Kill Or Be Killed

Chapter Forty-Eight

Scale Number: Slight 4 (accidental self-harm)

"Get your filthy, fucking hands off me!" Ca screamed toward the two Relevents who were holding her arms down. While another four were fighting to strap down her legs to the side of the gurney. She screamed at the top of her lungs, not that a single one of them flinched or backed away until she was fully strapped to that thin hospital mattress. Thrashing made the thick cuffs pull at her wrists and ankles, while the metal chains clanked against the side railings. The same railings that were like prison bars, even if they had the same effect; keeping one right where they were.

Nearly all of the Relevents left the room, leaving one to stand there by the door with his meaty, gloved hands folded in front of him. Not once did his eyes turn to her, staring straight ahead at the wall directly opposite from him. If it weren't for the slight lift and fall of his shoulders, she might have thought he'd turned into a stone statue.

"Please," she begged him to no avail, "Please don't let them do this." Again, no reaction, making her press her head back into the flat pillow with a frustrating groan. "Come on! You have to know this isn't right."

This time she was cursing the deity that was meant to be watching over her, not that they ever seemed to raise a finger to help before. Jerking her limbs violently again, pulling even harder on the restrained than she had the last thousand times. Screaming until her throat was raw and she felt like she was beginning to pull the skin from her appendages.

"It would seem you're the only one here who plans on causing any harm to your immediate person, Ms. Clade."

Cat lifted her head so fast her neck made a loud crack, making her vision fade a bright white and forcing her to lay her head back down. It took several seconds to regain her sight, finding the stunning female tilting her head just enough to not appear as a murderous baby stealing bitch.

The Elder actually had the nerve to smile warmly down at her reluctant patient, as if this was just any other doctor's visit. Down to the white coat she was wearing over her armored uniform. "No one here wants to hurt you," she lifted a hand, placing it directly on Cat's engorged stomach; even though the Kanfedant fought to keep the connection from making contact. Little good it did, when she had no place to run, "Not as long as you have this new life inside of you, at least."

"Don't touch it," angry tears pricked Cat's eyes, blurring her vision until she blinked them away, "Get off."

Moving her hand away, the Belistik leader grabbed a wheelie stool and cart with a monitor system set up on top of it. "Now, now. You're going to have to behave, because we're going to take a quick look. Have to check on the little soldier to see why you've swollen so largely."

Cat wanted to spit at her for the insinuation that her child would ever be raised in a place like this, even if at that very second it might not have looked like there was a way around it yet. So instead of eating her words, she just glared at the woman who was preparing the machine to do an ultrasound.

"This may be cold," she said without giving the patient time to prepare, applying a light blue gel on both the wand and the underside of Cat's belly. Pressing the device firmly to the area, she moved it around until a bizarre sound started echoing from the speaker.

Then aloof a sudden the room fell away and he mother-to-be tilted her own head back so she could see the screen. Both women stared expectantly at the black and white wobbly picture. The extremely clear outline of a baby moved around, twitching and kicking.

"There you are," Crysis beamed brightly, as if it were her stomach she was looking into. That was until the image twisted and suddenly the form was misshapen and there were far too many limbs. "But...wait."