Pearl slumped against Keith, breathing unevenly. Her hands trembled as she clutched her belly.
"Keith... I think... I think the baby..."
Keith’s voice cracked. "Hold on. We will get help. I promise."
Rain stepped close, her expression serious. "We need to get her to the base’s dical wing. Now. I can carry her."
Keith imdiately shook his head. "No... I can carry her. She is my wife."
Rain stopped.
For a mont, she simply looked at him.
His arms shook. His wounds were bleeding. His steps were unstable. Yet he refused to let anyone else bear the weight of his wife.
Sothing tightened in Rain’s chest.
’This is love. This is loyalty. This is what I wanted. This is what I never had.’
Rain simply nodded. "Then I will support you. I will fight off anything that cos close."
Keith whispered, voice thick. "Thank you."
Rain did not respond with words. She simply stepped forward and walked beside them, fists clenched, ready to break anything that approached.
By the ti they reached the entrance of the base, even Rain felt exhausted. She showed her card to the guard and let Keith and Pearl inside directly.
In other cases, the guards would have first checked Keith and Pearl before letting them in. But seeing Pearl’s condition, they didn’t stop them and even kindly told them about the dical wing.
The dical wing wasn’t so proper departnt, though there were doctors and healers; their number was too low.
Not to ntion, there wasn’t any kind of dical equipnt, and many of the people suffering from several diseases were just separated by a piece of patched-clothes curtain.
It was a painful scenario to see, and Keith felt his heart reach his throat. Can the doctors even have ti to help his wife? He doubted it and suddenly started to regret his decision.
Earlier, he had set off for this base purely because he had heard that the base had cheap food and good living conditions. He was blinded by the good lifestyle temptation and even took the bold decision of carrying his wife for an entire thirty miles.
He hoped that his wife would give birth in a good environnt, but his decision had caused more suffering to her rather than support.
Keith’s arms trembled as he lowered Pearl onto a worn-out stretcher. Her skin had turned frighteningly pale, sweat beading across her forehead as her breathing grew more ragged by the second.
"Please," he rasped, turning to the nearby nurse. "My wife, she’s going into labor. She’s in pain; please help her!"
The young nurse, her uniform smudged with dirt and blood, hesitated for a second before rushing to call the dic.
"Doctor Hale! We’ve got another one!"
Rain stood nearby, watching as a flurry of movent erupted around Pearl. Her fists clenched unconsciously as she looked around the makeshift ward.
There were no proper walls, only faded sheets strung up as dividers.
The scent of antiseptic mixed with blood hung thick in the air.
Dozens of injured n and won lay on the floor, so shivering, so crying softly, and so terrifyingly still.
Rain felt sothing twist deep inside her.
This was the reality of the apocalypse. Even survival looks like suffering.
Keith fell to his knees beside Pearl, brushing the damp hair from her face. "You’ll be fine, okay? Just hang in there."
Pearl tried to smile, but her lips quivered. "I’m sorry... I shouldn’t have slowed you down. You could’ve left ."
Keith’s eyes filled with tears, and he grasped her hand tightly. "Don’t ever say that. I would rather die than live without you."
Doctor Hale finally arrived, a middle-aged woman with streaks of gray in her hair and exhaustion shadowing her features. She quickly examined Pearl, her brows knitting tightly.
"She’s in preterm labor," the doctor said gravely. "And she’s lost too much blood. We don’t have enough IV fluids left, and the saline stock has already been reserved for the fever patients."
Keith paled. "What do you an... reserved?"
The doctor sighed. "We only have limited supplies. Unless soone can find more, I can’t guarantee either of them will survive."
Silence fell.
Keith’s hands trembled as he pressed them against his knees. His lips parted, but no words ca out. His entire body trembled between helplessness and despair.
’No... No! What have I done...’
If only he hadn’t taken the impulsive decision and had stayed behind, his wife would be fine...
"I am sorry... I am sorry..." Keith murmured; however, his mind was churning at the fastest speed, and he thought of an idea.
In an instant, he turned toward Dr. Hale and asked, "Can soone lend their saline to ? I am ready to pay extra! I have money! I can even get zombie crystals!"
Dr. Hale looked at him with pained eyes, shaking her head.
"It doesn’t work like that here," she said softly.
"Supplies aren’t traded. They’re rationed. If I take one bag from another patient, I’m signing their death sentence instead of hers."
Keith’s voice cracked. "Then what am I supposed to do?! Just watch her die?"
The doctor lowered her gaze. "We’re doing everything we can."
Everything we can.
Those words echoed painfully in Keith’s ears, hollow and aningless in a place where "everything" was never enough.
He gritted his teeth, tears burning in his eyes as he stared at Pearl, her trembling body, her shallow breaths, and her hand that weakly reached for him.
"Keith..." Her whisper was faint. "Don’t cry... please... the baby needs you to be strong..."
Her words shattered him completely.
Baby? What was the point of the baby without her?
Baby? Would he still have a baby with how the situation was unfolding?
’Please... please, gods above... help us! Please!’ Keith begged desperately.
Yet... his pleading seed to have gone unnoticed because even after half an hour, no solution appeared.
Seeing the life draining out of his wife’s body, Keith made a decision.
’If she is going to die... I will too.’
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