As you know, the wraiths—the monsters—often presented themselves as our loved ones in an attempt to get us out in the snow. The one constant in those sinister manifestations? Those loved ones were always dead.
But I thought of the helicopter and gunfire I heard while outside the tunnel that led into the trailer full of car batteries. That was new, just as the werewolf we’d seen back in the Woodhaven hotel had been new when it almost ripped our throats out. If those incidents had taught me anything, it was that we knew fuck-all about these things. None of their abilities were set in stone.
I decided to share this logic with Mia and the others, hoping it might cheer her up.
“It’s not for sure,” I said. “Your mom might still be alive.” I went on and explained my reasoning. Mia thanked me for trying, but I could tell I had failed to cheer her up.
Truth is, it was hard to get happy about much of anything then.
While on watch, as I sat at an uncomfortable angle in one of the cafe chairs, half-asleep and staring at the dying embers in the fireplace, I thought I heard a whispering voice in the wind. The voice spoke no intelligible words. It sounded as if they had a hand clamped over their mouth, or socks stuffed down their throat.
I sat up, alert, with my blood feeling like it was going to burst from my veins. I waited a few moments. I don’t even think I took a breath as I strained my ears for the whispers. Nothing came from outside but silence. I told myself I must’ve imagined it. I was so exhausted and scared that my brain had played a trick on me.
But then I heard something else nearer, only a few feet from where I was perched on the edge of my chair, and I knew this was no trick.
It was a grunt of pain followed by a short, sharp scream.
Mia.
She writhed beneath the blankets, her eyes narrowed. Her hands hurried to her belly, clutching as she rolled and curled up on her side.
For a long moment, I didn’t know what was happening. I thought she was having a vivid nightmare, or maybe a seizure. Then it hit me. How stupid could I be?
That was no nightmare or seizure.
No.
Mia’s labor had begun.
Hundreds and hundreds of movies and television shows had filled my head with false expectations of what happens when a woman goes into labor. I thought there would be a puddle on the floor, and Mia shouting, “My water broke! My water broke!”, and at least one of us men would pass out in shock. However, none of that happened. I mean, the dudes even managed to stay upright.
Mia’s screams roused everyone awake. Ramsey rolled away from his corner and assumed what he called his battle position, which consisted of him looking more like a linemen preparing to sack the quarterback than someone engaging in a fight with an unseen enemy. Stone, lounging in his computer chair, fell forward and hit the floor. Luckily, the blankets wrapped around his body softened the blow; still, I don’t think it was a pleasant way to be woken. Chewy, scared and alarmed, dashed from Mia’s bench and ripped off a steady stream of barks.
Eleanor rose the gentlest of us all. Sleeping on her side, she pulled herself up into a side plank, mouth hanging open. A large red splotch and several indentations were on her face, and her hair was everywhere.
Mia’s lips formed a tight “o” as she sucked in sharp breath after breath. Ell, Stone, and I rushed to her. Eleanor grabbed her hand, but as Mia’s grip tightened and a few of Ell’s knuckles cracked loudly, she quickly realized this was a bad idea.
I was so focused on what was going on inside, I had forgotten the muffled talking I heard outside only moments before Mia awoke. If the wraiths were calling our names, we wouldn’t have heard them over Chewy’s growls and barks, which had revved up in intensity since Mia’s initial screams.
“Help me get her on the floor,” Ell said to us. Her voice sounded calm, serene. I didn’t know how she could be like that at a time like this. I remember being almost as shocked at her serene smile and warm but firm eyes as I was about Mia finally having her baby. Later, Ell would tell me she felt anything but calm on the inside, but her mother, who was a believer in meditation and all things zen, often reminded her that cooler heads prevailed. Me, on the other hand, pretty much forgot I had a head in times like these.
“Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-OW!” Mia moaned as we eased her off the benches. “Shitfuck-shitfuck-shitfuck!” She got a hold of Stone’s arm. Her fingers raked down the fabric of his jacket.
“Shitfuck is right—damn, woman!” Stone said. “You’re gonna rip my shoulder out of its socket!”
“Don’t you ‘damn, woman’ me, you motherfu—OWWWW!”
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Ell cooed. “Deep breaths. Just take deep breaths. You’re just having a contraction, but it will be over soon.”
Mia hunched over and cried out again. Tears traveled down the sides of her face. Her brow shined with moisture. For a moment, the beads of sweat on her forehead made me think I was in a dream. There was no way anyone could get hot enough to sweat considering how cold it was, unless they hung around in the Battery Box for too long, but that was on the other side of the theater.
Ramsey peeked
