Empyrean Iris Story Collection

Baptized in Blood

They were holed up inside the, "grocery store" The lights were off and snow had piled itself to almost two feet deep outside the glass doors, trembling from the powerful blowing of the snow. The humans milled about in confused packs.

Apparently blizzards of this power weren't common, and the human's hadn't expected the storm to be as bad as it was. Now they were help up in the powerless store, thought the emergency lights and backup generator kept the place marginally lit and livably warm.

Krill could feel his body working to heat itself, but he wasn't half as efficient as the humans. Captain Vir had given him his coat. It still had some of the human's body heat, and so warmed Krill nicely.

Captain Vir sat by the checkout counters head resting back against the wall eyes closed.

Krill panicked silently to the side.

"Adam!" his one eye popped open and looked towards the sound of the voice.

Krill looked to find Captain Vir's nest-mate or sister waddling towards them. She was even bigger than Krill remembered, and was impressed that she didn't just fall over from the weight of her stomach.

Captain Vir stood, "Maya, what are you doing here?" He glanced down at her swollen belly, "Where is Jack.... Shouldn't he be the one out doing this stuff.... You're due in what? Two weeks?"

She waved him away with a hand, "If I avoided doing thigs just because I was pregnant, than I wouldn't be doing anything. Besides, I needed to get up and walk around."

Captain Vir tilted his head to the side, "Why?"

With a sigh, she rested one hand on her stomach and the other on her lower back, "I have had a backache all day. Besides this is the first time in days I haven't been exhausted, so I wanted to get things done."

From the corner of his eye, Krill saw Captain Vir tense lightly..... "Um.... I know I'm not like an expert or anything, but. Isn't increased back pain a sign of labor....?

Krill was alerted by the sudden palpable tension in the room. Nearby humans turned to look at them worried expressions on their faces as they turned to glance at the blocked glass doors.

Maya went white, "I.... didn't even think about that."

"Any contractions?"

"Well no, not really."

"What is that supposed to mean." Vir was sounding frantic now, not something Krill understood. On his planet a mother laid her eggs in two minutes flat and then they were done.....

How big was a human larvae again?

Suddenly the female human stiffened up and closed her eyes resting a hand against the purchase lane taking a slow deep breath.

"Are you kidding me Maya? You're in labor in a F***ing blizzard at the grocery store." It was Vir's turn to panic.

She frowned at him, "Excuse me for not timing it right."

Captain Vir looked down at Krill, "Um.... You're a doctor."

Krill stared at the two of them, "You aren't serious." He looked back at Maya and the encouraging smile on her face though her eyes were very, very worried. He sighed, "Yeah, I am."

It was almost impressive how fast Vir whipped up some extra support. Doing their best, they turned one of the back offices into a passable medical room wiping down all the surfaces, binging in anything soft and Pillow-shaped for support. Any useful tool was rounded up on Krill's instruction. Maya insisted on helping despite being racked by pain every 45-60 seconds. She took it like only a human could with an easy smile and a pleasant request for some water.