“That’s her heart?” Jenny asked. She heard her voice breaking and cursed herself. She had to keep up a tough shell and prevent Ward from seeing her feelings. The more love and concern she showed for her unborn child, the more control he would think he had over her. Better if everyone thought she was a monster.
“She looks good,” the doctor said. “She’s on the small end of the scale, but so are you.”
Jenny fought the urge to tell the doctor everything—how she needed a C-section for the delivery, and she needed Seth standing right beside her. She told herself there would be time for that. If she started begging for things now, then Ward would have immediate leverage.
“When is this thing going to be out of me, anyway?” Jenny asked. “I’m sick of carrying it around already.”
The doctor’s eyes widened. “This thing? You mean the baby girl?”
“Whatever. I never wanted to get pregnant in the first place.” Jenny scowled. “Now I’m stuck with this stupid baby. I hate it already. Can you do a quick abortion while you’re here?”
The doctor gave her a look of loathing. “It’s far too late! You only have eighteen weeks left. Expect to deliver at the end of May.”
“That’s going to take forever. Hey, can I get any painkillers out of this? Morphine, maybe? My feet and back are starting to hurt.” Jenny winked. “Anything with opiates would be awesome.”
The doctor just shook her head. “You need to keep yourself healthy. It’s not the baby’s fault that you didn’t want her. You have to give her a fair start in life.”
“Oh, sure. Just tell the general that I need to go for a long jog in the woods every day. And tell him to let me out of this place while you’re at it. And bring me some fucking cigarettes and a bottle of vodka. Not the cheap stuff, either.”
“You can’t have any of that,” the doctor said, backing away. “I don’t know how you got here, Jennifer, but I’m starting to think that keeping you locked up might be the best thing for the baby. Let’s go.”
The technician wheeled the cart as he and the doctor left. When they were outside the airlock, the four guards unlocked Jenny’s cuffs and backed out, one by one, their stun guns pointed at her.
Everything was wrong, Jenny thought. Seth should have been here, and they should have been at a normal doctor’s office. She’d demanded to see him every day, and had been denied, but now she really needed him. She lay on her bed and clutched a pillow.
They were at the same base as last time, with the same general in charge, but now they were caged and monitored with modern technology. It would be hard to escape.
Only one thing was better: Ashleigh was dead, and so there was no love-charmer, no version of Alise here to play tricks on her. If anyone played mind games this time, it would be Jenny.
* * *
Juliana stood in the lab, looking down at the man with the torture scars strapped to the hospital gurney.
“Are you sure it’s okay?” she asked Alise, the only other person in the lab. Kranzler and the scientists would be watching from the dark windows above, but Jenny wasn’t thinking about them at all. She could only think of Alise, beautiful Alise, and doing whatever would please her.
“Everything’s fine.” Alise smiled and, happily, breathed out another cloud of pink spores, which felt delicious on Juliana’s arms and neck. Alise had greeted Juliana with a dose of it that morning and walked her to the lab, and Juliana had been craving more. She wished she could touch Alise—she could only imagine what it would be like in the girl’s arms, her touch full of warmth and love.
“You should send him to Sebastian when I’m done,” Juliana said, dazed. “Sebastian can heal him.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Alise winked. “Go ahead. It’ll be good, I promise. I love you, Juliana. I wouldn’t make you do anything wicked.”
“I love you, too, Alise,” Juliana confessed. Then she reached out her hands and placed them on the man on the table—who was, as Alise had pointed out, a convicted criminal who had hurt people.
The man howled as dark blisters and sores ruptured all over his body, radiating out from where her hands touched his bare shoulders. The man went into convulsions, gagging out pink foamy saliva while his tongue swelled and bled.
In less than a minute, it was all over, the man lying still and leaking dark blood from dozens of lesions, his head misshapen.
“You have to get Sebastian now,” Juliana whispered to Alise. “Like you promised.”
“I told you, I’ll take care of everything,” Alise said. “Come on, let’s get out of the way. I have some catalogs if you feel like shopping!” Alise blew another cloud of pink spores at her, and Juliana shivered in delight.