Eleanor was right, though. The contraction passed, and Mia relaxed with relief. She fell from her reclined sitting position to flat on her back, her head propped by a rolled blanket. Ell grabbed the zipper of Mia’s jacket and pulled. Her belly sagged between her open legs. A strip of pale flesh showed beneath the hem of the hoodie she was wearing. Ell leaned over her, and with a t-shirt, she daubed the mixture of tears and perspiration from her face.
As much as I wished I had been dreaming, I wasn’t. This was real, and it would only get worse.
Case in point, what Ramsey pointed out next.
“Guys,” he said, “we got company…” He slouched, his lips quivered, and he looked like he was on the verge of tears.
“What do you mean?” Stone asked. “They’re back?”
“Them, or some of their buddies.” Ramsey held a finger over his lips and shushed the room. “Listen.”
“I can’t hear shit with the dog barking like that!” Stone argued.
“Chewy!” I whispered sharply, patting my thigh. “Get over here!”
He obeyed, bowing his head and peering at me with big, watery eyes as he limped my way. I felt like a jackass, but it was important that we were able to hear what was going on.
And we did.
Mumbling shouts in the wind cut through the new silence, the same sound I thought I heard before Mia’s contraction. I couldn’t make out the words, but the sounds brought an image to my brain a lot like the one Ramsey had described earlier.
Now I knew why he seemed so shaken.
The wraiths were back, yes, but they weren’t disguising themselves as our dead loved ones or acting out scenes of war.
They had become the Thumbprint People.
For a long moment, no one said anything. Chewy didn’t bark, and Mia didn’t scream or grunt as we listened to their voices grow closer.
Then it was Stone, per usual, who shattered this quiet spell. “Are you fucking kidding me? Now? Right fucking now?”
The seal broken, Mia uttered a soft cry. I turned and saw her tough external image break like the surface of a still pond beneath the pelting raindrops of a thunderstorm.
“Breathe,” Ell said. “Just breathe, Mia. It’s gonna be all right. Didn’t I promise you that?”
Mia nodded, but she spoke in the soft voice of a frightened child. “It…it hurts so bad, Ell. I don’t think I can do it.”
“You can. You’re strong. Stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
“Yeah,” I added, “how many people, let alone pregnant women, do you know who could brave this terrible weather and supernatural stuff for so long?”
Mia offered us a slight smile, but the fear persisted beneath it. I asked if I could get her anything. She told me she’d like some cold water. I said I’d get it, motioning Ramsey my way under the guise of him showing me where he kept it. True, I didn’t know where the water was—though all water was cold then—but I could find it, no doubt.
Once the door closed behind us, I turned to him and asked, “How many did you see?”
“More.”
“More than earlier?”
Ramsey shook his head and looked down at the floor. “More than I’ve ever seen at once.”
“What? Really?”
“Yep.”
“We’re gonna have to use the Battery Box again.”
“That’ll make a dent in ‘em, but I don’t think they’re gonna give up so easy. We done pissed ‘em off, Grady. They’re gonna want a fight.”
“Good,” I said. “I’m ready for a fight.”
I came back with water for everyone. Mia gulped hers down in a matter of seconds, so I handed her another and she did the same.
“Third time’s the charm?” I asked, holding out bottle number three.
She took it but only sipped.
Stone was sitting on the plush bench, leaning forward, his elbows on his thighs and his head in his hands. He looked dazed. Chewy was lying under him, curled up and shivering.
“We’re going to the Battery Box,” I said, tossing Stone a water bottle. He caught it, ripped the cap off, and chugged down half of it in one go. “You okay staying here?”
His stubble-going-on-beard didn’t do enough to cover the sudden blanching of his dark skin. “Yeah, hurry up, though.” He glanced at the nearest window where, outside, something scratched against the glass, the sound louder than that of the mumbling Thumbprint People.
As I started gathering supplies for my run to the Box, Mia screamed again. I turned and looked at her. Teeth gritted, face red, she inhaled and exhaled. It had only been ten or fifteen minutes since the first, but she was already in the throes of another contraction.
My knowledge of women’s labor was spotty, at best. I learned a few things in school and in various EMT courses, but this didn’t seem right. The contractions were too close together to constitute early labor. I was about to ask Ell what the ETA on the delivery was, saw she was breathing along with Mia, and decided it best to leave her to it.
Bending, I reached down by my chair and grabbed the bug spray and lighter. I gave it to Stone. “Just in case.”
“In case what? Damnit, man, you can’t be saying shit like that. It puts a bad, I don’t know, juju or something on us.”
I rolled my eyes. “Wait, one more thing.” I dug in my pocket, and as soon as I saw Stone’s gaze follow the descent of my hand, I pulled out my middle finger.
He snorted. “That’s a good one. I’ll give you that, Grady.”
“Grab Chewy from under there,” I said, pointing beneath Stone’s feet. “You guys can comfort each other—since you’ll be completely useless to Ell and Mia.”
Stone gave the middle finger right back, but he wasted no time in scooping Chewy from the floor and hugging him against his chest. The two clung
