Initiation (Gypsy Harts #1) Page 12

  They both froze, eyes locked as they waited to make sure Oakley didn’t just have gas. The kick came again, harder, and Oakley gave a startled laugh while pressing her hand where she’d felt it. Sure enough, it came again. Feeling it from the inside and outside at the same time was bizarre.

  “Wow,” Em whispered, placing her hand over Oakley’s. “There really is a little Gypsy in there.”

  Oakley smiled, a tide of emotions suddenly threatening to overwhelm her. She tried to swallow it but her eyes watered up anyway.

  “Oh, Oakley,” Em exclaimed, seeing her state and throwing her arms around Oakley’s shoulders. “Don’t get me crying, too.”

  Oakley laughed at that, patting Em’s back. “Oh, Em. I’m so scared.”

  “I know, honey. I know. I’m going to take good care of you, I swear.”

  Oakley just nodded, squeezing her eyes shut. Tears welled out, running down her cheeks and into Em’s hair. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

  “Of course you can. You can do anything you need to. You got walking. You got brave. You’re so tough. You can do this. This is … the essence of womanhood. You got this, Oakley.”

  Oakley pulled away, sniffling and wiping her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m terrified.”

  “Of course you are. But it’s going to be alright. Jo saw this, she saw a baby for you. And happiness.”

  “Do you believe in that?” she asked, voice small.

  Em shrugged, hand back on the baby. “How can I not? What else is there?”

  It was as good a philosophy as anything else, really

  “Do you think about him at all?” Em was still talking while Oakley reflected on her own beliefs.

  “Stone?”

  Em nodded.

  “All the time. I don’t know how to put it. Everyone else I’ve met since waking up feels like something that happened to me, if that makes any sense. I mean, I’m so lucky and I love you all to death. But it all happened beyond my control, and I’m glad you were there to sweep me up in the tide of whatever the fuck this all is.” Oakley ran her hand over her stomach again, feeling her own smile. “But Stone…that was something I chose for me. I had the say in that. If that makes sense?”

  Em smiled back. “I think so. I have to keep reminding myself that you almost sprung out of an egg in that moment we found you. There was nothing before that. It’s a weird thought.”

  “Yeah, it is. Stone is different from all that, in some way. And I feel like I got to know him without you telling me about him beforehand. That’s how I got to know most people, other than you and Coral, May and Brit. Everyone else I was told about. I feel like…I feel like Stone is just mine. Which is stupid, I know. He likely fucked everyone in the commune.”

  Em shook her head. “Not everyone. The first night he’d go a round or two with a few girls, but he wasn’t one of those ravenous ones like Harley or Mad Trick. Sometimes he’d pick one for the rest of his stay, but not usually.” Em gave her a kiss on the temple. “I think you were likely special for him, too.”

  “He said I was. But I didn’t know if that was just to get laid or not.”

  Em laughed. “He didn’t seem like he was that sex-hungry.”

  Now Oakley laughed. “He had a healthy appetite, believe me.”

  “Okay, okay, I don’t want to know anymore,” Em laughed along with her. Then her face grew serious. “I mean it, I’m going to take care of you, Oakley. And I know you’re scared, but we’re all behind you. And pretty much every one of us is envious of this, you know that?”

  She had to nod. “Yeah, I’m starting to understand that.”

  “There are a lot of mothers here who lost their children. They see a lot of hope in this. There might be more people out there who were spared that initial radiation exposure. This is the promise that maybe life will continue past us. That’s the difference between surviving and living, you know what I mean?”

  “I think so. No one wants to be the last person left on earth.”

  “Exactly.”

  From that moment on Oakley would be woken in the mornings by a healthy, energetic kicking baby in her womb. Except for the morning that started with an ear-splitting explosion.

  She’d jerked upright, which was more and more difficult as the baby got larger. Her head was ringing immediately, and the baby, who she thought of as a he from the first kick, let his displeasure be known for being woken by promptly booting her in the bladder.

  She took a deep breath, dealing with that and then the fact that the world seemed to be falling apart around her. Women were screaming, and in her own room Em, Maxene and Abby were shouting. Em flew through the curtain of her nook with a flashlight. “Are you okay?”

  “What was that?” she asked, letting Em help her to her feet.

  “One of the booby traps,” she muttered. “We need to get to the cafeteria and see if everyone’s okay, then assess the damage.”

  Oakley was being herded out of the room and down the corridor as they spoke. Abby was helping her into a jacket suddenly. “But what about whoever did this?”

  “They were blown up, Oakley.”

  “What if that wasn’t all of them?”

  “We have to get to one safe place and see who’s hurt. Don’t worry, we have drills for this.”

  That made her feel better. She let herself be hurried to the rally point. The cafeteria was already full, lanterns positioned all over to light the room to almost daylight brightness. Half the women in the room were sporting rifles and handguns already, which startled her. Em saw her expression and smiled. “Some people are tasked with visiting the armory before assembling. Like I said, we have a system.”

  “Listen up!” May was shouting, hopping onto one of the dining tables. The room fell into a semi-hushed state where the only sound was sobbing and whimpering. “If you’re armed, follow me. If you’re not, stay here. And remember to protect Oakley. Someone is with her at all times. Now follow me.”

  Em patted her arm and nodded. Across the way Oakley noticed Billie heading their way, her seductive grin replaced with cold concern. “I’m with Oakley,” Billie promised Em with a nod. That’s when Oakley noticed again her hunting knife, now in a holster around her waist.

  “Thanks,” Em muttered, then headed off with about half the assembled women. Those left behind moved to close the doors to the cafeteria. A mop handle was shoved through the handles and the locks fitted into the ceiling and floor. Then tables and chairs were piled up. Once that was done they all turned to look…at her.

  Oakley swallowed, hands going to her stomach out of a brand new habit. Having May single her out had been intimidating, and now everyone was just standing around looking at her. She had no idea what to do.

  “Who do you think it is?” she asked Billie quietly, giving the bombshell her undivided attention.

  Billie shrugged. “Madmen? They’ve spent a lot of time just watching us. Trying to psyche us out. It had to happen eventually.”

  “How many are there of them?”

  Billie furrowed her brow. “Maybe forty?”

  “We outnumber them?”

  “We do now,” she agreed. “At first there were about twelve of us they had captive. I think they were up to about sixty members then.” Her smile developed a very cold edge. “We killed a lot of them when we escaped.”

  “You were there, too?”

  Billie nodded. “Yeah. And then they nabbed May and…she got us free. Jo was in that group, too. She knew May was coming. We believed her, we had nothing else to hope for. She said someone was coming to inspire us to rise up and escape. And it was May.”

  Oakley was nodding. “That’s what Em said.”

  Billie’s face did a funny thing. “I’m surprised Em knows about it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She wasn’t really kept with us. She was Jasper’s pet, she travelled with him and stayed with him at all times. We were locked up, caged like animals. She was…she was queen bee of the slaves, reall
y.”

  Oakley felt a chill. “Was she…in love with him?”

  Billie grimaced. “Christ, I hope not. She was a virgin when they grabbed her. He raped her, realized she was untouched and decided he had to own her. If she did at one time, it was some fucked up, Stockholm Syndrome, thing.”

  “Brit mentioned having to knife a girl who was jealous of the attention Em got.”

  Billie nodded. “Yeah. As punishment he would throw her into the cages with us for an hour or two. We’d keep her safe out of the hope she could throw us a favor if she could.”

  Oakley’s stomach turned. “Oh my God.”

  “She looks older than she is. She’s only about nineteen now. She was seventeen when they grabbed her. It was messed up. She’s held it together, though.” Billie tilted her head. “Why’d you ask if she loved him?”

  She didn’t know. She had no idea what would make her think that, other than how Em reacted to Jasper being brought up in conversation. Most of these women hated him. Em never said anything, good or bad.

  Oakley shook her head. “I don’t know. Just something in the way Brit teases her.”

  Billie was able to laugh. “Brit loves to get under anyone’s skin. You’ve noticed that, I’m sure.”

  They heard shouting outside the door, gunfire. The room fell silent, then the woman on Oakley’s other side took her arm and gave Billie a meaningful look. “Take her out the back way,” she whispered. “We’ll cover.”

  “Back way?” But Billie was already pulling her through the kitchen.

  “Not everyone knows about this,” Billie was mumbling, pushing through a door that had the “Exit” sign yanked off the ceiling above it. She flicked her flashlight and led Oakley down a short corridor beyond, with another fire door that opened onto a stairwell heading down. She moved slowly, even her slightly larger stomach making stairs tricky. Billie seemed to remember this eventually and started going down the steps next to her, sharing the narrow beam of light. At the bottom of the stairs Billie stopped, then sat down.

  “What?” Oakley asked, sitting next to her. “What’s next?”

  “If they start following us, we go out right there” she said, shining the light at yet another steel door. “But then we’re just down the hall from the front doors. So we have to hope the girls are kicking ass.”

  Oakley tried to catch her breath, wondering where her panic had gone. Sure, being woken by an explosion was enough to get her heart racing but the outright terror just wasn’t there. Or maybe she had no idea what was really coming.

  She reached into her waistband, bringing her Glock out and setting it on the step next to her. “Well,” Oakley began lamely. “If this is it, I have to say it’s been a slice.”

  Billie laughed at that; nervous, but a laugh all the same.

  Under her hands the baby kicked, and she gasped, leaning over, smiling like she always did when it happened. And then the tears hit.

  “Oakley? Oh Oakley. We’ll be all right. I promise.” Billie ran a hand over her hair, down her back. “Hey, don’t cry. Is the little bean kicking? Here, let me feel.”

  Billie’s hand pushed hers out of the way just as another mighty punt was delivered. Oakley had to laugh, even as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

  “Strong,” Billie mumbled, bringing her gaze up to Oakley’s face. “Really strong.”

  Oakley swallowed, nodding.

  “I know I’m not May, but I’m getting you out of here. Okay?”

  In a flurry of blonde hair Billie was at the door, pressing her ear to the metal. Oakley was sure she couldn’t possibly hear anything, but it made her sit up straighter, wiping away her useless, stupid tears. As she got to her feet a door overhead was thrown open loudly, forcefully, and the sound of descending footsteps was thunderous.

  Without a thought Billie threw this door open, grabbing Oakley, and pulling her along by the arm. She slammed the door shut behind them and spun, coming to such an abrupt halt Oakley ran into her back and pulled up before they could both topple over.

  There was Em. She was alive, which was a relief. But the man who had her in his arms was…not good. Oakley knew it by instinct, but couldn’t place where the feeling was coming from. Other than she knew these were the Madmen and they were, by all accounts, inherently evil.

  But Em wasn’t scared, or struggling. She was staring up at him, arms hanging at her sides limp, as this man had his leather-bound arms around her. Her face was turned up to his, and as wide and fearful as her eyes were there was something else there as well.

  “Em,” Billie barked, seeming to rouse her. This also served to call their presence to the man as well, and as his head turned to them Oakley found herself cowering behind Billie further.

  Soulless, that was the only thing she could really tell. His eyes were cold, a blue-grey color that was as startling as it was chilling. It appeared as through his face was fixed in a perpetual snarl. Then she realized his lip was horribly scarred, twisting it thus.

  “Billie,” the man growled, and Oakley’s skin crawled. In that one word, she remembered all the horrible things these men had done to her friends and she knew it was true. And that he was capable of worse.

  “I’ll put this knife through your temple and end you, you son of a bitch,” Billie shot back.

  This man, and Oakley was assuming this could only be Jasper, turned and took a slow, intensively menacing step in their direction. She felt herself slink back, hands shaking despite the fact the actually had a firearm with her.

  “Wait,” Em pleaded, grabbing his arm. “Let them go. You have what you want. You’ve taken the school. Let them go.”

  Taken the school? Oakley’s stomach sank.

  Jasper ran a tongue over his lower lip, eyes still on them. The intent in those eyes was terrible, and Oakley believed he could all but smell her fear. “We’ll still need our entertainment, dear.”

  Oakley’s hands gripped the back of Billie’s shirt. She didn’t want to be anyone’s entertainment.

  “Not them though, okay?”

  Jasper turned, casting his gaze back over his shoulder at her. Oakley couldn’t see his expression, and she was glad for it. But Em didn’t shrink back in fear. Her expression was desperate, eyes pleading.

  “And what’s in that for me?” he snarled.

  She swallowed, eyes darting to Billie and Oakley, then back to this menace. “I thought you only wanted me.”

  “What the hell?” Oakley whispered. Billie shushed her.

  Jasper had turned to Em, hand along her neck, thumb stroking across her cheek. “You want them spared?”

  Em nodded, smiling. “Yes. Please.”

  Jasper smiled, a cruel sight even in profile like this. “My woman gets what she wants.”

  She thought she’d be sick watching Jasper kiss Em, but all she could feel, besides guilt, was a sliver of hope that he’d actually let them go. Billie’s hand came back for hers and Oakley clasped them together.

  “They can go. Only them. Whoever else we find alive needs to stay for the boys. You know that.”

  “I know.” Em rubbed her nose along his.

  Oakley could appreciate that this was saving their skins, but something in that motion made her wonder how much of it was a sacrifice for Em. Her eyes shone as she looked at this monster, small smile in place as he quickly kissed her mouth before turning to them.

  “I don’t know why, but she just saved your lives,” Jasper told them, twisted smile in place as he adjusted his crotch, eyes on Billie travelling up and down. “So get the fuck out. And trust me, you better fucking run.”

  No one needed to tell Oakley anything. Billie rushed forward, circling the two of them in as wide an arc as she could to get to the hallway that led to the front door. Oakley was pulled along by her hand, still clenched in the blonde’s tight grip.

  As they came alongside the two, however, everything changed. No longer hidden behind Billie, Oakley was open to being violated by Jasper’s roaming eyes and they g
rew wide as he took in her stomach.

  “Wait,” he shouted, hand up and rushing forward. Billie tried to run, still holding on to her, but Oakley was now in the claws of this beast and he wasn’t letting go.

  So Oakley let go of Billie. The woman stopped, turning back. Oakley shook her head at her. “Go!” she shouted. “Get out of here!”

  As she was distracted Jasper pulled the Glock out of her hand absently, eyes running down her chest to her swollen abdomen. Her licked his lips again, eyes flaring. Oakley pulled back but his grip was tight.

  “What do we have here?” he mumbled, tossing her Glock to the ground and setting his palm on her stomach. She tried to pull back but his grip tightened and he spun her, pulling her against his chest, one arm behind her painfully as his free hand clutched her belly tightly, kneading at her.

  “Jasper, no—”

  “Shut up,” he snapped, silencing Em. Oakley closed her eyes, bile rising in her throat as the stubble from his chin scraped her neck. “A pregnant woman? Now…how about that.”

  She couldn’t help but squirm. The man was creepy and cruel and everything about his touch made her want to throw up. Add to that the erection he rubbed into her back and she was close to screaming.

  “A baby. A fertile woman. How can this be, my dear?” He wasn’t talking to her, she knew that. He must have been talking to Em.

  “She’d been underground since the bombs when we found her.”

  “And who knocked her up?”

  “A Young Blood. He’d been in prison when the bombs dropped. Also spared from being sterilized.”

  “Interesting.” Jasper’s nose ran up her neck, behind her ear. “You know what, honey? I was in prison, too. Makes me wonder what would happen if I cut this bastard out of you and planted my own inside you.”

  She pushed at his hand on her stomach with a whimper. Jesus, her arm was killing her, bent back like it was against him.

  “Although, you may very well give birth to a freak. Or the kid won’t make it.” His voice dropped lower, and she winced as his lips touched the curve of her ear. “I think I’ll wait and see what happens with you. If it turns out you’re good for more than what’s between your legs, I might make you the luckiest girl in the world and take you as mine. Wouldn’t that be nice?”