This was news to me. I didn’t know anything was going on with Holland and Laura as I knew Laura had a thing for Daniel. I was surprised she had moved on because she seemed to have daggers out for me. But it made logical sense. She couldn’t have the leader of the group, so she shacked up with the guy who was trying to usurp power.
“That is neither here nor there,” Holland said. “You need to do something about her. She is terrible and doesn’t carry her own weight. Punish her or kick her out…”
“Enough,” Luther said, his voice booming in the room.
He was a soft-spoken man, so it caught Holland, Daniel, and me off guard.
“A real leader would find out why someone left, not just hand out punishment,” he finished.
“There is no reason that could excuse that,” Holland countered.
“Oh really? I’m a Doctor Holland but I do not have all the means I need to find out things I need to about people’s health. There are certain limitations to living on an island during a zombie apocalypse making it difficult to do basic tests.”
“What are you saying, you went on a run for Shelly’s health? You shouldn’t lie Luther, you’re no good at it.”
“It wasn’t just her health, it’s the baby’s,” he said. He immediately mouthed “sorry” at me.
“What?” Holland asked.
I however looked to Daniel; his reaction was unreadable.
“Potentially anyway. She needs to find out, we needed to get tests as I do not have means to run a proper blood or urine test like I would be able to do before all this. So, what type of leader punishes a potentially pregnant woman? Not one anyone in this camp would tolerate, I know that for a fact.”
Holland opened his mouth to speak but closed it several times before finally stating, “Well, she better be because if she’s not you need to punish her.”
He then walked back towards the door and walked out.
“I’m very sorry,” Luther said to me, “I just didn’t know how else to get him to shut up.”
“Well, at least now he feels like an asshole,” I said.
It wasn’t how I wanted to tell people, but it was never going to be with zombies running around. It was probably the only way to stop whatever Holland had planned to try and overthrow Daniel. Now that he couldn’t use me in that, he would be back to square one.
“He should always feel like an asshole,” Luther countered. “Assignments?”
This clearly caught Daniel off guard as what Luther had said was still sinking in.
“Um, I don’t have you on the chart today,” He replied.
“That’s okay, I’ll check on my son and then see if Gerald needs me for anything. I’ll leave you two to it as you have much to discuss.”
With that, he left me and Daniel alone.
Chapter 4
Daniel sat down rubbing his chin. He was incredibly quiet for a long time. I began to think he forgot I was in the room until he finally looked up at me.
“You’re pregnant?” He asked.
I shrugged, “Maybe. I mean I think so, but I can’t say for sure. That’s why I needed to go on a run to get the test. Luther wanted to help me.”
He nodded, “And it’s Adam’s, right? That’s why you pushed me away?”
The question took me by surprise, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I started laughing so hard, it had been awhile since I had laughed like that. I don’t think I had in the three months since the plague had become the main focus of our lives. It took me awhile to catch my breath.
“Sorry,” I said still trying to control my laughter.
Daniel clearly did not understand my reaction. He was wearing his confusion clearly on his face.
“Sorry,” I said again. “It is not Adam’s. If it was, it would’ve been born by now.”
“Oh,” Daniel said in understanding then. “So that night, after the typhoon?”
“That’s the only time it could have been if I am,” I said.
He looked at me strangely and with a bit of hurt in his eyes. “Then why the hell did you push me away?”
I sighed, “That’s more complicated.”
“Well, try to explain it” he stated, leaning his elbows on the desk in front of him.
I took a deep breath and finally sat down on the chair on the other side of his desk. I tried to gather the courage to tell him what the issue was, but I honestly didn’t know how to explain it. In all honesty, I was more than a little ashamed of everything that happened in my marriage.
I looked at him and saw his eyes blaring into me. It felt like he was already reaching into my soul. I decided to just go for it. Either he would understand, or he wouldn’t, but holding it in wasn’t doing me any favors.
“Daniel, I’ve been trying to get pregnant again for years,” I began and sighed. “I’ve had a lot of problems in that area. A lot of complications. Doctors have told me having another kid was near, if not entirely, impossible,” I stopped talking, not really wanting to say the rest.
Daniel said nothing, his brown eyes were full of compassion though as he waited for me to continue.
I took another deep breath and began again, “It was a strain on my marriage. A big one. I don’t know if Adam was mad at me for not being able to give him more kids or if I pushed him away because I felt like I was broken. And I thought if I am and something happened to the baby…” I stopped talking again.
“You thought I would give up on you?” He asked, his eyebrows getting closer together in his contemplation.
I
