I was aware of how to take lives out of
existence, but bringing new life into the world wasn’t something I was familiar
with. I was used to dying people screaming, but I wasn’t used to helping them
give birth. I’m not a medic, though I am passable. I usually depended on
another comrade to help the injured and dying.
Hell, Katherine was the medic everyone
liked to get when they could.
I, on the other hand, was just a killer.
“Katherine!” I shouted. “Breathe in and
out!”
I should’ve replied calmer, but I was
frightened. Katherine would be alive and John would continue to be with her.
How could I tell him I had hoped that she had died?
No matter now, I had to focus on helping
her deliver.
Katherine was struggling and I had to try
and keep her still. She had injuries from the chopper crash and I didn’t want
to imagine the pain she was going through now. I thought of tying her up to
keep her still but I finally decided to ditch the idea. I didn’t want to stop
circulation and I wouldn’t be able to do it quickly enough anyways.
The last thing I wanted was for John’s
offsprings to plop onto the floor like discarded items.
“I...I...I can’t!” Katherine said, but
part of her wouldn’t quit wanting to give birth.
“Give birth first and then die.” I hissed,
but she wouldn’t stop yelling.
Dammit, this was not going to work.
Katherine would die and the twins would die and then I would have to watch John
try to not fall apart. This was not going to be a good day at all. Even if the
twins were born without being injured themselves, the fact was that I would be
in the middle of nowhere with a dying woman and two newborn children.
I didn’t know how I managed, but I helped
Katherine birth the twins. My hands were ready for both when they came out.
Neither of them were terrified of my metal poking out. I knew that they were
way too young to feel fear from seeing it, but there was always a chance that a
fear of metal was an instinct. I guess that wasn’t true.
“Can I see them?” Katherine asked me, her
voice sounding weak.
“Sure.” I replied and handed each of them
to her carefully.
“What do you want to name them, John?”
“Shouldn’t the mother decide?” I asked
her and I saw that she had fallen asleep before I could finish the question.
I looked at the twins and shook my head.
They looked like weird little aliens from Mars and yet it was my duty to take
care of them for now.
I sighed and took them both in my arms as
I looked for some place to wash them. There was a sink and some of the water I
had left would allow me to bathe them for the first time. I was alert at all
times as I washed them so as not to hurt them.
This was hard to do as they struggled and
I was afraid I would inadvertently kill them which would piss John off.
Thinking of John made me able to do a better job than I would have without him
in my mind.
After I finished bathing them, I took
random bits of clothing to cover them up. When we got back to base they could
get real clothing and real help.
As I put the twins next to Katherine I
realized I couldn’t wait. I needed to find a radio so that Katherine could be
taken care of.
For over an hour I made sure that
Katherine would be fine if left alone for a few hours at least. I had to go
around the area to find a radio. I had no other choice if we wanted to survive.
As I looked at them for what could be the
last time, I smiled at the twins and Katherine’s sleeping form before walking
away.
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