Inhuman

They must have known what he was doing to me night after night and they didn’t even stop it.

A dirty, disgusting sensation writhed within me as hatred penetrated me. I’d never known hate like I’d just found for them.

Keanu stood close to me, taking deep breaths as he obviously prepared himself to divulge some kind of classified information.

How? How could Keanu be a part of this? He seemed so…kind. Maybe he was still acting…just pretending to sneak me out of my room to tell me a great secret—or lie.

I can’t trust him.

“Cassia.” He began, his voice shaking with nervousness.

I narrowed my eyes to slits as I tried to ascertain whether I should believe anything he had to say.

“Cassia…you’re pregnant.” He actually smiled as he spoke the words, like I was an eager patient in a doctor’s office awaiting the happy news.

For just a second, the world didn’t feel solid anymore. Gelatin. Yes, that’s the best way to describe how my body felt. My knees buckled, sending me falling clumsily to the floor. Keanu thrust his hands out to catch me. Holding me by my waist, he eased me to sitting.

“You okay?” He whispered, adding a small chuckle at the end.

Okay?

Why do people ask such stupid questions? I was far from okay.

I didn’t even know how to think at this moment. My brain was frozen in shock—or horror—I didn’t know which.

A baby?

“Talk to me. Please Cassia. I need to know…what you’re thinking.” Pleading with me, he sat on the floor in front of me and tried to make eye contact.

“I…uh…” I tried to communicate but the ability just wasn’t there yet.

Though I couldn’t speak any words, thousands of things were zipping through my mind at the speed of light. From the idea of a tiny heartbeat pulsing within me to the fact that my belly was going to swell beyond recognition to the unbelievable thought of pushing this being out of me.

A baby.

A person. A whole person. Growing inside of me, incubated by my body. Dependent upon me for every miniscule drop of nutrition, this tiny creature lived precariously within a dark corner of my body. It offered me the thing that no one else had in my entire life—it needed me.

A fierce instinct suddenly enveloped me. No matter what, I had to live. I had to bring this life into this world. I had to get out of here.

Placing my hands softly onto my stomach, I caressed the area where my baby was growing. Sitting there on the floor of a dark closet, my life had no longer become my own. It wasn’t just about my survival anymore. It was ours.

As I stared down at my stomach, hands folded gently over my womb, I suddenly became aware of Keanu’s large warm hand encompassing mine. Looking up to meet his big brown eyes and soft smile, I realized something disturbing.

He doesn’t know about Meyers. He thinks it’s his baby.

Chapter 9

After wetting my hair to convince the guard that I’d indeed had a shower, Keanu led me back to my cell. Coming into my room with me, Keanu leaned over and gave me a tender kiss on my swollen cheek.

An awkward silence enveloped us as we stood before one another.

As soon-to-be parents, we should have been nervously, or even excitedly, discussing the logistics of our situation. Baby names, cribs and night-feedings should have been our main concern.

In a normal world anyways.

Mine was not that of a normal world. Trapped and condemned a prisoner, uncertain of my fate, I had few options. My ‘foreign’ DNA had labeled me an instant threat to a paranoid society.

DNA.

Something so small and insignificant. Untraceable, yet the tainted material in which had marked me as the outsider.

Caressing my belly, a soft smile twitched at my lips as I thought of the tiny heartbeat existing deep within my womb. This little person needed me. My body cradled this new soul, feeding it the nutrients it needed to live. I was giving someone life.

For the first time in months, I was happy. I envisioned myself holding this new little bundle of warmth in pink blankets. I saw myself holding a little girl. Rocking her to sleep, singing a soft lullaby and running my hand through the soft downy hairs upon her head, I vowed to keep her safe. I would hold her tight and kiss away any tears that may fall upon her angelic face.

Keanu watched my face with interest. He wore the same goofy grin that I suspected was on my face.

“I’ll stop by later, okay?” Squeezing my hand lightly, he turned and knocked on the door for the guard to let him out. Watching him leave, I felt a warm sensation wash over me. I wasn’t sure I loved him, but I cared very much for him…especially if he was the father.

A pain tore at my chest as I thought about the fact that this beautiful creature may not be his. I didn’t care. Even if it was Meyers’ child, I wasn’t going to let that notion destroy my vision, she was also mine.

My baby. My blood.

Blood!

It hadn’t occurred to me up until this point that this baby would inherit my blood, my DNA! Sitting down on my cot, I put my face into my hands. I had doomed this tiny being to my own fate! My marred DNA was coursing through her veins, leaving her with the same hazardous genetic material! They would take her from me and use her as a new experimental test subject!

Ironically, this little person had given me the one thing I desired most in the world since entering this nightmare—I was not alone. I was no longer the only one.

That’s what Agent Evans meant!

Before this, I was resigned to die here, in this unmarked grave of existence, but everything had changed. It wasn’t just my life anymore. She had to live.

That was the defining moment. That’s when I knew for a fact that I had to get out of here.

* * *

A plan.

That’s all I needed to figure out was a plan of escape. The last time had been too random, too spontaneous. I had to think of something concrete and foolproof—if that was possible.

Think Cassia think!

Wracking my brain, I realized that the only time that I could even make an attempt was during my daily trip to the shower. Now I just had to figure out how to get past the guard. He never watched me shower, that was the only few moments a day when I wasn’t supervised.

How do I slip away from him?

A diversion.

I needed a distraction when I was in the shower to make him leave, even for just a moment. Lying down on the uncomfortable cot, I closed my eyes and searched my mind for an answer.

I’m sure a light bulb popped up over my head when the idea struck me. Giggling, I was excited to put my plan into action.

 Glancing over at the mirror with a grin and one eyebrow raised, I couldn’t wait until tomorrow.

* * *

Shuffling through the searing sand, the tender flesh between my toes protested against the hot granules grinding in. Wiping the beads of sweat from my brow, I pushed my reluctant body forward through the arid desert.

Ripples of heat waves danced in front of me as though seducing me into the fire. A relentless sun glared