The Holiday Killer ✔️

Ch. 6 Bitter Love

A pregnant mother and her child walk down the street, enjoying the day out together when she feels pain. While beginning labor out of the home is not what a woman wants, Mary is calm as she tells her daughter they need to go. She texts her husband to meet them at the hospital before the two ladies go to the car.

The mother tries to hide that she's in pain from her daughter. Uncertain how she'll deal with delivering the baby in front of her child if help doesn't come in time. 
"Mommy? The little girl asks as her mom tries to deal with the pain.
"I'm fine," she lies.
The little girl cries, terrified.
"Shut it, kid!" The killer yells and has no problem cutting a five-year-old, but just enough to make her bleed and be quiet.
"Let her go!" The mom begs.
"Fine, for now."
"Go, Trinity!"
The little girl runs down the hall as her mom moans in pain. 
"Perfect, now you can lose another baby, Mary."
Mary recognizes the voice. She flinches as the kidnapper cuts her pants off and rips her underwear off.
"It was out of my control, Austin. I told you that!"
"No, you felt I would not be a good father and neglected the baby's needs! Now I will make sure you lose this baby! You can't fight your body for long! Just be happy I'm not ripping it out of you. I want to hear you scream."

Mary tries to breathe through the contractions, knowing the baby is coming with every contraction but hoping it's slow enough for help to arrive.
"Come on, just a little longer," she tells herself.
Mary's attempt to avoid pushing amuses Austin.

Mary gives in, and though she's not screaming, Austin is pleased until he hears sirens.
"Fuck!" Austin rages and runs down the hall.
"Help!" Mary yells. A medic rushes to Mary, "m-my—."
"You two are safe. I need you to relax and push."
Mary does as she's told. The pain increases, and she screams.

Ratchet's P.O.V.
The baby screams as I hand them to an officer to let Jolt examine. Quickly, I'm faced with an emergency; heavy bleeding.
"Get that baby to the hospital! Jolt, I need your help!"
I feel the uterus contract. Scrap, she's having twins. If I have her push, she'll cause heavier bleeding. That's easier said than done, and no way she can ignore she needs to push until we get to the hospital.
"Shit, the twin is ready to come," she panics, waiting for me to tell her to push, but I believe she feels the bleeding, "I need to push!"
I can't say anything as she screams and bleeding picks up. The woman quickly becomes weak and would have fallen to the ground if she wasn't chained to the wall.
"Frag!" I hear Jolt.
There's nothing in the books — on Cybertron or Earth — that teaches us what to do.
"Please tell me we have that drug with us?!" I ask.
Jolt quickly gets the capsule he needs and opens it, revealing a medical cabinet. He prepares the drug, aware we don't know this femme's weight. I get her onto the floor.
"Hopefully, this is enough," he comments as he injects the drug.
"T-t...," the woman tries to say, but she's too weak before the drug kicks in.
"Three, two, one, hurry!" Jolt urges as his estimate on when the femme would be unconscious is accurate.
I hurry to deliver the baby, but I discover the reason for the heavy bleeding.
"Placenta abruption, but during the delivery of the first baby, which is unheard of," I explain, "the twin was being suffocated."
I hold the dead baby, haunted by memories of the situation with Jasmine's mother. I could have watched Audrey die while in the NICU.
We can't mourn as we have to get the mother to the hospital. We quickly stitch the mom, do what we can to limit the bleeding that's still happening, and rush to the hospital. 
Jolt does his best to try to stop the bleeding as I drive.

It's hard not being part of the team to help save this woman. They gave us her purse, which is helpful to find out if there's other family nearby.
I contact Prowl to find Mary's husband.

Prowl's P.O.V.
An officer wouldn't think they'd be going to a crime scene when getting to the location of the next of kin.
"I need backup at 35 west drive," I radio before taking my gun out and entering the house.
I don't have to go far to find a body, and I search the house in case the killer is still around.

As I walk around the house, I see pictures of a little girl, but no one else is in the house.
Damn it, this might have been a kidnapping and a murder. Ratchet is not going to like hearing this.
"There wasn't a kid at the warehouse," Ratchet tells me once I tell him about this couple having a young child. I hate adding to his heartbreak, but he'd likely find out eventually that there's a missing little girl. Mary will ask if we found her daughter — if she survives. All I can do is put an amber alert out for the girl and hope we find other family if Mary dies.

Jolt's P.O.V.
This feels like our vacation was a dream that's turned into a nightmare. Ratchet looks sick knowing a baby is dead, Mary could die, and now there's a missing child. Not even the news that the first baby is doing well isn't helping the mood. I think he's shaken up to go home to Audrey and Jasmine. Remembering how Audrey could have died after her mom was murdered while pregnant with her. I leave him alone and go check on Aaron.

I see Brittany sleeping on the couch, though that can't be comfortable. Aaron is stable, but he won't wake up. I see Wheeljack put his invention on Aaron's legs. Hopefully, the devices will help his legs recover even though he's still in a coma. I look out the window to the city, wondering who the frag is this killer? Hoping he will be stopped and that Ratchet and I don't have to deal with any more victims of his.