Eden (30 page)

Trapped

It’s hard to keep one’s days and
nights straight when underground. If it weren’t for the family full
of Hybrids, I would have been alone while keeping my strange hours.
Whether it was the baby, or the less-than-comfortable blow up
mattress we slept on, or the constant dripping in the background,
it was impossible to sleep. Regardless, I took naps at one to three
hours at a time, around the clock.

Ryan and Kim didn’t seem to have the
same problem. Even though his mattress was noticeably close to
Claire’s, she made a point of keeping her distance now that we were
all safe. As the days wore on, Ryan grew less happy about her cold
demeanor, and the grumbling turned into full-blown
arguments.

It was difficult—after we’d spent so
much time dodging and preparing—to sit and wait. As much time that
went into planning our escape into this tomb, no one, it seemed,
had planned for the suffocating time spent underground.

Jared and I tried to make the best of
it: talking to my belly, spending quality time together, discussing
the birth. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Jared delivering our
baby, but of all the people trapped in the tomb with us, Jared was
my top pick.

After thirty days of darkness,
tasteless rations, and the same close company, life in the tomb
began to wear on all of us. Even Bex’s bright and cheery demeanor
began to show signs of waning. Poker and gin rummy only entertained
for so long, and radio reception was hopeless in the deep of
Israeli rock. Stories in the evenings were something I looked
forward to, and it gave me a chance to get to know everyone
better.

“
So, that was the first
time I bested Dad, although I’m pretty sure he let me win,” Bex
said with a broad smile.

“
I remember that,” Claire
said. “He didn’t let you win. He wouldn’t stop talking about it
after you went to bed.”

“
Really?” Bex said, his
eyes bright.

“
Really.”

Bex’s smile faded. “He died four days
after that.”

Everyone lowered their chins, unsure
how to advance the conversation.

Jared finally spoke. “That must’ve
been hard on you, Bex. I don’t think I ever asked you if you were
okay.”

Bex shrugged. “I was, I guess. What
else could I be?”

“
In pain,” Claire said.
“We were all so wrapped up in our own, we didn’t even try to help
you through it.”

“
I missed him. And
then...I missed you guys. I was glad when Jared brought Nina
around. The family kind of came back together, then. Now we have
Ryan.”

“
We don’t have Ryan,”
Claire said.

Ryan shot her a dirty look, and then
softened his features for Bex. “Yes you do, man. I’m here if you
need me.”

Claire rolled her eyes. “What would he
need you for? To help with a school bully?”

“
To talk to,” Ryan said.
“You know, what we used to do before you became so hateful and
mean.”

Claire crossed her arms over her
knees. “You don’t give me a choice,” she mumbled.

“
What?”

Ryan’s acerbic tone lit Claire’s eyes.
“You don’t give me a choice!”

“
C’mon, guys,” I said. It
was far too claustrophobic, even in the large cavern, for anyone to
fight.

Ryan stood. “What kinda choice would
you like? The one that includes you stalking me all day without us
talking? Or the one where we get along?”

“
We can get along without
you trying to land the unattainable blonde!”

Ryan’s mouth fell open. “Is that what
you think I’m trying to do?”

Claire stood, meeting his glare.
“Just...back off.”

Ryan took a step forward.
“I love you. I l
ove
you, and you act like I’m some random frat boy trying to get
lucky.”

Jared sighed. “I should have packed
ear plugs. I have nowhere to go.”

“
You just….” Claire
trailed off.

I knew she must care about him. She
had bit her tongue to keep from hurting his feelings, which Claire
never did.

Ryan took another step. He was only a
few inches from her face. “Say it.”

“
I’ve told you. A million
times! It’s not going to happen.”

He shook his head. “No, say you don’t
love me. Say you don’t see me in that way and I’m just a helpless
human to you. Say you hate me! Say something! I’m tired of your
vague excuses!”

“
I don’t need excuses!”
she yelled. “I don’t want that!” She pointed to us. “I don’t want a
family like I had or they have! You want children! You want a
normal life, Ryan. I’m not it!”

“
I just want you! Whatever
that is, I want it!”

Claire frowned. Her body shook with
anger. She grabbed his collar with both fists. Ryan leaned away
slightly and winced, waiting for her to land a punch on his face.
Claire’s lips pursed together, and then she pulled him to her,
pressing her lips against his, hard.

“
Agh
,” Jared said, turning.

Ryan paused in shock, and then his
body melted against hers. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling
her closer, and she wrapped her fingers around the back of his
neck. The kiss was so intense that it looked nearly
painful.

Bex giggled, but they didn’t hear him.
After a minute or two, it was uncomfortable to watch, so we all
meandered to the other side of the cavern. Jared seemed to be in a
foul mood, which bothered me. Why he was so against Claire and Ryan
was a mystery to me. They were perfect for each other, and clearly
loved each other.

“
I wonder if that will
happen for me,” Bex said, glancing back.

“
Don’t look. No telling
what’s going on back there,” Jared said, picking up a rock and
throwing it.

“
It might,” I said,
smiling. “Don’t listen to Jared. He knows I’m the best thing that
ever happened to him.”

Jared grabbed my hand and squeezed.
“Of course you are. Why would you believe I’ve thought
otherwise?”

I shrugged. “You’re so against them.”
I gestured behind us. “Like my mother was so against us. Because it
makes things hard.”

Jared pulled me closer and wrapped his
arms around my knees. “I just don’t like Ryan. It has nothing to do
with you, or us.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you
like him?”

Jared shifted nervously. “Ryan is the
closest I’ve come to losing the love of my life. That’s not
something you get over.”

I touched his face. “I love you. Ryan
loves Claire. Get over it.”

Jared laughed once, and looked to Bex.
“I hope it happens for you. I really do.”

Bex rolled his eyes and stood, walking
to the back of the tomb where the altar held the book. Kim spent a
lot of time in that area, even slept there. Bex sat next to her,
and their voices became a stream of quiet conversation.

I balanced on all fours trying to
navigate my large body to a standing position. Just as I pushed
myself from the rock floor, my stomach clenched, and I stumbled.
Jared caught me, but I couldn’t stand straight up.

“
Contraction?” he said,
frowning.

“
I don’t...I don’t know,”
I said, breathing through the pain.

Bex and Claire were immediately at our
side, with Kim and Ryan trailing behind.

“
The baby?” Bex said.
“Should I set up?”

“
No,” Jared said. Let’s
let her rest. See if it eases up.”

Claire nodded, and
assisted Jared in helping me to our makeshift bed. My feet up and
relaxed, I tried to think about something else other than whether
that pain would return. Labor was going to be a nightmare if I had
to look forward to hours of
that
. I had hoped that my new
abilities would anesthetize the pain a bit, but if the previous
encounter with contractions had been any indication, I was
screwed.

The pain crept up again, like a wave
swallowing me whole.

“
Breathe,
sweetheart.”

I sucked in through my nose and blew
out from my mouth, but it didn’t help the pain. A large fist had
gripped my uterus and was digging in its fingers while I suffered
the worst case of food poisoning ever recorded—that was what I
felt.

“
Should we set up?” Bex
said again.

“
No,” Jared said firmly.
“We’re just timing them now.”

We waited several minutes, and then I
felt another contraction, but it wasn’t nearly as painful. They
became less frequent painful before stopping all together. Everyone
in the room breathed a collective sigh of relief when Jared deemed
the event a false alarm. He wouldn’t allow me to sit up, though, or
even leave the bed after that. He or Claire would walk me to the
hole in the floor if I needed to relieve myself. It was
half-humiliating, half-frightening. My body hadn’t felt like my own
for quite a while, but now there was no control over the
situation.

We had no idea what went on in the
world aboveground. I wondered what Beth and Chad were doing, if
they worried about us, and about Cynthia and Lillian. If they
leaned on each other for support, waiting to hear their grandchild
had been born and that all of their children were alive. Even
though I knew I needed to stay positive in those last difficult
days, lying bed with nothing to do but read the same magazines, or
think, my mind effortlessly traveled to less trivial
things.

Checkers and chess were no longer
entertaining. Even watching the others play cards irritated me. We
were nearing the end of July, and I was so large I could barely
maneuver. I had to let my mind wander to get away from the darkness
of the tomb, from the fact that we were living in a tomb at all,
and the dripping. For the love of all things holy, the dripping.
That sound alone nearly pushed me out of my mind.

I would close my eyes, and pretend I
was at Brown on the Main Green, lying with Jared while the summer
air weaved through the trees. I blocked out the echoing and
murmuring inside the tomb, and replaced it with laughing and jovial
sounds of flag football on warm days, and the wonderful smells
coming wafting from the Gate. Even my dorm room at Andrews was an
escape. Mostly, I concentrated on our oak tree, and the loft. I
still mourned our first home, but in my mind, it was untouched.
Recalling every memory of every place I’d spent with Jared was the
only thing that kept me sane at that point. That, and watching
Claire and Ryan fall in love. Their sweet conversations, and the
way they reveled every moment with each other kept me away from the
darkness.

As the first of August came and went,
my memories became harder to enjoy. They just mocked me. Us. Our
faces had all grew pale, begging to see the sun again. Not even the
promise of safety was worth this. Quiet times with Jared were
something I had always wanted, but not in this prison. Not in this
tomb, where I already felt dead.

A small twinge in my stomach made me
hold my breath. It went away, but soon another came, and then
another. They were stronger, and the more I hoped they would go
away, the quicker and more intense they came.

I tried to breathe, but the air was so
stale. When I tried to concentrate on my breathing through the
pain, all I could hear was the water dripping. Always dripping. It
was maddening. I was in labor, and going to give birth inside a
drippy, cold hole in the ground.

“
No,” I
whispered.

Jared read a book a few feet from the
mattress, noticeably waiting for me to tell him I was
uncomfortable. I didn’t want to say it. Speaking the words made it
real. There would be movement towards the supplies, and the
unpacking of all the medical paraphernalia I didn’t want to
see.

Before another contraction came, I
pushed myself out of bed. “I have to get out of here.”

Jared put down his worn copy of The
Catcher in the Rye, and turned to face me. When he saw I was
standing, he stood, too. “Nina, you have to lay down.”

“
I can’t,” I shook my
head. “It’s enough, Jared. I can’t stay here, anymore. We need to
find somewhere else.”

“
There is nowhere
else.”

I bent my knees and awkwardly bent
over to pick up a few of my things lying around the bed. “Well, we
can’t stay here. I can’t...I can’t have my baby here.”

Jared sighed. “Nina, stop. You’re
being irrational.”

“
Okay, so I’m irrational.
But I’m going to be irrational outside, where I can
breathe.”

Jared tried to touch my hand, but I
pulled away. “You know you can’t,” he said. “I can, and I’m
going.”

Ryan crossed his arms. “Then
go.”

“
What?” Jared
seethed.

“
She’s stronger than all
of us. If she doesn’t want to stay, we can’t make her.”

“
See?” I said to Jared,
pointing to Ryan. “He
listens
to me. You’re not listening!”

“
Sweetheart,” Jared said,
holding his hands in front of him. “You know what’s waiting up
there for us. We’ll be attacked the second we breach the
stairs.”