Page 55 of Peach

Andy shook his head. “Something is wrong. I feel it in my gut. I know I’m supposed to be strong, but this is testing me.”

“We’ll be home soon.”

“Fuck, I can’t wait until we get back into US airspace. Iknow if we land somewhere in the forty-eight, I can drive home.”

“Once we get closer, we’ll see if we can get communication going.”

Andy nodded. “Yeah. I just hope nothing has gone wrong. I just couldn’t take it if something happened to her.”

Peach felt the worry, knowing he would feel the same way about Haisley. It wasn’t cool that they had been sent out on a mission, but because they’d just completed a mission, he knew they wouldn’t be sent out for a few months. Even if things went to hell, they wouldn’t be the next on the list to go out.

A weird feeling filled him and he kept it to himself. The last thing he needed was to make Andy worry, even if Peach felt like something had gone wrong.

Chapter 37

The sun was up,and Haisley had insisted that they stop. They hadn’t come across any people or a road or anything. Maybe they were headed the wrong way, but the sun was still to her left shoulder, which meant they hadn’t been going in circles.

They took a long break, maybe a few hours, or so. The sky had clouds, but she could still see the sun in breaks between the clouds.

“Do you think you can walk more?” Haisley asked. She studied her friend, realizing that Mel didn’t look good. There was no way her friend could walk far.

“I don’t know.”

“Let’s go around the bend. Maybe there’s something there.”

Mel stood and started walking. Because the sun was up, Haisley didn’t feel the need to hold Mel’s hand. If they got separated by a few feet, they could see each other. Walking in the dark had been scary. If she’d lost Mel, she might not have been able to easily find her.

They’d almost made it around the bend in the pathwhen she spied what looked like a wall. Haisley froze, allowing Mel to catch up to her.

“What is that?” Mel asked.

“I don’t know. A house, maybe. What do you think?”

Mel moaned, and Haisley turned to look, thinking her friend wasn't going to be able to walk much longer. She was about to ask Mel if she wanted to take another break when her friend gasped, then dropped her pants and squatted, her face a mask of pain.

At first, Haisley thought Mel was peeing, but then she realized her friend's water had broken.

“Oh God,” Mel said. “I’m having this baby.”

“Let’s get you to that house.”

Mel shook her head. “What if they’re worse than your friends? Or what if we were walking in circles?”

Haisley shook her head. “We weren’t. Going in circles. I’ve been watching where the sun was. It’s not the place we ran from.”

Mel stood and looked like she was okay when she reached out and grabbed onto Haisley’s arm as she cried out in pain.

“Oh fuck, I’m having this baby. Let’s go see if we can get inside.”

Haisley helped Mel make her way through the trees and bushes and over to the cabin. They had to stop twice for Mel to make it through contractions. From what Haisley knew, contractions this close together after water breaking meant something was happening soon. The baby would come, and there wasn’t anything they could do to stop it.

“How long have you been having contractions?” Haisley asked.

“Since before you woke up in that room.”

“Shit. You should have told me.”

“We had to escape. I was fine until just now.”

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