Crazies

Chapter Forty-Six

A soft knock on the door forces me to look away from the sleeping baby and over my shoulder to see Erica opening the door. She’s carrying a plastic bowl with thin wisps of steam rising from the top and two clean towels draped over her shoulder.

“Hey,” she greets, looking beyond tired as she steps up to my side to smile down at Little Troublemaker. “Let’s get her cleaned up and give her a more thorough examination.” 

I follow her over to the raised section of floor that leads to the bed and we both sit down next to each other. Erica sets the bowl on her other side and holds her hands out for the baby. My arms marginally tighten around Little Troublemaker before I tell myself to chill out and hand her over to Erica.

“So how’s Marie doing?” I ask to distract myself from my weird behavior. 

“I honestly don’t know,” Erica confesses while she carefully unwraps Little Troublemaker and proceeds to gently clean her off with one of the towels that she dampens with the warm water. “Everything that just happened was…” she pauses so I jump in with my own thoughts.

“Abnormal?”

“In a way, yeah” Erica presses her lips together, and simply concentrates on just wiping off the blood. It’s only when the baby’s cream color skin is completely red-free that she expresses her concerns. “There are some cases where the actual birth of the baby can be that quick but for her to dilate like that felt wrong. Not to mention the amniotic fluid was discolored.”

“That’s what comes out when the mother’s water breaks, right?” I question since the term was foreign to me.

“Yes,” she tells me, now switching to the second towel to dry the baby off. “Marie must have been laying on the bed when her water broke because the edge of it was stained a dark color. Normal amniotic fluid is clear or tinted yellow but that stain looked almost dark blue.”

“Do you think it was caused by that so-called cure?”

“Months back I would have said it was impossible for something to completely change the composition of anything under that short of time.” She goes quiet as she lays the baby on top of her legs then carefully begins moving one limb before checking the next.

“And now?” I prompt when I notice her getting lost in her thoughts.

“The fact we’re living with this zombie-like disease makes me think anything is possible now.” 

“Do you think what Marie did will affect the baby?”

“Unfortunately we won’t know until something happens.” My chest squeezes as I look down at the slightly squirming baby laying on Erica’s legs. “But I guess there can be good news within all this chaos.”

“What?” I glance up to see Erica smiling down at the baby.

“This little one isn’t a preemie,” she declares and I feel all the air rush out of my lungs. “Marie must have been mistaken on her due date as this beautiful baby girl looks full-grown.”

Erica carefully passes Little Troublemaker over to my waiting arms then guides them up so I’m cradling her against my chest. She weirdly pulls the top of my shirt out from under the baby’s body before shifting her underneath.

“Skin to skin contact with a newborn can benefit their overall health,” she explains then collects the things she brought in with her. “I’ll be right back. With Marie refusing to see the baby I need to go find that formula we got a while back.” 

I nod while adjusting my hold of her little body against me and carefully get to my feet. Erica waits until I’m steady before heading out the door, leaving it open in case I need any help.