Page 42 of Calico Descending

“It’s a reproductive process, more commonly observed in females of the Therian subclass of mammals.”

“What?” Another zap of pain strikes my belly, and I cry out, nearly in tears as it radiates to my hip bones.

“Have you had any sexual thoughts in the last couple of days?”

My mind slips back to the dream I had the night before, with Valdys pushing himself inside of me, while I lay screaming in a cross between pleasure and pain. “A couple.”

“It will last approximately three to four days. You may find some relief by …” He clears his throat a second time, while pushing his glasses up onto his nose. “Self-stimulation. Clenching the thighs together tightly may also help.”

“I’ve … never heard of this before.”

“That’s because it’s not typical in human females. There is no estrus. Ovulation is more concealed.”

I frown up at him. “So, why is this happening to me?”

His face turns as emotionless as his voice, when he says, “I’m afraid that’s all I can tell you for now. Please return to your barracks, or assignment.”

“Doctor Ericsson asked to see me after my checkup.”

“I see.” With a huff, he lowers his gaze and adjusts his glasses again. “Perhaps, if you opt not to mention the estrus to him, I will do the same. I’ll have him excuse you from the Alpha cells for a few days on the basis of … acute onset of diarrhea and vomiting?”

I snort at the serious tone of his voice when he says this. Like listening to a computerized voice tell a joke. Yet, the thought of not seeing Valdys troubles me. I feel like, if I don’t see him soon, my whole body is going to go up in flames. It’s strange how I’ve come to crave him the last couple of days, which I suppose now makes a small bit of sense, with Doctor Tim’s explanation. “What would be the consequence of participating in the Alpha cells?”

“Estrus is a trigger for males to mate. The last time a subject was sent into the cells during estrus, she required multiple stitches.”

Neela. That’s why Cadmus attacked her.

In all the time I’ve been here, I don’t think Doctor Tims has ever said more than two words to me. His face is typically the last I see before they put me out, and the first when I wake up. He’s always been a somewhat cold and distant man, and it surprises me that he’s offered this information, though I don’t dare make the assumption that he cares. None of the doctors in this place truly care about the savages they drag in from the Deadlands, or they wouldn’t do the inhumane things they do to us.

“Please. Tell me why this is happening to me.”

Instead of answering, he twists away from me, but I reach out for his arm, swinging his attention to me again.

“Please.”

Removing his glasses, he pinches the bridge of his nose, then huffs, before sliding them back on. “You are no longer equipped to accommodate a human pregnancy. Your womb has been modified for impregnation by an Alpha.”

“What?” The words sink beneath my skin, snaking through my bones like poison. “Why? Why would you do that?”

“To instill obedience. An Alpha will fight to protect his female, but he’ll be willing to give his life to protect his pregnant female.”

“I don’t understand. The Alphas have fought. Easily. They’re the strongest in the Deadlands, right? Why would they need to be willing to sacrifice themselves entirely?”

He sighs, giving a furtive glance toward one of the other doctors walking past the half-opened curtain. With a nod, he clears his throat, and lowers his voice. “Do you know why this hospital was built here?”

I shake my head, the pain in my stomach subsiding for the curiosity he’s stirred.

“This is ground zero. Where the Dredge began. By accident, really. When Szolen was constructed, one of the workers unearthed a pod that had been cocooned. The first to be infected with Dredge carry the purest form of the pathogen. To keep it from spreading, a facility was built beneath the desert, this very hospital. It’s since been sealed off, but we believe the cure lies in those early samples.”

“So, why haven’t you unsealed it? Why use human beings as guinea pigs, when you have the cure below your feet?”

“Because the early infected are the most violent of all. And to get to the cure, we’d have to get past them. Though we don’t know how, we know their numbers have grown.”

“You want to use the Alphas to retrieve the samples.”

His silence answers for him, and the grim expression on his face twists my stomach.

“And to make the Alphas comply, you figured getting me pregnant would give them purpose.”

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