The Proposed Prophecies
Chapter 28: THE CHILD UNDER HER HEART

The room was more comfortable than anything in the red zone. The bed was softer, the room bigger. Evan brought her clothes and they weren’t the red uniform that made her itch all the time but a nice and soft cotton long-sleeved white shirt and blue jeans. She even had underwear and a bra, which felt strange after so many months being without. He made her a space in his closet which was in his room right next to hers. She was allowed to walk on the floor, which was empty, but she was not able to leave the floor to go anywhere else. It had only been a week since she had woken up on floor forty nine but it felt longer than that.

Evan brought her the security tapes of the past two days so she could see that her family and Carmen were alright and that he was sending them food on daily basis. She could even see Tommy sitting in the school zone and learning, or more likely being fed, lies or fake history. She couldn’t hear the voices only see the footage but he looked sad and he didn’t look like he was talking a whole lot anymore. He was different than he had been in Miami; quieter, sadder. She wished she could go and hug him. His sad image was breaking her heart each second. It would be terrible if the Alters started to fight right now. She needed to move the plan faster and make Evan stop Eve so that she could save her family and the people in the bunker.

Liv hesitated and kept walking in circles, trying to come up with the best solution for what to do, for how to get Evan to turn against his own mother. She wondered if the bond was truly that deep. Eve was only the one who had raised him. Alters weren’t born the same way as humans.

The elevator door opened and she heard him coming. She looked out of her room and saw him holding a tray with dinner. “Dinner is here,” he said.

“I need to talk to you about Eve.” Liv jumped in front of him and looked at Evan as he passed her by and placed the tray on her nightstand. He sat down on the bed and signed for her to sit next to him.

“Alright, I am listening.” He smiled. He had been back in her life for a week now and she realized that she didn’t hate him at all. Her negative feelings about him had slowly faded with time and it was getting harder to accomplish her plan when her feelings were slowly returning. She often thought about the days they had spent together in Miami. Perhaps he had taken over someone else’s identity but it was still him. He was always so polite and caring, bringing food to her on daily basis and to her family. Bringing the tapes for her so that she could watch Tommy, Ashley, Becky and Carmen. Her feelings were more confused than ever. She loved Jake and it felt wrong to feel this way towards Evan. His mother was the reason for Jake’s death.

“What’s wrong?” He said softly and placed his hand on her waist. Liv couldn’t hold back the tears but she tried to wipe them away. She knew how important it was for Evan to realize that he needed to take over Eve. And now that she looked at him she was sure he would be a good commander and make life on Earth right again. They could start all over and even reestablish the world without any more spilled blood. Earth really could be made a better place.

“I need you to talk to the Alters. They are counting on you. They need to hear your voice, a voice that could lead them into a better future. You know we cannot survive like this. I know you are taking food to my family but what about everyone else? There are thousands of people living under the ground that are starving on a daily basis.”

She completely lost the power to keep wiping away her tears. There was no point any longer. They kept rolling one after another. Evan let her waist go and placed his head into his hands and his elbows rested on his legs. He was quiet for a while and Liv was afraid to say anything. It was frustrating not knowing what he was thinking, which reminded her of Joann in the prison when she said it had driven her crazy not knowing. Liv suddenly understood that feeling.

“I know. I am dealing with it. I made some arrangements with Eve. It will get better, I promise.” He stood up from the bed.

“Arrangements with Eve?” Liv raised her voice. These words made her feel as if she had already lost her mission. She looked at Evan who turned around and rolled his eyes. She had never seen him rolling his eyes like that. He looked annoyed. “Eve is not as awful as you think. You don’t need to believe everything that Jake told you.” He paused and turned around slowly then walked to the other side of the bed and sat on the chair. He knew about Jake. She wondered how much he knew or if he had known she was with him. “There is something I should have told you the second you opened your eyes, but it was just hard to talk about it…. I mean… considering our past together.” He lowered his voice.

She turned her body towards his chair. It was hard to look at him and he appeared to feel the same way. He looked down the whole time he was talking, glancing at her only occasionally.

“When I brought you here and the doctor ran some tests, she realized that you are pregnant.” His words hit her hard, like a hammer right across her chest. “Pregnant?” She glanced at her belly. Surely this was impossible. She would have felt something. She wasn’t even showing. Her belly and waist were thinner than an ironing board. She had felt sick and vomited many times but she had felt that way ever since she had come down into the bunker some time ago.

“How far along am I?” she asked and looked at Evan, who still seemed to be having a hard time looking at her. “Well. She said it is hard to say as you are not completely human and your body reacts differently. She still needs to complete some tests, if you don’t mind.” He looked at her. He rested his back against the chair again and crossed his hands.

“Of course,” she said quietly. She still couldn’t believe there was a whole living being growing inside of her. She knew the baby must have been Jake’s. And it was hard to admit this out loud in front of Evan, even if he probably already suspected this. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the FindNʘᴠᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Liv,” he said and leaned closer, placing his hands on his knees and his eyes on hers. “Eve agreed to stop the fighting and start releasing people into certain cities that have been cleaned up and secured for living, including you and your family. The outside world is not perfect yet but…” she interrupted his sentence before he could continue. “Does Eve know that I am pregnant?” He nodded his head. “What if she decides to hurt it?” Her worst fears started emerging, before she could keep quiet. “She won’t. As I said, you don’t have to believe everything that Jake told you.” He got up and started walking towards the door. “Evan…” she said but she wasn’t even sure what to say. “I have a meeting now. I will come later.” He was no longer looking at her and she heard his boots as he walked to the exit of floor forty nine. She exhaled and touched her belly which was smaller than before she had come into the bunkers. But then she remembered reading in one of her grandfather’s diaries that no one had known that Helena was pregnant. She had never shown either. Also her father had told her that day he had come to Amy’s house that neither he nor Helena had known she was pregnant until Liv’s birth. Maybe it wasn’t so impossible after all, she thought.

***

She looked at the watch on her wrist. It was a quarter past one. She continued to glance at the time every half an hour. There was no sign of Evan for some time. She walked in circles, back and forth along the hallway which was about the same size as in the red zone but somehow felt a lot larger without all those people. There were some rooms on the left and right but they mostly looked like simple bedrooms with showers. She wondered if this part of the bunker had been intended for people or if it was meant to be kept empty, just like it was now. She re-watched some of the old security footage of her family in the red zone and Tommy and Ashley in the yellow zone.

She watched Ashley chatting and laughing with some girl of the same age, which made Liv laugh too without even hearing her voice. Ashley was starting to look more like Amy now. Her hair was getting blonder and even the way she moved reminded Liv of Amy. It was those quick and energetic moves. Amy had always seemed so hyper and full of energy and now so did Ashley.

Even Ashley’s hair had grown so much, she thought. She still couldn’t believe that there had been a cure for cancer all along. Why had it been kept secret?. Perhaps it was to keep the population from over populating or perhaps it was just a simple money reason. Cancer was good business for hospitals in the US and required a lot of money for people to get the treatment they needed.

She looked at her watch as she laid on her bed and put her hand on her belly. It was still hard to believe that she was pregnant. She wondered what Jake would say if he was still alive, whether he would be happy. He had always seemed good with Ashley and Tommy. She was sure he would be good with a baby too. She realized the baby would now be more Alter than human, since even she wasn’t a pure human. She exhaled and check her watch again. It was four in the afternoon. Evan was still not there. She felt tired but she didn’t want to sleep. She wanted to know where he was or what was happening out there. It was hard not to know since the exit remained locked and the elevator could only be opened with the access chip; all she could do was wait on the forty ninth floor. She laid on her bed and closed her eyes, slowly falling into a stage of sleepiness. When a sudden noise woke her up some time after. There was a noise from Evan’s room and rushed into it but he wasn’t there. She heard the shower going and she thought he must have been taking one.

She waited until he got out. He jumped slightly once he opened the door. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just really need to talk to you.” She felt as if she was violating his privacy somehow by being there while he walked out of the shower wearing nothing else than a towel around his waist. He held on to the towel. “Liv, I need to change. I have another meeting in an hour and I still need to get ready. Can it wait?” He sounded annoyed. Liv felt exhausted from waiting. She didn’t feel like waiting anymore.

“I have seen you naked before. You can change in front of me while we talk. I can turn around if you are so shy.” But she didn’t really mean it. She wouldn’t change in front of him either. It wasn’t like they were back together, even if this possibility had gone through her mind a couple of times before she pulled herself back up and realized she needed to focus on the plan and on her family and get out of the bunker before it fell apart. Plus the whole pregnancy situation changed everything.

“Alright then. Turn around,” he said and she did.

“I had a meeting with the Alters and my mother earlier. Alters and people working outside reported back that they had stopped the depopulation process and were refusing to work until we sort out the issue between the Alters who have apparently split into two groups. It’s a mess. One group supports Eve while the other wants a new commander. Some of the Alters want to stop the virus and stay living on Earth while the others want to keep up with the agreement as planned and voted for leaving Earth just as it was planned.”

She suddenly turned around. “Do you want to go back?” Suddenly she realized how strange it was just to hear about it. That’s what she thought the Alters should do but somehow she hadn’t thought about Evan leaving too. The fact that he was an Alter was still hard to keep in mind. She turned back when she realized that Evan was still only covered by the towel and giving her a look that told her she needed to avert her eyes.

“Well, once we finish cleaning up the dead people and releasing the humans I don’t really have a reason to stay. So yes. I voted for going back.”

She heard the squeaky noise of the closet and it felt as if he had put something heavy on the bed behind her. It could have been the heavy Alter uniform that always looked like it was bullet proof.

“I see,” she said quietly.

“Do you want me?” He stopped and corrected himself. “Do you want the Alters to stay on Earth?”

Part of her, she realized, wanted him – and only him - to stay but she shook her head and remembered that she had other things to worry about as she placed her hand on her belly. She closed her eyes and exhaled. “I just want this all to be over and be released and for my family to be safe.” It was the truth, she thought. “So what’s next?”

She asked.

“Eve has eventually agreed to step down for the sake of the future of the Alters but it isn’t official yet. We have a meeting with all the Alters and it will be announced there.”

Evan spoke quickly but Liv could sense that what he was saying was bothering him. She turned back around and walked up to him. He was already dressed, putting his wrist watch on. “I am sorry, I know it must be hard.” She placed her hand on his face. He didn’t say a word, only stared. I don’t even know what to say to you. It’s just such a strange situation,” she said and he smiled. “It is.” He touched her hand and gently took it off his face. She realized there were boundaries slowly building up around them that weren’t there before and this must included touching too. “I promise you I will keep your family safe. I have almost everything set up for them to leave the bunker. And Alters won’t leave until the cleanup is done and the system reestablished.” He smiled. It was good to hear the end was coming and that her family will be safe. “I can’t wait to be free again.” She looked down but suddenly felt the warmth of his body as he hugged her. “I know,” he said. His aftershave was pleasant. It reminded her of their first night spent together. It was the night she had entered his apartment for the first time, right after she had read her grandfather’s diary. She remembered the soft touch of his hands on her body. Everything felt the same, reminding her of all the good memories. She slowly closed her eyes, in a happy moment.

That happy moment was ruined by the loud voice of Joann storming through the elevator.

“We have a problem” She yelled. “A group of Alters have started shooting at each other and are going crazy.”

“Stay here,” Evan ordered but Liv did not have the slightest intention of staying there. All she could think of was that her family and Carmen were down there. She ran after him but he stopped her. “I can’t have you go down right now.” Liv didn’t care much about what he wanted, she needed to reach her family and the kids. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of them. But you stay here,” he yelled.

“I will stay with her” Joann said as Evan opened the elevator. Liv felt the strong grab of her arm.

“Don’t touch me,” Liv yelled at Joann who kept holding her back and pulling her away from the elevator. She broke free of her grip, rushing to the elevator as the door closed.

“Don’t be stupid. There is shooting going on down there.”

Liv was annoyed by Joann and pushed her back with all the power left in her. “Why are they fighting, Joann? Eve is stepping down. What did you do?”

Joann laughed and her laugh was more annoying than her high-pitch voice.

“You should calm down Liv… this is not good for you or for your baby.” Liv walked back and forth along the hallway, trying to figure out how to open the elevator door. “If you are a hybrid then I wonder what we will call your baby.” Joann laughed and Liv suddenly thought about taking Joann’s eyeball out. This would open any door she needed. Joann’s annoying laugh definitely supported her thought. “You know, either of them can be the father of your baby.” Joann stopped laughing.

“What?” Liv stopped for a second. “The Alters embryo takes up to a year to develop in the incubator and if you really think about it, you are a half Alter and you might have already been pregnant for a year.” Joann said and crossed her arms. “A whole year?” Liv said out loud and thought again about what her father Christopher had said at Amy’s house about not knowing that her mother Helena was pregnant until the birth. She wondered how long she had been pregnant. It could have been a year. It was ridiculous that she didn’t know who the baby’s father was but suddenly Evan being the father wasn’t so strange. She felt a certain guilt just thinking this. Jake was dead, had been killed right in front of her eyes. Liv walked back and forth as her watch ticked, each second a Russian roulette of the future.

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