Harvestation

Chapter 1

With one final screaming push, the baby's head was out.

A tall nurse with messy ginger hair and clumsy hands fumbled about, quickly aiding to the exhausted mother. It had been 16 hours.

Another nurse, short with tight black ringlets, took care of the baby, cutting the umbilical cord and wrapping it up.

The ward doors open, and the sound of clicking heels was heard.

"Well done madam, you held strong, and your contribution to this world is done," said a brunette female, dressed in complete grey except for pastel pink heels, face in a muted smile. She turned to the nurse.

"Now, what's the stats?"

The nurse inspected the newborn baby, turning it from side to side, like it was more of an object than a living thing.

"Seems healthy, steady breathing," she replied in a pitchy voice, putting her hand, which was about the size of its head, on its chest.

"And?" The woman in grey asked, clearly waiting for a final conclusion.

The nurse look down, then up with sorrowful eyes.

"It's a boy," the nurse responded gravely, looking at the mother, who was beginning to sob.

It wasn't the answer she wanted; but it was the one she had expected.

"Please, you can't take him," she cried reaching out to her baby, who was squirming uncomfortably in the nurse's arms, "give him more time."

The nurse turned to the side away from the mother's grasp, looking at the woman in grey.

"You know the rules, Miss," she replied, shaking her head.

"Indeed," said the woman, unimpressed, "6 months is too high a luxury for any of you who bare a boy, so relish it before the incubation starts."

And with that she strode out the room, not saying another word.

"I'm sorry, Miss," said the nurse, passing the slightly sticky baby back to his mother, "but we can't risk Mankind taking over again; it's the rules."

The mother wanted to scream at that point but she knew that the nurse was right; Womankind had worked too hard to surpass the rules of men. But it still seemed stupid, to take a baby away from its mother. Couldn't they just send him to a school where they taught him the do's and don't's of this new world?

Questions would have to wait, because a new life of raising for labour had begun.

"Do I at least get to name him?" She asked.

"You can," said the nurse slowly, "but it would only be temporary."

The mother looked at her newborn.

"Samuel," she whispered, "I want to call him Samuel.