2156. The wilderness.

   She didn’t expect that this time would come. She never even dreamed about visiting the outside world, she didn’t have the time for such things. She wasn’t a mercenary, and she wasn’t a fighter – not in that sense at least. Apart from the xenogenics, that have tried to invade the base, she never had seen a real, monster-shaped monster before. She only saw a few pictures of them, and that was more than enough for her.

   She wanted to refuse this work as well. What a nonsense! What idiot soldier or Judge would believe her, that she is a mercenary?! Well, yes, she was wearing a tight, black, solid mercenary suit, and hard, heavy vest and protective pieces all over her limbs, making her appearance five times wider than she actually is. She also had a headpiece that covered her long, wavy hair. But her face… it was so recognisable. Even if the soldiers hadn’t visited her floor so often, no woman had her features in this place. She couldn’t make it unnoticeable, even when she wanted to sometimes.

   But somehow it worked. When they reached the checkout point, she was sitting in the deepest compartment of the armored vehicle, and the soldier just glanced through all of them. The darkness did hide her features well enough to not make the officer taking a second look. Their focus was concentrated on the arriving mercenaries anyway. Besides that, Doussay had two other female companions; her name was also not highlighted on the ID card’s number list. They shut the door on their small group, and let them go under three minutes.

 “Thank you for coming.” One of the women whispered beside her. The vehicle was quite dark and uncomfortable. Doussay got herself some blanket that she could’ve put under her bum, but she was basically sitting on the car’s floor. Since she was the leader of the third floor, she hadn’t experienced such discomfort a long time ago. The woman next to her took Doussay’s hand into hers. “I appreciate your help.”

Doussay smiled, but no one could’ve seen that.

 “Don’t thank me; I haven’t done anything just yet.” She pointed out a bit awkwardly. “It’s not even sure if I can. I’ve never been a midwife. And we lack of doctors.”

 “I was about to become one when I was young.” She said as if that mattered. “I studied healthcare as well, as much as the Outer City let me.”

   Doussay was absolutely certain, she knew more about being a midwife, than this woman about being a doctor, and she started to feel like she should’ve asked Dr Ye to come with her. He probably would’ve refused of course. No one would want to go out to the wilderness, especially after they’ve heard about the story that these people have told her.

   Outside the base was not entirely bad. Once they stopped to have a little rest, they all got out of the car for a few minutes. They were in a place, which was extremely flat and there was nothing – literally nothing around them, just bushes and the night sky.

   Doussay was looking at the aurora. The green light was dimmer than at the base, however, the sky was a lot bigger and more visible here, far from the high buildings and the city walls. With no city lights either, the stars over the green ribbons were also pretty clear. It was mesmerising scenery. Only if it wasn’t this cold at night… Doussay hugged herself to keep her body warm.

 “We will reach our shelter tomorrow.” One of the mercenaries stepped closer to her. He was the one, who asked her to come with them to the wilderness, as one of Doussay’s regular clients. She liked this person, he was a kind-hearted, older man, but she wasn’t really sure if she was going to see him after this journey. This was way more than she would’ve ever done, even for the ones she loved dearly. “I’m so sorry… we don’t have other options… it’s their daughter after all.

   Apart from the self-proclaimed female doctor and Albert – the mercenary – there was another couple. They were avoiding Doussay, despite it being their daughter who got into trouble, and they haven’t even looked at her since they left the base this morning. They’ve only greeted each other before the departure. Doussay looked over to them: they were making the “beds” in the vehicle.

 “They could’ve sent her to my floor.” She said quietly. Albert’s thin face twitched, and awkwardly laughed, turning away from her.

 “That is… please, don’t get me wrong. You’re doing an amazing job. But the third underground floor is not heaven for everyone.”

No, because it’s hell – Doussay thought, not taking his words personally.

 “And the wilderness is any better?” She asked then, pointing out the obvious.

 “Mmm…” The man pressed his lips together and sighed deeply. “Of course not. Well, she is not my daughter. If it was mine, I wouldn’t want her outside, but… at the same time, I cannot blame them. I just can’t.”

 “Hm…” Actually, Doussay also couldn’t blame them. People at the base tried their best to escape from the selfish justice that the base had practiced. None of their hiding options were good. For a couple of seconds, they fell into silence, before she asked:

 “Adopted daughter, right?”

   Doussay tried not to show any emotions in her voice. It was not just the couple, who avoided her, but she also tried to avoid them for a reason.

 “Yes, of course. Mai cannot have children. They’re married.” The man sighed again, tucking into his completely white, shoulder-length hair. “I wish I could get married to someone. But most women are not allowed to marry. I don’t get it. How does the base decide, which woman can marry a man in the Outer City? It shouldn’t matter, right?”

   The man looked at her desperately and deeply, carrying a hint of the meaning, who exactly is that someone he has on his mind, and Doussay faintly smiled, acting as if she didn’t notice. She shook her shoulder.

 “Who knows…”

   She knew. Being involved with documents forgeries on the side of Dr Ye, she had a very clear understanding of the reason. Because this is how much the base tried to do birth control.

   Pregnancy being prohibited at the Outer City was the main cause of this side effect. Because they knew, how much they lie about the fertility of the women population at the base, they had to come up with all sorts of regulations for couples.

   Obviously, there was no way to check every couple at the base. People not living in their designated residences made it even harder for them. And Doussay’s floor was a slap on all of the higher up’s faces, it was even a surprise that they didn’t try to dissolve the third underground floor. But in exchange, they did everything that reduced the possibility of a pregnancy.

   For starters, they only let those women officially marry a man, who either had zero scores on the Rose Manifesto, or they went through a long and painful procedure of “testing”, that would guarantee, that the engaged woman indeed will not be capable of conceiving. Doussay had asked for those document forgeries a few times, before the new “no one leaves” rule was applied to the third floor. She also regretted doing it, for the very reason of what happened with Mary. There was no point in lying in those documents, and later on, getting into trouble, and getting betrayed by the “loving husband”.

   Because of these regulations, people started to get frustrated. Women were afraid of punishments, and men didn’t have enough patience. It became natural for them to seek partners from their own gender unless they really fell in love with each other. But it was undoubtedly much less stressful this way for everyone. It was a suppressed tension that was built into their society, and people grew resigned by it. They resented the base, but never tried to rebel against it.

The whole thing was ridiculous.

   It was true, that this situation prevented a lot of accidental pregnancies, and this way somewhat protected the women of the Outer City, but Doussay just felt grossed out. There could’ve been better solutions to this, not killing the babies. This was the only thing, which truly made Doussay’s soul rage. But she couldn’t fight against it with her full power. All she could’ve done was to help those, who did take this risk.

Those stupid, desperate people.

   Just like this married couple. For some reason, they were okay with their daughter getting pregnant, yet now they had her leave the base and live in the wilderness, rather than giving her to Doussay and having her protected by the third underground floor, just because they were that terrified of the base’s justice.

   Doussay sighed deeply into the cold air. Only if there would be a better way to treat women and pregnancies. If the base had cared just a bit more, at least they could’ve let those women who got pregnant go back to the Eden, and give birth in a protected environment, and then only take action, if an actual problem occurs with the baby.

   Doussay got back to the car, but she couldn’t sleep the whole night. Her head was full of babies and problems around them. She was also remembering the first delivery that she was witnessing – and how it didn’t end well. After that incident, she did see a few other deliveries, but she never did anything, it was always Dr Ye, who conducted the event. Although it wasn’t much that Dr Ye could’ve done either. Usually, he only had one or two injections and a few medications, and that was all. So Doussay was certain, she could help to deliver the baby, but what will happen after?

It was not even her problem. Why did she even come here…?

   The next day was almost boring. They travelled all morning, and no monsters were interrupting them. As Albert said, it was quite normal for this place to not have many monsters, mostly just bugs, but they were usually hunting elsewhere in early autumn. Doussay believed it because she didn’t have any reason not to – she had no idea about insects, and she really hoped, this lack of experience will never change.

   Their direction had changed at noon. They turned to the right, and went to the west side of the land, then a few hours later, the large plain land started to elevate, and hills and tiny mountains appeared around them. The terrain wasn’t so deserted anymore, and the bushes were replaced with short trees and grassy patches.

 “This is already Canyon 313.” Albert said to break the long silence. They haven’t talked much. The middle-aged man tried everything to make her time worthwhile, and probably to bond with her, but Doussay was lost in her mind most of the time. She sat on the passenger’s seat all day – and refused to sit on the hard floor. “There are some beautiful places here, but not much loot. Monsters are not really interested in this area. And there’s a lot of water! You will see some big lakes as we are entering the basins.”

Doussay smiled indifferently.

 “If this place is that safe, why the base didn’t use it for military purposes? They could’ve constructed a military base around here, don’t they?” She pretended to care at least for a little.

 “I’m not sure.” Albert seemed to be surprised and unprepared for this question, perhaps he also thought, Doussay would not engage with him in the topic. “Maybe because it’s pretty isolated from the other areas. Flatland is already a big space that we have to travel through. And if there are no monsters and samples that they can collect, there are no rewards. At least this seems to be logical to me. What do you think?”

   Doussay shook her shoulder, and looked out of the windscreen. The sunrays landed on some sparkling surfaces in the distance, she stared at those places.

 “See… water. Those are mining lakes from surface mines. There are tons of mining sites at this place. Makes it even better to hide… Actually, people could live here. The mines are enormously large, and all of them are connected in some way. People from the Era of Great Prosperity lived there as they worked on them. They’re capable of giving shelter for hundreds even. Well, of course, the lack of resources is an issue… But because the mines are connected, people could use them to travel underground and reach all kinds of places around. There are also a few city ruins here. So it’s manageable if you have ways to prevent catastrophes. As long as everyone keeps these in mind…”

Doussay had no idea, why this person tried to convince her how good it would be to live there.

 “So you want to stay at this place after we’re done?” She asked then, softly reminding him that this was not the reason they came here. Albert silenced himself for a few minutes.

 “Perhaps… if the person I love would come with me. The base doesn’t care for us at all. What would be worse, here or there? Different kinds of problems, but at least we would be in control over ourselves.”

Doussay sighed and shook her head.

 “Or you’re just that desperate that you don’t see the danger of this “plan”.” She murmured. Albert heard her, and nervously laughed.

 “Don’t take me that seriously. I’m too much of a coward to move here.”

   They fell quiet. Doussay felt a bit of discomfort and tenseness after the conversation. A part of her regretted coming here without one of her guards. Albert wasn’t a bad person, but love could make some people go crazy. Sometimes they’re so desperate to get closer to the other person; they would do all kinds of stupid shits. Maybe even kidnap someone, so they can live somewhere else together…

   But she wanted to trust this man, and he probably sensed her constraint behaviour, because he left her alone after that.

   By the time it was night, they’d reached a rapid slope, and soon enough they’d arrived at the highest point of the elevated ground: Doussay never saw such a scene.

   It was a big crater, and they were driving on the rim of it. It seemed so… standard, for it was man-made. The crater had many layers, that seemed like steps, only that these steps were taller than their armored car. Doussay couldn’t completely hide that she was surprised and a bit amused by the scene, especially with the aurora and the stars above this grandiose site, and the bonus was the lake at the very bottom of the crater, that mirrored the green and sparkling lights as if there was a hole in the ground, and if they fall into the pit, they would actually fall into the sky, and disappear between the stars.

Albert probably noticed her face, because he softly giggled.

 “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

   She couldn’t deny it. There were some pros and contras to this place, but she would never be able to live here, regardless of this beauty.

 “How long has she been here?” Doussay then asked quietly.

 “Mai’s and Dot’s daughter? Since her belly was visible. A few months ago. We brought a lot of food for her, and she wasn’t coming out at all, but her pregnancy was hard. We tried to come as many times as we could, and we stayed with her. She didn’t get sick, but she’s not in the best shape either. Her name is Dora, by the way… she’s a sweet girl, you will see, but she truly had a hard time, so bear with her, please.”

   Doussay wasn’t surprised. Locked up in a mine, underground, with almost no one around, and under continuous stress, that a monster might get into the caves… this was too much even if someone wasn’t pregnant. At least, Doussay would’ve preferred to hide from the Judges ten times more, than coming out here.

   The door of the mine wasn’t at the bottom of the huge crater after all. They stopped the car halfway down, and all of them got out.

   Doussay immediately sensed a weird smell, and she couldn’t tell what it was. Maybe the hot rocks around them, that were almost acting like heaters – probably because the sun was burning them all day – maybe the ground itself (it was not brown, like soil, rather greyish), or some other chemicals, that were escaping from the caves.

   Albert noticed her face, and laughed, while he helped the “doctor” and the two other to open the heavy iron door. It had many locks and latches.

 “Don’t worry. Just decomposing sulfides. In this portion, it’s not harmful, just smelly. Now it’s even less noticeable. It has a stronger smell in daytime.”

   Doussay said nothing, but she didn’t agree: she was certain, that there should be some consequences of inhaling this thing. But she just followed the others to the iron door that was hiding in one of the cracks of the ground. It wasn’t visible from the top of the crater. Doussay looked up: from this perspective, she confirmed, that the crater’s top was much taller than the walls over the Outer City.

   Doussay couldn’t even imagine such big machines that were able to mine this place – how did they even start it? How many years did it take them to get here? And they only started to make caves in the mine, when they got to this point? Or were there other doors that they destroyed later?

Humans in the old days were truly amazing.

   The door opened with an ear-piercing scratch, which seemed to be much louder than it should have. No surprise: the whole place was extremely quiet, for not even having any monsters around. Nothing was making noises; even the wind left the place alone, for it was protected by the nature of the crater.

   This immediately changed: as the deepness of the cave appeared in front of Doussay, a windy, whistling sound came out from it, and it was ice cold. The night outside was not very warm to begin with, now she shivered violently for this experience.

   However, as soon as they entered the spacious entrance hall, and the door was shut behind her, somehow this coldness didn’t seem to be that noticeable, and as Albert said, the smell of that chemical also had faded a lot, instead an earthy, musty smell sneaked into her nose.

   Petroleum lamps were hanging down from the wooden pillars, which were holding up the tall ceiling, and two big pathways – left and right – were leading into the deeper parts of the mine. Their ground was slightly sloped, and there were a few mine tracks following them. There was some eerie echoing sound from both pathways, and Doussay unconsciously hugged herself, looking at the deep roads.

 “This way.” Albert led them into the right path, and they followed the long corridor in complete silence.

   Doussay somewhat had a feeling, that they were being watched from behind, and she wasn’t happy to be the tail of this little crowd. She kept looking back to the entrance, and despite it being bright because of the lamps, she thought, it was threateningly clear. Maybe she would’ve preferred to see darkness behind her, when she did not see all the details, and would not think of them anything. The only thing that made her a little bit less nervous was the hidden gold dagger, which was touching her thighs. She also slid down her hand secretly – she hadn’t announced the existence of her dagger to the others, because at the end of the day… she didn’t know any of these people very well.

   They didn’t go too far down. The pathway wasn’t even turning to the left yet (the corridor was at least five hundred meters long before it took a turn), when they stopped next to a door. It was the first door they’d encountered with, and now it was not Albert, but Mai who pushed it open.

   The inside was once again a quite big room. First, it seemed more like a classroom or a dining room, where people could’ve gathered together in bigger groups. As soon as she entered, and saw the furniture, she realised, this had to be a nurse’s room or a ward, with a few narrow, tall beds, which initially had white sheets – they’ve turned gray –, while some old plastic curtains were waiting around them to cover the patients, and there were a few cabinets at the other side of the room.

   Despite the dim light, Doussay had no problem finding the girl: she was surrounded by boxes and backpacks of food and some blankets at the foot of her bed. She was lying there, and as they entered the room, she tried to sit up, using her elbows to push herself up.

   The parents – especially the father, Dot – rushed to her and bent over her, and the man hurriedly asked her many questions about her situation and feelings, while the self-proclaimed doc approached her from the other side of the bed, and Albert worriedly followed her.

   Doussay stood at the foot of the bed. From her point of view, Dora was almost in the same state as Mary back in the day, fifteen years ago. She wore a little top, that was not covering her belly… and her belly didn’t look healthy at all. There were huge purple and black spots lying around it, and her baby was moving under her stretching skin. Only that she was not bleeding, since the delivery hadn’t started yet.

   But it was not just her belly. Her face had an extremely unhealthy hue, almost seemed yellow, her eyes were swollen and red, and the other parts of her, especially the arms were as thin as a skeleton’s arms. She definitely hasn’t eaten well, and according to her symptoms, she did get some conditions under these mines.

 “You are the midwife?” Dora asked, and her voice was so raspy, as a man’s voice. But the most terrible thing wasn’t her voice, but the fact, that she… she was just too young. Much younger, than Doussay expected her to be. But at the same time, her age didn’t surprise her after all. Knowing what she knew, she rather felt sick.

 “Yes.”

 “Can you help me? It hurts so much!” The poor child started crying, and her dad grabbed her hand after that. Her mom, however… clicked with her tongue, and turned away. The woman seemed annoyed.

   They were both pretty old by now; both the wife and the husband had gray and white hairs, and many wrinkles, but their attitude didn’t carry any wiseness at all… Dot talked to his girl like she was five years old, and Mai was the complete opposite, she hadn’t even taken a look at her daughter.

Doussay was familiar with this scene, but she had no time to think about it.

 “I brought some medicine.” It was not Doussay, who said that, but the female doctor, and quickly opened up her big, black leather bag to get out some pills and vials.

 “How did you get injured?” Doussay asked instead, and pointed at the belly of the girl. Dora looked down, and swallowed her tears, helplessly wiping her own face with trembling fingers. She was really pitiful.

 “I don’t really know. Sometimes I felt the baby… kicking me. He was moving a lot. After those, my skin was like this.”

 “He?” She asked again. “Is it a he?”

 “Well, I don’t really know.” The girl repeated and tried to smile, but it looked like a painful grimace. “I think I just can feel it.”

   Doussay had no experience with these types of motherly instincts. On the third floor, it was always Dr Ye, who told everyone what’s the gender of the baby, after it was born. But she didn’t make any comment on this.

 “What should we do for her, Madam?” The father asked, his voice trembled, and he didn’t dare to look at Doussay, but he was clearly asking her.

 “… We need some towels, clean, warm water, and time. There isn’t much that we can do, but maybe it would help if she would walk around in the meantime. Maybe the movements would do the trick, and start the delivery. It seems like there isn’t much time left anyway.”

   Mai immediately left the room, without saying anything, and after some hesitation, the husband followed her. He clearly didn’t want to leave his girl. Doussay looked at the doctor, and she noticed her gaze.

   While Albert distracted Dora with a conversation about her day, what she was eating, what she was doing, and this kind of stuff, the two women walked to the corner of the room. Doussay sighed.

 “She won’t make it.” She whispered, and the other woman pressed her lips together. She was much older than Doussay, with very short, black hair, a sharp jawline, and wrinkly eyes.

 “We have to try.”

 “It would be better if we would just… cut out the baby.” Doussay only witnessed that once, and she didn’t want to see it anymore, ever again. “But I’m not qualified for that. You will need someone else.”

 “Did you see her?” The woman raised her voice, and then she got frightened by her own loudness, and glanced at the girl. Dora was still chatting with Albert and didn’t seem to listen to their conversation. “There’s no time for another trip to the Outer City. And from where should we get another doctor, let alone one, that can conduct a C-section?”

Doussay shook her head.

   She tried to remove herself from the situation as much as she could, preparing for the worst. She didn’t like this place at all, nor her companion, and she didn’t want to witness the poor girl’s death… but she didn’t say anything else. She did not want and would not want to leave – not after she made it here suffering through the last two days, and obviously, she couldn’t leave by herself anyway. She had to make this happen somehow. But even Dr Ye had no power over the deliveries. So what should she do now?

   The parents were back after a while, carrying a bunch of towels and a big bucket of steaming water, and it turned out, they’d arrived just on time: as soon as they put the bucket and towels down, their daughter suddenly screamed out – they were all startled, and rushed to the bed.

   Her water broke. She didn’t wear anything on her lower body, and she changed her position already: she wasn’t sitting anymore, she slid down, she was lying totally flat, and her legs were in a wide sprawl. 

   All of them could see what was happening down there, and all of them froze right at the moment when the girl made her first push, grinding her teeth, and holding back her scream.

   There was blood now, which wasn’t anything new, maybe only a little too much blood, as Doussay was able to tell. However, they didn’t need to be a midwife or any specialist to understand that what they saw flowing out with the blood, wasn’t normal at all.

   A jet-black ooze sprayed out from her as she pushed in pain. Blood could be black, but this was totally different. It seemed some kind of thick ink. If that wasn’t enough, her opening also behaved abnormally. Doussay never had seen anyone in this state, having such a big hole already, but also had never seen anyone having that opening stretching and shrinking back at a fast pace. As if it was pulsating on its own accord. Maybe the pain could’ve caused it, but it was too fast.

   The smell of it was bad as well, like a rotten egg. Doussay’s stomach turned once, and she needed all of her composure not to turn away, and she swallowed a lot not to gag. But she couldn’t completely hold back her disgust, she had to cover her nose – just for the sole reason, that she felt like the smell was starting to suffocate her. All the other people felt the same, and they all stepped back from the bed, none of them was able to hold the girl’s hand, give her an injection, or just talk to her at least. She was crying in pain, gripping the corner of her pillows, and was too busy to realise the reaction of the others, probably.

Then the strange events continued to get crazier.

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