Marked

by Penelope Scott

  "Like that's going to help, Remus!" Irvine shouted back at him. "None of that makes any sense. Besides, no way am I going down there!"

  "You guys!" Lydia screamed, louder than Echo had ever heard her before. And judging from the looks on the rest of the Chosen's face, none of them had ever heard her shout either. "You're not helping!" Her jaw was clenched and she was bathed in sweat.

  "First thing's first, young man," Mrs Marlow looked at Remus, "Put that thing away. I don't need it. I've seen more births than this towns doctor. Second," she looked around until her eyes fell on Lys. "You there, run downstairs and get what we need." She started to rattle off a long list of items and where to find them. Lys didn't need to be told twice. He was out the door in seconds. "As for the rest of you, with exception of the baby's father, all men out of the room!" The others left, Maddox casting a sly glance as Irvine as he walked out the door. Shy fidgeted nervously and then announced, "I think I'll take Thena out as well." She was gone before anyone could protest.

  Irvine was talking softly to Lydia, wiping the hair out of her face and urging her to breath, and Ro and Echo stood behind Mrs. Marlow dumbly. Neither of them had a clue what to do. Mrs. Marlow went right to work but the two girls could only watch. Needless to say, it was a relief when Lys burst in with the needed supplies. But his sudden entrance made the others jump. Mrs Marlow looked back at them with an almost bored expression. "Thank you, young man. And girls, please sit down and relax a bit. This will be a while."

  Chapter Nine

  ~*Life and Death*~

  Seventeen hours, eight pots of coffee and one nearly broken hand later, the baby finally decided to make an appearance. Most of the others were lounging around downstairs talking and drinking coffee to stay awake, but Ro and Echo remained in the room in case Mrs Marlow needed them. And Lydia refused to release Irvine's hand so he sat in a chair next to the bed.

  At some point just after lunch Mrs Marlow jumped up excitedly and cried, "I can see the head!" That got the attention of her to helpers rather quickly and they were on their feet asking what they could do to help. Lydia was crying silent tears of frustration, after having gone through the painful contractions for the last 17 hours it was obvious that all she wanted to do was sleep. "I know you're tired honey, but you need to keep pushing."

  "I've been pushing for an hour already! Just get the damned thing out!" Lydia gasped through clenched teeth. Mrs Marlow chuckled softly and told her again to push. Lydia screamed and her muscles tensed as she did as she was told. She was biting her lip to keep from complaining but it wasn't helping much.

  "Almost there," Mrs Marlow assured her. There was a frown on her face. "Lydia, darling, how are you feeling?"

  "I feel…like…someone…is trying…to rip me open!" She managed to bite out. The frown on Mrs Marlow's face deepened. "What is it?" Irvine asked, catching the look on her face. "Is something wrong?"

  It took a moment for Mrs Marlow to answer. "Looks like it's stuck."

  "WHAT!" Screamed the other four.

  "What do you mean it's stuck?" Irvine demanded. "What's going to happen to Lydia and the baby, then?"

  Mrs Marlow refused to say anything more. "Just tell her to keep pushing." She whispered softly. Echo felt like she was going completely numb. What would happen to Lydia because of the complications? What would happen to the baby? She tried to shake her head clear of the thoughts, but the look on Mrs Marlow's face wasn't very reassuring.

  "Echo, darling," Mrs Marlow's voice was so quiet that Echo could barely hear her. "Get the towels ready, I'm going to try and pull it out."

  "What!" Irvine screamed, ignoring the fact that Lydia's grip on his hand had tightened considerably. "Are you sure you are qualified to do that? Shouldn't we call a doctor?"

  Mrs Marlow clucked and shook her head in an annoyed fashion. "I'm a midwife by profession, sir. And no doctor would be able to get here on time."

  "On time?" Ro squeaked nervously. Lydia moaned in pain and writhed in the bed, twisting the sheets around her free hand. The old woman didn't bother to answer. Instead she commanded Lydia to push again and yanked on the baby. Lydia screamed in pain, but within thirty seconds a new voice was added to chaos. This time it was the piercing wail of a newborn, still pink and slimy. The umbilical chord was quickly cut, tied off and the baby was wrapped in the soft blankets Ro was holding.

  "It's a boy." Mrs Marlow whispered softly, handing the child over to Lydia. Oddly enough, there was a sad smile on her face. Only Echo seemed to notice. "Mrs Marlow?" She asked. "What's wrong?"

  Mrs Marlow looked down at the blood staining the sheets and shook her head. Lydia was trying to smile through winces of pain as she cuddled the baby, trying not to notice that she was still bleeding, and a bit too profusely. "She's not…what I mean is…she has maybe…"

  "No," Echo gasped softly, looking over at the new mother. Lydia, Irvine and Ro were all staring at the woman in disbelief. Well, except for Lydia, who winced again, disrupting the understanding expression on her face. She was so serene. How was that possible? Echo felt an overwhelming respect for the woman.

  "Y-You can't mean that…" Irvine started. He looked over at Lydia, who passed the child to him and took a long ragged breath. "Lydia?" He squeaked. "Tell me it's not true. Lydia, hang in there! You can't…." His voice actually cracked. "You can't die Lydia! I promised Andrew! Ipromised him!"

  "I'm sorry Brian, really I am." Lydia managed to choke out. She looked tenderly at her son. Echo took a moment to get her facts straight. Brian? That must be Irvine's real name. And then who was this Andrew person? She wisely kept her questions to herself. "I want…to c-call him…Andrew." She whispered. Her voice was thinning and her face was rapidly losing its colour.

  "Best get the others in here." Mrs Marlow said. "Let them say their goodbyes." Ro nodded and quickly did as was suggested, but Echo would have none of it. "What are you talking about? How can you just give up on her like that?" She looked at Lydia desperately. "C'mon Lydia! You can fight, can't you? You have to take care of your son now! You can't just…"

  Mrs Marlow hushed her with a soft touch on her shoulder. "Hush child. There's nothing we can do now."

  "No!" She sobbed. "There has to be something!" She angrily wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at Lydia, who had by now relaxed against her pillow with her eyes closed, her index finger caught tightly in her son, Andrew's, fist. Irvine had tears streaming down his face, but he kept his sobs inside. He was trying to be strong for Lydia.

  Not long after, the others all raced in. But Lydia was already losing her grasp on life. Maddox took on look at her and stormed back out. Echo was sure she saw tears in his eyes. Athena stood next to her sister, crying silently. Shy was openly sobbing as she flung herself at the older woman and cried. "Please don't go Lyd! We need you here."

  The rest of them just stood in stunned silence. They had lost others, they admitted, but this was a true shock to them. It wasn't even the Hunters that took the life away from Lydia. This was supposed to be a happy occasion! Lydia had been looking forward to be a mother. Now she would never experience that. "It's so unfair!" Shy wailed.

  "Guys…" Lydia whispered. "I…I love you all." And then that was it. Her chest stopped its steady rising and falling. Her eyes drooped closed and her head fell to the side. The woman they'd known as Lydia was gone.

  The effects were almost instantaneous. Irvine collapsed against her bed, his body shaking with sobs. Shy screamed and started to sink to the floor but Bold caught her and took her out of the room. Maddox cursed and punched the wall while Remus simply sighed and snapped his laptop closed, shaking his head sadly. Ro took Thena out of the room, although both were eerily silent, and Lys somehow managed to keep a straight face and didn't let his tears show, although Echo could see his bottom lip quivering.

  It wasn't long before everyone had left the room except for Echo, Mrs Marlow and Irvine. Lys tried to pull Echo out as he left but she old him that she wanted to say goodbye to Lydia, so he le
ft her there. Mrs Marlow was the first to find herself and she carefully took the wailing baby from Lydia's lifeless arms and the walked over to the other side of the bed to Irvine. "You've had a great loss today, but you've also gained a son."

  Irvine looked up, his face streaked with tears and nodded slowly. "Maybe I have gained something, but he's not my son."

  "Oh no?"

  "His father's already dead. Little Andrew's an orphan now."

  "Not if he has you." Mrs Marlow said softly. "I'll leave you alone now." And then she waddled softly out of the room, pausing when she reached Echo to give her a look of sympathy and then she was gone.

  "Irvine?" Echo asked softly as she walked up to the bed.

  He glanced at her sadly and said "Hey kiddo…" Echo could tell he barely noticed her presence in the room. "I…I just wanted to say…to say goodbye. I know you want to be alone." Irvine said nothing, so Echo stepped forward and took Lydia's hand. "Goodbye Lydia. We'll miss you." She whispered. She was never very eloquent with words. She kissed the woman's cold cheek and then turned to leave.

  "Wait," Irvine called to her. Echo paused and turned to look at him. He looks pathetic. His eyes were red and swollen from crying and his hair was matted after the long sit by Lydia's side. The bundle in his arms had quieted and was wrapped in a soft flannel blanket that was a bit too large for it's tiny body. Echo watched as a single tear rolled down his face and landed on the baby's hand.

  "Would you mind…just staying here for a while? I could use the company."

  Echo smiled and returned to the bedside. She knew that the others thought he wanted to be alone, but she supposed that that wasn't the case. "I did love her, you know." He whispered so softly that Echo nearly missed what he's said. But when she realized it she looked up at him in confusion. "But I thought…"

  "Not in a romantic way." He cut her off. "She was married to my best friend…"

  "Andrew?" Echo guessed.

  "Yeah. I remember how we met her…Andrew knew right away that she was the one…"

  *~flashback~*

  "I don't see why you had to drag me to this boring party, Drew." Brian complained to his best friend. "All these stuffy business types give me indigestion."

  Andrew just chuckled at his friend and shook his head. "Relax. I just have to make an appearance for an hour or so and then we'll jet."

  "I still don't see why I have to be here."

  "Moral support?" Andrew suggested. Brian just groaned and rolled his eyes. "I don't even see any hot girls…this party is a bust." He glanced at his friend but Andrew was no longer paying attention. He was staring off in the direction of the refreshments table with his mouth agape. "Drew?" Brian questioned. He followed his friend's gaze and his face dawned a similar expression. "Wow…" They were looking at a young woman, about 25 years old, with a slender body and long brown hair swept up atop her head. She wore a serene expression on her face as she talked with an aging man in a suit.

  "Who is that?" Brian gasped, looking over the woman.

  "I don't know," Andrew responded, "but I'm going to marry her."

  Brian chuckled. He was quite used to his friend's overactive romantic side. "That's all well and good, buddy, but why don't you try talking to her first?" He gave his friend a shove in her direction and stood back to watch. The girl greeted him warmly and introduced herself. "Hi, my name is Lydia." She said with an award-winning smile." After that, all hope was lost.

  Andrew and Lydia were married two months later in a small chapel with no more than twenty guests. The couple lived happily for over seven years, and Brian was their closest friend. But it was not meant to last…

  *~end flashback~*

  "Lydia had dragged me away that day, and told me that she was pregnant. She hadn't told Drew yet. She…she was nervous about it. I was congratulating her when it happened. I got this really bad feeling, so did Lydia, and we were about to go out and find Drew but we couldn't find him; at least, not at first. We turned the corned and Drew was there. His throat had been slit."

  "Hunters…" Echo gasped.

  "Yes, the Hunters." Irvine said bitterly. "We've been on the run ever since. And Drew…he never knew that he was about to be a father."

  *

  Lucien always knew when one of the Chosen had died. He always got this hollow feeling in his chest, like there was nothing there but empty space. The death wasn't far from him either. In the United States somewhere, Virginia if he wasn't mistaken. He tried to block out the terrible feeling. His senses tapped into the feelings of her companions. Their grief, their confusion, all their pain was his own. 'Did I do this?' He couldn't help but think. He knew that his father's Hunters were ruthless when it came to tracking down the Chosen. Very often they were killed; that is, if they were lucky. Otherwise they were taken back here and tortured. A roll of the proverbial dice determined their fate.

  And he told them where to find them.

  He hated his father for doing this to him, to them. Whenever he felt the man's presence in the room all his muscles tensed. He wasn't able to respond the way he wanted to though. All of his father's technology took care of that. He couldn't throw things and scream and cry. He couldn't tell his father off for treating them like animals. Even he, his own son wasn't safe from the President's wrath. The only way he could express himself was through a faint flicker in his brainwaves, which were strictly monitored and controlled to keep him obedient. That just made him angrier. They were using his skills to track down the others, to cage them up like animals and try to force them to save all the 6 billion other people on the planet. It was impossible to save them all. But his father didn't understand why.

  Only Lucien understood. They couldn't afford to have someone like his father there. Only the pure, the intelligent, and the skilful were Chosen. Nature was never wrong in her choices, but his selfish father was afraid. And fear makes people do some stupid things.

  He started thinking about the dead Chosen again. He felt the tears start to build up in his eyes as he listened to the inner torment of her friends. He didn't think it was the Hunters that got her, but it didn't matter. The Hunters had gotten many, many others. And they would claim countless more lives before this was all over

  Chapter Ten

  ~*It Starts*~

  The issue of dealing with Lydia's body was handed over to Mrs Marlow. A small funeral was held in honour of the woman, and she was buried in the church graveyard with as little paperwork done as possible. There were exactly eleven guests at the funeral. The gravestone simply read 'Lydia, we love you'.

  It didn't take a genius to figure out how Irvine was taking her death. He sat for hours in the kitchen, rocking Andrew gently and speaking to him and no one else. Sometimes Echo would sit across from him and they would drink coffee together. She tried to talk to him most mornings, but he rarely responded.

  They had been staying with the widow for two weeks now, and it was about half an hour before sunrise. Echo yawned as she stumbled into the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. She didn't even notice Irvine until she heard Andrew gurgle. She turned around quickly and stared at Irvine, bathed in darkness. She switched on the light and sighed. "Irvine, I didn't see you there."

  He made no response.

  "Do you want some coffee?" She tried again. He still didn't answer.

  "Don't bother." A soft voice cut in. Echo looked up and saw Bold standing in the doorway. "He's regressing or something. He won't answer."

  "I have to try," Echo argued. She didn't want to see him get any worse. Already the handsome young man looked hollow and worn out. He rarely slept, and he spent all his waking hours with Andrew, pampering him. He wouldn't let anyone else get near the child. If things continued the way they were, he would never survive the next move. Echo was saddened by the thought and glance at Bold, only to see that he held a similar expression. "I don't think he'll make it," Bold whispered to Echo as he helped himself to the contents of the fridge.

  Echo froze on the spot. Something
about the confirmation of her fears only made her realize just how real the danger was. Remus ambled into the room just as the thought reached her mind. He looked at Irvine and sighed, "Still moping I see." He snapped at the older man.

  Echo and Bold cast him confused looks but he completely ignored them. "God Irvine, you're so pathetic."

  "Remus…" Echo cautioned. He paid no attention to her.

  "When are you going to stop whining about Lydia and start worrying about those of us who are still alive?" This drew Irvine's attention and he looked up to glare at the young man. "You're a selfish bastard, you know that? You're just going to sit around until you get yourself and Lydia's baby killed! You'll never survive the next move."

  "Remus!" Echo gasped.

  "For Christ's sake Irvine!" Remus roared. "So Lydia's dead. So what? There's nothing you can do about it now. Taking care of that kid and going fucking crazy isn't going to help any of us!"

  "Don't you dare belittle Lydia's death like that," Irvine growled. He sat Andrew down on the table calmly and stood from his chair. Remus returned his glare defiantly. "And what are you going to do about it, pussy? Get over yourself before you get someone else killed!"

  "Remus!" Echo screamed, her face flushed in anger. She barely had time to lunge forward, however, before Irvine had slammed his fist hard into Irvine's jaw. Remus stumbled backwards in shock and fell against the counter. He slowly brought his fingers up to his jaw and felt the blood there.

  "Irvine, what are you doing?" Echo shouted, staring at both men in shock. Lys chose that exact moment to walk onto the scene, rubbing his eyes tiredly. When he saw Remus on the floor and Irvine glowering at him, he stopped dead in his tracks. "What the hell happened in here?" He asked. There was no answer.

  Then, much to the surprise of everyone in the room, Remus actually began to laugh.

  "What's so funny?" Irvine snapped, for once ignoring Andrew when he started to cry.

  "Good to have you back, man." Remus chuckled. He slowly picked himself up off the ground.