A sad looked filled his face. “I suppose the days of ‘muffin’ are long gone. We’ve lost a lot of time, but I promise you I won’t let you down. I’ve been keeping families together for over a decade. I won’t see mine destroyed again. I loved your mother and I was happy for the brief time we had together, the three of us. Be prepared for midnight. Don’t worry, I’ve helped people out of tighter spots than this one.”
She nodded and he left. She ate the terrible soup and dry toast they brought her, to distract herself from worry by injuring her taste buds. She certainly wouldn’t miss the food or the constant boredom. She wished there was a way to contact Brax. Would he leave everything to run away with me? Does he love me enough to do that?
She knew there was no way to get a message to him. If by some miracle they let her use the phone, it would certainly be a conversation someone other than she and Brax were privy to. Unless he snuck in her room right now, she had no way of telling him what was happening. Deep down, she worried the news that her child was a girl had made him give up, and he was already trying to accept their doom.
Even if she was guaranteed she could stay with Brax, she’d eventually lose her child. For the baby’s sake, she knew she had to go with her father and flee to Canada. She was still unsure about his story. It seemed strangely convenient he’d show up after all this time, but her options were to trust him or trust her government, which had already wronged her at every turn. She picked daddy dearest. Father. Dad. Daddy. She wasn’t even sure what to call the man, so she settled for Todd. Mr. Damiani seemed too formal and Dad didn’t feel right yet.
She’d lost so much. Thinking about her unnecessarily sad childhood while dealing with pregnancy hormones brought tears quickly to her eyes. She grabbed a tissue and wiped her face quickly. Krista lay back, closing her eyes. If she slept now, she’d be alert during her upcoming adventures in prison break. Sleep sucked her down without much trouble as her tumultuous emotions begged for respite.
The clatter of metal against metal caused her to gasp; she sat up and blinked at the nurse who set her dinner down. She knew she’d slept at least four hours and felt satisfied she’d be her best for later. She didn’t look under the cover, whatever it was smelled so bad she gagged.
“Could I have a book?” she asked the nurse.
“I’ll check with your doctor,” he replied.
“For a book?” She laughed darkly. “What do you think I’m going to do, paper cut myself to death?”
“I’ll check. I doubt there’ll be a problem. If the doctor approves, I’ll bring the library cart in.”
He left the room. A minute stretched into an hour, no book. Krista blew the bangs out of her face in disgust. They’d confiscated her overnight bag, and now they wouldn’t give her a book. This place was worse than maximum-security prison; at least there they allowed you to read.
She laid her head back and gazed up at the clock. Six more hours and she’d have a chance to be free, really free. She didn’t know exactly what it would be like living in Canada, but she’d seen it touted on the internet as the closest thing to life before plague times. She tried to imagine living each day as she wanted. She rubbed her large belly. What would it be like for her child to live in a world where she could dream? A small smile touched her lips. For the first time, she let herself imagine her daughter as a woman. Would she appreciate her choice, or long for the father she’d never know? Guilt pierced Krista. She was taking one choice away from both the baby and Brax, but the odds that the authorities wouldn’t ultimately take it anyway outweighed the odds that they’d be a family. She just hoped he’d understand, if not now, then someday. Her heart broke. She already missed him.
Whatever happened, she was getting away. Trusting the stranger who claimed to be her long-lost father was dangerous, but she was out of options. Deep down, she knew staying would be worse than leaving. Taking a deep breath, she watched the seconds ticking away on the large, plain wall clock. There was no color in the room, no art, nothing but that damn clock. She felt as if time was taunting her. Krista let herself cry, sobbing until there was nothing left inside of her but determination.
She might have dozed. The sound of the door startled her. The dim light behind the bed illuminated a large laundry cart and the form of a tall man. “It’s just me,” whispered her father. Krista let go of the breath she’d been holding unconsciously. “I turned off your room’s alerts at the nurse’s station. Do you want me to take the IV out for you?” he asked.
“No, I’ve got it,” Krista mumbled, still groggy, but now filled with adrenaline. She peeled the tape painfully off her sore arm and slowly pulled the needle out. Grabbing a few tissues, she pressed them against her bleeding arm.
“Ready?”
“Definitely,” she replied. He helped her get into the large bin of towels; she refused to think about how they might’ve been used.
“Don’t worry, they’re clean,” he whispered.
She chuckled, even with everything that could go wrong and destroy her only chance of escape, she gave into the stress-induced, inappropriate amusement. Krista gave her father one last look before sinking down lower. The suffocating, buried alive feeling was uncomfortable, but she’d suffer through anything to know her daughter wouldn’t grow up to be “Given” or worse, used in some sort of freaky breeding program. She had a feeling the other quads would follow the example the Northeast was setting. Shivering, even in the stifling embrace of the freshly laundered towels, she tried not to imagine what would happen if they didn’t make it.
The cart moved at a steady pace. She felt relieved until it paused. She heard her father and another man talking, but the words sounded muffled due to all the cotton over her head. She held her breath and closed her eyes. When the cart began moving again, she sighed with relief. It stopped again. She wanted to peek so badly, the nagging curiosity was almost overwhelming. Then she heard the distinctive ding of an elevator and the cart moved a few feet before stopping again. She felt the elevator moving. The sensation was odd, as she was lying on her back. The weight of the baby on her bladder made her feel as if she needed to pee, which was certainly not helping the general discomfort of her awkward position. She’d happily accept all the discomfort in the world if she knew they’d make it out of the country safely.
The cart rolled again. Wherever they were, it was very noisy. She tried to stay as still as possible, to the point she refused to scratch her nose when a fray from one of the towels tickled her. She realized a cough or movement could ruin everything. Krista squeezed her eyes closed and focused on taking even, shallow breaths. Then she heard the swish of electric doors. The heat ebbed and she realized they were outside in the winter air. Elation spiked inside of her, they’d made it. She heard a door slam and then her father reached in to help her out of the bin. Someone pulled her into the side door of a large, white van. She heard sirens.
A woman who’d helped her into the van smiled kindly at her. “It’ll be all right,” she said, but Krista didn’t feel reassured. “Lay down,” the woman requested.
Krista lay down in the seat and the woman covered her with her own body. “Why are you helping me?” Krista mumbled, her words muffled into the seat.
“It’s what I do,” replied the woman. “My name is Mara, by the way. I want to see you have a chance to be free, Krista. My half-sister was Given, and the men used her so brutally, she died. They might claim they look out for the girls, but they don’t. I’ve been doing this ever since. I’m just glad my mother left my father and moved to Canada when I was small. I loved my sister very much and we saw each other every summer. It’s not right what they’re doing. Your father is a good man. He’s helped a lot of girls in your situation. I couldn’t turn down the chance to help him save his own daughter.”
Even with the woman’s weight on top of her, Krista slid around on the seat as the van made wide turns before suddenly coming to a complete stop. The sirens grew louder and then they seemed to fade away. She felt the
woman let go of the breath she was holding.
“I thought you were crazy when you told us what you’d planned, Todd. I can’t believe this worked!” Mara said, sitting up.
The van opened and they all got out. There was a black SUV waiting. A short man opened the back hatch and lifted a trap door in the floor. “Sorry for the accommodations,” he said, motioning at the space as if he were a game show host showing off a prize. She didn’t like the look of what was behind door number one.
Her father squeezed her shoulder and she looked up at him. “Sorry, muffin, but if anyone sees you, we’re done. Mara can wear a disguise, but your pregnancy will give you away immediately if anyone happens to look into the car windows.”
Krista nodded, understanding,
“Hey, hurry up,” hissed another man she hadn’t noticed before. He looked frantically up and down the alley. Snow crunched under his feet. “Rescues in winter suck. It’s too easy to be tracked. Damn it, hurry.”
Todd helped Krista into the back of the car, and he tucked pillows around her. Then he piled blankets over her.
“We don’t have time for this, man,” Nervous Guy whispered loudly.
She peeked out of her hiding place to see him pacing like a caged animal.
“We’ll make time,” her father replied without looking at his cohort.
“You’ll only be in there until we hit a more remote area. How are you feeling?” he asked as he readied the cover.
“Scared, unsure, worried about my baby, and a bunch of other trippy emotions,” she replied, shivering from the cold.
He grinned. “I’m glad I have you back, muffin. Don’t worry. This will all be a bad memory soon. There’s a nice female-friendly community in Winnipeg. You and the baby will like it there. I promise.”
She nodded, ducking down as he shut her into the suffocating space. She was chilled. Her hospital gown wasn’t made for the Minnesota winter. Christmas was in three weeks and her baby was due soon after. She’d planned to spend the holiday with her six, but now she had a completely different man in her life. She’d never expected to spend her first free Christmas with her father.
The car bounced her uncomfortably in the tight space. She still had to pee. This was the most discomfort she’d ever felt, but if they made it to this community her father told her about, every second would be worth it.
When the SUV finally came to a stop, it seemed as if an eternity had passed. She froze, terrified that the police might have caught up to them. When her father opened the trap door, she let go of the breath she’d been holding.
“Let’s get you some warmer clothing,” he said.
Unfolding her stiff limbs, she let him help her out of the concealed place. He picked her up and set her on her feet. She stumbled and felt ridiculous as he helped her walk to the door of a small, rural farmhouse. An elderly woman opened the door, much to Krista’s surprise. She smiled at Krista and reached up to hug Todd.
“Come in out of the cold, dear boy. So you have her.” Martha turned toward Krista. “You are Kristannie?”
“Krista, this is Martha. Martha, my baby girl is going to have a baby girl. Do you have anything warm she can wear? We didn’t have time for a change of clothing before I took her on this little road trip.”
Martha chuckled.
“I really need to pee,” Krista said shyly.
Her father put her on her feet, but had to hold her to keep her steady. Martha pointed to a closed door and Krista wobbled quickly toward the bathroom. When she returned, feeling much better, Martha and her father were whispering quietly. They stopped talking the moment she entered the room.
“What’s going on?”
Todd looked as if he didn’t want to reply, but then turned on the television. Her picture, the official one for the protection facility file, was splashed on the news and then it cut to Brax and her other men standing outside of the hospital. She saw the deep lines on Brax’s face and the bags under his eyes. Her stomach clenched.
“Please, we’ll pay any amount you demand, but return Krista to us unharmed. She and the baby need medical treatment. If you turn her over to the authorities, you will receive amnesty for your crime if she’s unharmed.”
The image changed to the studio reporter. The man ran down a description of the white van and that it was found at two in the morning. He gave details on the description of her “kidnappers” and reported that a ransom request had been sent to the hospital for two million dollars. Krista looked at her father angrily.
“I didn’t send any ransom request. If they received one, it was a hoax, but I’m thinking this tidbit is being used as propaganda. God forbid any woman in this country not want to remain an unwilling victim of this asinine forced breeding program. I can only imagine how awful it is to be raped repeatedly for your country.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Krista whispered. Both Martha and her father gave her surprised looks. “I love Braxton Bray. He’s the father. I would never have volunteered for this, but it wasn’t as if they hurt me.”
Her father didn’t look happy. “Do you want to stay?”
“No. I know if I went back, they’d just take me away from Brax anyway. It wouldn’t be fair to my daughter to stay here and know she’ll be sent away to a protection facility in a decade.”
Todd nodded. “I know how much it hurts to lose your child, believe me. You’re making the right choice.”
It didn’t feel right, but she knew it was the only one she had. Martha went into the room where the others were warming up around a wood burning stove and returned with sweatpants and a thick wool sweater. She even had wool socks. Krista took the items, gratefully. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“You’re welcome, Kristannie. Your father has spent years waiting for this day. I’ve been a pit stop many times. He’s helped many young women, but I know he always wanted it to be you.”
Krista nodded and went into the bathroom, happy to shed the hospital gown and cut off the plastic identification bracelet. When she returned with it in her hand, Martha took it and opened the round cover on the wood-burning stove. She tossed in the incriminating evidence before replacing the lid.
“Are you hungry? I’ll fix you up some nice steak and eggs.”
“Oh Martha, you are the perfect woman. If you weren’t married, I’d bring you up north with me,” Nervous Guy teased.
“Jonathan, you just sit down and stop flirting with me. I’m old enough to be your grandmother.”
So Nervous Guy has a real name, Krista thought as she sat down next to him at the table.
She crackled with mirth and shook her head before opening the ancient looking refrigerator and fishing out the ingredients she wanted.
“We really don’t have a lot of time,” Todd said, glancing nervously at the clock.
“Well, give me fifteen minutes and you can take it to go,” Martha said.
Todd nodded. Martha set to work quickly and the heavenly smell made Krista’s stomach grumble. The elderly woman packed up scrambled eggs and steak along with some toast. Todd accepted the sack and kissed her on the cheek.
Krista rode in a seat this time, the tinted windows providing a bit of safety for now, but she still sat low and hid her hair under a baseball cap. Mara put her fake mustache on again and Krista was glad they hadn’t asked her to wear one. The women’s bulky sweatshirts hid their breasts.
They started down the icy, winter road again. Everyone ate the delicious breakfast quietly, until Jonathan cleared his throat. “So one of your boys was the comedian from all those HBO comedy specials, is he really funny in person?” His neck craned around the middle row of seats to see her from the back.
“Yeah, he is.” She didn’t know why she felt odd talking about Mal. It felt wrong sharing anything personal about the men she’d grown to care for in different ways, as if she was betraying them somehow.
“I saw his last special, not as funny at all.” Jonathan snorted. “It felt a bit like he was censoring himself.”<
br />
“He’s funny. Maybe you just have a bad sense of humor.” She didn’t like this man criticizing Mal and immediately became defensive.
“You care about them?” Mara sounded surprised.
“Yeah, I do. I didn’t know if I would, but they weren’t cruel to me. I was luckier than most, from the way it sounds. If I’d been sure I wouldn’t have been taken away from those particular men, the choice to leave would’ve been tough.” Krista shrugged.
Mara’s mouth parted and she gaped at Krista as if she’d just said the most blasphemous thing possible. “Well, they might’ve changed after the baby was born. Be glad we saved you. Your father is risking a lot for you. No one even wanted to volunteer for such a high profile retrieval with the two celebrities in your six and the tight security.” She sounded bitter.
“Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m so grateful. For my daughter’s sake, I couldn’t stay, but as a woman, I wasn’t unhappy with them all the time. It wasn’t perfect, but they tried.”
Mara made a rude noise. “I’m so glad you liked your gilded cage and life as a sex slave. I suppose not having to work and having a housekeeper and everything you wanted would be hard to leave.”
“I wish it was as wonderful as you make it sound. I was very restricted in what I could do. I knew my child would be taken away from me, and yet I had to get pregnant or be forced to endure the awkwardness of forming new bonds with new men. I couldn’t even have friends, unless they were hired from a companion service. I appreciate what you’re risking for me. I was in love with one of my six, and I’ll miss him.”
“Stockholm Syndrome, at its finest. You’ll get past it once you have a chance to live without the constant brainwashing. They might have treated you well, but they held you captive against your will. Can you honestly tell me if they’d told you to just leave the protection facility you’d have gone to these men to live your life according to their whims?”
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