“More than anything.”

“Then you have to rest no running today.” Ruth’s eyes flicked up, sharp as a hawk’s as she told aurora what to do “Whatever’s hunting you, it don’t know how to knock on an Amish door Yet.”

Aurora wanted to believe her real bad

At 2:27 p.m on the back field

Damien found her sitting on a fence rail, watching draft horses graze the sky was the color of a fresh bruise.

“I used to dream about this,” he said quietly. “You, me, some quiet , maybe. Kids who didn’t have trust funds and hit lists.”

Aurora didn’t look at him“You dreamed of a version of me that never existed.”she said

“MaybeBut I loved the real one anyway.”he replied stealing a glance at her

She turned then “If you ever touch me again without permission, I’ll let her out and she will unmake you, atom by atom do you understand?”she asked in serious tune

He nodded once.

“Good.” She slid off the fence. “Because right now, you’re the only person alive who knows what the Veil’s next move is and I need you breathing long enough to tell me.”she said as she walked back into the farm yard.

4:11 p.m In the kitchen

Ruth fed them like she was trying to put weight on prize cattle,shoofly pie, chowchow, thick slices of homemade bread slathered with apple butter. Lila ate three helpings and still looked ready to fight God.

Damien spread a hand-drawn map on the table napkins and pencil, “They’ll triangulate the explosion, narrow the radius Amish country buys us thirty-six hours, max. After that they’ll go door-to-door with photos. Beards or not, someone will talk.”he told them with his eyes fixed on the map and his finger running through them.

Aurora traced the roads with a finger“We need to disappear sideways. Not north to Canada that’s what they expect  South, maybe. Deep south Places where cash is still king and questions are rude.”she chipped in

Ruth cleared plates without saying anythingt, but her eyes lingered on the map.

6:30 p.m. – Sunset

They stood in the barn doorway watching the sky bleed orange Somewhere far off, church bells rang for evening prayer.

Lila spoke first. “I hacked the Veil’s emergency channel while you two were having your moment. They’re calling it Project Lazarus. They think the child is dead. They’re… grieving.”she glared at them

Aurora felt it then a tug behind her sternum, like a hook setting. The baby stirred, interested

“They’re wrong,” Aurora whispered.

Damien’s phone that had been dead since the lake vibrated once in his pocket that's Impossible he said as He pulled it out.

One new message it had No sender Just a single line in white text on black.

E: Mommy, they’re lying.

I’m not dead.

I’m waiting.

Come get me before they put me back in the box.

Aurora stared at the screen until it went dark.

Ruth’s voice came from behind them, soft but certain. “There’s a storm coming tonight. Bad one: Roads'll be closed by morning, you will have to stay till it passes.”

Aurora met Damien’s eyes then Lila’s.

The storm wasn’t weather somewhere out there, in a lab that officially didn’t exist, a cradle was waiting.

And inside it, something with her daughter’s face opened brand-new eyes and smiled with too many teeth.

Aurora touched her empty belly.

“Change of plan,” she said.

She turned back toward the house, barefoot in the frost, already moving.

“We’re not running anymore.”